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Kirchengeschichte (BKV)
16. Kap. Die Besserung der Lage.
So lagen die Dinge während der ganzen Verfolgung, die durch Gottes Gnade im zehnten Jahre völlig aufhörte, nachdem sie bereits nach Ablauf des achten Jahres nachzulassen begonnen. Da nämlich die göttliche und himmlische Gnade ihre milde und barmherzige Fürsorge für uns offenbarte, änderten unsere Herrscher, auch jene, die seinerzeit Krieg gegen uns geführt, in überraschender Weise ihre Gesinnung. Sie leisteten Widerruf, indem sie in huldvollen Erlassen und in sehr versöhnlichen Verordnungen die hochemporlodernde Flamme der Verfolgung auslöschten. Die Ursache hier- S. 402 von war aber nicht, wie man meinen könnte, in menschlichen Regungen, in Mitleid oder in der Güte der Herrscher zu suchen. Weit entfernt! Denn diese sannen von Anfang an bis zu jenem Zeitpunkte täglich auf weitere und schlimmere Maßnahmen gegen uns und steigerten in stets neuen Methoden bald auf diese, bald auf jene Weise unsere Leiden. Vielmehr war es das in die Augen fallende Wirken der göttlichen Vorsehung selbst, die mit dem Volke sich aussöhnte, den Urheber der Leiden aber ergriff und ihren Grimm ausgoß gegen den, der das Unglück der ganzen Verfolgung vor allem angestiftet.1 Wenn nämlich auch nach göttlichem Ratschluß solche Heimsuchungen kommen mußten, so sagt doch die Schrift:2 „Wehe dem, durch welchen das Ärgernis kommt!“ Es ereilte ihn eine von Gott verhängte Strafe, welche an seinem Körper anhub und ihm schließlich ans Leben griff. Inmitten der Teile, die man nicht nennen mag, bildete sich plötzlich eine Erhöhung, sodann ein tiefliegendes, fistelartiges Geschwür. Dadurch wurden unheilbar seine innersten Eingeweide zerfressen. Eine zahllose Menge von Würmern wuchs daraus hervor, und ringsum verbreitete sich Leichengeruch; denn die ganze Masse des Körpers hatte sich infolge der Völlerei schon vor der Erkrankung in einen Fettklumpen verwandelt, der nun faulte und seiner Umgebung einen unerträglichen und ganz schauerlichen Anblick bot.3 Von den Ärzten wurden die einen, die den über alle Maßen abscheulichen Gestank schlechthin nicht zu ertragen vermochten, niedergemacht, die andern, die für die um und um aufgeschwollene und unrettbar verlorene Masse des Körpers kein Heilmittel finden konnten, erbarmungslos hingerichtet.
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The Church History of Eusebius
Chapter XVI.--The Change of Affairs for the Better.
1. Such was the state of affairs during the entire persecution. But in the tenth year, through the grace of God, it ceased altogether, having begun to decrease after the eighth year. 1 For when the divine and heavenly grace showed us favorable and propitious oversight, then truly our rulers, and the very persons 2 by whom the war against us had been earnestly prosecuted, most remarkably changed their minds, and issued a revocation, and quenched the great fire of persecution which had been kindled, by merciful proclamations and ordinances concerning us.
2. But this was not due to any human agency; nor was it the result, as one might say, of the compassion or philanthropy of our rulers;--far from it, for daily from the beginning until that time they were devising more and more severe measures against us, and continually inventing outrages by a greater variety of instruments;--but it was manifestly due to the oversight of Divine Providence, on the one hand becoming reconciled to his people, and on the other, attacking him 3 who instigated these evils, and showing anger toward him as the author of the cruelties of the entire persecution.
3. For though it was necessary that these things should take place, according to the divine judgment, yet the Word saith, "Woe to him through whom the offense cometh." 4 Therefore punishment from God came upon him, beginning with his flesh, and proceeding to his soul. 5
4. For an abscess suddenly appeared in the midst of the secret parts of his body, and from it a deeply perforated sore, which spread irresistibly into his inmost bowels. An indescribable multitude of worms sprang from them, and a deathly odor arose, as the entire bulk of his body had, through his gluttony, been changed, before his sickness, into an excessive mass of soft fat, which became putrid, and thus presented an awful and intolerable sight to those who came near.
5. Some of the physicians, being wholly unable to endure the exceeding offensiveness of the odor, were slain; others, as the entire mass had swollen and passed beyond hope of restoration, and they were unable to render any help, were put to death without mercy.
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The edict of Milan, issued by Constantine and Licinius toward the close of the year 312 (upon the date, see Mason, p. 333, note) put an end to the persecution in its tenth year, though complete toleration was not proclaimed by Maximin until the following spring. Very soon after the close of the eighth year, in April, 311, Galerius issued his edict of toleration which is given in the next chapter. It is, therefore, to the publication of this edict that Eusebius refers when he says that the persecution had begun to decrease after the eighth year. Maximin yielded reluctant and partial consent to this edict for a few months, but before the end of the year he began to persecute again; and during the year 312 the Christians suffered severely in his dominions (see Bk. IX. chap. 2 sq.). ↩
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The plural here seems a little peculiar, for the edict was issued only in the name of Galerius, Constantine, and Licinius, not in the name of Maximin. We have no record of Licinius as a persecutor before this time, and Eusebius' words of praise in the ninth book would seem to imply that he had not shown himself at all hostile to the Church. And in fact Licinius seems ruled out by §2, below, where "they" are spoken of as having "from the beginning devised more and more severe measures against us." And yet, since Constantine did not persecute, we must suppose either that Licinius is included in Eusebius' plural, or what is perhaps more probable, that Eusebius thinks of the edict as proceeding from all four emperors though bearing the names of only three of them. It is true that the latter is rather a violent supposition in view of Eusebius' own words in the first chapter of Bk. IX. I confess that I find no satisfactory explanation of the apparent inconsistency. ↩
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i.e. Galerius. ↩
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Matt. xviii. 7. ↩
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Galerius seems to have been smitten with the terrible disease, which Eusebius here refers to, and which is described by Lactantius at considerable length (De mort. pers. chap. 33) and with many imaginative touches (e.g. the stench of his disease pervades "not only the palace, but even the whole city"!), before the end of the year 310, and his death took place in May of the following year. ↩