CHAPTER XVII

CHAPTER XVII

VIII. 17.]

GALERIUS' EDICT OF TOLERATION.

conformity with the ancient laws and public discipline? of the Romans, and to provide that the Christians also, who have forsaken the religion of their ancestors,' should return to a good

CHAPTER XVII.

The Revocation of the Rulers. a WRESTLING with so many evils, he thought of the cruelties which he had committed against the pious. Turning, therefore, his thoughts toward himself, he first openly confessed to the God of the universe, and then summoning his attendants, he commanded that without delay they should stop the persecution of the Christians, and should by law and royal decree, urge them forward to build their churches and to 2 rhyv Synpociay éemotyunv.

Latin: pudblicam disciplinam.

3 trav yovéwy Tay éavtay Thy aipeov.

Latin: parentum suorum sectam.

There has been some discussion as to whether Galerius here refers to primitive Christianity or to paganism, but the almost unanimous opinion of scholars (so far as I am aware) is that he means the former (cf. among others, Mason, p. 298 sq.).

I confess myself, however, unable, after careful study of the document, to accept this interpretation. .

Not that I think it impossible that Galerius should pretend that the cause of the persecution had been the departure ah the Christians from primitive Christianity, and its object the reform of the Church, because, although that was certainly not his object, he may nevertheless, when conquered, have wished to make it appear so to the Christians at least (see Mason, p. 302 sq.).

My reason for not accepting the interpretation is that I cannot see that the language of the edict warrants it; and certainly, inasmuch as it is not what we should a grzovz expect Galerius to say, we are hardly justified in adopting it except upon very clear grounds.

But in my opinion such grounds do not exist, and in fact the interearweo seems to me to do violence to at least a part of the decree. perform their customary worship, offering prayers in behalf of the emperor.

Immediately the deed followed the word.

The imperial decrees were published in the cities, containing the revocation of the acts against us in the

n the present sentence it is certainly not zecessarzly implied that the ancestors of the Christians held a different religion from the ancestors of the heathen; in fact, it seems on the face of it more natural to suppose that Galerius is referring to the earlier ancestors of both

Christians and heathen, who were alike pagans. 'This is confirmed by the last clause of the sentence: ad donxas mentes redirent (cis ayadnv mpdbecw émavédGorev), which in the mouth of Galerius, and indeed of any heathen, would naturally mean "' return to the worship of our gods."

This in itself, however, proves nothing, for Galerius may, as is claimed, have used the words hypocritically; but in the next sentence, which is looked upon as the main support of the interpretation which I am combating, it is not said that they have deserted ¢kezr ancient institutions in distinction from the institutions of the rest of the world, but zl/a veterum instituta (a term which he could hardly employ in this unqualified way to indicate the originators of Christianity without gross and gratuitous insult to his heathen subjects) gue forsitan primum parentes eorumdemi constituerant, '' those institutions of the ancients which perchance their own fathers had first established" (the Greek is not quite accurate, omitting the demonstrative, and reading mpdrepov for przmum).

There can hardly have been a "' perchance" about the fact that the Christians' ancestors had first established Christian institutions, whatever they were—certainly Galerius would never have thought of implying that his ancestors, or the ancestors of his brotherpagans, had established them.

His aim seems to be to suggest, as food for reflection, not only that the ancestors of the Christians had certainly, with the ancestors of the heathen, originally observed pagan institutions, but that perhaps they had themselves been the very ones to establish those institutions, which would make the guilt of the Christians in departing from them all the worse.

In the next clause, the reference to the Christians as making laws for themselves and assembling in various places may as easily be a rebuke to the Christians for their separation from their heathen fellow-citizens in matters of life and worship as a rebuke to them for their departure from the original unity of the Christian Church.

Again, in the next sentence the 'institutions of the ancients" (veterum tnstituta) are referred to in the most general way, without any such qualification as could possibly lead the Christians or any one else to think that the institutions of the Christian religion were meant.

Conformity to ''the ancient laws and public discipline of the Romans" is announced in the beginning of the edict as the object which Galerius had in view.

Could he admit, even for the following form :

"The Emperor Cesar Galerius Valerius Maximinus, Invictus, Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, conqueror of the Germans, conqueror of the Egyptians, conqueror of the Thebans, five times conqueror of the Sarmatians, conqueror of the Persians, twice conqueror of the Carpathians, six times conqueror of the Armenians, conqueror of the Medes, conqueror of the Adiabeni, Tribune of the people the twentieth time, Emperor the nineteenth time, Consul the eighth time, Father of his country, Proconsul; and the Emperor Cesar Flavius

Valerius Constantinus, Pius, Felix, Invictus, Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribune of the people, Emperor the fifth time, Consul,

'Father of his country, Proconsul ; and the Emperor Cesar Valerius Licinius, Pius, Felix, Invictus, Augustus, Pontifex Maximus,

Tribune of the people the fourth time, Emperor

the third time, Consul, Father of his country, Proconsul; to the people of their provinces, greeting :* "« Among the other things which we have ordained for the public advantage and profsake of propitiating his Christian subjects, that those laws and that discipline were Christian?

Veterum tnstituta in fact could mean to the reader nothing else, as thus absolutely used, than the institutions of the old Romans. it, we formerly wished to restore everything to Still further it is to be noticed that in § 9 Galerius does not say

1 This edict was issued in April, 311 (see the previous chapter, note 1).

There has been considerable discussion as to the reason for the omission of Maximin's name from the heading of the edict.

The simplest explanation is that he did not wish to have his name appear in a document which was utterly distasteful to him and which he never fully sanctioned, as we learn from Bk. IX. chaps. 1 and 2, below.

It is possible, as Mason suggests, that in the copies of the edict which were designed for other parts of the empire than his own the names of all four emperors appeared.

Eusebius gives a Greek translation of the edict.

The original Latin is found in Lactantius' De sort. pers. chap. 34.

The translation in the present case is in the main accurate though somewhat free.

The edict is an acknowledgment of defeat on Galerias' part, and was undoubtedly caused in large part by a pe gan ee desire, brought on by his sickness, to propitiate the bod of the Christians whom he had been unable to conquer.

And yet, in my opinion, it is not as Mason calls it, ' one of the most bizarre state documents ever penned," " couched in language treacherous, contradictory, and sown with the most virulent hatred"; neither does it ''lay the blame upon the Christians because they had forsaken Christ," nor aim to "dupe and outwit the angry Christ: by pretending to be not a gpa but a reformer."

As will be seen from note 3, below, I interpret the document in quite another way, and regard it as a not inconsistent statement of the whole matter from Galerius' own point of view.

"' but although many persevere in their purpose .

. nevertheless, in consideration of our philanthropy, we have determined that we ought to extend our indulgence," &c., but rather "' and since (atgue cum) many persevere in their purpose," &c,

The significance of this has apparently been hitherto quite overlooked.

Does he mean to say that he feels that he ought to extend indulgence just because they do exactly what they did before — worship neither the gods of the heathen nor the God of the Christians?

I can hardly think so.

He seems to me to say rather, 'Since many, in spite of my severe measures, still persevere in their purpose (7% proposito perseverarent) and refuse to worship our gods, while at the same time they cease under the pressure to worship their own God as they have been accustomed to do, I have decided to permit them to return to their own worship, thinking it better that they worship the God of the Christians than that they worship no God; provided in worshiping him they do nothing contrary to discipline (contra disctplinam), i.e. contrary to Roman law."

Thus interpreted, the entire edict seems to me consistent and at the same time perfectly natural.

It is intended to propitiate the Christians and to have them pray for the good of the emperor to their own God, rather than refuse to pray for him altogether.

It is not an acknowledgment even to the Christians that their God is the supreme and only true God, but it is an acknowledgment that their God is probably better than

THE CHURCH HISTORY OF EUSEBIUS.

[ VIII. 17.

Such is the tenor of this edict, translated,

as well as possible, from the Roman tongue into the Greek."

It is time to consider what took place after these events.

disposition.

For in some way such arrogance had seized them and such stupidity had overtaken them, that they did not follow the ancient institutions which possibly their own ancestors had formerly established, but made for themselves laws according to their own purpose, as each one desired, and observed them, and thus assembled as separate congrega-

tions in various places. When we had issued this decree that they should return to the institutions established by the ancients,* a great many * submitted under danger, but a great many

That which follows is found in Some Copies in the Eighth Book.

Tue author of the edict very shortly after

this confession was released from his pains and died.

He is reported to have been the original author of the misery of the persecution, having endeavored, long before the movement of the other emperors, to turn from the faith the Christians in the army, and first of all those in his own house, degrading some from the military rank, and abusing others most shamefully, and threatening still others with death, and finally inciting his partners in the empire to the general persecution.

It is not proper to pass over the death of these emperors in silence.

As four of them held the supreme author-

ity, those who were advanced in age and honor, after the persecution had continued not quite two years, abdicated the government, as we have already stated,' and passed the remainder of their lives in a common and private station.

The end of their lives

He who was first in honor and age perished through a long and most grievous physical infirmity.?

He who held the second place ended his life by strangling,* suffering being harassed endured all kinds of death.*

And since many continue in the same folly,' and we perceive that they neither offer to the heavenly gods the worship which is due, nor pay regard to the God of the Christians, in consideration of our philanthropy and our invariable custom, by which we are wont to extend pardon to all, we have determined that we ought most cheerfully to extend our indulgence in this matter also ; that they may again be Christians, and may rebuild the conventicles in which they were accustomed to assemble,* on condition that nothing be done by them contrary to discipline.'

In another letter we shall indicate to the magistrates what they have to observe.

Wherefore, on account of this indulgence of ours, they ought to supplicate their God for our safety, and that of the people, and their own, that the public welfare may be preserved in every place," and that they may live securely in their several homes."

was as follows. i EOS cal Drea teat sae teeter vein aie a ae eet no god, and that the empire will be better off if they become loyal, peaceable, rayerful citizens again coven if their prayers are not directed to the highest gods), than if they continue disaffected and disloyal and serve and worship no superior being.

That the edict becomes, when thus interpreted, much more dignified and much more worthy of an emperor cannot be denied; and, little respect as we may have for Galerius, we should not accuse him of playing the hypocrite and the fool in this matter, except on better grounds than are offered by the extant text of this edict. himself have carelessly written tpdérov.

In either case, however, tomov must have been the original translation, and I have therefore substituted it for rpomov, and have rendered accordingly. I find that Crusé has done likewise, whether for the same reason de not know.

11 Eusebius does not say whether the translating was done by himself or by some one else.

The epistle of Hadrian to Minucius Fundanus, quoted in Bk. IV. chap. 9, above, was translated by himself, as he directly informs us (see zézd. chap. 8, note 17).

This might lead us to suppose him the translator in the present case; but, on the other hand, in that case he directly says that the translation was his work, in the present he does not.

It is possible that Greek copies of the edict were in common circulation, and that Eusebius used one of them.

At the same time, the words '' translated as well as possible" (xara 7d Svvatév) would seem to indicate that Eusebius had supervised the present translation, if he had not made it himself.

Upon his knowledge of Latin, see the note just referred to.

1 The words of this title, together with the section which follows, are found in the Sep of our MSS. at the close of the eighth book, and are given by all the editors.

The existence of the passage would Latin: ad veterum 4 émi Ta UTd THY apxaiwy KaTagTdabeyTa, instituta.

5 wreioto..

Latin: mult.

6 ravtoious Oavarous Uméhepov.

Latin: deturdati sunt.

TH avt_ amovoia Siapevovtwy.

Latin: 1% proposito persevevarent.

8 rovs oiKods, év ols cuvHyovTO, cuvO@ouv, Latin: conventicula sua componant.

9 contra disciplingm, i.e. " against the discipline or laws of the Romans."

Galerius does not tell us just what this indefinite phrase is meant to coyer, and the letter to the magistrates, in which he doubtless explained himself and laid down the conditions, is unfortunately lost.

'The edict of Milan, as Mason conclusively shows, refers to this edict of Galerius and to these accompanying conditions; and from that edict some light is thrown upon the nature of these conditions imposed by Galerius.

It has been conjectured that in Galerius' edict, Christianity was forbidden to all but certain

, seem to imply that the work in only eight books came into the hands of some scribe, who added the appendix to make the work more complete.

(Cf. chap. 13, note 15, above.) Whoever he was, he was not venturesome in his additions, for, except the notice of Diocletian's death and the statement of the manner of the death of Maximinus, he adds nothing that has not been already said in substance by Eusebius himself.

The appendix must have been added in any case as late as 313, for Diocletian died in that year. classes: ''that if a man chose to declare himself a Christian, he would incur no danger, but might no longer take his seat as a decurion in his native town, or the.like"; that Galerius had endeavored to make money out of the transaction whereby Christians received their church property back again; that proselytizing was forbidden; that possibly the toleration of Christianity was made a matter of local option, and that any town or district by a majority vote could periane its exercise within its own limits (see Mason, p. 330 sq.).

2 See above, chap. 13, § 11.

8 Diocletian died in 313, at the age of sixty-seven.

The final ruin of all his great plans for the permanent prosperity of the empire, the terrible misfortunes of his daughter, and the indignities heaped upon him by Maximin, Licinius, and Constantine, wore him out and at length drove the spirit from the shattered body. According to Lactantius (De mort. pers. 42), "'having been treated in the most contumelious manner, and compelled to abhor life, he became incapable of receiving nourishment, and, worn out with anguish of mind, expired." hese conjectures are plausible, though of course precarious.

10 The Greek reads, in all our MSS., cata mavta tpdrov, "in every manner."

The Latin original, however, reads undigue versum.

