Roman Empire In Turmoil 180-285 by Sanderson BeckBECK indexRoman Empire In Turmoil 180-285 Commodus 180-192 and PertinaxSeverus Dynasty 193-235Roman Wars 235-285Judah and the MishnahIrenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and CyprianClement of Alexandria and OrigenMani and ManichaeismPlotinus and Neo-PlatonismLiterature in the Third Century This chapter has been published in the book ROMAN EMPIRE 30 BC to 610. For ordering information, please click here. Commodus 180-192 and Pertinax Marcus Aurelius 161-180The line of better Roman Emperors chosen by ability and experienceended in 180 when Commodus, the son of MarcusAurelius, became sole Emperor at his father's death. Bornin 161, Commodus was the first Roman Emperor to be born whilehis father was Emperor. The Stoiceducation provided by the Emperor had little appeal to Commodus,who was more interested in fighting as a gladiator, killing animals,and enjoying sensuality. He abandoned his father's ambition toannex territory north of the Danube and quickly made peace withthe Marcomanni and the Quadi, gaining 13,000 soldiers from theQuadi and forbidding them from fighting the Iazyges, Buri, andthe Vandals. Rome also made peace with the Buri, regaining captivesfrom them and 15,000 from others.Commodus returned to Rome in triumph and began his dissoluteactivities. His associates he sent to rule the provinces wereso corrupt that he soon alienated the Senate. A conspiracy in182 was given away when Pompeianus approached Commodus with asword saying, "This dagger the Senate sends."1 Pompeianusand four conspirators were executed. The power of Saoterus wasso hated by the people that the prefects of the guard murderedhim. Tigidius Perennis accused Paternus of instigating this; heand several prominent figures were put to death, while otherswere punished with exile. Commodus stopped appearing in publicas he indulged in banquets, baths, and pleasure with 300 concubines,as many young men, and in brothels. Perennis was allowed to subvertthe laws by executing men and confiscating their wealth for himselfand Commodus. Many senators and rich women were killed withouttrials, and rich provincials were robbed. The sister of Commodus,Lucilla, was exiled to Capri and then killed for having conspiredwith her husband Pompeianus.An inscription from 182 indicates that Commodus tried to limitforced labor on imperial estates in Africa to six days. Four yearslater regular shipment of African produce to Rome was instituted.In Britain Roman forces led by Ulpius Marcellus lost and regainedthe Antonine wall in 184; but this was abandoned the next yearwhen he and his successor Helvius Pertinax faced army mutinies.Perennis was lynched by soldiers for dismissing senators and appointingknights as commanders. Commodus replaced Perennis with Cleandar,an imperial slave who rose to become the richest chamberlain everby selling government offices and confiscating wealth, appointingas many as 25 consuls for the year 190. Burrus, the brother-in-lawof Commodus, was killed by Cleandar for reporting to the Emperorwhat Cleandar was doing, as were several for defending Burrus.Finally Papirius Dionysius, the grain commissioner, caused a faminein 190 so that hungry Romans would destroy Cleandar. The Emperor'sChristian concubine Marcia pleaded with Commodus, and he had Cleandarand his son executed to stop the rebellion.Commodus had been treated for illness and trained to be a gladiatorby the physician Galen, who was from Pergamum, a city in AsiaMinor with an outstanding library and a healing shrine of Asclepius.Galen (c. 130-c. 200) developed the theories of Hippocratesby practicing on gladiators and studying anatomy by vivisectionin Alexandria, though not a single human skeleton was availablewhen he came to Rome because of religious restrictions. Galen,whose medical influence was to last more than a millennium, developeda pharmacy of 540 medicines from plants, 180 from animals, and100 from minerals. During the short reign of Pertinax Galen wrotean Exhortation to the Study of the Arts, Especially Medicinein which he advised students against seeking riches and the professionsof male prostitutes and athletes. Galen also cited Christiansto support his argument that even non-philosophers could achievegood behavior similar to the philosophical ideal.Getting himself declared divine as Hercules, Commodus delightedin killing wild beasts in the arena, and he killed many people,often for petty reasons. His arrogance knew few bounds as he renamedRome Commodiana as his colony and changed the names of the months.He tried to remain popular by giving 140 denarii to eachperson, while ordering senators in other cities to contributefive denarii each every year on his birthday. Imperialauthority was maintained by the use of secret police and the army.Commodus murdered many prominent men such as prefect Julianus,commissioner Dionysius, his own nephew Antoninus, and severalex-consuls. When Marcia, the prefect Laetus and chamberlain Eclectuslearned they were about to be killed as Commodus was moving tolive with the gladiators in the barracks, Marcia poisoned Commodus.After he vomited this, they sent an athlete named Narcissus, whostrangled him in a bath on the last day of 192.After Commodus was assassinated, Laetus and Eclectus took HelviusPertinax, 66, to the praetorian camp, where he promised the guardsa donative of 12,000 sesterces each. Pertinax was probably chosen,because he had held more high offices than anyone; he may havesurvived, because he had gained less wealth than anyone. Pertinaxtold the Senate he wanted to resign; but they declared him Emperorand Commodus a public enemy. Pertinax treated the Senate democratically,and he was declared its chief according to ancient practice. Herestored the rights of innocent victims, removed the stigma againstthose unjustly executed, and vowed never to sanction the deathpenalty for senators. The imperial treasury had been reduced toless than a million sesterces. So Pertinax sold imperial luxuriessuch as statues, arms, horses, furniture, and slaves while cuttingpalace expenditures in half. Oppressive taxes and restrictionson commerce were canceled. Those improving uncultivated Italianlands were exempted from tribute for ten years. The praetoriansgot what they were promised, and the people received 100 denariieach.Not getting what he wanted, Laetus incited soldiers, who wereno longer allowed to plunder; after only 86 days on the thronethey murdered Emperor Pertinax and his loyal Eclectus. City prefectSulpicianus, father-in-law of Pertinax, aimed to take the throne;but he was outbid by the wealthy Didius Julianus, who promisedthe praetorian guards 25,000 sesterces and gave them 30,000 each,saying he would restore the honor of Commodus. The Senate andpeople loathed Julianus, because they believed Pertinax was reformingthe abuses of the Commodus era, and many believed the soldierskilled Pertinax for money.Severus Dynasty 193-235Pescennius Niger, the Roman governor in Syria, was urged bythose in Asia to assume the throne, and Julianus ordered him killed.Septimius Severus, commanding in Pannonia, shrewdly sent a letterto Britain governor Clodius Albinus, declaring him Caesar, andmarched for Rome. Julianus got the Senate to declare Severus apublic enemy and fortified the palace, putting to death Laetusand Marcia. Meanwhile Severus not only won over most of Europe,he even persuaded those sent by Julianus to kill him. The desperateJulianus tried to share the throne with Severus; but the Senatesentenced Julianus to death, declared Severus Emperor, and bestoweddivine honors on Pertinax. Julianus was executed in the palaceafter reigning 66 days.Severus executed the praetorians, who had murdered Pertinax,and dismissed the guards, who had failed to prevent this. Severusalso promised not to execute senators; but he was the first toviolate this law by murdering Julius Solon, the senator who framedit. Severus was blamed for making Rome turbulent with many non-Italiantroops and excessive expenditures on the army, though he was popularas the avenger of Pertinax. Severus was born in Africa on April11 in 145 and rose in a military career. He punished magistratesproved guilty by provincials and secured the grain supply. Severusled his army against the forces of Niger and Aemilianus in a briefcivil war. His generals defeated and killed Aemilianus in theHellespont; then they besieged Byzantium. Severus defeated Nigerat Issus, where 20,000 Romans died according to Dio Cassius; Nigerwas killed retreating from Antioch to the Euphrates. Severus punishedsupporters of Niger, crossed the Euphrates, and in 195 broughtthe Parthians and Adiabenians under Roman authority, though DioCassius complained this military conquest cost more than it gained.Byzantium was starved into surrender after three years. Its magistratesand soldiers were put to death; its walls were demolished, andits privileges were suppressed as it was subjected to nearby Perinthus.Suspecting Albinus, Severus had his army in Mesopotamia declarehim a public enemy and headed for Rome. Though both Albinus andSeverus were born in Africa, Severus was only an equestrian, andAlbinus was educated in the school of MarcusAurelius. Yet Severus got the Senate in Rome to denounce Albinus,who had crossed the channel from Britain with three legions andauxiliaries, defeating Roman forces led by Lupus. This civil warwas won by the army of Severus at Lugdunum (Lyons), where accordingto Dio 150,000 from each side fought. Albinus committed suicide,and the city was sacked and burned in 197. Severus returned toRome and executed 29 senators who had supported Albinus. Severushad his son Antoninus (later called Caracalla) confirmed as Caesar.When Parthian king Vologases besieged Nisibis, Severus launchedanother campaign against the Parthians, relieved Nisibis, tookSeleucia and Babylon, and plundered Ctesiphon (enslaving perhaps100,000); but he failed to capture Hatra. In 199 Severus visitedEgypt.Severus returned to Rome, where Praetorian Prefect Plautianuswas exercising great power over finances and even laws. In 203Severus visited his native Leptis Magna in Africa, promoting municipaland cultural activities there. Severus returned to Rome to celebratesecular games the next year, spending a record 200,000,000 sesterceson the people. The coinage was debased, as the denariuswas now less than half silver. Severus gained popularity by movingthe postal service from private individuals to the imperial government.Plautianus was accused of plotting against the Emperor and waskilled by an attendant of Caracalla. The eminent lawyer Papinianbecame praetorian prefect in 203 until 212 and was known for equityand humaneness. Caracalla and his brother Geta felt free to indulgein women and boys, embezzle money, and associate with gladiators.Dio described how for two years 600 bandits led by Bulla robbedtravelers on Italian roads. Before being thrown to wild beasts,Bulla observed his band was large, because slaves were mistreated,and freedmen were underpaid. Severus paid soldiers well and relaxeddiscipline, allowing them to live with their wives and expectfrequent donatives. Severus added two legions in Mesopotamia andone in Italy, and he put provincials in the praetorian guard.In Britain Hadrian's wall was improved so much that later generationsbelieved it was built by Severus. Suffering from gout or arthritis,Severus was carried in a litter on the British campaign in 208when they invaded the Caledonians in the north, though it mayhave cost the Romans 50,000 men. Geta was raised to equal rankwith his ambitious brother Caracalla (Antoninus), who tried tokill their aging father; Severus punished others but not his son.When Septimius Severus died of illness in 211, his two sons mistrustedeach other and divided the palace. Caracalla refused to dividethe empire though, and the next year he had Geta murdered whileclinging to their mother's arms. The distinguished jurist Papinianrefused to justify this fratricide and was killed, along withabout 20,000 others suspected of being sympathetic to Geta ora threat to the paranoid Emperor. The guilt-stricken Caracallaoften had visions of his angry father and brother.Caracalla restored the rights of Antioch and Byzantium thathad been taken away by Septimius Severus for supporting Niger.Caracalla placated the soldiers by raising their pay from 500to 750 denarii; but he had to debase the coins furtherand double most taxes. An edict of 212 extended Roman citizenshipto all free men in the empire, broadening the tax base. Caracallaalso wasted money on wild beasts he liked to kill in arenas. Althoughhe was more adulterous than any, Caracalla had adulterers executedin violation of the law. In addition to murdering many prominentmen, Caracalla sent others to cold or hot provinces where theirhealth would fail. After defeating the Alamanni in Lower Moesia,in the east he tricked Osroeni king Abgarus to visit as a friendand imprisoned him in order to subdue the Osroene in 216. Thenhe did the same thing to the Armenian king, thereafter losingany trust he might have had. Believing he was the reincarnationof the Macedonian Alexander,Caracalla went to Egypt, where he had thousands of seditious Alexandriansslaughtered while he reported to the Senate he was performing"purification rites." While the Emperor was abroad,senators were expected to erect palaces and theaters for expensiveentertainment. Finally while on a pilgrimage from Edessa to thelunar temple at Carrhae, Caracalla was assassinated by the disgruntledsoldier Martialis.The assassin was killed immediately, and Praetorian PrefectOpellius Macrinus, promising to give the army money and end theburdensome war, became Emperor and took his young son Diadumenusas colleague, ordering soldiers to name his son Antoninus. Thecredibility of Macrinus suffered when it was learned he had organizedthe assassination even though he denied it. When the angry ParthianArtabanus invaded Mesopotamia, Macrinus was unable to pacify him,and the Roman army was defeated near Nisibis. Macrinus made peaceby paying Artabanus 200,000,000 sesterces, and the war with Armeniaended when Macrinus sent Tiridates a crown. The harsh disciplineof Macrinus in a winter camp, crucifying soldiers and decimatinghis legions, alienated them so quickly that after one year troopsdeserted to Elagabalus. Macrinus tried to appease his