n the time of Trajan, had been held by a
Roman garrison for the protection of the blooming city of the desert
against the incursions of the marauding Saracens and Blemmyes.

But the citizens of Pharan themselves had taken measures for the
security of their property. On the topmost cliffs of the jagged crown
of the giant mountain--the most favorable spots for a look-out far and
wide--they placed sentinels, who day and night scanned the distance, so
as to give a warning-signal in case of approaching clanger. Each house
resembled a citadel, for it was built of strong masonry, and the younger
men were all well exercised bowmen. The more distinguished families
dwelt near the church-hill, and there too stood the houses of the Bishop
Agapitus, and of the city councillors of Pharan.

Among these the Senator Petrus enjoyed the greatest respect, partly
by reason of his solid abilities, and of his possessions in quarries,
garden-ground, date palms, and cattle; partly in consequence of the rare
qualities of his wife, the deaconess Dorothea, the granddaughter of the
long-deceased and venerable Bishop Chaeremon, who had fled hither with
his wife during the persecution of the Christians under Decius, and who
had converted many of the Pharanites to the knowledge of the Redeemer.

The house of Petrus was of strong and well-joined stone, and the palm
garden adjoining was carefully tended. Twenty slaves, many camels, and
even two horses belonged to him, and the centurion in command of the
Imperial garrison, the Gaul Phoebicius, and his wife Sirona, lived as
lodgers under his roof; not quite to the satisfaction of the councillor,
for the centurion was no Christian, but a worshipper of Mithras, in
whose mysteries the wild Gaul had risen to the grade of a 'Lion,' whence
his people, and with them the Pharanites in general, were wont to speak
of him as "the Lion."

His predecessor had been an officer of much lower rank but a believing
Christian, whom Petrus had himself requested to live in his house, and
when, about a year since, the Lion Phoebicius had taken the place of the
pious Pankratius, the senator could not refuse him the quarters, which
had become a right.

Hermas went shyly and timidly towards the court of Petrus' house, and
his embarrassment increased when he found himself in the hall of the
stately stone-house, which he had entered without let or hindrance, and
did not know which way to turn. There was no one there to direct hi