ABSTRACT
WE return now to the subject of persecution; and in doing so we notice a marked change in the temper of the times. The standing attitude of antagonism to the Church still held good. But it had always required three co-operating wills to make it take effect: the will of the Emperor, the will of the provincial governor, and the will of the populace. And the usual tendency was always to interpret the standing attitude in accordance with the views, expressed or divined, of the Emperor. Whereas in the first half of the century that interpretation had been consistently mild, during the second it swung from an extreme severity to a leniency hitherto unknown. We have only two emperors to consider: Marcus Aurelius (161-180) and his worthless son Commodus (180-192). It is the good ruler who was the bad persecutor.
