12 
CALPURNIA. 
"around the sculptured altars 
drowsed in the wide and tenantless space the heavy-eyed augurs." 
II. 
IN THE PALACE OF THE C^SARS, 
High on the Palatine Hill, within the cool courts of liis palace, 
Stretched on the tawny skin of a beast from the African jungles, 
Lay Maxentius Caesar, the scourge of the angry Immortals. 
Huge was his frame and seamed with the scars of manifold battles ; 
Rough-hewn his face and uncouth. A savage, barbarian cunning 
Lurked in his keen black eyes 'neath the bulging wall of his forehead, 
Furrowed across with a blood-red streak from the rim of the helmet. 
Bearded, burly, and fierce, like the men from Teutonian forest : 
