to its early date.

8. Lastly, another argument is alleged:--

Hilgenfeld has pointed out another indication of the same date, in
the injunction 'Pray for the kings' (Orate pro regibus), which, in
1 Peter ii. 17, is 'Honour the king' ([Greek: ton basilea timate]),
which accords with the period after Antoninus Pius had elevated
Marcus Aurelius to joint sovereignty (A.D. 147), or better still,
with that in which Marcus Aurelius appointed Lucius Verus his
colleague, A.D. 161.

Here we have only to ask why _Orate pro regibus_ should be translated
'Pray for _the_ kings,' rather than 'Pray for kings,' and the ghost of a
divided sovereignty vanishes before the spell. There is no reason
whatever for supposing that the expression has anything more than a
general reference. Even if the words had stood in the original [Greek:
huper ton basileon] and not [Greek: huper basileon], the presence of the
article would not, according to ordinary Greek usage, necessarily limit
the reference to any particular sovereigns. But there is very good
reason for believing that the definite article had no place in the
original. The writer of this Epistle elsewhere shows acquaintance with
the First Epistle to Timothy. Thus in one place (Sec. 4), he combines two
passages which occur in close proximity in that Epistle; 'The love of
money is the source of all troubles (1 Tim. vi. 10): knowing therefore
that we brought nothing into the world, neither are we able to carry
anything out (1 Tim. vi. 7), let us arm ourselves' etc. Hence it becomes
highly probable that he has derived this injunction also from the same
Epistle; 'I exhort first of all, that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men; for kings, and for
all that are in authority' (ii. 2) [123:1], where it is [Greek: huper
basileon]. After his manner, Polycarp combines this with other
expressions that he finds in the Evangelical and Apostolical writings
(Ephes. vi. 18, Matt. v. 44, Phil. iii. 18), and gives the widest
possible range to his injunction; 'Pray for all the saints; pray also
for kings and potentates and princes, and for them that persecute and
hate you, and for the enemies of the cross, etc.' We may therefore bid
farewell to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

Our author at the outset speaks of 'some critics who affirm the
authenticity of the Epistle attributed to him [Polycarp], but who
certainly do not justify their