golden hair--for she was that
unusual and much admired being, an Italian blonde--and, spanning the
circumference of her slight waist. She was, indeed, a creature exquisitely
bright and lovely, with such an air of mild and angelic candor pervading
her whole face, that you would have sworn her the most innocent, the
purest of her sex. Alas! that she was indeed almost the vilest! that she
was that rare monster, a woman, who, linked with every crime and baseness
that can almost unsex a woman, preserves yet in its height, one eminent
and noble virtue, one half-redeeming trait amidst all her infamy, in her
proud love of country! Name, honor, virtue, conscience, womanhood, truth,
piety, all, all, were sacrificed to her rebellious passions. But to her
love of country she could have sacrificed those very passions! That frail
abandoned wretch was still a Roman--might have been in a purer age a
heroine of Rome's most glorious.

"Welcome, most lovely Fulvia," exclaimed the host, gliding softly into the
room. "By Mars! the most favored of immortals! You must have stolen
Aphrodite's cestus! Saw you her ever look so beautiful, my Paullus? You do
well to put those sapphires in your hair, for they wax pale and dim
besides the richer azure of your eyes; and the dull gold in which they are
enchased sets off the sparkling splendor of your tresses. What, Fulvia,
know you not young Arvina--one of the great Caecilii? By Hercules! my
Curius, he won the best of the quinquertium from such competitors as
Victor and Aristius Fuscus, and ran twelve stadii, with the heaviest
breast-plate and shield in the armory, quicker than it has been performed
since the days of Licinius Celer. I prithee, know, and cherish him, my
friends, for I would have him one of us. In truth I would, my Paullus."

The flattering words of the tempter, and the more fascinating smiles and
glances of the bewitching siren, were not thrown away on the young noble;
and these, with the soft perfumed atmosphere, the splendidly voluptuous
furniture of the saloon, and the delicious music, which was floating all
the while upon his ears from the blended instruments and voices of unseen
minstrels, conspired to plunge his senses into a species of effeminate and
luxurious languor, which suited well the ulterior views of Catiline.

"One thing alone has occurred," resumed the host, after some moments spent
in light jests and trivial conversation, "to decrease our pleasure:
Cethegus was to h