soldiersby giving them money; but he was defeated and put to death outsideof Antioch in 218.Named after a Syrian sun cult of which he was priest, Elagabalus(Heliogabalus) was put forward by his grandmother Maesa as theson of Caracalla. The army unusually gathered in Syria was wonover to his cause. After defeating Macrinus, Elagabalus enteredAntioch and promised each soldier 2,000 sesterces to prevent themfrom sacking the city. Elagabalus trampled on Roman traditionby assuming tribunician and proconsular powers even before theywere decreed by the Senate. He transferred a sacred black stonefrom Emesa to Rome and tried to make his religion dominant overall others. Elagabalus limited reprisals but soon slid into extraordinarysensuality, murdering those who criticized him. He married a Vestalvirgin and several others. His banquets were orgies of rare foodsalternating with sexual pleasures. Elagabalus dressed as a woman,even married "husbands," and played the role of a prostituteas he made lust the principal occupation of his life. Honors,ranks, and powers were sold by him and his lusted agents for money,even positions such as senators, tribunes, generals, legates,and procurators. It was reported that his religious sacrificesincluded noble Italian boys.Elagabalus' cousin Alexander Severus had been declared Caesarand soon became an alternative to the Emperor's shameful lifestyle.Alexander was protected by soldiers, who warned Elagabalus todismiss the foul persons and return to a decent life. While plottingagainst Alexander, Elagabalus ordered the Senate to leave Rome.The rhetorician Silvinus was killed, though the jurist Ulpianwas saved. Finally in 222 soldiers killed Elagabalus in a latrineand threw his body in the Tiber.The Roman Senate immediately bestowed the imperial titles andpower on Alexander Severus. As he was born October 1, 208 andwas only 13, his grandmother Maesa until her death in 226 andhis mother Mamaea acted as regents. A council of seventy includedsixteen senators and was headed by the distinguished jurist DomitiusUlpian as praetorian prefect. Ulpian reformed the many violationsof Elagabalus and wrote massive works on Roman law. He wrote thatall human beings are born free, thus making slavery unnatural.Yet the loss of privileges eventually led the praetorians to murderUlpian in 228. Iulius Paulus was another great jurist who waspraetorian prefect under Alexander. Paulus emphasized that theEmperor should set an example by obeying the laws, and he wrotethe voluminous Opinions (Sententiae).During the reign of Alexander colleges of industries and tradeswere organized to provide for the needs of Rome, and welfare institutionswere extended. Many were exempted from taxes, including officials,soldiers, college guilds, ship-owners, firemen, those over seventy,women, fathers of five children, veterans, doctors, teachers,and philosophers. Taxes thus fell heavily on farmers and workersin the lower classes. Alexander loaned public money at only fourpercent, and to the poor he even advanced cash to purchase landwithout any interest at all. Elagabalus had wasted grain; butAlexander purchased it at his own expense and restored the supply.Coins indicate that at least five times Emperor Alexander Severusdistributed grain or money to the people.The imperial life of Alexander offered a striking contrastto his predecessor as he practiced self-discipline, study, instructivediscussion, and public service. Elagabalus had allowed both sexesto mix at public baths, but Alexander ended that indulgence. Hecould be severe especially on thieves. His friend Turinus usedhis position to sell favors. The Emperor ordered him bound toa stake and suffocated by smoke, because he had been a "sellerof smoke." The palace was open to all, but only those withinnocent minds were invited to enter. Alexander sent the Syriansun-god back to Emesa and tolerated all religions, respectingthe rights of Jews and tolerating Christians, since he believedeach is an expression of universal truth. Along with statues ofdeified Emperors were represented the holy souls of Abraham, Orpheus,Christ, and Apollonius of Tyana. Alexanderhad heard the golden rule from a Jew or Christian, and when disciplininganyone he told the herald to announce that what you do not wishanyone to do to you, you should not do to them. This saying wasalso inscribed on public buildings.The discipline of Alexander and his commanders, like historianDio Cassius in Pannonia, was not popular with a corrupted army.Mutinies against his officers had to be put down in Illyricum,Mauretania, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Germany. Dio was saved byretiring to write history in 229. Artabanus V of the Arsacid dynastyin Parthia, weakened by the invasion of Septimius Severus andothers, was overthrown in 224 by the Persian Ardashir (Artaxerxes),who founded the Sassanian dynasty as king of kings two years later.In 230 the Persians, setting out to regain their ancient empirewith Magian zeal, besieged Nisibis. Diplomatic efforts failedas Persia insisted on reclaiming all of western Asia. Their 400elegant emissaries were seized by Alexander and sent to farm inPhrygia. Alexander and his mother launched a campaign in alliancewith Armenian king Chosroes by invading through Armenia, Mesopotamia,and Babylon. The three separate Roman armies enabled the Persiansto destroy the central one. Alexander retreated to Antioch asdisease, hunger, and cold added to the disastrous war. The needfor legions in the west caused the Romans to end the war againstPersia without a settlement in 233, and the next year a campaignwas prepared against the Alamanni.Julius Verus Maxininus was put in charge of training on theUpper Rhine. Alexander and his mother joined the army at Mainzand began negotiating cash payments. Troops resented this, andPannonian recruits proclaimed Maxininus Emperor. The army of AlexanderSeverus deserted him, and he and his mother were killed in 235.Roman Wars 235-285Maxininus was a Thracian who rose to equestrian rank in themilitary. He began his reign crushing two mutinies in the northby putting to death senator Magnus and as many as 4,000 others.Maxininus used his army to defeat German resistance, and in 236and 237 they fought the Sarmatians and Dacians. Lacking educationand culture, Maxininus stayed away from Italy, refused to seesuch people, and even had those who revealed his obscure backgroundkilled. With an extensive spy network senatorial officers wereespecially proscribed as much property was confiscated. Moneyhad to be found, because he doubled soldiers' pay, and militaryneeds such as road-building were promoted. He also appropriatedornaments from public places and temples, which often caused tumultand massacres. In opposing those who had supported Alexander,Maxininus ordered Christians persecuted.In Africa the imperial procurator was killed in Thysdrus attemptingto gather taxes. In 238 the 80-year-old proconsul Antonius GordianusSempronianus was proclaimed Augustus (Emperor), and at Carthagehe appointed his son co-Emperor. Envoys were sent to Rome andkilled praetorian commander Vitalianus, allowing the Senate toconfirm the Gordians' imperial titles. Romans turned against supportersof Maxininus and killed city prefect Sabinus. Twenty consuls weresent out to the provinces to defend the new Emperors. However,Numidian governor Capellianus had a grudge against Gordian andremained loyal to Maxininus; when his troops killed Gordian II,his aged father committed suicide.The Roman Senate quickly elected two of the twenty, PupienusMaximus and Caelius Balbinus, as Emperors. The people dislikedformer city prefect Pupienus and demonstrated until the elderGordian's grandson, Antonius Gordianus, was named Caesar, and250 denarii was given to each citizen. Pupienus organizedan army in north Italy while Balbinus governed in Rome. Maxininusgave a donative and marched his army across the Alps into northernItaly, finding no food in the abandoned land but meeting resistanceat Aquileia. While besieging this city, the northern army's disciplinebroke down, and soldiers, who had family and property in Alba,murdered Maxininus, his son, prefect Anulinus, and other officers.Pupienus was supported by German soldiers, because he had beena conscientious governor of their province. He arrived and gavethe rebel army amnesty and a donative, dismissing them to theirstations. Pupienus returned triumphantly to Rome, where recalcitrantpraetorian guards ended friction between the two Emperors by capturingthem and murdering both in their camp. The guards proclaimed the13-year-old Gordian III Emperor.Little is known about who advised the young Gordian until PraetorianPrefect Timesitheus took control in 241; but a 238 decree indicatesadministration by provincial governors was given authority evenin judicial matters over military courts, and local rights overfinances were regained. A rebellion led by Sabinianus in Carthagewas quelled by the governor of Mauretania in 240. Having diversegovernment experience in many provinces, Timesitheus continuedextensive building of roads, and lines of forts were erected inNumidia and Mauretania. In the east Persians had overrun Mesopotamiaand taken Nisibis and Carrhae. Shapur I succeeded his father Ardashirin 242, quelling rebellions by the Chorasmians, mountain Medes,Gelae, Dailamites, and Hyrcanians. Then Shapur invaded Syria,threatening Antioch. Gordian and Timesitheus mobilized the Danubianarmy, and the latter defeated Carpi raiders in Thrace. In 243they drove the Persians out of Syria, regaining Carrhae and Nisibis;Edessa was made a Roman colony. When Timesitheus died of illnessor perhaps poison, he was succeeded as praetorian prefect by anArabian named Philip.The ambitious Philip blamed commissariat problems on Gordianand had the Emperor murdered, writing the Senate he had died ofdisease. The soldiers proclaimed Philip Emperor in 244, and hemade a peace treaty with Shapur. Philip led troops against unrestin Moesia and Dacia before returning to Rome to celebrate itsmillennium with secular games in 248. Excessive taxes and oppressivegovernment by Philip's brother C. Julius Priscus in Mesopotamiastimulated rebellions led by Jotapianus in Cappadocia and Emesapriest-king Sulpicius Uranius Antoninus in Syria. In the lowerDanube region Pacatianus led a revolt. Philip was so discouragedhe wanted to abdicate; but instead the confident Decius was givensupreme command in Moesia and Pannonia. Pacatianus was soon killedby his own soldiers, and in 249 the successful Decius was compelledby the army to become Emperor. The ill Philip marched north tomeet Decius but was defeated and killed in battle. The son ofPhilip was put to death in Rome by the praetorians, and the Senaterecognized Decius.Attempting to restore Roman virtue, Decius appointed Valeriancensor and required traditional sacrifices, causing a seriousthough brief persecution of Christians. In Rome Senator Licinianusattempted to become Emperor but was soon killed, and the two sonsof Decius were proclaimed Augusti. Invading Goths brought Deciusto the Danube. The Goths retreated but besieged Philippopolisin Thrace. The Gothic king Cniva defeated and killed Decius andhis older son at Abrittus in 251. Thrace governor T. Julius Priscushad surrendered mutinous troops to the Goths at Philippopolisand briefly claimed to be Emperor also. 100,000 people in thecity were reported to have been massacred. Since Hostilianus,the surviving son of Decius, was a child, Moesia governor C. TrebonianusGallus was proclaimed Emperor by his troops. Gallus in a weakposition allowed the Goths to carry off much of the populationand wealth of Thrace. He adopted Hostilianus as his son but wasblamed when the boy was carried off by a plague that was to sweepacross the empire for the next fifteen years.Aemilius Aemilianus, governing Pannonia and Moesia, won victoriesagainst the Goths north of the Danube and was proclaimed Emperor.The army of Aemilianus so outnumbered that of Gallus that thelatter was killed by his own troops. Aemilianus lasted only threemonths, meeting a similar fate to that of Gallus after he summonedValerian's Rhine legions, who proclaimed him Emperor. Valeriangot the Senate to declare his son Gallienus as his colleague andAugustus in September 253.The next year Gallienus led an army that drove back the Alamanni;as he fought five wars with the Germans in five years, he residedmostly at Cologne. In 256 the Franks, formed out of Cherusci andChatti, invaded most of Gaul, while Saxons began raiding the EnglishChannel. As Valerian headed east to confront the Persians, persecutionof Christians resumed. Meanwhile the Goths plundered rich citieslike Chalcedon, Nicomedia, Trebizond, Cyzicus, and eventuallyeven Athens. In 259 the Persians defeated and captured EmperorValerian, a great embarrassment to the Roman empire. The nextyear revolts broke out in the Danube region, and Macrianus proclaimedhis two sons Emperors in the east. Persian king Shapur got Armenianking Chosroes assassinated. Defeating Roman forces, Shapur's Persiansoccupied Antioch, Apamea, Seleucia, and Tarsus. Palmyran kingOdenathus sent Shapur gifts, but the Persian potentate had themthrown in the Euphrates.While Silvanus was governing for young Caesar Saloninus inCologne, Postumus besieged the city with his legions from Germanyand had them both killed. Macrianus approached with an army of30,000 but was defeated by the Pannonian force of Aureolus. In262 Odenathus joined his Syrian army with Roman forces and defeatedthe Persians, regaining Carrhae and Nisibis and even besiegingthe Persian capital at Ctesiphon. Egyptian prefect L. MussiusAemilianus, who had supported the Macriani until their fall, stoppedgrain shipments to Italy. Gallienus sent a fleet commanded byTheodotus, who defeated, executed, and replaced Aemilianus. Thenext year Gallienus led an army against Postumus and was woundeddefeating him in Gaul.Emperor Gallienus enjoyed the Neo-Platonist philosophy of Plotinus,promoted Greek religion in the Eleusinianmysteries, and managed to survive until 268. During his reignof fifteen years though, eighteen men and one woman, Palmyranqueen Zenobia, vied for the imperial throne. The provinces weregreatly disturbed, and the civil wars weakened the frontier defenses,such as Raetia and Germany. In Sicily slaves rebelled; Alexandria'scivil war went on for twelve years; and Isaurians in