A young man passed briskly by the graceful portico of the Temple of Fortune—­so briskly, indeed, that he came with no slight force full against the rotund and comely form of that respectable citizen Diomed, who was retiring homeward to his suburban villa.

‘Holloa!’ groaned the merchant, recovering with some difficulty his equilibrium; ’have you no eyes? or do you think I have no feeling?  By Jupiter! you have well nigh driven out the divine particle; such another shock, and my soul will be in Hades!’

’Ah, Diomed! is it you? forgive my inadvertence.  I was absorbed in thinking of the reverses of life.  Our poor friend, Glaucus, eh! who could have guessed it?’

‘Well, but tell me, Clodius, is he really to be tried by the senate?’

’Yes; they say the crime is of so extraordinary a nature that the senate itself must adjudge it; and so the lictors are to induct him formally.’

‘He has been accused publicly, then?’

‘To be sure; where have you been not to hear that?’

’Why, I have only just returned from Neapolis, whither I went on business the very morning after his crime—­so shocking, and at my house the same night that it happened!’

‘There is no doubt of his guilt,’ said Clodius, shrugging his shoulders; ’and as these crimes take precedence of all little undignified peccadilloes, they will hasten to finish the sentence previous to the games.’

‘The games!  Good gods!’ replied Diomed, with a slight shudder:  ’can they adjudge him to the beasts?—­so young, so rich!’

’True; but then he is a Greek.  Had he been a Roman, it would have been a thousand pities.  These foreigners can be borne with in their prosperity; but in adversity we must not forget that they are in reality slaves.  However, we of the upper classes are always tender-hearted; and he would certainly get off tolerably well if he were left to us:  for, between ourselves, what is a paltry priest of Isis!—­what Isis herself?  But the common people are superstitious; they clamor for the blood of the sacrilegious one.  It is dangerous not to give way to public opinion.’

’And the blasphemer—­the Christian, or Nazarene, or whatever else he be called?’

’Oh, poor dog! if he will sacrifice to Cybele or Isis, he will be pardoned—­if not, the tiger has him.  At least, so I suppose; but the trial will decide.  We talk while the urn’s still empty.  And the Greek may yet escape the deadly Theta of his own alphabet.  But enough of this gloomy subject.  How is the fair Julia?’

‘Well, I fancy.’

’Commend me to her.  But hark! the door yonder creaks on its hinges; it is the house of the praetor.  Who comes forth?  By Pollux! it is the Egyptian!  What can he want with our official friend!’

‘Some conference touching the murder, doubtless,’ replied Diomed; ’but what was supposed to be the inducement to the crime?  Glaucus was to have married the priest’s sister.’