importance, and swell the general interest which they excited among the
vast population of the city. On one of these days, the triumphal car in
which Caesar rode, which was most magnificently adorned, broke down on
the way, and Caesar was nearly thrown out of it by the shock. The
immense train of cars, horses, elephants, flags, banners, captives, and
trophies which formed the splendid procession was all stopped by the
accident, and a considerable delay ensued. Night came on, in fact
before the column could again be put in motion to enter the city, and
then Caesar, whose genius was never more strikingly shown than when he
had opportunity to turn a calamity to advantage, conceived the idea of
employing the forty elephants of the train as torch-bearers; the long
procession accordingly advanced through the streets and ascended to the
Capitol, lighted by the great blazing flambeaus which the sagacious and
docile beasts were easily taught to bear, each elephant holding one in
his proboscis, and waving it above the crowd around him.

[Sidenote: Trophies and emblems.]

In these triumphal processions, every thing was borne in exhibition
which could serve as a symbol of the conquered country or a trophy of
victory, Flags and banners taken from the enemy; vessels of gold and
silver, and other treasures, loaded in vans; wretched captives conveyed
in open carriages or marching sorrowfully on foot, and destined, some of
them, to public execution when the ceremony of the triumph was ended;
displays of arms, and implements, and dresses, and all else which might
serve to give the Roman crowd an idea of the customs and usages of the
remote and conquered nations; the animals they used, caparisoned in the
manner in which they used them: these, and a thousand other trophies
and emblems, were brought into the line to excite the admiration of the
crowd, and to add to the gorgeousness of the spectacle. In fact, it was