and back, dressed in a
gardener's costume, just as before, whom should I meet but Totila!
Therefore he was not lying in Miriam's arms; the Jewess was not his
sweetheart, but perhaps his confidante; and who knows where the flower
that this gardener cherishes blooms? The lucky fellow! Only consider
that on the Via Capuana stand all the villas and pleasure-houses of the
first families of Neapolis, and that in these gardens flourish and
bloom the loveliest of women."

"By my genius!" cried Lucius Licinius, lifting his wreathed goblet, "in
that region live the most beautiful women of Italia--cursed be the
Goths!"

"No," shouted Massurius, glowing with wine, "cursed be Kallistratos and
the Corsican! who offer us strange love-stories, as the stork offered
the fox food from narrow-necked flasks. Now, O mine host, let your
girls in, if you have ordered any. You need not excite our expectation
any further."

"Yes, yes! the girls! the dancers! the players!" cried the young guests
all together.

"Hold!" said the host. "When Aphrodite comes, she must tread upon
flowers. This glass I dedicate to thee, Flora!"

He sprang up, and dashed a costly crystal cup against the tabled
ceiling, so that it broke with a loud ring. As soon as the glass struck
the ceiling, the whole of it opened like a trap-door, and a thick rain
of flowers of all kinds fell upon the heads of the astonished guests;
roses from Paestum, violets from Thurii, myrtles from Tarentum; covering
with scented bunches the tesselated floor, the tables, the cushions,
and the heads of the drinkers.

"Never," cried Cethegus, "did Venus descend more beautifully upon
Paphos!"

Kallistratos clapped his hands.

To the sound of lyre and flute the centre wall of the room, directly
opposite the triclinium, parted; four short-robed female dancers,
chosen for their beauty, in Persian costume, that is, dressed in
transparent rose-coloured gauze, sprang, clashing their cymbals, from
behind a bush of blooming oleander.

Behind them came a large carriage in the form of a fan-shaped shell,
with golden wheels, pushed by eight young female slaves. Four girls,
playing on the flute, and dressed in Lydian garments--purple and white
with gold-embroidered mantles--walked before, and upon the seat of the
carriage rested, in a half-lying position, and covered with roses,
Aphrodite herself; a blooming girl of enchanting, voluptuous beauty,
whose almost only garment was an imitation of Aphro