Sextus sank into his seat exhausted. The silence that followed for a few moments thundered. What eyes were not turned on Aleph were fastened on Malus. But the wooden face said nothing; only the wood was several shades darker than usual.
Piso resumed: “The testimony we have just heard is as weighty as it was unexpected. What Sextus Flaccus has now said about the principles and practices of Malus has long been said under breath by great numbers who have dealt with him. It is well understood in the city that Malus is not a man to stop at any safe way of accomplishing his purposes of gain, or any other purposes. A whole army of victims would appear against him, if it could be understood that it would be safe to do so—would have appeared long ago but for the conviction that the monster that devours them is too big a monster and too well fenced by his scales to be successfully attacked, or even complained of. He is the successor of the Lernean Hydra, from whom all but Hercules felt compelled to hide.
“This is the eminent citizen who thinks that nameless Nobodies ought not to have their testimony taken as against him. I admit that Cimon the Greek and Aleph the Chaldean were strangers here a few days ago, and are still strangers to most of our people. And yet they have found means so to introduce themselves to the confidence of some of our most honorable citizens that these citizens are willing to vouch for them: in which case they stand before the law and the public with all the prestige of their sponsors.
“But I am unwilling to have my clients rest their claim to respectability and consideration on the dignity of any other people, however high, who are willing to vouch for them. It is unnecessary. They have an honorable standing of their own. It is written in their very faces and bearing. Who is Cimon the Greek? It appears from this certified copy of the records of the University that thirty years ago a young man with that name and of illustrious Athenian descent greatly distinguished himself above all his companions in all branches of learning and gentlemanly accomplishment. This young man is Cimon the Greek—as two of the older teachers in the University have been able to recognize and are here to testify.
“And who is Aleph the Chaldean? You have only to look upon him to know that he is Somebody: how much of a body, so far as social standing is concerned, this packet which I now take up from the table ought to tell. Those of you who sit near me can see that the seal is yet unbroken. I now break it; and, on removing certain wraps, come to this” (he held up to view a roll of vellum richly blazoned and bearing a broad seal). “This document is bordered with many jewels, the value of which some of you can judge of better than myself, but which yet my limited knowledge of such matters assures me to be quite great enough to authenticate the written contents. So costly a credential as this is beyond the reach of an impostor, and was doubtless chosen for this reason. What are the contents?”
He paused, and read in silence. Then, holding up the vellum so as to display the seal, he resumed:
“This seal bears on it the figure of a crown. The script is in three languages—Latin, Greek, and Chaldean. I will read the Greek:
“To all whom it may concern:
“‘I, Jasper Daniel Atropates, King of Median Atropatene and pontiff of the Most High God, foreseeing that occasion may arise for such a document as this, do hereby certify that the bearer is my only son, Prince Aleph Daniel, whom I send with his Greek preceptor and my chief counsellor into Egypt for purposes altogether peaceful, viz.: to study the institutions and learning of the West, to enlarge his knowledge of life and man, and to act for me, in conjunction with his companion, in all my business affairs in that land.
“‘To this I affix the seal of my kingdom.’