est justice. For a time has come in which the Macedonian race,
whose boast is the gorgeous city of Alexander, must rise again to the
political pre-eminence which they held of old, and becoming once more
the masters of one-third of the universe, be treated by their rulers
as freemen, citizens, heroes, who have a right to choose and to employ
their rulers--Rulers, did I say? Let us forget the word, and substitute
in its place the more philosophic term of ministers. To be your
minister--the servant of you all--To sacrifice myself, my leisure,
health, life, if need be, to the one great object of securing the
independence of Alexandria--This is my work, my hope, my glory--longed
for through weary years: now for the first time possible by the fall
of the late puppet Emperor of Rome. Men of Macedonia, remember that
Honorius reigns no more! An African sits on the throne of the Caesars!
Heraclian, by one decisive victory, has gained, by the favour of--of
Heaven, the imperial purple; and a new era opens for the world. Let the
conqueror of Rome balance his account with that Byzantine court, so long
the incubus of our Trans-Mediterranean wealth and civilisation; and let
a free, independent, and united Africa rally round the palaces and
docks of Alexandria, and find there its natural centre of polity and of
prosperity.'

A roar of hired applause interrupted him and not a few, half for the
sake of his compliments and fine words, half from a natural wish to be
on the right side--namely, the one which happened to be in the ascendant
for the time being--joined.... The city authorities were on the point
of crying, 'Imperator Orestes,' but thought better of it; and waited for
some one else to cry first--being respectable. Whereon the Prefect
of the Guards, being a man of some presence of mind, and also not in
anywise respectable, pricked up the Prefect of the docks with the point
of his dagger, and bade him, with a fearful threat, take care how he
played traitor. The worthy burgher roared incontinently--whether with
pain or patriotism; and the whole array of respectabilities--having
found a Curtius who would leap into the gulf, joined in unanimous
chorus, and saluted Orestes as Emperor; while Hypatia, amid the shouts
of her aristocratic scholars, rose and knelt before him, writhing
inwardly with shame and despair, and entreated him to accept that
tutelage of Greek commerce, supremacy, and philosophy which was forced
on him by the unanimou