night! And
though thrown to the ground seven times by the superior force of two
peoples, seven times have I again struggled to my feet, unconquered and
unintimidated! A year ago my goal seemed near--so near; and now, this
very night, I must fight this fair youth for Rome and for my life! Can
it be that I must succumb after such deeds and such exertions? Succumb
to the good fortune of a youth! Is it, then, impossible for thy
descendant to stand alone for his nation, until he renew both it and
himself? Is it impossible to conquer the barbarians and the Greeks? Can
not I, Cethegus, stop the wheel of Fate and roll it backward? Must I
fail because I stand alone--a general without an army, a king without a
nation to support him? Must I yield thy and my Rome? I cannot, will not
think so! Did not thy star fade shortly before Pharsalus? and didst
thou not swim over the Nile to save thy life, bleeding from a hundred
wounds? And yet thou hast succeeded. Again thou hast entered Rome in
triumph. It will not go more hardly with thy descendant. No; I will not
lose my Rome! I will not lose my house, and this thy God-like image,
which has often, like the crucifix of the Christian, filled me with
hope and comfort. As a pledge of my success, to thee I will entrust a
treasure. Where can anything on earth be safe if not with thee? In an
hour of despondency, I was about to give this treasure to Syphax to
bury in the earth. But if I lose Rome and this house, this sanctuary, I
will lose all. Who can decipher these hieroglyphics? As thou hast kept
the letters and the diary, so shalt thou keep this treasure also."

So saying, he drew from the bosom of his tunic, beneath his shirt of
mail, a rather large leather bag, filled with costly pearls and
precious stones, and touched a spring on the left side of the statue,
below the edge of its shield.

A small opening was revealed, out of which he took an oblong casket of
beautifully-carved ivory, provided with a golden lock. The casket
contained all sorts of writings and rolls of papyrus. He now added the
bag.

"Here, great ancestor, guard my secrets and my treasure. With whom
should they be safe, if not with thee?"

He touched the spring again, and the statue looked as perfect as
before.

"Beneath thy shield, upon thy heart! As a pledge that I trust in thee
and my good fortune as thy descendant! As a pledge that nothing shall
force me away from thee and Rome--at least for any length of time. If