block measures taken by him during his period of absence. After fourteen months, Cyprian returned to the diocese and in letters addressed to the other North African bishops defended having left his post. After issuing a tract, "De lapsis" (On the Fallen), he convoked a council of North African bishops at Carthage to consider the treatment of the lapsed, and the apparent schism of Felicissimus (251). Cyprian took a middle course between the followers of Novatus of Carthage, who were in favour of welcoming back all with little or no penance, and Novatian of Rome, who would not allow any of those who had lapsed to be reconciled. The council in the main sided with Cyprian and condemned Felicissimus though no acts of that council survive. The schism continued as the laxists elected a certain Fortunatus as bishop in opposition to Cyprian. At the same time, the rigorist party in Rome, who refused reconciliation to any of the lapsed, elected Novatian as bishop of Rome in opposition to Pope Cornelius. The Novatianists also secured the election of a certain Maximus as a rival bishop of their own at Carthage. Cyprian now found himself wedged between laxists and rigorists, but the polarisation highlighted the firm but moderate position adopted by Cyprian and strengthened his influence by wearing down the numbers of his opponents. Moreover, his dedication during the time of a great plague and famine gained him still further popular support. Cyprian comforted his brethren by writing his De mortalitate and in his De eleemosynis exhorted them to active charity towards the poor and set a personal example. He defended Christianity and the Christians in the apologia Ad Demetrianum, directed against a certain Demetrius, and countered pagan claims that Christians were the cause of the public calamities. Persecution under Valerian In late 256, a new persecution of the Christians broke out under Emperor Valerian, and Pope Sixtus II was executed in Rome. In Africa, Cyprian prepared his people for the expected edict of persecution by his De exhortatione martyrii and set an example when he was brought before the Roman proconsul Aspasius Paternus (30 August 257). He refused to sacrifice to the pagan deities and firmly professed Christ. The proconsul banished him to Curubis, now Korba, where, to the best of his ability, he comforted his flock and his banished clergy. In a vision, he believed he saw his approaching fate.