rolled, and the blue lightning flashed above
her head, and the earth reeled beneath her footsteps, went forth, strong
in the resolution of that Roman patriotism, which, nursed by the
institutions of the age, and the pride of the haughty heart, stood with
her, as it did with so many others, in lieu of any other principle, of any
other virtue.

Closely veiled, unattended even by a single slave, that delicate luxurious
sinner braved the wild fury of the elements; braved the tumultuous frenzy,
and more tumultuous terror, of the disorganised and angry populace; braved
the dark superstition, which crept upon her as she marked the awful
portents of that night, and half persuaded her to the belief that there
were Powers on high, who heeded the ways, punished the crimes of mortals.

And that strange sense grew on her more and more, though she resisted it,
incredulous, when after a little while she sat side by side with the wise
and virtuous Consul, and marked the calmness, almost divine, of his
thoughtful benignant features, as he heard the full details of the awful
crisis, heretofore but suspected, in which he stood, as if upon the verge
of a scarce slumbering volcano.

What passed between that frail woman, and the wise orator, none ever fully
knew. But they parted--on his side with words of encouragement and
kindness--on her's with a sense of veneration approaching almost to
religious awe.

And the next day, the usurer Alfenus received in full the debt, both
principal and interest, which he had long despaired of touching.

But when the Great Man stood alone in his silent study, that strange and
unexpected interview concluded, he turned his eyes upward, not looking,
even once, toward the sublime bust of Jupiter which stood before him,
serene in more than mortal grandeur; extended both his arms, and prayed in
solemn accents--

"All thanks to thee, Omnipotent, Ubiquitous, Eternal, ONE! whom we, vain
fools of fancy, adore in many forms, and under many names; invest with the
low attributes of our own earthy nature; enshrine in mortal shapes, and
human habitations! But thou, who wert, before the round world was, or the
blue heaven o'erhung it; who wilt be, when those shall be no longer,--thou
pardonest our madness, guidest our blindness, guardest our weakness. Thou,
by the basest and most loathed instruments, dost work out thy great ends.
All thanks, then, be to thee, by whatsoever name thou wouldest be
addressed; to thee, wh