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that were healed, and they that were raised from the dead, who were seen not only when they were healed, or raised, but for a long time afterwards; not only whilst he dwelled on this earth, but also after his departure, and for a good while after it: insomuch that some of them have reached to our times.' Jerom supposeth that Quadratus himself saw several of those persons who had been the subjects of our Saviour's miracles.

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III. Beside the rescript, there is a letter of Adrian to Servianus, husband of Paulina, the emperor's sister, who was consul in 134. It is preserved in Vopiscus, one of the writers of the Augustan history, who flourished about the year 300. Adrian had been some while in Egypt. Having left it, when he got into Syria he wrote that letter to his brother-in-law, in the year 134. I shall transcribe it from the historian, with the connection.

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The Egyptians, as you well know,' says Vopiscus, are vain, fond of innnovations, men • of all characters-For there are among them Christians and Samaritans, and such as take a • prodigious liberty in censuring the present times. That none of the Egyptians may be offended with me, I shall produce a letter of Adrian, taken from the books of Phlegon, his freed-man, in which the character of the Egyptians is clearly represented. "Adrian Augustus to the consul Servianus wisheth health. I have found Egypt, my dear Servianus, which you commended to me, all over fickle and inconstant, and continually shaken by the slightest reports of fame. The worshippers of Serapis are Christians, and they are devoted to Serapis, who call themselves Christ's bishops. There is no ruler of the Jewish synagogue, no Samaritan, no presbyter of the Christians, no mathematician, no soothsayer, no ⚫ anointer even the patriarch, if he should come to Egypt, would be required by some to worship Serapis, by others Christ. A seditious and turbulent sort of men. However, the city is rich and populous. Nor are any idle. Some are employed in making glass, others paper, others in weaving linen-They have one God-Him the Christians, Him the Jews, Him all the Gentile people, worship.'

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It cannot be needful for me to explain all the several sorts of people here spoken of. Nor ought it to be thought strange that Christians share in the emperor's satire, and are represented by him as fickle and inconstant, like the other Egyptians. It appears from this letter that the Christians were numerous at Alexandria, and in other parts of Egypt, when Adrian was in that country which, certainly, is very remarkable, that in a century after the resurrection of Jesus he should have so many followers in Asia and Egypt, as is manifest from this one emperor's authentic writings. Without any countenance from the civil government, and under a great deal of opposition from it, as well as from most other ranks of men, and especially from the lower sort of people, Christ's bishops were already become as considerable as the priests of Serapis.

IV. Once more. Ælius Lampridius, another writer of the Augustan history, who flourished about the end of the third, and the beginning of the fourth, century, in the life of the emperor Alexander Severus, says: He intended to build a temple to Christ, and to receive him ⚫ among the gods. Which Adrian also is reported to have designed; who ordered temples to be erected in all cities without statues; which therefore to this day are called Adrian's, it being

• said that he built them for that purpose. But he was hindered by some, who, having consulted the oracles, were assured that, if that were once done, all men would be Christians, and ⚫ the other temples would be deserted.'

a See before, p. 53, note a

b Vid. Vos. Hist. Lat. L. 2. cap. 7. Fabric. Bib. Lat. 1. 3. cap. 6. Tillemont L'Empereur Aurelien. art. xv.

Sunt enim Egyptii (ut satis nôsti,) viri ventosi, furibundi, jactantes, injuriosi-novatores rerum- -versificatores, mathematici, aruspices, medici. Nam et Christiani, Samaritani, et quibus præsentia tempora cum enormi libertate displiceant. Ac nequis mihi Ægyptiorum irascatur, et meum esse credat, quod in literis retuli, Adriani epistolam ex libris Phlegontis liberti ejus proditam, ex quà penitus Ægyptiorum vita detegitur, indidi. Adrianus Aug. Serviano Coss. S. Ægyptum, quam mihi laudabas, Serviane 'carissime, totam didici levem, pendulam, et ad omnia 'famæ momenta volitantem. Illi qui Serapim colunt, Christiani sunt et devoti sunt Serapi, qui se Christi episcopos 'dicunt. Nemo illic Archisynagogus Judæorum, nemo Samarites, nemo Christianorum Presbyter, non Mathemati'cus, non Aruspex, non Aliptes. Ipse ille Patriarcha, quum

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Ægyptum venerit, ab aliis Serapidem adorare, ab aliis cogitur Christum. Genus hominum seditiosissimum, vanissimum, imperiosissimum. Civitas opulenta, dives, fecunda, in quâ nemo vivat otiosus. Alii vitrum conflant, ab aliis charta conficitur, alii linyphiones sunt: omnes certe cujuscumque artis et videntur et habentur. Podagrosi, quod agant, habent: habent cœci, quod agant: ne chiragrici quidem apud eos otiosi vivunt. Unus illis Deus est. Hunc Christiani, hunc Judæi, hunc omnes venerantur et Gentes.' &c. Flav. Vopiscus in Saturnino. cap. 7. et 8.

