A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

Outline of Universal History

G >> George Park Fisher >> Outline of Universal History




The reigns of _Valerian_ (253-260) and of his associate and
successor, _Gallienus_ (260-268), were marked by continuous
disaster. Numerous independent rulers--"the thirty
tyrants"--established themselves, generally for a very short time, in
different regions. In the East, one kingdom, the capital of which was
_Palmyra_, and which had for a ruler _Zenobia_, the widow of
its founder, lasted for ten years (264-273). The _Goths_ occupied
_Dacia_, and from the Cimmerian Bosphorus sent out their
predatory expeditions in all directions, plundering cities, including
_Athens_ and _Corinth_, and carrying off immense booty to
their homes south of the Danube. The _Persians_ conquered
_Armenia_, took _Valerian_ prisoner, advanced into Syria,
and burned Antioch.

TO DIOCLETIAN (A.D. 284).--It would seem as if the Roman empire was on
the verge of dissolution. But a series of vigorous emperors--among
them _Claudius_ (268-270) and _Aurelian_ (270-275)--quelled
rebellion within its borders, and re-established its boundaries;
although _Aurelian_ gave up to the Goths _Dacia_, which had
been of no benefit to the empire. _Probus_ (276-282) was a
prudent as well as valiant ruler. _Carus_ (282-283) invaded
Persia, captured _Seleucia_ and _Ctesiphon_, and might,
perhaps, have completed the conquest of the country, but for his
death. _Numerianus_ (283-284) was the last in the succession of
rulers during this period of military control, of which the corruption
of the army was the worst result.



II. THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY (TO A.D. 375).

DIOCLETIAN.--Once more the gigantic and weakened frame of the Roman
Empire was invigorated by a change in the character of the chief
rulers and in the method of government. _Diocletian_ (284-305),
one of a number of energetic emperors who were of Illyrian birth,
first stripped the imperial office of its limitations, and converted
it into an absolute monarchy. This new system was carried to its
completion by _Constantine_. _Diocletian_ took from the
Senate what political jurisdiction was left to it. He abolished the
difference between the treasury of the state and the private coffers
of the prince. The precedence of Rome was taken away by making other
great cities to be seats of government. There were to be two emperors
under the title of _Augustus_, with two _Caesars_ under
them; and thus the empire was divided, for administrative purposes,
into four parts. _Maximian_, the second Augustus, was to rule
over Italy, Africa, and the islands, with _Milan_ for his
residence. _Constantius Chlorus_ had the western provinces,
--Spain, Gaul, and Britain. At _Nicomedia_, _Diocletian_, a
man of imposing presence and of great talents as a statesman,
exercised rule for twenty years with efficiency and success. The new
system, if it involved the peril of strife among the regents, led to a
more vigilant and efficient government in the different provinces, and
provided for a peaceful succession to the throne. But the government
came to resemble, in the omnipotence of the emperor, in the obsequious
homage paid to him, and in the cringing manners of the court, an
Oriental despotism. The old heathen religion was considered by
conservative Romans to be an essential part of the imperial system,
and indispensable to the unity of the empire. It was this view, in
connection with other influences, which moved _Diocletian_, near
the close of his reign, in 303, to set on foot a systematic
persecution of the Christian Church, by a series of extremely severe
and well-contrived measures, through which it was designed to
extirpate the new religion. The last great persecution, in the reign
of _Decius_, cruel though it had been, did not approach in
severity this final effort to exterminate the disciples of the
Christian faith, who had now become very numerous. Terrible sufferings
were inflicted, but without avail. In 305 Diocletian, partly on
account of a serious illness, formally abdicated, and obliged
_Maximian_ to do the same. Civil wars followed, until
_Constantine_, the son of _Constantius_, gained the
supremacy, first as joint ruler with _Licinius_, who governed in
the East, and then, after a bloody struggle which began in A.D. 314,
as sole master of the empire (A.D. 323).

