“And the theatre!” exclaimed the Jew.  “The exterior one can bear to look at—­but the acting!  Yesterday they gave the ‘Thals’ of Menander, and I assure you that in Alexandria the woman who dared to impersonate the bewitching and cold-hearted Hetaira would have been driven off the stage—­they would have pelted her with rotten apples.  Close by me there sat a sturdy, brown Egyptian, a sugar-baker or something of the kind, who held his sides with laughing, and yet, I dare swear, did not understand a word of the comedy.  But in Memphis it is the fashion to know Greek, even among the artisans.  May I hope to have you as my guest?”

“With pleasure, with pleasure!” replied the Lesbian.  “I was about to look out for a boat.  Have you done your business to your satisfaction?”

“Tolerably!” answered the Jew.  “I have purchased some corn from Upper Egypt, and stored it in the granaries here.  The whole of that row yonder were to let for a mere song, and so we get off cheaply when we let the wheat lie here instead of at Alexandria where granaries are no longer to be had for money.”

“That is very clever!” replied the Greek.  “There is bustle enough here in the harbor, but the many empty warehouses and the low rents prove how Memphis is going down.  Formerly this city was the emporium for all vessels, but now for the most part they only run in to pay the toll and to take in supplies for their crews.  This populous place has a big stomach, and many trades drive a considerable business here, but most of those that fail here are still carried on in Alexandria.”

“It is the sea that is lacking,” interrupted the Jew; “Memphis trades only with Egypt, and we with the whole world.  The merchant who sends his goods here only load camels, and wretched asses, and flat-bottomed Nile-boats, while we in our harbors freight fine seagoing vessels.  When the winter-storms are past our house alone sends twenty triremes with Egyptian wheat to Ostia and to Pontus; and your Indian and Arabian goods, your imports from the newly opened Ethiopian provinces, take up less room, but I should like to know how many talents your trade amounted to in the course of the past year.  Well then, farewell till we meet again on my boat; it is called the Euphrosyne, and lies out there, exactly opposite the two statues of the old king—­who can remember these stiff barbarian names?  In three hours we start.  I have a good cook on board, who is not too particular as to the regulations regarding food by which my countrymen in Palestine live, and you will find a few new books and some capital wine from Byblos.”

“Then we need not dread a head-wind,” laughed the Lesbian.  “We meet again in three hours.”