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A most hateful emperor after Nero again stirred up the persecution against the Christians, having become the successor of that man's war against God; who also confined the apostle and evangelist John on the island of Patmos on account of his preaching, and ordered the descendants 3.62 of David to be slain. Relating these things, Eusebius introduces Hegesippus, speaking thus. "There were still surviving grandsons of Judas, who was called the Lord's brother according to the flesh, whom some reported as being of the family of David. When these were brought to him, Domitian asked if they were of David; and they admitted it. He therefore asked further how many possessions they held and how much money they had; but they said that they had only nine thousand denarii, and that they did not have this in silver, but in the valuation of land from which they supported themselves by their own labor and paid their taxes; and they showed the roughness of their hands as a testimony of their own labor. And when asked about the kingdom of Christ, what kind it was and where and when it would appear, they answered that it was not worldly or earthly, but heavenly, to be revealed at the end of the age. At this, Domitian, despising them as insignificant, released them, and by an edict he ended the persecution." Therefore, the most wicked man met a violent end to his life—would that it had been even before his reign—and the rule was transferred to Nerva, a most noble and most reasonable man. For those who plotted against Domitian did not undertake the deed before they had secured the one who would succeed to the supreme power. They came, therefore, to Nerva; who would have nearly perished because astrologers said that he would rule. 3.63 For Domitian, by examining the days and hours in which all the foremost men were born, had already destroyed not a few of those who were expected to come into some power. And he would have killed this man, if one of the astrologers who favored him had not said that he would die in a few days; for believing that this would truly happen, he was unwilling to have him killed, since he would certainly die shortly anyway. For these reasons, therefore, they more easily persuaded him to agree to the acceptance of the rule. And when Domitian was destroyed, he immediately received the supreme power. And he permitted those who had been exiled by that man's decree to return and to recover their property. And the senate indeed voted for Domitian's honors to be abolished. At that time, therefore, the story holds that the great apostle John also returned from his exile on Patmos to Ephesus. Now Nerva was a lover of justice and was not overcome by money. For while he was reigning, Atticus, the father of the sophist Herodes, as Philostratus wrote in his Lives of the Sophists, found an immense treasure at his house. And being afraid, he wrote to Nerva, saying, "A treasure has been found by me at my house; what then do you command concerning it?" And he wrote back, "Use what you have found." But he, still being cautious, wrote again, "But what has been found is beyond me." And the emperor replied to this, "Then misuse it." 3.64 During his reign, the second bishop of Alexandria, Abilius, departed this life, and Cerdon became head of the church there. But of the church in Antioch, Ignatius the God-bearer was then the head, he too being known as the second bishop there after Euodius. Likewise also of the church of the faithful in Jerusalem, Symeon was the leader, he too having received the episcopate as the second after his kinsman James, who was called the brother of the Lord. By this emperor, gladiatorial combats and the spectacle of them were forbidden. And he did nothing without the counsel of the most eminent members of the senate. He also made it law that no one's genitals should be cut off among the Romans, nor should one marry a niece. And having caught Calpurnius Crassus and others plotting against him, at some spectacle, seating them near him when they did not yet know that they had been found out, he handed them swords, so that they might perhaps see if they were well-made and sharpened; but in truth, so that they might know that the