Asia Minorbecame independent of the empire and took over part of Cilicia.These many wars along with the famine and plague that accompaniedthem devastated the land, the people, and the economy of the empire.Agriculture was greatly affected, and the rich took over moreland. Insecurity on the roads made commerce very risky and difficult.Small farmers and city workers were hit hard, greatly shrinkingthe middle class with the important exceptions of the militaryand government officials, some of whom became rich.Aureolus prevented Postumus from invading Italy. Yet when thecavalry of Aureolus became a threat to Gallienus, the Emperorbesieged him at Milan, as Aureolus proclaimed himself Emperor.A conspiracy led by Aurelius Claudius and Domitius Aurelian arrangedfor the murder of Gallienus, and a large contribution to the troopssecured the throne for Claudius. The Senate, resenting their recentloss of power, had the late Emperor's family liquidated and supportedClaudius. Aureolus surrendered to Claudius and was executed. Postumuswas fighting a revolt led by Laelianus, who died when Mainz wastaken. When Postumus refused to let his soldiers plunder the city,they killed him. These Rhine legions proclaimed Aurelius Mariusand, after he died, Victorinus. Claudius sent a force commandedby Placidianus against them in Gaul.Claudius wrote the Senate that although the whole country wasexhausted, 320,000 Goths had invaded Roman territory, assaultingthe wealthy Macedonian capital at Thessalonica. He had to admitthat the usurper Tetricus governed in Gaul and Spain, while Zenobiareigned over Asia. Claudius led an imperial army that defeatedthe Goths in Moesia, Thrace, and Macedonia, taking some Gothicyouth into the army, enslaving others, and giving each soldiertwo or three captive women. Claudius appointed Aurelian to continuethe campaign against the Goths while he turned to face the Juthungiand Vandals in the Danube region, where he succumbed to the plaguein 270. The army in Italy elected his brother Quintillus Emperorbut had him killed after learning the army in the Balkans hadselected the popular Domitius Aurelian.Aurelian was a strict disciplinarian and declared that publicsupport and spoils taken from the enemy should be enough so thatsoldiers should leave the provincials' goods alone. After twodecades of war Aurelian defeated and made a treaty with the Gothsby which the Vandals supplied him with 2,000 cavalry, and theGoths were allowed to retreat and occupy Dacia. When 500 of thesecavalry broke the agreement, they were destroyed. Next the Juthungi(Marcomanni) encroached into Italy. After his forces took a beatingat Placentia, Aurelian defeated the German invaders in Umbriaand exterminated what remained near Pavia. This threat apparentlystimulated Aurelian to order the erection of a wall twenty feethigh, twelve feet wide, and twelve miles long around the cityof Rome. Aurelian had some senators killed and confiscated muchproperty. In the imperial capital a revolt of mint workers waslarge enough to kill 7,000 soldiers. Aurelian changed a monthlydole of grain to a daily distribution of two pounds of bread andan occasional allotment of pork, oil, and salt. He made worshipof the sun an official religion.In 271 Aurelian destroyed the Gothic invader Cannabas and 5,000of his men north of the Danube on his way to recover Asia Minorfrom the retreating authority of Palmyra queen Zenobia. The deathof Persian king Shapur in 272 seems to have left her with fewallies. The city of Tyana was spared by Aurelian, and Greeks joinedthe Roman side. While his general Probus was driving her forcesout of Egypt, Aurelian defeated her best general Zabdas at Antioch.The Roman Emperor supported the claims of the Christian Domnus,who was endorsed by Italian bishops. Zabdas retreated to Emesa,while Zenobia prepared for a siege at Palmyra, where she rejecteda peace offer. However, as she escaped to the Euphrates, whereshe was captured, the city surrendered. Her advisor, the rhetoricianLonginus, was put to death; but she was taken to Rome, as Aurelianleft a garrison of 600 archers in Palmyra. The next year Aurelianfought the Carpi beyond the Danube. Hearing his garrison had beenmassacred, he returned to destroy Palmyra. In Egypt a wealthymerchant named Firmus led a revolt joined by the Nubian Blemmyestribe. Aurelian moved against them, causing Firmus to commit suicideand razing the walls of Alexandria.In 274 Aurelian took his army into Gaul, where he punishedrebel fighters, gave Tetricus clemency, and drove the Franks andBatavians north of the Rhine. Aurelian returned to Rome and marchedin triumph with captives from many nations that included Zenobiaand the senatorial Tetricus, both of whom received comfortablepensions. The sun temple received 15,000 pounds of gold. Aurelianwent back to Gaul to counter invading Juthungi and Alamanni fromRaetia; then he headed for Mesopotamia. Before reaching Byzantiuma secretary charged with extortion organized a conspiracy thatassassinated Aurelian in 275.After so many competing Emperors, now for six months no onetook on the imperial position; the victories of Aurelian had calmedusurpation and sedition for a while. Finally in September 275the Senate persuaded 75-year-old Tacitus to don the purple. Tacitusgoverned conservatively for six months, though his half-brotherFlorian, whom he made praetorian prefect, was rejected by theSenate for a consulship, and another relative, Maximinus, wasso oppressive in governing Syria that he was murdered. Floriantried to succeed Tacitus without approval by the Senate and marchedhis army to Tarsus to counter the claim of Probus; but after threemonths Florian was betrayed by his men and killed.Probus punished surviving murderers of Aurelian and visitedRome to receive confirmation by the Senate, which he allowed toconduct civil administration. He then marched his army to Gauland drove out the Franks, Longiones, Alamanni, and the BurgundianVandals, liberating sixty cities, killing a reported 400,000 Germans,and taking 16,000 into his army. In 278 Probus secured Raetiaand drove invading Vandals from Illyricum. Julius Saturninus claimedimperial command in Syria but soon died at Apamea. In Asia MinorProbus established forts to control the Isaurians; he made peacewith Persian king Vahram II (r. 276-293), and while travelingback through Thrace, he settled 100,000 Batarnae in the empire.Probus ordered a wall built from the Rhine to the Danube, thoughin a few years it would be torn down by the Alamanni. Short-livedrebellions were put down in Lugdunum, Cologne, and Britain. Probuscelebrated with violent games, though eighty gladiators brokefree and rampaged in Rome before they were all killed. Probusbegan applying soldiers to reclaiming land and cultivating vines;he even hoped for a day when an imperial army would no longerbe needed. This idea frightened the military, and Probus was murderedby his own soldiers at Sirmium.The Guard's prefect Carus was made Emperor by the army in 282.They defeated invading Quadi and killed 16,000 Sarmatians withheavy losses. Then marching east to the Persian war, Carus andhis army crossed both the Euphrates and Tigris to take Seleuciaand Ctesiphon; but after ruling ten months he was struck downfor going too far by lightning (according to the official report).His oldest son Carinus was ruling in the west, and the easternarmy was taken over by his younger son Numerian, who was underthe influence of his father-in-law, the prefect Aper; but Numerianwas soon found dead. The army appointed Diocles Emperor, and hestabbed Aper with his own sword, proclaiming himself Emperor Diocletianin 284. Carinus, who had married and divorced nine wives and puton extravagant and cruel spectacles with wild animals, met Diocletianwith a strong army in the Margus valley; but Carinus was murderedby a tribune, whose wife he had seduced, making Diocletian undisputedruler of the Roman empire in 285.Diocletian's Reforms284-305Judah and the MishnahTorah scholars called Tannaim continued to develop anoral tradition after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, ledby such distinguished men as Jochanan ben Zakkai, Gamaliel IIof Jabneh, Akiba ben Joseph, Meir, and Judah Hanasi. Based onAkiba's collection as corrected by Meir, the Patriarch Judah (c.135-c. 225) managed to synthesize the teachings of the variousschools into a unified compendium of oral traditions called theMishnah, written only as notes or secretly. The wealthyJudah wielded unprecedented power over Jews, even vetoing theSanhedrin, which he had moved from Usha to Sepphoris because ofhis health. When the plague during the reign of Marcus Aureliuswas followed by a famine, Judah opened his storehouses and distributedgrain to the needy. Judean communities were suffering under the"crown money" tax, which caused many to leave Tiberias.He was so respected that he was called the teacher saint, andquotes in the Mishnah by him are simply attributed to theRabbi (Teacher). The Mishnah completed the phase of theindependent Tannaim, who would be followed by the Amoraim (Interpreters)of the Mishnah in writing down their ideas in the Talmud(Teaching).The Mishnah is arranged into six broad categories onprayer, agriculture, sacred times, marriage and family, economicand social issues, and ritual purity. The Mishnah emphasizesthat laws of the Torah are to be obeyed without exception,giving Judaism a legalistic character. By following the edictsand decrees of God as handed in the scriptures they believed theywould find prosperity on earth and blessing in the world to come.Their main duties included venerating parents, giving charity,attending school, offering hospitality, endowing brides, accompanyingcorpses to the grave, praying devoutly, peacemaking, and studyingtheir teachings. Crimes were not expiated until the victims werereimbursed, satisfied, or appeased.The Mishnah has two views on whether to educate daughters.Ben-Azai favored it, but Eleazar ben Hyrcanus compared it to prostitution.Unfortunately the latter view prevailed, and women were seldomeducated. The Mishnah is much more critical of heathenpractices than of their Christian rivals. Jews were not allowedto sell to Romans animals that might be used for killing in thearena. Simeon ben Gamaliel said that the world rests on truth,justice, and peace. Ben Zoma suggested that learning from everyonemakes one wise, controlling one's passions makes one strong, beingsatisfied with one's lot makes one rich, and honoring humanitymakes one honored. Simeon ben Chalafta said that God has no betterway of blessing than with peace.Under Severus Jews as well as Christians were persecuted fortheir religion. After the civil war that consolidated the powerof Severus, marauding bands in Palestine were hunted down withthe aid of teachers Eleazar, son of Simon ben Jochai, and Ishmael,son of Jose the Prudent. Many people including Joshua ben Karchacriticized them for this. Judah was succeeded by his son GamalielIII, who emphasized that study should supplement essential work.In 216 the pressure of the Persian war caused the Romans to endthe allowance first given by Julius Caesar making Jews exemptfrom taxes during their sabbatical year in which fields lay fallow.So the authority Jannai proclaimed it permissible to cultivatethe land that year. Judah II succeeded his father Gamaliel andmoved the Sanhedrin from Sepphoris to the city of Tiberias. Storiesand legends of a close friendship between Judah and a Roman Emperoror governor may refer to Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, or AlexanderSeverus. Most likely is the last, since Alexander included Abrahamin his pantheon of religious figures and was quite favorable toJews.Jews had lived free of persecution in Babylon for generations;but when the new Persian Sassanid dynasty replaced the Parthians,the religious fanaticism of the Zarathustrian magi caused problems.Abba-Areka (c. 175-247) had studied with Judah I in Tiberias.The Babylonian exilarch appointed Abba inspector of the marketsresponsible for controlling weights and measures. When Abba didnot obey the exilarch's order to control prices, he was put inprison. About 219 Abba opened a school called Sidra that attracted1200 students. Using the Mishnah for teaching, Abba triedto improve the morals of the Babylonians. He forbade solemnizingmarriage until it was preceded by courtship, and he prohibitedfathers from marrying off their daughters without their consent.He stopped the legal devices that enabled a husband to make adivorce retroactive. Abba also strengthened the judicial system,obliging everyone to obey a summons. His rival Mar-Samuel wenteven farther and declared the secular laws as binding as the Jewishones. This enabled Samuel to have good relations with the courtof Shapur I (r. 242-272). Soon under the Sassanid dynasty theJewish courts lost their criminal jurisdiction, and Jews wereno longer permitted to hold public offices. In 259 the Palmyranking Odenathus destroyed the city of Nahardea and its Jewish community;Samuel's daughters and others were taken as prisoners to Sepphoris.Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus,and CyprianProbably during the reign of MarcusAurelius a priest of the mother goddess Cybele named Montanus,who had converted to Christianity in Phrygia, had ecstatic experiencesin which he believed the Holy Spirit spoke through him. Two prophetesses,Priscilla and Maximilla, who had left their husbands, had similarexperiences and beliefs. From this in Asia Minor grew the Montanistmovement, which considered itself the spiritual church, but whichwas opposed by many who believed these supernatural experienceswere not inspired by the Holy Spirit but devils.Irenaeus grew up in Smyrna, where he was taught by Polycarp.Irenaeus went to southern Gaul as a missionary, witnessed thepersecution in Lugdunum (Lyons), and succeeded the martyred bishopPothinus in 177. Irenaeus was sent to mediate the Montanist disputeswith Eleutherus, who was bishop of Rome from 177 to 190. Whilechurches in Asia Minor celebrated Easter on the Jewish Passoverand Roman churches did so on the following Sunday, Irenaeus advisedthe resentful Victor, Bishop of Rome, not to let this differencedestroy church unity. In a letter to Victor Irenaeus wrote thatas long as one can do good to one's neighbors and does not doso, that one will be considered a stranger to the love of God.He recommended speaking well of the deserving but never ill ofthe undeserving in order to attain the glory of God. Irenaeusobserved that transgressions bound one by the chains of one'sown sins; but breaking the bonds by repentance loosens the shackles.He thought the business of the Christian is always preparing fordeath. Irenaeus died before or possibly during the persecutionof Emperor Septimius Severus in 202.Irenaeus knew that it is not easy to persuade one under theinfluence of error toward a contrary opinion. His major work,Refutation of the Falsely Called Knowledge (Gnosis), writtenin Greek, survives in Latin translation. In the first of fivebooks Irenaeus described the doctrines of Gnostics such as Valentinus,Marcion, and others. Then he demonstrated by scriptures and theapostolic tradition why orthodox Christian theology is better.His work and similar tracts by Tertullian and others were so comprehensiveand persuasive that the Gnostic sects declined rapidly in thethird century, and most Gnostic texts were eradicated. Recentdiscoveries in the 20th century of some Gnostic works have revealedthe general accuracy of his presentation. Most of the differencesare metaphysical and theological rather than ethical; but Irenaeusdid note Gnostic elitism in their suggestion that good works arenecessary to traditional Christians but not to those having thesuperior spiritual knowledge. Irenaeus charged that some Gnosticsindulged in lusts of the flesh in the belief that carnal thingsmay be allowed to carnal nature, because spiritual things areprovided to the spiritual nature.Irenaeus believed that God allowed humans to fall because ofpride and to teach discipline by experience, making salvationa result of progressive education culminating in the divine incarnationand the universal good message. Irenaeus acknowledged imperfectionin the world but believed it has a purpose in developing characterby mastering temptations and difficulties. He believed that Godmade humans free with the ability to obey God voluntarily andnot by compulsion. God does not coerce, but good will is alwayspresent. Thus God did not make some good and others bad. Humanswere given the mental ability to know good and evil, and by experiencethey learn that disobeying God deprives one of life. Irenaeusestablished the importance of orthodox doctrines passed on byapostolic succession as a protection against dangerous innovationand speculation. In contrast to Gnostic dualism Irenaeus emphasizedthe unity of God as creator, ruler, and judge. The wisdom of Godexcels all human wisdom, punishing the wicked and blessing thepious with infinite goodness and justice. Irenaeus prayed thathis adversaries may be converted, loving them, he wrote, betterthan they love themselves. For he believed that the true way toGod is love and that it is better to know only Christ than tofall into curious questions and paltry subtleties. Tertullian was born in the middle of the second century atCarthage, where he was well educated. His father was probablya centurion. Tertullian went to Rome as a young man and probablypracticed law. He did not convert to Christianity until he returnedto Carthage near the end of the century. Twelve Christians hadbeen martyred at Carthage in 180. Tertullian was impressed bythe witness of martyrs, the moral discipline, and the devotionto one God.About 197 or so Tertullian wrote a defense of Christianityaddressed to the rulers of the Roman empire in which he pleadedfor a hearing so that they would not condemn Christians in ignoranceand therefore unjustly. He argued that those who once hated Christianitybecause they knew nothing about it, after knowing it, not onlylaid down their enmity but became its disciples. There is an outcrythat the state is being filled with Christians of both sexes andof every age and condition, and this is true because many arepassing over to the Christian faith. Most criminals are ashamedof their evils; but Christians are an exception, usually onlybeing ashamed they had not been converted earlier. Christiansalone are forbidden to explain what they did in order to helpthe judge make a correct decision. All that public hatred demandsis the confession of the name, not an examination of the charge.Usually criminals deny the offense and are tortured to confess;but Christians alone are tortured to make them deny their confession.Since there is no investigation of one's actions, clearly theonly crime of a Christian is adhering to the name. The authoritiesare unwilling or ashamed to mention the actual crimes.Tertullian argued that Romans hate the guiltless and a guiltlessname, exhibiting violence and the unjust domination of a tyranny,because the law to condemn for a mere name is unjust. He citedNero and Domitianas examples of cruel tyrants who persecuted Christians, whereasthe noble Marcus Aureliusput the law aside and condemned their accusers. Christians havekept their secrets as have the Samothracian and Eleusinianmysteries. False rumors have spread of Christian enormitiesthat have never been proven, such as child sacrifice, which waspracticed publicly in Africa as recently as the proconsulshipof Tiberius.Christians are charged with not worshipping the gods becausethey do not sacrifice for the Emperor. Tertullian believed thereare no such gods. He wrote they worship the one God, who is invisiblebut created all things. Christ came once as a lowly human andexpelled devils by a word, restored vision to the blind, cleansedlepers, reinvigorated paralytics, summoned the dead to life, andmade the elements of nature obey him by calming storms and walkingon the sea, proving he was the Logos of God. He was crucified;but he had predicted that, as he did also his resurrection. Hisdisciples have spread over the world, as their master bade them;they have suffered persecution by Jews and Romans.Tertullian challenged the authorities to search and see ifthe divinity of Christ is true. If its acceptance transforms aperson to one truly good, one should renounce what is opposedto it as false. Tertullian believed that Christ is coming againto judge every soul. The charges recoil on the heads of the accusersnot merely for refusing the religion of the one true God but forpersecuting it. Even if their gods exist, is it not generallyheld that there is one higher and more powerful absolute God?Tertullian noted that empires are acquired by wars and victoriesthat involve the taking of cities with the destruction of templesand killing of priests as well as citizens. "Thus the sacrilegesof the Romans are as numerous as their trophies. They boast asmany triumphs over the gods as over the nations."2 They haveadvanced to greatness by injuring religion.Tertullian argued that it is unjust to compel free personsto offer sacrifices against their will, since honoring the godsshould be voluntary. Jesustaught Christians to pray for their enemies and bless those whopersecute them, and Paulsaid to pray for kings and rulers so that they may live in peace.Augustus, who foundedthe empire, would not accept the title Lord. Tertullian suggestedthey give up worship of other beings as divine except God so thatGod will be propitious to the Emperor. To call Caesar god is toinvoke a curse. Tertullian went on that in addition to lovingtheir enemies, Christians are forbidden to retaliate if they areinjured lest they become as bad themselves. Thus who can sufferfrom their hands? He asked if anyone could point to a single actof Christian vengeance. Christians even help by exorcising evilspirits. Therefore Christians should receive milder treatmentand have a place among the societies that are tolerated by thelaws since they are not charged with any real crimes. Christiansare not interested in affairs of state, because they acknowledgethe one all-embracing commonwealth of the world.Tertullian described Christian society as a religious communitybound by a unity of discipline and a common hope that meets togetherto pray to God. They pray for emperors, those in authority, andfor the welfare of the world in peace, and they read their sacredwritings. They are known for loving one another. All are brothersby the law of their common mother nature, though their opponentsare hardly men, being such unkind brothers. Those who have drunkin one spirit of holiness are even more fit to be called brothers.One in mind and soul, they share their worldly goods with oneanother, having all things in common except their wives. Theirfeasts are known by the Greek term for affection, agapè,as they benefit the needy in modest gatherings that begin withprayer to God. They eat and drink in chastity. Tertullian alsoobserved that Christians fast and bind their passions tightlyand assail heaven with importunities; yet when they have awakenedthe divine compassion, Jupiter gets the honor. Yet the Romansare the sources of trouble in human affairs, since they are alwaysattracting public adversity. Christians live and work among themwithout retreating like Indian Brahmins, and their arts benefitthe public.Tertullian believed that Christians alone are without crime,because they are taught by God what goodness is and have knowledgerevealed by a perfect master. They faithfully do God's will enjoinedon them by a Judge they dare not despise. He asked why they arenot permitted equal liberty for their doctrines, which are similarto what the philosophers counsel - justice, patience, sobriety,and chastity. Christians avoid sexual perversions, as the menconfine themselves to women. If their speculations are presumptuous,they should be subjected to ridicule, not to swords, flames, crosses,and wild beasts. Yet even these martyrdoms are their joy, becausethey would rather be condemned than give up their faith in God.Like warriors, their battle is to be summoned before tribunalsto face execution while testifying to the truth. They are overcome,but they conquer by dying, being victorious at the moment theyare subdued. The unjust killing of Christians is the proof oftheir innocence. Although this cruelty is a temptation to Christians,the more often they are mowed down, the more their numbers grow,for the blood of Christians is the seed. Those who inquire intotheir doctrines embrace them, and those who embrace them desireto partake fully of God's grace by giving their blood. Althoughthey may be condemned by men, they are acquitted by the Highest.Under Emperor Septimius Severus about 202 several Christianswere martyred for their religious belief in Carthage. Tertullianmay have edited the account of Vivia Perpetua's arrest and visions,how Felicitas prayed and had her baby a month early, and a descriptionof how these two women and Saturas were exposed to wild animalsin the arena before being killed by swords. It was probably sometime after these events that Tertullian supported Montanist prophecyand its strict moral discipline as he felt the traditional churchwas becoming lax and corrupt.In "The Crown" written probably in 204 Tertullianquestioned whether warfare is proper at all for Christians. Heasked, Shall it be held lawful to make an occupation of the sword, when the Lord proclaims that he who uses the sword shall perish by the sword? And shall the son of peace take part in the battle when it does not become him even to sue at law? And shall he apply the chain, and the prison, and the torture, and the punishment, who is not the avenger even of his own wrongs?3He goes on to ask why one should watch others more than Christor guard the temples one has renounced. He suggested that whenone becomes a believer, the military profession should be abandoned.Like Irenaeus, Tertullian also wrote extensive treatises againstthe doctrines of Marcion and the Valentinians. He wrote that withoutamendment repentance is vain. After repentance ignorance cannotbe used as an excuse if one goes back into the same sin. The relapsingsinner rejects the Giver in abandoning the gift of forgiveness,denying the Benefactor and not honoring the benefit. Such arenot only contumacious to the Lord but also ungrateful. How canone expect sins to be pardoned if repentance has not been fulfilled?Tertullian recommended confession and various kinds of penance.He also wrote about Christian baptism and prayer. Tertullian wasmarried and presented a positive portrait of Christian familylife. He strongly warned Christians to reject idolatrous corruptionand certainly to avoid cruel spectacles.The fiery Tertullian wrote "Of Patience" althoughhe confessed he was not good at practicing that virtue. God isan example of patience in shining on the just and unjust, allowingthe forces of nature to affect the worthy and unworthy, and inbearing with ungrateful nations. The example of Jesusis easier to imitate. He despised no one's table or roof, caredfor the ungrateful, yielded to those who ensnared him, toleratedhis betrayer, and served others like an obedient slave. Tertulliansuggested we be willing to lose earthly things since we can keepheavenly things. The whole world may perish so long as patienceis gained. Christians should be patient in the face of personalviolence and abusive speech. Why should one grieve or be impatientat the death of loved ones since death is only a departure? Tertulliancautioned against revenge. Vengeance cannot be regulated, becausetoo little can make one mad, and too much puts one in danger ofthe law. Patience enables one not to feel the pain so that onewill not desire revenge. Eventually the severe Tertullian formedhis own sect that lasted in Africa until the 5th century. He diedsome time after 220. Similar arguments to those in Tertullian's Defense canbe found in a dialog, Octavius, by his contemporary MinuciusFelix. Octavius persuades Caecilius and points out that Romantemples are built from the spoils of violence; but to adore whatis taken by force is to consecrate sacrilege, not divinities.Octavius points out that Romans expose unwanted children to wildbeasts, and their women cause abortions by drinking medical preparations.Christians are opposed to all homicide. Modest Christians abideby the bond of a single marriage or by none at all. They sharewith each other in sober banquets. They love one another, becausethey do not know how to hate. They call each other brothers, asborn of one God and Parent, and they are companions in faith.About 240 a North African bishop named Commodianus wrote poeticinstructions in favor of Christian discipline. In