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AT THE THREE FOUNTAINS 559
The work of the soldiers was over. They had no further
concern in the matter, except that the centurion had to certify
to Nero that the execution had been carried out.
They left
the mortal body of the martyr on the green turf. When they
were gone, the Christians, whom they had repelled but who
had followed them afar off, came to weep over it and to bury
it. Onesirnus took his part in digging the nameless grave.
But the site of it was kept in loving remembrance until in
due time there rose over that spot the ' trophy ' which existed,
as we are told by Gaius the presbyter, as far back as the second
century, where now stands in all the splendour of its manycoloured
marbles the great church of San Paolo fuori le Mura.
And, as they sorrowfully left the scene of martyrdom, the
grey light which had touched the eastern clouds began to
flush into the rosy dawn, and the sun rose on the world's
new day.