if he conquered me, he should
kill me with a sword. After a long and obstinate engagement, I threw him
on his face, and trod upon his head. The people applauded my victory
with loud acclamations. I then approached the master of the
amphitheatre, who gave me the bough with a kiss, and said: 'Peace be
with you, my daughter.' After this I awoke, and found that I was not so
much to combat with wild beasts as with the devils." Here ends the
relation of St. Perpetua.

St. Saturus had also a vision which he wrote himself. He and his
companions were conducted by a bright angel into a most delightful
garden, in which they met some holy martyrs lately dead, namely,
Jocundus, Saturninus, and Artaxius, who had been burned alive for the
faith, and Quintus, who died in prison. They inquired after other
martyrs of their acquaintance, say the acts, and were conducted into a
most stately place, shining like the sun: and in it saw the king of this
most glorious place surrounded by his happy subjects, and heard a voice
composed of many, which continually cried: "Holy, holy, holy." Saturus,
turning to Perpetua, said: "You have here what you desired." She
replied: "God be praised. I have more joy here than ever I had in the
flesh." He adds, Going out of the garden they found before the gate, on
the right hand, their bishop of Carthage, Optatus, and on the left,
Aspasius, priest of the same church, both of them alone and sorrowful.
They fell at the martyr's feet, and begged they would reconcile them
together, for a dissension had happened between them. The martyrs
embraced them, saying: "Are not you our bishop, and you a priest of our
Lord? It is our duty to prostrate ourselves before you." Perpetua was
discoursing with them; but certain angels came and drove hence Optatus
and Aspasius; and bade them not to disturb the martyrs, but be
reconciled to each other. The bishop Optatus was also charged to heal
the divisions that reigned among several of his church. The angels,
after these reprimands, seemed ready to shut the gates of the garden.
"Here," says he, "we saw many of our brethren and martyrs likewise. We
were fed with an ineffable odor, which delighted and satisfied us." Such
was the vision of Saturus. The rest of the acts were added by an
eye-witness. God had called to himself Secondulus in prison. Felicitas
was eight months gone with child, and as the day of the shows
approached, she was inconsolable lest she should not be brought to