which hung round the neck like a
collar, instead of descending to the breast, according to the fashion of
the peaceful--'By this chain, you wrong me! I am a blunt man--a soldier
should be so.'

'How do you find the ladies of Pompeii generally?' said Julia.

'By Venus, most beautiful! They favor me a little, it is true, and that
inclines my eyes to double their charms.'

'We love a warrior,' said the wife of Pansa.

'I see it: by Hercules! it is even disagreeable to be too celebrated in
these cities. At Herculaneum they climb the roof of my atrium to catch
a glimpse of me through the compluvium; the admiration of one's citizens
is pleasant at first, but burthensome afterwards.'

'True, true, O Vespius!' cried the poet, joining the group: 'I find it
so myself.'

'You!' said the stately warrior, scanning the small form of the poet
with ineffable disdain. 'In what legion have you served?'

'You may see my spoils, my exuviae, in the forum itself,' returned the
poet, with a significant glance at the women. 'I have been among the
tent-companions, the contubernales, of the great Mantuan himself.'

'I know no general from Mantua, said the warrior, gravely. 'What
campaign have you served?'

'That of Helicon.'

'I never heard of it.'

'Nay, Vespius, he does but joke,' said Julia, laughing.

'Joke! By Mars, am I a man to be joked!'

'Yes; Mars himself was in love with the mother of jokes,' said the poet,
a little alarmed. 'Know, then, O Vespius! that I am the poet Fulvius.
It is I who make warriors immortal!'

'The gods forbid!' whispered Sallust to Julia. 'If Vespius were made
immortal, what a specimen of tiresome braggadocio would be transmitted
to posterity!'

The soldier looked puzzled; when, to the infinite relief of himself and
his companions, the signal for the feast was given.

As we have already witnessed at the house of Glaucus the ordinary
routine of a Pompeian entertainment, the reader is spared any second
detail of the courses, and the manner in which they were introduced.

Diomed, who was rather ceremonious, had appointed a nomenclator, or
appointer of places to each guest.

The reader understands that the festive board was composed of three
tables; one at the centre, and one at each wing. It was only at the
outer side of these tables that the guests reclined; the inner space was
left untenanted, for the greater convenience of the waiters or ministri.
The extreme corner of one of the w