is life with
death. But to the towns lying nearer us his men have not come yet,
perhaps because there are no temples or treasures in them. Thou askest
if we are out of danger. I answer that we are out of mind, and let that
suffice for an answer. At this moment, from the portico under which I
write, I see our calm bay, and on it Ursus in a boat, letting down a
net in the clear water. My wife is spinning red wool near me, and in the
gardens, under the shade of almond-trees, our slaves are singing.
Oh, what calm carissime, and what a forgetfulness of former fear and
suffering! But it is not the Parcae as thou writest, who spin out our
lives so agreeably; it is Christ who is blessing us, our beloved God and
Saviour. We know tears and sorrow, for our religion teaches us to weep
over the misfortunes of others; but in these tears is a consolation
unknown to thee; for whenever the time of our life is ended, we shall
find all those dear ones who perished and who are perishing yet for
God's truth. For us Peter and Paul are not dead; they are merely born
into glory. Our souls see them, and when our eyes weep our hearts
are glad with their joy. Oh, yes, my dear friend, we are happy with a
happiness which nothing can destroy, since death, which for thee is the
end of everything, is for us only a passage into superior rest.

"And so days and months pass here in calmness of heart. Our servants and
slaves believe, as we do, in Christ, and that He enjoins love; hence we
love one another. Frequently, when the sun has gone down, or when the
moon is shining in the water, Lygia and I talk of past times, which seem
a dream to us; but when I think how that dear head was near torture and
death, I magnify my Lord with my whole soul, for out of those hands He
alone could wrest her, save her from the arena, and return her to me
forever. O Petronius, thou hast seen what endurance and comfort that
religion gives in misfortune, how much patience and courage before
death; so come and see how much happiness it gives in ordinary, common
days of life. People thus far did not know a God whom man could
love, hence they did not love one another; and from that came their
misfortune, for as light comes from the sun, so does happiness come from
love. Neither lawgivers nor philosophers taught this truth, and it did
not exist in Greece or Rome; and when I say, not in Rome, that means the
whole world. The dry and cold teaching of the Stoics, to which virtuous
pe