Lygia? Hast thou not seen them making signs to
each other, intelligible to them alone?"

"Signs? Wait! Yes; I saw once that Lygia made a fish on the sand."

"A fish? A-a! O-o-o! Did she do that once, or a number of times?"

"Only once."

"And art thou certain, lord, that she outlined a fish? O-o?"

"Yes," answered Vinicius, with roused curiosity. "Dost thou divine what
that means?"

"Do I divine!" exclaimed Chilo. And bowing in sign of farewell, he
added: "May Fortune scatter on you both equally all gifts, worthy
lords!"

"Give command to bring thee a mantle," said Petronius to him at parting.

"Ulysses gives thee thanks for Thersites," said the Greek; and bowing a
second time, he walked out.

"What wilt thou say of that noble sage?" inquired Petronius.

"This, that he will find Lygia," answered Vinicius, with delight; "but I
will say, too, that were there a kingdom of rogues he might be the king
of it."

"Most certainly. I shall make a nearer acquaintance with this stoic;
meanwhile I must give command to perfume the atrium."

But Chilo Chilonides, wrapping his new mantle about him, threw up on
his palm, under its folds, the purse received from Vinicius, and admired
both its weight and its jingle. Walking on slowly, and looking around
to see if they were not looking at him from the house, he passed the
portico of Livia, and, reaching the corner of the Clivus Virbius, turned
toward the Subura.

"I must go to Sporus," said he to himself, "and pour out a little wine
to Fortuna. I have found at last what I have been seeking this long
time. He is young, irascible, bounteous as mines in Cyprus, and ready
to give half his fortune for that Lygian linnet. Just such a man have
I been seeking this long time. It is needful, however, to be on one's
guard with him, for the wrinkling of his brow forebodes no good. Ah! the
wolf-whelps lord it over the world to-day! I should fear that Petronius
less. O gods! but the trade of procurer pays better at present than
virtue. Ah! she drew a fish on the sand! If I know what that means, may
I choke myself with a piece of goat's cheese! But I shall know. Fish
live under water, and searching under water is more difficult than on
land, ergo he will pay me separately for this fish. Another such purse
and I might cast aside the beggar's wallet and buy myself a slave. But
what wouldst thou say, Chilo, were I to advise thee to buy not a male
but a female slave? I know thee; I know that