Mr. G. G. Scott lately discovered, at the Chapter House, Westminster,
some frescoes representing the Visions of S. John, fourteenth century,
which are described in the following inscriptions, translated by Canon
Wordsworth:--
"To the most pious Cæsar, always Augustus, Domitian, the Proconsul of
the Ephesians sends greeting:--We notify to your majesty that a
certain man named John, of the nation of the Hebrews, coming into
Asia, and preaching Jesus crucified, has affirmed him to be the true
God and the Son of God; and he is abolishing the worship of our
invincible deities, and is hastening to destroy the temples erected by
your ancestors. This man, being contrariant--as a magician and a
sacrilegious person--to your imperial edict, is converting almost all
the people of the Ephesian city, by his magical arts and by his
preaching, to the worship of a man who has been crucified and is dead.
But we, having a zeal for the worship of the immortal gods,
endeavoured to prevail upon him by fair words and blandishments, and
also by threats, according to your imperial edict, to deny his Christ,
and to make offerings to the immortal gods. And since we have not been
able to induce him by any methods to do this, we address this letter
to your majesty, in order that you may signify to us what it is your
royal pleasure to be done with him."
"As soon as Domitian had read this letter, being enraged, he sent a
rescript to the proconsul, that he should put the holy John in chains
and bring him with him from Ephesus to Rome, and there assume to
himself the judgment according to the imperial command."
"Then the proconsul, according to the imperial command, bound the
blessed John the Apostle with chains, and brought him with him to
Rome, and announced his arrival to Domitian, who, being indignant,
gave command to the proconsul that the holy John should be placed in a
boiling caldron, in presence of the senate, in front of the gate which
is called the Latin Gate, when he had been scourged, which was done.
But, by the grace of God protecting him, he came forth uninjured and
exempt from corruption of the flesh. And the proconsul, being
astonished that he had come forth from the caldron anointed but not
scorched, was desirous of restoring him to liberty, and would have
done so if he had not feared to contravene the royal command. And when
tidings of these things had been brought to Domitian, he ordered the
holy Apostle John to be banished to the island called Patmos, in which
he saw and wrote the Apocalypse, which bears his name, and is read by
us."