deprived of their goods. His wife Domitilla, a relative of the Emperor, was merely banished to Pandateria.!
Suetonius? describes Flavius Clemens as a man of contemptible inactivity—a conventional description of Christians 3—and says that he was put to death on the barest suspicion. Eusebius‘ asserts explicitly that Domitilla was banished with many others, because she bore witness to Christ. Probably the Christians were regarded as a Jewish sect who could not claim the privileges of Jews proper. Evidently the sect was proscribed. A Christian as such was liable to death, banishment, or confiscation of his goods. Domitian (as Eusebius® says) was the second persecutor of the Christian Church and made himself the heir of Nero’s battle with God. But according to Hegesippus,® as reported by Eusebius,’ Domitian stopped the persecution after examining the grandsons of Judas, the brother of Jesus.8
1]xvii. 14 (epitome of Xiphilinus): Kav τῷ αὐτῷ ἔτει (A.D. 95) ἄλλους τε πολλοὺς καὶ τὸν Φλάβιον Κλήμεντα ὑπατεύοντα, καίπερ ἀνεψιὸν ὄντα, καὶ γυναῖκα καὶ αὐτὴν συγγενῆ ἑαυτοῦ Φλαουίαν Δομιτίλλαν ἔχοντα, κατέσφαξεν 6 Δομετιανός' ἐπηνέχθη δὲ ἀμφοῖν ἔγκλημα ἀθεότητος, ὑφ᾽ ἧς καὶ ἄλλοι εἰς τὰ τῶν Ιουδαίων ἔθη ἐξοκέλλοντες πολλοὶ κατεδικάσθησαν, καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀπέθανον, οἱ δὲ τῶν γοῦν οὐσιῶν ἐστερήθησαν: ἡ δὲ Δομιτίλλα ὑπερωρίσθη µόνον εἰς Πανδατερίαν.
2 Domitian xv. Denique Elavium Clementem patruelum suum contemptissimae inertiae . . . repente ex tenuissima suspicione tantum non ipso eius consulatu interemit ; quo maxime facto maturavit sibi exilium.
’ Compare Tertullian’s Apology, xlii.: ‘‘Sed alio quoque iniuriarum titulo postulamur et infructuosi in negotiis dicimur. . . . Quomodo infructuosi videmur negotiis vestris, cum quibus et de quibus vivimus, non scio. Sed si carimonias tuas non frequento, attamen et illa die homo sum.”
4 Historiae ecclesiasticae, iii. 18: ‘eis τοσοῦτον δὲ dpa . . . ἡ τῆς ἡμετέρας πίστεως διέλαµπε διδασκαλία, ὡς καὶ τοὺς ἄποθεν τοῦ Kal’ ἡμᾶς λόγον συγγραφεῖς py ἀποκνῆσαι ταῖς αὐτῶν Ἱστορίαις τόν τε διωγμὸν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ μαρτύρια παρα- δοῦναι. οἵγε καὶ τὸν καιρὸν ἐπ᾽ ἀκριβὲς ἐπεσημῄναντο, ἐν ἔτει πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ Δομετιανοῦ μετὰ πλείστων ἑτέρων καὶ PAaviav Δομετίλλαν ἱστορήσαντες, ἐξ ἀδελφῆς γεγονυῖαν Φλανίου Κλήμεντος, ἑνὸς τῶν τηνικάδε ἐπὶ Ρώμης ὑπάτων, τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν μαρτυρίας ἕνεκεν, εἰς νῆσον Ποντίαν κατὰ τιµωρίαν δεδόσθαι.”
5 Historiae ecclesiasticae, iii. 17: ‘‘ Tis Νέρωνος θεοεχθρίας τε καὶ θεοµαχίας διάδοχον ἑαυτὸν κατεστήσατο. δεύτερος δῆτα τὸν Kad’ ἡμῶν ἀνεκίνει διωγμὸν, καίπερ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Οὐεσπασιανοῦ μηδὲν καθ’ ἡμῶν ἄτοπον ἐπινοήσαντος.”
Hegesippus was an Eastern—probably a native of Palestine. He visited Rome in the episcopate of Anicetus (? Α.Ρ. 155-156) and published his five books of Memoranda or Memoirs (ὑπομνήματα) in Α.Ρ. 180. See Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, i. pp. 483-490.
Historiae ecclesiasticae, iii, 20: “ép’ ols μηδὲν αὐτῶν κατεγνωκότα τὸν Δομετιανὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς ἐντελῶν καταφρονήσαντα, ἐλευθέρους μὲν αὐτοὺς dveivar, καταπᾶνσαι δὲ διὰ προστάγµατος τὸν κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας διωγµόν