" [112:3] Zahn
[112:4] states that the Feast of the translation in later calendars was
celebrated on the 29th January, and he points out the evident ignorance
which prevailed in the West regarding Ignatius. [112:5]
On the one hand, therefore, all the historical data which we possess
regarding the reign and character of Trajan discredit the story that
Ignatius was sent to Rome to be exposed to beasts in the Coliseum; and
all the positive evidence which exists, independent of the Epistles
themselves, tends to establish the fact that he suffered martyrdom in
Antioch. On the other hand, all the evidence which is offered for the
statement that Ignatius was sent to Rome is more or less directly based
upon the representations of the letters, the authenticity of which is in
discussion, and it is surrounded with improbabilities of every kind. And
what is the value of any evidence emanating from the Ignatian Epistles
and martyrologies? There are three martyrologies which, as Ewald says,
are "the one more fabulous than the other." There are fifteen Epistles
all equally purporting to be by Ignatius, and most of them handed down
together in MSS., without any distinction. Three of these, in Latin
only, are universally rejected, as are also other five Epistles, of
which there are Greek, Latin, and other versions.
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