that had elapsed from Christ to his own time. Even the fragments of this work, which remain, contain some interesting notices of the apostles and their times.

XV. EPISTLE FROM THE MARTYRS OF LYONS

TO ELEUTHERUS.

This letter was written in the year 177, according to Constantius (in Rom. Pontif. Epist., Paris. 1721), on behalf of the churches of Asia and Phrygia, the peace of which was disturbed by the novelties of Montanus, Alcibiades, and Theodotus.

XVI. EPISTLE FROM THE CHURCHES OF VIENNE AND

LYONS, &c.

This epistle proceeded from the same source as the last, and is ascribed by Ecumenius, in his Commentary on the First Epistle of Saint Peter, chap. iii, to the celebrated Irenæus.

XVII. PANTÆNUS.

"Pantænus, a Stoic philosopher, according to an old custom at Alexandria, where there were always ecclesiastical teachers from the time of Mark the Evangelist, was a man of such great prudence and erudition, both in sacred and profane literature, that, at the request of certain ambassadors from India, he was sent into that country by Demetrius bishop of Alexandria. There he found that Bartholomew, one of the twelve apostles, had preached the coming of Christ according to the gospel of Matthew, and on his return brought it back

with him to Alexandria, written in Hebrew letters. Many of his commentaries on Holy Scripture are still extant, but he profited the churches most by his living voice. He taught under Severus and Antoninus surnamed Caracalla." [HIERON. de Viris Ill. 36.]

XVIII. RHODON.

Rhodon, an Asiatic, was a disciple of Tatian at Rome and lived in the time of Commodus and Severus. He wrote on the Hexahemeron and against the Phrygian heretics.

XIX. FRAGMENT OF A SYNODICAL LETTER FROM THE COUNCIL OF CESAREA.

The letter, of which this sole fragment remains, forms part of a long discussion that was raised about the end of the second century, concerning the celebration of Easterwhether Easter-day should be kept on any day of the week on which at the revolution of the year it should fall, or only on the Sunday afterwards. This dispute, which caused many schisms in various parts of Christendom, still formed a subject of discussion in England down to the time of Venerable Bede.

XX. POLYCRATES.

Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, was the principal person who upheld the Asiatic mode of celebrating Easter, and wrote to Victor bishop of Rome the synodical letter of which a long fragment has been preserved.

XXI. FRAGMENTS OF A LETTER FROM THE COUNCIL OF LYONS.

The severe conduct of Victor, in reply to the former letter from Polycrates and the Asiatic bishops, gave dissatisfaction to the church of Lyons, which sent the following letter, said to have been written by Irenæus, to dissuade Victor from excommunicating their Asiatic brethren.

XXII. SARAPION.

Sarapion was made bishop of Antioch in the eleventh year of Commodus and wrote an epistle to Caricus and Pontius about the heresy of the Montanists: also against the Judaizing of Domninus, the Gospel of Peter, Epistles, &c.

XXIII. AN ANONYMOUS ELDER,

Quoted by Clemens of Alexandria, and again by Eusebius. Nothing more is known of him: but it is a fair inquiry, whether the name Elder, Presbuteros, is used to indicate an aged man, or a man invested with the ecclesiastical office of priest.

XXIV. APOLLONIUS.

Of Apollonius the Phrygian we know little more than that he wrote several works, directed especially against the heresies of his own country. Eusebius alone has preserved fragments of his writings.

XXV. MELITO.

The last writer given in this volume, is Melito, bishop of Sardis, the author of numerous works, all of which have perished. Besides other works he appears to have written one called Clavis, a Key to Scripture, in which every idea and almost every word are interpreted allegorically. An oriental version of this work, hitherto supposed to be lost, has lately been found by Dom Pitra and edited in his Spicilegium Solesmense,-if, at least, the work be really that of Melito, for there seems to be some doubt on this subject, arising from the Latin version bearing the name of Miletus, thought to be a corruption for Melito. If the work be genuine, it is a most dull and heavy composition, and I have deemed it wholly inadmissible into this volume, the more particularly as its original text is lost.

Thus the reader has before him every writing and fragment that remains of the second century of our era, except those longer works which belong or may belong to the same period.

The translation has been made from the text of Otto for Tatian; from the old Benedictine edition for Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Hermias; and from the Reliquiæ Sacre of my late venerable friend Dr. Routh, for the other twenty-one writers contained in this volume. It was originally intended to give the Apostolical Fathers in an accompanying volume, so that the present would have been vol. ii. of the work; but, as Archbishop Wake's excellent translation is easily accessible, the idea was abandoned.

J. A. GILES.