[Footnote 235: It is very probable, says Tillemont, that Nicodemus visited Rome toward the end of the first century.]
"My father and friend! It is I who ought to receive yours. I have heard you were in the city for some days. Why not have come sooner to visit us?"
"Yes, holy father; [Footnote 236] I arrived in the city two days ago, and received from the kindness of some of my own nation, who after the fall of Sion came to reside in Rome, that hospitality and treatment which the wearied traveller requires. The last persecution—for I was then here—taught us all a lesson not to create suspicion by visiting prematurely the locality in which the brethren meet or the presbyter resides. Hence, though I had learned the secret of where you intended celebrating the feast, I deemed it well to delay my visit to the eve of it."
[Footnote 236: "Papa sancte," a usual mode of addressing bishops in the early ages.]
"Always cautious, Nicodemus," said Clement, alluding to the furtive night visit paid by Nicodemus to our divine Lord; but he checked the smile that played on his face, as he saw the tears rolling down the old man's cheeks.
"Pardon, pardon, my friend and brother! I did not mean to say aught painful."
"Nor have you. But I am overcome, in spite of myself, whenever I remember the eyes which beamed out upon me through the darkness of that night, and the face so transcendently beautiful, so tenderly compassionate, so profoundly sorrowful! That face and look are impressed here"—he laid his hand upon his heart—"I always bear them about with me like precious relics, which supply ample matter for my meditations. In the brightness of the day those sorrowful eyes shine out, in the darkness of night that beauteous face is luminous; in the desert and in the forum they alike are my companions, as they shall be to the grave."
He was silent. His eyes and thoughts seemed turned inward; the former as if riveted with dazzled, loving gaze on some unseen object which wholly filled the latter. After some moments, during which those present looked on in wonder, he became conscious of their presence and slightly embarrassed.
Clement, not seeming to notice the embarrassment, said: