It was the dearest purpose of his dreamy superstition to surround
himself with innumerable deities, as well as to assemble innumerable
worshippers; to make the sacred place of his habitation a mighty
Pantheon, as well as a point of juncture for the scattered congregations
of the Pagan world. This was the ambition in which his madness expanded
to the fiercest fanaticism; and as he now stood erect with his captives
beneath him, his glaring eyes looked awe-struck when he fixed them on
his idols; he uplifted his arms in solemn, ecstatic triumph, and in low
tones poured forth his invocations, wild, intermingled, and fragmentary,
as the barbarous altar which his solitary exertions had reared.
Whatever was the effect on Numerian of his savage and confused
ejaculations, they were unnoticed, even unheard, by Antonina; for now,
while the madman's voice softened to an undertone, and while she hid all
surrounding objects from her eyes, her senses were awakened to sounds in
the temple which she had never remarked before.
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