"
"Surely the gods are against me," said Marcus, "if they have given me
Domitian for a rival."
"Why so, lord? Your money is as good as his, and perhaps you will pay
more."
"I will pay to my last piece, but will that free me from the rage and
hate of Domitian?"
"Why need he knew that you were the rival bidder?"
"Why? Oh! in Rome everything is known--even the truth sometimes."
"Time enough to trouble when trouble comes. First let us wait and see
whether this maid be Miriam."
"Aye," he answered, "let us wait--since we must."
So they waited and with anxious eyes watched the great show roll by
them. They saw the cars painted with scenes of the taking of Jerusalem
and the statues of the gods fashioned in ivory and gold. They saw the
purple hangings of the Babylonian broidered pictures, the wild beasts,
and the ships mounted upon wheels. They saw the treasures of the temple
and the images of victory, and many other things, for that pageant
seemed to be endless, and still the captives and the Emperors did not
come.
One sight there was also that caused Marcus to shrink as though fire had
burned him, for yonder, set in the midst of a company of jugglers and
buffoons that gibed and mocked at them, were the two unhappy men who
had been taken prisoners by the Jews.
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