Four Crowned Martyrs

ON THE HOLY FOUR CROWNED MARTYRS, AT ROME ON THE CAELIAN HILL,

IN THE YEAR 306

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY

The Four Crowned Ones, venerated at Rome (SS.)

BY H. D.

[1] The acts of the four saints, Not without long hesitation have we entitled this treatise of ours On the Four Saints, since those ancient Acts, which we are about to devote our labour to illustrating, narrate the deeds of a twin band of martyrs, and it is disputed among all the most learned men to which of the two the appellation "Crowned" belongs. For the principal part of the history concerns the Pannonian martyrs Sempronianus, Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius and Simplicius, but it closes with the passion of four Roman martyrs, whom some assert to be anonymous, while others call them Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus, Victorinus. Moreover, that it was not altogether clear even to the ancients which of them were to be designated by the proper term of the Crowned Ones is taught by the very title of these same Acts, which varies in various codices. For in some is read: The Passion of Saints Simpronianus, Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius and Simplicius (below, cod. A1); but in others either The Passion of the holy four crowned ones Simpronianus, Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius, Simplicius (cod. B 6), or thus: The Passion of Saints Simpronianus, Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius, Simplicius and others, but at the end: Here ends the Passion of the holy four crowned ones (Cod. B7), or again: The Passion of the blessed martyrs Simpronianus, Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius and Simplicius, and also of the four crowned ones Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus and Victorinus (cod. C11). We omit very many [In a fragment of a passionary of the convent of St. Francis at Assisi, I. B. De Rossi testifies that he read this heading, Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, 1879, p. 83: Pass. scor. marm. IIII coronator. severus, severianus, carpoforus et victorinus, and he interprets its first words thus: Pass(io) s(an)c(t)or(um) marm(orariorum) etc., which is a new and enormous confusion of things. But, unless I am mistaken, it is not to be read so, but rather Passio sanctorum mar(tyru)m, which is the common reading] in which today's acts are called simply The Passion of the holy four crowned ones [Often too, as in the Brussels codex 7483, the names of the five saints are read in the heading without any addition, but at the end: Here ends the passion of the holy four crowned ones]. Let no one suppose that the controversy is a light one and about the name alone, since, in our judgement at least, the hinge of a most intricate dispute turns almost on resolving this doubt.

[2] called the crowned ones by antonomasia, So as not to be delayed by matters of lesser moment in what follows, let us speak briefly, on the very threshold of the treatise, of the force and meaning of the word Coronati itself. Now coronatus is a name of dignity which is used chiefly of the priests of a province, at least in the third and fourth centuries after Christ, as in these inscriptions: M. Antonius Valentinus, Roman knight … priest of the altar of our Augustus, coronatus of the three Dacias C. I. L., III, 1433; To C. Matrinius Aurelius Antoninus, son of Gaius, of the tribe Lemonia, vir perfectissimus, coronatus of Tuscia and Umbria, pontiff of the Flavian gens C. I. L., XI, 5283. Likewise in the order of salutation under the emperor Julian in the province of Numidia: First the senators and counts … third the coronati of the provin[ce] … [C. I. L., VIII, 17896; O. Hirschfeld, in Archaeologisch-epigraphische Mittheilungen aus Oesterreich, vol. IX (1885), p. 21; provinciae was supplied by I. B. de Rossi, in Ephemeris epigraphica, vol. V, p. 631]. Mention of coronati is also made in a law of the year 407: whatever things pertaining to the church alone shall have been specially obtained, not through coronati but through advocates Codex Theodosianus 16, 2, 38, where some have been pleased to think it can be understood either of persons of rank or even of clerics wearing the crown or tonsure [Gudeman, in Thesaurus linguae latinae, vol. IV, p. 992; cf. Gothofredus, on this passage of the code, vol. VI, p. 35]. But whatever you may think of the received use of the word, no light is shed from it on our subject, since our martyrs have nothing whatever in common with the priests of the gentiles, with magistrates of any order, or with the Christian clergy. There will perhaps not be lacking those who think that the word coronati could have been interchanged with that of cornicularii, by which name the four Roman martyrs are called. But that plainly does not agree with the usages of the ancient age; for cornicularii were never called coronati; indeed, in the order of salutation just cited, the cornicularius is distinguished from the coronati even by his place: First the senators …, second the princeps, the cornicularius, the palatini; third the coronati C. I. L., VIII, 17896. It remains that you understand coronati as those distinguished by the crown of martyrdom, in the way in which Prudentius sang of the martyrs of Córdoba, Acisclus and Zoellus, and three crowns, namely Faustus, Januarius, Martial Peristephanon, IV, 20. This view has already pleased De Rossi Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, 1879, p. 84, nor have we anything better to offer, the more so because the crown is proved by many things to be a most ancient emblem of the martyrs. Already in the Shepherd of Hermas (Similitude VIII, 3, 6), to the one asking who are those who are crowned and go into the tower, the answer is given: They are those who have suffered for the law. It will be useful also to have noted this, that the word coronati does not occur in the Acts of the martyrs themselves, nor yet in their original heading. The church on the Caelian, however, in which the veneration of our saints flourished of old as it does today, has been called, at least from the sixth century, the titulus of the Holy Four Crowned Ones, whose presbyter Fortunatus subscribed to the Roman council of the year 595 Registrum of Gregory I, V, 57a, Ewald-Hartmann, vol. I, p. 367.

[3] are worth reading, though most intricate. The Acts of our saints, first published by Mombritius BHL 1837, lay long neglected, indeed despised Tillemont, Mémoires, vol. IV, p. 745, until W. Wattenbach brought them forth from the Gotha codex (our B 12) [Sitzungsberichte der phil.-hist. Classe der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. X (1853), pp. 118 – 26], who, applying fresh care, published them a second [Büdinger, Untersuchungen zur römischen Kaisergeschichte, vol. III (1870), pp. 324 – 38] and a third time [Sitzungsberichte der K. Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1896, pp. 1292 – 1302]. That they are of no small moment, and likewise that they teem with almost insuperable difficulties, was at once perceived by the most learned men who undertook with erudite rivalry to illustrate them: Th. G. von Karajan [Sitzungsberichte der phil.-hist. Classe der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. X, pp. 127 – 37], Th. Keim [Eine christliche Quelle über die erste Regierungszeit Diocletians, Deutsche Vierteljahrschrift für englischtheologische Forschung, vol. II (1863), pp. 3 – 11], O. Hunziker [In M. Büdinger, Untersuchungen zur Römischen Kaisergeschichte, vol. II (Leipzig, 1868), pp. 262 – 65; vol. III, pp. 3 – 11], O. Benndorf Ibid., vol. III, pp. 339 – 56, M. Büdinger Ibid., vol. III, pp. 357 – 79, A. Duncker [Zur Chronologie der Passio sanctorum IV Coronatorum, Rheinisches Museum, N. F. vol. XXXI (1876), pp. 440 – 45], I. B. De Rossi Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, 1879, pp. 45 – 95, M. Petschenig [Zur Kritik und Würdigung der Passio sanctorum Quatuor Coronatorum, Sitzungsberichte der phil.-hist. Cl. der k. Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. XCVII (1880), pp. 761 – 79. Cf. Neues Archiv für aeltere deutsche Geschichtskunde, vol. VII (1881), p. 226], C. Erbes [Die Geschichte der SS. Quatuor Coronati, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, vol. V (1882), pp. 466 – 87], Edm. Meyer [Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, vol. XVIII (1878), pp. 577 – 603; Ueber die Passio sanctorum Quatuor Coronatorum, Wissenschaftliche Beilage zum Programm des Königl. Luisen Gymnasiums, Berlin, 1886], P. Karlić [Passio sanctorum Quatuor Coronatorum, III Program c. k. Velike Državne gimnazije u Zadru, 1903 – 1904 (Zadar, 1904), pp. 1 – 22] and some others [Whose books we shall adduce below in §4, where we treat of the cult and veneration of the Four Saints] who touched on them piecemeal. How much we have profited from reading all of these, the individual pages of this commentary will teach the reader. Yet we have not been able to approve all things and make them our own, since their opinions very often go in different directions, and no unravelling of the whole matter has hitherto, so far as I know, carried the vote of all the learned. Not on that account, however, will it be necessary, whenever we catch someone in error, to set out and refute his arguments, unless we wished to go on to infinity.

§ I. On the ancient Acts of the Holy Four Crowned Ones.

[4] The ancient Passion We call ancient Acts those which are extant in almost innumerable legendaries on the 8th day of November, and which, if you consider the matter more attentively, you will easily perceive to be the only source of absolutely all the narratives we have about our saints. Now, having gone through a long series of manuscript books and weighed an immense store of readings, it has clearly appeared that all the codices spring from a double stock, of which the one is most ancient — not, however, original, as I shall try to show in its place — the other more recent, which presents the old Passion reworked from head to foot. many codices have preserved, And that recension, indeed, which is purer, or, to speak more correctly, more rough and rustic (A), so evidently reproduces the native appearance of the little book better that the matter needs no proof. But that this one (B) is of a more ornate and more correct style, though by no means elegant, shines out from almost every sentence. In the first twenty-one chapters, moreover, the one who adapted the little book seems to have corrected almost the phrasing alone, and must be said scarcely to have touched the sense; but in the last chapter he interpolated certain words which have wonderfully tormented the wits of the learned. For where the earlier recension brought in anonymous cornicularii: certain four cornicularii were being compelled to sacrifice, he subjoined their names, and wrote this, which is read in all the copies of the later Passion: certain four cornicularii, whose names are these, Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus and Victorinus. From where he borrowed these it is not the place here to inquire; it will, however, soon be manifest, as I think. Now this second recension of the Passion, in which there are both many obscurities and a humbler style, was again corrected here and there by other copyists, by others, as happens, slightly reworked, often also contracted. To set the variants of all these before the eyes of the readers would, we perceived, be a labour as immense as it is useless.

[5] whose series All things having therefore been duly weighed, we thought that very many codices should be set aside, lest we be overwhelmed by a useless farrago of variant readings, but that some should be selected, from an inspection of which it would at once be plain in what way the history of the four saints flowed down to us from one source through various rivulets; and we have adduced by preference those which the most learned men appeared to value highly. Come now, these are the codices we have used.

[6] is divided into two principal classes A 1 = Codex of the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, lat. 10861, formerly of the monastery of Saint Peter of Beauvais, of 123 folios, 0m,255 × 0,185, written in double columns in the eighth century, contains among various Passions of martyrs Catalogus codicum Latinorum Parisiensium, vol. II, pp. 605 – 606 on fols. 75v – 82v the Passion of SS. Simpronianus, Claudius and companions, which I. B. De Rossi had already perceived to be the most ancient of all Bullettino, 1879, pp. 68 – 70, and from this codex W. Wattenbach published it Sitzungsberichte der k. preussischen Akademie, 1896, pp. 1292 – 1302, after he had rightly spoken of the age of the script Neues Archiv …, vol. V (1880), p. 228. We collated the codex again, and we thought it necessary to leave untouched and carefully to reproduce its plainly rustic manner of writing and almost barbarous phrasing, so that in very few places have we corrected what the copyist had carelessly erred in.

A 2 = Codex of the Biblioteca Vallicelliana VIII, written in Beneventan script in the twelfth century Catalogus codicum Latinorum Romanorum, pp. 329 – 335. It contains the Passion, fols. 155 – 159, mutilated at the beginning, starting in the middle of chapter 6 with these words: desidero et desideravi. It mostly agrees with codex A1.

By both A codices it is handed down that a certain Porphyrius, a censualis a gleba, an actuary, of whom later, wrote the Passion.

[7] is distributed. B 1 = Codex of the Bollandist library 14, written in the tenth century Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XXIV, pp. 432 – 37. It contains the Passion at fols. 116v – 118v.

B 2 = Codex of the chapter of Verona 95 (formerly 90), of parchment, of 272 folios, 0m,308 × 0,205, written in the ninth century. Among very many Lives of saints there is, at fols. 24 – 34, the Passion of the Holy Four Crowned Ones, which was collated for us by the most learned and most kind A. Spagnolo, canon of the cathedral of Verona, prefect of the chapter library.

B 3 = Codex of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana B 55 inf., written in the eleventh century Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XI, pp. 252 – 64. It contains the passion at fols. 210 – 214.

B 4 = Codex of the Vatican Library, lat. 1192, written in the twelfth century Catalogus codicum Latinorum Vaticanorum, p. 48. It contains the Passion at fols. 25 – 28v. In the initial letter T of the little book four heads are seen painted, with these names: Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus, Victorinus.

B 5 = Codex of the archive of the chapter of Saint Peter's in the Vatican A 5, written in the eleventh century Catalogus codicum Latinorum Romanorum, pp. 15 – 20. At fols. 84v – 90 there is the Passion, enriched with many corrections in a slightly later hand, of which it seemed good to note only the chief ones.

B 6 = Codex of the public library of Bern 48, of parchment, of 192 folios, 0m,34 × 0,23, written in divided pages in the tenth – eleventh century H. Hagen, Catalogus codicum Bernensium (Bern, 1875), pp. 69 – 72. It contains the Passion at fols. 77v – 82v. With the kind consent of the prefect of the library, I was able to collate the codex at home. M. Petschenig had already used the same Sitzungsberichte der k. Akademie, vol. XCVII, pp. 762 – 765.

B 7 = Munich Latin codex 4608, formerly of Benediktbeuern, of parchment, of 329 folios, 0m,220 × 0,155, written in the twelfth century [Catalogus codicum latinorum bibliothecae regiae Monacensis, second edition, vol. I (Munich, 1894), p. 215]. It contains the Passion at fols. 179 – 186, which Wattenbach published from this very codex In Büdinger, at the volume cited, pp. 324 – 38.

B 8 = Codex of Zwettl 14, of parchment, of 201 folios, of the larger format, written in the thirteenth century, handsome with pictures and ornamented letters [S. Rössler, Verzeichniss der Handschriften der Bibliothek des Stiftes Zwettl, Xenia Bernardina, vol. II (Vienna, 1891), p. 307. Pertz in Archiv für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde, vol. VIII (1843), p. 724]. It contains the Passion at fols. 133v – 135v, which, with the consent of the most reverend abbot, who ordered the codex to be sent to us, we were able to collate in our library. It has not a few singular readings, which, though they seemed of very little moment, we have nevertheless noted.

B 9 = Munich Latin codex 9506, formerly of the monastery of Oberaltaich, of parchment, of 173 folios, 0m,38 × 0,27, written in the twelfth century [Catalogus codicum latinorum bibliothecae regiae Monacensis, vol. II (1874), pp. 94 – 95]. It contains the Passion at fols. 74 – 76v. This codex, which the prefect of the Munich library sent to Brussels together with the following one, had already been used by W. Wattenbach In Büdinger, at the volume cited, pp. 323 – 38.

B 10 = Munich Latin codex 22244, formerly of Windberg, of parchment, of 211 folios, 0m,39 × 0,27, written in the twelfth century Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XVII, pp. 116 – 18. It contains the Passion at fols. 130 – 134.

B 11 = Codex of the public library of Troyes 1248, formerly marked D. 65 in the Bouhier library (in the year 1721), of parchment, of 141 folios, 0m,24 × 0,16, written in full lines by various hands, mostly of the eleventh century [Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques des départements, vol. II (Paris, 1855), p. 511]. It contains the Passion at fols. 92 – 97. It often agrees with B 6. Here I note in passing that for the name of the first martyr, which was Simpronianus, Simpronius is often written over an erasure in the Troyes codex.

B 12 = Gotha codex fol. 64, of parchment, of 238 folios, 0m,43 × 0,325, written in double columns in the fourteenth century. At fols. 101 – 106 [Fr. Jacobs, Beiträge zur älteren Litteratur, vol. III, p. 262; W. Arndt, in Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, vol. X (Göttingen, 1870), p. 603] the recension of the Passion is corrected in many places. From this codex W. Wattenbach first brought forth the Passion of the Four Saints [Sitzungsberichte der phil.-hist. Classe der kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. X, pp. 6 – 14]. With this edition we collated only chapters 1, 2, 20 – 22.

E = Codex of Einsiedeln 256, of parchment, of 576 pages, 0m,27 × 0,195. It contains the Passion at pp. 276 – 284 [G. Meier, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum qui in bibliotheca monasterii Einsidlensis O. S. B. servantur, vol. I (Einsiedeln, 1899), pp. 222 – 29]. We could not inspect the codex, but we received the variant readings from the Rev. Father G. Meier, prefect of the monastery library. Although it offers good readings, it is nevertheless of lesser moment, since it often contracts the phrasing and omits some things. Yet we did not wish wholly to neglect a codex which I. B. De Rossi by no means despised, and therefore we have given specimens from it at chapters 1 – 3, 20 – 22.

[8] On what principle the ancient Acts are edited, With these aids applied, then, we thought the Passion should be edited in such a way that we would reproduce the ancient recension from codex A 1 as accurately as possible, the readings of codex A 2 being relegated to the foot of the page; the more recent recension B we have also sent there, because it is in fact to be little valued and access to it lies open in all the editions printed hitherto, the third of Wattenbach alone excepted. Yet we have noted most of the readings of the individual codices, neglecting for the most part those which concern only the norm of spelling, provided there is no doubt about the true reading. For what does it matter that they write filisofi, phylosophi, fylosophi here and there, when there is no ambiguity whatever about the word itself? I give warning here once that in the names of persons no slight variety occurs here and there. Where the more recent codices name Diocletianus, the older ones mostly write Dioclitianus. The bishop of Antioch is called Cyrillus, Cirillus or Quirillus; in one codex (B6) now Simplicius, now again Symplicius is read. Of greater moment is the fact that the one who is first in the order of our saints, Simpronianus, is called Sympronianus (codd. A1, B6), Simphronianus (B1), Simphorianus, Symphorianus (B3, 7), Simpronius (B11) in various codices, and variously also in the same codex (e.g. B8, B11). In the most ancient document, however, which makes mention of the four saints, which is the Roman Depositio martyrum, and also in the ancient sacramentaries [On the testimony of Notker: Of Symphorianus, or, as is contained in the book of sacraments, of Sempronianus. H. Canisius, Lectiones antiquae, vol. II, p. 821], he is called Sempronianus, and that this is the correct spelling of the name both De Rossi Bullettino, 1879, p. 33 and Petschenig Sitzungsberichte der kais. Akad., vol. XCVII, p. 765 have proved. From the readings of our codices, therefore, Simpronianus is to be preferred with the older ones,

which already found preference with our Sollerius Martyrologium Usuardi, p. 659.

[9] which consist of a Pannonian and a Roman Passion. That the Acts of our saints are twofold is plain, and the learned have distinguished each part by most fitting names, calling the one the Pannonian passion, the other the Roman passion. And indeed the one who edited the Acts judged, with no one objecting, that the former is comprised in chapters 1 – 20, the latter in chapters 21, 22 of our edition. For us the Pannonian Passion rather consists of chapters 1 – 21, the Roman of chapter 22 alone, and in what follows we understand the matter so, and not from caprice. For if you read the whole history attentively, you will perceive that the narrative, which ran along on level foot as far as chapter 21, suddenly halts at this place, and you will not doubt that the little book is mutilated at these words and placed them in his house. For after the hagiographer had unfolded most fittingly, though in a style scarcely elegant, the seemly confession of the holy craftsmen from its beginnings down to their death, he begins to speak of the fate of their relics, namely that, in Diocletian's absence, a certain Christian named Nicodemus drew the bodies out of the river and placed them in his house. That the sacred pledges remained perpetually in a private dwelling will certainly seem probable to no one, nor yet that the hagiographer, who is accustomed to pursue the rest accurately, touched on the matter so in passing and broke off abruptly to other things, namely to the history of the Roman martyrs. It is therefore certain to us that the original narrative is mutilated at the end, and that by the one who sewed the Roman Passion onto the Pannonian all those things were deleted which you would rightly expect after the clause and placed them in his house, for instance about the basilica of the martyrs built after the peace of the church, or about their bodies translated to Rome. What cause impelled the shameless man rashly to truncate another's writing and patch it from his own wit — for that, unless I am mistaken, is what he did — will have to be inquired into in what follows.

[10] On the fifth martyr, Simplicius. To one reading the Pannonian Passion more attentively the suspicion enters the mind that the name of Simplicius has here and there, by the fault of the copyists, been added to the other four. For now mention is made of four alone, Simpronianus, Claudius, Nicostratus and Castorius (cc. 1, 5, 10), but now of five, Simplicius namely being added (cc. 2, 3, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18), and there is a place where Simplicius comes in in such a way that he seems in fact to have crept in carelessly. For instance in these places: c. 3, he called to himself Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus AND Castorius AND Simplicius; c. 12, the philosophers said to Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus AND Castorius AND Simplicius, the very expression is strange; and after it had been said by Diocletian, c. 10, I wish columns with leafed capitals to be cut from the porphyry mountain under the direction of Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus and Castorius, in c. 12 we hear the philosophers reviling Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus and Castorius and Simplicius. We do not deny that in some places the sequence of the narrative would be better if you deleted Simplicius; but on the other hand, if you brought him in elsewhere you would attain the sense better. Since, therefore, it is established that our hagiographer was not so skilled in the art of writing, nor weighed each thing cautiously, and since moreover the deeds of Simplicius are most closely connected with the history of the other four, and these five are expressly stated (cc. 12, 19), things which perhaps need no emendation are not to be emended by any conjecture. Certainly he went too far who undertook to remove Simplicius himself Erbes, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, vol. V, pp. 477 – 78, and asserted that he was none other than that Simplicius who was crowned with martyrdom at the Sextus of Philippus [De Rossi, Bullettino, 1866, p. 43; 1869, p. 15; Roma sotterranea, vol. III, pp. 647 – 64], who indeed was also cast headlong into a river, but into the Tiber, and is not on that account to be joined to the martyrs who perished drowned in the waters of Pannonia.

[11] The Greek Acts, As a witness to the ancient Passion of our saints we also bring forward a Greek version of it, which one codex alone has preserved for us, Vatican library 1608 (= V), fols. 119v – 125, written in the monastery of Grottaferrata in the twelfth – thirteenth century Catalogus codicum Graecorum Vaticanorum, pp. 137 – 40. The version was put together by an unskilled monk who had the ancient recension A in his hands and shows himself almost equally ignorant of both languages, since he often expresses most ineptly what he seems to have understood, and did not always understand what he was reading. And this must be impressed, lest anyone think that those Greek Acts are the original, from which the Latin Acts were derived. For who would believe that these were first written in Greek: very badly written, ἐκπέφανται ὅτι χριστιανοὶ ἐστέ, it has become clear that you are Christians, c. 16; κύριοι εὔσπλαγχνοι μεγαλοπρίγκιπες, most pious lords princes, c. 18, when an ancient writer would at least have called the emperors εὐσεβεστάτους according to received custom; εὑρὼν ἀδείαν, silence having been found, c. 18; ὅπως μὴ τῷ Θεῷ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ προσκρούσηται, that he may not offend the God of heaven, c. 19; μετὰ … τυπωμάτων ᾀδόντων, with apples and acanthus-leaves, c. 10; all of which most plainly betray a Latin exemplar. There is also a place where he copied Latin words in Greek letters, e.g. περίλυπος γενάμενος βεεμέντερε, he was vehemently saddened, c. 8. For the rest, he follows the Latin history in everything, except that in c. 3 he puts Ἀστέριον for Castorius and passes over certain things which were either lacking in the prototype or which he did not know how to express in Greek. Besides using a very barbarous language, he also employs the very bad manner of spelling usual in his time, and perpetually confuses the vowels. We have left the phrasing of our anonymous Italo-Greek untouched everywhere, nor was it fair to obtrude our own emendations. Yet, so as not to cause readers too much disgust, we have reduced the manner of writing to more common usage, mostly without warning the reader. I would believe that those Acts were written about the twelfth century in the monastery of Grottaferrata, and never passed beyond the monastery walls.

[12] are by no means the original. Although we think that no one will seriously consider treating the Italo-Greek Acts as the original, it must not be passed over that it has pleased some that the common Acts of the Four Saints were first written in Greek and then rendered into Latin. And indeed M. Büdinger had brought forward certain slighter indications, such as the Greek name Asclepius for Aesculapius and combinations of words foreign to the usage of the Latins, for example: inveniuntur viri doctiores horum huius artis, where he thought the genitive for the ablative betrayed a Greek hand Oesterreichische Geschichte, vol. I (Leipzig, 1858), p. 31. Yet he himself afterwards doubted the matter, and candidly confessed that the arguments he had brought had no force [Untersuchungen zur Kaisergeschichte, vol. III, p. 371. He noted in the same place that the name Asclepius is very common, from the Bullettino dell'Instituto, 1862, p. 26]. Hunziker thought that better things had occurred to him, when he tried to show that whole passages, destitute of Latin flavour, smell of a Greek origin, e.g.: if all their works in the name of their Christ are known to be magnificent, it is not cruel but rather glorious (c. 14), which he renders into Greek thus: εἰ πάντα τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτῶν μεγαλοπρεπῆ εἶναι γιγνώσκεται, οὐκ ἔστι δεινόν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἔνδοξον. And these words: on a certain day, Diocletian commanding (c. 1), he asserts, are better understood if you contend that in Greek κελεύσαντος Διοκλητιανοῦ was written, and not βασιλεύοντος In Büdinger, Untersuchungen, vol. III, p. 6. Nor are there lacking things you might add to strengthen his opinion, such as these: multa opera … facta est, πολλὰ ἔργα πεποίητο, sanitates = ἰάματα, virtus = δύναμις, etc. But these things did not so move the skilled as to make them embrace that opinion, which pleased neither De Rossi Bullettino, 1879, p. 63 nor Meyer Forschungen zur Deutschen Geschichte, vol. XVIII, p. 589, and which Petschenig undertook to refute, showing by many examples brought forward that the individual words and modes of speech which they contend could only have come from a Greek mouth had already, at least in the fifth and sixth centuries, passed into the usage of Latin speaking and writing, chiefly from the versions of the sacred books Sitzungsberichte der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. XCVII, p. 770. In these there very often occur [Examples in Rönsch, Itala und Vulgata, 2nd ed. (Marburg, 1875), p. 435. Cf. H. von Soden, Das lateinische Neue Testament in Africa zur Zeit Cyprians, Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. XXXIII (Leipzig, 1909), pp. 345 – 52], for example, the genitive of comparison (maior eius), the singular number with a neuter plural (ut manifestetur opera, divulgabatur haec omnia verba), and other things such as sanitates for ἰάματα Rönsch, ibid., p. 274. From these it certainly follows that nothing prevents our Acts from having been conceived in Latin; indeed, that this seems the more probable because in Pannonia, where they are thought to have been collected, the common language was Latin, not Greek. But that they could also have been written in Greek, in such a way that very many Greek traces remained in the Latin version, no one will fail to concede.

[13] The Acts of SS. Florus and Laurus similar to ours. But among the Greeks no fragment at all of our Acts has been detected, nor in their synaxaria does any mention occur of Saints Simpronianus, Claudius, Nicostratus, Castor, Simplicius. Yet I would not deny that that fabulist Alexius who wrote the Acts of SS. Florus and Laurus BHG2 660 – 664 and lyingly claims to have known the saints themselves Acta Sanctorum, August vol. III, p. 521 had heard something of the history of the Pannonian martyrs. For the likeness of the deeds is wonderful, if you do not attend to the smaller details. For Saints Florus and Laurus were, if you give credit to the Pseudo-Alexius, distinguished stone-cutters, exercising their art in Illyricum, and enjoying the special benevolence of the emperor Licinius. When at his command they had built a temple, they are first accused before the emperor, but are dismissed by him. Afterwards, however, Licinius, hearing that the idols with which he had filled the temple had been overturned by them, orders them to be beaten with raw sinews and at last to be thrown alive into a well. See in the principal matters how great is the agreement of the two histories. Who would believe that all these things happened a second time by chance and accident?

[14] The paraphrase of Peter of Naples, We have a paraphrase of the ancient Passion of the Holy Four Crowned Ones dedicated by a certain Peter to his namesake Peter, bishop of Naples. That this Peter is the "levite of the Parthenopean church," or Neapolitan subdeacon, who in the tenth century raised other Passions [F. Savio, Pietro suddiacono Napoletano agiografo del secolo X, Atti della R. Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, vol. XXXVI (1901), pp. 303 – 17] out of the muddy rivulet, to speak with him Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XX, pp. 327 – 28, is quite probable. The series of codices in which we have found it is threefold. For the P codices show that Peter's paraphrase was derived from the most ancient copies of the Passion A. In the Q codices traces of the more recent B

recension are to be found beyond doubt, since they reveal the names of the four cornicularii. The R codices differ very greatly from the preceding ones; in many places they seem to have been brought back more to the Porphyrian archetype, and, as will be manifest from what follows, the Adonian contagion has invaded them.

[15] in a series of codices Now the principal codices of Peter's lucubration are these:

P 1 = Monte Cassino codex 148, of parchment, of 526 pages, 0m,44 × 0,30, written in double columns in Lombardic script by the monk Martin in the year 1010, as a note written on p. 513 teaches Bibliotheca Casinensis, vol. III, p. 306. The Passion is read at pp. 289 – 301, under this heading: On the sixth day before the Ides of November, of the holy four crowned ones. Both the prologue and the name of the Neapolitan writer are lacking.

P 2 = Codex of the Royal Library of Brussels 8936 – 38, which is from the Bollandist Collectanea for the days 8 – 10 November. It contains, with other copies, the Passion by Peter, from the second codex of the monastery of Saint Cecilia across the Tiber, which Baronius had, and which we have sought in vain. The copy, which both a note written in the margin and the thing itself show to have been diligently collated with the ancient exemplar, will serve us as a codex. Some readings which touch only the manner of spelling (e.g. ammirabilis for admirabilis) we have passed over in silence.

P 3 = Codex of the Vatican library 6076, of paper, of 171 folios, 0m,413 × 0,275, written in divided pages in the year 1601, and copied from the same passional of Saint Cecilia Catalogus codicum Latinorum Vaticanorum, pp. 176 – 180. At fols. 73v – 76 there is the Passion of the holy four crowned ones, which, after inspecting it in passing, we judged was in no way to be collated with the copy of codex P 2.

[16] Q 1 = Codex of the Biblioteca Vallicelliana IX, of parchment, of 216 folios, 0m,516 × 0,35, written in divided pages in a Beneventan hand in the eleventh century. It contains the Passion at fols. 153 – 157.

Q 2 = Florentine codex of the Biblioteca Laurenziana, formerly Mugellanus de Nemore XIII, of parchment, of 283 folios, of the largest format, written in double columns in the twelfth century Bibliotheca Laurentiana Leopoldina, vol. I (Florence, 1791), pp. 566 – 78. We collated the Passion, which is complete, though defiled by many errors. From this codex Bandini first brought forth Peter's prologue At the volume cited, p. 575.

[17] preserved in a threefold series, R 1 = Monte Cassino codex 139, of parchment, of 732 pages, 0m,44 × 0,29, written in Lombardic script in the eleventh century. Pp. 182 – 195: The Passion of the holy four crowned ones, anonymous, without a prologue and divided into twelve lessons Bibliotheca Casinensis, vol. III, pp. 253 – 59. From this codex it was edited in the Bibliotheca Casinensis At the volume cited, florilegium, pp. 160 – 65. After we had collated it again, it seemed better to abstain from bringing forward its readings, lest we burden our pages with superfluous bulk. Moreover, easy access to recension R lies open, and whoever desires to learn in which places it differs most from our edition, let him compare above all chapters 6 and following, in which, however, he will find nothing to resolve the most intricate doubts set before us. It is worth the trouble to copy out the last words of the Passion, as they are read in the R codices: But two years after the martyrdom of the aforesaid five martyrs, since the names of these four crowned ones were not found at all, the blessed bishop Miltiades decreed that their anniversary day should be commemorated under the names of the aforesaid five martyrs. Yet after some years had intervened, their names too were revealed to a certain holy man; but the festival, as it had been established as solemn, remained in the festival of the other martyrs, distinguished by the name of the four crowned ones. To the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, for ever and ever. Amen. Whoever compares these with the Adonian epitome for the 8th of November, soon to be brought forward (below, no. 38), will perceive that not only the matter but also the words were drawn from it.

R 2 = Monte Cassino codex 149, of parchment, of 402 pages, in double columns, written in Beneventan script in the eleventh century Bibliotheca Casinensis, vol. III, pp. 313 – 15. Pp. 156 – 167: The Passion of the holy four crowned martyrs, the same that exists in R 1.

[18] depends on the ancient Passion alone. The paraphrase of Peter of Naples, as it is read in the codices P, Q, is unpublished, and we subjoin it to the ancient Acts, both some of whose readings and whose form it confirms in its own way, and it shows by a new example how much trouble was created for posterity by the one who joined the Roman Passion to the Pannonian. For Peter did not succeed, even striving with the greatest zeal, in straining out those dregs; whence also the one who wrote codex Q 2 attempted it in his own way, when in place of Miltiades he put now Pope Gaius, now Gelasius. But it must be carefully noted that these things proceeded from the writer's own wit, to remedy the confusion of the times, and were by no means received from ancient witnesses.

§ II. On the other testimonies to be referred to the same saints.

[19] The Roman Depositio martyrum. The most ancient testimony of all concerning our saints is furnished by the Roman Depositio martyrum in these words: On the fifth day before the Ides of November, of Clement, Sempronianus, Claudius, Nicostratus, in comitatum; about which entry not a few things are to be noted. The copyist's error is beyond doubt in the day of the month, which is easily corrected to the sixth day before the Ides, as the ancient tradition still flourishing demands. Clement certainly does not belong here, having been transferred, also by the fault of copyists, from another neighbouring place, for instance from the ninth day before the Kalends of December [So L. Duchesne thinks, Le Liber pontificalis, vol. I, p. 12. Otherwise De Rossi, Bullettino, 1879, p. 75: "ignoto o corrotto è Clemente." Lightfoot too thinks it is another Clement, The Apostolic Fathers, Part I, vol. I, 1 (London, 1890), p. 251]. The names of Castor and Simplicius are indeed passed over in silence. Yet there can be no doubt that the band of the Pannonian saints is designated, whose memory, accordingly, it is established that the Roman church already kept in the middle of the fourth century.

