beams! He believes in the victory, and after sunset none
of yonder throng will appear here; he is already giving orders to his
slaves. He will invite all his friends to a banquet, and won't spare his
costly wines. Capital! At least no one from that company can disturb us.
Dion is his cousin, and will be present also. We shall see what these
pleasure-lovers will do when they are forced to confront, the terrible
reality."

"I think," replied Archibius, "they will afford the world a remarkable
spectacle; friends won in prosperity who remain constant in adversity."

"Do you?" asked Iras, with sparkling eyes. "If that proves true, how I
would praise and value men--the majority of whom without their wealth
would be poorer than beggars. But look at yonder figure in the white robe
beside the left obelisk--is it not Dion? The crowd is bearing him away--I
think it was he."

But she had been deceived; the man whom she fancied she had seen, because
her heart so ardently yearned for him, was not near the Sebasteum, and
his thoughts were still farther away.

At first he had intended to give the architect the letter which was
addressed to him. He would be sure to find him at the triumphal arch
which was being erected on the shore of the Bruchium. But on reaching the
former place he learned that Gorgias had gone to remove the statues of
Cleopatra and Antony from the house of Didymus, and erect them in front
of the Theatre of Dionysus. The Regent, Mardion, had ordered it. Gorgias
was already superintending the erection of the foundation.

The huge hewn stones which he required for this purpose had been taken
from the Temple of Nemesis, which he was supervising. Whatever number of
government slaves he needed were at his disposal, so Gorgias's foreman
reported, proudly adding that before the sun went down, the architect
would have shown the Alexandrians the marvel of removing the twin statues
from one place to another in a single day, and yet establishing them as
firmly as the Colossus which had been in Thebes a thousand years.

Dion found the piece of sculpture in front of Didymus's garden, ready for
removal, but the slaves who had placed before the platform the rollers on
which it was to be moved had already been kept waiting a long time by the
architect.

This was his third visit to the old philosopher's house. First, he had
been obliged to inform him and his family that their property was no
longer in danger; then he had come t