Martírio de Policarpo 2

1Bem-aventurados, portanto, e nobres são todos os martírios ocorridos segundo a vontade de Deus (porquanto nos cumpre ser mui reverentes e atribuir a Deus o poder supremo sobre todas as coisas).

1Blessed therefore and noble are all the martyrdoms which have taken place according to the will of God (for it behoveth us to be very scrupulous and to assign to God the power over all things).

2Pois quem não haveria de admirar a nobreza deles, a sua paciente perseverança e a sua lealdade ao Mestre? Visto que, despedaçados por açoites a ponto de se ver a estrutura íntima de sua carne até às veias e artérias interiores, tudo suportavam com paciência, de modo que os próprios circunstantes se compadeciam e choravam; enquanto eles atingiam tal grau de fortaleza que nenhum deles soltava um gemido ou clamor, demonstrando a todos nós que naquela hora os mártires de Cristo, postos sob tormento, estavam ausentes da carne, ou melhor, que o Senhor Se achava presente e conversava com eles.

2For who could fail to admire their nobleness and patient endurance and loyalty to the Master? seeing that when they were so torn by lashes that the mechanism of their flesh was visible even as far as the inward veins and arteries, they endured patiently, so that the very bystanders had pity and wept; while they themselves reached such a pitch of bravery that none of them uttered a cry or a groan, thus showing to us all that at that hour the martyrs of Christ being tortured were absent from the flesh, or rather that the Lord was standing by and conversing with them.

3E atentando para a graça de Cristo, desprezavam os tormentos deste mundo, adquirindo ao preço de uma única hora o livramento do castigo eterno. E o fogo dos seus desumanos algozes lhes parecia frio: pois almejavam escapar do fogo eterno e inextinguível, e com os olhos do coração contemplavam os bens reservados aos que pacientemente perseveram, os quais nem o olho viu, nem o ouvido ouviu, nem subiram ao coração do homem, mas que lhes foram revelados pelo Senhor, visto que já não eram meros homens, senão já anjos.

3And giving heed unto the grace of Christ they despised the tortures of this world, purchasing at the cost of one hour a release from eternal punishment. And they found the fire of their inhuman torturers cold: for they set before their eyes the escape from the eternal fire which is never quenched; while with the eyes of their heart they gazed upon the good things which are reserved for those that endure patiently, things which neither ear hath heard nor eye hath seen, neither have they entered into the heart of man, but were shown by the Lord to them, for they were no longer men but angels already.

4E semelhantemente aqueles que foram condenados às feras suportaram terríveis suplícios, sendo estendidos sobre pontas agudas de conchas marinhas e fustigados por variadas espécies de tormentos, para que o diabo, se possível fosse, os levasse à apostasia mediante contínuos castigos: pois muitos ardis ele urdiu contra eles.

4And in like manner also those that were condemned to the wild beasts endured fearful punishments, being made to lie on sharp shells and buffeted with other forms of manifold tortures, that the devil might, if possible, by the persistence of the punishment bring them to a denial; for he tried many wiles against them.