I frowned, hurrying to catch up as he started down the street again, for the murmur of the crowd was beginning to sound ugly. I remembered hearing rumours of trouble a few years before when the presence of Christians was said to have spoiled the Emperor’s ritual. A few officers in the army had been executed for refusing to join in the sacrifices, and some others expelled, but nothing more had come of it. In most places, the Christians, though considered peculiar, got along well enough with their neighbours.
How could Diocletian be so stupid? I had been around Christians long enough by now to know that far from fearing martyrdom, they welcomed it as an easy way to cancel out all sins and win the favour of their gloomy god. The blood of the martyrs, they said, was the nourishment of the Church. Killing them only reinforced their belief in their own importance and made the cult stronger.
“What does the edict say?” I repeated as I caught up with Philip.
“Christianity is outlawed. All copies of the scriptures are to be turned in and burnt, all churches to be seized and destroyed.” He spat out the words.
“But what about the people?”
“So far, only the priests and bishops are mentioned. They are required to offer sacrifice in the presence of a magistrate or be jailed. I must get you home, Lady—the garrison is coming out, and the streets will not be safe.”
“And what about you?” I asked, between breaths.
“With your leave, I will go out to the church and offer my help. Perhaps something can be saved if we are in time.”
“You are a free man, Philip,” I said, “and I do not presume to command your conscience. But I beg you in the name of your god, take care!”
“If you will also do so!” He managed a smile as we neared my door. “Keep the rest of the household indoors. Though you are still a worshipper of demons, the High God loves you well!”
“Thank you! I think!” I watched him hurry off down the road. Still, blessings should be welcomed, from whatever quarter. Shaking my head, I went in.
For a day and a night, the detachment from the fortress tramped through the streets, searching out Christian leaders and property. By the time it was over, the bishop of Vitellia’s church was in custody, and the little church in the woods by the north road had burned to the ground. The holy books, however, had been hidden safely, and a pile of church accounts given to the authorities to destroy.
The smoke of the burning was carried away by the wind, but the stench, both physical and metaphoric, lingered longer. Diocletian had ruled wisely for almost twenty years, but in his attempts to preserve our society, the Emperor was effectively dividing it. As I had predicted, persecution only made the Christians more stubborn, and there were more of them than most of us had realized.
These days the Christians met in secret in their houses. Philip reported to me that letters from the eastern part of the Empire told of arrests and executions. But to my relief, Constantius did no more than enforce the letter of the new law in those portions of the Empire under his control. And once the first excitement was over, the general population showed little enthusiasm for persecuting their neighbours. How those Christian neighbours might view the rest of us was not a question which at that moment applied.
Still, it seemed to me that in times such as these, I ought to offer the maidens I was teaching something more relevant than Homer and Virgil, and so, from time to time, I would turn our discussions to the issues that divided men today.
“It is necessary,” I said one morning, “that the educated person understand not only what she believes, but why she believes it. And so I ask you, who is the Supreme God?”
For a long moment the girls looked at each other, as if not quite certain I really meant what I was asking, much less that it applied to them. Finally, Lucretia, whose family exported wool, raised her hand.