CONSTANTINE (A.D. 306-337).--The career of _Constantine_ was
stained by acts of cruelty towards members of his own family. In the
closing period of his life, he was less just and humane than in
earlier days. The change which had taken place in the imperial system
was signally manifest in his removal of the seat of government to
CONSTANTINOPLE, which was built up by him, and named in his
honor. Placed between Europe and Asia, on a tongue of land where it
was protected from assault, it was admirably suited for a
metropolis. But the change of capital involved dangers for the western
portions of the empire, exposed as they were to the assaults of the
barbarians. The changes in the government begun by Diocletian were
completed by Constantine. The empire was divided, for purposes of
government, into four _prefectures_, each of which was subdivided
into _dioceses_. _Constantine_ established, likewise,
different classes of nobles, the type of modern systems of
nobility. He organized the army afresh, under the _Master of the
Horse_ and _Master of the Foot_, each, however, commanding, in
action, both infantry and cavalry, and each having under him
_dukes_ and _counts_. In short, the system of central and
despotic administration, with subordinate rulers, which
_Diocletian_ began, was perfected by
_Constantine_. Diocletian, in order to fortify the imperial power
against the army, had shared his power with "a cabinet of emperors,"
which his genius enabled him to control. To prevent the breaking up of
the empire through the system of viceroys thus created to preserve it,
Constantine separated the civil authority from the military as regards
the subordinate rulers, while both functions were united in
himself. He still further exalted his throne by giving it even more of
an Oriental character, by creating a multitude of officials, who were
satellites of the sovereign, and by becoming the secular head and
guardian of the Christian Church. The arrangements of his court, with
its grades of officials, from the chamberlain downwards, were after
the Oriental pattern.


THE DOWNFALL OF HEATHENISM.

PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY.--The failure of the grand attempt of
_Diocletian_ to exterminate Christianity was an indication of its
coming triumph. Its progress had been gradual yet rapid, and, in its
earlier stages especially, obscure. Of the labors of most of the
apostles we know little. On the approach of the Jewish war (p. 180),
the Apostle _John_, and other Christians with him, had repaired
to Asia Minor. There, at _Ephesus_, this apostle lived until the
reign of _Trajan_, and from that center exerted a wide influence,
the traces of which are marked and various. The cities were the
principal scenes of early missionary work. They were the "strategic
points." In them it was easier for Christian preachers to gain a
hearing, and in them they were exempt from the hindrance created by
strange dialects. Wherever Christians went, even for purposes of trade
or mechanical industry, they carried the seeds of the new
doctrine. Even with regard to the churches of _Alexandria_ and
_Carthage_, which became so flourishing, and in the case of the
church at _Rome_ itself, we can not say how they were first
planted. The exultant terms in which the ecclesiastical writers at the
end, and even as early as the middle, of the second century speak of
the increasing number of the converts, proves that the Christian cause
was fast gaining ground. Its adherents were sometimes of the higher
class, but mostly from the ranks of the poor.

PERSECUTIONS.--Persecution from the side of the heathen began among
the populace. Always when fire, tempest, or plague occurred, they were
ascribed to the wrath of the heathen gods at the desertion of their
altars, and the cry was for Christian blood. But Christianity, from
the time of _Trajan_, was an illegal religion. Magistrates might
at any time require Christians to do homage to the emperor's bust, or
to burn incense to the old divinities. To make a proselyte of a Roman
citizen, or to meet in private companies for worship, was
unlawful. The persecutions by public authority have been said to be
ten; but this number is too small if all of them are reckoned, and too
large if only those of wide extent are included. The constancy with
which even young women and children sometimes endured the torture,
excited wonder in the beholders. Among the more noted martyrs are
_Ignatius_, bishop of Antioch (116); _Polycarp_, bishop of
Smyrna, who had been a pupil of the Apostle John, and was put to death
in 155; and _Cyprian_, the aged bishop of Carthage, one of the
leading ecclesiastics of the time, who suffered under _Valerian_
in 258.

