Before Jerusalem Fell

Th Persecution of Chri.rtianip 291
as would the stones of Jerusalem. We read the lives of the Caesars:
At Rome Nero was the first who stained with blood the rising
faith.”2c Surely he would not issue a challenge to search the archives
of Rome, that could easily be taken and just as easily refuted, were
his statement untrue.
Eusebius, who had access to documents no longer available to
us, concurs with Tertullian: “When the rule of Nero was now gathering
strength for the unholy objects he began to take up arms against
the worship of the God of the universe. ” He goes on to note very
clearly of Nero that “he was the first of the emperors to be pointed
out as a foe of divine religion.”2 7
Sulpicius Severus writes of Nero:
He first attempted to abolish the name of Christian, in accordance
with the fact that vices are inimical to virtues, and that all good men
are ever regarded by the wicked as casting reproach upon them. For,
at that time, our divine religion had obtained a wide prevalence in the
city. . . .
. . . .
In the meantime, the number of the Christians being very large, it
happened that Rome was destroyed by fire, while Nero was stationed
at Antium. . . . He therefore turned the accusation against the Christians,
and the most cruel tortures were accordingly aflicted upon the
innocent. . . . In this way, cruelty first began to be manifested
against the Christians. 28
Orosius speaks of this persecution in his works, when he writes of
Nero that “he was the first at Rome to torture and inflict the penalty
of death upon Christians, and he ordered them throughout all the
provinces to be afllicted with like persecution; and in his attempt to
wipe out the very name, he killed the most blessed apostles of Christ,
Peter and Paul.”29 Supplementary to these references are those given
in Chapter 12 above that show Nero to be the Beast, some from
Church fathers, some from the Christian Sibylline Oracles.
26. Scorpion’s Sting 15. It is interesting that in this regard he only mentions Nero’s
persecution as atllicting the Apostles.
27. Eusebius, Eccletiastica! Histo~ 2:25.
28. Sulpicius Severus, Smed Histosy 2:28,29.
29. Orosius, The Seoen Books of Histoiy Against the Pagans 7:7. See Roy Joseph Deferrari,
cd., T/u Fathm of tb Church, vol. 50 (Washington: Catholic University of America Press,
1964), pp. 298-299.