At the feet of that painted boy, Elephantis
and Parrhasius could have sat and learned a lesson. Apart from
that phase of his sovereignty, he was a little Sardanapalus, an
Asiatic mignon, who found himself great.
It would have been curious to have seen him in that wonderful
palace, clothed like a Persian queen, insisting that he should be
addressed as Imperatrix, and quite living up to the title. It
would not only be interesting, it would give one an insight into
just how much the Romans could stand. It would have been curious,
also, to have assisted at that superb and poetic ceremonial, in
which, having got Tanit from Carthage as consort for Elagabal, he
presided, girt with the pomp of church and state, over the
nuptials of the Sun and Moon.
He had read Suetonius, and not an eccentricity of the Caesars
escaped him. He would not hunt flies by the hour, as Domitian had
done, for that would be mere imitation; but he could collect
cobwebs, and he did, by the ton. Caligula and Vitellius had been
famous as hosts, but the feasts that Heliogabalus gave outranked
them for sheer splendor. From panels in the ceiling such masses of
flowers fell that guests were smothered. Those that survived had
set before them glass game and sweets of crystal. The menu was
embroidered on the table-cloth--not the mere list of dishes, but
pictures drawn with the needle of the dishes themselves. And
presently, after the little jest in glass had been enjoyed, you
were served with camel's heels; combs torn from living cocks;
platters of nightingale tongues; ostrich brains, prepared with
that garum sauce which the Sybarites invented, and of which the
secret is lost; therewith were peas and grains of gold; beans and
amber peppered with pearl dust; lentils and rubies; spiders in
jelly; lion's dung, served in pastry.
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