more than a week. And in what a condition did Titianus and
Pontius find this now dilapidated and plundered scene of former
magnificence--the sweat pouring from their foreheads with their exertions
as they inspected and sketched, questioned and made notes of it all.
The pillars and steps in the interior were tolerably well preserved, but
the rain had poured in through the open roofs of the banqueting and
reception-lulls, the fine mosaic pavements had started here and there,
and in other places a perfect little meadow had grown in the midst of a
hall, or an arcade; for Octavianus Augustus, Tiberius, Vespasian, Titus
and a whole series of prefects, had already carefully removed the finest
of the mosaics from the famous palace of the Ptolemies, and carried them
to Rome or to the provinces, to decorate their town houses or country
villas. In the same way the best of the statues were gone, with which a
few centuries previously the art-loving Lagides had decorated this
residence--besides which they had another, still larger, on the Bruchiom.
In the midst of a vast marbled hall stood an elegantly-wrought fountain,
connected with the fine aqueduct of the city. A draught of air rushed
through this hall, and in stormy weather switched the water all over the
floor, now robbed of its mosaics, and covered, wherever the foot could
tread, with a thin, dark green, damp and slippery coating of mossy plants
and slime. It was here that Keraunus leaned breathless against the wall,
and, wiping his brow, panted rather than said: "At last, this is the
end!"
The words sounded as if he meant his own end and not that of their
excursion through the palace, and it seemed like a mockery of the man
himself when Pontius unhesitatingly replied with decision:
"Good, then we can begin our re-examination here, at once."
Keraunus did not contradict him, but, as he remembered the number of
stairs to be climbed over again, he looked as if sentence of death had
been passed upon him.
"Is it necessary that I should remain with you during the rest of your
labors, which must be principally directed to details?" asked the prefect
of the architect.
"No," answered Pontius, "provided you will take the trouble to look at
once at my plan, so as to inform yourself on the whole of what I propose,
and to give me full powers to dispose of men and means in each case as it
arises."
"That is granted," said Titianus. "I know that Pontius will not demand a
man
|