The martyrdoms of the Christians of the age of persecution, an age which lasted roughly 260 to 280 years, form an important chapter in early Christian history if we bear in mind their terrible frequency, and remember how powerful an influence these conspicuous and repeated acts of suffering, even unto death, had upon the Christian life and character. It will be worth while to devote a short space in our history to a somewhat detailed relation (1) of a typical trial in the reign of Marcus Aurelius which preceded the last awful act; (2) of the scenes which took place in the prison where these captives for the religion were held in bondage and waited for the end; and (3) of the martyrdom in the public arena where these brave soldiers of the Faith in pain and agony passed to their rest.
The scenes we have chosen for our typical pictures lay in different famous centers of the Empire, in Rome, in Carthage, and in Lyons. The documents from which we have drawn the materials for our accounts are contemporary, and in the opinion of the great majority of serious critics absolutely authentic."
(1) The trial scene we have selected for our example lay in Rome; it was conducted by an Imperial functionary of high rank, the Prefect of Rome, and the proceedings were read and approved by the Emperor Marcus himself, who after reading them ratified the stern sentences of the prefect. The date of the trial in question was circa A. D. 162. The source of the document from which we quote was evidently the proces-verhal of the trial.
(2) The prison scene we have depicted lay in Carthage the splendid and wealthy capital of the populous commercial province of North Africa. The date of this prison scene was circa A. D. 202. We have appended to this a very short account of the martyrdom which followed the scene in prison from the recital of an eye-witness, as it formed part of the original document describing the prison life.
(3) The other arena scene, chosen as a good example of the usual close of a martyrdom, lay in the flourishing province of Gaul, in the important city of Lyons. The date of the events here narrated was circa A. D. 177, during the reign of the Emperor Marcus. Again it is the record of eyewitnesses, who sent to certain Christian communities in distant Asia Minor a faithful record of what had been endured for the Gospel's sake by their brethren in the Faith in Lyons, then the chief city in the populous Gallic provinces of the West. The intimate relations of the Churches in Gaul with those in Asia Minor have already been noticed.
Thus, to sum up, the three typical scenes of Christian martyrdom are drawn from contemporary and authentic sources. They date from A. D. 162 for the trial scene, for the prison scene and its sequel from A. D. 202, for the arena scene from A. D. 177. The period of these three events, chosen as an example of what was taking place in many other cities, is roughly the middle of the 280 years of our story. Different great centers of the Empire have been selected. The trial was in Rome, the prison in Carthage, the arena in Lyons, thus illustrating the observation already made that the early scenes of persecution were common to all parts of the Roman Empire.