Islam Creator of the Modern Age
4. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
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educational influences—books and treatises as well
as meetings with learned men—were banned. The
arts and philosophy flourished in democratic
Athens, but many artists and philosophers, among
them Aeschylus, Euripides, Phidias, Socrates, and
Aristotle, were exiled, imprisoned, executed, or
took flight.
80
The office of Censor was established in Rome in 443
B.C. Criticism of the Roman authorities was akin to
treason. The article says, “Treason included
allusion, statement, and criticism. Philosophers and
rhetoricians were twice banished by law, and the
political rights of actors were curtailed by edicts of
the censors. Many prominent citizens were
persecuted for having made critical comments on
the ruling class.”
81
For almost three centuries after Christ, the Jews and
Christians remained hostile to one another only
because of differences in their religious beliefs. First
the Jews persecuted the Christians. When in the
fourth century Christianity became the religion of
the empire, Christian officials persecuted the Jews.
82
