Perpetua Before the Tribunal; Vision of Dinocrates

1 "After a few days, a report spread that we would be given a hearing. My father came to me from the city, worn out with anxiety. He approached me, trying to shake my resolve, saying, 'Have pity, my daughter, on my grey hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called a father by you. If with these hands I have brought you up to this prime of your life, if I have favored you above all your brothers, do not deliver me up to the scorn of others. Think of your brothers, think of your mother and your aunt, think of your son, who will not be able to live without you. Set aside your stubbornness, and do not bring us all to ruin; for none of us will speak freely if you should suffer anything.' These things my father said out of his love, kissing my hands and throwing himself at my feet; and with tears he called me not 'Daughter,' but 'Lady.' And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father, that he alone of all my family would not rejoice in my suffering. And I comforted him, saying, 'On that platform, whatever God wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our own power, but in that of God.' And he departed from me in sorrow." 2 "Another day, while we were at dinner, we were suddenly taken away for a hearing, and we arrived at the town hall. At once the rumor spread through the surrounding area, and an immense crowd gathered. We climbed the platform. The others were questioned and confessed their faith. Then they came to me, and my father immediately appeared with my boy, and pulled me from the step, and said in a pleading tone, 'Have pity on your child.' And Hilarianus the procurator, who had just received the power of life and death in place of the deceased proconsul Minucius Timinianus, said, 'Spare the grey hairs of your father, spare the infancy of your boy; offer sacrifice for the well-being of the emperors.' And I replied, 'I will not do so.' Hilarianus said, 'Are you a Christian?' And I replied, 'I am a Christian.' And as my father stood there trying to shake me from the faith, he was ordered by Hilarianus to be thrown down, and was beaten with rods. My father's misfortune grieved me as if I myself had been beaten — I grieved so much for his wretched old age. The procurator then passed judgment on all of us, and condemned us to the wild beasts, and we went down cheerfully to the dungeon. Then, because my child had been accustomed to nursing from me, and to staying with me in the prison, I sent Pomponius the deacon to my father to ask for the infant, but my father would not hand him over. And as God willed it, the child no longer wanted the breast, nor did my breasts cause me discomfort, so that I was not tormented by worry for my child and the pain of my breasts at the same time." 3 "After a few days, while we were all praying, suddenly in the middle of our prayer a name came to me, and I spoke the name Dinocrates; and I was amazed that that name had never come into my mind until then, and I was grieved as I remembered his misfortune. I felt myself immediately to be worthy and called to pray on his behalf. And for him I began earnestly to plead, and to cry out with groaning to the Lord. Without delay, that very night, this was shown to me in a vision. I saw Dinocrates coming out from a dark place, where there were also several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a dirty face and pale complexion, and the wound on his face that he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother by blood, seven years of age, who died miserably of disease — his face so eaten away by cancer that his death caused horror in all who saw him. For him I had made my prayer, and between him and me there was a great distance, so that neither of us could approach the other. Moreover, in the same place where Dinocrates was, there was a pool full of water, but its rim was higher than the boy could reach;⁠a and Dinocrates stretched himself up as if to drink. I was grieved that, although the pool held water, the rim was too high for him to drink from. And I was distressed, and knew that my brother was in suffering. But I trusted that my prayer would bring help to his suffering; and I prayed for him every day until we were transferred to the military prison, for we were to fight in the games held there. It was then the birthday of Geta Caesar, and I prayed for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping that he might be granted to me."