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PREFACE
I HAVE endeavoured to choose a title for this book which
shall truly describe its contents. The ' Darkness ' of
which I speak is the darkness of a decadent Paganism;
'
is the dawn of Christianity. Although the
the ' Dawn
story is continuous, I have called it 'Scenes in the Days
of Nero,' because the outline is determined by the actual
events of Pagan and Christian history, more than by the
fortunes of the characters who are here introduced. In
other words, the fiction is throughout
controlled and dominated
by historic facts. The purport less high and serious than that which I have had in view
in every other book which I have written. It has been
of this tale is no
the illustration of a supreme and deeply interesting problem
the causes, namely, why a religion so humble in its
origin and, so feeble in its earthly resources as Christianity,
won so majestic a victory over the power, the glory, and
the intellect of the .
civilised world.
The greater part of the following story has been for
some years in manuscript, and, since it was designed, and
nearly completed, several books have appeared which deal
with the same epoch. Some of these I have not seen.
From none of them have I consciously borrowed even the
smallest hint.
Those who are familiar with the literature of the first
century will recognise that even for the minutest allusions