[176] See the Acts of the Martyrs of Lyons, Ruinart, vol. i. p. 152 (where will be found the account of the martyrdom of a youth of fifteen), and those of St. Perpetua and Felicitas, p. 221.
[177] See the Acts of St. Felicitas and her seven sons, Ruinart, vol. i. p. 55.
[178] Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. c. 7.
[179] Euseb. ibid. See also St. Ignatius’s letter to the Romans, in his Acts, ap. Ruinart, vol. i. p. 40.
[180] The amphitheatre could contain 150,000.
[181] This was an ordinary device. The underground constructions for its practice have been found in the Coliseum.
[182] The martyr Saturus, torn by a leopard, and about to die, addressed the soldier Pudens, not yet a Christian, in words of exhortation; then asked him for the ring on his finger, dipped it in his own blood, and gave it back, “leaving him the inheritance of the pledge, and the memorial of his blood.” Ap. Ruinart, vol. i. p. 223.
[183] He is commemorated on the 11th of August, with his father Chromatius, as has been already observed.
[184] About 800l.
[185] We give equivalents in English money, as more intelligible.