{"pages":{"19":{"imagePath":"H:\\web_projects\\corpus-web\\electron-app\\data\\921e7f99953f555a4f26b1235b0554758ab4f962cb0db6f8874fb4d8fab3f862\\raw\\pages\\00023-93fec860e07783743e7c.webp","width":692,"height":1024,"segments":[{"text":"CHAPTER II","box":{"x":245,"y":181,"width":211,"height":15}},{"text":"THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND","box":{"x":86,"y":240,"width":526,"height":32}},{"text":"ITS BORDER TERRITORIES","box":{"x":89,"y":301,"width":518,"height":29}},{"text":"We should know nothing of the Christian centres founded","box":{"x":69,"y":388,"width":553,"height":20}},{"text":"throughout the Empire from the beginning of the second cen-","box":{"x":73,"y":411,"width":547,"height":21}},{"text":"tury onwards, were it not for a few passages dealing with the","box":{"x":73,"y":435,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"attitude of the imperial authority towards them. In the begin-","box":{"x":72,"y":458,"width":547,"height":22}},{"text":"ning this attitude was generally one of contempt based on the","box":{"x":71,"y":482,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"proud certitude that Graeco-Roman civilization had an out-","box":{"x":70,"y":506,"width":548,"height":20}},{"text":"standing, universal and imperishable value. It did not order","box":{"x":71,"y":529,"width":549,"height":23}},{"text":"persecutions a priori; it left Christians the choice between","box":{"x":71,"y":553,"width":547,"height":20}},{"text":"acceptance of the official worship or death. It is by means of","box":{"x":71,"y":576,"width":550,"height":23}},{"text":"the documents which give an account of the application of these","box":{"x":71,"y":601,"width":548,"height":20}},{"text":"regulations that we are able to follow the first trials and the","box":{"x":72,"y":623,"width":546,"height":22}},{"text":"first victories of Christianity.","box":{"x":72,"y":648,"width":250,"height":20}},{"text":"Were it not for the terrible persecution of 177, we should","box":{"x":87,"y":670,"width":531,"height":22}},{"text":"certainly not know that it had taken firm enough root in the","box":{"x":71,"y":694,"width":546,"height":22}},{"text":"Lyons region to give seven martyrs to the Church of Gaul:","box":{"x":68,"y":719,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"Blandina, Biblis, Pothinus, bishop of Lyons and a native of","box":{"x":68,"y":741,"width":551,"height":24}},{"text":"Asia Minor (he was ninety years old at the time), Maturus,","box":{"x":67,"y":766,"width":552,"height":22}},{"text":"Sanctus, Ponticus and Attalus (?). Irenaeus, Pothinus' suc-","box":{"x":71,"y":789,"width":545,"height":22}},{"text":"cessor, a Greek and also a native of Asia, suffered martyrdom","box":{"x":71,"y":813,"width":546,"height":21}},{"text":"about the year 200. A passage from one of his letters gives us","box":{"x":72,"y":837,"width":546,"height":23}},{"text":"a useful summary of the situation of Christianity in the early","box":{"x":70,"y":860,"width":548,"height":24}},{"text":"years of the third century. \"There are divers languages in the","box":{"x":69,"y":885,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"world, but the tradition of the faith is everywhere the same.","box":{"x":68,"y":907,"width":551,"height":23}},{"text":"The belief of the Churches of Germany is in no way different","box":{"x":70,"y":931,"width":547,"height":22}}]},"20":{"imagePath":"H:\\web_projects\\corpus-web\\electron-app\\data\\921e7f99953f555a4f26b1235b0554758ab4f962cb0db6f8874fb4d8fab3f862\\raw\\pages\\00024-bd5b8f0f2c5bb509ea4d.webp","width":692,"height":1024,"segments":[{"text":"20","box":{"x":68,"y":72,"width":28,"height":14}},{"text":"THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND ITS BORDER TERRITORIES","box":{"x":142,"y":74,"width":407,"height":14}},{"text":"from that of those in Iberia or among the Celts, or from that","box":{"x":71,"y":101,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"of those in Egypt and Palestine.