his master, and I will find means of preventing my son from
introducing the light conduct of the capital beneath his father's roof."

The last words were spoken with weight and decision, like the blows of a
hammer, and stern resolve sparkled in the senator's eyes. Nevertheless,
his wife went fearlessly up to him, and said, laying her hand on his
arm, "It is, indeed, well that a man can keep his eyes set on what is
just, when we women should follow the hasty impulse of our heart. Even
in wrestling, men only fight with lawful and recognized means, while
fighting women use their teeth and nails. You men understand better how
to prevent injustice than we do, and that you have once more proved to
me, but, in carrying justice out, you are not our superiors. The Gauls
may remain in our house, and do you take Polykarp severely to task, but
in the first instance as his friend. Or would it not be better if you
left it to me? He was so happy in thinking of the competition of his
lions, and in having to work for the great building in the capital, and
now it is all over. I wish you had already broken that to him; but love
stories are women's affairs, and you know how good the boy is to me. A
mother's word sometimes has more effect than a father's blow, and it is
in life as it is in war; the light forces of archers go first into the
field, and the heavily armed division stays in the background to support
them; then, if the enemy will not yield, it comes forward and decides
the battle. First let me speak to the lad. It may be that he threw the
rose into Sirona's window only in sport, for she plays with his brothers
and sisters as if she herself were one of them. I will question him;
for if it is so, it would be neither just nor prudent to blame him. Some
caution is needed even in giving a warning; for many a one, who would
never have thought of stealing, has become a thief through false
suspicion. A young heart that is beginning to love, is like a wild boy
who always would rather take the road he is warned to avoid, and when
I was a girl, I myself first discovered how much I liked you, when the
Senator Aman's wife--who wanted you for her own daughter--advised me to
be on my guard with you. A man who has made such good use of his time,
among all the temptations of the Greek Sodom, as Polykarp, and who has
won such high praise from all his teachers and masters, cannot have been
much injured by the light manners of the Alexandrians. It is