PERPETUA AND FELICITAS. 287 in that place we began to recognisemany brethren,and moreover martyrs. We were allnourished with an inde scribableodour,which satisfiedus. Then I joyouslyawoke." CHAPTER V. Argument. — St.Secundulusdiesin theprison. St.Felicitas ispregnant,butwithmany prayersshe bringsforth in the eighthmonth withoutsuffering.Tliecourageof St. Per- petuaand of St.Saturusisunbroken. 1. The above were the more eminent visionsof the blessed martyrs Saturusand Perpetua themselves,which they them selvescommitted to writing. But God calledSecundulus, while he was yet in the prison,by an earlierexitfrom the world, not without favour,so as to give a respiteto the beasts. Nevertheless,even if hissoul did not acknowledge cause forthankfulness,assuredlyhisfleshdid. .2. But respectingFelicitas(for to her also the Lord's favour approached in the same way), when she had already gone eight months with child(for she had been pregnant when she was apprehended),as the day of the exhibitionwas drawing near,she was in great griefleston accountof her pregnancy she shouldbe delayed,— becausepregnant women are not allowedto be publiclypunished,— and lestshe should shed her sacredand guiltlessbloodamong some who had been wicked subsequently. Moreover, also,her fellow-martyrs were painfullysaddened lestthey shouldleaveso excellenta friend,and as it were companion, alone in the path of the same hope. Therefore,joiningtogethertheirunitedcry,they poured forththeirprayerto the Lord threedays beforethe exhibition.Immediately aftertheirprayer her pains came upon her; and when, with the difficultynaturalto an eight months' delivery,in the labourof bringingforthshe was sor rowing, some one of the servantsof the Cataractarii1saidto 1 " Thegaolers,"socalledfromthe" cataracta,"orprison-gate,which theyguarded.