CHAPTER V.
Sophronia had been locked in a separate cell, where she was entirelyalone. The sun could reach her only through a small round window, andwhen it shone upon the head of the kneeling maiden, the halo ofmartyrdom seemed to hover around it.
A snow-white robe, fair and pure as her soul, floated around her. Herface wore an expression of supernatural repose, in which the impressof resolution alone betrayed the mortal.
The door of the dungeon opened and a tall, stately woman entered,slipping a purse of gold into the jailer's hand as he left it ajarbehind her.
She was clad in a heavy silk _himation_, fastened on the shoulders bydiamond mounted fibulas; a costly anadem confined her wealth ofcurls, and the golden veil hanging below, in spite of the delicacy ofits texture, completely shrouded her features. The draping of thefolds of her robe showed refined taste, and the heavy pearls whichheld down the ends and corners indicated the high rank of the wearer.
Sophronia looked up as she heard the rustling of the silk, and seeingthe stranger standing before her, asked in surprise:
"What do you seek here, Roman?"
The lady raised her veil, revealing a face which recalled the sublimegoddesses of ancient times; a lofty brow, beautiful lips, cheeks inwhose dimples Cupids were playing, and dark eyes with the deep,indescribable expression that seems to conceal all the enigmas offeeling, alluring charm and repellent sadness in every feature--awonderful play of sorrow and sunshine which in the sky is called arainbow, in the human face passion.
At the first moment Sophronia shrank back at the sight of thiscountenance, but she instantly held out her hand with a lovely smile,saying kindly:
"Sister Glyceria!"
"Do not give me your hand," said the lady sadly. "Do not embrace me.At the first instant of recognition you started back. You were afraidof this face, and you may be right. It is four years since we haveseen each other, four years during which you have heard so many cursesheaped upon me by revered lips that you did not tremble without causewhen you saw my features."
"I have never ceased to love you."
"I will gladly believe it, but let us not speak of that. Your newfaith teaches you to love even your enemies. Fate has taught me torenounce all whom I have loved. But that is well; we have no time toindulge in lamentations now. I have learned that the games in thecircus to-morrow will be closed by the martyrdom of the Christians whoare sentenced to death."
"Then let God's will be done," said Sophronia, clasping her hands onher bosom.
"No, this shall not be done! Twice already I have tried to releaseyou, but I came too late; to-day I am in time. Change clothes with me;put on my veil. Your figure is like mine; no one will notice thedifference. A trustworthy slave is waiting outside with horses. In anhour you can be clasped in the arms of your father and your lover."
Glyceria closed her eyes sadly, crushing hot tears with their lids, asif she had said: "My father, my lover!"
"And you?" asked Sophronia.
"I shall stay here."
"And the games in the circus to-morrow?"
"Will be closed with me."
"Never!" said Sophronia, filled with lofty self-sacrifice.
"Why never? Those who hate _me_ love _you_, and how gladly I wouldgive years of my life to win a smile from their lips. If one of usmust die, why should it be you, whose loss will plunge them intodespair? Why not rather I, whose death they would bless? You willpreserve a happy life for others; I shall cast from me a wretchedone."
Sophronia clasped her sister's hands in both her own, and gazed withher pure eyes deep into Glyceria's troubled, sorrowful ones.
"You were the woman who, on the night I was captured, offered me herhorse to escape?"
"Why do you speak of that?"
"Do you remember my answer?"
"You said that a Christian ought not to fly from danger."
"Since then I have seen death in many forms, and I repeat it. If it isGod's will that His name shall be praised by my martyrdom, let Hiswill be done. I will accept with rapture the crown of thorns thatencircled the Saviour's brow, and bless the hand which opens the doorof salvation to me. Oh, death means no torture to those whose joysbegin after it is over."
"But those whom you would leave behind?"
"They will see me again beyond the grave."
"To which despair will bring them. O Sophronia, listen. Two humanbeings who execrate me are now praying for you. If you die thisterrible death, you will not meet them in the other world, for thehorrors of life will hunt them down to Hades. Oh, let me die, let mebe forgotten, wept by no one, blessed by no one, missed by no one. Letyour grey-haired father have two joys in a single day--my death andyour life."
"A heart so embittered is not fit for death, O Glyceria!"
"Do you suppose I could not look it calmly in the face?"
"But not rapturously. To the Christian death is a new world; to theunbeliever an eternal darkness."
"May this darkness embrace me. Life only oppresses me like a burden. Ido not desire to live again, but wish to pass away, to be forgotten,to rest undisturbed in a silent grave. I want to leave this brilliantchaos, whose sole reality is pain. But may you lead a long and happylife."
"O Glyceria, why should your face become so gloomy?"
"Is it not true that once there was not so great a difference betweenus? My soul was as radiant, my face as bright as yours. We were somuch alike that even our father could scarcely distinguish us. Nay,the object of our love was the same, and we did not conceal this fromeach other, but agreed that if he chose one, the other would silentlyresign him."
"Ah, if he had only taken you! Then we might both be happy."
"It was not my fate, O sister! The gods had not so decreed. Unknown,mysterious hands tangle the threads of human destiny, and guide themharshly through life. So who ought to be called to account for thesoul? The man whose wife I became was a pitiful libertine, whoappeared just at the time Manlius decided in your favour, and byproducing a document which contained proof that our father wasconnected with a conspiracy against Carinus, forced me to become hiswife."
"And therefore my father cursed you."
"May he never recall his curse. It has been fulfilled. This venalslave lost his head when the Caesar saw me. From that moment my lifewas a perpetual warfare, whose weapons were flattery and seduction. Ihad to defend my father constantly. All the men who breathe here arehis foes! The Caesar hates him because he will not flatter him; thecourtiers hate him because he is a man of honour; the people hate himbecause he is rich; every criminal hates him because here virtue isconsidered a conspiracy against sin. I was forced to conquer all Rome,from the Caesar to the plebeian, that I might save the grey hairs on myfather's head. I attended the Imperator's orgies. I allowed myself tobe applauded in the amphitheatre by the dregs of the people, and to beflattered by base courtiers. And how often I have torn up Mesembrius'sdeath sentence after I succeeded, half by cajolery, half by force, inwresting it from the hands of spies, demagogues, senators, lictors,and even those of the Caesar himself!"
"And this brought you my father's curses."
"He was right. It was contemptible in the daughter of a Romanpatrician. Oh, he must never know it. If he should learn that he livedat such a cost, he would kill himself."
"You also discovered that the hiding place of my fellow-believers wasbetrayed, and hastened there in advance of the others?"
"I informed Manlius of it two days before, but he shrank from enteringmy house. Now there is no other way of escape save the one I offer,and thus fate will be best satisfied. She who merits death and desiresit will die, and those who enjoy life and deserve it will be happy.That is right. Return to your father and to Manlius, Sophronia, andthen go far, far away from here."