The year 146 B.C. was an annus mirabilis in the development of Roman dominion. Of course it had long been a foregone conclusion that Carthage and Corinth must fall before her, but the actual time of their overthrow was made all the more striking by the fact that both cities perished in the same year, and that both were visited by the same fate.

I have attempted in this story to group some picturesque inci-dents round the person of a young Greek who struggles in vain to resist the destiny of t...