To that great city Pathema and her fellow prisoners were finally transported, and there they were imprisoned. Among the poor and sick and dying of Patara and its neighbourhood, was no one more missed and mourned than the compassionate maiden who languished and wept in a far away Roman prison--wept, not so much for her own wrongs, as for the griefs and pains of others. "O Lord, I cry to Thee-- Unending night, a mournful robe, Enwraps my form, and veils my sight From flower, and stream, and all I love-- My bondage break, O God! "If I no more behold My Crito, Lord, on him look down With watchful eye, and send Thy light, Restore his strength, and make him Thine; Regard my love for him. "Biona's tender care Provide for, Lord, and guard from ill; The father's wound, in pity heal. Remember all the desolate For whom I weep and pray. "My parents, Lord, uphold; Their grief assuage; Thy Spirit send And teach of Him who suffered more Than mortal man, to ransom me From death--the Christ, my strength. "Yet, Lord, how hard to die So soon. Oh! to behold the sun, To breathe the air, to clasp the flowers, Embrace my 'loved, now loved tenfold; But, Lord, Thy will be done!" CHAPTER IV. THE AMPHITHEATRE. The Colosseum or amphitheatre in Rome was a gigantic, costly building, oval in shape, 100 feet in height, 1900 feet in circumference, and capable of seating 100,000 spectators--a huge egg laid by Imperial power and demoniac love of pleasure. Its external wall rose up in three rows of columns, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, forming 80 arcades or arches in each row, and was capped by a solid wall with Corinthian pilasters and small square windows. There was no roof, shelter from sun or rain being given by a movable awning called the _velarium_. The higher arcades were adorned with statues and chariots, and admitted light and air. Four of the basement arches at the extremities were the entrances for the great, while the remaining seventy-six were for the common people. Rising from the top of a low wall or balcony that stood on the ground many feet inward, was the _gradus_ or slope of seats, which extended half-way up the high surrounding shell. The highest seats were a colonnade or portico reserved for women. On the slope under the portico, were the three _maeniana_ or galleries, separated by walls and by landing places for the many staircases. The uppermost gallery, with benches of wood, was for the _pullati_ or common people; the next below, for the _popularia_; and the farthest down, of stone or marble and cushioned, for members of the equestrian order. Below this was the inner wall or balcony (referred to above), called the _podium_, the place of honour, on which sat the Emperor and his family, senators, chief magistrates, vestal virgins, and distinguished visitors. The Emperor occupied a pavilion, named the _suggestus_, while the others