To: Professor Richard Peters

From: Daniel Popoca-Logue

to say: the effect on its duration due to one religion was minimal. The late historian Will Durrant

noted, “The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle,

her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars (Durrant,

Caesar and Christ).”

Durrant additionally notes, “Christianity unwillingly shared in the chaos of creeds that

helped produce that medley of mores which moderately contributed to Rome’s collapse. But the

growth of Christianity was more an effect than a cause of Rome’s decay. The breakup of the old

religion had begun long before Christ; there were more vigorous attacks upon it in Ennius and

Lucretius than in any pagan author after them. Aloral disintegration had begun with the Roman

conquest of Greece, and had culminated under Nero; thereafter Roman morals improved, and the

ethical influence of Christianity on Roman life was largely a wholesome one. It was because

Rome was already dying that Christianity grew so rapidly. Men lost faith in the state not because

Christianity held them aloof, but because the state defended wealth against poverty, fought to

capture slaves, taxed toil to support luxury, and failed to protect its people from famine,

pestilence, invasion, and destitution; forgivably they turned from Caesar preaching war to Christ

preaching peace, from incredible brutality to unprecedented charity, from a life without hope or

dignity to a faith that consoled their poverty and honored their humanity (William James Durant

667).”

That is to say, the Western Empire’s path to decline was inevitable. What I mean to

illustrate by the term “saved” refers to its effects on successive societies. The Roman Empire still
lived on in an abstract sense after the West’s fall. Charlemagne is the most prominent example,

being crowned first emperor of the Romans. Hence, I speak of the Roman Empire in two senses;

one is the actual empire, the next is heavily Romanized societies that followed it.

After supporting Durrant’s statement, I will elaborate on Christian contributions. Some

will have been felt even when the Western Roman Empire formally existed. Others would only

come into effect in the centuries after the Western Empire’s collapse. I will draw primarily on

uncontested, mainstream scholarship. I shall aim to be as conservative as possible in my analysis.

Very early in the Roman Empire we find a certain contempt for Christianity. This arose,

at least in part, due to its exclusivity. While Judaism was also monotheistic, its antiquity afforded

it some measure of protection from polytheism. “Things sacred with us, with them have no

sanctity, while they allow what with us is forbidden… This worship, however introduced, is

upheld by its antiquity; all their other customs, which are at once perverse and disgusting, owe

their strength to their very badness… While the East was under the sway of the Assyrians, the

Medes, and the Persians, Jews were the most contemptible of the subject tribes… From the fact,

however, that [Jewish] priests used to chant to the music of flutes and cymbals, and to wear

garlands of ivy, and that a golden vine was found in the temple, some have thought that they

worshipped father Liber, the conqueror of the East, though their institutions do not by any means

harmonize with the theory; for Liber established a festive and cheerful worship, while the Jewish

religion is tasteless and mean (Tacitus).”

Tacitus, c. 115 AD, wrote an account of the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, “But all human

efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the

sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the

report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their
abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin,

suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators,

Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke

out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous

and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an

arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense

multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind

(Tacitus).”

Additionally, Porphyry of Tyre, writing of the Christians, lamented. “Had he [Christ]

shown himself to people who could be believed, then others would have believed through

them-and [Christians] would not today be punished for fabricating these ridiculous tales. It

cannot be pleasing to God that so many should suffer horrible punishment on his account (Joseph

Hoffman).”

Around 112 AD, Pliny the Younger wrote to Emperor Trajan,”Many of all ages and both

sexes are put in peril of their lives by their accusers; and the process will go on, for the contagion

of this superstition has spread not merely through the free towns, but into the villages and farms.

Still I think it can be halted and things set right. Beyond any doubt, the temples — which were

nigh deserted — are beginning again to be thronged with worshipers; the sacred rites, which long

have lapsed, are now being renewed, and the food for the sacrificial victims is again finding a

sale — though up to recently it had almost no market.” Epistulae X.96

Clement, one of the first bishops of Rome, wrote, “Unto these men of holy lives was

gathered a vast multitude of the elect, who through many indignities and tortures, being the

victims of jealousy, set a brave example among ourselves.”

the religion’s inception one finds a number of revolutionary changes to society. The gladiatorial

coliseums, for instance, were an abhorrence to Christians. W. E. H. Lecky remarks, “There is

scarcely any single reform so important in the moral history of mankind as the suppression of

gladiatorial shows, a feat that must be almost exclusively ascribed to the Christian Church

(Schmidt, Under the Influence).”

In support, ancient historian Professor Dawson testifies, “The Church had to undertake

the task of introducing the law of the Gospel and the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount among

peoples who regarded homicide as the most honorable occupation and vengeance as synonymous

with justice (Woods).”

In addition the concept of philanthropy - for the sake of the poor and no else - was novel.

The English historian Tom Holland notes, “The days when a wealthy man had only to sponsor a

self-aggrandising piece of architecture to be hailed a public benefactor were well and truly gone

(Holland, Tom).”

"What needs to be stressed is that the Christian poorhouse-cum-hospital was a novel

institution in the ancient world. Temples, of course, had always contained large sleeping quarters

for those in search of healing, as at the incubatory shrine of Ascelpius at Epidaurus. But the new

xenodocheia were not necessarily connected with healing shrines. Only soldiers and slaves--that

is, persons who had no family to look after them--had valetudinaria, hospital quarters in their

camps and slave barracks. To extend this facility to the poor in general and to associate it with

any human settlement was a new departure (Brown).”