the daily warhe advised people to fight with lust, neglect the persuasionsof luxury, be sparing with wine, restrain the tongue from cursing,repress rage, beware of trampling on inferiors when weighed downby misery, lend yourself as a protector only and do no hurt, leadyourself on a right path unstained by jealousy, be gentle withyour riches to those of little account, give your labor, clothethe naked, and thus you shall conquer. Hippolytus studied with Irenaeus and wrote The Refutationof All Heresies, which was discovered at Mount Athos in 1842.In this long work Hippolytus criticized 32 heresies, which hetraced back to pagan philosophies. He also challenged the bishopsof Rome, charging that Zephyrinus (199-217) was manipulated byCallistus (217-222), who arranged to be his successor. Accordingto Hippolytus, Callistus operated a bank for his wealthy Christianmaster Carpophorus and, caught embezzling money, Callistus causeda disturbance among Jews in a synagogue on the Sabbath, resultingin the Roman prefect Fuscianus sending him to slave in the minesof Sardinia. During the reign of Commodus the bishop of Rome,Victor, through the influence of Marcia obtained the release ofChristians from this misery of overwork, malnutrition, and diseasethat soon produced death. Hippolytus wrote that Victor exceptedCallistus because of his crimes; but Callistus pleaded and wasreleased with the Christians, though it is difficult to explainwhy Victor gave Callistus a pension.Zephyrinus put Callistus in charge of the church's lucrativecemeteries. Callistus accused Hippolytus of heresy in a theologicaldispute and in 217 was elected bishop of Rome. Hippolytus becamea rival bishop and has been called the first anti-pope. He complainedthat Callistus connived with sensual indulgence by continuallyforgiving sins (such as adultery) of many who had been rejectedby numerous sects, that priests twice married were allowed toremain as clergy, and that women were considered married to slavesand freedmen which Roman law did not recognize as such. Hippolytusthus favored a Christian community of saints including only thejust, while Callistus, citing the parable of the tares, acceptedsaints and sinners while refusing to go along with Roman classdistinctions. Hippolytus also opposed Urban I (222-230) and Pontian(230-235); but in the persecution of 235 both Hippolytus and Pontianwere exiled to Sardinia, where they were reconciled before theydied that year, ending the schism. Cyprian was born into a wealthy family at Carthage about 200.He was probably a lawyer, and according to Jerome he was a respectedteacher of rhetoric. Cyprian did not convert to Christianity until246 when he sold his estates to benefit the poor, took a vow ofchastity, and was baptized by Caecilius. He lived asceticallyand opposed all pagan amusements. He studied the scriptures andthe writing of Tertullian. Popular demand persuaded him to becomebishop of Carthage only two years later. During the Decian persecutionCyprian hid himself and wrote letters to clergy and others atRome and at Carthage for fourteen months while thousands of Christiansrejected their faith to obtain libelli pacis certifyingthey had sacrificed to the pagan gods.Bishop Fabius of Rome died a martyr in January 250, and morethan a year passed before Cornelius was elected bishop of Rome,while Novatian, who had continued official correspondence forthe Roman see during the interval, was consecrated by only threeItalian bishops. Many "confessors," who had maintainedtheir faith, were willing to forgive the apostates and allow themback into the community; but Cyprian and councils of bishops strengthenedchurch control by asserting that power to remit sins was in thehands of the clergy and that discipline rested with the bishops.Lapsed Christians were divided into categories of those who hadsacrificed, burned incense, or obtained a certificate, and graduatedpenance was applied. The minority view for strict discipline wascondemned by a council of sixty bishops at Rome in October 251,and Novatian was excommunicated. The Novatian schism spread andcontinued for several centuries as a puritan sect in the East.Letters of Cornelius indicate he had 155 clerical personnel, including46 priests, supporting 1500 widows and dependents. From this,scholars estimate about 40,000 Christians lived among 900,000inhabitants at Rome.Cyprian was able to return to Carthage in 251, and a councilof bishops restored his authority. The next year during a plaguehe sacrificed himself in serving his flock and taking care ofhis enemies. To support Cornelius against the Novatian schism,Cyprian wrote On the Unity of the Church in which he acknowledgedthe primacy given the chair of Peter. However, when two Spanishcongregations appealed to Cyprian in 254, because Rome's BishopStephen had insisted they restore lapsed bishops, he summoneda council that decided the church was not obliged to retain asinful priest. A controversy over re-baptizing those who had beenbaptized by the Novatian schism led to Cyprian calling three morecouncils and his even removing the words "chair of Peter"from his previous treatise. The conflict between Carthage andRome ended in 257 when Stephen died, and his successor SixtusII was more conciliatory.Cyprian was banished to Curubis by the proconsul during thepersecution of Emperor Valerian in 257, and a year later he willinglysuffered a martyr's death. During a vision forewarning him ofhis passion he asked for one day to arrange his property, andin fact the delay of one day enabled him to dispose of his goodsin care of the poor. Cyprian also wrote "On Works and Alms"in which he exhorted Christians to manifest their faith by works,arguing that contributing to the poor is the best investment.In "On the Advantage of Patience" he suggested thatcharity, the great bond of brotherhood and the foundation of peace,depended on patience to endure. "On Jealousy and Envy"warned that envy is the root of all wickedness. Loving one's enemiesprevents envy, and love brings its own rewards.Clement of Alexandria and OrigenA contemporary of Tertullian, Clement was born in the middleof the second century at Athens. He traveled widely studying philosophyuntil he found in Egypt his teacher Pantaenus, a former Stoicand missionary to India. About 190 Clement succeeded Pantaenusas head of the Christian catechetical school in Alexandria. Inthe next decade Clement wrote his three great works. The Exhortationto Conversion was designed to win pagans to the Christian faith.The Educator aimed to form and develop Christian character.The Miscellanies taught Christian philosophy and knowledge.In 202 Clement fled the persecution of Septimius Severus. He livedin Antioch, was in Jerusalem in 211, and died about 215.In his Exhortation (Protrepticus) Clement criticizedthe immoral idolatry of pagan culture and myths and the crueltyof their sacrifices; yet he found that the philosophers were oftendivinely inspired by the truth as were the prophets. He praisedthe benefits conferred by Christ and exhorted his readers to aspireto what is good, to become God-loving, and to attain God and life,which are incapable of being harmed. No blessing is greater thansalvation.Clement's Educator (Paedagogus) takes up the secondstage of developing ethical habits. The educator, being practicalrather than theoretical, aims to improve the soul by charactertraining, instead of teaching the intellect. As the diseased needa physician, the tutor must cure maladies so that a teacher maythen train and guide a soul to knowledge. God alone is sinless,but we may try to sin as little as possible. Deliverance frompassions and disorders is most urgent; then one may check theliability of falling into habitual sins. Clement held that virtueis the same in men and women, because temperance and modesty areone; their food is common, and marriage is an equal yoke. Allwho walk according to truth are children of God.The instructor by being good artfully glides into censure,rousing the sluggish mind by sharp words if one does not respondto exhortation and praise. God punishes the disobedient for correction;but He does not take vengeance. Revenge is retribution for evilimposed for the advantage of the one taking revenge; but Christteaches us "to pray for those who despitefully use us."4The Divine Word saves children by various methods. Admonitionis the censure of loving care and produces understanding. Upbraidingcensures what is base. Complaint is for those despising or neglecting.Reproach chides. Reproof exposes sin. The educator may also attemptto get one thinking by a severe rebuke or denunciation. Accusationis for wrong-doers. Bewailing one's fate is an artful and latentcensure. Indignation is upbraiding from a sense of justice. Allthese are used for the sake of salvation. Clement believed thatvirtue resulted from obeying reason or the Word and is a willin conformity to Christ.In the second book and third books of The Educator Clementdiscussed specific moral issues and even manners. He acknowledgedthe Pythagorean idea that it is good not to eat flesh or drinkwine; but he allowed for individual decisions. He warned us toguard with all our strength against drunkenness. He referred tocostly vessels as a deception of the vision. Christians' possessionsshould express their beautiful lives; but the best wealth is povertyof desires, and true magnanimity is to despise riches. Boastingabout one's plate is base, because anyone can buy it at the market.Clement advised us to abstain from filthy speech and to stop otherswith stern looks, by averting the face, or by mocking. Bad languageexposes one as untrained and licentious. In living together hewarned against jibing as leading to insult, strife, contention,and enmity. He cautioned people against the use of ointments andcrowns, although he allowed flowers and perfumes made from them.He noted that sleeping on soft feathers is injurious to the health,because turning the body is difficult; he found a bed of moderatesoftness most suitable. Clement counseled against excessive fondnessfor jewelry and disapproved of earrings.Clement began the third book emphasizing that the greatestlesson is to know oneself, because self-knowledge leads to knowingGod, which will make one like God by doing well and requiringas few things as possible. Another human beauty is love. It isbetter to decorate the soul with the ornament of goodness andadorn the body with temperance than to beautify the outside withembellishments. In associations Clement advised against havingmany domestic servants. Good people treasure wealth in heaven.By selling one's goods and giving to the poor, one finds imperishabletreasure. He recommended frugal living, because a voluptuous lifeis alien to refined pleasures, and love of wealth induces oneto stop being ashamed of what is shameful. Baths are used forcleanliness, heat, health, or pleasure; but Clement suggestedwomen use them for cleanliness and health, and men only for cleanliness,since they can use gymnastic exercise for health. One should associatewith good people and avoid public spectacles. While respectingcelibacy Clement also acknowledged the value of marriage.Clement's work on Christian philosophy and knowledge is a longcompendium on various subjects called Miscellanies (Stromateis).He criticized the sophists but found that eclectic philosophyprepared the way for divine virtue. Clement did not discuss rhetoric,probably because he believed that to act well is more importantthan to speak well. The ancient laws of the Jews also are a goodfoundation. They train one for piety and prescribe what is tobe done, restraining one from sins. Clement emphasized that spiritualknowledge starts with faith. He endeavored to recapture the term"gnostic" or knower from the heretical gnostics by givinghis ideal of the true Christian gnostic. The true gnostic imitatesGod as far as possible by conferring benefits. Patience is anothercharacteristic of the divine. Clement praised martyrdom but didnot approve of offering oneself to be martyred. He argued thatwomen as well as men are capable of perfection. One may be perfectas pious, as patient, as continent, as a worker, as a martyr,or as a gnostic.The true gnostic does good not from fear of punishment or hopefor reward but for the sake of goodness itself. For Clement trueperfection is knowledge and love of God. Running down creationand vilifying the body are wrong, because the human frame wasformed erect to contemplate heaven, and the senses are to gainknowledge; all its parts are arranged for good, not pleasure.Clement realized that God cannot be embraced in words or by themind. Yet he put philosophy at the service of Christianity morethan any before him, believing that philosophy is knowledge givenby God. Like the Stoic, the true gnostic is free of all perturbationsof the soul. The gnostic converses with God in prayer. The knowerretains the objects contemplated in the mind. Knowledge producesconsideration by teaching one to perceive the things that contributeto the permanence of virtue. God helps gnostics by overseeingthem closely, for is not everything made for the sake of goodpersons? Those teaching others should excel in virtues.Clement described the life of true gnostics. They never preferthe pleasant to what is useful. Their souls are strong, like thebody of an athlete. They are prudent in judging what should bedone by the just, applying the principles of God from above andhaving achieved physical moderation. Gnostic souls with perfectvirtue are the earthly image of divine power; their developmentresults from nature, training, and reason. The beautiful soulbecomes the temple of the Holy Spirit when the whole life correspondsto the Gospel. The really good person transcends the passionsby the habit of virtue. They relieve the afflicted, helping withconsolation, encouragement, and the necessities of life, givingto all who need. Who could become the enemy of a person who givesno cause for hurt in any way?The truly continent not only control their passions but havemastered all good things as well, the accomplishments of scienceand the fruits of virtue. Gnostics' entire lives are prayer andcommunication with God. They impoverish themselves in order tohelp those afflicted through perfect love, especially if theyknow they can bear it more easily than their brothers. Wheneverthey remember those who have sinned against