THE CHURCH UNDER CONSTANTINE.--The accession of Constantine made
Christianity the predominant religion in the Roman Empire. His
conversion was gradual. More and more he came to rely for support in
his conflicts with his rivals upon the God of the Christians. The sign
of the cross, which he said that he beheld in the sky, and which led
him to make the cross his standard, may have been an optical illusion
occasioned partly by his own mental state at the moment, when, after
prayer, he was standing at noon-day in the door of his tent. He
remained, like many others in that day, not without relics of the old
beliefs, as is seen from inscriptions on his coins, and other
evidences. His own baptism he deferred until he was near his end, on
account of the prevalent idea that all previous guilt is effaced in
the baptismal water. The edict of unrestricted toleration was issued
from _Milan_ in 312. _Constantine_ did not proscribe
heathenism. He forbade immoral rites, and rites connected with magic
and sorcery. But, with this exception, heathen worshipers were not
molested. But the emperor gave his zealous personal countenance to the
Christian cause, and marks of his favor to its adherents. By the
privileges and immunities which he granted to the Church and its
ministers, he did more than he would have been likely to effect by the
use of severity against its adversaries. ORGANIZATION OF THE
CHURCH.--The early Christian societies were little republics, at first
under the supervision of the apostles. Their organization shaped
itself partly after the model of the synagogue, and partly from the
pattern of the civil communities and the voluntary associations about
them. In the apostolic age a body of _elders_ or _bishops_
and a body of _deacons_ in each church guided its affairs, while
the members took an active part in the choice of their officers, and
in the general direction of ecclesiastical proceedings. In the second
century, when we get a distinct view of the churches after the obscure
interval that follows the age of the apostles, we find that over the
elders is a _bishop_, whose office grows in importance as the
churches become larger, as the need of more compact organization is
felt, and as the clergy become more and more distinct from the
laity. The bishop of the city church acquires jurisdiction over the
adjacent country churches. The bishop in the capital of each province
comes to exercise a certain superintendence within the province. This
is the _metropolitan_ system. More and more the bishops of the
great cities, especially _Rome_, _Alexandria_, and
_Antioch_, exercise a parallel supervision in larger divisions of
the empire. This is the _patriarchal_ system. As early as the
closing part of the second century, the catholic or universal church
presents itself before us, conceived of as a unity which is made such
by the hierarchy of bishops, and by connection with the apostolic
sees,--the churches founded by the apostles in person. As the apostles
were thought of as having a head in _Peter_, the bishops of Rome,
who were looked on as his successors, had accorded to them a
precedence over other bishops. The grandeur of Rome, the strength of
the church there, its services to other churches in the empire,
especially in the West, together with many other considerations
additional to its alleged historic relation to Peter and to Paul, gave
to the Roman See, as time went on, a growing and acknowledged
pre-eminence. The custom of holding synods helped to build up the
unity of the Church, and to give power and dignity to its officials.

SECTS: THEOLOGY.--The Church from the beginning had to contend with
opposing sects. There was a desire to amalgamate the Christian
doctrine with other systems. On the _Jewish_ side, the
_Ebionites_ clung to the Old Testament ritual observances, a part
of them being bitterly hostile to the Apostle Paul, and another part,
the _Nazareans_, not sharing this fanatical feeling, but still
adhering to the Jewish ceremonies. On the other hand, the
_Gnostics_ introduced a dualism, and ascribed to the
_Demiurge_--a second deity, either subordinate to the supreme
God, or antagonistic to him--the origination of this world and of the
Old Testament religion. They made a compound of Christianity, Judaism,
and heathen religion and speculation, each Gnostic sect giving to one
or the other of these ingredients the preponderance in the strange and
often fantastic medley. The controversy with heathenism was prosecuted
with the pen. Of the numerous defenses of Christianity, now addressed
to heathen rulers and now to its opponents in private stations, the
most remarkable work in the first three centuries was the writing of
_Origen_--who was the most eminent of the teachers of theology at
_Alexandria_--in reply to _Celsus_. Origen, after scholarly
labors so vast as to earn for him the title of the _Adamantine_,
died in 254, in consequence of his sufferings in the Diocletian
persecution. Two defenses of the Christian faith, composed about the
middle of the second century by _Justin Martyr_, are specially
instructive as to the state of Christian opinion and the customs of
the Church. The first great center of theological activity was
_Alexandria_, where philosophy was studied in a liberal
spirit. In the East, the questions relative to the divinity of Jesus
and the relation of the divine to the human nature, engrossed
attention. In the West, it was the practical aspects of theology, the
doctrine of sin and of the deliverance of the will by grace, which
were chiefly discussed. The _Arian_ controversy grew out of the
assertion by _Arius_, a presbyter of Alexandria, that Jesus was
the first-made of all beings, the instrument of the creation of all
other beings, but himself a creature. The leader of the orthodox
opposition to this opinion was the famous Alexandrian archdeacon,
afterwards bishop, _Athanasius_. This debate it was which led to
the assembling, under the auspices of _Constantine_, of the
_Council of Nicaea_ (A.D. 325), the first of a series of General
Councils, for the adjudication of doctrinal disputes, that were held
in this and the following centuries. The Arian doctrine was condemned
at Nicaea, and, after a long contest in the period subsequent, was
finally determined to be heretical. In the West, the main controversy
was that raised by _Pelagius_, respecting the power of the will,
the native character of men, and the agency of God in their
conversion. In this debate, _Augustine_ (354-430), the most
eminent theologian of the West, bishop of _Hippo_ in North
Africa, was the renowned champion of the doctrine of _grace_
against what he considered an exaggerated assertion of
_free-will_. Pelagianism was condemned in the West, and nominally
in the East where views intermediate between the Pelagians and
Augustinians commonly prevailed. The most eminent scholar contemporary
with Augustine was _Jerome_, who died in 420, the author of the
Latin version of the Scriptures, called the _Vulgate_. Preceding
Augustine in North Africa, early in the third century, was
_Tertullian_, a vigorous and fervid writer, who first made Latin
the vehicle of theological discussion; and, a little later,
_Cyprian_, whose works relate chiefly to church unity and
hierarchical government, of which he was a devoted champion. Late in
the second century, _Irenaeus_, bishop of Lyons in Gaul, one of
the most eminent ecclesiastics of that day, composed an elaborate work
against the Gnostic heresies. _Irenaeus_ had known
_Polycarp_, a disciple of John the apostle.

