PERPETUA A TALE OF NIMES IN A.D. 213 BY THE REV. S. BARING‐GOULD, M.A. NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 31 WEST TWENTY‐THIRD STREET 1897 COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. EST 1 II. ÆMILIUS 14 III. BAUDILLAS, THE DEACON 22 IV. THE UTRICULARES 33 V. THE LAGOONS 45 VI. THE PASSAGE INTO LIFE 57 VII. OBLATIONS 68 VIII. THE VOICE AT MIDNIGHT 81 IX. STARS IN WATER 93 X. LOCUTUS EST! 105 XI. PALANQUINS 117 XII. REUS 128 XIII. AD FINES 140 XIV. TO THE LOWEST DEPTH 152 XV. “REVEALED UNTO BABES” 165 XVI. DOUBTS AND DIFFICULTIES 177 XVII. PEDO 189 XVIII. IN THE CITRON‐HOUSE 204 XIX. MARCIANUS 218 XX. IN THE BASILICA 230 XXI. A MANUMISSION 242 XXII. THE ARENA 256 XXIII. THE CLOUD‐BREAK 270 XXIV. CREDO 287 PERPETUA A TALE OF NÎMES IN A.D. 213 CHAPTER I EST The Kalends (first) of March. A brilliant day in the town of Nemausus—the modern Nîmes—in the Province of Gallia Narbonensis, that arrogated to itself the title of being _the_ province, a title that has continued in use to the present day, as distinguishing the olive‐growing, rose‐producing, ruin‐strewn portion of Southern France, whose fringe is kissed by the blue Mediterranean. Not a cloud in the nemophyla‐blue sky. The sun streamed down, with a heat that was unabsorbed, and with rays unshorn by any intervenient vapor, as in our northern clime. Yet a cool air from the distant snowy Alps touched, as with the kiss of a vestal, every heated brow, and refreshed it. The Alps, though invisible from Nemausus, make themselves felt, now in refreshing breezes, then as raging icy blasts. The anemones were in bloom, and the roses were budding. Tulips spangled the vineyards, and under the olives and in the most arid soil, there appeared the grape hyacinth and the star of Bethlehem.