tself best and most illustrious in the
society of Rome. More came than were expressly invited; for, beyond the
legitimate interest of the occasion, curiosity had been aroused by the
gossip of Petronilla, and some whose connection with the Anician house
was of the very slightest, hastened to present themselves at Basil's
door. Hither came men whose names recalled the glories of the Republic;
others who were addressed by appellations which told of Greek dominion;
alike they claimed the dignity of Roman optimates, and deemed
themselves ornaments of an empire which would endure as long as the
world. Several ranked as senators; two or three were ex-consuls; ten
years ago the last consul of Rome had laid down his shadowy honours;
one had held the office of Praetorian Prefect when Theodoric was king;
yet, from the political point of view, all were now as powerless as
their own slaves. Wealth a few of them still possessed, but with no
security; a rapacious Byzantine official, the accident of war, might at
any moment strip them of all they had. For the most part they had
already sunk to poverty, if not to indigence; among these aristocratic
faces were more than one which bore the mark of privation. Those who
had little means or none lived as parasites of more fortunate
relatives; though beggars, they housed in palaces--palaces, it is true,
which had often no more comfort within their marble walls than the
insulae where the ignoble laid their heads.

When all had perused the will, Basil rose up and addressed them. He
began by a seemingly careless allusion to the tattle about himself,
which, as it appeared, had been started in Rome by some one who wished
him ill. The serious matter of which he had to speak regarded the
daughter of Maximus. No one here, of course, would be inclined to take
up the defence of Aurelia, whose history was known to all, he would
merely make known to them that after having abjured her religious
errors, and when living quietly in the Surrentine villa, she had been
treacherously seized and carried off he knew not whither. It was not
difficult to surmise by whom this plot had been laid, but he would
leave that point for his hearers' discussion. Him it chiefly concerned
to make known the strange facts so far as he knew them; and this he
proceeded to do. Basil concluded with sarcastic reference to the
possibility that he, as heir, might be openly or secretly suspected of
having laid hands upon Aurelia; that po