[20] What comitatus is. We stick in doubt over the last word of this entry, in comitatum, since it is well enough established that in the Depositio martyrum the entries are concluded with the name of the place where the martyrs lie and their commemorations are celebrated, e.g. in Callisti, in Lavicana, in Trasonis, but no mention occurs in the literary monuments of a Comitatus as a place in or near the city. Comitatus is taken for the companions of a travelling prince [O. Seeck in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopaedie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, vol. IV, p. 622], and the division of the soldiers into comitatenses and palatini is very well known [Th. Mommsen, Das Römische Militarwesen seit Diocletian, Hermes, vol. XXIV (1889), pp. 225 – 33; Seeck, at the volume cited, pp. 619 – 22]; then by degrees it is used for the prince's court, as in a rescript of Diocletian and Maximian, given at Nicomedia in the year 286: since … it is plain that you, on account of your care of healing, cannot depart from our comitatus Codex Iustinianus VIII, 35, 2. Cf. Seeck, at the volume cited, p. 622. Nowhere, however, have we found the word used of a definite place, which some, in our matter, have wished to understand of the villa of the prince at the Two Laurels, which was in fact situated on the Via Labicana, at more or less the third milestone from the city of Rome, where our martyrs are said to have been buried with other saints in a sand-pit [De Rossi, Bullettino, 1879, pp. 76 – 77; G. Tomassetti, in Archivio della R. Società Romana di storia patria, vol. XXV (1902), pp. 79 – 92]. I would not dare to approve the conjecture, since in the Roman calendars these cemeteries are usually designated by the name of the road alone, e.g. on the fifth day before the Ides of September, of Gorgonius, in Lauicana. Muratori entered on another way of interpreting, asserting that the place is corrupt and that INCOMITATVM was written for IVCORONATORVM Liturgia romana vetus (Opere, vol. XIII, 1, Arezzo, 1771), p. 72; which, as it is shrewdly and cleverly thought out, so it seems arbitrary and less consonant with the character of the calendar or Depositio martyrum. Yet I do not think the reading in comitatum certain; accordingly, until it is established, I prefer to be ignorant rather than to divine.

[21] The ancient codices of the Hieronymian martyrology; In the Hieronymian martyrology our saints are announced thus on the sixth day before the Ides of November: At Rome on the Caelian hill, of Sinpronianus, Claudius, Castor, Nicostratus, as the Bern codex has it Acta Sanctorum, November vol. II, p. [140]. In the remaining codices the Caelian hill is passed over in silence. That the same saints already occur also on the day before, namely the seventh day before the Ides of November, is to be explained from the common law of this patchwork and attributed to the drowsiness of the writers. But that they recur again also on the day after, the fifth day before the Ides of November, and in this form indeed: At Rome, of Clement, Simpronius, it is manifest that this was drawn from the Depositio martyrum, much as we have it, where we have detected that Clement crept into the entry and that the fifth day before the Ides was written for the sixth. Of comitatus nothing; unless you find a trace of the word at the beginning of the entry: in nicom., which is not foreign to the filth of the Hieronymian codices, and I indeed would approve it, did not Nicomedia already occur on the day before.

[22] the Bern codex; I am not persuaded that the reading At Rome on the Caelian hill, which the Bern codex alone furnishes, is original, since the Roman ferial is accustomed to record the place of burial of the martyrs, nor could it occur to anyone that our saints, brought from Pannonia, were deposited on the Caelian hill, that is, within the walls, which was forbidden by law. Nor would you say that the martyrs were indeed buried on the Via Labicana, but had in the city a basilica in which they were chiefly venerated, and that this is the Caelian church of the Four Saints designated by the martyrologist. For at the beginning of the fifth century the deposition of martyrs was held solemn in the place where they rested, nor at that time are any basilica or titulus in the city seen dedicated to martyrs. That inscription, therefore, on the Caelian hill by no means flowed from the most ancient Roman calendar which is the source of the Hieronymian codices, but was interpolated at a later time, when the Caelian titulus was already named after the Holy Four Crowned Ones.

[23] the more recent codices; From the Hieronymian codices of a more recent age nothing whatever is received that sheds any light on what has been brought forward above. For what some have, with the St. Gall codex 915, which was written in the year 956, At Rome, of the holy four crowned ones, that is, Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus and Victorinus, and of five other holy martyrs, that is, Claudius and the rest Acta Sanctorum, at the volume cited, p. [66], plainly seeped in here from the martyrologies of the ninth century, or from the Passion itself as it is in the B codices.

[24] the entry of the 25th of May, So as not to seem to have omitted anything concerning our saints, we shall also note in passing that in the ancient Bern and Wissembourg codices on the eighth day before the Kalends of June this is read: Of Polegratus and four other crowned ones, which on the one hand of Polycrates and companions, on the other of

the Pannonian or Roman martyrs it is natural to interpret De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, vol. I, p. 145. But nothing of the kind was written in the prototype; for if you adduce the excellent Echternach codex, you will restore the entry without any trouble thus: Of Policrates and four others, in the city of Gortyna, since the copyists ineptly read coronati for Gortuna.

[25] The Martyrology of Bede. From where Bede's announcement on the sixth day before the Ides of November was taken, At Rome the heavenly birthday of the holy four crowned ones Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphorianus, Castorius and Simplicius [Acta Sanctorum, March vol. II, p. XXXVIII. Cf. Quentin, Les martyrologes historiques, p. 55], is not so clear; certainly not from the Hieronymian codices, nor more probably from the Acts themselves, since the author, according to his plan, would have reduced them to an epitome. It seems one must have recourse to the sacramentaries, the most ancient of which agree plainly with Bede. Thus the Gregorian: The sacramentaries: the Gregorian, On the sixth day before the Ides of November, the heavenly birthday of the holy four crowned ones. And there follows the prayer: Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that we who have known the glorious martyrs Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphorianus, Castorius and Simplicius to have been strong in their confession may feel them loving toward us in their intercession with thee. And the preface: It is truly meet and just, right and salutary, that we should always and everywhere give thanks to thee, holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God, celebrating the heavenly birthdays of the holy crowned ones… [P. G., vol. LXXVIII, p. 147; M. Rule, The Missal of St Augustine's Abbey Canterbury (Cambridge, 1896), p. 119. In the codex of the Chapter Library of Modena, II, 7, of the ninth – tenth century (Ebner, Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte des Missale Romanum, Freiburg i. B. 1896, p. 94), the prayer with the names of the five saints is read in its place. But in the margin a slightly more recent hand added two prayers on the holy four crowned ones Severus, Severinus (sic), Carpophorus, Victorinus. De Rossi, Bullettino, 1879, p. 86].

[26] the Gelasian, Somewhat otherwise the Sacramentary called after Gelasius: On the heavenly birthday of the holy four crowned ones, Costianus, Claudius, Castorius, Simpronianus, on the sixth day before the Ides of November, where Costianus stands for Nicostratus and Simplicius is lacking. And this prayer is recited: We return, O Lord, to the yearly vows of thy martyrs, humbly beseeching thy majesty that, with temporal increases of prosperity, we may receive the augmentations of the eternal prosperity of the crowned ones H. A. Wilson, The Gelasian Sacramentary (Oxford, 1894), p. 203. The Leonine. In the Verona or Leonine sacramentary, on the heavenly birthday of the holy four crowned ones, the prayer is the same, but it ends thus: that with temporal increases we may receive the augmentation of eternal prosperity Ch. Lett Feltoe, Sacramentarium Leonianum (Cambridge, 1896), p. 148. It will also be useful to bring forward what is written before the Mass of the four saints in some Gregorian codices of a more recent age: A more recent gloss. The names of the four crowned ones are these: Severus, Severianus, Victorinus and Carpophorus, whose heavenly birthday, neglected through carelessness, could not be found at all; therefore it was decreed that in their church the heavenly birthday of these five saints, who are recited in the Mass, should be celebrated, so that together with these their memory too might be made equally [Patrologia Latina, vol. LXXVIII, p. 147. Cf. what we shall say below about the Pseudo-Alcuin]. This is a paraphrase of the closing clause of recension B of the Acts, yet so conceived that it contradicts it in almost every single assertion. For it puts a neglected birthday for names not found, and that through carelessness, and it sets out the joining of the two anniversaries altogether otherwise, yet not more clearly.

[27] The testimonies of the itineraries In the Acts of our saints the burial of the Pannonians is passed over in silence; the Romans are asserted to have been laid on the Via Labicana at more or less the third milestone. On this matter we must hear those who piously went round the cemeteries and sacred places of the city before the bodies of the martyrs, under the pressure of the storms of the times and the pious madness of collecting relics, were scattered everywhere. First, the little book which is entitled Notitia ecclesiarum Urbis Romae and seems to have been composed in the seventh century: At St. Helena on the Via Campania many martyrs rest. In the northern part of the church of Helena, first Tiburtius the martyr. Afterwards you will enter into a cave: there rest the holy martyrs Peter the presbyter and Marcellinus the martyr. Afterwards, in the inner cavern, Gorgonius the martyr and many others, and in one place in the inner cave forty martyrs, and in another thirty martyrs, and in a third the four crowned ones, and St. Helena in her rotunda De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, vol. I, pp. 139, 178. The little book On the holy places of the martyrs, which is thought to have been written in the same seventh century, testifies to the same thus: Beside the Via Lavicana there is the church of St. Helena, where she lies in body. There these saints sleep: Peter, Marcellinus, Tiburtius, the thirty holy soldiers, Gorgonius, Genuinus, Maximus, the four crowned ones, that is Claudius, Nicostratus, Simpronianus, Castorius, Simplicius. There too in the crypts an innumerable multitude of martyrs lies buried [C. L. Urlichs, Codex urbis Romae topographicus, p. 83; De Rossi, at the volume cited, pp. 142, 178]. Less distinctly William of Malmesbury, who is believed to have used a source even older than the eighth century: There nearby are Peter, Marcellinus, Tiburtius, Geminus, Gorgonius, and forty soldiers and countless others, and not far off the holy four crowned ones Urlichs, at the volume cited, p. 88; De Rossi, at the volume cited, p. 179.

[28] on the Roman burial of the Four Crowned Ones. From these witnesses, then, and from the Acts, we have it that the tomb of the Four Crowned Ones is to be sought in the cemetery of the Via Labicana; yet the place, diligently sought by archaeologists, has not been found hitherto O. Marucchi, in Nuovo Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, 1898, p. 186. Nor yet is the doubt resolved from what has been brought forward, who those martyrs are who are designated by the name of the Four Crowned Ones. For whoever compares the first and third testimonies with the Acts will understand that the four cornicularii alone, or Roman martyrs, lay on the Via Labicana; but from the little book De locis, the five Pannonians alone. And here again a great controversy arises, which it is not the place here to settle. Yet it will be useful to have noted that this little book of ours was not compiled from the Passions of the saints, but that its material was supplied from the inspection of the very tombs of the saints. Hence you may not improbably conjecture that the names of the martyrs were read by the author in the sepulchral inscription, and by no means excerpted from books.

[29] of the Liber pontificalis, Of the greatest moment, as it seems to us, and to be carefully weighed, not only for following the history of the relics of the Four Saints but for understanding their Acts as they are read in most books, is the passage of the Liber pontificalis in the Life of Leo IV (847 – 855), who was taken from being presbyter of the titulus of the Four Crowned Ones to be supreme pontiff: But this most blessed pope, protected by God, with the greatest zeal and the greatest affection of heart, to the honour of almighty God, wonderfully gathered within the walls of this kindly city many bodies of saints which had long lain hidden. For he also, searching with skilful care, found the bodies of the holy four crowned ones; for love of whom, so much to be desired, the basilica which had been consecrated to the name of the saints, which he himself ruled with most prudent governance until he was brought to the summit of the pontificate, which through the solitary courses of time, shaken by the decay of age and almost broken by ruins, had long seemed shattered of old, with the clemency of the power above consenting, he brought from its foundations into a more splendid and more beautiful state, to the praise of almighty God; and their most sacred bodies, with Claudius, Nicostratus, Simphronianus and Castorius and Simplicius, and also Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus and Victorinus, four brothers, and moreover Marius, Audifax and Abbacuc, Felicissimus and Agapitus, Hippolytus indeed with his households to the number of eighteen, Aquila and Prisca, Arseus, Aquinus, Narcissus and Marcellinus, Felix and Simetrius, Candida and Paulina, Anastasius and Felix, Apollo and Benedict, Venantius and Felix, Diogenes and Liberalis, Festus and Marcellus and Superantius, Pudentiana and Benedict, Felix and Venantus, and also the head of St. Protus and of St. Cecilia, of St. Alexander, and of St. Sixtus and of St. Sebastian, and of the most sacred virgin Praxedes, laying them up together under the sacred altar, he placed them, and many others, whose names are known to God L. Duchesne, Le Liber pontificalis, vol. II, pp. 115 – 116.

[30] which reports the translation of the martyrs, Here it will be useful first to have noted that the pontiff gathered the bodies of the saints from the suburban cemeteries and brought them within the walls of the kindly city; which is well enough established of most of them, whom we know to have rested previously on various roads, e.g. Marius, Audifax and Abbacuc on the Via Cornelia, Felicissimus and Agapitus on the Via Appia, in the cemetery of Praetextatus, Hippolytus on the Tiburtina. Moreover Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus and Victorinus, whose names we have already said were inserted in recension B of the Acts Above, p. 750, no. 4, are the very ones (but for Severus read Secundus) who, on the testimony of the Depositio martyrum, were venerated on the sixth day before the Ides of August and lay in the cemetery of Albano On these, De Rossi, Bullettino, 1869, pp. 65 – 78.

[31] codex C seems to excel the other. Nor must we omit the very serious variety of readings between the Paris codex 5516 (= D), which was written before the middle of the year 861 Duchesne, at the volume cited, p. II, and which we have copied out, and the Paris codex 5140 (= C), of the eleventh century, whose words concerning our saints are these: For he also, searching with skilful care, found the bodies of the holy martyrs the four crowned ones … their most sacred bodies, namely of Claudius, Nicostratus, Simphorianus and Castorius and Simplicius, with Severus, Severianus, etc. If you follow the first, you must understand that the Four Crowned Ones were found by the pontiff besides Claudius and the other Pannonians; if the other reading is true, Claudius and his companions must themselves be the Crowned Ones. Which of the two is to be chosen would scarcely seem doubtful, if the antiquity of the codices alone were the argument. But the thing itself must be weighed. For suppose that the pontiff found not only the Pannonians Claudius and his companions, but also the four Romans, which D seems to have understood. Since this is plainly consonant with the Acts as they were read already for a whole century at least, the cause is sought in vain why C should have judged this needed emending, and wished one band of martyrs to have been found instead of two. On the contrary, if mention was at first made of the five Pannonians alone, it is not so surprising that a writer who had read the Acts wished to adapt the little book to the norm of the history. This being so, it is by no means certain that codex D is to be preferred to the other in this place.

[32] A twin inscription on the Caelian relics In the basilica of the Holy Four Crowned Ones, fixed in the wall on the left, is a stone with a two-part inscription, which we think should be set before the readers. From where it was taken is taught by these words carved in the marble: This old stone was laid over the bodies of the saints in the high altar. Now we read this on the left part of the stone.

† BEATVS LEO. IIII. PAPA

PARITER SVB HOC SACRO ALT (A)R(E)

REC(ON)DENS COLLOCAVI(T) CORPORA S(AN)C(T)OR(VM)

M(A)R(TYRVM) CLAVDII. NICOST〈RAT〉I. SIMPRONI

[† Blessed Leo IV, pope, laying them up together under this sacred altar, placed the bodies of the holy martyrs Claudius, Nicostratus, Simproni]

CAST(ORIS) ET SIMP(LICII). ET IIII FR(AT)R(V)M. SEVERI

SEVERIANI. of which the former CARPOFORI. ET VICTO

RINI. MARII. AVDIFAX ET ABBACV(M)

FELICISSIMO. ET AGAPITO. YPPOL(I)T(O)

QVIDE(M) CV(M) SVA FAM(I)L(IA) NV(MER)O. X. ET

VIIII. AQVI(LI)NI. ET PRISCI. ARSEI

AQVI(LI)NI. NARCISI. ET MARCELLI

NI. FELICIS. SIMETRII. CANDI

DAE ATQ(VE) PAVLINAE. ANASTASII

ET FELICIS. APOLLIONIS.

ET BENEDICTI. VENANTII

ATQ(VE) FELICIS. DIOGENIS ET LI

BERALIS. FESTI. ET MARCELLI.

ATQ(VE) SVPERANTII. PVDENTIANE.

ET BENEDICTI. FELICIS ET BENE

DICTI. NEC N(ON) CAPITA SANCTOR(VM)

PROTI S(AN)C(TA)EQ(VE) CECILIA. E.

S(AN)C(T)I ALEXANDRI. S(AN)C(T)IQ(VE) XISTI

ET S(AN)C(T)I SEBASTIANI. ATQ(VE)

SACRATISSIME VIRGINIS

PRAXEDIS. ET ALIA MVLTA

CORPORA SANCTORVM

QVORVM NOMINA DEO

SVNT COGNITA.

[…Castorius and Simplicius, and of the four brothers Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus and Victorinus; of Marius, Audifax and Abbacum, Felicissimus and Agapitus, Hippolytus indeed with his household, nineteen in number; of Aquilinus and Priscus, Arseus, Aquilinus, Narcissus and Marcellinus, Felix, Simetrius, Candida and Paulina, Anastasius and Felix, Apollo and Benedict, Venantius and Felix, Diogenes and Liberalis, Festus and Marcellus and Superantius, Pudentiana and Benedict, Felix and Benedict; and also the heads of the saints Protus and St. Cecilia, of St. Alexander, and of St. Xystus and of St. Sebastian, and of the most sacred virgin Praxedes, and many other bodies of saints whose names are known to God.]

But on the right this is written:

† ANNO AB INCARNATIONE

D(OMI)NI N(OST)RI I(ES)V CH(RIST)I MILLESIMO

CENTESIMO XI. INDICTIONE

IIII. V. IDVS IVNII DOMINVS

PAPA PASCHALIS SECVNDVS. XII

PONTIFICATVS SVI ANNO IVSIT

CAVARE SVB ALTARE

QVOD PRIVS COMBVSTVM

ET CONFRACTVM FVERAT

ET INVENIT DVAS CONCAS

VNAM PORPHERETICAM

ET ALIAM EX PROCONISSO

IN QVIBVS ERANT RECONDI

TA SACRA CORPORA SV

PRADICTORVM SANTORVM

IN TERTIA VERO DIE IVSIT

VNDIQVE MVNIRE CON

CAS. ET DESVPER ALTA

RE RENOVARE. AD

MEMORIAM. ET ONO

REM SANCTORVM. ET

LAVDEM DOMINI

NO(S)TRI I(ES)V CH(RIST)I

[† In the year from the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand one hundred and eleven, in the fourth indiction, on the fifth day before the Ides of June, the lord Pope Paschal the Second, in the twelfth year of his pontificate, ordered the ground to be dug under the altar, which had previously been burned and broken, and he found two basins, one of porphyry and the other of Proconnesian marble, in which the sacred bodies of the aforesaid saints were laid up. And on the third day he ordered the basins to be fortified on every side and the altar above to be renewed, to the memory and honour of the saints and the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ.]

That both inscriptions were cut on the tablet at the same time, namely while Paschal II (1099 – 1118) held the see, is betrayed by the character of the letters [Both have already been edited by P. A. Galletti, Inscriptiones romanae infimi aevi Romae exstantes, vol. I, p. XXVI, and, not without errors, by V. Forcella, Iscrizioni delle chiese ed altri edificii di Roma, vol. VIII, no. 717].

[33] seems to copy an older exemplar. Of lesser moment in our matter is the inscription of Paschal II, concerning which I would wish this alone to be noted, that the two basins, one of porphyry and the other of Proconnesian marble, seem to have been described not so much from the things themselves as from the Acts (cc. 3, 4, 10, 12, 15, 16, 22). The former inscription, however, must be compared with the Liber pontificalis, with which it so agrees that it has seemed to some to have been excerpted from it [Erbes, in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, vol. V, p. 481; Duchesne, Le Liber pontificalis, vol. II, p. 136]. I confess that, on the contrary, on reading the deeds of Leo IV, it at once came into my mind that the catalogue of martyrs was copied from the inscription, not indeed from the one which survives and was cut in the twelfth century, but from its archetype, which it is permissible to conjecture was set up, while Leo held the see, as a record of the event. Further, it must be noted that what was said above about the reading of codex C and its probable excellence Above, p. 755, no. 31 is by no means weakened by the inscription. For it asserts nothing about Four Crowned Ones as distinct from the band of the Pannonians, and it enumerates in the first place Claudius, Nicostratus and the rest. I do not deny that the matter is explained otherwise by De Rossi, to whom the word pariter, expressed at the beginning of the stone, seemed a weighty indication of the finding and translation of other bodies, and also of another, lost inscription, in which he supposes the memory of the Four Crowned Ones to have been inscribed Bullettino, 1879, p. 82. But that this is not the force of the word pariter is probable to me; and what De Rossi also interprets as seu eodem modo, I for my part understand as simul or at one time; nor does it seem advisable to fashion by conjecture a lost inscription of which there is no trace.

[34] The Acts of St. Sebastian. In the Acts of St. Sebastian BHL 7543, which are held to have existed before the seventh century [H. Hagen, in Sitzungsberichte der kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil. hist. Classe, vol. CVIII (1885), pp. 25 – 50], there is narrated (cc. 7, 11, 20) the conversion and martyrdom of Saints Nicostratus, Claudius, Castorius, Simpronianus or Symphorianus Acta Sanctorum, January vol. II, p. 276, annotation a and Victorinus, which are the names of the Pannonian martyrs except for Victorinus, who in recension B is one of the four cornicularii. If, however, you give credit to the hagiographer and compare the deeds of these saints with the Acts of the Four Crowned Ones, you must understand that they are altogether different men, but of the same names. For Claudius is held to have been a commentariensis, Nicostratus a primiscrinius, whose brother was Castorius; Victorinus is reckoned the brother of Claudius, and Symphorianus his son; all of whom are initiated into the Christian faith at Rome by St. Sebastian, and are presented with baptism by Polycarp the presbyter. While they are seeking the bodies of martyrs along the banks of the Tiber, they are seized by the persecutors, tortured a second and a third time; at last they are cast headlong into the sea. Although these things in no way agree with our Acts, we are moved by no reason to think that Claudius, Nicostratus, Simpronianus, Castorius — to say nothing for the moment of Victorinus — are other than the Pannonians. For it is plain that the Acts of Sebastian were put together on exactly the principle used by all who wrote the deeds of the Roman saints [Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XVI, pp. 235 – 52; vol. XIX, p. 444; H. Delehaye, Les légendes hagiographiques, p. 44]. That is, they compose the Passions of the martyrs after the fashion of a sacred drama, in such a way that they seek out from every side persons for the most part very well known, but separated in time and place, establish at will new kinships among them, invent offices and duties for them and distribute to each his part, with no regard had for truth, looking only to piety and delight. That the hagiographer who wrote the deeds of St. Sebastian acted with just this audacity is beyond doubt, and that he joined to St. Sebastian the Pannonian saints who were venerated at Rome, and whom perhaps he thought Romans, so that he might better provide for the enjoyment of his readers. We have, therefore, the same persons, but a history altogether invented, and accordingly to be neglected.

[35] The martyrologies of Florus, Those who in the ninth century put together the martyrologies they call historical did not neglect the deeds of our saints, and they thoroughly confused a matter already long since intricate. And to begin with Florus, he indeed understood that in both places, namely in our Acts and in the Acts of St. Sebastian, the same martyrs are commemorated, whose names he also rightly recites on the due day; but, in order to weave a brief history of them, leaving aside the Acts of the Four Crowned Ones, which perhaps he did not know, he had recourse to the Passion of St. Sebastian. On the 8th of November from the Acts of St. Sebastian; Receive his words H. Quentin, Les martyrologes historiques, p. 275: On the sixth day before the Ides of November. At Rome, the heavenly birthday of the holy four crowned ones Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphronianus, Castorius and Simplicius, whom the prefect of the city, when [for ten days by threats and blandishments he had been able to move them in nothing at all], ordered, harassed a third time with atrocious torments, to be cast headlong into the middle of the sea. And thus weighed down by immense weights and immersed [in the waves of the sea, in a clean place amid the waters, they celebrated the crown of martyrdom]. That is, without any regard to Victorinus, he wove the history of the martyrdom onto the entry of the 8th of November, as it is read in Bede, from the words — we have enclosed them in brackets — of the Acts of St. Sebastian.

[36] of Ado, Ado saw the matter otherwise, since he judged that the five martyrs, disciples of St. Sebastian, were to be separated from our Pannonians. And these indeed he praises on the 7th day of July in these words, which he excerpted from the Acts of St. Sebastian [Giorgi, Adonis martyrologium, p. 320. Here too the very words of the Passion are brought forward within brackets]: On the 7th of July from the Acts of St. Sebastian, At Rome, the heavenly birthday of the blessed martyrs [Nicostratus the primiscrinius, Claudius the commentariensis, Castorius, Victorinus, Simphronianus], whom blessed Sebastian taught to believe in Christ, and St. Polycarp the presbyter baptized; who, when [they were seeking the bodies of the saints along the banks of the Tiber, were held, and brought before the prefect of the City. The judge was Fabian, who exhorted them to sacrifice, for ten days by threats and blandishments] dealing with them, and could move not one at all. Then he made a suggestion about them to the emperors; and they [ordered them to be tortured a third time. And when, compelled by no means, they did not yield, they ordered them to be cast headlong into the sea]. And so, weighed down by immense weights, they were given to the waves of the sea, so that in a clean place amid the waters they celebrated the crown of martyrdom. Moreover, by what reasoning he was led to be the first to narrate these things on the Nones of July, when nothing of the kind occurs in the ancient martyrologies, is in the open [Which our Sollerius had already perceived, Acta Sanctorum, July vol. II, p. 462, no. 4]. For the one who wrote the deeds of St. Sebastian brings in St. Nicostratus with his companions immediately after he had said of St. Tranquillinus that he underwent martyrdom on the octave day of the heavenly birthday of the apostles, or the day before the Nones of July Acta Sanctorum, January vol. I, p. 276, no. 75. Accordingly Ado announced Tranquillinus on the 6th day of July, and on the day after Nicostratus and his companions, although he could have gathered from the Acts themselves that they survived St. Tranquillinus by at least ten days.

[37] on the 8th of November from our Acts, But on the 8th day of November Ado has this Giorgi, at the volume cited, p. 567: On the sixth day before the Ides of November. At Rome the heavenly birthday of the holy martyrs Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphorianus, Castorius and Simplicius, under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian Of Maximian there is no mention in the codices of the Acts. These, since they were most distinguished craftsmen and most approved cutters of marble, became very acceptable to the emperor Diocletian… Then he goes on to narrate briefly the history of the five Pannonians, using now his own words, now those of the Acts themselves; at last he concludes thus: But after forty-two days there came a certain Nicodemus, a Christian, and raised the bodies of the martyrs with the coffers themselves and placed them honourably in his house. They suffered on the sixth day before the Ides of November.

[38] Then he subjoins [Giorgi, at the volume cited, p. 567. Again we distinguish by brackets what Ado borrowed from the Acts themselves]: On the same day, the heavenly birthday of the holy four crowned ones, that is, Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus and Victorinus. These, when they were being urged to sacrifice, resisting, and not giving consent to the impious, persevered in the faith. It was announced, however, to the emperor Diocletian, who at once ordered that before the image of Aesculapius [they should be beaten with blows of leaded scourges until they died. Their bodies he ordered to be thrown to the dogs in the street], and they lay there for five days. Then pious Christians came, and gathered the bodies and buried them on the Via Lavicana, at the third milestone from the city, in a sand-pit, beside the bodies of the holy martyrs Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphorianus, Castorius and Simplicius. They suffered, moreover, on the sixth day before the Ides of November, yet two years after the passion of these five martyrs. But when their names were not found at all, the blessed bishop Melchiades decreed that the anniversary day of the four crowned ones should be commemorated under the names of the five holy martyrs. Yet after years had intervened, their names too were revealed to a certain holy man. But the festival, as it had been established, remained solemn in the festival of the other martyrs, and the place distinguished by the name of the four crowned ones.

[39] by Ado That this last Passion was drawn from one source, namely from recension B of the Acts, I have no doubt. For from there Ado received the names

of the Four Crowned Ones and the series of their deeds, which, however, he narrated in such a way as to try to emend what he perceived to be in conflict with itself and to illustrate what was obscure. Wherefore he fashioned the following from his own wit: a) Where he read that St. Sebastian came by night with Bishop Miltiades and gathered the bodies, he wrote that anonymous pious Christians performed this kind of office for the martyrs, since he had learned from his Acts that Sebastian lived not under Miltiades but under Gaius. b) The words with other saints in a sand-pit he interprets of the five Pannonian martyrs: beside the bodies of Saints Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphorianus, Castorius and Simplicius. c) The rather intricate sentence: which was done at the same time, but since it had happened after two years, etc., he renders plain thus: They suffered on the sixth day before the Ides of November, yet two years after the passion of these five martyrs. d) When he understood that it was contradictory that on the one hand the four cornicularii were called Severus, Severianus, etc., and on the other that their names could not be found at all, he untied the knot by adding that after some years the same were revealed to a certain holy man, but that a distinct festival was not on that account instituted, since everything remained in use as it had been established by Miltiades.

[40] partly emended. Concerning the little Roman martyrology, as they call it, nothing need be added, if it is true that it was itself compiled by Ado Quentin, at the volume cited, pp. 649 – 752. For the rest, I cannot persuade myself that Ado was the first of all to give the names Severus, Severianus, etc., to the four cornicularii. For in all the codices of the common recension B, some of which very nearly reach Ado's age, those names are read, nor is it likely that an anonymous writer who interpolated them from Ado would have neglected that revelation made to a certain holy man, which was most aptly thought out to resolve a difficulty obvious to all, and plainly accommodated to the mind of this age. By what way the band of the Alban saints crept into the Acts of the Four Crowned Ones will be weighed in another place.

[41] The Martyrology of Usuard, Usuard follows Ado as usual and contracts him a little, both on the 7th of July, where he adduces the elogium of Saints Nicostratus, Claudius, Castorius, Victorinus, Simphronianus Sollerius, Usuardi martyrologium, p. 385, and on the 8th of November, where in the first place is announced: At Rome on the Via Lavicana, the passion of Saints Claudius, Nicostratus, Simpronianus, Castor and Simplicius, who were first thrust into prison…, then: Likewise on the Via Lavicana, the heavenly birthday of the four crowned ones Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus and Victorinus, who by order of Diocletian, etc. Sollerius, at the volume cited, p. 659. Notker too used Ado, of Notker. not rashly, as those who compose the calendars of the saints are accustomed to do, but with such acuteness of wit that he noted that the ancient tradition of the martyrologies had been overturned by him. For having recited on the 7th of July the names of Nicostratus, Claudius, Castor, Victorinus, Symphorianus, he at once observes: or, as is contained in the book of sacraments, of Simpronianus. Whose heavenly birthday on the sixth day of the Ides of November we believed that we had celebrated up to the time when the venerable father Ado suggested to us others and others to be honoured in their place, of whom, if life attends us, there will be more fitting discussion in its place. "But what he discussed," to speak with our Sollerius, "we do not know, since after the 26th of October the rest of his martyrology is lacking At the volume cited, p. 386." It is better to pass over the other martyrologists in silence, since that kind of men vie with one another in copying one another.

[42] Epitomes of the Acts: an anonymous one, Nor must we dwell long on the various summaries of the Acts which are read in the codices, e.g. in the Bern codex 114, fols. 100v – 202, where we have three lessons On the heavenly birthday of the four crowned ones H. Hagen, Catalogus codicum Bernensium, p. 170 excerpted from our Acts, which begin thus: Today at Rome the heavenly birthday of the holy martyrs Claudius, Nicostratus, Simpronianus, Castorius and Simplicius is celebrated. The third lesson, however, closes thus: Today also the heavenly birthday of the four crowned ones is celebrated, that is of Severus, Severinus, Carpophorus, Victorinus… They suffered, moreover, on the sixth day before the Ides of November. But two years after their passion, since their names were not found at all, St. Melciades the bishop decreed that the anniversary day of the four crowned ones should be commemorated under the names of the aforesaid five martyrs. Yet after years had intervened, their names too were revealed to a certain holy man, etc. [In the Vallicelliana codex H 3, pp. 368 – 76, there is read a reworking of the ancient Passion, of no moment whatever, which is to be noted here in passing: The Passion of Saints Claudius, Castorius, Simphorianus, Simplicius and Nicostratus and of the holy four crowned ones. From ancient manuscript codices both of our library and of others. It begins thus: In the time of Diocletian Augustus there were found most excellent sculptors in the art of squared stone, namely Cl. C. Simph. Simpl. and N., who secretly, with the one exception of Simplicius, were Christians and kept the commandments of God. But it ends: They suffered, moreover, two years after the passion of the said five martyrs placed immediately above, on the same day, namely the sixth day before the Ides of November. Since their names could not be found at all, they were called the four crowned ones. And it was decreed that their memory and anniversary day should be commemorated under the names of the other five aforesaid martyrs. And although in process of time their names had been found, yet usage prevailed that they should thenceforth be called the four crowned ones]. In these you hear Ado, somewhat reworked; for in Ado two years ran between the Passion of the one band and of the other, but not between the Passion and the decree of Miltiades. of Vincent of Beauvais, Vincent of Beauvais in the Speculum, book XIII, has two chapters on our saints: VIII. On the four crowned ones. From their deeds. IX. On their passion and the four cornicularii, faithfully digested from the ancient Acts, with this very brief closing clause, which is Adonian: But the names of these four crowned ones, which after their passion, years having intervened, were shown by the Lord's revelation, are these: Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus, and Victorinus.

[43] of Jacobus de Voragine, To the same sources must be traced back the memory of the Four Crowned Ones in the Golden Legend Graesse, pp. 739 – 40, although it differs much from them: The four crowned ones were Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus and Victorinus, who by order of Diocletian were beaten to death with blows of leaded scourges. Since their names could not be found, at last after many years, by the Lord's revelation, they were found, and it was decreed that their memory should be commemorated under the names of five other martyrs, namely Claudius, Castorius, Symphorianus, Nicostratus and Simplicius, who suffered two years after the martyrdom of the aforesaid. For these martyrs, since they had every art of sculpture and would not sculpt a certain idol for Diocletian, nor consent in any degree to sacrifice, were by order of Diocletian himself put alive into leaden coffers and so cast headlong into the sea about the year of the Lord 287. Under the names of these five, therefore, Pope Melchiades decreed that the aforesaid four should be honoured and called the four crowned ones, namely before their names were found; and although afterwards the names were found, yet usage prevailed that they should thenceforth be called the four crowned ones. Where it is chiefly to be noted that the passion of the Roman martyrs is placed two years before the Pannonian, and the year in which this happened, approximately, according to the computation of Jacobus de Voragine, is expressly stated. Of Peter de Natalibus. In Peter de Natalibus two chapters on our saints are read in book X: XXXVI. On Saints Claudius, Nicostratus and their companions, martyrs. XXXVII. On the holy four crowned martyrs, each drawn from the Acts, with this closing clause: Since their names could not be found at all, they were called the four crowned ones. And it was decreed by Pope Melchiades that their memory and anniversary day should be commemorated under the names of the other five aforesaid martyrs. And although in process of time the names had been found, the rest as in the Golden Legend.

