But wise and gracious, in the prefect’s chair.
I do not blame him. (Mark the sudden gaps
Along our path.) Eustratius Proculus,
The gold and purple fringing his white robe,
In a domed chamber, on a curving throne;
And next the lighted jasper altar, wheeled
Far up the floor, boxed incense piled thereby,
Tall Theodora, like the lotus-flower
That rides a flooded stream; lictors and priests,
Notaries, naked executioners,