was opened, prayed Peter to go
thence, and he would not, but at the last he being overcome by their
prayers went away. And when he came to the gate, as, Leo witnesseth,
which is called Sancta Maria ad passus, he met Jesu Christ coming
against him, and Peter said to him: Lord, whither goest thou? And he
said to him: I go to Rome for to be crucified again, and Peter demanded
him: Lord, shalt thou be crucified again? And he said: Yea, and Peter
said then: Lord, I shall return again then for to be crucified with
thee. This said, our Lord ascended into heaven, Peter beholding it,
which wept sore. And when Peter understood that our Lord had said to him
of his passion, he returned, and when he came to his brethren, he told
to them what our Lord had said. And anon he was taken of the ministers
of Nero and was delivered to the provost Agrippa, then was his face as
clear as the sun, as it is said. Then Agrippa said to him: Thou art he
that glorifiest in the people, and in women, that thou departest from
the bed of their husbands. Whom the apostle blamed, and said to him that
he glorified in the cross of the Lord Jesu Christ. Then Peter was
commanded to be crucified as a stranger, and because that Paul was a
citizen of Rome it was commanded that his head should be smitten off.
And of this sentence given against them, St. Dionysius in an epistle to
Timothy saith in this wise: O my brother Timothy, if thou hadst seen the
agonies of the end of them thou shouldst have failed for heaviness and
sorrow. Who should not weep that hour when the commandment of the
sentence was given against them, that Peter should be crucified and Paul
be beheaded? Thou shouldst then have seen the turbes of the Jews and of
the paynims that smote them and spit in their visages. And when the
horrible time came of their end that they were departed that one from
that other, they bound the pillars of the world, but that was not
without wailing and weeping of the brethren. Then said St. Paul to St.
Peter: Peace be with thee that are foundement of the church and pastor
of the sheep and lambs of our Lord. Peter then said to Paul: Go thou in
peace, preacher of good manners, mediator, leader, and solace of
rightful people. And when they were withdrawn far from other I followed
my master. They were not both slain in one street. This saith St.
Dionysius, and as Leo the pope and Marcel witness, when Peter came to
the cross, he said: When my Lord descended from heaven to t