h fat of swine, O Blackamoor; for before
morning the Romans will make thee eat it to the very butt.

The owner of the voice, a fairhaired dandy, dressed in a different
fashion to that affected by the guardsmen, but no less extravagantly,
comes through the gateway laughing. He is somewhat battle-stained; and
his left forearm, bandaged, comes through a torn sleeve. In his right
hand he carries a Roman sword in its sheath. He swaggers down the
courtyard, the Persian on his right, Belzanor on his left, and the
guardsmen crowding down behind him.

BELZANOR. Who art thou that laughest in the House of Cleopatra the
Queen, and in the teeth of Belzanor, the captain of her guard?

THE NEW COMER. I am Bel Affris, descended from the gods.

BELZANOR (ceremoniously). Hail, cousin!

ALL (except the Persian). Hail, cousin!

PERSIAN. All the Queen's guards are descended from the gods, O stranger,
save myself. I am Persian, and descended from many kings.

BEL AFFRIS (to the guardsmen). Hail, cousins! (To the Persian,
condescendingly) Hail, mortal!

BELZANOR. You have been in battle, Bel Affris; and you are a soldier
among soldiers. You will not let the Queen's women have the first of
your tidings.

BEL AFFRIS. I have no tidings, except that we shall have our throats cut
presently, women, soldiers, and all.

PERSIAN (to Belzanor). I told you so.

THE SENTINEL (who has been listening). Woe, alas!

BEL AFFRIS (calling to him). Peace, peace, poor Ethiop: destiny is with
the gods who painted thee black. (To Belzanor) What has this mortal
(indicating the Persian) told you?

BELZANOR. He says that the Roman Julius Caesar, who has landed on our
shores with a handful of followers, will make himself master of Egypt.
He is afraid of the Roman soldiers. (The guardsmen laugh with boisterous
scorn.) Peasants, brought up to scare crows and follow the plough. Sons
of smiths and millers and tanners! And we nobles, consecrated to arms,
descended from the gods!

PERSIAN. Belzanor: the gods are not always good to their poor relations.

BELZANOR (hotly, to the Persian). Man to man, are we worse than the
slaves of Caesar?

BEL AFFRIS (stepping between them). Listen, cousin. Man to man, we
Egyptians are as gods above the Romans.

THE GUARDSMEN (exultingly). Aha!

BEL AFFRIS. But this Caesar does not pit man against man: he throws
a legion at you where you are weakest as he throws a stone from a
catapult; and that legion is as a man with