could; where a small man stood behind a tall one, way was willingly
made, for it would have been a shame to hinder his view of such a
spectacle. Many had already seen the great monarch in his shining,
golden chariot, drawn by four splendid horses; but such an array of
torch-bearers as now preceded Caracalla was a thing never seen within
the memory of the oldest or most traveled man. Three elephants marched
before him and three came behind, and all six carried in their trunks
blazing torches, which they held now low and now aloft to light his
road. To think that beasts could be trained to such a service! And that
here, in Alexandria, such a display could be made before the haughty and
pampered Romans!

The chariot stood still, and the black Ethiopians who guided the huge
four-footed torch-bearers took the three leaders to join their fellows
behind the chariot. This really was a fine sight; this could not but
fill the heart of every one who loved his native town with pride and
delight. For what should a man ever shout himself hoarse, if not for
such a splendid and unique show? Diodoros himself could not take
his eyes off the elephants. At first he was delighted with them, but
presently the sight annoyed him even more than it had pleased him;
for he reflected that the tyrant, the villain, his deadly enemy, would
certainly take to himself the applause bestowed on the clever beasts.
With this, he grasped the reed pipe in the breast of his tunic. He had
been on the point of using it before now, to retaliate on Melissa for
some portion of the pain she had inflicted on him. At this thought,
however, the paltriness of such revenge struck him with horror, and with
a hasty impulse he snapped the pipe in two, and flung the pieces on
the ground in front of the apple-stall. The old woman observed it and
exclaimed:

"Ay, ay, such a sight makes one forgive a great deal"; but he turned his
back on her in silence, and joined his friend at the appointed spot.

They made their way without difficulty to the seats reserved for the
senators' families, and when they had taken their places, the young man
replied but briefly to the sympathetic inquiries as to his health which
were addressed to him by his acquaintances. His friend Timon gazed
anxiously into his handsome but pale, sad face, as Diodoros sat crushed
and absorbed in thought. He would have liked to urge him to quit the
scene at once, for the seats just opposite were those destined