[232] Isaias xxxv. 1, 2.
[233] The ceremony employed after desecration.
[234] Euseb. H. E. lib. x. c. 5.
[235] In the East, some governors, wearied with wholesale murders, adopted this more merciful way of treating Christians towards the end of the persecution. See Eusebius.
[236] This scene is described from reality.
[237] Eusebius, ubi sup.
[238] The law of retaliation, such as was prescribed also in the Mosaic law, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” &c.
[239] Clinical baptism, or that of persons confined to their beds was administered by pouring or sprinkling the water on the head. See Bingham, book xi. c. 11.
[240] A. D. 303.
[241] The religious who lived in community, or common life, were so called.