Decius himself would have chosen a
philosopher of older time, but in the words of his own kinsman,
Maximus found an appeal more intimate, a closer sympathy, than in
ancient teaching. He loved especially the passages of verse; and
when the reader came to those lines--
'O felix hominum genus,
Si vestros animos amor
Quo coelum regitur, regat,'
he raised his hand, smiling with peculiar sweetness.
'Pause there, O Decius,' he said, in a weak but clear voice; 'let me
muse awhile.' And he murmured the verses to himself.
CHAPTER IV
TO CUMAE
The Bishop of Surrentum, an elderly man and infirm, had for the past
fortnight been unable to leave his house, but day by day he received
news of what passed at the villa of Maximus, and held with the
presbyter, Andreas, many colloquies on that weighty topic, the
senator's testament. As it happened, neither bishop nor presbyter
had much aptitude for worldly affairs; they were honest,
simple-minded clerics, occupied with visions and marvels and the
saving details of dogma; exultant whenever a piece of good fortune
befell their church, but modest in urging a claim at the bedside of
the sick.
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