He picked him up in Bithynia, they say." "He is a beautiful youth." "Incomparably beautiful! What a figure and what a face! Still, I cannot wish that he were my son." "The Emperor's favorite!" "For that very reason.

Why, he looks already as if he had tried every pleasure, and could never know any farther enjoyment." ............................
On a little level close to the sea-shore, and sheltered by crumbling cliffs from the east wind, stood a number of tents.

Between them fires were burning, round which were gathered groups of Roman soldiers and imperial servants.

Half-naked boys, the children of the fishermen and camel-drivers who dwelt in this wilderness, were running busily hither and thither, feeding the flames with dry stems of sea-grass and dead desert-shrubs; but though the blaze flew high, the smoke did not rise; but driven here and there by the squalls of wind, swirled about close to the ground in little clouds, like a flock of scattered sheep.

It seemed as though it feared to rise in the grey, damp, uninviting atmosphere.
The largest of the tents, in front of which Roman sentinels paced up and down, two and two, on guard, was wide open on the side towards the sea.