apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

5i6 EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP.
sentence was awaited (§ 44). He replied that those who denied their Christianity
should be let off, and the others put to death. The principle of Trajan's rescript
was acted upon, so far as regards the grounds of condemnation. 'Nomen ipsum',
the mere profession
of Christianity, was sufficient to condemn the accused. On the
other hand the governor departed from the directions of this rescript in hunting out
the Christians. Altogether it was the most bloody persecution on record up to this
date, except perhaps the Neronian ;
and for it Marcus Aurelius is directly and personally
responsible.
Eusebius prefaces
his extracts from the Letters of the Galilean Churches by saying
from this one example how the persecution raged in various
that we may conjecture
parts (Kard. riva /J-fpr]) of the earth ;
and again at the close he adds that we may fairly
infer from this account what would probably happen in the other provinces (iv rais
XotTrats iirapxi-ais).
The reasonableness of this suspicion can hardly be denied.
Gregory of Tours (G/or. Mart. 49) states the number of the martyrs to have been
48, but his existing text gives the names of only 45. Perhaps three have fallen out
in the course of transcription.
He would find a list in the Letter to Eleutherus
mentioned by Eusebius [H. E. V. 4).
As his threefold division of the martyrs corresponds
with Eusebius' account, it is clear that he derived his information from this
source. Of the names mentioned in the extracts of the Galilean Letter preserved by
Eusebius {H. E. v. i), Attalus is wanting in Gregory. For Gregory's account of
these same martyrdoms in his Hist. Franc, i. 26, see below, p. 567.
Connected with this general onslaught and consequent upon it, are certain sporadic
martyrdoms in Gaul, the later gleanings of the persecution but ; they are not recorded
on any trustworthy authority. Such is the story of Benignus and his converts. Of
these I have spoken already (p. 447). Such likewise are the sufferings of Epipodius
and Alexander at Pierre Encise a suburb of Lyons, and again of Symphorianus at
Autun. Their Acts are included by Ruinart in his collection (p. 119 sq) but they
;
condemn themselves by their internal character. Such again are some martyrdoms, in
addition to these, recorded in the pages of Gregory of Tours ;
but a place in his narrative
is no guarantee of historic truth. It is much to be regretted that Eusebius did not
give all the documents connected with the persecution at Vienne and Lyons complete.
We should then possibly have found some attachment to authentic history in some of
these stories. Without this aid, it would be only lost labour to attempt to extricate
the historic facts which underlie the legends. Some of these martyrdoms are dealt
with by Tillemont Memoires III. p. 30 sq.
(e)
Ccccilia and her Companions [a.d. 177 — 180].
Csecilia was a lady of illustrious birth, who had been brought up from her cradle
as a Christian. She was betrothed to a young man, a heathen named Valerian, but
had dedicated her virginity to God. On the day when the marriage was to have
been consummated, she persuaded him to seek the counsels of Pope Urban. He did
so, and was converted and baptized. Valerian had a brother Tiburtius, still a heathen.
He was overcome by the discourses of Valerian and Crecilia and after catechetical
;
instruction from Urban, he followed his brother's example. A persecution was raging
at this time. Turcius Almachius, the Prefect of the City, was slaughtering the saints
daily, and had ordered their bodies to remain without burial. Tiburtius and Valerian
disobeyed these orders and devoted themselves to the pious work of burying the dead.
Summoned before the prefect, they confessed their Christianity and were ordered