emerald; of Fortuna, with the horn of Amalthea; of Hymen the
torch-bearer, god of marriage; cups of figured and embossed glass,
inscribed with sentiments such as "Bibe feliciter!" or "Ex hoc amici
bibunt,"--all intended to be bestowed upon the guests as souvenirs
during the feasts at which they were to be used. Lustrous silks came
from far-away Serica; cloth of gold from Persian looms; glassware,
fragile as tinted bubbles, from the great works near Lucrinum; spices
and perfumes from Arabia, aloe, myrrh, and spikenard. To all that he
owned he added tenfold more. Sometimes his ships were lost at sea;
sometimes plundered by bands of pirates at his very doors. Then a
messenger would be sent speeding by night and day to the agent from whom
that ship had come, to return in a time incredibly short with an
identical cargo--if by any means this could be duplicated. In this way
he more than once sunk what was in truth a fortune without a denarius of
profit in return. He wished to have tigers and lions brought from
Africa, that his guests might hunt royal game, and spent many thousand
aurei before he discovered that the cold invariably killed those of the
animals which had survived the voyage. So he gave up that idea and
stocked his parks and forests with wild boar,--the prime favorite for
big game hunting,--with wolves, and lordly stags, and the wary, wild
_bos longifrons_, which afforded as good sport as might be wished.

Each day goods arrived, and messengers came with some rare thing brought
by hand half across the world; each day bales and boxes were opened in
rooms set apart for them; and each day Eudemius called his daughter and
put into her careless hands some costly trifle which men had sweated and
striven like overworked beasts of burden to lay before her.

When Varia's last month of maidenhood was nearly gone, Eudemius called
Hito to him, to give account of what was in his hands. In the house were
so many services of gold and silver, so many of Samian ware from
Aretium, costly enough for an emperor's table; in the cellars, so many
amphorae of Falernian wine and wines from Cyprus, so many ollae of ale and
beer. In the servants' quarters were so many slaves of the field and of
the household, male and female; so many trained to trades, so many
dancing boys, musicians, and dancing girls. There were so many coloni
and casarii, who owned Eudemius as patronus and paid house and land rent
yearly in money, produce, or service, w