s; and these, the truthful
interpreters of the indomitable mind whose emotions they seemed created
to express, preserved, unaltered by suffering and unimpaired by time,
the same look, partly of reflection, partly of defiance, and partly of
despair, which had marked them in those past days when the temple was
destroyed and the congregations of the Pagans dispersed.

But the repose at this moment demanded by his worn-out body was even
yet denied to it by his untamed, unwearied mind, and, as the voice of
his old delusion spoke within him again, the devoted priest rose from
his solitary resting-place, and looked forth upon the great city, whose
new worship he was vowed to overthrow.

'By years of patient watchfulness,' he whispered to himself, 'have I
succeeded in escaping successfully from my dungeon among the mines.
Yet a little more cunning, a little more endurance, a little more
vigilance, and I shall still live to people, by my own exertions, the
deserted temples of Rome.'

As he spoke he emerged from the grove into the street. The joyous
sunlight--a stranger to him for years--shone warmly down upon his face,
as if to welcome him to liberty and the world. The sounds of gay
laughter rang in his ears, as if to woo him back to the blest
enjoyments and amenities of life; but Nature's influence and man's
example were now silent alike to his lonely heart. Over its dreary
wastes still reigned the ruthless ambition which had exiled love from
his youth, and friendship from his manhood, and which was destined to
end its mission of destruction by banishing tranquility from his age.
Scowling fiercely at all around and above him, he sought the loneliest
and shadiest streets. Solitude had now become a necessity to his
heart. The 'great gulph' of his unshared aspirations had long since
socially separated him for ever from his fellow-men. He thought,
laboured, and suffered for himself alone.

To describe the years of unrewarded labour and unalleviated hardship
endured by Ulpius in the place of his punishment; to dwell on the day
that brought with it--whatever the season in the world above--the same
unwearying inheritance of exertion and fatigue; to chronicle the
history of night after night of broken slumber one hour, of wearying
thought the next, would be to produce a picture from the mournful
monotony of which the attention of the reader would recoil with
disgust. It will be here sufficient to observe, that the influence