he artist who had modeled these
figures must be a very clever follow; and when the philosopher assented
conditionally, he declared that he saw some resemblance to himself--in
the features of the apple-dealer. And then he pointed to his own straight
legs, only slightly disfigured by an injury to the ankle, to show how
shamefully unfair it was to compare them with the lower limbs of a
misshapen dwarf. Finally, the figure of the apple-dealer--a hideous pygmy
form, with the head of an old man, like enough to his own--roused his
curiosity. What was the point of this image? What peculiarity was it
intended to satirize? The basket which hung about the neck of the figure
was full of fruit, and the object he held in his hand might be an apple,
or might be anything else.

With eager and constrained cheerfulness, he inquired the opinion of his
"friends," treating as sheer flattery a suggestion from his favorite,
Theocritus, that this was not an apple-dealer, but a human figure, who,
though but a dwarf in comparison with the gods, nevertheless endowed the
world with the gifts of the immortals.

Alexander and Philostratus could offer no explanation; but when the
proconsul, Julius Paulinus, observed that the figure was offering the
apples for money, as Caesar offered the Roman citizenship to the
provincials, he knew for what, Caracalla nodded agreement.

He then provisionally appointed Aristides to the coveted office. The
Egyptian should be informed as to his fate. When the prefect was about to
remove the figures, Caesar hastily forbade it, and ordered the bystanders
to withdraw. Alexander alone was commanded to remain. As soon as they
were together, Caesar sprang up and vehemently demanded to know what news
he had brought. But the young man hesitated to begin his report.
Caracalla, of his own accord, pledged his word once more to keep his
oath, and then Alexander assured him that he knew no more than Caesar who
were the authors of the epigrams which he had picked up here and there;
and, though the satire they contained was venomous in some cases, still
he, the sovereign of the world, stood so high that he could laugh them to
scorn, as Socrates had laughed when Aristophanes placed him on the stage.

Caesar declared that he scorned these flies, but that their buzzing
annoyed him.

Alexander rejoiced at this, and only expressed his regret that most of
the epigrams he had collected turned on the death of Caesar's brother
Geta. He k