otion. This was surely the first time that he had no desire to hear
praises from others. He sat for a time with his hands on the cithara and
with bowed head; then, rising suddenly, he said,--

"I am tired and need air, Meanwhile ye will tune the citharae."

He covered his throat then with a silk kerchief.

"Ye will go with me," said he, turning to Petronius and Vinicius, who
were sitting in a corner of the hall. "Give me thy arm, Vinicius, for
strength fails me; Petronius will talk to me of music."

They went out on the terrace, which was paved with alabaster and
sprinkled with saffron.

"Here one can breathe more freely," said Nero. "My soul is moved and
sad, though I see that with what I have sung to thee on trial just now
I may appear in public, and my triumph will be such as no Roman has ever
achieved."

"Thou mayst appear here, in Rome, in Achaea. I admire thee with my whole
heart and mind, divinity," answered Petronius.

"I know. Thou art too slothful to force thyself to flattery, and thou
art as sincere as Tullius Senecio, but thou hast more knowledge than he.
Tell me, what is thy judgment on music?"

"When I listen to poetry, when I look at a quadriga directed by thee
in the Circus, when I look at a beautiful statue, temple, or picture, I
feel that I comprehend perfectly what I see, that my enthusiasm takes
in all that these can give. But when I listen to music, especially thy
music, new delights and beauties open before me every instant. I pursue
them, I try to seize them; but before I can take them to myself, new
and newer ones flow in, just like waves of the sea, which roll on from
infinity. Hence I tell thee that music is like the sea. We stand on one
shore and gaze at remoteness, but we cannot see the other shore."

"Ah, what deep knowledge thou hast!" said Nero; and they walked on for
a moment, only the slight sound of the saffron leaves under their feet
being heard.

"Thou hast expressed my idea," said Nero at last; "hence I say now, as
ever, in all Rome thou art the only man able to understand me. Thus it
is, my judgment of music is the same as thine. When I play and sing, I
see things which I did not know as existing in my dominions or in the
world. I am Caesar, and the world is mine. I can do everything. But music
opens new kingdoms to me, new mountains, new seas, new delights unknown
before. Most frequently I cannot name them or grasp them; I only feel
them. I feel the gods, I see Olympus.