his rivals,
since they also stopped bidding.

"Well, friend Saturius," said the auctioneer, "have you gone to sleep,
or have you anything to say? Only in hundreds, now, gentlemen, mind,
only in hundreds, unless I give the word. Thank you, I have nine
hundred," and he looked round rather carelessly, expecting at heart that
this bid would be the last.

Then the merchant from Alexandria stepped forward and held up his
finger.

"A thousand, by the Gods!"

Saturius looked at the man indignantly. Who was this that dared to bid
against Domitian, the third dignitary in all the Roman empire, Caesar's
son, Caesar's brother, who might himself be Caesar? Still he answered with
another bid of eleven hundred.

Once more the finger of Domitian went up.

"Twelve. Twelve hundred!" said the auctioneer, in a voice of suppressed
excitement, while the audience gasped, for such prices had not been
heard of.

"Thirteen," said the Chamberlain.

Again the finger went up.

"Fourteen hundred. I have fourteen hundred. Against you, worthy
Saturius. Come, come, I must knock the lot down, which perhaps would not
please some whom I could mention. Don't be stingy, friend, you have a
large purse to draw on, and it is called the Roman Empire. Now. Thank
you, I have fifteen hundred. Well, my friend yonder. What! Have you had
enough?" and he pointed to the Alexandrian merchant, who, with a groan,
had turned aside and hidden his face in his hands.

"Knocked out, knocked out, it seems," said the auctioneer, "and though
it is little enough under all the circumstances for this lot, who is as
lovely as she is historical, I suppose that I can scarcely expect----"
and he looked around despondently.

Suddenly the old woman with the basket glanced up and, speaking in a
quiet matter-of-fact voice but with a foreign accent, said:

"Two thousand."

A titter of laughter went around the room.

"My dear madam?" queried the auctioneer, looking at her dubiously,
"might I ask if you mean sester_tii_ or sester_tia_?[*] Your pardon, but
it has occurred to me that you might be confounding the two sums."

[*] A _sestertius_ was worth less than 2d., a _sestertium_
was a sum of money of the value of about L8.

"Two thousand sester_tia_," repeated the matter-of-fact voice with the
foreign accent.

"Well, well," said the auctioneer, "I suppose that I must accept the
bid. Friend Saturius, I have two thousand sestertia, and it is against
you."

"A