Pagan and Christian Rome | Page 7

the popinarii, or tavern-keepers,
claimed rights, Alexander gave judgment in favor of the former, saying
it was preferable that the place should serve for divine worship, rather
than for the sale of drinks.[11]
[Illustration: Portrait Bust of Philip the Younger.]
There can scarcely be any doubt that the emperor Philip the Arab
(Marcus Julius Philippus, A. D. 244), his wife Otacilia Severa, and his
son Philip the younger were Christians, and friends of S. Hippolytus.
Still, in spite of these periods of peace and freedom of the Church, we
cannot be blind to the fact that for a Christian nobleman wishing to
make a career, the position was extremely hazardous. Hence we
frequently see baptism deferred until mature or old age, and strange
situations and even acts of decided apostasy created by mixed
marriages.
The wavering between public honors and Christian retirement is

illustrated by some incidents in the life of Licentius, a disciple of S.
Augustine. Licentius was the son of Romanianus, a friend and
countryman of Augustine; and when the latter retired to the villa of
Verecundus, after his conversion, in the year 386, Licentius, who had
attended his lectures on eloquence at Milan, followed him to his retreat.
He appears as one of the speakers in the academic disputes which took
place in the villa.[12] In 396, Licentius, who had followed his master to
Africa, seduced by the hopes of a brilliant career, determined to settle
in Rome. Augustine, deeply grieved at losing his beloved pupil, wrote
to call him back, and entreated him to turn his face from the failing
promises of the world. The appeal had no effect, and no more had the
epistles, in prose and verse, addressed to him for the same purpose by
Paulinus of Nola. Licentius, after finishing the course of philosophy,
being scarcely a catechumen, and a very unsteady one at that, entered a
career for public honors. Paulinus of Nola describes him as aiming not
only at a consulship, but also at a pagan pontificate, and reproaches and
pities him for his behavior. After this, we lose sight of Licentius in
history, but a discovery made at S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura in December,
1862, tells us the end of the tale. A marble sarcophagus was found,
containing his body, and his epitaph. This shows that Licentius died in
Rome in 406, after having reached the end of his desires, a place in the
Senate; and that he died a Christian, and was buried near the tomb of S.
Lorenzo. This sarcophagus, hardly noticed by visitors in spite of its
great historical associations, is preserved in the vestibule of the
Capitoline Museum.
[Illustration: Inscription found near the Porta del Popolo, 1877.]
As regards mixed marriages, a discovery made in 1877, near the Porta
del Popolo, has revealed a curious state of things. In demolishing one
of the towers by which Sixtus IV. had flanked that gate, we found a
fragment of an inscription of the second century, containing these
strange and enigmatic words: "If any one dare to do injury to this
structure, or to otherwise disturb the peace of her who is buried inside,
because she, my daughter, has been [or has appeared to be] a pagan
among the pagans, and a Christian among the Christians" ... Here
followed the specification of the penalties which the violator of the

tomb would incur. It was thought at first that the phrase quod inter
fedeles fidelis fuit, inter alienos pagana fuit had been dictated by the
father as a jocose hint of the religious inconsistency of the girl; but
such an explanation can hardly be accepted. A passage of Tertullian in
connection with mixed marriages leads us to the true understanding of
the epitaph. In the second book Ad Uxorem, Tertullian describes the
state of habitual apostasy to which Christian girls marrying gentiles
willingly exposed or submitted themselves, especially when the
husband was kept in ignorance of the religion of the bride. He mentions
the risks they would incur of betraying their conscience by
accompanying their husbands to state or civil ceremonies, thus
sanctioning acts of idolatry by the mere fact of their presence. In the
book De Corona, he concludes his argument with the words: "These are
the reasons why we do not marry infidels, because such marriages lead
us back to idolatry and superstition." The girl buried on the Via
Flaminia, by the modern Porta del Popolo, must have been born of a
Christian mother and a good-natured pagan father; still, it seems hardly
consistent with the respect which the ancients had for tombs that he
should be allowed to write such extraordinary words on that of his own
daughter.
We must not believe, however, that gentiles and Christians lived
always at swords' points. Italians in general, and Romans in