The deatli of Polj'carp is e.xceedingly well known through the letter written by the Church of Smyrna to the Church of Philomelium and ' to all the Churches of the holy and catholic Church in all places ' (see Harnack, Ucberlicferung der altchr. Liu., Leipzig, 1893, pp. 74-75). Parts of the Martyrium Polycarpi are quoted at some length by Eusebius (HE iv. 15). At the end of the 4th cent, a hagiographer, who writes under the name of Pionius, a martyr at Smyrna at the time of the Decian persecution, composed a Vita Polycarpi, devoid of any historical value, in which he in- serted the complete text of the Martyrium Poly- carpi. This Greek Vita, mentioned as early as 1633 by Halloix, published in Latin by tlie Rollan- (lists in 1734, was edited in Greek by L. Duchesne in 18S1 : the Greek text will be found in Funk, ii. 291-336, and in Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, pt. ii." vol. iii. pp. 433-465). The text of the Martyrium Polycarpi, complete and not connected with the Vila, is given besides in several Greek MSS, which have been utilized for critical editions of the Martyrium, that of Zahn in the Patritm apostolicorum opera, ii. (Leipzig, 1876) 132-168, that of Lightfoot, op. cit. ii. 947-986, that of Funk, op. cit. 1. 314-345. It is reproduced in O. von Gebhardt, Acta martyrum selecta, Leipzig, 1902, pp. 1-12. This beautiful fragment forms the oldest known example of acts of martyrdom. As early as 177 the letter of the Christians of Lyons relat- ing the martyrdom of Lyons and Vienne depends for several editorial details on the Martyrium Polycarpi. The authenticity of the Martyrium is no longer contested (Harnack, Chronologie, i. 341).
Among the minute details which the Martyrium, Polycarpi gives on tlie arrest, the trial, and the execution of the bishop of Smyrna, there appears a valuable date : ' The martyrdom of the blessed Polycarp,' we read in 21, ' took place on the second day of the first part of the month Xanthicus, on the seventh day before the Kalends of March, on a great Sabbath, at the eighth hour. He was apprehended by Herodes, when Philip of Tralles was high-priest, in the proconsulship of Statins Quadratus, but in the reign of the Eternal King Jesus Christ.' The martyrdom took place, there- fore, on a Saturday which fell on 23rd I'ebruary. The proconsul Statins Quadratus is identilied with the person of the same name who was consul
in 142 and who, according to inscriptions, was pro- consul of Asia between 151 and 157 : the year 155 is the only one in which the 23rd of February falls on a Saturd.iy (Harnack, Chronologie, i. 334-356, completed by Stiililin, Christl, griech. Litleratur, Munich, 1914, p. 977).
The proconsul, interrogating Polycarp, said to him (ix. 3) : ' Swear the oath, and I will release thee; revile the Christ'; to which Polycarp re- [ilied : ' Fourscore and six yeai-s have I been His servant {dy^ofiKovra Ko.i i^ irnj dovXeuoj avrt^), and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me ? ' We conclude from those words that Polycarp was eighty-six years old at the time of his martyrdom, not that he had been a Christian for eighty-six years (Har- nack, Chronologie, i. 323, 342 tf.).
Other Christians suliered martyrdom at Smyrna ' at the same time as Polycarp ; cf. the data sujiplied by Wright's Martyrologe : ' Und am xxiii. (Fob.) in Asia von den friiheren Miirtyrern, Poly- karpos der Bischof, und Azotos und Koskonios und Melanippos und Zenon' (H. Lietzm.ann, Die drei aeltesten Martyrologien, Bonn, 1903, p. 10). The Martyrium Polycarpi (1-4) mentions the tortures that were inflicted on them, and gives the name of one of them, Germanicus, who.se heroism went the length of attracting the wild beast to him and inciting it to devour him, whereupon the pagan multitude shouted with fury: 'Away with the atheists' (alpe tovs dff^ovi). This is the cry by which popular hatred designated the Christians as • enemies of the gods. The people loudly demanded Polycarp (^riTeladu IloXiifcapiros) ; the people there- fore knew Polycarp as the most notable of the Christians of Smyrna, as their chief (iii. 2). Poly- carp remained at Smyrna, in spite of tlie advice that his friends gave him to flee secretly. He re- tired to a small farmhouse {dypidioy) near the town. There ' night and day he did nothing but pray for all men and for the clnirches of the inhabited world (rtoi' /card t7}v oiKovpi.^i'T]p iKK\Tjaiuiif), as he had been accustomed to do' (v. 1). Polycarp was arrested on the Friday towards evening in a house {li/ nn da/iaTl(j!) in which he had found shelter : the by- standers marvelled ' at his age and his constancy,' and wondered ' why there should be so much eager- ness for the apprehension of an old man like him ' (vii. 1-2). The bishop requested one hour to pray before following them ; they consented. Then Poly- carp ' stood up and prayed, being so full of the grace of God, that for two hours he could not hold his peace ' (vii. 3), and in his prayer he mentioned ' all who at any time had come in his way, small and great, high and low, and all the universal Church throughout the world ' (Kai irdo-rjs ttjs Kara rijv oIkov- li^vTjv KaSoKiKTJs ^KK\'i}alas). At last he was taken to Smyrna on the Saturday morning (viii. 1). Herod the irenarch (the chief of the municipal police) pressed him to do sacrifice : ' What harm is there in saying: Kipios Koiaap ("Caesar is lord")?' He evidently wanted to suggest an equivocation to Polycarp, to save him (cf. TertuUian, Ajiol. 34, 'Dicam plane imperatorem dominum, sed more communi, sed quando non cogor ut Dominum Dei vice dicam '). Polycarp was brought eis rb (rraSiov, where the people were assembled and the proconsul was present (ix. 1). Let us remark in passing that this appearance of Polycarp before the proconsul in the open stadium is very unusual from the point of view of the forms of procon.sular justice. This is not the only surprising detail, for, as P. Allard says: 'Tout dans cette procedure est irr6gulier' (itistoire des pers6eutions, i. [Paris, 18S5] 303). The proconsul called upon Polycarp to swear by the fortune of C:Ksar {liixouov ttji' Kalaapos tvxt)'') and to say : ' Away with the atheists ' (dpe rois dd4oi's). Polycarp, casting his eyes on the multitude of