ABSTRACT
OF all the institutions which developed in the Roman Empire during the period with which this volume deals, none was to be more permanent or to have a more profound effect upon subsequent history than the Christian Church, whose beginnings coincided almost exactly with those of the Principate. 1 Yet superficially at any rate Christianity did not play a very important rôle in the history of the first century and a half of our era. References to it are sporadic and casual, 2 the most noteworthy being in the reign of Nero when the first recorded persecution of Christians by the Roman government occurred The brutalities perpetrated by Nero have left a widespread misconception of official policy towards Christianity. It is popularly believed that the imperial government with unceasing and uncompromising cruelty ruthlessly persecuted a band of saints and martyrs. This is not the case. Even in the third century a.d., the century of the great persecutions, government action against the Christians was far from being continuous. In our period not only did the central government fail to take steps against the new religion immediately it made its appearance, it also failed to universalize Nero’s policy.
