Note 453 — THE MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP.

Great obscurity hangs over the chronology here indicated. According to Usher, the Smyrnæans began the month Xanthicus on the 25th of March. But the seventh day before the Calends of May is the 25th of April. Some, therefore, read Ἀπριλλίων instead of Μαΐων. The great Sabbath is that before the passover. The “eighth hour” may correspond either to our 8 A.M. or 2 P.M.