s. Then with books and conversation he fills up the interval till
it is time to ride, when, with his wife and a friend or two--perhaps
myself--he takes a drive of seven or eight miles. Till it is time to
bathe he amuses us with his graceful lyrics, in Greek as well as in
Latin. He bathes about two or three o'clock, and then suns himself;
for by bathing and rubbing and sunning he fights off the ills of
advancing years. Then a lunch. Then dinner, which is served on antique
solid silver. Have you enjoyed your bath, my Gallus? The tank is large
enough, certainly, for one to swim in. Now, as we pass back, see how
conveniently the bathing-house, heater and perfuming-rooms adjoin.
Here are my fish-ponds: the poor things can look out upon the sea if
they choose. And now my tennis-court, quite a warm place late in the
afternoon. Here is a turret with two sunny rooms under it: that one
yonder is a pleasant sunlit supper-room, with views of sea and beaches
and villas. Yonder is the villa once owned by Hortensius, Cicero's
great rival, you remember. It is not in good repair, and is rather
old-fashioned too. A third turret has under it a large larder and
store-room, and a spacious bed-chamber. In that sunny room, again, you
can escape the crash of the surges, which only penetrates here as a
gentle murmur. In truth, good Gallus, where there are so many wintry
changes on a coast like this, I like to be able to change too.
High winds and storms on a seashore compel us to have protected
dining-rooms. This one we are now in looks out upon my garden and the
shaded alley round it. We will dine early, and in the front triclinium
this pleasant evening.... In the country here we have not all the
delicacies that the city commands, but by the aid of Ostia and yonder
village we manage tolerably.... Some wine? Falernian, that my good
uncle bought forty years ago. The wax on the jar is stiff with age.
There is nothing I delight in more than in gathering my wife and
children around me, as you see. And I make you a member of my
household at once by not laying aside my rule. My reader is hoarse
to-day, or I would have some interesting extracts out of my uncle's
notebook read. Some grapes? They are late October vines. We can look
out of those side windows upon the white-sailed galleys that go by.
My uncle was admiral of the western fleet, you know, and though I have
only been a civil officer, yet I have a sort of love for the sea; and
this is one thing