on grapnels, wielded by
unseen hands, dragged the mangled limbs and torn bodies roughly from his
clutch, leaving behind them trails of torn flesh and streams of blood,
which only helped to exasperate the beast by their insufficiency.

And now the panther was like a black, snake-like fury, blind with rage
and unsatisfied lust, with tail lashing like a whipcord and yellow eyes
that gleamed like tiny suns. His jaws were red and dripping, his claws
had been torn by the same grapnels that had snatched his prey from him.

He had ceased to roar, but snarl upon snarl escaped his panting throat.
The public delighted in him. They loved to see the ferocious brute
maddened by these tortures, beside which the agony of Tantalus was but
the misery of a child.

Then Caligula rose to his feet and his heralds blew loud blasts upon
their trumpets. In a moment silence fell on the entire arena; the
pandemonium of shouts and laughter and shrieks of agony was hushed as if
by the magic of an almighty power.

The Emperor was standing and desired speech, and all at once silence
descended upon this vast concourse of people. Everyone rose, since the
Caesar was standing; all heads were turned towards the tribune, all eyes
fixed upon the misshapen figure with its halo of gold round the
grotesque head, and the metal thunderbolts held aloft in the hand.

The only sound that was not stilled at the Caesar's bidding was--down
below--the snarl of the angry panther.

"Citizens of Rome," began Caligula, as soon as he could make himself
heard, "patricians of Rome! soldiers! senators! all my people! I--even
I--your Caesar, your Emperor, your god, do give you greeting! I have
sought to please you and to make you happy on this my first day amongst
you all."

Here he was interrupted by vociferous cheering. Next to shows and
spectacles, to games and theatres, there was nothing that the people of
Rome loved better than to hear impassioned speeches thundered at them
either from the rostra in the Forum, or from any convenient spot whence
the voice of a good speaker would rouse a sense of excitement or elation
in their hearts. Demagogues and agitators, rhetoricians and poets were
all sure of a hearing, if only they were sufficiently inspired and
sufficiently eloquent. But it was not often that the Caesar himself would
pour forth imperial oratory into the delighted ears of his people, and a
fervent speech from the Emperor at this moment, when excitement and
ex