Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 1.djvu/507

 great miseries  which  God's  Saints  suffered  on  their  account;  and  as if  all  the  streets  spoke  likewise,  because  of  the  holy  bones  which were thrown  upon  them,  and  lay  all  about  the  city ;  yea,  as  if  the city-walls  quaked  and  trembled  as  though  they  would  fall,  on  account  of  the  holy  bodies  which  hung  upon  them,  on  all   sides, throughout the  city. Behold! what can  weeping  or  sorrow  be,  if that  was  not  the  greatest  of  both,  or  what  can  lamentation  or  bewailing be,  if  that  was  not  the  fullness  of  both,  when  afterwards they thus  seized  and  bound  the. Saints, and  scourged  and  burnt them and  cut  them  up  like  stuck  swine,  and  tormented  them  with every misery? And kinsmen  beheld  how  their  kinsmen  suffered  and hung on  the  town- walls  for  a  spectacle;  and  the  brother  beheld  his sister in  torment,  and  the  sister  beheld  her  brother  in  misery;  the father forsook  his  child,  and  the  child  forsook  the  father,  and  at last  every  friend  forsook  the  other,  by  reason  of  the  great  horrors which they  saw  there ;  and  the  tortures  were  specially  intended  for themselves, unless  they  straightway  ran  and  sacrificed  to  the  idol  and denied the  Lord. Then none  of  the  men  could  any  longer  conceal himself, but  every  one  in  due  time  had  to  proclaim  and  openly testify by  his  deeds  to  which  of  the  two  lordships  he  would  bow, whether to  that  of  our  eternal  Lord,  or  of  the  accursed  devil; whether it  were  more  desirable  for  him  to  escape  the  tortures,  or to  bear  them  for  God's  name.

There were  there  denounced  seven  holy  men,  faithful  to  God, whose names  we  wrote  in  the  opening  words  of  their  holy  Passion ; they were  steadfast  in  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  the  Living  God,  and they faithfully  bare  in  their  bodies  the  sign  of  His  Holy  Cross. When they  saw  the   manifold  woes  which   Christ's   chosen  daily suffered and  endured  for  His  name,  then  they,  the  Seven,  lamented and wept;    and  their  countenances  were  all   made  lean  through that great  sorrow,  and  the  bright  fairness  of  their  youth  faded and waned;  and  they  in  every  way,  in  watchings,  and  in  fastings, and in  holy  prayers,  lay  lamenting;  and  they  did  all  this  on  the emperor's account,  because  they  had  been  formerly  his  nearest  fol-