Читать книгу Fabiola; Or, The Church of the Catacombs онлайн

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Banquet Table, from a Pompeian painting.

The guests were soon at table; and as ladies sat, while men reclined on couches during the repast, Fabiola and Agnes were together on one side, the two younger guests last described were opposite, and the master, with his two elder friends, in the middle—if these terms can be used to describe their position about three parts of a round table; one side being left unencumbered by the sigma,[26] or semi-circular couch, for the convenience of serving. And we may observe, in passing, that a table-cloth, a luxury unknown in the times of Horace, was now in ordinary use.

When the first claims of hunger, or the palate, had been satisfied, conversation grew more general.

“What news to-day at the baths?” asked Calpurnius; “I have no leisure myself to look after such trifles.”

“Very interesting news indeed,” answered Proculus. “It seems quite certain that orders have been received from the divine Dioclesian, to finish his Thermæ in three years.”

“Impossible!” exclaimed Fabius. “I looked in at the works the other day, on my way to Sallust’s gardens, and found them very little advanced in the last year. There is an immense deal of heavy work to be done, such as carving marbles and shaping columns.”