[44] The Pseudo-Alcuin. Ado was used by the author of the book On the divine offices, foisted on Alcuin, in chapter 31, which he entitles: On the names of the four crowned ones. And there follows at once: The names of the four crowned ones are these: Severus, Severianus, Victorinus and Carpophorus. Whose names and heavenly birthday, neglected through carelessness, could not be found at all; therefore it was decreed that in their church the heavenly birthday of the five other saints, who are recited in the Mass, should be celebrated, that is of Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphorianus, Castorius and Simplicius, so that together with these their memory too might be made equally; but afterwards their names were revealed. Yet the solemnity, as it had been established, remained solemn in the name of the other saints Patrologia Latina, vol. CI, p. 1230. Here you have not only the names but also the heavenly birthday given over to oblivion through carelessness, and after it has been said that the memory of the four Romans is to be celebrated with the five Pannonians [Cf. the note placed in the more recent Gregorian sacramentaries, above, p. 754, no. 26], the Adonian closing clause is added.

§ III. The explored traces of the history of the Holy Four Crowned Ones.

[45] The division of the monuments. The monuments we have brought forward hitherto concerning the saints whose memory we keep today speak in such a way that they must be distributed as it were into five classes. The first is of those which enumerate the Pannonian martyrs alone, with no surname of crowned ones added, such as the Roman Depositio martyrum, the Hieronymian martyrology, the inscription in the Caelian church Above, nos. 20, 21, 32. The second calls those same Pannonians the Crowned Ones, and does not mingle the other band with them, which is the case in Bede Above, no. 25, in the Gregorian and Gelasian sacramentaries Above, no. 26, in the little book De locis martyrum Above, no. 27, and perhaps also in the Liber pontificalis Above, nos. 29, 31. The third kind of testimonies speaks indistinctly of the Four Crowned Ones alone, e.g. the Notitia ecclesiarum, the itinerary of William of Malmesbury Above, no. 27, not to mention the very name of the Caelian church. In the fourth place come those writings in which the Pannonian martyrs are clearly distinguished from the four anonymous cornicularii, who are understood to be the Crowned Ones. So in recension A of the ancient Acts, and in its genuine offspring. In the fifth class the band of cornicularii is not anonymous, but bears the names of the band of the Alban martyrs, e.g. in recension B of the Acts, in Ado, and others.

[46] The names of Severus, Severianus and companions are to be deleted And from this last class it is well to free ourselves at once. That those words whose names are these, Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus and Victorinus were interpolated in the Roman Passion becomes plain from an inspection of the codices Above, no. 4; that they are not the names of the four cornicularii, but of the Alban martyrs Secundus, Severianus, Carpoforus, Victorinus [Depositio martyrum and the Hieronymian martyrology on the 8th day of August. Cf. De Rossi, Bullettino 1869, pp. 68 – 72], no one, unless I am mistaken, will call into doubt, unless he wishes to urge on the Alban band

that not Severus but Secundus stands at its head [The people of Como claimed the same Alban martyrs partly for themselves, venerating as their own on the 7th day of August Carpophorus, Exanthus, Cassius, Severinus, Secundus and Licinius, of whom see Acta Sanctorum, August vol. II, p. 187]. And yet by this very change of a few syllables the way is shown by which the Alban martyrs crept into the Roman Passion. For both in the Liber pontificalis and in the Caelian inscription we read Severus for Secundus, an error which we think proceeded from an older stone, fixed to the wall in the age of Leo IV Above, p. 755, no. 32. Whatever that may be, it can scarcely be doubted that the interpolator of the ancient Acts imagined from the catalogue of relics, wrongly understood, that the names of the four cornicularii were those which he brought forward. For hearing that Pope Leo IV had placed under the altar both the bodies of Saints Claudius and the other Pannonians, and those of the four brothers Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus and Victorinus, he gathered by easy reasoning that these were the two bands celebrated in the Acts, and at once set about emending those same Acts.

[47] wrongly inserted into the Acts in the ninth century. At once, I say, since the sacred relics were found within the years 847 – 855, and the emended Acts were already at Ado's disposal (c. 860). Nor is it surprising that at that time thought was given to publishing the Acts of the four saints anew, when, from the bringing in of the relics, new glory accrued to their basilica and a new incitement to veneration. But from the fact that the hagiographer judged the four brothers to be the same as the cornicularii, I also infer this, that no other inscription existed in the Caelian church in which mention was made of the Four Crowned Ones besides the Pannonian martyrs and the others found at the same time and placed together under the altar, which conjecture pleased De Rossi Above, p. 756, no. 33. Otherwise he would in no way have thought of carrying over Severus and his companions in place of the anonymous cornicularii. But this too, of chief moment, must be impressed from what has been said, that the little book B has no authority, and accordingly, where the Acts of our saints are to be treated, the A codices alone are to be regarded.

[48] In the Acts a great confusion of facts and times; Come now, let us approach the Acts as they are handed down in these books, composed of the twin Passion of the five Pannonians and of the four anonymous ones, which at first sight indeed no one would fail to proclaim as of the best stamp; but if anyone weighs them more attentively by the norm of proven history and the reckoning of times, he must confess that they are most intricate and full of faults. To these points above all attention must be paid: that Diocletian is shown present now in the mines of Pannonia, now at Sirmium, now at Rome; that among the confessors condemned to the mines the bishop of Antioch, Cyril, lived three years; that the four cornicularii were slain two years after the Pannonian martyrs and committed to burial by Pope Melchiades and St. Sebastian. Now we know that the emperor Diocletian stayed in Pannonia from the month of September of the year 293 to August 294 [Mommsen, Zeitfolge der Verordnungen Diokletians, Abhandlungen der k. Akademie zu Berlin, 1860, pp. 349 – 447; Gesammelte Schriften, vol. II, pp. 195 – 291], that he left Rome for the last time at the end of the year 303, and that in the month of May of the year 305 he withdrew into private life. Moreover, Tyrannus was substituted as bishop for Cyril of Antioch in the year 301/2 [The chronicle of Eusebius, Schoene, p. 187. Cf. Harnack, Die Chronologie der altchristlichen Litteratur, vol. II, 1, p. 217], while Miltiades held the see at Rome from the year 311 to 314. Various men have variously tried to harmonize these things with the Acts, yet no one has succeeded in such a way as to leave no very grave doubt. For if the five martyrs suffered in the emperor's presence, this must have happened before the persecution had arisen, Cyril without doubt still then dwelling at Antioch; nor did Diocletian enter Rome two years later, nor at that time was Miltiades at the head of the church. If you say that the Pannonians were condemned while the storm was raging against the Christians, neither was Diocletian then staying in Pannonia, nor yet at Rome when the cornicularii underwent martyrdom, and so on [Of the writers we adduced at the beginning (above, p. 749), Hunziker, De Rossi, Meyer are above all to be read. To which add A.-J. Mason, The persecution of Diocletian (Cambridge, 1876), pp. 259 – 271]. For whatever you try, you entangle the matter in new difficulties, unless you have recourse to some desperate emendation, such as that by which Claudius Gothicus Büdinger, Untersuchungen, vol. III, p. 368 or even Galerius De Rossi, Bullettino, at the volume cited, p. 72 is written in place of Diocletian, and it is rejected with the best of right as being arbitrary and not meeting every doubt.

[49] yet not in the Pannonian Acts taken separately, Before we too approach the untying of this most intricate knot, we must consider each part of the Acts separately. And as for the Pannonian Acts, all who have striven with so much labour to illustrate them and to vindicate them, if it were possible, from all suspicion have judged them genuine. And not undeservedly. For on the one hand you would seek in vain in them those commonplaces which the hagiographers of the lowest age are accustomed to use, even a long series of tortures and portents of various kinds; on the other hand things seem delineated to the life by a man who lived among the marble-workers and who speaks most accurately, to the applause of archaeologists [Benndorf, Archaeologische Bemerkungen, in Büdinger, vol. III, pp. 339 – 56; A. von Cohausen - E. Wörner, Römische Steinbrüche auf dem Felsberg an der Bergstrasse (Darmstadt, 1876), pp. 52 – 63], of the art and the mines. Also, contrary to the custom of the hagiographers, he by no means depicts Diocletian as a most cruel beast gaping for the blood of Christians, but as he was, devoted to the finest arts, inflamed with the passion for building Lactantius, De mortibus persecutorum, c. 7, by nature kindly toward fit craftsmen, even Christian ones, severe only from another's impulse On these read Meyer, Ueber die Passio sanctorum Quatuor Coronatorum, p. 12. Add that it is not likely that Cyril, bishop of Antioch, known to us indeed from Eusebius but otherwise an obscure man, was brought in here by some fabulist.

[50] which are of the best stamp; Nor does the reckoning of times stand in the way of these presumptions, if, however, we regard the Pannonian Passion alone. For let us suppose that Cyril was condemned to the mines shortly after the edict of the year 303, and that Tyrannus at once succeeded in his place, whence one year must be added to the Eusebian computation Which Harnack did not disapprove, Die Chronologie, at the volume cited, p. 217; therefore by the year 306 he had already completed three years. Moreover, at that time Diocletian had withdrawn to Salona, where he was not wholly intent on growing vegetables, but also on building his villa or palace, and on satisfying, there and perhaps in other places too, the passion for building by which he was held. That he often, while enjoying his leisure, visited the neighbouring mines in order to rouse the craftsmen to work, and that also in these places, which were of his own right, he then exercised supreme power, although he had laid down the empire and the purple, is nothing surprising. And hence it becomes probable that the five Pannonian marble-workers both devoted their labour then to adorning Diocletian's villa at Salona or to decorating other buildings which he was undertaking [On these, what F. Bulič wrote is worth reading, Proviene qualche cosa del palazzo di Diocleziano a Spalato, per es. qualche colonna, qualche pezzo architettonico od ornamentale, qualche statua dalle lapidicine di Sirmium (Fruska Gora nella Slavonia)? Bullettino di archeologia e storia Dalmata, vol. XXX (1908), pp. 111 – 27], and also were condemned by the emperor, at the instigation of the philosophers, on the sixth day before the Ides of November in the year 306, in which Cyril of Antioch too passed to the Lord.

[51] The Roman Acts are fabricated Let us turn our mind to the Roman Acts. That very many things in them are to be censured is easily established. And indeed in no way can it be brought about that we should believe Diocletian came to Rome while Miltiades held the see (311 – 314). Someone indeed wrote Gaius in place of Miltiades Above, p. 753, no. 18; but he did not receive this from the sources at all, but brought in Gaius from the Acts of St. Sebastian, in which he read that the latter underwent martyrdom under the emperor Diocletian and the pontiff Gaius Acta Sanctorum, June vol. II, pp. 275 – 77. Add that Miltiades was created bishop when the edict of Galerius was already in force [De mortibus persecutorum, cc. XXXIII, XXXIV; Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica, VIII, 17], and accordingly could have buried no martyrs, nor have met with Sebastian, then living among the living. There are also those who are displeased that four cornicularii of the urban prefecture are counted together. For they contend that there was one cornicularius for each office [O. Hirschfeld, in Epigraphische und archaeologische Mittheilungen, vol. IX (1885), p. 22. Read, however, Cauer, in Ephemeris epigraphica, vol. IV, p. 412. Cf. E. Breccia, in E. de Ruggiero, Dizionario epigrafico, s. v. Cornicularius]. Certainly no credit is deserved by what is asserted about the anniversary of the four cornicularii instituted by Miltiades. For who would believe that the pontiff could not find at all the names of martyrs who had suffered in the city itself and whose bodies he had gathered with his own hands; and, if we grant that these remained unknown, that he mixed together the memory of two bands in the sacred calendars, when on the contrary he ought to have taken pains that both should be especially distinguished? Who would not understand that all these things hang together poorly and conflict with the truth of history? As much, then, as the Pannonian Acts are to be valued, so much do the Roman Acts seem to be despised, and no prudent man would believe that a fact underlies them, or, as they say, a historical kernel, unless this is proved by better arguments.

[52] so that the name of the four crowned ones Now that there were four Roman martyrs distinct from the Pannonians is deduced from the Roman Passion alone and its offspring. For the Depositio martyrum is silent, the ancient martyrologies are silent, silent are both the most ancient liturgical books and the itineraries, and also, if I see anything, the inscriptions themselves [Above, no. 32. From the Damasian fragments found in the Caelian church, ART … ASSI, even if you wish to read m]art[yrium p[assi, I do not see what is achieved. De Rossi, Bullettino, 1879, p. 81; cf. Meyer, Ueber die Passio sanctorum Quatuor Coronatorum, pp. 13 – 14], so that, if the Roman Passion did not exist, no one would doubt that Saints Claudius, Nicostratus and their companions are themselves the Four Crowned Ones, which moreover one and the same anniversary day proclaims more than enough. And that the Pannonian martyrs, who are five in number, could be called by the popular appellation the Four Crowned Ones there is no reason for us to wonder. For in their Acts, from the beginning, Claudius, Castorius, Simpronianus and Nicostratus play the principal parts, and Simplicius seems set apart from the others and placed as it were in a humbler position by the very fact that he was at first a gentile, but afterwards is shown as their spiritual son. Moreover, I altogether think that the matter went thus,

namely that the Pannonians began to be designated by the name of the Four Crowned Ones, or of the four illustrious martyrs Above, p. 756, no. 33, and that, as happens, with nothing standing in the way, the term clung to them perpetually; for we know that names devised by the common people are so constituted that they are by no means changed.

[53] given to the five martyrs This said, it is explained with easy effort in what manner the band of four cornicularii was joined to the five Pannonians. For it happens rather often in hagiographical matters that people suppose various persons to underlie various names, and where one and the same person is called by a double term, they also imagine to themselves twin men, to each of whom they fit a separate history. Hence out of one Theodore they made two, Theodore the Recruit and Theodore the General, likewise two Procopiuses, two Martins, and even three pairs of Cosmas and Damian, to bring forward only the most hackneyed examples [Of these I spoke in the little book Les légendes grecques des saints militaires (Paris, 1909), p. 16, and passim]. Nor did it happen otherwise with our saints, whom the common people heard called now Claudius, Nicostratus, Simpronianus, Castorius and Simplicius, now the Four Crowned Ones, a thing which put the thought of a double band into men's minds the more surely as the discrepancy of the numbers was the more significant. So by degrees the opinion prevailed about four saints as distinct from five saints, which was expressed in writing and, as far as he could, made probable by the one who truncated the genuine Acts of the Pannonian saints and defiled them with that new closing piece, which is the Roman Passion.

[54] an account was to be given, That the Pannonian Passion is mutilated at the end we have already said above Above, p. 751, no. 9; it was handed down in no other way than those Acts of Felix, bishop of Thibiuca BHL 2894, 2895, all the copies of which are mutilated and depraved by an addition devised for the sole purpose of proving that this Felix was none other than the saint of the same name whom the people of Venosa and Nola venerated Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XVI, p. 27. So too the Roman Passion was fabricated and glued onto the Pannonian in order to resolve the doubt that had long since arisen about five martyrs and four others venerated by the Roman church on the same day and in the same place. Nor was skilful wit needed to fabricate the Roman Acts, and they are taken from the Pannonian Acts. which hagiographers of this stamp rarely betray in any case, as for instance the one who praised St. Theodore the General as distinct from Theodore the Recruit. For just as the Acts of the two Theodores are similar in many things, and the more recent intimately connected with the older Les légendes grecques des saints militaires, p. 39, so too our Roman Passion borrows most things from the Pannonian. For in the latter Diocletian comes into Pannonia, and in the same hour orders a temple to be built (c. 2) and an image of Asclepius to be made of porphyry stone (c. 12); but when the holy martyrs refuse this, a statue is carved by other craftsmen from Proconnesian marble (v. 16), and at last, after the deed had been reported to Diocletian Augustus (c. 17), Claudius with his four companions is condemned to death before the temple of the Sun (c. 20); and their bodies are gathered after forty-two days by Nicodemus. So too in the Roman Passion, Diocletian, coming to Rome, at once ordered a temple to be built and an image of Asclepius to be made of Proconnesian marble; and when the four cornicularii would not offer incense to the idol, and it had been reported to Diocletian Augustus, they are ordered to be beaten to death with leaded scourges before that very image; and after five days had elapsed, their bodies were gathered by St. Sebastian with Miltiades and buried. As you see, both the matter and for the most part the very words were suggested by the Passion of the Pannonians; but that the hagiographer brought in not just any soldiers but four cornicularii is easily explained from the term of the four crowned ones.

[55] The Baths of Trajan. That this tragedy is enacted in the baths of Trajan, and not in those of Diocletian, as you might rather expect [That there was a temple of Asclepius in the baths of Diocletian is held from the little book Mirabilia], there is no reason for us to wonder. For the baths of Trajan were near the Caelian basilica [Jordan-Huelsen, Topographie der Stadt Rom in Alterthum, vol. III (Berlin, 1907), pp. 310 – 14], and the hagiographer wished the term Four Crowned Ones, given to the old church, to be understood from the nearby place of martyrdom. Whence I infer, first, that the temple of Aesculapius or Asclepius in the baths of Trajan, of which the learned speak from our Passion alone [Jordan, De Aesculapii Fauni Veiovis Iovisque sacris urbanis, Commentationes philologae in honorem Theodori Mommseni (Berlin, 1877), pp. 356 – 69], is more probably to be held a figment of the hagiographer. Second, that the ancient Acts of the Pannonian saints were reworked and brought to their present form in the course of the sixth century, if, however, it is true that in the year 499 the Caelian church had not yet heard the title of the Four Crowned Ones; for no presbyter of this titulus is read to have subscribed the council of the year 499, but in the year 595 there first occurs Fortunatus, presbyter of the Holy Four Crowned Ones Registrum of Gregory I, V, 5a, Ewald-Hartmann, vol. I, p. 367.

[56] On Porphyrius From the A codices we receive the name of the hagiographer who put together the Acts of our saints: A censualis a gleba, an actuary named Porfyreus, wrote the deed; which Peter of Naples also read in the codex he was using, but rendered in his own way by paraphrase: whose sacred passions a certain philosopher (the word is plainly borrowed from the Passion itself), a censualis named Porfirius, observing them in order, etc. Of the office of the censualis actuarius others more learned have spoken [De Rossi, Bullettino, 1879, pp. 68 – 72; O. Seeck, in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopaedie, s. v. censualis], nor is there agreement among all [The one who spoke of the word actuarius in the Thesaurus linguae latinae brings forward the passage of the Passion of the Holy Four Crowned Ones, and adds: I do not know what office underlies it]. De Rossi refers it to the census proclaimed by Diocletian and instituted by Galerius, and to the measurement of fields connected with it Bullettino, at the place cited; others, however, have thought that the time cannot be so narrowed Meyer, Ueber die Passio sanctorum Quatuor Coronatorum, p. 13, and this indeed with the best of right. Yet it seems to belong to the fourth century rather than to the sixth, and hence I gather that Porphyrius wrote the Acts of the Pannonian saints, and was not the one who reworked them and mixed them with the Roman fable. For the rest, the candid writer of the Acts. whoever it is who first narrated the history of the five Pannonians, he certainly stayed in the Pannonian mines, and although he by no means seems to have dealt with the martyrs and to have been present at their Passion, he beyond doubt received from suitable witnesses the deeds of the five saints, not consigned to writing from the beginning, but such as were carried about by word of mouth after some years, true indeed and genuine, but also, as happens, somewhat ornamented and enlarged.

[57] Various little fables about the four saints. No credit whatever is deserved by the traditions, as they call them, preserved in various places, about works which the holy martyrs completed with their own hands, chiefly in the baths of Diocletian and the villa at Salona. For example, Thomas the archdeacon († 1268) writes this of Diocletian: Besides many other buildings he caused baths to be made at Rome; in the parts of Pannonia, on the border of Ruthenia, he built a certain quite excellent building of porphyry stones, which still, though in ruins, affords a great spectacle of wonder to those passing by, as is read in the history of the four crowned ones [Historia Salonitana, c. IV, Rački in Monumenta spectantia historiam Slavorum meridionalium, Scriptores vol. III, p. 10]. In the Mirabilia urbis Romae it is narrated that the baths of Diocletian were adorned by them with paintings Urlichs, Codex Urbis Romae topographicus, p. 137. And so the Chronicle of Eike von Repgow: An den silven tîden Dioclecianus buwede dat palas to Rome, dat geheten is Termae Diocleciani, dat wart vollenbracht an tein jaren; an deme werke worden sere genodegit de kerstenen: de waren mestere an deme stenwerke Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius unde Simplicius de let de silve woderich marteren, so se Kristes verlochnen nicht ne wolden [In those same times Diocletian built the palace at Rome that is called the Thermae Diocletiani; it was completed in ten years; at that work the Christians were sorely oppressed: the masters at the stonework were Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius and Simplicius; these the same tyrant had martyred, since they would not deny Christ] [H. F. Massmann, Das Zeitbuch des Eike von Repgow, Bibliothek des Litterarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, no. 42 (Stuttgart, 1857), p. 152]. That these are pure and simple figments, such as the sight of huge buildings is wont to put into the minds of the common folk, all the most learned know well. To this too must be referred what is read in the Life of St. Anthony of Padua, that the saint's body was laid in a most beautiful chest, which they say was made by the hand of the four holy martyrs BHL 598, Horoy, p. 491.

§ IV. On the cult and veneration of the Holy Four Crowned Ones.

[58] The Roman titulus of the four saints, That the original appellation of the Caelian church [Besides what De Rossi wrote, Bullettino, 1879, pp. 45 – 90, and other little books soon to be brought forward, D. Memmolo spoke of the Caelian church, Della vita, chiesa e reliquie de' sancti quattro coronati, Rome, 1757, XI – 47 pp.], which at least from the sixth century has been called the titulus of the Holy Four Crowned Ones [Besides what De Rossi wrote, Bullettino, 1879, pp. 45 – 90, and other little books soon to be brought forward, D. Memmolo spoke of the Caelian church, Della vita, chiesa e reliquie de' sancti quattro coronati, Rome, 1757, XI – 47 pp.], was the titulus of Aemiliana, the distinguished L. Duchesne asserted by good, though not most certain, arguments, as he himself admits [Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire, vol. VII (1887), p. 221; Le Liber pontificalis, vol. II, p. 43]. When it began to be assigned especially to the veneration of the holy martyrs is not clear Above, p. 754. Honorius I (625 – 638), on the testimony of the Liber Pontificalis, made (read remade, for it existed before) the church of the blessed four crowned martyrs, which he both dedicated and to which he offered a gift Duchesne, vol. I, p. 324. Hadrian I (772 – 795) restored anew all the roofing of the titulus of the holy four crowned ones, which was in ruins, laying several beams there Ibid., p. 512, in the ninth century, and Leo IV (847 – 855) brought from its foundations into a more splendid and more beautiful state the basilica which had been consecrated to the name of the saints, which he himself ruled with most prudent governance until he was brought to the summit of the pontificate, which through the former courses of time, shaken by the decay of age and almost broken by ruins, had long seemed shattered of old Duchesne, vol. II, p. 115.

[59] in the tenth century, In the year 975, in a letter of Benedict VII [Jaffé-Loewenfeld, Regesta pontificum Romanorum, 3779. This is mentioned by the author who wrote the Gesta of Boemund, archbishop of Trier, MG., Scriptores vol. XXIV, p. 470] given on the 18th day of January, mention is made not indeed of the church but of the cell of the four crowned ones, which of a monastery, already at that time joined to the basilica,

I think is to be understood Ducange, Glossarium, s. v. cella. The pontiff, that is, assigns it to Theoderic, archbishop of Trier (965 – 977), and his successors: Let it be known to all that we, with the authority of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, and with the free assent of the priests and clerics of the whole Roman people, have granted to the same holy church of Trier the cell of the Four Crowned Ones to be possessed in perpetuity, with all its appurtenances, namely waters and the courses of waters, meadows, pastures, vineyards, woods, cultivated and uncultivated lands, courts and dwellings. All of which we bestow, by the tenor of this our apostolic precept, on the same our brother Theoderic, archbishop of the holy church of Trier and our most dear vicar in the parts of all Gaul and Germany, and through him on all his successors, to be possessed, held and ordered in perpetuity.

[60] in the eleventh century, Paschal II (1099 – 1118) rebuilt from its foundations the church of the Holy Four Crowned Ones, which had been destroyed in the time of Robert Guiscard, prince of Salerno in the year 1085, and consecrated it in the seventeenth year of his pontificate in the year 1116, in the month of January, on the 20th day [Duchesne, at the volume cited, p. 305; cf. p. 310 and the Continuation of the Isidorian Chronicle, MG., Scriptores vol. XXIV, p. 117]. But, as is established from his letter given on the 24th of May 1116, he repaired it on a smaller scale [Cf. A. L. Frothingham, The monuments of christian Rome (New York, 1908), pp. 90, 167, 350, 411], and, having instituted a congregation of monks there, he united it to the church of Blessed Mary which is called in Michaele [P. Kehr, Regesta pontificum romanorum, vol. I, Church of SS. Quattuor Coronati, no. 5]. It was enriched by various pontiffs Kehr collected the passages, at the volume cited, p. 41, chiefly by Leo III (798 – 816), by Leo IV (847 – 855), by Stephen V (885 – 891).

[61] down to the sixteenth century. Already in the year 1138, among the possessions of the monastery of Holy Cross of Sassovivo in Umbria, Pope Innocent II enumerates at Rome the church of SS. Quattuor Coronati Kehr, Regesta, vol. IV, Sassovivo, no. 2, which remained subject to it down to the fifteenth century [Kehr, ibid., nos. 8, 9; Guiraud, Le titre des saints Quatre Couronnés au moyen âge, Études d'histoire du moyen âge dédiées à Gabriel Monod (Paris, 1896), pp. 235 – 52. Here I note in passing that in instruments of the year 1380 there occurs more than once a farmstead of the church of SS. IV Coronati, which is called Casale de Santi quattro. Cf. Vatican codex lat. 7930, fols. 98v, 137v, 138. In the Roman Campagna, to the left of the Via Tusculana, there also exists the "Tor dei Santi Quattro." Carta d'Italia dell'istituto geografico militare, sheet 158]; from the year 1521 the Camaldolese obtained the church Mittarelli, Annales Camaldulenses, vol. III, p. 190. Meanwhile Cardinal Alfonso Carillo Forcella, Iscrizioni delle chiese e d'altri edificii di Roma, vol. VIII, no. 720 had repaired what lay prostrate in old ruin, while Martin the Fifth held the see after the schism was extinguished (1417 – 1431).

[62] The martyrium of the Four Saints at Canterbury. The most ancient instance of veneration paid to our saints outside the City we have among the English, in the city of Dorovernum, or Canterbury, while Mellitus was bishop (619 – 624). Bede relates that by an unhappy chance the city began to be consumed by fire, and goes on thus: Now there was in the place where the onrush of the flames pressed most heavily the martyrium of the blessed Four Crowned Ones. There, therefore, the bishop, carried by the hands of those attending him, began, infirm as he was, to drive off by praying the danger which the firm hand of the strong had been unable to do with much labour. And without delay the wind, which blowing from the south had spread the fires through the city, being turned back toward the south, first drew off the force of its fury from injuring the places that lay opposite Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, II, 17, Plummer, vol. I, p. 94. The old church has long since been destroyed, nor have we found any other dedicated to the four saints in England F. Arnold-Forster, Studies in Church Dedications, vol. II (London, 1899), p. 528, nor yet in other regions, except one which once existed in the territory of Sirmium [At the place called Kapela in Andrijevno, Glasnik Biskupije Bosanske i Sriemske, vol. XV (1877), p. 245].

[63] The relics of our saints at Rome, We said above that the relics of Saints Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphorianus, Castorius and Simplicius were brought into the church by Leo IV, and that, when the church had been burned with the altar, Paschal II examined them and honourably laid them back Above, p. 755, no. 32. From the ancient inscriptions themselves these things were narrated again in the seventeenth century on two marbles, placed one on the right and one on the left at the entrance of the choir [Forcella, at the volume cited, no. 725, gives only the inscription placed on the right, the other being omitted], yet in such a way that some things were added which were lacking in the prototype, e.g.: Blessed Leo IV, supreme pontiff, having rebuilt the church whose title he had held before his pontificate, in the year of the Lord 849, the third of his pontificate, placed under the high altar the bodies found by him of the holy martyrs Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphorianus, Castorius, Simplicius and of the four crowned brothers Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus and Victorinus…, where it is chiefly to be noted that the word crowned has been interpolated. No one will be surprised that relics of our saints, brought from I know not where, are found in other places afterwards. For example, at Rome in the church of Saint Adrian at the Three Fora, consecrated by Pope Gregory IX in the year 1228, there are laid up in the apse above a column the bodies of the Three Children, of SS. Sebastian and Fabian, of Cosmas and Damian, of the Four Crowned Ones, of the Forty Martyrs… F. M. Torrigio, Le sacre grotte vaticane, third impression (Rome, 1675), p. 275. In the church of Saint Lawrence below the Capitol, dedicated in the year 1241, relics of the Holy Four Crowned Ones too were deposited in the altar Torrigio, at the volume cited, p. 277. That the church of Saint Blaise on the Via Giulia had relics of St. Nicostratus is established from an inscription Galletti, Inscriptiones romanae infimi aevi Romae exstantes, vol. I, p. CCCLVII.

[64] at Toulouse The people of Toulouse also boast that the bodies of SS. Claudius, Nicostratus and their three companions are kept in the church of Saint Saturninus A. du Saussay, Martyrologium Gallicanum (Paris, 1637), p. 843. Among the Names of the saints whose bodies rest in the church of Saint Saturninus of Toulouse, written down in the fourteenth century, this is read: the body of blessed Claudius, martyr; likewise, the body of blessed Nychostratus, martyr; likewise, the body of blessed Simphorianus, martyr; likewise the bodies of Saints Castor and Simplicius [C. Douais, Documents sur l'ancienne province de Languedoc, vol. II (Paris, 1904), pp. 447 – 48]. Of the same also the Inventory of the bodies of saints, relics, jewels and other things and goods existing within the monastery of Saint Saturninus and also under the ground in the place commonly called als corps Sainctz, made and begun on the 12th day of December in the year of the Lord 1489 Douais, at the volume cited, p. 94: Likewise in three marble stone vessels, one above another, the bodies of the four crowned ones and of St. Aymond, formerly king of England, of which in the lower vessel the bodies of Claudius and Nycostratus; in the second vessel are the bodies of Sinphorianus and Castorius, and in the upper vessel the body of the said blessed Aymond Douais, at the volume cited, p. 96. There is also an inventory of the 22nd day of the month of June of the year 1646: Dans la chapelle dédiée à sainct Aymond, roy d'Angleterre, martir … ont esté treuvés troys armoires. Dans celluy qu'est du costé de l'evangille et le unziesme a été treuvé une chasse de menuzerie bien dorée et peinte, dans laquelle repozent les corps des saintz Claude, Nicostrate et Simplice, martirs… Dans le trectziesme armoire quy est du costé de l'epitre de laditte chapelle, a esté treuvée une chasse de menuzerie dorée et peinte comme celle du unziesme armoire dans laquelle repoze les corps de sainct Simphorien et Castor martyrs… Dans le quinziesme armoire joignant ladicte chapelle de St. Gilles a esté treuvée une teste ou reliquaire dans lequel sont conservées les testes des saintz Claude, Nicostrat, Simphorien, Castor et Simplice martyrs, couverte d'argent en divers endroitz avec diverses plates d'argent [In the chapel dedicated to St. Aymond, king of England, martyr … three cupboards were found. In the one that is on the Gospel side, the eleventh, there was found a shrine of joinery well gilded and painted, in which rest the bodies of Saints Claude, Nicostratus and Simplicius, martyrs… In the thirteenth cupboard, which is on the Epistle side of the said chapel, there was found a shrine of joinery gilded and painted like that of the eleventh cupboard, in which rest the bodies of St. Symphorian and Castor, martyrs… In the fifteenth cupboard adjoining the said chapel (of St. Giles) there was found a head or reliquary in which are preserved the heads of Saints Claude, Nicostratus, Symphorian, Castor and Simplicius, martyrs, covered with silver in various places with various silver plates] [Douais, at the volume cited, pp. 315, 316. There exists also an inventory of the year 1857 (ibid., pp. 580 – 81) in which is read: Une châsse en bois revêtue de lames de cuivre doré renfermant les reliques des saints Claude, Nicostrate et Simplice martyrs. Une châsse en bois revêtue de lames de cuivre doré renfermant les reliques des saints Castor et Symphorien, martyrs. (A wooden shrine covered with plates of gilded copper containing the relics of Saints Claude, Nicostratus and Simplicius, martyrs. A wooden shrine covered with plates of gilded copper containing the relics of Saints Castor and Symphorian, martyrs.)]. At what time and by what way the sacred bodies were brought to them most confess that they do not know [R. Daydé, Histoire de St Sernin ou l'incomparable tresor de son église abbatiale de Toulouse (Toulouse, 1661), p. 83; Les corps saints de l'insigne basilique Saint-Saturnin de Toulouse (Toulouse, 1881), p. 12]; some, however, have been pleased to hold that these relics were sent to Toulouse by Charlemagne with many others [Antiennes et oraisons à l'usage de ceux qui auront la dévotion de visiter les sacrées reliques qui reposent dans l'insigne église abbatiale Saint-Sernin de Toulouse (Toulouse, 1762), pp. 6 – 7]; which was corrected and transferred to Charles the Bald by those who remembered that they had been found at Rome when the great emperor was already dead A. S[alvan, Histoire de Saint Saturnin (Toulouse, 1840), p. 176; A. Bremond, Histoire de toutes les reliques conservées dans l'insigne basilique de Saint-Saturnin (Toulouse about 1860), p. 44]. They report that Archbishop de Montchal examined them with solemn rite on the 13th day of November of the year 1644 Daydé, at the volume cited, p. 130; Bremond, at the volume cited, p. 44. Another examination was carried out in the year 1807 Bremond, at the volume cited, p. 44.

