was that, though we are towards the middle of the year 250, and the
edict was published at Rome at its commencement, the good people of Sicca
had, as we have said, little knowledge of what was taking place in the
political world, and whispered about vague presages of an intended
measure, which had been in some places in operation for many months.
Communication with the seat of government was not so very frequent or
rapid in those days, and public curiosity had not been stimulated by the
facilities of gratifying it. And thus we must account for a phenomenon,
which we uphold to be a fact in the instance of Sicca, in the early summer
of A.D. 250, even though it prove unaccountable, and history has nothing
to say about it, and in spite of the _Acta Diurna_.

The case, indeed, is different now. In these times, newspapers, railroads,
and magnetic telegraphs make us independent of government messengers. The
proceedings at Rome would have been generally and accurately known in a
few seconds; and then, by way of urging forward the magistracy, a question
of course would have been asked in the parliament of Carthage by the
member for Sicca, or Laribus, or Thugga, or by some one of the pagani, or
country party, whether the popular report was true, that an edict had been
promulgated at Rome against the Christians, and what steps had been taken
by the local authorities throughout the proconsulate to carry out its
provisions. And then the "Colonia Siccensis" would have presented some
good or bad reason for the delay: that it arose from the absence of the
proconsul from the seat of government, or from the unaccountable loss of
the despatch on its way from the coast; or, perhaps, on the other hand,
the under-secretary would have maintained, amid the cheers of his
supporters, that the edict had been promulgated and carried out at Sicca
to the full, that crowds of Christians had at once sacrificed, and that,
in short, there was no one to punish; assertions which at that moment were
too likely to be verified by the event.

In truth, there were many reasons to make the magistrates, both Roman and
native, unwilling to proceed in the matter, till they were obliged. No
doubt they one and all detested Christianity, and would have put it down,
if they could; but the question was, when they came to the point, _what_
they should put down. If, indeed, they could have got hold of the
ringleaders, the bishops of the Church, they would have tortured an