Philip of Heraclea and Companions

ON SS. PHILIP OF HERACLEA AND COMPANIONS: PHILIP, BISHOP OF HERACLEA, SEVERUS, PRESBYTER, AND HERMES, DEACON, MARTYRS, AT ADRIANOPLE IN THRACE,

In the year 304.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Philip, bishop of Heraclea, martyr, at Adrianople in Thrace. (S.)

Severus, presbyter, martyr, at Adrianople in Thrace. (S.)

Hermes, deacon, martyr, at Adrianople in Thrace. (S.)

BHL Number: 6835, 6836

BY B. B.

§ I. The Acts, published first by Mabillon, then by Ruinart, are genuine. They now come out more correct with the help of several mss. codices. An abridgement of them from the Utrecht Ms. The Martyrologies are to be corrected from the Acts.

Mabillon first brought to light the Acts of these holy Martyrs in his Vetera Analecta, The Acts which were first printed at Paris in four volumes in octavo in the year 1675, and again, but in one volume in folio, at the same place in the year 1725; and this is the edition we use. Further, this learned man held those Acts in esteem, as he declared in a certain preface of his Work: "More worthy to be read (than the Passion of Marculus, of which he had just treated) are the Acts of Theodoritus the Martyr, and likewise of Philip, bishop of Adrianople (nay, of Heraclea) in Thrace: although the deeds of the latter (Philip) seem preferable, which however in some places need a physician's hand, that is, the help of another somewhat more correct codex." Thus far Mabillon Vetera analecta, preface to vol. IV. At the head of the folio edition., who elsewhere Ibid. page 194. relates that the Acts exist in an old codex which formerly belonged to the church of Laon, and were accordingly drawn by him from there. Ruinart also gave them a place among the genuine and select Acts of the Martyrs Pages 409 – 419. Amsterdam edition, 1713., which is an indication of how highly he esteemed them; but he adds in his Admonition, reporting that Mabillon had wished for the help of a more correct codex: "Such a one we have found among the remains of the famous library of Corbie which escaped destruction, by the help of which codex we have corrected some obscure and corrupt places of Mabillon's edition" Ibid. page 419. I, however, have found among our hagiographical mss. the help of two other, nay three, codices: namely a transcript from the manuscript of Fulda, and that indeed collated with another manuscript of St. Maximin of Trier, as is noted at the head of it, and as appears from the marginal annotations; then another transcript likewise from the famous parchment ms. Passional of the monastery of Böddeken, of the order of canons regular of St. Augustine, in the diocese of Paderborn, April, fol. XXXVII, page A., where is read: "Here begins the life or Passion of St. Philip, bishop, and of his Companions, whose feast is celebrated on the 10th of the Kalends of May, that is, on the 22nd of April." The former transcript, with the collation also added, differs little from the codices of Mabillon and Ruinart, so that little help for the correction of the Acts is had from it; the latter, namely that of Böddeken, shows in many places a different reading, and sheds no small light on some more obscure ones, as will be manifest from our Annotations on the Acts themselves. For the rest, the text, which hitherto rested on the faith of only two codices, will henceforth be strengthened by the help of three others.

[2] they are numbered among the genuine, As regards the Acts themselves; in the judgment of Tillemont they are such that there can be no doubt of their genuineness Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique, vol. V, page 706. Paris, 1702., inasmuch as they cohere excellently with themselves from beginning to end, and proceed in a most natural order; besides, they are endowed with a certain native simplicity, so that it would easily occur to the reader that they were written by an eyewitness; which, for the rest, the author expressly declares: "All of us brethren," he says, "being intent on grief, we perceived the mourning and distress of the city." (See below, Passion num. 3.) These words indeed properly refer to the events at Heraclea, in which city the Passion began; yet there is nothing to suggest that the author did not follow the holy Martyrs as far as Adrianople, where, condemned to the flames, they completed their glorious contest. The common opinion is that the Acts were first written in Greek, and afterwards rendered into Latin, as is shown by several Hellenisms, for example οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν φιλίππον, "some however about blessed Philip" Tillemont, ibid. page 706.; likewise exhibitam sibi for "exhibited by him," etc. Mazzocchi thinks otherwise Commentary on the old marble calendar, vol. I, page 216. Naples, 1733.; and he holds not only that they were originally written in Latin, but that St. Hermes himself spoke certain things in Latin; and he infers this from a place where the verb sustinere is used in an ambiguous sense (at least as Mazzocchi would have it); "since," he says Ibid. page 121., "there is no Greek verb which holds the double meaning of the verb sustineo." But does not ὑποφέρω correspond to the Latin sustineo? Compare the Annotations, chap. 2, letter r. Mazzocchi also thinks his opinion is confirmed by the fact that the memory of these Saints does not occur among the Greeks. But is not the marble Calendar itself of Greek origin? These are not, therefore, arguments of the aforesaid writer such as would persuade us to depart from the common opinion. No traces of the Greek text, so far as I know, have been found hitherto; the Latin is not very pure; yet it will turn out purer from our three codices, with the addition of Mabillon's of Laon and Ruinart's of Corbie, so that I am confident few places will remain that are not clear enough. For the rest, I doubt whether there are any among the genuine acts of the Martyrs which breathe a sweeter unction than ours, and therefore stimulate more efficaciously to the love and practice of virtue. To this tend especially the answers of SS. Philip and Hermes, as also the prayer which St. Severus pours forth to the Lord, that he may be held worthy to be associated with the two former in the glory of martyrdom: and more especially still, where St. Hermes, about to be bound to the stake to be burned, takes care that his last admonitions be conveyed to his son.

[3] although they are not proconsular. But these very things, because they are rather lengthy, prevent us from numbering these Acts among the Proconsular or Presidial ones. It is well known, namely, that various classes of genuine Acts are distinguished by the learned. Some are called judicial autographs, or more commonly proconsular and presidial, because, as Honoratus of St. Mary has it [Animadversiones in regulas et usum critices, vol. I, col. 172 and following. Venice, in Latin, 1768.], "the Proconsuls and those discharging the office of Presidents were the more distinguished among the governors of provinces and the other judges who conducted capital trials under the heathen emperors. These Acts, which present nothing else than certain interrogations framed according to the norm of law, were kept in the public archives; and from there the Christians endeavoured with the greatest zeal to obtain them in order to copy them out. Few Acts of this kind have come down to us"; the aforesaid writer asserts Ibid. col. 173. that they are sixteen or eighteen in number; but Binterim contends that more are known today Denkwürdigkeiten, vol. V, part I, page 79 and 80; likewise page 118.. "The second class of autographs is of those which the martyrs themselves composed by themselves, as was convenient" Animadversiones ibid.. "Of this kind of certain authority there are very few. The third class is composed of those which Christians standing by the tribunal committed to writing at the same time as the public scribes; or which the witnesses of their contest drew up immediately the martyrdom was completed" Ibid.. Whence also Ruinart Acta sincera. General preface, page II, num. 2.: "Some also, when the examinations of the martyrs were being held, mingled with the heathen spectators, and thus most diligently noting down the things that had been said or done both by the presidents and by the martyrs themselves, afterwards composed Acts from what, being present, they had seen or heard." Fr. Honoratus adds Where cited above, col. 173.: "These likewise are reckoned among the autographs; and those drawn up in both ways do not exceed the number of eleven or twelve." The Acts of St. Philip and his Companions seem to us to belong here; nor do I see why, as such, they are not commended by the same Fr. Honoratus. "The fourth class is of those which were culled from the autographs,

from which ... the judicial formulas were taken away, and more than once reflections and rhetorical graces added" Ibid.; or again if anything, as Ruinart says Where cited above. General preface, page IX., "was known from public report, or at any rate from older men who had lived in the time of the persecutions, all these things were gathered into one, whereby at least some deeds of the martyrs might become known." "Finally, we learn the deeds of some martyrs from homilies and other volumes of this kind by ecclesiastical writers" Honoratus of St. Mary. Where cited above..

[4] There is subjoined And all these bear on their face some character of genuineness, the former a more certain one, the latter a less safe one, especially as regards the additions. From which it follows that the Acts of St. Philip and his Companions are with full right numbered among the genuine, as being of the class of autographs; they are not, however, proconsular. Our Sollerius calls them "most illustrious" Martyrologium Usuardi, page 618.. Among our hagiographical mss. there is an abridgement of them, transcribed from the manuscript of St. Saviour's at Utrecht. It is couched in the words of the Acts, the questions, answers, addresses to the people, and the prayer of St. Severus being omitted. Since the text, hitherto resting, as we have said, on only two codices, is again strengthened thereby, we have therefore thought it worth while to subjoin that abridgement in this place, all the more because thus there will be had an account of those holy Martyrs which will conveniently serve as a prelude to some difficulties to be unravelled in the rest of our commentary.

[5] a remarkable abridgement of the Acts Philip, bishop in Heraclea, with his disciples Severus the presbyter and Hermes the deacon, when the ruin of the dire persecution had come, was not troubled in mind; but when many urged him to set out from the city and escape the penalty of such great cruelty, he did not acquiesce; rather he persuaded them to lay down their lives for Christ together with him. And when Aristomachus, the stationarius of the city, came to close the church against the Christians by order of the president, with seals impressed in wax, Philip, despising him with just and learned freedom, leaning against the doors of the Lord's house (that is, of the church), would not suffer himself to be torn away from the seat entrusted to him, strengthening his own in the faith. Afterwards, when the persecutors had assembled in Heraclea, the president Bassus found Philip standing with the others at the doors of the church. And since he could not induce him to sacrifice, he ordered all the vessels and books and ornaments of the church to be presented to him. And when the Bishop had said to the president: "What you demand it is neither fitting for me to give nor for you to receive"; the president at once ordered Severus the presbyter to be brought in; and since he could not easily be traced, he commanded Philip to be afflicted with injuries; and while he was being punished for a long time, he sent Hermes, who stood near, and who had also been beaten for a long time before, to where all the vessels and the scriptures lay hidden. Publius, the assessor of the president, followed him, a man greedy of stealing. And so, when he had craftily hidden some vessels, he disfigured Hermes, who protested against his doing it, breaking his face and causing a good deal of blood to flow. When this was learned, Bassus was angry with Publius, and ordered Hermes to be cared for. But he ordered the vessels found and all the scriptures to be handed over to the officium. And Philip and the others he commanded to be brought into the forum surrounded by guards. And the church being despoiled of all its ornament, and even its roof of the tiles, while the citizens stood by, proceeding on, he threw all the divine scriptures that had been collected into a fire in the midst. So great a flame suddenly went up by divine power to heaven, that dread drew away each of the bystanders from the sight of so great a fire.

[6] of the Acts After this the president enters the forum to the Saints with the priests of the temples, who were carrying the profane sacred things and the unhappy feasts; and when he could not compel the Saints to deny Christ, wondering at their constancy, he ordered them to be taken into prison. As they were going, certain insolent persons often threw Philip to the ground, so that not even at that time when he was going to prison was he free from punishment. But full of virtue he bore these things with so placid a countenance that each wondered that so many bitter things were endured by an old man with a contented mind. After a few days had been spent in prison, it was agreed that the neighbouring house of a certain Pancratius should be one in which they might be received as guests under guard. Remaining therefore in it, they imbued with salutary admonitions the brethren who came flocking to them in rivalry; for which cause they are led back again into prison.

[7] from the Utrecht Manuscript While these things are taking place, an annual successor to the president Bassus, Justinus by name, arrives, who, when Philip was presented to him and would not obey him, ordered him to be dragged through the middle of the city bound by the feet. He, having received so many wounds from striking against the stones, and torn in every limb, is carried back again to the prison by the hands of the brethren. Then a great watch was kept that Severus the presbyter might be found, who had withdrawn himself from the search into more hidden lurking places. And when they could not trace him, at the impulse of the Holy Spirit he burst forth of his own accord into the open. When therefore he had been brought to judgment and would not sacrifice, he is imprisoned with the others. There for six continuous months they were wasted by the stench.

[8] of St. Saviour's. Then he ordered them to be brought to Adrianople; where the president, sitting publicly in the baths, ordered the disobedient Philip to be bound and beaten with rods. In which an incredible miracle appeared. For the part of the linen which veiled his honourable breast remained unharmed; but that which covered his back was torn in pieces and fell away. And so all his limbs, cut by the blows, laid open the inmost parts of the heart and the entrails. Yet the Athlete of Christ continued undisturbed; at whose courage Justinus was terrified, and he ordered him to be taken back into prison: in which the Saint felt no discomfort, covered by angelic help. After three days Justinus ascended the tribunal, and commanded SS. Philip and Hermes to be brought, and when they again did not comply with him, he orders them to be burned alive, Severus alone being left in prison. When he prayed that he might not, as unworthy, be separated from this passion, on the following day he received what he asked. And so he too goes forth to confess with those with whom he had lived; and having obtained his wish (in the Acts is read voti compos), he not only obtained what he asked, but also quickly found what he sought.

