.
Why I am . . .

CARPOPHORUS.
Oh! sacred heaven!
Now my wished-for day has come.

A VOICE FROM HEAVEN.
No, not yet, my faithful servant:--
I desire the constancy
Of Chrysanthus may be tested:--
Heed not him, as for thyself,
In this manner I preserve thee. [Carpophorus disappears.

(Enter Polemius.)

POLEMIUS.
What has happened?

AURELIUS.
Oh! a wonder.--
We Carpophorus arrested,
And with him this other Christian;
Both we held here bound and fettered,
When from out our hands he vanished.

POLEMIUS.
By some sorcery 't was effected,
For those Christians use enchantments,
And then miracles pretend them.

A SOLDIER.
See, a crowd of them there flying
To the mountains.

POLEMIUS.
Intercept them,
And secure the rabble rout;
This one I shall guard myself here:-- [Exeunt Aurelius and soldiers.
Miserable wretch! who art thou?
Thus that I may know thee better,
Judging from thy face thy crimes,
I unveil thee. Gracious heaven!
My own son!

CHRYSANTHUS.
Oh! heavens! my father!

POLEMIUS.
Thou with Christians here detected?
Thou here in their caverns hidden?
Thou a prisoner? Wherefore, wherefore,
O immense and mighty Jove,
Are thy angry bolts suspended?

CHRYSANTHUS.
'T was to solve a certain doubt
Which some books of thine presented,
That I sought Carpophorus,
That I wandered to these deserts,
And . . .

POLEMIUS.
Cease, cease; for now I see
What has led to this adventure:
Thou unhappily art gifted
With a genius ill-directed;
For I count as vain and foolish
All the lore that lettered leisure
Has in human books e'er written;
But this passion has possessed thee,
And to learn their magic rites
Here, a willing slave, has led thee.

CHRYSANTHUS.
No, not magic was the knowledge
I came here to learn--far better--
The high mysteries of a faith
Which I reverence, while I dread them.

POLEMIUS.
Cease, oh! cease once more, nor let
Such vile treason find expression
On thy lips. What! thou to praise them!

AURELIUS (within).
Yonder wait the two together.

POLEMIUS.
Cover up thy face once more,
That the soldiers, when they enter,
May not know thee, may not know
How my honour is affected
By this act, until I try
Means more powerful to preserve it.

CHRYSANTHUS (aside).
God, whom until now I knew not,
Grant Thy favour, deign to help me:
Grant through suffering and through sorrow
I may come to know Thee bette