aved
with red stone, and those of the riders strewn with white sand
compactly rolled, but not so solid as to give back an echo to hoof
or wheel. The number and variety of fountains at play were amazing,
all gifts of visiting kings, and called after them. Out southwest
to the gates of the Grove, the magnificent thoroughfare stretched
a little over four miles from the city.

In his wretchedness of feeling, Ben-Hur barely observed the royal
liberality which marked the construction of the road. Nor more
did he at first notice the crowd going with him. He treated
the processional displays with like indifference. To say truth,
besides his self-absorption, he had not a little of the complacency
of a Roman visiting the provinces fresh from the ceremonies which
daily eddied round and round the golden pillar set up by Augustus
as the centre of the world. It was not possible for the provinces
to offer anything new or superior. He rather availed himself of
every opportunity to push forward through the companies in the
way, and too slow-going for his impatience. By the time he reached
Heracleia, a suburban village intermediate the city and the Grove,
he was somewhat spent with exercise, and began to be susceptible
of entertainment. Once a pair of goats led by a beautiful woman,
woman and goats alike brilliant with ribbons and flowers, attracted
his attention. Then he stopped to look at a bull of mighty girth,
and snowy white, covered with vines freshly cut, and bearing on its
broad back a naked child in a basket, the image of a young Bacchus,
squeezing the juice of ripened berries into a goblet, and drinking
with libational formulas. As he resumed his walk, he wondered whose
altars would be enriched by the offerings. A horse went by with
clipped mane, after the fashion of the time, his rider superbly
dressed. He smiled to observe the harmony of pride between the
man and the brute. Often after that he turned his head at hearing
the rumble of wheels and the dull thud of hoofs; unconsciously he
was becoming interested in the styles of chariots and charioteers,
as they rustled past him going and coming. Nor was it long until
he began to make notes of the people around him. He saw they were
of all ages, sexes, and conditions, and all in holiday attire.
One company was uniformed in white, another in black; some bore
flags, some smoking censers; some went slowly, singing hymns;
others stepped to the music of flutes and tabrets. If such w