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And he, having heard, went away to feast at a wedding, for it was their custom to celebrate all night at such gatherings, and entering in, he told those who were reclining. And they with one impulse, as if at a signal, all rose up, and coming at a run they arrived very quickly, and bursting in upon us they shouted, and when the soldiers guarding us immediately took to flight, they came upon us, as we were, lying on the bare bedsteads. 6.40.7 And I, God knows, at first thought that they were robbers who had come for plunder and pillage, and remaining on my bed, I was naked in my linen garment, and I offered them the rest of my clothes which were lying nearby; but they ordered me to get up and to go out at once. 6.40.8 And then, understanding for what purpose they had come, I cried out, begging and beseeching them to go away and leave us alone; but if they wished to do some good deed, I begged them to anticipate those who were leading me away and cut off my head themselves. And while I was shouting such things, as my companions and partners in all things know, they raised me up by force. And I threw myself on my back on the ground, but they seized me by the hands and feet and dragged me out. 6.40.9 And there followed me the witnesses of all these things, Gaius, Faustus, Peter, and Paul; who also took me up and carried me out of the village, and setting me on a bare ass, led me away.” These things Dionysius wrote concerning himself. 6.41.1 The same, in his epistle to Fabius, bishop of the Antiochians, relates in this manner the contests of those who were martyred in Alexandria under Decius: “The persecution with us did not begin with the imperial edict, but preceded it by a whole year, and a certain prophet and poet of evils for this city, whoever he was, anticipated it, and stirred up and incited the masses of the gentiles against us, fanning their local superstition into flame; 6.41.2 and they, being stirred up by him and taking every license for their impiety, supposed this to be the only piety, the worship of their demons, to murder us. 6.41.3 First, then, they seized an old man, by name Metras, and commanded him to speak impious words, and when he did not obey, they beat his body with clubs and pricked his face and eyes with sharp reeds, and leading him to the suburb, they stoned him. 6.41.4 Then they led a faithful woman, called Quinta, to the idol temple, and tried to force her to worship; but as she turned away and expressed her abhorrence, they bound her feet and dragged her through the whole city over the rough pavement, dashing her against the millstones, and scourging her at the same time, they brought her to the same place and stoned her. 6.41.5 “Then with one accord they all rushed upon the houses of the godly, and each one falling upon those whom they knew as neighbors, they drove and plundered and pillaged, appropriating the more valuable of the treasures, but the more insignificant and whatever was made of wood, they scattered and burned in the roads, presenting the spectacle of a city captured by enemies. 6.41.6 And the brethren gave way and withdrew, and the plunder of their possessions, just as those to whom Paul testified, they accepted with joy. And I do not know if anyone, unless perhaps one who fell away, up to this point denied the Lord. 6.41.7 “But they also seized the most admirable aged virgin Apollonia, and knocking out all her teeth they broke her jaws, and piling up a pyre before the city they threatened to burn her alive, unless she would join them in uttering their impious proclamations. But she, begging a little and being let go, leaped eagerly into the fire, and was consumed. 6.41.8 And they seized Serapion in his own house, and after torturing him with harsh torments and breaking all his limbs, they threw him headlong from an upper room. “And no road, no highway, no alley was passable for us, neither by night, nor by day, as everyone everywhere was always shouting, that unless someone should chant the blasphemous things