Cyprian, Bishop of Alexandria, noted the indifference of some pagans in regards to

victims of famine, writing, “No compassion is shown by you to the sick, only covetousness and
plunder open their jaws over the dead; they who are too fearful for the work of mercy, are bold

for guilty profits. They who shun to bury the dead, are greedy for what they have left behind

them.” He additionally exhorted his readers, “If we only do good to those who do good to us,

what do we more than the heathens and publicans? If we are the children of God, who makes His

sun to shine upon the good and the bad, and sends rain on the just and the unjust, let us prove it

by our acts, by blessing those who curse us, and doing good to those who persecute us

(Uhlhorn).”

Emperor Julian, a fierce pagan critic of Christianity, noted, “These impious Galileans

[(i.e. Christians)] not only feed their own poor, but ours also … Whilst the pagan priests neglect

the poor, the hated Galileans devote themselves to works of charity and by a display of false

compassion have established and given effect to their pernicious errors. Such practice is

common among them, and causes contempt for our gods (Cayetano Baluffi).”

Historian John E. Stambaugh notes, "In the Roman sense of values, predicated on a

morality of reciprocal favors granted and expected, helping the poor and homeless was simply

not the traditional way. That kind of charity was an Oriental concept codified by Jews and

Christians who became conspicuous and a little suspect in their zeal for taking care of the sick

and poor (Stambaugh)."

Rodney Stark concurs, writing, “"Christian values of love and charity had, from the

beginning, been translated into norms of social service and community solidarity. When disaster

struck, the Christians were better able to cope, and this resulted in substantially higher rates of

survival (Stark)."

Stark adds, "Here issues of doctrine must be addressed. For something distinctive did

come into the world with the development of Judeo-Christian thought: the linking of a highly
social ethical code with religion. There was nothing new in the idea that the supernatural makes

behavioral demands upon humans-the gods have always wanted sacrifices and worship. Nor was

there anything new in the notion that the supernatural will respond to offerings-that the gods can

be induced to exchange services for sacrifices. What was new was the notion that more than

self-interested exchange relations were possible between humans and the supernatural. The

Christian teaching that God loves those who love him was alien to pagan beliefs. MacMullen has

noted that from the pagan perspective "what mattered was ... the service that the deity could

provide, since a god (as Aristotle had long taught) could feel no love in response to that offered".

Equally alien to paganism was the notion that because God loves humanity, Christians cannot

please God unless they love one another. Indeed, as God demonstrates his love through sacrifice,

humans must demonstrate their love through sacrifice on behalf of one another. Moreover, such

responsibilities were to be extended beyond the bonds of family and tribe, indeed to "all those

who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 1:2). These were

revolutionary ideas (Stark, The Rise of Christianity).”

Noting the immense scope of Christian relief efforts, Peter Brown notes, "A large number

were formally enrolled on various 'poor lists': 3,000 were on the list of widows and orphans in

fourth-century Antioch, 7,500 were on the poor rolls of the church of Alexandria in the early

seventh century. A provincial church, such as Gaza, may have supported about 200 persons a

year, each receiving the equivalent of half a year's wages of a skilled artisan."

Christian educational centers were also responsible for the preservation and transmission

of knowledge. While knowledge may not have been as accessible to the everyman of the ancient

world,
 The science historian Michael Shanks remarks, “Between 1150 and 1500 … Europeans

had had access to scientific materials than any of their predecessors in earlier cultures, thanks

largely to the emergence, rapid growth and naturalistic arts curricula of medieval universities …

About 30 percent of the medieval university curriculum covered subjects and texts concerned

with the natural world (Galileo Goes to Jail).”

The historian Thomas E Woods concurs, saying, Throughout the history of monasticism

we find abundant evidence of the devotion of monks to their books. Saint Benedict Biscop, for

example, who established the monastery of Wearmouth in England, searched far and wide for

volumes for his monastic library, embarking on five sea voyages for the purpose (and coming

back each time with a sizable cargo). Lupus asked a fellow abbot for an opportunity to copy

Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars, and implored another friend to bring him Sallust’s accounts of

the Catilinarian and Jugurthan Wars, the Verrines of Cicero, and any other volume that might be

of interest. He asked to borrow Cicero’s De Rhetorica from another friend, and appealed to the

pope for a copy of Cicero’s De Oratore, Quintilian’s Institutions, and other texts. Gerbert

possessed a like enthusiasm for books, offering to assist another abbot in completing incomplete

copies of Cicero and the philosopher Demosthenes, and seeking copies of Cicero’s Verrines and

De Republica (Woods, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization).”

Christianity’s contribution to the Roman Empire is vast and far-ranging. I fear that the

influence of Edward Gibbon has permeated unconscious culture. One can easily find various

memes that blame churches for suppressing knowledge and progress. In reality, an enormous

amount of what we possess today is due only to them. It did, for all intents and purposes, save

the Roman Empire, or what was left of it.

Tertullian. Apology (Chapter. XVI.). 197AD,

www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/tertullian01.html. Accessed 12 Dec. 2022.

William James Durant. Caesar and Christ. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1 Jan. 1944, pp. 665,

667, archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.184536/. Accessed 12 Dec. 2022.

Tacitus, Cornelius, History, 5.4, 5.5, 5.8,

Tacitus, Cornelius, Annals, 15.44

Porphyry, Against The Christians, Edited and Translated with an Introduction and

Epilogue by R. Joseph Hoffmann, 35

Pliny the Younger, Epistulae X.96

Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians, 6:1

Schmidt, Under the Influence: How Christianity Transformed Civilization, pg. 63

Woods, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, pg. 11

Holland, Dominion How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, pg. 141-142

Brown, Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire (Brandeis), 34

Uhlhorn, Christian Charity in the Ancient Church, pg. 264

Baluffi and Gargan, The Charity of the Church, a Proof of Her Divinity, 16

Stambaugh, The Ancient Roman City, 135

Stark, The Rise of Christianity (Princeton), 74

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion, pgs. 21, 26-27

Woods, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, pg. 43