by more and more of the rabble, until a great concourse was
assembled; through which the nobles had some difficulty in forcing their
way toward the Temple of Apollo, in which their order was assembling,
wherefore as yet they knew not.

At first the crowd was orderly enough, and quiet; but gradually beginning
to ferment and grow warm, as it were by the closeness of its packing,
cheers were heard, and loud acclamations, as any member of the popular
faction made his way through it; and groans and yells and even curses
succeeded, as any of the leaders of the aristocratic party strove to part
its reluctant masses.

And now a louder burst of acclamations, than any which had yet been heard,
rang through the streets, causing the very roofs to tremble.

"What foolery have we here?" said the smith very sullenly, who, though he
responded nothing to it, had by no means recovered from the rebuke of
Cato. "Oh! yes! I see, I see," and he too added the power of his
stentorian lungs to the clamor, as a young senator, splendidly dressed,
and of an aspect that could not fail to attract attention, entered the
little space, which had been kept open at the corner of the two streets,
by the efforts of an aedile and his beadles, who had just arrived on the
ground.

He was not much, if at all, above the middle size, but admirably
proportioned, whether for feats of agility and strength, or for the
lighter graces of society. But it was his face more especially, and the
magnificent expression of his features, that first struck the beholder--the
broad imaginative brow, the keen large lustrous eye, pervading, clear,
undazzled as the eagle's, the bold Roman nose, the resolute curve of the
clean-cut mouth, full of indomitable pride and matchless energy--all these
bespoke at once the versatile and various genius of the great statesman,
orator, and captain, who was to be thereafter.

At this time, however, although he was advancing toward middle age, and
had already shaken off some of the trammels which luxurious vice and
heedless extravagance had cast around his young puissant intellect, he had
achieved nothing either of fame or power. He had, it is true, given signs
of rare intellect, but as yet they were signs only. Though his friends
looked forward confidently to the time, when they should see him the first
citizen of the republic; and it is more than possible, that in his own
heart he contemplated even now the attainment of a more glorious, if