| For a thousand years, paganism had brought success and prosperity to the Eternal City. The will of the gods decided every aspect of Roman society, when it went to war, who its rulers were. Paganism had brought Rome domination of the ancient world. The Roman Empire was flexible, embracing and co-opting foreign gods into its own state religion, but none so far had threatened the status quo. But Christianity was radically different. Whereas paganism sought the goodwill and protection of the gods in this life, Christianity held out the promise of eternal life in the next world. But its rejection of pagan practice marked it out. The Christian refusal to sacrifice to the ancestral gods in honour of the Emperor made them a potential threat to the Roman state itself. |
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