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| Argument.--When the Saints Were Apprehended, St. Perpetua Successfully Resisted Her Father's Pleading, Was Baptized with the Others, Was Thrust into a Filthy Dungeon. Anxious About Her Infant, by a Vision Granted to Her, She Understood that Her Martyrdom Would Take Place Very Shortly.
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Chapter I.—Argument.—When the Saints Were Apprehended,
St. Perpetua Successfully Resisted Her Father’s Pleading, Was
Baptized with the Others, Was Thrust into a Filthy Dungeon. Anxious
About Her Infant, by a Vision Granted to Her, She Understood that Her
Martyrdom Would Take Place Very Shortly.
1. The young catechumens, Revocatus and his
fellow-servant Felicitas, Saturninus and Secundulus, were apprehended.
And among them also was Vivia Perpetua, respectably born, liberally
educated, a married matron, having a father and mother and two
brothers, one of whom, like herself, was a catechumen, and a son an
infant at the breast. She herself was about twenty-two years of age.
From this point onward she shall herself narrate the whole course of
her martyrdom, as she left it described by her own hand and with her
own mind.
2. “While” says she, “we were still
with the persecutors, and my father, for the sake of his affection for
me, was persisting in seeking to turn me away, and to cast me down from
the faith,—‘Father,’ said I, ‘do you see, let
us say, this vessel lying here to be a little pitcher, or something
else?’ And he said, ‘I see it to be so.’ And I
replied to him, ‘Can it be called by any other name than what it
is?’ And he said,
‘No.’ ‘Neither can I call myself anything else than
what I am, a Christian.’ Then my father, provoked at this saying,
threw himself upon me, as if he would tear my eyes out. But he only
distressed me, and went away overcome by the devil’s arguments.
Then, in a few days after I had been without my father, I gave thanks
to the Lord; and his absence became a source of consolation8978
| 8978
“Refrigeravit,” Græce ἀνέπαυσεν,
scil. “requiem dedit.” | to me. In that same interval of a few days
we were baptized, and to me the Spirit prescribed that in the water
of baptism nothing else was to be sought for bodily
endurance.8979
| 8979 i.e. the grace of
martyrdom. | After a few days we
are taken into the dungeon, and I was very much afraid, because I had
never felt such darkness. O terrible day! O the fierce heat of the
shock of the soldiery, because of the crowds! I was very unusually
distressed by my anxiety for my infant. There were present there
Tertius and Pomponius, the blessed deacons who ministered to us, and
had arranged by means of a gratuity that we might be refreshed by being
sent out for a few hours into a pleasanter part of the prison. Then
going out of the dungeon, all attended to their own wants.8980
I suckled my child, which was now enfeebled
with hunger. In my anxiety for it, I addressed my mother and comforted
my brother, and commended to their care my son. I was languishing
because I had seen them languishing on my account. Such
solicitude I suffered for many days, and I obtained for my infant to
remain in the dungeon with me; and forthwith I grew strong and was
relieved from distress and anxiety about my infant; and the dungeon
became to me as it were a palace, so that I preferred being there to
being elsewhere.
3. “Then my brother said to me, ‘My
dear sister, you are already in a position of great dignity, and are
such that you may ask for a vision, and that it may be made known to
you whether this is to result in a passion or an
escape.’8981
And I, who knew
that I was privileged to converse with the Lord, whose kindnesses I had
found to be so great, boldly promised him, and said, ‘To-morrow I
will tell you.’ And I asked, and this was what was shown me. I
saw a golden ladder of marvellous height, reaching up even to heaven,
and very narrow, so that persons could only ascend it one by one; and
on the sides of the ladder was fixed every kind of iron weapon. There
were there swords, lances, hooks, daggers; so that if any one went up
carelessly, or not looking upwards, he would be torn to pieces and his
flesh would cleave to the iron weapons. And under the ladder itself was
crouching a dragon of wonderful size, who lay in wait for those who
ascended, and frightened them from the ascent. And Saturus went up
first, who had subsequently delivered himself up freely on our account,
not having been present at the time that we were taken prisoners. And
he attained the top of the ladder, and turned towards me, and said to
me, ‘Perpetua, I am waiting for8982
| 8982
“Sustineo,” Græce ὑπομένω, scil.
“exspecto.” |
you; but be careful that the dragon do not bite you.’ And I said,
‘In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall not hurt
me.’ And from under the ladder itself, as if in fear of me, he
slowly lifted up his head; and as I trod upon the first step, I trod
upon his head. And I went up, and I saw an immense extent of garden,
and in the midst of the garden a white-haired man sitting in the dress
of a shepherd,8983
| 8983 This was an ordinary
mode of picturing our Lord in the oratories and on the sacred vessels
of those days. [This passage will recall the allegory of Hermas, with
which the martyr was doubtless familiar.] | of a large stature,
milking sheep; and standing around were many thousand white-robed ones.
And he raised his head, and looked upon me, and said to me, ‘Thou
art welcome, daughter.’ And he called me, and from the cheese as
he was milking he gave me as it were a little cake, and I received it
with folded hands; and I ate it, and all who stood around said Amen.
And at the sound of their voices I was awakened, still tasting a
sweetness which I cannot describe. And I immediately related this to my
brother, and we understood that it was to be a passion, and we ceased
henceforth to have any hope in this world.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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