As the procession went on it was constantly augmented, and the column,

which had been four abreast when it started from the Popolo, was eight

abreast before it reached the end of the Corso. There were no bands of

music, and there was no singing, but at intervals some one at the head

of the procession would begin to clap, and then the clapping of hands

would run down the street like the rattle of musketry.

Going up the narrow streets beyond the Venezia, the people passed into

the Forum--out of the living city of the present into the dead city of

the past, with its desolation and its silence, its chaos of broken

columns and cornices, of corbels and capitals, of wells and

watercourses, lying in the waste where they had been left by the

earthquake which had passed over them, the earthquake of the ages--and

so on through the arch of Titus to the meeting-place in the Coliseum.

All this time David Rossi's restless eyes had passed nervously from side

to side. Coming down the Corso he had been dimly conscious of eyes

looking at him from windows and balconies. He was struggling to be calm

and firm, but he was in a furnace of dread, and beneath his breath he

was praying from time to time that God would prevent accident and avert

bloodshed. He was also praying for strength of spirit and feeling like a

guilty coward. His face was deadly pale, the fire within seemed to

consume the grosser senses, and he walked along like a man in a dream.

VI

Half-an-hour before Ave Maria, Roma had put on an inconspicuous cloak, a

plain hat, and a dark veil, and walked down to the Coliseum. Soldiers

were stationed on all the high ground about the circus, and large

numbers of persons were already assembled inside. The people were poor

and ill-clad, and they smelt of garlic and uncleanness. "His people,

though," thought Roma, and so she conquered her repulsion.

Three tiers encircle the walls of the Coliseum, like the galleries of a

great theatre, and the lowest of these was occupied by a regiment of

Carabineers. There was some banter and chaff at the expense of the

soldiers, but the people were serious for all that, and the excitement

beneath their jesting was deep and strong.

The low cloud which had hung over the city from early morning seemed to

lie like a roof over the topmost circle of the amphitheatre, and as

night came on the pit below grew dark and chill. Then torches were lit

and put in prominent places--long pitch sticks covered with rags or

brown paper. The people were patient and good-humoured, but to beguile

the tedium of waiting they sang songs. They were songs of labour

chiefly, but one man started the Te Deum, and the rest joined in with

one voice. It was like the noise the sea makes on a heavy day when it

breaks on a bank of sand.




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