ous and level plain near the city, which was already filled with
great numbers of spectators. His faithful presbyters and deacons were
permitted to accompany their holy bishop. * They assisted him in
laying aside his upper garment, spread linen on the ground to catch
the precious relics of his blood, and received his orders to bestow
five-and-twenty pieces of gold on the executioner. The martyr then
covered his face with his hands, and at one blow his head was separated
from his body. His corpse remained during some hours exposed to
the curiosity of the Gentiles: but in the night it was removed, and
transported in a triumphal procession, and with a splendid illumination,
to the burial-place of the Christians. The funeral of Cyprian was
publicly celebrated without receiving any interruption from the Roman
magistrates; and those among the faithful, who had performed the last
offices to his person and his memory, were secure from the danger of
inquiry or of punishment. It is remarkable, that of so great a multitude
of bishops in the province of Africa, Cyprian was the first who was
esteemed worthy to obtain the crown of martyrdom.

It was in the choice of Cyprian, either to die a martyr, or to live an
apostate; but on the choice depended the alternative of honor or infamy.
Could we suppose that the bishop of Carthage had employed the profession
of the Christian faith only as the instrument of his avarice or
ambition, it was still incumbent on him to support the character he had
assumed; and if he possessed the smallest degree of manly fortitude,
rather to expose himself to the most cruel tortures, than by a single
act to exchange the reputation of a whole life, for the abhorrence of
his Christian brethren, and the contempt of the Gentile world. But if
the zeal of Cyprian was supported by the sincere conviction of the truth
of those doctrines which he preached, the crown of martyrdom must have
appeared to him as an object of desire rather than of terror. It is
not easy to extract any distinct ideas from the vague though eloquent
declamations of the Fathers, or to ascertain the degree of immortal
glory and happiness which they confidently promised to those who were
so fortunate as to shed their blood in the cause of religion. They
inculcated with becoming diligence, that the fire of martyrdom supplied
every defect and expiated every sin; that while the souls of ordinary
Christians were obliged to pass through a slow and painf