286 THE PASSION OF gate of thatplacestood four angels,who clothedthosewho entered with white robes. And being clothed,we entered and saw the boundlesslight,and heard the unitedvoiceof some who said without ceasing,'Holy! Holy! Holy!" And in the midst of that place we saw as it were a hoary man sitting,having snow-white hair,and with a youthful countenance; and his feet we saw not. And on his right hand and on his left were four-and-twentyelders,and behind them a great many others were standing. We enteredwith greatwonder, and stoodbeforethe throne; and the four angels raisedus up, and we kissedHim, and He passedHis hand over our face. And the restof the elders said to us,'Let us stand;' and we stood and made peace. And the elderssaid to us, 'Go and play.' And I said, 'Perpetua,you have what you wish.' And she saidto me, 'Thanks be to God, thatjoyousas I was in the flesh,I am now more joyoushere.' 3. "And we went forth,and saw before the entrance Optatus the bishopat the righthand, and Aspasius the pres byter,a teacher,2at thelefthand, separateand sad; and they cast themselvesat our feet,and saidto us, 'Eestorepeace between us,because you have gone forth and have leftus thus.' And we saidto them, 'Art not thou our father,and thou our presbyter,that you should castyourselvesat our feetV And we prostratedourselves,and we embraced them : and Perpetua began to speak with them, and we drew them apart in the pleasure-gardenunder a rose-tree.And while we were speakingwith them,the angelssaidunto them, 'Let them alone,thattheymay refreshthemselves;*and ifyou have any dissensionsbetween you, forgiveone another.'And they drove them away. And they saidto Optatus, 'Rebuke thy people,because they assembleto you as if returningfrom the circus,and contending about factiousmatters.' And then it seemed to us as if they would shut the doors. And 1"Agios." 3 A presbyter,thatis,.whoseofficewastoteach,asdistinctfromother presbyters.SeeCyprian,Epistles,vol.i.Ep.xxiii.p.68,note1,transl. 8Moreprobably," restandrefreshyourselves."