A use of literary device for inventing propagandistic Christian literature was used.

1. • It was only from the fourth century on and the persecution of Christians by the emperor Diocletian that Christians were required to hand over religious books to the authorities. In that period references to scripture became very common in martyrdom stories. It is highly unusual to find this sort of reference here in an account from the second century, before there even was such a thing as a New Testament. More important, the reference to Paul is an interpretative key that unlocks the significance of some of the other statements made by the martyrs. In a number of places in the story, the martyrs’ statements seem completely out of place. The martyrs do not answer the proconsul’s questions; instead they make vague allusions to Paul in which they refer to their emperor and citizenship in heaven (cf. Phil. 3:20) and their willingness to pay taxes (cf. Rom. 13:6).
2. • A Bible didn’t exist during this time, so it’s a complete anachronism.
3. There is another, more technical problem with the story. There’s some confusion about how many Christian martyrs were present and precisely what their names were. At the beginning of the story only six martyrs— Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Donata, Secunda, and Vestia—are mentioned. These are also the only martyrs who give individual responses during the trial. At the end of the account, when the martyrs are sentenced to die, a longer list is provided that also includes Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Laetantius, Januaria, and Generosa. Where did these additional martyrs come from? Were they always present as the chorus? If so, why were they not properly examined by the proconsul? Can we even be sure that they confessed to being Christians if the account does not describe this?

Furthermore, the martyrdom seems to copy off of Socrates’ martyrdom.