Moreover, it was commanded that I, Marcus, whose
features had served as a model for the work, should be its guardian and
attend twice weekly in the temple, that all might see how the genius of
a great artist is able to make a thing of immortal beauty from a coarse
original of flesh and blood. Oh, Miriam, I have no patience to write of
this folly, yet the end of it is, that except at the cost of my fortune
and the risk of my life, it is impossible for me to leave Rome. Twice
every week, or by special favour, once only, must I attend in that
accursed temple where my own likeness stands upon a pedestal of marble,
and before it a marble altar, on which are cut the words: 'Sacrifice, O
passer-by, to the spirit of the departed genius who wrought this divine
work.'
"Yes, there I sit, I who am a soldier, while fools come in and gaze
first at the marble and then at me, saying things for which often I long
to kill them, and casting grains of incense into the little fire on the
altar in sacrifice to your spirit, whereby I trust it may be benefited.
Thus, Miriam, are we ruled in Rome to-day.
"Meanwhile, I am in great favour with Nero, so that men call me 'the
Fortunate,' and my house the 'Fortunate House,' a title of ill-omen.
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