Then Nero ordered a lofty tower to be made in the Campus Martius, and all the people and the dignities to be present at the spectacle. And on the following day, all the multitude having come together, Nero ordered Peter and Paul to be present, to whom also he said: Now the truth has to be made manifest. Peter and Paul said: We do not expose him, but our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom he has falsely declared himself to be.
And Paul, having turned to Peter, said: It is my part to bend the knee, and to pray to God; and thine to produce the effect, if thou shouldst see him attempting anything, because thou wast first taken in hand [2096] by the Lord. And Paul, bending his knees, prayed. And Peter, looking stedfastly upon Simon, said: Accomplish what thou hast begun; for both thy exposure and our call is at hand: for I see my Christ calling both me and Paul. Nero said: And where will you go to against my will? Peter said: Whithersoever our Lord has called us. Nero said: And who is your lord? Peter said: Jesus the Christ, whom I see calling us to Himself. Nero said: Do you also then intend to go away to heaven? Peter said: If it shall seem good to Him that calls us. Simon said: In order that thou mayst know, O emperor, that these are deceivers, as soon as ever I ascend into heaven, I will send my angels to thee, and will make thee come to me. Nero said: Do at once what thou sayest.
Then Simon went up upon the tower in the face of all, and, crowned with laurels, he stretched forth his hands, and began to fly. And when Nero saw him flying, he said to Peter: This Simon is true; but thou and Paul are deceivers. To whom Peter said: Immediately shalt thou know that we are true disciples of Christ; but that he is not Christ, but a magician, and a malefactor. Nero said: Do you still persist? Behold, you see him going up into heaven. Then Peter, looking stedfastly upon Paul, said: Paul, look up and see. And Paul, having looked up, full of tears, and seeing Simon flying, said: Peter, why art thou idle? finish what thou hast begun; for already our Lord Jesus Christ is calling us. And Nero hearing them, smiled a little, and said: These men see themselves worsted already, and are gone mad. Peter said: Now thou shalt know that we are not mad. Paul said to Peter: Do at once what thou doest.
And Peter, looking stedfastly against Simon, said: I adjure you, ye angels of Satan, who are carrying him into the air, to deceive the hearts of the unbelievers, by the God that created all things, and by Jesus Christ, whom on the third day He raised from the dead, no longer from this hour to keep him up, but to let him go. And immediately, being let go, he fell into a place called Sacra Via, that is, Holy Way, and was divided into four parts, having perished by an evil fate.
Then Nero ordered Peter and Paul to be put in irons, and the body of Simon to be carefully kept three days, thinking that he would rise on the third day. To whom Peter said: He will no longer rise, since he is truly dead, being condemned to everlasting punishment. And Nero said to him: Who commanded thee to do such a dreadful deed? Peter said: His reflections and blasphemy against my Lord Jesus Christ have brought him into this gulf of destruction. Nero said: I will destroy you by an evil taking off. Peter said: This is not in thy power, even if it should seem good to thee to destroy us; but it is necessary that what our Master promised to us should be fulfilled.
Then Nero, having summoned Agrippa the proprætor, said to him: It is necessary that men introducing mischievous religious observances should die. Wherefore I order them to take iron clubs, [2097] and to be killed in the sea-fight. Agrippa the proprætor said: Most sacred emperor, what thou hast ordered is not fitting for these men, since Paul seems innocent beside Peter. Nero said: By what fate, then, shall they die? Agrippa answered and said: As seems to me, it is just that Paul's head should be cut off, and that Peter should be raised on a cross as the cause of the murder. Nero said: Thou hast most excellently judged.
Then both Peter and Paul were led away from the presence of Nero. And Paul was beheaded on the Ostesian road. [2098]
And Peter, having come to the cross, said: Since my Lord Jesus Christ, who came down from the heaven upon the earth, was raised upon the cross upright, [2099] and He has deigned to call to heaven me, who am of the earth, my cross ought to be fixed head down most, so as to direct my feet towards heaven; for I am not worthy to be crucified like my Lord. Then, having reversed the cross, they nailed his feet up.
And the multitude was assembled reviling Cæsar, and wishing to kill him. But Peter restrained them, saying: [2100] A few days ago, being exhorted by the brethren, I was going away; and my Lord Jesus Christ met me, and having adored Him, I said, Lord, whither art Thou going? And He said to me, I am going to Rome to be crucified. And I said to Him, Lord, wast Thou not crucified once for all? And the Lord answering, said, I saw thee fleeing from death, and I wish to be crucified instead of thee. And I said, Lord, I go; I fulfil Thy command. And He said to me, Fear not, for I am with thee. [2101] On this account, then, children, do not hinder my going; for already my feet are going on the road to heaven. Do not grieve, therefore, but rather rejoice with me, for to-day I receive the fruit of my labours. And thus speaking, he said: I thank Thee, good Shepherd, that the sheep which Thou hast entrusted to me, sympathize with me; I ask, then, that with me they may have a part in Thy kingdom. [2102] And having thus spoken, he gave up the ghost.
And immediately there appeared men glorious and strange in appearance; and they said: We are here, on account of the holy and chief apostles, from Jerusalem. And they, along with Marcellus, an illustrious man, who, having left Simon, had believed in Peter, took up his body secretly, and put it under the terebinth near the place for the exhibition of sea-fights in the place called the Vatican. [2103]
And the men who had said that they came from Jerusalem said to the people: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, because you have been deemed worthy to have great champions. And know that Nero himself, after these not many days, will be utterly destroyed, and his kingdom shall be given to another.
And after these things the people revolted against him; and when he knew of it, he fled into desert places, and through hunger and cold he gave up the ghost, and his body became food for the wild beasts.
