"'But my duties to the God who made me are stronger than any which I owe to man.'
"'Has your sympathy with the Christians made you mad?' said he. 'Do you not know that this is treason?'
"I bowed, and said that I would take the consequences.
"'Rash youth,' he cried sternly, 'go to your quarters, and I will communicate to you my decision.'
"And so I came here at once, and have been here ever since then, anxiously awaiting my sentence."
Lucullus had listened to the whole of Marcellus's recital without a word or even a gesture. An expression of sad surprise upon his face told what his feelings were. He spoke in a mournful tone as Marcellus ended.
"And what that sentence must be you certainly know as well as I. Roman discipline, even in ordinary times, can never be trifled with, but now the feelings of the government are excited to an unusual degree against these Christians. If you persist in your present course you must fall."
"I have told you all my reasons."
"I know, Marcellus, your pure and sincere nature. You have always been of a devout mind. You have loved the noble teachings of philosophy. Can you not satisfy yourself with these as before? Why should you be attracted by the wretched doctrine of a crucified Jew?"
"I have never been satisfied with the philosophy of which you speak. You yourself know that there is nothing certain in it on which the soul may trust. But the Christian religion is the truth of God, brought down by himself, and sanctified by his own death."