Callista : a Tale of the Third Century

by John Henry Newman

  The second document is a fragment of the _Acta Proconsularia_ of herPassion. If, indeed, it could be trusted to the letter, as containingCallista's answers word for word, it would have a distinctly sacredcharacter, in consequence of our Lord's words, "It shall be given you inthat hour what to speak." However, we attach no such special value to thisdocument, since it comes to us through heathen notaries, who may not havebeen accurate reporters; not to say that before we did so we ought to lookvery carefully into its genuineness. As it is, we believe it to be as trueas any part of our narrative, and not truer. It runs as follows:--