1830.] a Tale of the Ancient Britons. 273 



" For a short time only," replied Sergius. 



(( Then you can sympathize with all that I must have suffered during 

 my campaign in that villainous spot of earth. The barbarians had not 

 the slightest notion of what was due to the refined feelings of a Roman 

 warrior. They never would allow me to have a single meal in peace, 

 but perpetually attacked me at dinner-time. I cannot take it on my con- 

 science to say that I had more than two good days' feasting during the 

 whole campaign. For one week I lived on nothing but horse-beans, 

 washed down (would you believe it?) with ditch-water. Then with 



regard to sleeping But I see you are affected : I only hope you 



may be better off in Britain/' 



" On this point I feel little uneasiness. Glory is the only food of 

 which I ask my fill." 



" Glory !" rejoined Vitellius, with a sneer tempered, however, by a 

 most courteous inclination of the head " it is a species of nourishment 

 that never agreed with my digestion. Translated into the vernacular, 

 I conceive it to mean horse-beans and ditch-water. But see ! the 

 empress is at hand. We must stand aside awhile/' 



At this instant a flourish of trumpets was heard, the palace-doors 

 flew open, and Messalina, leaning on the arm of Claudius, and accom- 

 panied by some five or six ladies of the court, passed up the centre of 

 the hall. After the imperial pair had seated themselves, the due liba- 

 tions were offered up to the household gods, and the business of the 

 banquet commenced. The coup-d'ceil, at this instant, was singularly 

 impressive. The vast range of the grandest hall in Rome was filled 

 though the day had not yet gone down with a flood of light, poured 

 forth from the golden candelabras that lavishly decorated every maple- 

 wood and ivory-inlaid table ; the soft, luxurious couches, along which 

 the patrician guests reclined, their brows crowned with chaplets of roses 

 and myrtle, were of costly Tyrian dye ; while the rounded pillars of 

 unsullied marble that extended on either side the entire length of the 

 hall, at whose further end, fronting the imperial throne, were stationed 

 the statues of the higher divinities the stupendous porphyry and ala- 

 baster vases, filled with the most fragrant oriental perfumes the quaint 

 but superb costume of the musicians the glittering military accoutre- 

 ments of the household troops the snow-white tunics of the pages 

 the spangled dresses of the masquers the drapery of the long purple 

 hangings that wound serpent-like round the columns, contrasting for- 

 cibly with the stainless snow of their marble and, above all, the 

 appearance of the imperial banners that hung suspended from the 

 ivory-wrought ceiling, inflaming the imagination of the spectators with 

 a thousand glorious recollections; these various, picturesque, and impos- 

 ing objects gave to the whole scene a harmony a completeness an 

 elaborate and unparalleled magnificence. The banquet was equally 

 imposing. The dishes were, for the most part, of virgin gold ; and 

 the goblets out of which the guests quaffed their Chian, Falernian, and 

 Massic wines, sparkled with a constellation of gems. Among the chief 

 dainties, were the tongues of those precious birds, phaenicopters, the 

 brains of pheasants and peacocks, diluted with rare aromatic sauces, 

 in a style worthy of Lucullus, rows of lampreys- together with a select 

 variety of other delicacies, for which the Straits of Gibraltar renowned 

 throughout Rome for the unrivalled flavour of their scari and the 

 shores of the Carpathian sea, had been diligently ransacked. 



M.M. New Series. VOL. X. No. 57. 2 M 



