[1353] Rom. viii. 18.
[1354] Of course official imprisonment cannot be referred to here. It may be that the mob did actually shut Christians up in one or another place, or it may mean simply that their treatment was such that the Christians were obliged to avoid places of public resort and were perhaps even compelled to remain somewhat closely at home, and were thus in a sense "imprisoned."
[1355] chiliarches, strictly the commander of a thousand men, but commonly used also to translate the Latin Tribunus militum.
[1356] Of the various witnesses mentioned in this chapter (Vettius Epagathus, Sanctus, Attalus, Blandina, Biblias, Pothinus, Maturus, Alexander, Ponticus) we know only what this epistle tells us. The question has arisen whether Vettius Epagathus really was a martyr. Renan (Marc Auréle, p. 307) thinks that he was not even arrested, but that the words "taken into the number of martyrs" (§10, below) imply simply that he enjoyed all the merit of martyrdom without actually undergoing any suffering. He bases his opinion upon the fact that Vettius is not mentioned again among the martyrs whose sufferings are recorded, and also upon the use of the words, "He was and is a true disciple" (§10, below). It is quite possible, however, that Vettius, who is said to have been a man of high station, was simply beheaded as a Roman citizen, and therefore there was no reason for giving a description of his death; and still further the words, "taken into the order of witnesses," and also the words used in §10, "being well pleased to lay down his life," while they do not prove that he suffered martyrdom, yet seem very strongly to imply that he did, and the quotation from the Apocalypse in the same paragraph would seem to indicate that he was dead, not alive, at the time the epistle was written. On the whole, it may be regarded as probable, though not certain, that Vettius was one of the martyrs. Valesius refers to Gregory of Tours (H. E. chaps. 29, 31) as mentioning a certain senator who was "of the lineage of Vettius Epagathus, who suffered for the name of Christ at Lyons." Gregory's authority is not very great, and he may in this case have known no more about the death of Vettius than is told in the fragment which we still possess, so that his statement can hardly be urged as proof that Vettius did suffer martyrdom. But it may be used as indicating that the latter was of a noble family, a fact which is confirmed in §10, below, where he is spoken of as a man of distinction.
[1357] Luke i. 6.
[1358] kleron, employed in the sense of "order," "class," "category." Upon the significance of the word kleros in early Christian literature, see Ritschl's exhaustive discussion in his Entstehung der altkatholischen Kirche, 2d ed., p. 388 sq.
[1359] par?kleton; cf. John xiv. 16.
[1360] pneuma is omitted by three important mss. followed by Laemmer and Heinichen. Burton retains the word in his text, but rejects it in a note. They are possibly correct, but I have preferred to follow the majority of the codices, thinking it quite natural that Eusebius should introduce the pneuma in connection with Zacharias, who is said to have been filled with the "Spirit," not with the "Advocate," and thinking the omission of the word by a copyist, to whom it might seem quite superfluous after par?kleton, much easier than its insertion.
[1361] See Luke i. 67
[1362] Compare John xv. 13.
[1363] Rev. xiv. 4.
[1364] diekrinonto. Valesius finds in this word a figure taken from the athletic combats; for before the contests began the combatants were examined, and those found eligible were admitted (eiskrinesthai), while the others were rejected (ekkrinesthai).
[1365] exetrosan, with Stroth, Zimmermann, Schwegler, Burton, and Heinichen. exepeson has perhaps a little stronger ms. support, and was read by Rufinus, but the former word, as Valesius remarks, being more unusual than the latter, could much more easily be changed into the latter by a copyist than the latter into the former.
[1366] Gieseler (Ecclesiastical History, Harper's edition, I. p. 127) speaks of this as a violation of the ancient law that slaves could not be compelled to testify against their masters; but it is to be noticed that it is not said in the present case that they were called upon to testify against their masters, but only that through fear of what might come upon them they yielded to the solicitation of the soldiers and uttered falsehoods against their masters. It is not implied therefore that any illegal methods were employed in this respect by the officials in connection with the trials.
[1367] i.e. of cannibalism and incest; for according to classic legend Thyestes had unwittingly eaten his own sons served to him at a banquet by an enemy, and OEdipus had unknowingly married his own mother. Upon the terrible accusations brought against the Christians by their heathen enemies, see above, Bk. IV. chap. 7, note 20.
