Book 4

Translated by Thothica

1 hr 17 min

THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

Contents of Book Four

I. Who became bishops of the Romans and of the Alexandrians in the reign of Trajan. II. What things the Jews suffered in his time. III. Those who in the time of Hadrian made defence on behalf of the faith. IV. The bishops of the Romans and of the Alexandrians in his time. V. The bishops of Jerusalem from the beginning, from the Saviour to the times indicated. VI. The last siege of the Jews under Hadrian. VII. Who at that season became authors of knowledge falsely so called. VIII. What ecclesiastical writers there were. IX. An epistle of Hadrian, that we ought not to be persecuted without judgement. X. Who became bishops of the Romans and Alexandrians in the reign of Antoninus. XI. Of the heresiarchs of their time. XII. Of the Apology of Justin to Antoninus. XIII. An epistle of Antoninus to the assembly of Asia concerning our doctrine. XIV. The things recorded concerning Polycarp, the acquaintance of the apostles. XV. How under Verus Polycarp was martyred with others in the city of the Smyrnaeans. XVI. How Justin the philosopher was martyred at Rome while being an ambassador of the word of Christ. XVII. Of the martyrs whom Justin mentions in his own writing. XVIII. Which of the discourses of Justin have come down to us. XIX. Who presided over the church of the Romans and Alexandrians in the reign of Verus. XX. Who were those of the Antiochenes. XXI. Of the ecclesiastical writers who shone in their time. XXII. Of Hegesippus and the things he mentions. XXIII. Of Dionysius bishop of the Corinthians and the epistles he wrote. XXIV. Of Theophilus bishop of the Antiochenes. XXV. Of Philip and Modestus. XXVI. Of Melito and the things he mentioned. XXVII. Of Apolinarius. XXVIII. Of Musanus. XXIX. Of the heresy of Tatian. XXX. Of Bardesanes the Syrian and the discourses ascribed to him.

CHAPTER I

About the twelfth year of the reign of Trajan, the bishop of the community in Alexandria, indicated by us a little before, departed life, and Primus, fourth from the apostles, was allotted the ministry of those there. At this time also Alexander, at Rome, when Evarestus had completed eight years, took over the bishopric, tracing the fifth succession from Peter and Paul.

CHAPTER II

And while the things of our Saviour's teaching and of his church, flourishing day by day, advanced to greater increase, the things of the Jews' calamity were at their height with successive ills. Already, then, as the emperor was driving on into the eighteenth year, again a rising of the Jews, breaking out, destroyed a very great multitude of them.
For both in Alexandria and in the rest of Egypt, and moreover throughout Cyrene, as though kindled by some dread and seditious spirit, they were impelled to revolt against the Greeks dwelling with them; and having increased the sedition to a great pitch, in the following year they joined a war no small one, Lupus then governing all Egypt.
And indeed in the first encounter it befell them to prevail over the Greeks; who, having fled for refuge to Alexandria, took alive and slew the Jews in the city; but those in Cyrene, failing of the alliance from these, continued plundering the country of Egypt and laying waste its nomes, their leader being Lucuas; against whom the emperor sent Marcius Turbo with a force both of foot and of ships, and moreover of horse.
He, having toiled at the war against them with many battles and no little time, slew many myriads of Jews, not only those from Cyrene but also those from Egypt who joined Lucuas their king.
And the emperor, suspecting that the Jews in Mesopotamia too would set upon those there, commanded Lusius Quietus to cleanse the province of them; who, having set himself in array, slew a very great multitude of those there; for which exploit he was appointed governor of Judaea by the emperor. These things also those of the Greeks who delivered the deeds of the same times have related in their own words.

CHAPTER III

When Trajan had held the rule for twenty whole years lacking six months, Aelius Hadrian succeeded to the government. To him Quadratus addressed and presented a discourse, having composed an apology on behalf of our religion, because certain wicked men were attempting to molest our people; and the work is still extant among very many of the brethren, and indeed among us; from which it is possible to behold clear proofs both of the man's understanding and of his apostolic correctness.
And he reveals his own antiquity by the things which he relates in his own words thus: "But the works of our Saviour were always present, for they were true: those healed, those raised from the dead, who were seen not only when healed and raised, but were always present, not only when the Saviour was sojourning, but even after his departure they lived for a considerable time, so that some of them have survived even to our own times."
Such was this man. And Aristides too, a faithful man, of the religion of our profession, like Quadratus has left an apology on behalf of the faith addressed to Hadrian; and his writing too is preserved to this day among very many.

CHAPTER IV

In the third year of the same reign, Alexander, bishop of the Romans, died, having completed the tenth year of his stewardship; Xystus was his successor. And of the community of the Alexandrians, about the same time, Primus, having departed in the twelfth year of his presidency, was succeeded by Justus.

CHAPTER V

Having by no means found the times of the bishops in Jerusalem preserved in writing—for the account holds that they were exceedingly short-lived—
I have received this much from documents, that down to the siege of the Jews under Hadrian there were fifteen successions of bishops there; all of whom, they say, being Hebrews from of old, received the knowledge of Christ genuinely, so that they were even judged worthy by those competent to decide such things of the ministry of the episcopate. For their whole church then consisted of Hebrew believers, from the apostles down to the siege then enduring, in which the Jews, again revolting from the Romans, were captured in no small wars.
Since the bishops of the circumcision then failed, it would now be necessary to enumerate them from the first. First, then, was James called the brother of the Lord; after whom, second, Symeon; third, Justus; Zacchaeus the fourth; fifth, Tobias; sixth, Benjamin; John seventh; eighth, Matthias; ninth, Philip; tenth, Seneca; eleventh, Justus; Levi twelfth; Ephres thirteenth; fourteenth, Joseph; and over all, fifteenth, Judas.
So many were the bishops in the city of Jerusalem, from the apostles down to the time indicated, all of the circumcision.
And now, the rule being in its twelfth year, Xystus, having completed ten years in the bishopric of the Romans, was succeeded by Telesphorus, seventh from the apostles; and after a year and some months had passed between, Eumenes succeeded to the presidency of the community of the Alexandrians by the sixth allotment, his predecessor having lasted eleven years.

CHAPTER VI

And indeed, the revolt of the Jews having again advanced to a great and considerable pitch, Rufus, prefect of Judaea, a military force having been sent him by the emperor, prosecuting their frenzies without sparing, destroyed by myriads at once men together with children and women, and by the law of war reduced their lands to slavery.
The general of the Jews then was one Barchochebas by name, which signifies a star, a man in other respects murderous and bandit-like, but who, on the strength of his title, as though over slaves, played the marvel-monger, as if he were a luminary come down from heaven and shining upon them in their distress.
The war being at its height in the eighteenth year of the reign at Bethther (this was a very strong little town, not very far distant from Jerusalem), and the siege from without being protracted, and the revolutionaries being driven by famine and thirst to the extremity of destruction, and the author of their frenzy having paid the fitting penalty, the whole nation was from that time forbidden by a law and ordinances of Hadrian even to set foot on the land about Jerusalem, so that they should not even behold from afar their ancestral soil—he so commanding. So Aristo of Pella relates.
Thus, the city having come to an utter emptiness of the Jewish nation and a total destruction of its ancient inhabitants, and having been colonized by a foreign race, the Roman city which afterward arose, having changed its name, was called Aelia in honour of the ruler Aelius Hadrian. And the church there being now gathered from the nations, the first after the bishops of the circumcision to be entrusted with the ministry of those there was Mark.

