IN the earlier times of Rome the priesthood was a profession, not of but of honour. It was embraced by the noblest citizens—it was forbidden to the . Afterwards, and long previous to the present date, it was equally open to all ranks; at least, that part of the profession which embraced the flamens, or priests—not of religion generally but of gods. Even the priest of Jupiter (the Flamen Dialis) preceded by a lictor, and entitled by his office to the entrance of the senate, at first the especial dignitary of the , was subsequently the choice of the people. The less national and less honored were usually served by ministers; and many embraced the profession, as now the Roman Catholic enter the monastic fraternity, less from the impulse of devotion than the suggestions of a calculating poverty. Thus Calenus, the priest of Isis, was of the lowest origin. His relations, though not his parents, were freedmen. He had received from them a liberal education, and from his father a small , which he had soon . He embraced the priesthood as a last resource from . Whatever the state of the sacred profession, which at that time were probably small, the officers of a popular temple could never complain of the profits of their calling. There is no profession so as that which practises on the of the multitude.  
Calenus had but one surviving relative at Pompeii, and that was Burbo. Various dark and disreputable ties, stronger than those of blood, united together their hearts and interests; and often the minister of Isis stole disguised and from the supposed austerity of his devotions; and through the back door of the gladiator, a man alike by and by profession, rejoiced to throw off the last rag of an which, but for the of , his ruling passion, would at all time have sat clumsily upon a nature too for even the of .
 
Wrapped in one of those large which came in use among the Romans in proportion as they dismissed the toga, whose ample folds well the form, and in which a sort of (attached to it) afforded no less a security to the features, Calenus now sat in the small and private of the wine-cellar, whence a small passage ran at once to that back entrance, with which nearly all the houses of Pompeii were furnished.
 
Opposite to him sat the sturdy Burbo, carefully counting on a table between them a little pile of coins which the priest had just poured from his purse—for purses were as common then as now, with this difference—they were usually better furnished!
 
'You see,' said Calenus, that we pay you handsomely, and you ought to thank me for recommending you to so a market.'
 
'I do, my cousin, I do,' replied Burbo, affectionately, as he swept the coins into a leathern receptacle, which he then deposited in his girdle, drawing the round his capacious waist more closely than he was to do in the lax hours of his domestic . 'And by Isis, Pisis, and Nisis, or whatever other gods there may be in Egypt, my little Nydia is a very Hesperides—a garden of gold to me.'
 
'She sings well, and plays like a muse,' returned Calenus; 'those are that he who employs me always pays liberally.'
 
'He is a god,' cried Burbo, enthusiastically; 'every rich man who is generous deserves to be worshipped. But come, a cup of wine, old friend: tell me more about it. What does she do? she is frightened, talks of her oath, and reveals nothing.'
 
'Nor will I, by my right hand! I, too, have taken that terrible oath of .'
 
'Oath! what are oaths to men like us?'
 
'True oaths of a common fashion; but this!'—and the stalwart priest as he . 'Yet,' he continued, in emptying a huge cup of unmixed wine, 'I own to thee, that it is not so much the oath that I as the of him who proposed it. By the gods! he is a sorcerer, and could draw my from the moon, did I dare to make it to her. Talk no more of this. By Pollux! wild as those banquets are which I enjoy with him, I am never quite at my ease there. I love, my boy, one jolly hour with thee, and one of the plain, unsophisticated, laughing girls that I meet in this chamber, all smoke-dried though it be, better than whole nights of those magnificent debauches.'
 
'Ho! sayest thou so! To-morrow night, please the gods, we will have then a .'
 
'With all my heart,' said the priest, rubbing his hands, and drawing himself nearer to the table.
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