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After Trajan had reigned for nineteen and a half years Aelius Adrian
became his successor in the empire. To him Quadratus addressed a
discourse containing an apology for our religion, because certain
wicked men had attempted to trouble the Christians. The work is still
in the hands of a great many of the brethren, as also in our own, and
furnishes clear proofs of the man's understanding and of his apostolic
orthodox.
He himself reveals the early date at which he lived in the following
words: "But the works of our Saviour were always present, for they
were genuine:-those that were healed, and those that were raised from
the dead, who were seen not only when they were healed and when they
were raised, but were also always present; and not merely while the
Saviour was on earth, but also after his death, they were alive for
quite a while, so that some of them lived even to our day."
Such then was Quadratus. Aristides also, a believer earnestly
devoted to our religion, left, like Quadratus, an apology for the
faith, addressed to Adrian. His work, too, has been preserved even
to the present day by a great many persons.
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