It was in the reign of Constantius, in the year 357, that the Emperor paid a visit to the ancient capital of his empire. Julian had married Helena, and had been accepted as Cæsar of the west, at Milan, with loud acclamations, while Constantius proceeded along the Emilian and Flaminian ways, to Rome.
The grandeur of that procession has been described at length, and a splendid train of nobles and courtiers took part in it.
The Emperor took up his abode in the ancient Palace of Augustus, and, we are told, presided in the Senate, assisted at the games, and that the thirty days he passed in the city may be described as one long festival.
Delighted with his reception in Rome, and filled with the sense of his own importance, Constantius cast about in his mind for some suitable gift to the city, which should eternally mark his satisfaction with it and with himself!
At first, we are told that he wished to imitate the colossal statue in the Forum of Trajan, but finally he decided on presenting the city with the huge obelisk which his father, Constantine, had removed from the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis and floated down the Nile to Alexandria.
This decision gave universal satisfaction. Orders were at once dispatched to Alexandria for the transmission of the obelisk.
A ship of huge proportions and strength was provided to convey this enormous mass of granite from the banks of the Nile to the Tiber.
The command of the expedition was entrusted to a man of high family and reputation in Alexandria, and preparations for departure were speedily completed.
Heraclitus was seated with the parchments and drafts before him, in his own beautiful home at Alexandria, lost in thought, wondering if the enormous outlay required would not exceed the expectations of the Emperor and his officers of state, when a light hand was laid on his shoulder.