In view of that fact, I feel confident that the Greek translator must have written ré7ov instead of tpédmov.

If, therefore, that translator was Eusebius, we must suppose that the change to tpémov is due to the error of some scribe.

If, on the other hand, Eusebius simply copied the Greek translation from some one else, he may

4 Upon the death of Maximian, see above, chap. 13, note 23.

VIII. App. ]

KINDNESS OF CONSTANTIUS.

thus according to a certain demoniacal predicall respects most prudent and pious.

He entered on the government at once, being proclaimed supreme emperor and Augustus by the soldiers ; and he showed himself anem-

ulator of his father's piety toward our doctrine. tion, on account of his many daring crimes.

Of those after them, the last,> of whom we have spoken as the originator of the entire persecution, suffered such things as we have related.

But he who preceded him, the most merciful and kindly emperor Constantius,° passed all the time of his government in a manner worthy of his office.6

Moreover, he conducted himself towards all most favorably and beneficently.

He took not the smallest part in the war against us, and preserved the pious that were under him unharmed and unabused.

Neither did he throw down the church buildings, nor devise anything else against us.

The end of his life was happy and thrice blessed.

He alone at death left his empire happily and gloriously to his own son' as his successor, one who was in Such were the deaths of the four of whom we have written, which took place at different times.

Of these, moreover, only the one

referred to a little above by us,® with those who afterward shared in the government, finally® published openly to all the above-mentioned confession, in the written edict which he issued.

8 i.e. Galerius.

9 T read Aouréy which is found in some MSS. and is adopted by Stephanus and Burton.

Valesius, Schwegler, Laemmer and Heinichen follow other MSS. in reading Avmwy, and this is adopted by Stroth, Closs and Crusé in their translations.

The last, however, makes it govern '' the above-mentioned confession," which is quite ungrammatical, while Stroth and Closs (apparently approved by Heinichen) take it to mean " still alive" or " still remaining" ("' Der unter diesen allein noch Ueberlebende"; '' Der unter diesen noch allein uebrige""), a meaning which belongs to the middle but not properly to the active voice of Aeimw.

The latter translation, moreover, makes the writer involve himself in a mistake, for Diocletian did not die until nearly two years after the publication of Galerius' edict.

In view of these considerations I feel compelled to adopt the reading Ao.rév which is nearly, if not quite, as well supported by MS. authority as Arey.

5 ouev vortatos, i.e. Galerius, who was the second Czesar and therefore the last, or lowest, of the four rulers.

Upon his illness and death, see chap. 16, above.

6 Constantius was first Czsar, and thus held third rank in the government.

The following passage in regard to him is found also in chap. 13s §§ 12-14, above.

7 i.e.

Constantine.

MARTYRS" OF PALESTINE?

where, commanding that the churches be leveled to the ground and the Scriptures be destroyed by fire, and ordering that those who held places of honor be degraded, and that the household servants, if they persisted in the profession of Christianity, be deprived of freedom.

The Following also we found in a Certain Copy in the Eighth Book.

Ir was in the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian, in the month Xanthicus,' which is called April by the Romans, about the time of the feast of our Saviour's passion, while Flavianus* was governor of the province of Palestine, that letters were published everySuch was the force of the first edict against us.

But not long after other letters were issued, commanding that all the bishops of the churches everywhere be first thrown into prison, and afterward, by every artifice, be compelled to sacrifice.

1 On this work, see above, p. 29 sq.

As remarked there, the shorter form of the work, the translation of which follows, is found in most, but not all, of the MSS. of Eusebius' Church History, in some of them at the close of the tenth book, in one of them in the middle of Bk. VIII. chap. 13, in the majority of them between Bks,

VIII. and IX.

It is found neither in the Syraic version of the Hzstory, nor in Rufinus.

Musculus omits it in his Latin version, but a translation of it is given both by Christophorsonus and Valesius.

The Germans Stroth and Closs omit it; but Stigloher gives it at the close of his translation of the Hzstory.

The English translators insert it at the close of the eighth book.

The work is undoubtedly genuine, in this, its shorter, as well as in its longer form, but was in all probability attached to the Hzstovy, not by Eusebius himself, but by some copyist, and therefore is not strictly entitled to a place in a translation of the Hzstory.

At the same time it has seemed best in the present case to include it and to follow the majority of the editors in inserting it at this point.

In all the MSS. except one the work begins abruptly without a title, introduced only by the words

Kal ravTa év Tie avTiypadw ev TH dySdw Té.w eVponev: " The following also we found in a certain copy in the eighth book."

In the 'Codex Castellanus, however, according to Reading (in his edition of Valesius, Vol. I. p. 796, col. 2), the following title is inserted immediately after the words just quoted: EvaeBiov ovyypayma epi

TOV Kar avTOV wapTupndavTwY év TS OKTaETEL AvcoKAnTLavov Kat edeEqs Tadepiov Tov Magipivov diwyue.

Heinichen consequently prints the first part of this title (EvoeBiov .

. uaptupynoavtwy) at the head of the work in his edition, and is followed by Burton and CHAPTER I.

Tue first of the martyrs of Palestine was

Procopius,! who, before he had received the trial of imprisonment, immediately on his first appearance before the governor's tribunal, having been ordered to sacrifice to the so-called gods, declared that he knew only one to whom it was proper to sacrifice, as he himself wills.

But when he was commanded to offer libations to the four emperors, having quoted a sentence which displeased them, he was immediately beheaded.

The quotation was from the poet:

Migne.

This title, however, can hardly be looked upon as original, and I have preferred to employ rather the name by which the work is described at its close, where we read EvaeBiov tov IlaudiAov mepe tov év Madaotivy waptupnoavtwy téAos.

This agrees with the title of the Syriac version, and must represent very closely the original title; and so the work is commonly known in English as the Martyrs of Palestine, in Latin as de Martyribus Palestine.

The work is much more systematic than the eighth book of the Church History ; in fact, it is excellently arranged. and takes up the persecution year by year in chronological order.

The ground covered, however, is very limited, and we can consequently gather from the work little idea of the state of the Church at large during these years.

All the martyrs mentioned in the following pages are commemorated in the various martyrologies under particular days, but in regard to most of them we know only what Eusebius tells us.

I shall not attempt to give references to the martyrologies.

Further details leaned from them and from various Acts of martyrdom may be Saad in Ruinart, Tillemont, &c.

1 shall endeavor to give full particulars in regard to the few martyrs about whom we have any reliable information beyond that given in the present work, but shall

1 The account of Procopius was somewhat fuller in the longer recension of the Martyrs of Palestine, as can be seen from the Syriac version (English translation in Cureton, p. 3 sq.).

There exists also a Latin translation of the Acts of St. Procopius, which was evidently made from that longer recension, and which is printed by Valesius and also by Cureton (p. 50 sq.), and in English by Crusé 2% doco.

We are told by the Syriac version that his family was from Baishan.

According to the Latin, he was a native of fElia (Jerusalem), but resided in Scythopolis (the Greek name of Baishan), With the Latin agrees the Syriac version of these Acts, which is published by Assemani in his Acta SS. Martt. Orient. et

Occident. ed. 1748, Part II. p. 169 sq. (see Cureton, p. 52). We learn from the longer account that he was a lector, interpreter, and exorcist in the church, and that he was exceedingly ascetic in his manner of life.

It is clear from this paragraph that Procopius was put to death, not because he was a Christian, but because he uttered words apparently treasonable in their import.

To call him a Christian martyr is therefore a misuse of terms.

We cannot be sure whether Procopius was arrested under the terms of the first or under the terms of the second edict.

If in consequence of the first, it may be that he was suspected of complicity in the plot which Diocletian was endeavoring to crush out, or that he had interfered with the imperial officers when they undertook to execute the decree for the destruction of the church buildings.

The fact that he was commanded by the governor to sacrifice would lead us to think of the first, rather than of the second edict (see above, Bk, VIII. chap. 6, note 3, and chap. 2, note 8).

Still, it must be admitted that very likely many irregularities occurred in the methods by which the decrees were executed in the province, and the command to sacrifice can, therefore, not be claimed as proving that he was not arrested under the terms of the second edict; and in fact, the mention of ape iers as the punishment which he had to expect would lead us to think of the second edict as at least the immediate occasion of his arrest.

In any case, there is no reason to suppose that his arrest es have resulted in his death had he not been rash in his speech, pass over the others without mention.

2 The Martyrs of Palestine, in all the MSS. that contain it, is introduced with these words.

The passage which follows, down to the beginning of Chap. I., is a transeript, with a few slight variations, of Bk. VIII. chap. 2,§§4 ands.

For notes upon it, see that chapter3 The month Xanthicus was the eighth month of the Macedonian year, and corresponded to our April (see the table on p. 403, below),

In Bk. VIII. chap. 2, Eusebius puts the beginning of the prosecution in the seventh month, Dystrus.

But the persecution really began, or at least the first edict was issued, and the destruction of the churches in Nicomedia took place, in February.

See Bk. VIII. chap. 2, note 3.

4 Flavianus is not mentioned in Bk. VIII. chap. 2.

In the Syriac version he is named as the judge by whom Procopius was condemned (Cureton, p. 4). Nothing further is known of him, so far as I am aware.

Cap, 2.) |

ALPHZUS, ZACCHAUS. AND ROMANUS.

the holy martyrs were Alphzeus and Zaccheus.'

After stripes and scrapings and severe bonds and additional tortures and various other trials, and after having their feet stretched for a night and day over four holes in the stocks,' on the seventeenth day of the month Dius,'— that is, according to the Romans, the fifteenth before the Kalends of December, — having confessed one only God and Christ Jesus as king," as if they had uttered some blasphemy, they were beheaded like the former martyr.

"The rule of many is not good; let there be one ruler and one king."'?

It was the seventh® day of the month Desius,' the seventh before the ides of June,° as the Romans reckon, and the fourth day of the week, when this first example was given at Ceesarea in Palestine.

Afterwards,® in the same city, many rulers of the country churches readily endured terrible sufferings, and furnished to the beholders an example of noble conflicts.

But others, benumbed in spirit by terror, were easily weakened at the first onset.

Of the rest, each one endured different forms of torture, as scourgings without number, and rackings, and tearings of their

CHAPTER II.

Wuat occurred to Romanus on thesame

day at Antioch, is also worthy of record.

For he was a native of Palestine, a deacon and exorcist in the parish of Czesarea; and being present at the destruction of the churches, he beheld many men, with womenand children, going up in crowds to the idols and sacrificing.'

But, through his great zeal for religion, he could not endure the sight, and rebuked them with aloud voice.

Being arrested for his bold-

ness; he proved a most noble witness of the truth, if there ever was one.

For when the judge informed him that he was to die by fire,' sides, and insupportable fetters, by which the hands of some were dislocated.

Yet they endured what came upon them, as in accordance with the inscrutable purposes of God.

For the hands of one were seized, and he was led to the altar, while they thrust into his right hand the polluted and abominable offering, and he was dismissed as if he had sacrificed.

Another had not even touched it, yet when others said that he had sacrificed, he went away in silence.

Another, being taken up half dead, was cast aside as if already dead, and released from his bonds, and counted among

the sacrificers.

When another cried out, and testified that he would not obey, he was struck in the mouth, and silenced by a large band of those who were drawn up for this purpose, and driven away by force, even though he had not sacrificed.

Of such consequence did they consider it, to seem by any means to have accom7 We learn from the Syriac version that Zacchzus was a deacon of the church of Gadara, and that Alphzus belonged to a noble family of the city of Eleutheropolis, and was a reader and exorcist in the church of Czsarea.

8 See above, Bk. IV. chap. 16, note 9.

9 The month Dius was the third month of the Macedonian year, and corresponded with our November (see below, p. 403).

10 wdvov éva @edv Kai xprorov BaciAdéa 'Incovy suodoynaartes.

BagtAevs was the Fe ae term for emperor, and it is plain enough from this passage that these two men, like Procopius, were beheaded because they were regarded as guilty of treason, not because of their religious faith.

The instances given in this chapter are very significant, for they reveal the nature of the persecution during its earlier months, and throw a clear light back upon the motives which had led Diocletian to take the step against the Christians which he did. plished their purpose.

Therefore, of all this number, the only ones who were honored with the crown of 5, 1 We learn from the Syriac version that the death of Romanus occurred on the same day as that of Alpheus and Zacchzus.

His arrest, therefore, must have taken place some time before, according to § 4, below.

In fact, we see from the present Lag 09a that his arrest took place in connection with the dostruatiine of the churches; that is, at the time of the execution of the first edict in Antioch.

We should naturally think that the edict would be speedily published in so important a city, and hence can hardly suppose the arrest of Romanus to have occurred later than the spring of 303.

He therefore lay in prison a number of months (according to § 4, below, a "'very long time," mAetotov xpévov).

Mason is clearly in error in putting his arrest in November, and his death at the time of the vicennalia, in December.

It is evident from the Syriac version that the order for the release of prisoners, to which the so-called third edict was appended, preceded the vicennalia by some weeks, although issued in view of the great anniversary which was so near at hand.

It is quite possible that the decree was sent out some weeks beforehand, in order that time might be given to induce: the Christians to sacrifice, and thus enjoy release at the same time with the others.

2 There is no implication here that these persons were commanded, or even asked, to sacrifice.

They seem, in their dread of what might come upon them, when they saw the churches demolished, to have hastened of their own accord to sacrifice to the idols, and thus disarm all possible suspicion.

ovx ayabdv moduxoipavin els Koipavos éoTw, els BactAevs.