CHAPTER VII

Now while the churches throughout the world were shining like the most brilliant luminaries, and the faith in our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ was flourishing among the whole race of men, the hater-of-good demon, as the enemy of truth and ever the most hostile to the salvation of men, turning all his devices against the church, of old armed himself against it with persecutions from without;
but then, being shut out from these, using wicked and sorcerer-like men as certain deadly instruments and ministers of the destruction of souls, he generalled by other methods, devising every means whereby sorcerers and deceivers, having crept in under the same title of our doctrine, might at once lead into the depth of destruction those of the faithful who were caught by them, and at the same time turn away, by what they themselves did, those ignorant of the faith from the access to the saving word.
From Menander, then, whom we have already before delivered as the successor of Simon, there came forth a kind of serpent-like power, double-mouthed and two-headed, which set up the authors of two diverse heresies, Saturninus an Antiochene by race, and Basilides an Alexandrian; of whom the one in Syria, the other in Egypt, established schools of God-hated heresies.
Irenaeus shows that Saturninus for the most part lied the same things as Menander, but that Basilides, under pretext of more secret things, extended his fancies to infinity, fashioning for himself the monstrous fables of an impious heresy.
Very many ecclesiastical men, then, at that season contending earnestly for the truth and championing the apostolic and ecclesiastical opinion in a more rational manner, already, through writings too, provided for those who came after means of defence against these very heresies indicated;
of which there has come down to us a most able refutation against Basilides by Agrippa Castor, a most renowned writer among those of that time,
uncovering the cleverness of the man's sorcery. Disclosing, then, his secret things, he says that he composed twenty-four books on the Gospel, and named as prophets for himself Barcabbas and Barcoph, and certain others non-existent whom he set up for himself, and gave them barbarous titles for the astounding of those amazed at such things; and that he taught indifference about tasting of things sacrificed to idols, and about abjuring the faith without scruple in times of persecution; and, after the Pythagorean manner, enjoined a five-year silence on those who came to him;
and the said man, having enumerated other things like these concerning Basilides, not ignobly brought into the open the error of the heresy indicated.
Irenaeus writes that Carpocrates too was contemporary with these, the father of another heresy called that of the Gnostics; who deemed it right to deliver the sorceries of Simon, not, as he did, in secret, but already openly, all but glorifying themselves in the love-charms wrought by them of curious art, and in dream-sending and certain assistant demons, and certain other practices of like kind; and accordingly they taught that those who were to come to the perfection of their initiation, or rather of their abomination, must do all the most shameful deeds, since not otherwise could they escape the cosmic rulers, as they would say, than by rendering to all of them their dues through unspeakable practices.
By such ministers, then, it befell that the malicious demon thus pitiably enslaved to destruction those deceived by them, and afforded to the unbelieving nations much occasion of slander against the divine word, the report from them being poured out to the calumny of the whole nation of the Christians.
In this way, then, it befell that the impious and most absurd suspicion concerning us was spread very widely among the unbelievers of that time, as though we used unlawful unions with mothers and sisters and impious food.
But these things did not prosper with him for long, the truth itself establishing itself and shining forth into a great light as time advanced.
For straightway by its working were quenched, being refuted, the devices of the enemies, heresy upon heresy being newly contrived, the former ever sinking away and being corrupted at various times into manifold and many-shaped forms; but the splendour of the universal and only true church advanced to increase and greatness, ever holding the same in the same way, shining the august and sincere and free and the temperate and pure character of the divine polity and philosophy into every race of Greeks and barbarians.
So there was quenched, together with time, the calumny against the whole doctrine, and there remained alone, prevailing among all and acknowledged to excel most of all in dignity and temperance and divine and philosophic doctrines, our teaching, so that no one to this day dares to bring any shameful calumny against our faith, nor any such slander as of old it was the wont of those who combined against us to use.
Nevertheless, in the times indicated, the truth again brought into the midst more of its own champions, who warred against the godless heresies not only by unwritten refutations, but also by written demonstrations.

CHAPTER VIII

Among these was known Hegesippus, whose words we have already before very often used, having set down from his tradition certain things of the apostolic times.
In five writings, then, having recorded the unerring tradition of the apostolic preaching in the simplest composition of writing, he indicates the time in which he was known, writing thus concerning those who from the beginning set up idols: "to whom they made cenotaphs and temples, as until now; among whom is Antinous also, a slave of Hadrian Caesar, in whose honour the Antinoeian games are held, which arose in our time. For he founded also a city named after Antinous, and prophets."
In his time also Justin, a genuine lover of the true philosophy, was still occupied in the studies practised among the Greeks; and he too indicates this very time in the Apology to Antoninus, writing thus: "Nor do we think it amiss to make mention among these things of Antinous also, who lived in our time, whom all were impelled to revere as a god through fear, knowing both who he was and whence he came."
The same man, mentioning the war of that time against the Jews, sets down these things: "For even in the now-occurred Jewish war, Barchochebas, the leader of the revolt of the Jews, commanded that Christians alone be led to dreadful punishments, unless they should deny Jesus the Christ and blaspheme."
And in the same work, showing that his change from Greek philosophy to godliness came to him not without reason but with judgement, he writes thus: "For I myself, when I delighted in the teachings of Plato, hearing the Christians slandered, but seeing them fearless toward death and all that are accounted terrible, considered it impossible that they should live in wickedness and love of pleasure. For what lover of pleasure, or incontinent man, or one who counted the eating of human flesh a good, could welcome death, that he might be deprived of his desires, and not rather strive by every means to live this present life forever and to escape the rulers' notice, much less to denounce himself as one to be slain?"
Moreover, the same man relates that Hadrian, having received from Serennius Granianus, a most illustrious governor, letters on behalf of the Christians, to the effect that it was not just, on no charge, to slay them without trial, gratifying the clamours of the populace, wrote back to Minucius Fundanus, proconsul of Asia, commanding that no one be judged without a charge and a reasonable accusation;
and he sets down a copy of the epistle, preserving the Roman tongue as it stood; and he prefaces it thus: "And though, from an epistle of the greatest and most illustrious Caesar Hadrian, your father, we have it in our power to demand that you command the trials to be held as we have asked, yet we have asked this not so much as commanded by Hadrian, but from knowing that the address is just. And we have appended also the copy of the epistle of Hadrian, that you may know that we speak the truth in this too; and it is this."
To these the said man has appended the Roman copy itself, but we have translated it into the Greek as far as possible, and it runs thus:

CHAPTER IX

"To Minucius Fundanus. I received a letter written to me from Serennius Granianus, a most illustrious man, whom you succeeded. It does not seem to me, then, that the matter should be left uninvestigated, that the men may not be disturbed, nor occasion of mischief be afforded to the calumniators.
If, then, the provincials can clearly establish anything in support of this petition against the Christians, so as to answer before the tribunal, let them turn to this only, but not to petitions and mere clamours. For it is far more fitting, if anyone wishes to accuse, that you decide on this.
If, then, anyone accuses and shows that they do anything contrary to the laws, so determine according to the gravity of the offence; but, by Hercules, if anyone bring this forward for the sake of calumny, take cognizance of his villainy and see that you avenge it." Such was the rescript of Hadrian.

