ore her stood the vast Temple of Serapis, founded,
as it were, for eternity, on a substructure of rock and closely fitted
masonry, the noblest building on earth of any dedicated to the gods.
The great cupola rose to the blue sky as though it fain would greet the
sister vault above with its own splendor, and the copper-plating which
covered it shone as dazzling as a second sun. From the wide front of the
temple, every being to whom the prayers and worship of mortals could be
offered looked down on her, hewn in marble or cast in bronze; for on
the roof, on brackets or on pedestals; in niches or as supporting the
parapets and balconies, were statues of all the guests at the Olympian
banquet, with images or busts of every hero or king, philosopher, poet,
or artist whose deeds or works had earned him immortality.

From infancy Melissa had looked up at this temple with admiration
and pride, for here every art had done its utmost to make it without
parallel on earth. It was the work of her beloved native city, and her
mother had often taken her into the Serapeum, where she herself had
found comfort in many a sorrow and disappointment, and had taught the
child to love it. That it had afterward been spoiled for her she forgot
in her present mood.

Never had she seen the great temple surrounded by so much gay and busy
life. The front of the building, toward the square, had in the early
hours of the morning been decked with garlands and heavy wreaths of
flowers, by a swarm of slaves standing on ladders and planks and benches
let down from the roof by ropes. The inclined ways, by which vehicles
drove up to the great door, were still deserted, and on the broad steps
in the middle no one was to be seen as yet but a few priests in gala
robes, and court officials; but the immense open space in front of the
sanctuary was one great camp, where, among the hastily pitched canvas
tents, horses were being dressed and weapons polished. Several maniples
of the praetorians and of the Macedonian phalanx were already drawn
up in compact ranks, to relieve guard at the gate of the imperial
residence, and stand at Caesar's orders.

But more attractive to the girl than all this display were a number of
altars which had been erected at the extreme edge of the great square,
and on each of which a fire was burning. Heavy clouds of smoke went up
from them in the still, pure atmosphere, like aerial columns, while the
flames, paling in the beams of the m