he
infinite number of columns of the great stretches of porticos.
Handsomely dressed cavalrymen of the palace guard were dashing to and
fro over the clean, hard pavement; elegant carriages containing the
noble and wealthy were whirling in every direction. At each glance,
the eye lit on some pleasing bit of sculpture, some delicate curve of
architecture. Statues were everywhere, everywhere colour, everywhere
crowds of gayly dressed citizens and foreigners. Cornelia contrasted
the symmetrical streets, all broad, swept, and at right angles--the
triumph of the wise architectural planning of Dinocrates--with the
dirty, unsightly, and crooked lanes of the City of the Seven Hills,
and told herself, as she had told herself often in recent days, that
Romans had much yet to learn.

They drove on past the Amphitheatre toward the Egyptian quarter of the
Rhacotis; and here, at the intersection of the Great Street with the
other broad way leading from the "Gate of the Moon" on the harbour to
the "Gate of the Sun" on Lake Mareotis, a moving hedge of outriders,
cavalrymen, and foot-guards met them.

"The queen coming from the Serapeum," said Cleomenes, drawing rein.

Cornelia saw half-naked Numidian footmen thrusting back the crowd that
bustled in the Omphalos--the great square where the two highroads met.
Behind them pushed a squadron of light cavalry in silvered armour and
splendid purple and scarlet uniforms. Then, in the midst of all, moved
a chariot drawn by four horses white as snow, the harness resplendent
with gold and jewels; at either side ran fan-bearers, waving great
masses of bright ostrich plumes; a gaudy parasol swept over the
carriage itself. There were three occupants, whereof two stood: an
Egyptian, gaunt and of great height, clad in plain white linen, who
was driving, and a handsome, gaudily dressed Greek youth, who was
holding the parasol. Cornelia could just catch the profile of a young
woman seated between them. The face was not quite regular, but
marvellously intelligent and sensitive; the skin not pale, yet far
from dark, and perfectly healthy and clear; the eyes restive and
piercing. The queen was dressed plainly in Greek fashion; her himation
was white, her only ornament a great diamond that was blazing like a
star on her breast. Upon the coils of her heavy, dark hair sat a
golden circlet faced in front with the likeness of the head of the
venomous uraeus snake--the emblem of Egyptian royalty. This was all