apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

652 EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP.
designated in the Acts (see Ignat. et Polyc. Ma7-t. p. 6g sq, and esp.
Dissert, de Maced. et Asian. Anno Solari c. iii, Works vii. p. 367 sq).
Samuel Petit (a.d. 1633) was another exception to the general rule
i^Var. Led. iv. 7, quoted by Pearson Afitior Works 11. pp. 527, 537).
He boldly placed the date as late as a.d. 175. Like the former writers
he identified the Quadratus of the martyrdom with the colleague of L.
Verus ;
but he observed that an interval of full five years was required
by law to elapse before entering upon the proconsulship (see below,
p. 656).
More recent critics have discovered another chronological clue.
Among the works of the rhetorician ^lius Aristides, a younger contemporary
of Polycarp, are certain orations entitled Sacred Discourses,
written in praise of the god ^sculapius, wherein he describes the
course of a long illness which extended over many years, interspersing
from time to time valuable chronological notices. In these mention is
twice made of a Quadratus, proconsul of Asia. It is natural to assume
that this is the same person who held the office at the time of Polycarp's
martyrdom. Thus the chronology of Polycarp is closely linked with
that of Aristides.
Valois (a.d. 1672) in his notes on Euseb. H. E. iv. 15 was the first,
so far as I have observed, to pay attention to this fact it
(though had
been noticed before by Ussher) but he was not
;
very happy in the use
which he made of it. He argues as follows ;
Aristides says in the Fourth Sacred Discourse,
that Severus was
proconsul shortly after the plague which raged in Asia ;
but Eusebius
[Chronicon 11. p. 170, Schone] places the plague in the 8th year of
M. Aurelius. Therefore Severus was proconsul in the 9th year. Pollio
immediately preceded Severus in this oflice [Aristides Op. i. p. 529],
and therefore his proconsulate fell in the 8th year of this reign. Again,
the immediate predecessor of Polho was Quadratus, for he must be
meant by d o-o^to-rv^s [Op. i. p. 531]. Therefore Quadratus was proconsul
in the 7th year; and this is exactly the date assigned by Eusebius to
Polycarp's martyrdom.
This calculation is based on manifest errors and doubtful assumptions.
So far from saying that Severus was proconsul immediately
after the plague, Aristides states distinctly that the plague occurred
many years after the proconsulate of Severus {Op. i. p. 504 koL xpoVois
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