him to shrink from a general attack upon all: but when he began to arm more openly, it is impossible to tell how many and how eminent those were that presented themselves in every place and city and country, as martyrs in the cause of Christ.

CHAPTER V.

THE AFFAIRS OF NICOMEDIA.

IMMEDIATELY on the first promulgation of the edict, a certain man of no mean origin, and highly esteemed for his temporal dignities, as soon as the decree was published against the churches in Nicomedia, stimulated by a divine zeal, and excited by an ardent faith, took it as it was openly placed and posted up for public inspection, and tore it to pieces as a most profane and wicked act. This was done when two of the CESARS were in the city, the first of whom was the eldest and chief of all; and the other held the fourth grade of the imperial dignity after him. This man, as the first that was distinguished there in this manner, after enduring what was likely to follow an act so daring, preserved his mind calm and serene until the moment when his spirit fled.

CHAPTER VI.

THOSE THAT WERE IN THE PALACE.

Of all those that were celebrated, or admired for their courage, whether among Greeks or barbarians, these times produced noble and illustrious martyrs, in the case of Dorotheus and his associates, domestics in the imperial palace. These though honoured with the highest dignity by their masters, and treated by them with not less affection than their own children, esteemed the reproaches and trials in the cause of religion, as of much more real value than the glory and luxuries of life; and even the various kinds of death that were invented against them were preferred to these, when they came into competition with religion. We shall give an account of the end of

one, leaving it for our readers to conjecture what must have been the character of the sufferings inflicted on the others. He was led into the middle of the aforesaid city, before those emperors already mentioned. He was then commanded to sacrifice, but as he refused, he was ordered to be stripped and lifted on high, and to be scourged with rods over his whole body, until he should be subdued in his resolution, and forced to do what he was commanded. As he was unmoveable amid all these sufferings, his bones already appearing bared of the flesh, they mixed vinegar with salt, and poured it upon the mangled parts of the body. As he bore these tortures, a gridiron and fire were produced, and the remnants of his body, like pieces of meat for roasting and eating, were placed in the fire, not at once, so that he might not expire soon, but taken by little and little, whilst his torturers were not permitted to let him alone, unless after these sufferings he breathed his last before they had completed their task. He, however, persevered in his purpose, and gave up his life victorious in the midst of his tortures. Such was the martyrdom of one of the imperial domestics, worthy in reality of his name, for he was called Peter. But we shall perceive in the course of our narration, in which we shall study brevity, that the martyrdoms of the rest were in no respect inferior to this. We shall only state of Dorotheus, and Gorgonius, with many others of the imperial freedmen, that after various sufferings, they were destroyed by the halter, and bore away the prize of a heavenly victory. At this time also, Anthimus, then bishop of the church of Nicomedia, was beheaded for his confession of Christ, and to him were added a multitude of believers that thronged around him.

I know not how it happened, but there was a fire that broke out in the imperial palace at Nicomedia, in these days, which, by a false suspicion reported abroad, was attributed to our brethren as the authors of it; in consequence of which, whole families of the pious were slain

Y

in masses at the imperial command, some with the sword, some also with fire. Then it is said that men and women, with a certain divine and inexpressible alacrity, rushed into the fire, and the populace binding others upon planks, threw them into the depths of the sea. The imperial domestics, also, who after death had been committed to the earth with proper burial, their legal masters thought necessary to have dug up again from their sepulchres, and cast into the sea, lest any, reasoning like themselves, should worship them in their graves, as if they were gods. Such, then, was the complexion of things in the commencement of the persecution at Nicomedia.

