The Nemesis : A Tale Of The Days Of Trajan.

as conquerors to their captives ; as the brightly crested snake , Avhen twitting round his A ictini , lie crushes forth the soul . " If she be cruel , Adrian , Avhy Avaste thy love upon so senseless an object ? Forget her , there

are maidens fairer than even she , AVIIO Avill listen to thy suit , and more kindly and nobly grace thy heart . " Forget her , ah easy , my Caius , for thee to talk so , with the glad soul which thy contented heart

yields thee . I love thee Avell , cousin , " he continued , taking Caius by the hand , " dearer than ' my other friends , than life itself . It is at thy service any day . I love thee , not that thou art their superior , not because thou art our Rome ' s best soldier—not because thou hast the Avreath

of Virgil to circle thy broAV . Not even for the ties of friendship aud of blood . No , I love thee because thou art mine opposite , calm where I am wild , ice Avhere I am fire , and yet I c . o not envy thee thy contented soul .

" I do not understand thee , Adrian . I cannot tell Avhy I love thee , I loved thee in my cradle almost—at least from our earliest memories . Does

not the poet say that hearts Avhich have beat together tenderly at the nurse ' s breast , need no other reason for their love . My cousin , dicl not the breast which gave thee suck , when father and mother died , take in the orphan and cradle it

Avith thee her precious charge . Did we not lose our mothers at our birth , was not our nurse the same ?"

" My cousin , thou art a poet , while I stand upon a mountain of ashes vainly attempting with the rod of knowledge or the wings of Daedalus to enter heaven , thy soul of music mounts on a god's wing , and dashes into the Great Spirit ' s presence .

Still my cousin , I do not envy thee even that . It is true that I may fall and die beneath this Siren ' s feet , crushed like flowers into the miry clay by her strong wheels , nor catch from her eyes one smile ; but even this love , so Avild , so unfortunate , Avill make me thy superior , as yonder sun shines down our altar's flame .

" What means this frenzy , " cried Gains much alarmed , " Adrian tell me at once , AVIIO it is thou lovest . Can she be so cruel ?" "In one Avord then , " said Adrian , turning his eyes Avitha smile to Caius , who Avas Avatching him

with an anxious look , " one Avord Avill toll thee all I love—it is not formidable . I love philosophy . "

Caius looked at him with a puzzled air for an instant , and then burst out laughing , " ah , by the great twin brethren , I feared it Avas some heartless Avorldly minded coquette . " "Dost thou judge me then , Caius , to be so

foolish , so criminally weak , that I should Avaste one moment ' s thought upon these hell-born toys \ I -. Thy poets' brain Avill ever Avancler amid the clouds , and thy fancy picture every painted piece of sin some strayed inhabitant of Elysium .

Lucretia ' sdays , my simple honest Caius , are among the legends of other times ; IIOAV , IIOAV , gold buys you love in every mart . I know the sex too Avell to fix me there . "

Plucking a mountain heath he continued , " do'st see this floAver , so small , and yet minutely beautiful . It is perhaps little in thine eyes , or at the best may yield thee material for some jingling metaphor ; yet to me it is of greater moment than your

tedious plays , your chamberings , your holding boars at bay , your sickening essences , and your languishing dames that daintily pinch the squeaking lute . This speaks to me of something beyond our earth . See yon IIOAV fair it is , each leaf

clear and so shapely cut—and view the colours ! Can y-our dames , my friend , show eyes so blue , or lips so red , or tears so pure as are those spa-riding drops of CIBAV ? Go to , Avith all thy skill , Avith all the skill of Phidias coulds ' t thou create me such a o-em ?"

"Nay , nay my friend ; AVIIO can , but He who reigns on high , the mighty -Jove ? The creature cannot cope the Avork of the Creator . " "Not even Phidias ?" ' " Not even he ?"

"Hast thou forgotten that incident of the great Sculptor , Caius , how when the people ordered him to give form to the father of the gods ancl men , ono sage came , ancl found fault Avith tiie brow , another with the eye , another with

the nose , ancl so throughout the figure . Well , the day came for the unveiling of the figure , the people shouted out on beholding it , ' that is not Jove . ' ' No , ' cried the Sculptor , ' that is not Jove , that is your Jove , but UOAV behold the God . '''

Where-. vith he unveiled another statue upon which he had been secret !) ' labouring , and before it the people prostrated themselves , exclaiming , * This is God . '" " Therein Avas displayed the poAver of genius , ''' said Gains . "Aye , then Jupiter made this little floAver ,.