CHAPTER II.
Gradually the sun approached and dipped below the blue line of extended
plain which lay between the city and the sea; the long shadows of
afternoon began to blend into the one deeper shade of evening; the
groups of distant buildings became more and more indistinct; the arches
of the Colosseum softly faded away, leaving but a broad mass of unbroken
wall; upon the Palatine Hill the great house of the Caesars shone less
and less gloriously as the sky darkened behind the pile of decorated
roofs; here and there a light gleamed from some distant quarter; here
and there stars began to glisten in the sky.
Then the concourse of people, who had waited so long and patiently,
began to break apart. The pageant was not yet entirely over, for fresh
battalions of soldiers still marched past at rapid pace, tuning their
steady tramp to the cadence of their songs of triumph. But the great
feature of the occasion--the conqueror himself--had ridden by; and what
yet remained was but a faint recapitulation of the glories which had
gone before. Therefore the patricians retired from their balconies, the
horsemen abandoned their stations and plunged down the many streets
which led out from the Forum, and the crowd of slaves and menial
citizens, already rendered so indistinct in the fading light as to
resemble one writhing, struggling monster rather than separate beings,
began to stretch out its long arms into the narrow lanes and byways, and
so gradually to melt away.
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