contemplate the youths of
Saguntum rejoicing and boasting over their recent expedition against
the Turdetani, I tremble for the city and the fate in store for my
people. To-day we are the strongest, but will not someone come stronger
than we, and clap upon our necks the chains of slavery?"

Over the top of the walls he looked down at the city with tender
solicitude.

"Stranger," he continued, "my name is Alcon, and my friends call me 'the
Prudent.' The old men of the Senate give heed to my counsels; but the
young men will not listen to them. I have been a merchant, I have run
over the world, I have a wife and children maintained in comfortable
circumstances, and I am convinced that peace means felicity for the
people and should be maintained at any cost."

"I am Actaeon, a son of Athens. I used to be a navigator, but my ships
were wrecked. I was a trader, but I lost my fortune. Mercury and Neptune
have ever treated me like harsh and merciless fathers. I have enjoyed
much, I have suffered still more, and to-day, almost a beggar, I come
here to sell my blood and brawn."

"You do wrong, Athenian. You are a man, and you seek to turn yourself
into a wolf. Do you know what I most admire in your race?... that you
jest at Hercules and at his deeds; that you worship Pallas Athene! You
scorn force, and you worship intelligence and the arts of peace."

"The strong arm is as valuable as the head in which Zeus kindled the
divine spark."

"Yes, but that arm impels the head to death."

Actaeon was impatient at Alcon's words.

"Do you know Mopsus the archer?"

"There he is, near the temple of Hercules. You may recognize him by his
weapons, which he never lays aside. He is another of those who drew
hither the evil spirit of war."

"Farewell, Alcon."

"May the gods protect you, Athenian!"

Actaeon recognized the valorous Greek by his bow and by the quiver
hanging from his shoulders. He was a robust, long-bearded man, who wore
bound around his gray locks a bull's tendon to renew the one which
served to string his bow. His strong muscular arms revealed in the
elasticity of their sinews the high tension to which they were subjected
in bending the strong bow and in shooting the arrows.

He welcomed Actaeon with the sympathetic respect which the Athenians
inspired in the island-Greeks.

"I will speak to the Senate," he said, on learning Actaeon's aspirations.
"My word will be sufficient to have you received among the mercen