"Miserable man!" she groaned, hiding her face in her hands. "No worthy Claudius would say so! Or do you hope to be victorious over the lions?"
"I hope nothing, for I know that the short dagger is little better than a toy. But so long as my arm can wield it, I have no right to drop it out of self-conceit. If Providence has so willed, even that puny weapon will avail to fell the foe...."
"You are mad--or rather, I see now your creed is indeed the creed for slaves. It treads the pride of man into the dust."
"True pride is that, which raises a man above all prejudice--which teaches him to despise scorn and look down on contempt. I know but one law--that of duty. But you, Cornelia, once more I implore you...."
The rattle of the bolts interrupted him; the dreadful moment had come.
For one second, breathless and with his eyes closed, he leaned against the wall. Then he stood calm and defiant Cornelia flung her arms round his neck.
"Say not another word, my own dearest love," she said, with passionate devotion. "I too know the duty of a true and loving heart. I follow you joyfully, and my last breath is yours. Now be yourself, all yourself, and never think again about me. If I were to be left alone in the world--then indeed I might claim your tears; but, as it is, death cures every ill."
Quintus felt that Cornelia was equally right from her own point of view, as he, as a Christian, was from his. He kissed her once more on the white and trembling lips, which in happier days had spoken so many a fond and tender word, blessed her for her heroic faithfulness, swearing that in that other unknown land, where they would presently meet again in glory, he would yet save the soul that was one with his own.
Then he took her hand, and led her up the steps.
The little gate-way was thrown open, and they slowly stepped out on to the arena. Whether it was the intense daylight after the dismal twilight of the dungeon, or their own tension of nerve and sense--they saw nothing; neither the endless ranks of seats, the thousands of heads that filled the Amphitheatre to the top-most course, nor Caesar in his gold-embroidered pulvinar. Everything swam before their eyes in a grey mist, a blank chaos. They were alone, together, in the midst of this vast multitude. At their feet spread the arena with its yellow sands, like an island in an ocean.