Antioch is said to have been the birthplace of St. Margaret,—of which
there are many legends, to one of which we allude. It brings to mind
some early views of Christianity; besides, at her time, a large portion
of the population of Antioch were slaves, and are alluded to in the
legend.
She was the daughter of the priest of Apollo, and was herself a
priestess to the same god. She is said to have lived in the time and
under the authority of the Præfect Olybius, who became devoted to her
mental and personal accomplishments and very great beauty. He is said to
have sought her in marriage, and, after great labour and exertion, to
have brought about such a state of affairs as to insure her approval and
consent. But, although thus the affianced bride of Olybius, by some
means she had held intercommunion with the private teachers of
Christianity, and was converted to its faith; a fact known only to her
and them.
Upon such a state of things, arrives from Probus, Rome’s imperial lord,
Vopiscus, charged to admonish the præfect how fame bore tidings of the
frequent apostasy from the true religion of the gods, and the increase
of the unholy faith of the Galileans at Antioch; and that the laws were
made to be executed upon the godless, whose wicked and incestuous rites
offend the thousand deities of Rome.
Olybius well knows that the least faltering on his part would probably
be followed by his being shown the mandate for Vopiscus to supersede him
in the government; for which he determines to not give him the least
pretence: hence he orders the immediate arrest of all suspected;
convenes his council in the halls of justice, and announces thus his
views:
“Hear me, ye priests on earth, ye gods in heaven!
By Vesta, and her virgin-guarded fires;
By Mars, the sire and guardian god of Rome;
By Antioch’s bright Apollo; by the throne
Of him whose thunder shakes the vaulted skies;
And that dread oath I add, that binds the immortals,
The unblessed waters of Tartarean Styx;
Last, by the avenger of despised vows,
The inevitable, serpent-haired Eumenides,
Olybius swears, thus mounting on the throne
Of justice, to exhaust heaven’s wrath on all
That have cast off their fathers’ gods for rites
New and unholy. From my heart, I blot
Partial affection and the love of kindred;
Even if my father’s blood flowed in their veins,
I would obey the emperor and the gods!”