a.

"Bring me a cinerary urn," said he, and he walked forward to the dying
embers. A few fragments of crumbled bone, pulverized by the violence of
the flames, were all that remained of Marcellus.

Silently Lucullus took the urn which the keeper brought him, and
collecting what human fragments he could find, he carried away the dust.

As he was leaving he was accosted by an old man. He stopped mechanically.

"What do you wish of me?" said he courteously. "I am Honorius, an elder
among the Christians. A dear friend of mine was put to death this day in
this place. I have come to see if I could obtain his ashes."

"It is well that you have addressed yourself to me, venerable man," said
Lucullus. "Had you proclaimed your name to others you would have been
seized, for there is a price on your head. But I cannot grant your
request. Marcellus is dead, and his ashes are here in this urn. They
will be deposited in the tomb of my family with the highest ceremonies,
for he was my dearest friend, and his loss makes the earth a blank to me
and life a burden."

"You, then," said Honorius, "can be no other than Lucullus, of whom I
have so often heard him speak in words of affection?"

"I am he. Never were there two friends more faithful than we. If it had
been possible I would have saved him. He would never have been arrested
had he not thrown himself into the hands of the law. O hard fate! At a
time when I had made arrangements that he should never be arrested, he
came before the emperor himself, and I was compelled with my own hands
to lead him whom I loved to prison and to death."

"What is your loss is to him immeasurable gain. He has entered into the
possession of immortal happiness."

"His death was a triumph," said Lucullus. "The death of Christians I
have noticed before, but never before have I been so struck by their
hope and confidence. Marcellus died as though death were an unspeakable
blessing."

"It was so to him, but not more so than to many others who lie buried in
the gloomy place where we are forced to dwell. To their numbers I wish
to add the remains of Marcellus. Would you be willing to part with them?"

"I had hoped, venerable Honorius, that since my dear friend had left me
I might have at least the mournful pleasure of giving to his remains the
last pious honors, and of weeping at his tomb."

"But, noble Lucullus, would not your friend have preferred a burial with
the sacred ceremonies of his new faith