stoves in the
middle of the hall, said:

"I hoped we had succeeded in cutting the bowstrings of the Egyptian
winter, and it is but a feeble weapon."

"Still young, still imaginative, still a poet!" said the Empress
wearily. "I saw your wife a couple of hours since. Africa seems to
suit her less well; I was shocked to see Julia, the handsome matron, so
altered. She does not look well."

"Years are the foe of beauty."

"Frequently they are, but true beauty often resists their attacks."

"You are yourself the living proof of your assertion."

"That is as much as to say that I am growing old."

"Nay--only that you know the secret of remaining beautiful."

"You are a poet!" murmured the Empress with a twitch of her thin
under-lip.

"Affairs of state do not favor the Muses."

"But I call any man a poet who sees things more beautiful than they are,
or who gives them finer names than they deserve--a poet, a dreamer, a
flatterer--for it comes to that."

"Ah! modesty can always find words to repel even well-merited
admiration."

"Why this foolish bandying of words?" sighed Sabina, flinging herself
back in her chair. "You have been to school under the hair-splitting
logicians in the Museum here, and I have not. Over there sits Favorinus,
the sophist; I dare say he is proving to Ptolemaeus that the stars are
mere specks of blood in our eyes, which we choose to believe are in the
sky. Florus, the historian, is taking note of this weighty discussion;
Pancrates, the poet, is celebrating the great thoughts of the
philosopher. As to what part the philologist there can find to take in
this important event you know better than I. What is the man's name?"

"Apollonius."

"Hadrian has nick-named him 'the obscure.' The more difficult it is to
understand the discourses of these gentlemen the more highly are they
esteemed."

"One must dive to obtain what lies at the bottom of the water--all that
floats on the surface is borne by the waves, a plaything for children.
Apollonius is a very learned man."

"Then my husband ought to leave him among his disciples and his books.
It was his wish that I should invite these people to my table. Florus
and Pancrates I like--not the others."

"I can easily relieve you of the company of Favorinus and Ptolemaeus;
send them to meet the Emperor."

"To what end?"

"To entertain him."

"He has his plaything with him," said Sabina, and her thin lips curled
with an expression of bitter co