THE MARTYRDOM.
Callista had sighed for the bright and clear atmosphere of Greece, and she
was thrown into the Robur and plunged into the Barathrum of Sicca. But in
reality, though she called it Greece, she was panting after a better
country and a more lasting home, and this country and home she had found.
She was now setting out for it.
It was, indeed, no slight marvel that she was not already there. She had
been lowered into that pit of death before noon on the day of her second
examination, and, excepting some unwholesome bread and water, according to
the custom of the prison, had had no food since she came into the custody
of the _commentariensis_ the day before. The order came from the
magistrates to bring her out earlier in the morning than was intended, or
the prison might have really effected that death which Calphurnius had
purposed to pretend. When the apparitors attempted to raise her, she
neither spoke or moved, nor could well be seen. “Black as Orcus,” said one
of the fellows, “another torch there! I can’t see where she nestles.”
“There she is, like a bundle of clothes,” said another. “Madam gets up
late this morning,” said a third. “She’s used to softer couches,” said a
fourth. “Ha! ha! ’tis a spoiler of beauty, this hole,” said a fifth. “She
is the demon of stubbornness, and must be crushed,” said the jailer; “she
likes it, or she would not choose it.” “The plague take the witch,” said
another; “we shall have better seasons when a few like her are ferreted
out.”
They got her out like a corpse, and put her on the ground outside the
prison. When she still did not move, two of them took her between them on
their shoulders and arms, and began to move forward, the instrument of
torture preceding her. The fresh air of the morning revived her; she soon
sat up. She seemed to drink in life again, and became conscious. “O
beautiful Light!” she whispered, “O lovely Light, my light and my life! O
my Light and my Life, receive me!” Gradually she became fully alive to all
that was going on. She was going to death, and that rather than deny Him
who had bought her by His own death. He had suffered for her, and she was
to suffer for Him. He had been racked on the Cross, she too was to have
her limbs dislocated after His pattern. She scarcely rested on the men’s
shoulders; and they vowed afterwards that they thought she was going to
fly away, vile witch as she was.
“The witch, the witch,” the mob screamed out, for she had now come to the
place of her conflict. “_We’ll_ pay you off for blight and pestilence!
Where’s our bread, where’s the maize and barley, where are the grapes?”
And they uttered fierce yells of execration, and seemed disposed to break
through the line of apparitors, and to tear her to pieces. Yet, after all,
it was not a very hearty uproar, but got up for the occasion. The populace
had spent their force, not to say their lives, in the riot in which she
was apprehended. The priests and priestesses of the temples had sent the
poor wretches and paid them.
The place of execution was on the north-east of the city, outside the
walls, and towards the mountain. It was where slaves were buried, and it
was as hideous as such spots usually were. The neighbourhood was wild,
open to the beasts of prey, who at night used to descend and feast upon
the corpses. As Callista approached to the scene of her suffering, the
expression of her countenance had so altered that a friend would scarce
have known it. There was a tenderness in it and a modesty which never had
been there in that old time. Her cheek had upon it a blush, as when the
rising sun suddenly touches some grey rock or tower yet it was white and
glistening too, so much so that others might have said it was like silver.
Her eyes were larger than they had been, and gazed steadfastly, as if at
what the multitude did not see. Her lips spoke of sweet peace and deep
composure. When at length she came close upon the rabble, who had been
screaming and yelling so fiercely, men, women, and boys suddenly held
their peace. It was first from curiosity, then from amazement, then from
awe. At length a fear smote through them, and a strange pity and
reverence. They almost seemed inclined to worship what stirred them so
much, they knew not how; a new idea had visited those poor ignorant souls.
A few minutes sufficed to put the rack into working order. She was laid
down upon its board in her poor bedimmed tunic, which once flashed so
bright in the sun,—she who had been ever so delicate in her apparel. Her
wrists and ankles were seized, extended, fastened to the moveable blocks
at the extremities of the plank. She spoke her last word, “For Thee, my
Lord and Love, for Thee!... Accept me, O my Love, upon this bed of pain!
And come to me, O my Love, make haste and come!” The men turned round the
wheels rapidly to and fro; the joints were drawn out of their sockets, and
then snapped in again. She had fainted. They waited for her coming-to;
they still waited; they got impatient.
“Dash some water on her,” said one. “Spit in her face, and it will do,”
said a second. “Prick her with your spike,” said a third. “Hold your wild
talk,” said a fourth; “she’s gone to the shades.” They gathered round, and
looked at her attentively. They could not bring her back. So it was: she
had gone to her Lord and her Love.
“Lay her out for the wolves and vultures,” said the _cornicularius_, and
he was going to appoint guards till nightfall, when up came the
_stationarii_ and Calphurnius in high wrath.
“You dogs!” he cried, “what trick have you been practising against the
soldiers of Rome?” However, expostulation and reproach were bootless; nor
would it answer here to go into the quarrel which ensued over the dead
body. The magistrates, having got scent of Calphurnius’s scheme, had
outwitted the tribune by assigning an earlier hour than was usual for the
execution. Life could not be recalled; nor did the soldiers of course dare
publicly to disobey the Proconsul’s order for the exposure of the corpse.
All that could be done, they did. They took her down with rude reverence
from the rack, and placed her on the sand; and then they set guards to
keep off the rabble, and to avail themselves of any opportunity which
might occur to show consideration towards her.