“The enchantress Margarita, by her death,
Hath wrought upon the changeful populace.
That they cry loudly on the Christian’s God:
Emboldened multitudes, from every quarter,
Throng forth, and in the face of day proclaim
Their lawless faith. They have taken up the body,
And hither, as in proud ovation, bear it,
With clamour and with song. All Antioch crowds
Applauding round them.”
We are favoured only with the song of the slaves, who, upon that
holiday, intermingled in the throng about the palace of Olybius, to
which the body of Margarita has been borne; by which we may perceive how
Christianity has elevated them above thoughts of their condition: