imploringly as he went close up to the Emperor: "Go down earlier to-night
my lord; you really do not allow yourself enough rest and will injure
your health."

Hadrian let him speak, and answered kindly:

"I sleep in the morning. If you are tired, go to bed now."

But Antinous remained, gazing, like his master, at the stars. He knew
very few of the brilliant bodies by their names, but some of them were
very dear to him, particularly the Pleiades which his father had pointed
out to him and which reminded him of his home. There he had been so
quiet and happy, and how wildly his anxious heart was throbbing now!

"Go to bed, the second hour is beginning," said Hadrian.

"Already!" said the boy; and as he reflected how soon that must be done
which Verus had required of him, and then looked up again at the heavens,
it seemed to him as though all the stars in the blue vault over his head
had glided from their places and were dancing in wild and whirling
confusion between the sky and the sea. He closed his eyes in his
bewilderment; then, bidding his master good-night he lighted a torch and
by its flaring and doubtful light descended from the tower.

Pontius had erected this slight structure expressly for Hadrian's nightly
observations. It was built of timber and Nile-mud and stood up as a tall
turret on the secure foundation of an ancient watch-tower built of hewn
stone, which, standing among the low buildings that served as storehouses
for the palace, commanded a free outlook over all the quarters of the
sky. Hadrian, who liked to be alone and undisturbed when observing the