Josephus did not much interest Crispus, but the young girl did, and he continued to watch her. This was probably her first experience of a Gentile banquet, and she seemed ill at ease amid her new surroundings. And no wonder! If the naked statuary and voluptuous paintings to be seen around, the immodest Coan robes worn by the women, and the shameless license of their language were distasteful even to the pagan Crispus, how much more so to a young maiden trained in the pure and lofty principles of Judaism? Berenice, alas! reared in the atmosphere of a decadent court, could learn in the Prætorium of Florus little that was new in the shape of wickedness, but the case was far different with a young and innocent girl. “If this Josephus be her guardian, he is not exercising much discretion,” thought Crispus. “The banquet-hall of Florus is not the place to bring a young girl to.” At this point Ananias, the ex-high pontiff of the Jews, and Theomantes, the priest of Zeus Cæsarius, created a diversion. “Ay, ay,” muttered Rufus, “I knew that they’d be quarreling ere long.” The two representatives of antagonistic religions were holding an animated dispute; as the controversy waxed hotter their voices rose proportionately, till at last they attracted general attention. Everyone else in the assembly left off talking to listen to the disputants. “Mercury a thief?” cried Theomantes. “So be it, then! And is it not written in your foolish scriptures that while Adam slept God stole from his side a rib which He fashioned into the first woman? What else, then, is _your_ God but a thief?” Ananias’ reply was anticipated by the Princess Berenice, ever quick to defend her ancestral religion. “I will answer you,” said she to Theomantes. “Last night some thieves broke into my house, and stole a silver vase.” She paused for a moment, then added, “But they left a golden one in its stead.” The Jewish guests greeted Berenice’s little parable with loud applause. “Jupiter!” laughed Florus, “I wish such thieves would come every night.” Theomantes returned to the attack. Holding his serpent close to the face of Ananias, and causing the reptile to give a hiss that made the Hebrew priest start, he laughed and said: “My God is greater than yours.” “Prove it,” sneered Ananias. “Is it not written that when your God appeared in the burning bush, Moses drew near, but when he saw the serpent, which is my god, he fled?” “True,” replied Berenice, answering for the silent Ananias, “and a few steps sufficed to put him beyond reach of the serpent. But how can one flee from _our_ God, Who fills all space, Who at one and the same time is in heaven and in earth, on sea and on land?” Theomantes, about to continue the dispute, was checked by a gesture from Florus, so the heathen priest, with a somewhat dark look at Berenice, subsided into silence.