20 FEBRUARY 1904, Page 22

The Pomps of Satan. By Edgar Saltus. (Greening and Co.

3s. 6d. net.)—This is another social satire from America with a possi- bility of application here. It is not very easy to understand ; that is scarcely an objection, because the plainer the meaning the more likely it is to offend. But we shall confine our criticism to one sentence which is distinctly intelligible and as distinctly wrong. It is not true that " Caligula got away with a sum equal to four hundred millions of our money." " Vicies ao septies willies sestertium non tote anno vertente absumpsit" is the passage in Suetonius which is presumably Mr. Saltus's authority. If dollars are meant, the sum is nearly four times too great. Caligula spent rather more than one hundred million of dollars.