the emperor, and, being much affrighted, answered him, " We pray thee, dear lord, that thou wilt hear our words; we never neglected anywhere thy kingly commands, neither despised we ever the worthy gods; why wilt thou, lord, punish us for the sake of other men who contemned thy command and spent our treasures all over the earth? Here they are full near at hand, yonder on the Celian Hill, hidden in anxiety and fear, neither know we concerning them, whether they be there living or there lying dead.' When they had thus fearfully excused themselves, then the emperor bade them go whithersoever they would ; and they, fain of life, quickly departed thence from him ; and the emperor again straightway thought and considered what he could do to the Saints, or however he should act concerning them ; and since he desired not to harm them, because it was so ordained to come to pass, God Almighty granted him this, though he was not worthy that God should visit him. Nevertheless, for the merit of His Saints, He sent this thought into his mind, that he bade the entrance of the cave, within which they lay, to be all blocked up with hewn stones, because God willed that they should rest there quietly, and sleep untouched in the cave, until the quickly completed time when He would again manifest them to mankind, by His great glory, for a great need; and then he, Decius, so took counsel, that he then determined and made known his intention, and proclaimed everywhere: " Let them go very quickly thither yonder to the cave wherein the apostates slumber hidden, and block them up therein all alive with hewn stones on every side, that they shall never any longer see the sun-beams, nor have mirth with us henceforth, since they would not observe our command; but let them be there, in misery, closed up on either hand until death altogether swallow them up."
So he, the emperor, purposed in his mind, and all the citizens with him, that they, the Saints, should thus be closed up in the cave alive.
Then it happened that there went among them twain of the emperor's favorites. They were very dear to him, nevertheless they were both secretly Christians ; the one was named Theodore, and the other Rufinus. Then they spake between themselves so
