ON ST. ADAUCTUS AND HIS DAUGHTER CALLISTHENE, MARTYR IN MESOPOTAMIA AND VIRGIN AT EPHESUS,
AND HIS DAUGHTER CALLISTHENE, VIRGIN, AT EPHESUS.
Before and after the year 313.
SYLLOGE.
Adauctus, martyr in Mesopotamia. (S.) And his daughter Callisthene, virgin, at Ephesus.
BY C. B.
St. Adauctus, who yesterday, without his holy daughter joined to him, is inscribed only in the printed Menaea of the Greeks and in the Sirletian Menology, is today inscribed with his daughter Callisthene in those same Menaea The Saints are announced in various sacred calendars of the Greeks. and in several other sacred calendars of the Greeks. Hence this holy Athlete, illustrious not so much for the profane warfare which he followed as for the blood shed for Christ, has been put off by us from yesterday to the present day, on which accordingly we must now treat of him and of his holy daughter Callisthene, in view of the time at which they migrated to the heavenly fatherland. I begin from the remaining sacred calendars of the Greeks in which also Adauctus together with his daughter Callisthene is inscribed at this day, meaning to say below also whether and which sacred calendars of the Latins celebrate the Saints. To the printed Great Menaea, then, in which, as has been said, Adauctus and his daughter Callisthene are celebrated today, there are added the manuscript Menaea of the Ambrosian Library, the manuscript Sirmondian and Mazarin Synaxarium, and likewise the Basilian Menology, printed by the zeal and labor of the Most Eminent Cardinal Annibale Albani. But — what may perhaps seem strange — the Sirletian Menology, which as has been said celebrates St. Adauctus yesterday, today commemorates not only not this holy Martyr, but not even his daughter Callisthene. Besides, although in all the sacred calendars already mentioned the Saints are adorned with elogia, yet I have ready to hand only those with which this is done in the printed Menaea and in the Basilian Menology.
[2] Whatever therefore pertains to the Saints I shall explain from these two latter sacred calendars almost alone, The little verses with which they are adorned in the Menaea, since monuments of every other kind are lacking. And to do this I begin from the Menaea, and indeed from the little verses with which they moreover adorn the Saints. They are four in number, of which two regard Adauctus alone, two Callisthene alone. The former, at the preceding day, on which in the printed Menaea, as I have already noted, Adauctus alone without his Daughter is inserted, run thus:
Ξίφει θανὼν, Ἄδαυκτε, μάρτυς Κυριοῦ, Σὺν μάρτυσι ζῆς, καὶ Θεὸν ζῶντα βλέπεις.
Dying by the sword, Adauctus, martyr of the Lord, Thou livest with the Martyrs, and beholdest the living God.
But the latter, at this day, on which as has been said Adauctus together with his daughter Callisthene is inscribed in the Menaea and in the other sacred calendars of the Greeks, are conceived in these words:
Θεοῦ θεωρεῖ κάλλος ἡ Καλλισθένη, Οὗπερ τὸ θεῖον εἶχεν ἐις σκέπην σθένος.
Callisthene contemplates the beauty of God, Whose divine strength she had for her covering.
Such are the little verses which the printed Menaea exhibit concerning our Saints. And those indeed which are about St. Adauctus play upon the opposed meanings in the words θνήσκω, I die, and ζάω, I live, and have no elogium subjoined to them; but these, which pertain to St. Callisthene alone, allude to the Saint's name, Callisthene, compounded from the Greek words κάλλος, beauty, and σθένος, strength; and they have a fairly long elogium about both Saints subjoined to them.