[9] The Martyrologies are to be corrected Blessed Philip, however, was carried by hands to the flame; for the pain of his feet did not allow him to go otherwise. Hermes followed him with slow step, constrained by a like pain of the feet. And when they had come to the place, the executioners covered the feet of blessed Philip with earth up to the knees, fixing his hands, tied behind his back, with nails to the stake. In like manner they fitted St. Hermes also. Then the flame is put under them by the attendants. While they were hearing (burning?), as long as speech lasted, they gave thanks to the Eternal. But when the fire ceased, they appeared blooming in face and of precious colour, their spirits being rendered to the Creator; whose bodies the president ordered to be sunk in the river Hebrus. When this had been done, all the men of the city of Adrianople whom the worship of God urged on, having seen such great cruelty, prepare nets and go on board boats, if perchance to anyone fishing the bodies of the Saints might come, a welcome catch. To their prayers it is not denied. For soon the relics, unharmed and wrapped in the nets, are drawn out, and are buried with great devotion at the tenth milestone from that city. I wonder that the abbreviator passed over what occurs near the end of the Acts concerning the last commands of St. Hermes, to be conveyed to his son.

[10] from the Acts From the fact that the Acts of St. Philip and his Companions were so long unknown, some things are found in the classical Martyrologies which are little accurate, nay even straying from the truth. The Roman has on this day: "At Adrianople in Thrace, the birthday of the holy martyrs Philip the bishop, Severus the presbyter, Eusebius and Hermes, who under Julian the apostate, after prisons and scourges, were burned by fire." And Baronius in the Notes expressly assumes that Philip was bishop of the aforesaid city; which for the rest the text of the announcement indicates sufficiently; and he relates the same not obscurely in the Annals At the year 362, num. LXXX., where, owing to the lack of the Acts, scarcely more is given than in the Martyrology. Yet from the Acts it is evidently established that the blessed Martyr suffered indeed in that city, but was bishop of the metropolis of Heraclea. On this matter no doubt now remains. He comes in the second place in the series of bishops of that church in Le Quien Oriens christianus, vol. I, col. 1101 and 1102.. Nor is mention made of Eusebius in the Acts; and Sollerius rightly observes Martyr. Usuardi, page 618.: "From where they intruded him here, I confess I cannot attain even by divining"; unless with Mazzocchi Commentary on the old marble calendar, vol. I. page 214. we suspect that, besides the genuine Acts, there were other spurious ones seen by the martyrologists, in which many things were put forth beyond the truth. For the rest, as Sollerius added, "it is evidently plain from the Acts that Philip had only two companions in martyrdom, Severus the presbyter and Hermes, decurion and deacon." Finally I shall show below that their contest is to be referred to the times of Diocletian, not to those of Julian. Here I shall go through the rest from the Martyrologies. In the more ancient ones (except the little Roman of Rosweyde, where there is no mention of them) they are celebrated on this day. "At Atriopolis of Thrace, of Philip, bishop, of Eusebius and Hermes, of Severus"; thus the Most Ancient of Fiorentini, who notes in the same place Most ancient martyrol. of the western church, page 930. Lucca, 1668. that the same is given in that of Corbie (published also by Luc d'Achery Spicilegium, vol. I, page 20. Paris, 1723.); as also commonly in the Hieronymian copies Mart. Usuardi, where cited above.. "Hence," says Sollerius Ibid., "Ado very probably took the first three (Philip, Eusebius and Hermes)...; from Ado our author (Usuard) took his matter word for word, putting in the first place the class which is last with him."

[11] are to be corrected. Ado and Usuard therefore omit St. Severus. Whence it is also evident that the Acts were unknown to them. It is otherwise with Rabanus, who rightly distinguishes and specifies the companions of the martyrdom, also composing a brief eulogy agreeing with the Acts, which he is therefore to be judged to have had in hand: "On the 11th of the Kalends (of November), in the province of Thrace (the words are those of Rabanus [Martyrology at the 22nd of Oct. In Canisius, Thesaurus monumentorum, vol. II, part II, page 344. Amsterdam, 1725.]) and in the city of Adrianople, the Passion of Philip the bishop, and of Severus the presbyter, and of Hermes the deacon, who, while the persecution was raging, opposed the closing and despoiling of the churches of the Christians by order of the emperor through wicked presidents, and for this were afflicted by Passus (read Bassus) the president, and also by Justinus, with many torments, that is, with prisons, chains, scourges, and at the last with the burning of flames; but strengthened by the power of the Lord, they persevered to the end in the confession of His name." Notker follows Rabanus in part, but wrongly mixes his words with those of Ado, "straying ... in the order of the Kalends" Martyrol. Usuardi, page 619.; that is, the Saints whom all the others place on the 11th of the Kalends of November (22nd Oct.), Notker assigns to the preceding day, that is the 12th of the Kalends, in this manner: "At Jerusalem, of Mark... Likewise of blessed Salome... In Thrace in the city of Adrianople, of the holy Philip the bishop, Eusebius, Severus the presbyter, Hermes the deacon, who, opposing the despoiling of the churches by wicked men, were crowned with martyrdom" In Canisius, where cited above, vol. II, part III, page 132.. For the rest

Notker also strays by one day in the preceding and following days; and accordingly here he in fact agrees. Finally, Wandalbert the deacon follows Ado:

On the eleventh, Philip the bishop enriches the feast; On this same day Hermes shines, and blessed Eusebius D'Achery's Spicilegium, vol. II, page 54.

All these therefore, Notker excepted, have the day of the 22nd of October. In the monastery of Böddeken the feast is celebrated on the 22nd of April (compare num. 1), on which day it is also noted in a certain addition to Usuard in Sollerius. Tillemont testifies that no mention of these Saints is made in the Greek Menaea and Menologies Mémoires, vol. V, page 310.; nor have I found anything in the various volumes of this kind which I have at hand. I do not see, therefore, on what ground Baronius asserts Annales, year 362, num. 80.: "Their birthday is entered among the Latins and Greeks in the public registers of the church on the eleventh of the Kalends of November"; in the margin is noted: "Rom. martyrol. and menolog. on that day." In the Notes on the Roman martyrology he is silent about the Greeks. It is however to be noted that in the Neapolitan marble Calendar, which Mazzocchi illustrated, and which is of Greek origin, the memory of our Saints is given on the 18th of April Mazzocchi, vol. I, page 214.; whence I should not dare to affirm that they were not formerly venerated by the Greeks at all.

§ II. The Passion of St. Philip and his Companions, begun about the feast of the Epiphany and completed several months later, took place under Diocletian, not under Decius. An account of the see of Heraclea, over which St. Philip presided.

The Passion, begun about the Epiphany From the Acts we have expressly that our holy Martyrs were arrested when the holy day of the Epiphany was at hand, which in that age too was celebrated on the 6th of January. "I should scarcely doubt," says Mazzocchi Ibid. page 217., "that that feast is understood here which under the same name was celebrated on the 6th day of January both today and formerly." But there were formerly churches in which the Birth of the Lord was celebrated on the 6th day of January, and nonetheless that feast was called the Epiphany. In our Acts it is a question of the Epiphany properly so called, not of the day of Christ's birth; which I think it worth while to have set out here somewhat more explicitly. According to Bernard de Montfaucon Works of St. Chrysostom, vol. II, page 353. In the Notice.: "The ancient Egyptians and all the Orientals, as is the agreed opinion of all, celebrated with like rite the feast of the Epiphany and of the Birth of the Lord on the 6th of January. Towards the middle of the fourth century the custom was introduced into the same regions of keeping the Birthday on the 25th of December... But Cosmas (who flourished in the sixth century) is witness that the ancient custom obtained down to his own age in the church of Jerusalem, while others observed the rite introduced later... The Orientals until the middle of the fourth century scarcely knew the rite of celebrating the 25th of December, as may be seen in the sermon of Gregory of Nyssa on the birthday: 'Now through the whole inhabited world,' he says, 'the harmonious sound of those celebrating the feast day is heard.' Now, that is, and not before." And this indeed he writes on the Homily of Chrysostom to the people of Antioch, delivered on the birthday in the year 386 Ibid. page 554 – 566., where among other things the holy Doctor has: "It is not yet the tenth year since this day became plainly known to us" Ibid. page 255.. But Fr. Francis Xavier Patrizi, S.J., who, after his custom, treated this subject most diligently [De Evangeliis, book III, dissert. XXXI, page 280 – 287. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1853.], teaches that Montfaucon's assertions are not to be relied upon; the sum of his discussion we write out here. First, there is no doubt that the feast of the Epiphany was celebrated by the Latins and Greeks on the 8th of the Ides, that is, on the 6th day of January, and that from all past antiquity Ibid. page 282.; secondly, it is indeed the opinion of very many that in the early age of the church the Birth of Christ also was celebrated on the same day, at least by the Orientals, by the Greeks and by the Egyptians; which opinion, however, is found to be neither true nor firm enough Ibid. page 283.: for in the East we know of none whom it is certain kept the Birth of Christ on the 6th of January except the people of Edessa and of Jerusalem Ibid.; of the Greeks, whether properly or improperly so called, we know of the Cypriots alone De Evangeliis, book III, dissert. XXXI, page 284.; of the Egyptians Cassian relates this same thing, but it seems we must say that this custom was proper and peculiar, not to all Egypt, nor to the Alexandrians, but to the monks, and perhaps to those regions in which they lived Ibid.; they say also that at Antioch before the year 376 the Birth of Christ used to be kept on that day (the 6th of January), and they think they can draw this out of the aforesaid Homily of St. Chrysostom on the Birthday, from which, however, this one thing is gathered, that in that year the 25th of December began to be kept in that place; but not even one word is read in it which would let one so much as suspect that until that time it used to be kept on another day. Thirdly, those are mistaken who think that all who did not keep the feast of the birth of Christ on the 25th of Dec. celebrated it together with the baptism on the 6th of January. "For where," Patrizi rightly exclaims Ibid. page 284., "did they learn this?" Fourthly, in the West there is no doubt that the Birth of the Lord has been celebrated from all memory on the 25th of Dec.; nor are there lacking in the East churches in no small number which it is certain agreed with the West in this matter, from the middle of the fourth century to the middle of the fifth Ibid. page 285.; and it is established that about the middle of the fifth century all the catholic Orientals followed the custom of the westerners Ibid. page 287..

[13] on the 6th of January, Montfaucon's assertions therefore totter, and indeed very much. Whence Fr. Patrizi: "Let Montfaucon see, further," he says Ibid, page 286., "how truly and on what authorities he affirmed these things: 'The Orientals until the middle of the fourth century scarcely knew the rite of celebrating (the birth of Christ) on the 25th of December, as may be seen in the sermon of Gregory of Nyssa,' etc. For not only is there no sufficient reason for thinking that the matter stands as he says, but not even that the custom of keeping this solemnity (the birth of Christ) on the 8th of the Ides was earlier or more common in the East than on the 8th of the Kalends of January." To which Patrizi adds: "For indeed I shall by no means allow that the words of the Nyssene were ill understood by so great a man (Montfaucon)." And in very truth the particle "now" is not referred to the time when the Birth of Christ began to be celebrated, but to the goods which the human race now enjoys, that is, after Christ was born, as is evidently shown from the text (which Montfaucon did not quote entire): "Now," says the Nyssene Works, vol. III, page 352. Paris, 1638., "as the prophets testify... Now, as David sang... Now through the whole inhabited world THE HARMONIOUS SOUND OF THOSE CELEBRATING THE FEAST DAY IS HEARD: THROUGH MAN DEATH AND THROUGH MAN SALVATION." Augusti also notes Handbuch der christlichen archäolagie, vol. I, page 531. Leipzig, 1836. that the Birth of the Lord was celebrated in the fourth century on the 25th of December by the Greek church; and that it is certain that the feast of the Epiphany is more ancient than the feast of the nativity; and hence it was that, as Montfaucon relates Chrysostom, works, vol. II, page 354., even in the West and in the city of Rome the Epiphany was held of more account than the Nativity, as is read in the old Roman Order: "Nor is this to be passed over, that the second nativity, by which is understood the Epiphany, illustrated by so many mysteries, is more honoured than the first, namely than the Nativity." Compare on this whole subject Binterim Denkwürdigkeiten, vol. V, part I, page 310 – 318.. Since therefore the passion of St. Philip and his Companions cannot be drawn back beyond the very beginning of the fourth century, it is certain that the Epiphany spoken of in the Acts was celebrated on the 6th of January; but whether in that age the Birth of the Lord was kept at Heraclea and Adrianople on the 25th of December, I should not dare to affirm, nor yet to deny; especially on account of the words of St. Chrysostom in the aforesaid Homily, where he professedly undertakes to prove that the day of Christ's birth falls on the 25th of the said month, and first of all he says that it is probably argued that this opinion is true from this, that from the very beginning the day was manifest and celebrated among those dwelling from Thrace itself as far as Gades Works vol. II, page 355..

