erve, let them be
exterminated!" cried Sabina.

"Exterminated?" asked the prefect. "In Alexandria they constitute
nearly half of the citizens, that is to say several hundred thousand of
obedient subjects, exterminated!"

"So many?" asked the Empress in alarm. "But that is frightful.
Omnipotent Jove! supposing that mass were to revolt against us! No one
ever told me of this danger. In Cyrenaica, and at Salamis in Cyprus,
they killed their fellow-citizens by thousands."

"They had been provoked to extremities and they were superior to their
oppressors in force."

"And in their own land one revolt after another is organized."

"By reason of the sacrifices of which we were speaking."

"Tinnius Rufus is at present the legate in Palestine. He has a horribly
shrill voice--but he looks like a man who will stand no trifling, and
will know how to quell the venomous brood."

"Possibly" replied Titianus. "But I fear that he will never attain his
end by mere severity; and if he should he will have depopulated his
province."

"There are already too many men in the empire."

"But never enough good and useful citizens."

"Outrageous contemners of the gods and useless citizens!"

"Here in Alexandria, where many have accommodated themselves to Greek
habits of life and thought, and where all have adopted the Greek tongue,
they are undoubtedly good citizens, and wholly devoted to Caesar."

"Do they take part in the rejoicings?"

"Yes, as far as the Greek citizens will allow them."

"And the arrangement of the water-fight?"

"That will not be given over to them, but Artemion will be permitted to
supply the wild beasts for the games in the Amphitheatre."

"And he was not avaricious about it?"

"So far from it that you will be astonished. The man must know the
secret of Midas, of turning stones into gold."

"And are there many like him among your Jews?"

"A good number."

"Then I wish that they would attempt a revolt, for if this led to the
destruction of the rich ones, their gold, at any rate, would remain."

"Meanwhile I will try and keep them alive, as being good rate-payers."

"And does Hadrian share your wish?"

"Without doubt."

"Your successor may perhaps bring him to another mind."

"He always acts according to his own judgment, and for the present I am
in office," answered Titianus haughtily.

"And may the God of the Jews long preserve you in it!" retorted Sabina
scornfully.

CHAPTER VII.

B