them, they forgivethem. They are not disturbed by anything that happens, as theyrealize everything takes place by divine arrangement for good.They never prefer pleasure or profit to this divine arrangement,since they are trained by the divine commands to depend on thewill of God.Clement also wrote a short essay, "Who Is the Rich ManThat Shall Be Saved?" Riches may be used to benefit one'sneighbors. The important thing is to make the right use of them.He noted that one may give away riches and retain passions, thusgaining no advantage. One must put away what uses riches badly.He suggested that the truly rich are the virtuous, who are ableto make a holy use of their fortunes. The spurious rich turn theirlives into outward possessing of what is perishable that now belongsto one, then to another, and finally to no one. By being frugalone may escape superfluous riches and be able to enjoy the eternallygood things. Clement recommended that the powerful and wealthyappoint some person of God as their trainer and governor.Clement did much to integrate Greek philosophy with Christianpiety, and he passed the torch to his student and successor, Origen. Origen was born about 185 probably at Alexandria. He was welleducated by his father Leonidas, who made him memorize passagesfrom the Bible, and by Clement in the Catechetical school. Inthe persecution of 202 when his father was arrested, Origen wasrestrained by his mother from becoming a martyr by hiding allhis clothes, though he wrote encouraging his father not to changehis beliefs for their sake. Leonidas was beheaded, and his propertywas confiscated, leaving Origen to provide for his mother andsix younger brothers. Origen lived with a wealthy woman and earnedmoney teaching Greek and copying manuscripts. Bishop Demetriusappointed Origen to succeed Clement as principal of the Catecheticalschool when he was only 18 years old. He attended classes of philosopherAmmonius Saccas, founder of Neo-Platonism.According to Eusebius while he was a young man, Origen castratedhimself so as to instruct freely young female catechumens. However,in 248 Origen wrote one should not take literally the statementof Jesus in Matthew19:12 that some "made themselves eunuchs because of thesovereignty of heaven." Eusebius also described how Origenfearlessly supported martyrs and barely escaped himself on numerousoccasions. Origen arranged for Heraclas to teach elementary studentsso that he could learn Hebrew and devote himself to advanced teachingand writing. Origen lived very ascetically, fasting often, rarelyeating flesh, never drinking wine, having only one coat, no shoes,and sleeping on the bare floor.Origen traveled, meeting Hippolytus at Rome in 211, fleeingEmperor Caracalla's persecuting visit to Alexandria by going toJerusalem and Caesarea in 216, and visiting Alexander Severus'mother Mammaea at Antioch in 218. Back in Alexandria, the wealthyAmbrosius was converted from Valentinian beliefs and providedOrigen with books and seven stenographers. In 229 he was ordaineda presbyter in Caesarea on the way to a debate with ValentinianCandidus in Greece, where he answered the theory of predestinationby asserting that Satan fell by free will and therefore couldrepent. This caused Alexandrian bishop Demetrius to hold two churchcouncils, excommunicating Origen in 231. Rome and other churchesconcurred, but bishops in Palestine, Arabia, Phoenicia, and Greecestrongly supported Origen. He pitied and prayed for his enemies,opening a school at Caesarea in Palestine. During the persecutionof 235 he fled to Cappadocia and stayed with the Christian womanJuliana for two years. At an Arabian council in 244 he persuadedbishop Beryllus to change his theological position on the Christ.During the Decian persecution Origen was thrown into prison, tortured,and condemned; the Emperor's death in 251 freed him, but Origendied three years later in Tyre.While he was young in Alexandria, Origen wrote On Principles(De Principiis), which except for fragments only existsin the Latin translation made by Rufinus in the late fourth century.In the prolog Rufinus admitted he made changes to make this workmore consistent with Origen's later writings, thus making it moreorthodox. Origen believed that Christ, the Word of God, was inMoses and the prophets before it was in Jesus. He followed theapostolic teaching that the soul has its own life and after departingthe world is rewarded according to its merit with eternal lifeor is punished for its crimes in eternal fire. Every rationalsoul has free will and must struggle with opposing influences,though we may free ourselves from the burden of sins if we livecorrectly and wisely. In the resurrection the soul rises in incorruptibleglory. Origen held that the scriptures are inspired and thereforehave meanings not apparent at first sight which he attempted toelucidate on various levels.Origen wrote that every rational creature is capable of earningpraise by advancing to better things, acting in conformity toreason, or of receiving censure for falling away from what isright and so becoming justly liable to pains and penalties. Inaddition to humans Origen included among these rational creaturesthe devil and its followers as well as angels. He believed ina final consummation in which the goodness of God through theChrist may recall all creatures to one end, including the enemiesthat have been conquered. While the heretical gnostics separatedthe God of the law and justice from the good God of the Gospels,Origen perceived only one just and good God, who confers benefitsjustly and punishes with kindness; for the dignity of the divinenature must have both justice and goodness. With free will comesindividual responsibility, and Origen cited Isaiah 1:11for the idea that all sinners kindle for themselves their fire.No one is plunged into a fire kindled by another. When the soulhas gathered a multitude of evil works, the abundance of sinsboils up to punishment. The mind then can see in signs and formsa history of its foul and shameful deeds. Thus the conscienceis harassed and becomes the accuser and witness against itself.The first chapter of the third book of On Principlesabout the freedom of will exists in the original Greek. The justjudgment of God urges people to live virtuously and shun sin,because things worthy of praise or blame are within our power.In Origen's view the Creator makes vessels of honor and dishonornot from foreknowledge since that would be condemning or justifyingahead; but vessels of honor are for those who have cleansed themselvesand those of dishonor are for those unpurged. Thus he inferredthat older causes before the lifetime affect the destiny and gavethe example of Jacob and Esau. Ancient causes lead some to beborn into better vessels (or circumstances) than others. Alsoby the actions in this life one may earn by reformation an honoredvessel in the future, or one may fall back to a worse condition.These ideas clearly imply the doctrines of karma and reincarnation.To explain wisdom of the world, Origen suggested there arespiritual powers which use their freedom of will to produce certaineffects. Those admiring worldly power adopt their way of lifeand habits and thus work for these spirits they serve. Thus soulsin human bodies may attract different energies in operations usinga diversity of good and evil spirits. Humans may be acted uponby good or evil spirits, previous to their birth as in the examplesof John the Baptistand Jeremiah; for souls have freewill whether in a body or not. In discussing temptations, Origendescribed an irrational component of the human psyche as wellas a rational one. The irrational part has two affections - covetingand passion. The rational and irrational psyches have been calledthe good, heavenly one and the other that is inferior and earthly.The wisdom of the flesh is dominated by a material spirit, whichis not subject to the law of God, because it has earthly wishesand bodily desires. These desires can produce mental perturbationssuch as ambition, avarice, envy, pride, and so on. Origen suggestedthat the will of the soul is intermediate between the flesh andthe spirit, obeying and serving one or the other. Those yieldingto the pleasures of the flesh become carnal, and those unitingto the spirit become spiritual.As a result of his On Principles Origen would laterbe considered unorthodox on four points. 1. Human souls existed previously, and their life in material bodies reflects the results of previous actions. 2. Christ existed previously and was united to the divine nature before incarnating as the son of God related in the Gospels. 3. The resurrection will occur in absolutely ethereal bodies rather than in material ones. 4. All souls, even devils, will finally be restored through the mediation of Christ.As Origen let his readers choose what they think they shouldprefer, so I too will let readers decide whether these principlesmay be true.When Origen was about sixty, Ambrosius asked him to respondto A True Discourse by Celsus that severely criticizedChristianity. In a long work Origen repeated and answered everycharge of Celsus, whom he called an Epicurean. Celsus believedthe Jews were barbarous, that through Mosesand others they gained most of their wisdom from the Egyptians,and that their god Jehovah was an inhuman ogre. He consideredChristianity a Jewish superstition aimed at the uneducated bythe self-deluded. He thought Jewish and Christian religious beliefsignored the intellectual problems posed by Greek philosophy. Celsusnoted that Christianity attracted the wicked and shiftless fromthe fishermen and tax collectors who were disciples to appealingto thieves, criminals, and blasphemers. He suggested that Jesuswas the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier, who being rejectedat home, went to Egypt, where he learned magic. Later he hawkeda contradictory message, failed to overcome his enemies, and wasabandoned by his disciples to a shameful death.Celsus argued that ethical teachings of Christianity are nothingnew, since they could be found in Plato.Other mysteries like those of the Egyptians and Persian Mithraismoffered a similar ascent of the soul to God. Celsus also accusedthe Christians of treason in their secret and illegal associations,which supported the barbarian threats to the state. He criticizedtheir presumption to have a monopoly on God, and finally he askedthem to reject their perverted nonsense and make common causefor the public welfare.Origen answered these objections by the usual methods of quotingscripture and philosophical arguments. He particularly noted thatif Christianity seduced people, it seduced them into much moreethical behavior, making them temperate instead of dissolute,just instead of unjust, prudent instead of foolish, and courageousinstead of cowardly, especially in the struggles for the sakeof their religion. Origen appealed to the higher natural law assuperior to the man-made laws of the Romans. The legitimacy ofthe state depends on how well it fulfills the spiritual laws.Origen argued that Christians do more good by praying than byfighting in the army. Ultimately he hoped for a peaceful societyin which every world citizen would display Christian virtue sothat state compulsion would disappear.Origen also wrote commentaries to many scriptures such as theGospels of Johnand Matthew.He interpreted these on the three levels of the physical, psychological,and spiritual, already described as the three parts of humans.Origen also wrote an Exhortation to Martyrdom, encouragingChristians not to be tempted by compromises, and On Prayerto counter determinists who believed that prayer had no effect.Gregory called Thaumaturgus ("wonder-worker") wasborn at Neo-Caesarea in Pontus early in the third century. Afterhis father died when he was 14, he and his brother Athenodorusstudied Roman law. He studied Neo-Platonism at Alexandria, morelaw at Berytus (Beirut), and was converted to Christianity byOrigen at Caesarea in Palestine. After studying with Origen forseveral years, Gregory wrote a tribute to his teacher when heleft to be a missionary in his native Neo-Caesarea in 238. Hebecame bishop six years later, and it was said that in the nextquarter century he transformed this community that had had only17 Christians to one that had only that many pagans. Stories ofhis exorcisms and miraculous abilities were still being told inthe next century.In his panegyric oration Gregory described how Origen praisedlovers of philosophy and declared that the only life worthy ofrational creatures is to aim at upright living, seeking firstto know themselves, then to strive after what is truly good andavoid really evil things. For Origen one could not be truly piouswithout philosophizing. Gregory found that, like some spark lightinghis inmost soul, love was kindled and burst into flame withinthem - a love for the Holy Word and toward his friend. Gregorywrote that the soul is free and cannot be coerced by any means.He admitted that when his teacher perceived any infirmity or basenessin their minds, he pricked it with discourses and reasoning, causingthem to start up, as though out of sleep. Origen also taught themlogic, natural science, geometry, and astronomy; but the mostimportant subject was ethics. The divine virtues were taught notonly in words but by deeds too so that they would not only understandvirtue but practice it as well. To the ancient cardinal virtuesof justice, prudence, wisdom, temperance, and courage, he addedpatience and piety so that they might become friends of God. Origenurged them to read all the philosophers and poets, excluding onlyatheists as unworthy to be studied. So with a prayer Gregory tookleave of his teacher.Dionysius of Alexandria was also converted and taught by Origen,becoming principal at the Catechetical school in 232. Dionysiussucceeded Heraclas as bishop of Alexandria in 248. He fled theDecian persecution two years later but wrote a description ofthe martyrs' ordeals to Bishop Fabius of Antioch. A mob chargedinto the houses of their Christian neighbors to raid, plunder,and loot. Many renounced their faith while others held out untiltorture became too much. Some who did not deny their faith weresavagely torn to pieces or burnt alive with quicklime. In 257during the Valerian persecution Dionysius was banished by governorAemilian for refusing to worship any other gods beside