[14] took place under Diocletian, Baronius too alone (unless you wish to add Molanus, the not obscure editor of Usuard) among the martyrologists cited is the one who determines the time of the Passion, assigning it to the persecution of Julian the apostate. For I take no account of the spurious Bede, from whom Tillemont suspects Mémoires, vol. V, page 706. that the epoch passed into Molanus and the Roman martyrology. For that the Martyrology, as it is presented in the Works of Bede Ven. Bede's works, vol. III, col. 277 362. Cologne, 1612., and afterwards in the year 1664 printed separately by the Plantin press, was compiled in no way by Bede but by I know not whom, from Ado and others, is as evident as what is most evident, and at this time undoubted [Sollerius, martyrol. Usuardi, Preface page XIII, num. 46. Likewise The complete Works of Ven. Bede by the Rev. Gilles, vol. IV, Preface, page IV. London, 1843.]. For the rest, what is given there on the 11th of the Kalends of November about our holy Martyrs is taken from Rabanus, and indeed word for word, except that Eusebius is added, and in place of "by order of the emperor" there is put "by order of the emperor Julian." Compare the martyrology of Bede edited by Henschen and Papebroch [Acta Sanctorum, vol. II of March, Preface page XXXV. Likewise the complete works etc., where cited above, page 139 and 140.], in which nothing similar is to be found. By others no certain time is assigned to the Passion. But after the Acts were discovered (although in them no time is expressed) almost all admit that it more probably took place under Diocletian. So Sollerius Martyrol. Usuardi, page 619., Tillemont Mémoires, etc. vol. V, page 707., Le Quien Oriens christianus, vol. I, col. 1102, Ruinart Acta sincera, etc., page 409., Baillet Vies des Saints, 22 Oct. vol. VII, page 338. Paris, 1739., Butler Vies des Saints. vol. XVI, page 151. Louvain, 1832. and others. And in very truth no single person will easily admit that under Julian it was provided by a general edict that Christians should not hold assemblies, and that throughout the whole world they were condemned to death unless they sacrificed; which things nevertheless are expressly related in the Acts. Besides, in the same we read that by order of the presidents churches were closed and even thrown down, the sacred vessels carried off, the scriptures burned. And since even those who were among the more indulgent magistrates took care to have these things put into execution (such as is proclaimed

Bassus in the Acts: "For Bassus had been milder, and was overcome by reason when it was rendered to him, because his wife had already for some time been serving God"); it is natural to conclude that these things had been prescribed by a universal and absolute law. And a law of this kind seems first to have been passed under Diocletian. Certainly Eusebius relates Hist. eccles. book VIII, chap. 1. In Baron. Annal. at the year 302, num. 1.: "In the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian ... in all places it was openly proclaimed by the emperor's letters that the churches should be both thrown down and levelled to the ground, and the scriptures of the Christians consumed by fire... And such was the first edict issued against them. Not long afterwards, other letters going forth, it was commanded that all the presidents of the churches everywhere among the nations should first be cast into chains, and then, all engines being applied, should be compelled to immolate victims to the idols." These things indeed agree exceedingly and exactly with our Acts.

[15] in the second year of the persecution, Further, the former edict went forth in the year of Christ 303 (the 19th of Diocletian, inasmuch as he began to reign in 284 Art de vérifier les dates, page 348.) on the 24th day of February, as is had from Lactantius [On the deaths of the persecutors chap. 12 and following. Migne. Patrol. vol. VIII col. 213.], with whom Eusebius almost entirely agrees: "in the month Dystrus," he says Hist. eccles., book VIII, chap. 2., "which the Romans call March." Behold the words of Lactantius On the deaths of the persecut. Patrol. ibid. col. 213.: "A fit and lucky day is sought for carrying out the business; and the Terminalia are chosen above all, which fall on the seventh of the Kalends of March (that is, the 23rd of February), so that a term, as it were, might be set to this religion (the Christian)." He adds that on this day, when the two old men were holding the consulship for the eighth and seventh time .., the very lofty church of Nicomedia, where Diocletian was then living, was levelled to the ground in a few hours. Then in the following chapter he begins in this manner On the deaths of the persecutors, chap. 13. Ibid. col. 214.: "On the next day an edict was put forth, by which it was provided that the men of that religion should be deprived of all honour and dignity, should be subject to torments, from whatever order or rank they came, that every action against them should be valid." We have, therefore, manifestly the day of the 24th of February. And the year is deduced from Diocletian for the eighth and Maximian Herculius for the seventh time being consuls, by which the year of Christ 303 is designated [Baluze's notes on the book on the deaths of the persecutors. Where cited above, col. 316. Compare Art de vérifier les dates, page 332.]. Baluze notes moreover Ibid.: "These things further indicate with certainty the time of that persecution, about which learned men contend with one another with so much strife. For Onofrio, Baronius, Petavius, not to mention each one, contend that it began in the three hundred and second year of Christ; Scaliger, Valois and many others in the following year; whose opinion this passage of Lactantius proves to be true... Besides, Lactantius below ... On the deaths of the persecut. chap. 48. Where cited above, col. 270., when he had said that the edict ... by which peace was given to the church was put forth at Nicomedia on the day of the Ides (that is, on the 13th day) of June, Constantine and Licinius being consuls for the third time, says 'that from the overthrow of the church to its restoration there were ten years, four months more or less.' But if you reckon from the seventh day of the Kalends of March (the 23rd of February), on which the church of Nicomedia was destroyed, to the day of the Ides of June of the year 313, you will find that from the overthrow of that church to its restoration there elapsed ten years, three months, nineteen days... Wherefore the arguments which Petavius in book XI on the Doctrine of times, chap. 32, adduces from Sulpicius Severus to prove that the persecution began in the year 302 are established to be weak, since they rest on this foundation, that it ended in the year 312, whereas it is certain that it came to rest only in the following year." Thus far Baluze, with whom Pagi agrees in every respect: "The book of Lactantius," he says At Baronius's year 302. Annal. vol. III, page 305. Lucca, 1738., "on the Deaths of the Persecutors has at length settled the controversy, and shown the opinion of Valois to be certain. He, in his notes on book VIII of Eusebius, demonstrated so solidly that it began only in the following year (303), that it struck me as wonderful that, after his notes were brought to light, there were found those who thought the contrary." Noris Ibid., Tillemont Mémoires, vol. V, page 808. etc. think likewise. For the rest, neither Baronius, who died in the year 1607 Biographie univ. Under the word: Baronius (Cæsar)., nor Petavius, who died in the year 1652 Ibid. Under the word: Petau (Denis)., had seen the famous little work of Lactantius on the Deaths of the Persecutors, which was first brought to light by Baluze in the year 1679 Works of Lactantius. Migne's Patrology, vol. VIII, col. 157 and 158..

[16] of Christ 304; These things being laid down, the passion of St. Philip and his Companions will fall in the year of Christ 314, the second of the persecution. For since, from what has been said, this began on the 24th of February of the year 303; and on the other hand the Acts plainly indicate that the holy Martyrs were first arrested towards the Epiphany ("the holy day of the Epiphany is at hand"); it follows that their contest falls in the following year, namely 304. It is established also from the same Acts that between their arrest and their death several months intervened, say at least ten (Mazzocchi would have it On the old marble calendar, vol. I, page 215. a year and more), if they were burned on the 22nd of October, on which day they are commemorated in the martyrologies. And from this some difficulty arises. Namely, it is asked how it came about that almost a whole year passed before the edict of Diocletian promulgated at Nicomedia obtained its effect in the neighbouring city of Heraclea, which was also the metropolis of that province. Tillemont answers Mémoires, vol. V, page 707. that this was perhaps because the president Bassus, being milder and having a Christian wife, did not show himself very prompt in executing the emperor's orders. This reason, although not absolutely binding, seems to me sufficient to solve the difficulty, which is in itself not very grave, since it does not properly touch the thing itself, but rather the manner.

[17] and not under There are, however, those who would have our holy Martyrs suffer under Decius, and indeed in the year of Christ 250 or the following. This opinion Mazzocchi defends at length, whose arguments we think should be weighed somewhat here. He admits indeed On the old marble calendar, comment. vol. I, page 222. that the demolition of churches and the burning of the sacred books are two peculiar marks of the Diocletianic persecution; but he does not see why the same things could not have been done also in the most savage storm of Decius, if not by command of an edict, yet either at the instigation of the municipal magistrates, or from the πολυπραγμοσύνῃ of the presidents conforming themselves to the mind of the princes rather than to the compass of the edict, etc. These things are indeed light, and if they are admitted, the passion of St. Philip and his Companions could equally be referred to any other persecution as to that of Decius. "But," Mazzocchi continues Ibid., "whatever it was, I hold it almost certain that ruins of churches were not lacking in the Decian persecution." Which he shows thus: "That from the long peace which there was before Decius churches had been built everywhere, and Christ had been served openly, no one is unaware. But at the beginning of Valerian, that is, before the storm arose under this emperor, I find that the Christians held their assemblies not in churches but secretly in the cemeteries: Is not this an argument that under the immediately preceding persecutor Decius the basilicas had in great part been overthrown?" I answer that this could have been done by the Christians for six hundred other reasons; for example, on account of persecutions perpetually succeeding one another, whence the faithful, terrified, in certain places (for it is not proved that this was done everywhere or universally) held their assemblies in crypts or cemeteries. But as for what Mazzocchi adds Ibid. page 223., that "the Handing over of the Scriptures was peculiar to the age of Diocletian, but not likewise their searching out and burning"; that indeed openly conflicts with Eusebius, who asserts Hist. ecclés. book VIII, chap. 2. Valois, Mainz, 1672. that in the nineteenth year of Diocletian imperial edicts were put forth everywhere, by which the churches were ordered to be destroyed even to the ground, and the sacred codices to be consumed by flames.

[18] Decius. Finally, the chief reason which put into Mazzocchi the concern to place these Martyrs under Decius is the following passage of the Acts (below num. 5): "At these words of the holy Martyr (Philip) the president at once ordered the executioners to be brought. Then Mucapor enters, devoid of nature itself and ignorant of humanity." To Mazzocchi Mucapor is a proper name; whence he conjectures from the words just recited that he was in charge of the executioners, whether under the name of princeps officii, or of commentariensis or of cornicularius. These things laid down, he builds this argument On the old calendar, comm., vol. I, page 224.: "Since the name of Mucapor is quite unusual, if anywhere that name is found at the same time and place, and with no dissimilar office, I should not doubt that it is to be held as belonging to one and the same man." Now under Aurelian, emperor from the year 270 to 275, there flourished a certain man of the name Mucapor, whom Mazzocchi thinks was the general of the Thracian frontier; to whom, in Vopiscus, there exists a letter of the aforesaid emperor about the war which was being waged with Zenobia; and the same Vopiscus relates that Aurelian was slain by the hand of the same Mucapor between Heraclea and Byzantium; whom accordingly, as Aurelius Victor testifies, Tacitus, the successor of Aurelian, put to torture. All these things Mazzocchi unfolds more broadly, and finally concludes: "Therefore that Mucapor who by the favour and goodwill of Aurelian had crept up to the frontier command was the same who previously under Decius (so far as can be understood from these Acts) was either Princeps officii, or Commentariensis or Cornicularius or something of the kind." So the mere similarity or identity of the name is Mazzocchi's fundamental and indeed only reason for saying that the man whom we find under Aurelian among the chief men of the realm was, twenty years before, the executioner of our holy Martyrs! Nothing at all is proved by reasoning of that sort. He adds certain other things in confirmation of his opinion, but no more binding, and which I shall touch upon in the following number. It remains therefore far more probable to me that the Passion took place under Diocletian.

[19] A difficulty is solved, drawn These things being dispatched, a difficulty is to be solved, drawn both from our Acts and from the Acts of St. Acacius (concerning whom see us on the 8th of May), and it relates to the division or administration of the provinces under the emperors. Tillemont objects first Mémoires vol. V, page 707. that Heraclea, in which the martyrdom of St. Philip began, belonged to Europa, and Adrianople, where it was completed, to the province of Hæmimontus; then he adds Ibid. page 390 – 394. that St. Acacius also was beaten with thongs at Heraclea and beheaded at Byzantium under Flaccinus, proconsul of Europa. "Further," says Tillemont, "if he too suffered, as many will have it, in the year of Christ 304, it will have to be explained how at the same time Flaccinus could be president or

proconsul (both words are used indiscriminately in the Acts of St. Acacius Act. SS. vol. II of May page 296 – 298.; in ours only the word Præses is employed, and rightly indeed Eckhel. Doctrina numorum, vol. II, page 20.) at Byzantium and Justinus at Heraclea, which cities, situated not so far apart from each other, seem to have belonged to the same province" (nay, they belonged to it beyond any doubt, as I shall show below). Tillemont twists himself a great deal Mémoires, vol. V, page 740 and following. to disentangle this knot, a light one, however, in the judgment of Mazzocchi On the old marble Calendar, vol. I, page 223., whom see, if you please. In my opinion the question is solved and the whole difficulty vanishes if we note, first, that the Acts of St. Philip and his Companions far surpass the Acts of St. Acacius, and are not accordingly to be judged or corrected by them; secondly, that the year of each martyrdom is not altogether established; Henschen Acta SS. vol. II of May page 291, num. 1, in the margin. assigns the crown of St. Acacius to the year 303, Tillemont Where cited above, page 741. Note II. thinks the year 306 truer; to us it is probable that St. Philip suffered in the year 304; so that accordingly we are in no way forced to admit that at the same time Flaccinus sat at Byzantium and Justinus at Heraclea; thirdly, as regards Byzantium, that this was in fact situated, as was Heraclea, in the province which was afterwards called Europa, nay, that it was first the metropolis of this; but that when Byzantium had been taken by storm by Severus, Perinthus or Heraclea was made the metropolis Schelstrate, Antiquitas ecclesiæ, vol. II, page 228. Rome, 1697.. "The Byzantines, namely, had favoured the party of Pescennius Niger; wherefore Septimius Severus took their city by storm after a siege of three years Du Cange, Constantinopolis Christiana book I. chap. 15. page 25. Venice. about the beginning of the year 196 Tillemont, hist. des Empereurs, vol. III, page 16. Brussels, 1732.; he took away all the privileges which it enjoyed, its liberty and right of citizenship; he demolished the walls themselves, the theatres, the baths and other public buildings, and gave the city, reduced to the form of a village, to the Perinthians, who were also called Heracleans, and assigned it to their jurisdiction ... from which the custom afterwards obtained that the bishop of Byzantium was subject to the metropolitan of Heraclea, and thereafter the confirmation of the patriarch of Constantinople belonged to the same prelate" [Du Cange. Ibid. Schelstrate, Antiquitas ecclesiæ, vol. II. page 397 and following. — Le Quien, Oriens Christianus vol. I, col. 1093.]. Flaccinus therefore, who presided over Heraclea, also administered justice at Byzantium; fourthly, that "it came about that the order (of the provinces) established at the will of the emperors was frequently changed, as Dio expressly testifies; that several provinces were subjected to the rule of one man, that over one province divided into several parts several governors were set, of which indeed writers and marbles everywhere offer examples." So Eckhel in set words Doctrina numorum, vol. IV, page 238..

