as his circumstances would permit; but
Gibbon, who describes his case with special minuteness, most uncandidly
represents it as affording an average specimen of the style in which
condemned Christians were treated. As an evidence of the social position
of the bishop of Carthage we may refer to the testimony of Pontius his
deacon, who states that "numbers of eminent and illustrious persons, men
of rank and family and secular distinction, for the sake of their old
friendship with him, urged him many times to retire." "Life," Sec. 14.

[303:1] Euseb. vii. 13.

[303:2] See Bingham, ii. p. 451.

[304:1] "De Mortibus Persec." c. 10.

[304:2] Euseb. viii. 2; "De Mort. Persec." c. 13. See also "Neander," by
Torrey, i. 202, note.

[305:1] Eusebius, "Martyrs of Palestine," c. 4.

[305:2] Eusebius, "Martyrs of Palestine," c. 9.

[305:3] The Vatican Manuscript, the oldest in existence, was probably
written shortly after this persecution. It possesses internal evidences
that its date is anterior to the middle of the fourth century. See
Horne, iv. 161, 10th edition.

[306:1] Eusebius, viii. 6, 9, 10, 12.

[307:1] Firmilian refers to a noted persecution which "did not extend to
the whole world, _but was local_." Cyprian, "Epist." lxxv. p. 305.

[308:1] The treatise "De Mortibus Persecutorum" is generally attributed
to Lactantius who flourished in the early part of the fourth century.
The authorship is doubtful.

[308:2] Ps. ix. 16.

[308:3] Herodian, iii. 23. This circumstance, as well as some others
here stated, is not mentioned in the work "De Mort. Persec." Tertullian
mentions some other remarkable facts, "Ad Scapulam," c. 3.

[308:4] "De Mortib. Persec.," c. 49.

[309:1] Tertullian, "Apol." c. 46.

[310:1] Tertullian, "Apol." 28.

[310:2] Tertullian, "Ad Scapulam," Sec. 2.

[311:1] John xviii. 36.

[312:1] Phil. iii. 18, 19.

[313:1] Cyprian, "De Lapsis," p. 374.

[313:2] Cyprian, "Ad Cornelium," epist. xlix. p. 143. Cyprian also
charges one of his deacons with fraud, extortion, and adultery. Epist.
xxxviii. p. 116.

[313:3] Cornelius of Rome in Euseb. vi. 43.

[315:1] See Eusebius, v. 3, vi. 9.

[315:2] See Neander's "Antignostikus," part ii. sect. ii. at the end. It
appears that the Christian ascetics adopted the dress of the pagan
philosophers.

[315:3] Cyprian, "De Habitu Virginum," pp. 354, 361.

[315:4] Still, in the time of Origen, the sons of bishops, presbyters,
and deacons valued themse