bloodshed, either of citizen or foe," during his reign of twenty-two
years. [45:2] Dr. Lightfoot strives again and again to evade
the force of this evidence, and absurdly quotes the sufferings of
Polycarp and his companions as furnishing a contradiction; but he
thus only takes for granted what he has elsewhere failed to prove.
He admits, at the same time, that this case stands alone. "_The
only recorded martyrdoms_," says he, "in Proconsular Asia during
his reign [that of Antoninus Pius] are those of Polycarp and his
companions." [45:3] It must, however, be obvious that he cannot
establish even this exception. We have seen that the chronology
supported by the Bishop of Durham is at variance with the express
statements of all the early Christian writers; and certain facts
mentioned in the letter of the Smyrnaeans concur to demonstrate
its inaccuracy. The description there given of the sufferings
endured by those of whom it speaks, supplies abundant evidence
that the martyrdoms must have happened in the time of Marcus Aurelius.
Dr. Lightfoot himself attests that "persecutions extended throughout
this reign;" that they were "fierce and deliberate;" and that they
were "_aggravated by cruel tortures_." [46:1] Such precisely were
the barbarities reported in this Epistle. It states that the martyrs
"were so torn by lashes that the mechanism of their flesh was visible,
even as far as the inward veins and arteries;" that, notwithstanding,
they were enabled to "endure the fire;" and that those who were
finally "condemned to the wild beasts" meanwhile "suffered fearful
punishments, _being made to lie on sharp shells, and buffeted with
other forms of manifold tortures._" [46:2] These words attest
that, before the Christians were put to death, various expedients
were employed to extort from them a recantation. Such was the mode
of treatment recommended by Marcus Aurelius. In an edict issued
against those who professed the gospel by this emperor, we have