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d Christo templum facere voluit, eumque inter Deos recipere. Quod et Adrianus cogitâsse fertur, qui templa in omnibus civitatibus sine simulacris jusserat fieri; quæ hodie idcirco, quia non habent numina, dicuntur Adriani, quæ ille ad hoc parâsse dicebatur. Sed prohibitus est ab iis, qui, consulentes sacra, repererant, omnes Christianos futuros, si id optato evenisset, et templa reliqua deserenda. Æl. Lamp. in Alex. Sever. cap. 43.

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This account is received by some as true; by others it is rejected, as destitute of any good foundation. I have referred below to several learned and judicious men on this side the question; and I would willingly find room at the bottom of the page for Casaubon's observations upon this section of Lampridius; and the rather, because they have been judged so material by Pagi, as to be transcribed by him into his Critique upon Baronius. Casaubon then, and divers other learned men after him, or agreeably to him, observe that somewhat of this kind has been related of Tiberius by Tertullian, and other ancient Latin and Greek writers of the church, who are quite 'silent about this story of Lampridius. If there had been any truth in it, they say, so remark'able a thing could not have been omitted by Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tertullian, Cyprian, and all other ancient writers of the second and third centuries, who had many occasions to ⚫ mention it, if there had been any ground for it. Nor is this mistaken opinion of Lampridius, ⚫ and some others in his time, very hard to be accounted for. Adrian had erected, or ordered 'to be erected, temples in many places. He intended to have set up in them an altar, or statue, to himself: but he died before they were consecrated, and some of them were left unfinished. It was well known that the Jews and Christians had no images in their places of worship; Lampridius therefore, and some others in his time, entertained a notion that these temples were • built in honour of Christ.'

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That Adrian intended them in honour of himself, is confirmed by what Spartian says in his life of this emperor: That, when he had returned from Africa to Rome, he soon went away again into the East. Coming to Athens he dedicated the buildings that had been begun by him, par⚫ticularly the temple of Jupiter Olympius, and an altar to himself. In like manner, In like manner, travelling through Asia, he consecrated temples of his own name.'

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That seems to be the most probable account. But though it cannot be reasonably supposed that Adrian intended those temples to the honour of Jesus Christ, some may imagine that, according to the doctrine of Numa and Pythagoras, Adrian might design to erect temples where the gods might be worshipped without images.

Crevier's judgment upon the point is to this purpose: He 'paid but little attention to the religion of those nations, whom the Romans and Greeks considered as barbarians, they appearing to him as only deserving of contempt. This makes it difficult for me to believe, upon Lampridius's testimony, that he formed a design to consecrate, in honour of Jesus Christ, a great

• Huet. Dem. Evang. Prop. 3. sect. xxii. Tillem. Persecution d'Adrien. art. vi.

b Casaub. Annot. in Lamprid. cap. 43. Pagi Crit. in Baron. ann. 134. n. iv. Basnag. ann. 126. n. v. vi. Dictionnaire de Bayle. Hadrien. Cleric. H. E. ann. 129. n. iii. Moshem. De Reb. Christian. Sec. 2. sect. xii. p. 237.

Quod et Hadrianus cogitâsse fertur.' De Tiberio narrant hoc Tertullianus et alii patres Græci et Latini. De Hadriano vero nemo illorum, si satis memini, simile quidquam. Et mirum profecto, tam nobilem historiam, tot fidei Christianæ propugnatores acerrimos, viros undecumque doctissimos, et quorum intererat hoc scire, potuisse fugere. Sed videtur hæc de Hadriano suspicio multo post ejus seculum hominum mentes insedisse; cum neque Justinus Martyr, neque Athenagoras, neque Tertullianus, neque Cyprianus, aut omnino quisquam ex illâ veterum patrum manu, vel tenuissimam ejus rei suspicionem fando unquam accepissent. Unde autem vulgo multi seculo Lampridii hanc de Hadriano concepissent opinionem, declarat auctor, cum subjicit: qui templa in omnibus 'civitatibus sine simulacris jusserat fieri; quæ hodie idcirco, ' quia non habent numina, dicuntur Hadriani, quæ ille ad hoc parâsse dicebatur.' En fontem et originem hujus opinionis. Jusserat Hadrianus templa fieri in omnibus civitatibus, suo nomini sine dubio consecranda; quod et Spartianus in vitâ suâ testatur. Sed, mortuo Hadriano prius quam hæc templa absolverentur, mansere pleraque illorum imperfecta, neque unquam dedicata sunt. Exemplo esse potest illud quod Tiberiade magnifice inchoatum, mox relictum est necdum absolutum, tandemque in usum balnearum a civibus destinatum. Epiphanius contra Ebionæos. H.30. n. xii. vaos perisos εν τη πολεί Τιβεριάδι προϋπήρχε ταχα, οιμαι, Αδριανείον τέτο

