those who were farther off cast at him whatever was
to their hand; they would all have thought themselves guilty of the
greatest default if they had not done their best, each on his own score,
to insult him brutally. They believed they were avenging the wrongs of
their gods. Pothinus, still breathing, was cast again into prison, and
two days after yielded up his spirit.

"Then were manifested a singular dispensation of God and the
immeasurable compassion of Jesus Christ: an example rare among brethren,
but in accord with the intentions and the justice of the Lord. All those
who, at their first arrest, had denied their faith, were themselves cast
into prison and given over to the same sufferings as the other martyrs,
for their denial did not serve them at all. Those who had made
profession of being what they really were--that is, Christians--were
imprisoned without being accused of other crimes. The former, on the
contrary, were confined as homicides and wretches, thus suffering double
punishment. The one sort found repose in the honorable joys of
martyrdom, in the hope of promised blessedness, in the love of Christ,
and in the spirit of God the Father; the other were a prey to the
reproaches of conscience. It was easy to distinguish the one from the
other by their looks. The one walked joyously, bearing on their faces a
majesty mingled with sweetness, and their very bonds seemed unto them an
ornament, even as the broidery that decks a bride; the other, with
downcast eyes and humble and dejected air, were an object of contempt to
the Gentiles themselves, who regarded them as cowards who had forfeited
the glorious and saving name of Christians. And so they who were present
at this double spectacle were thereby signally strengthened, and whoever
among them chanced to be arrested confessed the faith without doubt or
hesitation.

"Things having come to this pass, different kinds of death were
inflicted on the martyrs, and they offered to God a crown of divers
flowers. It was but right that the most valiant champions, those who had
sustained a double assault and gained a signal victory, should receive a
splendid crown of immortality. The neophyte Maturus and the deacon
Sanctus, Blandina and Attalus, then, were led into the amphitheatre, and
thrown to the beasts, as a sight to please the inhumanity of the
Gentiles. Maturus and Sanctus there underwent all kinds of tortures, as
if they had hitherto suffered nothing; or, rather