PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHRISTIANS, TIIE TEN. A phrase that has been in very gen eral use since the fifth century. The number, however, has no basis in fact. and was suggested by the ten plagues of Egypt. and the ten horns of the beast in the Book of Revelation ( xvii. 3 sqq.). interpreted, in accordance With the allegor izing spirit of the time, as types of ten emperors. There were only two coterminous with the Roman Empire, and directly prompted by Imperial action, that tinder Decius in 250, and that under Diocletian and his associates. 303 313. On the other hand, if provineial and local persecutions he taken into account. the number is far too small. So far as known. Claudius (41-54) was the first Roman Emperor to attempt am sort of persecution of the Christians. Sue tonius states that he expelled the .feirs front Home. The reason is not altogether clear, but a very plausible interpretation is that, at this early date Christian converts being mainly Jews, the Government regarded the former merely as it sect of the latter, and the decree was occasioned by disorders arising in the city because of conflicts between non-Christian and Christian dews, lead ing to the expulsion of both. The date is un certain; it. has been placed in 52, but may have
been earlier (cf. Acts xviii. 2). The ten perse cutions as commonly given, with the date fixing approximately either the beginning or period of greatest severity, are: That under Nero, 64; un der Domitian, 95; under Trajan, 112-113; under Marens Aurelius, 177; under Septimins Severn., 202; under Alaximinns, 235; under Decius, 250; under Valerian, 257; under Aurelian, 274; under Diocletian and his successors, 303-313. Con sult, besides the Church histories: Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chaps. xiii., xiv., and xvi.; Renan, Les origines du ehristianisme (Paris, 1863-82) ; Allard, folic des pers&utions ( Paris, 1884-94) ; id., Le ehristinnisme et rempire remain (Paris, 1897) Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire Before 170 A.D. (London, 1894) ; Weis, ehristenverfol gungen (Marburg, 1901) ; Hardy, Chrislianity and thr Roman Government (London, 1894). For the sources, consult Preuschen, nalcrla ( Freiburg, 1893) : Prams/al ions and Reprints pub lished by the Department ol History of the Uni versity of Pennsylvania, vol. iv., No. 1 (Philadel phia, 1897). See MARTYR.