he had sacrificed, although this was not the case. There another, though he had not in the least approached the altar, not even touched the unholy thing, yet when others said that he had sacrificed, went away, bearing the calumny in silence. Here one, again taken up when half dead, was thrown out as if he were already dead; there another, again lying upon the ground, was dragged a long distance by the feet, and numbered among those that had sacrificed. One, however, would cry out, and with a loud voice declared his abhorrence of the sacrifice. Another exclaimed that he was a Christian, furnishing, by confession, an illustrious example of this salutary name. Another asserted that he neither had sacrificed nor intended to sacrifice; but these were forced to silence by numerous bands of soldiers, prepared for this purpose, by whom they were struck on the face and cheeks, and violently driven away. Thus the enemies of religion, upon the whole, deemed it a great matter even to appear to have gained some advantage. But these things did not avail them much against the saints, to give an exact account of whom no description could suffice.

CHAPTER IV.

The illustrious martyrs of God, who filled every place with the celebrity of their name, and obtained various crowns of martyrdom for their piety.

MANY instances might be related of those who exhibited noble alacrity in the cause of that religion which acknowledges only the one Supreme God, and that not only from the time that the general persecution was raised, but also long before, when all was yet in a state of peace. Already then, when he who had received such power, was first roused as from a deep slumber, he had secretly and unobserved, been plotting after the times of Decius and Valerian, how to assault the churches; but he did not all at once, nor in a mass, wage an open war against us, but as yet only made trial of those that were in the armies. For in

this way he supposod that the rest could easily be taken, if he could first succeed in subduing these. Then one could see great numbers of the military, most cheerfully embracing a private life, so as not to renounce their reverence for the Supreme Creator of the universe. For when the general, whoever he was, first undertook the persecution against the soldiers, he began by a review and lustration of those that were enrolled in the army, and gave them their choice, either to enjoy the honour conferred upon them if they obeyed, or on the contrary to be deprived of this, if they disobeyed the command. Very many who were soldiers in the kingdom of Christ, without hesitating, preferred the confession of his name to that apparent glory and comfort which they enjoyed, and of these a few here and there exchanged their honours, not only for degradation but even for death, for their perseverance in religion. These last, however, were not yet many, as the great instigator of these violent measures had, as yet, but moderately proceeded, and ventured only so far as to shed the blood of some only. The great number of the believers, probably deterred and caused 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, but highly esteemed for his temporal dignities, as soon as the decree was published against the churches in Nicomedia, stimulated by a divine zeal, and exerted 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, too, was done when two of the Cesar's 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. But 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.

BUT 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. But 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. But as he bore these tortures, a gridiron and fire was 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; in consequence of which, whole families of the pious here were slain 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. But the populace binding another number upon planks, threw them into the depths of the sea. But 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 likewise cast into the sea, lest any, reasoning like themselves, should worship them in their graves, as if they were gods. And 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. But 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 they 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 Phanice.

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