ric or in hunting or fighting no
one can study drawing. It is not till a pupil has learned to sit steady
and worry himself over his work for six hours on end that I begin to
believe he will ever do any good work. Have you any of you seen the
Emperor's work?"

"I have," answered a mosaic worker. "Many years ago Hadrian sent a
picture to me that he had painted; I was to make a mosaic from it. It was
a fruit piece. Melons, gourds, apples, and green leaves. The drawing was
but so-so, and the color impossibly vivid, still the composition was
pleasing from its solidity and richness. And after all, when one sees it,
one cannot but feel that such superfluity is better than meagreness and
feebleness. The larger fruits, especially under the exuberant sappy
foliage, were so huge that they might have been grown in the garden of
luxury itself, still the whole had a look of reality. I mitigated the
colors somewhat in my transcript; you may still see a copy of the picture
at my house, it hangs in the studio where my men draw. Nealkes, the rich
hanging-maker, has had a tapestry woven from it which Pontius proposes to
use as a hanging for a wall of the work-room, but I have made a fine
frame on purpose for it."

"Say rather for its designer."

"Or yet rather," added the most loquacious of the painters, "for the
visit he may possibly pay your workshops."

"I only wish the Emperor may come to ours too! I should like to sell him
my picture of Alexander saluted by the priests in the temple of Jupiter
Ammon."

"I hope that when you agree about the price you will remember we are
partners," said his fellow-artist smugly.

"I will follow your example strictly," replied the other.

"Then you will certainly not be a loser," cried Papias, "for Eustorgius
is fully aware of the worth of his works. And if Hadrian is to order
works from every master whose art he dabbles in, he will require a fleet
on purpose to carry his purchases to Rome."

"It is said," continued Eustorgius, laughing, "that he is a painter among
poets, a sculptor among painters, an astronomer among musicians, and a
sophist among artists--that is to say, that he pursues every art and
science with some success as his secondary occupation."

As he spoke the last words Pontius returned to the table where the
artists were standing round the winejar; he had heard the painter's last
remark and interrupted him by saying:

"But my friend you forget that he is a monarch among mona