“Verily we are thankful, and fully persuaded both of the wisdom and goodness of thy choice,” replied Vivian.
“By Pallas! it doth seem strange! I had already directed the oarsmen to make ready the small barge for an excursion up the Cydnus, and was almost in readiness to depart. But a mysterious impulse seized me to change the plan, and to order the Nereid to be manned for a day’s cruise instead. Something well nigh like a voice importuned me to ‘put out to sea,’ and I obeyed.”
“A truce to thy superstition,” said Leander. “Thou art always eager for mystery, and unable to believe thy senses. I rejoice in thine altered purpose, and that through it our friends can continue their sea voyage, instead of taking a rough one over the Styx; but verily, thy fancy hath become unruly.”
“O faithless Greek! thou believest nothing! Thou shouldst deny that the wind ever bloweth because thou canst not see its color and shape! I am persuaded that oracular voices are not alone in temples. Peradventure the gods whispered to me!”
Leander shrugged his shoulders, and good-humoredly smiled, with a derisive air.
“Shades of Pluto! only children and women believe the unbelievable!”
Marcius was undisturbed by the reckless sarcasm of his friend, and calmly continued,—
“He who limits his belief to the testimony of the [pg 314]senses is a fool, and only lightly skims the surface of life. What sayest thou, Master Vivian?”
The flight of years had wrought an important change both in the character and social position of Marcius, but the improvement in Leander was much more superficial.
The mysterious meeting face to face with Alethea in the adytum of the Temple proved to be an important event in the experience and pursuits of the Roman. After the weird night of that notable judgment and warning, which through beautiful but terribly earnest lips were wafted from the realm of the Unseen, he had become a man of higher ideals. Though fond of races, athletics, and sports in general, the overt vices of former years fell away, and he grew thoughtful, reserved, and even kindly in his disposition. Being of patrician lineage, and possessing excellent native ability as well as great wealth, he had, by the imperial edict of the Emperor Tiberius, recently been appointed Vice Legate of Tarsus and its outlying provinces, so that he was now next in rank to the Roman governor. After the reign of Tiberius he was continued in the same position by Gaius, and still afterwards by Claudius.