ith these words on the part of Aurelian, our audience closed, and we
turned away--grieving to see that a man like him, otherwise a Titan
every way, should have so surrendered himself into the keeping of
another; yet rejoicing that some of that spirit of justice that once
wholly swayed him still remained, and that our appeal to it had not been
in vain.

To-morrow then, at the sixth hour, will Probus appear before Aurelian.
It is not, Fausta, because I, or any, suppose that Aurelian himself can
be so wrought upon as to change any of his purposes, that we desire this
hearing. He is too far entered into this business--too heartily, and, I
may add, too conscientiously--to be drawn away from it, or diverted from
the great object which he has set up before him. I will not despair,
however, that even he may be softened, and abate somewhat of that raging
thirst for our blood, for the blood of us all, that now seems to madden
him. But, however this may be, upon other minds impressions may be made
that may be of service to us either directly or indirectly. We may
suppose that the hearing of the Christians will be public, that many of
great weight with Aurelian will be there, who never before heard a word
from a Christian's lips, and who know only that we are held as enemies
of the state and its religion. Especially, I doubt not, will many, most
or all, of the Senate be there; and it is to that body I still look,
as, in the last resort, able perhaps to exert a power that may save us
at least from absolute annihilation.

* * * * *

To-day has Probus been heard; and while others sleep, I resume my pen to
describe to you the events of it, as they have occurred.

It was in the banqueting hall of the imperial palace on the Palatine,
that Probus was directed to appear, and defend his cause before the
Emperor. It is a room of great size, and beautiful in its proportions
and decorations. A row of marble pillars adorns each longer side of the
apartment. Its lofty ceiling presents to the eye in allegory, and in
colors that can never fade, Rome victorious over the world. The great
and good of Rome's earlier days stand around, in marble or brass, upon
pedestals, or in niches, sunk into the substance of the walls. And where
the walls are not thus broken, pictures wrought upon them, set before
the beholder many of the scenes in which the patriots of former days
achieved or suffered for the cause of their country