This quotation comes from “The Deaths of the Scillitan Martyrs” translated by H. Musurillo. Starting around the year 60, Rome began having issues with the how the Jewish and Christian religions differed from the normal Roman religion. As time went on, things began to get worse. “The Deaths of the Scillitan Martyrs” takes place in 180 in a small town called Scillium in North Africa (Musurillo, The Deaths of the Scillitan Martyrs CP 123). In the quotation, the proconsul reads his decision on the fate of twelve Christians who have been captured. Christian’s disloyalty was often displayed by their refusal to attend most of the Roman religious ceremonies that honored the emperors (Musurillo, The Deaths of the Scillitan Martyrs CP 123). While there was no law in place that dealt with consequences of this religious defiance, some …show more content…
The conversation between proconsul Saturninus and the twelve, show that his intentions were not execution. Saturninus says, “…and whereas though given the opportunity to return to the usage of the Romans they have persevered in their obstinacy…” (Musurillo, The Deaths of the Scillitan Martyrs CP 123). Attempting to reason with the twelve “If you return to your senses you can obtain the pardon of our lord the emperor” (Musurillo, The Deaths of the Scillitan Martyrs CP 123). Saturninus prefers to have them return to being citizens of Rome and worship the emperor than resort to execution. He looked past their previous disobedience and was willing to make pardons, however, the twelve refuse. Saturninus attempts to get the twelve to reconsider as he asks later in the conversation, “You wish no time for consideration?” (Musurillo, The Deaths of the Scillitan Martyrs CP 123). He even offers the suggestions of a thirty-day reprieve to think over their decision. The Christians refuse to reconsider and Saturninus turns to
They thought that the Christians were stubborn when they denied worshiping the Roman gods. Stubbornness and inflexibility were both punishable crimes. “For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished”(Pliny, paragraph 2). The Romans try to understand why the Christians are so stubborn and what it means. They do this by torturing two female slaves who were deaconesses. The Romans take what they hear as excessive superstition.
In an effort to take care of his men, he succumbed to the latter, after the failed attempt to negotiate a ransom with Rome. And so, Roman captives were sold to a local slave trader (Commire & Klezmer, 1994). Perhaps, he fell prey to ethical relativism, using this ethical trap as a way to justify the inconsistency between his thoughts and his actions. Or maybe he didn’t care but we’ll never know.
“By all the gods that romans bow before I here discard my sickness soul of rome “
all stand up against the spirit of Caesar / And in the spirit of men there is no blood" (II.i.
...for success, he robs his audience of the right to make certain determinations about characters such as Tarquin Superbus and Romulus because of his bias toward the motivation behind their actions. Livy’s The Rise of Rome was a grand effort and an amazing undertaking. Cataloguing the years of Roman history consolidated rumor and legend into fact, creating a model for Rome to follow. Livy’s only error in this vast undertaking was in imprinting his own conception of morality and justice onto his work, an error that pulls the reader away from active thought and engaging debate. In doing so, Livy may have helped solidify a better Rome, but it would have been a Rome with less of a conception of why certain things are just, and more of a flat, basely concluded concept of justice.
3. I often waged war, civil and foreign, on the earth and sea, in the whole wide world, and as victor I spared all the citizens who sought pardon. As for foreign nations, those which I was able to safely forgive, I preferred to preserve than to destroy. About five hundred thousand Roman citizens were sworn to me. I led something more than three hundred thousand of them into colonies and I returned them to their cities, after their stipend had been earned, and I assigned all of them fields or gave them money for their military service. I captured six hundred ships in addition to those smaller than triremes.
“Remember March, March 15th. Didn’t great Caesar bleed for the sake of justice?” afterwards Brutus reminds Cassias of the reason he killed Caesar it was to save Rome, Great Caesar bled so Rome could live. Brutus loved Caesar as a friend, but he did not think he would be right to lead. “The only way is to kill Caesar.
The Romans and therefore Josephus who is an integrated part of their collation by this time thought that if they (the rebels) were indeed to come to their senses, the Romans would help in the preservation of the marvel that is the Jewish temple. Josephus makes this one point abundantly clear that the Romans were more than willing despite their dislike of the Jewish people, in general, to help save something they found magnificent and to a significant part they wanted for themselves. “…He would not make war on inanimate objects instead of men, or, whatever happened, burn down such a work of art: it was the Romans who would lose thereby, just as their empire would gain an ornament if it was preserved.” The Romans and thus Josephus put almost
The Zealots had been rebelling against the Roman Empire the Great Jewish Revolt. However, they lacked proper leadership, and therefore had poor training and discipline, as well as little preparation for battle. Titus, a Roman military commander, was instructed to put this Jewish rebellion to an end. So he surrounded the city of Jerusalem with the Legions, Macedonia, Apollinaris and Fulminata, and had Fretensis occupy the Mount of Olives, which was a mountain ridge adjacent to Jerusalem. This strategy aligned with what was written in Luke 21:20, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.” This unfortunately was a...
...of the world turn violently against them, it added, the group would be ''mentally prepared'' for whatever came its way. They also allude to the example of the Jews at Masada who killed themselves rather than submit to Roman legions in A.D. 73.
During the first half century after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Roman government including governors in the eastern provinces took no active measures against Christians. The attitude of the higher Roman authorities had always been that Christianity was merely a sect of Judaism, and as such, were entitled to share in its privileges as a recognized religion. In 64 A.D. this attitude suffered a severe alteration. On July 19, 64 A.D. occurred the great fire of Rome. Half a million people were left homeless. Popular rumor persistently asserted that the fire was started by incendiaries acting under the orders of the Emperor Nero. It was said that Nero wanted the city burnt down so he could build a new city which was to be re-named after himself. Nero felt that something must be done to deflect the public indignation against him. To do this he contrived that accusations should be brought against the Christians. So Nero began an aggressive persecution of the Christians in Rome. Those who confessed their guilt were brought to trail. During these trials a great number of other Christians were uncovered and were also brought to trial. Oddly enough, these people were not charged with starting the great fire of Rome, but rather for “hatred of the humankind.”
Claudius calls the conflict a riot “against the Jews,” rather than a conflict between the Jews and Greeks. Claudius defends the Jews’ right to practice their religion freely and live freely as part of the community, but while he does protect their basic rights, he denies them equivalent status to the Greek elite. Claudius asks the Greeks to “conduct themselves more gently and …. In Claudius Letter to the Alexandrians his main purpose is to reaffirmed Jewish rights in the city but also to forbade them to move in more families en masse. This brought great attention to the ideas of helping the city of Alexandria to prosper by respecting the rights of people while also limiting the amount of cultural aspects by reducing the migration of Jewish people into the city of
The Senate places your service as governor of Gaul at an end and requests you to return to Rome, immediately. We do not think it necessary to remind you of Roman law. If a general returns to the Roman Republic accompanied by a standing army he, and his men, are traitors, and will dealt with as such. Sentus Populusque Rmnus. The man looked up from the letter and stared into the eyes of every soldier, peasant, and roman there.
The first step towards salvation on the Roman Road is to understand that “all have sinned and co...