And a little before his death, as I have heard, a great fire suddenly fastened upon the entire interior of the temple of Serapis in Alexandria, and did no other harm whatever save only to destroy that sword with which he had slain his brother. [Later, when it stopped, many stars shone out.] In Rome, too, [a spirit wearing the likeness of a man led an ass up the Capitol and later up the Palatine, seeking, as he said, its master and stating that Antoninus was dead and Jupiter reigned. Arrested for his behavior, he was sent by Maternianus to Antoninus, and he declared: "I depart, as you bid, but I shall face not this emperor but another." Afterwards on coming to Capua he vanished. [Sidenote:--8--] This took place while the prince was still alive.] At the horse-race [held in memory of Severus's reign] the statue of Mars, while being carried in procession, fell down. This perhaps would not arouse such great wonder, but listen to the greatest marvel of all. The Green faction had been defeated, whereupon, catching sight of a jackdaw, which was screeching very loud on the tip of a javelin, they all gazed at him and all of a sudden, as if by previous arrangement, cried out: "Hail Martialius, Martialius hail, long it is since we beheld thee!" It was not that the jackdaw was ever so called, but through him they were greeting, apparently under some divine inspiration, Martialius, the assassin of Antoninus. To some, indeed, Antoninus seemed to have foretold his own end, inasmuch as in the last letter that he sent to the senate he had said: "Cease praying that I may reign a hundred years." The petition mentioned had always been uttered from the beginning of his sovereignty and this was the first and only time that he found fault with it. Thus, while his words were simply meant to chide them for offering a prayer impossible of accomplishment, he was really indicating that he should no longer rule for any length of time. And when certain persons had once called attention to this fact, it also came to my mind that when he was giving us a banquet in Nicomedea at the Saturnalia and had talked a good deal, as was usual at a symposium, then on our rising to go he had addressed me and said: "With great acumen and truth, Dio, has Euripides remarked that "'Neath divers forms the spirit world is lurking, Much passing hope the gods are ever working. Oft disappointment strikes down sure ambition: The unthought chance God brings to full fruition. This story leaves things in just that condition.'" [Footnote: Lines that occur at the end of several of Euripides's dramas.]