eyes off the elephants. At first he was delighted with them, but
presently the sight annoyed him even more than it had pleased him; for he
reflected that the tyrant, the villain, his deadly enemy, would certainly
take to himself the applause bestowed on the clever beasts. With this,
he grasped the reed pipe in the breast of his tunic. He had been on the
point of using it before now, to retaliate on Melissa for some portion of
the pain she had inflicted on him. At this thought, however, the
paltriness of such revenge struck him with horror, and with a hasty
impulse he snapped the pipe in two, and flung the pieces on the ground in
front of the apple-stall. The old woman observed it and exclaimed:

"Ay, ay, such a sight makes one forgive a great deal"; but he turned his
back on her in silence, and joined his friend at the appointed spot.

They made their way without difficulty to the seats reserved for the
senators' families, and when they had taken their places, the young man
replied but briefly to the sympathetic inquiries as to his health which
were addressed to him by his acquaintances. His friend Timon gazed
anxiously into his handsome but pale, sad face, as Diodoros sat crushed
and absorbed in thought. He would have liked to urge him to quit the
scene at once, for the seats just opposite were those destined to Caesar
and his court-among them, no doubt, Melissa. In the dim light which
still prevailed in the vast amphitheatre it was impossible to recognize
faces. But there would soon be a blaze of light, and what misery must
await the hapless victim of her faithlessness, still so far from perfect
health! After the glare of light outside, which was almost blinding, the
twilight within was for the moment a relief to Diodoros. His weary limbs
were resting, a pleasant smell came up from the perfumed fountains in the
arena, and his eyes, which could not here rest on anything to gratify
him, were fixed on vacancy.