Domitian, having shown great cruelty toward many, and having unjustly put to death no small number of well-born and notable men at Rome, and having without cause exiled and confiscated the property of a great many other illustrious men, finally became a successor of Nero in his. hatred and enmity toward God. He was in fact the second that stirred up a persecution against us, (1) although his father Vespasian had undertaken nothing prejudicial to us. (2)

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Apostle John and the Apocalypse.

It is said that in this persecution the apostle and evangelist John, who was still alive, was condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos in consequence of his testimony to the divine word. (1) Irenaeus, in the fifth book of his work Against Heresies, where he discusses the number of the name of Antichrist which is given in the so-called Apocalypse of John, (2) speaks as follows concerning him: a "If it were necessary for his name to be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him who saw the revelation. For it was seen not long ago, but almost in our own generation, at the end of the reign of Domitian."

To such a degree, indeed, did the teaching of our faith flourish at that time that even those writers who were far from our religion did not hesitate to mention in their histories the persecution and the martyrdoms which took place during it. (4) And they, indeed, accurately indicated the time. For they recorded that in the fifteenth year of Domitian (5) Flavia Domitilla, daughter of a sister of Flavius Clement, who at that time was one of the consuls of Rome, (6) was exiled with many others to the island of Pontia in consequence of testimony borne to Christ.

CHAPTER XIX.

Domitian commands the Descendants of David to be slain.

But when this same Domitian had commanded that the descendants of David should be slain, an ancient tradition says (1) that some of the heretics brought accusation against the descendants of Jude (said to have been a brother of the Saviour according to the flesh), on the ground that they were of the lineage of David and were related to Christ himself. Hegesippus relates these facts in the following words.

CHAPTER XX.

The Relatives of our Saviour.

"Of the family of the Lord there were still living the grandchildren of Jude, who is said to have been the Lord's brother according to the flesh. (1) Information was given that they belonged to the family of David, and they were brought to the Emperor Domitian by the Evocatus. (2) For Domitian feared the coming of Christ as Herod also had feared it. And he asked them if they were descendants of David, and they confessed that they were. Then he asked them how much property they had, or how much money they owned. And both of them answered that they had only nine thousand denarii, (8) half of which belonged to each of them; and this property did not consist of silver, but of a piece of land which contained only thirty-nine acres, and from which they raised their taxes (4) and supported themselves by their own labor." (5) Then they showed their hands, exhibiting the hardness of their bodies and the callousness produced upon their hands by continuous toil as evidence of their own labor. And when they were asked concerning Christ and his kingdom, of what sort it was and where and when it was to appear, they, answered that it was not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly and angelic one, which would appear at the end of the world, when he should come in glory to judge the quick and the dead, and to give unto every one according to his works. Upon hearing this, Domitian did not pass judgment against them, but, despising them as of no account, he let them go, and by a decree put a stop to the persecution of the Church. But when they were released they ruled the churches because they were witnesses (6) and were also relatives of the Lord. (7) And peace being established, they lived until the time of Trojan. These things are related by Hegesippus.

Tertullian also has mentioned Domitian in the following words: (8) "Domitian also, who possessed a share of Nero's cruelty, attempted once to do the same thing that the latter did. But because he had, I suppose, some intelligence, (9) he very soon ceased, and even recalled those whom he had banished." But after Domitian had reigned fifteen years, (16) and Nerva had succeeded to the empire, the Roman Senate, according to the writers that record the history of those days, (11) voted that Domitian's honors should be cancelled, and that those who had been unjustly banished should return to their homes and have their property restored to them. It was at this time that the apostle John returned from his banishment in the island and took up his abode at Ephesus, according to an ancient Christian tradition. (12)

CHAPTER XXI.

Cerdon becomes the Third Ruler of the Church of Alexandria.

After Nerva had reigned a little more than a year (1) he was succeeded by Trojan. It was during the first year of his reign that Abilius, (2) who had ruled the church of Alexandria for thirteen years, was succeeded by Cerdon. (3) He was the third that presided over that church after Annianus, (4) who was the first. At that time Clement still ruled the church of Rome, being also the third that held the episcopate there after Paul and Peter. Linus was the first, and after him came Anencletus, (5)

CHAPTER XXII.

Ignatius, the Second Bishop of Antioch.

AT this time Ignatius (1) was known as the second bishop of Antioch, Evodius having been the first. (2) Symeon (3) likewise was at that time the second ruler of the church of Jerusalem, the brother of our Saviour having been the first.