He asked me what in my opinion was the best way to govern, what course of action he should follow in order to rival the greatest sovereigns. I recovered my spirit at these words. My courage revived, and as I expatiated at great length on this subject, my reputation with him was much enhanced.
In fact, the emperor had nothing but admiration for my discourse, so that he persisted in asking me questions and carefully pondered my answers, not satisfied with any superficial reply. After our talk, he summoned my fellow-ambassadors to his presence also, and he expounded to them his immediate policy, treating them as partners in the scheme. Such was the position in our relations when the sun rose and the whole scene was flooded with its light.
Others sprinkled sweet perfumes
40. All the populace of the city poured out to honour him.**192 Some brought lighted torches, as though he were God Himself. Others sprinkled sweet perfumes over him. Everyone, in his own peculiar way, tried to please him. Without exception the people regarded the occasion as a festal day. There was dancing and rejoicing everywhere. You would think Isaac’s entry into the capital was some revelation of the Deity Himself.
But how could I, in a few brief words, describe to you the magnificence of that wonderful sight? I have taken my part in many imperial processions, and I have assisted at ceremonies of a mere religious character, but in all my life I have never seen such splendour. It was not merely the people of the city, nor the Senate, nor the host of farmers and merchants, that made up that happy throng: there were students of the theological colleges there, and dwellers on the mountain-tops, and hermits who had left their communal homes in the carved rocktombs; the stylites,**193 too, who lived in mid-air, joined in the crowds. All of them, whether they had slipped out from their rocks, or come down from their aerial perches, or exchanged the mountain heights for the level plains, all made the emperor’s procession into the City a most memorable sight.
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