and it was under a heavy storm that the oracle assured me the soul of
Alexander the Great had selected this tortured frame in which to live out
his too early ended years on earth. Can such coincidence be mere chance?
Phoebus Apollo, your favorite divinity--and that, too, of the sage of
Tyana--may perhaps have been angry with me. He who purified himself from
blood-guiltiness after killing the Python is the god of expiation. I
will address myself to him, like the noble hero of your book. This
morning the god visited me again; so I will have such sacrifice slain
before him as never yet was offered. Will that satisfy you, O
philosopher hard to be appeased?"

"More than satisfy me, my Bassianus," replied Philostratus. "Yet
remember that, according to Apollonius, the sacrifice is effective only
through the spirit in which it is offered."

"Always a 'but' and an 'if'!" exclaimed Caracalla, as his friend left the
room to call Melissa from the high-priest's quarters, where she was
waiting.

For the first time for some days Caesar found himself alone. Leading the
lion by the collar, he went to the window. The rain had ceased, but
black clouds still covered the heavens. Below him lay the opening of the
street of Hermes into the great square, swarming with human life, and
covered with the now drenched tents of the soldiery; and his eyes fell on
that of a centurion, a native of Alexandria, just then receiving a visit
from his family, to whom the varied fortunes of a warrior's life had
brought him back once more.

The bearded hero held an infant in his arms--assuredly his own--while a
girl and boy clung to him, gazing up in his face with wondering black