I bowed and went towards the door, and was already on the threshold when he called me back once more, and said: 'Remember your parents and their fate!' He spoke solemnly, almost threateningly, but he said no more and hastily turned his back on me.

What could he mean to convey by this warning?
Every day and every hour I think of my father and mother, and keep Irene in mind of them." The recluse at these words sat muttering thoughtfully to himself for a few minutes with a discontented air; then he said gravely: "Asclepiodorus meant more by his speech than you think.

Every sentence with which he dismisses a refractory subordinate is a nut of which the shell must be cracked in order to get at the kernel.

When he tells you to remember your parents and their sad fate, such words from his lips, and under the present circumstances, can hardly mean anything else than this: that you should not forget how easily your father's fate might overtake you also, if once you withdrew yourselves from the protection of the temple.

It was not for nothing that Asclepiodorus--as you yourself told me quite lately, not more than a week ago I am sure--reminded you how often those condemned to forced labor in the mines had their relations sent after them.