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A crimson rill runs trickling o'er the sand."
(Juv. Sat. 1, 5: 155).
Juvenal was born about the beginning of the reign of Claudius and died A.D.128.
Maunder says of him that "as the bold and unflinching castigator of vice he stands
without rival". Martial, the epigrammatist, who died A.D.104, was at Rome at the time
of the persecution of the Christians, and write the following:
"When Mutins dared upon command,
To thrust into the fire his hand,
With shouts the people rent the skies,
To laud the noble sacrifice.
The silly herd! Far braver he,
Who, standing at the martyr's tree,
Can yet defy the rabble's cries,
And say `I make no sacrifice'."
(Martial Lib. x Ep. 25).
We give below a few notes on the date and place of Paul's death.
Clemens Romanus, the contemporary of Paul, speaks first of Peter's death and then of
Paul's, and also alludes to the martyrdom of a multitude of others who died for their faith
after the greatest torments. The date indicated here is A.D.66.
Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth (A.D.170), speaking of Peter and Paul, says: "The one
as well as the other, having taught as far as Italy, suffered martyrdom at about the same
time." Caius the Presbyter (A.D.210) records that Peter and Paul were martyrs at Rome
and that their tombs still existed. Tertullian (A.D.190-214) mentions that Paul suffered at
Rome, but gives no date. Origen (A.D.210-253) says that Paul died at Rome in the time
of Nero. Eusebius (A.D.308-340) places the martyrdom of Paul as A.D.67, in the
thirteenth year of Nero. Clinton, however, has shown that the years of Nero's reign are
postponed by one year, which brings the Apostle's martyrdom to A.D.66. The Auctor
Martyric Pauli, written about A.D.396, gives the date of Paul's death as the 29th June
A.D.66. The writer is very circumstantial on this point, and his testimony is important.
Sulpitus Severus, who wrote in A.D.400, associates Paul's martyrdom with the year in
which the Jewish war broke out (April 19th, A.D.66). Lewin gives the following
summary:
"When Paul was set at liberty in the spring of A.D.63, he would fulfil his
long-cherished intention of visiting Spain (Rom. 15: 24, 28). But as the Eastern
churches, from his long absence, would call loudly for his return, he would spend not
more than six months in Spain, and then on the return of Timothy, who had been sent to
Philippi, would sail with him to Judæa (Heb. 13: 23). Paul and Timothy, therefore
would start from Judæa in the autumn of A.D.63, and would reach Jerusalem just before
winter. Then he would naturally go down to Antioch and there pass the winter of
A.D.63-64. In the spring of A.D.64 he visited Ephesus, and leaving Timothy there,
passed over himself with Titus to Crete (Titus 1: 5), but he did not stay there, but
stationing Titus in Crete, and passing to Ephesus, where Timothy was still to remain,
sailed to Macedonia (I Tim. 1: 3) and fulfilled his promise of visiting Philippi
(Phil. 2: 24), and thence, no doubt, went down to Corinth, and then to Nicopolis, where
Titus was to join him during the winter of A.D.64-65 (Titus 3: 12). In the spring of