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IN THE BURNING FIERY FURNACE 453
CHAPTER LIV
IN THE BURNING FIERY FURNACE
'A yairr)Tol jui)
fvi(ff6e TTJ tv vfiiv irvpwati irpbs ireipafffjibv vfju
1 Pet. iv. 12.
'
Christianus etiam extra carcerem saeculo renuntiavit, in carcere autcm
etiam carceri.' TERT. Ad Mart 2.
THE prisoners, men and women alike, were hurried into
promiscuous
dungeons, in a suffocating confinement which was
itself an anticipated death. Next clay an edict was published
by the Emperor, saying that the Christians were the incendiaries
of Rome, and would be set apart for exemplary punishment.
He characterised the whole sect as public enemies,
enemies of the gods, and of the human race, whom he should
make it his duty as far as possible to exterminate. The edict
was well received. It was at first
supposed that its allegations
were true, and that the Emperor had really succeeded in lifting
from his rule the vast weight of indignation which had
threatened to endanger it.
Next day, half suffocated and half starved, and altogether
in miserable plight, a number of the prisoners were put to
the torture, to enforce confession and a betrayal of their
accomplices. Tigellinus personally presided, and gloated
over their torments. It had become known that Linus was
their leader, and he was the first to suffer. The old man remained
nobly constant. Urged to confess his crime, he said,
'I am a Christian; but to be a Christian is not a crime.'
Charged with complicity in the deeds of darkness which
were attributed to Christians, he indignantly repudiated them,
and said that the laws of Christians branded not only such
deeds with infamy, but even those vices which the heathen
regarded as indifferent or venial. Bidden to give up the
names of his fellow-Christians, he said that they were many,
but that he would rather die than betray them. No added
intensity of torment could wring from him anything further,