Like an inn, large and well appointed, was the house to which the Saxons were guided, near the circus, and they entered it gladly, for they were as men who were walking on into a new world.
"O Abbas," said Ben Ezra, "come with me to the amphitheater. I would inquire there concerning many things."
"Not so," replied Abbas. "Go thou. I have a friend to commune with and I go to meet him."
"O jarl of the Saxons," said Ben Ezra, as Abbas departed, "it is well that he goeth not with us. Come! Trust him not. He is overfond of money. Thou art a soldier. Thou must see thine enemy. Speak not to any man, but hear well. Who here knoweth thy gift of tongues? I am thine interpreter, and be thou as if thou wert deaf."
Ulric did but bow his head in answer to Ben Ezra, but the other Saxons knew the errand of their jarl and approved of his going.
A high arch of marble was the gate of the amphitheater, and on one side of it, upon the wall, was a broad tablet of wood. Upon this were inscribed many things, and both Ben Ezra and the jarl read them.
"Speak not," said the Jew. "One cometh to lead us to the dens."
Through the portal they went, guided by a soldier of Julius, and he seemed pleased to show them all things. First went they across the arena, and this was a broad place, egg-shaped, with vast tiers of seats arising upon all sides. Under these tiers were the keeping places, and from some of these came cries and roarings of wild beasts and the shouts of men.
"Here are the prisons of criminals and of captured rebels," said the soldier as the guard before a door opened it to let them in, "but thou hast little to do with these. They are to slay each other or to be torn by beasts. There are trained swordsmen for thee and thine."
Nevertheless, he and the jarl and the Jew went into more than one of these prisons, looking well at what they found there.