in Carthage,
which belonged to one of them. An elegant supper was provided for the
entertainment of the bishop, and his Christian friends were permitted
for the last time to enjoy his society, whilst the streets were filled
with a multitude of the faithful, anxious and alarmed at the approaching
fate of their spiritual father. [86] In the morning he appeared before
the tribunal of the proconsul, who, after informing himself of the name
and situation of Cyprian, commanded him to offer sacrifice, and pressed
him to reflect on the consequences of his disobedience. The refusal of
Cyprian was firm and decisive; and the magistrate, when he had taken the
opinion of his council, pronounced with some reluctance the sentence of
death. It was conceived in the following terms: "That Thascius Cyprianus
should be immediately beheaded, as the enemy of the gods of Rome, and as
the chief and ringleader of a criminal association, which he had seduced
into an impious resistance against the laws of the most holy emperors,
Valerian and Gallienus." [87] The manner of his execution was the
mildest and least painful that could be inflicted on a person convicted
of any capital offence; nor was the use of torture admitted to obtain
from the bishop of Carthage either the recantation of his principles or
the discovery of his accomplices.

[Footnote 85: When Cyprian; a twelvemonth before, was sent into exile,
he dreamt that he should be put to death the next day. The event made it
necessary to explain that word, as signifying a year. Pontius, c. 12.]

[Footnote 85a: This was not, as it appears, the motive which induced
St. Cyprian to conceal himself for a short time; he was threatened to be
carried to Utica; he preferred remaining at Carthage, in order to suffer
martyrdom in the midst of his flock, and in order that his death might
conduce to the edification of those whom he had guided during life.
Such, at least, is his own explanation of his conduct in one of his
letters: Cum perlatum ad nos fuisset, fratres carissimi, frumentarios
esse missos qui me Uticam per ducerent, consilioque carissimorum
persuasum est, ut de hortis interim recederemus, justa interveniente
causa, consensi; eo quod congruat episcopum in ea civitate, in qua
Ecclesiae dominicae praeest, illie. Dominum confiteri et plebem
universam praepositi praesentis confessione clarificari Ep. 83.--G]

[Footnote 86: Pontius (c. 15) acknowledges that Cyprian, with whom he
supped, passed