which it was
safest for him to pursue. He must move, but he must wait till dusk, when
the ways were clear, and the light uncertain. Till then he must keep close
in-doors. There was a remarkable cavern in the mountains above Sicca,
which had been used as a place of refuge for Christians from the very time
they had first suffered persecution in Roman Africa. No spot in its whole
territory seemed more fit for what is called a base of operations, from
which the soldiers of the Cross might advance, or to which they might
retire, according as the fury of their enemy grew or diminished. While it
was in the midst of a wilderness difficult of access, and feared as the
resort of ghosts and evil influences, it was not far from a city near to
which the high roads met from Hippo and from Carthage. A branch of the
Bagradas, navigable for boats, opened a way from it through the woods,
where flight and concealment were easy on a surprise, as far as Madaura,
Vacca, and other places; at the same time it commanded the vast plain on
the south which extended to the roots of the Atlas. Just now, the
persecution growing, many deacons, other ecclesiastics, and prominent
laymen from all parts of the country had fallen back upon this cavern or
grotto; and in no place could Caecilius have better means than here of
learning the general state of affairs, and of communicating with countries
beyond the seas. He was indeed on his way thither, when the illness of
Agellius made it a duty for him to stop and restore him, and attend to his
spiritual needs; and he had received an inward intimation, on which he
implicitly relied, to do so.

The problem at this moment was how to reach the refuge in question. His
direct road lay through Sicca; this being impracticable at present, he had
to descend into the ravine which lay between him and the city, and,
turning to the left, to traverse the broad plain, the Campus Martius of
Sicca, into which it opened. Here the mountain would rise abruptly on his
right with those steep cliffs which we have already described as rounding
the north side of Sicca. He must traverse many miles before he could reach
the point at which the rock lost its precipitous character, and changed
into a declivity allowing the traveller to ascend. It was a bold
undertaking; for all this he had to accomplish in the dark before the
morning broke, a stranger too to the locality, and directing his movements
only by the information of others, which,