[3] This I transcribe here entire, a Latin translation being added, as I have already done for the little verses. It runs thus: Οὗτος ὑπῆρχεν ἐξ Εφεσίων τῆς Ἀσίας. Ὃς καὶ δούξ δουκῶν γεγονὼς καὶ ἔπαρχος Μαξιμίνου ἐν πλούτῳ καὶ συνέσει πολῶν διαφέρων. Διὰ δὲ τὸ μὴ θελῆσαι ἀυτὸν ἐκδοῦναι πρὸς γάμον τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρα τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὡς ἀλλοτρίῳ τῆς πίστεως, τὴν οὐσίαν δημέυεται, καὶ εἰς Μελιτινὴν ἐξορισθεὶς, τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀφαιρεῖται. Ἡ δὲ Καλλισθένη τὴν κεφαλὴν κειραμένη καὶ ἀνδρικὸν σχῆμα περιβαλλομένη, ἐν Νικομεδεία ἐκρύπτετο. Μετὰ δὲ χρόνους ὀκτὼ πρὸς τινα γυναῖκα ἤλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν Θράκην, ἧς ἡ θυγάτηρ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐλελώβητο· ἣν καὶ ἱασαμένη, χάριν της ἰάσεως πρὸς κοινωνίαν γάμου οἱ τεκόντες ἁρμόσαι ταύτην, ἄνδρα πάντος εἶναι οἰόμενοι, τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἐβουλήθησαν θυγατρὶ. Ἡ δὲ ἀναγκασθεῖσα, λέγει τὰ κατ᾽ αὐτὴν, καὶ ἐκπλαγέντες, ὣσπερ εἰκὸς, ἐδόξασαν τόν Θεὸν. Τοῦ οὖν Μαξιμίνου ἀναιρεθέντος, κρατεῖ τῆς βασιλείας Λικίνιος· τούτου τῇ γυναικὶ πιστῇ οὐσῃ, ἀδελφῇ τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου, ἐμφανίζεται ἡ Καλλισθένη καὶ ἐκτίθεται πάντα τὰ συμβάντα αὐτῇ. Ἡ δὲ προσλαμβάνει ταύτην, καὶ ὠς μητέρα καθιστᾶ τοῦ ἑαυτῆς ὑιοῦ· καὶ οὓτως ἡ μακαρία Καλλισθένη πᾶσαν τὴν πατρικὴν οὐσίαν, ἣν ἀφέιλετο ὁ Μαξιμιανὸς *, ἀπολαμβάνει. Καὶ τὸ ἅγιον λείψανον τοῦ πατρὸς ἀυτῆς ἀπὸ Μεσοποταμίας εἰς Ἀσίαν κομίζει, καὶ μαρτύριον ἐν ὀνόματι ἀυτοῦ δειμαμένῃ καθιεροῖ, καὶ τὸ λειπόμενον τοῦ ἑαυτῆς βίου ἀποστολικῶς διανύσασα πρὸς Κυριὸν ἐξεδήμησεν.
[4] Thus far the Greek elogium of the Saints; take now its Latin translation also: and in Latin He (Adauctus, namely) was of the Ephesians of Asia
city. Who, since he excelled many in wealth and prudence, was made both duke of dukes and prefect of Maximinus. But because he would not hand over his Daughter in marriage to the emperor, as one alien to the faith, he is punished with the confiscation of his goods, and, banished to Melitene, is beheaded. But Callisthene, her hair being shorn and a manly habit assumed, lay hid at Nicomedia. And after eight years she came into Thrace to a certain woman, whose daughter suffered in her eyes; and when she had thoroughly healed her, the parents wished, for the sake of the healing, to join her in marriage to their daughter, supposing her altogether a man and not a woman. But she, being compelled, set forth the things that concerned her; and they, fixed in wonder as was fitting, praised God. Further, when Maximinus had been taken from among the living, Licinius obtained the reins of empire. Callisthene approaches his wife, who was a Christian and the sister of Constantine the Great, and sets forth to her what had befallen her. And she receives her to herself, and appoints her as it were mother of her son; and thus the blessed Callisthene recovers all her father's goods which Maximian [] had taken away. Besides, she brings back the sacred relics of her Father from Mesopotamia into Asia, and consecrates a sacred place built to his name; and when she had passed the rest of her life according to the rule handed down by the Apostles, she departed to the Lord.*
