But Flaccus stirred and drew himself up to attention.
"Come up, Lysimachus," he said. "There is a chair here, for thee."
The alabarch advanced and dropped into the seat that Flaccus had indicated.
"This," he observed, nodding toward the dark torch at the proconsul's side, "would lead me to believe thou art inventing rhymes."
"Or conspiracies. Plots and poetry demand the same exciting dusk. Well, has the Herod sued?"
"His lady! By Hecate, the mystery is solved. Thus it is that he hath been able to borrow every usurer poor from Rome to Damascus!"
"He wins upon her virtue; but withhold thy interpretation of my words until I show thee what they mean. She is beautiful and virtuous; a Herod and married--a conjunction of circumstances in these days so rare as to be out of nature--therefore, phenomenal. So we toss our yellow gold into her lap in recognition of the entertainment she hath afforded--being unusual."
"Virtuous; that means, faithful to the man she married. No woman is faithful except she loves her love. A just procession in the order of the Furies' reign. The warm of heart, unrewarded; the unworthy, anointed and worshiped."
"This melancholy twilight hath made thee morbid, Avillus. You Romans take womankind too seriously."
"When womankind or a kind of woman can drain the world's purse, methinks she is a serious matter. What sum does she want?"
"O Midas; give her the touch! Let all her possessions be gold! Didst advance it to her?"
"If thou wilt remember, it was thy command that I consult thee, first."
"Temperate Jew! To remember a consular suggestion, while a lovely woman, and a Herod at that, besought thee for the contents of thy purse. Oh, thou art an old, old man, Lysimachus!"
The alabarch laughed and frowned the next moment.
"Beshrew the jest! Men who make light of virtue deserve incontinent wives. And there is this one thing apparent, which should make me serious. The Herod is absolutely penniless, and I can not turn that tender woman and her babes out of doors to take the roads of Egypt."
"Rest thee in that small matter. Thou and I can spare her sesterces enough to ship her back to Judea."
"She would not be satisfied," he said at last. "She wants three talents, though she never had afterward a crust of bread. It seems that they permitted a free-born man to pawn himself for that sum in Ptolemais and accepted the money from him!"