This paper owes its origin to the author's preoccupation with the assimilation of irrational experience. A pair of Byzantine mosaics of the saints Sergius and Bacchus, at Daphne, moved her deeply. The discussion centres on certain archetypal themes: the hero, the tomb, twins and the idea of beauty, interwoven with historical material.

Study of martyrs and martyrdom leads to seeing them as specifically Christian incarnations of the hero archetype at the time of early persecution, to be replaced by the mythology of saints, until the monk takes over the rôle of the hero.

Discussion of the archetype of the twins culminates in the observation that it is as if the pair is for ever about to dissolve into two separate units or else to return to their original oneness. The discussion does not encompass the human dimension.