Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/261

Rh, who climbed upon the table, and, in the view of all, solemnly replaced it, making Messala master of the night.

&quot;There came with me into the room,&quot; he said, &quot;some friends just risen from table. That our feast may have the approval of sacred custom, bring hither that one of them most overcome by wine.&quot;

A din of voices answered, &quot;Here he is, here he is!&quot;

And from the floor where he had fallen, a youth was brought forward, so effeminately beautiful he might have passed for the drinking-god himself—only the crown would have dropped from his head, and the thyrsus from his hand.

&quot;Lift him upon the table,&quot; the master said.

It was found he could not sit.

&quot;Help him, Drusus, as the fair Nyone may yet help thee.&quot;

Drusus took the inebriate in his arms.

Then addressing the limp figure, Messala said, amidst profound silence, &quot;O Bacchus! greatest of the gods, be thou propitious to-night. And for myself, and these thy votaries, I vow this chaplet&quot;—and from his head he raised it reverently—&quot;I vow this chaplet to thy altar in the Grove of Daphne.&quot;

He bowed, replaced the crown upon his locks, then stooped and uncovered the dice, saying, with a laugh, &quot;See, my Drusus, by the ass of Silenus, the denarius is mine!&quot;

There was a shout that set the floor to quaking, and the grim Atlantes to dancing, and the orgies began.

was a man of too much importance to go about with a small establishment. He had a reputation to keep with his tribe, such as became a prince and patriarch of the greatest following in all the Desert east of Syria; with the people of the cities he had another reputation, which was that of one of the richest personages not a king in all the East; and, being rich in fact—in money as well