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About this period Milles suffered martyrdom. He originally served
the Persians in a military capacity, but afterwards abandoned that
vocation, in order to embrace the apostolical mode of life. It is
related that he was ordained bishop over a Persian city, and he
underwent a variety of sufferings, and endured wounds and drawings;
and that, failing in his efforts to convert the inhabitants to
Christianity, he uttered imprecations against the city, and
departed. Not long after, some of the principal citizens offended the
king, and an army with three hundred elephants was sent against them;
the city was utterly demolished and its land was ploughed and sown.
Milles, taking with him only his wallet, in which was the holy Book
of the Gospels, repaired to Jerusalem in prayer; thence he proceeded
to Egypt in order to see the monks. The extraordinary and admirable
works which we have heard that he accomplished, are attested by the
Syrians, who have written an account of his actions and life. For my
own part, I think that I have said enough of him and of the other
martyrs who suffered in Persia during the reign of Sapor; for it
would be difficult to relate in detail every circumstance respecting
them, such as their names, their country, the mode of completing
their martyrdom, and the species of torture to which they were
subjected; for they are innumerable, since such methods are jealously
affected by the Persians, even to the extreme of cruelty. I shall
briefly state that the number of men and women whose names have been
ascertained, and who were martyred at this period, have been computed
to be sixteen thousand; while the multitude outside of these is beyond
enumeration, and on this account to reckon off their names appeared
difficult to the Persians and Syrians and to the inhabitants of
Edessa, who have devoted much care to this matter.
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