THE NEW SCr
;HAFr-HERZOG
deprived of the possibility of emancipation. The churches were to bo demolished, the Scriptures were to be surrendered and burned, and religious meetings were prohibited. On the same day the destruction of the basilica of Nicomedia was begun and the Scriptures were publicly burned. Before the movement became general, however, a Nicomedian official scornfully tore the edict down, and the palace was twice set on fire, the incendiary, according to the Christians, being Galcrius, who hoped thus to impel the emperor to more drastic measures. Rebellions broke out in Armenia and Syria, and were naturally laid to the charge of the Christians. That the latter resolved upon active resistance and rebellion lacks justification, although it is not impossible that individuals, either secretly or openly, aided the usurpers in the East. The effect, however, could not but be unfavorable upon Diocletian's mind. A second edict was issued, similar to that of Decius, decreeing the imprisonment of all the cleigy. Diocletian's original injunction forbidding the effusion of blood was soon forgotten in the general tumult. The multitude of prisoners caused no little trouble, and a new decree enacted that the sacrifice required by the second edict should be exacted by all means. In 304 another edict universalized the decree concerning sacrifice and abolished the distinction between clergy and laity, aiming primarily to detach the latter, who were far inferior to the clergy in zeal for the Church. Patient persuasion was also employed, and steadfast refusal led to punishment, torture, and execution. In many cases the decree was only superficially enforced. The leading spirit in all these events was Galerius; Maximian was a minor figure; and Constant ius, already in sympathy with the Christians, was as conservative as possible, contenting himself with the demolition of buildings.
On May 1, 305, Diocletian abdicated and forced ^laximian to do the same. Their places were filled by the Augusti, Galerius and Constantius, the new Ca?sars being Maximinus Daza, a nephew of Galerius, who received Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and Severus, an uneducated officer of low birth, who received Italy, Africa, and
The End Pannonia. The \\'est remained peaceof the Per- ful, but in the East the persecution
secution. was rendered still more severe by tlie measures of Maximinus. Constantius died July 25, 306, and the army proclaimed his son Constantine Augustus. The ultimate outcome of rebellions and wars was the victory of Constantino at the Milvian Bridge, Oct. 2S, 312, and soon afterward the so-called religious decree of Milan brought peace to the Church in the West (see Constantine THE Great). Meanwhile the situation had changed in the East; circumstances compelled Galerius to cease from persecuting, and toward the end of Apr., 311, he and his coregent issued an edict in which they admitted the inefficiency of their efforts to restore religious uniformity. This was the first decree which officially recognized the C'liristian religion in the Poman empire, although the vagueness of the clause, " yet so as that they offend not against gootl order,'' left a loophole for the St;ite. In the autumn, however, when scarcely six months
had elapsed, Maximinus, now being the oldest Augustus, renewed the persecution. Christians were inhumanly mutilated and executed. The customary funeral services in the cemeteries were forbidden, possibly on the pretext that they were a cloak for immorality; religious meetings and the building of churches were prohibited; and delegates of the cities petitioned for the exclusion of the Christians. The defeat and death of Maxentius, the insignificant but ambitious son of Maximian, who had overthrown Severus, suddenly changed the situation, and the victorious Constantine advised Maximinus to cease oppressing the Christians. The result was a circular letter addressed by Maximinus in the latter part of 312, prohibiting the use of violence against Christians. On Apr. 30,313, Maximinus was defeated in Thrace by Licinianus Licinius and forced to retire to Nicomedia. There, where the persecutions had been begun, an edict of toleration was issued on June 13, proclaiming the principle of religious liberty with special regard to the Christians. Every invidious distinction which still existed was abolished, and all property, including the confiscated places of assembly, was to be restored at once to the Church as a legal person. Licinius assisted in rebuilding churches, while Maximinus retired beyond the Taurus and issued a new edict emphasizing his later measures. Soon afterward he died, imploring the help of Christ in his agony and despair. All memorials of him were destroyed by the victor, and his wife and children, together with the wife and daughter of Diocletian and other relati\ es and adherents of the fallen dynasty, were murdered with shameful barbarity. Thus ended the ten years of the Diocletian persecution.
In his retirement Diocletian witnessed aU these events, but every effort to induce him to leave Salona for public life was in vain. After a long and painful illness he died, perhaps by his own hand, and was buried in the splendid mausoleum of his palace. The bitter hostility of Christian writers toward him is readily intelligible. He was the
cause of the longest and bloodiest Its persecution which the Church ex- Results, perienced, and its continuation by his
successors was regarded as his legacy. In a rapid series of edicts of increasing severity this persecution oppressed the congregations and resulted in a refinement of cruelty which surpassed all that had gone before. The effect of the first decree, which interfered so deeply with civic life, was tremendous. The reaction, both contemporary and subsequent, against apostasy produced Donatism in Africa and Meletianism in Egypt, besides causing schisms of more or less importance in many other places. Flight was not considered apostasy by the Church, and it frequently afforded a means of safety, though there were many who endured torture, imprisonment, reproach, and death. The enthusiasm for martyrdom imluced some to anticipate their trial by a self-chosen death, and women and \'irgins preferred suicide lo dishonor. Selfaccusation and violent drnunciation of heathenism also took place, while life itself was considered less valuable than the safety of the Scriptures. The