r die than live, and what reward shall ye have
therefor? Then Paul preached to them of the kingdom of heaven and of the
pain of hell, in such wise that he converted them to the faith, and they
prayed him to go freely whither he would. God forbid, brethren, said he,
that I should flee, I am not fugitive, but the lawful knight of Christ.
I know well that from this transitory life I shall go to everlasting
life. As soon as I shall be beheaded, true men shall take away my body;
mark ye well the place, and come thither to-morrow, and ye shall find by
my sepulchre two men, Luke and Titus, praying. To whom when ye shall
tell for what cause I have sent you to them, they shall baptize you and
make you heirs of the kingdom of heaven.

And whiles they thus spake together, Nero sent two knights to look if he
were slain and beheaded or no, and when thus St. Paul would have
converted them, they said: When thou art dead and risest again, then we
shall believe, now come forth and receive that thou hast deserved. And
as he was led to the place of his passion in the gate of Hostence, a
noble woman named Plautilla, a disciple of Paul, who after another name
was called Lemobia, for haply she had two names, met there with Paul,
which weeping, commended her to his prayers. To whom Paul said:
Farewell, Plautilla, daughter of everlasting health, lend to me thy veil
or keverchief with which thou coverest thy head, that I may bind mine
eyes therewith, and afterward I shall restore it to thee again. And when
she had delivered it to him, the butchers scorned her, saying: Why hast
thou delivered to this enchanter so precious a cloth for to lose it?
Then, when he came to the place of his passion, he turned him toward the
east, holding his hands up to heaven right long, with tears praying in
his own language and thanking our Lord; and after that bade his brethren
farewell, and bound his eyes himself with the keverchief of Plautilla,
and kneeling down on both knees, stretched forth his neck, and so was
beheaded. And as soon as the head was from the body, it said: Jesus
Christus! which had been to him so sweet in his life. It is said that he
named Jesus or Christus, or both, fifty times. From his wound sprang out
milk into the clothes of the knight, and afterward flowed out blood. In
the air was a great shining light, and from the body came a much sweet
odor.

Dionysius, in an epistle to Timothy, saith of the death of Paul thus: In
that hour full of h