Page:The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon.djvu/61

 God; of whom Fortunatus, in his poem in praise of virginity, thus speaks:&mdash;


 * "The sainted Alban fruitful Britain bears."

He was a citizen of Verulam, and gave shelter to a priest escaping from the Pagans, and having been converted by him while he lay concealed, offered himself in his stead when the persecutors came to search the house. Having been subjected to torture, Alban was led out to be beheaded. Then the river was dried up, at the prayer of the saint, because the concourse was too great for the people to cross the bridge. When the executioner, among others, witnessed this, he threw himself at his feet, believing, and was martyred with him. A fountain also burst forth at his martyrdom, which was afterwards dried up. Moreover, the eyes of the headsman rolled on the ground with the head of the saint. St. Alban was martyred near Verulam, i.e. Wirlamcester or Wadlingcester, where afterwards a magnificent church, with a noble abbey, were erected; and to this day the sick are cured and miracles wrought. There suffered during the same persecution two citizens of Caerleon, Aaron and Julius, with a multitude of both sexes who bore witness to Almighty God when torn limb from limb, and exposed to unheard-of tortures. So violent was the persecution, that in the course of one month, 17,000 martyrs suffered for Christ's sake. But when Diocletian had laid aside the purple at Nicomedia, and Maximian at Milan, in the twentieth year of their reign, the persecution was abated for a time. Arrius thus writes of Diocletian:

"He was shrewd, but crafty, and of a sagacious, though subtle spirit; disposed, withal, to vent his own ill humours in malice towards other people. Still he was a most industrious and politic prince, though, contrary to the free habits of the Romans, he required them to adore him, whereas his predecessors had only been saluted. He wore jewels on his robes and sandals, and yet with unprecedented self-denial, he abdicated his lofty rank for a private station. There occurred in his case, what had never before been known since the existence of man, that a private individual received divine honours. His coadjutor, Maximian, was a prince of a most criel disposition and a most forbidding aspect."