236 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN. to the fieldsto letloosethe flames,that by the heat of the wandering conflagrationtheblindbreathing-holesof theearth might be relaxed.It has been usefultoparchthelightstalks with the cracklingfire,that the pregnant corn-fieldmight raiseitselfhigher,and a more abundant grainmight flourish on the breeding stems. Therefore such alsois firstof all the calamity,and by and by the fruitof martyrdom, that itso contemns death,thatitmay preservelifein death. 8. For what is so illustriousand sublime,as by a robust devotionto preserveallthe vigourof faithin the midstof so many weapons of executioners? What so greatand honourable,as in the midst of so many swords of thesur rounding guards, again and again to profess in repeated words the Lord of one'slibertyand the authorof one'ssalva tion?— and especiallyif you set beforeyour eyes thatthere isnothingmore detestablethan dishonour,nothing baserthan slavery,thatnow you ought to seek nothing else,to askfor nothing else,than that you should be snatched from the slaughtersof the world, be deliveredfrom the illsof the world,and be engaged only as an alienfrom the contagion of earth,among theruinsof a globethatisspeedilyto perish? For what have you to do with thislight,if you have the promiseof an eternallight? What interesthave you inthis commerce of lifeand nature,if the amplitude of heavenis awaitingyou? Doubtlessletthatlustof lifekeep hold,but letitbe of thosewhom forunatoned sinthe raging firewill torturewith eternalvengeance for theircrimes. Let that lustof lifekeep hold,but letitbe of thosetowhom itisboth a punishment to die,and a torment to endure [afterdeath]. But to you both the world itselfissubjected,and the earth yields,if,when allare dying,you arereservedfor thisfate of being a martyr. Do we not behold dailydyings? We behold new kinds of death of the body long worn outwith ragingdiseases,the miserableresultsof some plague hitherto unexperienced; and we behold the destructionof wasted cities,and hence we may acknowledge how greatisto be con sideredthe dignityof martyrdom, to the attainmentof the gloryof which even the pestilenceisbeginningto driveus.