have found the like in Rome. Here,
among us--"

But the cheers of the multitude now drowned every other sound. Fathers or
mothers who had children with them lifted them up as high as they 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 h