rs as to the doctrine of the Brahmans,
among whom Apollonius of Tyana declared that he had found the highest
wisdom, or concerning the manners of his people. And yet the Indian was
a man of learning, and could even read the manuscripts of his country.
The Parthian ambassador had expressly dwelt on this when he delivered
Arjuna to Caesar as a gift from his king. But Arjuna had never favored
any of these strangers with his confidence. Only with old Adventus did
he ever hold conversation, for the chamberlain took care that he should
be supplied with the vegetables and fruit on which he was accustomed to
live--for meat never passed his lips; and now he was talking with the
old man, and Caracalla sat up and laid his hand to his ear.

The Indian was absorbed in the study of a bookroll in his own tongue,
which he carried about him. "What are you reading?" asked Adventus.

"A book," replied Arjuna, "from which a man may learn what will become
of you and me, and all these slaughtered victims, after death."

"Who can know that?" said the old man with a sigh; and Arjuna replied
very positively:

"It is written here, and there is no doubt about it. Will you hear it?"

"Certainly," said Adventus eagerly, and the Indian began translating out
of his book:

"When a man dies his various parts go whither they belong. His voice
goes to the fire, his breath to the winds, his eyes to the sun, his
spirit to the moon, his hearing becomes one with space, his body goes to
the earth, his soul is absorbed into ether, his hairs become plants, the
hair of his head goes to crown the trees, his blood returns to water.
Thus, every portion of a man is restored to that portion of the universe
to which it belongs; and of himself, his own essence, nothing remains
but one part what that is called is a great secret."

Caracalla was listening intently. This discourse attracted him.

He, like the other Caesars, must after his death be deified by the
senate; but he felt convinced, for his part, that the Olympians
would never count him as one of themselves. At the same time he was
philosopher enough to understand that no existing thing could ever cease
to exist. The restoration of each part of his body to that portion of
the universe to which it was akin, pleased his fancy. There was no place
in the Indian's creed for the responsibility of the soul at the judgment
of the dead. Caesar was already on the point of asking the slave to
reveal his secret, whe