only in name; for though they still believed in the one God of their
fathers instead of in a crowd of Olympian deities, the One whom they
worshipped was no longer the almighty and jealous God of their nation,
but the all-pervading plasmic and life-giving Spirit with whom the Greeks
had become familiar through Plato.

Every hour that they had spent in each other's company had widened
the gulf between Apollodorus and Gamaliel, and the relations of the
Alexandrian to the sage had become almost intolerable, when he learnt
that the old man--who was related to himself--had come to Egypt with his
nephew, in order to demand the daughter of Apollodorus in marriage. But
the fair Ismene was not in the least disposed to listen to this grave and
bigoted suitor. The home of her people was to her a barbarous land, the
young astronomer filled her with alarm, and besides all this her heart
was already engaged; she had given it to the son of Alabarchos, who was
the Superior of all the Israelites in Egypt, and this young man possessed
the finest horse in the whole city, with which he had won several races
in the Hippodrome, and he also had distinguished her above all the
maidens. To him, if to any one, would she give her hand, and she had
explained herself to this effect to her father when he informed her of
Ben Jochai's suit, and Apollodorus, who had lost his wife several years
before, had neither the wish nor the power to put any pressure on his
pretty darling.

To be sure the temporizing nature of the man rendered it very difficult
to him to give a decided no to his venerable old friend; but it had to be
done sooner or later, and the present evening seemed to him an
appropriate moment for this unpleasant task.

He was alone with his guests. His daughter had gone to the house of a