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husband before a magistrate of being a Christian.
Through influence the accused was granted the favour
of a brief, respite to settle her worldly affairs, after
which she was to appear in court and put forward her
defence. Meanwhile her angry husband caused the
arrest of the catechist, Ptolomscus by name, who had
instructed the convert. Ptolomaeus, when Question^,
acknowledged that he was a Christian ana was con-
demned to death. In the court, at the time this
sentence was pronounced, were two persons who
protested against the iniquity of inflicting capital
punishment for the mere fact of professing Christian-
itv. The magistrate in reply asked if they also were
Christians, and on their answering in the affirmative
both were ordered to be executed. As the same fate
awaited the wife of the delator also, unless she re-
canted, we have here an example of three, possibly
four, persons suffering capital punishment on the accu-
sation of a man actuated ov malice, solely for the reason
that his wife had given up the evil life she had previously
led in his society (St. Justin Martyr, IT, Apol., ii).
As to the actual number of persons wno died as martyrs during these two centuries and a half we have no definite infoniiation. Tacitus is authority for the statement that an immense multitude {ingens mtdtp- tudo) were put to death by Nero. The Apocalypse of St. John speaks of "the souls of them that were slain for the word of God '* in the reign of Domitian^ and Dion Cassius informs us that "many" of the Christian nobility suffered death for their faith during the perse- cution for which this emperor is responsible. Origen, indeed, writing about the year 249, before the edict ot Decius, states that the number of those put to death for the Christian religion was not very great, but he probably means that the number of martyrs up to this time was small when compared with the entire number of Christians (of. Allard, "Ten Lectures on the Mar- tyrs", 128). St. Justin Martyr, who owed his con- version largely to the heroic example of Christians suffering for their faith^ incidentally gives a glimpse of the danger of professing Christianity in the middle of the second century, in the reign of so good an emperor as Antoninus Plus (138-61). In his " Dialogue witn Tiypho" (ex), the apologist, after alluding to the fortitude of his brethren in religion, adds, " for it is plain that, though beheaded, and crucified, and thrown to wild beasts, and chains, and fire, and all other kinds of torture, we do not give up our confession; but, the more such things happen, the more do others in larger numbers become faitnful. . . . Every Christian has been driven out. not only from his own property, but even from the wnole world; for you permit no Christian to live." Tertullian also, writing towards the end of the second century, frequently alludes to the terrible conditions under wnich Christians existed (" Ad knar- tyres ", " Apologia ", " Ad Nationes", etc.) : death and torture were ever present possibilities.
But the new r6^me of special edicts, which began in 250 with the edict of Decius, was still more fatal to Christians. The persecutions of Decius and Valerian were not, indeed, of long duration, but while they lasted, and in spite of the large number of those who fell away, there are clear indications that they pro- duced numerous martyrs. Dionysius of AleTcancuia, for instance, in a letter to the Bishop of Antioch, teUs of a violent persecution that took place in the Egyp- tian capital, through popular violence, before the eoict of Decius was even puolished. The Bishop of Alex- andria gives several examples of what Christians endured at the hands of the pagan rabble and then adds that "many others, in cities and villages, were torn asunder by the heathen" (Euseb.. " Hist, eccl.", VI, xli sq.). Besides those who perished by actual vio- lence, also, a "multitude wandered in the deserts and mountains, and perished of hunger and thirst^f cold and sickness and robbers and wild beasts" (Euseb., L o.)« In another letter, speaking of the persecution
under Valerian, Dionysius 6tat<.'S tliat "men and
women^ young and old, maidens and matrons, soldiers
and civilians, of every age and race, some by scourging
and fire, others by the sword, have conquered in the
strife and won their crowns" (Id., op. cit., VII, xi).
At Cirta, in North Africa, in the same persecution,
after the execution of Christians had continued for
several days, it was resolved to expedite matters. To
this end the rest of those condemned were brought to
the bank of a river and made to kneel in rows. When
all was ready the executioner passed along the raiiks
and despatched all without further loss of time
(Ruinart, p. 231).
But the last persecution was even more severe than any of the previous attempts to extirpate Christianity. In Nicomedia " a great multitude " were put to death with their bishop, Anthimus; of these some perished by the sword, some by fire, while others were drowned. In Egypt " thousands of men, women and children, despising the present life, . . . endured various deaths" (Euseb.^ "Hist, eccl.", \1I, iv sqq.), and the same happened m many other places throughout the East. In the West the persecution came to an end at an earlier date than in the East, but, while it lasted, numbers of martyrs, especially at Rome, were added to the calendar (cf. AUard. op. cit., 13S sq.). But besides those who actually shea their blood in the first three centuries account must betaken of the numerous confessors of the Faith who, in prison, in exile, or in penal servitude suffered a daily martyrdom more diflS- cult to end ure than death itself. Thus, while anythii^ like a numerical estimate of the number of martyrs b impossible, yet the meagre evidence on the suDJect that exists clearly enough establishes the fact tnat countless men, women and even children, in that glo- rious, though terrible, first age of Christianity, cheer- fully sacrificed their goods, their liberties, or their lives, rather than renounce the faith they prized above all.
Trial of the Martyrs. — ^The first act in the trag- edy of the martyrs was their arrest by an officer of the law. In some instances the privilege of custodia libera, granted to St. Paul during his first imprisonment, was allowed before the accus^ were broi^ht to trial; St. Cyprian, for example, was detained m the house of the officer who arrested him, and treated with con- sideration until the time set for his examination. But such procedure was the exception to the rule; ihe ao- cusecf Christians were generally cast into the public prisons, where often, for weeks or months at a time, they suffered the greatest hardships. ^ Glimpses of the suffering they endured in prison are in rare instances supplied by the Acts of the Martyrs. St. Perpetua, for instance, was horrified by the awful darkness, the intense heat caused by overcrowding in the climate of Roman Africa, and the brutality of the soldiers (Pas- sio SS. Perpct., et Felic, i). dther confessors allude to the various miseries of prison life as beyond their powers of description (Passio SS. Montani, Lucii, iv). Deprived of food, save enough to keep them alive, of water, of light and air; weighted down with irons, or placed in stocks with their Tegs drawn as far apart as was possible without causing a rupture; exposed to all manner of infection from heat, overcrowding, and the absence of anything like proper sanitary conditions— these were some of the afflictions that preceded actual martyrdom. Many, naturally, died in prison under such conditions, while others, unfortunately, unable to endure the strain, adopted the easy means of escape left open to them, namely, complied with the con- dition demanded by the State of offering sacrifice.
Those whose strength, physical and moral, was ca- pable of enduring to the end were, in addition, fre- quently interrogated in court by the magistrates, who endeavoured by persuasion or torture to induce them to recant. These tortures comprised every means that human ingenuity in antiquity had devised to break down even the most courageous; the obstinatQ
