stories are too good for a drunken man."

Florus paused to think of an answer, but before he could find one, the
praetor's body-slave rushed into the hall crying out: "The palace at
Lochias is on fire."

Verus kicked the mat of lilies off his feet on to the floor, tore down
the net that screened him in, and shouted to the breathless runner.

"My chariot-quick, my chariot! To our next merry meeting another evening
my friends, with many thanks for the honor you have done me. I must be
off to Lochias."

Verus flew out of the hall, without throwing on his cloak and hot as he
was, into the cold night, and at the same time most of his guests had
started up to hurry into the open air, to see the fire and to hear the
latest news; but only very few went to the scene of the conflagration
to help the citizens to extinguish it, and many heavily intoxicated
drinkers remained lying on the couches.

As Favorinus and the Alexandrians raised themselves on their pillows
Florus cried:

"No god shall make me stir from this place, not if the whole house is
burnt down and Alexandria and Rome, and for aught I care every nest
and nook on the face of the earth. It may all burn together. The Roman
Empire can never be greater or more splendid than under Caesar! It may
burn down like a heap of straw, it is all the same to me--I shall lie
here and drink."

The turmoil and confusion on the scene of the interrupted feast seemed
inextricable, while Verus hurried off to Sabina to inform her of what
had occurred. But Balbilla had been the first to discover the fire and
quite at the beginning, for after sitting industriously at her studies,
and before going to bed, she had looked out toward the sea. She had
instantly run out, cried "Fire!" and was now seeking for a chamberlain
to awake Sabina.

The whole of Lochias flared and shone in a purple and golden glow. It
formed the nucleus of a wide spreading radiance of tender red of which
the extent and intensity alternately grew and diminished. Verus met
the poetess at the door that led from the garden into the Empress'
apartments. He omitted on this occasion to offer his customary greeting,
but hastily asked her:

"Has Sabina been told?"

"I think not yet."

"Then have her called. Greet her from me--I must go to Lochias"

"We will follow you."

"No, stay here; you will be in the way there."

"I do not take much room and I shall go. What a magnificent spectacle."

"Eternal gods! the flames