they returned into the house.

CHAPTER V

When Ben-Hur sallied from the great warehouse, it was with the
thought that another failure was to be added to the many he had
already met in the quest for his people; and the idea was depressing
exactly in proportion as the objects of his quest were dear to him;
it curtained him round about with a sense of utter loneliness on
earth, which, more than anything else, serves to eke from a soul
cast down its remaining interest in life.

Through the people, and the piles of goods, he made way to the edge
of the landing, and was tempted by the cool shadows darkening the
river's depth. The lazy current seemed to stop and wait for him.
In counteraction of the spell, the saying of the voyager flashed
into memory--"Better be a worm, and feed upon the mulberries of
Daphne, than a king's guest." He turned, and walked rapidly down
the landing and back to the khan.

"The road to Daphne!" the steward said, surprised at the question
Ben-Hur put to him. "You have not been here before? Well, count this
the happiest day of your life. You cannot mistake the road. The next
street to the left, going south, leads straight to Mount Sulpius,
crowned by the altar of Jupiter and the Amphitheater; keep it to
the third cross street, known as Herod's Colonnade; turn to your
right there, and hold the way through the old city of Seleucus to
the bronze gates of Epiphanes. There the road to Daphne begins--and
may the gods keep you!"

A few directions respecting his baggage, and Ben-Hur set out.

The Colonnade of Herod was easily found; thence to the brazen gates,
under a continuous marble portico, he passed with a multitude mixed
of people from all the trading nations of the earth.

It was about the fourth hour of the day when he passed out the
gate, and found himself one of a procession apparently interminable,
moving to the famous Grove. The road was divided into separate ways
for footmen, for men on horses, and men in chariots; and those again
into separate ways for outgoers and incomers. The lines of division
were guarded by low balustrading, broken by massive pedestals, many of
which were surmounted with statuary. Right and left of the road
extended margins of sward perfectly kept, relieved at intervals
by groups of oak and sycamore trees, and vine-clad summer-houses
for the accommodation of the weary, of whom, on the return side,
there were always multitudes. The ways of the footmen were p