'That will they!--that will they, indeed!' cried Fausta; 'there is not a
Palmyrene who, had he two lives, would not give one for liberty, and the
other for his good Queen. You do not know Zenobia, Lucius, nor can you
tell, therefore, how reasonable the affection is which binds every heart
to her as to a mother or a sister.'

'But enough of this for the present,' said Gracchus; 'let us leave the
affairs of nations, and ascend to those of private individuals--for I
suppose your philosophy teaches you, as it does me, that individual
happiness is the object for which governments are instituted, and that
they are therefore less than this. Let us ascend, I say, from the policy
of Rome and of Aurelian, to the private affairs of our friend Lucius Piso;
for your letter gives me the privilege of asking you to tell us, in all
frankness and love, what, beside the pleasure of seeing us, brings you so
far from Rome. It is, you hint, a business of a painful nature. Use me and
Fausta, as you would in Rome Portia and the good Lucilia, with the same
freedom and the same assurance of our friendship.'

'Do so, indeed,' added Fausta, with affectionate warmth, 'and feel that,
in addressing us, you are entrusting your thoughts to true and
long-tried friends.'

'I have,' replied I, 'but little to communicate, but that little is great
in its interest, and demands immediate action; and touching what shall be
most expedient to be done, I shall want and shall ask your deliberate
counsel. You are well aware, alas! too well aware, of the cruel fate of my
parent, the truly great Cneius Piso, whom to name is always a spring of
strength to my virtues. With the unhappy Valerian, to whom he clung to the
last, resolved to die with him, or suffer with him whatever the fates
should decree, he passed into captivity; but of too proud a spirit to