[20] from the administration of the provinces. Nothing therefore stands in the way of Justinus having presided over several provinces, nay, even over the whole of Thrace, and accordingly having led the holy Martyrs from Heraclea to Adrianople; and that all the more because it is finally to be noted, fifthly, that Thrace was indeed divided under Hadrian into six provinces, namely Thrace, Hæmimontus, Lower Mysia, Scythia, Rhodope and Byzantium [Onofrio Panvinio. Imperium Romanum chap. 23. Grævius, vol. I, col. 448. Compare Schelstrate, vol. II. page 228.], afterwards called Europa, especially from the most recent division of the empire by Constantine the Great See Panvinio. Grævius, vol. I, col. 449 and following.; yet that mention of those six provinces does not occur so frequently before the times of Constantine. Certainly Eckhel treats of none in particular, if you except Thrace and Lower Mœsia; nay, under the name of Thrace he comprehends them all, Mœsia excepted Doctrina numorum, vol. II, page 19 and following.. Whence it is permissible at least to conjecture that those provinces (which belonged to the Cæsars) were, even more frequently than others, subject to one president: for, as Eckhel again observes Ibid. page 20., it came about under Antoninus that thenceforward the governors of Thrace were no longer called πρεσβευται (legates) on the coins, but ἡγμονες, presidents, and that by a constant law, but for what cause is uncertain Ibid. page 21.; which the same writer testifies obtained at Heraclea Ibid. page 41. and at Adrianople Ibid. page 33.. And these things seem to me to suffice to satisfy the objections of Tillemont, and to vindicate their credit to our Acts, and, at least in this respect, also to the Acts of St. Acacius. For the rest, both savour of the times of Diocletian, and besides have some resemblance to each other: thus in both the martyrdom is begun at Heraclea, and it is consummated, in the one at Adrianople, in the other at Byzantium; Flaccinus had a Christian wife Acta SS. vol. II of May page 298, num. 20., as had Bassus, etc., so that it might perhaps occur to someone that the one set was fashioned from the other; and if that were so, the Acts of St. Philip would in any case prevail.

[21] On what day did St. Severus suffer? We said above at n. 10 and 11 that St. Philip had only two companions in martyrdom: Severus the presbyter and Hermes the deacon; and that they suffered on the same day the Martyrologies in general suggest, in which they are announced on the 22nd of October. I have not seen their feast celebrated on another day, except in the monastery of Böddeken of the order of canons regular of St. Augustine, in the diocese of Paderborn, as is had from the famous manuscript of which I made mention at num. 1 and in which is read: "Here begins the Passion of St. Philip and his companions, whose feast is celebrated on the 10th of the Kalends of May, that is the 22nd of April." But since nothing similar occurs in the Breviaries of that Order, it is plain that this was particular to the aforesaid monastery. On this monastery see Nicholas Schaten, S.J. Annales Paderbornenses, part I, page 112. Neuhaus, 1693.; from whom you will learn that it was founded in the ninth century, and was at first of canonesses Ibid. part II, page 41.; but at the beginning of the fifteenth century it was transferred to canons Ibid. page 489.. And so much indeed concerning the collective festival of the three Saints. But in some Martyrologies mention of St. Severus is made on the following day, namely the 23rd of October: for it is doubtful whether he was burned together with the two others: "Severus," says Sollerius Martyrol. Usuardi, page 618., "is expressly excluded by a little note of Castellan Martyrol. univ., 22 Oct., asserting 'that only the decurion and Deacon (Hermes) suffered with the bishop.' But whoever consults the Acts will manifestly find that the aforesaid Severus was crowned with the glory of martyrdom together with the two others." These words were said, in my opinion, somewhat too confidently by Sollerius. In the first place, far less is treated in the Acts about St. Severus than about the two others; he had also hidden himself in more secret lurking places; afterwards, however, at the impulse of the Holy Spirit he burst forth into the open; he is transferred from Heraclea to Adrianople with SS. Philip and Hermes, against whom sentence was passed that they should be burned alive; "going out, they went rejoicing to the flame... But blessed Severus, left alone in prison, on bended knees prayed the Lord that he might be associated with them. This prayer then being finished, the faithful words availed so much that on the next day he received what he asked. And so he too, as a valiant athlete, goes forth to confess with those with whom he had lived; and, having obtained his wish, not only obtains what he asked, but also quickly finds what he sought." After this the punishment of SS. Philip and Hermes is described accurately and fully enough; the bodies, thrown into the Hebrus by order of the president, are drawn out with nets ... and at the twelfth milestone from the city are hidden for three days in a country house; without any mention at all being now made of St. Severus. From these things, at any rate, and especially from the words "on the next day," a doubt could arise, and can, whether St. Severus consummated his martyrdom on the same day. Yet, all things weighed, I incline rather to the opinion of our Sollerius than to that of Castellan. On what foundation Butler relies in asserting Vies des Saints, vol. XVI, page 151. Louvain, 1832. that St. Severus suffered on the third day after the others, I confess I do not perceive.

[22] On the episcopate of St. Philip Since, concerning St. Philip, nothing else is known besides what is read in the Acts and Martyrologies, and in these the time is not indicated at which he held the see of Heraclea, it follows that nothing certain can be determined on this matter. Since, however, it is probable that his passion belongs to the persecution of Diocletian, and that it took place at the beginning of the fourth century, the same must be affirmed of his episcopate. Among the bishops of Heraclea in Le Quien Oriens christianus, vol. I, col. 1101 and 1102. he comes second in order, with an encomium from the Acts and the Roman Martyrology; the author adds that he suffered under Diocletian rather than under Julian. That St. Philip was a man excelling not only in holiness and virtue but also in learning and erudition is plain from his answers to the president and his addresses to the people. For although the words, as they are presented in the Acts, may not have been expressly uttered by him, they nevertheless show that he was esteemed by the writer of the Acts, a man assuredly most grave, to be such a one as could utter things of this kind. He seems to have been advanced to the episcopate at a mature age: "At length by the consent of all (so the Acts) he received the episcopal dignity, no one wondering that (because) he was worthy; some being astonished that it was not sooner." His predecessor, according to Le Quien Ibid. col. 1101., was Domitius, in the time of Antoninus Pius; as is shown from the passion of St. Glyceria, virgin. His successor, however, in the same author Ibid. col. 1102 and following., was Phædrius, of whom this alone is asserted: "In the list of the Fathers of the Synod of Nicæa, 'Of the province of Europa,' I have read 'Phædrius of Heraclea,' who assuredly is no other than him whom Athanasius in Oration I against the Arians names 'Pæderos': καὶ Παιδέρωτος τοῦ Ἡρακλείας." From the death of Antoninus in the year 161 Art de vérifier les dates, page 341. until the celebration of the First Council of Nicæa in the year 325, there is had an interval of altogether one hundred and sixty-four years; it is evident accordingly either that the see was long vacant, which is not to be presumed, or that St. Philip did not immediately succeed Domitius, and that there is a gap in the catalogue of the church of Heraclea. Nor is this difficulty less for those who place the passion under Decius, namely in the year 250, in which the persecution began, or in the year 251, in which Decius perished Ibid. page 344.. For who would admit that the episcopate of Domitius lasted from Antoninus to Decius, namely eighty years and more, when it is established from the Acts that St. Philip ascended the chair at an advanced age? Likewise to Phædrius there would have to be given roughly seventy years of pontificate. It is unknown therefore in what year St. Philip began to preside; but in what year he ceased is probably shown from the Acts, the year 304. For the rest, the praised Le Quien in general Oriens Christ. vol. I, col. 1091., where he treats in general of the Thracian Diocese, whose head

is Heraclea of Perinthus, notes: "Of the diocese of Thrace I have not so many things to say as of the others, because few writers appear who have narrated the ecclesiastical affairs of that tract, especially in the first age of the Christian religion. Nay more, from the time when Byzantium, made Constantinople, became the head of the eastern empire, the prelate of this royal city claiming for himself the ordination and government of the neighbouring churches, and so of those of Thrace, almost all traces of the ancient manner of conducting them had been gradually obliterated and blotted out, even before the very times of the council of Chalcedon."

[22] and the see of Heraclea. Concerning the Thracian city and see of Heraclea I add some things here, lest they should have to be indicated scattered among the Annotations. In the first division of the Roman empire, under Augustus, of the fourteen provinces belonging to the frontiers of that empire on this side and that, the seventh was reckoned Mœsia (in which were the Dardanians, Thracians and Dacians), stretching from the Ister or Danube to the outlets of the Propontis and the Ægean sea. In the second division, made under Hadrian or certainly a little before the times of the emperor Severus, by the name of Thrace was designated a region composed of six smaller provinces, of which the Thracian diocese consisted. Namely, the 1st province: Thrace; the 2nd province Hæmimontus; 3rd Lower Mœsia; 4th Scythia; 5th Rhodope; 6th the province of Byzantium. This number of provinces, although with the order somewhat changed, and the name of one of them, so that instead of the province of Byzantium it was called the province of Europa, was kept the same by Constantine, according to Le Quien Ibid. col. 1091 and following.: "In Thrace six provinces under the vicar of the Thraces; 1st province, Europa, Consular; 2nd province, Thrace, Consular; 3rd province, Hæmusmons, and the rest Presidial; 4th Rhodope; 5th Second Mœsia; 6th Scythia." In the age of Diocletian, therefore, it appears that Heraclea properly belonged to the province of Byzantium, its name not yet having been changed into the province of Europa. For the rest, as far as our Acts are concerned, this matters little; since in them mention is made of no province, but only of the cities of Heraclea and Adrianople, of which the former was situated in Byzantium, the latter in Hæmusmons; so that therefore it seems strange to Tillemont that Justinus led the holy Martyrs from Heraclea to Adrianople, and so transferred them from one province into another. Compare what was said at num. 10 and 20, where we proved that it often happened that several provinces were subjected to the rule of one man, and that over one divided into several parts several governors were set. Concerning the city of Heraclea, called by its ancient name Perinthus, there is read from Procopius in Charles de St. Paul [Geographia sacra, sive Notitia diœcesium patriarchalium veteris ecclesiæ, page 217. Amsterdam, 1703, with the Notes of Holstenius.]: "Situated by the sea, neighbouring Byzantium, is Perinthus, which formerly indeed was held the metropolis of Europa, and now, after Constantinople, holds the second place." Diodorus Siculus describes it in these words In Le Quien. Oriens christ. vol. I, col. 1100.: "Perinthus is situated by the sea on a lofty ridge of a peninsula stretching out to the length of a stade. It has houses crowded together and conspicuous for their height: for some rise again and again above others according to the slope of the hill, and the form of the city presents a certain likeness of a theatre." Le Quien, however, adds: "When it began to be called Heraclea is not altogether clear; but certainly in the age of Severus Augustus, nay even of Aurelian, as Zosimus testifies, Perinthus was its common name. For the rest, its ancient name being retained, in more recent times it was called by many Heraclea of Perinthus, as also Heraclea of Thrace, that it might be distinguished from very many cities of the same name." Today it is called Crekli, and is in the part of Europe under Turkish domination Guibert, diction. géogr.. "But that the bishop of this city in early times ... had this right, that he ordained the bishop of Byzantium, is evidently discerned in Codinus, when, writing of the election of the Patriarch, he says: 'The Patriarch is ordained by the bishop of Heraclea, because Byzantium formerly belonged to the bishop of Heraclea'" Geographia sacra, where cited above.. Which Sozomen also testifies Book V, chap. 3., relating that Paul, who governed the church of Constantinople before Macedonius, ought to have been ordained by Theodore of Heraclea. See Le Quien Oriens Christ., vol. I, col. 1097.

THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. PHILIP, BISHOP, SEVERUS, PRESBYTER, AND HERMES, DEACON, AT ADRIANOPLE IN THRACE.

From the Fulda ms., collated with three others.

Philip, bishop of Heraclea, martyr, at Adrianople in Thrace. (S.)

Severus, presbyter, martyr, at Adrianople in Thrace. (S.)

Hermes, deacon, martyr, at Adrianople in Thrace. (S.)

