whom 'the Presbyter John' must have been a
common mode of designation in contradistinction to 'the Apostle John,'
and to whom therefore the proper meaning would at once suggest itself.
Instances are not wanting elsewhere in which this word is used with two
senses, official and non-official, in the same passage [146:3].

Of the elders with whom Papias was personally acquainted, we can only
name with certainty Aristion and the Presbyter John; but as regards
these Eusebius is explicit. To them the Apostle John may perhaps be
added, as we have seen, on the authority of Irenaeus. Beyond these three
names we have no authority for extending the list, though there is a
possibility that in very early life he may have met with others, more
especially Andrew and Philip, who are known to have lived in these
parts. But, however this may be, it seems to follow from the words of
his preface that his direct intercourse with these elders or personal
disciples of the Lord had not been great. It was probably confined to
the earlier part of his life, before he had any thought of writing his
book; and the information thence derived was in consequence casual and
fragmentary. When he set himself to collect traditions for this special
purpose, he was dependent on secondary evidence, on the information
collected from scholars and followers of these primitive elders.

We are now in a position to investigate the age of Papias; but, as a
preliminary to this investigation, it is necessary to say something
about the authority for the one definite date which is recorded in
connection with him. In my article on Polycarp, I pointed out that
recent investigations had pushed the date of this father's martyrdom
several years farther back, and that some chronological difficulties
attaching to the commonly received date had thus been removed [147:1]. A
similar difficulty meets us in the case of Papias; and it disappears in
like manner, as I hope to show, before the light of criticism. The
_Chronicon Paschale_, which was compiled in the first half of the
seventh century [147:2], represents Papias as martyred at Pergamum about
the same time when Polycarp suffered at Smyrna, and places the event in
the year 164. If this statement were true, we could hardly date his
birth before A.D. 80, and even then he would have lived to a very
advanced age. But there is a certain difficulty [147:3] in supposing
that one born at this late date should have been directly acqua