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having seen, and considering the sight unbearable, with zeal for godliness he approaches and rebukes those men, crying out in a loud voice; 2.2 but he himself, having been arrested on account of his boldness, was shown to be a most noble martyr of the truth, if ever anyone was. For when the judge had pronounced against him the death by fire, with a cheerful countenance and a very eager disposition, he received the sentence with joy and was led away; then he is bound to the stake, and when the wood was heaped up about him and those who were to light the fire were awaiting the emperor's final decision, he cried out, “Where is my fire?”; 2.3 And saying these things, he is summoned before the emperor, to be subjected to a newer punishment of the tongue; having most bravely endured its cutting out, he showed by all his deeds that a divine power is present with those who endure any hardship whatsoever for the sake of piety, lightening their labors and strengthening their zeal. At any rate, having learned of the new form of punishment and not being dismayed, the noble man gladly put forth his tongue, offering it most readily and prepared to those who were to cut it off; 2.4 After which punishment, having been cast into bonds and having suffered there a very long time, at last when the twentieth anniversary of the reign arrived, and by a customary grant liberty was proclaimed for all everywhere who were in bonds, he alone, with both his feet stretched through five stocks, lying in the wood itself, was put in a noose, and as he had longed, he was adorned with martyrdom. 2.5 But this man, though an exile, was nevertheless a Palestinian, and would be worthy to be numbered among the Palestinian martyrs. These things were accomplished in this manner in the first year, when the persecution was directed only against the heads of the church; 3.1 But when the second year had passed and the war against us was waged even more fiercely, when Urbanus was then governor of the province, royal letters first arrived, in which by a general decree all the people in every city were commanded to sacrifice and pour libations to the idols, Timotheus in Gaza, a city of Palestine, after enduring countless tortures, and on top of all being delivered to a slow and gentle fire, having furnished a most genuine proof of his genuine piety towards the divine through his endurance in all things, carried off the crown of the sacred victors, the athletes of godliness. And with him at the same time, having displayed a most noble resistance, Agapius and our Thecla were condemned to be food for wild beasts. 3.2 Who, having seen what followed these events, would not have marveled, or having learned of it by hearsay, would not have been astonished? For when the people were celebrating a public festival and their usual spectacles, along with the other things that were of interest to them, there was much talk that those recently condemned to the beasts would display their contest. 3.3 So as the rumor grew and increased among all, six young men, one of whom was Pontic by race, Timolaus by name, and another from Tripolis in Phoenicia, was called Dionysius, and another of them a subdeacon of the community in Diospolis, whose name was Romulus, and two Egyptians besides these, Paesis and Alexander, and another namesake with this one, Alexander from Gaza, as Urbanus was about to go up to the hunting-theater, having first bound their own hands, so as to signify their excessive eagerness for martyrdom, they run up to him, confessing that they were Christians and demonstrating by their readiness for all terrible things that those who boast of their piety toward the God of all did not cower even at the attacks of wild beasts. 3.4 Immediately, having thrown the governor himself and those around him into no small astonishment, they are confined in prison, and after a few days two others were enrolled with them, one of whom, Agapius by name, had already previously contended in dreadful and various tortures for another confession, and the other their bodily

