"Nay, it is not such a bad piece of work," replied the steward, "but it
is out of their reach; for the ground on which it stands belongs to my
old mistress, and the law protects private property.--You must at your
leisure inspect the ship-yard here; it is perhaps the most extensive in
the world. The timber that is piled there--cedar of Lebanon, oak from
Pontus and heavy iron-wood from Ethiopia--is worth hundreds of
talents."

"And does all that belong to your master?"

"No; the owner is the grandson of a freedman, formerly in his family.
Now they are very rich and highly respected, and Master Clemens sits in
the Senate. There he is--that man in a white robe."

"A Christian, I should imagine," observed the singer.

"Very true;" replied the steward. "But what is good remains good, and he
is a worthy and excellent man notwithstanding. He keeps a tight hand
over the ship-yard here and over the others too by the harbor of
Eunostus. Only Clemens can never let other people have their own
opinions; in that he is just like the rest of them. Every slave he buys
must become a Christian and his sons are the same; even Constantine,
though he is an officer in the imperial army and as smart and clever a
soldier as lives.--As far as we are concerned we leave every man to his
own beliefs. Porphyrius makes no secret of his views and all the vessels
we use in the corn-trade are built by Christians.--But here we are."

The boat stopped at a broad flight of marble steps which led from the
lake into the garden of Porphyrius' house. Karnis as he walked through