"Pardon me," replied Ursus. "I said that the power existed only in the herb sferra cavallo. I never denied the virtue of any herb. "And he added, in a low voice, "Nor of any woman."
By this extraneous addition to his answer Ursus proved to himself that, anxious as he was, he was not disheartened. Ursus was a compound of terror and presence of mind.
"To continue," resumed Rhadamanthus; "you have declared that it was folly in Scipio, when he wished to open the gates of Carthage, to use as a key the herb æthiopis, because the herb æthiopis has not the property of breaking locks."
"I merely said that he would have done better to have used the herb lunaria."
"That is a matter of opinion," murmured Rhadamanthus, touched in his turn.
And the man of history was silent.
The theologian, Minos, having recovered consciousness, questioned Ursus anew. He had had time to consult his notes.
"You have classed orpiment among the products of arsenic, and you have said that it is a poison. The Bible denies this."
"The Bible denies, but arsenic affirms it," sighed Ursus.
The man whom Ursus called Æacus, and who was the representative of medicine, had not yet spoken; but now looking down on Ursus, with proudly half-closed eyes, he said, "The answer is not without some show of reason."
Ursus thanked him with his most cringing smile.
Minos frowned frightfully. "I resume," he said. "You have said that it is false that the basilisk is the king of serpents, under the name of cockatrice."
