The protection of the severe Zenobia is the only circumstance which may raise a doubt of the notorious immorality of Paul .-- M.] [Footnote 130: Euseb.Hist.Ecclesiast.l.vii.

c.30.We are entirely indebted to him for the curious story of Paul of Samosata.] Amidst the frequent revolutions of the empire, the Christians still flourished in peace and prosperity; and notwithstanding a celebrated aera of martyrs has been deduced from the accession of Diocletian, [131] the new system of policy, introduced and maintained by the wisdom of that prince, continued, during more than eighteen years, to breathe the mildest and most liberal spirit of religious toleration.

The mind of Diocletian himself was less adapted indeed to speculative inquiries, than to the active labors of war and government.

His prudence rendered him averse to any great innovation, and though his temper was not very susceptible of zeal or enthusiasm, he always maintained an habitual regard for the ancient deities of the empire.

But the leisure of the two empresses, of his wife Prisca, and of Valeria, his daughter, permitted them to listen with more attention and respect to the truths of Christianity, which in every age has acknowledged its important obligations to female devotion.