hilaration were at fever-pitch, was a pleasure which no one had
foreseen but which filled everyone with delight.

"Glad am I," continued Caligula, when the excitement had calmed down
momentarily, "that my efforts to please you have met with success."

"They have! They have!" yelled the enthusiastic crowd.

"The gods have indeed rewarded me--not beyond my deserts, for that were
impossible--but in a just measure, by giving me the love of my people."

"Hail Caesar! Hail the greatest and best of Caesars!" came in deafening
echoes from every side of the immense Amphitheatre.

"I thank you all! Your loyalty to-day has greatly cheered me. I--as your
supreme lord and god--will shower my blessings upon you. As a god I am
immortal; always I will watch over you, sitting at the right hand of
Jupiter Victor, my father, from all times. But in my earthly shape I
may not be with you always. There may come a time when god-like duties
call me to Olympus. Then must a wise and just ruler take my place at the
head of this great Empire."

"No! no! Hail to thee Caesar! Immortal Caesar!" cried the people, and
Caligula, stricken with vanity as if with plague, was deaf to the
ironical cheers that accompanied these cries.

"Immortal am I," he said, whilst his bloodshot eyes travelled restlessly
over the sea of faces spread out before him. "Immortal, yet destined to
leave you one day. When that day comes, there will be weeping in the
city and moanings throughout the Empire, but the wise and just ruler who
will follow in my wake will--while not able to console you for my
loss--continue the good works which I have commenced. Citizens of Rome,
patricians, soldiers, all listen to what I say."

His face now looked purple with excitement, his hoarse voice shook as it
escaped his throat, and his hair, thin and lanky, seemed to stand upon
end all round his large, bulging forehead.

A gentle breeze had caught the folds of his purple tunic, and it
fluttered all round him with a curious swishing noise, like the sighing
of creatures in pain.

The hand that held Jove's thunderbolt trembled visibly, and the
perspiration was streaming down his face. There was not a man or woman
present there at this moment who did not look upon him as an abject and
hideous monster, there was no one there who did not loathe and despise
him! And yet everyone listened, and not one voice was raised in derision
at his senseless oratory.

Only the panther snarled, and its