Alexas had really succeeded in the work of reconciliation.  During the orator’s married life with Barine she had forbidden her brother-in-law the house, and her husband had quarrelled with the brother who sought his wife.  But after the latter had risen to a high place in Antony’s favour, and been loaded with gold by his lavish hand, Philostratus had again approached him to claim his share of the new wealth.  And the source from which Alexas drew flowed so abundantly that his favourite did not find it difficult to give.  Both men were as unprincipled as they were lavish, and experience taught them that base natures always have at their disposal a plank with which to bridge chasms.  If it is of gold, it will be crossed the more speedily.  Such was the case here, and of late it had become specially firm; for each needed the other’s aid.

Alexas loved Barine, while Philostratus no longer cared for her.  On the other hand, he hated Dion with so ardent a thirst for revenge that, to obtain it, he would have resigned even the hope of fresh gains.  The humiliation inflicted upon him by the arrogant Macedonian noble, and the derision which through his efforts had been heaped upon him, haunted him like importunate pursuers; and he felt that he could only rid himself of them with the source of his disgrace.  Without his brother’s aid, he would have been content to assail Dion with his slandering tongue; with his powerful assistance he could inflict a heavier injury upon him, perhaps even rob him of liberty and life.  They had just made an agreement by which Philostratus pledged himself to reconcile the populace to any punishment that might be inflicted upon Barine, and Alexas promised to help his brother take a bloody vengeance upon Dion the Macedonian.

Barine’s death could be of no service to Alexas.  The sight of her beauty had fired his heart a second time, and he was resolved to make her his own.  In the dungeon, perhaps by torture, she should be forced to grasp his helping hand.  All this would permit no delay.  Everything must be done before the return of Antony, who was daily expected.  Alexas’s lavish patron had made him so rich that he could bear to lose his favour for the sake of this object.  Even without it, he could maintain a household with royal magnificence in some city of his Syrian home.

On receiving the favourite’s assurance that he would remove Barine from Charmian’s protection on the morrow, Iras became more gracious.  She could make no serious objection to his statement that the new trial might not, it is true, end in a sentence of death, but the verdict would probably be transportation to the mines, or something of the sort.

Then Alexas cautiously tested Iras’s feelings towards his brother’s mortal foe.  They were hostile; yet when the favourite intimated that he, too, ought to be given up to justice, she showed so much hesitation, that Alexas stopped abruptly and turned the conversation upon Barine.  Here she promised assistance with her former eager zeal, and it was settled that the arrest should be made the following morning during the hours of Charmian’s attendance upon the Queen.