[5] I come now to the elogium of the Saints which the Basilian Menology supplies. together with the elogium which the Basilian supplies, This differs not a little from the elogium already transcribed here from the printed Menaea. The matter will be plain from a mere comparison of the two; and that anyone may be able to make this without trouble, I transcribe that too here entire, before I examine more distinctly the things that concern the Saints, together with a new Latin translation which I myself have fitted to it, since the one which exists in the printed Basilian does not everywhere agree exactly with the Greek text. Ἄδαυκτος ὁ μάρτυς ὑπῆρχε μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς πὀλεως Ἐφέσου. Επεῖχε δὲ τὴν τοῦ δουκὸς ἀξίαν έπὶ Μαξιμινοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως, ἔχων καὶ θυγατέρα παρθένον καὶ ἐυμορφοτάτην, Καλλισθένην ὀνόματι. Ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ Μαξιμῖνος περὶ αὐτῆς, ἀπέστειλεν ἐλθεῖν ἀυτὴν πρὸς ἀυτόν. Ὁ δὲ πατὴρ ἀυτῆς ἔκρυψεν ἀυτὴν, φυγαδεύσας είς τὰ μέρη τῆς Ανατολῆς. Ματὼν δὲ τοῦτο ὀ Μαξιμῖνος, καὶ ὁργισθείς, έκράτησε τὸν Ἄδαυκτον προφάσει τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ· καὶ δημεύσας ἐξώρισεν είς Μεσοποταμίαν, γράψας τῷ τῆς Μεσοποταμίας ἄρχοντι, ἀναγκάσαι μὲν ἀυτὸν θῦσαι τοῖς εἰδώλοις· μὴ πειθόμενον δὲ φονεῦσαι. Ὁ δὲ ἄρχων μὴ πείσας ἀυτὸν, ἀπεκεφάλισεν. Ἑ͂ιτα ἐτάφη παρὰ τῆς γυναικὸς ἀυτοῦ, καὶ τῆς θυγατρός. Τῆς δὲ βασιλείας κρατήσαντος Λικιννίου, προσῆλθεν ἡ Καλλισθένῃ τῇ βασιλίσσῃ, καὶ διηγήσατο πάντα. Καὶ τῇ τῆς βασιλίδος προστάξει μετεκόμισε τοῦ πατρὸς ἀυτῆς τὸ λείψανον εἰς Ἔφεσον. Εἶτα καὶ ἀυτὴ καλῶς βιώσας * ἐτελειώθη.
[6] Adauctus the martyr was indeed sprung from the city of Ephesus; and under the emperor Maximinus he held the dignity of duke, having also a daughter, a virgin most beautiful, Callisthene by name. But when Maximinus had heard of her, he gave orders that she should come to him. But her Father hid her, sending her away into the parts of the East. And Maximinus, having learned this and being angered, seized Adauctus on the pretext of the Christian faith, and, punishing him with the confiscation of his goods, banished him into Mesopotamia, writing to the prefect of Mesopotamia that he should compel him to sacrifice to the idols, but if he did not obey, should kill him. The prefect therefore, when he had not made him compliant, beheaded him. He was then buried by his wife and his Daughter. But when Licinius had obtained the empire, Callisthene went to the empress and set forth everything. Besides, at the Empress's order she translated her Father's relics to Ephesus, and afterwards, her life having been rightly passed, closed her last day. Such is the elogium of our Saints which the Basilian supplies. Further, certain things must now be brought forward for the illustration both of this and of the other which has also been transcribed here above from the Menaea; but before I do so, it is pleasing now to inquire also whether and in which sacred calendars of the Latins our Saints are likewise inscribed.
