nce to take their holiday, and affording pleasing contrasts as they
wound their way in slender currents through the openings in the throng
of their betters--the soldiery passing here and there in large or small
detachments--where else in the world could such a varied scene of life
and animation be presented?

First before her eyes passed a number of the praetorian guard, with
martial music, cutting the crowd asunder like a wedge in their steady
march toward the imperial palace. Then came the chariot of the African
proconsul, with liveried footmen in front, and Nubian slaves, in short
tunics and silver anklets, running beside the wheels. After that a
covered van, toilsomely dragged along by tired horses and guarded by
armed slaves in livery. The imperial cipher was emblazoned upon the
dusty canvas screen thrown over the top, and from within, at intervals,
came half-smothered growls and roars. It was some wild beast arriving at
this late hour from Nubia--a contribution from some provincial
governor--a booty which had cost pounds of gold, and perhaps the lives
of many slaves, and which was now destined to perform, in the sanded
arena, the combats of the jungle. The crowd, which had let the African
proconsul pass by with but a careless glance of uninterested
scrutiny--for dignitaries were too common to excite much
curiosity--pressed tumultuously and with frantic eagerness around the
heavy cage, exulting in each half-stifled roar from within as though it
were a strain of sweet music--and thus followed the van until it arrived
at the amphitheatre and passed out of sight through one of the deep, low
arches leading to the tiers of grated stone cages, already well filled
with the choicest forest spoils of every tributary country.

Then came a black-bearded horseman. The trappings of his steed were
marked with the insignia of distinction; and footmen, with staves, ran
before him to clear the way. He sat with proud and haughty mien--as one
who felt his power and immunity, and yet with the expression of one
aware that all his rank and state could not protect him from secret
scorn and hate. Not many looked at him; for, in that thronging display
of wealth and power, a single gayly caparisoned horse and two liveried
footmen counted for almost nothing. One or two, however, of those few
who study men for their deeds alone, turned and gazed scrutinizingly
after him, for he had already taken rank as one of the historians of the
age. And