d out to him, "Remember us." "Do you also," says he, "remember
me." Julian and Victoricus exhorted a long while the brethren to peace,
and recommended to their care the whole body of the clergy, those
especially who had undergone the hardships of imprisonment. Montanus,
who was endued with great strength, both of body and mind, cried out,
"He that sacrificeth to any God but the true one, shall be utterly
destroyed." This he often repeated. He also checked the pride and wicked
obstinacy of the heretics, telling them {458} that they might discern
the true church by the multitude of its martyrs. Like a true disciple of
Saint Cyprian, and a zealous lover of discipline, he exhorted those that
had fallen not to be over hasty, but fully to accomplish their penance.
He exhorted the virgins to preserve their purity, and to honor the
bishops, and all the bishops to abide to concord. When the executioner
was ready to give the stroke, he prayed aloud to God that Flavian, who
had been reprieved at the people's request, might follow them on the
third day. And, to express his assurance that his prayer was heard, he
rent in pieces the handkerchief with which his eyes were to be covered,
and ordered one half of it to be reserved for Flavian, and desired that
a place might be kept for him where he was to be interred, that they
might not be separated even in the grave. Flavian, seeing his crown
delayed, made it the object of his ardent desires and prayers. And as
his mother stuck close by his side with the constancy of the mother of
the holy Maccabees, and with longing desires to see him glorify God by
his sacrifice, he said to her "You know, mother, how much I have longed
to enjoy the happiness of dying by martyrdom." In one of the two nights
which he survived, he was favored with a vision, in which one said to
him: "Why do you grieve? You have been twice a confessor, and you shall
suffer martyrdom by the sword." On the third day he was ordered to be
brought before the governor. Here it appeared how much he was beloved by
the people, who endeavored by all means to save his life. They cried out
to the judge that he was no deacon; but he affirmed that he was. A
centurion presented a billet which set forth that he was not. The judge
accused him of lying to procure his own death. He answered: "Is that
probable? and not rather that they are guilty of an untruth who say the
contrary?" The people demanded that he might be tortured, in hopes he
wo