Of the Fourth Persecution of the Christians

LUCIUS VERUS, WHICH WAS

COMMENCED ABOUT THE YEAR 166

P. J. Twisck, in his Chronicle, gives the year 162 as the beginning of the fourth persecution; the writers of the Introduction to the Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christian fix the beginning in the year 164 (page 37, column 2); J. Gysius, in Hist. Mart., folio 16, column 2, places it in the year 168, and A. Mellinus says nothing at all about the exact time of that persecution. However, all these writers give full accounts of the inhuman tortures which the faithful martyrs had to suffer at that time.* [n150-2]

We, in order to take a middle course between the writers named above, have set down the year 166 as the beginning of this persecution. However, there is little difference between these writers; for it is probable that the decrees for the persecution of the Christians were first issued about the year 162; that about the year 164 they were carried out; and that about the year 168 they reached full force, so that the persecution was then at its fiercest. However, we shall go on to see how cruelly the pious witnesses of Jesus Christ were treated at that time.