Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/199

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 181 draw himself, by a secret flight, from the clanger and CHAP, the honour of martyrdom: but soon recovering that ^ ^^ ' fortitude which his character required, he returned to his gardens, and patiently expected the ministers of death. Two officers of rank, who were intrusted with that commission, placed Cyprian between them in a chariot; and as the proconsul was not then at leisure, they conducted him, not to a prison, but to a private house in Carthage, which belonged to one of them. An elegant supper was provided for the entertainment of the bishop; and his christian friends were perinitted for the last time to enjoy his society, whilst the streets were filled with a multitude of the faithful, anxious and alarmed at the approaching fate of their spiritual fa- ther"". In the morning he appeared before the tribunal of the proconsul ; who, after informing himself of the name and situation of Cyprian, commanded him to offer sacrifice, and pressed him to reflect on the conse- quences of his disobedience. The refusal of Cyprian was firm and decisive ; and the magistrate, when he had taken the opinion of his council, pronounced with some reluctance the sentence of death. It was con- ceived in the following terms : " That Thascius Cy- prianus should be immediately beheaded, as the enemy of the gods of Rome, and as the chief and ringleader of a criminal association, which he had seduced into an impious resistance against the laws of the most holy emperors, Valerian and Gallienus^" The manner of his execution was the mildest and least painful that could be inflicted on a person convicted of any capital offence : nor was the use of torture admitted to obtain from the bishop of Carthage either the recantation of his principles, or the discovery of his accomplices. As soon as the sentence was ])roclaimed, a general His martyr- tloiii. ■■ Pontius (c. 15.) acknowledges that Cyprian, with wliom he supped, passed the night custodia delicata. 1'lie bisliop exercised a last and very proper act of jurisdiction, by directing that the younger females, who watched in the street, should be removed from the dangers and temptations of a nocturnal crowd. Act. Proconsularia, c. 2. The latter expresses it in a more rhetorical manner.
 * See the original sentence in the Acts, c. 4. and in Pontius, c. 17.