[65] in other places. The people of Maynal (Jura) assert that one St. Claudius rests in their church, and they depict him as a marble-worker Vie des saints de Franche-Comté, vol. IV (Besançon, 1856), pp. 558 – 62. Of this St. Claudius our predecessors have already spoken [Acta Sanctorum, June vol. I, pp. 675 – 76. Cf. Chastelain, Martyrologe universel (Paris, 1709), pp. 769, 786]; but who he was neither had they found out nor have we. Relics of the same Claudius, whoever he is, were kept in a certain oratory in the village of Denezières (Jura, arrondissement of Saint-Claude), and his feast was held solemn on the 8th day of November Vies des saints de Franche-Comté, at the volume cited, p. 561. At Basel in the year 1425 the head of St. Claudius was kept

of Spoleto, who is read to have been one of the four crowned martyrs [Archives de l'État, Basel, convent of Saint Mary Magdalene, Parchment 399. Sent by the distinguished E. A. Stückelberg]. Among the relics which Abbot Megingoz gave to the monastery of Buren in the year 1063 are numbered relics from the body of the holy martyrs the four crowned ones Claudius, Nikostratus, Simphorianus, Castorius M. G., Scriptores vol. XVII, p. 322. In the church of the monastery of Tegernsee there are seen behind the high altar three marble coffers arranged against the wall, of which one is that of St. Quirinus, patron of the church, another that of Chrysogonus the martyr, the third that of Castorius, likewise a martyr, one of the four crowned ones Mabillon, Iter Germanicum, p. 76. At Augsburg, in the basilica of SS. Ulrich and Afra, relics of the Four Crowned Ones are kept B. Hertfelder, Basilica SS. Udalrici et Afrae (Augsburg, 1627), p. 116.

[66] Patrons of the marble-workers in Italy, I think it a very well known matter that in the Middle Ages the Four Crowned Ones were adopted in many places [You have a few things collected on the matter in C. Purdon Clarke, Vestigia Quatuor Coronatorum, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. XII (London, 1899), pp. 196 – 201] as patrons by the guilds of marble-workers, stone-cutters and masons. Most celebrated is the University of marble-workers and sculptors of the City, whose oratory is at the church of the Four Saints on the Caelian hill, and whose history there is no leisure to pursue [G. Tomassetti, Quinto centenario della Università dei Marmorarii di Roma, Rome, 1906, 20 pp.]. At Florence the congregation of stone-cutters and smiths venerated the same saints as guardians of their arts, and set up their statues at the Garden of Saint Michael, or Orsanmichele [Vasari, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, vol. III (Florence, 1848), p. 56; P. Franceschini, L'Oratorio di San Michele in Orto (Florence, 1892), p. 83; A. Schmarsow, Die Statuen an Orsanmichele, Festschrift zu Ehren des Kunsthistorischen Instituts in Florenz (Leipzig, 1897), p. 44]. At Arezzo, in the church of Saint Francis, a chapel is dedicated to the Four Crowned Ones, handsome with paintings Vasari, at the volume cited, p. 150. A similar veneration of our saints in other cities of Italy is attested by their effigies preserved in various places Below, no. 69.

[67] in Germany, In Germany we have indeed an altar of the church of Aachen in honour of the holy Four Crowned martyrs and of Charlemagne the confessor, consecrated in the year 1474 by Jerome, bishop of Fossombrone [F. Bock, Rheinlands Baudenkmale des Mittelalters, III Serie, Die Hubertuskapelle am Aachener Münster, p. 6]. But of much greater moment is the fact that the lodges of architects and stone-cutters had the same martyrs as patrons F. Janner, Die Bauhütten des deutschen Mittelalters (Leipzig, 1876), pp. 198 225, and were accustomed to issue their statutes in the name of the Four Saints. So in an ordinance issued in the year 1459: In Namen des Vaters, des Suns und des Heiligen Geists und der würdigen Mutter Marien und auch ir seligen Diener der Heiligen Vier gekrönten, zu ewiger Gedechtnisse [In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and of the worthy Mother Mary, and also of her blessed servants the Holy Four Crowned Ones, to everlasting memory] Janner, at the volume cited, p. 251. in England, Nor much otherwise in England, as is plain even from the poem edited by J. O. Halliwell from the British Museum codex Royal XVII, A. 1, Constitutiones Artis Gemetriae secundum Euclydem [The early History of Freemasonry in England, London, 1840, pp. 12 – 40; Latomia, freimaurerische Vierteljahrs-Schrift, vol. I (Leipzig, 1842), pp. 241 – 65; H. J. Whymper, Constituciones Artis Gemetriae secundum Euclydem, a facsimile of the early poem on Freemasonry, London, 1889. The poem has more than once been published rendered into German. Cf. J. G. Findel, Geschichte der Freimaurerei (Leipzig, 1866), p. 75], whose last part begins with these words:

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum. Pray we now to God almyght, And to hys swete moder Mary bryght, That we mowe keep these artyculus here And these poyntes wel al y-fere, As dede these holy martyres fowre That yn thys craft were of gret honoure…

[The Art of the Four Crowned Ones. Let us pray now to God almighty, and to his sweet mother Mary bright, that we may keep these articles here and these points well all together, as did these holy martyrs four, that in this craft were of great honour…] [Cf. R. F. Gould, The history of Freemasonry, vol. I (London, 1882), p. 81; Id., A concise history of Freemasonry (London, 1903), pp. 204 – 209; H. Boos, Geschichte der Freimaurerei (Aarau, 1894), p. 54].

In our own days too in England the patronage of the Four Saints is acknowledged by the society which they call of the free masons (Freemasons), and it flourishes in London under this name: Quatuor Coronati Lodge [Whoever desires more on these, let him consult the little books published yearly by the members since the year 1887: Ars quatuor coronatorum being the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, no. 2076, London, and the book Quatuor Coronati Lodge Bylaws, Regulations, Legend, London, 1895]. above all in Belgium. Yet in no place was their memory formerly, and is it still, more celebrated than in our Belgium [Goblet d'Alviella, The Quatuor Coronati in Belgium, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. XIII (1900), pp. 78 – 84; Id., Les Quatre Couronnés en Belgique, extract from the Bulletin des travaux du Suprême Conseil de Belgique, du 1er nov. 1899 au 1er nov. 1900, Brussels, 1901, 29 pp. Cf. Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XXVIII, pp. 220 – 22; A. v(an) H(oucke), Les Quatre saints Couronnés, Bulletin des métiers d'Art, vol. II (Brussels, 1902 – 1903), pp. 222 – 23, 253 – 55; Ad. De Ceuleneer, Les Quatre saints Couronnés, offprint from the Bulletin des métiers d'Art, 1906, 11 pp.], and there exist in very many cities — for instance at Antwerp [C. Van Cauwenberghs, La corporation des Quatre Couronnés d'Anvers ou les architectes anversois du moyen âge (1324 – 1542), Bulletin d'Académie d'archéologie de Belgique, IVe série, vol. I (Antwerp, 1885), pp. 565 – 613], at Brussels [A. Henne-A. Wauters, Histoire de la ville de Bruxelles, vol. II (Brussels, 1845), p. 590], at Bruges [Gaillard, De ambachten en neeringen van Brugge, vol. II (Bruges, 1854), pp. 22, 82], at Ghent [F. De Potter, Gent, vol. III, pp. 389 – 95; 417 – 29; 530 32. In the city archive is kept the register of the guild called Vrije neeringhe van de metsers ende steenhouders, in which the holy Four Crowned Ones (Severinus, Severianus, Carpophorus, Victorinus) are depicted more than once, Reeks 177, reg. nr 2. Cf. V. Van der Haeghen, Inventaire des archives de la ville de Gand (Ghent, 1896). In the year 1827 there was established there a society of the humbler sort (maatschappij van onderlingen bijstand) De Vier Gekroonden, which still exists. Cf. also L. Minard-Van Hoorebeke, Description des méreaux et autres objets anciens des gildes et corps de métiers, églises etc. (Ghent, 1877), p. 222], at Louvain Van Even, Louvain dans le passé et dans le présent (Louvain, 1895), p. 369, at Mechelen [There exist there in our days two societies of workmen called Gilde der Vier Gekroonden, of which one was recently united among the members of the guild named Katholieke Werkmanskring; the other is old, on which see Schoeffer, Historische aanteekeningen rakende de kerken … der stad Mechelen, vol. III, pp. 28 – 60; Van Doren-Hermans, Inventaire des archives de la ville de Malines, vol. VIII (Mechelen, 1895), pp. 46 – 48], at Dendermonde [That some monuments of the sodality of the Holy Four Crowned Ones exist in the museum of the city of Dendermonde, the distinguished A. De Ceuleneer is my witness], at Soignies [For at least sixty years the feast of the Holy Four Crowned Ones has been kept solemnly every year in this city by the stone-cutters, who are united in two societies, of which one, the Société des Quatre Couronnés, was founded in 1871 – 72, the other, Les vrais Quatre Couronnés, in the year 1903], at Amsterdam [J. Wagenaar, Amsterdam (Amsterdam, 1765), p. 367: Aan de noordzijde der Nieuwe — kerk hadt men het Metselaars- of Viergekroonden-Choor. [On the north side (of the New — church) there was the Masons' or Four Crowned Ones' choir.] He adds this at p. 368, note 6: Ondertusschen vindt men, in eene keure voor;t Metselaars-Gilde hier te stede, van den agttienden may des jaars 1532, dat de Bosmeesters, jaarlijks op Vier-gekroonden-dag, rekening moesten doen. [Meanwhile one finds, in an ordinance for the Masons' Guild in this city, of the eighteenth of May of the year 1532, that the Bosmeesters had to render account yearly on the Four Crowned Ones' day.]], at Leiden J. Alberdingh-Thijm, in Dietsche Warande, Amsterdam, 1857, French part, p. 13, at Middelburg [De Stoppelaer, Oudheidskamer ten raadhuize van Middelburg (Middelburg, 1876), p. 77], at Gouda J. W[alvis, Beschrijving der stad Gouda, vol. II (Gouda, 1714), p. 30], at Dordrecht [L. C. Spoorman, De O. L. Vrouwekerk te Dordrecht, Bijdragen voor de Geschiedenis van het bisdom Haarlem, vol. V (1877), p. 15], at Leeuwarden [Op den Vier Gecroenden dach zullen alle gildebroeders ende zusters 't Oldenhoven ter kercken komen, misse hooren, een oirt stuver offeren ende statie holden [On the Four Crowned Ones' day all guild-brothers and sisters shall come to church at the Oldehove, hear Mass, offer a quarter-stiver and hold a procession] (Ordinance of 1547). The distinguished A. J. Flament received it from the archive of Leeuwarden and kindly sent it to us], at Haarlem [The feast of the Holy Four Crowned Ones was kept every year by the fellow masons etc. Keure van de gildebroeders van de metselaers, tegeldekkers en kalkbranders binnen der stede van Haerlem, 1547. The aforementioned A. J. Flament received it from the archive of Haarlem and sent it to us], at 's-Hertogenbosch [L. H. C. Schutjes, Geschiedenis van het bisdom 's Hertogenbosch, vol. IV (St. Michiels-Gestel, 1873), p. 198] — indubitable monuments of the pious veneration of our forefathers toward the holy martyrs.

[68] The names of the patrons, For those pious craftsmen the names of the patrons are mostly four of the five Pannonians, as for example at Antwerp, where on a medal was read: CLAUDYN. NYCOSTRATVN. SIMPHORIANVN. CASTORIVM. DE. VIER. GECROONDE. 1546 Génard, Catalogue du musée du Steen (Antwerp, 1904), p. 249. Otherwise at Middelburg: Claudus, Nicostracius, Dicideryus, Syplycius [Or also: Claudus, Nicostracius, Diciderius, Siplicus. J. Dirks, De Noord-Nederlandsche Gildenpenningen, vol. I (Haarlem, 1878), pp. 354 – 55]. From where they have Desiderius is not clear. The names of Castorius and Simpronianus are wonderfully corrupted in an instrument given at Rochlitz in the year 1462: Auch alle diese Artigkel sinndt gemacht worden auss dem Texte des alden Haubtenrechtes, das do haben gemacht die Heyligen wirdigen gekrönten mertern, genannt Claudius, Christorius und Signifikamus … [Also all these articles have been made out of the text of the old chief law, which the holy worthy crowned martyrs made, called Claudius, Christorius and Signifikamus …] In Janner, Die Bauhütten, p. 213. Among the people of Gouda we find the four Roman martyrs venerated as the crowned ones:

De vier gekroonde broeders Martelaaren Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus en Victorinus

J. Walvis, at the volume cited, p. 30; nor otherwise among the people of Ghent So in the register (of which above, note 10), fol. 6. At Leiden there were formerly read, under the images of the crowned ones, the names of the Pannonian martyrs: Claudius, Nestorianus, Castorianus, Sempronianus J. Alberdingk-Thijm, in Dietsche Warande, at the volume cited, p. 13.

[69] Images. Very many images of our saints have been preserved in various places. It will be enough to have noted only the principal ones, which are at Rome in their basilica Lafenestre-Richtenberger, Rome. Le Vatican, les églises (Paris, 1903), p. 303, at Perugia, now in the Academy Wessely, Iconographie Gottes und der Heiligen (Leipzig, 1874), p. 134, at Siena in the cathedral Ibid., p. 134, at Arezzo in the church of St. Francis Vasari, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, vol. III, p. 150, at Pavia on the shrine of St. Augustine [P. R. Majocchi, L'arca di S. Agostino in S. Pietro in Ciel d'oro (Pavia, 1900), pp. 17, 41, Plate 16], at Venice in the palace of the doges Didron, Annales archéologiques, vol. XVII (Paris, 1857), pp. 193 – 94, at Florence in Orsanmichele Above, p. 763, at Ferrara formerly in the church of St. Nicholas S. Reinach, Répertoire des peintures du moyen âge (Paris, 1905), p. 364, in the town of Saint-Denis in the basilica Wessely, at the volume cited, p. 135, at Steyr (Steyer) in Upper Austria [Berichte und Mittheilungen des Altertumvereines zu Wien, vol. IX (1866), p. 106; Verhandlungen des historischen Vereins von Oberpfalz und Regensburg, vol. XXVIII (1872), p. 197], at Ghent Inventaire archéologique de Gand, vol. I, plates 114, 196 – 97, at Lille [Lenglart, Catalogue du musée de Lille (Lille, 1893), p. 73. It was formerly at Brussels in the church of Saint Catherine. In De Ceuleneer, work cited, p. 80. Cf. Woltmann und Woermann, Geschichte der Malerei, vol. III (Leipzig, 1888), p. 473], at Brussels Musée communal. Cf. Goblet d'Alviella, work cited, pp. 4, 9, at Antwerp [Musée de peinture, nos. 158 – 162; in De Ceuleneer, work cited, p. 7; Musée du Steen, Van Cauwenbergh, work cited, p. 571], at 's-Hertogenbosch C. F. X. Smits, De Kathedraal van 's Hertogenbosch (Brussels, 1907), p. 185, at London [British Museum, cod. add. 18851. The little book Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, of which above, p. 764, note 5, displays the image on its front]. We do not doubt that many more could be adduced, and we expect them from those who have taken up the task of collecting such things. Various artists have been accustomed to portray the four saints in various ways. For either they wished it to be understood that they are called Crowned from the fact that they placed crowns on their heads, or that they were marble-workers from the chisel, mallet and line which they put in their hands, or both from the little crowns with which they adorned the craftsmen's tools themselves. Examples are among those we have just brought forward.

I. THE PASSION OF THE HOLY FOUR CROWNED ONES, BY PORPHYRIUS

The Four Crowned Ones, venerated at Rome (SS.) BHL Number: 1837

BY PORPHYRIUS

Edited from the codices of Paris 10861 (= A 1), Vallicelliana VIII (= A 2), Bollandist 14 (= B 1); Verona 95 (= B 2), Ambrosiana B 55 inf. (= B 3), Vatican 1192 (= B 4), Chapter of St. Peter A 5 (= B 5), Bern 48 (= B 6), Munich 9506 (= B 9), Munich 22244 (= B 10), Troyes 1248 (= B 11), Gotha fol. 64 (= B 12), Einsiedeln 256 (= E). The Greek version is edited from the Vatican codex gr. 1608 (= V). Cf. above, pp. 750 – 51.

Here begins the passion of Saints Simpronianus, Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius Castori A 1. and Simplicius [mense nov. die VIII adds B 1; passio sanctorum quatuor coronatum B 2, 9, 12; incipit p. s. q. c. B3; passio q. c. B8, 10; passio sanctorum martyrum IIII coronatorum mense novembri die VIII B5; sanctorum q. c. passio incipit B4; passio sancti Simphoriani, Claudii, Nicostrati et aliorum B7; incipit p. s. q. c. S. C. N. C. S. quae est VI //// to id//// B6; passio beatorum martyrum Sympronii, Claudii etc. quatuor quoque coronatorum Seueri, Seueriani, Carpofori atque Victorini B11.].

[1] In the stone-quarries of Pannonia At the time illo adds B 3. when Diocletian Diocletianus B6, 8, 9, 10, 11, E; Dyoclitianus here B12; augustus adds B. went to Pannonia [Pannonias B2, 9, 10, 11, 12; B1 corrected, previously Pannoniis; Pannoniam B3, 4, 5, 8.] to the mines [By this word metallum is signified both the material which is dug out and the pit itself. Here it is used for a stone-quarry. H. Blümner, Technologie und Terminologie der Gewerbe und Künste bei Griechen und Römer, vol. III (Leipzig, 1884), pp. 69 – 84. On the administration of the mines O. Hirschfeld has discoursed, Die kaiserlichen Verwaltungsbeamten bis auf Diocletian, second ed. (Berlin, 1905), pp. 145 – 90; C. Dubois, Étude sur l'administration … des carrières dans le monde romain, Paris, 1908; on the condition of the Christians condemned to the mines, I. B. de Rossi, Dei cristiani condannati alle cave dei marmi nei secoli delle persecuzioni, Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, 1868, pp. 17 – 25, 47.], in order that various things should be cut from the mountains in his presence, it came to pass autem adds B1, 3, 7, ut adds B8; factum est /////// B 5., while cum B5, 12. he was gathering all the craftsmen of the mine metallicos B. [That free or slave mine-craftsmen lived there besides those condemned to the mines is shown by De Rossi, Bullettino, 1879, p. 52.], that he found among them men imbued with great skill corrected B1. in the art arte B12, omits B9, 10., by name omits B1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12. Claudius, Castorius, Simpronianus [Simpronium corrected, Simphronium B1, 11 (over an erasure); Simphorianum B3; Symphorianum B7, 8, 9 (corrected from Symphronianum), 10; Simphronianum E; Cl. Simpr. Cast. B5, 8.] and Nicostratus Nic. C. S. et Simplicium B10; Simplicium adds B9., wonderful in the art of squared stone [The ars quadrataria is so called from the squared stone which stone-workers commonly used for building. The marble-workers, named from the nobler material, excelled the stone-workers. In our Passion quadratarius and ars quadrataria are used for sculptor and sculpture. Blümner, at the volume cited, pp. 6 – 7; Marquardt-Mau, Das Privatleben der Römer (Leipzig, 1886), p. 623.]. These were secretly Christians erant christiani B12., keeping the commandments of God omits B11., and whatever of their art they worked operabantur artis B4. in sculpture corrected, previously scultura B1; in sc. operabantur B12., they carved in the name of the Lord nostri adds B3, 4, 7, 12, E. Jesus omits B8, 9, 12. Christ omits B8. fecerunt E.. It came about inventum B1 (corrected), E, factum B8, 9, 10. autem adds B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12. [Ventum est = evenit, as Petschenig gathers from other passages, Sitzungsberichte der k. Akad. der Wissenschaften, vol. LXXIX, p. 772.] on a certain day quadam B6, 8., Diocletian commanding [Diocletiano from here on B1; on the rest p. 751, and above no. 2; augustro adds B except B12.], that the craftsmen should carve an image of the Sun et Dianae adds B10. with a four-horse chariot [Of images of the sun with four-horse chariots not a few examples survive, of which see Th. Panofka, Le lever du soleil sur un vase peint du Musée Blacas, Paris, 1833; Id., Von einer Anzahl antiker Weihgeschenke (Berlin, 1840), Plate I, 2; E. Curtius, Neue Funde in Ilion, Archaeologische Zeitung, vol. XXX (1873), p. 58, Plate 64; S. Reinach, Peintures de vases antiques (Paris, 1891), Millin, II. 49; W. Amelung, Die Sculpturen des Vaticanischen Museums, vol. I (Berlin, 1903), p. 710, Plate 76.] out of Thasian stone so below A1, here tasu, unless perhaps tasii; thaso B, E. [Thasian stone in Seneca, Epistle 86, 6, from the island of Thasos. Blümner, at the volume cited, pp. 33 – 36. Here understand, out of marble like the Thasian; for it was a Pannonian stone.] with every material [Argumentum, the material for painting, engraving, sculpting. Cf. Thesaurus linguae latinae, under the word. Cicero, Verrines II, 4, 56: there were argumenta most carefully finished in ivory on the doors.], the chariot currus et B1, 11; et adds the other B codices., the horses, indeed everything above the line B6., from one hoc C except B1. stone sculperent B1 (corrected), B3, 4, 5 (corrected), B7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.. At the same autem adds B except B8, 12. time all the craftsmen, with the philosophers [That by philosophers architects and engineers can be understood, as is plain from the history itself, is proved from various passages by Benndorf, Archaeologische Bemerkungen, pp. 343 – 344; De Rossi, Bullettino, 1879, pp. 57 – 59.], began to consider cogitautes B, E. how to polish the reckoning above the line B11. of this art. And when they had cut a great stone from the Thasian mine thaso B, E., the art of sculpture B1 corrected, previously sculturae; sculturȩ B6. did not suit the precept of Augustus omits B12. Diocletian Diocletiani corrected from Diocletiano B6., and for many days there was contention corrected by the first hand A1, previously contio; certamen over an erasure B11. between in the margin B11. the craftsmen and the philosophers.

[2] the four Christian sculptors On a certain quadam autem B, E; this and what follows as far as phylosophos omits B11. day all the craftsmen came together in unum adds B, E. numero adds B., six hundred and twenty-two, with five philosophers, at the texture [Textus, textum, textura is usually referred to cloth, here to the veins of the stone.] of the stone, and began to search out the veins omits B9, 10; venam B12. of the stone omits B9, 10., and there was a wonderful striving contentio B1 (corrected by a recent hand), B3 (the same), B4, 7, 9, 10, E. [Intentio is used elsewhere too for contentio. Petschenig, at the volume cited, p. 766.] between the craftsmen and the philosophers. At the same time Simpronianus [(eodem t. S.) ///// tunc (over an erasure) Sympronius (over an erasure) B11; Sympronianus autem B12.]

trusting in the faith fide B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12. which he held (confides - tenebat) omits E., said to his fellow craftsmen artifices suos fratres B, except B12; coartifices suos fratres B12, E.: I ask you rogo vos fratres B8. all, give me confidence inducias B3; fiduciam mihi B4., and I omits B3. shall find it [inveniam B4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12; textum lapidis huius adds B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, textum lapidis adds B8.] with deleted by the corrector B1. my fellow disciples Claudius, Simplicius, Nicostratus and Castorius Claudio… Castorio B1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Cast. et Nic.), 9, 10, 11, 12.. And seeking quarentes E. the vein of the mine, he began coeperunt E. to carve sculpere B1, 2, 3, 4, 12, E; omits B11. his art in the name of the Lord nostri adds B3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, E. Jesus Christ omits B9., and the sculpture corrected, previously scultura B1; sculpturam B10. followed well, and omits B, E; B3 /////////). according to the precept of Augustus et adds E. the sculpture autem adds B3, 8, 11, 12. B1 as in note 24. of the statue [Sigillum is a diminutive of signum, which no one is unaware is said of a statue, an effigy, etc. In the Anthologia latina I, 347, is read an epigram on a statue of Cupid pouring out waters, Riese, p. 275.] of the Sun omits B6, 8. was made, twenty-five feet high.

[3] they are ordered by Diocletian This, moreover, was announced hoc vero (previously autem) cum nuntiatum fuisset B11. to Diocletian Augustus, and omits B11. he was gladdened. In the same vero adds B1 – 10; autem adds B11. hour, in that very place ibi B9, 10. in the parts partes B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11; parte B7, 9, 10. of Pannonia, he ordered a temple [The temple of the Sun was built, O. Benndorf thinks, at the marble station itself, Archäologische Bemerkungen, p. 347. The inscription brought forward there (…Sacerdos dei solis stationis marmorum…) is forged. C. I. L. VI, 684*. Some designate more distinctly the place where the temple of the Sun was: "A Gradac nella località detta Pustinkova Glava, a mezza ora da Kipovno, se vedono avanzi di grosse mura. Si dice che qui sia stato tempio del Sole dedicato da Diocleziano secondo la citata Passio." [At Gradac, in the locality called Pustinkova Glava, half an hour from Kipovno, remains of thick walls are seen. It is said that here was the temple of the Sun dedicated by Diocletian according to the cited Passio.] F. Bulič, in Bullettino di archeologia e storia Dalmata, 1908, p. 117. Now Gradac is in the mountains called Fruška Gora by the Danube. Specialkarte des oester. Alpengebietes (Militärgeogr. Institut), Zone 25, col. XXI, 45° 10', 37° 25'.] to be built edificari B3, 5, 11 (corrected). in the place [Locus seems to stand for a definite part of the stone-quarry or a workshop, as De Rossi shows, Bullettino, 1868, pp. 23 – 24, 47; 1879, pp. 54 – 56; Benndorf, at the place cited, pp. 342 – 44.] which is called At the Fat Mountain pinguiem A 1. [Worth noting is what Benndorf writes of the place Ad montem Pinguem, at the place cited, pp. 347 – 48: "Karajan hat in den Sitzungsberichten der Wiener Akademie (X, 129, 1853) nach geognostichen Mittheilungen des Herrn Partsch, dargethan, das Steinbrüche, in welchen körnblättriger Kalkstein zugleich mit Gründstein-Porphyr vorkommt, sich wenige Meilen nördlich von Sirmium, dem heutigen Mitrovitz, in der Gebirginsel Fruschka-Gora in Sirmien vorfinden, und dass der Name mons pinguis mit einem zweiten mehrfach überlieferten Namen der Fruschka-Gora, mit der Bezeichnung mons almus in merkwürdiger Weise zusammenfalle. Worauf sich diese letztere Behauptung gründet ist leider nicht angegeben. Alte Schriftsteller erwähnen wiederholt in der Nähe von Sirmium einen Berg: bei Dio Cassius LV, 30 heisst er Ἀλμὰν ὄρος, bei Eutrop IX, 11 und Vopiscus Vita Probi 18, 8, Alma mons, so dass man den Namen mons pinguis für eine Latinisierung nehmen müsste." [Karajan, in the Proceedings of the Vienna Academy (X, 129, 1853), following geognostic communications of Herr Partsch, showed that stone-quarries in which granular-laminated limestone occurs together with greenstone porphyry are found a few miles north of Sirmium, the present Mitrovitz, in the mountain-island of Fruška Gora in Syrmia, and that the name mons pinguis coincides in a remarkable way with a second name of the Fruška Gora handed down several times, the designation mons almus. On what this latter assertion is based is unfortunately not stated. Ancient writers repeatedly mention a mountain near Sirmium: in Dio Cassius LV, 30 it is called the Alman mountain, in Eutropius IX, 11 and Vopiscus, Life of Probus 18, 8, Alma mons, so that one would have to take the name mons pinguis for a Latinization.] F. Bulič too (at the volume cited, pp. 114 – 27), who very recently surveyed this territory, thinks that the places of the Passion of the Four Saints are to be sought in the Fruška Gora (= mountain of the Franks), yet not to the south but to the north.]. to cut various works of art, And there ibi B 8. he set up and placed et posuit omits B 4. an image, and omits B 6, 11. gilded it deauratum B 6, 11; adoravit B 8. [The custom of gilding the images of the gods is attested by monuments, of which, besides others, G. Nicole and G. Darier, in Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire, vol. XXIX (1909), pp. 36 – 45.]. And he began in that same place to take delight [laetari B, delectari over an erasure B 11; litari conjectured Benndorf, in Büdinger, Untersuchungen, III, 325.] in sacrifices and unguents ungentis B 8, 10. and perfumes, and he gave deditque B. great omits B 11. gifts to the craftsmen. At the same time, delighted laetatus (delectatus B 4, 5, 8) est Diocletianus augustus B. in the art arte (arte ///// B 5) eorum et B, except B 2, which omits in arte., seized with exceeding love, he ordered that omits B 11. columns B 5, 8, 10. or et B 3. capitals of columns [Not unpleasantly is this passage compared with an inscription found at "Plate," at the Roman stone-quarries above Splitska in Dalmatia: Sacred to Hercules Augustus. Val. Valerianus, soldier, when I was overseeing the capitals of columns for the Licinian baths which are being made at Sirmium, paid his vow willingly and deservedly (C. I. L. III, 10107). I have restored the last words with Fr. Bulič, Bullettino di archeologia Dalmata, vol. VIII, p. 201.] should be cut from the porphyry mine [porphiritico B 1, 8; purphiretico B 2, 9, 10; porphiretico B 6, 11; porfiretico B 4; porfyro B 5; porphyretico B 7.] by omits B 3. the craftsmen incidi B 6, 11.. And he called to himself Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus and Castorius Castorium, Nicostratum B 8. and atque B 1, 2, 4 – 11. Simplicius; and receiving them with joy he said to them: I desire delector B 8; te adds B 3; per adds B 4, 5, 7, (above the line). that through the skill peritia B 2 (corrected), B 3, 6 (corrected), B 8, 10. of your art columnas vel adds B. capitals of columns be cut from the porphyry mountain B 1, 2, 4, 7 as above, note 19, which consult hereafter..

[4] and in the name of Christ, And by the precept (et ex praecepto) at illi haec (omits B 7) audientes a rege ilico B. they went away ////// abierunt B 11. with a multitude of craftsmen and philosophers phylosophorum B 11.. And when they came venientes B 6, 11. to the porphyry mountain in loco adds B. which is called vocatur B. the Fiery [Not improbably F. Bulič places this, at the volume cited, pp. 120 – 21, at Kipovno (= hill of the statues) or at neighbouring Červeni-Čot (= red hill), not far from the Danube. Specialkarte des oesterr. Alpengebietes, sheet cited, 45° 5', 37° 20'. At Kipovno certainly stone of a red colour is found, whence the mountain may have been called fiery.], they began to cut a stone lapides B 5; lapidem incidere B 9. 10. forty feet in size. Claudius, however vero B 11., did everything quae operabatur adds B. in the name of the Lord nostri adds B 3, 4, 6, 7, 11. Jesus Christ. And the art followed bene //// B 1; eum adds B 11. him omits B 11. well. But Simplicius, who was a gentile, whatever he made was not erant B, corrected B 6. fitting. On a certain quadam (quodam B 7) vero B. day Nicostratus said to Simplicius: Brother, how is it that your omits B 6. tool tibi B 6; omits B 4, 9, 10. breaks confringitur B 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11; constringitur B 9.? Simplicius Symplicius B 6, and so for the most part hereafter. said autem ad eum adds B 1 – 5, 7, 9, 10; vero ad eum adds B 8; dixit ad eum B 6, 11.: I ask you omits B 3., Simplicius the gentile marvelling, temper it [To temper is to harden red-hot iron by plunging it in water. Blümner, work cited, vol. IV, pp. 345 – 48.] for me ferramentum adds B., so that it does not break confringatur B 1 – 8; frangatur B 9, 10, 11.. Claudius Nicostratus B 9, 10. answered dicit ei B 1, 3, 4, 5; dixit ei B 2, 6, 7, 8. and said et dixit omits B.: Give me every omne B 2, 3, 4, 5 (corrected), 7, 8, 9, 10. engine [Tertullian already uses ingenium for a skilfully devised machine, e.g. De corona, c. 1: Yet when the times bring the fatherland to its last, and the Roman ram now dares against its once-own walls, the Carthaginians were at once astounded as at a new foreign engine. Read what F. Oehler collected, Tertulliani quae supersunt, vol. I, p. 436. Hence French engin. Cf. G. Körting, Lateinisch-Romanisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed. (Paderborn, 1907), p. 545.] of the art. And when cum B 8. he had given ei adds B. all the sculpture of iron sculturam B 6. ferream B 8, ferr/////i B 1. Sculptura ferri for ferrum sculpturae, by hypallage., Claudius said: In the name of the Lord nostri adds B 1, 6 – 11. Jesus Christ, let this iron ferramentum B 8. be strong and sound for doing works faciendam operationem B 5.. And omits B. from that same hour Simplicius began to work operari B. every art of squared stone with his tools [ferramentis suis B 2. 3, 4, 5, 8; ferramento suo B 7, 9, 10, 11; ferramenta su/// B 1.], as Simpronianus did, well and rightly. Then Simplicius with wonderful nimio B 8. love and eagerness began to inquire of Simpronianus what kind of tempering it was, since they never broke

the edges [frangebatur argumentum B 2, 8; fr. acumina (previously argumenta?) corrected above the line B 6.] of the tools suorum adds B. [Argumenta ferramentorum does not occur elsewhere; Petschenig proposes acumenta by conjecture, at the volume cited, p. 768. Yet argumentum is also used for a machine, ὄργανον, e.g. in the Passion of St. Euphemia (BHL 2708): argumenta rotarum; he ordered … her limbs to be cut through the argumenta of the art.], which before que corrected B 5. were not so omits B 8. erat B 1 – 4, 6 – 11.. Simpronianus, together with Claudius, says to him: So then, brother, you wonder miraris frater B 8. at the tempering of the tools ferramenti B 7.? The Creator Deus B. who is creator et dominus adds B. of all rerum adds B 2, 4, 5, 8., he himself has strengthened his own handiwork confortatus est B 6; confortare dignatus est B 11.. Simplicius answered respondens B 3, 9, 10. Simpronianus dicens Simphroniano (Simphoriano etc.) B.: Did not the god above the line in another hand A 1. Jupiter corrected, previously Iobis A 1; unus B 7. himself make all these things omits B.? Claudius answered respondens B, except B 8. ait illi adds B, except B 8.: Brother omits B 11., do penance, they approach all their works. because corrected, previously qui A 1. you have blasphemed, not knowing what you are saying loqueris B 1, 2, 6, 7, 8; loquereris B 3, 5, 11.. God Deum B 8; quippe adds B 11., whom we confess, he himself fecit adds B 8. created all things omits B 8., and Jesus Christ his omits B 3. Son omits B 3., our Lord, and the Holy Spirit. For him whom you call (nam - dicis) over an erasure B 11. god, why do you not above the line B 1. know cognoscitis B 2. that non adds B 9, 10. he is carved by et B 2. our hands manibus nostris B 11. exsculpitur B 8.? Do you not know that even ad B 1. the sun quia sol ipse B 11; sol//// B 5., which we made through the sculpture [sculpturam B (sculpituram previously B 5; sculturam B 6); fecimus per s. B 7, 9, 10.] of our art, that omits B 11. it itself ipse B 2, 3, 4, 5 (corrected), 8, 9, 10; ipsu/// B 1; ipsum B 7. is nothing?

