thee, as a Jew, yet so am I, that I cannot
hate them as a man, or not unto death; and thee do I love. Now it is my
counsel, that thou do in season escape. Now thou canst do it; wait but a
few days, and, perhaps, thou canst no longer. What I say is, fly! and,
it were best, to the farthest east; first, to Palmyra, and then, if need
be, to Persia. This, Piso, is what I am come for.'

'Isaac, this all agrees with the same goodness--'

'I am a poor, miserable wretch, whom God may forgive, because his
compassions never fail, but who has no claim on his mercy, and will be
content to sit hereafter where he shall but just catch, now and then, a
glimpse of the righteous.'

'I must speak my thoughts, not yours, Isaac. This all agrees with what
we have known of you; and, with all our hearts, you have our thanks. But
we are bound to this place by ties stronger than any that bind us to
life, and must not depart.'

'Say not so! Lady, speak! Why should ye remain to add to the number that
must fall? Rank will not stand in the way of Aurelian.'

'That we know well, Isaac,' said Julia. 'We should not look for any
shield such as that to protect us, nor for any other. Life is not the
chief thing, Isaac. What is life, without liberty? Would you live, a
slave? and is not he the meanest slave, who bends his will to another?
who renounces the thoughts he dearly cherishes for another's humor? Who
will beggar the soul, to save, or serve, the body?'

'Alas, princess, I fear there is more courage in thee, woman as thou
art, than in this old frame! I love my faith, too, princess, and I labor
for it in my way; but, may the God of Abraham spare me the last trial!
And wouldst thou give up thy body to the tormentors and the executioner,
to keep the singleness of thy mind, so that merely a few little
thoughts, which no man can see, may run in and out of it, as they list?'

'Even so, Isaac.'

'It is wonderful,' exclaimed the Jew, 'what a strength there is in man!
how, for an opinion, which can be neither bought, nor sold, nor weighed,
nor handled, nor seen--a thing, that, by the side of lands, and gold,
and houses, seems less than the dust of the balance--men and women, yea,
and little children, will suffer and die; when a word, too, which is but
a little breath blown out of the mouth, would save them!'

'But, it is no longer wonderful,' said Julia, 'when we look at our whole
selves, and not only at one part. We are all double, one part, of eart