a dazzling
array of gold and purple and rare jewelry, and attended by Ethiopian
slaves, who, in glittering armlets, stood behind, holding feathered
canopies to shield their mistresses from the sun. All this confusing
concourse of wealth and poverty each moment increasing in breadth, and
density, as every avenue emptied new swarms into the packed arena, until
it seemed as though not only all Rome, but half the empire had gathered
there.

Later yet, the music of flutes and hautboys--which, for a time, had been
only indistinctly heard--breaking upon the ear with a clearer sound, and
the van of the procession suddenly emerging into full view from behind
the Circus Maximus, and, accompanied by the ringing shout of thousands
spreading abroad new and louder welcomes, beginning to file past with
rapid steps. First in order, the magistrates in full official robes; the
spoils of war; the white sheep dressed for the sacrifice, and the
priests bearing the holy vessels of the altar; gay trappings, flaunting
standards, and all that could most readily inspire the heart with
elation and enthusiasm. After these, and guarded on either side by
detached parties of troops, the captives, of barbaric and Grecian origin
mostly, but here and there interspersed with men of other races--Jews,
Syrians, and Huns--who, through contiguity of place or love of arms or
self-interest, or a kindred hatred of the Roman rule, had been drawn
into the battle--and who, having bravely stood their ground, striving
for success, and with hearts well prepared for the consequences of
failure, had been overtaken by the usual defeat, and dragged into utter
and hopeless slavery. Among them, men of the Ethiopian race, also--who,
having been slaves in Greece, had fought, not for principle or for
freedom, but simply at their owners' bidding, and had thereby, upon
being overcome, merely changed one class of masters for another--owners
and slaves now knowing no difference in position, but standing involved
in the same common fate. Some appearing defiant, others downcast and
sullen, a few excited and curious, most of them walking with unfettered
limbs, but here and there one heavily chained, betokening a fierce and
unsubdued nature, upon which it was still necessary to put restraint.
All marching or being dragged along at an equal pace; sometimes with an
approximation to military exactness--at other points breaking into a
confused mass, as women and children clung despairing