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εχθιστος αὐτοκράτωρ μετὰ Νέρωνα αυθις τὸν κατὰ τῶν Χριστιανῶν διωγμὸν ἀνεκίνησε, τῆς ἐκείνου θεομαχίας διάδοχος γεγονώς· ος καὶ τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ εὐαγγελιστὴν ̓Ιωάννην ἐν Πάτμῳ τῇ νήσῳ διὰ τὸ κήρυγμα περιώρισε, καὶ τοὺς ἀπογόνους 3.62 ∆αβὶδ ἀναιρεῖσθαι προσέταξε. ταῦθ' ἱστορῶν ὁ Εὐσέβιος τὸν ̔Ηγήσιππον παράγει λέγοντα ουτως. "ετι δὲ περιῆσαν υἱωνοὶ ̓Ιούδα τοῦ κατὰ σάρκα λεγομένου ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ κυρίου, ους τινες προσήγγειλαν ὡς ἐκ γένους οντας ∆αβίδ. τούτους πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀχθέντας ὁ ∆ομετιανὸς ηρετο εἰ ἐκ ∆αβίδ εἰσι· καὶ κατέθεντο. προσεπήρετο ουν πόσας κέκτηνται κτήσεις καὶ πόσων εὐποροῦσι χρημάτων· οἱ δ' εφασαν ἐνακισχίλια δηνάρια ὑπάρχειν αὐτοῖς μόνα, καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐν ἀργυρίοις εχειν, ἀλλ' ἐν διατιμήσει γῆς ἐξ ης αὑτούς τε διατρέφεσθαι αὐτουργοῦντας καὶ τοὺς φόρους εἰσφέρειν· καὶ τὴν τῶν χειρῶν δὲ τραχύτητα ἐπεδείκνυον τῆς αὐτουργίας μαρτύριον. ἐρωτηθέντες δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ βασιλείας, ὁποία τις ειη καὶ ποῖ καὶ πότε φανησομένη, οὐ κοσμικὴν αὐτὴν ειναι οὐδ' ἐπίγειον ἀπεκρίναντο, ἀλλ' ἐπουράνιον, ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τοῦ αἰῶνος φανησομένην. ἐφ' οις ὡς εὐτελῶν αὐτῶν καταφρονήσας ὁ ∆ομετιανὸς ἐλευθέρους ἀφῆκε, καὶ τὸν διωγμὸν προστάγματι επαυσεν." ̔Ο μὲν ουν κάκιστος γεγονὼς βιαίως ἀπέρρηξε τὴν ζωήν, ὡς ειθε καὶ πρὸ τῆς μοναρχίας, ἡ δ' ἡγεμονία εἰς Νερούαν μετήνεκτο, ανδρα καὶ εὐγενέστατον καὶ ἐπιεικέστατον. οἱ γὰρ τῷ ∆ομετιανῷ ἐπιβουλεύοντες οὐ πρότερον εργου ηψαντο πρὶν τὸν διαδεξόμενον τὴν αὐταρχίαν ἐβεβαιώσαντο. ηλθον ουν ἐπὶ τὸν Νερούαν· ος ἀστρολόγων οτι μοναρχή3.63 σει φησάντων μικροῦ διώλετο αν. ὁ γὰρ ∆ομετιανὸς πάντων τῶν πρώτων τάς τε ἡμέρας καὶ τὰς ωρας ἐν αις ἐγεγέννηντο διασκοπῶν, οὐκ ὀλίγους κἀκ τούτου τῶν ἐλπιζομένων εν τινι δυνάμει εσεσθαι προανήλισκε. καὶ τοῦτον ἀπέκτεινεν αν, εἰ μή τις τῶν ἀστρολόγων αὐτῷ εὐνοῶν εφη οτι δι' ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν τελευτήσει· πιστεύσας γὰρ οντως τοῦτ' εσεσθαι, οὐκ ἠθέλησε κἀκεῖνον πεφονευκέναι, ὡς πάντως μετὰ μικρὸν τεθνηξόμενον. διὰ ταῦτα γοῦν ῥᾷον επεισαν αὐτὸν συνθέσθαι τῇ τῆς ἡγεμονίας καταδοχῇ. καὶ φθαρέντος τοῦ ∆ομετιανοῦ εὐθὺς αὐτὸς τὴν αὐταρχίαν ἐδέξατο. καὶ τοῖς ὑπ' ἐκείνου ἐξελαθεῖσι δόγματι ἐπανελθεῖν ἐφῆκε καὶ τὰς οὐσίας ἀπολαβεῖν. ἡ δέ γε σύγκλητος καθαιρεθῆναι τὰς ∆ομετιανοῦ τιμὰς ἐψηφίσατο. Τότε τοίνυν καὶ τὸν μέγαν ἀπόστολον ̓Ιωάννην ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν τῇ Πάτμῳ ὑπερορίας λόγος εχει ἐπανελθεῖν πρὸς τὴν Εφεσον. Ην δὲ ὁ Νερούας φιλοδίκαιος καὶ χρημάτων οὐχ ηττητο. ἐκείνου γὰρ μοναρχοῦντος ̓Αττικὸς ὁ τοῦ σοφιστοῦ ̔Ηρώδου πατήρ, ὡς ὁ Φιλόστρατος ἐν τοῖς βίοις τῶν σοφιστῶν ἀνεγράψατο, θησαυροῦ τι ευρεν ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας χρῆμα ἀμύθητον. καὶ φοβηθεὶς εγραψε τῷ Νερούᾳ ὡς "θησαυρὸς ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας εὑρέθη μοι· τί ουν κελεύεις περὶ αὐτοῦ;" καὶ ος ἀντέγραψεν "χρῶ τῷ εὑρήματι." ὁ δ' ετι εὐλαβηθεὶς εγραψεν αυθις "ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ τυγχάνει τὸ εὑρεθέν." καὶ ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ πρὸς τοῦτο "καὶ καταχρῶ" ἀντεπέστειλε. 3.64 Τούτου βασιλεύοντος ὁ δεύτερος ἐπίσκοπος ̓Αλεξανδρείας ̓Αβίλιος μετήλλαξε τὴν ζωήν, καὶ Κέρδων τῆς ἐκεῖ ἐκκλησίας προέστη. τῆς δ' ἐν ̓Αντιοχείᾳ ἐκκλησίας ̓Ιγνάτιος τότε ὁ θεοφόρος προίστατο, δεύτερος καὶ ουτος ἐπίσκοπος ἐκεῖ μετὰ Εὐόδιον γνωριζόμενος. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐν ̔Ιεροσολύμοις τῶν πιστῶν ἐκκλησίας Συμεὼν ἐξηγεῖτο, δεύτερος καὶ ουτος μετὰ τὸν συγγενῆ ̓Ιάκωβον τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ κυρίου λεγόμενον τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν λελογχώς. Παρὰ τούτου τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος αἱ μονομαχίαι καὶ ἡ τούτων θέα ἀπηγορεύθησαν. επραττε δὲ οὐδὲν γνώμης ατερ τῶν ἐξόχων τῶν τῆς βουλῆς. ουτος ἐνομοθέτησε καὶ τὸ μή τινα τὰ παιδογόνα μόρια παρὰ ̔Ρωμαίοις ἐκτέμνεσθαι μήτε μὴν αγεσθαι πρὸς γάμον ἀδελφιδῆν. φωράσας δὲ τὸν Καλπούρνιον Κράσσον καὶ αλλους ἐπιβουλεύοντάς οἱ, εν τινι θέᾳ πλησίον αὐτοῦ καθίσας αὐτοὺς μήπω γνόντας οτι πεφώρανται, ξίφη αὐτοῖς ἐνεχείρισεν, ινα τάχα ιδοιεν αὐτὰ εἰ ευ ἐξείργασταί τε καὶ τέθηκται· τῇ δ' ἀληθείᾳ, ινα γνοῖεν ὡς καταπεφρόνηταί οἱ ὁ