across the world; his eldest child, a boy, the darling of his heart, was
dead; and his fair-haired tender little Tullia, with her pearly teeth,
her round little arms, and her pretty tiny fingers that had often tried
to pull his close-cropped hair, and had fondly stroked and patted it, had
been carried off to the miserable refuge, under whose squalid roof the
children of deceased slaves were reared. Only two hours since, and in
fancy he had possessed a home, and a group of human beings, whom he could
love. Now, this was all over and with however hard a hand the deepest
woes might fall on him, he might not sob or groan aloud, or even roll
from side to side as again and again he was violently prompted to do, for
his lord slept lightly and the least noise might wake him. At sunrise he
must appear before the Emperor as cheerful as usual, and yet he felt as
if he must himself perish miserably as his happiness had done. His heart
was bursting with anguish, still he neither groaned nor stirred.

CHAPTER XIII.

The night had been almost as sleepless to Keraunus' daughter Selene as it
had been to the hapless slave. Her father's vain wish to let Arsinoe take
a part with the daughters of the wealthier citizens had filled the girl's
heart with fresh terrors. It was the final blow which would demolish the
structure of their social existence, standing as it did on quaking
ground, and which must fling her family and herself into disgrace and
want. When their last treasure of any value was sold, and the creditors
could no longer be put off, particularly during the Emperor's presence in
the city, when they should try to sell up all her father's little
property, or to carry him off to a debtor's prison, was it not then as
good as certain that some one else would be appointed to fill his place,
and that she and the other children would fall into misery? And there lay
Arsinoe by her side, and slept with as calm and deep a breath as blind
Helios and the other little ones.

Before going to bed she had tried with all the fervency and eloquence of
which she was mistress, to persuade, entreat, and implore the heedless
girl to refuse as positively as she herself had refused to take any part
in the processions; but Arsinoe had at first repulsed her crossly, and
finally had defiantly declared that means might yet very likely be found,
and that what her father permitted, Selene had no right to interfere in,
still less to forbid. And when aft