the oneCreator God. During this persecution three men and a Marcionitewoman came forward to confess the Christ at Caesarea in Palestineand were fed to beasts. Also at Caesarea a wealthy man named Marinus,who was about to be appointed centurion, was beheaded for declaringhe was a Christian. The amnesty of Gallienus allowed Dionysiusto return to Alexandria. During a severe epidemic in 263 Dionysiusdescribed how the Christians nursed the sick and often died intheir places, while the heathens fled from their dearest.Because of his outstanding writing, by the fourth century Dionysiuswas referred to as "the Great." In his book On Naturehe challenged Epicurean determinism by arguing that human observationof design and purpose discredits notions of chance or coincidenceand even demonstrates beauty and grace. In On PromisesDionysius criticized the theory of Arsinoe bishop Nepos that scripturepromises a millennium of bodily delights and indulgence. Althoughhe admitted he did not understand the book of Revelation,Dionysius argued with scholarly skill that this book was probablynot written by the disciple John.Mani and ManichaeismMani was born in Babylonia on April 14, 216 soon after Caracallaoverthrew Vologases V and made his brother Artaban IV (r. 215-226)the last Parthian king. When Mani was twelve, he was told in avision to withdraw from a baptizing sect associated with Elkhasai.This revelation coincided with Ardashir's overcoming the Parthiansand reviving the Persian empire.Near his 24th birthday Mani was told by his higher self or angelicteacher to proclaim himself a prophet. Two years later ShapurI became the king of Persia. Mani's mission took him to Ctesiphonand then into western India for two years. There he wrote a bookdiplomatically praising Shapur. Hindus found his teaching of celibacytoo strict; but in 243 he had more success in Khorasan, wherehe converted governor Feroz, who told his brother King Shapurthat Mani had no political ambitions but wanted to unify the peopleof the empire with this universal religion.After Mani spent a year in a cave making paintings, Shapurinvited the prophet to his court in 245, and Mani requested andreceived royal letters to all the Persian governors telling themnot to hinder his mission. For the next ten years Mani was ableto spread his teachings throughout the Persian empire, establishingmany churches and sending out disciples. Adda and Pateg carriedthe teachings of Mani to Egypt. When people made fun of an uglysaint, Mani pointed out that the soul is beautiful and is to berescued from the material body.In 255 Zarathustrian magi led by Kartir persuaded Shapur tobreak with Mani and promote their religion in the empire, causingMani to go into exile. In the next eighteen years the prophetreturned to Khorasan and traveled in central Asia as far as westernChina, returning by way of Tibetand Kashmir. In 273 Shapur died and was succeeded by his son HormizdI, governor of Khorasan, who supported the Manichaeans; but hedied after reigning one year. His younger brother Vahram I lovedpleasure and was cruel. He was persuaded by the magi to end tolerationof heresies and foreign cults in order to promote the orthodoxSassanid religion. Mani tried to meet with the new king at hiswinter palace in Ctesiphon but failed to do so. Mani was saidto have been related to the Parthian Arsacid dynasty, and hisassociation with King Baat, possibly a Parthian Armenian, as helectured to his disciples at Phargalia, may have led to Mani'sarrest at Gondeshapur (Belapat).Mani was brought before an angry King Vahram and said he haddone no harm but had helped the royal family by freeing theirservants of demons and by healing them. The king accused Maniof supporting the defeated Parthian cause. Mani replied that Godsent him to bring the perfect commandments of Christthat he received from God through an angel so that many soulsmight be saved and escape punishment. Vahram asked why God didnot reveal this to him, the king. Mani replied that God commandsand decides whom to teach. The angry king silenced the prophetand had him chained in order to please the magi. Mani said thathe had been protected by Shapur and Hormizd, but Vahram sentencedhim to death and scourging. Mani was chained heavily in prisonfor 26 days. There he consoled his disciples and appointed Sisinas his successor. Mani died in prison on February 26 in 274 or277, described as the Messenger of the Light withdrawing his soulfrom the body. Public distress at the news stimulated the kingto order Mani's body fed to birds and his head placed on a gate.So began persecution of the Manichaeans in the Persian empirethat would continue sporadically for centuries.Four years of persecution occurred before Sisin could organizethe church. Many died as martyrs, and many fled to Khorasan orTurkestan. Some went west, and Pateg is said to have preachedagainst the Old Testament in Rome by 280. Vahram II lostCtesiphon and Seleucia to the Roman Emperor Aurelius Carus in282, while Amu traveled in central Asia and Adda put togetherscriptures in Africa. About five years later African proconsulJulian warned Diocletian that this strange religion's ideas onsex, war, agriculture, and civic duties endangered Roman society.By 290 Manichaeism was flourishing in the Fayyum district of Egypt,and the Syriac Psalms would soon be translated into Coptic.Terrible persecution broke out in the Persian empire in 291. VahramII killed Sisin himself, and many Manichaeans were slaughtered.Innai became the leader and is reported to have healed the kingby prayer, giving peace to the new religion for a while.In 296 Diocletian extended the Christian persecution to theManichaeans, resulting in numerous martyrs in Egypt and NorthAfrica. Although Persian king Narses (r. 296-303) lost Mesopotamiaand western provinces to Rome after he was defeated by Galerius,he left the Manichaeans in peace. In 303 Hormizd II executed Innai,and the next four Manichaean leaders were also killed. In thefourth century Manichaeism spread throughout the Roman empire.Two Christians, Archelaus in his Disputation with Manesand Alexander of Lycopolis in his "Of the Manichaeans,"treated Manichaeism as a Christian heresy instead of a new religion,because Mani acknowledged Jesusas the Christ. In372 Valentinian I prohibited all meetings, and Augustine adoptedthe faith for a decade until Christians urged Theodosius I totake away their civil rights in 381; the next year he decreedManichaean elders put to death, and in 383 Theodosius banishedall Manichaeans. Exile was again decreed by Valentinian II, andin Rome their property was confiscated in 389.Since Mani believed that other religions had deteriorated becausetheir original founders did not write down their teachings, hewrote several books himself in the Aramaic language of Syriacand made sure that they were accurately copied. His first book,Shabuhragan, honored King Shapur I and assured him thathe had no political ambitions. The Living Gospel was writtenand illustrated in the Turkestan cave and contains an accountof the mission of Jesus. Mani began this book and his lettersby referring to himself as the messenger of Jesus. The Treasureof Life describes how the soul comes from the pure Light andthe body from the bad darkness. Although Manichaeism is similarand has been compared to Gnosticism, this book refutes the Marcionitedoctrine of a third intermediary principle, and it gives curesfor errors. The Book of Mysteries teaches that souls arepurged and educated through reincarnation, and it aims to cutaway false beliefs. The Pragmateia suggests what oughtto be done. His other main works are The Book of Giants,Letters, and The Book of Psalms and Prayers.Although these books were faithfully copied and translatedinto many languages as the religion spread, the many persecutionseventually destroyed the books. As Manichaeism faded into Catharistmovements in the 13th century, the religion disappeared. In the20th century Coptic documents were found at al-Fayyum in Egypt,and texts were also found in Turfan and Dun-huang in China. TheChinese catechism noted a book illustrating the two great principles,which may have been based on Mani's paintings made for those whocannot read. The largest work found at al-Fayyum, the Kephalaia,contains the principal teachings of Mani described by disciples.These discoveries, though difficult to piece together becausethe texts were deteriorating, provide a more balanced view tothe already known Christian works refuting Mani.Mani taught there are two sources that are unborn and eternal- God (Light) and matter (darkness). God as good has nothing incommon with evil, because "a good tree cannot bring forthevil fruit." Mani explained the universe as having threemoments involving these two substances. In the past Spirit andmatter were at first separate. Then Spirit entered into matteras souls incarnated into bodies, which is the present condition.Mani as a messenger of Light is helping souls become liberatedfrom their bodies. The third moment is the future when the worldwill end as Spirit becomes purified again from matter. Somehowthe king of darkness decided to enter the region of Light. Godhad no evil with which to punish, so Spirit entered into matteras souls went into bodies with the five faculties of intuition,thought, will, consideration, and reason. As souls mixed withmatter they began to feel material and thus became trapped inbodies. When the Mother of Life, the First Man, and the LivingSpirit prayed to the Great Father, that one sent a Messenger withthe following twelve virtues: royalty, wisdom, victory, contentment,purity, truth, faith, patience, sincerity, kindness, justice,and Light.According to Mani, Jesus lifted up the first man Adam to tastethe Tree of Life. Mani also taught the trinity of the Father (Godof truth), the beloved Son (Christ), and the Holy Spirit (Motherof Life). The five dark rulers may express themselves as the tyrannyof rulers, arrogance of officials, idolatrous errors, superstitiousrites, and sorcery. Previous messengers of God include Zarathushtra,Buddha, and Jesus.True messengers may be known by the following five characteristics:gentleness, austerity, beauty, wisdom, and transformation. Theirmission is to teach and convert living beings in order to savethem from their suffering. Mani planted good seeds of truth andstrengthened his church, sending out envoys to many lands. Hefought greed and lust in order to teach people wisdom and knowledge.The Psalms refer to the divine medicine that heals wounds,crushes evil while crowning godliness, purifies the Light fromthe darkness, and gives rest to the souls. The Great Father isLove who gives oneself for everything. Souls are divine; eventhough they have fallen into the world, they will return to God.Although the Manichaean community had a hierarchy of five levelsincluding Mani's successor and twelve masters (teachers), 72 illuminates(overseers), elders (priests), the rest of the elect, and hearers,the main distinction was between the elect and the hearers. Theelect have their hearts, hands, and mouths sealed by celibacy,non-injury, and abstinence from alcohol and meat. The elect eatonly a little in the morning and one meal in the evening. In theirstrict poverty their only possession was one garment that wasreplaced once a year. The elect teach by grace, wisdom, and faith.The duties of the hearers are to fast, pray, and give charity.They are to fast and be celibate on Sundays, and hearers prayfour times a day. Giving charity includes providing food for theelect, who do no injurious work such as farming, giving a relativeto be one of the elect, and building a temple or dwelling place.The hearers could work in the fields and have one wife, but theywere forbidden to fight in wars. The hearers confess to the elect,and the elect confess to one another.The soul is from on high but is imprisoned in the body waitingto be liberated. Mani taught renouncing the world's possessionsto find the peace of poverty. He advised wisely and skillfullystrengthening oneself around the body's gates lest the sin ofthe body prevail and extinguish the Light. His religious methodsinclude singing and chanting spiritual words, reading and studying,discriminating with wisdom and accepting pure commands, alwaysbeing clean in actions of body, mouth, and mind, practicing kinddeeds, being gentle and amiable, bearing humiliation, followinggood rules and habits, resting the mind in the place of liberation,and leaping for joy in standing firm in the right way. Mani warnedagainst, lying, anger, and hurtful words that may come from speakingfor the sake of killing a man, beasts, or trees. Kindness andsincerity are for saints a base for brightness and a wonderfulgate which lets one see everywhere while walking a straight path.Like the Mahayana Buddhists, Mani promised such would be bornin a Pure Land, where they would be free of penalties and couldrejoice in calmness. The Light-mind of the Christ awakens thosewho sleep and gathers those who are scattered abroad. God sendsthe soul to the judge of the dead that appears as in a mirror.The Great Judge has no partiality but knows how to forgive thosewho have repented. No one can hide when that one searches outtheir actions and repays them according to their deserts. Thesaints go to the heaven of Light and are at peace. Unstained byignorance, passion, and desire, they are not pressed into rebirth.Plotinus and Neo-PlatonismPlotinus was born in Egypt in 205, and at age eight he wasattending a school of grammar. He studied philosophy in Alexandriabut became depressed until he found the teacher he had been lookingfor in Ammonius Saccas when he was about 28. Plotinus stayed withAmmonius for eleven years. Hoping to learn Persian and Indianphilosophy, Plotinus traveled with Gordian III's military expeditionagainst Persia. However, Gordian was assassinated in Mesopotamia,and Plotinus found his way to Antioch and then to Rome by 245.For the next quarter century Plotinus taught philosophy in Rome,influencing many prominent people including Emperor Gallienus.Porphyry became a disciple of Plotinus in 263, and his biographyof the philosopher is based mostly on the next six years. Porphyrycollected and edited 54 treatises of his teacher into The SixEnneads.Plotinus was a vegetarian and spent much time meditating inorder to experience union with God. According to Porphyry duringthe