SAPIENTIA. Although we take no pride in it, I come of noble stock.
HADRIAN. That is easy to believe.
SAPIENTIA. My parents were princes of Greece, and I am called Sapientia.
HADRIAN. The splendour of your ancestry is blazoned in your face, and the wisdom of your name sparkles on your lips.
SAPIENTIA. You need not waste your breath in flattering us. We are not to be conquered by fair speeches.
HADRIAN. Why have you left your own people and come to live here?
SAPIENTIA. For no other reason than that we wished to know the truth. I came to learn more of the faith which you persecute, and to consecrate my daughters to Christ.
HADRIAN. Tell me their names.
SAPIENTIA. The eldest is called Faith, the second Hope, the youngest Charity.
HADRIAN. And how old are they?
SAPIENTIA. What do you say, children? Shall I puzzle his dull brain with some problems in arithmetic?
FAITH. Do, mother. It will give us joy to hear you.
SAPIENTIA. As you wish to know the ages of my children, O Emperor, Charity has lived a diminished evenly even number of years; Hope a number also diminished, but evenly uneven; and Faith an augmented number, unevenly even.
