DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4680#0176
9. THE MASSACRE BY DIOCLETIAN. 507
governor of Galatia and the announcement of his intentions struck
terror into the hearts of the Chr.: his name was Theotecnus, ' the
Child of God,' in which we recognize one of those by-names, which
were assumed by some of the philosophic reactionaries, in competition
with the Chr. confidence in their divine mission, and the Chr. religious
names assumed at baptism.
As an example of what took place in Phrygia, Eusebius mentions
that the Chr. city, which was alluded to in § 8, was burned to the
ground with its people, even women and children, ' calling upon the
God who is over all1.' The exact circumstances are a little doubtful,
for Lactantius is perhaps alluding to the same atrocity, when he speaks
of a whole people in Phrygia being burned along with their meeting-
place2 ; and Lactantius must here rank as the better authority, if they
are describing the same incident. But it is only the blindness of
uncritical prejudice, which sets aside such an incident merely because
it is liable to become distorted or exaggerated in repetition. That is
part of human nature. The essential fact is that the entire population
of a city was destroyed by fire; and on that two excellent authorities
are agreed. We must of course take the fact in its surroundings.
We need have no doubt that the invariable choice was offered, com-
pliance or death 3, and equally little doubt that many would in ordinary
circumstances have chosen the former alternative ; but it lies in human
nature that the general spirit of a crowd exercises a powerful influence
on the persons in it, and many, who, taken singly, would have shrunk
from death, accepted it boldly when inspired by the courage of the
whole mass. Lactantius's statement implies that the people had
assembled at their church: this would in itself be an act of defiance
of the Imperial government, and probably the less staunch adherents
would not venture on such an extreme course.
Moreover, to one who has by the patient toil of years tracked out
these Chr. communities by their formula of appealing to ' the god,' it
comes as one of those startling and convincing details of real life
and truth, that the one thing recorded about the destroyed people is
1 H.E.YIIlll o\r)v XpLo-Tiavav iro\l- Tova-tv elbaXoXarpeui iirei6dpxow.
X"r]v avravSpov ap(p\ rtjv <$pvyiav hi KvKkq 2 Inst. Div. V II stent unus in Phrygia
irepifiahovTes ottXitiu, irvp re itpifyavres, qiti unitersum populum cum ipso pariter
Kare(p\(^nv alrovs Spa vr)iiiois Kal yvvai£l, conventicido concremavit.
rbv eirt iiavrav Bebv emSoapevois' on 817 3 Lactantius goes on to point out that
wavSr]pu ndvres o! rqv irokiv oIkovvtcs, it was a point of pride and honour to
\oyio-Ti']s re avrb? Ka\ o-rparrj-ybs avv reus in succeed in forcing any Chr. to comply :
rf'Xfi ivao-i Kal o\a> Srjpa, Xpioriavovs otpas any one ready to comply was always
6po\oyOVVT(S, Ou8' OTTbHTTlOVV Tots TrpotJTiXT- Welcomed.
governor of Galatia and the announcement of his intentions struck
terror into the hearts of the Chr.: his name was Theotecnus, ' the
Child of God,' in which we recognize one of those by-names, which
were assumed by some of the philosophic reactionaries, in competition
with the Chr. confidence in their divine mission, and the Chr. religious
names assumed at baptism.
As an example of what took place in Phrygia, Eusebius mentions
that the Chr. city, which was alluded to in § 8, was burned to the
ground with its people, even women and children, ' calling upon the
God who is over all1.' The exact circumstances are a little doubtful,
for Lactantius is perhaps alluding to the same atrocity, when he speaks
of a whole people in Phrygia being burned along with their meeting-
place2 ; and Lactantius must here rank as the better authority, if they
are describing the same incident. But it is only the blindness of
uncritical prejudice, which sets aside such an incident merely because
it is liable to become distorted or exaggerated in repetition. That is
part of human nature. The essential fact is that the entire population
of a city was destroyed by fire; and on that two excellent authorities
are agreed. We must of course take the fact in its surroundings.
We need have no doubt that the invariable choice was offered, com-
pliance or death 3, and equally little doubt that many would in ordinary
circumstances have chosen the former alternative ; but it lies in human
nature that the general spirit of a crowd exercises a powerful influence
on the persons in it, and many, who, taken singly, would have shrunk
from death, accepted it boldly when inspired by the courage of the
whole mass. Lactantius's statement implies that the people had
assembled at their church: this would in itself be an act of defiance
of the Imperial government, and probably the less staunch adherents
would not venture on such an extreme course.
Moreover, to one who has by the patient toil of years tracked out
these Chr. communities by their formula of appealing to ' the god,' it
comes as one of those startling and convincing details of real life
and truth, that the one thing recorded about the destroyed people is
1 H.E.YIIlll o\r)v XpLo-Tiavav iro\l- Tova-tv elbaXoXarpeui iirei6dpxow.
X"r]v avravSpov ap(p\ rtjv <$pvyiav hi KvKkq 2 Inst. Div. V II stent unus in Phrygia
irepifiahovTes ottXitiu, irvp re itpifyavres, qiti unitersum populum cum ipso pariter
Kare(p\(^nv alrovs Spa vr)iiiois Kal yvvai£l, conventicido concremavit.
rbv eirt iiavrav Bebv emSoapevois' on 817 3 Lactantius goes on to point out that
wavSr]pu ndvres o! rqv irokiv oIkovvtcs, it was a point of pride and honour to
\oyio-Ti']s re avrb? Ka\ o-rparrj-ybs avv reus in succeed in forcing any Chr. to comply :
rf'Xfi ivao-i Kal o\a> Srjpa, Xpioriavovs otpas any one ready to comply was always
6po\oyOVVT(S, Ou8' OTTbHTTlOVV Tots TrpotJTiXT- Welcomed.