ays her grief continued
unabated, and then the same messenger returned and told her that her
husband still lived, having spread the report of his death to throw his
pursuers off his track.

This information brought Eponina as lively joy as the former news had
brought her sorrow; but knowing that she was watched, she affected as
deep grief as before, going about her daily duties with all the outward
manifestations of woe. When night came she visited Sabinus secretly in
his new hiding-place, and was received in his arms with all the joy of
which loving souls are capable. Before the dawn of day she returned to
her home, from which her absence had not been known.

During seven months the devoted wife continued these clandestine visits,
softening by caresses and brave words her husband's anxious care, and
supplying his wants as far as she was capable. At the end of that time
she grew hopeful of obtaining a pardon for the fugitive chief. For this
purpose she induced him to disguise himself in a way that made detection
impossible and accompany her on a long and painful journey to Rome.

Here the earnest and faithful woman made every possible effort to gain
the ear and favor of the emperor and to obtain influence in high places.
She unhappily found that Roman officials had no time or thought to waste
on fugitive rebels, and that compassion for those who dared oppose the
supremacy of Rome was a sentiment that could find no place in the
imperial heart. Repelled, disappointed, hopeless, the unhappy woman and
her disguised husband retraced their long and weary journey, and Sabinus
again sought shelter in the dens and caves which formed his only secure
places of refuge.

And now the faithful wife, abandoning her home, joined him in his
lurking-place, and for nine long years the devoted couple lived as
homeless fugitives, mutual love their only comfort, obtaining the
necessaries of life by means of which we are not aware. By the tenderest
affection Eponina softened the anxieties of her husband, the birth of
two sons served still more to alleviate the misery of their distressful
situation, and all the happiness that could possibly come to two so
circumstanced attended the pair in their straitened place of refuge.

At the end of nine years the hiding-place of the fugitives was
discovered by their enemies, and they were seized and sent in chains to
Rome. Here Vespasian, who had gained a reputation for kindness and
clemency, acted w