far, placed his finger on
his breast, pointing to himself, and said,--"I am he who persecuted
and hurried servants of Christ to their death; I am he who during the
stoning of Stephen kept the garments of those who stoned him; I am he
who wished to root out the truth in every part of the inhabited earth,
and yet the Lord predestined me to declare it in every land. I have
declared it in Judea, in Greece, on the Islands, and in this godless
city, where first I resided as a prisoner. And now when Peter, my
superior, has summoned me, I enter this house to bend that proud head to
the feet of Christ, and cast a grain of seed in that stony field,
which the Lord will fertilize, so that it may bring forth a bountiful
harvest."

And he rose. To Crispus that diminutive hunchback seemed then that
which he was in reality,--a giant, who was to stir the world to its
foundations and gather in lands and nations.

Chapter XXVIII

PETRONIUS to VINICIUS:--"Have pity, carissime; imitate not in thy
letters the Lacedemonians or Julius Caesar! Couldst thou, like Julius,
write Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered), I might understand
thy brevity. But thy letter means absolutely Veni, vidi, fugi (I came, I
saw, I fled). Since such a conclusion of the affair is directly opposed
to thy nature, since thou art wounded, and since, finally, uncommon
things are happening to thee, thy letter needs explanation. I could
not believe my eyes when I read that the Lygian giant killed Croton as
easily as a Caledonian dog would kill a wolf in the defiles of Hibernia.
That man is worth as much gold as he himself weighs, and it depends on
him alone to become a favorite of Caesar. When I return to the city,
I must gain a nearer acquaintance with that Lygian, and have a bronze
statue of him made for myself. Ahenobarbus will burst from curiosity,
when I tell him that it is from nature. Bodies really athletic are
becoming rarer in Italy and in Greece; of the Orient no mention need be
made; the Germans, though large, have muscles covered with fat, and
are greater in bulk than in strength. Learn from the Lygian if he is an
exception, or if in his country there are more men like him. Should it
happen sometime to thee or me to organize games officially, it would be
well to know where to seek for the best bodies.

"But praise to the gods of the Orient and the Occident that thou hast
come out of such hands alive. Thou hast escaped, of course, because
t