Page:Historical Works of Venerable Bede vol. 2.djvu/332

 260 times with an enemy: he added to the Roman empire two very potent nations, twenty cities, and the Isle of Wight, nigh to Britain. A colossal figure a hundred and seven feet high is erected to him.

A.M. 4033 [82].

Titus reigned 2 years and 2 months. He was endued with such excellent virtues of every kind, that he was called the idol and delight of mankind. He builds an Amphitheatre at Rome, and slays 5000 wild beasts at its dedication.

A.M. 4049 [98].

Domiitian, younger brother of Titus, reigned 15 vears and 5 months. He was the next after Nero who persecuted the Christians; under him the Apostle John was banished to the Isle of Patmos, and Flavia Domitilla, grand-daughter of the sister of Flavins Clemens the consul, was exiled to the island of Pontia for her testimony to the faith. It is also said that he plunged John himself into a vessel of boiling oil, but that John escaped unhurt, inasmuch as he was ever exempt from the evils of mortality.

A.M. 4050 [99].

Nerva reigned 1 year, 4 months, and 8 days. By his first edict he recalled all the exiles; and by this general indulgence the Apostle John, too, was liberated, and returned to Ephesus. And because he found the faith of The Gospel the church much shaken by heretics during his absence, he presently confirmed it by setting forth in his the eternity of the Word of God.

A.M. 4069 [118].

Trajan reigned 19 years, 6 months, and 15 days. The apostle John tranquilly expired at Ephesus in the sixty-eighth year after the Lord's passion, and in the