himself it is true, still he felt lighter and freer in the absence of his
grave monitor than he had been for a long time. It would be delightful,
he thought, to go on living in this careless manner, alone with Arsinoe
and the children, and now and again he rubbed his hands and grinned
complacently. When the old slave-woman brought a large dish full of
cakes which he had desired her to buy, and set it down by the side of the
children's porridge, he chuckled so heartily that his fat person shook
and swayed; and he had very good reason to be happy in his way, for
Plutarch quite early in the morning, had sent a heavy purse of gold
pieces for his ivory cup, and a magnificent bunch of roses to Arsinoe;
he might give his children a treat, buy himself a solid gold fillet, and
dress Arsinoe as finely as though she were the prefect's favorite
daughter.

His vanity was gratified in every particular.

And what a splendid fellow was the slave who now--with a superbly
reverential bow-presented him with a roast chicken and who was to walk
behind him in the afternoon to the council-chamber. The tall Thessalian
who marched after the Archidikastes to the Hall of justice, carrying his
papers, was hardly grander than his "body-servant." He had bought him
yesterday at quite a low price. The well-grown Samian was scarcely
thirty years old; he could read and write and was in a position therefore
to instruct the children in these arts; nay, he could even play the lute.
His past, to be sure, was not a spotless record, and it was for that
reason that he had been sold so cheaply. He had stolen things on several
occasions; but the brands and scars which he bore upon his person were
hidden by his new chiton and Keraunus felt in himself the power to cure
him of his evil propensities.