The Sisters, Complete

e if I di

ted by Eulaeus, who had come in to the Pastophorium softly

ct one of the noblest of the sons of Rome is

y one is not disposed to answer, and on the present occasion I am n

to accompany you

me without any perm

nd am only fulfilling his command

d I cannot prevent

o consider that it would ill-become

ed the Roman. "At the door of the temple however you can get into your chariot, and

tongue of a serpent is rapidly put out and still more rapidly withdrawn-with a flash first of th

matched pair, and as he watched the burly Eulaeus following the young man, he put both his hands on his hips,

aughing when Klea appeared in front of his cell some few minutes after the departure of the Roman. He was

you to the procession, that I know. Have you had bad news of your parents? You shake your head. Come, child, perhaps you are thinking of some one more than you ought;

d and protector, and waving her hand in the air as if to cut off the

you unbecomingly?"

ce quite foreign to her usual gentle demeanor, "yes,

ook even at the glorious sun and at the lovely flowe

Roman is neither higher nor lower than I, the eye speaks as plain a language as the tongue, and what his

you avoid his g

old yo

he meant to quit Egypt; but I have persuaded him to remain, for if th

is eyes pursued me in the processions; yesterday I still did not recognize my danger, but to-day-I must tell you, for you are like a father to me, and who else in the world can I confide in?-to-day I was able to avoid his gaze, and yet all through long endless hours of the festival I felt his eyes constantly seeking mine. I should have been certain I was under no delusion, even if Publius Scipio-but what business has his name on my lips?-even if the Roman had not boasted to you of his attacks on a defenceless girl. And to think that you, you of all others, should have become his ally! But you would not, no indeed you would not, if

like one possessed. Go to the temple and pray, or, if that is of

our parents, for what threatens us here is more frightful than having to sift gold-dust in the scorching sun, or to crush quartz in mortar

out his neck to put his head near to the girl's, and opening hi

lea, "how meagrely the revenu

ute; but you, as it seems to me, were kept scantily enough, worse than meanly, for, as I know-since it passed through my hands-a sum was paid to the temple for your maintenance which would have sufficed to keep ten hungry sailors,

the hymns of lamentation, as Isis and Nephthys, by the bier of the deceased god on the occasion of the festivals of the dead, and in pouring out the libations with wailing and outcries when the bodies were brought into the temple to be blessed. These maidens, Asclepiodorus says, are now too old and ugl

And none but twins-so say the ordinances-m

r lip. "Irene's hair is to be dyed black like mine, and the soles

to make light hair dark than dark hair light," said Serapion with hardly suppres

myself ready, not from fear, but because we owe much to the tem

sclepi

s of the twin-sisters, to give us a better dwelling and more abundant food. I believe he has been trying to make us amenable by supplying us badly with food, just as falcons are trained by hunger. Perhaps I am doing him an injustice, but I feel only too much disposed to-day to think the worst of him and of the other fathers. Be that as it may; at any rate he made me no further answer when I persisted in my refusal, but dismissed me with an injunction to present myself before him again in three days'

oughtfully to himself for a few minutes wit

d you how often those condemned to forced labor in the mines had their relations sent after them. Ah! child, the words of Asclepiodorus have a sinister meaning. The calmness and pride, with which you look at me make me fear for you, and yet, as you know, I am not one of the timid and tremulous. Certainly what they propose to you is repulsive enough, but submit to it; it is to be hoped it will not be for long. Do it for my sake and for that of poor Irene, for though you might know how to assert your dignity and take care of yourself outside these walls in the rough and greedy world, little Irene never could. And besides, Klea,

l from his eyes one after another down his beard, and

when she saw her rough friend weeping, but she remained

erself, and to me-who stand in the place of a mother to her-from morning till night a martyrizing reproach! But what do I care about myself-I would disguise myself as the goddess without even making a wry face, and be led to the bier, and wail and groan so that every hearer would be cut to the heart, for my soul is already possessed by sorrow; it is like the eyes of a man, who has gone blind from the constant flow of salt tears. Perhaps singing the hymns of lamentation might relieve my soul, which is as full o

his hands, and Klea, hastily turning away fr

in their room, which was beginning to be dark as twilight fell, she did not immediately catch sight of her sist

tenderly up to the weeping child, over

, repelling her caress like a perverse child; and then, when Klea tried to soothe her by

d you-you don't care about me at all and leave me alone all this time in this nasty dusty hole! I declare I will not endure it any longer, an