Chapter XXXIII.--Of the Adulterous Conduct of Maxentius at Rome. ¹

For he who had tyrannically possessed himself of the imperial city, ² had proceeded to great lengths in impiety and wickedness, so as to venture without hesitation on every vile and impure action.

For example: he would separate women from their husbands, and after a time send them back to them again, and these insults he offered not to men of mean or obscure condition, but to those who held the first places in the Roman senate. Moreover, though he shamefully dishonored almost numberless free women, he was unable to satisfy his ungoverned and intemperate desires. But ³ when he assayed to corrupt Christian women also, he could no longer secure success to his designs, since they chose rather to submit their lives ⁴ to death than yield their persons to be defiled by him.