CHRISTIAN LIFE.--Passing within the sphere of Christian life, there
can be no doubt that Christianity exerted a power, of which there had
been no experience before, in reforming the character and conduct of
those even who had been addicted to crime and vice. The fraternal
feeling of Christians for one another impressed the heathen about them
as something new and singularly attractive. It expressed itself in
unstinted charity for those in poverty, and in helpfulness for all
sorts of distress. The church was a home for the weary and
friendless. In the strong reaction against the sensuality of a
dissolute society, ascetic tendencies appeared, which, in process of
time, issued in monasticism. _Anthony_ of Thebes, born about 250,
was one of the earliest and most celebrated of the _Anchorites_,
who chose a hermit life, and abjured all the luxuries of life and most
of the comforts which belong to social existence. To the
_Anchorites_ succeeded the _Caenobites_, societies of monks
who dwelt in a common habitation under fixed rules; and these were
naturally followed by _confederacies_ of such communities under
one organization. The monastic vows were _poverty_, or the
renunciation of property; _celibacy_, or abstinence from
marriage; and _obedience_ to the conventual superior. Sometimes
in the early centuries great evils and abuses sprang up in connection
with monastic life. For example, monks might become fanatical and
violent. But they furnished numerous examples of sincere piety, and of
unselfish and intrepid self-sacrifice for the welfare of others.

CHANGES IN WORSHIP.--As the Church grew in numbers and wealth, costly
edifices were constructed for worship. The services within them became
more elaborate. At length art was called in to adorn the Christian
sanctuaries. Sculpture and painting were enlisted in the work of
providing aids to devotion. Relics of saints and martyrs were
cherished as sacred possessions. Religious observances were
multiplied; and the Church, under the Christian emperors, with its
array of clergy and of imposing ceremonies, assumed much of the
stateliness and visible splendor that had belonged to the heathen
system which it had supplanted.

LAST DAYS OF HEATHENISM.--When Christianity had become powerful, its
disciples forgot the precepts of their Master, and sometimes
persecuted the heathen. Christian mobs demolished the old temples. The
great temple of _Serapis_ in _Alexandria_ was destroyed, and
the statue of the god was broken in pieces. _Theodosius I._
(379-395) made the celebration of heathen rites a capital offense, and
confiscated the property by which heathen worship had been
supported. Arians, too, he persecuted, but with less harshness. The
Eastern emperor, _Justinian_, suppressed the school of New
Platonic philosophers at Athens, and banished the teachers
(529). Heathenism lingered in remote districts, and was hence called
_paganism_, or the religion of rustics. The last adherents of the
ancient religion inhabited in the seventh century remote valleys of
the Italian islands. The oracles were for ever dumb. The old
divinities were never more to be invoked. But it was not by force that
heathenism was extirpated. If it had not lost its vitality, it would
have survived the penal laws against it. It perished by the expulsive
energy of a better faith.