'The sentence is from Homer's //iad, Bk. II. vers. 204 and 205.

It was a sort of proverb, like many of Homer's sayings, and was frequently quoted.

As a consequence the use of it by Procopius does not prove at all his acquaintance with Homer or Greek literature in eneral. oie The majority of the MSS. read " eighth," which according to Eusebius' customary mode of reckonin e Macedonian months is incorrect.

For, as Valesius remarks, he always synchronizes the Macedonian with the Roman months, as was commonly done in his time.

But the seventh before the Ides of June is not the eighth, but the seventh of June (or Desius).

In'fact,a few good MSS, read '' seventh" instead of '' eighth," and I have followed Burton,

Schwegler, and Heinichen in adopting that reading.

4 Desius was the tenth month of the Macedonian year, and corresponded to our June (see the table on p. 403, below).

5 On the Roman method of reckoning the days of the month, see below, p.

402.

6 We his gather from § 5, below, that the sufferings to which Eusebius refers in such general terms in this and the following paragraphs took place late in the year 303.

In fact, from the Syriac version of the longer recension (Cureton, p. 4) we learn that the tortures inflicted upon Alphzeus and Zacchzus were, in consequence of the third edict, issued at the approach of the emperor's vicennalia, and intended rather as a step toward amnesty than as a sharpening of the persecution (see above, Bk. VIII. chap. 2, note 8).

This leads us to conclude that all the tortures mentioned in these paragraphs had the same occasion, and this explains the eagerness of the 8 As Mason remarks, to punish Romanus with death for dissuading the Christians from sacrificing was entirely illegal, as no imperial edict requiring them to sacrifice had yet been issued, and therefore no law was Troken in exhorting them not to do so.

At the same time, that he should be arrested as a church officer was, under the terms of the second edict, legal, and, in fact, necessary; and that the judge should incline to be very severe in the present case, with udges to set the prisoners free, even if they had not sacrificed; so

ies as they might be made to preeds to have done so, and thus the law not be hoaely violated.

Alphzus and Zacchzus alone suffered death, as we are told in § 5, and they evidently on purely political grounds (see note 10). the emperor so near at hand, was quite natural.

That death, however, was not ap made the penalty of Christian confession is plain enough from the fact that, when the emperor was appealed to, as we learn from the Syriac version, he remanded Romanus to prison, thus

THE CHURCH HISTORY OF EUSEBIUS.

[MartT. PAL.

SLT pa ae eee ee as eee the people should sacrifice at once in the different cities, and offer libations to the idols.' he received the sentence with cheerful countenance and most ready mind, and was led away.

When he was bound to the stake, and the wood piled up around him, as they were awaiting the arrival of the emperor before lighting the fire,

In Gaza, a city of Palestine, Timotheus endured countless tortures, and afterwards was subjected to a slow and moderate fire.

Having given, by his patience in all his sufferings, most genuine evidence of sincerest piety toward the Deity, he bore away the crown of the victorious athletes of religion.

At the same time Agapius?* and our contemporary, Thecla,* having exhibited most noble constancy, were condemned as food for the wild beasts. he cried, "Where is the fire for me?"

Having said this, he was summoned again before the emperor,' and subjected to the unusual torture of having his tongue cut out.

But he endured this. with fortitude and showed to all by his deeds that the Divine Power is present with those who endure any hardship whatever for the sake of religion, lightening their sufferings and strengthening their zeal.

When he learned of this strange mode of punishment, the noble man was not terrified, but put out his tongue readily, and offered it with But who that beheld these things would

not have admired, or if they heard of them by report, would not have been astonished?

For when the heathen everywhere were holding a festival and the customary shows, it was noised abroad that besides the other entertainments, the public combat of those who had lately been condemned to wild beasts would also the greatest alacrity to those who cut it off.

After this punishment he was thrown into prison, and suffered there for a very long time.

At last the twentieth anniversary of the emperor being near,' when, according to an established gracious custom, liberty was proclaimed everywhere to all who were in bonds, he alone had both his feet stretched over five holes in the stocks,® and while he lay there was

2 This is the famous fourth edict of Diocletian, which was issued in the year 304.

It marks a stupendous change of method; in fact, Christianity as such is made, for the first time since the toleration edict of Gallienus, a religio zllictta, whose profession is punishable by death.

The general persecution, in the full sense, begins with the publication of this edict.

Hitherto persecution had been directed only against supposed political offenders and church officers.

The edict is a complete stultification of Diocletian's principles as revealed in the first three edicts, and shows a lamentable lack of the wisdom which had dictated those measures.

Mason has performed an immense service in proving (to my opinion conclusively) that this. brutal edict, senseless in its very severity, was not issued by Diocletian, but by Maximian, while Diocletian was quite incapacitated by illness for the performance of any public duties.

Mason's arguments cannot be reproduced here; they are given at length on p.

212 sq. of his work.

He remarks at the close of the discussion:

"Diocletian, though he might have wished Christianity safely abolished, feared the growing power of the Church, and dared not persecute (till he was forced), lest he should rouse her from her passivity.

But this Fourth Edict was nothing more nor less than a loud alarum to muster the army of the Church: as the centurions called over their lists, it taught her the statistics of her numbers, down to the last child: it ees to her that her troops could endure all the hardships of the campaign: it ranged her generals in the exact order of merit.

Diocletian, by an exquisite refinement of thought, while he did not neglect the salutary fear which strong penalties might inspire in the Christians, knew well enough that though he might torture every believer in the world into sacrificing, yet Christianity was not killed: he knew that men were Christians again afterwards as well as before: could he have seen deeper yet, he would have known that the utter humiliation of a fall before men and angels converted many a hard and worldly prelate into a broken-hearted saint: and so he rested his hopes, not merely on the punishment of individuals, but on his three great measures for: crushing the corporate life,—the destruction of the churches, the Scriptures, and the clergy.

But this Fourth Edict evidently returns with crass dullness and brutal complacency to the thought that if half the church were racked till they poured the libations, and the other half burned or butchered, Paganism would reign alone forever more, and that the means were as eminently desirable as the end.

Lastly, Diocletian had anxiously avoided all that could rouse: fanatic zeal.

The first result of the Fourth Edict was to rouse it."

According to the Passzo S. Sabinz, which Mason accepts as in the main reliable, and which forms the strongest support for his theory, the edict was published in April, 304.

Diocletian, meanwhile, as we know from Lactantius (de Mort. pers. 17) did not recover sufficiently to take any part in the government until early in the year 305, so that Maximian and Galerius had matters all their own way during the entire year, and could persecute as severely as. they chose.

As a result, the Christians, both east and west, suffered greatly during this period. strangled, and was thus honored with mar-

tyrdom, as he desired.

Although he was outside of his country, yet, as he was a native of Palestine, it is proper to count him among the Palestinian martyrs.

These things occurred in this manner during the first year, when the persecution was directed only against the rulers of the Church.

CHAPTER III.

In the course of the second year, the persecution against us increased greatly.

And at that time Urbanus' being governor of the province, imperial edicts were first issued to him, commanding by a general decree that all inflicting upon him the legal punishment, according to the terms of the second edict.

Upon the case of Romanus, see Mason, p. 188 sq.

4 Valesius assumes that this was Galerius, and Mason does the same.

In the Syriac version, however, he is directly called Diocletian; but on the other hand, in the Syriac acts published by Assemani (according to Cureton, p. 55), i is called * Maximinus, the son-in-law of Diocletian"; i.e. Galerius, who was known as Maximianus (of which Maximinus, in the present case, is evidently only a variant form).

The emperor's conduct in the present case is much more in accord with Galerius' character, as known to us, than with the character of Diocletian; and moreover, it is easier to supose that the name of Maximinus was later changed into that of iocletian, by whose name the whole persecution was known, than that the greater name was changed into the less.

I am therefore convinced that the reference in the present case is to Galerius, not to Diocletian.

: gapius, as we learn from chap, 6, below, survived his contest with the wild beasts at this time, and was thrown into prison, where he remained until the fourth year of the persecution, when he was again brought into the arena in the presence of the tyrant Maximinus, and was finally thrown into the sea.

5 See above, Bk. VIII. chap. 2, note 8.

6 See above, Bk. IV. chap. 16, note 9, and Bk. VIII. chap. 10, note 5.

_ 4% a6' nuas Okra.

Thecla seems to be thus designated to distinguish her from her more famous namesake, whom tradition connected with Paul, and who has played so large a part in romantic legend (see the Acts of Paul and Thecla in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, VIII. 487 sq., and the Dict. of Christ. Biog., s.v.).

She is referred to again in chap. 6, below, but we are not told whether she actually suffered or not.

1 Of Urbanus, governor of Palestine, we know only what is told us in the present work (he is mentioned in this passage and in chaps.

4, 7, and 8, below) and in the Syriac version.

From the latter we learn that he succeeded Flavianus in the second year of the persecution (304), and that he was deposed by Maximinus in the fifth year

(see also chap. 8, § 7, below), and miserably executed.

CHAP. 4. ]

APPHIANUS.

eS to all the evidences of his inborn enmity against God, and of his impiety, armed himself for persecution against us more vigorously than his predecessors.

In consequence, no little

confusion arose among all, and they scattered here and there, endeavoring in some way to escape the danger ; and there was great commotion everywhere.

take place.

As this report increased and spread in all directions, six young men, namely, Timolaus,-a native of Pontus, Dionysius from 'Tripolis in Phcenicia, Romulus, a subdeacon of the parish of Diospolis,' Pzesis and Alexander, both Egyptians, and another Alexander from Gaza, having first bound their own hands, went in haste to Urbanus, who was about to open the exhibition, evidencing great zeal for martyrdom.

They confessed that they were Christians, and by their ambition for all terrible things, showed that those who glory in the reBut what words would suffice for a suitable description of the Divine love and boldness, in confessing God, of the blessed and truly innocent lamb, —I refer to the martyr Apphianus,?

—who presented in the sight of all, before the gates of Czsarea, a wonderful example of piety toward the only God?

He was at

that time not twenty years old. He had first spent a long time at Berytus,' for the sake of a secular Grecian education, as he belonged to a very wealthy family.

It is wonderful to relate how, in such a city, he was superior to youthful passions, and clung to virtue, uncorrupted neither by his bodily vigor nor his young companions ; living discreetly, soberly and piously, in accordance with his profession of the Christian doctrine and the life of his teachers. ligion of the God of the universe do not cower before the attacks of wild beasts.

Immediately, after creating no ordinary astonishment in the governor and those who were with him, they were cast into prison.

After

a few days two others were added to them.

One of them, named Agapius,® had in former confessions endured dreadful torments of various kinds.

The other, who had supplied them with the necessaries of life, was called Dionysius.

All of these eight were beheaded on one day at Czesarea, on the twenty-fourth day of the month Dystrus,' which is the ninth before the

Kalends of April.

Meanwhile, a change in If it is needful to mention his native

country, and give honor to it as producing this noble athlete of piety, we will do so with pleasure.

The young man came from

Page,t—if any one is acquainted with the place, —a city in Lycia of no mean importance.

After his return from his course of study in Berytus, though his father held the first place in his country, he could not bear to live with him and his relatives, as it did not please them to live according to the rules of religion.

Therefore, as if he were led by the Divine Spirit, and in accordance with a natural, or rather an inspired and true philosophy, regarding this preferable to what is considered the glory of life, and despising bodily comforts, he secretly left his family.

And because of his faith and hope in God, paying no attention to his daily needs, he was led by the Divine Spirit to the city of Czesarea, where was prepared for him the crown of martyrdom for piety. Abidingwithusthere,

and conferring with us in the Divine Scriptures diligently for a short time, and fitting himself zealously by suitable exercises, he exhibited such an end as would astonish any one should it be seen again.

Who, that hears

of it, would not justly admire his courage, boldness, constancy, and even more than these

EI CE CLANS

SIE EEE SESE ES

time of the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, May tr, 305, and Egypt and Syria were placed under his supervision. the emperors occurred, and the first of them all in dignity, and the second retired into private life, and public affairs began to be troubled.

Shortly after the Roman government became divided against itself, and a cruel war arose among them.'

And this division, with the troubles which grew out of it, was not settled until peace toward us had been established

throughout the entire Roman Empire.

For when this peace arose for all, as the daylight after the darkest and most gloomy night, the public affairs of the Roman government were re-established, and became happy and peaceful, and the ancestral good-will toward each other was revived.

But we will relate these things more fully at the proper time.

Now let us return to the regular course of events.

CHAPTER IV.

Mi Maximinus Czsar! having come at that time into the government, as if to manifest

5A on of Palestine, lying northwest of Jerusalem, and identical with the Lydda of Acts ix. 32sq.

For many centuries the seat of a bishop, and still prominent in the time of the crusades.

The persons referred to in this paragraph are to be distinguished from others of the same names mentioned elsewhere.

6 To be distinguished from the Agapius mentioned earlier in the chapter, as is clear from the date of his death, given in this pararaph,

- L yatrus was the seventh month of the Macedonian year, corresponding to our March.

See the table on p. 403, below.

8 Diocletian and Maximian abdicated on May 1, 305above, Bk. VIII. chap. 13, note 16.

; 9 When Maxentius usurped the purple in Rome, See above, Bk. VIII. chap. 13, note 21. bah 1 On Maximinus and his attitude toward the Christians, see above, Bk, VIII. chap. 14, note 2.

He was made a Cesar at the 2 Apphianus is called, in the Syriac version, Epiphanius.

We know him only from this account of Eusebius.

For some remarks upon his martyrdom, see above, p. 8 sq.

