apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

32 EPISTLES OF S. IGNATIUS.
interview with Trajan, which forms the main feature in the popular
tradition, falls to the ground. We have therefore no trustworthy information
respecting the circumstances of his trial and condemnation
the notices in his own letters.
beyond
From these notices it
appears that the peace of the Antiochene
Church was disturbed at this time ;
but there is no reason to believe
that a fierce persecution raged
here as in the Churches of Pontus and
Bithynia. No mention is made of any
have been. What was the occasion of the
individual sufferer besides himself,
though such there may
disturbance in the Church of Antioch— whether popular excitement or
magisterial caprice — we know not. What definite charge was brought
against him, it is vain to speculate. One thing only seems certain. He
did not go to Rome, like S. Paul, on an appeal to the Imperial Court.
He speaks of himself more than once as condemned to death already
{Ephes. 12, Trail. 3, Rofu. 4). He has no wish or intention to appeal.
On the contrary his one fear is that persons of influence may obtain the
emperor's ear and thus procure a pardon or at least a mitigation of his
sentence {Rom. i, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8).
This alarm is quite decisive. An
appeal must have been his own act but his ;
every word contradicts the
suggestion that he could have been a party to any steps which would
rob him of his crown.
He goes to Rome therefore for the execution of his sentence. He
had been condemned to the wild beasts by the provincial magistrate;
he must meet his
and in the Flavian amphitheatre
executioners.
The sports of the arena in Trajan's reign were on a gigantic
scale— gigantic even for the prodigality of imperial Rome. The wholesale
butchery of wild beasts demanded a corresponding sacrifice of
human life. The provinces therefore were put under requisition to
supply convicts, who might be
Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday.
We can well imagine moreover that in the case of Ignatius
special reasons why it was thought desirable by
there were
his enemies that he
should be sent to Rome and not executed in his own city Antioch.
himself is a more than willing victim. His bones shall be ground to
powder by the teeth of the wild beasts, that they may be as fine wheatflour,
fit for the sacrificial offering. If the wild beasts are timid and
reluctant, he himself will rush upon them, will irritate them, will
compel them to devour and entomb him {Roffi. 5). The altar is ready,
and he longs for the time when the libation of his blood shall be poured
upon it {Ro/ii. 2).
With an almost fierce enthusiasm he forecasts the
He