CHAPTER XXIV

CREDO

Many days had passed. All was calm in Nemausus. The games were over.

The day succeeding that we have described was warm and spring‐like. The sun shone brilliantly. Every trace of the snow had disappeared, and the water‐fight in the amphitheater had surpassed the expectations of the people. They had enjoyed themselves heartily.

All had returned to its old order. The wool merchant took fresh commands, and sent his travelers into the Cebennæ to secure the winter fleeces. The woman who had the flower‐shop sold garlands as fast as she could weave them. The potter spread out a fresh collection of his wares and did a good business with them.

The disturbances that had taken place were no more spoken about. The deaths of Marcianus, Baudillas and Perpetua hardly occupied any thoughts, save only those of their relatives and the Christians.

The general public had seen a show, and the show over, they had other concerns to occupy them.

Now both Pedo and Blanda were free, and the long tarrying was over. They had loved when young, they came together in the autumn of their lives.

In the heart of the Church of Nemausus there was not forgetfulness of its heroes.

If the visitor at the present day to Nîmes will look about him, he will find two churches, both recently rebuilt, in place of, and on the site of, very ancient places of worship, and the one bears the name of St. Baudille. If he inquire of the sacristan, “Mais qui, donc, était‐il, ce saint?” then the answer given him will be: “Baudillas was a native of Nîmes, a deacon, and a martyr.”

If he ask further, “But when?” Then the sacristan will probably reply with a shrug: “Mais, monsieur; qui sait?”

In another part of the town is a second church, glowing internally with color from its richly painted windows, and this bears the name of Ste. Perpetue.

Does the visitor desire to be told whether it has been erected in honor and in commemoration of the celebrated African martyrs Felicitas and Perpetua, or of some local virgin saint who shed her blood for Christ, then let him again inquire of the sacristan.

What his answer will be I cannot say.

The Bishop Castor remained much in his house. He grieved that he had not been called to witness to the faith that was in him. But he was a humble man, and he said to himself: “Such was the will of God, and that sufficeth me.”

One evening he was informed that a man, who would not give his name, desired to speak with him.

He ordered that he should be introduced.

When the visitor entered, Castor recognized Æmilius, but the man was changed. Lines of thought and of sorrow marked his face, that bore other impress as well of the travail of his soul within him. He seemed older, his face more refined than before, there was less of carnal beauty, and something spiritual that shone out of his eyes.

The bishop warmly welcomed him.

Then said Æmilius in a low tone, “I am come to thee for instruction. I know but little, yet what I know of Christ I believe. He is not dead, He liveth; He is a power; mighty is faith, and mighty is the love that He inspires. _Credo._”

FOOTNOTES

1 So represented in paintings in the Catacombs. There were two distinct types: the table in the Church and the tomb at the Sepulcher of the Martyr.

2 St. Clement of Alexandria complained of the dainties provided for the Agape: “The sauces, cakes, sugar‐plums, the drink, the delicacies, the games, the sweetmeats, the honey.” The hour of supper with the Romans was about 2 P.M.; that, therefore, was the time for the love‐feast to begin.

3 In the recently‐exhumed house of Saints John and Paul, in the Cœlian Hill at Rome, such bottles were discovered in the cellar.

4 Now Ambroix.

5 Certain Christians bought substitutes to sacrifice in their room and receive a ticket (_libellus_) certifying that they had sacrificed. The Church was a little perplexed how to deal with these timorous members, who were termed _libellatics_.

6 I employ the term Duumvir for convenience. As already stated, there were four chief magistrates, but two only had criminal jurisdiction.

7 “Erat et robur, locus in carcere, quo præcipitabatur maleficorum genus, quod ante arcis robustis includebatur.”—LIV. 38, 39.

8 The prayer is given in the “Apostolic Constitutions,” viii. 37.

9 The casting into the lowest pit of the _robur_—sometimes termed the _barathrum_—was not a rare act of barbarity. Jugurtha perished in that of the Tullianum in Rome. “By Hercules!” said he as he was being lowered into it, “your bath is cold!” S. Ferreolus, of Vienne, was plunged into this horrible place in A.D. 304. He was young, and by diving or by working at the grating he managed to escape much in the manner described above. Thus through the sewer he reached the Rhône, and swam across it. He was, however, recaptured and taken back to Vienne, where he was decapitated. He is commemorated in the diocese of Vienne on September 18th, and is mentioned by Sidonius Apollinaris in the fifth century, and by Venantius Fortunatus in the sixth. S. Gregory, the illuminator, was cast into the _barathrum_ by Tiridates. Theodoret describes martyrs devoured by rats and mice in Persia (“Hist. Eccl.,” v. 39).

10 This sign is now in the museum.

11 Fairies, adored at Nemausus.

12 The incident of the fall of snow occurring at the martyrdom of a virgin saint is no picture of the author’s imagination. It occurred at the passion of S. Eulalia of Merida, in A.D. 303, and is commemorated in the hymn on her by Prudentius.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Variations in hyphenation or spelling have not been changed.

Changes, which have been made to the text:

page 55, “Nemauscan” changed to “Nemausean” page 117, “alloted” changed to “allotted” page 119, “exisiting” changed to “existing” page 125, comma removed after “Baudillas” page 278, “adsence” changed to “absence” page 280, quote mark added before “Executioners”