Christians about the time of Trajan, in the countries lying eastward of the Dead Sea, by means of the diffusion of Essenism, which united with the asceticism of the Essenes the peculiar opinion, that the Spirit of God associated himself differently with one man, that, as the true prophet (Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jesus), he might announce the same truth, and restore it when obscured. This party became known

Opp. t. ii. p. 148, asserts but a 7. Comp. my treatise, p. 297 pay ff. 306 ff.

9 Comp. Credner über Essäer u. Ebioniten, and a communication which partly agrees with his treatise in Winer's Zeitschrift f. wissensch. Theol. i. 211, 277. A. Schliemann's die Clementinen nebst den Verwandten Schriften, und der Ebionitismus. Hamburg, 1844. According to Epiphanius the 'Eoonvol (haer. x.) lived in Samaria; on the other hand, the 'Oronvol (haer. xix.) in Nabathea, Iturea, Moabitis, and Areilitis. Hence he takes the former as a Samaritan, the latter as a Jewish sect. Doubtless the names were different merely by provincial pronunciation. The Essenes had withdrawn into these districts during the Jewish wars, in order to avoid the importunity of the Jews insisting on their carrying arms along with them. To the Ossenes, i.e. the Essenes living to the east of the Dead Sea, 'Hλgat, 'Hλaîos attached himself in the reign of Trajan (Epiphan. haer. xix. 1); and remains of the party which he modified were still existing in the time of Epiphanius as a Christian sect, under the name of Zaufaîo, living in Nabathea and Moabitis (1. c. c. 2), also in Iturea. They were also called 'Exxeσaîo (haer. liii. 1); and by Origen (in Euseb. h. e. vi. 38) 'Exeσatra. That Elxai also attached himself to the Ebionites, and a part of them followed him (Epiphan. haer. xxx. 3). Epiphanius professes even to have read the prophetic book left by Elxai (haer. xix. 1, 3); and he had heard besides of another writing, belonging to a brother of Elxai (haer. liii. 3) called 'legéos (haer. xix. 1). The name 'HAğat signified, according to his followers, duvajus kekaλuμμvén, from and p (haer. xix. 2). Modern writers have conjectured that this name first originated from the name of the party, and have declared the name Elcesaite equivalent to (from wɔ, to deny), apostate. Baumgarten's Geschich. Nitzsch de Testamentis

der Religionsparteien. p. 271; from xii, patriarcharum, p. 5. According to Scaliger, 'Exğal NDO N 8 'Eooaios (Petavii comm. ad Epiphan. haer. xix.) According to Delitzsch (in Rudelbach's and Guerike's Zeitschrift, 1841, i. 43), the Elcesaites derived their name from the town Elcesi, in Galilee. I believe that '?? is an appellation of the Spirit of God which made the true prophet, and which is also called in the Clementine's hom. xvii. 16, dúvams ἄσαρκος. The Elcesaites praised this secret power as their teacher; hence arose the error of Epiphanius. If the title of the work which he

חֵיל

beyond their own country by means of the Clementines towards the end of the second century; 10 and they were called sometimes Ecclesaites or Sampsaeans, sometimes Ebionites; which latter was the general appellation of heretical Jewish Christians.

possessed was, and he heard of another

the latter treating of the concealed deity as the former did of his concealed power, he may have made out of this two brothers. That this development proceeded from a confounding of the Essenes with Jewish Christians is shown by Credner 1. c. p. 312. When Schliemann denies this, because the similarity of the Essene creed to the Elcesaite cannot be demonstrated, he forgets that the former is completely unknown to us, since it was guarded as a mysterious doctrine under the sanction of an oath, a thing which the Elcesaites had also to do (Credner's Beiträge zur Einl. in d. bibl. Schriften, i. 369). When Schliemann, on the other hand, designates this tendency as Gnostic Ebionitism, no objection can be made to the assertion, if Gnosis be taken as synonymous with theosophy generally. In this sense the Essenes, too, were Gnostics. But that theosophy which is in historical possession of the name Gnosis was opposed by the Elcesaites, as Schliemann, p. 539, himself shows. When, moreover, this same writer refers to the incorporation of the old oriental elements into Judaism, in order to explain Gnostic Ebionitism, and quotes Neander, he lays claim to the same source for it as that from which Neander derives Essenism (see above § 15. note 9). Regarding the name of the party, I do not believe with Credner (Beiträge, S. 367) that Ossenes, Sampsaeans, and Elcesaites were the names of the three highest classes of the Essenes. The Ossenes were the Essenes east of the Dead Sea, who by degrees became Christians. These Essene Christians were styled Elcesaites from the 'p, which they confessed; Sampsaeans (Épiphan. haer. liii. 2. Zaμyaîor épμnvevovтai Hakol from ), probably because they turned while praying towards the rising sun, as did the Essenes. The name Ebionites which was given to them, if we may rely on the authority of Epiphanius, is with him the general appellation for all heretical Jewish Christians, and is therefore least of all adapted for a strict description.

