THE CHRISTIAN MEN AND WOMEN. (_as they part_) Be steadfast, brother. Farewell. Hold up the faith, brother. Farewell. Go to glory, dearest. Farewell. Remember: we are praying for you. Farewell. Be strong, brother. Farewell. Don’t forget that the divine love and our love surround you. Farewell. Nothing can hurt you: remember that, brother. Farewell. Eternal glory, dearest. Farewell. THE EDITOR. (_out of patience_) Shove them in, there. _The remaining gladiators and the Call Boy make a movement towards them._ FERROVIUS. (_interposing_) Touch them, dogs; and we die here, and cheat the heathen of their spectacle. (_To his fellow Christians_) Brothers: the great moment has come. That passage is your hill to Calvary. Mount it bravely, but meekly; and remember! not a word of reproach, not a blow nor a struggle. Go. (_They go out through the passage. He turns to Lavinia_) Farewell. LAVINIA. You forget: I must follow before you are cold. FERROVIUS. It is true. Do not envy me because I pass before you to glory. (_He goes through the passage_). THE EDITOR. (_to the Call Boy_) Sickening work, this. Why can’t they all be thrown to the lions? It’s not a man’s job. (_He throws himself moodily into his chair_). _The remaining gladiators go back to their former places indifferently. The Call Boy shrugs his shoulders and squats down at the entrance to the passage, near the Editor._ _Lavinia and the Christian women sit down again, wrung with grief, some weeping silently, some praying, some calm and steadfast. Androcles sits down at Lavinia’s feet. The Captain stands on the stairs, watching her curiously._ ANDROCLES. I’m glad I haven’t to fight. That would really be an awful martyrdom. I am lucky. LAVINIA. (_looking at him with a pang of remorse_). Androcles: burn the incense: you’ll be forgiven. Let my death atone for both. I feel as if I were killing you. ANDROCLES. Don’t think of me, sister. Think of yourself. That will keep your heart up. _The Captain laughs sardonically._ LAVINIA. (_startled: she had forgotten his presence_) Are you there, handsome Captain? Have you come to see me die? THE CAPTAIN. (_coming to her side_) I am on duty with the Emperor, Lavinia. LAVINIA. Is it part of your duty to laugh at us? THE CAPTAIN. No: that is part of my private pleasure. Your friend here is a humorist. I laughed at his telling you to think of yourself to keep up your heart. I say, think of yourself and burn the incense. LAVINIA. He is not a humorist: he was right. You ought to know that, Captain: you have been face to face with death. THE CAPTAIN. Not with certain death, Lavinia. Only death in battle, which spares more men than death in bed. What you are facing is certain death. You have nothing left now but your faith in this craze of yours: this Christianity. Are your Christian fairy stories any truer than our stories about Jupiter and Diana, in which, I may tell you, I believe no more than the Emperor does, or any educated man in Rome?