An hour after midnight
While thus he thought he stretched his limbs , and struck his hands on his broad breast , and when he was asleep , he dreamed of the wrestling school , and of a purple robe that Paulus held out to him , of a wreath of poplar leaves that rested on his scented curls , and of the beautiful woman who had met him on the stairs of the senator 's house . Thanks to the senator 's potion Stephanus soon fell asleep . Paulus sat near him and did not stir ; he held his breath , and painfully suppressed even an impulse to cough , so as not to disturb the sick man 's light slumbers . An hour after midnight the old man awoke , and after he had lain meditating for some time with his eyes open , he said thoughtfully : `` You called yourself and us all egotistic , and I certainly am so . I have often said so to myself ; not for the first time to day , but for weeks past , since Hermas came back from Alexandria , and seems to have forgotten how to laugh . He is not happy , and when I ask myself what is to become of him when I am dead , and if he turns from the Lord and seeks the pleasures of the world , my heart sickens . I meant it for the best when I brought him with me up to the Holy Mountain , but that was not the only motive -- it seemed to me too hard to part altogether from the child .