gain with
Petrus' son, Polykarp, whom the emperor had sent for to Byzantium with
great honor, and in whose house the Gaulish woman Sirona presided as a
true and loving wife and mother.

After his parting from Hermas, Paulus disappeared. The other anchorites
long sought him in vain, as well as bishop Agapitus, who had learned from
Petrus that the Alexandrian had been punished and expelled in innocence,
and who desired to offer him pardon and consolation in his own person. At
last, ten days after, Orion the Saite found him in a remote cave. The
angel of death had called him only a few hours before while in the act of
prayer, for he was scarcely cold. He was kneeling with his forehead
against the rocky wall and his emaciated hands were closely clasped over
Magdalena's ring. When his companions had laid him on his bier his noble,
gentle features wore a pure and transfiguring smile.

The news of his death flew with wonderful rapidity through the oasis and
the fishing-town, and far and wide to the caves of the anchorites, and
even to the huts of the Amalekite shepherds. The procession that followed
him to his last resting-place stretched to an invisible distance; in
front of all walked Agapitus with the elders and deacons, and behind them
Petrus with his wife and family, to which Sirona now belonged. Polykarp,
who was now recovering, laid a palm-branch in token of reconcilement on
his grave, which was visited as a sacred spot by the many whose needs he
had alleviated in secret, and before long by all the penitents from far
and wide.

Petrus erected a monument over his grave, on which Polykarp incised the
words which Paulus' trembling fingers had traced just before his death
with a piece of charcoal on the wall of his cave:

"Pray for me, a miserable man--for I was a man."

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

He out of the battle can easily boast of being unconquered
Pray for me, a miserable man--for I was a man

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS FOR THE ENTIRE 'HOMO SUM':

Action trod on the heels of resolve
Can such love be wrong?
He who wholly abjures folly is a fool
He out of the battle can easily boast of being unconquered
Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto
I am human, nothing that is human can I regard as alien to me
Love is at once the easiest and the most difficult
Love overlooks the ravages of years and has a good memory
No judgment is so hard as th