as mortal. All men said he had but returned to his heavenly place among
the immortal gods. As his body passed, in the pomp of an imperial
funeral, to its last resting-place, the tomb of Hadrian,--the modern
Castle of St. Angelo at Rome,--thousands invoked the divine blessing of
Antoninus. His memory was sacredly cherished. His portrait was preserved
as an inspiration in innumerable homes. His statue was almost
universally given an honored place among the household gods. And all
this continued during successive generations of men.

* * * * *

Marcus Aurelius has been censured for two acts: the first, the massacre
of the Christians which took place during his reign; the second, the
selection of his son Commodus as his successor. Of the massacre of the
Christians it may be said, that when the conditions surrounding the
Emperor are once properly understood, no just cause for condemnation of
his course remains. A prejudice against the sect was doubtless acquired
by him through the teachings of his dearly beloved instructor and friend
Fronto. In the writings of the revered Epictetus he found severe
condemnation of the Christians as fanatics. Stoicism enjoined upon men
obedience to the law, endurance of evil conditions, and patience under
misfortunes. The Christians openly defied the laws; they struck the
images of the gods, they scoffed at the established religion and its
ministers. They welcomed death; they invited it. To Marcus Aurelius, as
he says in his 'Meditations,' death had no terrors. The wise man stood,
like the trained soldier, ready to be called into action, ready to
depart from life when the Supreme Ruler called him; but it was also,
according to the Stoic, no less the duty of a man to remain until he was
called, and it certainly was not his duty to invite destruction by abuse
of all other religions and by contempt for the distinctive deities of