2 I beseech you that you show
not an unseasonable good will
towards me. Suffer me to be food
to the wild beasts, by whom I shall
attain unto God.
3 For I am the wheat of God,
and I shall be ground by the teeth
of the wild-beasts, that I may be
found the pure bread of Christ.
Rather encourage the beasts,
that they may became my sepulchre,
and may let live nothing of my
body; that being dead I may not
be troublesome to any.
5 Then shall I be truly the
disciple of Jesus Christ, when the
world shall not see so much as my
body. Pray therefore unto Christ
for me, that by these instruments
I may be made the sacrifice of
God.
6 I do not, as Peter and Paul,
command you. They were Apostles,
I a condemned man; they were free,
but I am even to this day a servant:
7 But if I shall suffer, I shall
then become the freeman of Jesus
Christ, and shall rise free. And
now, being in bonds, I learn not
to desire any thing.
8 From Syria even unto Rome,
I fight with beasts both by sea and
land; both night and day: being
bound to ten leopards, that is to
say, to such a band of soldiers,
who, though treated with all manner
of kindness, are the worse for
it.
9 But I am the more instructed
by their injuries; yet am I not
therefore justified.
10 May I enjoy the wild beasts
that are prepared for me; which
also I wish may exercise all their
fierceness upon me.
11 And whom for that end I will
encourage, that they may be sure
to devour me, and not serve me as
they have done some, whom out of
fear they have not touched. But
if they will not do it willingly,
I will provoke them to it.
12 Pardon me in this matter; I
know what is profitable for me,
now I begin to be a disciple.
Not shall any thing move me
whether visible or invisible,
that I may attain to Jesus Christ.