[281:1] Gregory of Tours, “Hist.  Francorum,” lib. i. c. 28.

[281:2] Sozomen, “Hist.  Eccles.” ii. 6, and Philostorgius, “Hist.  Eccles.” ii. 5.

[281:3] “Adversus Judaeos,” c. 7.

[282:1] Justin Martyr, “Dialogue with Trypho,” Opera, p. 345.

[282:2] Theophilus, “Ad Autolycum,” lib. ii.  See also Origen, “In Matthaeum,” Opera, tom. iii. p. 858.

[282:3] “Life of Alexander Severus,” by Lampridius.

[282:4] Euseb. viii. 1.

[284:1] Cyprian, “De Laude Martyrii,” Opera, pp. 620, 621.  See also Tertullian, “Ad Scapulam,” c. 5. ad finem.

[285:1] Tertullian, “Apol.” 50.

[287:1] Tertullian, “De Idololatria,” c. 17.

[287:2] Matt. x. 35, 36.

[287:3] Tertullian, “Apol.” c. 3, and “Ad Nationes,” i.  Sec. 4.

[287:4] 1 Cor. xv. 19.

[288:1] The Christians long gloried in the fact that Nero was their first persecutor.  See Tertullian, “Apol.” c. 5.

[289:1] Plinii, “Epist.” lib. x. epist. 97.

[290:1] Matt. xiii. 55; Mark vi. 3.  That Simon and Simeon are the same, see Acts xv. 7, 14.

[290:2] Trajan died A.D. 117, and if Simeon was born a year after Jesus, he entered upon the 120th year of his age about the close of this Emperor’s reign.  See Greswell’s “Dissertations,” vol. ii. pp. 127, 128.  It was the opinion of Tertullian that Mary had other sons after she gave birth to our Lord.  See Neander’s “Antignostikus,” and Tertullian “De Monogamia,” c. 8.

[293:1] The account of the trial of himself and his companions, as given in the “Acta Sincera Martyrum” by Ruinart, bears all the marks of truth.

[293:2] An account of his martyrdom is given in a circular letter of the Church of Smyrna.  See Jacobson’s “Patres Apostolici,” tom. ii. p. 542.  Euseb. iv. 15.

[294:1] These places are distant from each other about seventeen miles.

[296:1] Euseb. v. 1.

[296:2] Among the Romans a concubine held a certain legal position, and was in fact a wife with inferior privileges.  Converted concubines 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.