Pontius
Pontius a deacon of the African Church, the tried friend and constant companion of Cyprian, drew up a narrative of the life and sufferings of the martyred bishop, which is styled an excellent production (egregium volumen) by Jerome. If the piece extant under the name of Pontius, entitled De Vita et Passione S. Cypriani, be genuine, it certainly does not merit such high commendation, since it is composed in an ambitious declamatory style, full of affectation and rhetorical ornaments. Perhaps the original work may have formed the basis of what we now possess, which has probably been built up into its present form by the labor of various hands. It will be found attached to all the most important editions of Cyprian, and is contained also in the Acta Primorum Martyrum of Ruinart (Paris, 1690, 4to; Amsterdam, 1713, fol.). The Acta Pontii are preserved in the Miscellanea of Balutze (Paris, 1678, 8vo), 2, 124, and in the Acta Sanctorum under March 8, the day marked as his festival in the Roman Martyrologies. See Jerome, De Viris 111. p. 68; Schinemann, Bibl. Patrum Lot. vol. 1, c. 3, § 6.
