proconsul exclaimed in his dry manner, as if speaking to himself:

"The idyl is to begin. Would it might be the satyr-play that closes the
bloodiest of tragedies!"

"Caesar has not been himself to-day," said the favorite Theocritus; and
the senator Cassius Dio whispered to Paulinus, "And therefore he was more
bearable to look at."

Old Adventus gazed in astonishment as Arjuna, the emperor's Indian body-
slave, disrobed him; for, though Caracalla had entered the apartment with
a dark and threatening brow, while his sandals were being unfastened, he
laughed to himself, and cried to his old servant with beaming eyes,
"To-morrow!" and the chamberlain called down a blessing on the morrow,
and on her who was destined to fill the coming years with sunshine for
mighty Caesar.

........................

Caracalla, generally an early riser, slept this time longer than on other
days. He had retired very late to rest, and the chamberlain therefore
put off waking him, especially as he had been troubled by evil dreams, in
spite of his happy frame of mind when he sought his couch. When at last
he rose he first inquired about the weather, and expressed his
satisfaction when he heard that the sun had risen with burning rays,
but was now veiled in threatening clouds.

His first visit led him to the court of sacrifice. The offerings had
fallen out most favorably, and he rejoiced at the fresh and healthy
appearance of the bullocks' hearts and livers which the augurs showed