CHAPTER X

When this man had paid his debt after twenty-one years, Antoninus, called the Pious, succeeded to the rule of the Romans. In his first year Telesphorus departed life in the eleventh year of his ministry, and Hyginus received the lot of the bishopric of the Romans. Irenaeus, however, relates that Telesphorus was distinguished by a martyr's death, showing at the same time that in the time of the said Roman bishop Hyginus, Valentinus, the introducer of his own heresy, and Cerdo, the author of the error of Marcion, were both known at Rome; and he writes thus:

CHAPTER XI

"For Valentinus came to Rome in the time of Hyginus, flourished under Pius, and remained until Anicetus; and Cerdo, the predecessor of Marcion, himself too in the time of Hyginus, who was the ninth bishop, having come to the church and made confession, so continued, now teaching in secret, now again making confession, now being convicted of the things which he wrongly taught, and withdrawing from the company of the brethren."
These things he says in the third book Against the Heresies; and in the first, again, he goes through these things concerning Cerdo: "But a certain Cerdo, having taken his occasions from those about Simon, and having sojourned at Rome in the time of Hyginus, who held the ninth lot of the episcopal succession from the apostles, taught that the God preached by the law and the prophets was not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for the one was known, the other unknown, and the one was just, the other good. And Marcion of Pontus, succeeding him, increased the school, blaspheming shamelessly."
The same Irenaeus, having very vigorously sailed across the boundless deep of the much-erring matter of Valentinus, lays bare his wickedness, which, like a lurking serpent's, was hidden and concealed;
and besides these he says that another, Mark by name, lived in their time, most expert in magical jugglery; and he describes their imperfect rites and abominable initiations, disclosing them in these very words:
"For some of them prepare a bridal chamber and perform a mystic rite with certain invocations over the initiated, and call what is done by them a spiritual marriage, after the likeness of the unions above; and others lead to water, and baptizing them, say thus: 'Into the name of the unknown Father of all, into truth the mother of all, into him who descended into Jesus.' And others utter Hebrew names, the more to astound the initiated."
But indeed, after the fourth year of his bishopric, Hyginus having died, Pius was entrusted with the ministry at Rome; and in Alexandria Mark was appointed shepherd, Eumenes having completed thirteen years in all; and Mark having rested from his ministry after ten years, Celadion received the ministry of the church of the Alexandrians.
And in the city of the Romans, Pius having departed in the fifteenth year of his bishopric, Anicetus presided over those there; in whose time Hegesippus relates that he himself sojourned at Rome and remained there until the bishopric of Eleutherus.
And especially flourishing in these times was Justin, in the guise of a philosopher being an ambassador of the divine word and contending in writings on behalf of the faith; who indeed, having also written a work against Marcion, mentions that at the time when he composed it the man was known in life, saying thus:
"And a certain Marcion of Pontus, who even now is still teaching those who are persuaded by him to hold that there is another god greater than the Maker; who, by the help of the demons, has caused many of every race of men to speak blasphemies and to deny that the Maker of this universe is the Father of Christ, and to confess that there is another, as being greater, who made it. And all who set out from these are, as we said, called Christians, in the same way that, though the doctrines are not common, the name of philosophy applied to them is common to the philosophers."
To these he adds, saying: "And we have also a treatise against all the heresies that have arisen, which, if you wish to consult, we will give you."
This same Justin, having laboured most ably also against the Greeks, addresses other discourses too, containing a defence of our faith, to the emperor Antoninus, who was surnamed Pius, and to the senate-council of the Romans; for he made his abode at Rome. And he shows who and whence he was, through the Apology, in these words:

CHAPTER XII

"To the Emperor Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius Caesar Augustus, and to Verissimus his son, a philosopher, and to Lucius, by nature son of the philosopher Caesar and adopted son of Pius, a lover of learning, and to the sacred senate and the whole people of the Romans, on behalf of those of every race of men unjustly hated and ill-treated, I, Justin, son of Priscus, son of Bacchius, of those from Flavia Neapolis of Syria Palestine, being one of them, have made this address and petition." And this same emperor, being petitioned also by other brethren of Asia, who were oppressed by the natives of the country with all manner of outrages, deemed the assembly of Asia worthy of such an ordinance:

CHAPTER XIII

"The Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, Armenicus, supreme high priest, holding the tribunician power for the fifteenth time, consul for the third, to the assembly of Asia, greeting.
I, for my part, know that to the gods too it is a care that such men should not escape notice; for they would far rather punish those who are unwilling to worship them than you would.
Whom you cast into turmoil, confirming the opinion which they hold, by accusing them as atheists; and it would be a thing to be chosen by them too, when accused, to seem to die rather than to live on behalf of their own God; whence they even conquer, giving up their own lives rather than obeying the things you demand them to do.
And concerning the earthquakes that have happened and are happening, it is not amiss to remind you who are downcast whenever they occur, comparing our case with theirs.
They, then, become more confident toward God; but you, all the time during which you seem to be ignorant, both neglect the other gods and the worship concerning the immortal one; whom indeed the Christians worship, and you persecute and pursue to death.
And on behalf of such men many also of the governors throughout the provinces have written even to our most divine father, to whom he wrote back not to molest such men, unless they should appear to be attempting something against the Roman rule. And to me too many have made known concerning such men; to whom indeed I have written back, following the opinion of my father.
But if anyone persists in bringing any of such men into trouble as being such, let that man who is accused be acquitted of the charge, even if he appear to be such, and let the accuser be liable to penalty." Promulgated at Ephesus in the assembly of Asia.
That things went thus is attested by Melito, bishop of the church in Sardis, known at the very time, as is plain from what was said by him in the Apology which he composed to the emperor Verus on behalf of our doctrine.

CHAPTER XIV

In the times indicated, while Anicetus was governing the church of the Romans, Polycarp, still surviving in life, came to Rome and came into conference with Anicetus about a certain question concerning the day of the Passover, as Irenaeus relates.
And the same man delivers also another narrative concerning Polycarp, which it is necessary to attach to what has been declared concerning him, running thus:
FROM THE THIRD BOOK OF IRENAEUS AGAINST THE HERESIES. "And Polycarp too, not only having been instructed by apostles and having conversed with many who had seen the Lord, but also having been appointed by apostles bishop in Asia in the church in Smyrna—
whom we ourselves saw in our early youth (for he survived a long time, and, very aged, departed life gloriously and most illustriously by martyrdom)—always taught these things which he had learned from the apostles, which the church also delivers, which alone are true.
To these things bear witness all the churches in Asia, and those who have succeeded Polycarp to this day, a far more trustworthy and sure witness of the truth than Valentinus and Marcion and the rest of the ill-minded; who also, sojourning at Rome in the time of Anicetus, turned many from the aforesaid heretics to the church of God, proclaiming that he had received this one and only truth from the apostles, delivered by the church.
And there are those who heard him say that John, the disciple of the Lord, having gone in Ephesus to bathe and having seen Cerinthus within, leaped out of the bath-house without bathing, but saying, 'Let us flee, lest the bath fall in, since Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.'
And Polycarp himself, when Marcion once came into his sight and said, 'Recognize us,' answered: 'I recognize—I recognize the firstborn of Satan.' So great was the caution which the apostles and their disciples had, not even to communicate in word with any of those who falsified the truth, as Paul too said, 'A heretical man, after a first and second admonition, refuse, knowing that such a one is perverted and sins, being self-condemned.'
And there is also an epistle of Polycarp written to the Philippians, most able, from which those who wish, and who care for their own salvation, can learn both the character of his faith and the preaching of the truth."
These things Irenaeus. And Polycarp, in the said writing of his to the Philippians, extant to this day, has used certain testimonies from the former epistle of Peter.
Antoninus called the Pious, then, having completed the twenty-second year of his rule, was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius Verus, who is also Antoninus, his son, together with Lucius his brother.

