A.D. 154, but in A.D. 161. Neither is there any evidence whatever
that Polycarp was put to death immediately after his return to
Smyrna. This supposition is absolutely necessary to give even an
appearance of plausibility to the bishop's chronology; but he has
not been able to furnish so much as a solitary reason for its
adoption.

3. We have good grounds for believing that the martyrdom of
Polycarp occurred not earlier than A.D. 169. This date fulfils
better than any other the conditions enumerated in the letter of
the Smyrnaeans. Archbishop Ussher has been at pains to show that
the month and day there mentioned precisely correspond to and
verify this reckoning. It is unnecessary here to repeat his
calculations; but it is right to notice another item spoken of in
the Smyrnaean Epistle, supplying an additional confirmatory proof
which the Bishop of Durham cannot well ignore. When Polycarp was
pressed to apostatize by the officials who had him in custody,
they pleaded with him as if anxious to save his life--"Why, what
harm is there in saying _Caesar is Lord_, and offering incense?"
and they urged him to "_swear by the genius of Caesar_" [50:1]
These words suggest that, at the time of this transaction, the
Roman world had only one emperor. In January A.D. 169, L. Verus
died. After recording this event in his _Imperial Fasti_,
Dr. Lightfoot adds, "M. Aurelius is now _sole emperor_." [50:2]
When he is contending for A.D. 155 as the date of the martyrdom,
he lays much stress on the fact that "throughout this Smyrnaean
letter _the singular_ is used of the emperor." "Polycarp," he
says, "is urged to declare 'Caesar is Lord;' he is bidden, and he
refuses to swear by the 'genius of Caesar.'" "It is," he adds, "at
least a matter of surprise that these forms should be persistently