Cries out another, "would renew my vows And make the Acts."-"And I" (with blushing brows, 4. And so the question parried1 to and fro, A whisper from the Switzer3 novice came: 5 5. Then in the sudden hush the holy youth- Of God's dear glory, doth his will constrain? 6. "He who performs each duty in its time, 1 Păr'ried, passed from one to another, as used here. 2 Thēme, a subject of thought or conversation. 3 Switzer, a native of Switzer land; a Swiss. 6 4 Fra těl'lo mi'o (mē'o), my dear brother. 5 Sǎm'mons, an imperative call. A III. 15. THE LILY. MAIDEN said to the lily, "I go to the dance to-night; Place the glowing carnation there!" 2. Å bride saw the lily blooming"I go to the altar to-day; In my bridal garland, sweet lily, I will twine thy pale, beautiful spray." "Why sadden thy bridal, lady, By wearing my cold, white flowers? 8. A mother wept o'er the lily- Be a wreath of immortelles laid!" 4. A young girl whispered, "O lily! 66 IV. 16 SAINT SEBASTIAN. PART FIRST. EBASTIAN is the splendid officer in the armor of a tribune,1 standing at the right hand of the emperor. Well may you gaze at him. In all Rome thêre is not a young noble who has a brighter future befōre him.” 2. The speaker was an old patrician, in whose veins ran the best blood of the Roman nobility. His companion was a young stranger from Pontus, to whom he was showing the wonders of the imperial city. On this day, Măxim'iän gave audience to strangers, and to all those who had tidings to communicate from parts near or distant. 3. At such times his favorite guards stood around his throne in all the glitter of their richly-jewelled armor, and with all their badges of military distinetion. Among them stood Sebas'tian, taller and more slender than any of his companions, but with a certain firmness of step and majesty of bearing which not even the Roman soldier's drill nor years of hard military service could bestow. 4. Maximian, in his rude way, showed admiration for the căptain of his first cohort.3 Diocle'tian had already sent forth that cruel edict against the Christians which allowed them to be seized in any part of the Roman dominion, and carried before a magistrate to receive sentence as enemies of the empire. 5. It was with the news of such seizures, both in Rome and the provinces, that Maximian had been chiefly entertained on the morning when the young stranger from Asiä accompanied the Roman patrician to the audience-chamber of the reigning Cæsar. Information had been given against men and women, old and young, and all had been turned over to the prefect for exămination, without one pitying inquiry. 6. This persecution of Christians, too poor to excite his love of money, too weak to resist his power, and too mean, in his 1 Tribune, a Roman military six hundred soldiers; a legion comŎfficer. 2 Pa tri' cian, a Roman noble. 3 Co' hort, a company of five or prised ten cohorts. 4 Prefect, a Roman officer placed over a command or department. eyes, to rouse his indignation, was becoming a dull business to Maximian. This morning, especially, he was growing tired of hearing the oft-repeated story from the host of smooth-tongued informers and mischief-makers, when a man of polished address, and with a step as stealthy 1 as a leopard's, knelt at the imperial footstool. 7. "Speak!" growled Maximian, with an impatient gesture, "what skulking Christian hast thou tracked to his hole?""Most gracious emperor," began the cringing informer.-" Be brief, I tell thee!"-"Is the emperor aware that in his own household, close to his very throne even, stands a Christian ?""Speak out, sirrah! I will have no mysteries."-" Then, at your imperial command," said the wily courtier, in a bland voice, "I accuse as a Christian the captain of your first cohort, Sebastian." 8. The emperor started to his feet. "Reptile! thou liest! Prove thy words; or, by the gods, thou shalt die the death of a Christian dog, by a slow fire and hot pincers." The informer ōnly smiled at the emperor's challenge, and in the same bland voice continued: "Then the emperor of the world has not heard of the treachery within the imperial walls? He does not know why Marcus and Marcelli'nus, who were on the point of recanting, went, after all, boldly to death as Christians?" 9. At this very moment Sebastian, with the same firm but light step which had ever marked him in the legion, passed from his place at the right hand of the emperor. Bowing respectfully to his imperial master, and with a courteous gesture toward the informer, he said in a clear voice: "Sire, allow me to take from such feeble shoulders the burden of proof. From first to last my service in the imperial army has been the service of a Christian." 10. "Tush, Sebastian! I can ill afford to lose my first captain. Thou art still young. The honors of the empire are all before thee. Have done with this nonsense, unworthy of a soldier, fit only for women and slaves. Swear allegiance to the gods of Rome, as thou hast ever practised allegiance to her emperors." "Sire, what is that false service thou askest of me? As a 1 Stealth' y, secret; sly. 'Re cănt' ing, taking back what one has previously declared. 3 Al lē' giance, fidelity. Christian I have served thee well; as an apostate and a perjurer, how could Maximian trust even Sebastian ? 66 11. Never had his cohort, even in battle, seen so grand an expression on the face of Sebastian as when he uttered these words, with a sort of solemn gladness that made every word ring out like the notes of a silver trumpet, through the vast hall. Never, either, had courtiers or legions seen so horrible an expression on the brutal face of Maximian. Bring Hyphax," he cried, in a terrible voice, "the Numidian ǎrrōws are sure. "In an instant the dusky chief of the Numidian archers stood before the throne of the Cæsar. No words were wasted. Hate, cruelty, and revenge spoke through the glaring eyes and the clenched teeth of the tyrant. 12. "Sebastian is a Christian!"-The pagan savage started as if a seorpion had stung him, and looked at Sebastian with unutterable horror. "Listen," said Maximian, recalling the attention of the captain of his archers to himself. "To-morrow morning, when the first ray of sunlight touches the temple of Jupiter, lead Sebastian to the grove of Ado'nis: there let your best archers shoot him slowly to death. Slowly, mind you. None of your keen arrows straight through the eye or the heart; but slowly, touching no vital part, until he drops dead from the loss of blood, and from the wild thirst of the wounded in battle, and the long pain." This said, the emperor strode from the hall without further ceremony, and Sebastian was hurried off to his prison. S° √. 17. SAINT SEBASTIAN. PART SECOND. quickly had this painful scene påssed before the eyes of the patrician and the young stranger from Pontus, and so fully had it absorbed every faculty of mind and body, that, spell-bound, they witnessed it without exchanging a word or even a glance. They walked slowly, like men in a dream, from the palace into the clear air, and beneath the blue sky of the city of the seven hills. On the face of each could be seen an abstracted 1 look which showed how deeply they 1 Ab strǎct' ed, withdrawn from observing what is going on around us. |