[7] Galesinius celebrates Adauctus alone. I have scarcely been able to find two of these which commemorate both our Saints, or at least one of the two, beyond all controversy. In the first place occurs the Martyrology composed by Galesinius. In this Adauctus is announced today, and at the same time adorned with the following elogium, which is woven out of the Basilian already transcribed here: In Mesopotamia, of St. Adauctus the martyr. He, a citizen of Ephesus, when he had hidden his daughter Calisthene, a virgin, by whose form and beauty the emperor Maximian [] was basely captivated, and, taking thought for her modesty by flight, had caused her to be led into the parts of the East, that man, furiously enraged, seized him on the ground of the Christian religion and banished him into Mesopotamia to the prefect on this condition, that unless he could be drawn to the worship of the idols he should be butchered. Blessed Adauctus, therefore, bravely sustaining the fight for the faith, and condemned to death on that account, finished the course of martyrdom with admirable virtue. To Galesinius is added, as the second of the Hagiologies which celebrate today both our Saints or at least one of the two, the Universal Martyrology composed by Castellanus. In this Callisthene is recorded in these words: Among the Greeks, St. Callisthene, virgin.* But why is Adauctus alone announced by Galesinius without his daughter Callisthene, and why is Callisthene alone announced by Castellanus without her father Adauctus? Since Galesinius, according to what has been said, drew Adauctus from the Basilian Menology, in which both Callisthene and Adauctus are celebrated today, it is hard to divine why this martyrologist did not join the holy Daughter Callisthene with the holy father Adauctus.
[8] But as regards Castellanus, perhaps this hagiologist today records the daughter Callisthene alone, without her father Adauctus, The reason why perhaps this latter hagiologist does so. because he assigns to the preceding day a saint whose name is Adauctus, and perhaps thinks him the same as Adauctus the parent of St. Callisthene whom he announces. But our Adauctus is most certainly different from the Adauctus whom Castellanus inscribes in his Martyrology at the preceding day, if what this author judges concerning this latter Adauctus agrees with the truth. For he says that the Adauctus inserted at the preceding day in his Martyrology (go to his Hagiological Table) is the same as the Adauctus or Adaucus, General master of the offices and quaestor, whom the present-day Roman and many other sacred calendars celebrate at the seventh day of February. But this Adauctus or Adaucus is beyond doubt distinguished from Adauctus, the father of St. Callisthene. For the latter was born at Ephesus in Asia, the former in Italy; the latter, struck with the sword in Mesopotamia, the former, consumed by fire in Phrygia, obtained the palm of martyrdom. Castellanus therefore either ought not, on the ground that he celebrates some Adauctus on the preceding day, to announce Callisthene alone today without her father Adauctus; or he wrongly makes that Adauctus whom he celebrates on the preceding day the same as the Adauctus inscribed at the seventh day of February in the present-day Roman and in many other sacred calendars.
[9] However the matter stands, we have indeed according to what has been said two of the Hagiologies of the Latins, Adauctus is perhaps also by Rabanus, of which one certainly announces St. Adauctus today, the other St. Callisthene. But are there no other sacred calendars of the Latins besides which do the same? To these certainly neither the Old and the present-day Roman, nor the Adonian and most other less ancient Classical Martyrologies can be reckoned. But in Rabanus, who writes Audactus (which is also done in some Hieronymian transcripts) for Adauctus, the following announcement is read: At Rome, of Marcellus the bishop, and in Africa of Audactus. And this Saint, whom he places in Africa, Rabanus undoubtedly drew from the Hieronymian calendars. For in some of their transcripts today Adauctus — or, as it is written somewhat otherwise, Adaugnus or also Audactus — is announced with certain other Saints either in Africa, or in the city of Africa, or at Carthage. And the greater Lucca transcript in Florentini, with which our manuscript Martyrology of the queen of Sweden, formerly of Fulda, also agrees, announces Adauctus in the city of Africa. But Florentini, in his observation on this announcement of St. Adauctus in the city of Africa which he brings from the Lucca transcript, fears that for in the city of Africa one ought to substitute in the city of Ephesus, and thus suspects that the Adauctus recorded today by Rabanus and in the Hieronymian calendars is not distinguished from our Adauctus.
