At last he advanced; then the stupefaction of surprise disappeared.
Numbers of arms were raised, and he was lost to sight.
The staircase of the Acropolis had sixty steps. He descended them as
though he were rolled down in a torrent from the top of a mountain;
three times he was seen to leap, and then he alighted below on his feet.
His shoulders were bleeding, his breast was panting with great shocks;
and he made such efforts to burst his bonds that his arms, which were
crossed on his naked loins, swelled like pieces of a serpent.
Several streets began in front of him, leading from the spot at which he
found himself. In each of them a triple row of bronze chains fastened to
the navels of the Pataec gods extended in parallel lines from one end
to the other; the crowd was massed against the houses, and servants,
belonging to the Ancients, walked in the middle brandishing thongs.
One of them drove him forward with a great blow; Matho began to move.
They thrust their arms over the chains shouting out that the road had
been left too wide for him; and he passed along, felt, pricked, and
slashed by all those fingers; when he reached the end of one street
another appeared; several times he flung himself to one side to bite
them; they speedily dispersed, the chains held him back, and the crowd
burst out laughing.
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