4 Again a he-lion, who had been
wont to devour men, and which
belonged to Alexander, ran towards
her; but the she-lion encountered
the he-lion, and they killed each
other.

5 Then the women were under
a greater concern, because the
she-lion, which had helped Thecla,
was dead.

6 Afterwards they brought out
many other wild beasts; but Thecla
stood with her hands stretched
towards heaven, and prayed; and
when she had done praying, she
turned about, and saw a pit of
water, and said, Now it is a proper
time for me to be baptized.

7 Accordingly she threw herself
into the water, and said, In thy
name, O my Lord Jesus Christ, I
am this last day baptized. The
women and the people seeing this,
cried out and said, Do not throw
yourself into the water. And the
governor himself cried out, to
think that the fish (sea-calves)
were like to devour so much
beauty.

8 Notwithstanding all this,
Thecla threw herself into the water,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 But the fish (sea-calves) when
they saw the lightning and fire,
were killed, and swam dead upon
the surface of the water, and a
cloud of fire surrounded Thecla;
so that as the beasts could not
come near her, so the people could
not see her nakedness.

10 Yet they turned other wild
beasts upon her; upon which they
made a very mournful outcry; and
some of them scattered spikenard,
others cassia, others amomus (a
sort of spikenard, or the herb of
Jerusalem, or ladies rose), others
ointment; so that the quantity of
ointment was large, in proportion
to the number of people; and upon
this all the beasts lay as though
they had been fast asleep, and did
not touch Thecla.

11 Whereupon Alexander said
to the governor, I have some very
terrible bulls; let us bind her to
them. To which the governor, with
concern, replied, You may do what
you think fit.

12 Then they put a cord round
Thecla's waist, which bound also
her feet, and with it tied her to
the bulls, to whose privy-parts they
applied red-hot irons, that so they
being the more tormented, might
more violently drag Thecla about,
till they had killed her.

13 The bulls accordingly tore
about, making a most hideous noise;
but the flame which was about Thecla,
burnt off the cords which were
fastened to the members of the
bulls, and she stood in the middle
of the stage, as unconcerned as
if she had not been bound.

14 But in the mean time Trifina,
who sat upon one of t