Supposing the letters of Ignatius and the account of his martyrdom to be authentic, we learn
from them that he voluntarily presented himself before Trajan at Antioch, the seat of his bishopric,
when that prince was on Mn first expedition against the Parthians and Armenians (a.d. 107) ; and
on professing himself a Christian, was condemned to the wild beasts. After a long and dangerous
voyage he came to Smyrna, of which Polycarp was bishop, and thence wrote his four Epistles to
the Ephesians, the Magnesians, the Trallians, and the Romans. From Smyrna he came to Troas,
and tarrying there a few days, he wrote to the Philadelphians, the Sm}Tn3eans, and Polycarp. He
then came on to Neapolis, and passed through the whole of Macedonia. Finding a ship at Dyr-
rachium in Epirus about to sail into Italy, he embarked, and crossing the Adriatic, was brought to
Rome, where he perished on the 20th of December 107, or, as some think, who deny a twofold
expedition of Trajan against the Parthians, on the same day of the year a.d. 116.