ready reception of the letters which were to follow. The Epistle
to the Romans tacitly embodies their credentials. It slyly takes
advantage of the connection of the name of Ignatius with Syria in
the letter of Polycarp to the Philippians; assumes that Syria is
the eastern province; and represents Ignatius as a bishop from
that part of the empire on his way to die at Rome. It does not
venture to say that the Western capital had then a bishop of its
own,--for the Epistle of Clemens, which was probably in many
hands, and which ignored the episcopal office there--might thus
have suggested doubts as to its genuineness; but it tells the
sensational story of the journey of Ignatius in chains, from east
to west, in the custody of what are called "ten leopards." This
tale at the time was likely to be exceedingly popular. Ever since
the rise of Montanism--which made its appearance about the time of
the death of Polycarp--there had been an increasing tendency all
over the Church to exaggerate the merits of martyrdom. This
tendency reached its fullest development in the early part of the
third century. The letter of Ignatius to the Romans exhibits it in
the height of its folly. Ignatius proclaims his most earnest
desire to be torn to pieces by the lions, and entreats the Romans
not to interfere and deprive him of a privilege which he coveted
so ardently. The words reported by Irenaeus as uttered by one of
the martyrs of Lyons are adroitly appropriated by the pseudo-Ignatius
as if spoken by himself; and, in an uncritical age, when the
subject-matter of the communication was otherwise so much to
the taste of the reader, the quotation helped to establish the
credit of the Ignatian correspondence. Another portion of the
letter was sure to be extremely acceptable to the Church of Rome--
for here the writer is most lavish in his complimentary
acknowledgements. That Church is described as "having the