He had "finished his course"
and "kept the faith," and had gone to receive his "crown of
righteousness."
As the days passed, peace and happiness came to them all. The
gladiator, forgetting his prowess in the arena, worked diligently in
the vineyard, while Lucius guarded the flocks of sheep, grazing
beneath the light-green olive-trees. And Lidia cooked for them in a
small stone cottage, singing as she worked.
Martius and Marcus, grown to be men, worked also, and when the labors
of the day were over, sat on the terrace in the moonlight, while
Hermione and Virgilia talked with them, and Claudia and Octavia smiled
at their happiness.
One thing, they did not know; that Alyrus, the Moor, justly punished
for his misdeeds, never spoke again after the games in the Circus. He
died soon afterward. Sahira, robbed of her freedom by the jealousy of
a woman high in favor in the imperial court, who envied her beauty and
the favor of the emperor, sank again into slavery, and as the years
passed, became a drudge in the palace.
When the sun crept lower to the waves of the sea, and as the darkness
shrouded all nature, young and old knelt on the terrace and prayed
that God would keep them safe.
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