Polycarp's arrest and journey to the stadium
Polycarp has just finished a long prayer after learning he is to be arrested, and now the police captain Herod and his father Nicetes take him into the city.
When he had finished his prayer, he had remembered everyone who had ever crossed his path, small and great, honored and obscure, and the whole catholic church throughout the world, the hour came for him to leave. They seated him on a donkey and brought him into the city. It was a great Sabbath.
The police captain Herod met him, along with Herod's father Nicetes. They moved him into their carriage, sat beside him, and tried to persuade him. "What harm is there," they said, "in saying, 'Lord Caesar,' and sacrificing and doing the rest that follows, and so saving yourself?" At first he gave them no answer. But when they kept pressing him, he said, "I am not going to do what you advise me."
When they failed to persuade him, they spoke harsh words to him and pulled him down with such haste that, as he got out of the carriage, he skinned his shin. But he did not turn back. As if nothing had happened to him, he walked on eagerly and quickly, led into the stadium. The uproar there was so great that no one could even be heard.
Greek
Ἐπεὶ δε ποτε κατέπαυσεν τὴν προσευχήν, μνημονεύσας ἁπάντων καὶ τῶν πώποτε συμβεβληκότων αὐτῷ, μικρῶν τε καὶ μεγάλων, ἐνδόξων τε καὶ ἀδόξων καὶ πάσης τῆς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας, τῆς ὥρας ἐλθούσης τοῦ ἐξιέναι, ὄνῳ καθίσαντες αὐτὸν ἤγαγον εἰς τὴν πόλιν, ὄντος σαββάτου μεγάλου.
καὶ ὑπήντα αὐτῷ ὁ εἰρήναρχος Ἡρώδης καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Νικήτης, οἳ καὶ μεταθέντες αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν καροῦχαν ἔπειθον παρακαθεζόμενοι καὶ λέγοντες: Τί γὰρ κακόν ἐστιν εἰπεῖν: Κύριος καῖσαρ, καὶ ἐπιθῦσαι καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα καὶ διασώζεσθαι; ὁ δὲ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα οὐκ ἀπεκρίνατο αὐτοῖς, ἐπιμενόντων δὲ αὐτῶν ἔφη: Οὐ μέλλω ποιεῖν, ὃ συμβουλεύετέ μοι.
οἱ δὲ ἀποτυχόντες τοῦ πεῖσαι αὐτὸν δεινὰ ῥήματα ἔλεγον αὐτῷ καὶ μετὰ σπουδῆς καθῄρουν αὐτόν, ὡς κατιόντα ἀπὸ τῆς καρούχας ἀποσῦραι τὸ ἀντικνήμιον. καὶ μὴ ἐπιστραφείς, ὡς οὐδὲν πεπονθὼς προθύμως μετὰ σπουδῆς ἐπορεύετο, ἀγόμενος εἰς τὸ στάδιον, θορύβου τηλικούτου ὄντος ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ, ὡς μηδὲ ἀκουσθῆναί τινα δύνασθαι.