ON SS. CLAUDIUS AND ASTERIUS AND NEON AND DOMNINA AND THEONILLA MARTYRS
AT AEGAE IN CILICIA,
The year CCLXXXV.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Claudius, martyr at Aegae in Cilicia (St.)
Asterius, martyr at Aegae in Cilicia (St.)
Neon, martyr at Aegae in Cilicia (St.)
Domnina, martyr at Aegae in Cilicia (St.)
Theonilla, martyr at Aegae in Cilicia (St.)
BY G. C.
§ I. The arena of these Martyrs, their fatherland, and their ancient memory in the Latin and Greek Martyrologies.
The name Aegae or Aegaeae, to some a disyllable, to others a trisyllable, in Greek Αἰγαὶ and Αἰγαῖαι, These Martyrs suffered at Aegae, is among most ancient topographers inflected in the plural number, however much by some it is named in the singular Αἰγαῖα, that is, Aegaea. In the East there are divers towns of nearly this name, which Stephanus in his little work On Cities, and Christopher Cellarius in the Notitia of the Ancient World, assign out of the old cosmographers. But the Aegae or Aegaeae of which we here treat was formerly an episcopal city of Cilicia under the metropolitan of Anazarbus, even as the most illustrious Charles de Saint-Paul affirms in his Sacred Geography, reprinted with the notes and animadversions of Holstenius in the year 1704, page 289. In this city the most valiant Athletes whom we have named in the title gave a shining proof of Christian constancy, and near it or in it itself happily consummated their combat, as will be made manifest below from their Acts, most worthy of credit.
[2] Wherefore we exceedingly wonder that Simeon Metaphrastes, in the Acts of St. Zenobius and his sister in Surius on the XXX day of October, wrote the following concerning our Martyrs: although some assign Diocletian was left heir as well of the empire as of the fury against the Christians; and straightway he set Lysias over Cilicia, who was both most violent for torturing and endowed with the greatest force for enticing by blandishments. He, when he had come to the city of Mopsus, stirs up a persecution against the Christians, and that a most grievous and most horrible one. Now three youths in number, Claudius, Asterius, and Neon, were also exercised in that persecution; whom indeed Isauria bore, but Laranda exercised: for they, being subjected by Lysias to violent and many torments, being driven to the cross outside the walls, underwent the death of malefactors; and their bodies were cast out to be devoured by beasts and birds.
[3] Metaphrastes by this manner of speaking hints that those three Champions of ours were born in Isauria, other cities, and that not far from the city of the Larandaeans, after various kinds of torments there endured with unconquered spirit, they underwent martyrdom. But in assigning that arena of martyrdom he is certainly mistaken, since from the proconsular Acts of these Martyrs and from other ancient monuments of the Greeks and Latins it is established that they suffered at Aegae in Cilicia. But Larandus, or rather Laranda, is by some geographers ascribed to Lycaonia, or by others doubtfully placed on the border of Pisidia and Isauria, which at the same time touches Lycaonia, as may be seen in the cited Cellarius in the Notitia of the Ancient World, volume 2, book 3, chapter 4, that is, page 123. Nor does the opinion of certain Greeks deserve greater credit, who in the Menology of the emperor Basil hand down that these three Brothers came from Cilicia to Mopsuestia, to demand back their paternal inheritance from an unjust stepmother, and that there they were accused by her as Christians, and that on that account, being seized by the prefect, they underwent in the same place various torments and at last death: for although Mopsuestia is a city of Cilicia, yet this new arena of martyrdom will be abundantly refuted by the Acts to be subjoined to this preliminary Commentary.
[4] and they seem to have been born in Cilicia. But as concerns the fatherland of these three Brothers, we know not on what foundation Metaphrastes called it Isauria. Nay, more probably they were sprung from Cilicia, since it was at Aegae or Aegaeae in Cilicia that they were accused, seized by the magistrate of Aegae, and detained in prison until the coming of the proconsul, as is plain from the beginning of the Acts, which in certain copies and in the most eminent Baronius, in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year of Christ 285, number 4, runs thus: Claudius, Asterius, and Neon were brought before the judge by their stepmother, on the ground that they were Christians, doing injury to the gods; and also Domnina and Theonilla were arraigned as guilty of the same crime; and all, being bound, were thrust into prison until the coming of the proconsul Lysias. But when the proconsul was going about the province, it came to pass that he arrived at Aegaea, where, sitting on the tribunal, he said: Let the Christians be brought to my examination who have been delivered to the magistrate of this city by the office. The reader therefore sees that those Martyrs were seized at Aegaeae, in which city they had probably been born and brought up. Let these things suffice concerning the true arena of the martyrdom and the more probable fatherland of the three Brothers, that we may proceed to the proving of their immemorial cultus.
