who affirm the authenticity of the Epistle attributed to Polycarp, date the Epistle before a.d. 120,(1) but the preponderance of opinion assigns it to a much later period.(2) Doubts of its authenticity, and of the integrity of the text, were very early expressed,(3) and the close scrutiny to which later and more competent criticism has subjected it, has led very many to the conclusion that the Epistle is either largely interpolated,(4) or altogether spurious.(5) The principal argument in favour {274} of its authenticity is the fact that the Epistle is mentioned by Irenæus,(1) who in his extreme youth was acquainted with Polycarp.(2) We have no very precise information regarding the age of Irenæus, but Jerome states that he flourished under Commodus (180-192), and we may, as a favourable conjecture, suppose that he was then about 35-37. In that case his birth must be dated about a.d. 145. There is reason to believe that he fell a victim to persecution under Septimius Severus, and it is only doubtful whether he suffered during the first outbreak in a.d. 202, or later. According to this calculation, the martyrdom of Polycarp, in a.d. 155-156, took place when he was ten or eleven years of age. Even if a further concession be made in regard to his age, it is evident that the intercourse of Irenæus with the Bishop of Smyrna must have been confined to his very earliest years,(3) a fact which is confirmed by the almost total absence of any record in his writings of the communications of Polycarp. This certainly does not entitle Irenæus to speak more authoritatively of an epistle ascribed to Polycarp, than any one else of his day.(4) In the Epistle itself, there are several anachronisms. In ch. ix. the blessed Ignatius" is referred to as already dead, and he is held up with Zosimus and Rufus, and also with Paul and the rest of the Apostles, as examples of patience: men who have not run in vain, but are with the Lord; but in ch. xiii. he is spoken of as living, and information is requested regarding him, {275}