persecution of Christians, although there may have been instances in which prominent members of the body were either punished or fell victims to popular fury and superstition. [105:1] An instance of this kind was the martyrdom of Simeon, Bishop of Jerusalem, reported by Hegesippus.  He was not condemned ad bestias, however, and much less deported to Rome for the purpose.  Why should Ignatius have been so exceptionally treated?  In fact, even during the persecutions under Marcus Aurelius, although Christians in Syria were frequently enough cast to the beasts, there is no instance recorded in which anyone condemned to this fate was sent to Rome.  Such a sentence is quite at variance with the clement character of Trajan and his principles of government.  Neander, in a passage quoted by Baur, says:  “As he (Trajan), like Pliny, considered Christianity mere fanaticism, he also probably thought that if severity were combined with clemency, if too much noise were not made about it, the open demonstration not left unpunished but also minds not stirred up by persecution, the fanatical enthusiasm would most easily cool down, and the matter by degrees come to an end.” [106:1] This was certainly the policy which mainly characterised his reign.  Now not only would this severe sentence have been contrary to such principles, but the agitation excited would have been enormously increased by sending the martyr a long journey by land through Asia, and allowing him to pass through some of the principal cities, hold constant intercourse with the various Christian communities, and address long epistles to them.  With the fervid desire for martyrdom then prevalent, such a journey would have been a triumphal progress, spreading everywhere excitement and enthusiasm.  It may not be out of place, as an indication of the results of impartial examination, to point out that Neander’s inability to accept the Ignatian Epistles largely rests on his disbelief of the whole tradition of this sentence and martyr-journey.  “We do not recognise the Emperor Trajan in this narrative” (the martyrology), he says, “therefore cannot but doubt everything which is related by this document, as well as that, during this reign, Christians can have been cast to the wild beasts.” [106:2]

If, for a moment, we suppose that, instead of being condemned by Trajan himself, Ignatius received his sentence from a provincial governor, the story does not gain greater probability.  It is not credible that such an official would have ventured to act so much in opposition to the spirit of the Emperor’s government.  Besides, if such a governor did pronounce so severe a sentence, why did he not execute it in Antioch?  Why send the prisoner to Rome?  By doing so he made all the more conspicuous a severity which was not likely to be pleasing to the clement Trajan.  The cruelty which dictated a condemnation ad bestias would have been more gratified by execution on the spot, and there is besides no instance