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joined his
hands and raised his eyes towards the stars. This act displeased the
crowd. They had had enough of those Christians, who died like sheep.
They understood that if the giant would not defend himself, the
spectacle would be a failure. Here and there hisses were heard. Some
began to cry for scourgers, whose office it was to lash combatants
unwilling to fight. But soon all had grown silent, for no one knew what
was waiting for the giant, nor whether he would not defend himself
when he met death eye to eye.
In fact, they had not long to wait. Suddenly the shrill sound of brazen
trumpets was heard, and at that signal into the arena rushed, amid the
shouts of the beast-keepers, an enormous German aurochs, bearing on
his head the naked body of a woman.
Vinicius sprang to his feet.

"Lygia! Oh, ... I believe! I believe! Oh, Christ, a miracle! a miracle!"
And he did not even know that Petronius had covered his head at that
moment with a toga. He did not look; he did not see. The feeling of
some awful emptiness possessed him. In his head there remained not a
thought. His lips merely repeated as if in madness, "I believe! I believe!
I believe!"
This time the amphitheater was silent, for in the arena something
uncommon had happened. That giant, obedient and ready to die, when
he saw his queen on the horns of the wild beast, sprang up, as if
touched by living fire, and, bending forward, he ran at the raging
animal.
From all breasts a sudden cry of amazement was heard, as the giant fell
on the raging bull and seized him by the horns. And then came deep
silence. All breasts ceased to breathe. In the amphitheater a fly might
be heard on the wing. People could not believe their own eyes. Since
Rome was Rome no one had ever seen such a spectacle. The man's feet
sank in the sand to his ankle; his back was bent like a bow; his head
was hidden between his shoulders; on his arms the muscles came out so
that the skin almost burst from their pressure; but he had stopped the
bull in his tracks. The man and the bull remained so still that the
spectators thought themselves looking at a group hewn in stone. But in
that apparent repose there was a tremendous exertion of two struggling
forces. The bull's feet, as well as the man's, sank in the sand, and the
dark, shaggy body was curved so that it seemed a gigantic ball. Which
of the two would fail first? Which would fall first?
Meanwhile a dull roar resembling a groan was heard from the arena,
after which a brief shout was wrested from every breast, and again
there was silence. Duller and duller, hoarser and hoarser, more and
more painful grew the groan of the bull as it mingled with the whistling
breath from the breast of the giant. The head of the beast began to turn
in the iron hands of the barbarian, and from his jaws crept forth a long,
foaming tongue. A moment more and to the ears of the spectators
sitting nearer came, as it were, the crack of breaking bones; then the
beast rolled on the earth, dead.

The giant removed in a twinkling the ropes that bound the maiden to
the horns of the bull. His face was very pale; he stood as if only half
conscious; then he raised his eyes and looked at the spectators.
The amphitheater had gone wild. The walls of the building were
trembling from the roar of tens of thousands of people.
Everywhere were heard cries for mercy, passionate and persistent,
which soon turned into one unbroken thunder.
The giant understood that they were asking for his life and liberty, but
his thoughts were not for himself. He raised the unconscious maiden in
his arms, and, going to Nero's padium, held her up and looked up
imploringly.
Vinicius sprang over the barrier, which separated the lower seats from
the arena, and, running to Lygia, covered her with his toga.
Then he tore apart the tunic on his breast, laid bare the scars left by
wounds received in the Armenian war, and stretched out his hands to
the multitude.
At this the enthusiasm passed everything ever seen in a circus before.
Voices choking with tears began to demand mercy. Yet Nero halted
and hesitated. He would have preferred to see the giant and the maiden
rent by the horns of the bull.
Nero was alarmed. He understood that to oppose longer was simply
dangerous. A disturbance begun in the circus might seize the whole city.
He looked once more, and, seeing everywhere frowning brows, excited
faces and