THE CONFESSION OF DOMNINUS,

IN THE FIFTH YEAR OF THE PERSECUTION IN OUR DAYS, IN THE CITY OF CAESAREA.

URBANUS was governor in Palestine; and it was the first day. of the latter Teshri; and so, from day to day, he renewed himself in his wickedness, and every year prepared some devices against us. I will therefore relate how many evils he inflicted on this one day which I have mentioned. On the day then which we have spoken of, a certain man, admirable in all his conduct, and excellently skilled in the science of medicine,

and he was a young man of tall stature and handsome, and celebrated for the holiness of his life, and the purity of his soul, and his modesty, and his name was Domninus; he was also well known to all those in our time who had been confessors. Moreover, this same man, previously to his receiving consummation by martyrdom, had endured torture in the copper mines; and on account of his patience under his confession he was condemned to the punishment by fire.

When that same judge, cunning in his wickedness (for it is not meet that those should be called wise who boast themselves in the bitterness of their wickedness), had passed on from this martyr, he lighted upon three young men of fine stature, and handsome in their person, and praiseworthy as to their souls, on account of their courage in worshipping God; and in order that he might afford amusement thereby, he sent them to the Ludus. Then he passed on from these, and delivered up an excellent and godly old man to be devoured by the wild beasts. Then the mad man passed on from this old man, and came to others, and commanded them to be castrated and turned into eunuchs. Then he left them also, and proceeded to those who appertained to Sylvanus, whose own lot also it was some time afterwards to become a martyr of God, and these he condemned to the mines of Phaeno. Afterwards he passed on from these and came to others whom he insulted with tortures. Nor was the ^[25] fury of his malice content with males, but he also threatened to torment the females, and delivered over these virgins to fornicators for the violation of their persons. Others again he sent to prison. Now all these things which we have described did this arrogant judge perpetrate in one hour.

And after all these things which I have described had been accomplished, that heavenly martyr of God, Pamphilus, a name very dear to me (p. 27), who was holy in all things, and adorned with every virtue, was tried in the conflict of martyrdom. He was indeed the most famous of all the martyrs in our time, on account of his accomplishments in philosophy, and his acquirements both in sacred and profane literature. Of this same man, admirable in all things, Urbanus first made a trial of his wisdom by questions and answers; and at last endeavoured to compel him by threats to offer sacrifice to dead idols; and when he had ascertained by trial that he was not to be persuaded by words, and also perceived that his threats were not heeded by him, he applied cruel torture, and lacerated him grievously on his sides. But he was not able to subdue him by this means, as he had expected. The wicked judge then considered that if he bound him in prison together with those confessors of whom mention has been already made, he might by this means subdue this holy martyr.

Now as to this cruel judge, who employed all these wicked devices against the confessors of God, what recompense and punishment must await him ? For this is easy for us to know from what we are writing. For forthwith, and immediately, and without any long delay, the righteous judgment of God overtook him on account of those things which he had dared to do, and took severe and bitter vengeance upon him; and he that sat on the judgment-seat on high in his pride, and boasted himself in his soldiers that stood before him, and considered himself above all the people in Palestine, was in one night stripped of all his splendour and all his honours, and reduced to the condition of a private individual. And here, in our city of Caesarea, where he had perpetrated all those crimes which have been written above, he was by the sentence of Maximinus, a wicked tyrant like himself, delivered up to a ^[26] miserable death; and insult and humiliation, which is worse than all deaths, was heaped upon him, so that reproachful words from women, with dreadful imprecations from the mouths of all, were poured into his ears before he died

. Wherefore, by these things we may perceive that this was a foretaste of that vengeance of God which is reserved for him at the last, on account of all his maliciousness and unmercifulness towards the servants of God.

These things we have related in a cursory manner for those believers, of whom some still remain unto this present time, omitting to relate many afflictions which passed over him, in order that we may arrange these things briefly, and in a few words, as a record for those who are to come after us; but there may come a time when we may recount in our narrative the end and fall of those wicked men who exerted themselves against our people.