See 3 The modern Beirfit.

A calebeared school of literature and law flourished there for a number of centuries. in the year 306:

'4 The MSS., according to Valesius, are somewhat at variance in the spelling of this name, and the place is perhaps to be identified with Araxa, a city of some importance in northwestern Lycia,

THE CHURCH HISTORY, OF EUSEBIVS.

[Marr. PAL. the daring deed itself, which evidenced a zeal would not yield under this treatment, the torturers, as commanded, covered his feet with linen cloths soaked in oil and set them on fire. No word can describe the agonies which the blessed one endured from this.

For the fire consumed his flesh and penetrated to his bones, so that the humors of his body were melted and oozed out and dropped down like wax.

But as

he was not subdued by this, his adversaries being defeated and unable to comprehend his superhuman constancy, cast him again into prison.

A third time he was brought before the judge ; and having witnessed the same profession, being half dead, he was finally thrown into the depths of the sea. for religion and a spirit truly superhuman?

For in the second attack upon us under Maximinus, in the third year of the persecution, edicts of the tyrant were issued for the first time, commanding that the rulers of the cities should diligently and speedily see to it that all the people offered sacrifices.»

Throughout the city of Caesarea, by command of the governor, the heralds were summoning men, women, and children to the temples of the idols, and besides this, the chiliarchs were calling out each one by name from a roll, and an immense crowd of the wicked were rushing together from all quarters.

Then this youth fearlessly, while no one was aware of his intentions, eluded both us who lived in the house with him and the whole band of soldiers that surrounded the governor, and rushed up to Urbanus as he was offering libations, and fearlessly seizing him by the right hand, straightway put a stop to his sacrificing, and skillfully and persuasively, with a certain divine inspiration, exhorted him to abandon his delusion, because it was not well

But what happened immediately after this will scarcely be believed by those who did not see it.

Although we realize this, yet we must record the event, of which to speak plainly, all the inhabitants of Caesarea were witnesses.

For truly there was no age but beheld this marvelous sight.

Forassoonas

they had cast this truly sacred and thriceblessed youth into the fathomless depths of the sea, an uncommon commotion and disturbance agitated the sea and all the shore about it, so that the land and the entire city were shaken by it.

And at the same time with this wonderful and sudden perturbation, the sea threw out before the gates of the city the body of the divine martyr, as if unable to endure it.

to forsake the one and only true God, and

sacrifice to idols and demons.

It is probable that this was done by the youth through a divine power which led him forward, and which all but cried aloud in his act, that Christians, who were truly such, were so far from abandoning the religion of the God of the universe which they had once espoused, that they were

Such was the death of the wonderful Apphianus.

It occurred on the second day of the month Xanthicus,' which is the fourth day before the Nones of April, on the day of preparation' not only superior to threats and the punishments which followed, but yet bolder to speak with noble and untrammeled tongue, and, if possible, to summon even their persecutors to turn from their ignorance and acknowledge the only

® It is perhaps not necessary to doubt that an earthquake took place at this particular time.

Nor is it surprising that under the circumstances the Christians saw a miracle in a natural phenomenon, true God.

Thereupon, he of whom we are speaking, and that instantly, as might have been expected after so bold a deed, was torn by the governor and those who were with him as if by wild beasts.

And having endured manfully innumerable blows over his entire body, he 1l_ was straightway cast into prison.

There he was stretched by the tormentor with both his feet in the stocks for a night and a day; and the next day he was brought before the judge.

As they endeavored to force him to surrender, he exhibited all constancy under suffering and terrible tortures.

His sides were torn, not once or twice, but many times, to the bones and the very bowels ; and he received so many blows on his face and neck that those who for a long time

7 Xanthicus was the eighth month of the Macedonian year, and corresponded to our April (see table on p. 403, below).

The martyrdom of Apphianus must have taken place in 306, not 305; for according to the direct testimony of Lactantius (de Mort. pers. chap. 19; the statement is unaccountably omitted in the English translation given in the A xte-Nicene Fathers), Maximinus did not become Czsar until May x, 305; while, according to the present chapter, Apphianus suffered martyrdom after Maximinus had been raised to that position, Eusebius himself puts the abdication of the old emperors and the appointment of the new Czsars early in April or late in March (see above, chap.

3, § 5, and the Syriac version of the Martyrs, p. 12), and with him agree other early authorities.

But it is more difficult to doubt the accuracy of Lactantius' dates than to suppose the others mistaken, and hence

May ist is commonly accepted by historians as the day of abdication.

About the year there can be no question; for Lactantius' account of Diocletian's movements during the previous year exhibits a very exact eer ade of the course of events, and its accurac cannot be doubted.

(For a fuller discussion of the date of the abdigation, see Tillemont's Hist. des Emp., 2d ed., IV. p. 609.)

But even if it were admitted that the abdication took place four or five weeks earlier (according to Eusebius' own statement, it did not at any rate occur before the twenty-fourth of March: see chap. 3, above, and the Syriac version, p. 12), it would be impossible to put

Apphianus' death on the second of April, for this would not give time for all that must intervene between the day of his appointment and the republication and execution of the persecuting edicts.

In fact, it is plain enough from the present chapter that Apphianus did not suffer until some time after the accession of Maximinus, and therefore not until the following year.

Eusebius, as can be seen from the first paragraph of this work on the martyrs, reckoned the beginning of the persecution in Palestine not with the issue of the first edict in Nicomedia on Feb. 24, 303, but with the month of April of that same year.

Apphianus' death therefore took place at had been well acquainted with him could

not recognize his swollen face.

But as he 5 This was simply a republication in its fullness of Maximian's fourth edict, which was referred to in chap. 3 (see note 2 on that chapter).

Eusebius does not mean to say that this was the first time that such an edict was published, but that this was the first edict of Maximinus, the newly appointed Cesar.

ULIIANUS, VE DESIUS 'AND' AGAPIUS.

Cuap. 6.] ent and giving magnificent shows in honor of his birthday, the following event, truly worthy of record, occurred in the city of Czsarea.

As it was an ancient custom to furnish the

spectators more splendid shows when the emperors were present than at other times, — new and foreign spectacles taking the place of the customary amusements, such as animals brought from India or Ethiopia or other places, or men who could astonish the beholders with skillful bodily exercises, — it was necessary at this time, as the emperor was giving the exhibition, to add to the shows something more wonderful.

And what should this be?

A witness of our doctrine was brought into

the midst and endured the contest for the true and only religion.

This was Agapius, who, as we have stated a little above,® was, with Thecla, the second to be thrown to the wild beasts for food.

He had also, three times and more, marched with malefactors from the prison to the arena; and every time, after threats from the judge, whether in compassion or in hope that

CHAPTER V.

Be AxoutT the same time, in the city of Tyre, a youth named Ulpianus,' after dreadful tortures and most severe scourgings, was enclosed in a raw oxhide, with a dog and with one of those poisonous reptiles, an asp, and cast into the sea.

Wherefore I think that we may properly mention him in connection with the martyrdom of Apphianus.

Shortly afterwards, A'desius,? a brother of Apphianus, not only in God, but also in the flesh, being a son of the same earthly father, endured sufferings like his, after very many confessions and protracted tortures in bonds, and after he had been sentenced by the governor to the mines in Palestine.

He conducted himself through them all in a truly philosophic manner; for he was more highly educated than his brother, and had prosecuted

philosophic studies.

Finally in the city of Alexandria, when he beheld the judge, who was trying the Christians, offending beyond all bounds, now insulting holy men in various ways, and again consigning women of greatest modesty and even religious virgins to procurers for shameful treatment, he acted like his brother.

For as these things seemed insufferable, he went forward with bold resolve, and with his words and deeds overwhelmed the judge with shame and disgrace.

After suffering in consequence many forms of torture, he endured a death similar to his brother's, being cast into the sea.

But these things, as I have said, happened to him in this way a little later. he might change his mind, had been reserved for other conflicts.

But the emperor being present, he was brought out at this time, as if he had been appropriately reserved for this occasion, until the very word of the Saviour should be fulfilled in him, which through divine knowledge he declared to his disciples, that they should be brought before kings on account of their testimony unto him.* He was taken into the midst of the arena with a certain malefactor who they said was charged with the murder of his master.

But this mur-

derer of his master, when he had been cast to the wild beasts, was deemed worthy of compassion and humanity, almost like Barabbas in the time of our Saviour.

And the whole theater resounded with shouts and cries of approval, because the murderer was humanely saved by the emperor, and deemed worthy of honor and freedom.

But the athlete of religion

was first summoned by the tyrant and promised liberty if he would deny his profession.

But he testified with a loud voice that, not for any fault, but for the religion of the Creator of the universe, he would readily and with pleasure endure whatever might be inflicted upon him.

Having said this, he joined the deed to the word, and rushed to meet a bear which had been let loose against him, surrendering himself most cheerfully to be devoured by him.

After this, as he still breathed, he was cast into prison.

And living yet one day, stones

CHAPTER VI.

In the fourth year of the persecution against us, on the twelfth day before the Kalends of December, which is the twentieth day of the month Dius,' on the day before the Sabbath," while the tyrant Maximinus was presthe very close of the third year of the persecution, according to this reckoning. p 8 i.e. Frdey, the old Jewish term being still retained and widely used, although with the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week it had entirely lost its meaning. Upon the prevalence of the word among the Fathers as a designation of Friday, see Suicer's Thesaurus, s.v. mapagxevy and vyoreta.

The day of Christ's crucifixion was called neydAn mapackevy, the " great preparation."

. ech ;

1 The martyrdom of Ulpian is omitted in the Syriac version, It was apparently a later addition, made when the abridgment of the longer version was produced; and this perhaps accounts for the brevity of the notice and the words of explanation with which the mention of him is concluded.

2 Called Alosis in the Syriac version.

1 The month Dius was the third month of the Macedonian year, and corresponded to our November (see table on p. 403, below),

2 mpocaBBarov Huépa, i.e. on Friday, tpoodBBatos being sometimes used among the Jews as a designation of that day, which was more commonly called mapacxevy (cf. Mark xv. 42). Whether it was widely used in the Christian Church of Eusebius' day I am undecree of Constantine, quoted in Eusebius' Vzta Const. IV. 18; but the text is doubtful, and at best, the use of it there proves no more as to the prevalence of the word than its use in the present case, for Eusebius simply gives, in his own language, the substance of Constantine's edict. able to say (Suicer does not give the word); but the use of it here shows that it was familiar at least in Palestine.

It is said in Kraus'

Real-Encyclop. d. christ. Alterth, s.v. Wochentage, to occur ina 3 See above, chap. 3, § x.

4 Cf. Matt. x. 18.

THE CHURCH HISTORY OF EUSEBIUS.

(Mart. PAL.

being first given that their ankles be disabled with hot irons.

At the same time he

delivered to the flames a man who was illustrious through numerous other confessions.

This was Domninus, who was well known to all in Palestine for his exceeding fearlessness.'

After this the same judge, who was a cruel contriver of suffering, and an inventor of devices against the doctrine of Christ, planned against the pious punishments that had never been heard of.

He condemned three to single pugilistic combat.

He delivered to be devoured by wild beasts Auxentius, a grave and holy old man.

Others who were in mature life he made eunuchs, and condemned them to the same mines.

Yet others, after severe tortures, he cast into prison. were bound to his feet, and he was drowned in the depths of the sea.

Such was the martyrdom of Agapius.

CHAPTER VII.

Acatn, in Czesarea, when the persecution had continued to the fifth year, on the second day of the month Xanthicus,' which is the fourth before the Nones of April, on the very

Lord's day of our Saviour's resurrection," Theodosia, a virgin from Tyre, a faithful and sedate maiden, not yet eighteen years of age, went up to certain prisoners who were confessing the kingdom of Christ and sitting before the judgment seat, and saluted them, and, as is probable, beAmong these was my dearest friend Pamphilus, who was by reason of every virtue the most illustrious of the martyrs in our time.

Urbanus first tested him in rhetorical phi-

losophy and learning; and afterwards ensought them to remember her when they

came before the Lord. Thereupon, as if she had committed a profane and impious act, the soldiers seized her and led her to the governor.

And he immediately, like a madman and a wild beast in his anger, tortured her with dreadful and most terrible torments in her sides and breasts, even to the very bones.

And as she still breathed, and withal stood with a joyful and beaming countenance, he ordered her thrown into the waves of the sea.

Then passing from her to the other confessors, he condemned all of them deavored to compel him to sacrifice.

But as he saw that he refused and in nowise regarded his threats, being exceedingly angry, he ordered him to be tormented with severest tortures.

And when the brutal man, after he had

almost satiated himself with these tortures by continuous and prolonged scrapings in his sides, was yet covered with shame before all, he put him also with the confessors in prison. to the copper mines in Phzeno in Palestine.

Afterwards on the fifth of the month Dius,® on the Nones of November according to the Romans, in the same city, Silvanus* (who at that time was a presbyter and confessor, but who shortly after was honored with the' episcopate and died a martyr), and those with him, men who had shown the noblest firmness in behalf of religion, were condemned by him to labor in the same copper mines, command

But what recompense for his cruelty to

the saints, he who thus abused the martyrs of Christ, shall receive from the Divine judgment, may be easily determined from the preludes to it, in which immediately, and not long after his daring cruelties against Pamphilus, while he yet held the government, the Divine judgment came upon him.

