Christians in general, this last charge was so clearly unfounded that it is not noticed even by Celsus and Lucian. The senseless accusation that they worship- ped an ass's head may have arisen, as Tertullian al- ready intimates, from a story of Tacitus respecting some Jews who were once directed by a wild ass to fresh water, and thus relieved from the torture of thirst ; and it is worth mentioning only to show how pas- sionate and blind was the opposition with which Chris- tianity in this period of persecution had to contend. " The apologetic literature began to appear under the reign of Hadrian, and continued to grow until the end of the fourth century. Most of the church teachers took part in this labor of their day. The first apolo- gies, by Quadratus, Aristides, and Aristo, addressed to the Emperor Hadrian (about A.D. 130), and the sim- ilar works of Melito of Sardis, Claudius Apollinaris of Hierapolis, and Miltiades, who lived under Marcus Aurelius, are either entirely lost, or preserved only in fragments. But the valuable apologetical works of the Greek philosopher and martyr, Justin (166), we possess. After him come, in the Greek Church, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, and Her- mias, in the last half of the second century, and Ori- gen, the ablest of all, in the first half of the third. The most important Latin apologists are Tertullian (about 220), Minucius Felix (between 220 and 230 ; ac- cording to some, between 161 and 180), and the elder Ar- nobius (q. v.) (about 300), all of North Africa. Here at once appears a characteristic difference between the Greek and the Latin minds. The Greek apologies are more learned and philosophical ; the Latin more practi- cal and juridical in their matter and style. The former labor to prove the truth of Christianity, and its adapt- edness to the intellectual wants of man ; the latter plead for its legal right to exist, and exhibit mainly its moral excellency and salutary effect upon society. The Latin also are, in general, more rigidly opposed to heathenism, while the Greek recognise in the Gre- cian philosophy a certain affinity to the Christian re- ligion. The apologies are addressed in some cases to the emperors (Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Au- relius) and the provincial governors, in others to the intelligent public. Their first object was to soften the temper of the authorities and people toward Chris- tianity and its professors by refuting the false charges against them. It may be doubted whether they ever reached the hands of the emperors ; at all events the persecution continued. Conversion commonly pro- ceeds from the heart and will, and not from the under- standing and from knowledge. No doubt, however, these writings contributed to dissipate prejudice among honest and susceptible heathens, and to induce more favorable views of the new religion. Yet the chief service of this literature was to strengthen believers and advance theological knowledge. It brought the church to a deeper and clearer sense of the peculiar nature of the Christian religion, and prepared her thenceforth to vindicate it before the tribunal of reason and philosophy, The apologists did not confine them- selves to the defensive, but carried the war aggres- sively into the territory of Judaism and heathen- ism" (Method st Quarterly Review, Oct. 1868, art. viii). Clemens Alexandrinus (f 220) is also classed among the apologists (Stromata; Cohortntio). He admits the value of heathen philosophy as a preparation for Chris- tianity, and asserts that Christianity fully satisfies the legitimate demands of the human intellect. Here belong also, in part, at least, Eusebius (f 370) of Ca?- sarea's irpoTrapaaxtvii and ct—6Sti^ig tv«yyt\iKr), Ath- anasius's Aoyoc Kara 'EXXtjj/wv and jrepi rijg amv- £()(U7r//cr{iuc row \6yov ; and Cyril (f 444) of Alex- andria's ten books against Julian, in which he gives, as a reason for the late appearance of Christianity, that the progress of revelation had to be parallel with the cultivation of mankind. Augustine's (f 430) De civitate Dei is a great attempt to consider Christian-
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Ity as realizing the idea of ■?■ divine plan and order for I the world, as containing the immanent idea of the world and its history (Smith's Hagenhach, § 117). Augustine showed the relations of reason and faith, philosophy and religion, with a skill that has never been surpassed (Shedd, Hist, of Doctrines, i, 1G2 sq.). The Commonitorium of Vincentius Lirinensis (f 450) is also, in part, apologetic. On this period, besides the works already cited, see Reeves, The Apologies of Justin. Tertullian, Minucius Felix, and Vincentius, with Preliminary Discourses (London, 1709, 2 vols. Svo) ; Semisch, Life of Justin Martyr, transl. by Ry- land (Edinb. 1843, 18mo) ; Woodham, Tertulliani Liber Apologeticus, with Essay on the early Apologists (Camb. 1843, 8vo); Freppel, Les Apo'ogistes Chretiens du line Siecle (Paris, 18GI, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Houtteville, La Re- I'ginn prouvee par des Faits (Paris, 1722) ; one part of which, translated, is, A Critical and Historical Discourse on the Method of the Authors for awl against Christian- ity (Lond. 1739, 8vo) ; Bolton, The Evidences of Chris- tianity in the Writings of the Apologists down to Augus- tine (New York, 1854, Svo) ; Kaye, Ecclesiastical His- tory illustrated from Tertullian (Camb. 3d edit. 1845, Svo) ; Kaye, Justin Martyr (Lond. 1836, 8vo) ; Kaye, Clement of A lexandria (1835, Svo) ; Lardner, Works (vol. ii); Farrar, Grit. Hist, of Free Thought (note 49) ; Prcssense, Histoire des Trois Premiers Si'ecles de V Eglise (vols, i and ii); Otto, Corpus Apolog'fanim christiano- rum smculi secundi, vol. i-viii, containing the works of Justin, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus (Jena, 1847- '61); and other works named under Apologetics.