BHL Number: 6834

FROM MSS.

CHAPTER I.

The martyrdom is begun at Heraclea.

St. Philip, bishop of Heraclea, Blessed ^b Philip then, first a deacon, soon a presbyter, proved by some labours of the church, and praiseworthy for the devotion of his service, glad in the goods ^c of conscience, and following honesty of life, at length by the consent of all received the episcopal dignity, no one ^d wondering that he was worthy; some being astonished that ^e (it was not) sooner. At once the eloquence of preaching adorned the apostle Paul ^f in his epistle, in which among other things this is added: If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Then, confirming his disciples Severus the presbyter and Hermes the deacon by frequent discussion for their instruction, he made them like himself not only in spirit but also in passion, so that those whom he had had as partners in the handing on of the glorious mystery itself he might have also as colleagues in confession. Loving therefore the divine precepts, the most glorious Old Man was passing such an age, offering himself a victim to God, about to suffer in the city of Adrianople ^g. He, like a skilled and excellent pilot frequently setting his ship against the waves, by resisting at times and yielding, as master ^h keeping control, shuts out every storm; or like a skilled charioteer, now slackening the reins, now restraining with tight checks , either allows the horses to range more than is right, or to be held back sluggish with excessive torpor . After the manner of this likeness ⁱ blessed Philip governed the people with heavenly rule and preserved them with episcopal love.

[2] refusing to flee the persecution, But when the ruin of the harsh persecution was imminent, he was not troubled in mind; and when many urged him to set out from the city and escape the penalty of such great cruelty, refusing to go out, he taught that these things were rather to be sought than shunned, saying: Let the heavenly command ^k be fulfilled. And so, not withdrawing from the church, and confirming each of the brethren with learned speech for the patience of enduring (of endurance), he poured forth words of this kind: "The time foretold, if you believe, brethren, has now come. The last things of a tottering world are rolling on; the obstinate devil threatens, and, having seized power for a little while , comes not to destroy but to prove the servants of Christ. The holy day of the Epiphany ^l is at hand, which thing may afford us admonition unto glory. Let no threats of the impious, then, no torments terrify you: for Christ grants to His soldiers both the patience to bear and the reward for enduring pain. For I believe that every intention of theirs proceeds in vain."

[3] he is arrested together with SS. Severus and Hermes; While blessed Philip was still discoursing thus, Aristomachus , the stationarius [m] of the city, came to close the church against the Christians ⁿ by order of the president, with seals impressed in wax . A man of foolish and cold persuasion, who believed that almighty God dwelt in walls rather than in the hearts (heart) of men, not retaining the words of holy Isaiah, who said: "Heaven ^o is my throne; and the earth (but the earth) is my footstool. What house will ye build me?" On the following day the stationarius went out, having found and sealed all the sacred furnishings [p] of the church. Then all of us brethren, being intent on grief [q], perceived the mourning and distress of the city. Blessed Philip, with Severus and Hermes and the others, was thinking more intently what this necessity commanded to be done [r]; and leaning against the doors of the Lord's house [s], he would not suffer himself to withdraw [u] from the seat entrusted to him [t]. He was treating of future things and was meditating on each one in grief, as more learned physicians , cutting away whatever is useless in the sick, remove the putrid parts, and those which still have something of soundness they prefer to cure with medicine rather than with the knife; but cutting away others , lest at the touch [v] of useless and rancid flesh the neighbouring members of the body also, which do not lack health, should be dissolved. And so, lest the sound parts be corrupted, the infirm are cut away. So at that time blessed Philip, separating the bad from the best, compelled (the former) by command to become better; the latter he exhorted with sweet speech not to be changed, affording medicine to the sick and counsel to the sound.

[4] they are interrogated by the president; Afterwards, when they had assembled at the Lord's house in Heraclea, the president Bassus found Philip standing with the others at the doors of the church. And when he had sat down in the usual manner to judge, all being brought in to him, he said to them and to the rest: "Which of you is the master of the Christians or teacher of the church?" Philip answered: "I am he whom thou seekest." Bassus says: "You have heard the law of the emperor, ordering that Christians should nowhere assemble, so that throughout the whole world the men of this sect should either be converted to the sacrifices or perish. Whatever vessels, therefore, you have with you, of gold or silver or of any metal whatever, or of notable workmanship [x]; the Scriptures also, by which you either read or teach, bring them before the eyes of our authority, lest you should do these same things after torments, if you should think it a matter for hesitation." To this St. Philip speaks out: "If our torments, as thou sayest, delight thee, my mind is ready to bear them. This infirm body, then, over which thou hast power, tear in pieces with whatever cruelty thou wilt, only do not ascribe to thyself any power over my soul . The vessels, then *, which thou demandest, whatever are with us, receive forthwith. For we who are driven out by you have easily despised these things. For we do not worship God with precious metal, but with fear; nor can the adornment of the church please Christ more than that of the heart; but the Scriptures it is neither fitting for thee to receive nor for me to give."

[5] they are beaten At these words of the holy Martyr the president at once ordered the executioners to be brought . Then the mucapor [y], devoid of nature itself and ignorant of humanity, enters. Presently [z] the president ordered Severus the presbyter to be brought in. And since he could not easily be traced, he commanded Philip to be afflicted with injuries. But while he was being affected with the long-drawn discomfort of punishment, St. Hermes, standing near, said: "Even if thou, harsh inquisitor, shouldst receive all our Scriptures, and no traces whatever of this true tradition should appear in the whole world, yet our posterity, consulting both the memory of their fathers and their own souls, will compose greater writings in volumes, and will teach more vehemently the fear which is to be paid to Christ." These words said, he who had long before been beaten went in where all the vessels and the Scriptures lay hidden. Publius, the assessor of the president, followed him, a man greedy of stealing and bound fast by the passion for plunder. And so, when as a crafty concealer he was taking away some vessels from the number of those found, unaware of the punishment impending, he disfigured Hermes, who protested against his daring to do it, breaking his face and causing a good deal of blood to flow. When this was learned, Bassus, having also looked at his face, was angry with Publius, and commanded Hermes to be cared for , but ordered the vessels found and all the Scriptures to be handed over to the Officium [aa]; Philip and the others

[bb] he commanded to be brought to the forum surrounded * by guards, so that both the spectacle [cc] might gratify the people, and might terrify by example the others, who would see them, into denying.

[6] and they are led into the forum. As these then were going to the forum, the president put all the Scriptures upon soldiers . Then he was making for the palace with great haste, desiring to strip the churches of all the worshippers who were anywhere; the roof [ee] even of the Lord's house itself, all of it being rolled off, was being robbed of its whole adornment of tiles. Those very persons who were doing these things were compelled by the lash, lest they should be slower in demolishing. There was therefore a domestic war and a sudden sedition and private confusion [ff], and fire being put under, while strangers also stood by and citizens were gathered, he threw all the divine Scriptures into a fire in the midst; so great a flame suddenly went before to heaven, that dread kept each of those standing back from the spectacle of so great a fire. But certain persons were sitting around blessed Philip in the forum, where whatever is for sale is set out; and when the messenger [gg] had come to them, he set it out to those present *, saying:

[7] St. Philip addresses the crowd, "Men who dwell in Heraclea, Jews, pagans, or of whatever religion or sect; now at length learn the future things of the last time, as the apostle Paul admonishes, who said: 'For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.' Rom. 11. 18 And upon Sodom therefore just wrath came 'because of their unrighteousness'; so that, as [hh] if they fear the judgment of Sodom, they may both flee unrighteousness, and, seeking who it is that makes this judgment, may be converted to Him from vain stones and be saved. Wherefore, to those to whom fire appeared in the East in Sodom, it was both a sign of judgment and an indication of heavenly wrath. And lest the fire should show itself first in the East alone, in Sicily also and in Italy a thing worthy of wonder was seen. For out of Sodom holy Lot was driven forth by the Angels with his daughters, because he seemed free from the crime and shrank far from the vices of his city. In Sicily also an abundance of waters, shut up in the bed of the divine crater, burst forth, and at once a flame, avenger of sins, came down from heaven. Where, when all were burned, two virgins only escaped the peril of the punishment , having counsel even in their very trepidation. For with pious hands they carried off their father, worn out with old age and weakness; and while they were trying to rescue him, delayed by the scorching of the fire [ii], surrounded by a crown of crackling flame, they suddenly were in the necessity of despairing of safety. But almighty Christ did not suffer the affection of such great kindness to perish. The favour of His present majesty granted the father to the daughters and the daughters to the father, so that it might be understood that to all those whom the flame consumed it was not God that was lacking but merit. At once, therefore, a way free from punishment was made for the virgins, and where they were beginning to go, a field cut through appeared. You might have seen a sort of play of the fire itself: so did all its glowing breath draw itself in; so did the flame, coaxing, make room for them as they came, that all things were believed to be moved at their will. So great therefore was the merit of the holy virgins, so great the virtue of piety, that they merited that the fire should be harmless not only to themselves but even to the very place through which they had escaped; which place, not then laid waste by any burning, took its name from their merit: for it is still called to this day 'of the Pious,' so that it proves these things [kk] to posterity not only by reading but by name [ll].

[8] showing the vanity of the gods. "This will be that divine fire, the just and best judge of all deeds, which, flowing down to earth, burns up whatever useless thing it finds . This drove Hercules, while he thought that those burned became gods, into the love of seeking death, who unhappy was burned on the mount of Ygia [mm]; and it caused Scolapius [nn] the physician, struck by lightning on the mount of Cynozuris , to merit consecration among the nations [oo]; not by any power but by punishment is the unhappy one commended, by his own destruction. Less, I believe, would he be thought to avail, if he were alive. This burned up him whom the Ephesians believe they have as a god; this burned both the capitol and the temple of the Roman city ; this burned Heliogabalus with a like burning. Nor at Alexandria did it spare the lodging of Serapis: for he burned with his temple. Who, I ask, would hope for help from those who can neither preserve nor make themselves? He is made [pp] by him who worships him, and if he has been burned suddenly in the morning, by the care of the watchful craftsman he is repaired by night. Never, therefore, will divinity be able to be lacking to them, if either wood or stones are supplied to those who make (gods). Willingly did the dwelling of Father Lybæus burn at Athens, knowing its god consecrated by lightning. Armed Minerva also burned; her Gorgon breast did not defend her at all, nor did the breast-plated splendour of her arms; better would it have been for the unhappy one if she had handled the wool-tasks. In like manner some whirlwind or other first struck the Delphic temple of Apollo, afterwards fire burned it. With no one [qq] does this fire play by favour intervening. Thus it is both the prover of the just and the punisher of the unjust; and to the good it is not flame but light [rr]." While they are meditating these things in long discourse [ss], at the sight of Catafronius the priest and the other ministers, carrying the unhappy feasts and the profane sacred things, St. Hermes thus declared to those standing round: "This supper which you see, polluted by diabolical * invocation, it is evident has been brought for us." To whom Philip says: "Let what pleases the Lord be done."

[9] He refuses to sacrifice These things said, the president Bassus entered the forum with a multitude of either sex and of every age. Then, as the common people always show themselves, the punishment of the Saints made some sad, while a greater madness inflamed others, so that they said that all the servants of God ought to be compelled to sacrifice: especially, however, the Jews, according to the order of the Scriptures; for the Holy Spirit says through the prophet: They sacrificed to devils and not to God. At length the president questions Philip thus, saying: "Immolate [tt] victims to the deity." Philip answered: "How can I, a Christian, worship stones?" Bassus says: "Sacrifices are duly to be paid to our Lords." Philip answered: "We have been taught to obey superiors, and to show obedience to emperors, not worship." Bassus, president of the city [uu], says: "At least sacrifice to Fortune. See how beautiful she is, how joyful, how willingly she admits all the people to her service." Philip answered: "She ought to please you, who worship (her); but no art * will be able to draw me away from the love of heaven." Bassus says: "Let at least this so beautiful, so huge image of Hercules here present move thee."

[10] to the idols, Philip answered: "Alas, wretched and to be bewailed are you, who are ignorant of the most sacred Name of the Divinity. Alas, unhappy you, who transfer heavenly things to earthly, and, ignorant of the truth, devise and make what you may worship. What is gold, silver and iron or lead? Are they not both nourished and composed out of earth? You are ignorant [vv] of the name of Christ, which neither estimation can comprehend, nor can the human mind grasp how great it is. Or you assert that those things have some power which a yawning or drunken smith has made. If he has expressed the likeness more carefully on a sudden , at once both power is ascribed to that image and a name is fitted to it. The buildings [xx] of your houses or of your country-houses are entirely deities; daily therefore are your blasphemies and daily your sins. When for domestic uses some piece of wood is burned, the body of your god is burned up. For with what excuse dost thou defend thyself in this crime? Thou sayest: 'That wood was not God.' I shall answer thee: 'But it could have been, if it had pleased the craftsman.' Not even yet do you foresee in what darkness you are. Parian stone is good. If its sculptor is good, will it therefore be able to be Neptune? Ivory is good. Did Jupiter, expressed in it, make it more beautiful? These things greedy craftsmen have well devised, that the face fitted to any metal whatever might rather raise the price, not by favour of power but by estimation of the wage. All things, then, are from the earth, which we ought to tread upon, not to adore. For God made those things * for us to possess; for you, as I see, they have begotten gods."

