Having confessed the faith before the proconsul at Ephesus under
Decius in 250, they were walled up together in a cave in which they
had hid themselves, and there slept in the Lord. Some moderns,
mistaking this expression, have imagined that they only lay asleep,
till they were found in 479, under Theodosius the younger. The truth
seems to be, that their relics were then discovered. They are much
honored by the Greeks, Syrians, and all the Oriental nations. Their
relics were conveyed to Marseilles in a large stone coffin, which is
still shown there in St. Victor’s church. In the Musæum Victorium at
Rome is a factitious plaster or stone (made of sulphur melted with
fire and mortar), formed in imitation of a large precious stone,
in which is cut a group of figures representing the Seven Sleepers
with their names, and near Constantine and John are exhibited two
clubs; near Maximian a knotty club; near Malchus and Martinian two
axes; near Serapion a burning torch, and near Danesius (whom others
call Dionysius) a great nail. That large nails (_clavi trabales_, or
such as were used in joining great rafters or beams in buildings)
were made use of as instruments of torture is evident from St.
Paulinus[315] and Horace.[316] From this ancient monument some infer
that these martyrs were put to death by various torments, and that
their bodies were only buried in the aforesaid cave. In this group
of figures, these martyrs are represented all as very young, and
without beards. In ancient Martyrologies and other writings, they
are frequently called boys.[317] The cave in which their bodies were
found became a place famous for devout pilgrimages, and is still
shown to travellers, as James Spon testifies.[318] See St. Gregory of
Tours, l. 1, de Glor. Mart. c. 95, and Cuper the Bollandist, Julij,
t. 6, p. 375. Also, Dissertatio de Sanctis Septem Dormientibus, Romæ,
1741 in 4to. in which the above said group of figures is explained,
c. 5, &c.