[92] The epistles which Ignatius composed as he was carried in chains through the cities of Asia, breathe sentiments the most repugnant to the ordinary feelings of human nature.
He earnestly beseeches the Romans, that when he should be exposed in the amphitheatre, they would not, by their kind but unseasonable intercession, deprive him of the crown of glory; and he declares his resolution to provoke and irritate the wild beasts which might be employed as the instruments of his death.

[93] Some stories are related of the courage of martyrs, who actually performed what Ignatius had intended; who exasperated the fury of the lions, pressed the executioner to hasten his office, cheerfully leaped into the fires which were kindled to consume them, and discovered a sensation of joy and pleasure in the midst of the most exquisite tortures.

Several examples have been preserved of a zeal impatient of those restraints which the emperors had provided for the security of the church.

The Christians sometimes supplied by their voluntary declaration the want of an accuser, rudely disturbed the public service of paganism, [94] and rushing in crowds round the tribunal of the magistrates, called upon them to pronounce and to inflict the sentence of the law.

The behavior of the Christians was too remarkable to escape the notice of the ancient philosophers; but they seem to have considered it with much less admiration than astonishment.