is any pain or affliction which a person designedly inflicts upon another; and in a more restrained sense, the sufferings of Christians on account of their religion.

Historians usually reckon ten general persecutions, the first of which was under the emperor Nero, 31 years after our Lord's ascension; when that emperor having set fire to the city of Rome, threw the odium of that execrable action on the Christians, who under that pretence were wrapped up in the skins of wild beasts, and worried and devoured by dogs; others were crucified, and others burnt alive. The second was under Domitian, in the year 95. In this persecution St John the apostle was sent to the isle of Patmos, in order to be employed in digging in the mines. The third began in the third year of Trajan, in the year 100, and was carried on with great violence for several years. The fourth was under Antoninus the philosopher, when the Christians were banished from their houses, forbidden to show their heads, reproached, beaten, hurried from place to place, plundered, imprisoned, and stoned. The fifth began in the year 197, under the emperor Severus. The sixth began with the reign of the emperor Maximinus in 235. The seventh, which was the most dreadful persecution that had ever been known in the church, began in the year 250, in the reign of the emperor Decius, when the Christians were in all places driven from their habitations, stripped of their estates, tormented with racks, &c. The eighth began in the year 257, in the fourth year of the reign of the emperor Valerian. The ninth was under the emperor Aurelian, A.D. 274; but this was very inconsiderable: and the tenth began in the 19th year of Diocletian, A.D. 303. In this dreadful persecution, which lasted ten years, houses filled with Christians were set on fire, and whole droves were tied together with ropes and thrown into the sea. See TOLERATION.