"That is to be feared. We have not happy days before us; the revolt in Judaea, too, will again cost thousands of lives." "If only it had been granted to you to assume the government of that province." "But you know, my worthy friend, the condition I am in. On my bad days I am incapable of commanding a thought or opening my lips. When my breathlessness increases I feel as if I were being suffocated. I have placed many decades of my life at the disposal of the state, and I now feel justified in devoting the diminished strength which is left me to other things. I and my wife think of retiring to my property by lake Larius, and there to try whether we may succeed, she and I, in becoming worthy of the salvation and capable of apprehending the truth that you have offered us. You are there Julia? As the determination to retire from the world has matured in us, we have, both of us, remembered more than once the words of the Jewish sage, which you lately told us of. When the angel of God drove the first man out of Paradise, he said: 'Henceforth your heart must be your Paradise.' We are turning our backs on the pleasure of a city life--" "And we do so without regret," said Julia, interrupting her husband, "for we bear in our minds the germ of a more indestructible, purer, and more lasting happiness." "Amen!" said the Patriarch. "Where two such as you dwell together there the Lord is third in the bond." "Give us your disciple Marcianus to be our travelling-companion," said Titianus. "Willingly," said Eumenes. "Shall he come to visit you when I leave you?" "Not immediately," replied Julia. "I have this morning an important and at the same time pleasant business to attend to. You know Paulina, the widow of Pudeus. She took into her keeping a pretty young creature--" "And Arsinoe has run away from her." "We took her in here," said Titianus. "Her protectress seems to have failed in attracting her to her, or in working favorably on her nature." "Yes," said the Patriarch. "There was but one key to her full, bright heart--Love--but Paulina tried to force it open with coercion and persistent driving. It remained closed--nay, the lock is spoiled.--But, if I may ask, how came the girl into your house?" "That I can tell you later, we did not make her acquaintance for the first time yesterday." "And I am going to fetch her lover to her," cried the prefect's wife. "Paulina will claim her of you," said the Patriarch. "She is having her sought for everywhere; but the child will never thrive under her guidance." "Did the widow formally adopt Arsinoe?" asked Titianus. "No; she proposed doing so as soon as her young pupil--" "Intentions count for nothing in law, and I can protect our pretty little guest against her claim." "I will fetch her," said Julia. "The time must certainly have seemed very long to her already. Will you come with me, Eumenes?"