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an athlete of piety is first summoned by the tyrant, then, having been asked to deny his purpose on the promise of freedom, he testifies with a loud voice that not for any trivial cause, but for piety toward the Creator of all things, he would nobly endure with eagerness and with pleasure whatever might be inflicted upon him, 6.7 and having said this, he follows the word with the deed at once, running to meet a bear that was loosed against him and most gladly giving himself to it for food. After this, he is carried, still breathing, to the prison, and having survived there for one day, on the next, with stones fastened to his feet, he is drowned in the midst of the sea. Such was the martyrdom of Agapius also. 7.1 Now, when the persecution had already extended into its fifth year, on the second of the month Xanthicus, which is the fourth day before the Nones of April, on the very Lord's day of our Savior's resurrection, again in Caesarea, Theodosia, a virgin from Tyre, a faithful and most revered girl not yet fully eighteen years old, approached certain prisoners who were confessing the kingdom of Christ and were sitting before the tribunal, greeting them kindly and, as was natural, asking them to remember her when they came to the Lord. 7.2 For doing this, as if she had committed some unholy and impious act, the soldiers seized her and brought her to the governor. And he at once, like someone mad and most beastly in his rage, having tortured her with dreadful and most horrific torments on her sides and breasts, even to the very bones, ordered her, while still breathing, yet standing with a joyful and bright countenance through it all, to be cast into the waves of the sea. Then, from her he passed on to the other confessors, and consigned them all to the copper mines at Phaeno in Palestine. 7.3 After these things, on the fifth of the month Dius, which according to the Romans is the Nones of November, in the same city, those with Silvanus, who was then still a presbyter who had confessed, who not long after happened to be honored with the episcopate and to be perfected by martyrdom, the same judge condemns, after they had shown a most noble steadfastness for their piety, to the labours in the same copper mine, having first ordered the sinews of their ankles to be disabled with hot irons. 7.4 And at the same time as the sentence against these, he delivers over to punishment by fire a man who had been distinguished by countless other confessions—this was Domninus, who was most well-known to all in Palestine for his extraordinary boldness. After him the same judge, being a clever inventor of evil and an innovator of attacks against the teaching of Christ, devised punishments never before heard of against the pious. And three he condemns to single combat in boxing, and Auxentius, a revered and holy presbyter, he gives as food for wild beasts, and still others, being of mature age, he condemns to the same mines after making them eunuchs by castration, and yet others again, after severe tortures, he confines to prison. Among these was also Pamphilus, to me at least the most beloved of all companions, a man most highly esteemed among the martyrs of our time for every virtue. 7.5 Urbanus, having first made trial of this man's skill in rhetorical speech and philosophical studies, then afterward tried to compel him to sacrifice, and when he saw him refusing and paying no regard whatever to his threats, becoming savage at last, he ordered him to be tortured with more severe torments. 7.6 And indeed, the most beastly man, having almost sated himself with the persistent and contentious scrapers on his sides, yet having poured out shame upon himself in all this, he enrolls him also among the confessors in the prison. 7.7 And for his cruelty against the saints, what sort of recompense he would receive from divine justice, having committed such outrages against the martyrs of Christ, it is easy to discern from the preludes here, through which immediately and not long after upon those against Pamphilus
