nd laughter.

Julia, the prefect's wife, had supplied the architect at Lochias with
a carefully-prepared meal,--sufficient to fill six hungry maws, and
Pontius' slave--who had received it on its arrival and had unpacked it
dish after dish, and set them out on the humblest possible table had
then hastened to fetch his master to inspect all these marvels of
the cook's art. The architect shook his head as he contemplated the
superabundant blessing, and muttered to himself:

"Titianus must take me for a crocodile, or rather for two crocodiles,"
and he went to the sculptor's little tabernacle, where Papias the master
was also, to invite the two men to share his supper.

Besides them he asked two painters, and the chief mosaic worker of the
city, who all day long had been busied in restoring the old and faded
pictures on the ceilings and pavements, and under the influence of
good wine and cheerful chat they soon emptied the dishes and bowls and
trenchers. A man who for several hours has been using his hands or his
mind, or both together, waxes hungry, and all the artists whom Pontius
had brought together at Lochias had now been working for several days
almost to the verge of exhaustion. Each had done his best, in the first
place, no doubt, to give satisfaction to Pontius, whom all esteemed, and
to himself; but also in the hope of giving proof of his powers to the
Emperor and of showing him how things could be done in Alexandria. When
the dishes had been removed and the replete feasters had washed and
dried their hands, they filled their cups out of a jar of mixed wine, of
which the dimensions answered worthily to the meal they had eaten.
One of the painters then proposed that they should hold a regular
drinking-bout, and elect Papias, who was as well known as a good table
orator as he was as an artist, to be the leader of the feast. However,
the master declared that he could not accept the honor, for that it was
due to the worthiest of their company; to the man namely, who, only
a few days since, had entered this empty palace and like a second
Deucalion had raised up illustrious artists, such as he then saw around
him in great numbers, and skilled workmen by hundreds, not out of
plastic stone but out of nothing. And then--while declaring that he
understood the use of the hammer and chisel better than that of the
tongue, and that he had never studied the art of making speeches--he
expressed his wish that Pontius would lead t