"You said that a Christian ought not to fly from danger."
"Since then I have seen death in many forms, and I repeat it. If it is God's will that His name shall be praised by my martyrdom, let His will be done. I will accept with rapture the crown of thorns that encircled the Saviour's brow, and bless the hand which opens the door of salvation to me. Oh, death means no torture to those whose joys begin after it is over."
"But those whom you would leave behind?"
"They will see me again beyond the grave."
"To which despair will bring them. O Sophronia, listen. Two human beings who execrate me are now praying for you. If you die this terrible death, you will not meet them in the other world, for the horrors of life will hunt them down to Hades. Oh, let me die, let me be forgotten, wept by no one, blessed by no one, missed by no one. Let your grey-haired father have two joys in a single day—my death and your life."
"A heart so embittered is not fit for death, O Glyceria!"
"Do you suppose I could not look it calmly in the face?"
"But not rapturously. To the Christian death is a new world; to the unbeliever an eternal darkness."
"May this darkness embrace me. Life only oppresses me like a burden. I do not desire to live again, but wish to pass away, to be forgotten, to rest undisturbed in a silent grave. I want to leave this brilliant chaos, whose sole reality is pain. But may you lead a long and happy life."
"O Glyceria, why should your face become so gloomy?"