CHAPTER XV

At this time, very great persecutions having disturbed Asia, Polycarp was perfected by martyrdom; and I think it most necessary to set down his end, still extant in writing, in the memory of this history.
The writing is from the person of the church over which he himself presided, declaring the things concerning him to the communities everywhere, in these words:
"The church of God which sojourns at Smyrna, to the church of God which sojourns at Philomelium, and to all the communities of the holy catholic church in every place: mercy, peace, and love of God the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied. We have written to you, brethren, the things concerning those who were martyred and the blessed Polycarp, who, as it were, set a seal upon the persecution and made it cease by his martyrdom."
Next to these, before the narrative concerning Polycarp, they relate the things concerning the rest of the martyrs, describing what constancy they showed against the pains. For they say that they astounded those standing round in a circle, who beheld them now scourged until even the inmost veins and arteries were laid bare, so that the very inward secret parts of the body, their entrails and members, were seen; and now spread upon sea-shells and certain sharp spikes, and advancing through every kind of chastisement and torment, and at last given to beasts for food.
And they relate that especially the most noble Germanicus was distinguished, strengthening, with divine grace, the inborn cowardice toward the death of the body. For when the proconsul wished to persuade him, putting forward his age and entreating him, being quite young and in his prime, to take pity on himself, he did not hesitate, but eagerly drew the beast upon himself, all but forcing and provoking it, that he might the sooner be delivered from their unjust and lawless life.
And at his glorious death the whole multitude, marvelling at the manliness of the God-beloved martyr and at the virtue of the whole race of the Christians, began all at once to cry out, "Away with the atheists! Let Polycarp be sought out!"
And indeed, very great turmoil having arisen at the cries, a certain man, a Phrygian by race, Quintus by name, lately come from Phrygia, seeing the beasts and the threats besides, lost heart in his soul, growing soft, and at last gave up his salvation.
The account of the aforesaid writing showed that this man rushed too rashly, and not with caution, upon the tribunal with others, but, being caught, nevertheless afforded a manifest example to all that men ought not to venture upon such things recklessly and without caution. But thus the things concerning these had their end.
The most marvellous Polycarp, having at first heard these things, remained undisturbed, keeping his character steadfast and unmoved, and wished to remain in the city; but, persuaded by those about him who entreated and exhorted him to withdraw secretly, he went out to a farm not far distant from the city and tarried there with a few, doing nothing else, night and day, than persevering in prayers to the Lord; in which he prayed and supplicated, asking for peace for the churches throughout the whole world, for this was his constant habit.
And indeed, while praying, in a vision three days before his arrest, he saw by night the bolster under his head all at once thus consumed, burned by fire; and waking upon this, he straightway interpreted to those present what had appeared, all but prophesying the future, and plainly declaring to those about him that it behoved him to depart life by fire for Christ's sake.
While, then, those who sought him were pressing on with all zeal, again, being forced by the affection and love of the brethren, he removed, they say, to another farm; where, not long after, those who pursued came up, and seized two of the lads there; one of whom they tortured, and so came through him to Polycarp's lodging.
And coming up late in the hour, they found him lying in an upper room, whence, though it was possible for him to remove to another house, he would not, saying, "The will of God be done."
And indeed, learning that they were present, as the account says, he came down and conversed with them with a very cheerful and gentle countenance, so that it seemed a marvel to behold to those long ignorant of the man, gazing upon the great age of him and the dignity and steadfastness of his manner, and that so great zeal should be over the arrest of such an old man.
But he, not hesitating, straightway commanded a table to be set before them, then deemed it right that they should partake of abundant food, and asked of them one hour, that he might pray without fear. And when they permitted, rising he prayed, being full of the grace of the Lord, so that those present were astounded, hearing him pray, and many of them already repented that such a dignified and God-befitting old man was about to be slain.
After this the writing concerning him has the rest of the history somewhat thus in these words: "And when at length he ceased his prayer, having made mention of all, and of all who had ever met with him, small and great, glorious and obscure, and of the whole catholic church throughout the world, the hour having come to set out, they set him on an ass and led him into the city, it being a great sabbath. And the irenarch Herod met him, and his father Nicetes; who, transferring him into the carriage, sought to persuade him, sitting beside him and saying, 'For what harm is it to say, Caesar is Lord, and to sacrifice, and to be saved?'
But he at first did not answer; and when they persisted, he said, 'I am not about to do what you counsel me.' And they, failing to persuade him, spoke dreadful words and with haste pulled him down, so that, getting down from the carriage, he scraped his shin; but he, not turning round, as though he had suffered nothing, eagerly proceeded with haste, being led to the stadium.
There being so great a tumult in the stadium that it could not even be heard by many, to Polycarp, as he entered the stadium, a voice from heaven came: 'Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.' And no one saw the one who spoke, but the voice many of ours heard.
So when he was brought forward, there was a great tumult of those who heard that Polycarp had been seized. As he came forward, then, the proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp; and when he confessed it, he sought to persuade him to deny, saying, 'Have respect to your age,' and other things following these, which are their wont to say: 'Swear by the fortune of Caesar; repent; say, Away with the atheists.'
But Polycarp, looking with a grave countenance upon the whole crowd in the stadium, and shaking his hand at them, and groaning and looking up to heaven, said, 'Away with the atheists.'
And when the governor pressed on, saying, 'Swear, and I will release you; revile Christ,' Polycarp said, 'Eighty and six years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong; and how can I blaspheme my King who saved me?'
And when he persisted again, saying, 'Swear by the fortune of Caesar,' Polycarp said, 'If you vainly suppose that I will swear by the fortune of Caesar, as you say, pretending to be ignorant who I am, hear with boldness: I am a Christian. But if you wish to learn the doctrine of Christianity, grant a day and hear.'
The proconsul said, 'Persuade the people.' Polycarp said, 'You indeed I have deemed worthy of a word; for we have been taught to render honour, as is fitting, to rulers and authorities ordained by God, such honour as does us no harm; but those I do not deem worthy to make defence to them.'
The proconsul said, 'I have beasts; to these I will throw you, unless you repent.' And he said, 'Call them; for a change of mind from the better to the worse is for us not to be made, but it is good to change from the grievous to the just.'
And he again to him: 'I will cause you to be tamed by fire, if you despise the beasts, unless you repent.' Polycarp said, 'You threaten fire that burns for an hour and after a little is quenched; for you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgement and of eternal chastisement reserved for the impious. But why do you delay? Bring what you will.'
Saying these things and many more, he was filled with courage and joy, and his face was full of grace, so that not only did he not fall down disturbed by the things said to him, but, on the contrary, the proconsul was astounded, and sent the herald to proclaim three times in the midst of the stadium, 'Polycarp has confessed himself a Christian.'
When this was said by the herald, the whole multitude of nations and of Jews dwelling at Smyrna with uncontrollable rage and a great voice cried out: 'This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, the destroyer of our gods, who teaches many not to sacrifice nor to worship.'
Saying these things, they cried out and asked the asiarch Philip to let loose a lion upon Polycarp. But he said it was not lawful for him, since he had completed the hunting spectacles. Then it seemed good to them to cry out with one accord that Polycarp should be burned alive.
For it behoved that the vision shown him upon the bolster be fulfilled, when, seeing it burning while he prayed, he said, turning to the faithful with him, prophetically, 'I must be burned alive.'
These things, then, came to pass with so great speed, quicker than the telling, the crowds straightway gathering from the workshops and the baths wood and faggots, the Jews especially eagerly, as is their wont, assisting in these things.
But when the pyre was ready, putting off all his garments and loosing his girdle, he attempted also to unloose himself, not doing this before, because each of the faithful was always eager who should first touch his flesh; for in all things, on account of his good conduct, he had been adorned even before his grey hairs.
Straightway, then, the instruments fitted to the pyre were placed about him; and as they were about also to nail him, he said, 'Leave me thus; for he who gives me to endure the fire will give me also, without the security from your nails, to remain unflinching on the pyre.' So they did not nail him, but bound him.
And he, putting his hands behind and being bound, like a notable ram offered up out of a great flock, a whole burnt-offering acceptable to God the Almighty,
said: 'O Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the knowledge of thee, the God of angels and powers and of all creation and of all the race of the righteous who live before thee, I bless thee that thou hast deemed me worthy of this day and hour, to take a part in the number of the martyrs, in the cup of thy Christ, unto the resurrection of eternal life of soul and body in the incorruption of the Holy Spirit;
among whom may I be received before thee this day in a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as thou hast prepared beforehand, foreshown, and fulfilled, the unlying and true God.
For this cause I praise thee for all things, I bless thee, I glorify thee, through the eternal high priest Jesus Christ, thy beloved Son, through whom be glory to thee, with him, in the Holy Spirit, both now and unto the ages to come, Amen.'
And when he had sent up the Amen and finished his prayer, the men of the fire kindled the fire; and a great flame having flashed forth, we to whom it was given to see beheld a marvel, who also were preserved to announce to the rest the things that came to pass.
For the fire, making the form of an arch, like a sail of a ship filled by the wind, walled round in a circle the body of the martyr; and he was in the midst, not as flesh burning, but as gold and silver glowing in a furnace; for we caught also so great a fragrance, as of frankincense breathing forth, or of some other of the precious spices.
At length, then, the lawless men, seeing that the body could not be consumed by the fire, ordered a confector to approach him and thrust in a sword;
and when he had done this, there came out a multitude of blood, so as to quench the fire and to make all the crowd marvel that there was so great a difference between the unbelievers and the elect; of whom this one too came to be, the most marvellous in our times, an apostolic and prophetic teacher who became bishop of the catholic church in Smyrna. For every word which he uttered from his mouth was both fulfilled and shall be fulfilled.
But the jealous and envious evil one, the adversary of the race of the righteous, seeing the greatness of his martyrdom and his blameless conduct from the beginning, and that he was crowned with the crown of incorruption and had borne away an indisputable prize, contrived that not even his poor body should be taken by us, though many desired to do this and to have fellowship with his holy flesh.
Certain men, then, suggested to Nicetes, the father of Herod and brother of Alce, to entreat the governor not to give up his body, lest, they said, 'leaving the crucified one, they begin to worship this man.' And these things they said at the suggestion and instigation of the Jews; who also watched while we were about to take him from the fire, being ignorant that we shall never be able either to forsake Christ, who suffered for the salvation of the whole world of those who are saved, or to worship any other.
For him, being the Son of God, we worship; but the martyrs, as disciples and imitators of the Lord, we love worthily, on account of their unsurpassable goodwill toward their own King and Teacher; of whom may it be ours too to become partakers and fellow-disciples.
The centurion, then, seeing the contentiousness of the Jews that had arisen, set him in the midst, as is their wont, and burned him; and so we afterwards, taking up his bones, more precious than costly stones and more approved than gold, laid them where it was also fitting.
There, as far as possible, gathering in gladness and joy, the Lord will grant us to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom, both for the memory of those who have contended before, and for the exercise and preparation of those to come."
Such were the things concerning the blessed Polycarp, who, with those from Philadelphia, was the twelfth to be martyred in Smyrna; who alone is more remembered by all, so that even by the nations he is spoken of in every place.
The things concerning the marvellous and apostolic Polycarp, then, were deemed worthy of such an end, the brethren of the church of the Smyrnaeans having recorded the history in the epistle of theirs which we have declared; and in the same writing concerning him other martyrdoms also were appended, accomplished in the same Smyrna under the same period of time of the martyrdom of Polycarp, with whom Metrodorus too, who seemed to be a presbyter of the error of Marcion, was slain, given over to fire.
And of those of that time one renowned martyr was known, Pionius; whose several confessions and boldness of speech, and his defences on behalf of the faith before the populace and the rulers, and his teaching addresses, and moreover the receivings and consolations which he set before the brethren who came to him in prison, and the tortures which he endured besides these, and the pains thereafter, and the nailings, and his endurance on the pyre, and his end amid all his marvels—since the writing concerning him contains them most fully, we shall refer those to whom it is dear to it, as it is inserted among the martyrdoms of the ancients collected by us.
And next there are extant memoirs of others martyred in Pergamum, a city of Asia, Carpus and Papylus and a woman Agathonice, who after very many and distinguished confessions were gloriously perfected.