εκαλεν. Ατελες δε τετο το Αδριανείον διαμενον οι πολίται εις
δημοσιον λετρον επειρωντο επισκεύασαι. Talia ædificia in plerisque
civitatibus adhuc Lampridii ætate exstabant, inchoata solum,
non perfecta, non dedicatà; ac proinde, ut ait ipse, sine numine
et simulacro ullo. Eo factum, ut in animum inducerent multi,
quibus assentitur hic Lampridius, non sibi Hadrianum illa
templa exstruxisse, verum Christo. Erat quidem Lampridius,
'Exλry religione, et a pietatis Christianæ sacris, ut ejus scripta
ostendunt, alienus: sed nôrat ille, quod ignorare poterat nemo,
et Judzos olim in Hierosolymitana mde είδες και αγαλματος
Xwpis, ut Strabo quoque ac Dio scribunt, Deum coluisse; et
suis etiam temporibus Christianorum templa ejusmodi esse,
qualia adhuc memoriâ suâ beatissimus Augustinus cum alibi
prodit fuisse, tum etiam in Psalmi ciii, enarratione, sane lucu- '
lenter. Casaubon. annot. in Lamprid. cap. 43. Et Conf. Pagi
ann. 134. iii. iv.

Denique quum post Africâ Romam redisset, statim ad orientem profectus per Athenas iter fecit, atque opera, quæ apud Athenienses cœperat, dedicavit; ut Jovis Olympii ædem et arcem sibi: eodemque modo per Asiam iter faciens, templa sui nominis consecravit. Spartian. in Hadrian. cap. 13.

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e Extructa tamen ea Christo templa, quæ simulacrorum vacua erant, nostrum in animum inducere non sustinemus. Aliæ igitur nobis sunt tentandæ causæ. Legitur in Victore; Adrianus, pace ad Orientem compositâ, Romam regreditur. Ibi Græcorum more, seu Pompilii Numæ, cæremonias, leges, gymnasia, doctoresque curare occœpit.' Est ergo vero proximum, more atque instituto et Pythagoræ, et Pompilii Numæ, Adrianum, philosophiæ peritum, templa quoque sine simulacris strui voluisse. Basnag. ann. 126. n. vi.

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History of the Rom. Emp. Vol. 7. p. 167.

many temples, which he had begun, but not finished, in the several cities of Asia and Egypt, and which remained without a dedication or statue. It is much more probable that he intended ⚫ them for himself, and for his own proper worship.'

Indeed I think the opinion, that Adrian intended to consecrate temples to the honour of Jesus Christ, is without any good foundation; it being inconsistent with his known principles, and unsupported by the testimony of those antient Christian writers, who must have known it, and would have mentioned it, if it had been true.

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However, though there is no good ground for this story of Lampridius, it is honourable to the Christian religion, which was a spreading doctrine. And it was apprehended by those, who were far from wishing it success, that if a little encouragement were given to it, it would soon be the prevailing religion.

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CHAP. XII.

BRUTTIUS PRÆSENS.

His testimony to Domitian's Persecution; with Remarks.

EUSEBIUS, in his Ecclesiastical History, speaking of the persecution under Domitian, says: Moreover, at this time the doctrine of our faith was so conspicuous, that writers averse to our ⚫ sentiments have not forborne to insert in their histories an account of this persecution, and the martyrdoms that happened in it. They have likewise exactly marked the time of it, relating that, in the fifteenth year of Domitian, Flavia Domitilla, niece by the sister's side to Flavius Clemens, then one of the consuls of Rome, with a great many others, was banished to the island Pontia, for the profession of the Christian religion.'

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In his Chronicle, at the fifteenth year of Domitian, Eusebius says: And Bruttius writes ⚫ that many Christians suffered martyrdom under Domitian. Among whom was Flavia Domitilla, niece by the sister's side to Flavius Clemens the consul, who was banished to the island Pontia, because she confessed herself to be a Christian.'