And some devout men of the regions of the East wished to carry off the relics of the saints, and immediately there was a great earthquake in the city; [2104] and those that dwelt in the city having become aware of it, ran and seized the men, but they fled. But the Romans having taken them, put them in a place three miles from the city, and there they were guarded a year and seven months, until they had built the place in which they intended to put them. And after these things, all having assembled with glory and singing of praise, they put them in the place built for them.
And the consummation of the holy glorious Apostles Peter and Paul was on the 29th of the month of June--in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and strength.
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[2059] Lambecius proposes to read Gaudos and Melita. In the Latin version of the famous Greek scholar Lascaris, 1490, it is a Melita et Gaudisio insulis. [Comp. Acts xxvii. 16, xxviii. 1. The two names are apparently combined here.--R.]
[2060] traktaisantes: from the Byzantine verb traktaizein = tractare. The various readings in the mss. are: Being very disorderly; having been much disturbed.
[2061] Various reading: Let it be...and we will write, etc.
[2062] Puteoli.
[2063] The geographical names are given in the peculiar forms of the text. Occasionally the usual forms, such as Baiæ, occur.
[2064] The distance was thirty-three miles. In the Antonine Itinerary, "To Aricia is sixteen miles, to Tres Tabernæ seventeen miles, to Appii Forum ten miles."
[2065] Or, do away with belief in circumcision.
[2066] Lit., web or tissue.
[2067] Gen. xii. 3, xvii. 5.
[2068] Rom. ii. 11; Eph. vi. 9; Col. iii. 25; Jas. ii. 1.
[2069] Rom. ii. 12.
[2070] Ps. cxxxii. 11.
[2071] Or, He allowed Himself to suffer all these things.
[2072] Or, by Him.
[2073] i.e., That all may profess their faith in Him. For similar expressions, see 2 Cor. ix. 13, Heb. x. 23.
[2074] Ps. cx. 4; Heb. vii. 21.
[2075] i.e., How do you happen, as a race, to be so unbelieving? The Latin translation has: against your race--kata tou genous for kata to genos.
[2076] For another translation of this letter, see Latin Gospel of Nicodemus, chap. xiii. (xxix.) [This occurs on p. 454; there is another form on p. 459.--R.]
[2077] Or, I saw.
[2078] Or, to their council.
[2079] i.e., human nature.
[2080] Jer. xvii. 10; Rev. ii. 23.
[2081] Lam. iii. 41; Mark xi. 25; 1 Tim. ii. 8.
[2082] See the Clementines, Homilies II., III., VI., XVI., XX.
[2083] Or, are proved to be.
[2084] Or, the pure in heart admitting the faith.
[2085] Rom. xv. 19.
[2086] Rom. xii. 10.
[2087] 1 Tim. vi. 17.
[2088] Or, those who have a moderate quantity of food and covering to be content (1 Tim. vi. 8).
[2089] Or, in the admonition of the Saviour (Eph. vi. 4.).
[2090] Col. iii. 18-22.
[2091] Gal. i. 1.
[2092] Four of themss. and the Latin version here add: For assuredly I have for a long time past received letters from our bishops throughout all the world about the things done and said by him.
[2093] i.e., mysteries.
[2094] Or, to nothing.
[2095] Luke i. 33.
[2096] Or, chosen.
[2097] The text has kinaras, artichokes, for which I have read korunas, clubs. Sea-fights were a favourite spectacle of the Roman emperors (Suet., Nero, xii.; Claud., xxi.; Dom., iv.). The combatants were captives, or persons condemned to death (Dion Cass., lx. 33).
[2098] For the episode of Perpetua, contained in three of the Greek mss., but not in the Latin versions, see the end of this book.
[2099] i.e., head uppermost.
[2100] One of the mss. here inserts: Do not be hard upon him, for he is the servant of this father Satan; but I must fulfil the command of my Lord.
[2101] Some of themss. insert: Until I bring thee into my Father's house.
[2102] Several of themss. here add: I commend unto Thee the sheep whom Thou didst entrust unto me, that they may not feel that they are without me, having for a shepherd Thee, through whom I have been able to feed this flock.
[2103] In three of the Greek mss., but not in the Latin versions, the story of Perpetua is here continued.
[2104] Severalmss. here add: And the people of the Romans ran, and took them into the place called the Catacombs on the Appian Way, at the third milestone; and there the bodies of the saints were guarded a year and six months, until places were built for them in which they might be put. And the body of St. Peter was put into the Vatican, near the place for the sea-fights, and that of St. Paul into the Vostesian (or Ostesian) Way, two mile from the city; and in these places, through their prayers, many good deeds are wrought to the faithful in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Story of Perpetua.
And as Paul was being led away to be beheaded at a place about three miles from the city, he was in irons. And there were three soldiers guarding him who were of a great family. And when they had gone out of the gate about the length of a bow-shot, there met them a God-fearing woman; and she, seeing Paul dragged along in irons, had compassion on him, and wept bitterly. And the name of the woman was called Perpetua; and she was one-eyed. And Paul, seeing her weeping, says to her: Give me thy handkerchief, and when I turn back I shall give it to thee. And she, having taken the handkerchief, gave it to him willingly. And the soldiers laughed, and said to the woman: Why dost thou wish, woman, to lose thy handkerchief? Knowest thou not that he is going away to be beheaded? And Perpetua said to them: I adjure you by the health of Cæsar to bind his eyes with this handkerchief when you cut off his head. Which also was done. And they beheaded him at the place called Aquæ Salviæ, near the pine tree. And as God had willed, before the soldiers came back, the handkerchief, having on it drops of blood, was restored to the woman. And as she was carrying it, straightway and immediately her eye was opened.