The sun which had been shining with cloudless brilliancy throughout the day shed the rich glow of its level beams across the Via Sacra or Appian way. In the clear transparent atmosphere, every monument and every stately statue stood out sharply defined against the sky--a sky of clearest azure, except at the horizon, where lines of violet and rose-coloured clouds, tinged with gold, floated in saffron depths, which were shaded into flaming orange below them, and to the tenderest daffodil as it mingled in opal transparency with the blue canopy above. The grandeur of a Roman sunset must be seen, and cannot be described--no pen or brush can paint it; and as Anna gazed at the glorious pageantry before her, her lips moved as she repeated in a low voice-- “The street of the city is gold, as it were transparent glass. Surely the gates of heaven--the heaven of the Christian’s hope--might well be there.” Her companion Rebekah was not thinking of the sky, nor of the grandeur of that road between the tombs along which they passed. A few horsemen in rich and splendid accoutrements were riding slowly along, and on the broad footway several groups of people were walking, and she was far more interested in them. Presently a cry was heard that the Christians were coming. And then there was a rush of many feet, and two women bound with cords were seen hurried along towards the spot where Anna and her Jewish companion stood. “They have been captured near the Cæmeterium,” a voice said. And then there was a sudden hush and pause; the oncoming crowd stood still, as all eyes were turned in the opposite direction, and a voice cried-- “The Vestal Maxima!” “They are saved then,” exclaimed Rebekah; “all prisoners on their way to execution have a free pardon if they are met by a vestal. And this is the Vestal Maxima.” Anna looked earnestly, as if she could never look away, at the stately figure of Terentia Rufilla and the young disciple at her side, Hyacintha Severa, as she was called. The vestals who were in attendance were all dressed in their long stoles of dazzling whiteness, and they were preceded by a guard of lictors. The child, Hyacintha, had in her hands a large quantity of flowers, which had been gathered from the grounds of one of the spacious palaces where Terentia Rufilla had been paying a visit. So high was the esteem in which the priestess of Vesta was held that the members of the Imperial family could not receive greater homage. Those who were guarding the prisoners halted, and knelt, and Terentia asked, in a clear ringing voice-- “Who are the prisoners, and of what rank?” The chief lictor replied that they were peasant women of no rank or name, and that they were obstinate followers of the false religion.