rofess
this religion. But they are very few. So that you will not wonder that
when the head of the ancient and honorable house of the Pisos, the
friend of Aurelian, and allied to the royal family of Palmyra, declared
himself to be of this persuasion, no little commotion was observable in
Rome--not so much among the Christians as among the patricians, among
the nobility, in the court and palace of Aurelian. The love of many has
grown cold, and the outward tokens of respect are withheld. Brows
darkened by the malignant passions of the bigot are bent upon me as I
pass along the streets, and inquiries, full of scornful irony, are made
after the welfare of my new friends. The Emperor changes not his
carriage toward me, nor, I believe, his feelings. I think he is too
tolerant of opinion, too much a man of the world, to desire to curb and
restrain the liberty of his friends in the quarter of philosophy and
religion. I know indeed on the other hand, that he is religious in his
way, to the extreme of superstition, but I have observed no tokens as
yet of any purpose or wish to interfere with the belief or worship of
others. He seems like one who, if he may indulge his own feelings in his
own way, is not unwilling to concede to others the same freedom.

* * * * *

As I was writing these last sentences, I became conscious of a voice
muttering in low tones, as if discoursing with itself, and upon no very
agreeable theme. I heeded it not at first, but wrote on. At length it
ran thus, and I was compelled to give ear:

Patience, patience--greatest of virtues, yet hardest of practice! To
wait indeed for a kingdom were something, though it were upon a bed of
thorns; to suffer for the honor of truth, were more; more in itself, and
more in its rewards. But patience, when a fly stings, or a fool speaks,
or worse, when time is wasted and lost, is--the virtue in this case
mayhap is greater after all--but it is harder, I say, of practice--that
is what I say--yet, for that very reason, greater! By Hercules! I
believe it is so. So that while I wait here, my virtue of patience is
greater than that of these accursed Jews. Patience then, I say,
patience!'

'What in the name of all antiquity,' I exclaimed, turning round as the
voice ceased, 'is this flood of philosophy for? Wherein have I
offended?'

'Offended!' cried the other; 'Nay, noble master, not offended. According
to my conclusion, I owe thee thanks; for