The Martyrdom of Justin.

Early Christians were constantly liable to sporadic persecution, and one Christian leader after another met his death by martyrdom, as we have already seen in the case of Ignatius. After the middle of the second century we find a few accounts of the trials and sufferings of the martyrs, sometimes in the form of letters such as the one about Polycarp, to which we shall presently turn, sometimes in the form of court reporting, as in the account of the Roman Christian Justin, put to death between 163 and 167, when Q. Junius Rusticus was prefect of the city of Rome. The Martyrdom of Justin describes the interrogation of Justin and seven other Christians by the prefect. The prefect engages in a brief discussion with Justin, then inquires about the Christian allegiance of all the prisoners. When they insist that they are Christians, he threatens Justin and ridicules his ideas about heavenly reward. All the Christians refuse to offer sacrifice to the gods and are therefore beheaded; other Christians later obtain their bodies for burial, and perhaps for veneration.