[5] Certain ancient Martyrologies on the XXIII day of August Our Martyrs are commemorated on this day in the most ancient copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology, of which one announcement is more dislocated than another, as from the very report of the texts will presently strike the eyes. The Lucca transcript in Florentinius on the XXIII day of August has thus: In the province of Lycia, the birthday of Saints Egias, Claudius, Sterius, Neon. But the Corbie copy, a little more correctly,
runs thus: In the province of Cilicia, the birthday of Saints Agia, Claudius, Asterius, Neon, Domninus with their companions. Finally the most ancient codex of St. Willibrord announces the same Martyrs still more clearly in these words: In the province of Cicilia, in the city of Egae, of Claudius, Asterius, Neon, Domnina. Florus, among us before volume two of March, page XXIX, omits Domnina, and commemorates only the three Brothers thus: In the city of Egeae, the passion of Saints Claudius, Asterius, Neon, who were crucified under Lysias the governor.
[6] Nowhere here is mention made of St. Theonilla, whom nevertheless Usuard, in the corrected autograph of Saint-Germain (in other copies of the Martyrology of Usuard only three are enumerated), is said to have joined to St. Domnina in this manner: to these three Brothers they add two women In Lycia, in the city of Egea, of the holy martyrs Claudius, Asterius, Neon, Domnina, and Theonilla, who under Lysias the governor were tortured with various punishments and put to death. Although the author of the present Roman Martyrology seems to have taken his announcement from Usuard, yet he rightly changed Lycia into Cilicia, and enumerated these five Martyrs on the same day thus: At Aegeae in Cilicia, of the holy martyrs Claudius, Asterius, and Neon, brothers, who, accused by their stepmother of the Christian religion, under the emperor Diocletian and the governor Lysias, after bitter torments were fixed to the cross, and as victors triumphed with Christ. After them suffered Domnina and Theonilla. What is here recorded concerning the stepmother of the three Brothers was doubtless taken from certain Greek or even Latin copies of the Acts, as may be gathered from what has been said above, and will be confirmed by what is to be said below.
[7] Rabanus, following Usuard, retained Lycia for Cilicia, as having suffered on the same day, and on the tenth of the Kalends of September exhibits in his Martyrology a brief abridgment of the Acts in these words: The passion of three Brothers under Lysias the governor, in the province of Lycia, in the city of Aegea, that is, of Claudius, Asterius, Neon, whom the governor commanded to be tortured one by one: first Claudius to be hung on the rack, flames to be applied to his feet, which were in part mangled, and his sides to be burned with a most sharp potsherd and a burning candle; but Asterius his brother he likewise ordered to be hung on the rack, and burning coals to be strewn beneath his feet; his third brother, that is Neon, he ordered to be tortured in the neck, coals [ ] to be laid upon him, and his back to be beaten with sinews. But the women, that is, Domnina and Theonilla, to be cast upon the ground, and to be struck with blows, and their heads to be shorn [ ], and so to be burned with coals; and at the last he ordered their [ ] bodies, shut up in a sack, to be sunk in the sea.* Those things which Rabanus here narrates briefly and obscurely will receive greater light from the Acts to be published below.
[8] From the Martyrologies thus far reported it is openly clear that these Saints had a cultus from immemorial time, as Florentinius also observes and from the following observations it will appear that Florentinius judged prudently, when concerning his Hieronymian transcripts, page 772, he thus discoursed: in the province of Lycia. More aptly the Corbie Martyrology reads in the province of Cilicia; but it sticks in the same mire, when for the city Egea it reads Egia the martyr, or even by a greater slip Agia. But Rabanus too retains Lycia, who on the X Kalends has The passion of three Brothers under Lysias the governor, in the province of Lycia, in the city of Aegea, that is, of Claudius, Asterius, Neon, whose Acts he then runs through, mingling also the memory of Saints Domnina and Theonilla. The most ancient Martyrology, with less discrepancy, writes Cicilia for Cilicia, and rightly retains the city Egae (for so is that city of Cilicia called in Tacitus, which to Strabo is Egeas, to Ptolemy and Stephanus Aegae). Lycia for Cilicia has also Usuard, and from him Bellinus of Padua and Maurolycus. The proconsular and sincere Acts of the holy Martyrs, the three brothers Claudius, Asterius, and Neon, are extant in Surius, volume VIII. These, denounced by their stepmother, harassed with many torments and fixed to crosses, completed a noble combat.
