ure, is over. If, however, he has felt, and still
retains, some interest in Antonina, he will not refuse to follow us,
and look on her again ere we part.

More than a month had passed since the besieging army had retired to
their winter quarters, when several of the citizens of Rome assembled
themselves on the plains beyond the walls, to enjoy one of those rustic
festivals of ancient times, which are still celebrated, under different
usages, but with the same spirit, by the Italians of modern days.

The place was a level plot of ground beyond the Pincian Gate, backed by
a thick grove of pine trees, and looking towards the north over the
smooth extent of the country round Rome. The persons congregated were
mostly of the lower class. Their amusements were dancing, music, games
of strength and games of chance; and, above all, to people who had
lately suffered the extremities of famine, abundant eating and
drinking--long, serious, ecstatic enjoyment of the powers of
mastication and the faculties of taste.

Among the assembly were some individuals whose dress and manner raised
them, outwardly at least, above the general mass. These persons walked
backwards and forwards together on different parts of the ground as
observers, not as partakers in the sports. One of their number,
however, in whatever direction he turned, preserved an isolated
position. He held an open letter in his hand, which he looked at from
time to time, and appeared to be wholly absorbed in his own thoughts.
This man we may advantageously particularise on his own account, as
well as on account of the peculiarity of his accidental situation; for
he was the favoured minister of Vetranio's former pleasures--'the
industrious Carrio'.

The freedman (who was last introduced to the reader in Chapter XIV., as
exhibiting to Vetranio the store of offal which he had collected during
the famine for the consumption of the palace) had contrived of late
greatly to increase his master's confidence in him. On the
organisation of the Banquet of Famine, he had discreetly refrained from
testifying the smallest desire to save himself from the catastrophe in
which the senator and his friends had determined to involve themselves.
Securing himself in a place of safety, he awaited the end of the orgie;
and when he found that its unexpected termination left his master still
living to employ him, appeared again as a faithful servant, ready to
resume his customary occupatio