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248 248 ST. THECUSA after suffering many other indignities were offered, apparently in derision, the office of priestesses of Diana and Minerra. It was the enstom to carry the statues of these goddesses, once a year, with music and dancing, to a neighbouring pond and wash them. Thecusa and her companions were re- quired to take part in this ceremony, and, as they declined, they were con- demned to be carried to the pond in a cart, and then drowned in honour of the goddesses whose statues they had refused to wash. A great number of spectators pitied the good old women and admired their courage. Theodotus prayed for them all day, and when at night he heard that they had been drowned, each with a great stone fastened to her neck, he went to pray for their souls at the church of the Patriarchs, and finding the door built up, he went to the other church, which was also built up ; and while he was praying at the door, he heard a great noise behind him, and supposing himself to be pursued, he returned to the house where he had been hiding during the day. There he fell asleep and saw in a dream the venerable Thecusa, who re- proached him for not paying to her and her companions, after their death, the same respect he had always shown them in their life, and conjured him not to leave their bodies to be eaten by the fishes. Ho told his dream to his com- panions, Polychrone, and a younger Theodotus, his cousin ; and they went to see what could be done; but as the pond was surrounded by a strong guard, they did not dare to approach it till after dark. They fasted until night, and then went out armed with sharp sickles, to cut the ropes which fastened the stones to the bodies of the martyrs. The night was extremely dark ; there was no moon, and the sky was covered with thick clouds. When they came to the place where crimi- nals uspd to be executed and where no one ever ventured to go after sunset, they were seized with horror at finding numbers of heads stuck upon stakes, and the remains of burnt bodies ; but en- couraged by a voice from heaven, they walked on notwithstanding a pelting rain which increased at every stop the difficulty they found in making their way through the mud. Two men in shining white appeared to them and told Theo- dotus that his prayer to find the bodies of the saints had been heard and that the holy Bosander would frighten the guards, but that one of the oompanions of this expedition was a traitor. The guards who were stationed round the pond were bewildered by the darkness and the storm and terrified by the ap- pearance of St. Sosander as a tall mm completely armed and scattering fire all round him. They fled into the nearest huts, and the Christians took advantage of their absence and the darkness of the night to take up the bodies of the drowned women and carry them home on mules, to the church of the Patnarcha, where they buried them. Next day a great commotion arose when it transpii^ that the bodies of the mar- tyrs had been stolen and buried. Poly- chrone, disguised as a peasant, went about the town to hear what was being said on the subject ; but as some one recognized him as a relation of St. Thecusa, he was taken by the authorities, and under tor- ture, revealed that Theodotus had buried them at the church. The Christians now perceived that Polychrone was the traitor against whom they had been warned. Theodotus thinking his death was near, took a tender leave of his brethren, and told them to give his body, if they could get it, to the priest Fronto, who had his ring. He was presently warned of his danger by some citizens whom he knew and who advised him to save himself by flight while there was time ; but Theo- dotus made no attempt to conceal himself or his religion. The governor knowing the esteem in which he was held, promised to make him chief priest of Apollo and syndic of the town of Ancyra, if he would come over to the heathen religion and bring the other Christians to the same opinion and arrange that the man whom Pilate had crucified in Judea should no more be spoken about. Theodotus argued with Theotecnus about the superiority of his own faith until the governor and his people got angry. He was then horribly tortured, and a few days afterwards was beheaded. His body was commanded to