martyrdom, and thus attained to everlasting felicity; while
others hid themselves in deserts and mountains, not from dread of
the threatened tortures, but by a more divine dispensation.


II.

Now while the land of the Indians lay under the shroud of this
moonless night, and while the Faithful were harried on every
side, and the champions of ungodliness prospered, the very air
reeking with the smell of bloody sacrifices, a certain mall of
the royal household, chief satrap in rank, in courage, stature,
comeliness, and in all those qualities which mark beauty of body
and nobility of soul, far above all his Fellows, hearing of this
iniquitous decree, bade farewell to all the grovelling pomps and
vanities of the world, joined the ranks of the monks, and retired
across the border into the desert. There, by fastings and
vigils, and by diligent study of the divine oracles, he throughly
purged his senses, and illumined a soul, set free from every
passion, with the glorious light of a perfect calm.

But when the king, who loved and esteemed him highly, heard
thereof, he was grieved in spirit at the loss of his friend, but
his anger was the more hotly kindled against the monks. And so
he sent everywhere in search of him, leaving "no stone unturned,"
as the saying is, to find him. After a long while, they that
were sent in quest of him, having learnt that he abode in the
desert, after diligent search, apprehended him and brought him
before the king's judgement seat. When the king saw him in such
vile and coarse raiment who before had been clad in rich apparel,