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being stirred up, he immediately orders the woman to be arrested; 8.7 Then she is dragged into the middle, and having called upon the venerable name of the Savior, she was at first persuaded with words to sacrifice, but when she disobeyed, she was dragged by force to the altar. But she, acting in a way consistent with herself and holding to her former zeal, with a steady and bold foot kicks the altar, and overturns the things on it along with the fire placed upon it; 8.8 at which the judge, becoming enraged like a wild beast, first inflicts so many tortures upon her sides as on no one ever before, all but desiring to gorge himself on her raw flesh; but when his madness was now having its fill, having yoked them both, this one together with the one addressed by her as sister, he condemns them to death by fire. Of these, the first was said to be from the country of the Gazaeans, but it must be known that the other hailed from Caesarea, the one known to many, Valentina by name. 8.9 But the martyrdom after this, how could I worthily describe, with which the thrice-blessed Paul was deemed worthy, who at the same hour as these women was judged to death under one sentence, but at the very consummation he begged the one who was just about to behead him to grant him a little time; 8.10 having obtained this, with a clear and loud voice, he first interceded with God through prayers for reconciliation on behalf of his fellow-countrymen, imploring that freedom might be granted to them with speed, then he asked for the bringing of the Jews to God through Christ, then in order he went on in his speech praying for the same things for the Samaritans also, and he exhorted those of the Gentiles who were in error and ignorance of God to come to a knowledge of him and to take up the true religion, not even leaving uncared for the mixed crowd then standing around; 8.11 after all these, O, the great and ineffable long-suffering!, also for the judge who had condemned him to death and for the rulers over all and further still for the one who was just about to cut off his head, in the hearing of that man himself and of all present, he besought the God of all, begging that the sin against him might in no way be counted against them. 8.12 Having prayed for these and such things with a loud voice and having all but drawn everyone, as one being unjustly put to death, to pity and tears, having composed himself as is the custom and having given his bare neck to the stroke of the sword, he was adorned with a divine martyrdom, on the twenty-fifth of the month Panemus, which would be called the eighth day before the Kalends of August. And so the affairs concerning these had such an end; 8.13 And not a long time having passed, again from the land of the Egyptians the wonderful athletes of the confession of Christ, one hundred and thirty of them, by order of Maximinus, having undergone the same calamities as the former ones in Egypt itself, both in their eyes and in their feet, are sent as convicts to the aforementioned mines in Palestine, and others to those in Cilicia. 9.1 But when, on account of so many heroic deeds of the magnificent martyrs of Christ, the conflagration of the persecution had abated and was, as it were, extinguished by their sacred blood, and when respite and freedom had now been granted to those who were toiling for Christ in the mines there in the Thebaid, and we were about to breathe a little fresh air, I know not how, from some agitation, he who had received the authority to persecute was again, from the beginning, inflamed against the Christians. 9.2 And so at once again letters of Maximinus were circulated everywhere against us, and both the governors in each province and in addition the one appointed to command the armies, by edicts and letters and public ordinances, urged the curators in all the cities, together with the magistrates and registrars, to carry out the imperial command, which ordered that with all haste they should rebuild the fallen idol temples, and that all the people, men together with women and

