Some of these were persons oppressed by poverty and debts, who blindly sought to terminate a miserable existence by a glorious death.

Others were allured by the hope that a short confinement would expiate the sins of a whole life; and others again were actuated by the less honorable motive of deriving a plentiful subsistence, and perhaps a considerable profit, from the alms which the charity of the faithful bestowed on the prisoners.

[181] After the church had triumphed over all her enemies, the interest as well as vanity of the captives prompted them to magnify the merit of their respective sufferings.

A convenient distance of time or place gave an ample scope to the progress of fiction; and the frequent instances which might be alleged of holy martyrs, whose wounds had been instantly healed, whose strength had been renewed, and whose lost members had miraculously been restored, were extremely convenient for the purpose of removing every difficulty, and of silencing every objection.

The most extravagant legends, as they conduced to the honor of the church, were applauded by the credulous multitude, countenanced by the power of the clergy, and attested by the suspicious evidence of ecclesiastical history.
[Footnote 178: Such is the fair deduction from two remarkable passages in Eusebius, l.viii.c.2, and de Martyr.Palestin.c.12.The prudence of the historian has exposed his own character to censure and suspicion.
It was well known that he himself had been thrown into prison; and it was suggested that he had purchased his deliverance by some dishonorable compliance.