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κἀκεῖνος ἀκούσας ἀπῄει δ' εὐωχησόμενος γάμους, διαπαννυχίζειν γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἐν ταῖς τοιαύταις συνόδοις ἔθος εἰσελθὼν ἀπήγγειλεν τοῖς κατακειμένοις· οἳ δὲ ὁρμῇ μιᾷ, καθάπερ ὑπὸ συνθήματι, πάντες ἐξανέστησαν, καὶ δρόμῳ φερόμενοι τάχιστα ἧκον, ἐπεισπεσόντες τε ἡμῖν ἠλάλαξαν, καὶ φυγῆς εὐθέως τῶν φρουρούντων ἡμᾶς στρατιωτῶν γενομένης, ἐπέστησαν ἡμῖν, ὡς εἴχομεν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀστρώτων σκιμπόδων κατακείμενοι. 6.40.7 κἀγὼ μέν, οἶδεν ὁ θεὸς ὡς λῃστὰς εἶναι πρότερον ἡγούμενος ἐπὶ σύλησιν καὶ ἁρπαγὴν ἀφικομένους, μένων ἐπὶ τῆς εὐνῆς, ἤμην γυμνὸς ἐν τῷ λινῷ ἐσθήματι, τὴν δὲ λοιπὴν ἐσθῆτα παρακειμένην αὐτοῖς ὤρεγον· οἳ δὲ ἐξανίστασθαί τε ἐκέλευον καὶ τὴν ταχίστην ἐξιέναι. 6.40.8 καὶ τότε συνεὶς ἐφ' ᾧ παρῆσαν, ἀνέκραγον δεόμενος αὐτῶν καὶ ἱκετεύων ἀπιέναι καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐᾶν, εἰ δὲ βούλονται τι χρηστὸν ἐργάσασθαι, τοὺς ἀπάγοντάς με φθάσαι καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοὺς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀποτεμεῖν ἠξίουν. καὶ τοιαῦτα βοῶντος, ὡς ἴσασιν οἱ κοινωνοί μου καὶ μέτοχοι πάντων γενόμενοι, ἀνίστασαν πρὸς βίαν. κἀγὼ μὲν παρῆκα ἐμαυτὸν ὕπτιον εἰς τοὔδαφος, οἳ δὲ διαλαβόντες χειρῶν καὶ ποδῶν σύροντες ἐξήγαγον, 6.40.9 ἐπηκολούθουν δέ μοι οἱ τούτων πάντων μάρτυρες, Γάϊος Φαῦστος Πέτρος Παῦλος· οἳ καὶ ὑπολαβόντες με φοράδην ἐξήγαγον τοῦ πολιχνίου καὶ ὄνῳ γυμνῷ ἐπιβιβάσαντες ἀπήγαγον». ταῦτα περὶ ἑαυτοῦ ὁ ∆ιονύσιος. 6.41.1 Ὁ δ' αὐτὸς ἐν ἐπιστολῇ τῇ πρὸς Φάβιον, Ἀντιοχέων ἐπίσκοπον, τῶν κατὰ ∆έκιον μαρτυρησάντων ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ τοὺς ἀγῶνας τοῦτον ἱστορεῖ τὸν τρόπον· «οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ προστάγματος ὁ διωγμὸς παρ' ἡμῖν ἤρξατο, ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὅλον ἐνιαυτὸν προύλαβεν, καὶ φθάσας ὁ κακῶν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ μάντις καὶ ποιητής, ὅστις ἐκεῖνος ἦν, ἐκίνησεν καὶ παρώρμησεν καθ' ἡμῶν τὰ πλήθη τῶν ἐθνῶν, εἰς τὴν ἐπιχώριον αὐτοῦ δεισιδαιμονίαν ἀναρριπίσας· 6.41.2 οἳ δ' ἐρεθισθέντες ὑπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ πάσης ἐξουσίας εἰς ἀνοσιουργίαν λαβόμενοι, μόνην εὐσέβειαν τὴν θρῃσκείαν τῶν δαιμόνων ταύτην ὑπέλαβον, τὸ καθ' ἡμῶν φονᾶν. 6.41.3 πρῶτον οὖν πρεσβύτην, Μητρᾶν ὀνόματι, συναρπάσαντες καὶ κελεύσαντες ἄθεα λέγειν ῥήματα, μὴ πειθόμενον, ξύλοις τε παίοντες τὸ σῶμα καὶ καλάμοις ὀξέσιν τὸ πρόσωπον καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς κεντοῦντες, ἀγαγόντες εἰς τὸ προάστειον, κατελιθοβόλησαν. 6.41.4 εἶτα πιστὴν γυναῖκα, Κοΐνταν καλουμένην, ἐπὶ τὸ εἰδωλεῖον ἀγαγόντες, ἠνάγκαζον προσκυνεῖν· ἀποστρεφομένην δὲ καὶ βδελυττομένην ἐκδήσαντες τῶν ποδῶν διὰ πάσης τῆς πόλεως κατὰ τοῦ τραχέος λιθοστρώτου σύροντες προσαρασσομένην τοῖς μυλιαίοις λίθοις, ἅμα καὶ μαστιγοῦντες, ἐπὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀγαγόντες κατέλευσαν τόπον. 6.41.5 «εἶθ' ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἅπαντες ὥρμησαν ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν θεοσεβῶν οἰκίας, καὶ οὓς ἐγνώριζον ἕκαστοι γειτνιῶντας, ἐπεισπεσόντες ἦγον ἐσύλων τε καὶ διήρπαζον, τὰ μὲν τιμιώτερα τῶν κειμηλίων νοσφιζόμενοι, τὰ δὲ εὐτελέστερα καὶ ὅσα ἐκ ξύλων ἐπεποίητο, διαρριπτοῦντες καὶ κατακάοντες ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς ἑαλωκυίας ὑπὸ πολεμίων πόλεως παρεῖχον θέαν. 6.41.6 ἐξέκλινον δὲ καὶ ὑπανεχώρουν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ καὶ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ὁμοίως ἐκείνοις οἷς καὶ Παῦλος ἐμαρτύρησεν, μετὰ χαρᾶς προσεδέξαντο. καὶ οὐκ οἶδ' εἴ τις, πλὴν εἰ μή πού τις εἷς ἐμπεσών, μέχρι γε τούτου τὸν κύριον ἠρνήσατο. 6.41.7 «ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν θαυμασιωτάτην τότε παρθένον πρεσβῦτιν Ἀπολλωνίαν διαλαβόντες, τοὺς μὲν ὀδόντας ἅπαντας κόπτοντες τὰς σιαγόνας ἐξήλασαν, πυρὰν δὲ νήσαντες πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ζῶσαν ἠπείλουν κατακαύσειν, εἰ μὴ συνε κφωνήσειεν αὐτοῖς τὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας κηρύγματα. ἣ δὲ ὑποπαραιτησαμένη βραχὺ καὶ ἀνεθεῖσα, συντόνως ἐπήδησεν εἰς τὸ πῦρ, καὶ καταπέφλεκται. 6.41.8 Σεραπίωνά τε καταλαβόντες ἐφέστιον, σκληραῖς βασάνοις αἰκισάμενοι καὶ πάντα τὰ ἄρθρα διακλάσαντες, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπερῴου πρηνῆ κατέρριψαν. «οὐδεμία δὲ ὁδός, οὐ λεωφόρος, οὐ στενωπὸς ἡμῖν βάσιμος ἦν, οὐ νύκτωρ, οὐ μεθ' ἡμέραν, ἀεὶ καὶ πανταχοῦ πάντων κεκραγότων, εἰ μὴ τὰ δύσφημά τις ἀνυμνοίη