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I need not transcribe any thing from Nicephorus. But in the Paschal Chronicle, at the year. of Christ 94, are these words: Brutus relates that many Christians suffered martyrdom in the fourteenth year of Domitian.'

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There were several eminent men of this name in the second century. There is a letter of the younger Pliny to Præsens, whom some think to have been also called Brutius, or Bruttius. We meet with Bruttius Præsens, who was consul with Antoninus the pious, in the year 139; C. Bruttius Præsens, who was consul with Asturius Rufinus in the year 153; and L. Fulvius Bruttius Præsens, consul the second time in the year 180, with Sex. Quintillius Condia

-και κατ' εμε ηδη, βασιλεως Αδριαν8, την τε ες το θείον τιμης επιπλείσον ελθοντος. Pausan. l. i. cap. v. p. 14. b Casaubon sans doute n'a point de tort de rejetter cela comme fabuleux. Ce que je trouve de vraisemblable, est cette crainte des Paiens, que leur Religion ne fût désertée, si l'on eût toléré publiquement le Christianisme. Bayle, Dictionnaire. Hadrian. note Q.

• Εις τοσέτον δε αρα κατα τις δηλωμένες ή της ημετερας τις εως διδασκαλία διέλαμπεν, ώς και τες αποθεν τε καθ' ἡμας λογο συγγραφεις μη αποκνησαι ταις αυτών ίσορίαις τον τε διωγμόν, και τα εν αυτῷ μαρτυρία παραδέναι. Οίγε και τον καιρον επ' ακριβες επηση μηναντο εν ετεί πεντεκαιδεκατῳ Δομετιανό κατα πλείσων ἑτέρων και Φλαβιαν Δομετιλλών

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The daughter of this Bruttius was married to Commodus, with the consent of Marcus Antoninus. And Pagi supposeth that to be the reason why he was honoured with a second consulship.

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Scaliger supposeth this Bruttius, who had been consul with Antoninus, and afterwards a second time, whose daughter was married to Commodus, or a relation of his, to be the historian intended by Eusebius.

Tillemont says he may have been Bruttius Præsens who was consul in the year 139, or Præsens to whom the younger Pliny wrote: though, as he adds, there were others of the same name about that time.

Mr. Dodwell's conjecture is, that he is the same who was consul with Antoninus the pious, as I understand him, though his manner of expression is ambiguous.

Some remarks may now not be improper. In the first place it may be fit to observe that Brutus, and Bruttius, and Brettius, as in the Greek of Eusebius's Chronicle, are all one and the same name, as Scaliger has shewn.

Secondly, I suppose no one will hesitate to allow that Bruttius was an heathen historian, though he is not expressly called so in any of the places where he is named. The manner in which he is mentioned by Eusebius in bis Chronicle, and by the author of the Paschal Chronicle, would lead us to suppose him not a Christian. And the passage in the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, compared with his Chronicle, I think puts it out of doubt.

Thirdly, Nothing has appeared in our ancient authors to satisfy us whether Bruttius was a Latin or a Greek writer. But Vossius placeth him among Latin historians.

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Fourthly, Dion Cassius, to be hereafter quoted, will inform us of a Flavia Domitilla, wife of the consul Clement, who was banished by Domitian for Christianity into the island Pandeteria, which lay near to Pontia, upon the same coast of Italy. This has given occasion to a dispute whether there were two of this name who suffered for Christianity about the same time: some supposing one and the same person to be intended, others again contending that there were two. The matter is of no great importance; nevertheless, perhaps, we may hereafter give it some farther consideration in the chapter of Dion Cassius.

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Fifthly, it seems somewhat probable that the author of the Paschal Chronicle did not copy Eusebius, but took his account from the work of Bruttius itself. For Eusebius, making particular mention of Domitilla only, who was not banished till the year 95, says that historians of ⚫ different sentiment from us had accurately marked the time of that persecution to be in the • fifteenth year of Domitian.' But the Paschal Chronicle affirms from Bruttius that many suffered in the fourteenth year of that reign. And' Pagi hence argues, and not without some appearance of probability, that the persecution began in the fourteenth year of Domitian.

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Sixthly, I wish that either Eusebius, or the last mentioned author, had given us the very words of Bruttius. He did not say the Christians suffered martyrdom.' The style of heathen authors in such matters is curious and entertaining, and more satisfactory than any other whatever.