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θεοσεβείας ἀθλητὴς ἀνακαλεῖται μὲν πρότερον ὑπὸ τοῦ τυράννου, εἶτα ἄρνησιν τῆς προθέσεως αἰτηθεὶς ἐπ' ἐλευθερίας ἐπαγγελίᾳ, μεγάλῃ φωνῇ διαμαρτύρεται, μὴ φαύλης μὲν ἕνεκεν αἰτίας, εὐσεβείας δὲ τοῦ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργοῦ προθύμως καὶ μεθ' ἡδονῆς, ὅσα δἂν ἐπάγοιτο αὐτῷ, γενναίως ὑποστήσεσθαι, 6.7 καὶ τοῦτ' εἰπών, ἅμα λόγῳ τοὔργον ἐπάγει, δρομαῖος ἄντικρυς ἀπολυθείσῃ κατ' αὐτοῦ ἄρκτῳ ὑπαντιάσας ταύτῃ τε ἑαυτὸν ἀσμενέστατα ἐπιδεδωκὼς εἰς βοράν· μεθ' ἣν ἔμπνους εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον αἴρεται, μίαν τε ἐνταῦθα ἐπιβιώσας ἡμέραν, τῇ ἑξῆς λίθων αὐτοῦ προσαρτηθέντων τοῖς ποσὶ μέσῳ πελάγει καταποντοῦται. τοιοῦτο καὶ τὸ Ἀγαπίου μαρτύριον. 7.1 Ἤδη δὲ καὶ εἰς πέμπτον ἔτος τοῦ διωγμοῦ παραταθέντος, μηνὸς δευτέρᾳ Ξανθικοῦ, ἥτις ἐστὶ πρὸ τεσσάρων Νωνῶν Ἀπριλλίων, ἐν αὐτῇ κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀναστάσεως, αὖθις ἐπὶ τῆς Καισαρείας Θεοδοσία, τῶν ἀπὸ Τύρου παρθένος, πιστὸν καὶ σεμνότατον κόριον οὐδ' ὅλων ἐτῶν ὀκτωκαίδεκα, δεσμίοις τισὶ καὶ αὐτοῖς τὴν Χριστοῦ βασιλείαν ὁμολογοῦσιν πρό τε τοῦ δικαστηρίου καθεζομένοις, πρόσεισιν, ὁμοῦ φιλοφρονουμένη καὶ οἷα εἰκός, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μνημονεύειν αὐτῆς πρὸς τὸν κύριον γενομένους παρακαλοῦσα. 7.2 τοῦτο δὲ πράξασαν, ὥσπερ ἀνόσιόν τι καὶ ἀσεβὲς εἰργασμένην ἀφαρπάσαντες στρατιῶται ἄγουσιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἡγεμόνα, αὐτίκα δ' οὗτος, ἅτε τις ἐμμανὴς καὶ τὸν θυμὸν θηριωδέστατος, δειναῖς καὶ φρικτοτάταις βασάνοις κατὰ πλευρῶν καὶ μαζῶν μέχρι καὶ αὐτῶν ὀστέων αἰκισάμενος, ἔμπνουν ἔτ' αὐτήν, ὅμως δ' οὖν πρὸς ἅπαντα γεγηθότι καὶ φαιδρῷ ἱσταμένην προσώπῳ, τοῖς θαλαττίοις κύμασιν ἐμβληθῆναι προστάττει. εἶτ' ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς μεταβὰς ὁμολογητάς, τοῖς κατὰ Φαινὼ τῆς Παλαισ τίνης χαλκοῦ μετάλλοις τοὺς πάντας παραδίδωσιν. 7.3 ἐπὶ τούτοις, ∆ίου μηνὸς πέμπτῃ, κατὰ δὲ Ῥωμαίους Νώναις Νοεμβρίαις, ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς πόλεως τοὺς ἀμφὶ Σιλβανὸν ἔτι δὴ τότε ὄντα πρεσβύτερον ὁμολογήσαντα, ὃν οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν ὕστερον ἐπισκοπῇ τιμηθῆναί τε καὶ μαρτυρίῳ συνέβη τελειωθῆναι, γενναιοτάτην ἔνστασιν τὴν ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἐπιδειξαμένους τοῖς εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ χαλκοῦ μέταλλον πόνοις ὁ αὐτὸς ἐγκρίνει, καυτῆρσιν πρότερον τῶν ποδῶν τὰς ἀγκύλας αὐτοῖς ἀχρειωθῆναι προστάξας· 7.4 ἅμα δὲ τῇ κατὰ τούτων ἀποφάσει ἄνδρα μυρίαις ἄλλαις ὁμολογίαις διαπρέψαντα, ∆ομνῖνος ἦν οὗτος, ὁ διὰ περιττὴν ἐλευθερίαν τοῖς κατὰ Παλαιστίνην ἅπασι γνωριμώτατος, τῇ διὰ πυρὸς ἐκδίδωσιν κολάσει· μεθ' ὃν ὁ αὐτὸς δικαστής, δεινὸς ἐπινοητής τις ὢν κακίας καὶ τῶν κατὰ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίας ἐπιχειρημάτων καινουργός, τὰς μηδ' ἀκουσθείσας πώποτε κατὰ τῶν θεοσεβῶν ἐπενόει τιμωρίας, καὶ τρεῖς μὲν εἰς μονομαχίαν ἐπὶ πυγμῇ καταδικάζει, Αὐξέντιον δέ, σεμνὸν καὶ ἱερὸν πρεσβύτην, θηρίοις βορὰν παραδίδωσιν, ἄλλους δ' αὖ πάλιν, τελείων ἀνδρῶν φέροντας ἡλικίαν, εἰς εὐνούχους ἐκτεμὼν τοῖς αὐτοῖς κατακρίνει μετάλλοις, ἑτέρους δ' αὖ πάλιν μετὰ χαλεπὰς βασάνους δεσμωτηρίῳ καθείργνυσιν· ἐν οἷς καὶ ὁ πάντων ἐμοὶ γοῦν ποθεινότατος ἑταίρων Πάμφιλος ἦν, τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς μαρτύρων ἀνὴρ πάσης ἕνεκεν ἀρετῆς ἐπιδοξότατος. 7.5 τούτου τῆς ἐν ῥητορικοῖς λόγοις φιλοσόφοις τε μαθήμασιν ἀπόπειραν πρότερον ὁ Οὐρβανὸς λαβών, εἶθ' ὕστερον θύειν καταναγκάσας, ὡς ἀνανεύοντα καὶ μηδ' ὅλως ἐν λόγῳ τὰς ἀπειλὰς ἑώρα τιθέμενον, τὸ πανύστατον ἀγριάνας, σφοδροτέραις αὐτὸν αἰκίζεσθαι προστάττει βασάνοις· 7.6 καὶ δὴ ταῖς κατὰ τῶν πλευρῶν αὐτοῦ δι' ἐπιμόνων καὶ φιλονείκων ξυστήρων ὁ θηριωδέστατος μόνον οὐχὶ ἐμφορηθείς, αἰσχύνην γε μὴν ἐπὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν καταχεάμενος, τοῖς ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ καὶ αὐτὸν ὁμολογηταῖς καταλέγει. 7.7 ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων ὠμότητι ὁποίας ἀμοιβῆς παρὰ τῇ θείᾳ δίκῃ τεύξεται, τοσαῦτα κατὰ τῶν Χριστοῦ μαρτύρων ἐμπαροινήσας, διαγνῶναι ῥᾴδιον ἐκ τῶν τῇδε προοιμίων, δι' ὧν εὐθὺς καὶ οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν τοῖς κατὰ τοῦ Παμφίλου