pray, a little while.
Nay, fear not that I should attempt to escape; place thy seat before the
door. Sosia, how much dost thou require to make up thy freedom?"

"How much?" said he, "why, about 2000 sesterces."

"The Gods be praised! not more? Seest thou these bracelets and this
chain? they are worth double that sum. I will give them thee if thou
wilt let me out, only for one little hour! let me out at midnight--I
will return ere to-morrow's dawn; nay, thou canst go with me."

"No," said Sosia, sturdily, "a slave once disobeying Arbaces is never
heard of more."

"Well, then, thou wilt not, at least, refuse to take a letter for me;
thy master cannot kill thee for that."

"To whom?"

"To Sallust, the gay Sallust. Glaucus was my master, he purchased me
from a cruel lord. He alone has been kind to me. He is to die to-morrow.
I shall never live happily if I cannot, in this hour of trial and doom,
let him know that one heart is grateful to him. Sallust is his friend;
he will convey my message."

"Well, give me the trinkets, and I will take the letter."

Nydia carefully prepared the epistle, but ere she placed it in the hands
of Sosia she thus addressed him:

"Sosia, I am blind and in prison. Thou mayst think to deceive me--thou
mayst pretend only to take the letter to Sallust--thou mayst not fulfill
thy charge; but here I solemnly dedicate thy head to vengeance, thy soul
to the infernal powers, if thou wrongest thy trust; and I call upon thee
to place thy right hand of faith in mine, and repeat after me these
words;--'_By the ground on which we stand--by the elements which contain
life and which can curse life--by Orcus, the all-avenging--by the
Olympian Jupiter, the all-seeing--I swear that I will honestly discharge
my trust, and faithfully deliver this letter into the hands of
Sallust_.' Enough! I trust thee--take thy reward. It is already
dark--depart at once."

Sosia was true to his trust--Sallust read the letter, she wrote,--"_I am
a prisoner in the house of Arbaces. Hasten to the Praetor! procure my
release, and we yet shall save Glaucus from the lion. There is another
prisoner within these walls, whose witness can exonerate the Athenian
from the charge against him;--one who saw the crime--who can prove the
criminal to be a villain hitherto unsuspected. Fly! hasten! quick!
quick! Bring with you armed men, lest resistance be made,--and a cunning
and dexterous smith; for the dungeon of my fellow-prisoner is th