“You have here,” commented Rufus, “a specimen of what is always happening in Cæsarea when Jew and Gentile meet. But, ah! here cometh the wine.” Now, it was the fashion of that day to begin the drinking with an invocation to the reigning emperor, and hence Florus, looking around upon his guests, lifted his cup as a sign for them to do the like, saying at the same time: “Friends, a libation to the god Nero!” The _god_ Nero! Though to the pagan portion of the assembly the words conveyed no impiety, the case was otherwise with the Jews, but those present were of the worldly-wise class that sacrifices religion to policy, and hence most of them, including the Sadducee Ananias and the Pharisee Josephus, shamelessly prepared to join with Florus in offering to the wickedest man of that age a libation as to a god. Now, pagan though Crispus was, there was one thing in the Roman religion that he, in common with many others, could not approve, and that was the deification of the living emperor, especially when the deification extended to such a one as Nero. And yet to refrain from joining in the libation was dangerous, being tantamount to the guilt of _læsa majestas_; and of all crimes, the greatest, in the eyes of the buffoon then at the head of the empire, was the refusal to acknowledge his divinity. Come what might, Crispus determined to have no part in the libation, and while there was on all sides a preparatory lifting of cups, his own remained untouched. He found a companion in Rufus, and some others, including the unknown maiden, whose eyes were eloquently expressive of abhorrence. He and those of like thought were rescued from an embarrassing situation by the action of the Princess Berenice. With a pale face and agitated air she had risen to her feet, and in a voice trembling with suppressed emotion she addressed the wondering assembly. “There once reigned,” she began, “and in this very city, a king who, on a set day, made an oration to his people; and they cried, ‘It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!’ And because he rebuked not their words the hand of heaven smote him there that he died. And that king,” she added, with a catch in her voice, “that king was my father!” The fate of Agrippa the Elder was well known to all the guests, some of whom, indeed, had been present at that divine judgment--pronounced by the smitten king himself to be divine--and the memory of the event, added to the impressive words and solemn manner of his fair daughter, caused a thrill to pervade the assembly. “And now, O Florus, do you desire the like fate for Nero? To call him god is to draw upon him the wrath of that eternal One, Who will not permit His glory to be given to another.”