aiting about the doors of the
prison; while their officers ([Greek: hoi en telei auton])
succeeded, by bribing the keepers, in passing the night inside with
him. Then various meals were brought in, and religious discourses
were held between them, and this excellent Peregrinus (for he still
bore this name) was entitled a new Socrates by them. Moreover,
there came from certain cities in Asia deputies sent by the
Christian communities to assist and advise and console the man.
Indeed they show incredible despatch, when any matter of the kind
is undertaken as a public concern; for, in short, they spare
nothing. And so large sums of money came to Peregrinus at that time
from them, on the plea of his fetters, and he made no
inconsiderable revenue out of it.'

The singular correspondence in this narrative with the account of
Ignatius, combined with some striking coincidences of expression [77:1],
have led to the opinion that Lucian was acquainted with the Ignatian
history, if not with the Ignatian letters. For this view there is much
to be said; and, if it be true, the bearing of the fact on the
genuineness of the Ignatian literature is important, since Lucian was
born in Syria somewhere about A.D. 120, and lived much in Asia Minor. At
all events it is conclusive for the matter in hand, as showing that
Christian prisoners were treated in the very way described in these
epistles. The reception of delegates and the freedom of correspondence,
which have been the chief stumbling-blocks to modern criticism in the
Ignatian letters, appear quite as prominently in the heathen satirist's
account of Peregrinus [77:2].

In the light of these facts the language of Ignatius becomes quite
intelligible. He was placed under the custody of a maniple of soldiers.
These ten men would relieve guard in turns, the prisoner being always
bound to one or other of them day and night, according to the well-known
Roman usage, as illustrated by the case of St Paul. The martyr finds his
guards fierce and intractable as leopards. His fight with wild beasts,
he intimates, is not confined to the arena of the Flavian amphitheatre;
it has been going on continuously ever since he left Antioch. His
friends manage to secure him indulgences by offering bribes, but the
soldiers are exorbitant and irritating in the extreme [78:1]. The more
they receive, the more they exact. Their demands keep pace with his