HOPE. Here is the only clemency for which I long—here the only mercy I crave.
ANTIOCHUS. Sapientia, what are you murmuring there, standing with uplifted eyes by the body of your dead child?
SAPIENTIA. I am imploring Almighty God to give Hope the same firm courage that He gave Faith.
HOPE. Oh, mother, mother! How wonderful are your prayers! Even as you prayed the uplifted hands of the panting executioners became powerless. I have not felt a twinge of pain.
HADRIAN. So you do not mind scourging! We will try some sharper torture.
HOPE. The most savage and deadly you can invent! The more cruelty you show the greater will be your humiliation.
HADRIAN. Let her be suspended in the air, and lacerated with nails until her bowels gush forth, and the skin is stripped from her bones. Break her to pieces limb by limb.
ANTIOCHUS. That order is worthy of an emperor. The punishment fits the crime.
HOPE. Oh, Antiochus, you are as crafty as a fox, but you flatter with the cunning of a chameleon.
ANTIOCHUS. Be quiet, you wretch! I thank the gods you will soon not have a mouth to prattle with.
HOPE. It will not be as you hope. Both you and your master will be put to confusion.
HADRIAN. What is this strange sweetness in the air? If I am not mistaken a marvellous perfume fills the room.
HOPE. O Emperor, the torn shreds of my flesh are giving forth a heavenly fragrance to make you admit that you have no power to hurt me by torture!
ANTIOCHUS. We must think of some other punishment.
HADRIAN. Put in the brazier a vessel full of oil and wax and pitch. Bind her and throw her in.
ANTIOCHUS. Yes, she will not find it so easy to escape from Vulcan.
HOPE. Christ has before now made fire grow mild and change its nature.
HADRIAN. Antiochus, what is that sound? I seem to hear a noise like that of rushing waters.
ANTIOCHUS. The boiling fire has burst the cauldron! It has overflowed and consumed every man near it. Only the vile witch who caused the disaster has escaped unhurt.
HADRIAN. She must be beheaded like the other.
ANTIOCHUS. By the sword only can she be destroyed.
HOPE. Charity, my dear, my only sister, have no fear of the tyrant’s threats, and do not wince at the thought of suffering. Be strong in faith, and strive to follow the example of your sisters who are going before you to the palace of heaven.