[9] in the notes to his Martyrology, On the same day in the same city the holy women Donuina (so it is written in Surius, not Domnina), slain with cudgels, and Theonilla the widow, a true imitatrix of Christ, her head shaved with a razor and crowned with a wild bramble, beaten with scourges and burned in the belly, received the immortal crown. These most valiant women, although they were not companions of the holy brothers-german in the Passion, yet, since they completed their combat at Aegea under the proconsul Lysias, likewise on the tenth of the Kalends of September, as is noted at the foot of the same Acts, it is not incongruous that they should have been written together with them in the roll of the Saints and in the ancient Martyrologies, although through the injury of the times and the carelessness of copyists they were afterwards blotted out. This is persuaded by the most ancient Martyrology, in which Domnina is retained for Donuina, and by the Corbie Martyrology, in which is read Domninus with his companions; Theonilla being of course undeservedly passed over in both, and Donuina changed into Domninus. For Aterius also, in our codices, Asterius is to be restored. Thus far the Latin Martyrologies, to which we briefly add some Greek ones.
[10] although the Greeks on the XXX day of October On the XXX day of October the Greek Menology of the emperor Basil, which was composed in the tenth century, the Acts of these Martyrs being abridged, in Ughelli in the latest Venetian edition of Italia sacra, in the Appendix after the tenth volume, column 283, prefixes this title: The combat of the holy martyrs Claudius, Asterius, Neon, and Theonilla. After these follows an abridgment of the Acts, which we shall transcribe in the following paragraph. The great Greek Menaea on the same day celebrate the yearly memory τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων Ἀστερίου, Κλαυδίου, Νέωνος, καὶ τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῶν Νεονίλλας, that is, of the holy martyrs Asterius, Claudius, Neon, and their sister Neonilla. We know not with what show of truth the compilers of the Menaea called Neonilla the sister of those three Martyrs: for in the proconsular Acts to be exhibited below, Theonilla, whom the Greeks transformed into Neonilla, testifies before the governor that she had remained a widow twenty-three years, and the three Brothers in the same Acts are called boys. But it is not sufficiently probable that Martyrs so young had a sister of so mature an age.
[11] celebrate only those three Brothers and one woman. Then the Greeks in the praised Menaea adorn our Martyrs with these little verses:
Κλαύδιος, Ἀστέριος, ἀλλὰ καὶ Νέων Ἄθλων ξίφους ὤφθησαν ἀστέρες νέοι. Ἐπὶ ξύλου ταθεῖσα καὶ Νεονίλλα Ξύλου παλαιὰν εξερεύγεται βλάβην.
To me Claudius, and Asterius, and Neon also Seem, in the combat of the sword, new stars. But Neonilla, stretched out in body upon the beam of the wood, Belches forth the ancient harm of the wood.
The Greek poet by these obscure little verses wished to indicate, unless I am mistaken, that those three Brothers were slain with the sword, and that Neonilla, stretched upon the wood, with full mouth celebrated and in a manner belched forth the praises of Christ, who upon the wood of the cross restored the ancient harm which our first parents had brought upon the human race through the fruit of a tree. Besides, the author of these verses coldly alludes to the proper name Νέων, by which one of the Martyrs is called, and to the adjective νέον, which in Latin signifies new. Finally there appears also some allusion between the proper name of Asterius and the Greek word ἀστέρες, by which stars or heavenly bodies are indicated. Perhaps the holy Martyr, who in the ancient Acts and in the Menology of Basil is expressly called Theonilla, the more recent Greeks, on account of a like allusion to the adjective νέος, that is, new, changed into Neonilla. The compilers of the Menaea subjoin to these verses sufficiently prolix Acts of the same Martyrs, which nevertheless differ not a little from their authentic Acts, as we shall now observe in the following paragraph.
