The most tolerable portion of the jail consisted of the outer court, with its cells, and a hall for shelter in cold and wet weather. This was in fact the common _atrium_ on an enlarged scale and without its luxuries. But there was another part of the prison entitled the _robur_, after the Tullian prison at Rome. This consisted of one large vaulted chamber devoid of window, accessible only by the door, through the interstices of which alone light and air could enter. It derived its name from oak beams planted against the walls, to which were attached chains, by means of which prisoners were fastened to them. In the center of the floor was a round hole, with or without a low breastwork, and this hole communicated with an abyss sometimes given the Greek name of _barathrum_, with conical dome, the opening being in the center. This pit was deep in mire. Into it flowed the sewage of the prison, and the outfall was secured by a grating.(7) The title of _barathrum_ sometimes accorded to this lower portion of the dungeon was derived from a swamp near Athens, in which certain malefactors were smothered. When Jeremiah was accused before King Zedekiah of inciting the people to come to terms with the Chaldeans, he was put into such a place as this. “Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah, that was in the court of the prison, and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.” When Paul and Silas were at Philippi, they were imprisoned in the superior portion of the _robur_, where were the stocks, whereas the other prisoners were in the outer portion, that was more comfortable, and where they had some freedom of movement. Baudillas turned gray with horror at the thought of being consigned to the awful abyss. His courage failed him and he lost power in his knees, so that he was unable to sustain himself, and the jailer’s assistants were constrained to carry him. As he was conveyed through the outer court, those who were awaiting their trial crowded around him, to clasp and kiss his hand, to encourage him to play the man for Christ, and to salute him reverently as a martyr. “I am no martyr, good brethren,” said the deacon in a feeble voice. “I am not called to suffer for the faith, I have not been asked to sacrifice; I am to be thrown down into the pit, because I cannot reveal what I do not know.” One man, turning to his fellow, said, in a low tone: “If I were given my choice, I would die by fire rather than linger in the pit.” “Will he die there of starvation?” asked another, “or will he smother in the mire?” “If he be sentenced to be retained there till he tells what he does not know, he must die there, it matters not how.” “God deliver me from such a trial of my faith! I might win the crown through the sword, but a passage to everlasting life through that foul abyss—that would be past endurance.”