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[Calls to the soldiers.] The Emperor comes! [The combatants are parted and carried with the stream of other worshippers into the church.

[From the high altar.]

The Serpent is hurled To the deepest abyss;— The Lamb rules the world,— All is peace, all is bliss!

''The Court enters in stately procession from the left. Priests with censers go before; after them men-at-arms and torch-bearers, courtiers and bodyguards. In their midst the, a man of thirty-four, of distinguished appearance, beardless, with brown curly hair; his eyes have a dark, distrustful expression; his gait and whole deportment betray uneasiness and debility. Beside him, on his left, walks the, a pale, delicate woman, the same age as the Emperor. Behind the imperial pair follows, a not yet fully developed youth of nineteen. He has black hair and the beginnings of a beard, sparkling brown eyes with a rapid glance; his court-dress sits badly upon him; his manners are notably awkward and abrupt. The Emperor's sister, the, a voluptuous beauty of twenty-five, follows, accompanied by maidens and older women. Courtiers and men-at-arms close the procession. The Emperor's body-slave, , a heavily-built, magnificently-dressed Ethiopian, is among them.''