in the _Acta
Sanctorum_. We can see in even the most simple and non-miraculous early
Christian records of the martyrdom of women that the writers were fully
aware of the delicate charm of the heroine who, like Perpetua at Carthage,
tossed by wild cattle in the arena, rises to gather her torn garment
around her and to put up her disheveled hair.[76] It was an easy step to
the stories of romantic adventure. Among these delightful stories I may
refer especially to the legend of Thekla, which has been placed,
incorrectly it may be, as early as the first century, "The Bride and
Bridegroom of India" in _Judas Thomas's Acts_, "The Virgin of Antioch" as
narrated by St. Ambrose, the history of "Achilleus and Nereus," "Mygdonia
and Karish," and "Two Lovers of Auvergne" as told by Gregory of Tours.
Early Christian literature abounds in the stories of lovers who had indeed
preserved their chastity, and had yet discovered the most exquisite
secrets of love.

Thekla's day is the twenty-third of September. There is a very
good Syriac version (by Lipsius and others regarded as more
primitive than the Greek version) of the _Acts of Paul and
Thekla_ (see, e.g., Wright's _Apocryphal Acts_). These _Acts_
belong to the latter part of the second century. The story is
that Thekla, refusing to yield to the passion of the high priest
of Syria, was put, naked but for a girdle (_subligaculum_) into
the arena on the back of a lioness, which licked her feet and
fought for her against the other beasts, dying in her defense.
The other beasts, however, did her no harm, and she was finally
released. A queen loaded her with money, she modified her dress
to look like a man, travelled to meet Paul, and lived to old age.
Sir W.M. Ramsay has written an interesting study of these _Acts_
(_The Church in the Roman Empire_, Ch. XVI). He is of opinion
that the _Acts_ are based on a first century document, and is
able to disentangle many elements of truth from the story. He
states that it is the only evidence we possess of the ideas and
actions of women during the first century in Asia Minor, where
their position was so high and their influence so great. Thekla
represents the assertion of woman's rights, and she administered
the rite of baptism, though in the existing versions of the
_Acts_ these features are toned down or eliminated.

Some of the most typical of these e