[10] Here are this writer's own words: I suspect an error here, he says, and in the Hieronymian transcripts hard to emend from the other codices which I have seen, being in bad condition. Since nevertheless in the Menology of Basil Adauctus, a martyr of Ephesus, is praised on this day, and his illustrious contest is reported to have been consummated in Mesopotamia, and since he is not only called a citizen of Ephesus, but his body is narrated to have been carried back to Ephesus by his daughter Callisthene, I have feared that for "in the city of Africa" one ought to substitute "in the city of Ephesus"; for that Adauctus the Martyr was venerated there is plain; and that then one should read: In Africa, of Maurisus, Restitutus, and also Julius, as the Corbie Martyrology has, in which Adauctus is not read among the African Martyrs; just as neither is Julius in other codices. Rabanus nevertheless, as we have seen, attributes Adauctus to Africa. Thus far Florentini, whose suspicion so pleases me that I not only suspect that an error lurks here in his greater Lucca transcript, but altogether believe it. For although (go to Baudrand under the word Africa) in the kingdom of Tunis in Africa there occurs also a certain city which is now called Africa, yet that appellation of it — since it is called by writers even of the middle ages Aphrodisium — is less ancient than Florentini's greater Lucca transcript is; nor is any other city anywhere known to geographers which either now obtains or formerly obtained a like appellation. And accordingly the present-day announcement of the Lucca transcript, by which Adaugtus or Adauctus is placed in the city of Africa, is certainly faulty. But ought one also in it, as Florentini fears, to substitute in the city of Ephesus for in the city of Africa?
[11] he is recorded today. In the most ancient Echternach transcript, as also in the old transcript of Reichenau, Adauctus is today announced without the added word city, thus: In Africa, of Adauctus. The same is done, as has been said, by Rabanus, and in our more abridged Reichenau transcript. Hence it may be contended that in the present-day announcement of Adauctus which Florentini's greater Lucca transcript supplies the word city, added to Africa, is merely superfluous. But in fact in the old Aachen transcript Audactus or Adauctus is placed neither in Africa nor in the city of Africa, but at Rome, in this manner: At Rome, the birthday of Marcellus the bishop, of Audactus. Hence, further, I hold all the Hieronymian transcripts already mentioned — which elsewhere are very often found faulty — strongly suspect of error here too, as regards the place to which they assign Adauctus; and accordingly, although it cannot be proved that in the Lucca transcript in the city of Ephesus ought to be substituted for in the city of Africa, yet it appears likely enough that Adauctus, who is announced today in the Hieronymian calendars, is wrongly in some of
them, and by Rabanus, attributed to Africa, and is not distinct from our Adauctus, who suffered in Mesopotamia and was afterwards translated by his daughter Callisthene to Ephesus, the city from which he was also sprung. He is therefore perhaps celebrated today not only in the aforementioned Martyrologies of Galesinius and Castellanus, and accordingly in the more recent sacred calendars of the Latins, but also in the older ones, namely in the Hieronymian transcripts.
[12] Since he refused to entrust his daughter to Maximinus, who And these indeed are the sacred calendars in which our Adauctus is perhaps also inscribed today. As regards Callisthene, it appears certain that she is inscribed in no other sacred calendars than those already mentioned above. I return now to the two elogia of the Saints which have been transcribed above in Greek and Latin together. From these, if only the Menaea, the Basilian Menology, and other like Greek monuments deserve sufficiently certain credit, we learn the occasion, the time, and the place of the martyrdom which St. Adauctus underwent, as also about when St. Callisthene carried her Father's sacred body from Mesopotamia, in which region he had met death for the faith, to Ephesus, and by a happy and blessed departure exchanged this mortal life for the immortal. What is to be said will open the matter. Maximinus, as the Menaea have it, because St. Adauctus would not hand over to him, as a heathen, his Daughter in marriage, first punished him with the confiscation of his goods and with exile, and then ordered him to be beheaded. But Maximinus, as the Basilian Menology reports, because St. Adauctus had hidden his daughter Callisthene, whom he had summoned to himself, by sending her far away, banished him into Mesopotamia on the pretext of the faith, punished him with the confiscation of his goods, and ordered him to be killed. The narrative of the Menaea is therefore here somewhat different from the narrative which the Basilian supplies. For according to the former, but not likewise according to the latter, Maximinus wanted Callisthene in marriage. But however that may be, the Basilian does not on that account conflict with the Menaea. For although the latter supplies nothing at all that requires that Callisthene was sought in marriage by Maximinus, yet neither does it suggest anything that plainly requires the opposite.