CAUSES OF THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY.--The causes of the spread and
triumph of Christianity lie ultimately in the need which men feel of
religion, especially in times of dread and distress, and in the
intrinsic excellence which was felt to belong to Christianity. In the
first and second centuries the dreary feeling engendered by the hollow
skepticism that prevailed was favorable to the Christian cause. There
was a void to be filled, and the gospel came to fill it. In the third
century, when the progress of Christianity was specially rapid, there
was a perceptible revival of religious feeling among the heathen; and
this, too, operated to the advantage of the gospel. At least it must
have done so in numerous instances. In that century the terrible
plagues which desolated the empire, with the sufferings that sprung
from wild anarchy and misgovernment, made the church a welcome asylum
for the afflicted. In the _first_ place, Christianity was a
religion. It was neither a merely speculative nor a merely moral
system. It took hold of the supernatural. _Secondly_, it
presented to a corrupt society a moral ideal of spotless
perfection. _Thirdly_, it offered, in the doctrine of the cross,
a welcome solace,--consolation in life, with a sense of
reconciliation, and the hope of everlasting good. Other causes, such
as _Gibbon_ enumerates, were operative. But these are themselves
mostly _effects_ or _aspects_ of the gospel; or they were
_auxiliary_, not _principal_, causes.

CHRISTIANITY AND LIBERTY.--The founders of Christianity had no thought
of becoming the authors of a political revolution. They had a very
different purpose in view. To overthrow the existing order of society
would have been equally unwise and impracticable. What was needed was
a new spirit of justice and of love. The virtues that were called for
then were the _passive_ virtues,--gentleness, forbearance, the
calm endurance of ills of which there was no present remedy. The
Christian spirit, therefore, did not evoke in the disciples of the new
faith sentiments of liberty akin to those which had belonged to Greek
and Roman heroes. Indirectly, however, Christianity brought into human
society the germs of liberty. In the _first_ place, while it
enjoined absolute submission to rulers, it made an exception whenever
their commands should require disobedience to God's law. This position
involved the denial to the state of that absolute supremacy accorded
to it by the ancients. The allegiance to the state became a
_qualified_ allegiance. _Secondly_, there arose within the
state another community, which took into its hands, to a large extent,
the regulation of social life. The boundaries of the two authorities
might be indistinct, but there was a real division of control between
them. It is true that tyranny might arise within the Christian
organization itself: still, its very existence planted on the earth a
principle of liberty, which was destined ultimately to work out the
destruction of all tyranny, whether civil or religious. For the first
time the rulers of the Roman world were faced by an opposition, meek
yet too inflexible for all their power to overcome. This is the first
stage in the history of modern liberty. The "heroic and invincible
_Athanasius_" as _Milton_ styles him, boldly confronted
_Constantine_ and his successors, and chose to spend twenty years
of his life in voluntary or enforced exile rather than bow to their
tyrannical decrees. _Ambrose_, the great archbishop of
_Milan_, compelled the Emperor _Theodosius_--who, in a fit
of anger had ordered a massacre at _Thessalonica_--to do penance
before he could be admitted to the communion. Such occurrences
indicate that the days of imperial omnipotence, even over unarmed
subjects, were past.

SUCCESSORS OF CONSTANTINE.--Constantine left his empire to his three
unworthy sons. _Constantine_, the eldest, had the Western
provinces for his share. He endeavored to wrest Italy from his brother
_Constans_, but was slain at _Aquileia_ (340). This event
left Constans the master of the entire West. He took up his abode in
Gaul, where he was slain by _Magnentius_, the leader of a
mutinous body of soldiers (350). _Constantius_ was at
_Edessa_, engaged in war against the Persians. He marched
westward, and routed Magnentius at _Mursia_, in Pannonia. This
rival fled to Gaul, and was there attacked and
destroyed. _Gallus_, the cousin of Constantius, was put to death
for the murder of one of the emperor's officers (354). _Julian_,
the brother of Gallus, was the sole remaining survivor of the family
from which the emperor sprung. _Constantius_, under whom the
whole empire was now for a few years (357-361) united, made a
triumphal visit to Rome. He was the defender of the Arians, but he
found it impossible to coerce the Roman Christians into the adoption
of his opinion. The orthodox bishop whom he had banished, was
restored. _Constantius_ was succeeded by his cousin
_Julian_ (361-363), commonly called the
_Apostate_. Fascinated by the heathen philosophy, and a secret
convert to the old religion, he



THE IMPERIAL HOUSE OF CONSTANTINE.


CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS, _m_.
1, Helena;
|
+--CONSTANTINE I (the Great) _m_.
1, Minervina;
2, Fausta
|
+--CONSTANTINE II.
|
+--CONSTANTIUS II.
| |
| +--Constantia,
| _m_. GRATIAN.
|
+--CONSTANS.
|
+--CONSTANTIA, _m_.
| 1, Hannibalianus;
| 2, GALLUS.
|
+--HELENA,
_m_. JULIAN.

Copyright (c) 2007. famouswriterz.com. All rights reserved.