The solemn admonitions he had just heard affected him deeply, for
the reason that they appeared to apply so specially to Sah-luma,--
and the idea that any evil fate was in store for the bright,
beautiful creature, whom he had, oddly enough, learned to love
more than himself, moved him to an almost womanish apprehension.
In case of pressing necessity, could he exercise any authority
over the capricious movements of the wilful Laureate, whose
egotism was so absolute, whose imperious ways were so charming,
whose commands were never questioned?

He doubted it! ... for Sah-luma was accustomed to follow the lead
of his own immediate pleasure, in reckless scorn of consequences,
--and it was not likely he would listen to the persuasions or
exhortations, however friendly, of any one presuming to run
counter to his wishes.

Again and again Theos asked himself--"If Sah-luma of his own
accord, and despite all warning, deliberately rushed into deadly
peril, could I, even loving him as I do, rescue him?"--And as he
pondered on this, a strange answer shaped itself unbidden in his
brain--an answer that seemed as though it were spoken aloud by
some interior voice.. "No,--no!--ten thousand times no! You could
not save him any more than you could save yourself from the
results of your own misdoing! If you voluntarily choose evil, not
all the forces in the world can lift you into good,--if you
voluntarily choose danger, not all the gods can bring you into
safety! FREE WILL is the divine condition attached to human life,
and each man by thought, word, and deed, determines his own fate,
and decides his own future!"