sides that keeps them within bounds. The three beardless
fellows just behind them belong to the city watch, who are scattered
through the general mass like raisins in doughcakes."

"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