MarginaliaNature ouercome of religion.All laude and prayse wyth hart and voyce,
O Lord we yelde to thee:
To whom the death of all thy sainctes,
We know most deare to bee.

The innocents head beyng cut of, the mother wrapped it vp in her garmēt, and layd it to her brest. On othe other syde a mighty fire was made, whereinto Romanus was cast: who sayd, that he should not burne: MarginaliaThe fire quenched with raine that should burne Romanus.wherwyth a great storme arose (if it be true) and quenched þ^e fyre. The Capitayne gaue in commaundement þ^t hys tounge should be cut out, out was it plucked by þ^e harde rootes and cut of: MarginaliaRomanus speaketh after hys tonge was pluckt out.Neuertheles he spake, saying: he that speaketh Christ shal neuer want a tonge, thynke not þ^t the voyce that vttereth Christ, hath nede of the tonge to be the minister. The Capitain, at this halfe oute of his wit, bare in hande that the hangman deceiued the sight of the people by some some suttle sleight and crafty conueyance. Not so (quod the hangman) if ye suspect my dede, open his mouth and diligently searche the rootes of his tounge. The Capitayne at length beyng confounded wyth the fortitude and courage of the Martyr, MarginaliaRomanus after long torments strangled in prison.straightly commaundeth hym to be brought backe into the prison, and there to be strangled. Where hys sorowful life and paynes beyng ended, he now enioyeth quiet rest in the Lord, wyth perpetual hope of hys miserable body to bee restored agayne wyth hys soule into a better lyfe: where no tyrant shal haue any power: Prudētius in hymnis de coronis Martyrum.

MarginaliaThe story of Gordius a Centurion Martyr.Gordius was a Citezin of Cesaria, a worthy souldiar, and Captaine of an hundreth men. He in the tyme of extreme persecution refusing any longer to execute his charge, did chuse of his owne accorde willing exile, and lyued in the deserte many yeares a religiouse and solitari lyfe. But vpon a certaine day when a solemne feaste of Mars was celebrated, in the Citie of Cesarea, and much people were assembled in the Theatre to behold the games: he left the desert, & got hym vp into the chief place of the Theatre, and with a loude voyce vttered this saying of the Apostle: MarginaliaGordius of hys accord vttereth himself to be a Christian.Beholde I am founde of them whiche saught me not, & to those which asked not for me, haue I openly appeared. By whiche wordes hee let it bee vnderstood, that of hys owne accorde he came vnto those games. At this noyse, the multitude litle regardyng the sightes, looked aboute to see who it was, that made such exclamatiō. As soone as it was knowne to be Gordius, and that the cryar had commaunded silence, he was brought vnto the shrief, whiche at that instant was presēt, and ordeined the game. MarginaliaGordius broght to examinatiō.When he was asked the question who he was, from whence, and for what occasiō, he came thether, he telleth the truth of euery thing as it was. I am come, sayth he, to publish, that I set nothing by your decrees against the Christian religion: MarginaliaThe confession of Gordius.but that I professe Iesu Christ, to be my hope & saftie. And when I vnderstood with what crueltie ye handle other men: I tooke this as a fyt tyme to accomplish my desire. The shrief with these wordes was greatly moued, and reuengeth all his displeasure vpon poore Gordius: cōmaunding the executionours to be brought out, with scourges, while gybbet, and what so euer torments els might be deuised. Wherunto Gordius aunswered, saying, that it should be to hym an hinderance, and damage if he could not suffer and indure diuers torments and punishments for Christ his cause. The shrief being more offended with this his boldnes, commaūded him to feele as many kynde of torments as there were, with all whiche Gordius notwithstandyng, could not be mastered or ouercome: but lifting vp hys eyes vnto heauen singeth this saying out of the Psalmes. The Lord is my helper, I will not feare the thyng that man can do to me: & also this saying, I will feare none euill, bycause thou Lord art with me.

