to be heard but the long-drawn howling of the wind, and
now and then the flap of a strip of cloth torn from the velarium by the
gale. Mingling with these might be heard the uncanny hooting of owls
and daws which the illumination had brought out of their nests in the
cornice, and which the storm was now driving in again.

Timotheus, in a clear and audible address, now appealed to his audience
to remain quiet, not to disturb the splendid entertainment here set
before them, and above all to remember that great Caesar, the divine
ruler of the world, was in their midst, an honor to each and all. As the
guest of the most hospitable city on earth, their illustrious sovereign
had a right to expect from every Alexandrian the most ardent endeavors
to make his stay here delightful. It was his part as high-priest to
uplift his warning voice in the name of the greatest of the gods, that
the ill-will of a few malcontents might not give rise to an idea in the
mind of their beloved guest that the natives of Alexandria were blind to
the blessings for which every citizen had to thank his beneficent rule.

A shrill whistle here interrupted his discourse, and a voice shouted:
"What blessings? We know of none."

But Timotheus was not to be checked, and went on more vehemently

"All of you who, by the grace of Caesar, have been made Roman
citizens--"

But again a voice broke in--the speaker was the overseer of the
granaries of Seleukus, sitting in the second tier--"And do you suppose
we do not know what the honor costs us?"

This query was heartily applauded, and then suddenly, as if by magic, a
perfect chorus arose, chanting a distich which one man in the crowd had
first given out and then two or three had repeated, to which a fourth
had given a sort of tune, till it was shouted by every one present at
the very top of his voice, with marked application to him of whom
it spoke. From the topmost row of places, on every side of the
amphitheatre, rang out the following lines, which but a moment before no
one had ever heard:

"Death to the living, to pay for burying those that are dead;
Since, what the taxes have spared, soldiers have ruthlessly seized."

And the words certainly came from the heart; of the people, for they
seemed never weary of repeating them; and it was not till a tremendous
clap of thunder shook the very walls that several were silent and looked
up with increasing alarm. The moment's pause was seized on to begin