majesty asks us an easy
thing," replied they, "and need not to remind us of our allegiance. That
obscene wretch cannot be our sovereign. You alone are he, whom we have
known from childhood; and we intreat that this fellow may be severely
punished as a warning to others how they give scope to their mad
presumption." Then turning to the empress, the usurper said: "Tell me,
my lady, on the faith you have sworn, do you know this man who calls
himself thy lord and emperor?" She answered: "My lord, how can you ask
such a question? Have I not known thee more than thirty years, and borne
thee many children? Yet, at one thing I do admire. How can this fellow
have acquired so intimate a knowledge of what has passed between us?"

The pretended emperor made no reply, but addressing the real one, said:
"Friend, how darest thou to call thyself emperor? We sentence thee, for
this unexampled impudence, to be drawn, without loss of time, at the
tail of a horse. And if thou utterest the same words again, thou shalt
be doomed to an ignominious death." He then commanded his guards to see
the sentence put in force, but to preserve his life. The unfortunate
emperor was now almost distracted; and urged by his despair, wished
vehemently for death. "Why was I born?" he exclaimed. "My friends shun
me, and my wife and children will not acknowledge me. But there is my
confessor, still. To him will I go; perhaps he will recollect me,
because he has often received my confessions." He went accordingly, and
knocked at the window of his cell. "Who is there?" said the confessor.
"The Emperor Jovinian," was the reply; "open the window and I will speak
to thee." The window was opened; but no sooner had he looked out than he
closed it again in great haste. "Depart from me," said he, "accursed
thing: thou art not the emperor, but the devil incarnate." This completed
the miseries of the persecuted man; and he tore his hair, and plucked up
his beard by the roots. "Woe is me," he cried, "for what strange doom am
I reserved?" At this crisis, the impious words which, in the arrogance
of his heart, he had uttered, crossed his recollection. Immediately he
beat again at the window of the confessor's cell, and exclaimed: "For
the love of Him who was suspended from the cross, hear my confession."
The recluse opened the window, and said, "I will do this with pleasure;"
and then Jovinian acquainted him with every particular of his past life;
and principally how he had