\"","box":{"x":71,"y":124,"width":287,"height":23}},{"text":"Except during the reigns of Decius, Valerian and Diocletian,","box":{"x":87,"y":148,"width":532,"height":22}},{"text":"who openly persecuted the Christians, the third century was","box":{"x":68,"y":172,"width":551,"height":23}},{"text":"on the whole a period of toleration. The Edict of Valerian,","box":{"x":71,"y":196,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"withdrawing from the Christians the right to form burial boards","box":{"x":69,"y":219,"width":549,"height":21}},{"text":"which had been granted to them by Septimius Severus, was","box":{"x":70,"y":243,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"especially directed against the upper classes. Christianity was","box":{"x":70,"y":267,"width":550,"height":22}},{"text":"therefore making sufficient progress to worry the public","box":{"x":69,"y":292,"width":552,"height":23}},{"text":"authorities. The philosopher Porphyry (233-304), a commen-","box":{"x":70,"y":315,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"tator and disciple of Plotinus, drew attention to this and was","box":{"x":69,"y":339,"width":550,"height":21}},{"text":"scandalized by it: \"We come across them [the Christians]","box":{"x":71,"y":362,"width":548,"height":21}},{"text":"everywhere.\" Diocletian ordered the death penalty for civil","box":{"x":71,"y":386,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"servants who refused to abjure the Christian faith. Constantius","box":{"x":71,"y":409,"width":548,"height":21}},{"text":"Chlorus far from adopting the same attitude showed prefer-","box":{"x":68,"y":432,"width":550,"height":23}},{"text":"ence for these recalcitrant people. In his view, their resistance","box":{"x":69,"y":456,"width":549,"height":23}},{"text":"was a proof of their uprightness and fidelity. Lactantius men-","box":{"x":67,"y":480,"width":552,"height":22}},{"text":"tions a town in Phrygia where all the inhabitants, including","box":{"x":70,"y":504,"width":550,"height":22}},{"text":"the civil and military chiefs and all the civil serv servants, were","box":{"x":69,"y":528,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"Christians.","box":{"x":68,"y":552,"width":96,"height":17}},{"text":"Egypt and the part of Africa corresponding to the modern","box":{"x":87,"y":575,"width":532,"height":22}},{"text":"Tunisia were Christian. Christianity had taken root in Illyricum","box":{"x":70,"y":598,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"(now Yugoslavia), in Britain, along the Moselle, at Trier and","box":{"x":69,"y":624,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"Metz, along the Rhine (Cologne), at Lutetia, Rheims and in","box":{"x":69,"y":647,"width":551,"height":22}},{"text":"Spain.","box":{"x":69,"y":672,"width":59,"height":19}},{"text":"The situation varied from province to province. Christians","box":{"x":90,"y":692,"width":528,"height":24}},{"text":"were in the majority in Asia Minor, southern Thrace, Cyprus,","box":{"x":69,"y":717,"width":549,"height":23}},{"text":"Armenia and the kingdom of Edessa. Their numbers equalled","box":{"x":66,"y":741,"width":552,"height":22}},{"text":"those of the pagans in Syria, Egypt, Greece, central and","box":{"x":71,"y":765,"width":547,"height":23}},{"text":"southern Italy, in proconsular Africa, southern Gaul and Spain.","box":{"x":70,"y":789,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"Their number was small in Palestine, Phoenicia, Arabia, the","box":{"x":70,"y":812,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"Danubian provinces, northern and eastern Italy, Mauritania","box":{"x":67,"y":836,"width":551,"height":24}},{"text":"and Tripolitania. Finally, they were only a tiny minority in the","box":{"x":70,"y":859,"width":548,"height":23}},{"text":"former Philistia, on the north and north-west coasts of the","box":{"x":71,"y":884,"width":548,"height":21}},{"text":"Black Sea, in the extreme north-west of Italy, the centre and","box":{"x":69,"y":907,"width":550,"height":21}},{"text":"north of Gaul, Belgium, Germany and Britain.","box":{"x":71,"y":931,"width":413,"height":22}}]},"21":{"imagePath":"H:\\web_projects\\corpus-web\\electron-app\\data\\921e7f99953f555a4f26b1235b0554758ab4f962cb0db6f8874fb4d8fab3f862\\raw\\pages\\00025-d8a762254837a69d9827.webp","width":692,"height":1024,"segments":[{"text":"THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND ITS BORDER TERRITORIES","box":{"x":142,"y":74,"width":409,"height":14}},{"text":"21","box":{"x":596,"y":72,"width":26,"height":14}},{"text":"Constantine's victory over Maxentius (312) brought in its","box":{"x":88,"y":101,"width":532,"height":23}},{"text":"train the public recognition of Christianity. The attempted","box":{"x":70,"y":124,"width":550,"height":23}},{"text":"rejuvenation