se humors are the same and jump together, I and Fronto
are they. There is a dispute then, noble Piso, between Varus and Fronto
about the lady Julia--' and without heeding my cries the wretch turned
and left the vault, closing after him the heavy door.

How many days, in the torture of a suspense and ignorance worse than
death, I lay here, I cannot tell. Curio came as often as he said to see
that all was safe, but there was little said by either; he would examine
my chain and then depart. On the night--the last night I passed in that
agony--preceding my examination by Varus and Fronto, I was disturbed
from my slumbers by the entrance of Curio. He advanced with as it seemed
to me an unusually cautious step, and I rose expecting some
communication of an uncommon nature. But what was my amazement, as the
light fell upon the face of him who bore it, to see not Curio but Isaac.
His finger was on his lips, while in his hand he held the implements
necessary for sawing apart my chains.

'Piso!' said he in a whispered tone, 'thou art now free,--I could not
save Probus, but I can save thee--horses fleet as the winds await thee
and the Princess beyond the walls, and at the Tiber's mouth a vessel
takes you to Berytus. Curio lies drunk or dead, it matters little which,
in a neighboring vault.' And he set down the lamp and seized my chain.
The strange devotion of this man moved me; and, were it but to reward
his love, I could almost have slipped my bonds. But other thoughts
prevailed.

'Isaac, you have risked your life and that of your household in this
attempt; and sorry am I that I can pay thee only with my thanks. I
cannot fly.'

'Piso! thou surely art not mad? Why shouldst thou stay in the hands of
these pagan butchers--'

'Were this, Isaac, but the private rage of Fronto, gladly would I go
with thee--more gladly would I give Julia to thy care. But it is not so.
It is, as thou knowest, for our faith that we are here and thus; and
shall we shrink from what Probus bore?'

'Piso, believe me--'tis not for thy faith alone that thou art here, but
for thy riches, and thy wife--'

'Isaac! thou hast been deceived. Sooner would they throw themselves
into a lion's den for sport, than brave the wrath of Aurelian for such a
crime. Thou hast been deceived.'

'I have it,' replied the Jew, 'from the mouth of the miscreant Curio,
who has told me of fierce disputes, overheard by him, between Varus and
Pronto concerning the lady Julia.'