Page:Historical Works of Venerable Bede vol. 2.djvu/339

 CHRONICLE.] Peter, who had been buried, the one in the Via Hostiensis, where he was beheaded, and the other near the spot where he was crucified, and placed them among the bodies of the holy bishops in the temple of Apollo, in the Golden Mount, on the Vatican Hill of Nero's Palace, on the 3rd of the calends of July.

A.M. 4222 [271].

Valerian, with his son Gallienus, reigned 15 years, Having stirred up a persecution of the Christians, he was immediately thereupon made captive by Sapor, king of the Persians, and there, with his eyes put out, he spent his days in miserable slavery Whereupon Gallienus, frightened at so manifest a judgment of God, granted us rest; but notwithstanding, either as a punishment for his own lust, or his father's impiety, he sustained many calamities from the barbarians who assailed the Roman dominions. In this persecution, Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, whose very learned works still remain, obtams the martyr's crown: his deacon Pontius, who was with him in exile unto the day of his death, has left an admirable account of his life and suffering Theodorus, surnamed Gregory, bishop of Neocæsarea in Pontus, of whom we have spoken before, is renowned for his wonderful heavenly endowments; as an instance of which, he by his prayers removed a mountain to make room for the site of a church. Stephen and Xistus, bishops of Rome, suffered martyrdom.

A.M. 4224 [278]

Claudius reigned 1 year and 9 months: he conquers the Goths, who had now wasted Illyricum and Macedonia for fifteen years; in memory of which a shield of gold was hung up in the senate house, and his image of gold was placed in the Capitol. Malchion, a very eloquent presbyter of the church of Antioch, and who had taught rhetoric in the same city, disiputed with Paul