and bade
the attendant slave get rid of the man with a coin. Several of the
younger gentlemen, however, considered themselves adepts in that noble
art of 'upsetting' then in vogue in the African universities, to which
we all have reason enough to be thankful, seeing that it drove Saint
Augustine from Carthage to Rome; and they, in compliance with the usual
fashion of tormenting any simple creature who came in their way by
mystification and insult, commenced a series of personal witticisms,
which the beggar bore stoically enough. The coin was offered him, but
he blandly put aside the hand of the giver, and keeping his place on the
pavement, seemed inclined to dispute Hypatia's farther passage.

'What do you want? Send the wretch and his frightful dog away,
gentlemen!' said the poor philosopher in some trepidation.

'I know that dog,' said one of them; 'it is Aben-Ezra's. Where did you
find it before it was lost, you rascal.'

'Where your mother found you when she palmed you off upon her goodman,
my child--in the slave-market. Fair Sybil, have you already forgotten
your humblest pupil, as these young dogs have, who are already trying to
upset their master and instructor in the angelic science of bullying?'

And the beggar, lifting his broad straw hat, disclosed the features of
Raphael Aben-Ezra. Hypatia recoiled with a shriek of surprise.

'Ah! you are astonished. At what, I pray?'

'To see you, sir, thus!'

'Why, then? You have been preaching to us all a long time the glory of
abstraction from the allurements of sense. It augurs ill, surely, for
your estimate either of your pupils or of your own eloquence, if you are
so struck with consternation because one of them has actually at last
obeyed you.'

'What is the meaning of this masquerade, most excellent sir?' asked
Hypatia and a dozen voices beside.

'Ask Cyril. I am on my way to Italy, in the character of the New
Diogenes, to look, like him, for a man. When I have found one, I shall
feel great pleasure in returning to acquaint you with the amazing news.
Farewell! I wished to look once more at a certain countenance, though
I have turned, as you see, Cynic; and intend henceforth to attend no
teacher but my dog, who will luckily charge no fees for instruction; if
she did, I must go untaught, for my ancestral wealth made itself wings
yesterday morning. You are aware, doubtless, of the Plebiscitum against
the Jews, which was carried into effect under the auspices