The site of the Three Fountains, outside Rome, is said to have been the place where Apostle Paul was martryed. The speaker of the poem is Zenas, a Christian and lawyer mentioned in Paul's letter to Titus, 3:13. I have often thought that Zenas was Paul's attorney, especially as regards the events of Acts 28; but I do not know if this is an original conjecture on my part. The person to whom Zenas speaks is Luke, author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles; for Luke's attendance upon Paul at the end of his life, see 2 Timothy 4:11. The absence from the body is described in 2 Corinthians 5:8.
