"Arrest me an Essene from the hands of Jonathan." "Jonathan!" the proconsul exclaimed darkly. "The High Priest, the Nasi, thy sweet and valued friend!" the Agrippa explained with amiable provoke. "He has arrested an Essene on a trifling charge of apostasy and he is my voucher before the Essenic brotherhood for a loan to repay Caesar. I left him in the hands of the Shoterim, in Bezetha. If he be not speedily rescued, they will stone him without the walls to-morrow and my debt to Caesar--" he drew up his shoulders and spread out his hands in a gesture highly Jewish. Capito frowned and Vitellius glowered under his grizzled brow at Agrippa. "It is one to me," Agrippa continued coolly, as he noted signs of dissent in the contemplation. "I am just as happy and as like to escape Caesar's displeasure by failing to pay it, as thou wilt be, Capito, if thou failest to collect it." Capito nervously fingered the tesserae at his hand. "Meanwhile," added the Herod, perching himself on the edge of the table, "the youth proceeds to Jonathan's stronghold." Vitellius looked at Caesar's debt-collector. "Dost thou see anything more in this than appears on the face of it?" he asked. Capito scratched his white head. He had learned to look for ulterior motives in every move of this slippery Herod, but he was too little informed in the matter to see more than the surface. "We--can look into it, first," he opined. "Jonathan will not await your pleasure," Agrippa put in. "He is hurried now with the responsibility of executing enough blasphemers to save himself popular favor. The Sanhedrim may sit to-morrow, the prisoner come for trial and be executed--even more expeditiously because the Nasi expects thee to interfere, Vitellius." The proconsul bit through an expletive. Jonathan was a thorn in his side. "What is it you wish me to do?" he demanded. "Arrest me this youth. The claim of the proconsul's charge will take precedence over the hieratic." "But he has not offended--" "Save the protest; he has; he struck me, a Roman citizen. But draw up the warrant, good Vitellius, and send a centurion after the young man. Thou canst make no error by so doing and thou canst save Capito the favor of his emperor." Vitellius summoned a clerk and while the warrant for Marsyas' arrest was written, despatched an orderly for an officer. One of the contubernalis to Vitellius, or one of the sons of a noble family serving his apprenticeship in warfare, appeared. "Take four," Vitellius said grimly, in compliance with Herod's demand, when the young centurion approached, "and go with this man. Arrest by superior claim the High Priest's prisoner, who shall be pointed out. Fetch him and this man back to me!" The young centurion saluted and Agrippa assented with a nod. "Thanks," he added nonchalantly. "Come, brother," he said to the young officer, "if we be late it may take the whole machinery of Rome to undo the work of Jonathan."