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with their servants, with their very nursing infants, should make it their care to sacrifice and pour libations and to partake scrupulously of the accursed sacrifices, and that wares in the market should be polluted with the libations from the sacrifices, and that guards should be stationed before the public baths, so that they might pollute with the all-defiling sacrifices those who were cleansing themselves in them. 9.3 While these things, then, were being so accomplished from the beginning, and our people were seized with the greatest concern, as was indeed likely, and the unbelieving heathen were blaming the grave and what was now an excessive absurdity of the proceedings—for these things seemed to them also offensive and burdensome—and while the greatest storm hung over all everywhere, the divine power of our Savior, on the contrary, inspired His own athletes with such courage that, without anyone urging or compelling them, they trampled upon the threat of such things. 9.4 So then, three of the faithful, arranging themselves together, rushed upon the governor as he was sacrificing to idols, shouting for him to cease from his error; for there is no other God but the creator and maker of all things. When they were asked, then, who they were, they boldly confessed that they were Christians; 9.5 at which Firmilianus, being moved to sharper anger, without even torturing them with punishments, handed them over to capital punishment. Of these, the eldest was named Antoninus, and one was called Zebinas, coming from Eleutheropolis, and Germanus was the name of the third. On the thirteenth of the month of Dius, the Ides of November, the things concerning them were done. 9.6 And Ennathas, a woman from Scythopolis, herself also adorned with the crown of virginity, became their fellow-traveler on the same day, though she had not done the same thing as they, 9.7 but having been dragged by force and brought before the judge after scourging and terrible insults, which a certain chiliarch of the neighboring garrisons, Maxys by name, a man worse than his name, vile in other respects, but exceedingly hard in character and truly terrible in every way and ill-reputed among all his acquaintances, dared to inflict on her not even with the consent of higher authority. This man, stripping the blessed one of all her clothing, so that only the part from her loins to her feet was covered, and the rest of her body was bare, led her around the entire city of Caesarea, and took great care that she be beaten with thongs as she was dragged through all the marketplaces. 9.8 And indeed, after so many things, when she had displayed a most courageous resistance even before the governor's tribunal, the judge delivered her alive to the fire; and he, intensifying his rage against the pious to an inhuman degree, went beyond the laws of nature, not even scrupling to begrudge burial to the lifeless bodies of the holy men. 9.9 He therefore commanded that the dead be diligently guarded night and day in the open air as food for beasts, and for several days one could see no small number of men ministering to this beastly and barbarous design; but some watched from a distance, as if it were something worthy of their zeal, lest the corpses be stolen, while wild beasts and dogs and flesh-eating birds tore the human limbs here and there, and 9.10 indeed the whole city round about was strewn with human entrails and bones, so that nothing more terrible or more horrifying had ever appeared, not even to those who formerly were hostile towards us, as they lamented not so much the calamity of those to whom these things were done, as the outrage to themselves and to the common nature of all. 9.11 For there was laid out very near the gates a spectacle greater than any description or tragic report, the human flesh being eaten not in one place, but scattered about everywhere; at any rate, some have said that they saw whole limbs and pieces of flesh and some parts of entrails even inside the gates; 9.12 at which, being accomplished over many days, something of this sort, a paradox, happened. The weather was clear and the air bright and the state of the atmosphere most serene; then suddenly of the things in

