THARACUS, PROBUS, AND ANDRONICUS, THREE PIOUS CHRISTIANS, FIRST VERY DREADFULLY TORMENTED, THEN THROWN BEFORE THE WILD BEASTS, AND FINALLY THRUST THROUGH, FOR THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, AT TARSUS IN CILICIA, A. D. 290.
At Tarsus in Cilicia, the birthplace of the apostle Paul, there were imprisoned, A. D. 290, three pious Christians, namely, Tharacus, Probus, and Andronicus; who, having been brought to prison, before the tribunal, and to the rack, and having suffered beyond measure for the name of the Lord and the faith in Jesus Christ, were finally put to death, concerning which we shall notice and present to the reader the judicial proceedings, as we have found them in ancient authors. From Act. Procons.
When Diocletian was Emperor for the fourth, and Maximian for the third time, Tharacus, Probus, and Andronicus were brought by the captain Demetrius before Maximus, the President, at Pompeiopolis.
First examination of Tharacus.—Maximus first asked Tharacus his name, because the latter was the oldest. Tharacus answered: “I am a Christian.”
Maximus said: “Be silent about this ungodly name, and tell me your name.”
Tharacus again replied: “I am a Christian.”
Maximus said to his beadles: “Break his jaws, and tell him not to answer me thus any more.”
Tharacus responded: “I have told thee my best name; but if thou desirest to know how my parents called me, my name is Tharacus, and when I followed war, I was called Victor.”
The President asked him: “Of what nation art thou, Tharacus?”
He answered: “Of the noble nation of the Romans, and was born at Claudianopolis, a city in Syria; but being a Christian I have abandoned war.”