governor, that they might be immured in a dungeon, to await there
the Imperial pleasure. It is pretty clear that they did not expect
instant execution. When Polycarp wrote, he speaks of them as still
living; and he is anxious to know what may yet betide them.

Let us now call attention to another passage in this letter of
Polycarp to the Philippians. Towards its close the following
sentence appears somewhat in the form of a postscript. "Ye wrote
to me, both ye yourselves and Ignatius, asking that if any one
should go to Syria, he _might_ carry thither the letters _from
you_." We have here the reading, and translation adopted by
Dr. Lightfoot; but it so happens that there is another reading
perhaps, on the whole, quite as well supported by the authority of
versions and manuscripts. It may be thus rendered: "Ye wrote to
me, both ye yourselves and Ignatius, suggesting that if any one is
going to Syria, he might carry thither _my letters to you_." [23:1]
The sentence, as interpreted by the advocates of the Ignatian
Epistles, wears a strange and suspicious aspect. If Ignatius
and the Philippians wished their letters to be carried to
_Antioch_, why did they not say so? Syria was an extensive
province,--much larger than all Ireland,--and many a traveller
might have been going there who would have found it quite
impracticable to deliver letters in its metropolis. When there
was no penny postage, and when letters of friendship were often
carried by private hands, if an individual residing in the north
or south of the Emerald Isle had requested a correspondent in
Bristol to send his letters by "any one" going over to Ireland, it
would not have been extraordinary if the Englishman had received
the message with amazement. Could "any one" passing over to
Ireland be expected to deliver letters in Cork or Londonderry?