apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

648 EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP.
the days of Anicetus, and then mentioning the death of Antoninus Pius
and accession of M. AureUus with his brother Verus (H. E. iv. 14), he
at once relates the martyrdom of Polycarp, introducing it
with the words
cV Touro), 'meanwhile' or 'at this time' (iv. 15). At the conclusion of
this narrative he mentions other martyrdoms
recorded in the same
volume, describing them by an error which has been considered already
(p. 641) as taking place at 'the same period of time' (wVo tt^v aurr}v
Trepi'oSov To\> yjtovov). He then turns to Justin Martyr, whose death he
describes as contemporaneous with these persons (Kara tovVous). After
disposing of Justin and his writings (iv. 16— 18), he mentions Soter as
succeeding Anicetus in the 8th year of the same reign (that
of M. Aurelius),
and follows up this statement with notices of the successions in the
two other great sees, Alexandria and Antioch (iv. 19, 20). Then he
gives an account of certain famous writers, beginning with Hegesippus
and Dionysius of Corinth and ending with Tatian and Bardesanes (iv.
21— 30). The fourth book closes with the death of Soter, and the fifth
commences with the accession of Eleutherus. This accession he places
in the 17th year of 'Antoninus Verus,' and he speaks of it as a season
of fierce persecution in different parts of the empire. This he infers
from the extant record of the martyrdoms in one particular locality, Gaul.
Hereupon he gives an account of the persecutions at Vienne and Lyons,
and of the delegacies sent by the sufferers to Eleutherus bishop of Rome
(v. I — 4). This part of his narrative ends with the statement that these
'
occurrences took place in the time of Antoninus ' (v. 4 hv\ 'Avrcovtvov).
So far his chronology, though vague at times, is intelligible. But in the
very next sentence (v. 5), setting himself to relate the incident of the
Thundering Legion, he designates the hero of this incident Marcus
'
Aurelius Ccesar,' and describes him as the brother of this Antoninus
whom he had first mentioned (Tovroi; Sj; a8eA.