Now then, please imagine a little room, not very
bright and not admitting any too much daylight;
also, a crowd of heterogeneous humanity, excited,
wonder-struck in advance, agog with hopes. When
they went in, the thing, of course, seemed to
them a miracle, that the formerly tiny snake
within a few days had turned into so great a
serpent, with a human face, moreover, and tame!
They were immediately crowded towards the exit,
and before they could look closely were forced out
by those who kept coming in, for another dovr


 

had been opened on the opposite side as an exit.
That was the way the Macedonians did, they say,
in Babylon during Alexander’s illness, when he was
in a bad way and they surrounded the palace,
craving to see him and say good-bye. This exhibition the scoundrel gave not merely once, they say,
but again and again, above all if any rich men
were newly arrived.