Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Vol. LIV: Augustini Epistulae Pars I

the executioner pierces either side, and no respite is given to her breasts: the woman remains unmoved. Having separated her spirit from the pain of her body, while she enjoys the good of a clear conscience, she forbade the torments to rage around her. The cruel judge is incited as if overcome; she prays to the Lord. Her limbs are loosened from their joints; she stretches her eyes to heaven. Regarding the shared crime, the other confesses; she, for the one who confesses, denies, and while she herself is in peril, she defends the other who is in peril.

6. Meanwhile, her only cry: ‘Strike, burn, tear; I have not done it. If belief is taken from my words, the day will come which will examine this crime diligently; I shall have my judge.’ The torturer was already sighing with weariness into a groan, and there was no room for a new wound. Now, having been conquered, the cruelty shuddered at the body it had mangled. Suddenly, the consul, moved by rage, said: ‘Why do you wonder, bystanders, if a woman prefers to be tortured rather than to perish? Adultery certainly cannot be committed without two, and I think it more credible for a guilty person to deny the crime than for an innocent youth to confess.’

7. Therefore, a sentence having been brought forth against both, the executioner drags the condemned. The whole population pours out for the spectacle, and, just as if it were thought that the city was migrating, the crowd surges, pushing through the packed gates. And indeed, at the very first blow, the head of the most wretched youth is cut off by the sword, and his trunk rolls in his own blood.