because he thought himself unworthy to be crucified as his Master was. This was a mode sometimes adopted by the Romans, as an additional pain and ignominy. But Peter must have been singularly accommodating to his persecutors, to have suggested this improvement upon his tortures to his malignant murderers; and must have manifested a spirit more accordant with that of a savage defying his enemies to increase his agonies, than with that of the mild, submissive Jesus. And such has been the evident absurdity of the story, that many of the most ardent receivers of fables have rejected this circumstance as improbable, more especially as it is not found among the earliest stories of his crucifixion, but evidently seems to have been appended among later improvements.
PETER'S MARTYRDOM.
The only authority which can be esteemed worthy of consideration on this point, is that of Clemens Romanus, who, in the latter part of the first century, (about the year 70, or as others say, 96,) in his epistle to the Corinthians, uses these words respecting Peter:—"Peter, on account of unrighteous hatred, underwent not one, or two, but many labors, and having thus borne his testimony, departed to the place of glory, which was his due,"—([Greek: houtôs marturêsas eporeuthê eis ton opheilomenon topon doxês].) Now it is by no means certain that the prominent word (marturesas) necessarily means "bearing testimony by death," or martyrdom in the modern sense. The primary sense of this verb is merely "to witness," in which simple meaning alone, it is used in the New Testament; nor can any passage in the sacred writings be shown, in which this verb means "to bear witness to any cause, by death." This was a technical sense, (if I may so name it,) which the word at last acquired among the Fathers, when they were speaking of those who bore witness to the truth of the gospel of Christ by their blood; and it was a meaning which at last nearly excluded all the true original senses of the verb, limiting it mainly to the notion of a death by persecution for the sake of Christ. Thence our English words, martyr and martyrdom. But that Clement by this use of the word, in this connection, meant to convey the idea of Peter's having been killed for the sake of Christ, is an opinion utterly incapable of proof, and moreover rendered improbable by the words joined to it in the passage. The sentence is, "Peter underwent many labors, and having thus borne witness" to the gospel truth, "went to the place of glory which he deserved." Now the adverb "thus," ([Greek: houtôs],) seems to me most distinctly to show what was the nature of this testimony, and the manner also in which he bore it. It points out more plainly than any other words could, the fact that his testimony to the truth of the gospel was borne in the zealous labors of a devoted life, and not by the agonies of a bloody death. There is not in the whole context, nor in all the writings of Clement, any hint whatever that Peter was killed for the sake of the gospel; and we are therefore required by every sound rule of interpretation, to stick to the primary sense of the verb, in this passage. Lardner most decidedly mis-translates it in the text of his work, so that any common reader would be grossly deceived as to the expression in the original of Clement,—"Peter underwent many labors, till at last being martyred, he went," &c. The Greek word, [Greek: houtôs], (houtos,) means always, "in this manner," "thus," "so," and is not a mere expletive, like the English phrase, "and so," which is a mere form of transition from one part of the narrative to the other.
In the similar passage of Clemens which refers to Paul, there is something in the connection which may seem to favor the conclusion that he understood Paul to have been put to death by the Roman officers. His words are,—"and after having borne his testimony before governors, he was thus sent out of the world," &c. Here the word "thus," coming after the participle, may perhaps be considered, in view also of its other connections, as implying his removal from the world by a violent death, in consequence of the testimony borne by him before the governors. This however, will bear some dispute, and will have a fuller discussion elsewhere.