and humanization of paganism made by Julian","box":{"x":70,"y":149,"width":551,"height":23}},{"text":"the Apostate, who was Emperor from 361 to 363, came to","box":{"x":70,"y":172,"width":551,"height":22}},{"text":"nothing. Gratian (375-83) refused the title of Pontifex Maxi-","box":{"x":70,"y":196,"width":550,"height":22}},{"text":"mus, which his predecessors, including Constantine, had borne.","box":{"x":69,"y":219,"width":551,"height":23}},{"text":"The last defender of paganism, Symmachus, prefect of Rome,","box":{"x":69,"y":242,"width":552,"height":25}},{"text":"tried about the year 383 to restore the altar of the tutelary","box":{"x":68,"y":267,"width":552,"height":22}},{"text":"goddess of the city in the Senate House. Two years previously,","box":{"x":69,"y":289,"width":552,"height":24}},{"text":"a considerable number of senators had rejected a similar","box":{"x":71,"y":313,"width":550,"height":23}},{"text":"request and made it clear that they would no longer go to the","box":{"x":72,"y":338,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"Senate House if it were complied with. St Ambrose had only","box":{"x":70,"y":362,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"to recall this precedent for Symmachus' motion to be defeated.","box":{"x":67,"y":385,"width":553,"height":22}},{"text":"It was Ambrose who told the Emperors how they should","box":{"x":71,"y":410,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"behave in regard to Church affairs. A few years later, Theo-","box":{"x":69,"y":434,"width":550,"height":20}},{"text":"dosius promulgated anti-pagan legislation. Paganism, devoid","box":{"x":68,"y":457,"width":552,"height":21}},{"text":"of faith, as Mgr Batiffol has written, and increasingly a mere","box":{"x":69,"y":481,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"matter of form, had become secularized.","box":{"x":68,"y":503,"width":360,"height":21}},{"text":"Christianity, then, was preached to begin with by a handful","box":{"x":90,"y":528,"width":529,"height":22}},{"text":"of men, most of them very simple men. True, the Holy Spirit","box":{"x":68,"y":550,"width":549,"height":23}},{"text":"dwelt in them but who was aware of this? In slightly more","box":{"x":67,"y":575,"width":553,"height":22}},{"text":"than three centuries Christianity had succeeded in taking root","box":{"x":70,"y":598,"width":548,"height":23}},{"text":"throughout the Roman Empire. Bossuet considered this was","box":{"x":69,"y":622,"width":550,"height":22}},{"text":"the result of miracles greater even than those that accompanied","box":{"x":70,"y":645,"width":549,"height":23}},{"text":"the preaching of Jesus Christ. Miracles are God's business and","box":{"x":70,"y":669,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"beyond our grasp, but the historian may legitimately examine","box":{"x":68,"y":692,"width":551,"height":25}},{"text":"the human means used by the divine power to bring them","box":{"x":70,"y":716,"width":548,"height":23}},{"text":"about, in a word, the play of secondary causes.","box":{"x":71,"y":741,"width":411,"height":22}},{"text":"One of these appears in the Jewish communities which pro-","box":{"x":89,"y":765,"width":529,"height":21}},{"text":"vided the apostles with their first audiences. Side by side with","box":{"x":70,"y":788,"width":548,"height":23}},{"text":"the resident Hebrews, there were, as the Acts tell us, Greeks,","box":{"x":70,"y":811,"width":548,"height":21}},{"text":"that is, Hebrews who came from abroad and were not Pales-","box":{"x":71,"y":835,"width":547,"height":20}},{"text":"tinians. They were in many cases people of importance enjoy-","box":{"x":70,"y":859,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"ing a kind of monopoly in the economic life of the Empire.","box":{"x":72,"y":883,"width":548,"height":23}},{"text":"The Diaspora had scattered them abroad. But Rome had","box":{"x":71,"y":906,"width":549,"height":22}},{"text":"granted them a privileged status which allowed them the free","box":{"x":66,"y":929,"width":555,"height":23}}]},"22":{"imagePath":"H:\\web_projects\\corpus-web\\electron-app\\data\\921e7f99953f555a4f26b1235b0554758ab4f962cb0db6f8874fb4d8fab3f862\\raw\\pages\\00026-75cc845943873c8731aa.webp","width":692,"height":1024,"segments":[{"text":"22","box":{"x":73,"y":73,"width":25,"height":13}},{"text":"THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND