Martyrdom, the origin of which he | whole story of Ignatius, and more
refers to the period between | especially the journey to Rome,
Eusebius and Jerome: setting | incredible, he considers the mere
aside this detailed narrative he | fact that Ignatius suffered
considers the historical character| martyrdom the only point regarding
of the general statements in the | which the possibility has been made
letters. The mode of punishment | out. He shows [97:1] that the
by a provincial governor causes | martyrology states the 20th
some difficulty: 'bedenklicher,' | December as the day of Ignatius'
he continues, 'ist jedenfalls der | death, and that his remains were
andre Punct, die Versendung nach | buried at Antioch, where they still
Rom.' Why was the punishment not | were in the days of Chrysostom and
carried out at Antioch? Would it | Jerome. He argues from all that is
be likely that under an Emperor | known of the reign and character of
like Trajan a prisoner like | Trajan, that such a sentence from
Ignatius would be sent to Rome to | the Emperor himself is quite
fight in the amphitheatre? The | unsupported and inconceivable. A
circumstances of the journey as | provincial Governor might have
described are most improbable. | condemned him ad bestias, but in
The account of the persecution | any case the transmission to Rome
itself is beset by difficulties. | is more doubtful. He shows,
Having set out these objections | however, that the whole story is
he leaves the question, casting | inconsistent with historical facts,
doubt (like Baur) upon the whole | and the circumstances of the
history, and gives no support to | journey incredible. It is
the bold affirmation of a | impossible to give even a sketch of
martyrdom 'at Antioch on the 20th | this argument, which extends over
December, A.D. 115.'" | five long pages, but although
| Hilgenfeld does not directly refer
| to the theory of the martyrdom in