hem more calmly, and tried to
affect indifference. He inquired of Philostratus, as though he wished
to be informed, whether he did not think that the artist who had modeled
these figures must be a very clever follow; and when the philosopher
assented conditionally, he declared that he saw some resemblance to
himself--in the features of the apple-dealer. And then he pointed to his
own straight legs, only slightly disfigured by an injury to the ankle,
to show how shamefully unfair it was to compare them with the lower
limbs of a misshapen dwarf. Finally, the figure of the apple-dealer--a
hideous pygmy form, with the head of an old man, like enough to his
own--roused his curiosity. What was the point of this image? What
peculiarity was it intended to satirize? The basket which hung about the
neck of the figure was full of fruit, and the object he held in his hand
might be an apple, or might be anything else.

With eager and constrained cheerfulness, he inquired the opinion of his
"friends," treating as sheer flattery a suggestion from his favorite,
Theocritus, that this was not an apple-dealer, but a human figure, who,
though but a dwarf in comparison with the gods, nevertheless endowed the
world with the gifts of the immortals.

Alexander and Philostratus could offer no explanation; but when the
proconsul, Julius Paulinus, observed that the figure was offering
the apples for money, as Caesar offered the Roman citizenship to the
provincials, he knew for what, Caracalla nodded agreement.

He then provisionally appointed Aristides to the coveted office. The
Egyptian should be informed as to his fate. When the prefect was about
to remove the figures, Caesar hastily forbade it, and ordered the
bystanders to withdraw. Alexander alone was commanded to remain. As soon
as they were together, Caesar sprang up and vehemently demanded to
know what news he had brought. But the young man hesitated to begin his
report. Caracalla, of his own accord, pledged his word once more to
keep his oath, and then Alexander assured him that he knew no more than
Caesar who were the authors of the epigrams which he had picked up here
and there; and, though the satire they contained was venomous in some
cases, still he, the sovereign of the world, stood so high that he could
laugh them to scorn, as Socrates had laughed when Aristophanes placed
him on the stage.

Caesar declared that he scorned these flies, but that their buzzing
annoyed him.

Ale