wherewith to do his share toward "building again the walls of Jerusalem,"
as he calls it. He has a home in every city of the East. It was toward
Palmyra that he was bending his way: and, as I now remember, promised that
he would see me here not many days after I should arrive, and have the
pleasure, as he trusted, to sell me more of his goods; for you must be
told that I did indeed traffic with him, however little it became a
patrician of Rome. And here I have about me, in a little casket, some
rings which I purchased of him, having upon them heads of Zenobia and
Odenatus, resembling the originals to the life, as he assured me with much
asseveration. See, Fausta, here they are. Look now, and tell me if he has
spoken in this instance the truth; if so, it will be a ground for trusting
him farther.'

'Beautiful!' exclaimed both Gracchus and Fausta. 'He has indeed dealt
honestly with you. Nothing can be more exact than these resemblances, and
the workmanship is worthy the hand of Demetrius the Greek.'

'Provincials,' said I, 'ever know the capital and its fashions better than
citizens. Now never till Isaac, my Jew friend, rehearsed to me the praises
of Demetrius the jeweller, had I ever heard his name, or aught concerning
his skill, and here in the heart of Asia he seems a household word.'

'It is so, indeed,' said Gracchus. 'I do not doubt that the fashionable
artists of every kind in Rome are better known to the followers of fashion
in Palmyra than they are to the patricians themselves. Wanting the real
greatness of Rome, we try to surpass her in the trappings of greatness. We
are well represented by the frog of AEsop; happy, if our swelling pride do
not destroy us. But these rings--they are indeed of exquisite art. The
head of Odenatus is truer to life, methinks, than that of the Queen.'