[5] On the invocation of Christ On the same autem adds B 1 – 5, 8. day dum B., while they inter se B. were disputing [altercarent B 1, 2, 3, 7; altercarentur B 4, 5, 6, 11; ecce subito adds B 3, 4, 6, 11.], Diocletian Augustus ordered ut facerent ei adds B. basins adorned On these, Benndorf, at the place cited, pp. 349 – 50. with figures sigillo B 11. to be hollowed out of the porphyry mine marmore B 11. con above the line, corrected A 1.. Then Simpronianus, Claudius, Castorius and omits B 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11. Nicostratus began in the name of Christ domini B. to hollow out cavere A 1. basins and fountain-basins latus B 8. [The aforementioned Benndorf adduces, besides other passages, Pliny, Natural History, XXXVI, 121: Agrippa … in his aedileship, the Virgin water having been added and the others channelled together and repaired, made seven hundred basins, besides five hundred fountains … Mayhoff, vol. V, p. 350.] with figures sigillo B 11. and omits B 11; cum adds B 9, 10. canthari cantaris B 1 – 10; secantes B 11; et adds B 9. Cantharus, κάνθαρος, a water-vessel. with great fineness of art.

[6] Simplicius inquires; But Simplicius, whatever ferramentorum adds B 11; quando B 9, 10. he set his hand to manu /// B 2; ilico adds B. in the art arte B 1, 2, 3, 4, 6; eadem arte B 11; in quicquid artis B 5. mitteret B 6; mittebat B 11., it broke [confringebantur B 1, 3; confringebatur B 4 – 11 (B 11 previously confringebantur).]. Then he said to Simpronianus [(ad S.) Simpronianus (s over an erasure) B 1; ad sanctum S. B 6; Claudio Simplicius B 10; Simplicius Claudio B 9.]: I adjure you omits B 8, 10. by the god Sun to tell me who is this god who created all things et adds B 8., in whose name you work your art tam adds B 11. well. Claudius answering respondit B 8. dixit adds B 5, 11. said to Simplicius (ad S. dixit) omits B 8; et dixit B 2.: Is what we make pleasing to your mind and aut B 11; in adds B 3 – 11. to the sight of your eyes? Simplicius answered and said (et d.) dicens B 6, 11; omits B 8; //// dixit B 4.: I see I know not sed nescio B 8; nescio vero B 9, 10. what quem A 1; corrected, previously quem B 1; omits B 2, 3, 7. prayer praedicationem B 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11; prȩ/////cationem B 5; puritatem B 9, 10. which omits B 6, 11. you pray [praedicatis B 1, 2, 3, 4, 7; praecamini B 5; agitis B 6, 11; sed quaeso vos adds B.] secretly cotidie B 7.; declare to me this prayer praedicationem B 2, 3, 4, 7 – 11. of your god, so that you may enjoy confruamini B 11; fruar B 7. friendship amicitia B 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. with me too meam B 1, 3; mea B 2, 4, 5, 6; (et me) omits B 7; eius B 9, 10. vestram B 3; vos ///// B 5; vos B 11.. Claudius Claudius ei B 9. says dixit B 2. to him: And is there pure pura///// B 1, 5. friendship amicitia ///// B 5. in you? Simplicius answered (r. S.) S. dixit B.: Truly pure, for you too have known, see omits B 8; qualiter B 9, 10., how omits B 9, 10. I have worked sim B 10, 11. with you within fifteen years. Simpronianus omits B 1, 7, 9, 10. says dixit B 2, 7. to him: If you can believe, we tell dicemus B 6, 11. you, and mox adds B 1 – 7, 11; non solum B 8, 9, 10. you will attain the art autem B 9; bene adds B 8. sed adds B 4, 5, 7, 11. and you will have eternal life. Simplicius answered (r. S.) Simplicius dixit B.: With my omits B. desire I have desired desiderio et desideravi A 2, which begins here. to know your God, and ut sciam adds B 8; unde B 5. I beseech you vos A 2, B 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7.. he asks for baptism Claudius says to him: Behold tibi dicimus B, except B 8., this is what we tell you omits A 2. faithfully, that ut fideliter A 2, B. you believe in adds B 9, 10. the Lord deum B 9; nostrum adds A 2, B. Jesus Christ, the Son of God filium Dei A 2; dei esse filium B 11; eius adds B 10., and receive baptism, and all things will be supplied monstrabuntur B 8. to you. Simplicius answered Supplicius so A 1; (r. s.) Simplicius dixit A 2, B.: Then do not noli B 8. delay tardare nolite B 6, 11., so that I may be of one mind unanimis A 2, B (B 2 corrected). sim unanimis B 3, 6; fieri merear B 8 with you corrected, previously nobiscum B 6. both omits A 2, B 6, 9, 10, 11. in art and in omits A 2, B 6, 9, 10, 11. religion B 5 corrected, previously artem … religionem.. And they began to seek a priest. And they found a bishop bound in the custody custodiam B 1. of the prison omits A 2, B. corrected from relegatum B 6., named Quirillus Cyrillum A 2, B 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11; Cirillum B 3, 4, 9, 10; Cir. nomine B 3., brought from Antioch [Cyril, bishop of Antioch about the year 279, whom Tyrannus succeeded in the year 303. Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica, VII, 32, 2; Chronicon, Schoene, p. 187. Above, p. 760, no. 50. That de Antiochia is interpolated is an empty conjecture of Edmund Meyer, Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, vol. XVIII, p. 588.] abductum B 9, 10., chained for the name of Christ nomine Christi A 2, B., who had already been wasted with many beatings for three years per annos tres A 2, B.. Coming to him by night nocte B 8, 9., Simpronianus, Claudius, Nicostratus and omits A 2, B 8. Castorius Cl. Cast. et Nicostratus B 4. together with Simplicius, whom omits B 3, 5 (previously et), 8, 9, 10, 11. they found eum B 5, 8, 9, 10, 11. bound in chains with many omits B 9, 10. other confessors. And having gone in to holy beatum A 2, B 1, 3, 5, 6, 7; omits B 8. Quirillus [(ad s. Q.) omits B 11; episcopum adds B 8; Cyrillum (Cirillum) B, cf. above notes 63 – 75.], they cast themselves at his feet beati Cyrilli episcopi B 11. and asked rogantes B 11. him omits B, except B 8. to baptize Simplicius. And when blessed Quirillus episcopus adds A 2, B. had heard this, filled with joy est magno adds A 2, B. he said que adds. to Simplicius: Son, see whether ut B 11. you believe credas B 11. with your whole heart, and all things will be supplied monstrabuntur C 8. to you.

[7] and he receives it from Cyril the bishop. And omits A 2, B 6. Claudius, Simpronianus et adds B 1 – 10., Nicostratus and atque B (omits B 8). Castorius omits B 8; (resp. - Cast.) respondentibus Claudio … atque Castorio A 2., answering, told holy Quirillus (s. Q.) ad eum A 2, B 1 – 7, 9 – 10; ei B 9, 11. the thing that had been done concerning the tools, what quomodo B 8. had happened que evenerat A 2; evenisset B 2, 3, 4, 8; obvenissent B 9.. And omits A 2, B 11. then holy beatus A 2, B. Quirillus episcopus adds A 2, B., giving thanks to almighty God omits A 2; omnipotenti Deo B 10, said to Simplicius: Son, you have seen vidisti fili B 6. the power dei adds B 11. in your working corrected B 3, previously tua; corrected B 5, previously operationem vestram.; now only nunc autem B 5. believe faithfully. Simplicius answered respondens B 9. corrected in the margin B 3. with tears and said (e. d.) dicens A 2. B 6, 11.: And how do you bid iubes corrected, previously iubet B 6. me to show my credulity corrected, previously crudelitatem B 6. [Credulitas = faith, πίστις, elsewhere too. Petschenig, at the volume cited, p. 773.]? Holy Quirillus said (d. s. Q.) beatus Cyrillus episcopus (omits B 8) dixit A 2, B.: That you believe in Iesum adds A 2, B. in Christ dominum nostrum dei filium adds A 2, B., the creator of all things cr. o. r. dei filium B 5., and reject all images made by hand. Simplicius answered (r. S.) Simplicius dixit A 2, B.: I believe that omits B 7, 8, 11. truly in veritate A 2, B 1 – 6; in veritate quia B 7, 8, 11. he is the true God (d. v.) v. d. B6; omits A 2., Christ Jesus Iesus Christus A 2, B 1 – 3, 5 – 8, 10, 11.. And having made him eo adds A 2, B 1 – 10; et faciens eum B 11. a catechumen according to ecclesiasticam adds A 2, B. custom [catecuminum adds B 1, 4, 11; cathecumino A 2; caticumino B 3, B 6 corrected, previously catecumino; catecumino B 2; B 5 corrected, previously catecuminum; catichumino B 10; caticuminum B 7.], he baptized him in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ibidem adds A 2, B 1 – 4, 7 – 11; (in - sancti) omits B 8. in the prison (in c.) omits B5., and dismissed them, and they returned reversique A 2, B. illi adds A 2. to their works.

[8] They are questioned by the gentiles And they began to hollow out cavere B 9. basins of porphyry stone with figures and acanthus-leaves [harbacantis B 1, 7, 9, 10; herba camtas B 6; erbacantis B 11; herba achanti B 3; herba achanto (over an erasure) B5; tharabacantis B 8.] [Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid I, 649: Acanthus, a pliant kind of shrub, which they commonly call herbacanthus, in imitation of which a garment is adorned by art. Thilo, vol. I, p. 187.]. And in whatever in qua (quacumque B 11) autem A 2, B. hour they put their hands to the works operam B 6., they worked orabant B 6; operantur B 9 and before correction B 10. in the name domini adds B4. of Jesus Christ with the sign (c. s.) signum A 2, B; sanctae adds B 8. of the cross Christi B 6; facientes adds A 2, B.. But vero B 11. one of the philosophers, watching eos adds A 2, B; in eos B 10. and seeing eos adds B 6. how they did nothing without the sign of the cross Christi adds A 2., but et B 8, 9. used at every hour the sign signo B (B 1 corrected by a recent hand); crucis adds A 2, B 5. of Christ crucis B 7, 9, 10. in omni adds A 2, B. their work opera B 6., was vehemently saddened omits B 7, 9, 10. and omits B 9, 10. said, full of anger cum iracundia A 2, B.: This is a kind of magic maice B 6. art, for this sign, I know not what omits B 6, 8, 11; quid B 3; et istud signum /////// scio quia corrected B 5., pertains to quam B 6, 11. cruelty credulitatem B 1, 2, 6, 11, B 3 before correction., and through it ipsu //// B 1; ullud B 7, 9 (per being removed), 10; ipsum the others. all things are done prosperously by omits B 2. you omnia vobis prospera B 8. agatur A 2.. Claudius answered corrected, previously respondens B 6. and said ei adds B 1 – 5, 9, 10; dicens ei B 6, 11; (et dixit) omits B 8.: Do you not know, philosopher, that this sign, which aliquando adds B. was (q. f.) quo dicis A 2. for cruelty [credulitatem B 1 (corrected by a recent hand crudelit.) 2, 3 (corrected); nunc autem adds B.], leads omits B 3, 9, 10. to life eternal [maxime autem his adds B 2; m. a. hos B 5 corrected); m. a. eos B 1, 6, 8; m. a. eis B 3, 9, 10; maxime autem B 3, 7; maxime eos B 11.] the one who believes credunt B. in him eo B 4, 5.? about the Christian faith, The philosopher answered et dixit adds B 1 — 5, 7, 9, 10; dicens ei B 6, 11.: The cruelty credulitas A 1, B 1 (or corrected crudelitas) B 3. of death m. p. cr. B 9, 10. cannot lead to life aeternam adds B 3, 6., but as far as tamen B 5; tantum B 6, 9, 10 (corrected); audio adds B 11; quomodo B 8. life [aeternam potest aliquis adds B 2, 4, 5, 6 (previously after aliquis), 9, 10, 11; potest aliquis (omitting sed - vitam) B 1, 3; (omitting ad. v. aet.) B 8.] goes, it can omits here B. be reached pervenire A 2, B; ad vitam aeternam adds B 8. through temporal abstinence. Claudius answered and said Claudius dixit ad eum B (ad eum omits B 4, 5, 8).: God, the Lord Jesus Christ [Deus et (omits B 4, 9, 10) pater domini mei (previously nostri B 6); Iesu Christi B 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 (omits Christi); deus et dominus noster I. Chr. B 5 corrected; deus et //// dominus noster I. Chr. B 11 (at which place the reader is referred to the upper margin, so abraded by chance that only these words remain: respondit philosophus dicens); dominus noster I. Chr. B 8; deus I. Chr. A 2.], himself omits B. said discipulis suis adds the corrector B 5.: Matthew 10, 39. He who finds amat B 2. his life loses perdet A 2, B. it, and he who loses his life * propter me adds B. will find it. The philosopher answered et dixit adds B. (omits B 8, dicens B 11).: So you too follow Christ, worshipping him? Claudius answered Claudius dixit B.: Truly in his sign and power we do all vere nos ipsius signum et virtutem omni A 2. the works above the line A 1; omits B 9. of our hands, because so the teacher of the gentiles (d. g.) omits B 4; magister gentium B 6. omits B 11., Paul the apostle omits B 8., taught us docuit nos B 9, 10., saying: Col. III, 17. Whatever you do omnia adds B., do in the name of the Lord. The philosopher answered dicens adds B, except B 8.: In the name of which Lord omits B 2; domini nomine B 8.? Simpronianus said (d. S.) S. ait B 1 – 3, 5 – 7, 11; S. dixit B 4, 8 – 10.: In the name of our omits B 4; written twice in A 2. Lord Jesus Christ. The philosopher said dicit B 8, 11. to him ei B 8.: And if omits B 8. he is God or Lord, how was he subject to death mortis A 2; quid (over an erasure) morti B 11.? Simpronianus answered (r. S.) S. dixit B 2 – 6, 8, 9, 11; S. ait B 7, 10.: You say well that he was subject to death mortis A 2. (respondit - subiacuit) omits B 1; (bene - subiacuit) omits B 3, 6, 7 – 11.; yet if you know tamen scio A 2. that he died q. m. o. omits B 1; et adds A 2; sed adds B 5., is it not known to you that he rose again resurrexit A 2.?

[9] which many craftsmen embrace. While they were disputing thus [haec autem inter (intra B 11) se altercantes (altercantibus B 8) B; his itaque altercationibus A 2.], many multi A 2. of the squared-stone craftsmen audientes eos adds B (laborantes et audientes eos B 5); multis adds A 2. believed in the words and seu B. teachings of blessed Simpronianus. And they said to one another fratres adds B.: It is better for us nobis melius B 1; omits B 6, 11. est nobis B 8, 9, 10. to be helped in our art vivamus B 8, 11. and ut A 2. to be able to be strong videtur corrected from possemus A 1. through the name of him who died and rose again.

[10] At the same autem adds B. time, by order iuvente A 1, 2, and previously B 5; the others iubente. of Diocletian augusto adds B, except B 5, 8., the porphyry [porphyritica B 1; purphyritica B 2 etc. above, c. 3, note 19; porphyretico B 9, 10.] basins perfecta est conca A 2, B. with apples malleis B 11; cum alis B 6; cum mala A 2. and acanthus-leaves [erbaacantis B 3; herba acantho B 5; herbacantis B 7, 9; tharabacantis B 8; herbacantaris B 6.] were completed by the hands manum B 8. of Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus and Castorius Castorii et Nicostrati B 9, 10.. And they were brought est adds B. before the sight conspectu A 2. of Diocletian Augustus. And omits A 2. all things pleased ei adds B. him, At Diocletian's order, and quibus (qui //// B 5) artificibus B. he multiplied gifts dona multa donavit A 2. to Simpronianus, Claudius, Castorius and Nicostratus (Simpr. - Nicost.) omits B; Nic. et Cast. A 2.. Then Diocletian said eis adds B 4; dixit eis Diocl. B 1 – 3, 5 – 11.: I wish fieri mihi adds B 1, 2, 4, 8 – 11; mihi fieri B 3, 6, 7; ut mihi B 5. columns columnam B 8. with leafed capitals [capitibus foliatis B 2 – 6; B 1 corrected; capitella foliata A 2; et capita foliata B 9, 10.] [Capita foliata: understand capitals of the Corinthian kind. Vitruvius, De architectura, IV, 1.] to be cut [ut abscidatis B 1 – 4, 6, 7; ///// abscidatis B 5; et iubeo ut abscidatis lapides marmoreos (in the margin) B 11.] from the porphyry mountain under the direction ditantibus A 2. of Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus and Castorius.

[11] they cut columns, Hearing this audiens A 2., the philosophers were indignant; vehemently indeed et quidem B (equidem B 8). the order of Diocletian was pressing urguebatur B 2 (before correction), B 4; urgebatur A 2; urgebat B 5 – 10.. And approaching accidentes A 1. artifices adds B (B 10 corrected). the mountain monte A 2; et adds B 8., they marked out designarunt B 6. the part of the stone which ut B 1 – 10; in quam partes lapidis B 11. was to be cut inciderentur B 11.. Then they prayed hi sancti adds B 1 – 8, 11; sancti B 9, 10. and made the sign of the cross of Christ †. And omits B, except B 5, 7. directing and atque B. hewing dolentes B 9; et adds B 11. [That is, cutting with the dolabra. Blümner, work cited, vol. II, pp. 174, 206, 361.], the squared-stone craftsmen quadratorii corrected B 6. began to cut the stone for the shaft collirium A 2, B 1, 4; colirium B 6; collarium B 11. [Benndorf, at the volume cited, p. 351, brings forward a passage of Hesychius, κολουρία = ἀποτομία. Cf. Blümner, work cited, vol. III, p. 80.] of a column. And qui etiam B. they worked daily c. operab. B 8; (coeperunt - cotidie) omits B 2. for three months omits B 4..

[12] One column having been finished explicata A 2, B 1, 3 – 7, 9 – 11. unam columpnam A 2., perfected with wonderful omits B 8; mirifice A 2; et mirifica B 5. art artis A 2., the philosophers said ergo adds B 1 – 4, 6, 7. 9 – 11; dixerunt ///// B 5. to Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus and omits A 2; atque B 4 – 7; Nicostratum ///// B 11. Castorius and atque B 8, 11. Simplicius: You who have been enriched with gifts bono B 2; omits B 3; donis B 5., give your labour opera A 2. to cutting another column aliam columnam incidendam B 2; (date - incidenda) omits B 9, 10.. Why do you desire to learn the art arte A 2. from us? These five, answering responderunt A 2; autem adds B. tanquam ex adds B 1 – 5, 7 – 11; quasi ex B 6 with one mouth corde B 8., said eis adds B 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10.: In the name of our Lord above the line A 1. Jesus Christ omits B 8., in whom quo B 8. we trust, 〈we cut incidimus supplied from A 2.〉 this other column columnam aliam B 6; operamur adds B (operam B 9; operabimur B 11). too, as also the former. And giving their labour so A 1, 2, B 3 (corrected), 4 (corrected). with the greatest zeal, within twenty-six days XXVI B 1; viginti sex B 3 – 6; XX et VIItem B 11. they cut et adds B 11. another column. they work in the name of Christ. Then the philosophers, indignant indignati B 4., said: These incantations are nothing but of the magic art B 1 corrected, previously artes; omits A 2.. So isti autem B 11; itaque B 9, 10; ista A 2. carving sculpantes B 6. pieces factura A 2, B 6. of various work, they gave sancti enim dabant A 2; dabunt B 2. their zeal studio A 2; studia B 8., and the art followed their counsel consilium B 2, B 3 corrected; consilia B 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11; concilii B 8. well, they who did nothing through the skill omits B 8. of the art of philosophy philosophicae corrected B 10., but worked brightly cotidie B 8, 11. in the name of Christ domini nostri Iesu Christi B 2; domini B 4, 8.. Seeing this, the philosophers made a suggestion to Diocletian Augustus, saying: Supreme prince and adorner of the age, great fiat adds B 9, 10. is the counsel of your vestrae B 7. precept and clemency in the works of the designated designante A 2; designastis B 8. mountain, that omits B 8. precious stone designat //// lapides preciosi B 11. should be cut inciditur B 8; incideretur B 6; et inciduntur B 11. for the wonderful adornment omits B 1 – 3, 6, 7, 11; opus B 9, 10. of your ex metallo adds B 8; palatium perficiendum adds B 11. commonwealth rei sublimitatis A 2., and many et multum B 11. splendid clara opera B 11. works have been done sunt A 2, B 2, 4 (corrected), 7, 8 – 10. in the mine of the columns with wonderful col. modo miro B 11. labour for your serenity serenitati B 2.. Diocletian Augustus omits B 8. said: Truly I delight delector A 2, B. in the skill peritia B 3, 5, 7 – 11; omits B 6. of these men. And he had all ipsos B (tunc et ipsos B 11). five omits A 2; viros artifices adds B. presented praesentare A 2; praesentari praecepit B 5. to his sight iussit adds B, except B 5.; to whom, glad, he spoke thus (ita d.) ait B 10.: By the power of the gods iuro adds B 11., I will exalt you with riches and gifts; only tanta B 8. cut statues sigillam B 11. from this porphyry mountain de monte omits A 2.. And he ordered victories victoriam B 6, the others victorias. and atque B 1, 9, 10. cupids and basins to be made again et adds B 3; fiere A 2., above all an Asclepius [Asclepius is the Greek form for Aesculapius, often in this age both in inscriptions and in books, e.g. in the Fasti of Philocalus at the 11th of September: natalis Asclepi. Cf. Thesaurus linguae latinae, s. v. Aesculapius.].

[13] The statue of Asclepius, And they made basins, victories atque adds B 3 – 11., cupids cupidinis A 2., but omits B. the image of Asclepius Asclepii A 2, B 7 – 10; autem adds B (vero B 11). they did not make faciebant Wattenb. [The pious craftsmen regarded victories and cupids as simple ornament, but not the statue of Asclepius, which was among those things which pertained to the title of idolatry, as Tertullian speaks (Adversus Marcionem II, 22). On these read De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, vol. II, p. 352; vol. III, p. 578; Bullettino, 1879, p. 49. Nor should you wonder that our saints had no scruple at all about carving, at the emperor's order, the statue of the sun which was afterwards placed in the temple, but refused to make the image of Asclepius. A. Ilg, in Mittheilungen der k. k. Central-Commission für Erforschung und Erhaltung der Baudenkmale, vol. XVII (Vienna, 1872), p. XLVIII, in order to meet the difficulty, pronounced that it is not asserted in the Passion that that image of the sun was the very one which the saints had made. But this is gathered from the whole narrative. More rightly De Rossi, Bullettino, at the volume cited, p. 48: the image of the sun was not by its nature, as the statue of Asclepius was, ordained for worship, but only then, when it was completed, did the emperor think of building a temple and placing the image in it. Read also Meyer, Ueber die Passio sanctorum Quatuor Coronatorum, p. 4, note 5.]. And omits B. after some aliquantis A 2; vero adds B 1, 3 – 10; autem B 2, 11. days they offered their works in various adornments of statues diversis ornamentis B.. Likewise Diocletian was gladdened laetatus B 6; delectatus B 9, 10. at the skill in peritiam A 2; de peritia B. of the art of squared stone quadratoriae B 6 corrected, and Diocletian Augustus (imp. aug.) imperator B. said to Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus, Castorius and atque B. Simplicius: they refuse to make it I rejoice valde adds B 11. in the zeal of your art; yet why have you not shown ostenditis B 8, 10. love manu adds B., so that the god omits B 11. Asclepius, of all healings auctorem adds B 11. Sanitates = ἰάματα, Rönsch, Itala und Vulgata, p. 274. Cf. I Cor. XII, 9.

you should hew? Go on ergo adds B 11. in peace and give your labour opera B 4. to this image, and make lions pouring out fontes B 1. water aqua A 2; aquas B 4., and eagles aquilam B 3. and stags and the likeness of many nations sim. multarum A 2. ipsa adds A 2.. And omits A 2. in that hour they made them (ipsefecerunt) facerunt omnia B (B 3 omits omnia). according to their custom eorum adds B (suam B 8)., and they worked all things (et - omnia) omits B., except videlicet adds B, except B 8. the image of Asclepius Asclpii so B 1.. But after four months omits B 2, 6. the philosophers made fecerunt over an erasure B 11. a suggestion to Diocletian Augustus aug. Diocl. A 2. philosophi D. aug. B., that he should see viderunt B 8. the works of the craftsmen; and he ordered everything to be brought deferri A 2. into the field corrected A 1, previously capo; campum B 5 corrected. And when they had been brought in allata A 2, B. dum autem alia fuissent praesentata B 11., Asclepius Asclepeus here A 1. was not presented according to the precept of Diocletian [imperatoris Diocletiani B 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 – 11; Diocletiani imperatoris B 5, imperatoris B 8.].

[14] and they are brought before Diocletian And when (et dum) cumque B. he imperator adds B. sought it with exceeding eagerness, the philosophers made a suggestion suggesserunt ei B 11., saying: Most pious Caesar and ever Augustus corrected from angustinȩ B 1., who love all men and are a friend of peace pacis es B 8., let your vestra B 8. clemency know that these hi B 1, 3, 5 (corrected), 6, 7, 11. whom you love are Christians, and whatever et ///////// quidquid B 5. has been corrected, previously fuerat B 6. commanded imperatus A 2. them they do in the name of Christ. Diocletian Augustus answered omits B., saying dixit ad eos B 1 – 10; respondens dixit ad eos B 11.: If all their works in the name Iesu adds A 2. of Christ sui adds B. are known cognoscantur A 2. to be magnificent magna B 4., they are denounced; it is not cruel but rather glorious. The philosophers answered, saying omits B 8.: You do not know, most pious one imperator adds B 11., that they do not obey obaudiunt A 2. the precepts praecepto B 1 – 3, 7, 9, 10; praeceptis B 4, 8. of your piety, with a cruel conscience, and therefore they would not show the munificence [munificentia A 2; habere adds B 1, 2. 5 (corrected), 6, 8 – 11; haberi B 3, 4, 7.] of their art in the making of an image imaginem adds A 2, B. of the god omits B 8; deique B 11. Scolafius [Asclepii B 1, 3, 5, 8 – 11; Esculapii corrected; Scolapii previously B 2; Scolapii B 4, in the margin Asclepii; simulacris deis colaphi A 2; simulachri //// et Asclepii B 6; et adds B 8.] [In the most ancient Latin inscriptions there is written Aiscolapio (C.I.L. 30842), Aescolapio (C.I.L. 30843, 30845, 30846).]. Diocletian answered, saying Diocletianus (autem adds B 3) augustus dixit B.: Let these men viri isti B 7. be brought to me.

[15] they are questioned by him And when cumque B. Claudius, Simpronianus, Castorius atque adds B 5., Nicostratus and omits A 2; atque B 8. Simplicius had been called, Diocletian imperator B. said to them (ad eos) Claudio B 6.: You know sciatis A 2. with what quod B 1, 7. affection effectu A 1. and favour gratias A 2. our nostre A 2. clemency has loved diligeret A 2, B 7, 9, 10; the others dilexerit. you, and with what pious quo B 6, 11; pios A 2. love omits A 2. I have cherished foverit B 5 (corrected); foverimus A 2. you; why have you not obeyed obeditis A 2, B 6 (corrected). our precepts, to carve sculperetis B; previously sculpiretis B 1, 3; non sculpantur A 2. the god Asclepius from the porphyry mine vel metallo adds above the line B 11.? Claudius answered et dixit adds B.: Pious et adds B 8 – 10. ever Augustus, we non B 1. have always obeyed oboedimus B 6. your vestra A 2; tuae B 7, 9, 10. piety praecepta A 2. and we serve servivimus A 2, B. your splendour (et - tuae) omits B 6, 11.; but the image imagine A 2. of a most wretched miseri B 2. man we will never make, because so omits B 5, 11. it is written sic adds here B 5; omits B 8.: Let those who make them become like A 1, similes the others. them fiunt B 8., and all who trust corrected, previously confidunt B 6. in them. Psalm 113, 8. Then the philosophers discipuli A 2. blazed up against them, saying to Diocletian imperatorem B.: Most pious imperator et adds B. ever Augustus, you see vide B 8, 11. the perfidy eorum adds B 11., how they speak to your tuae B 9, 10. piety pietatis A 2. with proud super vos A 2; sub B 11. speech omits B 7; blando adds B 11.? Diocletian Augustus autem A 2; omits B 8. said ad eos B.: Let not skilled peritia A 2; in peritia B 7, 9, 10. craftsmen artifices A 2. be cursed exacerbentur B 3; exercentur B 7; corrected, previously exercentur B 6., and they are dismissed. but rather let them be cherished consolentur ad quem B, except B 2; consulantur ad quem B 2; celetur A 2.. The philosophers said dicentes B 6.: Then let them serve the precepts praecepta A 2. of your piety [pietatis vestrae praeceptis B 7, 9, 10; secundum praeceptum pietatis vestrae B 6.], or we omits B 11. shall find inveniemus B. those who will act according to omits B 3. the will of your clemency (aut-vestrae) omits B 6.. Diocletian Augustus omits B 8. said et adds B.: Are there found invenientur B 8; viri adds B. men more learned doctores A 2, B 7; B 3 before correction. in this art [(h. a.) horum h. a. B 1; h//// h. a. B 2; horum in huius artis peritia similes B 3; his in horum arte B 4; his in hac arte B 5 (corrected); horum in huius artis B 7; huius artis peritia B 8; horum in his artibus B 9, 10.]? The philosophers said: We have procured procuramus A 2; procurabimus B. men supported suffultus A 1. by religion nostra adds above the line B 11.. Diocletian augustus adds B. said ad eos adds B 3.: If you procure that from omits B 8. this mine vel marmore above the line B 11; porfiretico adds A 2. they qui B 6, 11. make the god Scolapius [Scolaphium A 2, B 1, 4, 5; Esculapium previously Scolapium B 2; Asclepium the others.], then omits B 8. the penalty of sacrilege sacrilegi A 2. binds constringet B, except B 4: constringam. these hoc B 1., and those others will be great with our clemency m. n. B 8..

[16] The statue of Asclepius Then the philosophers began to have a dispute with Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus et adds B 4., Castorius and Simplicius (Claud. - Simplicium) eos B 8.: Why do you not in omits B 6. your nostra B 7. art obey obedistis B 7. the precepts praecepto B 6; domni adds A 2. of the most pious Augustus Diocletian omits B 6. and do his will? Claudius said: "We omits B 1. do not blaspheme our Creator, and quia B. we do not omits A 2, B 2, 4, 5, 8. confound ourselves, so as to be found corrected, by the first hand previously invenimur B 6. guilty in his sight." The philosophers said: It has become clear that you are Christians. Castorius said Castorius dixit B.: Truly we are Christians corrected A 1.. Then the philosophers chose eligerunt B 1, 3, 7. other squared-stone craftsmen quadratorios B 6., and they made them, carving [sculpire A 2; sculpere B 5; si sculpere ita B 11; sulpentes B 3, 4; sculpentes the others (B 1 corrected from sculpientes).], an Asclepius out of Proconnesian [On Proconnesian marble read Blümner, work cited, vol. III, pp. 36 – 37; here understand a stone similar to the Proconnesian. Diocletian had ordered Asclepius to be made out of the porphyry mine, which is a much harder material.] mine-stone marmore over an erasure B 11.. And they brought it forth before the philosophers after per B 2; et post A 2. thirty-one days et unum omits A 2; et omits B 2; tunc adds B.. The philosophers announced to Diocletian Augustus that the Asclepius was finished esse adds B 5; venisse B 8.. And qui ilico B. Diocletian ordered the image to be brought (Diocl. - simulacrum) ut B. before his sight eius deferretur B (deferreretur B 7)..

[17] is made by other craftsmen. And omits B. when ergo adds B. he had seen the image, he marvelled iratus B 9, 10. nimis adds B 2, 4. and said (et d.) dicens A 2.: Is this ingenuity of art theirs who pleased us in the art artis A 2, B 8. of sculpture sculturȩ B 6; sculptura B 8.? The philosophers said: Most sacred prince imperator B. and ever Augustus, The five saints let it become known innotescunt A 2; sciat B 8. to your clemency mansuetudo B. that these corrected, previously nos B 1. whom your serenity declares celabat A 2. to be most skilled corrected, previously perissimos B 1. in the art of squared stone (vestra - quadrat.) omits B 4., that is, Claudius, Simpronianus, Nicostratus omits B 1; Cl. Nic. Symphronianum B 9, 10., Castorius and Simplicius,

your ves vestrȩ so A 1; vestra B. clemency, that they are sacrilegious Christians esse christianos B 3. and through the incantations of spells incantationem carminum B 11. make the whole human race humble humiliare A 2. to themselves. Diocletian Augustus omits B 8. said ad eos adds B.: If they have not obeyed obaudierint A 2; corrected, previously obedierunt B 6. the precepts praecepistis A 1. of justice nostris A 2., and omits A 2. the statement of your suggestion (s. v.) vestra A 2. is true, let them bear the sentence of sacrilege sententia sacrilegi A 2.. And he ordered a certain tribune [Guards of soldiers were usually present in the mines, as is established from inscriptions. Benndorf, at the volume cited, p. 345; Dubois, Étude sur l'administration des carrières, pp. XXXIII – IV.], they are charged with sacrilege. by name Lampadius, to hear them with the philosophers under a moderation of words audire A 2, B (audiri B 2, 8)., saying: Test them according to iusta B 2, 5, 7 – 11. examination examinatione B 1, 2, 5, 7 – 11., and among whom in quos B 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11; in quibus B 3; in quo B 7 – 10; quos A 2. a complaint querella A 2; querela the others. of false testimony is found inventi fuerint A 2., let them be struck feriantur B 2, 4, 5 (corrected), 11. with the penalty of guilt. At the same time Lampadius the tribune ordered iussit L. tr. B 8. a tribunal sibi adds B 9, 10. to be prepared parari tribunal B 6, 11. in that same place before the temple of the Sun, and all the craftsmen to be gathered colligi B 3 (after correction), 4 – 6, 8 – 11., and Simpronianus et adds B 4., Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius * omits A 2. and Simplicius, and the philosophers cum philosophis B 8.; to whom Lampadius the tribune said publicly and with a clear voice (et cl. voce) omits B.: Our lords domini A 2; nostri adds B. the most pious princes principis A 2; imperatores B., commanding iuventes A 2. this, have said that, the truth having been learned by omits B 3. us veritatem a nobis cognitam A 2; veritatem a nobis cognita B 4., it should become clear between ante A 2. the philosophers and the masters magistrum A 2. Claudius Glaudium A 2; et adds B 11, 6 (before correction)., Simpronianus, Castorius, Nicostratus and atque B 3. Simplicius, whether est adds B 8. the accusation between the parties tunc adds A 2. were sit B 5, 9, 10; omits B 8. true. All the squared-stone craftsmen quadratorii corrected B 6., spitefully prompted by the philosophers philosophus A 1; dicentes adds B., cried out: By the welfare of the most pious Caesar, away with the sacrilegious, away with the magicians tolle magos t. sacr. B 4..

