From the Mamertine: Paul's Letter to His Beloved Son

An apostolic dictation showing Paul composing the opening of his final letter from prison, probably the Mamertine. The warmth for Timothy, the call to fan into flame the gift, the refusal to be ashamed, the pain of desertion by many and the gratitude for Onesiphorus who searched until he found the chained apostle.

This is vivid retellings.

The cell is cold.

Not the rented quarters of his first Roman imprisonment, where he could receive visitors and write letters in relative comfort. This is the Mamertine—or something like it. Underground. Damp. Dark except for what little light filters through the opening above.

Paul is going to die here.

He knows it. The trial has gone badly—or will go badly. The emperor's madness deepens by the month. Christians are blamed for the fire that consumed Rome. And Paul, the movement's most visible apostle, will not escape.