But besides these general grounds of interest, Rutilius's attention had been powerfully awakened by a circumstance of a personal nature. What that circumstance was will be seen in the next chapter.

CHAPTER X.

Visit to Pamphilus. The due Use of Antiquity. The

Jewish Convert.

There the new-born river lies,
Outspread beneath its native skies,
As if it there would love to dwell
Alone and unapproachable;
Soon flowing forward, and resign'd
To the will of the creating Mind,
It springs at once with sudden leap
Down from the immeasurable steep.

SOUTHEY.

THE light was already beginning to dawn in the east, when Rutilius crept forth through the same opening by which he had entered the church of the Christians. He retraced his steps along the tottering wall which divided the ruins; and hastened to regain Milo's house before the advancing day should discover how he had been employed. A few slaves were issuing forth for their morning labour as he entered the porter's lodge, and, casting a glance at the picture of the great dog, which was just discernible, hurried up to his room. The excitement and fatigue of the scenes through which he had passed began now to take effect upon him; but youth and a robust frame were on his side; and when, with a throbbing head, he hastily threw him

self upon his bed, he was asleep in a moment. Still, however, did the events of the preceding day continue to chase one another through his memory. First, he dreamt that he was in Milo's hall; - there were the numerous lamps, the noisy guests, the loaded tables at the head of the feast the host himself, bent solely on display and self-indulgence, striving how he could stimulate his jaded appetite, and find some new refinement of luxurious sensuality. The whole place seemed filled with what ministered to the grossness of appetite, while the sycophants and debauchees around were imitating the example and applauding the conduct of their chief. Women too were there, only more disgusting than the men, because their shameless depravity bespoke the degeneracy and ruin of a purer nature.

On a sudden all was changed. The chief figure in the hall was a reverend old man, of meek and self-denying demeanour, whose calmness, the result of habitual indifference to the things of earth, was blended with a lofty but almost enthusiastic ardour, the consequence of an habitual intercourse with things unseen. All in him and around spoke the manner of one disengaged from this world. Rutilius felt that he was in the presence of the Christian bishop. About him stood men whose deep seriousness was produced not by a harsh and unkindly temper towards mankind, but by the conviction that to them was entrusted a secret of which the majority of men were ignorant. There, too, he saw

N

women; but oh, how different from the degenerate objects whose place they occupied! Pure, holy, refined, ready apparently to step forth for the relief of suffering, but conscious of their own dignity, and that reserve and self-restraint were the true ornaments of their nature. And among them knelt one from whom he found it impossible to withdraw his eyes. She belonged evidently to the class of unmarried persons, for she did not wear the veil which was used by matrons. But she had not the peculiar dress which denoted those who had devoted themselves to the especial service of the Church, and were therefore formed into the class of widows and virgins. Yet so closely was she wrapped up, that no eye but his could have singled her out of the multitude. Could it indeed be Flavia? What could have brought her from Egypt, where some weeks ago he had heard of her safe arrival? How came she not to be yet wedded to Marcellus?

Rutilius's first thought at waking was, that he had overslept his usual hour of rising, and been harassed by tumultuous dreams. But the court of Milo's house and the distant ruins, which his window overlooked, brought back all the scenes of the preceding night to his mind. He arose; and after bidding Milo a hasty farewell, he set forth to seek out Pamphilus in the adjoining town of Cæsaræa. His host, who was not wanting in the duties of hospitality, would willingly have detained him; but he had seen enough to disgust him in the revels of the

preceding night, even if the hope of hearing something respecting Flavia had not added to his desire to depart.

As he rode out of the courtyard, the gates of the magnificent hall, flanked by its lofty columns, stood open on one side, and on the other a sort of dingy prison-house, where some slaves, of abject appearance, were engaged in labour. This close approximation of pomp and misery brought to his recollection the liberty and simple dignity which he had seen in the house of the Christian ruler at Tyre. What a rebuke was it to the self-indulgence of his countrymen!

"And is this," he said to himself, "the object for which men seek to grow rich and powerful? -That they may live in this insipid round of pleasures, seeking continually to find fresh objects to solicit their senses; while all the higher sources of satisfaction-a mind at peace with itself, love, purity, confidence, self-command-are lost sight of and forgotten! How much better are the rules which even philosophy points out obeyed by those despised Nazaræans! And is not some such law as theirs wanted to raise the mass of mankind from their present degradation? What have our philosophers done for the poor during the 500 years that their teaching has been popular with men of education? They still continue slaves: they cannot even expect to take part in an improvement, which, if it is ever introduced, will require long study and much leisure