AnnotationsRead coals*.
That is, to be shorn*.
Perhaps their* (feminine).
§ II. The difference between the Greek and the Latin Acts, and the various copies of these.
The Menology of the emperor Basil, The Menology of the emperor Basil, which was published by Ughelli in Italia sacra, in the Appendix after the tenth volume of the latest Venetian edition, column 283, exhibits a synopsis of the Acts in these words: Claudius, Asterius, and Neon, under the emperor Diocletian and Lysias prefect of Cilicia, of entire and flourishing age, and brothers-german, having set out from Cilicia to Mopsuestia, began to demand back their paternal goods from their stepmother, and to pursue the matter by suit and judgment; but she, that she might give nothing, denounced them as Christians. Wherefore, detained by the prefect and questioned, they freely confessed Christ. Thence, being led down into the theater and stripped and raised upon the rack, they are first punished with cudgels, then most bitterly combed with iron claws, then, being afflicted with many other torments, all bound together with one chain and fixed to beams raised on high outside the walls of the city, they attained the crown of martyrdom. After these, holy Theonilla, lifted on high by the hair, is beaten with staves to such a degree that she expired amid dire torments. It will be of use to have noted certain things upon this text of the Menology.
[13] In the first place, the proconsular Acts say not a word concerning the suit which those three Brothers are said to have brought against their stepmother for the exacting of the paternal inheritance. in which some incongruous things occur, Yet I shall easily have believed that the stepsons were accused as Christians by a wicked stepmother gaping after their fortunes, since in other ancient copies of the Acts they are read to have been brought before the judge by their stepmother, as we saw above, number 4. Besides, the Menology of Basil seems implicitly to assert that Mopsuestia is not situated in Cilicia, when it confidently narrates that these Brothers, having set out from Cilicia to Mopsuestia, began juridically to demand back their paternal goods from their stepmother. But by common consent the ancient geographers place Mopsuestia, which by Pliny is simply called Mopsos and by others divisim Mopsi Hestia, in Cilicia; among whom Stephanus Byzantinus at the name of this city has the following: Mopsi Hestia, a town of Cilicia situated on the river Pyramus, which has its name from Mopsus the seer. But Procopius, in his work on the Buildings of the emperor Justinian, book 5, chapter 5, writes thus to our purpose: There is a city of Cilicia, Mopsuestia, the work, as they say, of that ancient seer. It is plain from these and other testimonies, which for brevity's sake I omit, that Mopsuestia is to be ascribed to Cilicia. With what criticism therefore does the author of the Menology of Basil affirm that these Martyrs departed from Cilicia to Mopsuestia? Finally, he seems to assign Mopsuestia to these Brothers as the arena of their martyrdom. But in this matter he conflicts with the most ancient Acts, as we noted in the preceding paragraph, and as will be made manifest from them below.
[14] and the great Greek Menaea The suit brought against the stepmother, and a distinct arena of martyrdom, the great Greek Menaea pass over in silence, in which, after the verses reported above, there follow Greek Acts, which we thus render into Latin: Under the first consulate of Diocletian, Lysias being governor of Cilicia, these were Christians and brothers-german, who dwelt together and possessed sufficient riches. After the death of their mother they received a stepmother, who afterwards, their father also being dead, striving to acquire the goods of her stepsons, betrayed them to the governor as Christians. But these Young Men, being questioned, said to the governor: We indeed despise all things, O governor, and whatever for the faith's sake to us
has befallen, we endure. But this woman, who has unhappily succeeded into the place of our mother, has brought us to thy tribunal, not from persecuting our religion, but from striving to claim for herself our paternal and maternal inheritance, which is abundant. Which things being heard, the governor seemed to aim at the same mark by his own right, and straightway Claudius by his command was stretched out by the four parts of his body, and his back mangled with rods. Then, hung by the extremities of his hands, burning coals being placed beneath his feet, he was scorched, and his sides were torn with iron combs. Then, his body having been rubbed with sharp potsherds, they burned it with kindled papers.
