C URRENT LITE RAT LIRE.
STUDIES IN ROMAN HISTORY.
Studies in Roman History. By E. G. Hardy, D.Litt. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co. 6s.)—Mr. E. G. Hardy, the author of a small volume dealing with "Christianity and the Roman Govern- ment," finding that a second edition of his work was required, has now republished it, and also, "wisely or unwisely," incorporated with it six other essays on matters relating to Roman history. His original volume was a work of considerable merit in which the very scant evidence which we possess on the subject was carefully brought forward and discussed in that impartial and historical spirit which has been too often wanting to the consideration of a question with which the strongest religious feeling is so closely connected. It puts in a very clear light what the view of Roman officials, acting solely in the interests of the State, must almost necessarily have been with regard to the early Christian communities, and the reader will derive from it a rather definite impression that during the first two centuries they acted on the whole with a moderation such as few Govern- ments—at least until very recent times—have shown towards an alien creed which in some respects came seriously into collision with civil ordinances. That moderation is clearly exhibited in the Acts of the Apostles ; but rhetorical exaggeration has been so freely used in speaking of the sufferings of the first believers that Mr. Hardy's temperate presentation of the case deserves careful study. We think, however, that he has certainly been unwise to tack on to it a number of studies on such subjects as "The Movements of the Legions" or "A Bodleian MS. of Pliny," which are at once highly technical and quite unconnected with his main theme. The result is a medley rather than a book, and Mr. Hardy would have done well only to add to this new edition his essay on "The Provincial Concilia," which is at once relevant and important. These curious bodies, of which few students know anything, were founded to foster the joint worship of "Rome and the Emperor," and their history admirably illustrates the purely political character of that worship. No sane Emperor misunderstood its meaning. When a deputation Irons Tarraco informed Augustus that a palm tree had shot up from his altar, the sensible old man only replied : "It is clear how often you sacrifice there "; and the dying words of Vespasian, VW! puto, dens flu, show how he estimated his own pretensions. But on the other hand the Government were well aware how State ceremonies may serve to convey a real sense of the State's power, while they also afford entertainment to the vulgar and a rich opportunity for gratifying the great with gorgeous robes and splendid titles. To be an " Asiarch," or a "Priest-president," or a Plaine?' divorum Augustorum, and have the goodwifo called Plaminica, was, as the inscriptions show, an ambition very dear to every provincial magnate; and when with his train of deputies he had offered sacrifice in solemn pomp, made the due vows for the Emperor's safety, and indited tho proper loyal addresses, a succession of magnificent games served to arouse popular feeling into a flame of enthusiasm and loyalty. But for the Christians these celebra- tions must have been an ever recurring danger, and Mr. Hardy's account of the Coneilia, whose special duty it was to maintain them, is consequently of high interest. Each annual festivity must have seemed a new outrage to converts, who often esteemed the Emperor as a monster on "whose head was written the name of blasphemy," and must also have exposed them to the risk of a fresh outbreak of popular fury. But while we justly estimate the hazards which they incurred, we should also main- tain a just sense of the protection which they on the whole secured from a strong Government. Non con quirendi aunt, writes Trajan in a rescript to Pliny with reference to the Christians in Bithynia, and the maxim was one which the Emperors not only uttered but enforced. If in the interests of public order it seemed wise to execute some unhappy fanatics, they assented with Roman indifference ; but the hunting of heretics was not a pursuit favoured by the Roman Caesars, and it would be well if those who in later times have inherited theit title had always copied their example.
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