He narrated everything except that he
had been a slave, representing himself as a client of Aurelius
Lucanus, who had been grievously wronged by him. He told how he had
discovered, one day in the public Forum, that the son and daughter of
the lawyer were Christians, and Aurelius sympathized with them; how,
by the chief priest's desire, he had assisted in tracking many more of
the despised sect, of whom several hundred were now languishing in
prison, among them, Octavia the widow of the proud Senator Aureus
Cantus, and her son and daughter.
Lycias passed his big hand over his smoothly shaven face to hide his
expression of disgust. He rose.
"If you permit, honored sir, I will now retire, with the hope that we
shall meet again."
"Willingly will I continue the conversation. Perhaps--" Alyrus was
swelling with importance, "it would interest you to visit the prisons
and see these Christians before they are thrown into the arena. I
understand that you are first on the program."
"Yes. I had thought of asking such a privilege as a visit to these
prisoners.
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