■ Ma ' ithyrsi, and the ancienl
evi ..I ai g which polvandry, or
i promiscuity, must have been the rule. ' As- •■ ■■> laid on vounger broth- ir turn t., marry the wives of "their
a relic of polyandry of the Thibetan nust hold that polyandry prevailed at
■ ' India | l„.<ri„;.< of Menu, ch. iii.
ng the ancient Hebrews
Burmah, in Syria amon ■
the Kasia, and the Pu-
.i indeed remained in
I • In short, polvandrv transitional forms" in the promiscuity, on the assumption ,h;" l':" isted. i 'i' th.
' ion our space forbids us to write;
["" "" l,,i"w- " '•• '" co I with the wanl of
imbera ■•( the sexes, due to th.' ■■■ infanticide, which i- its al t inva-
riable accompaniment Tribes of warriors, wholly de- voted to a military life, find women an incumbrance rather than a sola..-: and from this cause, and probably from th.- difficulties of subsistence, formed the practice of killing their female children. Bpariug them only when they were th.' tir.-t-born. The disparity of the sexes would l.ad to polyandry, and once instituted, the custom would in many cases continue to , \i-i after the habits iities which produced it disappeared In sev- eral places, as in Ladakh. where polyandry prevails, the sexes an- now either equally balanced, or the female Bex predominates. In these cases polygynia and poly- andry are imonly found existing .-id.- by -id.'. The
subject is one which demands, and as yel has not received, full investigation. Chambers, -. v. See also London Academy, Nov. 21, 1874, p. 557; Lubbock, Origin <;/' Civilization (sec Index*. Magazine, Jan-
uary, 1's7.">. p. 69 sq., 82 sq.
Polycarp (noXvicapiroc), a distinguished father of the Christian Church, is one of a small number who were distinguished from the rest by the term apostolic fathers, as having been contemporaries of some of the apostles. The period of his death is well ascertained to have been by martyrdom in A.D. loo. in the reign of Antoninus Titus (see Waddington, Memoir es ./. VAca- ■ I, mil des Inscriptions, torn, xxvi, pt. ii. p. 232 sq.). I he period of his birth is not known, and we can only determine it by approximation. At the time of his martyrdom he was reputed to have been a Christian eighty-six years, and according to this statement was born probably about A.D. 69. But if with other critics we suppose him to have been converted at a riper age, he must be referred to the reign of Nero. However. there seems no reason to doubt that he was contempo- rary with the apostle John, and known to him, the lengthened period of whose life connects so fortunately the men of the 2d century with those who had been in personal attendance on the Saviour. It is this circum- stance which gives its chief importance to the lives of these persons, and thence arises the main value of the few and in other respects unimportant writings which remain of the apostolic fathers. The lives form links in the chain of Christian tradition; and their compositions recognise by frequent quotations the « ritings which re- main of evangelists and apostles. (In the following ac- count of Polycarp we rely largely upon Smith's Diet, of Class. Biog. s. v.)
Life. — An ancient life, or rather a fragment of a life of Polycarp, ascribed by Bollandus to a certain Pionius of unknown date, and given in a Latin version in the Acta Sanctorum Januarii (a. d. 26), ii. 695, etc.. dwells much on the early history of Polycarp, but the record (if indeed it be the work of Pionius) is some centuries later than its subject, and is evidently false in several particulars. We are inclined to think, however, that it embodies some genuine traditions of Polycarp's history. According to this account, the apostle Paul visited Smyrna in his way from Calatia. through the procon- sular A-ia to Jerusalem (the writer apparently con- founding two journeys recorded in Acts xviii. 18 22, and •_':'.. etc.), and having collected the believers, in- structed them in the proper time ,,|' keeping Easter. After l'aul'.- departure, hi- host Strataeas, the brother ofTimotheus, became bishop of the infant Church: or. lor the passage i- not clear. Strahcas became an elder and Bucolus Was bishop. It was during the episcopate of Bucolus (whether he was the contemporary or the il "Miataa-i that Callisto. a female 'member ol the Church, eminent for riches and work- of charity, was warned of Cod in a dream to go to the -ate of the city called the Ephesian gate, where she would find a little boy (puerulum) named Polycarp, of Eastern or- igin, who had been reduced to slavery, and ua- in the hands of i w • . men. from whom she was to redeem him. Callisto, obedient to the vision. r..>e. went to the gate, found the two men with the child, a- it had been re- pealed to her; and having redeemed the boy, brought
POLYCARP
361
POLYCARP
him home, educated him with maternal affection in the Christian faith, and, when he attained to manhood, first made him ruler over her house, then adopted him as her son, and finally left him heir to all her wealth. Polycarp had been from childhood distinguished by his benefi- cence, piety, and self-denial ; by the gravity of his de- portment, and his diligence in the study of the Holy Scriptures. These qualities early attracted the notice and regard of the bishop, Bucolus, who loved him with fatherly affection, and was in return regarded by him with filial love. By Bucolus he was ordained first to the office of deacon, in which he labored diligently, con- futing heathens, Jews, and heretics; delivering cate- chetical homilies in the church, and writing epistles, of which that to the Philippians is the only extant speci- men. He was subsequently, when of mature age (his hair was already turning gray) and still maturer con- duct, ordained presbyter by Bucolus, on whose death he was elected and consecrated bishop. We omit to notice the various miracles said to be wrought by Polycarp, or to have occurred on difFerent occasions in his life.