athletes--walked in front, was answered by him with a loud "Hail,
Caesar!"

The youths who followed him imitated his example, and the troop that came
after them returned his greeting loud and heartily. The young voices
could be heard from afar, and the news soon spread to the last ranks of
the first division to whom these greetings were addressed. But, among
the men who already were masters of households of their own, there were
many who deemed it shameful and unworthy to raise their voices in
greeting to the tyrant whose heavy hand had oppressed them more than
once; and a group of young men belonging to the party of the "Greens,"
who ran their own horses, had the fatal audacity to agree among
themselves that they would leave Caesar's greeting unanswered. A many-
headed crowd is like a row of strings which sound together as soon as the
note is struck to which they are all attuned; and so each one now felt
sure that his acclamation would only increase the insolence of this
fratricide, this bloodstained monster, this oppressor and enemy of the
citizens. The succeeding ranks of "Greens" followed the example, and
from the midst of a troop of young married men, members in the gymnasium
of the society of the Dioscuri, one foolhardy spirit had the reckless
temerity to blow a shrill, far-sounding whistle between his fingers.

He found no imitators, but the insulting sound reached the emperor's ear,
and seemed to him like the signal-call of Fate; for, before it had died
away, the clouds broke, and a stream of brilliant sunshine spread over
the race-course and the assembled multitude. The cloudy day that was
to have brought happiness to Caesar had been suddenly transformed by the
sun of Africa into a bright one; and the radiant light which cheered the
hearts of others seemed to him to be a message from above to warn him
that, instead of the highest bliss, this day would bring him