life; and if by but a word that should deny the truth in Christ,
or any jot or tittle of it, I could save the life of Piso, Julia, Felix,
Demetrius, nay, and all in Rome who hold this faith, my tongue should be
torn from my mouth before that word should be spoken. And so wouldst
thou find every Christian here in Rome. Why then urge me more? Did Macer
hear thee?'

'I hold thee, Probus, a wiser man than he. All Rome knew him mad. Cast
not away thy life. Live, and tomorrow's sun shall see thee First in
Rome!'

'Varus! why is this urgency? Think me not a fool and blind. Thou
knowest, and Fronto and Aurelian know, that one apostate would weigh
more for your bad cause than a thousand headless trunks; and so with
cruel and insulting craft you weave your snares and pile to Heaven your
golden bribes. Begone, Varus, and say to Aurelian, if in truth he sent
thee on thy shameful errand, that, in the Fabrician prison, in the same
dungeon where he cast Probus the Christian, there still lives Probus the
Roman, who reveres what _he_ once revered and loved, truth, and whom his
bribes cannot turn from his integrity.'

'Die then, idiot, in thy integrity! Thou hast thrown scorn upon one, who
has power and the will to pay it back in a coin it may little please
thee to take it in. If there be one torment, Galilean, sharper than
another, it shall be thine tomorrow; and for one moment that Macer
passed upon my irons, there shall be hours for thee. Not till the flesh
be peeled inch by inch from thy bones, and thy vitals look through thy
ribs, and thy brain boil in its hot case, and each particular nerve be
stretched till it break, shall thy life be suffered to depart. Then,
what the tormentors shall have left, the dogs of the streets shall
devour. Now, Christian, let us see if thy God, beholding thy distress,
will pity and deliver thee.'

Saying these words, his countenance transformed by passion to that of a
demon, he turned and left the cell.

Never, Fausta, I feel assured, did Aurelian commission Varus with such
an errand. Fallen though he be, he has not yet fallen to that lowest
deep. Varus doubtless hoped to prevail over Probus by his base
proposals, and by such triumph raise his fortunes yet higher with
Aurelian. It was a game worth playing--so he judged, and perhaps
wisely--and worth a risk. For doubtless one apostate of the rank of
Probus would have been of more avail to them, as Probus said to him,
than a thousand slain. For noth