THE CITY OF GOD I03 tious, were themselves considered grossly immoral and su- perstitious by the pagan world. Yet Suetonius p spoke of " Christians, a class of men of a new tiUtyto°^ jjand vicious superstition " ; and Tacitus remarked Christians their " moral enormities" and their " hatred of the human race," and asserted that "they were criminals who deserved the most severe punishment." The pagan mob believed them guilty of such practices as incest and devouring children. Such horrible stories circulated about them prob- jably because they seemed to the pagans a people with strange, peculiar, and mysterious ways, who held aloof from popular festivals and much of the life of the ancient pity and had their own private meetings. We find the same attitude toward the Jews in the Middle Ages, when they were often attacked by Christian mobs and when similar ptories were current among Christians concerning them. One might expect the Roman government with its good law courts to have soon discovered that there was little truth in these charges against the Christians Attitude of and to have protected them against mob vio- the Roman • »•«'« government fence. And so to a certain extent it did. But the government had further reasons of its own for being suspi- cious of the Christians and for punishing them. Christianity had originated in Judea, and not long thereafter the Jews had revolted against the rule of Rome, and had refused to submit even when Jerusalem was besieged in 70 A.D. Rather than surrender they did eat human flesh, and killed themselves and burned the city as the Romans stormed it. Jerusalem till this time had been the chief center of Chris- tianity, and the allusions in the Book of Revelation to Babylon, the great harlot, and to "the image of the beast" probably apply to Rome and to worship of the emperor. At any rate, Christians refused to worship the emperor or to join in other civic rites, and so the government could hardly do anything else than regard them as obstinate rebels. Origen, the great Alexandrian church father in the first half of the third century, admitted the truth of the charge " that Christians decline public offices," and declared