[18] They refuse to adore the Sun, But Lampadius the tribune omits A 2., seeing that the craftsmen were crying out clamabant B 6; clamaverant B 11; clamaverunt B 8. spitefully, said dixerunt A 2.: The case is not yet omits B 8; adhuc terminata B 6. concluded; how can I give sentence? The philosophers said: If they are not magicians, let them adore ad ////// orent B 1. the god of Caesar corrected, previously Cesari B 6; et adds B.. At once Lampadius the tribune omits B 8. ordered Simpronianus, Claudius, Castorius, Nicostratus and Simplicius corrected B 2, previously Simpronianum … Simplicium; dicens adds B.: Adore Simpronianum … Simplicium adorare A 2. the god Sun, so that you may destroy (ut. d.) et destruitis A 2. the counsel of the philosophers. They, answering, said: We have never unquam non B 9, 10. adored adoramus A 2, B 5, 6 – 11. the work of our hands, but we adore the Lord deum B 3, 5, 7, 9, 10. of heaven and earth, who is (q. e.) omits B 1. the perpetual emperor in perpetuum B. and eternal God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The philosophers said tribuno adds B.: Behold, you have learned audisti A 2. the truth; report it nuncia A 2; haec domino nostro adds B. to Caesar. Then Lampadius tribunus adds B 9, 10. ordered iussit L. B 6. them to be thrust back corrected, previously recudi B 1; includi A 2. into the public custody custodiam publicam A 2, B 2.. and they are thrust into prison. But after nine days, a silentium having been held iuventes A 2; inito B 6. [Silentium here stands for an assembly, σελέντιον. Cf. Petschenig, at the volume cited, p. 771.], he reported the matter rem gestam B 4, 8; quod fuerat gestum B 11; renuntiaverunt A 2. to Diocletian Augustus. On the same eadem B 8. day the philosophers too accused accusantes A 2; accusaverunt B 8. them omits B 8. spitefully to the prince ad principem B 11., saying dicentes principi B 6.: If these escape, the worship cultura B 3, 4, 6, 9 – 11. Cura for religious cult, Thesaurus linguae latinae, vol. IV, col. 1465. of the gods perishes over an erasure B 1; pericult et sic A 2; perit B 8. tunc adds B.. Diocletian Augustus omits A 2, B 8., angered omits B 6, 7., said: By magnum deum adds B 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11; deum magnum B 7, 9, 10. the Sun iuro adds B 11., if they do not sacrifice to the god Sun according to the ancient custom, and do not obey our nostris adds B. admonitions, I will consume consumit A 2; consumite B 9, 10; suppliciis adds B 8; eos consumam penis B 5. them with various and omits A 2. exquisite inquisitis B 9, 10; poenis adds B except B 8. torments omits B..

[19] Again before Lampadius Soon Lampadius Lampadio B 8. the tribune omits B 9, 10. ordered that on another day they should be set corrected, statuerentur B 2; sisteret eos B 8; sisterentur B 3, 6, 7, 9 – 11. in the same place before the temple of the Sun. And Lampadius the tribune said (et-trib.) L. tr. ait B (-dixit B 9, 10); (iussit-trib.) omits B 1.: Let both parties ambo partibus A 2. be brought in, both omits B. the philosophers scilicet adds B 11. and the squared-stone workers quadratorii corrected B 6.. And when they quibus B. had been brought in, Lampadius the tribune omits B 8 – 10. said omits A 2; ait B 6.: Let the accusers eorum adds B. come and say what is to be charged against them corrected B 1; in eis B 5. imputandum B 2, 8.. And when the philosophers philosophi A 2, B 4. had come in introeuntes autem A 2; introgressique B 4; introgressisque B 1, 2, 3, 5 – 11., a philosopher omits B 9, 10. by name unus ex eis B; unus ex eis nomine A 2. Crisolitus [Chrisolitus A 2, B 4, 5, 6, 7; Crysolitus B 1; Grisolitus B 3; Chrysolitus B 8; Chrisolitus B 10] said dicens A 2; tribuno adds B. to Lampadius the tribune (ad-trib.) omits B, ad Lampadius tribunum A 2.: What quid B 4, 7, 11. your understanding inclementia B 3. has taught te adds B 11., what more do you seek to learn? Lampadius the tribune omits B 8. said to Claudius, they are set Nicostratus, Simpronianus, Castorius and Simplicius: Is it known to you what quid B 1. the most pious princes principis A 2; imperatores B 6; nostri adds B 8; vobis adds B 9, 10. have ordered nobis adds B 1, 6, 8 – 11.? These five quique A 1. said: We do not know. And he said to them (e. d. i.) quibus iterum ait B.: That you sacrifice A 2, B; sacrificemus A 1. to the magno adds B. god Sun and give honour to the ancient deities [nominibus A 2, B 2; B 1 before correction; numinibus the others; num. antiquis B 9, 10.]. Claudius answered dixit B 3; ait B 6.: We give honour to God domino A 2. almighty and domino nostro adds B (nostro omits B 7). to Jesus Christ his Son, in whose name we have always hoped speramus A 2, B 6; superavimus B 8; sperabimus B 5., and we shall trust cognoscimur A 2; confidimus the others, but omits B 9, 10. that we have come venire B 5 corrected after darkness to the light nos adds B 1. 6, 7, 9 – 11; nos ad lucem B 8; credimus adds B 9, 10.. Lampadius tribunus adds B (except B 8, 10). said: And what est adds B 3, 11. light is as clear clarior B 2 (corrected), 4, 5, 6, 8; tam clara B 7. as that of the god corrected, previously dea B 1; magni adds B. Sun (quam-solis) deo sole B 8.? Claudius answered [Claudius dixit B 1, 2, 4, 9, 10; r. Cl. dicens B 6, 7, 11; r. Cl. et dixit B 3, 5.]: Christ Christe B 3., who was born of the Holy Spirit and ex B, except B 2, 8. the Virgin Mary (et M. v.) omits A 2., who enlightens the sun and the moon and (solem-et) omits A 2, B. every man coming into this world, who 〈is omits A 1.〉 the true light where in tenebris et B 8. there is no darkness at all (ubi-ullae) et tenebrae in eum non sunt A 2.. Lampadius the tribune omits B 8. said ad eos adds B.: I ask ergo adds A 2. and admonish you, do not lose so great a love and tantum adds A 5. favour domini nostri adds B (domini B 9). of the prince principi B 9. Diocletian omits B 9, 10; semper augusti adds B.. and they confess the faith. You know better, then vos adds B., that the most pious prince noster pr. B (princeps noster B 6, 11). is so gracious to all

men corrected A 1, previously homibus. that he regards all with as great affection tantum affectum veneretur A 2. as quanto B 9, 10. brothers and aut A 2. sons, above all autem adds B. the worshippers corrected, previously coltores A 1. of the gods. Simpronianus, together with his companions suis adds A 2, B (eius B 4)., said: The most pious prince princes A 1. ought to have so much tantum B 6, 9 – 11. care habere curam B 3, 11; c. d. hab. B 6. for men as not to offend offendant B 7. the God of heaven, who is the creator of all things. For we take care that we may not perish in the world to come, where the fire will not be quenched [exstinguitur B 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10; ignes (corrected) non extinguuntur B 5; tunc adds B.]. Lampadius the tribune omits B 8 – 10., considering cognoscens adds above B 11. the precept prefectum A 2. of Diocletian, again tantum B 10. reported the matter rem gestam B 4, 6, 7, 11; gestam A 2; rem g. retulit B 8 – 10. to Diocletian. Then Diocletian angustus adds B 1 – 5, 7; (t. D. a.) D. autem angustus B 11., considering their art, instructed Lampadius the tribune omits B 8., saying: At Diocletian's order From now on, if they do not consent and sacrifice to the magno adds B (except B 8). god Sun, afflict affligite B 1. them with blows of scorpions; but if they consent, bring them to our clemency omits B, except B 6, 11..

[20] But after per B 2. five days ergo B 12. he again omits E; secundo B 2. sat Lampadius adds B; tribunus E; sedit iterum Lampadius B 9, 10. in the same place (in-loco) omits E. before the temple of the Sun, and omits B 2. ordered them (et-eos) omits A 2. to be brought in under the voice of the herald praeconii A 2; B 6 corrected; praeconaria B 12; (sub v. pr.) omits E., and the terrors terrorem A 2; tortores B 11; (terrores et) omits E. and kinds of torments to be shown ostendit A 2, B, E. to them. To them qui A 2; omits E. he spoke thus (ita-est) quibus intromissis sic eos aggreditur B, omits E., saying et dixit eis E.: Hear me and escape torments, and be dear omits E. and omits E. friends of the noble omits E. princes, and sacrifice to the magno adds B. god Sun. For non B 8; omits E. now there is no omits B 8. speaking with you [nam iam non sunt locuti apud eos A 2; nam //// loqui iam non est a. v. B 11; iam loqui non est ad vos E.] with soft words (nam-blandis) omits B 7, 9, 10.. They are slaughtered with scorpions. Claudius corrected, previously claudus B 6., together with his companions suis adds A 2, B 3, 6, 7 – 12; eius B 4, 5., answered with great confidence (c. m. f.) omits E; magnam fiduciam A 2., saying omits B 8.: We do not fear paviscimus A 1; non nos //// pavescimus B 6. terrors vestros adds B (terrorem vestrum B 5)., nor are we broken by blandishments blandicias B 12; vestris adds B 3., but magis nos adds B 1 – 8; magis B 9 – 12; timemus magis E. we fear eternal torments aeterna tormenta B 12.. For let Diocletian Augustus know [(sciat-aug.) hoc sciat D. imperator tuus B (namque sciat B 11; nam ///// sciat B 5).] that we are Christians veraces adds B (esse veraces B 5). and never depart from his worship [ab ea cultura A 2; a cultura veri dei nostri tunc (tum B 3) B; ab eius cultura nunquam discedere E.]. Lampadius L. iratus B 9, 10. the tribune omits B 8, 9., angered, ordered them statim adds B. to be stripped spoliari B 11, and before correction A 2; (exsp. et.) omits E. and slaughtered with scorpions, saying dicentis B 11. under the voice of the herald praeconaria B 12.: Do not despise nolite cont. E, contendere n. corrected, previously contende n. A 2. the precepts of the princes. Lampadius dies. In the same autem adds B 1 – 3, 5 – 7, 9 – 12. hour Lampadius tribunus adds B 4. was seized by a demon arreptus daemonio Lampadius E; a diabolo A 2., and tearing himself omits A 2, B 4, 5. he expired, sitting on his tribunal [in tribunali suo B 1 – 7, 11, 12; pro tribunali suo B 8 – 10; sedens tribunal suum A 2; (sedens-suum) omits E.4]. Hearing this, his wife and household ran to the philosophers phylosofus A 1. with great bellowing ita adds B (omits B 6, 8)., so that it should be made known A 1, the others divulgaretur; et nuntiaretur adds B 11. to Diocletian (hoc-Dioclitiano) omits E.. And autem adds B, except B 8. when dixisset adds A 2. Diocletian imperator adds B. had heard this omits A 2, et adds A 1., he was vehemently angered and, full repletus B 8. of exceeding omits A 2. fury, he said: Let leaden corrected, previously plumei A 1. coffers be made, Shut up in leaden coffers and let them be shut up alive in them eis B 3, 8., and be thrown corrected, previously proiciant B 1. into the river fluvium B 5, 12.. Then a certain Nicitius Nicius A 2; Nicentius B 8; Nicecius B 1., a togatus ue togatus B 6. [In this age those were called togati who sat beside the magistrates in office. Codex Theodosianus VI, 2, 21; VII, 8, 10. Cf. Seeck, in Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopaedie, s. v. Adsessor.], who sat beside adsidebant A 2; assidebat B 3, 5, 8 – 12. Lampadius, carried out the precept of Diocletian Augustus (praec.-augusti) quod iusserat Diocl. B; (aug.) omits A 2., and made faciens B 11; (et f.) effecit A 2; (fecit-aug. et) omits B 12. leaden coffers locum plumbeum A 2. and omits B 11. shut inclusit B, E. them all alive [(v. o.) omnes quinque A 2; vivos eos B 8; omnes vivos B 10; (et nimio-omnes) et iussit facere 1. pl. et vivos E.] in omits B 6. them eis B 3, 5, 12., and ordered them eos adds B 8. to be cast headlong into the river fluvium B 2, 3 – 6, 8, 12; praecipitavit in fluvio A 2; (et pr.-fluvio) omits E. [Karajan and De Rossi, at the places cited, thought that this river was the Save; better, as it seems, Benndorf asserted the Danube, Archaeologische Bemerkungen, p. 348; Bulič, Bullettino di archeologia e storia Dalmata, 1908, p. 122.]. they are sunk in the river. Holy vero adds B. Quirillus A 1, Cyrillus, Cirillus B; Quirillus autem E. the bishop omits B; qui baptizavit Simplicium adds E., hearing this dum esset adds B (cum esset B 2). in prison carcerem B 3; (i. c.) omits E., afflicted himself, and passed migravit E. to God dominum A 2, B.. They sancti autem (Christi B 9, 10, sancti B 11) martyres B. suffered pro nomine domini adds B. on omits B 5. the day Diocletiano B 11. six days before the Ides of November ydus novembrium A 2; iduum novembrium B 12..

[21] In those autem adds B. days Diocletian went from there omits A 2. to Sirmium [Firmem B 8; Syrme B 1, 7; Sirmas B 6; Sirmi B 2; Sirmium B 12; exinde Syrmium B 11; (in-Sirme) omits E.] [Sirmium, the most celebrated city of Pannonia on the Save, now Mitrovica. The name Srem, Sriem still clings to the region of Sirmium. Cf. B. E. Godra, Monographie von Syrmien (Semlin, 1873), pp. 8 – 9.]. But after et post dies B; post dies A 2. forty-two days quadraginta duo A 2; quadraginta duos B; quadraginta E. a certain Nicodemus Nichodemus B 1, 2, 6, 7, 9 – 12; Nychodemus B 8. [In the Florentine codex brought forward by our Sollerius (Martyrologium Usuardi, p. 758), on the 21st day of December is announced: At Rome, of Nicodemus, who buried in his house the bodies of the holy martyrs, namely Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius and Simplicius, drawn from the river, as is read in their deeds. That Nicodemus, whom without doubt no church has venerated as a saint, was placed in the calendar on his own initiative by an anonymous martyrologist, who noticed that the forty-two days of which the Passion speaks had elapsed on the 21st day of December.], a Christian, raised the coffers with the bodies corporibus B 3 – 12; corporibus eorum E; loculus cum corporibus A 2. and placed them in his house domum suam A 2, E..

[22] At Rome in the temple of Asclepius But autem B 9 – 11; (r. v.) in illis diebus perrexit E. Diocletian, coming rediens B. from Sirmium [Serme A 2; Syrme B 1, 7; Sirmi B 2; Syrma corrected, previously Syrmȩ B 6; Syrmio B 11, 12; Firme B 8; Sirmie E.] after eleven months mense B 1; et post menses E; (post menses XI) omits B 8., entered (i. e.) perrexit inde ad E. Rome. And at once he ordered a temple of Asclepius to be built edificare A 2. in above the line B 11. the baths of Trajan termis Traianis B 12; inter mistralanis B 8., and in eo adds B. an image to be made of Proconnesian stone prochonisso B 5; (et statim-proc.) omits E.. And when this had been esset B 5, 8 – 10. done, he instructed

ut adds A 2, B 4, 7. that all the cures cucuras B 1, 3; curam A 2; omni cura B 8. [Cura often for the healing of a sick person, Thesaurus linguae latinae, vol. IV, col. 1465.] should be fixed inscribi B 11. in the same temple on bronze tablets praegonas B 3; praeconias B 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12; pergamenis B 11. aeneis B 11. with characters carepteris A 2. [We have very celebrated inscriptions in which thanks are given to Asclepius for restored health, and at the same time the method of healing is narrated, C.I.G. 5980 = Dittenberger, Sylloge inscriptionum graecarum, vol. II (Leipzig, 1898), no. 807; Collitz-Bechtel, Sammlung der griechischen Dialekt-Inschriften, nos. 3339 – 41. The custom of setting up similar inscriptions in the temples of Asclepius is set out by M. Besnier, L'île Tibérine dans l'antiquité (Paris, 1902), pp. 217 – 23. Cf. Benndorf, Archäologische Bemerkungen, p. 354.], and omits B 8; (omnes-et) omits E. he ordered that omits B 8, A 2. all of the soldiery coming omnis milicia veniens B 12. to the image of Asclepius should be compelled compelleret B 6; compelle igitur A 2. to sacrifices and A 1, B; seu B 1 – 4, 7; suis B 8; the others omit. to offering incense purificandum A 2, B 1., above all autem adds B. the soldiers of the urban omits A 2. prefecture praef. urbanae B 9, 10.. And when all ut dictum est adds B. were being compelled ad sacrificandum adds E. to the sacrifices sacrificandum B 6, 11, 12; ad sacr. omits E., the four cornicularii certain four cornicularii [quattuor corn. quidem B 7, 9, 10; q. quidem c. B 1 – 6; quorum nomina haec sunt Severus (Severius B 3, and B 6 before correction, Severinus B 8, Serinus B 12) Severianus, Carpoforus et Victorinus adds B; hi etiam adds B 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 10; hic corrected, previously hoc B 6.] On the cornicularii, above, p. 749, no. 2; p. 760, no. 51. were being compelled to sacrifice [turificandum B 3, but in the margin otherwise sacrificandum; (ad s.) omits B 12; (quatuor-sacr.) omits E.]. But as they resisted [(illis - rel.) sed ipsi reluctantes nec omnino consensum impiis praebentes B 1, 7; sed ipsis reluctantibus nec omn. cons. impiis praebentibus B 11, corrected B 2; sed ipsi reluctabantur nec consensum omnino impiis praebuerunt B 8; sed ipsi erant reluctantes nec o. c. i. praebentes B 9, 10; sed ipsi reluctantes n. o. c. impiis iussis praebentes sacrificare noluerunt quod cum B 12.], it was announced esset B 12. to Diocletian Augustus imperatori B.; and he ordered ut adds B 1, 3, 6, 7, 9 – 12. them qui B 10; de quibus B 11; omits B 12; ilico adds B (statim B 12). to be struck down before that very A 1, the others ipsum. image simulacrum ipsum B 12; ut hic adds B 4, 5, 8. by the blow ictibus B; yctum A 2. of leaded scourges plumbatorum E. caesi deficerent B (caedi ut deficerent B 2).. And when quibus B 9, 10. omits B 12. they had been beaten for a long time (d. c.) ducerentur A 2, E., they gave up the spirit. Their bodies he ordered to be thrown iacturi A 1; iactare E; proici B 8. to the dogs in the street plateam B 8; in pl. iussit E.; and these bodies quae et B 11; quae corpora B 6, 12. lay ibi adds B 6, 11, 12. for five days. they suffer martyrdom. Then blessed Sevastianus A 1, Sebastianus the others; venit adds B 1 – 3, 5, 7, 9 – 12. [I think it must be noted that at what age St. Sebastian lived and underwent martyrdom can be deduced by no sufficiently certain reasoning.], by night n. veniens B 4; nocte B 1., with Miltiades [Miltiade A 2, B 1; Melciade B 2, 6, 7, 9 – 12; Meltiade B 4; Melchiade B 8, 11; cum multis christianis et cum beato Meltiade B 5.] Miltiades held the see in the years 311 – 14. the bishop * A 1, episcopo the others; et adds B 9 – 12; veniens adds B 5., gathered colligens B 11. the bodies eorum adds B 6, 11, 12, E. and buried them on the Via Labicana corrected from Lauicana A 1; Lauicana A 2, B 1 – 11; Lucana B 12, E (?)., at the third milestone from the city miliario ab urbe Roma plus minus tertio B; miliario tertio ab urbe E., with other saints aliis sanctis B, E. in a sand-pit [De Rossi thought that the place called in comitatu was at the third milestone of the Via Labicana, Bullettino, 1879, pp. 75 – 77. We have dealt with the matter above, p. 753, no. 20.]. And since this had happened at the same time but after two years [De Rossi placed no slight weight, Bullettino, at the volume cited, pp. 77 – 79, on the reading venissent which codex B 2 furnishes: Sed post duos annos cum venissent, id est sexto idus nov. … iussit beatus Melchiades etc. "A me la notabile variante del codice di Verona pare un vivo raggio di luce nel più fitto delle tenebre. Le parole cum venissent io stimo residue d'una lunga frase perita, ove era accennata la venuta a Roma dei corpi dei santi Claudio e compagni, forse post duos annos dal loro martirio, e la sepoltura loro data presso i quattro anonimi." [To me the notable variant of the Verona codex seems a living ray of light in the thickest of the darkness. The words cum venissent I judge to be the remains of a long lost phrase, in which the coming to Rome of the bodies of Saints Claudius and companions was mentioned, perhaps post duos annos from their martyrdom, and the burial given them beside the four anonymous ones.] A conjecture more subtle than true; for the whole tradition of the codices proclaims that the reading venissent is corrupt, still less original.], that is, on the sixth sexto A 2. day before the Ides of November, and ut A 1. they had been quite unable to find repperisse A 2. their names, the blessed bishop Miltiades Miltiade A 2. ordered that their anniversary day should be commemorated under omits A 2. the names of Saints Claudius, Nicostratus, Simpronianus and Castorius et Simplicii adds A 2. [amen adds A 2; (quod-recolatur) quod factum est (erased B 5; in adds B 9) eodem tempore sed (omits B 5; cum adds B 1) post duos annos (cum adds B 2, 5, 9, 10) evenisset (venissent B 2) id est (idem B 3, 7) sexto idus novembris et nomina eorum reperiri minime (m. r. B 9, 10) potuissent (potuisset B 3) iussit beatus melciades episcopus ut sub nomina (nomine B 3, 9, 10; nominibus B 4, 5 corrected) sanctorum Cl. Nic. Simpr. Cast. et Simplicii (omits B 4) anniversaria recolatur dies eorum, regnante domino et salvatore nostro Iesu Christo cui est honor et gloria in saecula saeculorum amen B 1 – 5, 7, 9, 10; contigit autem ut (omits B 11) post duos annos (ut adds B 11) nomina eorum reperiri non possent tunc iussit (omits B 6) beatus Melciades episcopus (iussit adds B 6) ut (quatinus B 11) sexto idus novembris sub nominibus (nomine B 6) sanctorum Cl. Nic. Simp. Cast. et Simplicii anniversaria recolatur dies eorum (d. eor. recoleretur B 11) regnante etc. B 6, 11, 12; sed cum post duos annos evenisset id est sexto id. nov. et nomina minime reperire possent iussit beatus … anniversarius recoleretur dies eorum B 8; quod factum cum eodem die sed post duos annos evenisset id est VI id. novembris et nomina eorum reperire minime potuissent etc. E.].

† A censualis a gleba, an actuary (cens. - act.) omits A 2. Above, p. 761, no. 56., named Porfyreus Porfirius A 2., wrote the deed [(censualis - scripsit) omits B, E; explicit passio sanctorum quattuor coronatorum adds B 1, 2, 7, 9, 10; explicit passio sanctorum Symproniani, Claudii, Nicostrati, Castorii et Simplicii et aliorum martyrum B 6.].

Μηνὶ νοεμβρίῳ η᾽. Μαρτύριον τῶν ἁγίων τετραστέφων μαρτύρων.

[1] Ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ Διοκλητιανὸς ἐπορεύθη ἐν τοῖς μέρεσιν Παννονίας πρὸς μέταλλα παντοδαπά, ἐκέλευσεν τῇ αὐτοῦ ἐκέλευσεν τι αὕτην codex παρουσίᾳ παρουσίαν codex ἐξ ὀρέων ἐκκοπῆναι διαφόρων ποιοτήτων ἰδέας. Ἐγένετο δὲ μετὰ τὸ ἅπαντας τοὺς τεχνίτας καὶ μεταλλικοὺς συναθροισθῆναι, εὑρέθη ἐν αὐτοῖς μεγίστη ἐξερεύνησις τέχνης εὐφήμοις καὶ μεγίστοις ἀνθρώποις ὀνόματι Κλαυδίῳ, Καστορίῳ, Συνπρουνιανῷ καὶ Νικοστράτῳ θαυμαστοῖς θαυμαστοὶ codex ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ τῶν τετρακταδῶν. Οὗτοι δὲ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ χριστιανοὶ ὑπῆρχον, φυλάττοντες τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ ὁποίαν δ᾽ ἂν τέχνην εἰργάζοντο, ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν κατεσκεύαζον. Τοίνυν βασιλεύοντος Διοκλητιανοῦ ἐτρακταΐσθη θαυμαστοὶ codex ἔν τινι ἡμέρᾳ ἵνα τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ ἡλίου μετὰ τῶν τετρακτηνῶν ἀπὸ λίθων τασίων οἱ τεχvῖται μετὰ πάσης ἐπιστήμης καὶ ἀρμάτων ἱππέων ἅπαντα ἐξ ἑνὸς λίθου γλύψουσιν. Ἐν ἐκείνῳ δὲ τῶι καιρῷ ἅπαντες ἀπάκτες codex οἱ τεχνῖται μετὰ πάσης ἐπιστήμης μετὰ καὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων μεριμνῶντες ἤρξαντο τέχνας τοιάσδε ῥαψωδίζεσθαι ῥήμασιν· καὶ ἐν τῷ διακόπτειν λίθον μέγιστον ἐκ μετάλλου τάττεσθαι οὐ συνήρχετο τέχνη γλυπτὴ κατὰ τὴν κατὰ τὰ τὴν codex πρόσταξιν Αὐγούστου Διοκλητιανοῦ καὶ πλείσταις ἡμέραις ἦν μάχη καὶ θόρυβος μεταξὺ τῶν τεχνιτῶν καὶ φιλοσόφων.

[2] Ταύτῃ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ συνῆλθον ὁμοῦ ἅπαντες οἱ τεχνῖται ἑξακόσιοι εἴκοσι δύο μετὰ καὶ φιλοσόφων πέντε πρὸς τὴν θέαν τοῦ λίθου, καὶ ἤρξαντο τὰς φλέβας τοῦ λίθου ἐκζητεῖν· καὶ ἦν θαυμαστὴ ἡ ἐκζήτησις ἀναμεταξὺ τῶν τεχνιτῶν καὶ φιλοσόφων. Ἐν δὲ τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῷ Συμπρινιανὸς πεποιθὼς ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει ᾗ ἐκράτει, εἶπεν πρὸς τοὺς συντεχνίτας· “Παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς ἅπαντας, δότε μοι ἀνοχὴν καὶ ἐγὼ ἔρχομαι μετὰ τῶν συμμαθητῶν μου Κλαυδίου, Συμπλικίου, Νικοστράτου καὶ Καστορίου καὶ ἀνιχνεύομεν τὴν φλέβαν τοῦ μετάλλου.” Μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας δέ τινας ἀπελθὼν ἤρξατο ἐκζητεῖν καὶ εὑρὼν ἐπεχείρησεν τῇ τέχνῃ τοῦ γλύφειν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ κάλλιστα συνήρχετο ἡ γλύψις τῆς σφραγῖδος τοῦ ἡλίου ἐν ποσὶν εἴκοσι πέντε.

[3] Τούτου τοίνυν σαφηνισθέντος Διοκλητιανῷ τῷ Αὐγούστῳ,

εὐφράνθη πανοικί. Ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐν τοῖς μέρεσι Παννονίας προστέτακτο ἀνακαινίσαι ναὸν ἐν τόπῳ ὃ κέκληται ὄρος πίον· καὶ ἐν τοῖς αὐτόθι κατεσκεύασεν καὶ ἔθετο εἴδωλον καὶ ἐχρυσούργησεν. Καὶ ἤρξατο ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τόπῳ θυσίαις, ἀλείμμασι καὶ εὐωδίαις εὐφραίνεσθαι καὶ δεδώκει χαρίσματα μέγιστα τοῖς τεχνίταις. Ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ καιρῷ εὐφραίνετο τῇ τέχνῃ καὶ τῇ τελειότητι τοῦ πόθου καὶ τοῦ ἔργου, καὶ προσέταξεν ἵνα ἐκ ἐν μετάλλων previously ἐμετάλλων. μετάλλων πορφυρέων κίονας μετὰ καὶ κεφαλοκιόνων αὐτῶν τοῖς τεχνίταις διακόψαι. Καὶ ἐκάλεσεν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν Κλαύδιον, Συνπρινιανόν, Νικόστρατον καὶ Ἀστέριον καὶ Ἀστέριον corrupted from Καστόριον. καὶ Συμπλίκιον, οὓς μετὰ χαρᾶς δεξάμενος εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς· “Ἐπιθυμῶ διὰ τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν ὑμῶν τέχνης τέχνης codex ἐπιστήμην κεφαλοκίονας ἐξ ὄρους τοῦ πορφυρέου ἐκκοπῆναι.”

[4] Καὶ ἐκ προστάγματος ἀπῆλθον μετὰ πλειόνων τεχνιτῶν καὶ φιλοσόφων. Ἐλθόντων δὲ αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸ ὄρος τὸ πορφύρεον ὃ κέκληται πυρραῖον, ἤρξαντο κόπτειν ἐν ποσὶν σαράκοντα. Κλαύδιος δὲ ἅπαντα ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐποίει· καὶ εὐαρμόστως συνήρχετο ἡ τέχνη. Συμπλίκιος δὲ ὃς ἦν ἐθνικὸς πάντα ὅσα ἂν ἐποίει οὐκ ἦν εὐθετά. Ἐν μιᾷ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ, εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν Συμπλίκιον ὁ Νικότρατος· “Ἀδελφέ, πῶς τὸ σιδήριόν σου συντρίβεται;” Ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Συμπλίκιος εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν· “Παρακαλῶ σε συνστόμωσόν μοι τὸ σιδήριόν μου ἵνα μὴ συνθλασθῇ.” Κλαύδιος εἶπεν· “Δότε μοι, δότε κἀμοὶ πᾶσαν ἐπιστήμην τέχνης.” Καὶ ἐν τῷ δοῦναι αὐτῷ ἅπασαν ἐπίνοιαν γλυφουργικῆς γλυφουργηκίς codex σιδήρου, εἶπεν ὁ Κλαύδιος· “Ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἔστω τὸ σιδήριον τοῦτο τοῦτον codex δυνατὸν καὶ σῶον πρὸς τὸ ποιεῖν τὰ ἔργα.” Καὶ ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς τῆς ὥρας ἤρξατο ὁ Συμπλίκιος πᾶσαν τέχνην τετρακτικὴν μετὰ τῶν σιδηρίων αὐτοῦ καθάπερ καὶ ὁ Συμπρινιανὸς καλὰ καὶ εὐθεῖα ἐργάζεσθαι. Τότε ὁ Συμπλίκιος θαυμαστῷ τῷ πόθῳ καὶ ἐπιμελείᾳ ἤρξατο συνζητεῖν πρὸς τὸν Συμπρονιανόν· “Τί ἐστιν τὸ γένος τῆς στομώσεως τομώσεως codex ὅτι οὐδέποτε συνετρίβησαν τὰ τεχνάσματα τῶν σιδηρίων, ὡς τὸ πρότερον οὐδαμῶς;” Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Συμπρινιανὸς ἅμα τῷ Κλαυδίῳ· “Λοιπόν, ἀδελφέ, θαυμάζεις εἰς τὴν στόμωσιν τῶν σιδηρίων; ὁ ποιητὴς ἁπάντων αὐτὸς τὸ ποίημα αὐτοῦ ἐνεδυνάμωσεν.” Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Συμπλίκιος πρὸς τὸν Συμπρονιανόν· “Οὐχὶ ὁ θεὸς ὁ Διὸς ἐποίησεν ταῦτα πάντα;” Κλαύδιος εἶπεν· “Ἀδελφέ, ἔχε ἐπιτίμιον ὅτι ἐβλασφήμησας, μὴ εἰδὼς ἃ λελάληκας· ὁ Θεὸς εἰς ὃν ἡμεῖς πεποίθαμεν, αὐτὸς ἅπαντα ἐποίησεν καὶ Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἐπειδὴ ὃν σὺ λέγεις θεὸν τεχνούργημα ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν· πάντως ἐπιγινώσκεις ὅτι ἐξ ἡμετέρων χειρῶν ἐγλύφη· οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι καὶ τὸν ἥλιον ὃν ἡμεῖς διὰ τῆς γλυφουργικῆς τέχνης 〈ἐποιήσαμεν I have supplied it.〉 〉 και αὐτὸς οὐδέν ἐστιν;”

[5] Ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ αὐτῶν διαλεγομένων, ἐκέλευσεν Διοκλητιανὸς ἐκ μετάλλων πορφυρέων φιάλας καὶ σφραγίσματα κεκοσμημένα τεχνουργῆσαι. Τότε ὁ Συμπρονιανὸς μετὰ τοῦ Κλαυδίου, Καστορίου καὶ Νικοστράτου ἤρξαντο ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τεχνουργεῖν τὰς φιάλας και αὐτὰς μετὰ σφραγιστηρίων καὶ λαρνακῶν μετὰ καὶ μεγίστης συγκροτήσεως τέχνης.

