was the practice of the emperor to conform to the established rites of
the age, and to perform religious ceremonies with due solemnity. We
cannot conclude from this that he was a superstitious man, though we
might perhaps do so if his book did not show that he was 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