VIII

Golden Apples and
Roses Red
F

N the cruel days of old, when Diocletian
was the Master of the World, and the
believers in the Cross were maimed, and
tortured with fire, and torn with iron hooks,
and cast to the lions, and beheaded with the
sword, Dorothea, a beautiful maiden of
Czesarea, was brought before Sapricius, the
Governor of Cappadocia, and commanded to
forsake the Lord Christ and offer incense to
the images of the false gods.

Though she was so young and so fair and
tender, she stood unmoved by threats and
entreaties, and when, with little pity on her
youth and loveliness, Sapricius menaced her
with the torment of the iron bed over a slow
fire, she replied: “ Do with me as you will.
No: pain shall I fear, so firm is my trust in
Him for whom I am ready to die.”