time he knew him Plotinus attained this mystic realizationfour times. Plotinus acted as a mediator in disputes, and friendsoften appointed him guardian of their children's education. Hisplan for a Platonic city in Campania was favorably consideredby Gallienus; but the Emperor's conflicts with the Senate neverallowed the project to be realized. When Porphyry considered suicide,Plotinus persuaded him to rest in Sicily instead. Plotinus himselfbecame ill and retired to Campania, where he died a year laterin 270. His closest disciple Amelius had gone to Syria. Finallyhis physician Eustochius came to him, and Plotinus said that hewould attempt to make the divine within him rise up to the divinein the universe.In The First Ennead Plotinus discussed the relationbetween the soul and the body, virtue, dialectic, happiness, beauty,the good, and evil. That the soul uses the body indicates theyare different. He also identified the good with the soul, becausehe did not believe it could be a joint affection. Thus the soulin us stands apart from the evils, which humans do and sufferthat belong to the animate couplement. Yet if the mind comes outof the soul, it is difficult to separate them, because lower knowledgecan be delusional and the cause of much evil. Plotinus believedwe do evil because we are worsted by our baser side in desireor rage or some evil imagination. These do not always listen tothe reasoning principle. For Plotinus this intellectual principletranscends action and so is guiltless. However, we may or maynot be in touch with this intellectual realm. While the body isa living and brutal animal, the true person is this other intellectualprinciple that is pure and naturally endowed with virtues in thesoul. Yet practical virtues do not come from contemplative wisdombut belong to the couplement that includes the vices.In the tractate "On Virtue" Plotinus asked how thesoul can escape from evil. The answer he read (in Plato)is to be like God by becoming just, holy, and wise. The divinebeing, the soul of the universe, is most wonderful in wisdom.He asked what could be more fitting than for us to become likethe ruler of this world. Aspiring toward the ruling in the intelligiblemeans looking for the source of virtues in ourselves. Plotinusdistinguished this source of virtue from virtue itself. Yet heobserved that we become like the divine by possessing virtue.Even the civic virtues carry a trace of that highest good. Thesoul becomes evil when it is infused with the body, sharing itsstates and thoughts. Virtue throws off the body's moods and devotesitself to its own action from wisdom that never allows the passionsto affect it (prudence), does not fear parting from the body (courage),and is ruled by reason (rectitude). Such virtue is like God andpure. The virtue is actually in the soul, not in the intellectualprinciple.Plotinus next asked whether purification is all of virtue oronly its forerunner. Purification brings an alignment with theintellectual principle, and the alignment brings about virtuewithin. Plotinus wondered how much purification can dispel emotionslike anger, desire, and grief and to what degree disengagementfrom the body is possible. By disengagement he meant the soulwithdrawing into itself above all emotions. Necessary pleasuresstill exist; but fear, for example, ceases except as a monitor.Desires will not be for vile things though they may pass throughthe imagination in fleeting fancies. The soul will be free andwill work to keep the irrational part from being violently assaulted,like a person living next door to a sage may be wise and goodout of sheer shame, not venturing to do what a nobler mind woulddisapprove.For Plotinus this was not sin but discipline. His concern wasnot merely to be sinless but to be God. To associate with thereasoning phase of nature leads one to the highest self, as faras an earthly mind is capable. Virtue appears as wisdom, whichcontemplates all that exists in the intellectual principle. Virtueis dependent on the supreme being, which is independent. Purificationof the soul produces the virtues. If any virtue is lacking, noneis perfect. One will transcend beyond civic virtues in the finaldisengagement. Instead of living as a good person, one will livelike the gods. To model oneself on good persons produces an imageof an image; we must fix our gaze above the image and be likethe supreme exemplar.Plotinus described two stages of the path as first: conversionfrom the lower life, and second: advancing within the realm ofthe intelligibles. The musician must learn to transcend specificharmonies and beauty to recognize absolute beauty itself. Thelover must not be spellbound by one embodied form but be led bymental discipline to discern the one principle in all. This ascentPlotinus called dialectic, the most precious part of philosophy.This dialectic provides the discipline for the understanding ofethics. Inferior virtues may exist without dialectic; but onecannot be a sage or master in dialectic without the lower virtues.They develop together as the purification of the virtues leadsto the development of the greater wisdom and vice versa.Plotinus found that happiness is more than pleasure, becauseit depends on the faculty capable of discerning that pleasureis good. Complete happiness depends on living fully and possessingnot merely what is good but also the supreme good. The sage findsthe good within and only seeks outside desires that are necessitiesfor the sake of the body to which one is bound. One knows thatone is above all such things but gives to them to keep the truelife undiminished. Adverse fortune does not affect the felicityof one whose life is stable. Happiness is not freedom from pain,sickness, and disaster, but it is the fruition of the authenticgood. Anything such as health, which is desired because its oppositeis annoying, is not a good but a necessity. Even in pain the radianceof the inner soul shines like the light in a lantern when windsblow. The sage would like to see all people prosper but is stillcontent when they do not. Pleasure for the sage is not found ingratifications of the body; but one is cheerful and untroubled.For Plotinus it is absurd to think that happiness is associatedwith the body; rather it is the good life centered in the soul.The sage gives the body what is useful and possible as its masterwhile remaining a member of a higher order.Plotinus observed that happiness is found in the present asthe action of the good life. The best life is of the authenticexistence and is not measured by time but by eternity. Those whosee with the soul know the beauty of noble conduct and moral wisdom.The spiritually ugly are dissolute and unjust, teeming with lust,torn by internal discord, beset by cowardly fears and petty envies,thinking only of what is perishable and base, and perverse inimpulses and unclean pleasures, living in abandonment to bodilysensations and delighting in its deformity. Thus one becomes uglyby the alien fall into the body. The soul is dishonored by ceasingto be clean and apart. Thus the soul must be cleared of the desiresthat come from being intimately conversant with the body and mustbe emancipated and purged from passions by being withdrawn andsolitary. We must ascend to the good, which is what every soultruly desires. To see into a virtuous soul and know its loveliness,withdraw into yourself and look. If you find that you are notyet beautiful, then act like a creator of a statue who cuts awaythe excessive, straightens the crooked, and smoothes it untilit is lovely.Plotinus concluded that life in the body is evil, but the soulenters its good through virtue by holding itself apart. This flightdoes not mean quitting earth but living our earth-life with justiceand piety guided by the light of philosophy. Vice is what we areto flee. He criticized the Gnostics for believing the world andits creator are evil, and he noted that they neglected to mentionvirtue. For Plotinus virtue is what makes God in the soul manifest.God on the lips without good conduct is only a word. Despisingthis world and its gods is not the way to goodness. Plotinus believedin tutelary spirits and suggested that souls return to this sphereunder the same spirit or a new one according to the life it isto live. He found the primal source of love in the soul's tendencytoward pure beauty, recognizing its kinship, while the vile clasheswith nature and God. Copulative love is the will to generate inbeauty. Nature seeks to produce the beautiful and thus does notdesire to procreate in the ugly. Ultimately Plotinus believedthat the life of gods, the godlike and the blessed liberates fromthe alien, taking no pleasure in the earthly but passing fromthe alone to the alone. Porphyry was born at Tyre in 233, advanced rapidly in liberaleducation, and studied in Athens with Cassius Longinus, who changedhis name from the Syrian Malchus, meaning "king," toPorphyry, meaning "purple." Porphyry wanted to see Romeand met Plotinus when he was thirty, becoming completely devotedto him. When he wanted to give up his body, his teacher gave himstrength and sent him to Sicily to recover. After Plotinus died,Porphyry returned to Rome and married Marcella to help educateher seven children, becoming head of the Neo-Platonist school.Porphyry was best known for his introduction to the Categoriesof Aristotle and other works on logic. He tried to show that thephilosophies of Aristotleand Plato essentially agree.He wrote a long work of fifteen books criticizing the Christians;but it was ordered burned by Emperors Valentinian III and TheodosiusII in 448, and only fragments remain. He tried to make the traditionalRoman religion more philosophical, as he also argued against itssuperstitious elements in his letter to Anebo, an Egyptian priest.In addition to his short biography of Plotinus he also wrote alife of Pythagoras.Porphyry was concerned with salvation and focused more on practicalethics than Plotinus. Porphyry taught abstinence from meat, sex,and theatrical performances. He believed the soul must purifyitself by ascetic discipline in turning from the lower to thehigher. The lowest stage is to reduce affections by the goldenmean under the dominion of reason in human relations. The nextlevel was the cleansing virtues that lead to detachment. In thehigher stages one develops the intuition (nous). He emphasizedthat God values deeds not words.Literature in the Third CenturyGreek novels continue to stand out among the extant literatureof western civilization in the third century. The pastoral romanceof Daphnis and Chloe was written by Longus about 200 CEand later influenced the literature of the Renaissance. In theprolog Longus claimed, "It will cure the sick, comfort thedistress, stir the memory of those who have loved, and educatethose who haven't."5 On the island of Lesbos a baby boy andgirl are exposed; the boy is suckled by goats and becomes a goatherd;the girl is nurtured by sheep and becomes a shepherd. They learnabout love gradually on their own. Daphnis is captured by piratesand survives their shipwreck. Old Philetas tells Daphnis and Chloeabout the god Love, who rules the stars and all creatures. Heexplains that the disease of love is cured by kissing, embracing,and lying naked on the ground, which they innocently experience.They are attacked by Methymneans, who go to war with the Mytileneans.Nymphs and Pan help Chloe to escape unharmed.Daphnis and Chloe are confused about love, because they seegoats doing it standing up from behind; but Lycaenion falls inlove with Daphnis and shows him what to do. However, she warnshim that Chloe will bleed the first time, and so he refrains,not wanting to hurt her. Soon Chloe attracts suitors, and Daphnisbecomes one of them. The homosexual Gnathon while drunk triesto force himself on Daphnis but is pushed away. Nymphs help Daphnisfind a purse of silver so that he can marry Chloe. Lampis desiresChloe and abducts her, but Gnathon rescues her. Daphnis learnshe is the son of Dionysophanes, who exposed him because he hadenough children. Chloe turns out to be the daughter of a wealthyman, who, after becoming poor by spending his money on dramaticchoruses and warships, had exposed her. Finally the two loversare happily married. The longest Greek novel of this era is The Ethiopian Storyof Theagenes and Charikleia by Heliodorus of Emesa. Scholarsdiffer on when it was written - from about 230 to the late 4thcentury. Byzantine culture enjoyed the novel and believed itsauthor wrote it before converting to Christianity and becominga bishop. Set in the 6th century BC, in the western delta of theNile some bandits find a scene of devastation and Charikleia treatingthe wounds of Theagenes. Bandits thrive in nearby marshes, andmore led by Thyamis soon appear. Charikleia vows to hang herselfto preserve what even her lover Theagenes has not yet enjoyed.The Athenian Knemon tells the lovers about his step-mother's passionfor him and how she died by the cleverness of Thisbe. Thyamiswants to marry Charikleia, who says Theagenes is her brother.Charikleia asks Thyamis to allow her to lay down her priesthoodat a shrine of Apollo. When bandits attack Thyamis, he kills thewoman he thinks is Charikleia but who turns out to be Thisbe.Knemon meets the Egyptian sage Kalasiris, who eats no animal foodand drinks no wine. Kalasiris tells Knemon how he adopted Charikleiafrom her father Charikles, a priest of Apollo.At the Pythian games in Delphi Kalasiris learned that Chariklesfound the infant Charikleia with tokens indicating she is thedaughter of Ethiopian queen Persinna, a friend of Kalasiris andthe very daughter he has been seeking. Kalasiris helped Charikleiaand Theagenes escape from Delphi. Theagenes swore to honor thechastity of Charikleia; though he is the slave of love, he isthe master of pleasure. They were captured by pirates, and Pelorisfought their leader for Charikleia, because he was the first toboard the ship and by their pirate custom should have first prize.In Egypt the merchant Nausikles betroths his daughter Nausikleiato Knemon, while Theagenes is captured by Thyamis and taken toMemphis. Kalasiris and Charikleia disguise themselves as beggars.Egypt at this time is ruled by the Persian satrap Oroondates,whose queen Arsake likes to take lovers. Petosiris had replacedhis older brother Thyamis as priest by accusing him of adulterywith Arsake. The two brot | |
