not. But that
is only one among many instances that a ruler's public acts do not
always prove his real opinions. A prudent governor will not roughly
oppose even the superstitions of his people; and though he may wish they
were wiser, he will know that he cannot make them so by offending their
prejudices.

Antoninus and his son Commodus entered Rome in triumph, perhaps for some
German victories, on the 23d. of December, A.D. 176. In the following
year Commodus was associated with his father in the empire, and took
the name of Augustus. This year A.D. 177 is memorable in ecclesiastical
history. Attalus and others were put to death at Lyon for their
adherence to the Christian religion. The evidence of this persecution is
a letter preserved by Eusebius (E.H. V. I; printed in Routh's Reliquiae
Sacrae, vol. i, with notes). The letter is from the Christians of Vienna
and Lugdunum in Gallia (Vienna and Lyon) to their Christian brethren in
Asia and Phrygia; and it is preserved perhaps nearly entire. It contains
a very particular description of the tortures inflicted on the
Christians in Gallia, and it states that while the persecution was going
on, Attalus, a Christian and a Roman citizen, was loudly demanded by the
populace and brought into the amphitheatre; but the governor ordered him
to be reserved, with the rest who were in prison, until he had received
instructions from the emperor. Many had been tortured before the
governor thought of applying to Antoninus. The imperial rescript, says
the letter, was that the Christians should be punished, but if they
would deny their faith, they must be released. On this the work began
again. The Christians who were Roman citizens were beheaded; the rest
were exposed to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre. Some modern writers
on ecclesiastical history, when they use this letter, say nothing of the
wonderful stories of the martyrs' sufferings. Sanctus, as the letter
says, was burnt with plates of hot iron till his body was one sore and
had lost all human form; but on being put to the rack he recovered his
former appearance under the torture, which was thus a cure instead of a
punishment. He was afterwards torn by beasts, and placed on an iron
chair and roasted. He died at last.

The letter is one piece of evidence. The writer, whoever he was that
wrote in the name of the Gallic Christians, is our evidence both for the
ordinary and the extraordinary circumstances of the story, and we cann