itself into his mind: Why did they not kill the Greek? They might have
killed him with impunity. Ursus would have buried him in the garden,
or borne him in the dark to the Tiber, which during that period of
night-murders, committed by Caesar himself even, cast up human bodies so
frequently in the morning that no one inquired whence they came. To his
thinking, the Christians had not only the power, but the right to kill
Chilo. True, pity was not entirely a stranger to that world to which
the young patrician belonged. The Athenians raised an altar to pity, and
opposed for a long time the introduction of gladiatorial combats into
Athens. In Rome itself the conquered received pardon sometimes, as, for
instance, Calicratus, king of the Britons, who, taken prisoner in the
time of Claudius, and provided for by him bountifully, dwelt in the city
in freedom. But vengeance for a personal wrong seemed to Vinicius, as to
all, proper and justified. The neglect of it was entirely opposed to
his spirit. True, he had heard in Ostrianum that one should love even
enemies; that, however, he considered as a kind of theory without
application in life. And now this passed through his head: that perhaps
they had not killed Chilo because the day was among festivals, or was in
some period of the moon during which it was not proper for Christians
to kill a man. He had heard that there are days among various nations
on which it is not permitted to begin war even. But why, in such a case,
did they not deliver the Greek up to justice? Why did the Apostle say
that if a man offended seven times, it was necessary to forgive him
seven times; and why did Glaucus say to Chilo, "May God forgive thee, as
I forgive thee"?

Chilo had done him the most terrible wrong that one man could do
another. At the very thought of how he would act with a man who killed
Lygia, for instance, the heart of Vinicius seethed up, as does water
in a caldron; there were no torments which he would not inflict in his
vengeance! But Glaucus had forgiven; Ursus, too, had forgiven,--Ursus,
who might in fact kill whomever he wished in Rome with perfect impunity,
for all he needed was to kill the king of the grove in Nemi, and take
his place. Could the gladiator holding that office to which he had
succeeded only by killing the previous "king," resist the man whom
Croton could not resist? There was only one answer to all these
questions: that they refrained from killing him through a go