Alexander, a Phrygian by nation, a physician by profession, who had for many years been dwelling in Gaul, a man well known to all for his love of God and open preaching of the faith, took his place in the hall of judgment, exhorting by signs all who filled it to confess their faith, even as if he had been called in to deliver them of it.  The multitude, enraged to see that those who had at first denied, turned round and proclaimed their faith, cried out against Alexander, whom they accused of the conversion.  The governor forthwith asked him what he was, and at the answer, ‘I am a Christian,’ condemned him to the beasts.  On the morrow Alexander was again brought up, together with Attalus, whom the governor, to please the people, had once more condemned to the beasts.  After they had both suffered in the amphitheatre all the torments that could be devised, they were put to the sword.  Alexander uttered not a complaint, not a word; he had the air of one who was talking inwardly with God.  Attalus, seated on an iron seat, and waiting for the fire to consume his body, said, in Latin, to the people, ’See what ye are doing; it is in truth devouring men; as for us, we devour not men, and we do no evil at all.’  He was asked what was the name of God:  ‘God,’ said he, ‘is not like us mortals; He hath no name.’

“After all these martyrs, on the last day of the shows, Blandina was again brought up, together with a young lad, named Ponticus, about fifteen years old.  They had been brought up every day before that they might see the tortures of their brethren.  When they were called upon to swear by the altars of the Gentiles, they remained firm in their faith, making no account of those pretended gods, and so great was the fury of the multitude against them, that no pity was shown for the age of the child or the sex of the woman.  Tortures were heaped upon them; they were made to pass through every kind of torment, but the desired end was not gained.  Supported by the exhortations of his sister, who was seen and heard by the Gentiles, Ponticus, after having endured all magnanimously, gave up the ghost.  Blandina, last of all,—­like a noble mother that hath roused the courage of her sons for the fight, and sent them forth to conquer for their king,—­passed once more through all the tortures they had suffered, anxious to go and rejoin them, and rejoicing at each step towards death.  At length, after she had undergone fire, the talons of beasts, and agonizing aspersion, she was wrapped in a network and thrown to a bull that tossed her in the air; she was already unconscious of all that befell her, and seemed altogether taken up with watching for the blessings that Christ had in store for her.  Even the Gentiles allowed that never a woman had suffered so much or so long.