'
"It was all pure Hebrew to him, save the phrase 'Son of God,' which
sounded intelligible.
"'You are Greek,' he said, for he recognised her accent although she
spoke Latin.
"'Yes, from Corinth: my name is Demariste;' and she explained to
him that, although she was a slave, she was partly employed in
teaching Greek to the children of her mistress.
"'If you are Greek and well brought up, you must know that I cannot
comprehend a word of what you have spoken. It is Judaism.'
"'To me, too,' she replied, speaking Greek to him, 'it was
incomprehensible, but God by the light which lighteth every man hath
brought me into His marvellous light, and now this that I have told
you is exceedingly clear--nay, clearer than anything which men say
they see.'
"'Tell me how it happened.'
"'When I first came to Rome I had a master who desired to make me
his concubine, and I hated him; but what strength had I?--and I was
tempted to yield. My parents were dead; I had no friends who cared
for me--what did it matter! I had read in my books of the dignity
of the soul, but that was a poor weapon with which to fight, and,
moreover, sin was not exceeding sinful to me. By God's grace I was
brought amongst these Christians, and I was convinced of sin. I saw
that it was not only transgression against myself, but against the
eternal decrees of the Most High, against those decrees which, as
one of our own poets still dear to me has said -
"'?? y?? t? ??? ye ?a??e?, a??' ae? p?te
?? ta?ta, ???de?? ??de? e? ?t?? f???.
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