"Look at his eyes! As cold as ice, and yet like red-hot arrows."
"Yes, my godmother is right; she says that only those who have no heart can look like that."
"That is an old tale. Spectres and Lemures have eaten his heart in the night."
"Ah, bah! There are no Lemures. But there is a devil, for it says so in the Bible. And the Prefect has sold himself to the devil. The Numidian who is holding his black horse by the bridle is an imp from hell, who always accompanies him. Nothing can hurt the Prefect. He feels neither hunger nor thirst nor the want of sleep. But he can never smile, for he has sold his soul!"
"How do you know?"
"The deacon of St. Paul's has explained it all. And it is a sin to serve such a man any longer. Did he not betray our Bishop, Silverius, to the Emperor, and send him over the sea in chains?"
"And lately he accused sixty priests, Orthodox and Arian, of treason, and banished them from the city."
"That is true!"
"And he must have promised the devil that he would torment the Romans."
"But we will endure it no longer. We are free! He himself has often told us so. I will ask him by what right----"