o tamer animo, &c., c. 12. Eusebius (l. viii. c. 5) adorns him with
secular honora Neither have condescended to mention his name; but the
Greeks celebrate his memory under that of John. See Tillemont, Memones
Ecclesiastiques, tom. v. part ii. p. 320.]

His fears were soon alarmed by the view of a danger from which he very
narrowly escaped. Within fifteen days the palace of Nicomedia, and even
the bed-chamber of Diocletian, were twice in flames; and though both
times they were extinguished without any material damage, the singular
repetition of the fire was justly considered as an evident proof that it
had not been the effect of chance or negligence. The suspicion naturally
fell on the Christians; and it was suggested, with some degree of
probability, that those desperate fanatics, provoked by their present
sufferings, and apprehensive of impending calamities, had entered into
a conspiracy with their faithful brethren, the eunuchs of the
palace, against the lives of two emperors, whom they detested as the
irreconcilable enemies of the church of God.

Jealousy and resentment prevailed in every breast, but especially in
that of Diocletian. A great number of persons, distinguished either
by the offices which they had filled, or by the favor which they had
enjoyed, were thrown into prison. Every mode of torture was put in
practice, and the court, as well as city, was polluted with many bloody
executions. [155] But as it was found impossible to extort any discovery
of this mysterious transaction, it seems incumbent on us either to
presume the innocence, or to admire the resolution, of the sufferers.
A few days afterwards Galerius hastily withdrew himself from Nicomedia,
declaring, that if he delayed his departure from that devoted palace, he
should fall a sacrifice to the rage of the Christians.

The ecclesiastical historians, from whom alone we derive a partial and
imperfect knowledge of this persecution, are at a loss how to account
for the fears and dangers of the emperors. Two of these writers, a
prince and a rhetorician, were eye-witnesses of the fire of Nicomedia.
The one ascribes it to lightning, and the divine wrath; the other
affirms, that it was kindled by the malice of Galerius himself. [156]

[Footnote 155: Lactantius de M. P. c. 13, 14. Potentissimi quondam
Eunuchi necati, per quos Palatium et ipse constabat. Eusebius (l.
viii. c. 6) mentions the cruel executions of the eunuchs, Gorgonius and
Dorotheus, and of