t had befallen the image
of the sovereign boded evil, that was clear.

The Toparch, the chief municipal authority, at once set to work to
reinstate the statue which was itself uninjured, for Hadrian might
arrive in a few hours. Numerous men, both free and slaves, crowded to
undertake the work, and before long the statue of Hadrian, executed
in the Egyptian style, once more stood upright and gazing with a fixed
countenance towards the harbor. Sabina's was also put back by the side
of her husband's and the Toparch went home satisfied. With him most of
the starers and laborers left the quay, but their place was taken by
other curious folks who had missed the statue from its place, where the
land had fallen, and now expressed their opinions as to the mode and
manner of its fall.

"The wind can never have overturned this heavy mass of limestone," said
a ropemaker: "And see how far it stands from the broken ground."

"They say it fell on the top of land-slip," answered a baker.

"That is how it was," said a sailor.

"Nonsense!" cried the ropemaker. "If the statue had stood on the ground
now carried away, it must have fallen at once into the water and have
sunk to the bottom--any child can see that other powers have been at
work here."

"Very likely," said a temple-servant who devoted himself to the
interpretation of signs: "The gods may have overset the proud image to
give a warning token to Hadrian."

"The immortals do not mix in the affairs of men in our day," said the
sailor; "but in such a fearful night as this peaceful citizens remain
within doors and so leave a fair field for Caesar's foes."

"We are all faithful subjects," said the baker indignantly.

"You are a pack of rebellious rabble," retorted a Roman soldier, who
like the whole cohort quartered in the province of Hermopolis, had
formerly served in Judaea under the cruel Tinnius Rufus. "Among you
worshippers of beasts squabbles never cease, and as to the Christians,
who have made their nests out there on the other side of the valley, say
the worst you can of them and still you would be flattering them."

"Brave Fuscus is quite right!" cried a beggar. "The wretches have
brought the plague into our houses; wherever the disease shows itself
there are Christian men and women to be seen. They came to my brother's
house; they sat all night by his sick children and of course both died."

"If only my old governor Tinnius Rufus were here," growled the soldier,