erolian place toward
the Forum, another line of torches might be seen flaming through the
darkness, and, even at that distance, the axe heads of the lictors were
visible, as they flashed out by fits in the red torch-light.

"By all the Gods!" whispered Bassus, "it is the other consul, the new man
from Arpinum. Believe me, my friends, this bodes no good to us! The Senate
must have been convoked suddenly--and lo! here come the fathers. Look,
look! this is stern Cato."

And, almost as he said the words, a powerfully made and very noble looking
man passed so near as to brush the person of the mechanic with the folds
of his toga. His face, which was strongly marked, was stern certainly; but
it was with the sternness of gravity and deep thought, coupled perhaps
with something of melancholy--for it might be that he despaired at times of
man's condition in this world, and of his prospects in the next--not of
austerity or pride. His garb was plain in the extreme, and, although his
tunic displayed the broad crimson facings, and his robe the passmenting of
senatorial rank, both were of the commonest materials, and the narrowest
and most simple cut.

"Hail, noble Cato!" said the mechanic, as the senator passed by; but his
voice faltered as he spoke, and there was something hollow and heartless
in the tones, which conveyed the greeting.

Cato raised his eyes, which had been fixed on the ground in meditation,
and perused the features of the speaker with a severe and scrutinizing
gaze; and then, shaking his head sternly, as if dissatisfied with the
result of his observation, "This is no time of night, sirrah smith," he
said, "for thee, or such as thou, to be abroad. Thy daily work done, thou
shouldst be at home with thy wife and children, not seeking profligate
adventures, or breeding foul sedition in the streets. Go home! go home!
for shame on thee! thou art known and marked."

And the severe and virtuous noble strode onward, unattended he by any
torch-bearer, or freedman, and soon joined his worthy friend, the great
Latin orator, who had come up, and having united his train to that of the
other consul, was moving up the Palatine.

In the meantime senator after senator arrived, some alone, with their
slaves or freedmen lighting them along the streets; others in groups of
two or three, all hurrying toward the Palatine. The smith and his friends,
who had been at first the sole spectators of the shew, were now every
moment joined