you), from the
insolence of the Egyptians, and will sooner resign your office than allow
the smallest wrong done to a Hellene to go unpunished. We are but a few
thousands among millions of enemies, but through courage we are great,
and unity must keep us strong. Hitherto the Greeks in Egypt have lived
like brothers; each has been ready to offer himself for the good of all,
and all for each, and it is just this unity that has made us, and must
keep us, powerful.

"Oh! could we but bestow this precious gift on our mother-country and her
colonies! would the tribes of our native land but forget their Dorian,
Ionian or AEolian descent, and, contenting themselves with the one name
of Hellenes, live as the children of one family, as the sheep of one
flock,--then indeed we should be strong against the whole world, and
Hellas would be recognized by all nations as the Queen of the Earth!"

[This longing desire for unity was by no means foreign to the
Greeks, though we seldom hear it expressed. Aristotle, for example,
says VII. 7.: "Were the Hellenes united into one state, they could
command all the barbarous nations."]

A fire glowed in the eyes of the grey-haired woman as she uttered these
words; and the Spartan, grasping her hand impetuously and stamping on the
floor with his wooden leg, cried: "By Zeus, I will not let a hair of
their heads be hurt; but thou, Rhodopis, thou art worthy to have been
born a Spartan woman."

"Or an Athenian," cried Phanes.

"An Ionian," said the Milesians, and the sculptor: "A daughter of the
Samian Geomori--"

"But I am more, far more, than all these," cried the enthusiastic woman.
"I am a Hellene!"

The whole company, even to the Jew and the Syrian, were carried away by
the intense feeling of the moment; the Sybarite alone remained unmoved,
and, with his mouth so full as to render the words almost unintelligible,
said:

"You deserve to be a Sybarite too, Rhodopis, for your roast beef is the
best I have tasted since I left Italy, and your Anthylla wine' relishes
almost as well as Vesuvian or Chian!"

Every one laughed, except the Spartan, who darted a look of indignation
and contempt at the epicure.

In this moment a deep voice, hitherto unknown to us, shouted suddenly
through the window, "A glad greeting to you, my friends!"

"A glad greeting," echoed the chorus of revellers, questioning and
guessing who this late arrival might prove to be.

They had not long to wait,