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Once more, seventhly, Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, speaks in the plural number, and says that writers of a different sentiment from us had given an account of Domitian's persecution in their histories:' but we have not found more than one named in his Chronicle, nor in the Paschal Chronicle. Dion Cassius wrote before Eusebius: whether he ever read him does not now appear: but we shall quote him upon the same subject in his place and

time.

Filio suo Brutii Præsentis filiam junxit [Marcus Aurelius.] Jul. Capitol. de M. Anton. Phil. c. 27, p. 394.

Erat Bruttius Præsens pater Crispinæ uxoris Commodi, ob idque altero Consulatu hoc anno a M. Aurelio decoratus. Pagi ann. 180, num. i.

Aut Bruttius Præsens, qui cum Imp. Antonino Consul fuit, et cujus filia Imperatoris Antonini filio nupta fuit, aut saltem ejus gentilis quidam, fuerit bistoricus iste. Scalig. in Euseb. p. 205. a.

d Saint Fl. Domitille. Mem. Ec. T. 2, p. 127.

• Ethnicum scriptorem protulit Eusebius, quem Brutium appellat in Chronico, forte cumdem, qui consulatum gesVOL. IV.

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I have been very much at a loss where to place this writer. One would think, from Eusebius's manner of expression in his Ecclesiastical History, that he had been contemporary with Domitian's persecution. And in his Chronicle Bruttius is placed at the year of Christ 95. Nevertheless, none can suppose that to be the real time of his writing. However, that I may not be charged with entering him too late, I place him at the year of Christ 136, the twentieth year of Adrian. And if this Bruttius be the same (as divers learned men have thought) who was consul with Titus Antoninus in the year 139, I have placed him early enough.

CHAP. XIII.

PHLEGON, THALLUS, AND DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE.

I. Phlegon. His time and works. II. A passage in him concerning our Saviour's foreknowledge. III. Another passage supposed to relate to the miraculous darkness at the time of our Saviour's crucifixion, with remarks and observations. IV. Thallus, supposed also to speak of the same darkness. V. Dionysius the Areopagite, supposed likewise to speak of the same event.

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I. PHLEGON, freedman of the emperor Adrian, was born at Tralles in Lydia. He was author of several works; one of which was entitled The Olympiads, or A Collection of Olympiads and Chronicles, in sixteen books. It was a kind of general history of the world from the first to the two hundred and twenty-ninth olympiad, or to the times of Adrian. If the last olympiad was complete, as some think, it reached to the fourth year of Antoninus the pious: if it was incomplete, as others suppose, the work ended in the year 138, in which Adrian died; at which time I also place him. It was inscribed to Alcibiades, one of the body guards of Adrian: which may afford an argument that the work did not go lower than the reign of that emperor, and was published in the year 138, or soon after. Basnage speaks of Phlegon at the

year 141.

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I write not the history of Phlegon, or his works: I therefore refer to other learned moderns.

Out of the large work abovementioned, some passages have been alleged by ancient Christian writers, of which some notice must be taken here.

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II. Origen, in his books against Celsus, has this passage: However, Phlegon in the thirteenth, or, as I think, the fourteenth, book of his Chronicles, ascribes to Christ the knowledge ' of some future things; though he makes a mistake in the person, naming Peter instead of Jesus: and he allows that the things foretold came to pass.'

Upon this I must be allowed to say, first, that Origen seems to have trusted to his memory in this quotation. Secondly, If Phlegon named Peter instead of JESUS, it is a mark of carelessness and inaccuracy. Thirdly, We should have been glad to see this passage of Phlegon more at length; for want of which we cannot form any clear judgment about it. Fourthly, Phlegon was so credulous that his testimony concerning things of a marvellous kind must be of little

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J. Scaliger. Animadv. in Euseb. Chron. p. 185. Pagi ann. 136, n. viii, aliique.

Fabr. Bib. Gr. l. 4, c. 13. T. 3, p. 401.

Voss. de Hist. Gr. 1. 2, c. xi. Fabr. B. Gr. l. 4, c. 13. Tillemont. Adrien. art. 18. Dictionnaire de Bayle Phlegon.* 8 Φλεγων μεντοι εν τρισκαιδεκατῳ, η τεσσαρεσκαιδεκατῳ, οιμαι, των χρονικών, και την περι τινων μελλόντων προγνωσιν εδωκε τῳ Χρισῳ, συγχυθείς εν τοις περι Πέτρε, ὡς περὶ τὸ Ιησε· και εμαρτύρησεν ότι κατα τα ειρημένα υπ' αυτό τα λεγόμενα EYYTY, Contr. Cels. 1. 2, p. 69. al. sect. 14.

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