ghted
from above, since it was only at the sides that the walls--which had
no windows--and a row of graceful alabaster columns with Corinthian
acanthus-capitals supported a narrow roof; the centre of the hall was
quite uncovered. At this hour, when it was blazing with hundreds of
lights, the large opening, which by day admitted the bright sunshine,
was closed over by a gold net-work, decorated with stars and a crescent
moon of rock-crystal, and the meshes were close enough to exclude
the bats and moths which at night always fly to the light. But the
illumination of the king's banqueting-hall made it almost as light as
day, consisting of numerous lamps with many branches held up by lovely
little figures of children in bronze and marble. Every joint was plainly
visible in the mosaic of the pavement, which represented the reception
of Heracles into Olympus, the feast of the gods, and the astonishment of
the amazed hero at the splendor of the celestial banquet; and hundreds
of torches were reflected in the walls of polished yellow marble,
brought from Hippo Regius; these were inlaid by skilled artists
with costly stones, such as lapis lazuli and malachite, crystals,
blood-stone, jasper, agates and chalcedony, to represent fruit-pieces
and magnificent groups of game or of musical instruments; while the
pilasters were decorated with masks of the tragic and comic Muses,
torches, thyrsi wreathed with ivy and vine, and pan-pipes. These were
wrought in silver and gold, and set with costly marbles, and they stood
out from the marble background like metal work on a leather shield, or
the rich ornamentation on a sword-sheath. The figures of a Dionysiac
procession, forming the frieze, looked down upon the feasters--a fine
relievo that had been designed and modelled for Ptolemy Soter by the
sculptor Bryaxis, and then executed in ivory and gold.

Everything that met the eye in this hall was splendid, costly, and above
all of a genial aspect, even before Cleopatra had come to the throne;
and she--here as in her own apartments--had added the busts of the
greatest Greek philosophers and poets, from Thales of Miletus down to
Strato, who raised chance to fill the throne of God, and from Hesiod to
Callimachus; she too had placed the tragic mask side by side with the
comic, for at her table--she was wont to say--she desired to see no one
who could not enjoy grave and wise discourse more than eating, drinking,
and laughter.

Instead of assis