"But it is not known to every one--and it appears, unfortunately for him, to have escaped the notice of the Bishop--that these parchments, on the lower edge to the left, are always marked with the stamp of the year of their manufacture, by the names of the then consuls, in, certainly, almost invisible characters. Now pay attention, general. The document pretends, as it says in the text, to have been prepared in the sixteenth year of the reign of Constantinus, the same year that he closed the heathen temples, as the pious document observes, and a year after the naming of Constantinopolis as the capital city; and it rightly names the right consuls of that year, Dalmatius and Xenophilos. Now it can only be explained by a miracle--but in this case it would be a miracle _against_ the Church--that, in that year, therefore in the year three hundred and thirty-five after the birth of Christ, it was already known who would be consul in the year after the death of Emperor Justinus and King Theodoric; for look, here on the lower edge the stamp says--the writer had not noticed it--it is really very difficult to make out, unless one holds the parchment against the lights so--do you see, Belisarius?--and had blindly painted the cross upon it; but I, with my--what did he call it?--sacrilegious, but clever, hand have wiped it off; do you see? there stand stamped the words, 'VI. Indiction: Justinianus Augustus, sole consul in the first year of his reign.'" Silverius staggered, and was obliged to support himself by the chair which had been placed for him. "The parchment of the document," continued Cethegus, "upon which the protonotary of Emperor Constantinus had written down the act of donation two hundred years ago, has therefore been taken from the ribs of an ass only a year ago at Byzantium! Confess, O general, that the reign of the conceivable ends here and the supernatural begins; that here a miracle has happened; and revere the mysterious ways of Heaven." He gave the document to Belisarius. "This is also a famous piece of history, holy and profane, which we are now experiencing," said Procopius aside. "It is so, by the slumber of Justinian!" cried Belisarius. "Bishop of Rome, what have you to say?" Silverius had with difficulty composed himself. He saw the edifice which he had been constructing his whole life, sink into the ground before him. With a voice half choked by despair, he answered: "I found the document in the archives of the Church a few months ago. If it is as you say, I have been deceived as well as you." "But we are not deceived," said Cethegus, smiling. "I knew nothing of that stamp, I swear it by the wounds of Christ!" "I believe it without an oath. Holy Father," interposed Cethegus. "You will acknowledge, priest," said Belisarius, "that the strictest examination into this affair----" "I demand it as my right," cried Silverius.