[15] in the Acts of these Martyrs, Amid all these things the Saint kept hearing: Sacrifice to the gods and thou shalt go free. But he said: I have said it again, for the faith of my Christ I despise death itself. Do what thou wilt. Then, taken down from the stake, they cast him back into prison, and brought forward Asterius, to whom Lysias said: What is thy name? When he was silent, he ordered his teeth to be broken, and by a herald to be dinned into his ears: Sacrifice to the gods. But he answered: Do what it pleases thee to do, O governor: for I will never deny Christ and my God. Then he was hung up and torn asunder, and, a heap of burning coals being placed beneath, his feet were scorched, and, cut to pieces with scourges, they thrust him back into prison. Then they brought forward Neon, who, being asked his name, answered: If thou wilt know my name, O governor, I am called Neon; nor is there anything more that thou shouldst hope from me: for I am the brother-german of those who have already been tortured before me; I cannot be separated from them, but I am here before thee for the confession of my Christ. Therefore do what thou art about to do. Then him also they stretched out and beat cruelly, and strewed fiery coals beneath his feet, and, after he had been beaten many hours, led him back to prison.
[16] which we here exhibit rendered into Latin, On the next day, Lysias sitting on the tribunal, they again brought forth holy Claudius, whom Lysias, wishing to exhort and to draw away from his resolve, thus addressed: Tell us, hast thou taken better counsel for thyself? To whom the Saint: I stand before thee more daring than yesterday, and by thy torments I have been made stronger and more confident. Then, bound most sharply by the extremities of his hands and feet, they hung him up, and with hand-instruments stretched apart the disjointed frames of his limbs, and after many hours thus half-dead, with his joints unloosed, they again committed him to the prison. The governor, looking upon Asterius who stood by, said: What sayest thou? Hast thou determined to sacrifice to the gods, and thenceforth to escape these punishments? To whom the Saint: He who has known the true God, and has placed all his hope in Him, cares not for death, though he be afflicted with infinite torments. Then Lysias said: Hang him up, prick his sides, cut off the extremities of his hands and feet, and burn his legs with fiery spits. Which being done, the Saint, feeling the sharpest pains, cried out: Let God see what thou doest, most cruel man, and expect a punishment worthy of thee. Then the governor ordered him to be thrust back into prison, and another to be set before him for questioning. When the Saint appeared, and was equally constant, they cut him, stretched out, with sinews; and, the former wounds and stripes being renewed, they made of his whole body one wound, his limbs being torn asunder, and they shut him up again in the prison.
[17] Then the governor ordered the sister of the Saints, Neonilla, to be brought, they narrate some things, and when he had found her firmer than a rock in the faith of Christ, he commands her face to be struck with blows, her feet to be bound together, and the soles beaten with thongs; then, these things being done, that she be hung by the tips of her bound hands, her head shaved, and her flesh, stretched out from the four extremities of her body, torn with raw sinews. Finally, as she lay on her back and prostrate on the earth, they roasted her bowels with coals, and so deprived her of life. Her venerable body, shut up in a sack, they cast into the deep sea. But the soldiers, cutting to pieces outside the walls of the city the bodies of Saints Claudius, Asterius, and Neon, cast them as food to the beasts. Thus the glorious Martyrs and brothers-german ended their life. Besides those things which in the preceding paragraph we noted upon the yearly announcement of the Menaea concerning Neonilla or Theonilla, we shall now discuss some points from these Greek Acts.
[18] At the beginning of these Acts our Martyrs are said to have suffered under the first consulate of Diocletian, differing from the proconsular Acts, which must be understood of the first consulate which Diocletian bore when already emperor: for in the consular Fasti in Pieter Reland, page 250, we read that before, in the year of Christ 284, Diocletian and Annius Bassus were substituted as consuls in place of M. Aurelius Carinus and M. Aurelius Numerianus. But this imperfect consulate of Diocletian is by some not numbered among his other consulates, and in certain consular Fasti is not expressed. In other Fasti, however, in the following year is noted the second consulate of Diocletian with Aristobulus, which answers to the year of Christ 285. It is therefore easily understood how the Greeks in their Menaea could call this the first consulate of Diocletian. If anyone should desire more on this matter, let him go to Tillemont in the History of the Emperors, volume 4, page 596, where he will clearly see that in the year of Christ 285 Diocletian was consul with Aristobulus, and consequently that our Martyrs in the same year attained the laurel of martyrdom.
[19] Let no one here object to us out of Eusebius that the Christians at that time enjoyed a great liberty of their religion, which being set forth and that the persecution of Diocletian began only some years after the beginning of his reign: for we shall easily answer this objection, that particular prefects of cities or provinces, for private superstition or hope of gain, always had occasion of harassing the Christians, and were able to allege the ancient edicts of the emperors in their own favor, although some emperor might connive at the exercise of the Christian religion. Hence Ruinart, in the preface to the Sincere and Select Acts of the Martyrs, which he published at Paris in the year 1689, page LVII, prudently forewarns the reader on that matter in these words: Yet we do not deny that in the first times of Diocletian the Church was harassed by no edicts, nor were the Christians then sought out, especially in those places which were under the special care of Diocletian, as is established from Eusebius's History, at the beginning of the eighth book. Whence, if there were then some martyrdoms, they were wrought either by the authority of the old laws, or from the temper of the governors, or on some other occasion, without edicts. Perhaps this Lysias, governor of Cilicia, was gaping after the abundant riches of those Martyrs, as is indicated in the Menaea.
[20] and assigned, Besides other discrepant circumstances of less moment which occur in these Acts, and which the learned reader will not with difficulty observe, the Menaea are altogether silent concerning the punishment of crucifixion with which those three Brothers were afflicted, and which in the Menology of Basil is thus recorded in Greek: Εἶτα μετὰ πολλὰς πικρὰς καὶ διαφόρους βασάνους, δήσαντες αὐτοὺς οἱ στρατιῶται εἰς μίαν ἅλυσιν, ἀπήγαγον ἔξω τοῦ τείχους τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἐπὶ ξύλον κρεμάσαντες, καὶ ἥλοις προσηλώσαντες, ἐφόνευσαν. That is: Then after many bitter and divers torments the soldiers, having bound them with one chain, led them away outside the wall of the city, and, hanging them upon a wood and nailing them with nails, slew them. Moreover neither in the Menology of Basil nor in the Menaea is any word made of St. Domnina, who nevertheless under the same prefect of Cilicia obtained the crown of martyrdom, and whom some ancient Latin Martyrologies join with the four others. Further, the martyrdom of St. Domnina is sufficiently certain to us from the proconsular Acts, concerning which we shall now premise a few words.
[21] after Ruinart Surius, Baronius, and finally Ruinart among the Sincere and Select Acts of the Martyrs published the history of these Martyrs from various codices. But the last editor, Ruinart, in the work already praised, of the Paris edition, page 278 and following, prefixes to those Acts this admonition: That under Lysias, governor of Cilicia, many Christians consummated martyrdom, the ecclesiastical registers hand down; among whom celebrated are Claudius, Asterius, and their companions, whose proconsular Acts, entire and genuine, were published by Surius on the XXIII day of the month of August, and by Baronius at the year CCLXXXV, from three manuscript codices. The same we have found in four manuscript codices, of which one, from our library of Saint-Germain, is of about seven hundred years; another, of the monastery of Corbie, approaches four hundred years. The third is of the noted library of St. Geneviève of Paris, and the fourth of the Convent of the Reverend Fathers, Discalced Carmelites, of Paris, which two seem a little more ancient. In these, however, are altogether the same things which are found in Surius and Baronius; but of a different, and indeed, as I judge, of a more ancient version: which for that reason, and because it has not yet come to light, we have preferred to the other. If, however, anything in the others be worthy of note, we shall note it in its place. Concerning the day or the year in which those Martyrs suffered there can be no difficulty, since both are expressed in the Acts. The year is designated by the consulate of Diocletian Augustus and Aristobulus, CCLXXXV. But the day is expressly stated, namely the tenth of the Kalends of September, on which day their memory is celebrated in the published Martyrologies.
[22] we enumerate various copies of the same Acts. To these we add some manuscript copies of the same Acts which are preserved in our Museum. Among them the first place is deserved by our Fulda codex, marked Q. Ms. 6, which might contend in antiquity with Ruinart's Saint-Germain codex. In it is read the same substance of the martyrdom, although the phrasing is changed here and there. Moreover from the same Fulda codex, unless I am mistaken, we have a transcript which has been collated with a Trier manuscript of St. Maximin. This differs from that in a few periods of less moment: for where the Fulda copy has, for example, me nocere non poteris and te consentiunt, there the Trier one has put mihi and tibi, and has corrected other like constructions. A third copy of the Acts comes forth from a parchment Passional of the convent of Böddeken in the diocese of Paderborn, which also differs somewhat in style from the others, and seems of a more recent age, because it omits a period which in the Fulda codex is in some sort erased, as we shall note afterwards in the Annotations. But since Ruinart's edition came forth from several ancient codices, we shall compare this reprinted text with our transcripts enumerated, and shall observe in the Annotations or in the margin any discrepancy, whenever any worthy of note shall occur.
