In the end after the great spring festival, for the captain said that it
would not be fortunate to leave until this had been celebrated, they
set sail and came by way of Rhodes to the Island of Crete, and thence
touching at Cythera to Syracuse in Sicily, and so at last to Rhegium.
Here the merchant, Demetrius, transhipped his goods into a vessel that
was sailing to the port of Centum Cellae, and having reached that place
hired transport to convey them to Rome, nearly forty miles away.
CHAPTER XXI
THE CAESARS AND PRINCE DOMITIAN
When the captain Gallus reached the outskirts of Rome he halted, for
he did not desire that Miriam should be led through the streets in the
daytime, and thus cause questions to be asked concerning her. Also he
sent on a messenger bidding the man find out his wife, Julia, if she
were still alive, since of this Gallus, who had not seen her for several
years, could tell nothing, and inform her that he would be with her
shortly, bringing with him a maiden who had been placed in his charge
by Titus. Before nightfall, the messenger returned, and with him Julia
herself, a woman past middle-age, but, although grey-haired, still
handsome and stately.
Miriam saw their meeting, which was a touching sight, since this
childless couple who had been married for almost thirty years, had now
been separated for a long time.
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