CHAPTER XVI

In these times also Justin, indicated by us a little before, having given a second book on behalf of our doctrines to the rulers indicated, is adorned with a divine martyrdom, the philosopher Crescens (this man emulated a life and manner answering to the title of Cynic) having contrived the plot against him; since, having often convicted him in disputations in the presence of hearers, at last he bound on himself the prize of victory of the truth of which he was an ambassador, through the martyrdom in his case.
And this the man, in truth most philosophic, in the said Apology, plainly thus—as indeed was all but about to befall him—anticipating, indicates in these words:
"And I, then, expect to be plotted against by some of those named, and to be fixed to the rack, even if by Crescens, the unphilosophic and boastful; for the man is not worthy to be called a philosopher, who publicly bears witness against things he does not understand, as though the Christians were atheists and impious, doing this to please and gratify the many who are deceived.
For if he runs us down without having met with the teachings of Christ, he is utterly wicked and far worse than the unlearned, who often guard against discoursing and bearing false witness concerning things they do not understand; and if, having met with them, he has not understood the majesty in them, or, understanding, does these things that he may not be suspected of being such, he is much more ignoble and utterly wicked, being inferior to unlearned and irrational opinion and fear.
For I would have you know that, having proposed and asked him certain such questions, I learned and convicted him that in truth he understands nothing; and that I speak the truth—if the communications of the discourses have not been reported to you, I am ready also before you to communicate the questions again; and this too would be a kingly work.
But if my questions and his answers have been made known to you, it is manifest to you that he understands nothing of ours; or if he understands, but does not dare to say it on account of the hearers, as I said before, he is shown to be no philosopher, but a lover of glory, who does not even honour the Socratic saying, worthy of love as it is."
These things, then, Justin. And that, according to his own prediction, he was contrived against by Crescens and perfected, Tatian—a man who in the first part of his life played the sophist in the learning of the Greeks and bore away no small repute among them, and left very many memorials in his writings—relates in the work Against the Greeks, saying thus: "And the most marvellous Justin rightly declared that the aforesaid resembled robbers."
Then, having said certain things concerning the philosophers, he adds these: "Crescens, at any rate, who nested in the great city, surpassed all in pederasty and was very much given to love of money;
and he who counselled despising death so feared death himself, that he sought to involve Justin, as in a great evil, in death, because, preaching the truth, he convicted the philosophers of being gluttonous and deceivers." And the martyrdom of Justin obtained such a cause.

