The legates and Caesar came too late to hold him back, and from below came cries of: "Crushed!—dead! . . What crime has he committed? . They cast him down! . . . He can not have done it himself . . . Impossible! . . . His arms are bound. . . A new manner of death invented specially for the Alexandrians!"
Then another whistle sounded, and the shout, "Down with the tyrant!"
But no second cry followed. The place was too full of soldiers and lictors.
"Caracalla heard it all. He turned back into the room, wiped the perspiration from his brow, and said in a voice of studied unconcern, yet with horrible harshness:
"He deserved his death-ten times over. However, I have to thank him for a good suggestion. I had forgotten the Egyptian Zminis. If he is still alive, Macrinus, take him from his dungeon and bring him here. But quickly—in a chariot! Let him come just as he is. I can make use of him now."
The prefect bowed assent, and by the rapidity with which he departed he betrayed how willingly he carried out this order of his master's.
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Possess little and require nothing