[13] But did Maximinus really wish Callisthene to be given him in marriage? [not indeed, as it appears, in marriage, but, as is likely from the unbridled lust of Maximinus noted by Eusebius] What the learned from time to time find recorded in monuments not in every respect sincere and worthy of credit concerning holy Martyrs whom the tyrants themselves demanded for themselves in marriage, they everywhere reckon among fictions. Hence I fear that what is narrated in the Menaea — certainly not in every respect worthy of credit — concerning St. Callisthene, whom Maximinus sought for himself in marriage, is also to be reckoned among fictions. That Callisthene was nevertheless really sought in marriage by Maximinus may perhaps appear to someone in some measure credible, because St. Adauctus, her father, obtained with Maximinus the dignity of prefect or duke, or even, if the Menaea note rightly, of duke of dukes — that is, as it appears, supreme duke — and hence he would perhaps not have acted contrary to his own dignity by marrying Callisthene, Adauctus's daughter. But however this matter stands, it does not appear to me likely enough that Callisthene was sought by Maximinus for lawful wedlock. That opinion stands, because Maximinus, who from the year 305 to the year 313 held the reins of empire in the parts of the East, was throughout that whole span of time — in which, as is to be said, and indeed before the year 312, he killed St. Adauctus for refusing his daughter Callisthene — joined, as it appears, in marriage. But, you will say, does nothing true then lie hidden beneath the narrative of the Menaea? Maximinus, however joined in marriage, burned with an unbridled lust by which he nefariously corrupted all the most honorable matrons. This is understood from these few words which Eusebius supplies in book 8 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 14: What shall I say of the man's most foul lust? (of Maximinus). What of his innumerable adulteries? For he never made a journey through any city without perpetrating in it the ravishing of women and the rapes of virgins.
[14] Hither also make the things which Lactantius likewise records concerning Maximinus in the book On the Deaths of the Persecutors, chapter 38. and by Lactantius, But that capital desire of corrupting, beyond all who have ever been, he says, what to call I know not, except blind and unbridled; and yet it cannot be expressed [] in these words according to his indignation. The magnitude of the crime overcomes the duty of the tongue. Eunuchs and panders searched out everything. Wherever there was a nobler countenance, fathers and husbands had to withdraw. The garments of noble women, and likewise of virgins, were stripped off, and they were inspected limb by limb, lest any part of the body should be unworthy of the royal couch. If any had refused, she was killed in water, as though it were a crime of majesty. Under that adulterer some men, their wives being ravished — wives whom for their chastity and fidelity they held most dear — when they could not bear the grief, even killed themselves. Under this minister there was no integrity of modesty, except where notable ugliness kept off his barbarous lust. At last he had already brought in this custom, that no one should marry a wife without his permission, and that he himself should be the taster at all weddings. Freeborn virgins, once debauched, he gave as wives to his slaves. So Lactantius; who then, some things being interposed, continues thus further in chapter 39: Finally, when he (Maximinus) had given this law to his lusts, that he should think lawful whatever he desired, he could not restrain himself even from the Augusta (namely Valeria, widow left by Galerius Maximian, by whom he had been adopted as a son), whom he had lately called mother.*
[15] it becomes likely. Valeria had come to him after the death of Maximian, since she thought she would stay more safely in his territories, especially because he had a wife. But the nefarious creature straightway burns. The woman was still in black garments, the time of mourning not yet fulfilled. Sending legates before him, he demands her in marriage, meaning to cast out his wife if he obtained her. She answered freely, as she alone could: first, that she could not treat of marriage in that funereal dress, while the ashes of her husband, his father, were still warm; then, that he was acting impiously in repudiating a wife faithful to him, since he would certainly do the same to her too; lastly, that it was wrong for a woman of that name and station to try a second husband, without custom, without precedent. It is announced to the man what she had dared. Lust is turned into anger and fury. At once he proscribes the woman, seizes her goods, takes away her companions, kills her eunuchs under torture, banishes her with her mother into exile — and not into any fixed place, but drives her headlong hither and thither with mockery — and condemns her friends on a charge of adultery falsely alleged. Since therefore, as is clear from the words of Eusebius and Lactantius already transcribed here, Maximinus was, even at the time when he was joined in marriage, of a quite unbridled lust toward other women, it appears to me quite credible that Callisthene was sought by him for an unlawful and nefarious embrace or intercourse.