10 See below § 58. From this time onward the party appears to have obtained adherents in Asia Minor, Rome, and Cyprus. Hence Origen, in Euseb. h. c. vi. 38, distinguishes the alpeow Tv 'EAKEσαÏTŵV as vewori éπavioraμévny. On the other hand, it is very doubtful whether the doctrine of this party be represented in its pure unadulterated form

in the Clementines.

§ 33.

EXTERNAL FORTUNES OF THE CHRISTIANS IN THE OTHER

PROVINCES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

After the destruction of Jerusalem, the heathen Christians were everywhere so numerous that it was no longer possible to mistake the distinction between Christianity and Judaism. Still, however, the Christians were looked upon as a Jewish sect.1 All the prejudices entertained against the Jews, and the hatred of the heathen which had been strengthened against them since their rebellion, were transferred in like manner to the Christians. At the same time Christianity appeared far more dangerous than Judaism, inasmuch as it was not confined, like it, to one people, but propagated itself everywhere with immense rapidity.2 Yet the persecutions which the Christians had to suffer from individual emperors, were only partial. Vespasian (70-79) did not at all persecute the Christians as such; although they may have been harassed under his reign and that of Titus his successor, (79-81), by the demand of the tax imposed on every Jew. This was still more the case under Domitian, (81-96),3

1 Hence in Tacitus (hist. v. 5), while describing the Jews, traits appear which are manifestly borrowed from the Christians: Animas proelio aut suppliciis peremptorum aeternas putant. Hinc generandi amor et moriendi contemptus.

2 Notions of this time concerning the Christians: Tacit. annal. xv. 44: quos per flagitia invisos, vulgos Christianos appellabat. Auctor nominis ejus Christus, Tiberio imperitante, per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat. Repressaque in praesens exitiabilis superstitio rursus erumpebat non modo per Judaeam, originem ejus mali, sed per Urbem etiam, quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque. Odio humani generis convicti sunt. Sueton. in Nerone, c. 16: Christiani, genus hominum superstitionis novae ac maleficae.

3 The dispaxuos now to be paid to Jupiter Capitolinus. Joseph. de B. J. vii. 6, 6. Sueton. in Domitiano, c. 12, Praeter caeteros Judaicus fiscus acerbissime actus est: ad quem deferebantur, qui vel improfessi Judaicam viverent vitam, vel dissimulata origine imposita genti tributa non pependissent. Interfuisse me adolescentulum memini, quum a procuratore frequentissimoque consilio inspiceretur nonagenarius senex, an circumsectus esset. Petri Zornii historia fisci Judaici sub imperio vett Roman. Alton. 1734.,

who caused some Christians to be put to death even in Rome,4 and search to be made in Palestine for the posterity of David.s Under Nerva (96-98), all these provocations ceased. At the time of Trajan (98—117), appear the first traces of that popular rage against them to which, in succeeding times, so many must frequently have fallen sacrifices (Eusebius iii. 32). Pliny the younger, governor of Bithynia, where the number of Christians had unusually increased, applied against them the general laws which had been lately revived by Trajan against forbidden societies (hetaeriae), which were really dangerous, (cf. Plin. epist. x. 42, 43; 110 or 111 A.D.) He adopted that course because no special laws had been enacted with regard to them. His account of the Christians addressed to Trajan, which is of the highest importance towards understanding their condition at that period, led to the first legal enactment relative to the course which should be adopted,7 to which among

• Xiphilini epitome Dionis Cass. lxvii. 14: τὸν Φάβιον Κλήμεντα ὑπατεύοντα, καίπερ ἀνεψιὸν ὄντα, καὶ γυναῖκα καὶ αὐτὴν συγγενῆ ἑαυτοῦ Φλαβίαν Δομιτίλλαν ἔχοντα κατέσφαξεν ὁ Δομιτιανός· ἐπηνέχθη δὲ ἀμφοῖν ἔγκλημα ἀθεότητος· ἱφ' ἧς καὶ ἄλλοι ἐς τὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἤθη ἐξοκέλλοντες πολλοὶ κατεδικάσθησαν· καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀπέθανον, οἱ δὲ τῶν γοῦν οὐσιῶν ἐστερήθησαν. ἡ δὲ Δομιτίλλα ὑπερωρίσθη μόνον εἰς Πανδατέρειαν. (ἄθεος, i. e. ὁ μὴ σεβόμEVOS TOÙS BEOÚS). Euseb. chron. lib. ii. ad Olymp. 218: Пoλλoì dè Xpiστιανῶν ἐμαρτύρησαν κατὰ Δομετιανὸν, ὡς ὁ Βρέττιος (Hieron. Brutius. Chron. pasch. ὁ Βρούττιος) ἱστορεῖ, ἐν οἷς καὶ Φλαυία Δομετίλλα, ἐξαδελφὴ Κλήμεντος Φλανίου ὑπατικοῦ, ὡς χριστιανὴ εἰς νῆσον Ποντίαν φυγαδεύεται· αὐτός τε Κλήμης ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ ἀναιρείται. Cf. Ejusd. hist. eccl. iii. c. 18, $2. According to Hieronymi epist. 86 (al. 27) ad Eustochium Virg. epitaphium Paulae matris, Paula had seen on the island Pontia the little cells in quibus illa (Flavii Domitilla) longum martyrium duxerat.

