“I? I am Antinous, Stephanus’ boy,” he answered audaciously. “I bring you my master’s greetings, and”—he added in a whisper—“those of your imperial neighbor, the lady of Baiae....”
“Silence!” said the centurion, sternly. “You have done your part! Take yourself off—instantly.”
Quintus breathed hard and deep. He understood only too well all that the impudent young villain’s words conveyed. The captain did not give him much time to indulge his feelings.
“My lord,” he said, “you are my prisoner. If you will swear to me not to attempt to escape, nor to lay violent hands upon yourself, I will take the risk of leaving you unfettered. This one, however, I must put in chains, and if you have any influence over him, advise him that he had better submit quietly.”
“Never!” roared Thrax Barbatus, flourishing his short sword. “Let us fight, my brethren—fight, and die fighting. The martyr’s crown awaits not those alone who suffer, but those who fight too.”
“Cease!” said old Calenus. “Who dares to speak so blasphemously here? Will you sin as Peter sinned in the garden of Gethsemane? Will you shed your brother’s blood like Cain? Woe unto ye blind! Not thus may ye win Heaven, but eternal punishment!” The blind man’s words, spoken in a sort of prophetic exaltation, made a deep impression. Those who a moment since had stood forth in defiance, now bent their heads. Thrax Barbatus alone stood his ground.
“Do you think,” he shouted in a voice of thunder, “that the Son of God, who lashed the dealers and money-changers out of the Temple with a scourge, was a lamb? He was a lion, that only force could overcome! The Saviour preached to slaves, that their lives and their rights are as precious as those of their tyrants! He, who breaks the chains of the prisoner, will have nothing to say to cowards and fools. Glauce, come close to me—your tender body shall never be meat for the lions of Gaetulia! Pray, Glauce—pray.—And may the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon us!”
He held the girl tightly clasped in his arms.
“Give yourselves up to the inscrutable counsels of God!” said the solemn, prophetic voice of the blind man.
“Amen,” rose from the lips of the congregation.