did not tell his ally; but he declared that Macrinus was as wax in his
hands, and he came to an agreement with the Egyptian that if he,
Serapion, should bring about the promotion for which Zminis sighed,
Zminis, on his part, should give him a free hand, and commend his arts to
Caesar.

It needed but a few minutes to conclude this compact; but then the Magian
proceeded to insist that Alexander's father and brother should be made
away with.

"Impossible," replied Zminis. "I should be only too glad to wring the
necks of the whole brood; but, as it is, I am represented to Caesar as
too stern and ruthless. And a pretty little slut, old Heron's daughter,
has entangled him in her toils."

"No," said Serapion, positively. "I have seen the girl, and she is as
innocent as a child. But I know the force of contrast: when depravity
meets purity--"

"Come, no philosophizing!" interrupted the other. "We have better
things to attend to, and one or the other may turn to your advantage."

And he told him that Caesar, whose whim it was to spare Alexander's life,
regarded Melissa as an incarnation of Roxana.

"That is worth considering," said the Magian, stroking his beard
meditatively; then he suddenly exclaimed:

"By the law, as you know, all the relatives of a state criminal are sent
to the quarries or the mines. Dispatch Heron and his philosopher son