the promise given at the meeting?

He lay meditating on the divan for an hour; then he took a wax tablet out
of a chest and began to write a letter on it to the prefect. He intended
to offer the precious mosaic picture which had been discovered in his
abode, to Titianus for the Emperor, but he did not bring his composition
to an end, for he became involved in high-flown phrases. At last he
doubted whether it would do at all, flung the unfinished letter back into
the chest, and disposed himself to sleep.

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

A well-to-do man always gets a higher price than a poor one
I must either rest or begin upon something new

THE EMPEROR

By Georg Ebers

Volume 3.

CHAPTER X.

While anxiety and trouble were brooding over the steward's dwelling,
while dismay and disappointment were clouding the souls of its
inhabitants, the hall of the Muses was merry with feasting and laughter.

Julia, the prefect's wife, had supplied the architect at Lochias with a
carefully-prepared meal,--sufficient to fill six hungry maws, and
Pontius' slave--who had received it on its arrival and had unpacked it
dish after dish, and set them out on the humblest possible table had then
hastened to fetch his master to inspect all these marvels of the cook's
art. The architect shook his head as he contemplated the superabundant
blessing, and muttered to himself:

"Titianus must take me for a crocodile, or rather for two crocodiles,"
and he went to the sculptor's little tabernacle, where Papias the master
was also, to invite the two men to share his supper.

Besides them he asked two painters, and the chief mosaic worker of the
city, who all day long had been busied in restoring the old and faded
pictures on the ceilings and pavements, and under the influence of good
wine and cheerful chat they soon emptied the dishes and bowls and
trenchers. A man who for several hours has been using his hands or his
mind, or both together, waxes hungry, and all the artists whom Pontius
had brought together at Lochias had now been working for several days
almost to the verge of exhaustion. Each had done his best, in the first
place, no doubt, to give satisfaction to Pontius, whom all esteemed, and
to himself; but also in the hope of giving proof of his powers to the
Emperor and of showing him how things could be done in Alexandria. When
the dishes had been removed and the replete feasters had washed and dried
the