"That is very judicious," replied the senator.

"We might otherwise have had to quit the Circus a great deal quicker
than we came in. We shall hardly get home with dry garments as it is.
Look how the lights up there are flaring; you can hear the lashing
of the storm, and such flashes are not produced by machinery. Zeus is
preparing his bolts, and if the storm bursts--"

Here his discourse was interrupted by the sound of trumpets, mingling
with the roar of distant thunder following a vivid flash. The procession
now began, which was the preliminary to every such performance.

The statues of the gods had, before Caesar's arrival, been placed on the
pedestals erected for them to prevent any risk of a demonstration at
the appearance of the deified emperors. The priests now first marched
solemnly round these statues, and Timotheus poured a libation on the
sand to Serapis, while the priest of Alexandria did the same to
the tutelary hero of the town. Then the masters of the games, the
gladiators, and beast-fighters came out, who were to make proof of their
skill. As the priests approached Caesar's dais, Caracalla came forward
and greeted the spectators, thus showing himself for the first time.

While he was still sitting behind the screen, he had sent for Melissa,
who had obeyed the command, under the protection of Euryale, and he had
spoken to her graciously. He now took no further notice of her, of
her father, or her brother, and by his orders their places had been
separated by some little distance from his. By the advice of Timotheus
he would not let her be seen at his side till the stars had once more
been consulted, and he would then conduct Melissa to the Circus as his
wife-the day after to-morrow, perhaps. He thanked the matron for having
escorted Melissa, and added, with a braggart air of virtue, that the
world should see that he, too, could sacrifice the most ardent wish of
his heart to moral propriety.

The elephant torch-bearers had greatly delighted him, and in the
expectation of seeing Melissa again, and of a public recognition that he
had won the fairest maid there, he had come into the Circus in the best
spirits. He still wore his natural expression; yet now and then his brow
was knit, for he was haunted by the eyes of Seleukus's wife. The haughty
woman--"that bedizened Niobe" he had contemptuously called her in
speaking to Macrinus--had appeared to him as an avenging goddess;
strangely enough, every time he