ce of certain
death, not so easy. Besides, it was too early yet for so desperate a
move as would be involved in the violation of a church .... So Orestes
added this fresh item to the long column of accounts which he intended
to settle with the patriarch; cursed for half an hour in the name of all
divinities, saints, and martyrs, Christian and Pagan; and wrote off a
lamentable history of his wrongs and sufferings to the very Byzantine
court against which he was about to rebel, in the comfortable
assurance that Cyril had sent, by the same post, a counter-statement,
contradicting it in every particular.... Never mind.... In case he
failed in rebelling, it was as well to be able to prove his allegiance
up to the latest possible date; and the more completely the two
statements contradicted each other, the longer it would take to sift
the truth out of them; and thus so much time was gained, and so much the
more chance, meantime, of a new leaf being turned over in that Sibylline
oracle of politicians--the Chapter of Accidents. And for the time being,
he would make a pathetic appeal to respectability and moderation in
general, of which Alexandria, wherein some hundred thousand tradesmen
and merchants had property to lose, possessed a goodly share.

Respectability responded promptly to the appeal; and loyal addresses and
deputations of condolence flowed in from every quarter, expressing the
extreme sorrow with which the citizens had beheld the late disturbances
of civil order, and the contempt which had been so unfortunately evinced
for the constituted authorities: but taking, nevertheless, the liberty
to remark, that while the extreme danger to property which might ensue
from the further exasperation of certain classes, prevented their taking
those active steps on the side of tranquillity to which their feelings
inclined them, the known piety and wisdom of their esteemed patriarch
made it presumptuous in them to offer any opinion on his present
conduct, beyond the expression of their firm belief that he had been
unfortunately misinformed as to those sentiments of affection and
respect which his excellency the Prefect was well known to entertain
towards him. They ventured, therefore, to express a humble hope that,
by some mutual compromise, to define which would be an unwarrantable
intrusion on their part, a happy reconciliation would be effected, and
the stability of law, property, and the Catholic Faith ensured. All
which Ores