For thus suddenly, he who but yesterday was judging on the lofty tribunal, guarded by a band of soldiers, and ruling over the whole nation of Palestine, the associate and dearest friend and table companion of the tyrant himself, was stripped in one night, and overwhelmed with disgrace and shame before those who had formerly admired him as if he were himself an emperor ; and he appeared cowardly and unmanly, uttering womanish cries and supplications to all the people whom he had ruled. And Maximinus himself, in reliance upon whose favor

Urbanus was formerly so arrogantly insolent, as if he loved him exceedingly for his deeds against us, was set asa harsh and most severe judge in this same Czesarea to pronounce sen1 i.e, April 2, 307.

Eusebius is inconsistent with himself in this case.

In chap. 3, above, he states that Apphianus suffered on April 2, in the third year of the persecution.

But as shown in the note on that passage, Apphianus suffered in April, 306, and therefore, in that case, Eusebius reckons the first year of the persecution as beginning after the second of April.

But in the present case he reckons it as beginning before the second of April, and the latter date as falling early in a new year of the persecution.

That the martyrdom recorded in the present case actually took place in 307, and not in 308, as it must have done if Eusebius were consistent with himself, is proved, first, by the fact that, in entering upon this new chapter, he says, "' the persecution having continucd to the fifth year," implying thereby that the event which he is about to relate took place at the Begins, not at the end, of the fifth year; and secondly, by the fact that later on, in this same chapter, while still relating the events of the fifth year, he recounts martyrdoms as taking place in the month of November (Dius).

This is conclusive, for the fifth year can be only November, 307, and hence the April mentioned in the present paragraph can be only April of the same year.

Evidently Eusebius did not reckon the beginning of the persecution in Palestine from a fixed day, but rather from the month Xanthicus ovember of tence of death against him, for the great disgrace of the crimes of which he was convicted.

Let us say this in passing. A suit-

able time may come when we shall have leisure to relate the end and the fate of those impious

(April).

As a consequence, the inconsistency into which he has fallen is not very strange; the second day of April might easily be reckoned either as one of the closing days of a year, or as the beginning of the ensuing year.

In the present case, he evidently forgot that he had previously used the former reckoning.

2 i.e. on Easter Sunday.

In the Syriac version, the events recorded in the present chapter are put on a Sunday; but that it was

Easter is not stated.

4 ae: wee ag n Silvanus, who afterward became bishop of Gaza, see a Bk. VIII. chap. 13.

: ay 5 Or "frankness"; literally, "' freedom" (€AevOepia).

6 On Pamphilus, see above, Bk. VII. chap. 32, note 40.

Cuap. 8.]

CRUELTIES PRACTISED BY FIRMILIANUS.

men who especially fought against us,' both of stake, and her sides lacerated.

As those

Maximinus himself and those with him. appointed for this purpose applied the tortures incessantly and severely at the command of the judge, another, with mind fixed, like the former, on virginity as her aim, — a woman who was altogether mean in form and contemptible in appearance, but, on the other hand, strong in soul, and endowed with an understanding superior to her body,— being unable to bear the merciless and cruel and inhuman deeds, with a boldness beyond that of the combatants

CHAPTER VIII.

E Ur to the sixth year the storm had been incessantly raging against us.

Before this time there had been a very large number of confessors of religion in the so-called Porphyry quarry in Thebais, which gets its name from the stone found there.

Of these, one hundred men, lacking three, together with women famed among the Greeks, cried out to the judge from the midst of the crowd: "And how long will you thus cruelly torture my sister?"

But he was greatly enraged, and ordered the woman to be immediately seized.

There-

upon she was brought forward and having called herself by the august name of the Saviour, she was first urged by words to sacrifice, and as she refused she was dragged by force to the altar.

But her sister continued to maintain her former zeal, and with intrepid and resolute foot kicked the altar, and overturned it with the fire that was on it. There-

upon the judge, enraged like a wild beast, inflicted on her such tortures in her sides as he never had on any one before, striving almost to glut himself with her raw flesh.

But when his madness was satiated, he bound them both together, this one and her whom she called sister, and condemned them to death by fire.

It is said that the first of these was from the country of Gaza; the other, by name

Valentina, was of Caesarea, and was well known to many. and infants, were sent to the governor of Palestine.

When they confessed the God of the universe and Christ, Firmilianus,' who had been sent there as governor in the place of Urbanus, directed, in accordance with the imperial command, that they should be maimed by burning the sinews of the ankles of their left feet, and that their right eyes with the eyelids and pupils should first be cut out, and then destroyed by hot irons to the very roots.

And he then sent them to the mines in the province to endure hardships with severe toil and suffering.

But it was not sufficient that these only who suffered such miseries should be deprived of their eyes, but those natives of Palestine also, who were mentioned just above as condemned to pugilistic combat, since they would neither receive food from the royal storehouse nor undergo the necessary preparatory exercises.

Having been brought on this account not only before the overseers, but also

before Maximinus himself, and having manifested the noblest persistence in confession by the endurance of hunger and stripes, they

But how can I describe as it deserves the

martyrdom which followed, with which the thrice-blessed Paul was honored.

He was condemned to death at the same time with them, under:one sentence.

At the time of his martyrdom, as the executioner was about to cut off his head, he requested a brief respite.

This being granted, he first, in a clear and

distinct voice, supplicated God in behalf of his fellow-Christians,? praying for their pardon, and that freedom might soon be restored to them.

Then he asked for the conversion of the Jews to God through Christ ; and proceeding in order he requested the same things for the Samaritans, and besought that those Gentiles, who were in error and were ignorant of God, might come to a knowledge of him, and adopt the true religion.

Nor did he leave neglected the mixed multitude who were standing around.

After all these, oh! great

and unspeakable forbearance ! he entreated the God of the universe for the judge who had condemned him to death, and for the highest received like punishment with those whom we have mentioned, and with them other con-

fessors in the city of Caesarea.

Immediately afterwards others who were gathered to hear the Scriptures read, were seized in Gaza, and some endured the same sufferings in the feet and eyes; but others were afflicted with yet greater torments and with most terrible

tortures in the sides.

One of these, in body a woman, but in understanding a man, would not endure the threat of fornication, and spoke directly against the tyrant who entrusted the government to such cruel judges.

She was first scourged and then raised aloft on the nee 1 The death of Maximinus is related in Bk. IX. chap. 10.

Nothing further is said in regard to Urbanus; but the fate of his successor Firmilianus is recorded in chap. 11, below.

It is quite possible that Eusebius, in the present case, is referring to a more detailed statement of the fates of the various persecutors, which was to form the second part of the present work; and it is possible, still further, that the appendix printed at the close of the eighth book is a fragment of this second part, as suggested by Lig tfoot (see above, p.

29)- 24 Of Firmilianus, the successor of Urbanus, we know only what is told us here and in chaps. 9 and 11, below.

In the latter chapter, '§ 31, his execution is recorded, 2 ouoebvar.

THE! CHURCH HISTORY//OF BUSEBIUS!

[Mart. Pat. edicts and letters and public ordinances the magistrates and generals and notaries® in all the cities to carry out the imperial decree, which ordered that the altars of the idols should with all speed be rebuilt; and that all men, women, and children, even infants at the breast, should sacrifice and offer oblations ; and that with diligence and care they should cause them to taste of the execrable offerings ; and that the things for sale in the market should be polluted with libations from. the sacrifices; and that guards. should be stationed before the baths in order to defile with the abominable sacrifices those who went to wash in them.

When these

orders were being carried out, our people, as was natural, were at the beginning greatly distressed in mind; and even the unbelieving heathen blamed the severity and the exceeding absurdity of what was done.

For these things. appeared to them extreme and burdensome. rulers, and also for the one who was about to behead him, in his hearing and that of all present, beseeching that their sin toward him should not be reckoned against them. Having prayed for these things with a loud voice, and having, as one who was dying unjustly, moved almost all to compassion and tears, of his own accord he made himself ready, and submitted his bare neck to the stroke of the sword, and was adorned with divine martyrdom.

This took place on the twenty-fifth day of the month Panemus,' which is the eighth before the Kalends

of August.

Such was the end of these persons.

But not long after, one hundred and thirty admirable athletes of the confession of Christ, from the land of Egypt, endured, in Egypt itself, at the command of Maximinus the same afflictions in their eyes and feet with the former persons, and were sent to the above-mentioned mines in Palestine.

But some of them were condemned to the mines in Cilicia.

As the heaviest storm impended over all in every quarter, the divine power of our Saviour again infused such boldness into his athletes,* that without being drawn on or dragged forward by any one, they spurned the threats.

Three of the faithful joining together, rushed on the governor as he was sacrificing to the idols, and cried out to him to cease from his delusion, there being no other God than the Maker and Creator of the universe.

When he asked who they were, they confessed boldly that they were Christians.

Thereupon Firmilianus, being greatly enraged, sentenced them to capital punishment without inflicting tortures upon them.

The name of the eldest of these was Antoninus; of the next, Zebinas, who was a native of Eleutheropolis; and of the third, Germanus.

This took place on the thirteenth of the month Dius, the Ides of November.?

CHAPTER IX.

AFTER such noble acts of the distinguished martyrs of Christ, the flame of persecution lessened, and was quenched, as it were, by their sacred blood, and relief and liberty were granted to those who, for Christ's sake, were laboring in the mines of Thebais, and for a little time we were beginning to breath pure air.

But by some new impulse, I know not what, he

who held the power to persecute was

again aroused against the Christians.

Immediately letters from Maximinus against us were published everywhere in every province.

The governors and the military prefect? urged by 5 i.e. July 25 (A.D.

308).

See the table on p. 403, below.

1 This is the socalled Fifth Edict, and was issued (according to the Passto S. Theodor?) by Galerius and Maximinus, but was evidently inspired by Maximinus himself.

Mason speaks of it as follows: "It would be inaccurate to say that this Fifth Edict (if so we bged call it) was worse than any of the foregoing.

But there is in it a thin bitterness, a venomous spitefulness, which may be noticed as characteristic of all the later part of the persecution.

This spitefulness is due to two main facts.

The first was that Paganism was becoming conscious of defeat; the Church had not yielded a single point.

The second fact was that the Church had no longer to deal with the sensible, statesmanlike hostility of Diocletian,

— not even with the bluff bloodiness of Maximian, Galerius himself was now, except in name, no longer persecutor-in-chief,

He was content to follow the lead of a man who was in all ways even worse than himself.

Galerius was indeed an Evil Beast; his nephew was more like the Crooked Serpent.

The artful sour spirit of Maximin employed itself to invent, not larger measures of solid policy against his feared and hated foes, but petty tricks to annoy and sting them."

For a fuller discussion of the edict, see Mason, p. 284 sq.

It must have been published in the autumn of the year 308, for the martyrdom of Paul, recorded in the previous chapter, took: place in July of that year, and some little time seems to have elapsed between that event and the present.

On the other hand, the martyrdoms mentioned below, in § 5, took place in November of this same year, so that we can fix the date of the edict within narrow limits.

There was associated with them on the same day Ennathas, a woman from Scythopolis, who was adorned with the chaplet of virginity.

She did not indeed do as they had done, but was dragged by force and brought before the judge.

She endured scourgings and cruel insults, which Maxys, a tribune of a neighboring district, without the knowledge of the superior authority, dared to inflict upon her.

He was a man worse than his name,® sanguinary in other respects, exceedingly harsh, and altogether cruel, and censured by all who knew him.

This man stripped the blessed woman of T 3 Or " town clerks," raBovAdpror.

4 Literally, "'z#s athletes'? (airjs), noun being "' the divine power." the antecedent of the pro5 i.e.

Nov. 13, 308.

6 Maévs is not a Greek word.

Ruinart, Acta Martt., p. 327, remarks, An a Syris repetenda, apud quos mochos est pulicamus @ casas increpare?

But the derivation is, to say the least, yery doubtful.

Cureton throws no light on the matter.

The word in the Syriac version seems to be simply a reproduction of the form found in the Greek original, e 2 0 Tov TOY oTparonébwy apyxew émcTeTaypévos. . this officer as the pretorian prefect. pect so high an official to be mentioned before the governors (nyenoves).

It seems probable, in fact, that the commander in charge of the military forces of Palestine, or possibly of Syria, is referred to in the present case, See Valesius' note, ad locum.

Many regard But we should naturally ex-

CuaP. 11.]

ARES, PROBUS, ELIAS, AND OTHERS.

te ee eee es all her clothing, so that she was covered only from her loins to her feet.and the rest of her body was bare. And he led her through the entire city

CHAPTER X.

On the fourteenth day of the following

month Appellzus,! the nineteenth before the Kalends of January, certain persons from Egypt were again seized by those who examined people passing the gates.

They had been sent to minister to the confessors in Cilicia.

They received the same sentence as those whom they had gone to help, being mutilated in their eyes and feet.

Three of them exhibited in Ascalon, where they were imprisoned, marvelous bravery in the endurance of various kinds of martyrdom.

One of them named Ares was condemned to the flames, and the others, called Probus' and Elias, were beheaded. of Czesarea, and regarded it as a great thing to beat her with thongs while she was dragged

through all the market-places.

After such treatment she manifested the noblest constancy at the judgment seat of the governor himself; and the judge condemned her to be burned alive.

He also carried his rage against the pious to a most inhuman length and transgressed the laws of nature, not being ashamed even to deny burial to the lifeless bodies of the sacred

men.

'Thus he ordered the dead to be exposed in the open air as food for wild beasts and to be watched carefully by night and day.

For many days a large number of men attended to this savage and barbarous decree.

And they looked out from their post of observation, as if it were a matter worthy of care, to see that the dead bodies should not be stolen.

