"And what is goodness, mother," argued the young philosopher, "but the desire to do justice and to practise it, and in this to let desire end? Let me, then, as I desire, give all my father's estate to my sister Annia. My grandfather's is sufficient for my needs. So shall Annia have her fair marriage portion, and we, my mother, shall all be satisfied." And now, his sister Annia, wearying of her play with the pigeons, dropped her peacock plume and ran merrily toward her brother. "O Marcus," she cried, "'t will soon be time for the bath. Do come and toss the _pila_ with me;--that is," she added, with mock reverence, "if so grand a person as the prefect of Rome can play at ball!" "And why not, my Annia," asked her mother, proudly; "even the world-ruling Julius loved his game of ball." "Ah, but our Marcus is greater than the great Caesar. Is he not, mother?" Annia asked, teasingly. "Aye, that he is," the mother answered, feelingly; "for, know that he has this day given up to thee, his sister, one half of his heritage, and more--unwise and improvident youth!" she added, fondly. "So let it end, mother," the boy said, as the pretty Annia sprang to him with a caress. "Come, Annia, let us see who can toss the _pila_ best--a woman of property, such as thou, or the prefect of three days." And as hand in hand the brother and sister passed cheerily through the pillared portico, the mother looked after them with a happy heart and said, as did that earlier noble Roman matron of whom history tells us: "_These_ are my jewels!" [Illustration: ANNIA, THE SISTER OF MARCUS, AND HER PETS.] The days passed. Winter grew to spring. The ides of March have come. And now it is one of the spring holidays of Rome, the fourteenth of March in the year 138--the _Equiria_, or festival of Mars. Rome is astir early, and every street of the great city is thronged with citizens and strangers, slaves and soldiers, all hurrying toward the great pleasure-ground of Rome--the Circus Maximus. Through every portal the crowds press into the vast building, filling its circular seats, anxious for the spectacle. For the magistrate of the games for this day, it is said, is to be the young Marcus Annius, he who was prefect of the city during the last Latin Games; and, more than this, the festival is to close with a grand _venatio_--a wild-beast hunt!