The life and work of St. Paul

448 THE LIFE AND WORK OF ST. PATTJ
with more or less confidence, that he came to Borne in the second year of
Claudius (AJ). 42) ; that he met and confounded Simon Magus ; that he con-
tinued Bishop of Borne for twenty -five years ; that he vras ultimately martyred
by being crucified, head downwards, at his own humble desire ; and that this took
pkce on June 29th, the same day as the execution of St. Paul. In attestation
of their martyrdom, Gains refers to their " trophies " noar the city. 1 The
lateness of these details, the errors with which they are mingled, and the
obvious party reasons for their invention, forbid our attaching to them any
liistoric value. It is not at all probable that St. Peter arrived at the city till
the year of his death. This at least is certain that, in the New Testament,
the sole asserted trace of his presence in Rome is to be found in the highly
have died in
disputable allusion, " They of Babylon salute you." 9 He may
Rome he ; may even have preached in Rome he ; may even have been accepted
by the Jewish section of Roman Christians as their nominal " Bishop ;
" but
tLat he was not, and could not have been, in any true sense the original
founder of the Roman Church is freely admitted even by Roman Catholics
themselves.
At what time the chance seeds of Christianity had been wafted to the
shores of Italy s we are utterly unable to say. That this took place in oar
Lord's lifetime is improbable, nor is it worth while to do more iLau allude
to the fiction which ascribes to the Emperor Tiberius a favourable opinion
respecting the divinity of Christ.4 All that wo can safely assert is the likelihood
that the good tidings may first have been conveyed by some of those
Jews and proselytes from Borne who heard the speech of St. Peter at Pente-
cost or ; by others who, like St. Paul himself, received their first impressions
from the close reasoning and fiery eloquence of St. Stephen as they sat among
chance visitors in the synagogue of the Libertini. 6
2. If this conjecture be correct, we see that, from the first, the Church
cf Borne must have contained both Jewish and Gentile elements. Tho
mere probabilities of the case will not enable us to decide which of the
two elements preponderated, and if we turn to the Epistle we aro met by
1 Euseb. H. E. ii. 14, 25 (quoting Dionysius of Corinth) ; Id, Dem. Ev. iii. 3 ; Origen
fop. ue&. iii. 1) ; Justin Martyr, ii.
Apolvg.
26 ; Tert. De Praescr. Haw. 36 ; c. Matt.
iv. 5 ; Gaius ap. Euseb. ii. 25. Justin, and perhaps others, were misled by the inscription
to the Sabine deity Semo Sancus, which they read Simoni Sancto. Peter is also
associated with Paul in the founding of Christianity at Rome by Clemens, Ep. ad Cor.
5 ; by the
Kijpirpu* tttrpcv ', by Lactant. Instt. Div. iv. 21 ; by. Iren. Hacr, iii. 3 ; by
Epiphan. Haer. i. 27 ; Ores. vii. 7 ; Constt. Apost. vii. 46 ; &o. &c.
5 TM, A ~i.~ ..--.- 11....L C~i.._ _..,.. .i. T 1 _1 J. 1 TV
An
impr
It' "Babylon" in 1 Pet. v. 13, means Babylon and not Rome a question -which cannot
be positively decided then St. Peter was in Babylon ten years later than this. (See
Baur, Paul, ii. 291 seqq.) Spanheim, in his celebrated Dissertatic (1679), dwells much on
Gal. ii. 9 as a strong argument against the likelihood of Peter's visiting Rome. Ellendorf
(a Roman Catholic writer) admits that it cannot be proved; but even Neander and
Gieseier admit it to be probable.
s Act* JU..TL I 4
.,
Tert. Apolcg. 5, 21 (Just. Mart. Aptlog. i. *
S5, 48),
Acts ii. 10, .Act* vi. 9,