After this, he agaynst him selfe prouoketh the extre-MarginaliaThe holy constancie and couragious spirit of Gordius.mitie of the tormentours, and blameth them if they fauour hym any thyng at all. When the shirife saw, that hereby he could wynne but little, he goeth about by gētlenes and intising wordes, to turne the stoute and valiant mynde of Gordius. MarginaliaGordius attempted with fayre promises and giftes.He promiseth to hym great & large offers if he wyl deny Christ: as to make hym a capitayne of as many men as any other is, to geue hym riches, treasure, and what other thyng so euer he desyreth. But in vayne as the prouerbe is, pypeth the minstrel to him that hath no eares to heare, for he deridyng the folish madnes of the magistrate sayth, that it lyeth not in hym to place any in auctoritie, which be worthye to haue a place in heauen. The magistrate wyth these wordes throughly angred & vexed, prepareth himself to hys condemnation. MarginaliaGordius cōdemned to be brent.Whome after that he had comdemned, he caused to be had out of the Citie to be brent. There runneth oute of the Citie greate multitudes by heapes to see hym put to execution, some take hym in their armes, and louingly kisse hym, persuading him to take a better way and saue hymselfe, and that with wepyng teares. To whome Gordius aunswered, MarginaliaThe answers of Gordius to hys frendes.wepe not I praye you for me, but rather for the enemies of God whiche alwayes make warre agaynste the Christians: weepe I say for them whiche prepare for vs a fyre, purchasing hel fyre for them selues in the day of vengeāce: And cease of further, I pray you to molest and disquiet my setled mynde. Truely (sayth he) I am readye for the name of Iesus Christ, to suffer and indure a thousande deathes if nede were. Some other come vnto him which persuaded hym to deny Christe with his mouth, and to kepe his cōscience to hymself. MarginaliaA subtle kind of diswaders.
None ought to denie Christ with hys mouth and confes hym with hys hart.My tonge (saith he) which by the goodnes of God I haue, can not bee broughte to deny the autor and geuer of the same: for wyth the hart we beleue vnto righteousnes, and with the tounge we confesse vnto saluation. Many mo such lyke wordes he spake: but specially vtteryng to them such matter, wherby he might perswade the beholders to death, and to the desyre of Martyrdome. MarginaliaThe Martyrdome of Gordius.
Ex Basili. in Ser. in Gordium militem Cæsariensē.After al which, with a mery and glad countenance, neuer chaunging so much as his colour, he willingly gaue hymselfe to be brent. Basilius in Sermone in Gordium militem Cæsariensem.

MarginaliaMenas
Martyr.
Ex Simone Metaphr. tom. 5Not much vnlyke to the story of Gordius, is the storye also of Menas an Egiptian, who beyng likewyse a souldiour by hys profession, in this persecution of Dioclesian forsooke all, and wente into the deserte, where a long tyme he gaue hymselfe to abstinence, watching, & meditation of the scriptures. At lengthe returnyng again to þ^e city Cotys, there in the opē theatre, as þ^e people were occupied vpon their spectacles or pastymes, he wyth a loud voyce openly proclaimed himselfe to bee a Christian, and vpon the same was brought to Pyrrhus the President: of whō, he being demaunded of his faith, made this aunswer, saying: MarginaliaThe confession of Menas.Conueniēt it is þ^t I should (sayth he) confesse God, in whom is lyght and no darkenes, for somuch as Paule doth so teach: þ^t with harte we beleue to righteousnes, with mouth confession is geuen to saluation. After this the innocent Martyr was moste painfully pinched & cruciate with sundry punishmētes. In al which, notwithstandyng he declared a constante hart, and fayth inuincible, hauyng these wordes in hys mouth, beyng in the midst of hys tormentes: MarginaliaThe words of Menas in his torments.There is nothyng in my mynde that can be compared to þ^e kingdome of heauen. MarginaliaAll the world is not to be weied with one soule saued.Neyther is all the world, if it were weied in balaunce, able to be cōferred with the price of one soule. And sayde, who is able to separate vs from the loue of Iesus Christe oure Lorde? shall affliction, or anguishe? And moreouer (sayde he) I haue thus learned of my Lord and my kyng, not to feare them which kill the bodye, and haue no power to kill the soule: but to feare hym rather, who hath power to destroy both the body & soule in hel fyre. To make the story short, after manifold torments borne of hym and suffred, when the laste sen-