"Turn him over and beat him on the belly."
"As you beat him, say, 'Christian man, where is your helper?"
"He has helped, and He helps me still. I care so little for your punishment, that I will not obey you."
"Think of your body, unhappy wretch. All the floor is covered with the blood from it."
"Let me tell you this: the more my body suffers for Christ's sake, the better it is for the health of my soul."
"Put him in irons, and stretch him to the fourth hole. Let him have no attention paid to him."
Tarachus is then brought before Maximus.
"Well, well, Tarachus," said Maximus. "I suppose that the reason why people honor old age is because of the greater wisdom in counsel that comes with it. Therefore, give yourself good advice, and do not today persist in your former notions, but sacrifice to the gods, and earn the praise of piety."
"I am a Christian," answered Tarachus, "and I pray that you and your emperors may earn the same praise, and may put away all hardness of heart and blindness, and be quickened by the true God to a higher and better grounded conviction."