re, and put to death the young prince, son of the king of
Persia, of the Parthians, left a hostage in his hands: circumstances
mentioned by St. Chrysostom. Having reigned something upwards of five
years, he was slain with his son Philip, his colleague in the empire, by
Decius, about the middle of the year 249. The peace and favor which the
church had enjoyed during his reign, had much increased her numbers, but
had relaxed the fervor of many, as we see in St. Cyprian's works, and in
the life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. Whole cities had embraced the
faith, and public {212} churches were erected. Decius equally hated the
Philips and the Christian religion, against which he published the most
cruel edicts in the year 250; which caused the seventh general
persecution, permitted by God to purge away the dross to his flock, and
to awake them to fervor.

St. Chrysostom extols the courage and zeal of St. Babylas, in shutting
the church-doors against an emperor and a barbarous tyrant, then at the
head of a victorious army. We find Philip styled conqueror of the
Parthians, in an inscription in Gruter,[2] by which he seems to have
returned triumphant, though Zonoras pretends he had bought a peace.
Eusebius mentions it as a report, that the emperor received the bishop's
rebuke with meekness, and submitted to public penance: but St.
Chrysostom insinuates, that the same tyrant, in a rage for being refused
admittance, threw St. Babylas into a dungeon, where he soon died. St.
Jerom says that Decius imprisoned him, which seems the true account. F.
Stilting thinks that Decius, after being proclaimed emperor in Pannonia,
marched first against Philip, and when he was slain, led his army into
Syria, where Priscus, Philip's brother, commanded the troops of those
parts, and Jotapian about that time assumed the purple, but was soon
crushed. At this time he doubts not but Decius was forbid by St. Babylas
to enter the church, because he was an idolater, and had perfidiously
murdered a prince who was the son of some king of a nation of
barbarians, who had sent him as a hostage to that tyrant. For many
transactions of that time are not recorded by the Roman historians. At
least it seems to have been under Decius that St. Babylas consummated
his martyrdom by the hardships of his prison: and when dying, ordered
his chains to be buried with him, as the happy instruments and marks of
his triumph. The Christians built a church over his tomb. His body