I beheld it. The boy
of sixteen was himself the commander of the executioners. Horrible!
horrible! About a hundred persons, among them women, old men, boys and
girls scarcely as old as I. I commanded a halt. 'By order of the King!'
replied the Arian priest. I wanted to rush to the aid of the tortured
prisoners. Alas! Verus's whole family were among the victims. I wanted
to tear his gray-haired mother from the stake, from the ascending
flames, amid which, in spite of her iron chains, she writhed, shrieking
in unutterable agony. My own soldiers held me! 'By order of the King!'
they shouted. I struck about me, I foamed, I raged. In vain! I shut my
eyes that I might see the terrible scene no longer! But ah--"

The King hesitated and passed his hand across his brow. Then he went
on,--

"My name, in a shrill scream, reached my ear. I involuntarily opened my
eyes again and saw, stretched toward me, the naked, fettered, arm of
the gray-haired woman. 'Curses on you, Gelimer!' she shrieked. 'Curses
on you upon earth and in hell! Curses on all you Asdings! Curses on the
Vandal people and kingdom! God's vengeance for your own and your
fathers' sins shall pursue you from childhood to old age. Curses,
curses on you, murderer Gelimer!' And I saw her eyes, horribly
disfigured by suffering and hate, piercing mine. Then I sank down in
the convulsions which, later, often attacked me, and lay gasping under
the burden of the thought: even though I myself am free from sin, the
despairing woman cursed me as she died; she bore the curse to the
throne of God. I must bear the burden of guilt of all our family." He
trembled, beads of perspiration stood on his brow.

"For God's sake, brother, stop! Your illness might return."

But Gelimer continued: "When I came to my senses, I was no longer a
youth; I was an old man; or crushed, half mad, as you will call it. I
threw off my sword-belt, helmet, shield, and all my weapons, and--oh,
never shall I forget it--that one terrible word alone pressed through
my poor brain, deadening all else: 'Sin--the curse of sin rests upon
me, my family, my people!'

"I sought comfort. I seized the Bible. I had been taught that God
speaks to us through the oracles of the Sacred Book. With a sharp
dagger in my hand I unrolled the passages of Holy Writ. I appealed to
God. 'O Lord, wilt Thou really punish me for the sins of my ancestors?'
I struck haphazard with my dagger at the open page; it pierced the
verse: 'For