e smile; but Tullius
Senecio, who till that moment was occupied in conversing with Vestinius,
or rather in reviling dreams, while Vestinius believed in them, turned
to Petronius, and though he had not the least idea touching that of
which they were talking, he said,--"Thou art mistaken! I hold with
Caesar."

"Very well," answered Petronius. "I have just maintained that thou hast
a glimmer of understanding, but Caesar insists that thou art an ass pure
and simple."

"Habet!" said Caesar, laughing, and turning down the thumb, as was done
in the Circus, in sign that the gladiator had received a blow and was to
be finished.

But Vestinius, thinking that the question was of dreams,
exclaimed,--"But I believe in dreams, and Seneca told me on a time that
he believes too."

"Last night I dreamt that I had become a vestal virgin," said Calvia
Crispinilla, bending over the table.

At this Nero clapped his hands, other followed, and in a moment clapping
of hands was heard all around,--for Crispinilla had been divorced
a number of times, and was known throughout Rome for her fabulous
debauchery.

But she, not disconcerted in the least, said,--"Well! They are all old
and ugly. Rubria alone has a human semblance, and so there would be two
of us, though Rubria gets freckles in summer."

"But admit, purest Calvia," said Petronius, "that thou couldst become a
vestal only in dreams."

"But if Caesar commanded?"

"I should believe that even the most impossible dreams might come true."

"But they do come true," said Vestinius. "I understand those who do not
believe in the gods, but how is it possible not to believe in dreams?"

"But predictions?" inquired Nero. "It was predicted once to me, that
Rome would cease to exist, and that I should rule the whole Orient."

"Predictions and dreams are connected," said Vestinius. "Once a certain
proconsul, a great disbeliever, sent a slave to the temple of Mopsus
with a sealed letter which he would not let any one open; he did this
to try if the god could answer the question contained in the letter. The
slave slept a night in the temple to have a prophetic dream; he returned
then and said: 'I saw a youth in my dreams; he was as bright as the sun,
and spoke only one word, "Black."' The proconsul, when he heard this,
grew pale, and turning to his guests, disbelievers like himself, said:
'Do ye know what was in the letter?'" Here Vestinius stopped, and,
raising his goblet with wine, began