Thus, then, when the divine word had sojourned among them, the power of Simon was extinguished and immediately overthrown, together with the man himself; and so great a light of piety shone upon the minds of Peter's hearers that they were not content to be satisfied with a single hearing, nor with the unwritten teaching of the divine preaching, but with all manner of entreaties besought Mark — whose Gospel is extant, and who was a follower of Peter — that he would leave them also in writing a memorial of the teaching delivered to them by word; nor did they cease until they had prevailed upon the man, and so became the cause of the writing of the Gospel called «according to Mark.»
And they say that the apostle, having learned what had been done — the Spirit having revealed it to him — was pleased with the men's zeal, and ratified the writing for reading in the churches. (Clement, in the sixth book of the Hypotyposes, has set down the account, and Papias, bishop of Hierapolis by name, also bears witness with him.) And they say that Peter makes mention of Mark in his former epistle, which they say he also composed at Rome itself, and that he indicates this, calling the city more figuratively «Babylon,» in these words: «She that is in Babylon, elect together with you, salutes you, and so does Mark my son.»