o pay their vows and offer gifts to Venus, who had
delivered them from the fury of the seas, that they might swell the
number of her votaries.

But although he accompanied them, since otherwise they might have
suspected that he was a Jew, Demetrius, who sought another goddess,
cursed Venus in his heart, knowing that had it not been for her delights
the sailors would have risked the weather. Still, there was no help for
it and no other ship by which he could sail, so here he abode for more
than three months, spending his time in Curium, Amathos and Salamis,
trading among the rich natives of Cyprus, out of whom he made a
large profit, and adding wine, and copper from Tamasus to his other
merchandise, as much as there was room for on the ship.

In the end after the great spring festival, for the captain said that it
would not be fortunate to leave until this had been celebrated, they
set sail and came by way of Rhodes to the Island of Crete, and thence
touching at Cythera to Syracuse in Sicily, and so at last to Rhegium.
Here the merchant, Demetrius, transhipped his goods into a vessel that
was sailing to the port of Centum Cellae, and having reached that place
hired transport to convey them to Rome, nearly forty miles away.

CHAPTER XXI

THE CAESARS AND PRINCE DOMITIAN

When the captain Gallus reached the outskirts of Rome he halted, for
he did not desire that Miriam should be led through the streets in the
daytime, and thus cause questions to be asked concerning her. Also he
sent on a messenger bidding the man find out his wife, Julia, if she
were still alive, since of this Gallus, who had not seen her for several
years, could tell nothing, and inform her that he would be with her
shortly, bringing with him a maiden who had been placed in his charge
by Titus. Before nightfall, the messenger returned, and with him Julia
herself, a woman past middle-age, but, although grey-haired, still
handsome and stately.

Miriam saw their meeting, which was a touching sight, since this
childless couple who had been married for almost thirty years, had now
been separated for a long time. Moreover, a rumour had reached Julia
that her husband was not only wounded, but dead, wherefore her joy and
thankfulness at his coming were even greater than they would otherwise
have been. One thing, however, Miriam noted, that whereas her friend and
benefactor, Gallus, held up his hands and thanked the gods that he found
his wife living and