Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 2.djvu/221

 Then verily  the  fame  spread  over  all  the  household,  and  they  all wondered together,  and  rejoiced  for  their  meeting,  and  that  much the more  blithely  because  they  had  overcome  the  heathen. Then the next  day  they  made  a  very  great  feast,  and  thanked  God  for His great  mercy. After they   had    subdued    all    their   enemies' land, and  they,  with  great  victory,  had  returned  home,  and  carried with them  great  plunder  and  many  captives,  then  it  happened  that the Emperor  Trajan  was  dead  before  Eustace  came  from  the  fight, and  there  was  appointed  another  king,  called  Adrian,  who  was heathen, and  worse  in  ferocity. "When Eustace  came  again  from  the  fight,  then  went  the  emperor  to  meet  him,  as  is  the  custom with  the  Romans,  and  proclaimed  a  great  solemnity  for  the  victory which  he  had  gained,  and  asked  him  about  the  fight  and  about  his wife  and  his  sons,  how  he  had  heard  of  them.     Then  the  next  day  the  emperor  went  to  the  temple  of  the  idols,  and  Eustace  would not  go  in  with  him,  but  stood  there  outside.     Then  the  emperor called  him,  and  asked  why  he  would  not  offer  sacrifice  to  the  gods for  his  victory,  and  especially  because  he  had  found  his  wife  and  his  children.

Then said  he,  '  I  worship  and  pray  to  my  Lord  Jesus  Christ; unceasingly I  offer  supplications  to  Him,  "Who  had  pity  on  my lowliness  and  brought  me  from  captivity,  and  gave  me  back  my  wife  and  my  children;  verily  I  know  no  other  God,  nor  worship any  save  the  Heavenly  God,  Who  created  all  creatures,  both  the heavenly  and  the  earthly,  and  worketh  many  wonders.'

Then  the    emperor   became    filled  with   great  rage,    and  commanded  men  to  ungird  and  disarm  him,  and  that  he  should  stand up before  his  face    with  his  wife  and  his    children   as   being   a transgressor  of  his  lord's  commands;  and  he,  however,  in  no  wise would turn  from  his  faith  and  the  true  God. When the  emperor saw that  he  could  by  no  means  turn  him  from  Christ's  Faith,  then he commanded  him  to  be  led  with  his  wife  and  his  children  into  a den,  and  bade  a  strong  lioness  to  be  let  in  to  them,  that  she  should devour them. Then ran  the  lioness,  and  stood  by  the  blessed  man Eustace, and  bowed    down    her    head,    and  fell  at  his    feet,  and humbled   herself   to  him,  and  arose  again,   and  went  out  of  the