Trinity Nonsense

[Minimalist]

Um, I'm not quite sure what your problem is, Zen. Are you saying that you want to see this in a history book? Because it took me less than 1.5 seconds on Google to find the History of Ammianus Marcellinus in an English translation. You can't get better than a primary source.

http://www.archive.org/stream/romanhisto...a_djvu.txt


It begins in Sec. 208 and continues into 210.

8. The city which was chosen to witness these fatal
scenes was Scythopolis in Palestine, which for two reasons
seemed the most suitable of all places ; first, because it
was little frequented and secondly, because it was half-
way between Antioch and Alexandria, from which city
many of those brought befogs this tribunal came.



AJ). 359.] NUMEROUS EXECUTIONS. 209

9. One of the first persons accused was Simplicius, the
son of Philip ; a man who, after having been prefect and
consul, was now impeached on the ground that he was
said to have consulted the oracle how to obtain the empire.
He was sentenced to the torture by the express command
of the emperor, who in these cases never erred on the side
of mercy ; but by some special fate he was saved from it,
and with uninjured body was condemned to distant banish-
ment.

10. The next victim was Parnasius, who had been pre-
fect of Egypt, a man of simple manners, but now in danger
of being condemned to death, and glad to escape with
exile : because lojig ago he had been heard to say that
when he left Patrse in Achaia, the place of his birth, with
the view of procuring some high office, he had in a dream
seen himself conducted on his road by several figures in
tragic robes.

11. The next was Andronicus, subsequently celebrated
for his liberal accomplishments and his poetry ; he was
brought before the court without having given any real
ground for suspicion of any kind, and defended himself so
vigorously that he was acquitted.

12. There was also Demetrius, surnamed Chytras, a
philosopher, of great age, but still firm in mind and body ;
he, when charged with having frequently offered sacrifices
in the temple of his oracle, could not deny it ; but affirmed
thai, for the sake of propitiating the deity, he had con-
stantly done so from his early youth, and not with any
idea of aiming at any higher fortune by his questions ; nor
had he known any one who had aimed at such. And
though he was long on the rack he supported it with great
constancy, never varying in his statement, till at length
he was acquitted and allowed to retire to Alexandria, where
he was bom.

13. These and a few others, justice, coming to the aid of
truth, delivered from their imminent dangers. But as
occupations extended more widely, involving numbers
without end in their snares, many perished ; some with
their bodies mangled on the rack ; others were condemned
to death and confiscation of their goods ; while Paulus kept
on inventing groundless accusations, as if he had a store
of lies on which to draw, and suggesting various pretences

210 AMMIANUS MARCELLJXUS. [Ite. XIX. C. xn.

for injuring people, so that on his nod, it may be said,
the safety of every one in the place depended.

I don't understand you, seriously: some time ago you perfectly agreed with the romans killing christians for getting into religious meetings... And now you say that christians doing likewise to pagans is blatant? By the way, they didn't have "church" buildings to gather there, back then. They gathered where they could.

First off, Pliny made it clear that the secret meetings were regarded as "political" not "religious." The Romans did not give a shit about religion; they were concerned about sedition.

Of greater importance is that you miss the point...perhaps accidentally. I don't give a flying fuck what the emperor did 1500 years ago. He was the emperor and he could kill whoever the fuck he wanted. That's what being emperor means. BUT. When modern xtians trot out this holier-than-thou horseshit about how their marvelous religion spread peacefully across the world it is time to shake them out of their stupidity with FACTS. Xtianity was not spread by pious missionaries but by terror, murder and oppression.

Do you understand that, at least, or am I wasting my time? You made an assertion that the populace was blindly following the bishops and priests and it is simply untrue in many instances.