Trajan’s persecution in some degree continued during the first year
of Adrian’s reign, whence Sulpicius Severus places the fourth general
persecution under this emperor. However, he put a stop to it about
the year 124, moved probably both by the apologies of Quadratus
and Aristides, and by a letter which Serenius Granianus, proconsul
of Asia, had written to him in favor of the Christians.[198] Nay,
he had Christ in veneration, not as the Saviour of the world, but
as a wonder or novelty, and kept his image together with that
of Apollonius Tyanæus. This God was pleased to permit, that his
afflicted church might enjoy some respite. It was, however, again
involved in the disgrace which the Jews (with whom the Pagans at
these times in some degree confounded the Christians) drew upon
themselves by their rebellion, which gave occasion to the last entire
destruction of Jerusalem in 134. Then, as St. Paulinus informs
us,[199] Adrian caused a statue of Jupiter to be erected on the place
where Christ rose from the dead, and a marble Venus on the place
of his crucifixion; and at Bethlehem,[200] a grotto consecrated in
honor of Adonis or Thammuz, to whom he also dedicated the cave where
Christ was born. This prince, towards the end of his reign, abandoned
himself more than ever to acts of cruelty, and being awaked by a
fit of superstition, he again drew his sword against the innocent
flock of Christ. He built a magnificent country palace at Tibur, now
Tivoli, sixteen miles from Rome, upon the most agreeable banks of
the river Anio, now called Teverone. Here he placed whatever could
be procured most curious out of all the provinces. Having finished
the building, he intended to dedicate it by heathenish ceremonies,
which he began by offering sacrifices, in order to induce the idols
to deliver their oracles. The demons answered: “The widow Symphorosa
and her seven sons daily torment us by invoking their God; if they
sacrifice, we promise to be favorable to your vows.”
This lady lived with her seven sons upon a plentiful estate which
they enjoyed at Tivoli, and she liberally expended her treasures
in assisting the poor, especially in relieving the Christians that
suffered for the faith. She was widow of St. Getulius or Zoticus, who
had been crowned with martyrdom with his brother Amantius. They were
both tribunes of legions or colonels in the army, and are honored
among the martyrs on the 10th of June. Symphorosa had buried their
bodies in her own farm, and sighing to see her sons and herself
united with them in immortal bliss, she prepared herself to follow
them by the most fervent exercise of all good works.
Adrian, whose superstition was alarmed at this answer of his gods or
their priests, ordered her and her sons to be seized, and brought
before him. She came with joy in her countenance, praying all the
way for herself and her children, that God would grant them the
grace to confess his holy name with constancy. The emperor exhorted
them at first in mild terms to sacrifice. Symphorosa answered: “My
husband, Getulius, and his brother Amantius, being your tribunes,
have suffered divers torments for the name of Jesus Christ rather
than sacrifice to idols; and they have vanquished your demons by
their death, choosing to be beheaded rather than to be overcome. The
death they suffered drew upon them ignominy among men, but glory
among the angels; and they now enjoy eternal life in heaven.” The
emperor changing his voice, said to her in an angry tone: “Either
sacrifice to the most powerful gods, with thy sons, or thou thyself
shalt be offered up as a sacrifice together with them.” Symphorosa
answered: “Your gods cannot receive me as a sacrifice; but if I
am burnt for the name of Jesus Christ, my death will increase the
torment which your devils endure in their flames. But can I hope for
so great a happiness as to be offered with my children a sacrifice to
the true and living God?” Adrian said: “Either sacrifice to my gods,
or you shall all miserably perish.” Symphorosa said “Do not imagine
that fear will make me change; I am desirous to be at rest with my
husband, whom you put to death for the name of Jesus Christ.” The
emperor then ordered her to be carried to the temple of Hercules,
where she was first buffeted on the cheeks, and afterward hung up
by the hair of her head. When no torments were able to shake her
invincible soul, the emperor gave orders that she should be thrown
into the river with a great stone fastened about her neck. Her
brother Eugenius, who was one of the chief of the council of Tibur,
took up her body, and buried it on the road near that town.
The next day the emperor sent for her seven sons all together, and
exhorted them to sacrifice and not imitate the obstinacy of their
mother. He added the severest threats, but finding all to be in vain,
he ordered seven stakes with engines and pulleys to be planted round
the temple of Hercules, and the pious youths to be bound upon them;
their limbs were in this posture tortured and stretched in such
manner that the bones were disjointed in all parts of their bodies.
The young noblemen, far from yielding under the violence of their
tortures, were encouraged by each other’s example, and seemed more
eager to suffer than the executioners were to torment. At length the
emperor commanded them to be put to death, in the same place where
they were, different ways. The eldest called Crescens had his throat
cut; the second called Julian was stabbed in the breast; Nemesius the
third was pierced with a lance in his heart; Primativius received
his wound in the belly, Justin in the back, Stacteus on his sides,
and Eugenius the youngest died by his body being cleft asunder into
two parts across his breast from the head down wards. The emperor
came the next day to the temple of Hercules, and gave orders for a
deep hole to be dug, and all the bodies of these martyrs to be thrown
into it. The place was called by the heathen priest, _The seven
Biothanati_; which word signifieth in Greek and in the style of art
magic, such as die by a violent death, particularly such as were
put to the torture. After this, a stop was put to the persecution
for about eighteen months.[201] During which interval of peace the
Christians took up the remains of these martyrs, and interred them
with honor on the Tiburtin road, in the midway between Tivoli and
Rome, where still are seen some remains of a church erected in memory
of them in a place called to this day, _The seven Brothers_.[202]
Their bodies were translated by a pope called Stephen, into the
church of the Holy Angel in the fish-market in Rome, where they were
found in the pontificate of Pius IV., with an inscription on a plate,
which mentioned this translation.[203]
* * * * *
St. Symphorosa set not before the eyes of her children the advantages
of their riches and birth, or of their father’s honorable employments
and great exploits; but those of his piety and the triumph of his
martyrdom. She continually entertained them on the glory of heaven,
and the happiness of treading in the steps of our Divine Redeemer, by
the practice of humility, patience, resignation, and charity, which
virtues are best learned in the path of humiliations and sufferings.
In these a Christian finds this solid treasure, and his unalterable
peace and joy both in life and death. The honors, riches, applause,
and pleasures with which the worldly sinner is sometimes surrounded,
can never satiate his desires; often they do not even reach his
heart, which under this gorgeous show bleeds as it were inwardly,
while silent grief, like a worm at the core, preys upon his vitals.
Death at least always draws aside the curtain, and shows them to have
been no better than mere dreams and shadows which passed in a moment,
but have left a cruel sting behind them, which fills the mind with
horror, dread, remorse, and despair, and racks the whole soul with
confusion, perplexities, and alarms.