5

As Vespasian had already done (Hegesipp. ap. Euseb. iii. 12), Hegesippus, in Euseb. iii. 20, relates how the grandchildren of Judas, the brother of Christ, were brought before Domitian.

6 Xiphilini epit. Dionis. lxviii. 1 : ὁ Νερούας τούς τε κρινομένους ἐπ' ἀσεβείᾳ ἀφῆκε, καὶ τοὺς φεύγοντας κατήγαγε τοῖς δὲ δὴ ἄλλοις οὔτ ̓ ἀσεβείας, οὔτ ̓ Ἰουδαϊκοῦ βίου καταιτιᾶσθαί τινας συνεχώρησε. A coin of the Senate: Fisci Judaici calumnia sublata. S. Eckhel doctrina nummor, veter. vi. p. 405.

Plinii lib. x. epist. 96 (al. 97): C. Plinius Trajano. Solemne est mihi, Domine, omnia, de quibus dubito, ad Te referre. Quis enim potest melius vel cunctationem meam regere, vel ignorantiam instruere? Cognitionibus de Christianis interfui nunquam ideo nescio, quid et quatenus aut puniri soleat, aut quaeri. Nec mediocriter haesitavi, sitne aliquod discrimen aetatum, an quamlibet teneri nihil a robustioribus differant: deturne poenitentiae venia, an ei, qui omnino Christianus fuit, desisse non prosit : nomen ipsum, si flagitiis careat, an flagitia cohaeren

others, Ignatius also, bishop of Antioch, (116), fell a sacrifice.s

tia nomini puniantur. Interim in iis, qui ad me tanquam Christiani deferebantur, hunc sum secutus modum. Interrogavi ipsos, an essent Christiani: confitentes iterum ac tertio interrogavi, supplicium minatus: perseverantes duci jussi.. Neque enim dubitabam, qualecunque esset quod faterentur, pertinaciam certe et inflexibilem obstinationem debere puniri. Fuerunt alii similis amentiae: quos, quia cives Romani erant, annotavi in urbem remittendos. Mox ipso tractatu, ut fieri solet, diffundente se crimine, plures species inciderunt. Propositus est libellus sine auctore, multorum nomina continens, qui negarent, esse se Christianos aut fuisse. Cum praeeunte me Deos appellarent, et imagini Tuae, quam propter hoc jusseram cum simulacris numinum afferri, thure ac vino supplicarent, praeterae maledicerent Christo, quorum nihil cogi posse dicuntur, qui sunt revera Christiani, dimittendos esse putavi. Alii ab indice nominati, esse se Christianos dixerunt, et mox negaverunt: fuisse quidem, sed desisse, quidam ante triennium, quidam ante plures annos, non nemo etiam ante viginti quoque. Omnes et imaginem Tuam, Deorumque simulacra venerati sunt: ii et Christo maledixerunt. Affirmabant autem, hanc fuisse summam vel culpae suae, vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo, quasi Deo, dicere secum invicem: seque sacramento, non in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria committerent, ne fidem fallerent, ne depositum appellati abnegarent; quibus peractis morem sibi discendi fuisse, rursusque coëundi ad capiendum cibum, promiscuum tamen et innoxium (not singularem maleficae superstitionis); quod ipsum facere desisse post edictum meum, quo secundum mandata Tua hetaerias esse vetueram. Quo magis necessarium credidi, ex duabus ancillis, quae ministrae dicebantur, quid esset veri, et per tormenta quaerere. Sed nihil aliud inveni, quam superstitionem pravam et immodicam ideoque dilata cognitione ad consulendum Te decurri. Visa est enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter periclitantium numerum. Multi enim omnis aetatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque sexus etiam, vocantur in periculum, et vocabantur. Neque enim civitates tantum, sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est. Quae videtur sisti et corrigi posse. Certe satis constat, prope jam desolata templa coepisse celebrari, et sacra solemnia diu intermissa repeti, pastumque venire victimarum, cujus adhuc rarissimus emtor inveniebatur. Ex quo facile est opinari, quae turba hominum emendari possit, si sit poenitentiae locus.

8

Ibid. ep. 97 (al. 98): Trajanus Plinio. Actum, quem debuisti, mi Secunde, in excutiendis causis eorum, qui Christiani ad te delati fuerant, secutus es. Neque enim in universum aliquid, quod quasi certam formam habeat, constitui potest. Conquirendi non sunt: si deferantur et arguantur, puniendi sunt, ita tamen, ut qui negaverit se Christianum esse, idque re ipsa manifestum fecerit, i. e. supplicando Diis nostris, quamvis suspectus in praeteritum, venium ex poenitentia impetret. Sine auctore vero propositi libelli in nullo crimine locum habere debent: nam et pessimi exempli, nec nostri seculi est. (This text is after the edition of J. C. Grelli, prefixed to the Zürich Lectionscataloge. Mich.,