"Of me? And what do they wish?" asked Actæon in surprise, looking at the mournful Sónnica.
"They wish you to start for Rome this very night. Here is gold! Take also these tablets which will serve as credentials, so that the Senate shall recognize you as an embassador extraordinary from Saguntum. We are not sending you to a festival. The exit is difficult, and it will be even more difficult to find, on these enemy-infested shores, anyone to convey you to Rome. You should start to-night; this moment, if possible; letting yourself down from the walls of the Acropolis, on the side toward the mountains where there are fewer enemies; to-morrow may be too late. Fly, and return soon with the aid which we await with anguish!"
Actæon took the gold and the tablets which Alcon offered him, but not without making excuses, realizing the gravity of the undertaking.
"No one can perform the mission better," said the Saguntine; "that is why I have turned to you. Your life has been spent running over the world; you speak many tongues; and you are not lacking in finesse and valor. Are you acquainted with Rome?"
"No, my father's father made war against her, under orders of Pyrrhus."
"Then go to her now as a friend, as an ally, and may the gods grant that some day we shall bless the moment in which you came to Saguntum!"
Actæon was not eager to start. It seemed to him a shameful act to abandon the city at that critical moment, to leave Sónnica within a besieged town.
"I am a stranger, Alcon," he said simply. "No tie of blood unites me to your fate. Are you not afraid that I shall flee forever, leaving you abandoned?"
"No, Athenian, I know you, and that is why I have stood responsible for your fidelity to the Elders. Sónnica also has sworn that you will return if you do not fall into the power of the enemy."
The Greek looked at his beloved as if asking her whether he should go, and she bowed her head, resigned to the sacrifice. Actæon then expressed himself as ready.