ON THE HOLY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE:
THEOZONUS, VICTOR, EMERITA OR EMERITUS, WITH TWO BROTHERS, STATIANUS, CAPITO, SILVANUS, STERCATIUS, AND CHARITON.
From the Hieronymian Martyrologies.
CommentaryTheozonus, Martyr at Sebaste in Armenia (St.)
Victor, Martyr at Sebaste in Armenia (St.)
Emerita or Emeritus, Martyr at Sebaste in Armenia (St.)
Two brothers, Martyrs at Sebaste in Armenia. Statianus, Martyr at Sebaste in Armenia (St.)
Capito, Martyr at Sebaste in Armenia (St.)
Silvanus, Martyr at Sebaste in Armenia (St.)
Stercatius, Martyr at Sebaste in Armenia (St.)
Chariton, Martyr at Sebaste in Armenia (St.)
J. B. S.
From the Hieronymian Martyrologies, I say; but ones to be restored somehow, for in the state in which the marked Martyrs are reported in the codices, there is no one who could conveniently enough smooth out the order, disturbed both in these and in others. That you may plainly perceive this, If the Hieronymian [entries be rightly composed,] you must swallow the entanglements with me. Hear now the texts of the Hieronymian copies, as they are reported by Florentinius. I premise the list of the most ancient Epternach codex: In Lesser Armenia, at Sebaste, of Theogenes … Either I am greatly mistaken, or "Sebasti" here is not the name of a martyr, but of the city of Sebaste itself, which other codices transformed into "Sabatia" and "Sabbaia," with a sense no more intelligible. For in the Lucca codices it is thus: In the city of Armenia — which is inept — the birthday of the holy Sabatia, Theozonus … where, if the writer wished to say anything, the construction is to be so ordered that the sense may be: In the Armenian city of Sebaste, the birthday of the holy Theozonus… Nor is the Corbie codex more exact, with "In the city of Armenia, the birthday of the holy Sabbeia, Theozonus …" The beginnings being disturbed in that manner, the following, equally entangled, correspond exactly; that you may most clearly perceive it, behold the rest of the announcement in the Epternach codex. After "of Theogenes" it follows thus: Of Victor and of 83 others. At Rome, of Victorinus the soldier, of Acianus, Capito, Silvanus, Stercatius, Athenogenes, Charton.
[2] All things are twisted. Victor pertains entirely to the Sebastenes, but the 83 others by no means: whether they be martyrs or mileposts, these ten Martyrs we shall examine below. "At Rome, of Victorinus the soldier," likewise signifies nothing: Victorinus is to be brought back to Amiternum; the remaining names we shall try to smooth out and combine. The Lucca codices continue thus after "of Theozonus": Of Victor the soldier, who suffered many torments, Emerita with 2 brothers, of Statianus, Capito, Silvanus, Stercatius, Athenogenes, Chariton. You have here eleven combatants, two anonymous, the other nine expressed by their proper names. Let it be permitted to take "Emerita" for the name of a martyr, and, if you so wish, to change it into "Emeritus" — as appears more from the list of the following day — we shall find St. Athenogenes, of whom we treated on July 17 (and who therefore was omitted in the class named at the head), mixed in with his ten companions or disciples; he is perhaps the one who, in our Hieronymian codices on the following day, is noted under the name Agathenes or Agathonus. Nor will the Corbie codex be far from this, if you remove the punctuation, and join the word "the soldier" with "of Victor." Thus there, after "of Theozonus": Of Victor the soldier, of Emerita with two brothers, of Statianus, Capito, Silvanus, Stercatius, Athenogenes, Chariton. The names agree, the number agrees, so that, all things being duly weighed, I for my part scarcely doubt that the knot, otherwise inextricable, is to be loosed, or cut, in that or a not dissimilar way. Most of those Saints are marked again in the list of the following day.
[3] they must be drawn out from them. More roundly Castellanus collected those names, I know not from what source, in a note to the Roman Martyrology, and expressly called them disciples of St. Athenogenes, in this order: At Sebaste, of the holy Emeritus, Victor, Meliton (for Capito), Theozonus, of the two brothers of Emeritus, Statianus,
Chariton, Silvanus, and Stercatius. Turn the cited texts of the Hieronymian Martyrologies in whatever way you will, you will hammer out a somewhat tolerable sense only in this or in some like manner. If you should ask why the companions of St. Athenogenes were marked on this day, crowned with martyrdom on the same day as their own master, since he was reported on July 17; the answer is easy, that, following the Greeks, we found that day sacred to the martyrdom of St. Athenogenes, rather than January 18, where Baronius had placed him, as you will find explained at length there. But Castellanus answers that here is taken the twenty-fourth of the Greek month (doubtless the Macedonian) Loüs, which ought to be confused not with the 24th of our month July, but with the 17th. But in explaining this difficulty, such as it is, I labor not at all; a far greater one remains, not easily to be surmounted, if it be exacted to every kind of rigor.