first talked with Paul, she
lives a virgin life and attains to a great age, doing many marvellous
works and acquiring a great fame for sanctity.

This is a brief summary of the story which, whether it be fact or fancy,
was devoutly believed by many of the earliest Fathers of the Church.

The Apostle to the Gentiles wrote: "Not many wise after the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble are called." The Gospel of the Galilean
Carpenter found an eager reception chiefly among the humble; the names
of Lydia and Priscilla are those of workingwomen. Some of the names of
women that Paul mentions in his Epistles are those of bondservants. His
acquaintances in the houses of the great were among the menials. But
Christianity ennobled those to whom it came. We know nothing of Chloe of
Corinth, of Claudia of Rome, of Euodias, of Syntyche, of Persis, of
Phoebe, or of Damaris, except that they were among the first workers,
the charter members of the Church; their names are engraved ineffaceably
upon the foundations of the Faith. In an especial manner these women
were working for the uplifting of their sex. They were pioneers who
first ventured in that movement which inevitably brings enlargement of
life for all womankind.

Yet Christianity was not wholly without its witnesses among the women of
the higher ranks of society. If Acte, Nero's freedwoman, really were a
Christian,--and it is strange that such a tradition should have arisen
without a foundation in fact,--she could not have been without an
influence upon the noble ladies with whom she was thrown into contact.
Pomponia Graecina was brought to trial for embracing a foreign religion.
This, in after ages, was believed to be Christianity; and it is
certainly possible that Sienkievicz's splendid portrayal of her as a
Christian matron is not wholly beside the mark.

A little later, in the time of Domitian, we know that Christianity
invaded the imperial household. Domatilla, the niece of the emperor and
the wife of the noble Flavius Clemens, was an avowed Christian, and for
the sake of her faith was banished to the island of Pandataria, which
had been made the prison of women of far different character.

III

THE ERA OF PERSECUTION

PERSECUTION of the early Christians was preordained by some of the most
prominent and essential qualities of human nature. Every new habit of
thought is at first looked upon with dislike. Political and religious
innovations are especially