The little man looked up at him approvingly, and said, modestly: "You are indeed wise, Serapion, and I will do my best to help you.

The next thing to be done is to seek representatives of the great Alexander, of Apollonius of Tyana, and of Caesar's brother, father-in-law, and wife." "Not forgetting Papinian, the noblest of his victims," added the Magian.
"Back again already, Castor ?" These words were addressed to a tall and apparently elderly man in a long white robe, who had slipped in without a sound.

His demeanor was so grave and dignified that he looked precisely like a Christian priest impressed with the sanctity of his office; but hardly had he got into the room, and greeted the Magian with much unction, than he pulled the white garment off over his head, rubbed from his cheeks the lines which gave him twenty added years, stretched his lithe limbs, and exclaimed with delight: "I have got her! Old Dorothea will bring her to your theatre!"-- and the young fellow's mobile face beamed with the happy radiance of success.
It almost seemed as though fermenting wine flowed in the man's veins instead of blood; for, when he had made his report to the Magian, and had been rewarded with a handful of gold-pieces, he tossed the coins in the air, caught them like flies in the hollow of his hand, and then pitched wheel fashion over head and heels from one end of the room to the other.

Then, when he stood on his feet once more, he went on, without a sign of breathlessness: "Forgive me, my lord! Nature asserts her rights.

To play the pious for three whole hours! Eternal gods, that is a hard task, and a man must--" "I know all about it," Serapion broke in with a smile and a threatening finger.