Valeria, the Martyr of the Catacombs: A Tale of Early Christian Life in Rome

by W. H. Withrow

  CHAPTER XXVI.

  THE MARTYRS CROWNED.

  At a flourish of trumpets the iron-studded doors of the cells in whichthe Christians were confined were thrown open, and the destined martyrswalked forth on the arena in the sight of assembled thousands. It was aspectacle to arrest the attention of even the most thoughtless, and tomove the sympathy of even the most austere. At the head of the littlecompany walked the good presbyter, Demetrius, his silvery hair and beardand benignant expression of countenance giving him a strikinglyvenerable aspect. Leaning heavily on his arm, evidently faint in framebut strong in spirit, was his daughter Callirho[e:]. Robed in white, shelooked the embodiment of saintly purity, and in her eyes there beamed aheroic courage which inspired a wonder that so brave a soul should beshrined in so frail a body. Adauctus, Aurelius, and other Christianconfessors condemned to death, made up the little contingent of thenoble army of martyrs.

  The prefect Naso, from his place in the tribune, near the Emperors, readthe sentence of the court, that the accused having been proven by ampletestimony to be the enemies of the C[ae]sars and of the gods, had beencondemned to death by exposure to wild beasts.

  "Nay, not the enemies of the C[ae]sars," exclaimed the aged Demetrius. "Weare the friends of all, the enemies of none.[50] We pray for the C[ae]sarsat all our assemblies."

  "Will you do homage to the gods?" demanded Diocletian. "Will you burnincense to Neptune? Here is his altar and here are his priests."

  "We worship the true God who made the heavens and the earth, the sea andall that in them is," replied the venerable man, with uplifted andreverent countenance, "and Him only will we serve. They be no gods whichare made by man's device, and 'tis idolatry to serve them."

  "Away with the Atheists," cried the priests of Neptune; "they blasphemethe holy gods."

  "The Christians to the lions!" roared the mob, and at the signal fromthe Emperor to the master of the games, the dens of the wild beasts werethrown open, and the savage brutes, starved into madness, bounded intothe arena. The defenceless martyrs fell upon their knees in prayer, andseemed conscious only of the presence of Him who stood with the threeHebrews in the fiery furnace, so rapt was the expression of faith andcourage on their upturned faces.

  The fierce Numidian lions, and tigers from the Libyan desert, instead ofbounding upon their prey, began to circle slowly around them, lashingtheir tawny flanks meanwhile, glaring at their victims from bloodshotfiery eyes, and uttering horrid growls.

  At this moment a loud shout was heard, and a soldier, clad in burnishedmail, and with his drawn sword in his hand, one of the body guards ofthe Emperors, leaped from the tribune and bounded with clashing armourinto the arena. Striding across the sand, he hurled aside his ironhelmet and his sword, and flung himself at the feet of the aged priest,with the words:--

  "Father, your blessing; Callirho[e:], your parting kiss. I, too, am aChristian. Long time have I sought you, alas! only to find you thus. Butgladly will I die with you, and, separated in life, we are united indeath and forever."

  "_Nunc dimittis, Domine!_" exclaimed the old man, raising his eyes toheaven. "'Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.'" And helaid his hands in blessing on the head of his long-lost son.

  "Ezra, my brother!" exclaimed Callirho[e:], folding him in her arms. "Tothink we were so near, yet knew not of each other. Thank God, we go toheaven together; and, long divided on earth, we shall soon, with ourbeloved mother, be a united family forever in the skies. 'And God shallwipe away all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death,neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.'"

  "Amen! even so, come, Lord Jesus!" spake the young soldier, as heenfolded, as if in a sheltering embrace, the gray-haired sire and thefair-faced girl.

  The utmost consternation was exhibited on the countenance of the oldEmperor Diocletian. "What! have we Christians and traitors even in ourbody guard? Our very life is at the mercy of those wretches!"

  "I would feel safer with them," said the more stoical or more courageousGalerius, "than with the _delators_ and informers who betray them," andhe glanced with mingled contempt and aversion at Naso, the prefect, andFurca, the priest. "When a Christian gives his word, 'tis sacred as allthe oaths of Hecate. I want no better soldiers than those of theThundering Legion."[51]

  Meanwhile the wild beasts, startled for a moment by the suddenapparition of the mail-clad soldier, seemed roused thereby to ten-foldfury. Crouching stealthily for the fatal spring, they bounded upon theirprey, and in a moment crashing bones and streaming gore appeased thegrowing impatience of the cruel mob, who seemed, like the very wildbeasts, to hunger and thirst for human flesh and blood.

  We dwell not on the painful spectacle. The gallant young soldier was thefirst to die. The brave girl, with a gesture of maiden modesty, drew herdishevelled robe about her person, and with a queenly dignity awaitedthe wild beast's fatal spring. She was mercifully spared the spectacleof her father's dying agony. Her over-strung nerves gave way, and shefell in a swoon upon the sands. Demetrius met his fate praying upon hisknees. Like Stephen, he gazed steadfastly up into heaven, and thefashion of his countenance was suddenly transfigured as he exclaimed:"Lord Jesus! Rachel, my beloved! we come, we come." And above the roarof the ribald mob and the growl of the savage beasts, fell sweetly onhis inner ear the song of the redeemed, and burst upon his sight thebeatific vision of the Lord he loved, and for whom he gladly died.

  So, too, like brave men, victorious o'er their latest foe, Adauctus,Aurelius, and the others calmly met their fate. When all the rest wereslain, a lordly lion approached the prostrate form of Callirho[e:], but shewas already dead. She had passed from her swoon, without a pang, to themarriage supper of the Lamb--to the presence of the CelestialBridegroom--the fairest among ten thousand, the one altogetherlovely--to whom the homage of her young heart had been fully given. Shewas spared, too, the indignity, of being mangled by the lion's jaws.When the king of beasts found that she was already dead, he raised hismassy head, gave a mournful howl, and strode haughtily away.

  In the great gallery of Dor[e/] paintings at London, is one of this FlavianAmphitheatre after a human sacrifice such as we have described. Therelie the mangled forms upon the gory and trampled sands. The sated wildbeasts prowl listlessly over the arena. The circling seats rise tierabove tier, empty and desolate. But poised in air, with outspread wings,above the slain, with a countenance of light and a palm of victory, is amajestic angel; and sweeping upward in serried ranks, amid the shiningstars, is a cloud of bright-winged angels, the convoy of the martyrs'spirits to the skies. So, doubtless, God sent a cohort of swordedseraphim to bear the martyrs of our story blessed company, and to sweepwith them through the gates into the city.

  FOOTNOTES:

  [50] This famous phrase dates from the time of Tertullian, in the 3rdcentury, and is also recorded in the Catacombs.

  [51] The _Legio Tonans_, tradition affirms, was a legion composed whollyof Christians, whose prayers in a time of drought brought on a violentthunder-storm, which confounded the enemy and saved the army.