the beginning, maintaining like Romans the traditional custom of the Romans, which your worthy bishop Soter has not only kept up but increased, helping the saints with the abundant supply he sends from time to time, and with blessed words exhorting, as a loving father his children, 5 the brethren who come up to Rome. In this same Epistle he also mentions Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians, showing that from the first of ancient custom it was read before the Church. He says, To-day being the Lord's day we kept holy; and in it we read your letter, from the read- 10 ing of which we shall always be able to obtain admonition, as from the former one written to us through Clement. Again, the same writer speaks of his own epistles as having been falsified, in these words, For when the brethren asked me to write letters, I wrote them; and 15 these the apostles of the devil have filled with tares, taking away some things and adding others. For them the Woe is reserved. So it is no marvel if some have endeavoured to falsify even the dominical scriptures, when they have plotted also against writings of another sort.

Tatian's Conversion.

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WHILE I was thinking over such weighty matters, I chanced to meet with certain barbarian writings, too old for comparison with the doctrines of the Greeks, and too divine for comparison with their error: and I chanced to be convinced by them, on account of the soberness of their 25 language, the simplicity of the writers, their intelligible

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ΤΟ

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λέξεων τὸ ἄτυφον καὶ τῶν εἰπόντων τὸ ἀνεπιτήδευτον καὶ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ποιήσεως τὸ εὐκατάληπτον καὶ τῶν μελλόντων τὸ προγνωστικὸν καὶ τῶν παραγγελμάτων τὸ ἐξαίσιον καὶ τῶν ὅλων τὸ μοναρχικόν. θεοδιδάκτου δέ 5 μου γενομένης τῆς ψυχῆς συνῆκα ὅτι τὰ μὲν καταδίκης ἔχει τρόπον, τὰ δὲ ὅτι λύει τὴν ἐν κόσμῳ δουλείαν καὶ ἀρχόντων μὲν πολλῶν καὶ μυρίων ἡμᾶς ἀποσπᾷ τυράννων, δίδωσι δὲ ἡμῖν οὐχ ὅπερ μὴ ἐλάβομεν, ἀλλ ̓ ὅπερ λαβόντες ὑπὸ τῆς πλάνης ἔχειν ἐκωλύθημεν.

ΧΧΙ.

TATIAN, Ad Graecos, 29.

Οἱ ἐν Βιέννῃ καὶ Λουγδούνῳ τῆς Γαλλίας παροικοῦντες δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ, τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ Φρυγίαν τὴν αὐτὴν τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως ἡμῖν πίστιν καὶ ἐλπίδα ἔχουσιν ἀδελφοῖς, εἰρήνη καὶ χάρις καὶ δόξα ἀπὸ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ Χριστοῦ ̓Ιησοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν.

Τὸ μὲν οὖν μέγεθος τῆς ἐνθάδε θλίψεως, καὶ τὴν τοσαύτην τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους ὀργήν, καὶ ὅσα ὑπέμειναν οἱ μακάριοι μάρτυρες, ἐπ ̓ ἀκριβὲς οὔθ ̓ ἡμεῖς εἰπεῖν ἱκανοί, οὔτε μὴν γραφῇ περιληφθῆναι δυνατόν. παντὶ γὰρ σθένει ἐνέσκηψεν ὁ ἀντικείμενος, προοιμιαζό 10 μενος ἤδη τὴν ἀδεῶς μέλλουσαν ἔσεσθαι παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ· καὶ διὰ πάντων διῆλθεν, ἐθίζων τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ προγυμνάζων κατὰ τῶν δούλων τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὥστε μὴ μόνον οἰκιῶν καὶ βαλανείων καὶ ἀγορᾶς εἴργεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ καθόλου φαίνεσθαι ἡμῶν τινὰ αὐτοῖς ἀπειρῆσθαι ἐν ὁποίῳ 25 δήποτε τόπῳ. ἀντεστρατήγει δὴ ἡ χάρις τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀσθενεῖς ἐρρύετο, ἀντιπαρέτασσε δὲ στύλους ἑδραίους, δυναμένους διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς πᾶσαν τὴν ὁρμὴν

account of the creation, their prediction of the future, the reasonableness of their precepts, and their reference of the universe to a single ruler. And as my soul became taught of God I understood that the Greek doctrines lead to condemnation, while these destroy the slavery to which 5 we are subject in the world and rescue us from many rulers and tyrants without number, though they give us not that which we never received before, but that which we did receive and were hindered by the error from keeping.

The Persecution at Lyons and Vienne.

