apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

HADRIAN, PIUS, AND MARCUS. 525
mention is made again and again of bloody persecutions. Yet Caracalla was not
associated — with Severus in the empire till a.d. 198; and the interval thus limited
(a.d. 198 100) would afford insufficient time for such experiences as the language of
Tertullian implies.
The Scillitan (Scilitan) Martyrs derived their name from a town in Numidia,
which region at this time belonged at least injpart to Proconsular Africa^. Hence they
were tried by the Proconsul at Carthage. The name of the town is given by most
recent writers as Scilluim {Sillmm). I
may perhaps have overlooked some ancient
authority which justifies this form ;
but I have not found the name anywhere. The
termination of the adjective might rather suggest Scillis or Scillita, and would be
consistent with other forms also. In the Greek Acts the place is called ^laxf^t) Tr)%
'Nov/j.idlas; but the first word is
probably corrupt, and the correct reading may be
'Ex'-^V- The name would seem therefore to have been Scilla. It is indeed so called
(Scylla) by Notker {Patrol. Lat. cxxxi. p. 1121). In one of the Notitiae (p. 79, ed.
Parthey) a Numidian episcopal see ^ktiXy} is mentioned. I do not know whether
this is the place with which we are concerned. A Scillitanus (Scilitanus, Sillitanus,
Silitanus) is found in several lists of the African bishops (Victor Vitensis p. 1-2 r, ed.
Petschenig; Labb. Co>ic. iii. pp. 192, 211, 236, v. 264, vii. 151, ed. Colet); but
they do not all belong to the same place (see C. I. L. viii. p. 33).
The Scillitan martyrs were twelve in number. — Six of these three men and three
women— were brought before the proconsul together for trial. Their leader was
Speratus. Of the others one at least, Nartzallus {^6.pT^aKKo%, NdpTf'aXos), bears a
Punic name which occurs in the African inscriptions {C. I. L. vni. 5282 'Narsalus';
comp. ib. 1387 'Nartialis'). A second name also, Cittinus (Ktrrrcos, Ktrr^vos), occurs
several times in these inscriptions {C. I. L. viii. 2564, 5127, 9064, 9131, Cittinus,
Citinus; comp. 9187, 9188, Cittina). When asked, they all confessed themselves
Christians. Saturninus the proconsul offered them a respite of thirty days for reconsidering
the matter. They declined the offer, and were condemned to death.
Sentence was passed at the same time on six others— four men and two women— who
are described as not appearing in court (to!)s d^d^roi^s), but whose names are given.
Probably they had been tried and confessed themselves Christians before, but their
sentence had been deferred. All the twelve were executed by the sword on July 17-
The Scillitan martyrs were held in high honour. Their festival appears in the early
Carthaginian Calendar, in the old Roman Martyrology, and in the Hieronymian Martyrology,
in which last however, as usual, there is much confusion and repetition.
A basilica was erected in their honour at Carthage, in which one at least of Augustine's
sermons was delivered (Aug. Serm. 155, Op. v. p. 741, ed. Bened.). This
church was devastated in the Vandalic invasion (Vict. Vit. i. 9).
The two last-mentioned groups of martyrdoms, the Madaurian and the Scillitan,
as we have already seen, do not belong strictly to the reign of M. Aurelius. He died
on March 1 7 of the year, and they took place in July. But Saturninus the persecuting
magistrate, who according to custom would start for his province
in the middle
of April, must have been appointed by M. Aurelius, and his treatment of the Christians
may be regarded as a continuation of this emperor's policy.
The reign of his
son and successor Commodus is represented as a period of unbroken peace by the
historians of the Church (Euseb. H. E. \. 21; comp. Anon, in Euseb. H. E. v. 16:
^
On the relations of Numidia to Pro- vcno. i. p. 307 sq, and especially Mommconsular
Asia see Marquardt ^ij/w. Staats- sen C. I. L. viii. p. xv. sq, p. 467 sq.