[6] Συμπλίκιος δὲ ὅπου δ᾽ ἂν ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ ἐπετίθει τὴν χεῖρα αὖθις συνετρίβοντο. Τότε λέγει τῷ Συμπρονιανῷ· “Ὁρκῶ σε κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡλίου ἵνα μοι εἴπῃς τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ θεός, ὃς ἅπαντα ἔκτισεν, οὗτινος τῷ ὀνόματι ὑμεῖς τῇ τέχνῃ καλῶς ἐργάζεσθε.” Ἀπεκρίθη Κλαύδιος πρὸς τὸν Συμπλίκιον καὶ εἶπεν· “Ἀρεστόν ἐστιν ἐν τῷ νοῒ καὶ τῇ θέᾳ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν σου ἃ ἡμεῖς ποιοῦμεν;” Ἀπεκρίθη Συμπλίκιος καὶ εἶπεν· “Θεωρῶ καὶ οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι ποίᾳ αἰτήσει ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ αἰτείσθε· φανερώσατέ μοι ταύτην τὴν ἔντευξιν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν, ὅπως καὶ ἡ ἐμὴ σὺν ὑμῖν συναθροισθῇ ἀγάπη.” Λέγει αὐτῷ Κλαύδιος· “Καὶ ἔστιν ἐν σοὶ μεμονωμένη ἀγάπη;” Ἀπεκρίθη Συμπλίκιος· “Ἀληθῶς μεμονωμένη, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐγνώκατε διὰ πεντεκαίδεκα ἐτῶν οἷα μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν ἤμην.” Λέγει αὐτῷ Συμπρονιανός· “Εἰ δύνασαι πιστεῦσαι, λέγομέν σοι καὶ τῇ τέχνῃ καλῶς ἐπακολουθήσῃ καὶ ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσεις κληρομήσης codex .” Ἀπεκρίθη Συμπλίκιος· “Ἐπιθυμίαν ἐπεθύμησα γνῶναι τὸν Θεὸν ὑμῶν καὶ ἐπεὶ γνῶ συντίθημι ὑμῖν.” Λέγει αὐτῷ Κλαύδιος· “ Τοῦτό ἐστιν ὅ σοι λέγομεν, πεποιθὼς ἵνα πιστεύσῃς κύριον Ἰησοῦν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τῷ βαπτίσματι ἐπακολουθήσῃς, καὶ πάντα προστεθήσεταί σοι.” Ἀπεκρίθη Συμπλίκιος· “Λοιπὸν μὴ βραδύνῃς ἵνα μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν ὢν ὡς ἐν μιᾷ ψυχῇ καὶ ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ καὶ ἐν τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ διατελέσω διατελέσης codex .” Καὶ ἤρξαντο ἔκτοτε ἐπιζητεῖν ἱερέαν· καὶ εὗρον ἐπίσκοπον κατεχόμενον ἐν φυλακῇ δέσμιον ὀνόματι Κύριλλον ἀπὸ Ἀντιοχίας φερόμενον, διὰ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ δεδεμένον, ὅστις καὶ πολλὰς ἦν θλίψεις πεπονθὼς ἐν τρισὶν ἔτεσιν· ᾧτινι προσελθόντες νύκτωρ Συμπρονιανός, Κλαύδιος, Νικόστρατος, Καστόριος ἅμα τῷ Συμπλικίῳ εὗρον ἐν ἀλύσεσι κατεχόμενον μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων πλειόνων ὁμολογητῶν· καὶ εἰσελθόντες πρὸς τὸν ἅγιον Κύριλλον ἔβαλον ἑαυτοὺς πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ καὶ παρεκάλεσαν αὐτὸν ὅπως βαπτίσῃ τὸν Συμπλίκιον. Καὶ ὡς ταῦτα ἤκουσεν ὁ μακάριος Κύριλλος, χαρᾶς ἔμπλεος γενόμενος, εἶπεν τῷ Συμπλικίῳ· “Τέκνον, βλέπε εἰ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου πιστεύεις, καὶ ἅπαντα προστεθήσεταί σοι.”

[7] Καὶ ἀποκριθέντες Κλαύδιος, Συμπρονιανός, Νικόστρατος καὶ ὁ Καστόριος, εἶπον τῷ ἁγίῳ Κυρίλλῳ τὸ ἔργον τῆς ὑποθέσεως τῶν σιδηρίων, ὃ ἦν συνελθὸν αὐτοῖς. Τότε ὁ ἅγιος Κύριλλος εὐχαριστήσας τῷ παντοδυνάμῳ Θεῷ Εἶπεν τῷ Συμπλικίῳ· “Τέκνον, εἶδες οἶδες codex δύναμιν ἐν τῇ ἐργασίᾳ ὑμῶν· ἄρτι πίστευσον λοιπὸν ἀληθῶς.” Άπεκρίθη ὁ Συμπλίκιος μετὰ δακρύων καὶ εἶπεν· “Καὶ πῶς κελεύετε ἵνα ἐνδείξωμαι τὴν πίστιν μου;” Εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ ἅγιος Κύριλλος· “Ἵνα πιστεύσῃς Χριστὸν δημιουργὸν πάντων τῶν ποιημάτων εἶναι· καὶ ἅπαντα τὰ χειροποίητα εἴδωλα ἀποκροῦσαί σε καὶ καταπτύσειν.” Ἀπεκρίθη Συμπλίκιος· “Ἐγὼ πιστεύω ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν Θεὸς ἀληθινὸς Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς.” Ἐπιτελέσας δὲ τὴν συνήθη ἀκολουθίαν, ἐβάπτισεν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ καὶ ἀπέλυσεν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐπέστρεψαν εἰς τὸ ἔργον αὐτῶν.

[8] Καί ἤρξαντο λαξεύειν τὰς φιάλας ἐκ λίθων πορφυρέων μετὰ καὶ σφραγίδων καὶ τεχνασμάτων καὶ ἐν ᾗ ἂν ἠὰν codex ὥρᾳ ἐπετίθουν τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰργάζοντο ἐν τῷ σημείῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ. Εἷς οὖν τῶν φιλοσόφων εἰσελθὼν καὶ ἰδὼν πῶς ἄνευ τοῦ σημείου τοῦ σταυροῦ οὐδὲν ἐπετέλουν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐθεώρουν καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ὥραν τὸ σημεῖον τοῦ σταυροῦ ἐν τῷ ἔργῳ, περίλυπος γενάμενος βεεμέντερε so the codex , εἶπεν θυμοῦ πλησθείς· “Τοῦτο τὸ γένος μαγικαὶ τέχναι εἰσίν· ποίῳ δὲ σημείῳ οὐκ οἶδα, ὃ πρὸς τιμωρίαν ἄγει, καὶ δι᾽ αὐτοῦ ἅπαντα εὐθεῖα ὑμῖν συνέρχονται.” Ἀπεκρίθη Κλαύδιος καὶ εἶπεν· “Οὐκ οἶδας, φιλόσοφε, ὅτι τὸ σημεῖον τοῦτο, ὃ ἦν πρὸς τιμωρίαν, πρὸς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἄγει τοὺς πιστεύοντας ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ;” Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ φιλόσοφος· “Οὐ δύναται ἡ τιμωρία τοῦ θανάρου πρὸς ζωὴν ἀνακαλέσασθαι, ἀλλὰ ἀλλὴ codex τόσον πρὸς ζωὴν διὰ μετανοίας χρονικῆς δύναται ἐπανελθεῖν.” Ἀπεκρίθη Κλαύδιος καὶ εἶπεν· “Θεὸς κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς αὐτὸς εἶπεν· Ὁ εὑρὼν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπολέσει αὐτήν· καὶ ὁ ἀπολέσας αὐτὴν εὑρήσει αὐτήν.” Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ φιλόσοφος· “Λοιπὸν καὶ ὑμεῖς τῷ Χριστῷ ἀκολουθεῖτε σεβόμενοι αὐτόν;” Κλαύδιος εἶπεν· “Ἀληθῶς ἐν αὐτοῦ αὐτῶ codex τῷ σημείῳ καὶ τῇ δυνάμει ἅπαντα τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν ἡμῶν ἃ ποιοῦμεν, ὅτι οὕτως ὁτοιοῦτος codex ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν ὁ διδάσκαλος τῶν ἐθνῶν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος λέγων· Εἴ τι δ᾽ ἂν ποιῆτε, ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου ποιεῖτε ποιήτε codex . ” Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ φιλόσοφος· “Ἐν τίνι ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου;” Εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Συμπρουνιανός· “Ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.” Λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ φιλόσοφος· “Καὶ εἰ αὐτός ἐστι Θεὸς ἢ κύριος, πῶς τῷ θανάτῳ ὑπετάγη;” Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Συμπρονιανός· “Καλῶς εἴρηκας ὅτι τῷ θανάτῳ ὑπετάγη, λοιπὸν ἔγνως ὅτι καὶ ἀπέθανεν· ὅτι δὲ ἀνέστη γνωστόν σοι οὐ γέγονεν;”

[9] Ταῦτα οὖν ἀμφιβαλλόντων αὐτῶν, πολλοὶ ἐκ τῶν τεχνιτῶν τῶν τρακταιστῶν so the codex, cf. chapters 16, 17. ἐπίστευσαν ἐπὶ τοῖς λόγοις καὶ τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ Συμπρονιανῷ. Καὶ εἶπεν ἕτερος πρὸς ἕτερον αὐτοῦ· “Κάλλιόν ἐστιν ἵνα ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ ὠφελώμεθα καὶ δυνατοὶ εἶναι φανῶμεν διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος τούτου τοῦ ἀναστάντος.”

[10] Ἐν αὐτῷ τοίνυν τῷ καιρῷ κελεύσαντος Διοκλητιανοῦ τετελείωται ἡ φιάλη φιάλης codex ἡ πορφυρέα μετὰ πλείστων ἔργων καὶ τυπωμάτων ᾀδόντων διὰ χειρῶν Κλαυδίου, Συμπρονιανοῦ, Νικοστράτου καὶ Κάστορος· καὶ βασταχθεῖσα ἔμπροσθεν Διοκλητιανοῦ τοῦ Αὐγούστου, ἤρεσαν αὐτῷ ἅπαντα, καὶ χαρίσματα πολλὰ δέδωκεν τῷ Συμπρουνιανῷ, Κλαυδίῳ, Καστορίῳ καὶ Νικοστράτῳ. Τότε ὁ Διοκλητιανὸς εἶπεν· “Θέλω κίονας μετὰ περικεφαλαίων ἐκκοπῆναι ἐξ ὄρους τοῦ πορφυρέου, ” διαλεγόμενος Κλαυδίῳ, Συμπρονιανῷ, Νικοστράτῳ καὶ Καστορίῳ.

[11] Ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες οἱ φιλόσοφοι, ἐφυσιώθησαν σφόδρα καὶ τῇ διατάξει τοῦ Διοκητιανοῦ ἀντετάττοντο. Προσελθόντες τοίνυν τῷ ὄρει, διετύπωσαν μέρος τοῦ λίθου ὃ εἶχον ἐκκόψαι. Τότε προσηύξαντο καὶ ἐποίησαν τὸ σημεῖον τοῦ σταυροῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, διδάσκοντες καὶ κόπτοντες. Ἤρξαντο δὲ οἱ τεχνῖται οἱ τετρακτάριοι ἐκκόπτειν τὸν λίθον πρὸς ὁμοίωσιν κιόνων· καὶ εἰργάσαντο διὰ μηνῶν τριῶν ἕνα κίονα θαυμαστῇ τῇ τέχνῃ τετελειωμένον τετελιομενω codex .

[12] Καὶ εἶπον οἱ φιλόσοφοι πρὸς τὸν Κλαύδιον, Συπρονιανόν, Νικόστρατον, Καστόριον καὶ Συμπλίκιον· “Ὑμεῖς οἱ δώροις ἐμπεπλησμένοι ὄντες, δότε ἔργον εἰς ἕτερον κίονα ἐκκόπτειν. Διὰ τί ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐπιθυμεῖτε μαθεῖν τὴν τέχνην;” Ἀποκριθέντες δὲ οὗτοι οἱ πέντε ἐν ἑνὶ στόματι εἶπον· “Ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐν ᾧ πεποίθαμεν, ἐκκόπτομεν καὶ τοῦτον τὸν ἕτερον κίονα καθάπερ καὶ τὸν πρότερον.” Καὶ ἐπιθέντες τῷ ἔργῳ μετὰ μεγίστης ἐπιεικείας δι᾽ ἡμερῶν εἴκοσι ἓξ ἔκοψαν καὶ ἕτερον κίονα. Τότε οἱ φιλόσοφοι φιμωθέντες εἶπον· “Αὗται ἐπίνοιαι ἐποινίαι codex οὐκ εἰσὶν εἰ μὴ μαγικαὶ τέχναι.” Εἶτα γλύψαντες ποιήματα παντοδαπῶν ἔργων, ἐδίδουν μετὰ σπουδῆς καὶ κρεῖττον συνήρχετο ἡ τέχνη τῇ συμβουλῇ αὐτῶν ὅτι οὐδὲν διὰ περιεργίας περιομργίας codex τῶν φιλοσόφων ἐποίουν εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰργάζοντο ἅπαντα. Ἅπερ θεασάμενοι οἱ φιλόσοφοι συμβούλιον δέδωκαν τῷ Διοκλητιανῷ λέγοντες· “Κορυφαιότατε βασιλεῦ καὶ καλλωπιστὰ τοῦ κόσμου, μέγιστον συμβούλιον τῷ προστάγματί σου καὶ τῇ πραότητι ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῦ

ὄρους ἐσήμανας ὅπως λίθοι πολυτελεῖς ἐκκοπῶσιν πρὸς τὸ θαυμαστὸν καὶ κόσμιον ἔργον τῆς ἐκλαμπρότητός σου, καὶ πολλὰ ἔργα φανερὰ γενάμενά εἰσιν ἐν τοῖς κίοσιν τῶν μετάλλων. Θαυμαστὸν γὰρ τὸ ἔργον τῆς γαληνότητός σου.” Διοκλητιανὸς εἶπεν· “Ἀληθῶς τέρπομαι ἐν τῇ καλλιεργίᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκείνων.” Καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁμοῦ τοὺς πέντε πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ παραστῆναι· οἷστισι χαριέντως λελάληκεν· “Μὰ τὴν δύναμιν τῶν θεῶν ὑπερυψώσω ὑμᾶς πλούτῳ καὶ χαρίσμασιν· μόνον σφραγῖδας ἐκκόψατε ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους τούτου τοῦ πορφυρέου.” Καὶ ἐκέλευσεν νίκας διὰ κολαμμάτων καὶ φιάλας ἑτέρας γενέσθαι μάλιστα τοῦ Ἀσκληπίου.

[13] Καὶ ἐποίησαν φιάλας ἐγγεγλυμμένας, νικητικὰ τρόπαια· καὶ τοῦ Ἀσκληπίου τὸ ἄγαλμα οὐκ ἐποίησαν· καὶ μετά τινας ἡμέρας ἦραν τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν μετὰ καὶ πλείονος κοσμιότητος σφραγισμάτων· ὡσαύτως δὲ ἠγαλλιάσατο ὁ Διοκλητιανὸς ἐν τῇ ὑπηρεσίᾳ τῆς τέχνης τῶν τρακτουργωτάτων so the codex , καὶ εἶπεν τῷ Κλαυδίῳ, Συνπρουνιανῷ, Νικοστράτῳ, Καστορίῳ καὶ Συμπλικίῳ· “Χαίρομαι ἐν τῇ ἐπιστήμῃ τοῦ ἔργου ὑμῶν· λοιπὸν διὰ τί οὐκ ἐνεδείξασθε πόθῳ ἵνα τῷ θεῷ Ἁσκληπίῳ μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν διὰ τὴν ὑγείαν λαξεύσητε; ἀπέλθατε ἐν εἰρήνῃ καὶ δότε ἔργον ἐν τῷδε τῷ εἰκονίσματι καὶ λέοντας ἐκχέοντας ὕδωρ καὶ ἀετοὺς καὶ ἐλάφους καὶ γένη πλείονα πρὸς τὴν ὁμοιότητα ἀπεργάσασθε.” Καὶ αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐποίησαν κατὰ τὴν συνήθειαν καὶ εἰργάσαντο ἅπαντα ἄνευ τοῦ ἀγάλματος τοῦ Ἀσκληπίου. Μετὰ μῆνας δὲ τέσσαρας ἔδωκαν ἔγκλησιν τῷ Αὐγούστῳ Διοκλητιανῷ οἱ φιλόσοφοι ὅπως ἴδῃ τὰ ἔργα τῶν τεχνιτῶν· καὶ ἐκέλευσεν ἅπαντα ἐν τῷ κάμπῳ κάππω codex ἀχθῆναι· καὶ ἐν τῷ κομισθῆναι αὐτὰ ὁ Ἀσκλήπιος οὐκ ἦν τετευγμένος, καθὼς προσέταξεν ὃ βασιλεύς.

[14] Καὶ ἐν τῷ ἐν μεγίστῳ πόθῳ αὐτὸν ἐκζητεῖν συμβούλιον δέδωκαν οἱ φιλόσοφοι λέγοντες· “Ἐπιεικέστατε Καῖσαρ καὶ αἰώνιε Αὔγουστε, ὁ πάντας ἀνθρώπους ποθῶν καὶ ὢν εἰρήνης φιλος, γνώτω ἡ γαληνιότης σου ὅτι οὗτοι οὓς ἠγάπησας χριστιανοί εἰσιν καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἂν αὐτοῖς προστέταχας ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ ποιοῦσιν.” Ἀπεκρίθη Διοκλητιανὸς Αὔγουστος καὶ εἶπεν· “Εἰ ἅπαντα τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ μέγιστα εἶναι γινώσκονται, οὔκ ἐστιν τιμωρία ἀλλὰ καὶ μεγάλη δόξα.” Ἀπεκρίθησαν οἱ φιλόσοφοι λέγοντες· “Ἀγνοεῖς, ἐπιεικέστατε, ὅτι τοῖς προστάγμασιν τῆς συμπαθείασ σου οὐχ ὑπετάγησαν ἐν τῇ συνειδήσει τῆς ἀπονοίας αὐτῶν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἠθέλησαν τῇ τέχνῃ κοινωνεῖν ἐν τῇ ἀνακαινίσει τῶν ἀφομοιωμάτων τῶν θεῶν γλύψαι καὶ ἐνδείξασθαι εἰκόνισμα.” Ἀπεκρίθη Διοκλητιανὸς καὶ εἶπεν· “Ἐλθέτωσαν πρός με οὗτοι οἱ ἄνδρες.”

[15] Καὶ ἐν τῷ κληθῆναι Κλαύδιον, Συμπρονιανόν Συμπρονιανῶ codex , Νικόστρατον, Καστόριον, Συμπλίκιον, εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς Διοκλητιανός· “Οἴδατε ὅτι ὑπερβαλλούσῃ χάριτι ὑμᾶς ἠγάπησα καὶ εὐσπλάγχνῳ πόθῳ ὑμᾶς ἐτίμησα· διὰ τί μᾶλλον οὐχ ὑπετάγητε τῷ προστάγματι ἡμῶν καὶ ἐγλύψατε ἐγκλύψατε codex ἐκ μετάλλων πορφυρέων τὸν θεὸν Ἀσκλήπιον;” Ἀπεκρίθη Κλαύδιος· “Ἐπιεικέστατε βασιλεῦ καὶ καὶ /////////// codex Αὔγουστε, ἡμεῖς πάντοτε ὑπετάγημεν τῇ τῆς codex συμπαθείᾳ ὑμῶν καὶ ἐδουλεύσαμεν τῇ λαμπρότητί σου· ἐν δὲ εἰκονίσμασιν ἀνθρώπων ἀληθῶς ἐξουθενημένων οὐδέποτε πεποίθαμεν πεποίθημεν codex , ὅτι οὕτως καὶ γέγραπται· Ὅμοιοι αὐτῶν γένοιντο οἱ ποιοῦντες αὐτὰ καὶ πάντες οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς.” Τότε ἐξήφθησαν οἱ φιλόσοφοι πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγοντες τῷ Διοκλητιανῷ · “ Ἐπιεικέστατε πάντοτε Αὔγουστε, θεωρεῖς τὴν ὑπεροπτικὴν αὐτῶν ἀπόνοιαν πῶς τῇ ἐπιεικείᾳ ὑμῶν ὑπερηφάνῳ λόγῳ λελάληκαν.” Διοκλητιανὸς εἶπεν· “Οὐχὶ ἐξουθενηθήσεται ἡ ἐπιστήμη τῶν τεχνιτῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ σεβασθήσεται.” Οἱ φιλόσοφοι εἶπον· “Λοιπὸν ὑποκείσθωσαν τῷ προστάγματι τῆς ἐπιεικείας ὑμῶν ἢ ἡμεῖς εὕροιμεν οἳ ποιήσονται κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τῆς γαληνότητος ὑμῶν.” Διοκλητιανὸς Αὔγουστος εἶπεν· “Καὶ εὑρίσκονται τεχνικώτεροι τούτων ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ τέχνῃ;” Οἱ φιλόσοφοι εἶπον· “Ἡμεῖς προσεπεμελήθημεν ἄνδρας τετιμημένους ἐν καταστάσει.” Διοκλητιανὸς εἶπεν· “Εἰ ἐκ τούτων τῶν μετάλλων προσεπιμελήσησθε ἵνα θεὸν γλυπτὸν ποιήσονται, καὶ τούτοις τοῖς ἱεροσύλοις τιμωρία προστέτακται καὶ ἐκεῖνοι μέγιστοι ἔσονται τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ γαληνότητι.”

[16] Τότε ἤρξαντο οἱ φιλόσοφοι πρὸς Κλαύδιον, Νικόστρατον, Συμπρουνιανόν, Καστόριον καὶ Συμπλίκιον ἔχειν ἀναζήτησιν· “Διὰ τί οὐχὶ τὴν τέχνην ὑμῶν τῷ προστάγματι τῆς ἐπιεικείας τοῦ Αὐγούστου ὑπετάγητε καὶ ποιεῖτε τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ;” Κλαύδιος εἶπεν· “Ἡμεῖς οὐ βλασφημοῦμεν τὸν δημιουργὸν ἡμῶν καὶ ἡμᾶς ἑαυτοὺς ἐκτρίβομεν ἵνα χείρονες φανῶμεν ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ.” Οἱ φιλόσοφοι εἶπον· “Ἐκπέφανται ὅτι χριστιανοί ἐστε.” Καστόριος εἶπεν· “Ἀληθῶς χριστιανοί ἐσμεν.” Τότε οἱ φιλόσοφοι ἐπελέξαντο ἄλλους τεχνίτας τετρακταρίους καὶ ἐποίησαν γλύφοντες τὸν Ἀσκλήπιον ἐκ μετάλλων τῆς Προκονήσου, καὶ ἦραν ἐνώπιον τῶν φιλοσόφων μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας τριάκοντα μία. Καὶ οἱ φιλόσοφοι ἀπήγγειλαν τῷ Διοκλητιανῷ τῷ Αὐγούστῳ τὸν Ἀσκλήπιον τελειωθέντα. Καὶ ἐκέλευσεν Διοκλητιανὸς ἀχθῆναι τὸ ἄγαλμα ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ.

[17] Καὶ ἐν τῷ θεαθῆναι τὸ ὁμοίωμα ἐθαύμασεν καὶ εἶπεν· “Αὕτη ἡ τέχνη τῆς ἐπιστήμης αὐτῶν ἐστιν, ὃ καὶ ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ τῆς γλυπτικῆς ἤρεσεν.” Οἱ φιλόσοφοι ἀπεκρίθησαν· “Κράτιστε βασιλεῦ, τούτους οὓς πεφανέρωκεν ἡ γαληνότης ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ τῶν τετρακταδῶν ἀπολλυμένους εἶναι, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν Κλαύδιον, Συμπρονιανόν, Νικόστρατον, Καστόριον Νικόστρατος, Καστόριος codex καὶ Συμπλίκιον, ἐπιγνώτω ἡ γαληνότης ὑμῶν τούτους ἱεροσύλους χριστιανοὺς εἶναι· καὶ διὰ ἐπιλαλιᾶς ἐπαοίδων ἅπαν γένος ἀνθρώπων ἑαυτοῖς ὑπέταξαν·” Διοκλητιανὸς Αὔγουστος εἶπεν· “Ἐὰν τοῖς προστάγμασιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης οὐχ ὑπακούσονται καὶ ἀληθεῖς εἰσιν οἱ λόγοι τῆς αἰτιάσεως ὑμῶν, λάβωσιν ἀπόφασιν τοῦ θῦσαι.” Καὶ ἐκέλευσέν τινι τριβούνῳ Λαμπαδίῳ ὀνόματι μεγίστῳ ἐν ἀποκρίσεσιν αὐτοὺς μετὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων ἀκοῦσαι λέγοντας· “Δικαίᾳ ἐξετάσει αὐτοὺς δοκιμάσεις δοκιμάσει codex · καὶ εἰ ἔν τισιν εὑρεθείη ψευδηγορίας ἔγκλησις, κακίστην τὴν τιμωρίαν λήψεται.” Ἐν αὐτῷ τοίνυν τῷ καιρῷ Λαμπάδιος τριβοῦνος ἐκέλευσεν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ ἡλίου τριβουνάλιον στῆναι ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τόπῳ καὶ πάντας τοὺς τεχνίτας ἀθροισθῆναι, καὶ Συμπρονιανὸν καὶ Κλαύδιον, Νικόστρατον, Καστόριον καὶ Συμπλίκιον καὶ τοὺς φιλοσόφους· οἷστισι λαμπρᾷ καὶ φανερᾷ τῇ φωνῇ Λαμπάδιος τριβοῦνος εἶπεν· “Κύριοι εὔσπλαγχνοι μεγαλοπρίγκιπες μεγαλοπρίνκυπες codex τοῦτο τοῦτον codex ἐκέλευσεν ἡ θειότης τῶν βασιλέων ἡμῶν ἵνα τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν μάθωσιν μεταξὺ τῶν φιλοσόφων καὶ τεχνιτῶν Κλαυδίου Κλαυδίω codex , Συμπρονιανοῦ, Νικοστράτου, Καστορίου καὶ Συμπλικίου· ἐκλαμψάτω εἰ ἀληθῶς κατηγορία ἔσται ἐστε codex ἐν ἀμφοῖν τῶν μερῶν.” Τότε ἐκέκραξαν πάντες οἱ τεχνῖται τῆς τετρακτύδος δόλῳ νουθετηθέντες παρὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων· “〈Διὰ I have supplied it, the codex omits 〉 τῆς σωτηρίας τῆς εὐσπλαγχνίας Καίσαρος ἆρον τοὺς μάγους.”

[18] Ἰδὼν τοίνυν Λαμπάδιος τριβοῦνος ὅτι δόλῳ ἔκραξαν οἱ τεχνῖται, εἶπεν· “Πράγματος ἀνεξετάστου ὑπάρχοντος πῶς δυνάμεθα ἀπόφασιν δοῦναι;” Οἱ φιλόσοφοι ἀπεκρίθησαν· “Εἰ οὔκ εἰσιν μάγοι, θυσάτωσαν τῷ θεῷ τοῦ Καίσαρος.” Αὖθις ἐκέλευσεν Λαμπάδιος ὁ τριβοῦνος τῷ Συμπρονιανῷ, Κλαυδίῳ, Νικοστράτῳ, Καστορίῳ καὶ Συμπλικίῳ λέγων· “Θύσατε τῷ θεῷ τῷ ἡλίῳ ὅπως συντρίψητε τὰς βουλὰς τῶν φιλοσόφων.” Οἱ δὲ ἀποκριθέντες εἶπον· “Ἡμεῖς οὐδέποτε θύομεν τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν χειρῶν ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ θύομεν καὶ προσκυνοῦμεν τῷ Θεῷ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅς ἐστι βασιλεὺς αἰώνιος καὶ Θεὸς ἀτελεύτητος καὶ κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός.” Οἱ φιλόσοφοι ἔφησαν· “Ἰδοὺ ἔγνως τὴν ἀλήθειαν· μήνυσον τῷ Καίσαρι.” Τότε Λαμπάδιος τριβοῦνος ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς ἀποκλεισθῆναι ἐν φρουρᾷ δημοσίᾳ. Μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας δὲ ἐννέα εὑρὼν ἄδειαν, ἀπεφήνατο τὰς μαρτυρίας Διοκλητιανῷ τῷ Αὐγούστῳ. Ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ οἱ φιλόσοφοι ἐκατηγόρουν αὐτοὺς δολίως τῷ βασιλεῖ λέγοντες· “Εἰ οὗτοι ἐμμείνωσιν, ἀπώλετο ἡ θυσία τῶν θεῶν.” Θυμωθεὶς δὲ Διοκλητιανὸς εἶπεν· “Μὰ τὸν θεὸν ἥλιον, ἐὰν μὴ θύσωσι τῷ θεῷ ἡλίῳ κατὰ τὸ θέσπισμα τὸ ἀρχαῖον καὶ νουθετούμενοι οὐχ ὑπακούσωσιν, ποικίλαις ἐξετάσεσιν αὐτοῖς τιμωρησάμενος τελειώσω.”

[19] Αὖθις Λαμπάδιος τριβοῦνος προσέταξεν ἵνα ἐν ἑτέρᾳ ἡμέρᾳ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τόπῳ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ ἡλίου παραστῶσιν. Καὶ εἶπεν Λαμπάδιος ὁ τριβοῦνος· “Εἰσελθέτωσαν ἀμφότερα τὰ μέρη, οἱ φιλόσοφοι καὶ οἱ τετρακτάριοι.” Καὶ εἰσελθόντων αὐτῶν, Λαμπάδιος τριβοῦνος εἶπεν· “Ἐλθέτωσαν καὶ οἱ κατήγοροι καὶ εἴπωσιν τί αὐτοῖς ἐναντίον ἦν.” Εἰσελθόντων τοίνυν τῶν φιλοσόφων 〈ἑνὸς I have supplied it, the codex omits 〉 ὀνόματι Χρυσολίθου καὶ τῶν ἑταίρων αὐτοῦ, πρὸς Λαμπάδιον τὸν τριβοῦνον εἶπον· “Τί δοκεῖ τῇ γνώσει σου; τί πλείονα ζητεῖς γνῶναι;” Τότε Λαμπάδιος ὁ τριβοῦνος εἶπεν πρὸς Κλαύδιον, Νικόστρατον, Συμπρονιανόν, Καστόριόν τε καὶ Συμπλίκιον· “Ὃ ἐκέλευσεν ὁ βασιλεὺς γνωστὸν ὑμῖν ἔστω.” Ἀπεκρίθησαν ἅμα οἱ πέντε 〈καὶ I have supplied it, the codex omits 〉 εἶπαν· “Ἡμεῖς οὐκ οἴδαμεν.” Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· “Ὅπως θύσητε τῷ θεῷ ἡλίῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀρχαίοις ἀνθρώποις δότε σέβας.” Κλαύδιος ἀπεκρίθη· “Ἡμεῖς δίδομεν σέβας τῷ παντοδυνάμῳ Θεῷ καὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ παναγίῳ καὶ ζωαρχικῷ αὐτοῦ πνεύματι, ἐν ᾧ πάντοτε ἠλπίσαμεν, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ σκότους εἰς τὸ φῶς ἐπανελθεῖν πεποίθαμεν.” Λαμπάδιος εἶπεν· “Καὶ τί ἐστι φῶς φανέρωσον ἡμῖν, ὥς ἐστι θεὸς ἥλιος;” Κλαύδιος ἀπεκρίνατο· “Χριστὸς ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου, ὁ φωτίζων ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον, τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς, ὅπου σκότος οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδαμῶς.” Λαμπάδιος τριβοῦνος εἶπεν· “Παρακλῶ καὶ νουθετῶ ὑμᾶς, μὴ ἀπολέσητε τοσαύτην ἀγάπην καὶ χάριν τοῦ βασιλέως. Κάλλιστα οὖν ἔγνωτε ὅτι ὁ ἐπιεικέστατος ἡμῶν βασιλεὺς πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐστὶ χαριέστατος, ὁπηνίκα ἅπαντες ἄνθρωποι εἰς τοσαύτην ἐπιείκειαν ἀνέλθωσιν, ὅσον καθάπερ σχετικῶς πατὴρ πρὸς υἱόν, μάλιστα οἱ λατρευταὶ τῶν θεῶν.” Συμπρονιανὸς ἅμα τοῖς ἑτέροις εἶπεν· “Ὁ ἐπιεικέστατος βασιλεὺς μάλιστα κακεντρεχέστατος παρ᾽ ἡμῶν νεμομισμένος τοσαύτην ὀφείλει ἐπιμέλειαν ἔχειν ἀνθρώποις, ὅπως μὴ τῷ Θεῷ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ προσκρούσηται, τῷ ὄντι δημιουργῷ ἁπάντων τῶν ὄντων, ἐπεὶ ἡμεῖς ἐπιμέλειαν ἔχομεν μὴ ἀπολλῦσθαι ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι, ὅπου τὸ πῦρ οὐ σβέννυται.” Λαμπάδιος τριβοῦνος μνησθεὶς τῶν προσταγμάτων τοῦ βασιλέως, πάλιν ἀπεκόμισεν τὰς ἀποφάσεις τῶν τληπαθειῶν αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν Διοκλητιανόν. Τότε ὁ Αὔγουστος Διοκλητιανὸς τῆς τέχνης αὐτῶν μνησθεὶς προσέταξεν Λαμπαδίῳ τῷ τριβούνῳ λέγων· “Ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ἐὰν μὴ ὑπακούσωσιν καὶ θύσωσι τῷ θεῷ ἡλίῳ, ποίναις σφοδροτάταις αὐτοὺς τιμώρησον· ἐὰν δὲ ὑπείξωσιν, ἀνάγαγε αὐτοὺς πρὸς τὴν γαληνότητα ἡμῶν.”

