urtains of crimson silk, like vivid stains of blood
upon the walls of cream and gold, fluttered restlessly in the breeze.
Around the litter a crowd of his own slaves and attendants remained
congregated, but he himself stood isolated on the lowest gradient of the
central rostrum, leaning his powerful frame against the marble, with
arms folded across his mighty chest; his deep-set eyes were overshadowed
by heavy brows and his square forehead cut across by the furrow of a
perpetual frown which gave the whole face a strange expression of
untamed will and of savage pride, in no way softened by the firm lines
of the tightly closed lips or the contour of the massive jaws.

His lictors, at some little distance from him, kept his person well
guarded, but it was he who, with word or nod, directed the progress of
the sale, giving occasional directions to the lictors who--wielding
heavy flails--had much ado to keep the herd of human cattle within the
bounds of its pens. His voice was harsh and peremptory and he pronounced
the Latin words with but the faintest semblance of foreign intonation.

Now and then at a word from a likely purchaser he would with a sign
order a lictor to pick out one of his wares, to drag him forward out of
a compact group and set him up on the catasta. A small crowd would then
collect round the slave thus exposed, the tablet on his neck would be
carefully perused and the chattel made to turn round and round, to walk
backwards and forwards, to show his teeth and his muscle, whilst the
African up on the rostrum would with loud voice and profuse gesture
point out every line of beauty on a lithe body and expatiate on the full
play of every powerful muscle.

The slave thus singled out for show seemed neither resentful nor
distressed, ready enough most times to exhibit his merits, anxious only
for the chance of a good master and the momentary avoidance of the
lictor's flail. At the praefect's bidding he cracked his knuckles or
showed his teeth, strained the muscles of his arm to make them stand up
like cords, turned a somersault, jumped, danced or stood on his head if
ordered so to do.

The women were more timid and very frightened of blows, especially the
older ones; the younger shoulders escaped a chastisement which would
have marred their beauty, and the pretty maids from Corinth or
Carthage, conscious of their own charms, displayed them with
good-natured _naivete_, deeming obedience the surest way to comfor