hat his nature would save him from such a deed,
though his principles might not.' I told him, moreover, 'that I did not
despair of his looking upon Christianity with a favorable judgment in
good time. He had been willing to hear; and there was that secret charm
in the truths and doctrines of Christ's religion, and especially in his
character, that, however rudely set forth, the mind could scarcely
resist it; against its will, it would, oftentimes, find itself subdued
and changed. The seeds I have now dropt upon your hearts, I trust, will
some day spring up, and bear such fruit as you yourselves will rejoice
in.'

'So,' said Marcus, 'may the wheat spilled into the Tiber, or sown among
rocks, or eaten by the birds.'

'And that may be, though not to-day or to-morrow,' I replied. 'The seed
of things essential to man's life, as of wheat, is not easily killed. It
may be buried for years and years, yet, turned up at length, to the sun,
and its life sprouts upward in leaf, and stem, and fruit. Borne down by
the waters of the Tiber, and apparently lost, it may be cast up upon the
shores of Egypt, or Britain, and fulfil its destiny. The seed of truth
is longer-lived still--by reason that what it bears is more essential
than wheat, or other grain, to man's best life.'

'Well, well,' said Marcus, 'let us charge our goblets with the bottom of
this Falernian, and forgetting whether there be such an entity as truth
or not, drink to the health of the princess Julia.'

'That comes nearer our hearts,' said Lucilia, 'than anything that has
been spoken for the last hour. When you return, Lucius, Laco must follow
you with a mule-load of some of my homely products'---- She was about to
add more, when we were all alike startled and alarmed by cries,
seemingly of deep distress, and rapidly approaching. We sprang from our
seats, when the door of the room was violently flung open, and a slave
rushed in, crying out,

'Oh, sir! Gallus--Gallus'--

'What is it? What is it?'--cried Marcus and Lucilia. 'Speak quick--has
he fallen--'

'Yes, alas! the pond--the fish-pond--run--fly--'

Distractedly we hurried to the spot already surrounded by a crowd of
slaves. 'Who had been with him? Where had he fallen? How did it happen?'
were questions hastily asked, but which no one could answer. It was a
miserable scene of agony, confusion, and despair--Marcus ordering his
slaves to dive into the pond, then uttering curses upon them, and
commanding those