Decius, Valerian and Aurelian

To you, Decius, I now appeal, you who trampled with insult on the labors of the righteous; to you, the hater of the church, the punisher of those who lived a holy life. What is your condition now, after death? How hard and wretched is your state at present! Indeed, the time before your death gave proof enough of your miserable fate, when you were overthrown with your whole army on the plains of Scythia and exposed the boasted power of Rome to the contempt of the Goths. You too, Valerian, who showed the same spirit of cruelty toward the servants of God, have given an example of righteous judgment. You were a captive in the hands of the enemy, led in chains while still dressed in the purple and imperial robes; and at last your skin was stripped from you and preserved by order of Sapor, the Persian king. So you have left a lasting monument of your disaster. And you, Aurelian, fierce doer of every wrong, how striking was your fall, when, in the middle of your wild career through Thrace, you were killed on the public highway and filled the ruts of the road with your godless blood! [a]