Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/45



30. And when it was dawn Alexander came to her, for it was he who arranged the exhibition of wild beasts—and said, "The proconsul has taken his seat, and the crowd is clamoring; get ready, I will take her that is to fight with the wild beasts." And Tryphsena cried aloud, so that he even fled, saying; " A second mourning for my Falconilla has come upon my house, and there is no one to help; neither child, for she is dead, nor kinsman, for I am a widow. God of Thecla, my child, help Thecla."

31. And the proconsul sent soldiers to bring Thecla. Tryphsena departed not from her, but took her by the hand and led her away, saying, "My daughter Falconilla I took away to the tomb; but thee, Thecla, I take to the wild-beast fight." And Thecla wept bitterly, and sighed to the Lord, "O Lord God, in whom I trust, to whom I have fled for refuge, who didst deliver me from the fire, reward Tryphsena, who has had compassion on thy servant, and because she kept me pure."

32. And there arose a tumult: the wild beasts howled, the people and the women, sitting near by crying, the one saying, " Away with the sacrilegious person!" The others saying, "O that the city would be destroyed on account of this iniquity! Kill us all, proconsul; miserable spectacle, awful judgment!"

33. And Thecla having been taken from the hands of Tryphaena, was stripped, and received an apron and was thrown into the arena. And lions