Although he was not to appear until the end of the day, the people
sometimes fancied that he could be seen, and the crowd would rush
towards the Acropolis, and empty the streets, to return with lengthened
murmurings. Some people had remained standing in the same place since
the day before, and they would call on one another from a distance and
show their nails which they had allowed to grow, the better to bury them
into his flesh. Others walked restlessly up and down; some were as pale
as though they were awaiting their own execution.
Suddenly lofty feather fans rose above the heads, behind the Mappalian
district. It was Salammbo leaving her palace; a sigh of relief found
vent.
But the procession was long in coming; it marched with deliberation.
First there filed past the priests of the Pataec Gods, then those of
Eschmoun, of Melkarth, and all the other colleges in succession, with
the same insignia, and in the same order as had been observed at the
time of the sacrifice. The pontiffs of Moloch passed with heads bent,
and the multitude stood aside from them in a kind of remorse. But the
priests of Rabbetna advanced with a proud step, and with lyres in their
hands; the priestesses followed them in transparent robes of yellow
or black, uttering cries like birds and writhing like vipers, or else
whirling round to the sound of flutes to imitate the dance of the stars,
while their light garments wafted puffs of delicate scents through the
streets.
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