Note 034 Eusebius, 1. iv. c. 15. Sozomen, 1. ii. c. 32. See in Bayle, in the article of 'Marcion', a curious detail of a dispute on that subject. It should seem that some of the Gnostics (the Basilidians) declined, and even refused, the honour of martyrdom. Their reasons were singular and abstruse. See Mosheim, p. 539.

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Note to Chapter 15 of DECLINE and FALL by Gibbon