[11] and likewise Hermes. Having heard these things, Bassus, vehemently admiring the constancy of Philip, and vanquished by the first, turned in anger to Hermes , saying: "Do thou at least pay sacrifice to the deities." Hermes answered: "I do not sacrifice; I am a Christian." Bassus says: "Set forth of what condition thou art." Hermes answered: "I am a decurion, and I comply with my teacher in all things." Bassus says: "If Philip shall have been brought to sacrifice, wilt thou follow thy leader?" Hermes answered: "Neither shall I follow, nor will he be overcome: for we have equal virtue and spirit." Bassus says: "Thou shalt be given over to the fire, if thou persist in this madness." Hermes answered: "Thou threatenest me with the flame of this light burning, which fails almost before it rises, ignorant of the violence of the perennial fire, which ever boils without remission, and consumes the disciples of the devil with long wasting ." Bassus says: "Sacrifice at least to our lords and emperors, and say: 'Hail, great princes.'" Hermes answered: "We are hastening to life [yy]." Bassus says: "Sacrifice then, if [zz] you seek life, and to escape dreadful chains and savage torments." Hermes answered: "Never, impious judge, wilt thou bring us to these things; for these threats will strike into us something towards the faith of virtue, not towards the perfidy of fear." Then Bassus, with fierce countenance and terrible speech , ordered them to be taken into prison.

[12] They are led into prison; As they were going, certain insolent ones among the men standing by often threw Philip to the ground with the thrust of a cruel right hand, so that not even at that time when he was going to prison was he free from punishment. But the most holy Old Man, as if he had suffered nothing, was raised from the ground with joyful countenance, so as to show neither indignation nor pain. Stupor had pervaded the hearts of all; each wondered that so many bitter things were endured by an old man with contented mind. Then, saying a Psalm to the Lord, who had made them stronger, they gave themselves up joyfully to the guards . After a few days had been spent in prison, by the help of the divine Majesty it was agreed that the neighbouring house of a certain Pancratius should be one in which they might be received as guests under guards. Remaining in it, as we have said, they taught the sacred mysteries of the divine law to many brethren who came to them in rivalry from this side and that, and who were willingly received. And when the devil perceived this, grieving that all of their were being taken from him either by tradition or by discourses, he caused them to be sent back again into prison. The prison was near the theatre, adjoining the circle of the vault; and from the prison there was a secret entrance to the theatre, which was closed on every side. Sitting in that seat of the spectacle, they received the crowd flocking to them. And so great was the eagerness with which each one ran *, that not even the night ceased from greetings. Prostrate daily on the ground they licked the holy footprints of Philip, knowing how much of divine help was in him.

successor arrived, one Justinus by name, but perverse in mind, who did not know God, nor understand nor fear Him . This thing grievously affected the brethren. For Bassus had been milder, and * was overcome by reason when it was rendered to him, because his wife had already for some time been serving God. Then Zoilus, the magistrate of that city, surrounded by the people and soldiers [bbb], ordered him to be brought to the tribunal of the president.

[14] He interrogates and tortures St. Philip. When he had been brought in, Justinus says: "Art thou the Christian bishop?" Philip answered: "I am; I cannot deny it ." Justinus said: "Our Lords have deigned that all Christians, if they will not do it willingly, should be compelled by necessity to sacrifice; those refusing should be visited with punishment. Spare therefore thine age; it is necessary for thee to undergo things not to be borne even by young men." Philip answered: "You keep precepts received from men like yourselves, from fear of a brief punishment ; how much more ought we to obey the commands of God, who allots to the deserving punishment without remission?" Justinus said: "It befits us to obey the emperors." Philip answered: " I am a Christian; therefore I cannot do what thou sayest . Thou hast been ordered to punish, not to compel." Justinus says: "Thou knowest not what torments surround thee." Philip answered: "Thou wilt be able to torture, not to conquer: for no one brings me to sacrifice." Justinus says: "I order thee to be dragged by the feet through the middle of the city; and if thou shalt live, thou shalt be thrown back into prison for the renewal of tortures." Philip answered: "Would that thou wert willing to confirm what thou sayest, so that thou mightest satisfy thine impious will." Then Justinus ordered him to be dragged bound by the feet. He, having received so many wounds from striking against the stones, and torn in every member * of his body, is carried back again to the prison by the hands of the brethren.

[15] St. Severus is sent to prison; But openly, a good while after, they brought him to Seragarentium [ccc]. Besides, with a great search and with great watches it was being contrived that Severus the presbyter should be found, who had withdrawn himself from that search into more hidden lurking places; and when they could not trace him [ddd], at the impulse of the Holy Spirit he himself burst forth into the open. For he whom the passion itself was claiming could not lie hidden long. When therefore he had been brought to judgment, Justinus says : "Even now I warn (thee) not to be led astray by the madness by which your teacher Philip, being urged on , has brought forth punishment for himself by his own fury; but rather obey the commands of the emperor, spare thy body, love life, and embrace joyfully the goods of this world." Severus answered: "It is necessary for me to hold what I have learned; and to keep for ever what I have worshipped." Justinus said: "Conceive in thy mind every reckoning both of punishment and of safety, and thou wilt understand that this sacrifice is to be desired by thee." And when he in anger shuddered at the very name of the sacrifice, by order of the president he too was received into prison.

[16] Hermes is set before Justinus. Then, Hermes being presented, Justinus says: "Those who are established to have neglected the imperial commands, thou shalt see soon what punishment finishes them. Lest therefore thou too be joined to their torments, mindful of thine own safety, and mindful of thy sons [eee], escape all evils by sacrificing to the deities." Hermes answered: "Never wilt thou be able to obtain what thou demandest; in this faith I have grown up; this truth my holy master impressed upon me from my very cradle; from this I cannot halt, nor depart for any reason. Do thou therefore, president, tear in pieces as thou wilt one who confesses." Justinus says: "Ignorance of the future evil makes thee secure: for when thou shalt lie under punishment, thou wilt be tormented with late repentance." Hermes answered: "However * grievous the pains imposed by thee, Christ, for whom we suffer, will lessen them for us through His angels." And so, when Justinus had recognized his most firm faith, he received him also into prison.

ANNOTATIONS.

"To gather the deeds of the individual Saints with brevity is diligence and a mark of usefulness: for sweeter is the labour of one who gathers all things concisely, and less the anxiety of the reader. Blessed therefore," etc.

m. Hear Du Cange:

"Stationarii: soldiers, apparitors and officials of the Presidents, who, posted throughout the provinces in certain places, reported to the magistrates what was going on." And words from our Acts are cited.

p. So the ancients called the sacred furniture. See Mabillon, On the Gallican Liturgy.

q. "Then all of us brethren perceived grief and recognized the distress of the city." B. From which it is plain that these things were written by an eyewitness. Compare the Prel. Comm. num. 2.

r. "What was going to happen." B.

s. That is, of the church. See Cardinal Bona, Rerum Liturgicarum book I chap. 19 num. 4 Works, page 414, Antwerp, 1677.; where he sets out at length for what cause churches were so named.

t. "He would not suffer them (the others R.) to withdraw." B.

u.

"But reconsidering future things he was meditating, teaching each one to shun the vanity of sorrows and to walk diligently in the way of the commandments of the Lord." B. Straightway, the comparison and its application being omitted, there is subjoined:

"Meanwhile the president Bassus found Philip standing with other troops of the faithful at the doors of the church. And at once, ordering the multitude of the Christians to be presented to him, he said: Which of you," etc.

v. "Lest by contact of useless ... flesh the neighbouring ... members be dissolved." M.

x.

"Of workmanship; the notable scriptures also, by which you understand and teach ... bring them before us, lest you should do these same things after torments, if you be punished for hesitating." B.

y. Mucabor B. Mucator R. As the name is written in our text you would say that it was a proper name. Certainly the emperor Aurelian, according to Vopiscus, was slain by Mucapor, whom he employed familiarly. If it be not a proper name, I could not easily say what the word means. Is it perhaps a torturer or something similar? Por sounds the same as puer, boy, or servant Forcellini's Lexicon.. And Poleni notes on the word Quintipor from Festus Vol. III, col. 1148.: "A servile name frequent among the ancients, drawn from the master's prænomen, Marcipor, Caipor, that is, the boy or servant of Quintus, Marcus, Caius." And again Ibid. col. 1149.: "Marcipores, Publipores were so called as being the boys or servants of Marcus, of Publius."

z. "At whose entrance the president at once ordered Severus ... to be brought in." B.

aa. Officium, in Greek ἡ τάξις, by which word are signified the ministers of the tribunal.

bb. "The Christians who had been held with him." B.

cc. "Might delight from the spectacle and might terrify by example all the Christians seeing them." B.

ee.

"The Lord's house itself, its roof being rolled off, was robbed of its whole adornment of tiles. Those also who were doing these things were compelled by the lash, lest they should be slower either in demolishing or in handing over the Christians, savage and cruel exactors being employed." B.

ff.

"Then the mad president ordered that, fire being put under, while both strangers and citizens gathered from every side stood by, all the divine Scriptures should be thrown into a fire in the midst." B.

gg. "To whom when this messenger had come, and was setting out to those present what had been done about the burnings of the books. And when blessed Philip had heard this, in the midst of the soldiers posted on guard, he said to all who were present and standing round: Men who dwell in this city," etc. B. For the rest, in the others the text is to be taken so that St. Philip is understood to have delivered the following speech.

hh. "As if of Sodom"; these words are not found in B. Others vary: "so that if of Sodom" R.; "so that by the destruction of houses" M.

ii. "By the scorchings of the fire, delayed by the sweet burden," etc. B. M. R.

kk. "So that the things which were done there may be proved to posterity, not only by reading," etc. B.

It is evident that in this whole narrative regard is had to the fable, or rather the history (as the editors of the Biographie universelle have it Biographie universelle; Mythological part. Under the word: Amphinome.), of Amphinomus and Anapias or Anapis, who were called the Pious brothers; in whose place two sisters, Virgins, are here put, and these indeed, as appears, followers of Christ. They were among the wealthier citizens of the city of Catania in Sicily. One day, when the flames of Etna burst forth, they carried their parents out of the city on their shoulders; so that, while the rest were consumed by the fire, they themselves are said to have passed unharmed through the midst of the burning. The Syracusans contend with the Catanians about the birthplace of the pious brothers. In both cities a temple dedicated to them was to be seen Ibid.. It is noted, moreover, in Grævius Thesaurus Antiquitatum et historiarum Siciliæ, vol. VI. Leiden, 1723. in the explanation of the Coins of Catania, Table XXVII num. 43 and 44 Ibid. col. 191.: "They (the coins) express the notable and pious deed of Amphinomus and Anapis, brothers of Catania, moved by which the ancients dedicated temples, statues and coins to them, and worshipped them as gods. For what is more pious than to have freed one's parents, placed upon the shoulders, from the fire of Etna, Neptune so willing it? Not undeservedly therefore did they obtain the name of the Pious." I add some distichs of Claudian, with which most of the words attributed to St. Philip in the Acts agree not a little:

Behold the brothers sweating under their venerable burden, Who have deserved to be worshipped ever with divine honour; To whom the swift flame yielded in just reverence, And Etna, wondering, drew back its wandering torches. Clasping in their arms the parents borne upon their necks, They lift their faces and quicken their steps. The aged are carried on high by their twin offspring, And have entwined their sons in a dear delay... O mindful well of nature, examples of heavenly Justice, light of the young, the prayer of the old; You who, scorning wealth, hastened into the midst of the fires, To carry off nothing but holy grey hairs... Though Trinacria has given many things to her highest praise, Let her know that she has borne nothing greater than this:

Nor let her grieve for the losses which the wandering blaze brought, Nor groan for her houses burned up by the raging fire. Piety could not be proved, had the flame ceased: Everlasting glory was bought with a huge disaster Ibid. col. 213 and 214.

It is easy, further, to conjecture that these things were adapted, more or less happily, or rather twisted, from the Sicilian story to the Acts of the martyrs. Nor is there anything against this having been done already in the first three centuries; and so that this report had gained currency before the age of St. Philip.

mm. This word is rendered variously in various Mss.: Ideo B. Agia M. Ygieo T. It ought to be written Oete, which is a mountain of Thessaly, on which Hercules is said to have been burned.

nn. Read Æsculapius, as the Böddeken ms. has. He, namely, because he had raised Hippolytus, is read to have been slain by Jupiter, and buried at Cynozuris, a city of Thessaly.

oo. What follows, down to "if he were alive," is lacking in B.

pp. "Unless they be made by him by whom they are worshipped" B.

qq. "With no one ... play," omitted in B, which has thus: "And so fire is the prover of the just," etc. Ruinart: "Thus the just man is proved, so that the unjust also is punished." Mabillon: "So that the unjust is exposed."

rr. B. adds: "but to the wicked and unjust it is the consummation of perdition."

ss. "Philip the bishop was meditating and setting forth; at the sight of Catafronius the priest and his ministers the unhappy feasts," etc. B.

tt. "Wilt thou immolate victims to the deities?" B.

uu. A passage slightly corrupt. R. and M.: "Bassus says: Of the city at least sacrifice to Fortune." Perhaps in place of "of the city" should be read "of the divinity" or "of the deity," and this word should be joined to the preceding phrase: "and to show obedience to emperors, not the worship of divinity." So the words are arranged in B, in which, however, "of the city" is read.

vv. "Ignorance cannot comprehend or estimate the name of Christ; nor can the human mind grasp how great it is." B.

xx. "And the buildings of various houses or country-houses become also your deities; therefore yours are blasphemies and daily sins" B. More briefly R.: "the buildings of your houses or country-houses are daily sins to you."

yy. "We are hastening to the author of life, and we adore the prince of the eternal kingdom." B.

zz.

