A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

The Sack of Rome 559
but scourged and beat her with cudgels. She is said to
have felt
no pain, but to have thrown herself at their feet
and to have pleaded with tears for you, that you might
not be taken from her. . . . Christ softened their hard
hearts and even among blood-stained swords natural affection
asserted its rights. The barbarians conveyed both
you and her to the basilica of the Apostle Paul, that you
might find there either a place of safety or if not that,
at least a tomb.
Hereupon Marcella is said to have burst
into great joy and to have thanked God for having kept
you unharmed in answer to her prayer.
She said she was
thankful too that the taking of the City had found her
poor, not made her so,
that she was now in want of her
daily bread, that Christ satisfied her needs so that she
no longer felt hungry, that she was able to say in word
and in deed. . . . "The Lord gave and the Lord hath Job i. 21.
taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
II.
By Fire and Sword
I shudder when I think of the catastrophies of our time.
For twenty years and more the blood of Romans has been
by the inshed
daily between Constantinople and the Julian Alps.
Scythia, Thrace, Macedonia, Dardania, Dacia, Thessaly,
Calamities
'^^