PROCONSULAR ACTS.
From the Paris edition of Ruinart, page 279 and following, which we have collated with our manuscript Fulda codex and other transcripts.
Claudius, martyr at Aegae in Cilicia (St.)
Asterius, martyr at Aegae in Cilicia (St.)
Neon, martyr at Aegae in Cilicia (St.)
Domnina, martyr at Aegae in Cilicia (St.)
Theonilla, martyr at Aegae in Cilicia (St.)
BHL Number: 1829
FROM THE PRINTED TEXTS.
When Lysias, having questioned Claudius Lysias, a governor of the province of Lycia b, in the city of Aegea, sitting on the tribunal, said: Let there be presented to my examination [*] the Christians who have been delivered to the curials of this city by the Office. Euthalius c the recorder said: According to thy command, my lord, what Christians the curials of this city were able to seize
they present: three boys, brothers, and two women with a little child. Of these one stands before the sight of thy Brightness. What does thy Nobility command concerning him? Lysias the governor said: What art thou called? He answered: Claudius. Lysias the governor said: Do not destroy thy youth along with thy madness d. But even now come forward, sacrifice to the gods, according to the command of our lord Augustus, that thou mayest be able to escape the torments which are prepared for thee. Claudius said: My God has no need of such sacrifices, but of alms and of just conversation e: for your gods are unclean demons; therefore they delight in sacrifices of this kind, destroying souls forever — those, at least, which worship them. Wherefore in nothing dost thou persuade me to worship them.
[2] Then Lysias the governor commanded him to be made ready for the rods, had ordered him to be afflicted with various torments, saying: By no other kind shall I overcome his madness. Claudius said: Even shouldst thou apply heavier torments, in nothing wilt thou hurt me; but for thine own soul thou providest eternal torments. Lysias the governor said: Our lords the emperors f have commanded that you Christians sacrifice to the gods, and that those who gainsay be punished; but that to those who yield honors and gifts be promised. Claudius said: Their gifts are temporal; but the confession of Christ is eternal salvation. Then Lysias the governor ordered him to be hung on the rack, and flame to be applied to his feet; and also that pieces be cut off from his heels, and offered [*] to him. Claudius said: They that fear God can be hurt neither by fire nor by torments. For it will rather profit them unto eternal salvation, because for Christ they suffer these things.
[3] that he should forsake the Christian faith, Then Lysias the governor ordered him to be harassed with the claws. Claudius said: This is my purpose, that I may show thee that thou defendest demons. For with torments thou wilt not be able to hurt me [*]; but for thy soul thou hast provided the unquenchable fire. Lysias the governor said: Taking a most rough potsherd, press upon his sides, and apply burning candles to the same. And when it had been done, Claudius said: For me thy fire and thy torments will save my soul: since what I suffer for God, I count great gain, and to die for Christ, many riches. But Lysias, being angry, ordered him to be taken down from the rack and to be given into custody.
[4] also his brothers Euthalius the recorder said: According to the command of thy Power, my lord governor, there stands here Asterius, the second brother. Lysias the governor said: Believe thou at least, and sacrifice to the gods, having before thine eyes the torments which are prepared for those who gainsay. Asterius said: God is one, who alone is to come, dwelling in heaven and looking upon lowly things in His great power. That I should worship and love Him was handed down to me by my parents. But these whom thou worshipest, who are called gods by thee, I know not. The ruin of all your men who agree with thee is this invention, not truth. Then Lysias ordered him to be hung on the rack, saying: Torturing his sides, say to him: Now at least believe, and sacrifice to the gods. Asterius said: I am the brother of him who a little while ago answered thy questionings. For me and for him there is one mind, one confession. Do what thou canst. My body thou hast in thy power; my soul thou hast not.
