Through one of them business went in; through the other it came out; and there was hurry, hurry in all its movements.
On the wharf there were piles of goods in every kind of package, and groups of slaves, stripped to the waist, going about in the abandon of labor.
Below the bridge lay a fleet of galleys, some loading, others unloading.

A yellow flag blew out from each masthead.

From fleet and wharf, and from ship to ship, the bondmen of traffic passed in clamorous counter-currents.
Above the bridge, across the river, a wall rose from the water's edge, over which towered the fanciful cornices and turrets of an imperial palace, covering every foot of the island spoken of in the Hebrew's description.

But, with all its suggestions, Ben-Hur scarcely noticed it.

Now, at last, he thought to hear of his people--this, certainly, if Simonides had indeed been his father's slave.