The Martyrs whom Justin mentions in his Own Work.
1. same man, before his conflict, mentions in his first Apology others that suffered martyrdom before him, and most fittingly records the following events.
2. He writes thus: “A certain woman lived with a
dissolute husband; she herself, too, having formerly been of the same
character. But when she came to the knowledge of the teachings of
Christ, she became temperate, and endeavored to persuade her husband
likewise to be temperate, repeating the teachings, and declaring the
punishment in eternal fire which shall come upon those who do not live
temperately and conformably to right reason.
3. But he, continuing in the
same excesses, alienated his wife by his conduct. For she finally, thinking it wrong to live as a wife with a man who, contrary to the law of nature and right, sought every possible means of pleasure, desired to be divorced from him.
4. And when she was earnestly
entreated by her friends, who counseled her still to remain with him, on the ground that her husband might some time give hope of amendment, she did violence to herself and remained.
5. But when her husband had gone
to Alexandria, and was reported to be conducting himself still worse, she—in order that she might not, by continuing in wedlock, and by sharing his board and bed, become a partaker in his lawlessness and impiety—gave him what we call a bill of divorce and left him.
6. But her noble and excellent
husband,—instead of rejoicing, as he ought to have done, that she
had given up those actions which she had formerly recklessly committed
with the servants and hirelings, when she delighted in drunkenness and
in every vice, and that she desired him likewise to give them
up,—when she had gone from him contrary to his wish, brought an
accusation concerning her, declaring that she was a
Christian.
7. And she petitioned you, the
emperor, that she might be permitted first to set her affairs in order, and afterwards, after the settlement of her affairs, to make her defense against the accusation. And this you granted.
8. But he who had once been her
husband, being no longer able to prosecute her, directed his attacks
against a certain Ptolemæus, who had
been her teacher in the doctrines of Christianity, and whom Urbicius had punished. Against him he proceeded in the following manner:
9. “He persuaded a
centurion who was his friend to cast Ptolemæus into prison, and to
take him and ask him this only: whether he were a Christian? And when
Ptolemæus, who was a lover of truth, and not of a deceitful and
false disposition, confessed that he was a Christian, the centurion
bound him and punished him for a long time in the prison.
10. And finally, when the man
was brought before Urbicius he was likewise asked this question only: whether he were a Christian? And again, conscious of the benefits which he enjoyed through the teaching of Christ, he confessed his schooling in divine virtue.
11. For whoever denies that he
is a Christian, either denies because he despises Christianity, or he
avoids confession because he is conscious that he is unworthy and an
alien to it; neither of which is the case with the true
Christian.
12. And when Urbicius commanded
that he be led away to punishment, a certain Lucius, who was also a Christian, seeing judgment so unjustly passed, said to Urbicius, ‘Why have you punished this man who is not an adulterer, nor a fornicator, nor a murderer, nor a thief, nor a robber, nor has been convicted of committing any crime at all, but has confessed that he bears the name of Christian? You do not judge, O Urbicius, in a manner befitting the Emperor Pius, or the philosophical son of Cæsar, or the sacred senate.’
13. And without making any other
reply, he said to Lucius, ‘Thou also seemest to me to be such an
one.’ And when Lucius said, ‘Certainly,’ he again
commanded that he too should be led away to punishment. But he
professed his thanks, for he was liberated, he added, from such wicked
rulers and was going to the good Father and King, God. And still a
third having come forward was condemned to be
punished.”
14. To this, Justin fittingly
and consistently adds the words which we quoted above, saying, “I, too, therefore expect to be plotted against by some one of those whom I have named,” &c.