THE TABLE.

[THE FIRST BOOK.]
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1Of my childhood,[1]
2 How I first saw the Holy Apostle Paulus,[3]
3Of the Stranger, and of Diosdotus the Priest of Zeus,[6]
4How we grew up at Lystra,[10]
5How Ammiane died, and my brother and I were sold for slaves,[12]
6Of the death of Chrestus,[15]
7Of my life in the Ergastulum,[20]
8How I was sold to Philemon of Colossæ,[25]
[THE SECOND BOOK].
1How I returned to the worship of false Gods,[29]
2How some of Philemon’s friends avowed a belief in one God,[31]
3How Nicostratus urged that, without the belief in the Gods, the life of Man would be void of pleasure,[34]
4How Philemon, falling sick, inclined to superstition,[38]
5How I accompanied Philemon to Pergamus,[44]
6How I went down into the cave of Trophonius,[47]
7How Artemidorus spoke against the belief in Gods,[52]
8How I journeyed with Philemon to Antioch in Syria,[58]
[THE THIRD BOOK].
1Of my first thoughts concerning the Christians,[64]
2Of the Doctrine of the Christians,[68]
3How Artemidorus questioned me further concerning the Christians,[75]
4How the Christians honored the Prophets of the Jews,[83]
5Of the ancient Histories of the Jews,[90]
6How Artemidorus questioned me further, and of his relation concerning the casting out of the swine,[95]
7Of the Traditions of the Christians, and of the nature of Christus,[101]
8Of the rising of Christus from the dead,[109]
9How Artemidorus bade me cease from further enquiry,[113]
10How I stumbled at the Threshold of the Door, and went not in,[114]
[THE FOURTH BOOK].
1How we came to Athens,[121]
2How Artemidorus rebuked me, supposing that I was in danger of becoming a Christian,[123]
3Of my reply to Artemidorus,[128]
4Of Eucharis, and of my life at Athens,[132]
5How I returned to Colossæ, and of my new life with Philemon,[138]
6Concerning my visit to Epictetus,[144]
7How I tried the philosophy of Epictetus,[150]
8How I was accused of theft by the devices of Pistus,[154]
9How Epictetus further explained his philosophy,[157]
10Of Metrodorus and his advice,[163]
11 Of the death of Eucharis, and how I was again accused of theft,[170]
[THE FIFTH BOOK].
1How I escaped from the house of Philemon,[176]
2Of my life at Pergamus,[182]
3How I came to Corinth and saw the tomb of Eucharis,[185]
4How I saw the Holy Apostle Paulus, but knew him not,[189]
5How I learned that Paulus was the Prophet that I had seen in my childhood, the same that had cured lame Xanthias,[194]
6How I was led into the net of the Gospel,[199]
[THE SIXTH BOOK].
1Of the teaching of Paulus,[207]
2How I returned to Philemon at Colossæ,[211]
3Of my discourse with Artemidorus concerning the Faith,[214]
4Of the doubtings of Artemidorus,[217]
5Of the last words and death of Artemidorus,[223]
[THE SEVENTH BOOK].
1How I came to Rome to see the blessed Apostle,[226]
2How I saw Paulus in prison,[229]
3How Paulus related to me the story of his life,[232]
4How Paulus consented to the death of the blessed Martyr Stephanus,[238]
5How the Lord appeared to Paulus,[243]
6How Paulus was prepared for the preaching of the Gospel,[247]
7The last words of Paulus,[251]
[THE EIGHTH BOOK].
1Of the death of Nero, and how Rome was divided against itself,[257]
2Of the Jewish faction,[260]
3Of Menahem, the Ebionite,[263]
4How the Church was guided at this time by the Spirit of God,[265]
5How I came to Philochristus, a Disciple of the Lord in Britain,[269]
6Of the Church in Rome, and concerning the New Gospels,[273]
7How I labored in the Church of Berœa,[280]
8The last words of Philochristus,[283]
9Of my journey to Smyrna, and how the Lord hath helped me, even to the end,[288]
10An Addition, by the elders of the Church of Smyrna, concerning the Passion of the Blessed Martyrs, Trophimus and Onesimus,[293]
The discourse of Lucius of Cyrene, (omitted from the Third Book),[296]

ONESIMUS.


THE FIRST BOOK.

§ 1. OF MY CHILDHOOD.

In the last year of the Emperor Tiberius I and my twin-brother Chrestus were found lying in one cradle, exposed with a great number of other babes upon the steps of the temple of Asclepius, in Pergamus, a city of Bithynia. Sign or token of our parents, whether they were free-born or slave, there was none; but only a little silver seal hung round my neck, and on the seal these words in Greek characters, I LOVE THEE, and on my brother Chrestus another of the same fashion, bearing the inscription, TRUST ME. Many a time during the days of my wanderings have I spoken reproachfully in my heart, saying that our parents gave us small cause for trust, and that it was poor love to send out into the rough world two innocent babes with no other equipment against evil than these slight toys. But the hand of the Lord was in it, to turn this evil into good in the end.

Ammiane the wife of Menneas was the name of our new mother. Her own son Ammias was but lately dead; and that which drew her kind heart to us more than to any other among so large a multitude of poor babes there pitifully lying on the temple steps, was that in my brother Chrestus she seemed to discern a likeness to her lost one.