And wild beasts and dogs and birds of prey scattered the human limbs here and there, and the whole city

On the eleventh day of the month Audy-

nus,' which is the third before the Ides of January, in the same city of Czsarea, Peter an ascetic, also called Apselamus,*' from the village of Anea,® on the borders of Eleutheropolis, like purest gold, gave noble proof by fire of his faith in the Christ of God.

Though the judge and those around him besought him many times to have compassion on himself, and to spare his own youth and bloom, he disregarded them, preferring hope in the God of the universe to all things, even to life itself.

A certain Asclepius, supposed to be © a bishop of the sect of Marcion, possessed as he thought with zeal for religion, but "not according to knowledge,"* ended his life on one and the same funeral pyre.

These things took place in this manner. was strewed with the entrails and bones of

men, so that nothing had ever appeared more dreadful and horrible, even to those who formerly hated us; though they bewailed not so much the calamity of those against whom these things were done, as the outrage against themselves and the common nature of man.

For there was to be seen near the gates a spectacle beyond all description and tragic recital ; for not only was human flesh devoured in one place, but it was scattered in every place ; so that some said that limbs and masses of flesh and parts of entrails were to be seen even within

CHAPTER XI.

the gates.

After these things had continued for many days, a wonderful event occurred.

The air was clear and bright and the appearance of the sky most serene.

When suddenly throughout the city from the pillars which supported the public porches many drops fell like tears; and the market places and streets, though there was no mist in the air, were moistened with sprinkled water, whence I know not.

Then immediately It is time to describe the great and cele-

brated spectacle of Pamphilus,' a man thrice dear to me, and of those who finished their course with him. They were twelve in all ; being counted worthy of apostolic grace and number.

Of these the leader and the onlyone

honored with the position of presbyter at Cesarea, was Pamphilus; a man who through EN it was reported everywhere that the earth, unable to endure the abomination of these things, had marks: 'This, which doubtless was produced by natural causes, seemed miraculous to Eusebius, more especially if he looked upon it as fulfilling a prophecy of our Lord — uke xix. 40! 'I tell you, that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.'

See also Hab. ii. hay 4 1 i.e, Dec. 14, 308 (see the tables on p. 493, below).

2 The majority of the codices read [popos, but as Valesius remarks, such a proper name is quite unknown in Greek, and the form probably arose from a confusion of 8 and «, which in ancient MSS. were written alike.

Two of our existing codices read IIpoBos, and this has been adopted by Zimmermann and Heinichen, whom have followed in the text. shed tears in a mysterious manner ; and that as a rebuke to the relentless and unfeeling nature of men, stones and lifeless wood had wept for what had happened. I know well that this account may perhaps appear idle and fabulous to those who come after us, but not to those to whom the truth was confirmed at the time.'

Sie. Phas II, 3094 In the Syriac version " Absalom."

: hh 5 Of this village we know nothing, but Eleutheropolis (originally Bethozabris) was an important place lying some forty miles southwest of Jerusalem.

° elyae Soxav, Eusebius did not wish to admit that he was 2 bishop in a true sense.

Rom. x. 2.

1 On Pamphilus, see above, Bk. VII. chap. 32, note 40, pt tad ee ee eS 1 This is a glaring instance of uncritical credulity on Eusebius' part, and yet even Crusé can say:

"' Perhaps some might smile at the supposed credulity of our author, but the #zzrac/e in this account was not greater than the malignity, and if man can perform miracles of vice, we can scarcely wonder if Providence should present, at least, miracles of admonition."

Cureton more sensibly re-

THE CHURCH HISTORY OF EUSEBIUS.

[Mart. PAL.

of the Egyptians.

Having practised these

cruelties upon the leader®* of all, he asked him first who he was. He heard in reply the name of some prophet instead of his proper name.

For it was their custom, in place of the names of idols given them by their fathers, if they had such, to take other names; so that you would hear them calling themselves Elijah or Jeremiah or Isaiah or Samuel or Daniel, thus showing themselves inwardly true Jews, and the genuine

Israel of God, not only in deeds, but in the names which they bore.

When Firmilianus had heard some such name from the martyr, and did not understand the force of the word, he asked next the name of his.country.

But

he gave a second answer similar to the former, saying that Jerusalem was his country, meaning that of which Paul says, " Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother," ® and, "' Ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem."'

This was what he meant; but the judge thinking only of the earth, sought diligently to discover what that city was, and in what part of the world it was situated.

And therefore he applied tortures that the truth might be acknowledged.

But the man, with his hands twisted behind his back, and his feet crushed by strange machines, asserted firmly that he had spoken the truth.

And being

questioned again repeatedly what and where the city was of which he spoke, he said that it was the country of the pious alone, for no others should have a place in it, and that it lay toward the far East and the rising sun.

He philosophized about these things according to his own understanding, and was in nowise turned from them by the tortures with which he was afflicted on every side.

And as if he were without flesh or body he seemed insensible of his sufferings.

But the judge being perplexed, was impatient, thinking that the Christians were about to. establish a city somewhere, inimical and hostile to the Romans.

And he inquired much about this, and investigated where that country toward the East was located.

But when he had foralong

time lacerated the young man with scourgings, and punished him with all sorts of torments, he perceived that his persistence in what he had said could not be changed, and passed against him sentence of death.

Such a scene was exhibited by what was done to this man.

And having inflicted similar tortures on the others, he sent them away in the same manner. his entire life was celebrated for every virtue, for renouncing and despising the world, for sharing his possessions with the needy, for contempt of earthly hopes, and for philosophic deportment and exercise.

He especially excelled all in our time in most sincere devotion to the Divine Scriptures and indefatigable industry in whatever he undertook, and in his helpful-

ness to his relatives and associates.

Ina separate treatise on his life,? consisting of three books, we have already described the excellence of his virtue.

Referring to this work those who delight in such things and desire to know them, let usnow consider the martyrs in order.

Second after Pamphilus, Vales, who was honored for his venerable gray hair, entered the contest.

He was a deacon from 4#lia,> an old man of gravest appearance, and versed in the Divine Scriptures, if any one ever was.

He had so laid up the memory of them in his heart that he did not need to look at the books if he undertook to repeat any passage of Scripture.

The third was Paul from the city of Jamna,* who was known among them as most zealous and fervent in spirit.

Previous to his martyrdom, he had endured the conflict of confession by cauterization.

After these persons had continued in prison for two entire years, the occasion of their martyrdom was a second arrival of Egyptian

brethren who suffered with them.

They had accompanied the confessors in Cilicia to the mines there and were returning to their homes.

At the entrance of the gates of Ceesarea, the guards, who were men of barbatous character, questioned them as to who they were and whence they came.

They kept back nothing of the truth, and were seized as malefac-

tors taken in the very act.

They were five

in number.

When brought before the tyrant, being very bold in his presence, they were immediately thrown into prison.

On the next day, which was the nineteenth of the month Peritius," according to the Roman reckoning the fourteenth before the Kalends of March, they were brought, according to command, before the judge, with Pamphilus and his associates whom we have mentioned.

First, by all kinds of torture, through the invention of strange and various machines, he tested the invincible constancy

2 On Eusebius' Life of Pamphilus, see above, p. 28 sq.

3 i.e. Jerusalem.

4 ris 'lauvitav wédAews, Jamna, or Jamnia, was a town of Judea, lying west of Jerusalem, near the sea.

5 i.e. Feb. 19 (see the table on p. 403, below).

We learn from chap. 7, §§ 3-5, that Pamphilus was thrown into prison in the fifth bead of the persecution and as late as November of that year, i.e.

Then being wearied and perceiving that

sain i ee Rens Veen te ys eacesl cients x ui phere etween November, 307, and April, 308.

Since he had lain two whole years in prison (according to § 5, above), the date referred to in the present passage must be February of the year 310,

The martyrdom of Pamphilus is commonly, for aught I know to the contrary, uniformly put in the year 309, as the seventh year of the persecution is nearly synchronous with that year.

But that the common date is a mistake is plain enough from the present chapter.

5% mporyopos, literally "' advocate," or ' defender."

6 Gal. iv. 26, " Heb. xii. 22, Upon Eusebius' view of the authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews, see above, Bk. III. chap. 25, note 1.

CuHapP. I1.]

PAMPHILUS AND HIS COMPANIONS.

eee Jesus the Son of God.

Such was the contest of Porphyry. he punished the men in vain, having satiated his desire, he proceeded against Pamphilus and his companions.

And having learned that already under former tortures they had manifested an unchangeable zeal for the faith, he asked them

His death was reported to Pamphilus

by a messenger, Seleucus.

He was one of the confessors from the army.

As the bearer of such a message, he was forthwith deemed worthy of a similar lot.

For as soon as he related the death of Porphyry, and had saluted one of the martyrs with a kiss, some of the soldiers seized him and led him to the if they would now obey.

And receiving from every one of them only this one answer, as their last word of confession in martyrdom, he inflicted on them punishment similar to the others.

When this had been done, a young man, one of the household servants of Pamphilus, who had been educated in the noble life and instruction of such a man, learning the sentence passed upon his master, cried out from the

And he, as if he would hasten him on to be a companion of the former on the way to heaven, commanded that he be put to death immediately. This man was from Cappado-

cia, and belonged to the select band of soldiers, and had obtained no small honor in those things which are esteemed among the Romans.

For in stature and bodily strength, and size and vigor, he far excelled his fellow-soldiers, so that his appearance was matter of common talk, and his whole form was admired on account of governor. midst of the crowd asking that their bodies

might be buried.

Thereupon the judge, not a man, but a wild beast, or if anything more savage than a wild beast, giving no consideration to the young man's age, asked him only the same question.

When he learned that he confessed himself a Christian, as if he had been wounded by a dart, swelling with rage, he

At the beginning of the persecution he was its size and symmetrical proportions. ordered the tormentors to use their utmost

power against him.

And when he saw that he refused to sacrifice as commanded, he ordered them to scrape him continually to his very bones and to the inmost recesses of his bowels, not as if he were human flesh but as if he were stones or wood or any lifeless thing. prominent in the conflicts of confession, through his patience under scourging.

After he left the army he set himself to imitate zealously the religious 'ascetics, and as if he were their father and guardian he showed himself a bishop and patron of destitute orphans and defenceless widows and of those who were distressed with penury or sickness.

It is likely that on this account he was deemed worthy of an extraordinary call to martyrdom by God, who rejoices in such things more than in the smoke and blood of sacrifices.

He was the tenth athlete among those whom we have mentioned as meeting their end on one and the same day.

On this day, as was fitting, the chief gate was opened, and a ready way of entrance into the kingdom of heaven was given to the martyr

Pamphilus and to the others with him.

But after long persistence he saw that this was in vain, as the man was speechless and insensible and almost lifeless, his body being worn out

bythe tortures.

But being inflexibly merciless and inhuman, he ordered him to be committed straightway, as he was, to a slow fire.

And before the death of his earthly master, though he had entered later on the conflict, he received release from the body, while those who

had been zealous about the others were yet

delaying.

One could then see Porphyry,* like one who had come off victorious in every conflict, his body covered with dust, but his countenance cheerful, after such sufferings, with courageous and exulting mind, advancing to death.

And as if truly filled with the Divine Spirit, covered only with his philosophic robe thrown about him as a cloak, soberly and intelligently he directed his friends as to what he wished, and beckoned to them, preserving still a cheerful countenance even at the stake.

But when the fire was kindled at some distance around him in a circle, having inhaled the flame into his mouth, he continued most nobly in silence from that time till his death, after the single word which he uttered when the flame first touched him, and he cried out for the help of Sa eae

In the footsteps of Seleucus came Theodulus, a grave and pious old man, who belonged to the governor's household, and had been honored by Firmilianus himself more than all the others in his house on account of his age, and because he was a father of the third generation, and also on account of the kindness and most faithful conscientiousness which he had manifested toward him.?

As he pursued the course of Seleucus when brought before his master, the latter was more angry at him than at those who kad preceded him, and condemned him to endure the martyrdom of the Saviour on

the cross."

As there lacked yet one to fill up the number of the twelve martyrs of 9 Tread wept avroy with Zimmermann, Heinichen, Burton, and Migne.

The MSS. all have wepi avtovs, which can hardly have stood in the original.

8 The reference is still to the same slave of Pamphilus whose tortures Eusebius has just been describing, as we learn from the Syriac version, where t the account. e slave's name is given at the beginning of 10 The common mode of punishment inflicted on slaves.

THE ,CHURGH -HISTORY -OF EUSEBIUS.

[ Mart. PAL. ing to wild beasts, and as the last of the martyrs in Cesarea, sealed the list of athletes. whom we have spoken, Julian came to complete it.

He had just arrived from abroad, and had not yet entered the gate of the city, when haying learned about the martyrs while still on the way, he rushed at once, just as he was, to see them.

When he beheld the tabernacles of the saints prone on the ground, being filled with It is proper also to relate here, howina

short time the heavenly Providence came upon the impious rulers, together with the tyrants themselves.

For that very Firmilianus, who had thus abused the martyrs of Christ, after suffering with the others the severest punishment, was put to death by the sword. joy, he embraced and kissed them all.

The ministers of slaughter straightway seized him as he was doing this and led him to Firmilianus.

Acting as was his custom, he condemned him to a slow fire.

Thereupon Julian, leaping and exulting, in a loud voice gave thanks to the Lord who had judged him worthy of such

Such were the martyrdoms which took place at Ceesarea during the entire period of the persecution.

CHAPTER XII.

things, and was honored with the crown of martyrdom.

He was a Cappadocian by birth, and in his manner of life he was most circumspect, faithful and sincere, zealous in all other respects, and animated by the Holy Spirit himself.

