then said the hoar-haired man, ' He sent me to thee,
I am His Apostle, and behold now thou art
made whole in His name '; and forthwith he departed.
Then Agatha knelt and thanked Christ,
that He had remembered her, and His great Apostle
had sent to her, with such consolation.
After that prayer she looked at her breast,
and the breast that had been cut off was restored through Christ,
and all her wounds were healed.
Then shone there a great light in the dark prison,
so that the warders fled, seized with fright.
Then the prisoners urged the holy maiden
that she should go away, and flee from the torments.
Then said Agatha, the noble maiden,
'I will not mar my crown,
nor bring the warders into trouble, but I will continue here.'
Then on the fifth day the judge commanded to fetch her,
and said that she should sacrifice to the gods,
or else be tortured with sharp punishments.
Then said Agatha, ' Thou poor senseless man,
who will cry to the stone, and not to the true God
who, from all the tortures which thou so cruelly
hast inflicted on my body, hath healed me for His name's sake,
and hath restored my breast which thou, wicked one, didst cut off?'
Then the idolater enquired who had healed her?
Agatha answered, ' Christ the Son of God.'
Quintianus said to the pure maiden,
'Dost thou yet name Christ?' She said to him in answer,
'Christ I confess with my lips and ever call upon Him with my heart.'
Then said the servant of the devil, ' Now shall I see
whether Christ will save thee;' then he commanded to strew upon the floor
many burning coals and broken tiles,
and bade them thus roll her naked into the fire.
Then was there a great earthquake in that same place,
