Also they continued talking on the morrow, until at length the fame of the thing came to the ears of Nero, who also is an artist of music and other things.

The end of it was that one day, without warning, the Emperor visited my house and demanded to see the bust, which I showed to him.
For many minutes he examined it through the emerald with which he aids his sight, then asked: "'What land had the honour to bear the genius who wrought this work ?' "I answered, 'Judaea,' a country, by the way, of which he seemed to know little, except that some fanatics dwelt there, who refused to worship him.

He said that he would make that artist ruler of Judaea.

I replied that the artist was a woman, whereon he answered that he cared nothing--she should still rule Judaea, or if this could not be managed he would send and bring her to Rome to make a statue of him to be set up in the Temple at Jerusalem for the Jews to worship.
"Now I saw that I had been foolish, and knowing well what would have been your fate, my Miriam, had he once set eyes on you, I sighed and answered, that alas! it was impossible, since you were dead, as I proved to him by a long story with which I will not trouble you.

Moreover, now that he was sure that you were dead, I showed him the little statuette of yourself looking into water, which you gave me.