CHAPTER XVII

The same man, before his own contest, makes mention in the former Apology of others who had been martyred before him, usefully to the subject relating these things also; and he writes thus:
"A certain woman lived with a licentious husband, herself too having before been licentious; but when she came to know the teachings of Christ, she became chaste, and tried to persuade her husband likewise to be chaste, bringing forward the teachings and announcing the chastisement to come in eternal fire for those who do not live chastely and according to right reason.
But he, continuing in the same licentiousness, by his deeds made his wife estranged; for the woman, henceforth holding it impious to share the bed of a husband who, contrary to the law of nature and contrary to right, sought to make channels of pleasure by every means, wished to be separated from the union.
And when she was dissuaded by her own, who counselled her to remain yet, as though her husband would come to some hope of change, she forced herself and remained;
but when her husband, having gone to Alexandria, was reported to be doing worse things, that she might not become a partaker of his wrongdoings and impieties by remaining in the union and becoming his table- and bed-companion, she gave what is called among you a bill of divorce and was separated.
But her fine and good husband, when he ought to have rejoiced that she had ceased from the things which formerly with the servants and the hirelings she had readily done, delighting in drunkenness and all wickedness, and wished him too to cease doing the same things, when she had separated against his will, made an accusation, saying that she was a Christian.
And she presented a little petition to you the emperor, asking that she be permitted first to set in order her own affairs, and then to make her defence concerning the accusation after the ordering of her affairs; and you granted this.
But her former husband, being unable now to say anything against her, turned against a certain Ptolemaeus, whom Urbicius punished, who had become her teacher of the doctrines of the Christians, in this manner.
He persuaded a centurion who had cast Ptolemaeus into bonds, being his friend, to lay hold of Ptolemaeus and ask him whether—this only—he was a Christian. And Ptolemaeus, being a lover of truth and not deceitful nor false in mind, having confessed himself to be a Christian, the centurion put in bonds, and for a long time punished him in the prison;
and at last, when the man was led before Urbicius, likewise this only was examined, whether he was a Christian; and again, being conscious to himself of good things through the teaching from Christ, he confessed the school of the divine virtue.
For he who denies anything either denies as condemning the matter, or, knowing himself unworthy and a stranger to the matter, shuns the confession; none of which belongs to the true Christian.
And when Urbicius commanded him to be led away, a certain Lucius, himself too a Christian, seeing the judgement so irrationally given, said to Urbicius: 'What is the cause of punishing this man, who is convicted neither as an adulterer nor a fornicator nor a murderer nor a clothes-stealer nor a robber, nor at all of having done any wrong, but who confesses the name of Christian? You judge not as becomes the Pious emperor, nor the philosopher son of Caesar, nor the sacred senate, O Urbicius.'
And he, answering nothing else, said to Lucius too: 'You seem to me to be such a one also'; and when Lucius said, 'Most certainly,' he again commanded him too to be led away; and he confessed that he was thankful, for he said he was being delivered from such wicked masters and was going to a good Father and King, God. And yet another, a third, coming up, was sentenced to be punished." To these things Justin reasonably and consistently appends the words of his which we mentioned before, saying, "And I, then, expect to be plotted against by some of those named," and the rest.

CHAPTER XVIII

This man has left us very many memorials of an educated mind, zealous about divine things, full of all profit; to which we shall refer the studious, having usefully noted those that have come to our knowledge.
There is one discourse of his to Antoninus, surnamed the Pious, and to his sons and the senate of the Romans, addressed on behalf of our doctrines; another containing a second apology on behalf of our faith, which he made to the successor and namesake of the said emperor, Antoninus Verus, the times of whom we are now going through;
and another to the Greeks, in which, having extended a long discourse concerning very many things sought both among us and among the philosophers of the Greeks, he treats of the nature of the demons; which there would be no need to set down now.
And again another work of his to the Greeks has come down to us, which he entitled the Refutation; and besides these another, concerning the monarchy of God, which he establishes not only from our Scriptures but also from the Greek books;
besides these one entitled the Psalmist, and another scholastic work On the Soul, in which, having proposed diverse questions concerning the problem of the subject, he sets down the opinions of the philosophers among the Greeks, which he promises both to contradict and to set down his own opinion in another writing.
And he composed also a dialogue against the Jews, which he held in the city of the Ephesians against Trypho, the most distinguished of the Hebrews of that time; in which he shows in what manner the divine grace urged him on to the word of the faith, and what zeal he had formerly brought to bear on the philosophic studies, and what most fervent search he made for the truth.
And he relates in the same place concerning the Jews, that they had contrived a plot against the teaching of Christ, addressing these very things to Trypho: "Not only did you not repent of the things you did wickedly, but, having chosen out chosen men then, you sent them from Jerusalem into all the earth, saying that a godless heresy of the Christians had appeared, and reckoning up those things which all who are ignorant of us say against us; so that you are the cause of injustice not only to yourselves, but also to all other men simply."
He writes also that down even to his own time prophetic gifts shone forth in the church; and he makes mention of the Apocalypse of John, plainly saying it to be the apostle's; and he mentions also certain prophetic sayings, convicting Trypho of how the Jews had cut these out from the Scripture. And very many other of his labours too are extant among many brethren.
And the discourses of the man seemed so worthy of study even to the ancients, that Irenaeus quotes his words: this, on the one hand, in the fourth book Against the Heresies, adding these very things: "And well does Justin say, in the treatise against Marcion, that 'I would not have believed the Lord himself, if he had proclaimed another God beside the Creator'"; this, on the other, in the fifth of the same work, in these words: "And well did Justin say that before the coming of the Lord Satan never dared to blaspheme God, inasmuch as he did not yet know his own condemnation."
And these things have necessarily been said by us for the exhortation of the studious to follow with zeal the discourses of this man also. And such were the things concerning him.

CHAPTER XIX

And now, the said reign being driven on into its eighth year, Soter succeeded Anicetus, who had held the bishopric of the church of the Romans for eleven years in all; and likewise, Celadion having presided over the community of the Alexandrians for fourteen years,

CHAPTER XX

Agrippinus received the succession; and of the church of the Antiochenes Theophilus, sixth from the apostles, was known, Cornelius having been appointed fourth of those there after Hero, and after him Eros having succeeded to the bishopric in the fifth degree.

CHAPTER XXI

There flourished in these times in the church Hegesippus, whom we know from what precedes, and Dionysius bishop of the Corinthians, and Pinytus another, bishop of those in Crete, and Philip besides these, and Apolinarius and Melito and Musanus and Modestus, and above all Irenaeus; from whom the orthodoxy of the sound faith, of the apostolic tradition, has come down to us in writing.

