erable part of one, blue without, lined with yellow, and trimmed
with gold, please to note the name sewed on beneath the left shoulder,
and send it according to the direction and your labor shall not be
lost.'

'But the edicts--the edicts.'

'O the edicts! why they are just this; the Christians are told that they
must neither assemble together in their houses of worship to hear their
priests, nor turn the streets into places of worship in their stead; but
leave off all their old ways just as fast as they can and worship the
gods. There's an edict for you!'

'Who is this?' said one to Probus.

'I do not know; he seems sadly disappointed at the Emperor's clemency as
he deems it.'

But what Probus did not know, another who at the moment came up, did;
exclaiming, as he slapped the disappointed man on the shoulder,

'What, old fellow, you here? always where mischief is brewing. But who
ever saw you without Nero and Sylla? What has happened? and no cloak
either?'

'Nero and Sylla are in their den--for my cloak I fear it is in a worse
place. But come, give me your arm, and let us return. I thought a fine
business was opening, and so ran up to see. But it's all a sham.'

'It's only put off,' said his companion, as they walked away; 'your dogs
will have enough to do before the month is half out--if Fronto knows
anything.'

'That is one, I see,' said he who had spoken to Probus, 'who breeds
hounds for the theatres--I thought I had seen him before. His ordinary
stock is not less than five hundred blood-hounds. He married the sister
of the gladiator Sosia. His name is Hanno.'

Having heard enough, we turned away and sought again the Coelian. You
thus see, Fausta, what Rome is made of, and into what hands we may all
come. Do you wonder at my love of Christianity? at my zeal for its
progress? Unless it prosper, unless it take root and spread through this
people, their fate is sealed, to my mind, with the same certainty as if
I saw their doom written upon the midnight sky in letters of fire. Their
own wickedness will break them in pieces and destroy them. It is a
weight beneath which no society can stand. It must give way in general
anarchy and ruin. But my trust is that, in spite of Aurelian and of all
other power, this faith will go on its way, and so infuse itself into
the mass as never to be dislodged, and work out its perfect ultimate
regeneration.

By this decree of the Emperor then, which was soon published in eve