"Fool!" he shouted. "Have I not told you never to bear upon my head?"
He jumped to his feet, black eyes flashing under heavy brows, and,
seizing a lance, broke the slave's arm with a blow and drove him out of
the chamber. A few minutes later, in a robe of white silk and a yellow
girdle, he came into his banquet-hall with politeness, dovelike,
worshipful, and caressing.
"Noble son of Varro!" said he, smiling graciously, "it is a joy to see
you. And you, brave Gracus; and you, Aulus, child of Destiny; and you,
my learned Manius; and you, Carus, favored of the Muses: I do thank you
all for this honor."
It was a brilliant company--gay youths all, who could tell the new
stories and loved to sit late with their wine. As they waited for
dinner many tempting dishes were passed among them. There were
oysters, mussels, spondyli, fieldfares with asparagus, roe-ribs,
sea-nettles, and purple shellfish. When they came to their couches,
the dinner-table was covered with rare and costly things. On platters
of silver and gold one might have seen tunny fishes from Chalcedon,
murcenas from the Straits of Gades, peacocks from Samos, grouse from
Phrygia, cranes from Melos.
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