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ἐνιδών, ἀνύποιστον ἡγησάμενος τὴν θέαν, ζήλῳ θεοσεβείας πρόσεισιν κἀκείνοις μεγάλῃ φωνῇ κεκραγὼς ἐπιπλήττει· 2.2 αὐτὸς δὲ τῆς τόλμης ἕνεκεν συλληφθείς, γενναιότατος, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος, ἀποδέδεικται μάρτυς τῆς ἀληθείας. ἀποφηναμένου γὰρ κατ' αὐτοῦ τὸν διὰ πυρὸς θάνατον τοῦ δικαστοῦ, φαιδρῷ προσώπῳ καὶ διαθέσει εὖ μάλα προθυμοτάτῃ τὴν ἀπόφασιν ἀσπαστῶς καταδεξάμενος ἀπάγεται· εἶτα τῷ ἰκρίῳ προσδεῖται, τῆς τε ὕλης συμπεφορημένης ἐπ' αὐτῷ καὶ τῶν μελλόντων ὑφάπτειν τὴν πυρὰν τὴν βασιλέως ἐπιπαρόντος ἐπίκρισιν ἐκδεχομένων, «ποῦ μοι τὸ πῦρ;» ἐβόα· 2.3 καὶ ταῦτα λέγων, ἀνάκλητος πρὸς βασιλέα γίνεται, καινοτέρᾳ ὑποβληθησόμενος κολάσει τῆς γλώττης· ἧς ἀποκοπὴν ἀνδρειότατα ὑπομείνας, ἔργοις ἅπασιν ὑπέδειξεν ὅτι δὴ θεία δύναμις τοῖς ὅ τί ποτ' οὖν χαλεπὸν ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ὑπομένουσιν ἐπελαφρίζουσα τοὺς πόνους καὶ τὴν προθυμίαν ἐπιρρωννῦσα παρίσταται. μαθὼν γοῦν τὴν καινουργίαν τῆς κολάσεως καὶ μὴ καταπλαγεὶς ὁ γεννάδας ἀσμένως προυβάλλετο τὴν γλῶτταν, προθυμότατα εὐτρεπῆ παρέχων αὐτὴν τοῖς ἀποτέμνουσιν· 2.4 μεθ' ἣν τιμωρίαν εἰς δεσμὰ βληθεὶς πλεῖστόν τε αὐτόθι πονηθεὶς χρόνον, τέλος τῆς ἀρχικῆς εἰκοσαετηρίδος ἐπιστάσης κατὰ νομιζομένην δωρεὰν τῶν ἐν τοῖς δεσμοῖς πανταχῇ πάντων ἐλευθερίας ἀνακηρυχθείσης, μόνος ὑπὸ πέντε κεντήματα ἄμφω τὼ πόδε διαταθείς, ἐν αὐτῷ κείμενος τῷ ξύλῳ βρόχῳ περιβληθείς, ὡς καὶ ἐπεπόθει, μαρτυρίῳ κατεκοσμήθη. 2.5 ἀλλ' οὗτός γε, εἰ καὶ ὑπερόριος, ὅμως Παλαιστινὸς ὤν, ἐν Παλαιστινοῖς ἄξιος ἂν εἴη μάρτυσιν ἀριθμεῖσθαι. ταῦτα μὲν ἔτει πρώτῳ τοῦτον ἀπετελέσθη τὸν τρόπον, κατὰ μόνων τῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας προέδρων ἐπηρτημένου τοῦ διωγμοῦ· 3.1 ∆ευτέρου δ' ἔτους διαλαβόντος καὶ δὴ σφοδρότερον ἐπιταθέντος τοῦ καθ' ἡμῶν πολέμου, τῆς ἐπαρχίας ἡγουμένου τηνικάδε Οὐρβανοῦ, γραμμάτων τοῦτο πρῶτον βασιλικῶν πεφοιτηκότων, ἐν οἷς καθολικῷ προστάγματι πάντας πανδημεὶ τοὺς κατὰ πόλιν θύειν τε καὶ σπένδειν τοῖς εἰδώλοις ἐκελεύετο, Τιμόθεος ἐν Γάζῃ, πόλει τῆς Παλαιστίνης, μυρίας ἀνατλὰς βασάνους, ἐπὶ πάσαις λεπτῷ καὶ μαλθακῷ πυρὶ παραδοθείς, δοκιμὴν γνησιωτάτην τῆς περὶ τὸ θεῖον γνησιότητος εὐσεβείας διὰ τῆς πρὸς πάντα ὑπομονῆς παρασχών, τὸν τῶν ἱερονίκων τῆς θεοσεβείας ἀθλητῶν στέφανον ἀπηνέγκατο. τούτῳ δ' ἅμα γενναιοτάτην ἔνστασιν ἐπιδειξάμενοι Ἀγάπιος καὶ ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς Θέκλα θηρίοις εἰς βορὰν κατεδικάσθησαν. 3.2 τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοις τίς ἰδὼν οὐκ ἐθαύμασεν, ἢ καὶ ἀκοῇ μαθὼν οὐκ ἐξεπλάγη; πάνδημον γάρ τοι τῶν ἐθνῶν ἑορτὴν καὶ συνήθεις θέας ἀγόντων, μετὰ τῶν ἄλλως αὐτοῖς σπουδαζομένων καὶ τοὺς ἀρτίως θηρίοις κατακριθέντας πολὺς ἦν ὁ λόγος ἐπιδείξεσθαι τὸν ἀγῶνα. 3.3 αὐξούσης δῆτα καὶ πλεοναζούσης παρὰ πᾶσι τῆς φήμης, νεανίαι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἕξ, ὧν ὁ μὲν Ποντικὸς τὸ γένος ἦν, ὄνομα Τιμόλαος, ὁ δ' ἐκ Τριπόλεως τῆς Φοινίκης, ∆ιονύσιος ἐκαλεῖτο, ἕτερος δ' αὐτῶν τῆς ἐν ∆ιοσπόλει παροικίας ὑποδιάκονος, Ῥωμύλος ἦν καὶ τούτῳ προσηγορία, δύο τε ἐπὶ τούτοις Αἰγύπτιοι, Πάησις καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος, καὶ ἄλλος τούτῳ συνώνυμος Ἀλέξανδρος τῶν ἀπὸ Γάζης, ἐπὶ τὸ κυνηγέσιον ἀνιέναι μέλλοντι τῷ Οὐρβανῷ, ἐνδήσαντες πρότερον τὰς αὐτῶν χεῖρας, ὡς ἂν τὴν ἄγαν σημήνειαν περὶ τὸ μαρτύριον προθυμίαν, δρομαῖοι προσίασιν, Χριστιανοὺς σφᾶς ὁμολογοῦντες διά τε τῆς πρὸς πάντα τὰ δεινὰ παρατάξεως, ὅτι μηδὲ τὰς τῶν θηρίων ἐπιβολὰς οἱ τὴν εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν εὐσέβειαν αὐχοῦντες κατεπτήχασιν, ἐπιδεικνύμενοι. 3.4 αὐτίκα μὲν εἰς οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν κατάπληξιν αὐτόν τε τὸν ἄρχοντα καὶ τοὺς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν καταστήσαντες, δεσμωτηρίῳ καθείργνυνται, μετ' οὐ πολλὰς δὲ ἡμέρας δυεῖν αὐτοῖς ἄλλων καταλεγέντων, τοῦ μὲν καὶ πρὸ αὐτῶν δειναῖς καὶ ποικίλαις ἤδη πρότερον καθ' ἑτέρας ὁμολογίας ἐναθλήσαντος βασάνοις, Ἀγάπιος καὶ αὐτῷ ὄνομα ἦν, τοῦ δὲ τὰς τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῖς