t
definite number, he speaks of many Christians, and most artfully selects
two ambiguous words, which may signify either what he had seen, or
what he had heard; either the expectation, or the execution of the
punishment. Having thus provided a secure evasion, he commits the
equivocal passage to his readers and translators; justly conceiving that
their piety would induce them to prefer the most favorable sense. There
was perhaps some malice in the remark of Theodorus Metochita, that all
who, like Eusebius, had been conversant with the Egyptians, delighted in
an obscure and intricate style. (See Valesius ad loc.)]

[Footnote 182a: This calculation is made from the martyrs, of whom
Eusebius speaks by name; but he recognizes a much greater number.
Thus the ninth and tenth chapters of his work are entitled, "Of
Antoninus, Zebinus, Germanus, and other martyrs; of Peter the monk. of
Asclepius the Maroionite, and other martyrs." [Are these vague contents
of chapters very good authority?--M.] Speaking of those who suffered
under Diocletian, he says, "I will only relate the death of one of
these, from which, the reader may divine what befell the rest." Hist.
Eccl. viii. 6. [This relates only to the martyrs in the royal
household.--M.] Dodwell had made, before Gibbon, this calculation and
these objections; but Ruinart (Act. Mart. Pref p. 27, et seq.) has
answered him in a peremptory manner: Nobis constat Eusebium in historia
infinitos passim martyres admisisse. quamvis revera paucorum nomina
recensuerit. Nec alium Eusebii interpretem quam ipsummet Eusebium
proferimus, qui (l. iii. c. 33) ait sub Trajano plurimosa ex fidelibus
martyrii certamen subiisse (l. v. init.) sub Antonino et Vero
innumerabiles prope martyres per universum orbem enituisse affirmat. (L.
vi. c. 1.) Severum persecutionem concitasse refert, in qua per omnes
ubique locorum Ecclesias, ab athletis pro pietate certantibus, illustria
confecta fuerunt martyria. Sic de Decii, sic de Valeriani,
persecutionibus loquitur, quae an Dodwelli faveant conjectionibus
judicet aequus lector. Even in the persecutions which Gibbon has
represented as much more mild than that of Diocletian, the number of
martyrs appears much greater than that to which he limits the martyrs of
the latter: and this number is attested by incontestable monuments. I
will quote but one example. We find among the letters of St. Cyprian one
from Lucianus to Celerinus, written from the depth of a prison, in w