After I had entered into my inheritance I made a plan to return to Judaea, for one reason and one alone--to be near to you, most sweet Miriam.

At the last moment I was stayed by a very evil chance.

That bust which you made of me I had managed to save from the shipwreck and bring safe to Rome--now I wish it was at the bottom of the sea, and you shall learn why.
"When I came into possession of this house in the Via Agrippa, which is large and beautiful, I set it in a place of honour in the antechamber and summoned that sculptor, Glaucus, of whom I have spoken to you, and others who follow the art, to come and pass judgment upon the work.

They came, they wondered and they were silent, for each of them feared lest in praising it he should exalt some rival.

When, however, I told them that it was the work of a lady in Judaea, although they did not believe me, since all of them declared that no woman had shaped that marble, knowing that they had nothing to fear from so distant an artist whoever he might be, they began to praise the work with one voice, and all that evening until the wine overcame them, talked of nothing else.