dria had been announced, and this had made it impossible for him
to be present at the grand reception, or even to pay his respects to
Caracalla.

When Philip had sent in his name, Titianus had been very ready to
receive him; but while the philosopher was still waiting in the
anteroom, wondering to find it so empty--for it was usually crowded with
the clients, petitioners, and friends of the most important man in
the province--a bustle had arisen behind him, and a tall man had been
ushered in past him, whom he recognized as the senator on whose arm
Caracalla had leaned in the morning. This was the actor, whom the priest
of Serapis had pointed out to Melissa as one of Caesar's most powerful
favorites. From being a mere dancer he had risen in the course of a few
years to the highest dignities. His name was Theocritus, and although he
was distinguished by great personal beauty and exceptional cleverness,
his unbridled greed had made him hated, and he had proved equally
incompetent as a statesman and a general.

As this man marched through the anteroom, he had glanced haughtily about
him, and the look of contempt which fell on the philosopher probably
reflected on the small number of persons present, for at that hour the
anterooms of Romans of rank were commonly thronged. Most visitors had
been dismissed, by reason of the prefect's illness, and many of the
acquaintances and supplicants who were generally to be found here were
assembled in the imperial quarters, or in the rooms of the praetorian
prefect and other powerful dignitaries in Caracalla's train. Titianus
had failed to be present at the emperor's arrival, and keen courtier
noses smelled a fall, and judged it wise to keep out of the way of a
tottering power.

Besides all this, the prefect's honesty was well known, and it was
strongly suspected that he, as steward of all the taxes of this wealthy
province, had been bold enough to reject a proposal made by Theocritus
to embezzle the whole freight of a fleet loaded with corn for Rome, and
charge it to the account of army munitions. It was a fact that this base
proposal had been made and rejected only the evening before, and the
scene of which Philip became the witness was the result of this refusal.

Theocritus, to whom an audience was always indispensable, carefully
left the curtains apart which divided the prefect's sick-room from
the antechamber, and thus Philip was witness of the proceedings he now
described to h