It was Meph. The only check to the lad's joy was the fact that he was not the first to bring the tidings, as he supposed he was--and rightly, from the way he had exercised his crutch in getting over from Ophel. His disappointment was only partially mitigated by the fact that he had been outstripped as a herald by no one except the great Judas himself. XLVI DISENTANGLED THREADS As Dion and Agathocles went their way from the trial scene on Ophel, they narrated to each other the events of the score of years of their separation. During Dion's childhood the war between Macedonia and Rome was in progress. General Agathocles had been commissioned by King Philip to proceed to Italy, and there, if possible, negotiate terms of peace. During his journey he was set upon by bandits, his credentials from the King stolen with his baggage. Entering Roman territory he was seized by the military authorities, who had been warned of his coming as a Macedonian spy; and, having no documents to disprove the charge, he was sentenced to the life of a quarry slave in one of the many isles which the blustering Republic was constantly adding to its domains. Here he remained for a score of years, until the overthrow of Philip's ill-fated son, Perseus, at the battle of Pydna, made Macedonia no longer a menace to Roman dictation over the entire country between the Adriatic and Ægean. Since the veteran warrior was supposed to have no longer cause in which to draw his sword, it was restored to his hand. But the years of his degradation and cruel maltreatment had grown in the gallant man such hatred of Rome that he quickly sought an occasion in which to display it. At his liberation Greece was helpless at the Roman's feet, but the kindred Greek monarchy of Syria presented itself as an obstacle to further conquest of the republic in the east. Agathocles therefore hastened to offer his service to Antiochus. Had not this political motive actuated the old warrior, a more tender incentive would have been sufficient for his joining the Syrians. In Macedonia he learned that Dion was still living, and that he had joined the army of Antiochus. Agathocles soon traced his son to the forces operating against Palestine; and, after campaigning for awhile in Persia and Cœle-Syria, he secured his own transference to the army under Lycias. This Governor hailed the old soldier, whose reputation had survived the years of his supposed death, and gave him command of a Macedonian contingent. "But how came you, Dion, to join with these Jews?"