Marcus Aurelius has been censured for two acts:  the first, the massacre of the Christians which took place during his reign; the second, the selection of his son Commodus as his successor.  Of the massacre of the Christians it may be said, that when the conditions surrounding the Emperor are once properly understood, no just cause for condemnation of his course remains.  A prejudice against the sect was doubtless acquired by him through the teachings of his dearly beloved instructor and friend Fronto.  In the writings of the revered Epictetus he found severe condemnation of the Christians as fanatics.  Stoicism enjoined upon men obedience to the law, endurance of evil conditions, and patience under misfortunes.  The Christians openly defied the laws; they struck the images of the gods, they scoffed at the established religion and its ministers.  They welcomed death; they invited it.  To Marcus Aurelius, as he says in his ‘Meditations,’ death had no terrors.  The wise man stood, like the trained soldier, ready to be called into action, ready to depart from life when the Supreme Ruler called him; but it was also, according to the Stoic, no less the duty of a man to remain until he was called, and it certainly was not his duty to invite destruction by abuse of all other religions and by contempt for the distinctive deities of the Roman faith.  The Roman State was tolerant of all religions so long as they were tolerant of others.  Christianity was intolerant of all other religions; it condemned them all.  In persecuting what he regarded as a “pernicious sect” the Emperor regarded himself only as the conservator of the peace and the welfare of the realm.  The truth is, that Marcus Aurelius enacted no new laws on the subject of the Christians.  He even lessened the dangers to which they were exposed.  On this subject one of the Fathers of the Church, Tertullian, bears witness.  He says in his address to the Roman officials:—­“Consult your annals, and you will find that the princes who have been cruel to us are those whom it was held an honor to have as persecutors.  On the contrary, of all princes who have known human and Divine law, name one of them who has persecuted the Christians.  We might even cite one of them who declared himself their protector,—­the wise Marcus Aurelius.  If he did not openly revoke the edicts against our brethren, he destroyed the effect of them by the severe penalties he instituted against their accusers.”  This statement would seem to dispose effectually of the charge of cruel persecution brought so often against the kindly and tender-hearted Emperor.