s, mine will fly to thee
and Lygia, on its way to the edge of the ocean, and will alight at your
house in the form of a butterfly or, as the Egyptians believe, in the
form of a sparrowhawk. Otherwise I cannot come.

"Meanwhile let Sicily replace for you the gardens of Hesperides; may the
goddesses of the fields, woods, and fountains scatter flowers on your
path, and may white doves build their nests on every acanthus of the
columns of your house."

Chapter LXXIII

PETRONIUS was not mistaken. Two days later young Nerva, who had always
been friendly and devoted, sent his freedman to Cumae with news of what
was happening at the court of Caesar.

The death of Petronius had been determined. On the morning of the
following day they intended to send him a centurion, with the order
to stop at Cumae, and wait there for further instructions; the next
messenger, to follow a few days later, was to bring the death sentence.

Petronius heard the news with unruffled calmness.

"Thou wilt take to thy lord," said he, "one of my vases; say from me
that I thank him with my whole soul, for now I am able to anticipate the
sentence."

And all at once he began to laugh, like a man who has came upon a
perfect thought, and rejoices in advance at its fulfilment.

That same afternoon his slaves rushed about, inviting the Augustians,
who were staying in Cumae, and all the ladies, to a magnificent banquet
at the villa of the arbiter.

He wrote that afternoon in the library; next he took a bath, after which
he commanded the vestiplicae to arrange his dress. Brilliant and stately
as one of the gods, he went to the triclinium, to cast the eye of a
critic on the preparations, and then to the gardens, where youths and
Grecian maidens from the islands were weaving wreaths of roses for the
evening.

Not the least care was visible on his face. The servants only knew that
the feast would be something uncommon, for he had issued a command
to give unusual rewards to those with whom he was satisfied, and
some slight blows to all whose work should not please him, or who had
deserved blame or punishment earlier. To the cithara players and the
singers he had ordered beforehand liberal pay. At last, sitting in the
garden under a beech, through whose leaves the sun-rays marked the earth
with bright spots, he called Eunice.

She came, dressed in white, with a sprig of myrtle in her hair,
beautiful as one of the Graces. He seated her at his side