with its hind legs outstretched and its lips drawn back. He was welcomed
by an old couple, Marcus Combabus and Valeria Moerens, who lived there
on the products of their lands. There was a portico round the interior
court the columns of which were painted red, half their height upwards
from the base. A fountain made of shells stood against the wall and
under the portico there rose an altar with a niche in which the master
of the house had placed some little idols made of baked earth and
whitened with whitewash. Some represented winged children, others Apollo
or Mercury, and several were in the form of a naked woman twisting her
hair. But the holy Mael, observing those figures, discovered among them
the image of a young mother holding a child upon her knees.

Immediately pointing to that image he said:

"That is the Virgin, the mother of God. The poet Virgil foretold her in
Sibylline verses before she was born and, in angelical tones he sang Jam
redit et virgo. Throughout heathendom prophetic figures of her have been
made, like that which you, O Marcus, have placed upon this altar. And
without doubt it is she who has protected your modest household. Thus it
is that those who faithfully observe the natural law prepare themselves
for the knowledge of revealed truths."

Marcus Combabus and Valeria Moerens, having been instructed by this
speech, were converted to the Christian faith. They received baptism
together with their young freedwoman, Caelia Avitella, who was dearer to
them than the light of their eyes. All their tenants renounced paganism
and were baptized on the same day.

Marcus Combabus, Valeria Moerens, and Caelia Avitella led thenceforth
a life full of merit. They died in the Lord and were admitted into the