I THINK it best to pass by all the other events which occurred in the meantime: such as those which happened to the bishops of the churches, when instead of shepherds of the rational' flocks of Christ, over which they presided in an unlawful manner, the divine judgment, considering them worthy of such a charge, made them keepers of camels, ? an irrational beast ® and very crooked in the structure of its body, or condemned them to have the care of the imperial horses ;— and I pass by also the insults and disgraces and tortures they endured from the imperial overseers and rulers on account of the sacred vessels and treasures of the Church; and besides these the. lust of power on the part of many, the disorderly and unlawful ordinations, and the schisms among the confessors themselves; also the novelties which were zealously devised against the remnants of the Church by the new and factious members, who added innovation after innovation and forced them in unsparingly among the calamities of the persecution, heaping misfortune upon misfortune.

I judge it more suitable to shun and avoid the account of these things, as I said at the beginning.* But such things as are sober and praiseworthy, according to the sacred word,

— "and if there be any virtue and praise," > — I consider it most proper to tell and to record, and to present to believing hearers in the history of the admirable martyrs.

And after this I think it best to crown the entire work with an account of the peace which has appeared unto us from heaven.

Such was the company which was thought worthy to enter into martyrdom with Pam-

philus.

By the command of the impious governor their sacred and truly holy bodies were kept as food for the wild beasts for four days and as many nights.

But since, strange to say, through the providential care of God, nothing approached them, —neither beast of prey, nor bird, nor dog, —they were taken up uninjured, and after suitable preparation were buried in the customary manner.

When the report of what had been done to these men was spread in all directions,

Adrianus and Eubulus, having come from the so-called country of Manganaea" to Cesarea, to see the remaining confessors, were also asked at the gate the reason for their coming ; and _haying acknowledged the truth, were brought to Firmilianus.

But he, as was his custom, without delay inflicted many tortures in their sides, and condemned them to be devoured by wild

beasts.

After two days, on the fifth of the month Dystrus," the third before the Nones of March, which was regarded as the birthday of the tutelary divinity of Cesarea,¥

Adrianus was thrown to a lion, and afterwards slain with the sword.

But Eubulus, two days later, on the Nones of March, that is, on the seventh of the month Dystrus, when the judge had earnestly entreated him to enjoy by sacrificing that which was considered freedom among them, preferring a glorious death for religion to transitory life, was made like the other an offer-

CHAPTER XIII.

THE seventh year of our conflict was

completed ; and the hostile measures which 1 Aoyikor, 2 "It was a punishment among the Romans that freemen should be condemned to take care of the emperor's horses or camels, and to perform other personal offices of that kind"? (Valesius).

For fuller particulars, see Valesius' note ad locum.

In the Acts of St. Marcellus (who was bishop of Rome) we are told that he was set by Maximian to groom his horses in a church which the emperor had turned into a stable, aAdyou Swov.

: hicks vn. chap. 2, §§ 2 and 3, and the note on that passage.

11 Of the so-called country of Mayyavaia I know nothing.

The Syriac version reads Batanea, which was a district of country lying to the northeast of Palestine, and it may be that Manganea was another name for the same region.

12 j.e. March 5, 310.

_ 15 It was the universal custom in ancient times for a city to have its special tutelary divinity, to which it looked for protection and to which it paid especial honor.

The name of the Cesarean deity is unknown to us. il. iv.

Cuap. 13.]

JOHN'S WONDERFUL MEMORY.

had continued into the eighth year were gradu-|of the Divine Scriptures, "not in tables of y

P , ally and quietly becoming less severe. A large number of confessors were collected at the copper mines in Palestine, and were acting with considerable boldness, so far as even to build places of worship.

But the ruler of the province, a cruel and wicked man, as his acts against the martyrs showed, having come there and learned the state of affairs, communicated it to stone"

* as the divine apostle says, neither on skins of animals, nor on paper which moths and time destroy, but truly "in fleshy tables of the heart,"* in a transparent soul and most pure eye of the mind, so that whenever he wished he could repeat, as if from a treasury of words, any portion of the Scripture, whether in the law, or the prophets, or the historical books, or the gospels, or the writings of the apostles. the emperor, writing in accusation whatever he thought best.

Thereupon, being appointed superintendent of the mines, he divided the band of confessors as if by a royal decree, and sent some to dwell in Cyprus and others in Lebanon, and he scattered others in I confess that I was astonished when EF

first saw the man as he was standing in the midst of a large congregation and repeating portions of the Divine Scripture.

While I only heard his voice, I thought that, according to the custom in the meetings, he was reading.

But when I came near and perceived what he was doing, and observed all the others standing around him with sound eyes while he was using only the eyes of his mind, and yet was speaking naturally like some prophet, and far excelling those who were sound in body, it was impossible for me not to glorify God and wonder.

And I seemed to see in these deeds evident and strong confirmation of the fact that true manhood consists not in excellence of bodily appearance, but in the soul and understanding alone.

For he, with his body mutilated, manifested the superior excellence of the power that was within him.

different parts of Palestine and ordered

them to labor in various works.

And, selecting the four who seemed to him to be the leaders, he sent them to the commander of the armies in that section.

These were Peleus and Nilus,! Egyptian bishops, also a presbyter,' and Patermuthius, who was well known among them all for his zeal toward all.

The commander of the army demanded of them a denial of religion, and not obtaining this, he condemned them to death by fire.

There were others there who had been allotted to dwell in a separate place by themselves, — such of the confessors as on account of age or mutilations, or for other bodily infirmities, had been released from service.

Silvanus,? a bishop from Gaza, presided over

But as to those whom we have mentioned as abiding in a separate place, and attending to their customary duties in fasting and prayer and other exercises, God himself saw fit to give them a salutary issue by extending his right hand in answer to them.

The bitter foe, as they were armed against him zealously through their prayers to God, could no longer endure them, and determined to slay and destroy them from off the earth because they troubled him. And God permitted him to accomplish

this, that he might not be restrained from the wickedness he desired, and that at the same time they might receive the prizes of their manifold conflicts.

'Therefore at the command of the most accursed Maximinus, forty, lacking one,® were beheaded in one day. them, and set a worthy and genuine ex-

ample of Christianity.

This man having from the first day of the persecution, and throughout its entire continuance, been eminent for his confessions in all sorts of conflicts, had been kept all that time that he might, so to speak, set the final seal upon the whole con-

flict in Palestine.

There were with him many from Egypt, among whom was John, who surpassed all in our time in the excellence of his memory.

He had formerly been deprived of his sight.

Nevertheless, on account of his eminence in confession he had with the others suffered the destruction of his foot by cauterization.

And although his sight had been destroyed he was subjected to the same burning with fire, the executioners aiming after everything that These martyrdoms were accomplished

in Palestine during eight complete years ; and of this description was the persecution in our time.

Beginning with the demolition of the churches, it increased greatly as the rulers rose up from time to time against us.

In these assaults the multiform and various conflicts of those who wrestled in behalf of religion produced an innumerable multitude of martyrs in every province,—in the regions extending from Libya and throughout all Egypt, and Syria, and was merciless and pitiless and cruel and inhuman.

Since he was such a man, one would not be so much astonished at his habits and his philosophic life, nor would he seem so wonderful for them, as for the strength

of his memory.

For he had written whole books 1 On Peleus and Nilus, see above, Bk. VIII. chap. 13, note 8.

Peleus is called Paul in the Syriac version.

2 The name of this man is given as Elias in the Syriac version; but both he and Patermuthius are called laymen.

4 2 Cor. iii. 3.

5 bid.

6 The Syriac version says forty, 3 On Silvanus, bishop of Gaza, see above, Bk. VIII. chap. 13, note 6,

THE CHURCH HISTORY OF EUSEBIUS.

(Mart. PAL.

St al J Sl ae a ot at Ie peace ; but those in the other part endured trials without number.

But when the divine grace kindly and compassionately manifested its care for us too, then truly our rulers also, those very ones through whom the wars against us had been formerly carried on, changed their minds in a most wonderful manner, and published a recantation;® and by favorable edicts and mild decrees concerning us, extinguished the conflagration against us.

This recantation also must be recorded." from the East round about to the district of

Illyricum.

But the countries beyond these, all Italy and Sicily and Gaul, and the regions toward the setting sun, in Spain, Mauritania, and Africa, suffered the war of persecution during less than two years,' and were deemed worthy of a speedier divine visitation and peace; the heavenly Providence sparing the singleness of purpose and faith of those men.

For what had never before been recorded in the annals of the Roman government, first took place in our day, contrary to all expectation ; for during the persecution in our time the empire was divided into two parts.

The brethren dwelling in the part of which we have just spoken enjoyed

9 i.e. the toleration edict of Galerius, published in the spring of 311.

See above, Bk. VIII. chap. 17, note 1.

10 Tt would seem that the edict was originally appended to this. shorter recension of the martyrs (the longer recension is complete in its present form, and contains no hint of such an addition).

Very likely it was dropped with the second half of the work (see above, . 29) as unnecessary, when the first half was inserted in the History. he edict is given in full in Bk. VIII. chap. 17, above.

7 On the cessation of the persecution in the West at the accession of Maxentius, see Bk. VIII. chap. 14, note 1.

1 gept tov év Uadaortivn paptupncavtwy tédos.

On the title of the work, see above, p. 342, note r.

8 On the division of the empire to which Eusebius here refers, see above, Bk. VIII. chap. 13, note 17.

THE END OF THE BOOK OF EUSEBIUS PAMPHILI CONCERNING THOSE WHO

SUFFERED MARTYRDOM IN PALESTINE."

BOOK IX. nobility of piety, esteeming it foreign to their CHAPTER I.

Majesties' purpose to bring men into so great danger for such a cause, have commanded their devoted servant, myself, to write to thy wisdom," that if any Christian be found engaging in the worship of his own people, thou shouldst abstain from molesting and endangering him, and shouldst not suppose it necessary to punish any one on this pretext.

For it has been proved by the experience of so long a time that they can in no way be persuaded to abandon such The Pretended Relaxation.

Tue imperial edict of recantation, which has been quoted above,' was posted in all parts of Asia and in the adjoining provinces.

After this had been done, Maximinus, the tyrant in the East, —a most impious man, if there ever was one, and most hostile to the religion of the God of the universe, — being by no means satisfied with its contents,? instead of sending the above-quoted decree to the governors under him, obstinate conduct.

Therefore it shouldbe

thy care to write to the curators ® and magistrates and district overseers' of every city, that they may know that it is not necessary for them to givé further attention to this matter.'®

Thereupon the rulers of the prov-

gave them verbal commands to relax the

war against us.

For since he could not in any other way oppose the decision of his superiors, keeping the law which had been already issued secret, and taking care that it might not bé made known in the district under him, he gave an unwritten order to his governors that they should relax the persecution

5 Literally, "have commanded my devotedness to write to thy wisdom."

It is clear that the communication was dictated, or at least directly inspired, by Maximin himself.

6 tovs AOytaTds, commonly used to translate the Latin curatores urbiunt. against us.

They communicated the com-

mand to each other in writing.

Sabinus,° 7 rovs otparnyovs (the common designation for the chief magistrates of cities in the eastern part of the empire) cai tovs mpaumociat least, who was honored with the highest

TOUS TOV TAYOU.

8 The MSS. all read ypdypmaros, but Valesius conjectures that mpayuaros is the true reading, and his conjecture is supported b

Nicephorus, who has $povrida mepi xprotiavav moreto@ar.

Strot follows Valesius, and I have done the same.

Heinichen remarks:

" Sed non necessartia, credo, est hec emendatio, immo eadem fere exsistet sententia per ypaumatos, hoc modo: ut sctent sibt non licere operam dare sc. ut facile intelligitur persequendis

Christiants, ultra hoc scriptum, td est, magis quam hoc script est designatum."

Closs interprets in the same way, translating: '' dass sie sich nicht weiter, als in diesem Schreiben befohlen ist, mit den Christen zu befassen haben." The Greek, however, does not seem to me to admit of this interpretation (it reads iva yvq@ev, mepartépw avTois TovTov Tov ypaumatos ppovTiba moveta@at pH mper new), and there seems to be no other alternative than to change the word ypayparos to mpayatos, or at least give it the meaning of mpayparos, as Mason does, without emending the text official rank among them, communicated the will of the emperor to the provincial governors in a Latin epistle, the translation of which is as follows :

"With continuous and most devoted earnestness their Majesties, our most divine masters, the emperors,' formerly directed the minds of all men to follow the holy and correct course of life, that those also who seemed to live in a manner foreign to that of the Romans, should render the worship due to the immortal gods.

But the obstinacy and most unconquerable determination of some went so far that they could neither be turned' back from their purpose by the just reason of the command, nor be

(though I am not aware that ypauua can legitimately be rendered in any such way).

I am inclined to think that the word egotium stood in the original, and that it was translated by the word mpayma.

Had efistola or litter@ been used, referring to the present document,—and it could not well refer to anythin else,

— we should expect Eusebius to translate by émoroAn, fo he calls the document an émeoToAy in § 3, above.

On the other hand, if scriptura, or any other similar word, had been used and translated ypaupa by Eusebius, we should have expected him to call the document a ypdupa, not an émoaroAy in § 3.

The general drift of the letter cannot be mistaken.

As Mason paraphrases it: '' In other words, Christianity strictly is still illicit, though in particular cases not to be punished as severely as heretofore; and the emperor, though forced for the present not to require you to persecute, will expect you not to relax your exertions more than can be helped."

