"Thou speakest earnestly, my uncle Sepa," I said; "one might almost think that thou hadst not come unscathed through this fierce fire of temptation.

Well, for myself, I fear not woman and her wiles; I know naught of them, and naught do I wish to know; and I still hold that this Caesar was a fool.

Had I stood where Caesar stood, to cool its wantonness that bale of rugs should have been rolled down the palace steps, into the harbour mud." "Nay, cease! cease!" he cried aloud.

"It is evil to speak thus; may the Gods avert the omen and preserve to thee this cold strength of which thou boastest.

Oh! man, thou knowest not!--thou in thy strength and beauty that is without compare, in the power of thy learning and the sweetness of thy tongue--thou knowest not! The world where thou must mix is not a sanctuary as that of the Divine Isis.