"and those who are with him."(1) Yet, although thus spoken of as alive, the writer already knows of his Epistles, and refers, in the plural, to those written by him "to us, and all the rest which we have by us."(2) The reference here, it will be observed, is not only to the Epistles to the Smyrnæans, and to Polycarp himself, but to other spurious epistles which are not included in the Syriac version. Dallseus(3) pointed out long ago, that ch. xiii. abruptly interrupts the conclusion of the Epistle, and most critics, including those who assert the authenticity of the rest of the Epistle, reject it at least, although many of these likewise repudiate ch. ix. as interpolated.(4) Others, however, consider that the latter chapter is quite consistent with the later date, which, according to internal evidence, must be assigned to the Epistle. The writer vehemently denounces,(5) as already widely spread, the Gnostic heresy and other forms of false doctrine which did not exist until the time of Marcion, to whom and to whose followers he refers in unmistakable terms. An expression is used in ch. vii. in speaking of these heretics, which Polycarp is reported by Irenseus to have actually applied to Marcion in person, during his visit to Home. He is said to have called Marcion the "first-born of Satan," [--Greek--](6) and the same term {276} is employed in this epistle with regard to every one who holds such false doctrines. The development of these heresies, therefore, implies a date for the composition of the Epistle, at earliest, after the middle of the second century, a date which is further confirmed by other circumstances.(1) The writer of such a letter must have held a position in the Church, to which Polycarp could only have attained in the latter part of his life, when he was deputed to Rome for the Paschal discussion, and the Epistle depicts the developed ecclesiastical organization of a later time.(2) The earlier date which has now been adopted for the martyrdom of Polycarp, by limiting the period during which it is possible that he himself could have written any portion of it, only renders the inauthenticity of the Epistle more apparent. Hilgenfeld has pointed out, as another indication of the same date, the injunction "Pray for the kings" (Orate pro regibus), which, in 1 Peter ii. 17, is "Honour the king" [--Greek--], which, he argues, accords with the period after Antoninus Pius had elevated Marcus Aurelius {277}