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AT the same period the inhabitants of Gaza sought for the monk
Hilarion; but he had fled to Sicily. Here he employed himself in
collecting wood in the deserts and on the mountains, which he carried
on his shoulders for sale in the cities, and, by these means,
obtained sufficient food for the support of the body. But as he was at
length recognized by a man of quality whom he had dispossessed of a
demon, he retired to Dalmatia, where, by the power of God he
performed numerous miracles, and through prayer, repressed an
inundation of the sea and restored the waves to their proper bounds,
and again departed, for it was no joy to him to live among those who
praised him; but when he changed his place of abode, he was desirous
of being unobserved and by frequent migrations to be rid of the fame
which prevailed about him. Eventually he sailed for the island of
Cyprus, but touched at Paphos, and, at the entreaty of the bishop
of Cyprus, he loved the life there and practiced philosophy at a place
called Charburis.
Here he only escaped martyrdom by flight; for he fled in compliance
with the Divine precept which commands us not to expose ourselves to
persecution; but that if we fall into the hands of persecutors, to
overcome by our own fortitude the violence of our oppressors.
The inhabitants of Gaza and of Alexandria were not the only citizens
who exercised such atrocities against the Christians as those I have
described. The inhabitants of Heliopolis, near Mount Libanus, and
of Arethusa in Syria, seem to have surpassed them in excess of
cruelty? The former were guilty of an act of barbarity which could
scarcely be credited, had it not been corroborated by the testimony of
those who witnessed it. They stripped the holy virgins, who had never
been looked upon by the multitude, of their garments, and exposed them
in a state of nudity as a public spectacle and objects of insult.
After numerous other inflictions they at last shaved them, ripped them
open, and concealed in their viscera the food usually given to pigs;
and since the swine could not distinguish, but were impelled by the
need of their customary food, they also tore in pieces the human
flesh.
I am convinced that the citizens of Heliopolis perpetrated this
barbarity against the holy virgins on account of the prohibition of the
ancient custom of yielding up virgins to prostitution with any chance
comer before being united in marriage to their betrothed. This custom
was prohibited by a law enacted by Constantine, after he had destroyed
the temple of Venus at Heliopolis, and erected a church upon its
ruins.
Mark, bishop of Arethusa, an old man and venerable for his gray
hairs and life, was put to a very cruel death by the inhabitants of
that city, who had long entertained inimical feelings against him,
because, during the reign of Constantine, he had more spiritedly than
persuasively elevated the pagans to Christianity, and had demolished a
most sacred and magnificent temple. On the accession of Julian he saw
that the people were excited against the bishop; an edict was issued
commanding the bishop either to defray the expenses of its reerection,
or to rebuild the temple. Reflecting that the one was impossible and
the other unlawful for a Christian and still less for a priest, he at
first fled from the city. On hearing, however, that many were
suffering on his account, that some were dragged before the tribunals
and others tortured, he returned, and offered to suffer whatever the
multitude might choose to inflict upon him. The entire people,
instead of admiring him the more as having manifested a deed befitting a
philosopher, conceived that he was actuated by contempt towards them,
and rushed upon him, dragged him through the streets, pressing and
plucking and beating whatever member each one happened upon. People of
each sex and of all ages joined with alacrity and fury in this atrocious
proceeding. His ears were severed by fine ropes; the boys who
frequented the schools made game of him by tossing him aloft and rolling
him over and over, sending him forward, catching him up, and
unsparingly piercing him with their styles. When his whole body was
covered with wounds, and he nevertheless was still breathing, they
anointed him with honey and a certain mixture, and placing him in a
fish basket made of woven rushes, raised him up on an eminence. It is
said that while he was in this position, and the wasps and bees lit
upon him and consumed his flesh, he told the inhabitants of Arethusa
that he was raised up above them, and could look down upon them below
him, and that this reminded him of the difference that would exist
between them in the life to come. It is also related that the prefect
who, although a pagan, was of such noble conduct that his memory is
still honored in that country, admired the self-control of Mark, and
boldly uttered reproaches against the emperor for allowing himself to be
vanquished by an old man, who was exposed to innumerable tortures; and
he added that such proceedings reflected ridicule on the emperor, while
the names of the persecuted were at the same time rendered illustrious.
Thus did the blessed one endure all the torments inflicted upon him by
the inhabitants of Arethusa with such unshaken fortitude that even the
pagans praised him.
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