[5] first of all Asterius, Lysias said: Take the iron pincers, and bind his feet together, and torture him strongly, that he may feel the torments both of body and of soul. Asterius said: Foolish and mad man g, for what cause dost thou afflict me with torments? Hast thou not before thine eyes what for these things the Lord will render thee? Lysias said: Strew coals of fire beneath his feet; and with rods and the hardest sinews bruise his back and his belly. And when it had been done, Asterius said: Thou art blind in all things. But this I ask of thee, that thou leave no part of my body unwounded and unhurt. Lysias said: Let him be kept with the rest.
[6] and then orders Neon to be tortured, and adjudges them all to death, Euthalius the recorder said: There stands here their third brother, by name Neon. Lysias said: Son, do thou at least come forward, and sacrifice to the gods, and thou shalt escape the torments. Neon said: Thy gods, if they have any power, let them defend themselves from those who deny them, and let them not require thy defense. But if thou art a partner of their malice, I am much better than thy gods, and than thee, because I do not obey you, having the true God, who made heaven and earth. Lysias the governor said: Breaking his neck, say to him: Do not blaspheme the gods. Neon said: Do I seem to thee a blasphemer in speaking the truth? Lysias said: Stretch him out by the feet, and cast coals upon him, and cut his back with sinews. And when it had been done, Neon said: What I know to be useful to me and gain to my soul, that will I do. I cannot change my purpose. Lysias said: Under the charge of Euthalius the recorder and of Archelaus the executioner, let these three brothers, as they deserve, be crucified outside the city, that the birds may tear their bodies h.
[7] after whom he puts to death Domnina Euthalius the recorder said: According to the command of thy Brightness, my lord, there stands here Domnina. Lysias said: Thou seest, woman, what torments and what fire are prepared for thee. Wherefore, if thou wilt escape, come forward and sacrifice to the gods. Domnina said: Lest I fall into eternal fire and perpetual torments, I worship God and His Christ, who made [ ] and earth, and all things which are in them. For your gods are of stone and of wood, made with the hands of men. Lysias said: Put aside her garments; stretch her out naked, and cut all her limbs with rods. Archelaus the executioner said: By thy Highness, Domnina has already failed. Lysias the governor said: Cast her body into a deep place of the river.
[8] Euthalius the recorder said: There stands here Theonilla. and Theonilla Lysias the governor said: Thou seest, woman, what manner of fire, or what torments, are prepared for those who have dared to gainsay. Wherefore, coming forward, honor the gods, and sacrifice, that thou mayest be able to escape the torments. Theonilla said: I fear the eternal fire, which can destroy body and soul, and that above all of those who have impiously forsaken God, and have adored idols and demons. Lysias said: Beat her face with blows, and cast her upon the ground, binding her feet, and torture her strongly. And when it had been done, Theonilla said: If it seems good to thee thus to torture a freeborn and a stranger woman, thou knowest. God sees what thou doest. Lysias said: Hang her by the hair, and strike her face with blows. Theonilla said: Is it not enough that thou hast set me naked? And not me alone, but thou hast clothed thy mother also and thy wife with confusion through me: for all we women are of one nature [i].
[9] Lysias said: Hast thou a husband, or art thou a widow? Theonilla said: with divers torments. To this present day I have been a widow XXIII years; and for my God's sake I have so remained, fasting and watching in prayers, from the time when I departed from unclean idols and knew my God. Lysias said: With a sharp razor shave her head, that so at least she may blush: and gird her with a bramble of the field, and stretch her out by four stakes, and with a thong cut not only her back but her whole body. Cast coals also upon her belly; and so let her die. Euthalius the recorder and Archelaus the executioner said: My lord, she has already given up her soul. Lysias said: Bring a sack, and put her body into it, and bind it strongly, and let it be cast into the sea. Euthalius the recorder and Archelaus the executioner said: According to the command of thy Eminence, my lord, as thou hast ordered concerning the bodies of the Christians, so has it been done k. This passion took place in the city of Aegea, under Lysias the governor, on the X Kalends of September, Augustus and Aristobulus being consuls: for which passions of the Saints be honor and glory to God.
ANNOTATIONS.
i. These
last period is so erased in our Fulda codex that it can be read only with difficulty and by conjecture. Hence in the Böddeken transcript it is altogether omitted. Perhaps someone erased it, lest it should offend chaste ears. But we, with Ruinart, have chosen to be faithful rather than scrupulous.
Elsewhere, presence*.
Fulda: taken away*.
Trier: to me*.