ixed wine;
why--really! here stands all I want ready as if I had ordered it. You are
right, I was with Sabina a shorter time than usual; but she exerted
herself in that short time to utter as many sour words as if we had been
talking for half a day. And in five minutes I must quit you again, till
when?--the gods alone know when I shall return. It is hard even to speak
the words, but all our trouble and care, and all poor Pontius' zeal and
pains-taking labor are in vain."

As he spoke the prefect threw himself on a couch; his wife handed him the
refreshment he had asked for, and said, as she passed her hand over his
grey hair:

"Poor man! Has Hadrian then determined after all to inhabit the
Caesareum?"

"No. Leave us, Syra--you shall see directly. Please read me Caesar's
letter once more. Here it is." Julia unfolded the papyrus, which was of
elegant quality, and began:

"Hadrian to his friend Titianus, the Governor of Egypt. The deepest
secrecy--Hadrian greets Titianus, as he has so often done for years at
the beginning of disagreeable business letters, and only with half his
heart. But to-morrow he hopes to greet the dear friend of his youth, his
prudent vicegerent, not merely with his whole soul, but with hand and
tongue. And now to be more explicit, as follows: I come to-morrow
morning, the fifteenth of December, towards evening, to Alexandria, with
none but Antinous, the slave Mastor, and my private secretary, Phlegon.
We land at Lochias, in the little harbor, and you will know my ship by a
large silver star at the prow. If night should fall before I arrive
there, three red lanterns at the end of the mast shall inform you of the
friend that is approaching. I have sent home the learned and witty men
whom you sent to meet me, in order to detain me, and gain time for the
restoration of the old nest in which I had a fancy to roost with
Minerva's birds--which have not, I hope, all been driven out of it--in
order that Sabina and her following may not lack entertainment, nor the
famous gentlemen themselves be unnecessarily disturbed in their labors. I
need them not. If perchance it was not you who sent them, I ask your
pardon. An error in this matter would certainly involve some humiliation,
for it is easier to explain what has happened than to foresee what is to
come. Or is the reverse the truth? I will indemnify the learned men for
their useless journey by disputing this question with them and their
associates in the