"If you seek life, and if you wish to escape dreadful chains and savage torments, honour the princes and emperors. Blessed Hermes said: Never, impious judge, wilt thou bring us to thy wicked sacrifices: for these threats of thine profit us somewhat towards the virtue of faith; they do not strike into us the perfidy of fear." B.

aaa. "While these things are being done, the president Bassus departing, a certain Justinus succeeded him," etc. B. The words "annual successor" are lacking.

bbb. "Surrounded by soldiers, blessed Philip the bishop with the other Christians who were with him in chains to the tribunal of the president," etc. B.

ccc. M. agrees. A very faulty passage. Ruinart reads: "But a little after, after the manner of chattering wild beasts, with great search," etc., which at any rate is not very lucid. The Böddeken ms. has thus: "But the brethren themselves too, after kindness had been shown to them (by them?), betook themselves to the town of the Sagarenses for the sake of hiding. Meanwhile with great search," etc.

This reading would present some, nay no slight, probability, if in the neighbourhood of Heraclea there were some town Sangarium or of similar name. But this is not at all so. Heraclea of Thrace lies on the western side or shore of the Propontis (today it is called the sea of Marmara), while opposite, on the eastern shore, at the end of the gulf, is situated Nicomedia, from which, if you go a little further again to the east, you will find the river Sangarius; but I do not find a town which is so named. See the map in Charles de St. Paul Geographia sacra, page 205. Where on the patriarchate of Constantinople.. Geographers do indeed mention a village Sangias Baudrand. Compare de la Martinière, etc.; but this would not easily be mentioned in this place, as will be seen from the words of Baudrand Novum Lexicon geographicum. Eisenach, 1677. Under the word: Sangarius.: "Sangarius," he says, "Zagari and Sangari, sacari ... a river of Asia, from Greater Phrygia (where it has its rise from the Dindymus mountains), taking its origin at the village of Sangia, 150 stades from Pessinus, running down through Bithynia into the Euxine (Black) sea... Its mouths are distant between Nicomedia to the west 300 and Heraclea (that of Bithynia, at any rate, not of Thrace, which is spoken of in the Acts) to the east 500 stades." After this let the learned reader see whether perhaps the brethren, and by name St. Severus, for the sake of hiding, crossed by land or sea to Nicomedia, and thence to the banks of the Sangarius? It could certainly have happened.

ddd. "And when the inquisitors sent by Justinus had not been able to trace him" B.

eee. It is plain from these words that St. Hermes the deacon was once joined in matrimony, and had sons. Below also mention will be made of one of them, Philip by name. From the President's words it appears that several were born to him.

* by prohibiting

* by fear B.

* dire B.

* of endurance

* received B.

* affords R. M. B.

* Aristemachus. R.

* with seals B.

* Herme R. M. B.

* each thing R.

* teachers R. M.

* they cut away R.; they are wont to cut away M.

* thou hast heard B.

* my soul R.; the soul M.

* but R. M. B.

* to come B.

* whom ... to trace B.

* cruelly R.

* to be cared for B.

* this way and that. M. R.

* for carrying. B.

* all B.

* of the Lord's house M. B.

* for B.

* burst forth B.

* from the spectacle R. M.

* they set out, saying. M.

* "first" is lacking B.

* her own B.

* almost B.; of punishment R. M.

* were desiring B.

* a mound T.

* the breath of all the burning R. M. B.

* is found R. M.

* that he, burned, was thought to become a god B.

* cyno B.

* the walls and the capitol B.

* Heliopolis B.

* by whom he is worshipped B.; by which he is worshipped M.

* but if any of them B.

* watchful R. M. B.

* of Father Liber R. M. B.

* she then the wool-tasks B.

* Delphic B.

* and afterwards some fire or other B.

* is the invocation, and it is evident that it may pollute us R.

* the art of man B. M.

* the divinity R. M.

* you are ignorant B.

* bronze B.

* the divinity of Christ. R. M.

* Why B.

* drunken R. M. B.

* author B.

* divinity B. M.

* are so many M.

* you provide B.; you perceive R. M.

* would effect B.

* which to tread R. M.

* it B. T.

* Hermes. R. M. B.

* render B.

* in this opinion B.

* perhaps B.

* punishment B.

* threatening B.

* to the ground more often B.

* Psalms B. saying a Psalm R. M. B.

* to the guards R. M.

* having passed B.

* help B.

* filled B.

* by preaching anew B.

* in the building of the spectacle B.; in the order M.

* thither B.

* indeed?

* either to understand or to fear R. M. B.

* in B.

* who being brought in B.

* nor ought I B.

* lest it be necessary for thee, etc. R. M.

* almost in a brief time B.

* the well-deserving B.

* I am a Christian bishop B.

* do not cease to punish. Justinus etc. B.

* await B.

* no one will bring me R. M.

* and to satisfy R. M. B.

* foully B.

* to him: I warn B.

* provoked R. M. B.

* obeying B.

* and to be carried out of thine own accord B.

* however much R.

CHAPTER II.

The Martyrdom is consummated at Adrianople.

All three are transferred together to Adrianople; For two days indeed he ordered them to be kept in a lodging, departing a little from his severity, whom the devil at once inflames. For he orders that they be sent again into prison, and that they spend seven ^a continuous months in that stench of the jails. Then he commanded them to be brought to Adrianople ^b. As they went out, grief suddenly seized the brethren; since they were being robbed of the teaching and sight of so great a Master. As infants, scarcely yet violently drawn away from the cradle, clinging to the sweet breasts of their nurses, cannot be taken away without tears from the milk pleasant to them: so the disciples, believing they were losing their wholesome pasture, took consolation from weeping, because they could not obtain remedies. But when they had arrived at Adrianople, they were kept in the suburban estate of a certain Semporus ^c until the coming of the president.

[18] St. Philip is beaten with rods: At length the president arrives, and at once on another day, sitting publicly in the baths, he commanded Philip to be brought in, and said to him: "What hast thou been considering until now? For this delay had been granted to thee for changing thy counsel; sacrifice therefore, if thou wishest to escape free ." Philip answered: "If we went into that prison in which we have remained until now by will, not by necessity, thou rightly assignest this time as granted to us; but if punishment rather than will did it, why dost thou impute to indulgence the time which thou didst appoint? But I, as I have said before, am a Christian; and as often as thou shalt question me I shall take care to answer this; nor shall I ever satisfy images, but to the eternal God, whom I have begun to serve, I render service." Then the president in anger ordered him to be bound . And when even the linen of his body had been taken off him, the president says: "Dost thou do what we have ordered, or dost thou refuse?" Philip answered: "I have already testified before that I shall never sacrifice." Hearing this, Justinus commanded him to be beaten with rods; and when he bore all things with contented mind, standing on the rock of Christ, made firm with a robust mass, he terrified even those through whom the punishment was being carried out. It was an incredible miracle. For the part of the linen which veiled his honourable breast remained unharmed; but that which covered his back had been torn in pieces and fallen away [d]. All his limbs, violently cut by the blows of the rods, had laid open the very inmost parts of the body and the entrails. Yet the Athlete of Christ continued undisturbed, at whose courage Justinus was terrified, and he ordered him to be taken back into prison.

[19] The judge threatens Hermes. Then he called Hermes ^e; to whom the judge, threatening, but whose Officium had shown him its counsel, could neither be terrified by fear nor be brought round by persuasion. For he was loved as much by the apparitors of the judge as by all men. For he had formerly been a magistrate, and had bound the Officium of the president to himself by his services; who, having obtained an occasion of returning the favour, were trembling for his safety. But all these being overcome and laid low, he fled back, as it were to a certain harbour of rest, to the prison, where joy was celebrated in the morning *. And they gave thanks to Christ, and, bearing back glorious trophies from the overthrow of the devil, elated by the very beginning of the passion, greater strength for the things to come

they were taking from the torments. And so blessed Philip, who formerly was affected * by the very touch of the body, ever delicate and soft, felt no discomfort at that time, covered by angelic help.

[20] St. Philip is questioned again Behold, after three days the president Justinus ascended the tribunal usual for those judging, and ordered them to be brought. When they were presented, Justinus says to Philip: "Why art thou fitted with such rashness that, despising thy safety, thou refusest to obey the commands of the emperor?" Philip answered: "I am not inflamed by the vice of rashness, but I am compelled by the love and fear of God, who made all things, who will judge the living and the dead. His commands I dare not pass over. To the emperors indeed I have been obedient through each year ^f, and when they command just things I hasten to obey: for divine Scripture has commanded 'To render to God the things that are God's, and to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's.' And so I have served blamelessly until now. Now it remains that, the allurements of the world being left behind, I hasten to prefer heavenly things to earthly. Repeated, therefore, more often are the words * by which I assert that I am a Christian and refuse to sacrifice to your gods."

[21] and St. Hermes; Then leaving him, Justinus addresses Hermes: "If old age, already neighbour to death, compels this man to shrink from the goods of this light, do not thou neglect more prosperous things by sacrificing." Hermes answered: "Briefly and clearly, O president, I shall show to thee and to those who stand by that from miserable vanity piety has become hateful to thee. For whence is it that falsehood hastens to attack truth, malevolence innocence, finally man man? For what like to man did God ever form? But the devil has tried to violate the heavenly work. He devised those things which you worship, and has made you slaves of his own right by sacrificing. For as horses suddenly boiling with madness, not obeying the bits, despising the charioteer, leaving the wholesome plain , ignorant of death, hasten to the precipices; so you hurl yourselves headlong by madness, and, the word of God passed over, have held the wicked counsels of the devil. This, therefore, is the true heavenly sentence, that glory should follow the good and pious, infamy the wicked; and that, as reward to the former, so punishment should succeed to the latter. So the prophet Zechariah speaks, saying: 'The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; He that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee.' Zach. 3. 2 Is not this a brand scorched and plucked out of the flame? What desire, then, is there still to men, who have fled for refuge to wood scorched and death-bearing? And whereas you burn alike, it is permitted so to pass the briefest circle of light that we may come to the goods of eternal light. But you who, with huge filthiness of clothing and body, with dirty and loosened hair, by which you watch over tombs ^g and temples and prisons; you seem to me not to worship your gods but to mourn them , and before the judgment already to endure the penalty of sin, you who seeing these things remain in blindness, nor fly to the help of your deliverer. Dogs track their master by scent, and the horse, hearing the whistle of its guide, seeks him whom a little before it unknowing threw off; the ox, recognizing the manger, runs together to its Lord, and the ass finds the stable of its owner. Israel alone is ignorant of the Lord, according to what ^h is read: Israel hath not known Me, the Lord of all, nor have they feared the judgment of the just (God). Let them perish by the wave as under Noah. And the knees of others were loosened in the wilderness, others the fire burned up, because no one kept the commandments."

[22] they are condemned to fire. Hearing this, Justinus, angered, exclaims to blessed Hermes: "Dost thou speak thus as though thou couldst make me a Christian?" Hermes answered: "Not only thee, but I desire that each of those standing round should become Christians. But do not believe that I shall sacrifice." Then the president, vanquished (by) the most valiant Athletes of God, sharing counsel with his associates and his assessor, issued with savage mouth this sentence, and says: "Philip and Hermes , who, neglecting the command of the Roman emperor, have made themselves aliens even from the very name of Roman, we order to be burned alive, that the rest may the more easily recognize at how great a ruin it stands to have despised the imperial commands." Then [i], going out, they went rejoicing to the flame, as twin rams, leaders of the flocks, offered to almighty God as a certain holy gift.

[23] St. Severus prays that he may be associated with them, But blessed Severus, alone in prison, tossed like a ship on the open sea forsaken by its pilot, or like a sheep left in the wilderness, its shepherd lost, and was trembling. Yet he was lifted up with immense joy, because he had heard that they were being led to the sweet and, for him, desirable gift of the passion. Then on bended knees he prayed with great groaning, saying to the Lord [k]: "Thou who art the calm harbour of all who are tossed, granting hope to those who hope, saviour of the sick, helper of the needy, guide of the blind, merciful towards those whom punishment surrounds, wall of the weary, light of darkness, founder of the earth, ordainer of the sea and distributor of every element; by whose word ^l the heaven, the stars and all things were made; who didst preserve Noah, and didst offer riches to Abraham, who didst deliver Isaac and didst prepare a victim in his place ; who didst exercise Thyself with Jacob in a wrestling of sweetness, and didst lead Lot out of Sodom, from the accursed land; who didst appear [m] to Moses and didst make Jesus son of Nave prudent; who didst deign to make the journey with Joseph, and didst lead his people out of the land of Egypt, bringing them to the land of promise; who wast a help to the three children in the furnace, whom, bedewed with the holy dew of Thy majesty, the flame did not touch; who didst shut the mouths of the lions ⁿ, granting life and food to Daniel; who didst not suffer Jonah, received neither by the depth of the sea nor by the bite of the cruel whale, to be harmed or to perish; who didst arm Judith, who didst deliver Susanna from unjust judges, who didst give glory to Esther, who didst order Haman to perish; who hast led us out of darkness to eternal light [o]; Father of our Lord the Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the unconquered light; who hast given me the sign of the cross of Christ; do not judge me unworthy, O Lord, of this passion which my colleagues have obtained; but give me a share of the crown, that I may be joined in glory to those to whom I was joined in prison; may I have rest with those with whom, confessing Thy venerable name, I did not fear the savage torments of the judge."

