Chapter 10
The Bishops of Rome and of Alexandria during the Reign of Antoninus
Adrian having died after a reign of twenty-one years,[1] was succeeded in the government of the Romans by Antoninus, called the Pious. In the first year of his reign Telesphorus[2] died in the eleventh year of his episcopate, and Hyginus became bishop of Rome.[3] Irenæus records that Telesphorus’ death was made glorious by martyrdom,[4] and in the same connection he states that in the time of the above-mentioned Roman bishop Hyginus, Valentinus, the founder of a sect of his own, and Cerdon, the author of Marcion’s error, were both well known at Rome.[5] He writes as follows:[6]