Eusebius of Caesarea · a new plain-English translation from the Greek
1| Worth remembering, too, is what was done to Romanus at Antioch on the same day. He was a Palestinian, a deacon and exorcist of the community at Caesarea, and he happened to be in Antioch just when the churches were being pulled down. There he saw a crowd of men, together with women and children, flocking to the idols and sacrificing. He found the sight unbearable, and in his zeal for the worship of God he went up to them and rebuked them, shouting at the top of his voice.
2| He was arrested for his boldness, and proved himself as noble a witness to the truth as any man ever was. When the judge pronounced against him the sentence of death by fire, he welcomed the verdict with a radiant face and the most eager spirit, and was led off. He was then bound to the stake, with the wood heaped up around him. While those who were to light the pyre waited for a decision from the emperor, who was there in person, he cried out, "Where is my fire?"
3| As he was saying this, he was summoned back into the emperor's presence to undergo a stranger punishment: the cutting out of his tongue. He bore its removal with the greatest courage, and showed by everything he did that a divine power stands beside those who, for piety's sake, endure whatever hardship may come, lightening their pains and strengthening their resolve. When the noble man learned what novel punishment awaited him, he was not dismayed; he gladly put out his tongue, and with the utmost readiness held it out to those who were to cut it off.
4| After this punishment he was cast into prison, where he suffered a very long time. Finally, when the twentieth anniversary of the emperor's reign arrived, and freedom was proclaimed everywhere for all who were in prison, as was the customary gift, he alone had both his feet stretched apart as far as the fifth hole of the stocks; and as he lay there in the wooden stocks, a noose was put around his neck, and so, as he had longed for, he was adorned with martyrdom.
5| Although he died outside its borders, he was nevertheless a Palestinian, and he deserves to be counted among the martyrs of Palestine. These things were done in this way in the first year, the persecution being then aimed at the presidents of the church alone.
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