aloft from masts and yards, prows and sterns,
whilst flutes and lyres, syrinx and clarionet, kithra and aulos sent
forth the soft Ionian music until the shores were wrapt in softest
harmony. Some of the welcomers had ventured beyond the margin of the
strand, and now returned in haste to lead the way.

Then came the biremes with their double rows of oars, and clewed-up
sails, swinging on the yards. Then the triremes followed with their
treble banks of oars, and one among the last of those great ships was
greatest. She was commanded by the Roman favourite. Yes, there she comes
with beaked prow, projecting ram, castellated cabin, and great oars
sweeping the silver sea. Above her gunwale rose a line of polished
shields and rows of glittering spears--spears handled by warriors who
knew their work.

Flags flew out from end to end, blazoning in wild profusion along the
yards and up the mast, gambolling with the cordage and the mighty sail.
Following the warships came a host of vessels and boats, and along the
banks of the great canal multitudes hastened, shouting as they went
great shouts of welcome.

The Roman fleet with its hosts of followers moored within the harbour
with the city full in view, and Lucius thought he saw a silvery scarf
waving from a house on Mount Coressus.

When he had landed and was near the great theatre, many were the friends
who surrounded him, giving greeting; foes also, with envy at heart,
time-servers, cried 'Welcome!'

Just then the joyous acclamations for a moment ceased. A cluster of
priestesses going from temple to temple passed that way, and the hardy
sailor bared his head as the little procession went by. Two eyes met
his, and a feeling as if the dead were there crept through his soul;
they were dark unfathomable eyes, and the girl was tall and beautiful,
with clustering hair. And he said within him: 'Where have I seen that
face ere now?'

When she had passed he went his way, but his brow was dark with
thought; something had crossed his track leaving a trail of gloom, why,
he could not say. Again sweet voices chimed pleasantly, and the softest
Ionian cadences floated out from the roofless Odeum. A carpet of bruised
and dying roses strewed the ground.

He had soon forgotten the girl with the dark eyes and clustering hair,
and entered his princely home on the slopes of Coressus. Around it the
pine-trees waved a greeting, and the wind sighed through the branches of
the cypress.

That