Martyrs at Gaza and Caesarea

In the course of the second year the persecution against us grew much fiercer. Urbanus was governor of the province at that time, and imperial edicts were then sent to him for the first time, ordering by a general decree that all the people in every city should sacrifice together and pour libations to the idols. At Gaza, a city of Palestine, Timothy endured countless tortures and was afterward put to a slow, low fire. By his endurance in all his sufferings he gave the truest proof of his sincere devotion to God, and carried off the crown of the victorious athletes of godliness. At the same time Agapius and Thecla, our contemporary, showed the noblest constancy and were condemned to be food for the wild beasts. [a]

Who that saw these things would not have marveled, or, hearing of them by report, would not have been astonished? For while the pagans everywhere were holding a festival with the customary shows, word went round that besides the other entertainments, those lately condemned to the wild beasts would also fight in public. As this report grew and spread in every direction, six young men first tied their own hands and then hurried to Urbanus as he was about to open the show: Timolaus, from Pontus; Dionysius, from Tripolis in Phoenicia; Romulus, a subdeacon of the church at Diospolis; Paesis and Alexander, both Egyptians; and another Alexander, from Gaza. They showed great eagerness for martyrdom. They confessed that they were Christians, and by their readiness for every terror they showed that those who glory in the worship of the God of the universe do not cower before the onslaught of wild beasts. [c] At once, after causing no small astonishment to the governor and those with him, they were thrown into prison. A few days later two others were added to them. One, named Agapius, had already endured dreadful torments of many kinds in earlier confessions; the other, who had supplied them with the necessities of life, was called Dionysius. All eight were beheaded on one day at Caesarea, on the twenty-fourth day of the month Dystrus, March 24 by the Roman reckoning. [d]

Meanwhile a change of emperors took place. The first of them all in rank, and the second, retired to private life, and public affairs began to be troubled. [e] Not long after, the Roman government split against itself, and a cruel war broke out among them. This division, and the troubles that came of it, did not settle down until peace toward us had been established throughout the whole Roman empire. [f] For when this peace dawned for everyone, like daylight after the darkest and gloomiest night, the public affairs of the Roman government were set right again and became happy and peaceful, and the good will toward one another that their ancestors had known revived. But we will tell of this more fully in its proper place. Now let us return to the order of events.