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ὑποκινηθείς, αὐτίκα συλληφθῆναι κελεύει τὴν ἄνθρωπον· 8.7 εἶτα σύρεται εἰς μέσον, καὶ τὸ σεβάσμιον τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐπιγραψαμένη ὄνομα, πρῶτον μὲν λόγοις θύειν ἀνεπείθετο, ὡς δ' ἠπείθει, βίᾳ πρὸς τὸν βωμὸν εἵλκετο. ἣ δὲ ἀδελφὰ ἑαυτῇ πράττουσα καὶ τῆς προτέρας ἐχομένη προθυμίας, ἀτρεμεῖ καὶ θαρσαλέῳ ποδὶ λὰξ ἐντείνει τῷ βωμῷ, καὶ τὰ εἰς αὐτὸν ἅμα τῇ ἐπικειμένῃ ἀνατρέπει πυρᾷ· 8.8 ἐφ' ᾧ θηρὸς ἀγρίου δίκην ὁ δικαστὴς ὀξυνθεὶς τὸν θυμόν, τοσαύτας μὲν αὐτῇ πρότερον αἰκίας κατὰ τῶν πλευρῶν ἐπιτίθησιν, ὅσας οὐδενὶ τῶν πώποτε, μόνον οὐχὶ καὶ ὠμῶν τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτῆς ἐμφορηθῆναι γλιχόμενος· ὡς δὲ κόρον αὐτῷ ἤδη τὰ τῆς μανίας ἐλάμβανεν, ἄμφω ζεύξας, αὐτὴν τε ταύτην ἅμα τῇ πρὸς αὐτῆς ἀδελφῇ προσαγορευθείσῃ, τὸν διὰ πυρὸς αὐτῶν καταψηφίζεται θάνατον. τούτων ἡ μὲν προτέρα τῆς Γαζαίων χώρας ἐλέγετο, τὴν δ' ἑτέραν ἰστέον ἀπὸ τῆς Καισαρέων ὡρμῆσθαι, τὴν πολλοῖς γνώριμον, Οὐαλεντῖναν τοὔνομα. 8.9 τὸ δ' ἐπὶ τούτῳ μαρτύριον πῶς ἂν κατ' ἀξίαν διέλθοιμι, οὗ κατηξίωται ὁ τρὶς μακάριος Παῦλος, κατὰ μὲν τὴν αὐτὴν ταύταις ὥραν ὑπὸ μίαν ἀπόφασιν τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ κριθείς, πρὸς αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ τελειώσει τὸν ἀποτέμνειν αὐτὸν ὅσον οὔπω μέλλοντα βραχύ τι ὥρας ἐνδοῦναι αὐτῷ ἀντι βολήσας· 8.10 οὗ τυχὼν λαμπρᾷ καὶ γεγωνῷ φωνῇ πρῶτον μὲν τὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν ὁμοεθνῶν ἐπρυτάνευεν τῷ θεῷ δι' εὐχῶν καταλλαγάς, ᾗ τάχος ἐλευθερίαν αὐτοῖς ἐνδοθῆναι ποτνιώμενος, εἶθ' ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἰουδαίων πρὸς τὸν θεὸν διὰ Χριστοῦ προσαγωγῆς ἠξίου, εἶθ' ἑξῆς κατέβαινε τῷ λόγῳ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ Σαμαρείταις ἐπευχόμενος, καὶ τοὺς ἐν πλάνῃ δὲ καὶ ἀγνωσίᾳ θεοῦ τῶν ἐθνῶν ὄντας εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἐλθεῖν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀληθῶς εὐσέβειαν ἀναλαβεῖν παρεκάλει, μηδὲ τοὺς τότε παμμιγεῖ περιεστῶτας ἀτημελήτους καταλιπών· 8.11 μεθ' οὓς πάντας, ὢ τῆς πολλῆς καὶ ἀφάτου ἀνεξικακίας, καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ τὸν θάνατον αὐτῷ προστιμήσαντος δικαστοῦ τῶν τε ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἀρχόντων ἔτι τε καὶ τοῦ ὅσον οὔπω τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτὸν ἀποτεμοῦντος, εἰς ἐπήκοον αὐτοῦ τ' ἐκείνου καὶ τῶν παρόντων ἁπάντων, τοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἐδεῖτο θεοῦ, μηδαμῶς αὐτοῖς ἐν ἀριθμῷ γενέσθαι τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν ἁμαρτάδα παρακαλῶν. 8.12 ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μεγάλῃ φωνῇ κατευξάμενος καὶ μόνον οὐχὶ τοὺς πάντας, ὡς ἂν ἀδίκως ἀναιρούμενος, εἰς οἶκτον ἑλκύσας καὶ δάκρυα, ᾗ νόμος αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν σχηματίσας καὶ τὸν αὐχένα γυμνὸν τῇ τοῦ ξίφους ἀποτομῇ παραδούς, θείῳ κατεκοσμήθη μαρτυρίῳ, μηνὸς Πανέμου πέμπτῃ καὶ εἰκάδι, ἣ λέγοιτ' ἂν πρὸ ὀκτὼ Καλανδῶν Αὐγούστων. καὶ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τούσδε τοιοῦτο τέλος εἶχεν· 8.13 οὐ μακροῦ δὲ διαδραμόντος χρόνου, αὖθις ἐκ τῆς Αἰγυπτίων γῆς οἱ θαυμάσιοι τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν ὁμολογίας ἀθληταί, τριάκοντα πρὸς ἑκατόν, ἐκ προστάξεως Μαξιμίνου τὰς αὐτὰς τοῖς πρῴην ἐπ' αὐτῆς Αἰγύπτου εἴς τε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ τοὺς πόδας συμφορὰς ὑποστάντες, τοῖς δεδηλωμένοις ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ μετάλλοις, οἳ δὲ τοῖς κατὰ Κιλικίαν κατακρίτοις παραπέμπονται. 9.1 Ἐπὶ δὴ τοῖς τοσούτοις τῶν μεγαλοπρεπῶν Χριστοῦ μαρτύρων ἀνδραγαθήμασι λωφησάσης καὶ ὡς ἂν εἰ τοῖς ἱεροῖς αὐτῶν αἵμασι τῆς τοῦ διωγμοῦ πυρκαϊᾶς ἀποσβεννυμένης ἀνέσεώς τε ἤδη καὶ ἐλευθερίας τοῖς ἐπὶ Θηβαΐδος εἰς τὰ αὐτόθι μέταλλα διὰ Χριστὸν καταπονουμένοις συγκεχωρημένης μικρόν τε καθαροῦ μελλόντων ἡμῶν ὑπαναπνεῖν ἀέρος, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἔκ τινος ἀνακινήσεως πάλιν ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ὁ τοῦ διώκειν τὴν ἐξουσίαν εἰληχὼς κατὰ Χριστιανῶν ἀνεκάετο. 9.2 ἀθρόως δ' οὖν αὖθις Μαξιμίνου διαφοιτᾷ καθ' ἡμῶν πανταχοῦ γράμματα οἵ τε κατ' ἐπαρχίαν ἡγεμόνες καὶ προσέτι ὁ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἄρχειν ἐπιτεταγμένος προγράμμασι καὶ ἐπιστολαῖς καὶ δημοσίοις διατάγμασι τοὺς ἐν ἁπάσαις πόλεσι λογιστὰς ἅμα στρατηγοῖς καὶ ταβουλαρίοις ἐπέσπερχον τὸ βασιλικὸν εἰς πέρας ἄγειν πρόσταγμα, κελεῦον ὡς ἂν μετὰ σπουδῆς πάσης τῶν μὲν εἰδωλείων ἀνοικοδομοῖεν τὰ πεπτωκότα, πανδημεὶ δὲ πάντας, ἄνδρας ἅμα γυναιξὶν καὶ