deemed worthy of death, or at the least of degradation
from his rank and banishment. My lord Marcus, do you plead guilty to the
charge?"

"First, I ask," said Marcus, "what court is this before which I am
put upon my trial? If I am to be tried I demand that it shall be by my
general, Titus."

"Then," said the prosecutor, "you should have reported yourself to
Titus upon your arrival in Rome. Now he has gone to where he may not
be troubled, leaving the charge of military matters in the hands of
his Imperial brother, the Prince Domitian, who, with these officers, is
therefore your lawful judge."

"Perhaps," broke in Domitian with bitter malice, "the lord Marcus was
too much occupied with other pursuits on his arrival in Rome to find
time to explain his conduct to the Caesar Titus."

"I was about to follow him to do so when I was seized," said Marcus.

"Then you put the matter off a little too long. Now you can explain it
here," answered Domitian.

Then the prosecutor took up the tale, saying that it had been
ascertained on inquiry that the accused, accompanied by an old woman,
arrived in Rome upon horseback early on the morning of the Triumph; that
he went straight to his house, which was called "The House Fortunate,"
where he lay hid all day; that in the evening he sent out the old woman
and a slave carrying on their backs a great sum of gold in baskets,
with which gold he purchased a certain fair Jewish captive, known as
Pearl-Maiden, at a public auction in the Forum. This Pearl-Maiden, it
would seem, was taken to his house, but when he was arrested on the
morrow neither she nor the old woman were found there. The accused, he
might add, was arrested just as he was about to leave the house, as
he stated, in order to report himself to Titus Caesar, who had already
departed from Rome. This was the case in brief, and to prove it he
called a certain Jew named Caleb, who was now living in Rome, having
received an amnesty given by the hand of Titus. This Jew was now a
merchant who traded under the name of Demetrius.

Then Caleb stood forward and told his tale. In answer to questions that
were put to him, he related how he was in command of a body of the Jews
which fought an action with the Roman troops at a place called the Old
Tower, a few days before the capture of the Temple. In the course
of this action he parleyed with a captain of the Romans, the Prefect
Marcus, who now stood before him, and at the end of the parl