Mason justly emphasizes in the same connection the use of the words 4} mpooyxevv in the last clause, which do not mean on licere ("'it is not permitted") as Valesius, followed by many others, render them, but "'it is not necessary," '" they need not."

It is plain that Maximin made his concessions very unwillingly and only because compelled to; and it is clear that he suppressed the edict of Galerius, and substituted general and not wholly unambiguous directions of his own, in order that as little as intimidated by the impending punishment.

Since therefore it has come to pass that by such conduct many have brought themselves into danger, their Majesties, our most powerful masters, the emperors, in the exalted i peapanineta 46> Lanne. trays oT 2 Stet eli 1 The toleration edict of Galerius, given in Bk. VIII. chap, 17.

2 For the reason of Maximin's failure to join with the other emperors in the issue of this edict, see Bk. VIII. chap. 17, note r.

3 Of Sabinus we know only what is told us here.

He seems to have been Maximin's prime minister, or pretorian prefect (ro Tov éfoxwratwy éemapxwv akwdmare TeTYUNMEVOS, Eusebius a of him).

He is mentioned again in chap. 9, where an epistle o Maximin addressed to him is quoted. ae 4 Literally, 'the divinity of our most divine masters, the emperors."

The style throughout the epistle is of an equally stilted character. ossible might be done for the Christians, and that he might be left ree for a future time when he should find himself in a more indepeed position; he evidently did not care to compromise and amper himself by officially sanctioning the full and explicit toleration accorded in the edict of Galerius.

For a fuller discussion of Maximin's attitude in the matter, see Mason, p. 309 sq.

As he

THE CHURCH HISTORY OF EUSEBIUS.

{IX. 1.

RS Fe es ee ee ee thorough hater of the good and an enemy of every virtuous person, as he was, could no longer bear this ; and indeed he did not permit matters to goon in this way quite six months.'

Devising all possible means of destroying the peace, he first attempted to restrain us, under a pretext,2 from meeting in the cemeteries.

Then through the agency of some wicked

men he sent an embassy to himself against us,' inciting the citizens of Antioch to ask from him as a very great favor that he would by no means permit any of the Christians to dwell in their country; and others were secretly induced to do the same thing.

The author of all this in Antioch was Theotecnus,' a violent and wicked man, who was an impostor, and whose character was foreign to his name.'

He appears to have been the curator ® of the city. inces, thinking that the purpose of the things which were written was truly made known to them, declared the imperial will to the curators and magistrates and prefects of the various districts® in writing.

But they did not limit themselves to writing, but sought more quickly to accomplish the supposed will of the emperor in deeds also.

Those whom they had imprisoned on account of their confession of the Deity, they set at liberty, and they released those of them who had been sent to the mines for punishment ; for they erroneously supposed that this was

the true will of the emperor.

And when these things had thus been done, immediately, like a light shining forth in a dark night, one could see in every city congregations gathered and assemblies thronged, and meetings held according to their custom.

And every one of the unbelieving heathen was not a little astonished at these things, wondering at so marvelous a transformation, and exclaiming that the God

1 The Edict of Galerius was issued in April, 311 (see Lactantius, de Mort. pers. 35, and Bk. VIII. chap. 17, note 1, above), so that Maxjmin's change of policy, recorded in this chapter, must have begun in October, or thereabouts.

Valesius supposes that the death of aleeee was the cause of Maximin's return to persecuting measures.

But Galerius died, not some months after the issue of the edict, as Valesius, and others after him, assert, but within a few days after it, as-is directly stated by Lactantius (7zd.), whose accuracy in this case there is no reason to question.

Another misstatement made by Valesius in the same connection, and repeated by Heinichen, Crusé, and others, is that Maximin became Augustus only after the death of Galerius.

The truth is, he was recognized as an Augustus in 308 (see Lactantius, 267d. chap..32; and Bk. VIII. chap. 13, note 22, above).

The cause of the renewal of the persecution seems to have been simply impatience at the exultation of the Church and at the wonderful recuperative power revealed the moment the pressure was taken off.

That it was not renewed sooner was doubtless due to the more important matters which engaged the attention of Maximinus immediately after the death of Galerius, in connection with the division of the iesptegn Empire between himself and Licinius (see Lactantius, zdzd. chap. 36).

It would seem from the passage just referred to, that as soon as these matters were satisfactorily adjusted, Maximin turned his attention again to the Christians, and began to curtail their liberty. of the Christians was great and alone true.

And some of our people, who had faithfully and bravely sustained the conflict of persecution, again became frank and bold toward all; but as many as had been diseased in the faith and had been shaken in their souls by the tempest, strove eagerly for healing, beseeching and imploring the strong to stretch out to them a saving hand, and supplicating God to be

merciful unto them.

Then also the noble athletes of religion who had been set free from their sufferings in the mines returned to their own homes.

Happily and joyfully they passed through every city, full of unspeakable 2 Very likely under the pretext that night gatherings at the tombs of the martyrs, with the excitement and enthusiasm necessarily engendered under such circumstances, were of immoral tendency. aturally, the honor shown by the Christians to their fellows who had been put to death at the command of the state was looked upon as an insult to the authorities, and could not but be very distasteful to them.

They imagined that such meetings would only tend to foster discontent and disloyalty on the part of those who enpleasure and of a boldness which cannot

be expressed in words.

Great crowds of men pursued their journey along the highways and through the market-places, praising

God with hymns and psalms.

And you might have seen those who a little while before had been driven in bonds from their native countries under a most cruel sentence, returning with bright and joyful faces to their own firesides ; so that even they who had formerly thirsted for our blood, when they saw the unexpected wonder, congratulated us on what had taken place. aged in them, and consequently they were always suspicious of them, 3 The same account is given by Lactantius, z4zd. chap. 36

(' First of all he took away the toleration and general protection granted by Galerius to the Christians, and, for this end, he secretly procured addresses for the different cities, requesting that no Christian church might be built within their walls; and thus he meant to make that which was his own choice appear as if extorted from him by importunity "). Itis possible that the account is correct, but it is more probable that the embassies were genuine, and were voluntarily sent to the emperor, while he was on a tour through his dominions, by the pagan population of some of the cities who knew the emperor's own eget in the matter, and desired to conciliate him and secure avors from him.

Of course such deputations would delight him greatly; and what one city did, others would feel compelled to do also, in order not to seem behindhand in religious zeal and in order not to run the risk of offending the emperor, who since the death of Galerius was of course a more absolute master than befcre.

Cf.

Mason, p. 313 sq.

CHAPTER II.

4 Theotecnus, according to the Passzon of St. Theodotus (translated in Mason, p. 354 Sq-) an apostate from Christianity, was for some time chief magistrate of Galatia, where he indulged in the most terrible cruelties against the Christians.

Beyond the account given in the Passzon referred to we know in regard to Theotecnus only what is told us by Eusebius in the present book, in which he is frequently mentioned.

His hatred of the Christians knew no bounds.

He seems, moreover, to have been something of a philosopher and literary man (Mason calls him a Neo-Platonist, and makes him the author of the anti-Christian Acta Prlatz; but see below, chap. s, note 1). He was executed by command of Licinius, after the death of Maximinus (see below, chap. 11).

The Subsequent Reverse.

Bur the tyrant who, as we have said, ruled over the districts of the Orient, a remarks, it is '' almost a wonder that the judges interpreted Maximin's document in a sense so favorable to the brotherhood as they really did.

Though no effectual security was given against the recurrence of the late atrocities, the Persecution of Diocletian was at anend,eveninthe East.

The subordinate officers issued and posted local mandates, which conceded more than they were bidden to concede,"

® Tols Kat' aypovs éemiTeTaymevots.

5 @eorexvos, ' child of God."

6 The Aoyiorai, or curatores urbtum, were the chief finance officers of municipalities.

See Valesius' note on Bk. VIII. chap, rr.

IX. 5.]

FORGED ACTS OF PILATE.

those who were most distinguished in public life and had gained celebrity in all the offices which they had filled ; and who were imbued, moreover, with great zeal for the service of those whom they worshiped.

Indeed, the extraordinary

superstition of the emperor, to speak in brief, led all his subjects, both rulers and private citizens, for the sake of gratifying him, to do everything against us, supposing that they could best show their gratitude to him for the benefits which they had received from him, by plotting murder against us and exhibiting toward us any new signs of malignity.

CHAPTER III.

The Newly Erected Statue at Antioch.

AFTER this man had carried on all kinds of war against us and had caused our people to be diligently hunted up in their retreats, as if they were unholy thieves, and had devised every sort of slander and accusation against us, and become the cause of death to vast numbers, he finally erected a statue of Jupiter Philius' with certain juggleries and magic rites.

And after inventing unholy forms of initiation and ill-omened mysteries in connection with it, and abominable means of purification,? he exhibited his jugglery, by oracles which he pretended to utter, even to the emperor ; and through a flattery which was pleasing to the ruler he aroused the demon against the Christians and said that the god had given command to expel the Christians as his enemies beyond the confines of the city and the neighboring districts.

CHAPTER V.

The Forged Acts.

Havinc therefore forged Acts of Pilate>

and our Saviour full of every kind of blasphemy against Christ, they sent them with the emperor's approval to the whole of the empire subject to him, with written commands that they should be openly posted to the view of all in every place, both in country and city, and that the schoolmasters should give them to their scholars, instead of their customary lessons, to be studied and learned by heart.

While

these things were taking place, another military commander, whom the Romans call Dux,? seized some infamous women in the market-place at Damascus in Pheenicia,? and by threatening to inflict tortures upon them compelled them to make a written declaration that

CHAPTER IV.

The Memorials against us

Tue fact that this man, who took the lead in this matter, had succeeded in his purpose was an incitement to all the other officials in the cities under the same government to prepare a similar memorial?

And the governors of the provinces perceiving that this was agreeable to the emperor suggested to their subjects that they should do the same.

And as the tyrant by a rescript declared himself well pleased with their measures,' persecution was kindled anew against us.

Priests for the images were then appointed in the cities, and besides them high priests by Maximinus himself.

The latter were taken from among a positive aggressive power over against Christianity by giving it a regular organization and placing the entire institution in the hands of honorable and able men, whose business it should be to increase its stabiliry and power in every way and in all quarters.

We are compelled to admire the wisdom of Maximin's plan.

No persecutor before him had ever seen the need of thus replacing the Christian Church by another institution as great and as splendid as itself.

The effort, like that of Julian a half-century later, must remain memorable in the annals of the conflict of paganism with Christianity.

Be Ri Sa eS Ne ee ee 1 These Acts are no longer extant, but their character can be gathered from this chapter.

They undoubtedly contained the worst calumnies against Christ's moral, and religious character.

They cannot have been very skillful forgeries, for Eusebius, in Bk. I. chap.

9, above, points out a palpable chronological blunder which stamped them as fictitious on their very face.

And yet they doubtless answered every purpose; for few of the heathen would be in a position to detect such an error, and perhaps fewer still would care to expose it if they discovered it. These Acts are of course to be distinguished from the numerous Acta Pilatz? which proceeded from Christian sources (see above, Bk. II. chap. 2, note 1).

The way in which these Acts were employed was diabolical in its very shrewdness.

Certainly there was no more effectual way of checking the spread of cee lap an than systematically and persistently to train up the outh of the empire to look with contempt and disgust upon the founder of Christianity, the Christian's Saviour and Lord.

Incalculable mischief must inevitably have been produced had Maximin's reign lasted for a number of years.

As it was, we can imagine the horror of the Christians at this new and sacrilegious artifice of the enemy.

Mason assigns "the crowning, damning honor of this masterstroke" to Theotecnus, but I am unable to find any proof that he was the author of the documents.

It is, of course, not impossible nor improbable that he was; but had Eusebius known him to be the author, he would certainly have informed us.

As it is, his statement is entirely indefinite, and the Acts are not brought into any connection with Theotecnus.

1 Jupiter Philius, the god of friendship or good-will, was widely honored in the East.

He seems to have been the tutelary divinity of Antioch, and, according to Valesius, a temple of his at Antioch 1s mentioned by the emperor Julian and by Libanius.

2 " The ceremonies of the Gentiles, used in the erection and con_secration of images to their gods, were various.

Jupiter Ctesius was consecrated with one sort of rites, Herceus with another, and Philius with a third sort" (Valesius).

For farther particulars, see his note ad locum.

1 rept Tov Kad" nuav Wydioparwr, 2 bsee 3 Undicnace.

¢ Lactantius (22d. chap. 36) says: "In compliance with those addresses he [Maximinus] introduced a new mode of government in things respecting religion, and for each city he created a high priest, chosen from among the persons of most distinction.

The office of those men was to make daily sacrifices to all their gods, and, with the aid of the former priests, to prevent the Christians from erecting churches, or from worshiping God, either publicly or in private; and he authorized them to compel the Christians to sacrifice to idols, and, on their refusal, to bring them before the civil magistrate; and, as if this had not been enough, in every province he established a superintendent priest, one of chief eminence in the state; and he commanded that all those priests newly instituted should appear in white habits, that being the most honorable distinction ae dress."

Maximin perceived the power that existed in 2 The commandant of the Roman garrison in Damascus.

3 Damascus, from the time of Hadrian (according to SprunerMenke), or of Severus (according to Mommsen), was the capital of the newly formed province of Syria-Phcenice, or Syro-Pheenicia, the Catholic Church with its wonderful organization, and conceived the stupendous idea of rejuvenating paganism by creating a pagan

Catholic Church.

The Roman religion should cease to be the loose, unorganized, chaotic thing it had always been, and should be made

↑ Back to top