[16] he refused to believe was sought for an unlawful embrace, in Mesopotamia And indeed, since at least from the narrative of the Basilian Menology Maximinus seems to have sought Callisthene either for marriage or for illegitimate intercourse, while from what has been said he did not, as it appears, desire Callisthene as a lawful wife, it also appears likely that Callisthene was in fact sought by Maximinus for a nefarious embrace. However it be, Adauctus at any rate, in view both of the narrative of the Menaea and of that of the Basilian Menology, was unwilling to entrust his daughter Callisthene to Maximinus. Hence further it came about that he, who raged most inhumanly against Valeria for not complying with his lust (see the words of Lactantius just recited), by no means spared our Saint. And first indeed he punished him with the confiscation of his goods; and then, having banished him into Mesopotamia, when he refused to sacrifice to the gods, he visited him with martyrdom. The Menaea indeed say that Adauctus was banished to Melitene; but this is so to be understood that the Saint was first sent to Melitene, a city of Armenia, and then further into Mesopotamia. So I determine, because Adauctus consummated his martyrdom in this region, struck by the sword; and this is plainly enough indicated in the Menaea themselves, inasmuch as they expressly assert that the Saint's body was translated from Mesopotamia to Ephesus by his daughter Callisthene.
[17] And thus indeed we now have not only the occasion but also the wrestling-ground of the martyrdom which the Saint underwent. before the year 313 he was beheaded; but after that same year Callisthene died. Let us now strive to determine the epoch also. Maximinus, who visited Adauctus with martyrdom, held the reins of empire in the East — partly as caesar, partly as Augustus — from the year 305, as I have already noted, to the year 313, and then, being conquered by Licinius, most miserably perished. Now St. Callisthene, if only the Menaea narrate truly, seems to have lain hid in a manly habit for at least eight years from her Father's death, lest she should be betrayed to Maximinus; and accordingly, since from the year 305 to the year 313 there run only eight years, St. Adauctus will probably have been struck with the sword in Mesopotamia by Maximinus's order about the year 305. Further, since Licinius in the year 313, Maximinus being conquered, obtained the sum of affairs alone in the East, and since then, as is reported in the Basilian and in the Menaea, St. Callisthene translated her Father's sacred body from Mesopotamia into Asia, this will not have been done earlier than in the year 313. But, you will say, did this translation not also happen later? It may indeed have happened later; yet probably not later than the year 318, because in the following year Licinius stirred up a persecution against the Christians. These are the things which I have been able to find for determining the time both at which Adauctus suffered martyrdom and at which Callisthene translated his sacred remains from Mesopotamia into Asia. It now remains that I declare likewise at about what time she departed from among the living. Since, as has been said, she translated her Father's body from Mesopotamia into Asia — Asia Minor, namely, in which Ephesus is situated — not earlier than in the year 313, and perhaps even later, it follows that certainly not earlier, and probably even later than the year 313, did she exchange this mortal life for the immortal. Wherefore, since at the same time from what has been said above St. Adauctus was undoubtedly crowned with martyrdom before the year 313, I have written above in the margin before and after the year 313, wishing, that is, to indicate that Adauctus indeed before the year 313, and Callisthene after that year, passed to the Lord by a happy departure from among the living.
Annotata* πολλῶν
* πάντως
* Μαξιμινὸς
* Maximinus
* βιώσασα transcribed here.
* Maximinus
exprimi*