He chose the nearest road thither through the Gate of the Sun and the Kanopic Way.  Usually at this hour it was crowded with people, but to-day few persons were astir.  All the idlers had thronged to the Bruchium and the harbour to see the returning ships of the vanquished fleet, hear something new, witness the demonstrations of joy, the sacrifices and processions, and—­if Fortune favoured—­meet the Queen and relieve their overflowing hearts by acclamations.

When the carriage turned towards the left and approached the Paneum, progress for the first time became difficult.  A dense crowd had gathered around the hill on whose summit the sanctuary of Pan dominated the spacious garden.  Anukis’s eye perceived the tall figure of Philostratus.  Was the mischief-maker everywhere?  This time he seemed to encounter opposition, for loud shouts interrupted his words.  Just as the carriage passed he pointed to the row of houses in which the widow of Leonax lived, but violent resistance followed the gesture.

Anukis perceived what restrained the crowd; for, as the equipage approached its destination, a body of armed youths stopped it.  Their finely-formed limbs, steeled by the training of the Palaestra, and the raven, chestnut, and golden locks floating around their well-shaped heads, were indeed beautiful.  They were a band of the Ephebi, formerly commanded by Archibius, and to whose leadership more recently Dion had been elected.  The youths had heard what had occurred—­that imprisonment, perhaps even worse disaster, threatened him.  At any other time it would scarcely have been possible to oppose the decree of the Government and guard their imperilled friend, but in these dark days the rulers must deal with them.  Though they were loyal to the Queen, and had resolved, spite of her defeat, to support her cause, as soon as she needed them, they would not suffer Dion to be punished for a crime which, in their eyes, was an honour.  Their determination to protect him grew more eager with every vexatious delay on the part of the city council to deal with a matter which concerned one of their own body.  They had not yet decided whether to demand a full pardon or only a mild sentence for the man who had wounded the “King of kings,” the son of the sovereign.  Moreover, the quiet Caesarion, still subject to his tutor, had not understood how to win the favour of the Ephebi.  The weakling never appeared in the Palaestra, which even the great Mark Antony did not disdain to visit.  The latter had more than once given the youths assembled there proofs of his giant strength, and his son Antyllus also frequently shared their exercises.  Dion had merely dealt Caesarion with his clenched fist one of the blows which every one must encounter in the arena.