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Julian could not endure the shame brought upon him by these doings,
and on the following day ordered the leaders of tile choral procession
to be arrested. Sallustius was prefect at this time and a servant of
iniquity, but he nevertheless was anxious to persuade the sovereign not
to allow the Christians who were eager for glory to attain the object
of their desires. When however he saw that the emperor was impotent to
master his rage, he arrested a young man adorned with the graces of a
holy enthusiasm while walking in the Forum, hung him up before the
world on the stocks, lacerated his back with scourges, and scored his
sides with claw-like instruments of torture. And this he did all day
from dawn till the day was done; and then put chains of iron on him and
ordered him to be kept in ward. Next morning he informed Julian of
what had been done, and reported the young man's constancy and added
that the event was for themselves a defeat and for the Christians a
triumph. Persuaded of the truth of this, God's enemy suffered no
more to be so treated and ordered Theodorus to be let out of prison,
for so was named this young and glorious combatant in truth's battle.
On being asked if he had had any sense of pain on undergoing those most
bitter and most savage tortures he replied that at the first indeed he
had felt some little pain, but that then had appeared to him one who
continually wiped the sweat from his face with a cool and soft kerchief
and bade him be of good courage. "Wherefore," said he, "when the
executioners gave over I was not pleased but vexed, for now there went
away with them he who brought me refreshment of soul." But the demon
of lying divination at once increased the martyr's glory and exposed
his own falsehood; for a thunderbolt sent down from heaven burnt the
whole shrine and turned the very statue of the Pythian into fine dust,
for it was made of wood and gilded on the surface. Julianus the uncle
of Julian, prefect of the East, learnt this by night, and riding at
full speed came to Daphne, eager to bring succour to the deity whom he
worshipped; but when he saw the so-called god turned into powder he
scourged the officers in charge of the temple, for he conjectured that
the conflagration was due to some Christian. But they, maltreated as
they were, could not endure to utter a lie, and persisted in saying
that the fire had started not from below but from above. Moreover some
of the neighbouring rustics came forward and asserted that they had seen
the thunderbolt come rushing down from heaven.
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