Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/255

Rh stopped, and looked over it and at the players, they all turned to him, with a shout like a cheer.

&quot;Messala! Messala!&quot; they cried.

Those in distant quarters, hearing the cry, re-echoed it where they were. Instantly there were dissolutions of groups, and breaking-up of games, and a general rush towards the centre.

Messala took the demonstration indifferently, and proceeded presently to show the ground of his popularity.

&quot;A health to thee, Drusus, my friend,&quot; he said to the player next at his right; &quot;a health—and thy tablets a moment.&quot;

He raised the waxen boards, glanced at the memoranda of wagers, and tossed them down.

&quot;Denarii, only denarii—coin of cartmen and butchers!&quot; he said, with a scornful laugh. &quot;By the drunken Semele, to what is Rome coming, when a Cæsar sits o' nights waiting a turn of fortune to bring him but a beggarly denarius!&quot;

The scion of the Drusi reddened to his brows, but the bystanders broke in upon his reply by surging closer around the table, and shouting, &quot;The Messala! the Messala!&quot;

&quot;Men of the Tiber,&quot; Messala continued, wresting a box with the dice in it from a hand near-by, &quot;who is he most favored of the gods? A Roman. Who is he lawgiver of the nations? A Roman. Who is he, by sword right, the universal master?&quot;

The company were of the easily inspired, and the thought was one to which they were born; in a twinkling they snatched the answer from him.

&quot;A Roman, a Roman!&quot; they shouted.

&quot;Yet—yet&quot;—he lingered to catch their ears—&quot;yet there is a better than the best of Rome.&quot;

He tossed his patrician head and paused, as if to sting them with his sneer.

&quot;Hear ye?&quot; he asked. &quot;There is a better than the best of Rome.&quot;

&quot;Ay—Hercules!&quot; cried one.

&quot;Bacchus!&quot; yelled a satirist.

&quot;Jove—Jove!&quot; thundered the crowd.

&quot;No,&quot; Messala answered, &quot;among men.&quot;