Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/165

 A L A R I C. 129 ing took it, ho dLJ ilierc in 411, eleven years after he fir ft ci.tcicJ Italy. ALBAN (Sr.) is fa id to have hern the fiifi: perfon who furrcied martyrdom for Chriftianity i;i Britain; he is there- fore ufually llyled the protomartyr of this ifland. He brn at Verulam [A], and flourilhed towards the end of the third century. In In-; youth he took a journey to Rome, in company with Amphibalus a monk of Cacrlcon, and fcrvcd ieven years as a foldier under the emperor Dioclcthn. At his return home, he fettled in Verulam ; and, through the ex- ample and inftrudions of Amphibalus, renounced the errors R ' d *> fM- of parranifm, in which he had been educated, and became a ?'. eir ' An?l " ID. 1 C ! convert to the ChrifHan religion. It is generally agreed that Alban fuffered martyrdom during the great perfecution under the reign of Diocletian j but authors differ as to the year when it happened : Bede and others fix it in s8'>, fome refer it to n. iblr*. 296, but Ulher reckons it amongft the events cf 303. The ufler. Br.'t. ftory and circumftances relating to his martyrdom, according L ^ to Bede, are as follows : being yet a pagan (or at leaft it not p. 77*. being known that he was a ChrivHan) he entertained Amphiba- B " d: ubi lus in his houfej of which the Roman governor being inform- ed, fent a party of foldiers to apprehend Amphibalus; but Alban, putting on the habit of his guell, prcfcnted himfelf in his fttad, and was carried before that magistrate. The go- vernor, having afked him of what family he was ? Alban re- plied, "To what purpofe do you enquire of my family r if being afked his name, he anfwered, " My name is Alban, " and I worfhip the only true and living God, who created [A] This town was anciently called Nero's time it was efleemed a mnnTci- V.'erhrrvcefter, or Watlingacefier, the piuin, or a tmvn whore inhabitants en- f.-.rnier name l>eing derived from :he river joyed the riglits and privileges of Ro- Warlame, which ran on the ealt fide ; man tit'/"-n. It was entirely ruined by the latter, from th'i Roman highway the Britons, during the wer beturen tha called Watling-ftreft, which lay to the Romans aTd Boachcea qu< en ot'thc Iceni. weft. (Mat. Weftm. Flor. Hid. an. 313.) Affrv/ards Verulam i^uiriiT.ed pain, Tacitus calls it Vcrularrium ; andPto- and becanr c a lily of gtcjl note. About lemy, Urolarr.ium. The fituaiLn cf the mi .J1-: of the fifth cenrury, it fell vhis v lace was clofe by the town <.{ St. into the hands of the SJXOHS ; but Uthcr Alban's in Hertfordltire. There is Pendrarnn, the Briton, iccovcrcd it with nothing now remaining of old Verulam much difficulty, after a very long fiegr. hut ruins of walls, chequered pavements, After his death, Verul m fell ^ga>n into and Roman coins, which are often dug the hands of th; Satons ; btt by ! up. It is conjetured, from the fitua- quent wars, it was at hit -.1 tion, that this was the town ot Caffive- Camden's Britannia, by tilhop Cibfon, leunus,' fo well defended by woods and vol. i, col, 35 5. marines, which was taken by Caefa/. In VOL. I. K all
 * c you would know, my religion, I am a Chriftian." Then