apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

ascribed to the emperor is still less credible. I am very far from saying that under ^jA/^^
,
'
HADRIAN, PIUS, AND MARCUS. 51 1
These sporadic martyrdoms, of which the notices have been accidentally preserved,
are vahiable as showing the dangerous position of the Christians throughout
the reign of M. Aurelius.
(y) Felicitas and her Sez'en Sons [a.d. 162].
This document may be conveniently read in Ruinart /Icfa Martyrum Sincera p. ^i
sq (Ratisb. 1859), in Doulcet Rapports de P Aglise Chrhienne etc., p. 190 sq, or in
Bull, di Arch. Crist. 1884, 1885, p. 149 sq
;
see also the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum,
Julius, III. p. \^. Doulcet has given a list of the Paris MSS containing it, and has
printed it from 'the most correct and most ancient' of these. A much longer recension
of these Acts is likewise given in the Bollandist Act. Sanct. I.e. p. 14 sq but this is
;
obviously enlarged from the shorter form at a later date and may be dismissed from
our consideration.
The pontiffs make a representation to the emperor Antoninus that the gods will
not be appeased so long as the widow Felicitas and her sons insult them. Antoninus
therefore orders Publius the City Prefect to compel them to sacrifice. The prefect
obeys but neither
; by blandishments nor by menaces can they be induced to yield. The
mother encourages her sons, one at least being a very young child, in their resistance.
The names of the sons are Januarius, Felix, Philippus, Silanus, Alexander, Vitalis,
and Martialis. Publius sends his report to the emperor who delivers the prisoners
to different judges that they may be put to death by different modes of punishment
(misit per varios judices, ut variis suppliciis laniarentur). Accordingly the first is
beaten to death with leaded thongs the second and third with clubs
; ;
the fourth is
thrown down a precipice ;
the fifth, sixth, and seventh, suffer capital punishment
; the
mother herself is beheaded.
Tillemont [Mhnoires II. p. 324 sq) touches lightly on these Acts ;
but they have
been the subject of fuller discussion in Borghesi GEuvres viil. p. 545 sq (reprinted
from Cavedoni Niiovi Cenni Cronologici p. 7 sq),
Aube Comptcs Rendus de PAcad.
des Inscr. 1875, p. 125 sq (reprinted in Histoire des Persecutions p. 439 sq), 1885, p.
367 sq, Doulcet Rapports de PJ^glise Chretienne p. 187 sq; besides several papers of
De Rossi in the Bnlletini di Archeologia Cristiana.
It is a general opinion that the document was originally written in Greek. So
Tillemont, Borghesi, and Doulcet. This opinion is founded on such expressions as
regi Anto7iino, a rendering of the Greek ^acnXe, for ' rex ' is not used of the Roman
emperor till much later ;
seditio pontijiciim, where ' seditio ' is a mistranslation of
^ avaraaLs ' a conference ' and the
;
like. .
The authenticity of these Acts has been maintained by De Rossi, Borghesi, Doulcet, vW'^
and others, but attacked by Aube. Renan [Marc-Auj-ile p. 58) accepts Aube's/**'*^,
view. Tillemont writes of them cautiously that they 'have not all the characteristics^. SwU
of genuine Acts'. This is a too lenient judgment. Their internal characteristics 4,4.^^
seem fatal to their authenticity. Like the legend of Symphorosa and her seven sons, M^ ^
which I have considered already (p. 502 sq), this is only one of several reproductions rr*^^
of the story of the Maccabsean mother. Moreover its fabulous character is shown by tffo >
the incidents themselves. The conduct of the pontiffs is hardly explicable ; the part /r^^
Antoninus Pius or W. Aurelius— more especially under the latter— the execution of ^^I^jf
eight Christians in Rome itself, and by the emperor's own orders, is an incident a^
beyond the range of possibility or even of probability.
The fate of Justin and his
companions, who were put to death in Rome itself by the City Prefect, the intimate and