viction possessed them
as us.

'We are constrained,' said Felix, 'thus with little ceremony, noble
Piso, to intrude upon your privacy But in truth the affair we have come
upon admits not of ceremony or delay.'

'Let there be none then, I pray, and let us hear at once what concerns
us all.'

'It is spread over the city,' replied the bishop, 'that before the sixth
hour edicts are to be issued that will go to the extreme we have
feared--affecting the liberty and life of every Christian in Rome. We
find it hard to believe this, however, as it is in the face of what
Aurelian has most expressly stipulated. It is therefore the wish and
prayer of the Christians that you, being nearer to him than any, should
seek an interview with him, and then serve our cause in such manner and
by such arguments as you best can.'

'This is what we desire, Piso,' said they all.

I replied, that I would immediately perform that which they desired, but
that I would that some other of our number should accompany me.
Whereupon Felix was urged to join me; and consenting, we, at the moment,
departed for the palace of Aurelian.

On arriving at the gardens, it was only by urgency that I obtained
admission to the presence of the Emperor. But upon declaring that I came
upon an errand that nearly concerned himself and Rome, I was ordered to
be brought into his private apartment.

As I entered, Aurelian quickly rose from the table, at which he had been
sitting, on the other side of which sat Fronto. None of the customary
urbanity was visible in his deportment; his countenance was dark and
severe, his reception of me cold and stately, his voice more harsh and
bitter than ever. I could willingly have excused the presence of the
priest.

'Ambassadors,' said Aurelian inclining toward us, 'I may suppose from
the community of Christians.'

'We came at their request,' I replied; 'rumors are abroad through the
city, too confidently reported, and too generally credited to be
regarded as wholly groundless, yet which it is impossible for those who
know Aurelian to believe, asserting that to-day edicts are to be issued
affecting both the liberty and the lives of the Christians--'

'I would, Piso, that rumor were never farther from the truth than in
this.'

'But,' I rejoined, 'has not Aurelian said that he would proceed against
them no further till he had first heard their defence from their own
organs?'

'Is it one party only in human affairs, young Pi