, for to them, too, a higher Power
has revealed that the fullness of time is now come. He, the Greatest and
Best, who made all the woes of the world His own, has chosen the poor
rather than the rich, the suffering rather than the happy, the babes
rather than the wise and prudent; and in his kingdom the last shall be
first--yea, the least of the last, the poorest of the poor; and they,
child, are the slaves."

He ended his diatribe with a deep sigh, but Melissa pressed the hand
which held hers as they walked along the raised pathway, and said: "Poor
Andreas! How much you must have gone through before Polybius set you
free!"

He only nodded, and they both remained silent till they found themselves
in a quiet side street. Then the girl looked up at him inquiringly, and
began again:

"And now you hope for a second Spartacus? Or will you yourself lead a
rebellion of the slaves? You are the man for it, and I can be secret."

"If it has to be, why not?" he replied, and his eyes sparkled with a
strange fire. But seeing that she shrank from him, a smile passed over
his countenance, and he added in a soothing tone: "Do not be alarmed,
my child; what must come will come, without another Spartacus, or
bloodshed, or turmoil. And you, with your clear eyes and your kind
heart, would you find it difficult to distinguish right from wrong, and
to feel for the sorrows of others--? Yes, perhaps! For what will not
custom excuse and sanctify? You can pity the bird which is shut into a
cage too small for it, or the mule which breaks down under too heavy a
load, and the cruelty which hurts them rouses your indignation. But for
the man whom a terrible fate has robbed of his freedom, often through
the fault of another, whose soul endures even greater torments than his
despised body, you have no better comfort than the advice which might
indeed serve a philosopher, but which to him is bitter mockery: to
bear his woes with patience. He is only a slave, bought, or perhaps
inherited. Which of you ever thinks of asking who gave you, who are
free, the right to enslave half of all the inhabitants of the Roman
Empire, and to rob them of the highest prerogative of humanity? I know
that many philosophers have spoken of slavery as an injustice done
by the strong to the weak: but they shrugged their shoulders over it
nevertheless, and excused it as an inevitable evil; for, thought they,
who will serve me if my slave is regarded as my equal? You only smi