17 B. adds, "from Sharbil, his tears flowed and he wept."
18 B. adds, "of baptism, baptizing him." The "seal" (sfragi/j) is probably explained by such passages as Eph. iv. 30, that which bore the seal being regarded as the property of him whose seal it was. Thus Gregory Naz. (Orat. 40) speaks of baptism. See Riddle's Christian Antiqq., p. 484.-TR.
19 [This identifies the "seal" with baptism.]
20 B. adds, "and he sat and listened to the Scriptures of the Church, and the testimonies which are spoken in them, touching the birth and the passion and the resurrection and the ascension of Christ; and, when he saw those that came down to him-"
21 In B., in a passage added further on, he is styled "Lysinas," and in the Martyrdom of Barsamya, infra, "Lysinus" or "Lucinus." In the Martyrologium Romanum he is called "Lysias praeses." Tillemont supposes him to be Lusius Quietus. But the time does not agree. The capture of Edessa under this man was in the nineteenth year of Trajan, four years later than the martyrdom.
22 B. adds, "from the Sharirs of the city."
23 B. has added several lines here.
24 B. adds, "the Sharirs of the city."
25 Lit. "in which they stand."-TR.
26 Lit. "kings:" and so throughout.-TR.
27 The Syriac is (Toris), and is a foreign word, probably the Latin loris, which the Syriac translator, not understanding it or not having an equivalent, may have written loris, and a subsequent transcriber have written toris. It is plain that the latter copyist to whom the text B. is due did not know what is meant: for he has omitted the word, and substituted "Sharbil."
28 B. reads "governor" (h0gemw/n), and so generally in the corresponding places below.
31 The word used is the Latin "officium" (= officiales, or corpus officilium-TR.), which denoted the officers that attended upon presidents and chief magistrates. The equivalent Gk. ta/cij is used below [in the Martyrdom of Habib, "attendants"].
33 Those who officiated at a "quaestio," or examination by torture.-TR. The Latin "quaestionarii."
36 Or "thou art not the avenger of."-TR.
37 Lit. "candles of fire."-TR.
38 The passage from this place to "in the eyes," below, is lost in A., and supplied from B.
39 Or "dealer in fables," if the word employed here, which is a foreign one, be the Latin "fabularius," which is not certain.
41 So Cureton. Dr. Payne Smith remarks: "Cureton's `chest0' is a guess from . The only sense of with which I am acquainted is cadus, a cask." The word occurs again in the Martyrdom of Habib. In both places it seems to refer to some contrivance for holding fast the person to be scourged. The root appears to be , custodivit, retinuit (Castel).-TR.
42 The martyr Minias, about a.d. 240, had the same torture inflicted on him: "ligneis verubus praecutis sub ungues ejus infixis, omnes digitos ejus praecepit pertundi." See Surius, Sanctt. Vit. Not "the same," perhaps.-TR.
44 Here a few lines have been torn out of A., and are supplied from B.