apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

HADRIAN, PIUS, AND MARCUS. 507
Great to Q. Theodolind ;
but even here their unhistorical character betrays itself by
the fact of their being twice mentioned, first as 'S. Sophiae cum tres filias suas '
(sic),
and then as 'S. Spei, S. Sapientiae, S. Fidis (sic), S. Caritatis', without any consciousness
that they are the same persons, or rather the same impersonations. Their
Acts appear in several forms (see Tillemont ii. p. 586). In the Greek Mentea (Sept.
1 7) they are stated to have suffered under Diocletian. Assuredly they did suffer again
and again under him, as under other persecutors. De Rossi {Rom. Sotterr. 11, p. 171
sq; comp. Bull, di Arch. Crist, 1882, p. 40) has a discussion on the two groups of
martyrs bearing these names in Rome; and seems disposed to attach too much
credit to these martyrdoms. (7) S. Zoe with her husband S. Hesperus and their
two children ;
Pamphylian saints, who however are stated to have suffered in Rome.
Their day is May 2. They are commemorated in the Greek Menaea, but not in^the
Roman Church, till quite recent times. The old Roman Martyrology however (iii
Non. Jul.) names a Zoe with her husband Nicostratus, who likewise perished at
Rome.
some connexion.
It is impossible not to suspect
This is not quite an exhaustive list ;
but the few remaining names do not deserve
special consideration.
It will be seen from this summary that the direct evidence for a persecution under
Hadrian melts away under critical examination. Eusebius
knows of no such persecution.
He mentions indeed that Quadratus presented his Apology to this emperor,
because ' '
certain wicked men were endeavouring to molest our people (H. E. iv. 3) ;
but the implication is that they were thwarted in their endeavours. At a later point
he introduces the rescript of Hadrian to Minucius Fundanus, and quotes by way
of preface the words of Justin in which Hadrian is praised for his uprightness {H. E.
iv. 8, 9). Even the martyrdom of Telesphorus he places in the first year of Hadrian's
successor Antoninus Pius (H. E. iv. 10). Still farther on {H. E. iv. 26) he quotes
the passage in Melito, in which this father mentions the favourable attitude of Hadrian
towards the Christians as shown in the rescript to Fundanus. So far therefore as
the knowledge of Eusebius goes, Hadrian's hands are guiltless of Christian blood.
Jerome however, as will appear presently (p. 541), from a misinterpretation of
Eusebius' words, assigns a ' very severe persecution ' to this reign, though he acquits
the emperor himself of any complicity in it {Epist. 70, Vir. III. 19, quoted below,
1.
c). And somewhat later Sulpicius Severus, when he formulates the persecutions
and fixes the number at ten, counts the persecution of Hadrian as 'the fourth' {Chron.
ii.
31, quoted below, p. 541), doubtless misled by Jerome. From that time forward
it is accepted as a historical fact ;
and in the Latin Church numerous martyrdoms are
assigned to this reign. When any Church in the West invested its foundei or first
bishop with the glories of martyrdom, the reign of Hadrian was a convenient receptacle
for these real or supposed martyrdoms which were without a date. It has been seen
that all the evidence worth considering (inadequate as it is) for any persecutions under
Hadrian belongs to the Western Church. Yet even here it must be observed that
TertuUian writes as if he were ignorant of any sufTerings undergone by the Christians
in this reign {Apol. 5, quoted below, p. 538).
At the same time it is necessary to repeat the caution which has already been
given in treating of the previous reign (p. 17 sq). Our knowledge of Christian
history in the second century is very scanty and fragmentary. A persecution might
have raged in one and another quarter of the empire without leaving any record
behind.