THE servants of Christ residing at Vienne and Lyons, in Gaul, to the brethren throughout Asia and Phrygia, who hold the same faith and hope of redemption, peace and grace and glory from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

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The greatness of the tribulation in this region, and the fury of the heathen against the saints, and the sufferings of the blessed witnesses, we cannot recount accurately, nor indeed could they possibly be recorded. For with all his might the adversary fell upon us, giving us a fore- 20 taste of his unbridled activity at his future coming. He endeavoured in every manner to practise and exercise his servants against the servants of God, not only shutting us out from houses and baths and markets, but forbidding any of us to be seen in any place whatever. But the 25 grace of God led the conflict against him, and delivered the weak, and set them as firm pillars, able through patience to endure all the wrath of the Evil One. And

τοῦ πονηροῦ εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἑλκύσαι· οἳ καὶ ὁμόσε ἐχώρουν αὐτῷ, πᾶν εἶδος ὀνειδισμοῦ καὶ κολάσεως ἀνεχόμενοι, οἳ καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ὀλίγα ἡγούμενοι ἔσπευδον πρὸς Χριστόν, ὄντως ἐπιδεικνύμενοι, ὅτι “ οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν 5 καιροῦ, πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς.” καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου πανδημεί σωρηδὸν ἐπιφερόμενα γενναίως ὑπέμενον, ἐπιβοήσεις, καὶ πληγάς, καὶ συρμούς, καὶ διαρπαγάς, καὶ λίθων βολάς, καὶ συγκλείσεις, καὶ πάνθ' ὅσα ἠγριωμένῳ πλήθει ὡς το πρὸς ἐχθροὺς καὶ πολεμίους φιλεῖ γίνεσθαι. καὶ δὴ

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ἀναχθέντες εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ὑπό τε τοῦ χιλιάρχου καὶ τῶν προεστηκότων τῆς πόλεως ἐξουσιῶν, ἐπὶ παντὸς τοῦ πλήθους ἀνακριθέντες καὶ ὁμολογήσαντες, συνεκλείσθησαν εἰς τὴν εἱρκτὴν ἕως τῆς τοῦ ἡγεμόνος παρουσίας.

Τότε δὴ οἱ πάντες μεγάλως ἐπτοήθημεν, διὰ τὸ ἄδηλον τῆς ὁμολογίας, οὐ τὰς ἐπιφερομένας κολάσεις φοβού μενοι, ἀλλὰ τὸ τέλος ἀφορῶντες, καὶ τὸ ἀποπεσεῖν τινα δεδιότες. συνελαμβάνοντο μέντοι καθ ̓ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν οἱ ἄξιοι, τὸν ἐκείνων ἀναπληροῦντες ἀριθμόν, ὥστε συλ2ο λεγῆναι ἐκ τῶν δύο ἐκκλησιῶν πάντας τοὺς σπουδαίους, καὶ δι ̓ ὧν μάλιστα συνειστήκει τὰ ἐνθάδε. συνελαμβάνοντο δὲ καὶ ἐθνικοί τινες οἰκέται τῶν ἡμετέρων, ἐπεὶ δημοσίᾳ ἐκέλευσεν ὁ ἡγεμὼν ἀναζητεῖσθαι πάντας ἡμᾶς· οἳ καὶ κατ' ἐνέδραν τοῦ Σατανᾶ, φοβηθέντες τὰς βασά25 νους ἃς τοὺς ἁγίους ἔβλεπον πάσχοντας, τῶν στρατιω‐ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦτο παρορμώντων αὐτούς, κατεψεύσαντο ἡμῶν Θυέστεια δείπνα, καὶ Οἰδιποδείους μίξεις, καὶ ὅσα μήτε λαλεῖν μήτε νοεῖν θέμις ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ πιστεύειν εἴ τι τοιοῦτο πώποτε παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἐγένετο. τούτων δὲ 30 φημισθέντων πάντες ἀπεθηριώθησαν εἰς ἡμᾶς, ὥστε καὶ εἴ τινες τὸ πρότερον δι' οἰκειότητα ἐμετρίαζον, τότε μεγά λως ἐχαλέπαινον καὶ διεπρίοντο καθ ̓ ἡμῶν. ἐπληροῦτο δὲ τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν εἰρημένον, ὅτι “ ἐλεύσεται

they joined battle with him, undergoing all kinds of shame and injury; and regarding their great sufferings as little, they hastened to Christ, manifesting truly that 'the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to 5 us-ward.' First of all, they endured nobly the injuries heaped upon them by the populace; clamours and blows and draggings and robberies and stonings and imprisonments, and all things which an infuriated mob delight in inflicting on enemies and adversaries. Then being IC taken to the forum by the chiliarch and the authorities of the city, they were examined in the presence of the whole multitude, and having confessed, they were imprisoned until the arrival of the governor.

Then all of us feared greatly on account of uncertainty 15 as to their confession; not because we dreaded the sufferings to be endured, but because we looked to the end, and were afraid that some of them might fall away. But those who were worthy were seized day by day, filling up their number, so that all the zealous persons, and 20 those through whom especially our affairs had been established, were collected together out of the two churches. And some of our heathen servants also were seized, as the governor had publicly commanded that all of us should be sought out. These, being ensnared by Satan, and 25 fearing for themselves the tortures which they beheld the saints endure, and being also urged on by the soldiers, accused us falsely of Thyestean banquets and Oedipodean intercourse, and of deeds which are not only unlawful for us to speak of or to think, but which we cannot believe 30 were ever done by men. When these accusations were reported, all the people raged like wild beasts against us, so that even if any had before been moderate on account of friendship, they were now exceedingly furious and gnashed