TUSTIITITS, surnamed the MARTYR, and frequently the PHILOSOPHER, a father, and, after Tertullian, the most distinguished apologist of the Christian church, was native of Plavia Neapolis, a Roman city erected on the site of the ancient Sechem, in Samaria. The date of his birth is variously assigned to the years 89, 113, 114; and 118 A.D. His father Priscus was a heathen, and Justinus was educated in the religion of his father. He became an ardent student of the philosophy of his age, with the school of the Stoics, but finally adhering to that of the Platonists. With the last, as he himself relates, he was in the commencement highly satisfied; but, as he was one day wandering along the sea-shore, he encountered a man of mild and venerable aspect, who created in Justinus s mind a desire for higher knowledge than Plato had reached, referring him to the study of the Jewish prophets, and through them to the great Chris tian teacher whom they foretold. The result was his conversion to Christianity, at some date between 119 and 140 A.D. After his conversion he retained the garb of a philosopher, but, as a Christian philosopher, he strove by his writings and his instruc tions to bring others to the truth which he had himself discovered. He is said to have
been beheaded about the year 165, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, because he refused to offer sacrifice to the heathen gods. His death is attributed by the ancients to the enmity and malignant arts of the Cynic philosopher Crescens. The works of Justinus, although not very voluminous, are highly interesting and important. The books ascribed to him with certainty are two Apologies for the Christians, the first addressed " to Antoninus Pius," the second " to the senate;" a Dialogue with Ti'yphon the Jew, which professes to be the record of an actual discussion held at Ephesus. The Address to the Greeks is no longer held to be a genuine work of Justinus. The Exhortation to the Greeks, the Letter to Diognetus, and a work On the MonarMy of God, an argument against the polytheism of paganism, and other works once ascribed to him, are certainly•spuri oils. The first edition of his works is that or Robert Stephens (Paris, 1551). The Bene dictine edition of Justinus, by Mayan, appeared in 1742; and Otto's—the best—at Jena in 1842-46. See &mist:11's monograph (1842) and (Par. 1874) on Jurtinus.