[24] and he is heard. This prayer then being finished, the faithful words availed so much that on the next day he received what he asked. And so he too, as a valiant athlete, goes forth to confess with those with whom he had lived, and, having obtained his wish, not only obtains what he asked, but also quickly finds what he sought [p].

[25] They are led to the pyre Blessed Philip, however, was carried by hands to the flame: for the pain of his feet did not allow him to go otherwise. Blessed Hermes followed him with slow step, constrained by a like pain of the feet. But Hermes soothed his journey with this discourse, saying to Philip: "Best teacher, let us go hastily to the Lord ; let no care of our feet trouble us, for whom there is now to be no standing . For earthly services are to cease when one has arrived at the heavenly kingdoms." Then to the multitude which followed he adds : "That I was to suffer this I had known by a most certain revelation, God and the Lord announcing it beforehand. For when I lay bound in sweet sleep, a dove appeared to me, shining with snowy whiteness, which, having entered that bedchamber, suddenly settled in the middle of my head, and which, descending thence to my breast, offering * me a morsel of most pleasant food, I at once knew that the Lord had deigned to call me [q], and had held me worthy of the passion." While he was saying these things, they come to that place in which the punishments were being prepared.

[26] to be burned. Then, according to custom, the executioners covered the feet of blessed Philip with earth up to the knees; they fasten his hands, tied behind his back, with nails to the stake. In like manner Hermes also is ordered to go down into the pit; and he, supporting his trembling footsteps this way and that on the stake, with great laughter [r] spoke thus, saying: "Not even here, devil, canst thou withstand me"; and at once the attendants heap earth upon his feet. But before the fire was put under, St. Hermes called a certain one of the Christian brethren standing there, Velogius , whom he bound by a great adjuration through the Lord Jesus Christ to carry his father's commands to his son Philip, and to tell him that he should render to all whatever he owed: "For the precepts of the emperor of this world also are similar. For he has commanded [s] each one, if they have received anything from others, to give it back without contradiction. Let him therefore render to each what is owed, lest he strike into me any pang of grief." He said this concerning those things which he had received, entrusted to him by many for safe keeping, to be returned. He adds this also out of love of piety, and says: "Thou art young, and oughtest to seek thy living by labour, as thou rememberest thy father did, whom thou knowest to have dealt well with all." This speech completed, he too is bound behind the back. Then the flame is put under by the attendants; and while they were burning, as long as speech lasted, thanks were rendered, and at the last * the "Amen" of thanksgiving sounded sweetly.

[27] The bodies found entire, Thus the blessed Martyrs fulfilled the testimony of life. Happy disciples of Christ, following His footsteps, through whom the victory was granted to them; following also the teaching of the apostles and of those martyrs who followed the apostles; whose souls, stripped of earthly stain, hastened to the heavenly kingdoms . The hands of blessed Philip are found outstretched on the body, as they had been in prayer, and he himself, restored from an old man to a young man in the punishment, and about to be crowned in the contest, is suddenly seen as if challenging an adversary. In like manner blessed Hermes also, blooming in face and precious in colour (warmth), with his ears slightly livid, as if from some contest, is shown to all after that burning. Then thanks * were poured forth from every mouth to almighty God, who gives glory and a crown to those who hope in Him.

[28] and preserved from the river. With these things, however, the devil could not be content. Soon he put audacity and fury of mind into Justinus, so that perchance [t] he ordered the bodies of the Saints to be plunged into the Hebrus, so that to those from whom he had taken life by unjust persecution he grudged even burial itself. When this had been done, all the men of the city of Adrianople [u] whom the worship of God urged on, seeing such great cruelty, were preparing nets below, they go on board boats; if perchance to anyone fishing a welcome catch of the holy bodies should come. To their prayers * the effect [v] is not denied: for soon the bodies, enclosed with the nets, are drawn out. Then the welcome game, more precious than gold and than every beauty of gems, was hidden for three days at the twelfth milestone from that city in a country house, which in the native speech is called Gestistyrum [x], but in the interpretation of the Latin tongue, the Place of the possessors. That estate [y] abounded both in springs and in woodland,

adorned with harvests and vineyards. Then the majesty of God was proved to all, that His servant cannot lie hidden, whom (whom) even deep rivers restore, nor in trepidation feel punishment, but rather hasten to the crown [z].

ANNOTATIONS.

d.

"For all his limbs had been violently cut by the blows of the rods, so that even the inmost parts of the body and the entrails seemed laid open. Yet the Athlete of Christ remained undisturbed and joyful in all things and continued unconquered in the faith; at whose spirit, so impregnable, the president Justinus was terrified, and he ordered him to be taken back again into prison." B.

B.: "Then the president called Hermes to him again, to soften him by threats or persuasions to sacrifice. And when the judge showed him threats, but his Officium counsel, the Athlete of Christ could neither be terrified by threats nor be drawn away by persuasion: for he was loved as much by the Officium of the judge as by all men: for he had formerly been a magistrate and had bound to himself the Obsequium of the president. Who, having obtained an occasion of redeeming the favour, were trembling for his safety."

B. "Israel hath not known his Lord, the ruler of all, whence also by the just judgment of God some of them perished in the wilderness by serpents, others were burned up by fire, others were suddenly swallowed by an opening of the earth; so therefore it remains that you too will perish eternally, unless, withdrawing from the worship of idols, you will worship and adore God who is in the heavens. Hearing these things from blessed Hermes, Justinus," etc.

i.

"This sentence being promulgated, going out they went rejoicing to the flame, as leaders of the flocks, twin rams, to be burned on the altar to almighty God as a certain holy gift." B.

k.

"O Lord Jesus Christ, who art the calm harbour of all who are tossed, granting peace and joy to those who hope in Thee, saviour of the sick," etc. B.

m.

"Who wast seen by Moses and didst make Jesus son of Nave (Joshua) prudent; who didst go down with Joseph into prison, and didst lead Thy people out of the land of Egypt, bringing them to the land of promise," etc. B. Here indeed some things differ from the Acts, others are the same, but in a different order of words. Since the latter occurs very frequently, the opinion of some is thereby also confirmed, to whom it has seemed that the Böddeken manuscript of the Acts either came from another source (perhaps more or less Greek) than the other Acts of St. Philip and his Companions, or had been corrected; but whether always from documents of good note, or from the author's own store? Certainly in this prayer of St. Severus to the Lord, the things which are added in the Böddeken ms. could easily for the most part have been drawn from sacred Scripture.

o.

"Hear me, O Lord, and grant that I may merit to be a partaker of the passion of the holy Martyrs, my companions. O Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, saviour and redeemer of all who believe in Thee, who art the unconquered light; who hast granted me to follow the sign of the cross of Thy Son with all devotion of mind, do not judge me unworthy, O Lord, of this passion which my colleagues have obtained; but give me," etc. B.

p. In these words the manuscripts scarcely differ from one another. Which indeed may be an argument that the Böddeken compiler indulged his own genius more readily where it was a question of words uttered by the holy Martyrs.

q. "That I may suffer death for His name." B.

r. "Who, the stake supporting his trembling limbs, entered the pit, and with very great confidence spoke thus, saying: Not even here, devil, wilt thou be able to overcome me. And at once the attendants heap up earth": B. I said in the Prel. Comm. num. 2 that Mazzocchi concludes from this passage (as it is rendered in the text, not as in the Böddeken ms.) that our Acts were first written in Latin, nay, and that some things at least uttered by the holy Martyrs were likewise in Latin. It will help to have set out his words here a little more broadly. "What," he says Commentary on the old marble calendar, vol. I, page 221., "drew laughter from the Martyr?" I should answer: I do not know; but there are many things which could have drawn it. Mazzocchi, however, answers: "The play is altogether upon the ambiguous meaning of the verb sustineo. For in appearance it seemed to be taken (in the second place also) for 'to prop up,' as it is taken in the former, but in reality the Martyr took it for 'to bear with.' And so an ἀντανάκλασις also occurs here in the writer, by whom the same word is used in one sense and then in another... But this passage, unless I am greatly mistaken, openly shows that this history was not transfused from the Greek, but was originally written in Latin. For there is no Greek verb, so far as I know, which holds that double meaning of the verb sustineo, namely both τοῦ ὑπερείδειν, of propping, and also τοῦ ἀνέχομαι, of bearing with. But the writer followed the one meaning in the former place, the other in the latter. But, you say, if this reason holds, it will be necessary that the Martyr too used that saying in Latin: for, the ambiguous meaning of the verb sustineo being removed, the jest perishes, nor was there any reason why he himself should first break into laughter. I confess that it must have happened exactly so, unless we wish to accuse the writer either of ignorance or of imposture, both of which even a simple inspection of these Acts removes." Nor, in the judgment of Mazzocchi, is there anything to prevent our admitting it: "Certainly," he says, "from the time when Thrace was made the frontier of the empire, it furnished permanent quarters to the legions; the metropolis Heraclea (which was also the seat of the Roman president and of so many dignities and offices under the president's disposition) must have understood and at times used the Roman tongue, so much so that the somewhat more polished citizens were at the same time bilingual. Why further do we wonder if the blessed Martyr, surrounded by so many officials of the president of Latin speech, spoke in Latin a jesting saying which could not be uttered except in the Latin tongue? If this further be true, then we shall wonder the less that among so many Christian Heracleots there was someone learned in Latin, who wrote the Acts of these Martyrs (as is plain from that 'we perceived,' num. 23) in the Latin language." This indeed Mazzocchi says acutely enough; but truly enough? For my part I should not think so. For, as I have already noted, the laughter of the holy Martyr could have been drawn from manifold causes. For the rest, does not the word ὑποφέρω correspond to the verb sustinere, at least to some extent?

s. "For he has commanded each one to enjoy his own; and if any have received a loan from any, that it be returned without contradiction. Let him therefore render," etc. B.

t. In the Böddeken ms., fortia. "Do not doubt," says Mazzocchi Ibid. page 222., "that the author wrote 'fortium.'" I, however, doubt it. Fortia pleases me better.

u. The passage is not rendered in the same way: "The cruelty, so great, urged the truthful worshippers of God of the city; having seen it, they prepare nets," etc. M. "The men of the city, whom the worship of God urged on, having seen such great cruelty, prepare nets," etc. R. B. agrees with R.

v.

"A welcome catch. And soon, by the favour of God's clemency, the bodies of the Martyrs are drawn out unharmed with the nets." B. "For soon the relics, enclosed and wrapped in the nets, are drawn out." M. R.

x. Getystirum B. Ogetistyrum M. R. "But," says Ruinart, "Cotelier thinks that τόπος κτητόρων should be read, which at any rate in Latin sounds 'place of the possessors.'" But since these words are as far as possible from the present reading; "what," says Mazzocchi, "if the name of the country house was ὄγμος κτητόρων, or in Latin letters Ogmos ctectoron, or, as they commonly pronounced it, ctitoron?" Ὄγμος to Eustathius is a ploughed place, and likewise a trenching made in order and by furrows. And this indeed is Mazzocchi's conjecture.

y. "It abounds in springs, woodland, adorned with harvests and vineyards" B.

z. As B placed a little preface, so it has also a conclusion: "By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, through all ages of ages. Amen."

* to be guarded B. M.

* be spent B.

* about thy safety with thyself B.

* the punishments due to thee B.

* if into that prison R. M.; prison B.

* to us brief M.

* I shall render B.

* to be stripped B. M.

* the linen shirt B.

* all the punishments of the blows B.

* immense joy R. M. B.

* was distressed?

* art thou snatched B.

* is to come to judge B.

* I am quickened by love B.

* render ye M.

* recognize the words by which B.

* more secure things M.

* that B.

* to man R. M.

* to violate, and he found B.

* muzzle R. M.

* wicked and sacrilegious you hold B.

* madness B.

* scorched R. M.

* to you men B.

* blunted R. M.

* it may be permitted B.

* and loosened, tombs B.

* to mourn B.

* of sin. Why, seeing these things ... do you fly? R. M.

* lest B. M.

* the princes B.

* Philip and Hermes B. M.

* address B. M.

* lost B.

* the shepherd, was trembling R. M. B.

* and possessions B.

* from the sacrifice B.

* in his place a victim, a ram

* from wicked old men B.

* art the light R. M. B.

* in the punishment of prison B.

* what B.

* obtained R. M. B.

* slower B.

* the lord B.

* use R. M.

* spoke B.

* offered, and at once B.

* nails R. M.

* Eulogius B.

* added R. M. B.

* conversed B.

* last R. M.

* hastened R. M. B.

* are found: on the body and he himself ... R. M.

* thanks ... are poured forth B.

* of fury and B.

* madness B.

* to those praying B.

* servants R. M. B.

* to the crown. Amen. R M.