Note 104 — PART I FROM THE DATE OF THE GREAT FIRE OF ROME IN THE REIGN OF NERO TO THE DEATH OF MARCUS ANTONINUS A.D. 64–A.D. 180

What Hermas wrote specially of Rome, no doubt in a very large degree was the state of things in the provinces of the Empire. This is clear from the great and general popularity enjoyed by the Shepherd in the first two centuries. The picture of Christian life in Rome was recognized as an accurate picture of their own life, by the citizens of Corinth and Alexandria, by the dwellers in Ephesus and Antioch.