apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

504 EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP.
against the genuineness of the story of Symphorosa, and even alleges it in favour
of this story. Through the kindness of Dr I Schiller-Szinessy am able to add four
other passages from Rabbinical writings where the story is told ;
Midi-ash Ekhah
Rabbathi (on Lam. i. i6), Tanna debe Eliyyahii (Rabba c. 30), Yalqut (pericope
Ki Thabo);
ib. on Lam. ii. 15.
In this Rabbinical story the seven sons are brought in order before ' Caesar '. His
name does not appear except in Tanna, where it is given as Hadrian ; but in Talmud
Babli Hadrian's name is
mentioned in the context, though not in immediate connexion
with this story. The widowed mother is called Miriam ; but she is represented
differently, as the daughter of Nechtom, of Tanchum, and of Menachem, in the different
accounts. After her seven sons are put to death, she goes up to the roof, throws herself
down, and thus dies.
(c) In the story of Symphorosa we have advanced a step further. The name of
Hadrian remains, as in the last version ;
but the martyrs are no longer Jewish but
Christian.
(d) Another Christian modification of the story is the martyrdom of Felicitas and
her Seven Sons. Here another step again has been taken. The emperor's name has
been changed. The martyrdoms take place no longer under Hadrian, but under
'Antoninus'. This version of the story will be considered hereafter (p. 511).
The story, as given in the Babylonian Talmud, is told on the authority of Rab
Jehudah, who flourished in the 3rd century. As Hadrian was a determined foe of the
Jews, while he treated the Christians with comparative leniency, it is a safe conclusion
that the Jewish story which connects these martyrdoms with his name is prior to the
Christian.
(ii)
But the legend of Symphorosa is condemned not less by
its details. The
seven different modes of punishment doubtless seemed to the author to give variety
and finish to the narrative. But they are extremely improbable in themselves ;
and
we cannot well conceive Hadrian indulging in such grotesque and puerile exhibitions
of cruelly. If it were conceivable at all, the incident must have taken place in the
last months of his life, when his mind was unhinged.
The recently discovered basilica bears testimony to the belief of a later age, but is
wholly inadequate to overcome the inherent improbabilities of the story. It was
found where the Acts represent the bodies of the seven sons of Symphorosa to have
been laid ('in via Tiburtina milliario ab urbe nono', al. ' octavo', viii for vim), and
where likewise the Mai-tyt-ologium Hieronyviianum places their sepulchre. In the
Epitome Libri de Locis Satictoriwi Martyrum (De Rossi Roma Sotterr. I.
pp. 142, 178),
compiled about the time of Pope Honorius (a.d. 625—638), martyrs bearing the
same names as these seven sons and their mother are mentioned as buried on the
Tiburtine Way; but they are not spoken of as mother and sons, and other martyrs
are mixed up with them. In the Martyrologiicm Hieronymianum under xv Kal. Aug.
we have the notice ' natalis S. Symphorosae, matris septem germanorum quae cum
ipsis est passa, quorum nomina haec '— sunt, Petrus, Marcellianus, Januarius, Dionysius,
Simphronius, Clemens, Germanus wholly different names from those given in the
Acts of Symphorosa. In this same Martyrology however under v Kal. Jul.
the same seven names as in the Acts, Crescens, Julianus, etc., appear with others,
as suffering 'in Hispania'; but as we have under the same day, though referring
to others, the words 'Romae, milliario nono' and 'et septem germanorum', the text
is doubtless much confused.
The probable inference from these facts is that the names Crescens, Julianus, etc..