ld say 'Would God it had never happened'. It was
winter when this occurred. Overcome by the fatigues of the journey, I
was laid up for a considerable number of days in the house of my
friends the Appii, whom I name to show the affection and esteem with
which I regard them. There Pontianus came to see me; for not so very
long before certain common friends had introduced him to me at Athens,
and we had afterwards lodged together and come to know each other
intimately. He greeted me with the utmost courtesy, inquired anxiously
after my health, and touched dexterously on the subject of love. For
he thought that he had found an ideal husband for his mother to whom
he could without the slightest risk entrust the whole fortune of the
house. At first he sounded me as to my inclinations in somewhat
ambiguous language, and seeing that I was desirous of resuming my
journey and was not in the least disposed to take a wife, he begged me
at any rate to remain at Oea for a little while, as he himself was
desirous of travelling with me. Since my physical infirmity had made
it impossible for me to profit by the present winter, he urged that it
would be well to wait for the next owing to the danger presented by
the passage of the Syrtes and the risk of encountering wild beasts.
His urgent entreaty induced my friends the Appii to allow me to leave
them and to become his guest in his mother's house. I should find the
situation healthier, he said, and should get a freer view of the
sea--a special attraction in my eyes.

73. He had shown the greatest eagerness in inducing me to come to this
decision, and strongly recommended his mother and his brother--that
boy there--to my consideration. I gave them some help in our common
studies and a marked intimacy sprang up between us. Meanwhile I
gradually recovered my health. At the instance of my friends I gave a
discourse in public. This took place in the basilica, which was
thronged by a vast audience. I was greeted with many expressions of
approval, the audience shouted 'bravo! bravo!' like one man, and
besought me to remain and become a citizen of Oea. On the dispersal of
the audience Pontianus approached me, and by way of prelude said that
such universal enthusiasm was nothing less than a sign from heaven. He
then revealed to me that it was his cherished design--with my
permission--to bring about a match between myself and his mother, for
whose hand there were many suitors. He added that I was