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οἰκέταις, αὐτοῖς ὑπομαζίοις παισί, θύειν καὶ σπένδειν αὐτῶν τε ἀκριβῶς τῶν ἐναγῶν ἀπογεύεσθαι θυσιῶν ἐπιμελὲς ποιοῖντο, καὶ τὰ μὲν κατ' ἀγορὰν ὤνια ταῖς ἀπὸ τῶν θυσιῶν σπονδαῖς καταμολύνοιτο, πρόσθεν δὲ τῶν λουτρῶν ἔφεδροι κατατάσσοιντο, ὡς ἂν τοὺς ἐν τούτοις ἀποκαθαιρομένους ταῖς παμμιάροις μολύνοιεν θυσίαις. 9.3 τούτων δῆτα οὕτως ἐπιτελουμένων ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς τε τῶν ἡμετέρων πλείστῃ, οἵᾳ δὴ εἰκὸς ἦν, φροντίδι συνεχομένων τῶν τε ἀπίστων ἐθνῶν βαρεῖαν τῶν γινομένων καὶ ὡς ἂν περιττὴν ἤδη τὴν ἀτοπίαν καταμεμφομένων προσκορῆ γὰρ καὶ φορτικὰ ταῦτα καὶ αὐτοῖς εἶναι κατεφαίνετο μεγίστου τε χειμῶνος τοῖς πανταχῇ πᾶσιν ἐπηρτημένου, τοὔμπαλιν ἡ θεία τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν δύναμις τοῖς αὐτῆς ἀθληταῖς θάρσος τοσοῦτον ἐνέπνει, ὡς μηδ' ἐπισπωμένου τινὸς μηδ' ἕλκοντος τὴν τῶν τοσούτων καταπατεῖν ἀπειλήν. 9.4 ὁμόσε δὴ οὖν τρεῖς συνταξάμενοι τῶν πιστῶν ἐπιπηδῶσιν εἰδώλοις θύοντι τῷ ἄρχοντι παύσασθαι τῆς πλάνης ἐμβοώμενοι· μὴ γὰρ δὴ ἄλλον ὑπάρχειν πλὴν τοῦ τῶν ὅλων ποιητοῦ τε καὶ δημιουργοῦ θεόν. ἀνερωτώμενοι δῆτα τίνες εἶεν, Χριστιανοὺς σφᾶς θαρσαλέως ὡμολόγουν· 9.5 ἐφ' οἷς ὀξύτερον παρακινηθεὶς ὁ Φιρμιλιανός, μηδὲ βασάνοις αὐτοὺς αἰκισάμενος, κεφαλικῇ παραδίδωσιν κολάσει. τούτων ὁ μὲν πρεσβύτερος ἦν Ἀντωνῖνος ὄνομα, ὃ δὲ Ζεβινᾶς ἐκαλεῖτο, τῆς Ἐλευθεροπολιτῶν ὁρμώμενος, Γερμανὸς δὲ καὶ τῷ τρίτῳ ἦν ἡ προσηγορία. ∆ίου μηνὸς τρισκαιδεκάτῃ, Εἴδοις Νοεμβρίαις, καὶ τὰ κατὰ τούτους ἐπράχθη. 9.6 γίνεται δ' αὐτοῖς συναπόδημος ἐπ' αὐτῆς ἡμέρας Ἐνναθάς, τῶν ἀπὸ Σκυθοπόλεώς τις γυνὴ παρθενίας στέμματι καὶ αὐτὴ κεκοσμημένη, οὐ ταὐτὸν μὲν αὐτοῖς διαπραξαμένη, 9.7 ἑλχθεῖσα δὲ βίᾳ καὶ προσαχθεῖσα τῷ δικαστῇ μετὰ μάστιγας καὶ δεινὰς ὕβρεις, ἃς ἐπαγαγεῖν αὐτῇ οὐδὲ μετὰ γνώμης τῆς μείζονος ἐξουσίας τῶν κατὰ γειτνίαν ἐφεστώτων τις χιλιάρχων ἐτόλμα, Μάξυς ὄνομα, χείρων τῆς προσηγορίας ἄνθρωπος, μιαρὸς μὲν τὰ ἄλλα, ἰσχυρὸς δ' ὑπερβαλλόντως τὸ ἦθος καὶ τὸν πάντα τρόπον δεινός τις ὄντως καὶ παρὰ πᾶσι τοῖς γνωρίμοις διαβεβλημένος. οὗτος μέν γε ἐσθῆτος ἁπάσης τὴν μακαρίαν ἀποδύσας, ὡς τὴν ἐξ ὀσφύος αὐτὸ μόνον καὶ ἐπὶ πόδας καλύπτεσθαι, τὸ δ' ἄλλο σῶμα γυμνὸν ἔχειν, τήν τε πᾶσαν Καισαρέων πόλιν κύκλῳ περιαγαγών, ἱμᾶσιν ἀνὰ πάσας ἑλκομένην τὰς ἀγορὰς τύπτεσθαι περὶ πολλοῦ ποιεῖται. 9.8 καὶ δὴ μετὰ τοσαῦτα θαρσαλεωτάτην ἔνστασιν καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἡγεμονικῶν βημάτων ἐνδειξαμένην, ζῶσαν πυρὶ παραδίδωσιν ὁ δικαστής· ὃς καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀπάνθρωπον ἐπιτείνας τὴν κατὰ τῶν θεοσεβῶν λύτταν, πέρα τῶν τῆς φύσεως προῄει θεσμῶν, οὐδὲ ταφῆς αἰδούμενος ἀψύχοις φθονῆσαι τοῖς τῶν ἱερῶν ἀνδρῶν σώμασι. 9.9 νύκτωρ δ' οὖν ἐπιμελῶς καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν ὑπαίθρους θηρσὶν εἰς βορὰν τοὺς νεκροὺς φυλάττεσθαι προστάττει, καὶ παρῆν ὁρᾶν ἐπὶ πλείοσιν ἡμέραις οὐκ ὀλίγον ἀνδρῶν ἀριθμὸν τῇ θηριώδει ταύτῃ καὶ βαρβάρῳ βουλῇ διακονουμένων· ἀλλ' οἳ μὲν ἐξ ἀπόπτου, οἷόν τι σπουδῆς ἄξιον, ὡς μὴ οἱ νεκροὶ κλαπεῖεν, ἐπεσκόπουν, θῆρες δὲ ἄγριοι καὶ κύνες οἰωνῶν τε τὰ σαρκοβόρα τὰ βρότεια μέλη ὧδε κἀκεῖσε ἐσπάραττον, καὶ 9.10 ἡ πᾶσά γε μὴν ἐν κύκλῳ πόλις σπλάγχνων καὶ ὀστέων ἀνθρωπείων διεστόρνυτο, ὡς μηδέ τι πώποτε δεινότερον μηδ' αὐτοῖς ὅσοι πρότερον ἀπεχθῶς εἶχον πρὸς ἡμᾶς, φανῆναι φρικωδέστερον, οὐχ οὕτω τὴν συμφορὰν εἰς οὓς ἐπράττετο ταῦτα, ὡς ἐπὶ τῇ σφῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς κοινῆς ἁπάντων ὕβρει φύσεως ἀπολοφυρομένων. 9.11 προύκειτο γὰρ ἄγχιστα πυλῶν θέαμα παντὸς λόγου καὶ τραγικῆς ἀκοῆς μεῖζον, οὐκ ἐφ' ἑνὶ χώρῳ κατεσθιομένων τῶν ἀνθρωπείων σαρκῶν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ πάντα τόπον διαρριπτουμένων· μέλη γοῦν ὅλα καὶ σάρκας μέρη τέ τινα σπλάγχνων καὶ πυλῶν εἴσω τινὲς κατιδεῖν εἰρήκασιν· 9.12 ἐφ' οἷς πλείσταις ἡμέραις ἐπιτελουμένοις τοιοῦτόν τι παράδοξον συμβαίνει. αἰθρία ἦν καὶ λαμπρὸς ἀὴρ καὶ τοῦ περιέχοντος κατάστασις εὐδινοτάτη· εἶτα ἀθρόως τῶν ἀνὰ