"Yes, my Dinarchus is a great reader, a young philosopher, a hermit, dear boy. He is now deep in the study of the Christian books. I would my Carnion were at home with him to-day, but he expected to see a wild-beast fight." "Observe thy husband and my brother--see how calmly they look on!" "They are soldiers, Coryna, and accustomed as we know to the spectacle of wounds and blood. To them, the arena must be as nothing to a field of battle when the clash of sword and spear is past." "Oh, it must be racking, revolting!" exclaimed the other, pained at the mental vision of mangled heaps of slain; "and our beloved ones hate the sight." "They also dislike what they see before them," said Myrtis. "They love skill, but they have no love for wanton play with human life." "I wish all Rome hated such idle butchery," remarked Coryna earnestly, but rather loudly. Overhearing these remarks, spoken in the Latin tongue, a number of ladies sneered and smiled. All, or nearly all, who made that wide investing terrace a wreath of brightness and beauty, were dead to pity. At the most they could only feel regret for a wounded favorite or a dying hero. "I would all the empire were of thy mind, Coryna, and then no such sad spectacle would stain our own beloved, humaner land. "Christianity is the deadly enemy of all this wicked work. May it prosper!" said the young lady fervently. "There are no Christians here, I venture to say, civil or military," responded Myrtis. "No follower of the humane Jesus would come within these walls, unless wronged and led, or bent on some heroic deed. But we worshippers of a hundred gods can thank our divinities for no good influence. I hate the gods: may they forgive me!" and the reflective lady smiled at her own bold scepticism. "They are myths, so my brother says," added Coryna, with a look of decision and relief. "Tharsos is almost a Christian," remarked Myrtis, "and with him I strongly sympathize." "He is. But see, he is telling thy husband something, and look how earnestly Carnion watches his words. Of a surety something strange or startling is going to present itself next. The uncertainty about the time of the Christian's appearance must be removed, but my brother's signal will tell." CHAPTER VI. THE INDIGNATION OF THARSOS. Tharsos was speaking with deep but suppressed feeling. "I have heard of the maiden," he continued, "and have seen her in my native province. Her good deeds to the poor and the suffering have been countless. Her whole life has been work and pity and self-sacrifice. It represents the highest moral beauty." "Strange," remarked Titanus sympathetically, "that the maiden has held up under prison life so long." "Though meek and modest," replied Tharsos, "she possesses a fortitude that bears incredible strain. I almost believe, indeed I do believe, that her power must come from Him whom they call Jesus of Nazareth."