[1368] John xvi. 2.
[1369] kai di' ekeinon rhethenai ti ton blasphemon. The word blasphemon evidently refers here to the slanderous reports against the Christians such as had been uttered by those mentioned just above. This is made clear, as Valesius remarks, by the kai di' ekeinon, "by them also."
[1370] Valesius maintains that Sanctus was a deacon of the church of Lyons, and that the words apo Biennes signify only that he was a native of Vienne, but it is certainly more natural to understand the words as implying that he was a deacon of the church of Vienne, and it is not at all difficult to account for his presence in Lyons and his martyrdom there. Indeed, it is evident that the church of Vienne was personally involved in the persecution as well as that of Lyons. Cf. §13, above.
[1371] Pergamos in Asia Minor (mentioned in Rev. ii. 12, and the seat of a Christian church for a number of centuries) is apparently meant here. As already remarked, the connection between the inhabitants of Gaul and of Asia Minor was very close.
[1372] Cf. 1 Cor. i. 27, 28.
[1373] huper p?nta anthropon.
[1374] Blasphemy against Christianity, not against God or Christ; that is, slanders against the Christians (cf. §14, above), as is indicated by the words that follow (so Valesius also).
[1375] See Bk. IV. chap. 16, note 9.
[1376] The compassion of Jesus appeared not in the fact that those who denied suffered such terrible punishments, but that the difference between their misery in their sufferings and the joy of the faithful in theirs became a means of strength and encouragement to the other Christians. Compare the note of Heinichen (III. p. 180).
[1377] Cf. 2 Cor. ii. 15. Cf. also Bk. IV. chap. 15, §37, above.
[1378] meta tauta de loipon eis pan eidos diereito ta marturia tes exodou auton.
[1379] dia pleionon kleron; undoubtedly a reference to the athletic combats (see Valesius' note in loco).
[1380] tas diexodous ton mastigon tas ekeise eithismenas. It was the custom to compel the bestiarii before fighting with wild beasts to run the gauntlet. Compare Shorting's and Valesius' notes in loco, and Tertullian's ad Nationes, 18, and ad Martyras, 5, to which the latter refers.
[1381] Among the Romans crucifixion was the mode of punishment commonly inflicted upon slaves and the worst criminals. Roman citizens were exempt from this indignity. See Lipsius' De Cruce and the various commentaries upon the Gospel narratives of the crucifixion of Christ.
[1382] Compare Isa. xxvii. 1, which is possibly referred to here.
[1383] hos nekrous exetrose. Compare §11, above.
[1384] Ezek. xxxiii. 11.
[1385] apotumpanisthenai. The word means literally "beaten to death," but it is plain that it is used in a general sense here, from the fact that some were beheaded and some sent to the wild beasts, as we are told just below.
[1386] Renan (Marc Auréle, p. 329) identifies this with the meeting of the general assembly of the Gallic nations, which took place annually in the month of August for the celebration of the worship of Augustus, and was attended with imposing ceremonies, games, contests, &c. The identification is not at all improbable.
[1387] Cf. Matt. xxii. 11.
[1388] teganon: literally, "frying-pan," by which, however, is evidently meant the instrument of torture spoken of already more than once in this chapter as an iron seat or chair.
[1389] The Christians were very solicitous about the bodies of the martyrs, and were especially anxious to give them decent burial, and to preserve the memory of their graves as places of peculiar religious interest and sanctity. They sometimes went even to the length of bribing the officials to give them the dead bodies (cf. §61, below).
[1390] Rev. xxii. 11. The citation of the Apocalypse at this date as Scripture (hina he graphe plerothe) is noteworthy.
[1391] These words show us how much emphasis the Christians of that day must have laid upon the resurrection of the body (an emphasis which is abundantly evident from other sources), and in what a sensuous and material way they must have taught the doctrine, or at least how unguarded their teaching must have been, which could lead the heathen to think that they could in the slightest impede the resurrection by such methods as they pursued. The Christians, in so far as they laid so much emphasis as they did upon the material side of the doctrine, and were so solicitous about the burial of their brethren, undoubtedly were in large part responsible for this gross misunderstanding on the part of the heathen.