ITS BORDER TERRITORIES","box":{"x":145,"y":73,"width":405,"height":13}},{"text":"practice of their religion. Strabo, who died in 25 B.C., said that","box":{"x":73,"y":100,"width":546,"height":24}},{"text":"it would have been difficult to find a place \"where this people","box":{"x":74,"y":124,"width":545,"height":23}},{"text":"had not been welcomed\". Their professional activities made","box":{"x":72,"y":147,"width":547,"height":22}},{"text":"those who became converts valuable propagators of the faith.","box":{"x":72,"y":171,"width":547,"height":23}},{"text":"We might even say that they put Catholicism \"on the map\",","box":{"x":70,"y":195,"width":550,"height":23}},{"text":"and all the more successfully because they were in the main","box":{"x":72,"y":218,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"incomparable apostles.","box":{"x":75,"y":243,"width":196,"height":23}},{"text":"In any case, the characteristic mark of the early Church was","box":{"x":92,"y":266,"width":526,"height":23}},{"text":"the apostolic zeal of its converts, whether of Jewish or pagan","box":{"x":72,"y":290,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"origin, patricians or members of the lower classes (and these","box":{"x":72,"y":313,"width":546,"height":23}},{"text":"were by far the most numerous). Pagan writers whose evidence","box":{"x":70,"y":337,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"cannot be gainsaid provide us with this information. Celsus is","box":{"x":72,"y":360,"width":546,"height":23}},{"text":"one example with his description of what he had seen in","box":{"x":72,"y":384,"width":548,"height":24}},{"text":"Roman families. He despised the Christians both because of","box":{"x":68,"y":408,"width":552,"height":21}},{"text":"their inferior social status and because they could neither read","box":{"x":69,"y":432,"width":550,"height":21}},{"text":"nor write, and he shows them insinuating themselves into the","box":{"x":71,"y":455,"width":547,"height":22}},{"text":"patrician families to do their work of conversion:","box":{"x":69,"y":479,"width":432,"height":23}},{"text":"As soon as they can take to one side the children or a few","box":{"x":105,"y":512,"width":513,"height":20}},{"text":"women as senseless as themselves, they begin to exhibit their","box":{"x":87,"y":535,"width":531,"height":20}},{"text":"wonderful wares. They are the only people worth believing. The","box":{"x":88,"y":555,"width":528,"height":20}},{"text":"father of the family and its teachers are gasbags, dunderheads,","box":{"x":91,"y":578,"width":527,"height":19}},{"text":"unable either to know what is good or to achieve it. [The bolder","box":{"x":88,"y":600,"width":528,"height":19}},{"text":"spirits do not hesitate to egg the children on to rebellion. They","box":{"x":89,"y":621,"width":528,"height":21}},{"text":"are to cast off their masters as soon as they can and listen to","box":{"x":89,"y":643,"width":527,"height":20}},{"text":"the good news] in the wool carder's, the cobbler's and the","box":{"x":90,"y":664,"width":526,"height":21}},{"text":"launderer's work places. There they will learn perfect wisdom.","box":{"x":89,"y":687,"width":527,"height":20}},{"text":"This is the way the Christians set about gaining converts.","box":{"x":87,"y":708,"width":469,"height":20}},{"text":"The work of conversion was confined to one spot in the case","box":{"x":88,"y":743,"width":528,"height":21}},{"text":"of some while for others it was done from place to place as is","box":{"x":69,"y":767,"width":546,"height":21}},{"text":"made clear in the following passage from Eusebius of","box":{"x":69,"y":790,"width":548,"height":22}},{"text":"Caesarea's Ecclesiastical History:","box":{"x":69,"y":815,"width":287,"height":19}},{"text":"They [the converts] began by following the Saviour's advice","box":{"x":105,"y":846,"width":511,"height":20}},{"text":"and distributing their goods to the poor. Then leaving their","box":{"x":87,"y":868,"width":528,"height":19}},{"text":"country behind them, they went forth to fulfil their mission as","box":{"x":87,"y":890,"width":527,"height":19}},{"text":"evangelists, their ambition to preach the word of faith to those","box":{"x":87,"y":912,"width":528,"height":19}},{"text":"who had as yet heard nothing of it, and to hand on the books","box":{"x":84,"y":932,"width":530,"height":20}}]}}}