That this letter of Polycarp to the Philippians was written at a
time when persecution was rife, is apparent from its tenor
throughout. If we except the case of Ignatius of Antioch--many of
the tales relating to which Dr. Lightfoot himself rejects as
fabulous [19:1]--we have no evidence that in A.D. 107 the
Christians were treated with severity. The Roman world was then
under the mild government of Trajan, and the troubles which
afflicted the disciples in Bithynia, under Pliny, had not yet
commenced. The emperor, so far as we have trustworthy information,
had hitherto in no way interfered with the infant Church. But in
A.D. 161 two sovereigns were in power, and a reign of terror was
inaugurated. We can therefore well understand why Polycarp, after
exhorting his correspondents to pray for "the kings," immediately
follows up this advice by urging them to pray for their
persecutors and their enemies. If by "kings" we here understand
emperors, as distinguished from "princes" or inferior potentates,
it must be obvious that Polycarp here refers to the two reigning
sovereigns. It so happened that, when two kings began to reign,
persecution at once commenced; and the language of the Epistle
exactly befits such a crisis.

The whole strain of this letter points, not to the reign of
Trajan, but to that of Marcus Aurelius. Polycarp exhorts the
Philippians "to practise all endurance" (sec. 9) in the service of
Christ. "If," says he, "we should suffer for His name's sake, let
us glorify Him" (sec. 8). He speaks of men "encircled in saintly
bonds;" (sec. 1) and praises the Philippians for the courage which
they had manifested in sympathizing with these confessors. He
reminds them how, "with their own eyes," they had seen their
sufferings (sec. 9). All these statements suggest times of