CHAPTER XXII

Hegesippus, then, in the five memoirs that have come down to us, has left a most full record of his own mind; in which he shows that he met with very many bishops, having made a journey as far as Rome, and that he received the same teaching from all. It is possible, at any rate, to hear, after certain things said by him concerning the epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, that he adds these things:
"And the church of the Corinthians continued in the right word until Primus was bishop in Corinth; with whom I conversed when I was sailing to Rome, and I spent considerable days with the Corinthians, in which we were refreshed together with the right word.
And having come to Rome, I made for myself a succession down to Anicetus, whose deacon was Eleutherus; and from Anicetus Soter succeeded, after whom Eleutherus. And in each succession and in each city it is so as the law preaches, and the prophets, and the Lord."
The same man also sets down the beginnings of the heresies of his time, in these words: "And after James the Just had been martyred, as the Lord too, on the same charge, again Symeon the son of Clopas, his uncle's son, was appointed bishop, whom all put forward, being a cousin of the Lord, the second. For this cause they called the church a virgin, for it had not yet been corrupted by vain hearings;
but Thebuthis began, because he was not made bishop, to corrupt it secretly from the seven sects, of which he himself too was one, among the people; from which were Simon, whence the Simonians, and Cleobius, whence the Cleobians, and Dositheus, whence the Dositheans, and Gorthaeus, whence the Gorathenians, and the Masbothaeans. From these were the Menandrianists and the Marcianists and the Carpocratians and the Valentinians and the Basilidians and the Saturnilians, each privately and differently introducing his own opinion;
from these false Christs, false prophets, false apostles, who divided the unity of the church by corrupting words against God and against his Christ."
The same man relates also the heresies that of old arose among the Jews, saying: "Now there were diverse opinions in the circumcision among the sons of the Israelites against the tribe of Judah and the Christ, these: Essenes, Galileans, Hemerobaptists, Masbothaeans, Samaritans, Sadducees, Pharisees."
And many other things too he writes, of which we have already before in part made mention, setting down the histories fittingly to the times; and he sets down certain things from the Gospel according to the Hebrews and from the Syriac, and specially from the Hebrew dialect, showing that he had believed from among the Hebrews; and other things too he mentions as from unwritten Jewish tradition.
And not he alone, but Irenaeus too, and the whole choir of the ancients, called the Proverbs of Solomon "all-virtuous Wisdom." And treating of the so-called apocrypha, he relates that some of them were fabricated by certain heretics in his own times. But now we must pass to another matter.

CHAPTER XXIII

And first concerning Dionysius it must be said that he was entrusted with the throne of the bishopric of the community in Corinth, and that, of his divine diligence, he imparted ungrudgingly, not only to those under him, but already also to those of foreign lands, by epistles, making himself most useful to all, in those catholic letters which he framed to the churches;
of which the one to the Lacedaemonians is catechetical of orthodoxy and suggestive of peace and unity; that to the Athenians is rousing of faith and of the polity according to the Gospel, of which, neglecting it, he convicts them as having all but fallen away from the word, since their president Publius came to be martyred in the persecutions of that time.
And he makes mention of Quadratus, who, after the martyred Publius, was appointed their bishop, attesting that by his diligence they were gathered together and obtained a rekindling of the faith. And he declares besides that Dionysius the Areopagite too, urged on to the faith by the apostle Paul, according to the things shown in the Acts, was the first entrusted with the bishopric of the community in Athens.
And another epistle of his to the Nicomedians is extant, in which, warring against the heresy of Marcion, he sets it beside the rule of the truth.
And writing also to the church sojourning at Gortyna, together with the other communities throughout Crete, he approves Philip their bishop, since the church under him was attested for very many acts of valour, and he reminds them to beware of the perversion of the heretics.
And writing also to the church sojourning at Amastris, together with those throughout Pontus, he makes mention of Bacchylides and Elpistus as having urged him on to write, and sets down expositions of divine Scriptures, indicating their bishop by name, Palmas; and he exhorts the same persons much concerning marriage and chastity, and commands them to receive those who turn from any falling away whatever, whether of offence or of heretical error.
To these is reckoned another epistle to the Cnossians, in which he exhorts Pinytus the bishop of the community not to lay upon the brethren by compulsion the heavy burden concerning chastity, but to take into account the weakness of the many;
to which Pinytus, writing back, marvels at and approves Dionysius, but in turn exhorts him at last to impart sterner food, nourishing the people under him afresh with more perfect writings, lest, dwelling to the end in milky discourses, they should unawares grow old in the infantile manner; through which epistle the orthodoxy of Pinytus too concerning the faith, and his care for the profit of those under him, and his eloquence, and his understanding in divine things, are shown as in a most accurate image.
There is still extant also an epistle of Dionysius to the Romans, addressed to Soter, then bishop; from which there is nothing so good as to set down the words by which, approving the custom of the Romans preserved down to the persecution of our day, he writes thus:
"For from the beginning it is your custom to do good in manifold ways to all the brethren, and to send supplies to many churches in every city, here refreshing the poverty of the needy, there supplying to the brethren in the mines, by the supplies you send from the beginning, you Romans keeping up an ancestral custom of the Romans; which not only has your blessed bishop Soter maintained, but also increased, supplying the bounty distributed to the saints, and exhorting with blessed words the brethren who come up, as a loving father his children."
And in this very epistle he makes mention also of the epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, showing that from of old, from ancient custom, the reading of it was made in the church; he says, at any rate: "Today, then, we have spent the holy Lord's day, in which we read your epistle, which we shall ever have to be read for our admonition, as also the former, written to us through Clement."
The same man, moreover, concerning his own epistles, as having been tampered with, says these things: "For when the brethren asked me to write epistles, I wrote them. And these the apostles of the devil have filled with tares, taking out some things and adding others; for whom the woe is reserved. It is no marvel, then, if some have set themselves to tamper with the dominical Scriptures, when they have plotted against these too which are not such."
And there is yet another epistle besides these of Dionysius, written to Chrysophora, a most faithful sister, to whom, writing suitable things, he imparted the fitting rational nourishment to her also. And such were the things concerning Dionysius.

CHAPTER XXIV

Of Theophilus, whom we have shown to be bishop of the church of the Antiochenes, three elementary writings to Autolycus are extant, and another bearing the title Against the Heresy of Hermogenes, in which he has used testimonies from the Apocalypse of John; and certain other catechetical books of his are extant. And since the heretics then too, no less, like tares, were spoiling the pure seed of the apostolic teaching, the shepherds of the churches everywhere, as though scaring off certain wild beasts from the sheep of Christ, kept them away, now by admonitions and exhortations to the brethren, now stripping more bare against them, by unwritten face-to-face disputations and refutations, and already also by written memoirs setting straight their opinions with most accurate proofs. And Theophilus, who with the rest campaigned against these, is plainly seen from a certain discourse not ignobly laboured by him against Marcion, which itself too, with the others we have mentioned, has been preserved to this day. Him, then, Maximinus, seventh from the apostles, succeeded in the church of the Antiochenes.

CHAPTER XXV

Philip, however, whom we knew from the words of Dionysius to be bishop of the community in Gortyna, has himself too composed a very diligent discourse against Marcion, and Irenaeus likewise, and Modestus, who also, beyond the rest, detected the man's error and brought it manifest to all; and many others besides, whose labours are preserved among very many of the brethren even to this day.

