Chap. I.

The Lord has heard those supplications which you, my best beloved Donatus,1    [See cap. 16, infra.]   pour forth in His presence all the day long, and the supplications of the rest of our brethren, who by a glorious confession have obtained an everlasting crown, the reward of their faith. Behold, all the adversaries are destroyed, and tranquillity having been re-established throughout the Roman empire, the late oppressed Church arises again, and the temple of God, overthrown by the hands of the wicked, is built with more glory than before. For God has raised up princes to rescind the impious and sanguinary edicts of the tyrants and provide for the welfare of mankind; so that now the cloud of past times is dispelled, and peace and serenity gladden all hearts. And after the furious whirlwind and black tempest, the heavens are now become calm, and the wished-for light has shone forth; and now God, the hearer of prayer, by His divine aid has lifted His prostrate and afflicted servants from the ground, has brought to an end the united devices of the wicked, and wiped off the tears from the faces of those who mourned. They who insulted over the Divinity, lie low; they who cast down the holy temple, are fallen with more tremendous ruin; and the tormentors of just men have poured out their guilty souls amidst plagues inflicted by Heaven, and amidst deserved tortures. For God delayed to punish them, that, by great and marvellous examples, He might teach posterity that He alone is God, and that with fit vengeance He executes judgment on the proud, the impious, and the persecutors.2    [Let any one who visits Rome stand before the Arch of Constantine, and, while he looks upon it (as the mark of an epoch), let him at the same time behold the Colosseum close at hand, and there let him recall this noble chapter.]    

Of the end of those men I have thought good to publish a narrative, that all who are afar off, and all who shall arise hereafter, may learn how the Almighty manifested His power and sovereign greatness in rooting out and utterly destroying the enemies of His name. And this will become evident, when I relate who were the persecutors of the Church from the time of its first constitution, and what were the punishments by which the divine Judge, in His severity, took vengeance on them.  

I. 0189C Audivit Dominus orationes tuas, Donate charissime, 0190C quas in conspectu ejus constanter fundis per dies omnes, et carissimorum fratrum, qui gloriosa confessione 0191A sempiternam sibi coronam pro fidei suae meritis quaesierunt. Ecce addetur his omnibus adversarius; et restituta per orbem tranquillitate, profligata nuper Ecclesia rursum exsurgit, et majore gloria templum Dei, quod ab impiis fuerat eversum, misericordia Domini fabricatur. Excitavit enim Deus principes, qui tyrannorum nefaria et cruenta imperia resciderunt, humano generi providerunt; ut jam quasi discusso transacti temporis nubilo, mentes omnium pax jocunda et serena laetificet. Nunc post tantae tempestatis violentos turbines, placidus aër et optata lux refulsit. Nunc placatus servorum suorum 0192A precibus, Deus jacentes et afflictos coelesti auxilio sublevat. En nunc moerentium lacrymas, extincta impiorum conspiratione, deterget; et qui illuctati erant Deo, jacent: qui templum sanctum everterant, ruina majori ceciderunt; qui justos excarnificaverunt, coelestibus plagis, et cruciatibus meritis nocentes animas profuderunt; serius quidem, sed graviter ac digne. Distulerat enim poenas eorum Deus, ut ederet in eos magna et mirabilia exempla; quibus posteri discerent, et Deum esse unum, et eumdem vindicem, digna videlicet supplicia impiis ac persecutoribus irrogare. De quorum exitu scripto testificari placuit, 0193A ut omnes qui procul amoti fuerunt, vel qui postea futuri sunt, scirent, quatenus virtutem ac majestatem suam in exscindendis delendisque nominis sui hostibus Deus summus ostenderet. Hinc itaque utile est, si a principio ex quo est Ecclesia constituta, qui fuerint persecutores, et quibus poenis in eos coelestis judicis severitas vindicaverit, exponam.