SOLDIERS. We have brought the girls you asked for.
SISINNIUS. Agape, and you, Chionia, take my advice.
AGAPE. And if we do, what then?
SISINNIUS. You will sacrifice to the gods.
AGAPE. We offer a perpetual sacrifice of praise to the true God, the
eternal Father, to His Son, co-eternal, and to the Holy Ghost.
SISINNIUS. I do not speak of that sacrifice. That is prohibited on pain
of the most severe penalties.
AGAPE. You have no power over us, and can never compel us to sacrifice
to demons.
SISINNIUS. Do not be obstinate. Sacrifice to the gods, or by order of
the Emperor Diocletian I must put you to death.
CHIONIA. Your Emperor has ordered you to put us to death, and you must
obey, as we scorn his decree. If you were to spare us out of pity, you
also would die.
SISINNIUS. Come, soldiers! Seize these blasphemers and fling them alive
into the flames.
SOLDIERS. We will build a pyre at once. The fierceness of the fire will
soon put an end to their insolence.
AGAPE. O Lord, we know Thy power! It would not be anything strange or
new if the fire forgot its nature and obeyed Thee. But we are weary of
this world, and we implore Thee to break the bonds that chain our souls,
and to let our bodies be consumed that we may rejoice with Thee in
heaven.
SOLDIERS. O wonderful, most wonderful! Their spirits have left their
bodies, but there is no sign of any hurt. Neither their hair, nor their
garments, much less their bodies, have been touched by the flames!
SISINNIUS. Bring Irena here.
SOLDIERS. There she is.