CHAPTER XXVI

In their time also Melito, bishop of the community in Sardis, and Apolinarius, of that in Hierapolis, flourished with distinction; who also each privately addressed discourses of apology on behalf of the faith to the emperor of the Romans of that time indicated.
Of these the following have come to our knowledge: of Melito, the two books On the Passover, and that On Polity and Prophets, and that On the Church, and the discourse On the Lord's Day, and moreover that On the Faith of Man, and that On Creation, and that On the Obedience of Faith, and On the Senses, and besides these that On the Soul and Body, and that On the Bath, and On Truth, and On Faith and the Generation of Christ, and his discourse of prophecy, and On the Soul and Body, and that On Hospitality, and the Key, and the books On the Devil and the Apocalypse of John, and that On the Embodied God; and above all the little book To Antoninus.
Now in the work On the Passover he indicates the time at which he composed it, beginning thus: "In the time of Servillius Paulus, proconsul of Asia, at which season Sagaris was martyred, there arose much disputation at Laodicea concerning the Passover, falling at that time in those days, and these things were written."
And of this discourse Clement of Alexandria makes mention in his own discourse On the Passover, which, he says, he composed as occasioned by the writing of Melito.
And in the book to the emperor he relates that such things befell us in his time: "For—what never before came to pass—now the race of the God-fearing is persecuted, driven by new decrees throughout Asia. For the shameless calumniators and lovers of others' goods, having occasion from the edicts, openly play the robber, plundering by night and by day those who do no wrong."
And after other things he says: "And if this is done at your command, let it be reckoned well done; for a just king would never deliberate unjustly, and we gladly bear the prize of such a death; but this petition only we offer you, that you yourself, having first taken cognizance of the workers of such contentiousness, justly judge whether they are worthy of death and punishment, or of safety and quiet. But if this counsel and this new decree, which it would not be fitting to use even against barbarian enemies, be not from you, much more do we beseech you not to overlook us in such a popular pillage."
To these things he again adds, saying: "For our philosophy formerly flourished among the barbarians, but having bloomed among your nations in the great reign of Augustus your ancestor, it became to your empire especially an auspicious good. For from that time the might of the Romans increased to greatness and splendour; of which you have become the wished-for successor, and shall be, with your son, guarding the philosophy fostered together with and beginning together with Augustus, which your ancestors too honoured beside the other religions;
and this is the greatest proof that our word flourished together for good with the well-begun empire, that from the rule of Augustus nothing evil befell, but on the contrary all things splendid and glorious according to the prayers of all.
Alone of all, persuaded by certain envious men, did Nero and Domitian wish to bring our word into calumny, from whom also it befell that the falsehood of slander flowed by irrational custom against such men;
but their ignorance your pious fathers set right, having often rebuked in writing many who dared to revolt about these things; among whom your grandfather Hadrian appears to have written to many others, and to Fundanus the proconsul, governor of Asia; and your father, you administering all things together with him, wrote to the cities not to revolt anything about us, among whom both to the Larissaeans and to the Thessalonians and to the Athenians and to all the Greeks.
And of you, having the same opinion as they about these things, and much more loving toward men and more philosophic, we are persuaded that you will do all things which we ask of you."
But these things are set down in the said discourse; and in the Selections written by him, the same man, beginning according to the preface, makes a list of the acknowledged Scriptures of the Old Testament; which it is necessary here to enumerate. And he writes thus:
"Melito to his brother Onesimus, greeting. Since you have often asked, using your zeal for the word, that selections be made for you from the law and the prophets concerning the Saviour and all our faith, and moreover you wished to learn the exact account of the old books, how many in number and of what order they are, I have been zealous to do such a thing, knowing your zeal concerning the faith and your love of learning concerning the word, and that especially of all you prefer these things in your longing toward God, contending concerning eternal salvation.
Having gone up, then, to the East, and having come to the place where it was preached and done, and having accurately learned the books of the Old Testament, I have set them down and sent them to you; of which the names are: of Moses five, Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy; Joshua son of Nun, Judges, Ruth; of Kings four; of Chronicles two; of David the Psalms; of Solomon the Proverbs, which is also Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Job; of the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Twelve in a single book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras. From which I have also made the selections, dividing them into six books." And such were the things of Melito.

CHAPTER XXVII

Of Apolinarius, many being preserved among many, these are those that have come to us: the discourse to the aforesaid emperor, and the five writings To the Greeks, and On Truth, two books, and To the Jews, two; and the things which after these he composed against the heresy of the Phrygians, innovated not long after, but then beginning, as it were, to sprout up, while Montanus, together with his false prophetesses, was making the beginnings of his deviation.

CHAPTER XXVIII

And of Musanus, whom we reckoned among the foregoing, a most persuasive discourse is extant, written by him to certain brethren who had turned aside to the heresy of the so-called Encratites, then just beginning to sprout up and to introduce into life a strange and corrupting false opinion;

CHAPTER XXIX

of which deviation the account holds that Tatian was the author, whose words concerning the marvellous Justin we set down a little before, relating him to have been a disciple of the martyr. And Irenaeus shows this in the first book Against the Heresies, writing thus at once concerning him and concerning the heresy of his:
"From Saturninus and Marcion those called Encratites preached celibacy, setting at nought the ancient creation of God and quietly accusing him who made male and female for the generation of men, and introduced abstinence from the so-called living things among them, being ungrateful to God who made all things, and they contradict the salvation of the first-formed man.
And this has now been devised among them, a certain Tatian first introducing this blasphemy; who, having been a hearer of Justin, while he was with him disclosed nothing of the kind, but after his martyrdom, having withdrawn from the church, lifted up and puffed up by the conceit of a teacher, as excelling the rest, set up his own peculiar character of school, having mythologized certain invisible aeons like those of Valentinus, and having proclaimed marriage corruption and fornication like Marcion and Saturninus, and having made of himself the contradiction of the salvation of Adam."
These things Irenaeus then. And a little later a certain Severus by name, having strengthened the aforesaid heresy, became to those who set out from it the cause of the title of Severians derived from him.
These, then, use the law and the prophets and the Gospels, interpreting privately the thoughts of the sacred Scriptures; but blaspheming the apostle Paul, they set at nought his epistles, not even receiving the Acts of the Apostles.
Their former author, however, Tatian, having composed I know not how a certain connection and gathering of the Gospels, named this the Diatessaron, which is extant among some even to this day; and they say that he dared to alter certain of the apostle's expressions, as if correcting the composition of their phrasing.
He has left a great multitude of writings, of which especially renowned and mentioned among many is his discourse To the Greeks, in which, having made mention of the times from the beginning, he showed Moses and the prophets of the Hebrews to be older than all those of repute among the Greeks; which indeed seems to be the most beautiful and most useful of all his writings. And such were the things concerning these.

CHAPTER XXX

And in the same reign, the heresies multiplying in Mesopotamia, Bardesanes, a most able man and most skilled in disputation in the Syrian tongue, having composed dialogues against those of Marcion and certain others who presided over diverse doctrines, delivered them in his own tongue and writing, together with very many other writings of his; which his acquaintances (and there were very many of them, since he was powerful in argument) translated from the Syrian into the Greek tongue;
among which is his most able dialogue to Antoninus On Fate, and the other things which they say he composed on occasion of the persecution of that time.
He was formerly of the school of Valentinus, but, having condemned it and refuted very much of the fable-making of this man, he seemed in some way to himself to have changed to the more correct opinion; yet he did not altogether wash off the filth of the ancient heresy. At this time the bishop of the church of the Romans, Soter, died.