lled many
ways, and afterwards scourged. His bones were in many places broken or
dislocated, and his flesh mangled. At length, not being able to stand,
he was carried back to prison on men's shoulders. On the next day, they
were all three again brought forth and stretched on the ground, bound
fast with cords, and their legs, thighs, and ribs so squeezed and
strained by stakes, that the noise of the bones breaking filled the
place with horror. Yet to every solicitation of the judge or officers,
their answer was: "We trust in one God, and we will not obey the king's
edicts." Scarce a day passed in which some new torture or other was not
invented and tried upon them.

After they had for three years suffered the hardships of imprisonment
and daily torments, the king coming into Media, the martyrs were brought
before Adarsapor, the chief of all the governors of the East, several
other Satrapes and governors sitting with him in the palace. They were
carried thither, for they were not able to walk, and they scarce
retained the figure of human bodies. The very sight of such spectacles
moved all who saw them to compassion, and many to tears. They
courageously professed themselves Christians, and declared that they
would never abandon their faith. Adarsapor said, he saw by their wounds
what they had already suffered, and used both threats and entreaties to
work them into a compliance with the law. When they begged him to hasten
the execution of his threats, he told them: "Death frees criminals from
pain: but I will render life to you as grievous as a continued death,
that others of your sect may tremble." Acepsimas said: "In vain do you
threaten. God, in whom we trust, will give us courage and constancy." At
this answer, fury flashed in the eyes of Adarsapor, and he swore by the
fortune of king Sapor, that if they did not that instant obey the
edicts, he would sprinkle their gray hairs with their blood, would
destroy their bodies, and would cause their dead remains to be beaten to
powder. Acepsimas said: "To you we resign our bodies, and commend to God
our souls. Execute what you threaten. It is what we desire." The tyrant,
with rage painted in every feature of his countenance, ordered the
venerable old man to be stretched on the ground, and thirty men, fifteen
on each side, to pull and haul him by cords tied to his arms, legs, and
other limbs, so as to dislocate and almost tear them asunder; and two
hangmen in the mean time to s