ould I not do it?" She stopped; then
she went right on to the altar; she took the incense: suddenly she looked
up to heaven and started, and threw it away. "I cannot! I dare not!" she
cried out. There was a great sensation in court. "Evidently insane," said
some of the more merciful of the Decurions; "poor thing, poor thing!" Her
brother ran up to her; talked to her, conjured her, fell down on his knees
to her; took her hand violently, and would have forced her to offer. In
vain; all he could get from her was, "I am not a Christian; indeed, I am
not a Christian. I have nothing to do with them. O the misery!"

"She is mad!" cried Aristo; "my lord judges, listen to me. She was seized
by brutal ruffians during the riot, and the fright and shock have overcome
her. Give her time, oh! give her time, and she will get right. She's a
good religious girl; she has done more work for the temples than any girl
in Sicca; half the statues in the city are her finishing. Many of you, my
lords, have her handiwork. She works with me. Do not add to my anguish in
seeing her deranged, by punishing her as a criminal, a Christian: do not
take her from me. Sentence her, and you end the whole matter; give her a
chance, and she will certainly be restored to the gods and to me. Will you
put her to death because she is mad?"

What was to be done? The court was obsequious to the Proconsul, afraid of
Rome; jealous that the mob should have been more forward than the
magistracy. Had the city moved sooner, as soon as the edict came, there
would have been no rising, no riot. Already they had been called on for a
report about that riot and an explanation; if ever they had need to look
sharp what they were doing, it was now. On the other hand, Callista and
her brother had friends among the judges, as we have said, and their plea
was at once obvious and reasonable. "If she persists, she persists, and
nothing can be said; we don't wish to be disloyal, or careless of the
emperor's commands. If she is obstinate, she must die; but she dies quite
as usefully to us, with quite as much effect, a month hence as now. Not
that we ask you to define a time on your own authority; simply do this,
write to Carthage for advice. The government can answer within an hour, if
it chooses. Merely say, 'Here is a young woman, who has ever been
religious and well conducted, of great accomplishments, and known
especially for her taste and skill in religious art, who since the day of