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238 ROMAN DA YS.
edge of the Capkoline rock, where the abyss yawns above
the forum. Here, he stops.
The murmur which greeted him, has died away ; and
he stands there, looking out over the market with its
many memories, over the Esquiline and Palatine hills,
over the countless multitude, Rome’s people, lords of the
world—who now, at the first token of his miraculous
power, are ready to cast themselves in the dust before
him. He looks forward to that day when these temples
all shall rear their columns around his statue, and incense
shall burn for hini upon all these altars. At the thought,
his eyes flash with the fire of arrogance, his breast is up-
lifted with pride. The crowd thinks him—as he stands
there above it, with the fillet binding his locks, his breast
half-bared, and the serpent staff in his hand —in presence
and bearing like yEsculapius, Jupiter’s beneficent son.
It seems to see him grow to a supernatural height, so
that the Capitoline rock makes but a pedestal to his
mighty shape.
But the time has come, to begin. Simon mutters an
incantation, and takes one step—the last—to the edge
of the abyss. He extends his right foot over the side,
as if to try if he have a firm foothold in the air.
The emperor rises eagerly from the throne, and the
crowd is silent in breathless expectation.
But now, the murmur of a hundred thousand voices
again goes up to the sky. Peter and Paul cannot see
what is the cause of the astonishment of the people, but
single voices rise from out the crowd :
" He has left the
rock!" "He floats!"
Simon had the firm ground beneath his feet no
longer. He stood upon a level with the edge of the
rock, but out in free space ; and he adjusted the long
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