[20] Μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας τοίνυν πέντε, πάλιν ἐκάθισεν ὁ Λαμπάδιος ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τόπῳ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς εἰσελθεῖν· καὶ ἔδειξεν αὐτοῖς φόβητρα καὶ εἴδη βασανιστηρίων· οἷστισιν αὖθις ἐδημηγόρησεν λέγων· “Ἀκούσατέ μου καὶ ἐκφύγετε τὰς βασάνους καὶ ἔσεσθε ἠγαπημένοι φίλοι τῶν ἐξοχωτάτων βασιλέων, καὶ θύσατε τῷ θεῷ ἡλίῳ, ἐπειδὴ λόγοι οὐκ εἶσιν παρ᾽ ὑμῶν ῥήμασιν πρὸς ἡμᾶς πιθανοί.” Ἀπεκρίθη Κλαύδιος ἅμα τοῖς ἑταίροις αὑτοῦ μετὰ μεγίστης ἐλπίδος

λέγων· “Ἡμεῖς οὐ δειλιοῦμεν δηλιοῦμεν codex τὰς ἀπειλὰς οὐδὲ κολακευόμενοι συντιθέμεθα ὑμῖν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον φοβούμεθα τὰς αἰωνίους κολάσεις· λοιπὸν γνώτω Διοκλητιανὸς ὁ Αὔγουστος ἡμᾶς χριστιανοὺς εἶναι καὶ οὐδέποτε ἐκκλῖναι τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡμῶν πίστεως καὶ λατρείας.” Θυμωθεὶς οὖν Λαμπάδιος ὁ τριβοῦνος ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς γυμνωθῆναι καὶ ῥοπάλοις σὺν σκόλοψιν μετὰ φωνῆς τοῦ κήρυκος ἐκέλευσεν τύπτεσθαι λέγων· “Τὰ προστάγματα τῶν βασιλέων παραιτεῖσθαι μὴ θελήσητε.” Ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ ὥρᾳ Λαμπάδιος ὁ τριβοῦνος καθήμενος ἐν τῷ τριβουναλίῳ αὐτοῦ, συσχεθεὶς ὑπὸ δαίμονος, συντριβεὶς ἐξέπνευσεν. Ταῦτα ἀκούσας ἡ σύζυγος τοῦ Λαμπαδίου καὶ ἡ σύμπασα οἰκία αὐτοῦ, ἔδραμον πρὸς τοὺς φιλοσόφους μετὰ οἰμωγῶν μεγίστων, ὅπως ἀποφήνονται ταῦτα τῷ Διοκλητιανῷ. Ὧς οὖν ἤκουσεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Διοκλητιανὸς ταῦτα, ἐθυμώθη σφόδρα καὶ λίαν ὀργισθεὶς εἶπεν· “Γενέσθωσαν γλωσσόκομα μολύβδινα καὶ ζῶντας ἐν αὐτὰ ἐγκλεισθῶσιν, καὶ καταποντισθήτωσαν ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ.” Τότε Νικέσιός τις ὀνόματι, συγκάθεδρος ὢν τοῦ Λαμπαδίου, ἐποίησεν τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ βασιλέως Διοκλητιανοῦ καὶ ἐκέλευσεν γενέσθαι γλωσσόκομα μολύβδινα καὶ ζῶντας ἅπαντας ἐν αὐτοῖς κατακλεισθῆναι καὶ προσέταξεν ἀχθῆναι καὶ ῥιφῆναι αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν ποταμόν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος Κύριλλος ὁ ἐπίσκοπος ἀκούσας ταῦτα ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ καὶ σφόδρα περίλυπος γενόμενος καὶ εὐχαριστήσας τῷ Θεῷ ἐπὶ τῇ καρτερίᾳ καὶ ἀθλήσει τῶν ἁγίων, ἀπέδωκεν ἐν εἰρήνῃ τὸ πνεῦμα τῷ Κυρίῳ. Τοίνυν ἐμαρτύρησαν οἱ ἅγιοι στεφανηφόροι στεφανοιφώροι codex ἀθληταὶ ἡμέρᾳ ἕκτῃ εἴδους νοεμβρίου νοεμβρίῳ codex .

[21] Ἐν αὐταῖς τοίνυν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐπορεύθη Διοκλητιανὸς ὁ παράνομος ἐν Συρμείᾳ τῇ χώρᾳ. Μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας γοῦν τεσσαράκοντα δύο Νικόδημός τις χριστιανὸς ἦρεν τὰ γλωσσόκομα μετὰ τῶν μυροσταγῶν σωμάτων καὶ ἔθετο ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ.

[22] Ἐπανελθὼν τοίνυν Διοκλητιανὸς ἀπὸ Συρμείας τῆς χώρας μετὰ μῆνας ἕνδεκα, εἰσῆλθεν τῇ Ῥώμῃ καὶ αὖθις ἐκέλευσεν ἐν τοῖς κτίσμασι Τραιανοῦ ναὸν τοῦ Ἀσκληπίου ἀνεγεῖραι ἀναγεῖραι codex καὶ εἴδωλον γενέσθαι ἐκ λίθον τῆς Προκονήσου. Ἐν τῷ οὖν ταῦτα γενέσθαι προσέταξεν ἅπαντας μεριμνῆσαι, ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ ναῷ ἐν ταῖς κόμαις ταῖς χαλκέσιν μετὰ χαρακτηριστικῶν ἰδιωμάτων καθηλῶσαι καὶ ἐκέλευσεν ἅπασαν τὴν στρατιὰν συνελθεῖν πρὸς τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀσκληπίου θυσίαις καὶ σπονδαῖς προσᾳδειν, μάλιστα δὲ οἱ πλησιέστεροι καὶ περίχωροι στρατιῶται· ἐν οἷς ἄπαντες πρὸς τὸ θυσιάσαι ἐκζητούμενοι, αὐτίκα τέσσαρές αὐτοι κατέσαρις codex τινες κουρινικουλάριοι ἐνεβλήθησαν πρὸς τὸ θυσιάσαι. Τούτων τοίνυν ἀντιπαλαίωντων, καὶ ἀνθισταμένων ἀντὶ παλαιῶν τῶν codex ἐμηνύθη Διοκλητιανῷ τῷ Αὐγούστῳ περὶ αὐτῶν· καὶ τούτους ἐκέλευσεν κατέναντι τοῦ ἱεροῦ τοῦ Ἀσκληπίου ῥάβδοις μολύβδεσιν αἰκίζεσθαι. Ἐν δὲ τῷ αἰκίζεσθαι αὐτοὺς ἀπέδωκαν τῷ Κυρίῳ τὰ πνεύματα αὐτῶν· ὧντινων τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν ἐκέλευσεν ἐν τῇ πλατείᾳ τοῖς κυσὶ βορὰ ῥιφῆναι· ὧντινων τὰ σώματα σῶα ἀβλαβῆ διέμειναν ἡμέρας πέντε. Τότε ὁ μακάριος Σεβαστιανὸς νύκτωρ μετὰ Μιλιταδίου ἐπισκόπου συνῆξεν τὰ σώματα τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων, καὶ ἔθαψεν αὐτὰ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τῇ λεγομένῃ Λαβοικάνᾳ ὡς ἀπὸ μιλίων τριῶν τῆς ἄστεως Ῥώμης, μετὰ καὶ ἑτέρων ἁγίων ἐν τῇ ἀμμώδει κρυπτῇ τῇ γενομένῃ. Ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ unless you prefer: τῇ γενομένῃ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ. Μετὰ δὲ κλ. , μετὰ δὲ δύο ἔτη ἐλθόντος ἕκτος εἴδους νοεμβρίου διὰ τὸ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν μὴ λήθην παραδραμεῖν ἐκέλευσεν Μιλιτάδιος ὁ ἐπίσκοπος ἵνα τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν ἁγίων Κλαυδίου, Νικοστράτου, Συνπρονιανοῦ καὶ Καστορίου ἐτήσιον μνήμην τῆς ὀγδόης ἡμέρας αὐτῶν ἑορτάσαι, βασιλεύοντος καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, οὗ ἐστὶν ἡ τιμὴ καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ ἡ βασιλεία σὺν τῷ ἀνάρχῳ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ ζωαρχικῷ καὶ ζωοποιῷ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματι νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.

II. THE PASSION OF THE HOLY FOUR CROWNED ONES, BY PETER

The Four Crowned Ones, venerated at Rome (SS.) BHL Number: 1838

BY PETER

Edited from the codices of Monte Cassino 148 (= P 1), Brussels 8936 – 38 (= P 2), Vallicelliana IX (= Q 1), Medicean-Laurentian Mugell. XIII (= Q 2). — Cf. Preliminary Commentary, nos. 15 – 17.

Here begins Prologum omits P 1. the prologue to the passion in passione omits Q 1. of the holy four crowned ones.

To Peter, bishop of Naples. To the illustrious father, the lord domno Q 1. Peter, and omits Q 2. excellent shepherd of the holy Parthenopean church, Peter.

You exhort us, most blessed one, to be zealous in raising the passion passione Q 1. of the holy four crowned martyrs out of the muddy rivulet and leading it onto the path of clarity. Embracing this command iussione Q 1. with devoted mind, strengthened more by the support of your prayers than by our own sluggish wit, we have corrected what was inept, added what was more useful, and taken care to bring it to the true light. Yet, since the grace of the Holy Spirit is not bestowed attribuit Q 2. equally on all, may you, who are powerful in holy and admirable wit, deign to file away whatever you judge to be inept there and to sweeten it with the nectar of your vestre Q 2. fountain dignamini P 2., so that, as by their holy contest the aforesaid martyrs were made heavenly with the triumph of victory, so by your nostro Q 2. zeal they may be glorified in holy church.

May the almighty Lord ever holily govern you [te Q 2. gubernent Q 2. And join you with the martyrs in the seat of the heavens.

Here ends the prologue; here begins the passion eorum adds Q 1; inc. passio omits P 1..

[1] Four craftsmen, Diocletian Dioclitianus Q 2. Caesar, who blazed up above all the Caesars against the Christian religion seditionem P 1., being zealous to glorify the worship of demons and of temples temporumque Q 2., took care not only to adorn it with gold and silver, but also, searching through various provinces for precious mines of various stones, he wonderfully produced from them images of various gods (lapidum - diversorum) omits Q 2., or rather demons denum Q 2.. With this zeal, then, when he had gone into the province of Pannonia to have precious marbles cut, and gathered various craftsmen there, and with diligent care inquired who seemed to be wiser in that art than the rest, he found among them four men, whose names nomine P 2. were Claudius, Castorius, Simpronianus Sympronianus here P 2. and Nicostratus, who among the rest were imbued with a wonderful talent and efficacy in that art; secretly Christians, these indeed were most true Christians, and faithfully cultivated the faith of the holy Trinity, but because of the excessive cruelty of the persecution and ad P 2, ec Q 1. the various kinds of penalties they glorified Christ secretly clacule Q 2, clanculo P 2., and whatever work of that art they did, they built it in the name of the Lord constituebant P 2., and from their wages they relieved the misery of the needy.

[2] at Diocletian's order But on a certain day, when the aforesaid Caesar wished to construct an image of the sun out of the stone called taso so P 1, tosonnis nomine Q 2, lapide a///////////// Q 1, taso nomine P 2., he called together all the craftsmen and philosophers, and began to exhort them thus: "Although the divinity of the sacred deities is one and the same, an effigy of the Sun and they bestow benefits on us in common, yet because we know semus Q 2. that with the omnipotence of Jupiter Iobis P 1. some quodam Q 2. are powerful in glory gloriam P 1. and dignity, as is the god Sun, we command that with all diligence you be zealous to construct wonderfully his figure sitting in a chariot, knowing without doubt that the more diligent the effort with which we take care to venerate him, the more he will deign by his help to cherish and govern us before the king of the heaven-dwellers colum Q 2, caelicolam P 2.." And they all with one accord promised to carry out everything diligently. Now this worship of the Sun soli? P 1. — heathen folly therefore fashioned him sitting in a chariot because they had read or heard that the prophet Elijah Heliam P 2, corrected P. 1. had once ascended to heaven in a fiery chariot. And when all, gathered together, strove to fulfil implere Q 2. the command of Caesar, the more diligently they desired to express his figure, the worse it became fiebant P 1.. Wherefore, contending with great effort magnam intentionem P 1., they did not know at all what more they could do; for these craftsmen were six hundred in number, and five philosophers were set over them. So, when talis adds P 2, Q 2. dissension had arisen among them, one of the four worshippers of Christ named above, by name Simpronianus, rising up and trusting confitendo Q 2. in the faith nomine Q 2. of the Lord nostri adds Q 2. Jesus Christ, said to all: "I beseech you, brothers and fellows, that, although I seem to be unskilled and little among you, you hear my counsel. For we know that it is written: If anyone lacks wisdom sapientiam Q 2., let him ask of God, who gives to all abundantly and does not upbraid, and it will be given him. James 1, 5. Since this is so ita quia est P 1., give me leave, and I, joined with my companions, namely Claudius, Nicostratus and Castorius, will find how we may be able to carry out the will of Caesar. they complete it in the name of Christ," When he had said these things omits Q 2., his companions ceteris Q 2. consenting to his counsel, they began in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord to design and express the figures of the image simulacris Q 1.; and since they had begun coeperunt P 2. to do this in the name of that master who founded heaven and earth out of nothing, whom the seas obey and all the elements submit to, they completed perferunt P 1, perfecerunt P 2, Q 2. everything wonderfully and gloriously gloriosa Q 2., just as the devotion of Caesar had decreed to be best, and the image was finished, twenty-five omits P 2. feet in length.

[3] and also the columns of the temple. Caesar, gladdened then at such a work, at once ordered a temple to be built aedificare P 1. in that very place, that is, in the parts of Pannonia, in the place which is called At the Fat Mountain, and he set up in it that image of Jupiter deauratum R, better from Passion I, 3., and was zealous that sacrifices should be celebrated with great solemnity. Then, when he perceived cernerent Q 1. that so great a skill in the aforesaid art had been wonderfully conferred on them, he called to himself the aforesaid men, that is, Claudius and omits Q 2. Simpronianus, Nicostratus and Castorius, and ordered that for the adornment of the aforesaid temple they should cut columns and their epistyles from the porphyry mountain porferitico Q 1, porhiritico Q 2. which is called the Fiery. And they, carrying out his orders, began to cut a stone forty feet pedum Q 2. in length.

Now one of them was named Claudius; and while the others omits Q 1, ceteris P 2. diligently sharpened exacueret corrected Q 1. the edges of their tools whenever they were blunted, he by no means acted so; but always fortifying his work with the sign of the holy cross, everything he did parabat Q 2. he wonderfully began in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and finished without mishap (et - perficiebat) omits Q 2., and not undeservedly in merito Q 2., because he invoked him to whom all things are possible and all creatures are obedient.

[4] They instruct Simplicius the gentile When cum adds Q 2. one of them, by name Nicostratus, noticed omits Q 2. this wonderful work, he said to a certain heathen man, a master of that art, by name Simplicius:

"I beseech you, loving brother amantissime Q 2, erased in Q 1., disclose what I ask [gladly; Why is your tool continually sedule P 1. blunted (f. s. r.) sedulo retunditur ferrum Q 2., but Claudius's not at all?" To him Simplicius said: "This I desire rather to learn dinoscere Q 1. from you, since it is both very wonderful and exceedingly useful to know mihi adds Q 2.." But when the aforesaid Claudius had heard such things, inserting himself into their question, he said to Simplicius: "Bring me all the instruments of your art, and I, through the help of my master who taught me, will bring it about that they neither be blunted nor broken, however long a time you work with them." He, rejoicing, quickly carried out what was ordered. And Claudius, signing them with the sign signans se signo P 2. of the holy cross, said: "I beseech signans se signo P 2., Lord Jesus Christ, that (quantocumque-frangantur) omits Q 1. by your holy name these instruments be neither blunted nor broken, but always remain in their firmness."

Wonderful the power of God, and wonderful the might of Christ!

the faith of Christ From then on Simplicius diligently sedulo P 2. exercised his art, and his instruments strumenta Q 2. never failed. Astonished at these things, Simplicius began with great entreaty to inquire of Simpronianus Simpronium P 2 here and often hereafter. and hac P 1. to say: "I beseech, dearest one, your most sweet verissimam Q 1. love, show et indices Q 2. me what kind of tempering it is said to be, by which we see such a miracle performed paratum P 2., since indeed, because it is more precious, I desire to know and learn discernere Q 1, 2. it." Simpronianus and Claudius, answering, said: "Since the charity of Christ carissimi P 2. bears all things, and sacred scripture says: Give to everyone who asks omnipotenti P 1, 2, Q 2. of you, know altogether that the almighty Creator creatum Q 2 over an erasure. who created heaven and earth, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we worship and adore, himself grants us this power, so that we do such work wonderfully, he who once granted to his people that their garments should not grow old veterascerent P 2. for (ill. p.) ipsius qui Q 2. forty years and the manna for eating should not fail. Luke 6, 30." That gentile Simplicius answered: "Is not num P 2. the god Jupiter, whom we call Jove, strong enough to perform such things omits Q 1. by his power virtute sua P 2.?" He said to him omnino P 2.: "Be silent, brother simile Q 2., and hold your peace, since indeed you are wholly omnino P 2. ignorant of what you are saying. Do you not understand that Jove himself and the Sun, whom quod Q 2. the folly of the heathens adores adoret Q 2. as gods, we daily quotiens Q 1. carve culpimus Q 2, scalpimus P 2. and work with our hands? May the Lord Christ avert this from the heart corde serde so Q 2. of his servants." Simplicius answered: "Always with desire I have desired to come to the true worship, and that of the true God; for a scruple of doubtful purpose was in my heart, saying: how do we adore and worship those gods whom we omits P 2. continually cut from the mountains, and every figure and joining of which we shape and transform by our craft? Wherefore, I beseech you te ut adds Q 2., show ostendas Q 2. me the way of light and free liberes Q 2. my soul from the darkness of ignorance. teach him," Claudius says to him: "For this is our faith: we believe, then omits P 2., in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and that these three hunc trinum Q 2. are in persons and one in deity, substance et Q 2., majesty; and that the Lord Jesus Christ himself, incarnate, crucified, dead and buried, rose from the dead and omits P 2. ascended into heaven ad caelum P 2, in celis Q 1., and will come again iterum P 2, Q 2. to judge the living and the dead and to render to the saints everlasting rewards. If you desire to attain this religion, and wash yourself with sacred baptism, you will be purified from all the stains of sins and will fully enjoy everlasting joys (et - semp.) omits Q 2.." Simplicius answered: "No doubt has remained in my heart; only what you establish by words, confirm quickly by works."

[5] and they bring him to Cyril the bishop Then they began to seek a priest who would minister the holy religion in the accustomed manner subito Q 1.; and they found, bound in the custody custodiam Q 2. of the prison, a certain bishop named Cyril Cirillum Q 2. of Antioch P 1, 2, Q 1, 2., who had already been fuerit P 2. wasted for three years with many beatings, with other confessors, for the name of Christ. Him they began to ask to baptize him. Blessed Cyril Cirrillus here Q 2., filled with great joy, said to Simplicius: "See, son, whether you believe with your whole heart; for we gladly omnia s. C. nos Q 2. offer you all the sacraments of Christ omnia s. C. nos Q 2.." And when he had instilled into him the whole order of the holy religion religioni P 2., he said to him (d. ei) omits Q 1.: "As you have known the power of the Lord nostri adds Q 1, P 2. Jesus Christ in isto adds P 2. your craft, so now believe faithfully in the faith fide Q 1. of the holy Trinity, and believe that you are at once purified from all the filth of transgressions idolorum Q 1.." He answered with tears and said: "How quoniam o. Q 1., holy father, can I show my credulity? they bring him to be baptized." Cyril Cirillus Q 2. answered: "Believe that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God almighty, creator of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible, who forgives relaxabat Q 2. sins to all who believe in him and bestows eternal joys." He autem adds Q 2. cried out and said: "All things that have been brought forth from your mouth, most holy father, I faithfully believe and most devoutly hold; only omits P 2. help me and free my soul." Then he baptized him in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in that same prison; and blessing them he dismissed them. And they, having returned to their work, all things which they worked in the name of the Lord and with the sign of the holy cross came out wonderfully and gloriously, without any fault.

[6] On the Christian faith But one of the philosophers, looking more attentively at their eorum Q 2. works, when he had seen that they did nothing without the sign of the cross, wondered vehemently and said: "This is recognized to be a kind of magic art; for which reason it was once devised inventus Q 2. for the punishment and torture of the wicked evildoers patrandum Q 2., and now, 〈I know not I have supplied it, P, Q omit.〉 by what qui Q 2. reasoning, it bestows on these craftsmen benefit rather than harm; whence it is given to be understood that this can by no means be done without the contrivance of the magic art." Claudius answered and said: "What you said, that this is a kind of torment, you said truly, and for that reason it was devised from the beginning. But from the time when Life hung on it, it now ministers not death but life to those who venerate it." That philosopher answered and said: "What was that life which hung on it? And how could this be done, since life is not a body but a spiritual spiritualis P2. substance substantie Q 1.?" Claudius answered and said: "The Life was the Lord Jesus Christ, who created heaven and earth; whose substance is recognized to be twofold geminata Q 2., that is, human and divine; but sic P 1. you are by no means able privales Q 2. to understand this unless you truly believe in him." The philosopher said: they dispute with the gentiles. "You could rightly persuade me to desire to believe in him if, as you establish, he ipsa Q 2. who made heaven and earth were Life itself and had not died in that very torment of the cross; for enim P 2, Q 2. life can by no means die, since quia P 1., as I said before, it is not a bodily but a spiritual spiritualis P 2. substance." To these things Claudius began to set out the reasoning to him, saying: "I already suggested above that the Lord Jesus Christ consisted subsisteret P 2. in two substances, that is in adds P 1., human and divine; and therefore it is said of him in the holy Catholic faith: perfect God, perfect man, subsisting of a rational soul and human flesh. Since et P 1. this is so, do not believe him dead like other mortal men hominum P 1., who after death are able to do or work nothing; for when he willed valuit Q 2., then he laid down his life, as he himself testified, saying: I have power to lay down my life omits P 2. and to take it up again. John 10, 18. And the flesh alone died, deceiving the devil, who thought him a mere man, so that by his death he might destroy his power and, rising from the underworld, free the just whom he was holding." When that philosopher had heard this, he fell silent and could no longer set out a reasoning ratione P 1.. While these hic Q 2. disputed thus, very many of the craftsmen believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[7] To carve various works After these things, moreover, the aforesaid omits Q 2. philosophers, led by envy, so that they might destroy the saints of God, suggested

to Diocletian, saying: "Since quam Q 1. you have found outstanding craftsmen and discovered precious mines, let not the talent of the art perish, but let various and glorious works be ordered to be made through your wisdom, above all an image of the great and venerable Asclepius." they are ordered by Diocletian. Hearing these things, Caesar was delighted and instructed the aforesaid five craftsmen, that is, Claudius, Nicostratus, Simpronianus, Castorius and Simplicius, to cut various basins, to design adsignare P 2. famous victories, and to execute wonderfully a statue of Asclepius. They, complying with his precepts, finished fecerunt P 2. everything wonderfully and brought it to Caesar, except the statue of Asclepius, understanding that he wished vellent Q 2. to build a temple to it, as to the image of the Sun, in mockery of the worshippers of Christ. Made glad by these things, he gave omits Q 1. them this account: "I rejoice in omits Q 2. the zeal of your art, and you are worthy to be rewarded with great gifts; but because you neglected to do that which you ought especially to have done before all, you have wholly lost your reward."

[8] The statue of Asclepius, But the wicked philosophers, seeing the king's indignation, inflamed his mind and said: "Let the clemency of your highness know that they are evildoing Christians, and therefore they disdained to make the statue of Asclepius." Hearing this, Caesar orders the saints of God to be called to him and said: "You know very well with what quocum Q 2. affection we have shown ostenderemus Q 1, 2. you our clemency on account of the wonderful industry of your art. Why cum P 2. then have you despised my command, by not executing the statue of Asclepius?" Blessed Claudius answered and said: "We have it written, O king: Be subject subdite P 2. to every human creature for God's sake. I Peter 2, 13. According to this precept we have hitherto obeyed obedibimus P 1. your power, so as not to despise God; and therefore we did not make the statue of Asclepius, whom you adore as a god, since et Q 2. he is not a god, as you suppose, but was a frail and mortal man, and has been assigned to eternal punishments; and again another scripture says: Let those who make them omits Q 2. become like them, and all who trust in them." Psalm 113, 8. And the aforesaid philosophers vehemently inflamed Caesar infl. Caesarem Q 1., saying: "Did we not foretell the savagery of these men? which they refuse to fashion, What more omits Q 1. execrable thing do you seek to hear, O Caesar?" He answered them: "It is not obstinacy nor ignorance of heart that we act as we do, but rather prudence and the glory of the empire, because we cannot have men like these for doing such wonderful works." But they said: "Let there be no care to you about such things, since indeed we shall find men more learned than these, imbued with our religion nostras religiones Q 2.. For what does it profit to have craftsmen well disposed and to despise the deities of the gods?" Caesar said: "If this can be so, do what you wish."

[9] is made by other craftsmen. Then the philosophers found other heathen craftsmen, who made the statue of Asclepius, and after thirty days they offered it (et post -obtulerunt) omits Q 2. to Caesar, saying: "Behold, your will has been fulfilled, O Caesar, concerning the image of the sacred deity and concerning craftsmen excellently skilled, who cultivate our religion and carry out your will; yet those sacrilegious men who have despised your precepts and will not adore colunt Q 2. the most sacred deities, namely Claudius, Nicostratus, Simpronianus and Castorius Simp. atque C. omits Q 2., and together with them Simplicius, let them only be so constrained as et Q 1. to be tortured until they offer sacrifices to the sacred gods, lest perhaps through the spells of incantations they turn the hearts of your people to their worship." Then he ordered a certain tribune, Before Lampadius the tribune by name Lampadius, that, joined so P 1, Q 1; iunctos P 2, vinctos Q 2. with the philosophers philosophos Q 1., he should examine them with moderation, and if it were as the accusation had disclosed, namely that they were shown to be worshippers of Christ, he should punish them with a penal poenali P 2. sentence. So Lampadius Lampa Q 2. the tribune ordered a council to be prepared in that same place before the temple of the Sun, and the aforesaid soldiers of Christ to be brought together with the philosophers corrected, previously philosophos Q 1; philosophi P 1.. When they were present he said: "Every accusation is justly decided through four persons, that is, through omits P 2. the judge, the witnesses, the accusers accusatorem P 2. and omits P 2. the accused; namely, that when the accusers bring their charges omits Q 2., the accused defend themselves, the witnesses say what quod Q 2. they have seen or heard (vel aud.) omits Q 1., and the judge determines omits P 2. what quid Q 2. he knows to be just between the parties. Retaining this equity, the most equitable Caesar has proposed that the accusation which has been made by these philosophers against these five craftsmen should be most rightly determined." The philosophers and the aforesaid heathen craftsmen cried out exclamaverint Q 2. (rectissime - artifices) omits Q 1., saying: "Since we faithfully hold and believe the religion of our fathers' traditions, which the whole world and the sacred empire venerate, we account it impious to cover with silence tenere Q 1. what we think of these men. For we know for certain that they are worshippers of Christ and deride our gods; moreover et super Q 2. they also seduce many through their worthless teaching; what more wicked thing do you require from them?" Lampadius the tribune answered L. tr. respondit Q 2., saying: "You are the accusers; where et ubi Q 2. are the witnesses who approve such things?" The other heathen craftsmen, spitefully put up by the philosophers a philosophi P 1, Q 1., answered and said: "We are witnesses of these charges obi. horum Q 1.; yet if you are anxious satagis Q 2. to find the truth, order the god Sun to be adored adorare Q 1, odorari Q 2., and soon their eorum P 2. purpose will be laid open panditur P 2, Q 2.." The counsel consilio Q 1. pleased the tribune, and he called the soldiers of Christ to him and said: "One proof alone remains, by which your whole accusation will be destroyed, that is, if you adore the magnificent god Sun." But the saints (s. a.) sic aut illi Q 2. answered: "Formerly, the holy martyrs are set O judge, at Caesar's command, we cut the figure of the sun from stone with our hands and worked it; therefore we do not adore a stone figure, which is known to be without sense; but we adore that God almighty who made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them, the Lord omits P 2; deum Q. Jesus Christ." Hearing this, those philosophers said to Lampadius: "Behold, you have heard with your ears and understood with your heart the whole order of the matter; if from this you have any further delay si ex dilatione Q 1 corrected, faction rather or conspiracy is judged to be in you, and you are acting against the divine Caesar." The judge, hearing these things hoc Q 1. autem omits P 1. and greatly fearing the animosity of Caesar, ordered them to be thrust back into the public custody, and took care to announce everything in order to Caesar. Concerning them he instructed that, if they disdained contempsissent Q 2. to sacrifice, they should kill them with various torments.

[10] again Soon the aforesaid judge Lampadius Lampidius P 2. ordered them to stand before the temple of the Sun on another day, and said: "What the most sacred emperor has ordered is already very well omits P 1. known to you, namely that you offer sacrifices to the divine deities ut diis istis manibus P 1, Q 1, 2., and above all to the god Sun." The saints answered and atque Q 1. said: "For it is written: The words of the double-tongued vilingus P 1. are as if simple, but they reach to the innermost parts of the belly. Proverbs 18, 8. Your words seem soft and as if salutary; but they are utterly pestilent, leading to Tartarus and eternal death. What more do you seek, O judge et adds Q 2.? What do you wish to learn from us? What we have once said we hold firm concerning our faith: that no want tribulatio Q 2. separates us from the love of Christ, who has called us out of darkness into his wonderful ammirabile P 1. light." The judge said: "And who is able to provide so clear a light as the god Sun, who rising in the east orientem P 1, horiente Q 1. at once appears in the west oriente P 2., and irradiates the whole world with his brightness?" The saints, answering, said: "If you hold the sun as great P 1, Q 1; magno P 2; magnum Q 2. and venerate him as a god, we hold him for a servant, since that omits Q 1. God whom we adore himself created him for the use hutilitatem P 1, in utilitate Q 2. of the whole world and for ours nostra Q 2; ut nostram et totius mundi Q 1.. For by what quam P 1. reasoning can that one be a god who was created, and who, from that by which he was made, goes and returns, and finds no rest for one hour in the day hora diei P 2. or night, and has no stability? Ecclesiastes I, 5, 6. Whence it is written: The sun rises orietur P 1. and sets and returns to his place, and there, being reborn, circles through the south and bends to the north, surveying illustrans P 1. all things in his circuit; and elsewhere:

Through twelve constellations the golden sun rules the world." VIRGIL, Georgics I, 232.

The tribune said: "How great an affection and how great quantam P 1, Q 1. benevolence the most clement emperor shows exhibebat Q 2. to all, and above all to the worshippers of the gods and the cultivators of the temples, is very well known to you. For which reason, since you too are not unknown, and have even omits Q 2. shown him service from your talent, I am anxious to admonish you that you take care both to enjoy his illis Q 2. glory and not to lose the flower flore P 1. of so nectar-sweet a youth." But the martyrs of Christ said: "If the clemency clementiam P 1. of Caesar is pleasing placita Q 2; placida P 1, 2, Q 1. to all omits P 2., it ought to be such that it does not make them lose him who created them, who after death is able to destroy the soul in Gehenna." Then the tribune, when he had seen their constancy, that he could bend them by no reasoning, was anxious to announce everything to Caesar. Caesar said: "Since I desire by every means omnimodis Q 1; omnino P 2. to win them cupio illos Q 1. on account of

their incomparable comparabilem Q 2. and profitable craftsmanship, we order that you afflict them with beatings and scorpions; perhaps forsitant Q 2. they will come to their senses and obey P 2, obediunt P 1, Q 1, 2. our will."

[11] and a third time. Then after five days he sat again resedis Q 2. before the temple of the Sun and ordered them omits Q 1. to be brought in. To them, for the sake of excessive terror, he showed all omits Q 2. the kinds of torments, saying: "If you wish to be glorious among the friends of the sacred empire, as we have already said, sacrifice to the god Sun; but if not, your body will experience every kind of these omits P 1. torments." The saints answered and said: "What we had to say, Beaten with scorpions we have already said to you: that neither terrors nor blandishments separate us from the charity of the Lord nostri adds Q 2. Jesus Christ d. I. C. omits Q 1.." Then the tribune, angered, ordered them to be stripped and beaten with scorpions. But so that the Lord might show the might of his name and the power of his saints, in that same hour Lampadius the tribune, seized by a demon, expired. Hearing this, his wife and household ran to the philosophers, so that they might announce the matter istam P 1. to Caesar. Then Caesar, angered, ordered little leaden coffers lucellos Q 1. to be made and et Q 2. them to be shut up alive in them illos P 2. and thrown into the river. Meanwhile a certain Claudius, a togatus, who was a supporter of Lampadius Lampadii Q 2., carrying out Caesar's word, threw them alive, shut up in the little coffers, into the river, they are thrown into the river. and so through the triumph of martyrdom they received everlasting joys. And the aforesaid prephatus P 1. holy omits Q 1. bishop Cyril, hearing this cum esset in carcere adds P 2., gave thanks to almighty God that they had made their omits Q 1. end in holy confession qui et ipse adds P 1.; in the same affliction of prison he passed to the Lord. And a certain Nicodemus, a religious vir adds Q 1 worshipper of Christ, secretly took away the little coffers locellum Q 2. with in P 2. which the bodies of the saints were enclosed and placed them in his house.

[12] Of the four cornicularii So Diocletian Dioclitianus Q 2., having returned after eleven months from Sirmium P 2; Sirmio Q 2; Sirmo P 1, Q 1., entered Rome, and ordered a temple of Asclepius to be built in the baths of Trajan and an image to be made of Proconnesian stone porphiretico Q 2.; and he ordered most solemn sacrifices to be offered by all the magnates. And when all were being compelled to sacrifice, the martyrdom certain four cornicularii were found [quorum nomina hec sunt Severus, Severianus, Carpoforus et Victorinus adds Q 1, 2.] who, despising the king's precept, because they were worshippers of Christ, disdained to sacrifice to idols. Caesar, learning their sentiments sentias so Q 2., ordered them to be struck down before that very image with blows of leaded scourges. Their bodies he ordered to be thrown to the dogs in the street; and as they remained permanentes Q 1; permanserunt Q 2. whole for five days, blessed itaque adds Q 2. Sebastian with holy Miltiades Gaio Q 2, Meltiade P 2., pontiff of the Roman see, gathered them omits Q 1. by night and buried them on the Via Lavicana at the third milestone from the city, with other saints in a sand-pit. And since this thing tunc contigit adds Q 2. concerning these isti P 1. four cornicularii, martyrs, had happened at the same time as quo P 2. that of the holy four crowned ones too, but after two years, and their names could not be found at all (et nomina-potuissent) omits P 1, Q 1., holy bishop Miltiades ordered (quod et-episcopus) ignota extiterunt eorum nomina constituit Gelasius papa Q 2. that their anniversary day should be kept under the names nominibus P 2. of the aforesaid supradictorum Q 2. martyrs et istorum Q 2.. and the feast. And the martyrs of Christ, the four crowned ones, suffered with blessed Simplicius and the other martyrs on the sixth day before the Ides of November. Their sacred sacra P 1. passions a certain philosopher, a censualis, named Porfirius, observing them in order animadvertens P 1., took care to write down zealously, to the praise and glory of our omits P 2. Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.