[21] This Statius Quadratus was that very proconsul, in whose presence, and by whose authority, St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, was burnt alive in the amphitheatre of that city. His name is falsely written Τάτιος Κ. in the Alexandrian Chronicle, and Στράτιος in the Epistle of the church of Smyrna. But this stone confirms that correction, which has been made by bishop Pearson and Valesius. It likewise favours that learned argument maintained by bishop Pearson, Dissert. ii. cap. xvi, xvii. pag. 291, by which he places this proconsulship and the martyrdom of St. Polycarp in the tenth year of Antoninus Pius, A. C. 147. For in the fourth year of M. Antoninus, to which the Alexandrian Chronicle refers it; as also in the year 167, to which it is referred by Eusebius and Valesius; there were two Caesars, concerning whom Eutropius says: Tunc primum Rom. respublica duobus aequo jure imperium administrantibus paruit, cum usque ad eum singulos semper habuisset Augustos. Lib. viii. cap. 5. But this inscription mentions only one Caesar, in the singular number. And as for that Quadratus, whom Bucherius and Usserius will have proconsul in Asia in the year 169, his name was not Statius, but T. Numidius. See also mention of Quadratus in Aristidis Orat. Genethliac. in Apellam; and in his Sermon. Sacror. iv.
[22] Καὶ γάρ τ’ ἠΰκομος Νιόβη ἐμνήσατο σίτου, etc.
Νῦν δέ που ἐν πέτρῃσιν, ἐν οὔρεσιν οἰοπόλοισιν
Ἐν Σιπύλῳ, ὅθι φασὶ θεάων ἔμμεναι εὐνὰς
Νυμφάων, αἵτ’ ἀμφ’ Ἀχελώϊον ἐῤῥώσαντο,
Ἔνθα, λίθος πὲρ ἐοῦσα θεῶν ἐκ κήδεα πέσσει.
Hom. Iliad. ω. 602. On which passage the Scholia, usually ascribed to Didymus, have the following remark: Θρηνοῦσαν οὖν τὴν Νιόβην ἀφάτως τὸ τοιοῦτον δυστύχημα, Ζεὺς ἐλεήσας εἰς λίθον μετέβαλεν, ὃς καὶ μέχρι νῦν ἐν Σιπύλῳ τῆς Φρυγίας ὁρᾶται παρὰ πάντων πηγὰς δακρύων προϊέμενος. And Pausanias, Attic. Lib. i. cap. 21. says: Ταύτην τὴν Νιόβην καὶ αὐτὸς εἶδον ἀνελθὼν ἐς τὸν Σίπυλον τὸ ὄρος. Ἥδε πλησίον μὲν πέτρα καὶ κρημνός ἐστιν, οὐδὲν παρόντι σχῆμα παρεχόμενος γυναικὸς, οὔτε ἄλλως, οὔτε πενθούσης· εἰ δέ γε ποῤῥωτέρω γένοιο, δεδακρυμένην δόξεις ὁρᾷν καὶ κατηφῆ γυναῖκα.
[23] Plin. Lib. v. cap. 29. A Smyrna Hermus amnis campos facit, et nomini suo adoptat; oritur juxta Dorglaeum Phrygiae civitatem, multosque colligit fluvios, inter quos Hyllum et Cryon.
[24] See mention of these by Herodian, under the name of πολυάνδρια, in his description of that massacre of the Alexandrians by Caracalla, Lib. iv. cap. 17. edit. Oxon.
[25] The sense of the word barrows or burroughs is by Verstegan deduced from burying, and therefore well answers the Greek πολυάνδρια. Chap. vii. p. 211.