refused to let Galen yield the couch on Pertinax's right hand but
took the vacant one at the end of the half-moon table, saying she
preferred it--which was likely true enough; it gave her a view of all
the faces without turning her head or appearing to stare.

For a long time there was merely desultory conversation while the feast,
restricted within moderate proportions by request of Pertinax, was
brought on.

There were eels, for which Daphne was famous; alphests and callichthys;
pompilos, a purple fish, said to have been born from sea-foam at the
birth of Aphrodite; boops and bedradones; gray mullet; cuttle-fish;
tunny-fish and mussels. Followed in their order pheasants, grouse,
swan, peacock and a large pig stuffed with larks and mincemeat. Then
there were sweetmeats of various kinds, and a pudding invented in
Persia, made with honey and dates, with a sauce of frozen cream and
strawberries. By Galen's order only seven sorts of wine were served, so
when the meal was done the guests were neither drunk nor too well fed to
carry on a conference.

No entertainers were provided. Normally the space between the table and
the front of the pavilion would have been occupied by acrobats, dancers
and jugglers; but Pertinax dismissed even the impudent women who came
to lean elbows on the marble railing and sing snatches of suggestive
song. He sent slaves to stand outside and keep the crowd away, his
lictor and his personal official bodyguard being kept out of sight in a
small stone house near the pavilion kitchen at the rear among the trees,
in order not to arouse unwelcome comment. It was known he was in
Daphne; there was even a subdued expectation in Antioch that his
unannounced visit portended the extortion of extra tribute. The Emperor
Commodus was known to be in his usual straits for money. Given a
sufficient flow of wine, the sight of bodyguard and lictor might have
been enough to start a riot, the Antiochenes being prone to outbreak
when their passions were aroused by drink and women.

There was a long silence after Pertinax had dismissed the steward.
Galen's old personal attendant took charge of the amphora of snow-cooled
Falernian; he poured for each in turn and then retired into a corner to
be out of earshot, or at any rate to emphasize that what he might hear
would not concern him. Pertinax strolled to the front of the pavilion
and looked out to make sure there were no eavesdroppers, staring for a
long