ext candidates for martyrdom were two young and beautiful girls,
whose history we learn from their patron, Eulogius, who seems to have
regarded one of these maidens, Flora, with a Platonic love mingled with
a sort of religious devotion.

Flora,[1] the daughter of a Moslem father and a Christian mother, was
born at Cordova. She is said to have practised abstinence even in her
cradle. At first she was brought up as a Moslem, and lived in conformity
with that faith, until, being converted to Christianity about eight
years before this time, and finding the intolerance of her father and
her brother unbearable, she deserted her home. But when her brother, in
his efforts to discover and reclaim her, persecuted many Christian
families, whom he suspected of conniving at her escape, she voluntarily
surrendered herself to him, saying, "Here am I whom you seek, and for
whose sake you persecute the people of God. I am a Christian. Do your
best to annul that confession: none of your torments will be able to
overcome my faith." Her brother, after trying in vain, by alternate
threats and blandishments, to bring her back from her error, finally
dragged her before the Kadi; and he, hearing her brother's accusation,
and her own confession, ordered her to be barbarously beaten, and then
given up nearly dead to her brother. She managed, however, to recover,
and escaped under angelic guidance.[2] Shortly afterwards, while praying
in a church, she was found by Maria, sister of Walabonsus
above-mentioned,[3] who had been martyred a few months previously.
Their father, being a Christian, converted his unbelieving wife. They
came to live at Froniano, near Cordova, and their daughter was educated
at the nunnery of Cuteclara, near the city, under the care of the
abbess, Artemia. Brooding over her brother's martyrdom, and perhaps, as
was so often the case, seeing his glorified spirit in a vision, she left
the cloister, determining to follow in his saintly footsteps. While on
her way to give herself up, she turned aside into a church to pray, and
found Flora there.

[1] "Life of Flora and Maria," by Eulogius, secs. 3 ff.

[2] _Ibid._, sec. 8. "Agelico comitante meatu."

[3] "Life of Flora and Maria," sec. 11. Lane Poole, "Moors in
Spain," says, "Sister of Isaac."

Together, then, did these devoted girls go forth[1] to curse Mohammed,
of whom they probably knew next to nothing, and lose their own lives.
The judge, however, pityin