justify him by declaring that the empress was discovered in the arms of
a slave of the stables,--a most incredible story as told of a
middle-aged empress,--others speak of her as the most divine and pious
of empresses. There is in existence a bronze medallion showing a
portrait of Fausta; the strongly marked Grecian features are those of a
woman who is evidently fully conscious of the dignity which pertained to
"the daughter, wife, sister, and mother of emperors."

After these tragedies had taken place, it is not surprising that Helena
decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, this being considered, even
in times so early, as one of the most effective of moral purgatives. It
is asserted that she was directed by dreams to repair to Jerusalem and
there search for the Holy Sepulchre. The difficulty of this task was so
great that there need be no wonder that the ancient chroniclers believed
that she was divinely led. The place of the tomb had been covered with
earth, and a temple to Venus erected thereupon. This, Helena caused to
be destroyed; and, after much excavating, the sacred cave was found.
What emotion, what pious promptings she must have then felt as she stood
where, a little over three centuries earlier, the trembling feet of the
holy women of Galilee had halted as they fearfully wondered how they
should remove the great stone from the mouth of the Sepulchre, when lo!
the stone was removed, the entrance was open, and before them stood an
angel all in white who announced to them that the Lord had arisen!

Some authorities assert that, believing the Jewish inhabitants possessed
definite knowledge that would solve her difficulties, she determined to
secure it by the means usually employed by Christians in dealing with
reluctant Jews. First, she commanded that all the Jewish rabbis should
be assembled. They came in great fear, suspecting that the object of her
visit was to find the Cross. The whereabouts of this precious relic they
knew; but they had pledged themselves not to reveal it, even under
torture. When they would not satisfactorily answer Helena's questions,
she commanded that they should all be burned. This sufficiently overcame
their resolution to induce them to deliver up Judas, their leader,
saying that he could give the desired information. At first he was
obstinate; but Helena gave him the choice of either telling what he knew
or of being starved to death. Six days of total abstinence was
sufficient