But, ere long, as there were some in the region called Melitina, and others, again, in Syria, that attempted to usurp the government, it was commanded, by an imperial edict, that the heads of the churches every where should be thrust into prison and bonds. And the spectacle of affairs after these events exceeds all description. Innumerable multitudes were imprisoned in every place, and the dungeons, formerly destined for murderers and the vilest criminals, were then filled with bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, readers and exorcists, so that there was no room left for those condemned for crime. When the former edict was followed by another, in which it was ordered that the prisoners should be permitted to have their liberty if they sacrificed, but, persisting, should be punished with the most excruciating tortures,-who could tell the number of those martyrs in every province, and particularly in Mauritania, Thebais, and Egypt, that suffered death for their religion? From the last place, especially, many went to other cities and provinces, and became illustrious for their martyrdom.

CHAPTER VII.

THE EGYPTIANS THAT SUFFERED IN PHOENICE.

WE are already acquainted with those of them that shone conspicuous in Palestine, and know also those in

Tyre and Phoenice; and at the sight of whom, who would not himself be struck with astonishment at the numberless blows inflicted, and the perseverance of those truly admirable wrestlers for the true religion? Who can behold, without amazement, all this: their conflicts, after scourging, with bloody beasts of prey, when they were cast as food to leopards and bears, wild boars and bulls, goaded with fire, and branded with glowing iron against them? And in each of these, who can fail to admire the wonderful patience of these noble martyrs ? At these scenes we have been present ourselves, when we also observed the divine power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ himself present, and effectually displayed in them; when, for a long time, the devouring wild beasts would not dare either to touch or to approach the bodies of these pious men, but directed their violence against others that were any where stimulating them from without.* They would not touch the holy wrestlers standing naked and striking at them with their hands, as they were commanded, in order to irritate the beasts against them. Sometimes, indeed, they would rush upon them, but, as if repulsed by some divine power, again retreated.

This continuing for a long time, created no little wonder to the spectators; so that now again on account of the failure in the first instance, they were obliged to let loose the beast a second and a third time upon one and the same martyr. One could not help being astonished at the intrepid perseverance of these holy men, and the firm and invincible mind of those, also, whose bodies were but young and tender. For you could have seen a youth of scarcely twenty years, standing unbound, with his arms extended, like a cross, with an intrepid and fearless

* Valesius and others understand this expression figuratively, as in the passage, "What have we to do with those without?" meaning the heathen. But the literal meaning seems to be natural and obvious, and refers to those who, standing without the arena, in the amphitheatre, were urging and stimulating the beasts. Our author uses the same expression elsewhere, evidently with the same intention as here, to designate particular persons. The figurative sense seems to be too general in an account like this.

earnestness, intensely engaged in prayer to God, neither removing nor declining from the spot where he stood, whilst bears and leopards breathed rage and death, and almost touched his very flesh, and yet I know not how, by a divine and inscrutable power, they had their mouths in a manner bridled, and again retreated in haste. And such was he of whom we now speak.

Again, you might have seen others, for they were five in all, cast before a wild bull, who indeed seized others, that approached from without, with his horns, and tossed them in the air, leaving them to be taken up half dead, but only rushing upon the saints with rage and menaces; for the beast was not able even to approach them, but beating the earth with his feet, and pushing with his horns hither and thither, and from the irritation excited by the brands of glowing iron, he breathed madness and death, yet was drawn back again by a divine interposition. So that as he did not even injure them in the least, they let loose other beasts upon them. At length, however, after these various and terrible assaults, all of them were despatched with the sword, and instead of an interment and sepulchre, they were committed to the waves of the sea.

CHAPTER VIII.

THOSE WHO SUFFERED IN EGYPT.

AND such, too, was the severity of the struggle which was endured by the Egyptians, who wrestled gloriously for the faith at Tyre. But one cannot but admire those that suffered also in their native land, where thousands, both men, women, and children, despising the present life for the sake of our Saviour's doctrine, submitted to death in various shapes. Some, after being tortured with scrapings and the rack, and the most dreadful scourgings, and other innumerable agonies, which one might shudder to hear, were finally committed to the flames; some plunged and drowned in the sea, others voluntarily offering their own heads to the executioners,