The Captain of the Guard.
[Calls to the soldiers.] The Emperor comes! [The combatants are parted and carried with the stream of other worshippers into the church.
Hymn of Praise.
[From the high altar.]
The Serpent is hurled
To the deepest abyss;—
The Lamb rules the world,—
All is peace, all is bliss!
The Court enters in stately procession from the left.
Priests with censers go before; after them men-at-arms
and torch-bearers, courtiers and bodyguards.
In their midst the Emperor Constantius, a man of
thirty-four, of distinguished appearance, beardless,
with brown curly hair; his eyes have a dark,
distrustful expression; his gait and whole deportment
betray uneasiness and debility. Beside
him, on his left, walks the Empress Eusebia, a
pale, delicate woman, the same age as the Emperor.
Behind the imperial pair follows Prince
Julian, a not yet fully developed youth of nineteen.
He has black hair and the beginnings of a
beard, sparkling brown eyes with a rapid glance;
his court-dress sits badly upon him; his manners
are notably awkward and abrupt. The Emperor's
sister, the Princess Helena, a voluptuous beauty
of twenty-five, follows, accompanied by maidens
and older women. Courtiers and men-at-arms
close the procession. The Emperor's body-slave,
Memnon, a heavily-built, magnificently-dressed
Ethiopian, is among them.
