were
admitted to the communion of the ancient Church. See Bunsen's
"Hippolytus," iii. 7.

[296:3] Mosheim ("Commentaries" by Vidal. ii. 52, note) and many others,
refer the transaction recorded in the text to the reign of Hadrian, but
without any good cause. Tertullian, who tells the story ("Ad Scapulani,"
c. 5), evidently alludes to a transaction which had recently occurred.
In the reign of Commodus there was a proconsul named Arrius Antoninus
who was put to death. See Lamprid, "Vita Commodi," c. 6, 7. See also
Kaye's "Tertullian," p. 146, note; and "Neander's General History" by
Torrey, i. 162, note.

[296:4] Clemens Alexandrinus apparently refers to the times immediately
following the death of Commodus when he says--"Many martyrs are daily
burned, crucified, and decapitated before our eyes." Strom, lib. ii. p.
414.

[297:1] Tertullian, "Ad Scapulam," c. 4.

[297:2] Compare Justin Martyr, "Apol." ii. pp. 70, 71, and "Dial, cum
Tryphone," p. 227, with Tertullian, "Apol." c. 7.

[297:3] Called _libellos_.

[297:4] These parties sometimes appealed to Acts xvii. 9, in
justification of their conduct.

[298:1] The _sacrificati_, or those who had sacrificed, as well as
offered incense, were considered still more guilty.

[298:2] "Acta Perpetuae et Felicitatis." The martyrs appear to have been
Montanists. See Gieseler, by Cunningham, i. 125, note. Tertullian
mentions Perpetua, and his language countenances the supposition that
she was a Montanist. "De Anima," c. 55.

[300:1] See the "Chronicon" of Eusebius, par. ii., adnot. p. 197. Edit.
Venet, 1818.

[301:1] The Roman clergy speak of "the remnants and ruined heaps of the
fallen lying on all sides." Cyp. "Epist." xxxi. p. 99. Cyprian complains
of _"thousands_ of letters given _daily_" in behalf of the lapsed by
misguided confessors and martyrs. "Epist." xiv. p. 59. The writer here
probably speaks somewhat rhetorically, and evidently does not mean, as
some have thought, that all these letters were written at Carthage. He
speaks of what was done "everywhere," including Italy, as well as the
cities of Africa. "Epist." xiv., xxii., xxvi.

[301:2] Dionysius of Alexandria, quoted by Euseb., vi. 41.

[302:1] Euseb. vi. 39.

[302:2] A.D. 249 to A.D. 251.

[302:3] Cyprian, Epist. 82, ad Successum.

[302:4] Cyprian, who seems to have been much respected personally by the
high officers of government at Carthage, was, when taken prisoner,
granted as great indulgence