several points i like g w 's text i think he goes much too far in saying invalid when quoting one book against gibbon and harnack treadgold and macmillan and brown and no argument can make the fewness go away it would not surprise me if eusebius' figures are as unreal as his chronology but all any such calculation can do is establish an order of magnitude and for that he is reliable i agree with the point he quotes from clarke if the original complaint had been that our text ignores that persecution was not limited to killing there would have been little discussion pmanderson