Martyrdom is a seductive thing in the Christian tradition.
Consider the autobiographical account of Perpetua, a young upper-class woman of Carthage who around the year 200 was condemned to death for refusing to offer a sacrifice for the well-being of the Roman emperors. Rejecting the pleas of her father and brother not to disgrace their family and abandon her infant son, she describes a vision of being turned into a gladiator, confronting a horrible looking opponent in her provincial arena.
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