There Augustus bought many gifts for the young man--new
arms, a beautiful corselet, a girdle of the look of knitted gold--for
the Roman wore a girdle in Judea--articles of apparel suited to the
climate of the Far East. The shop had filled with people, who tried to
cover their curiosity by the purchase of trifles.
"This cloth would make a fine toga," said the shopkeeper.
The emperor surveyed it closely.
"Let me hold it up to the light and then you will see its texture," the
other continued.
"You are a hard master," said Augustus.
"You would have us walk on the house-tops to show the fineness of our
togas? It is enough. Let us pass, good people."
A cheer, starting at the shop door, went to the far sides of the city.
It signified that the emperor was out among the people and in his best
mood.
Their nomenclator cleared a way for them to the litter and they sat
down again, facing each other, the emperor and the boy.
"If I had your riches," the great man remarked, as they went on, "I
wonder what I should do with them.
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