The Roman Traitor (Vol. 1 of 2) - The UK Mirror Service

THE LOVERS 41
common to the ancients as to set almost any violence of wind or
rain at defiance, stood waiting their commands.
Familiar and kind words were interchanged between those
high-born ladies and the trustworthy follower of young Arvina.
For those were days, when no cold etiquette fettered the freedom
of the tongue, and when no rank, how stately or how proud
soever, induced austerity of bearing or haughtiness toward inferiors;
and these concluded, greetings, briefer but far more warm,
followed between the master and his intended bride.
"Sweet slumbers, Julia, and a happy wakening attend you!
Farewell, Hortensia; both of ye farewell!" and passing into the
colonnade through the door which Davus had unlocked, he drew
the lappet of his toga over his head after the fashion of a hood
to shield it from the drizzling rain—for, except on a journey, the
hardy Romans never wore any hat or headgear—and hastened
with a firm and regular step along the marble peristyle. This
portico, or rather piazza, enclosed, by a double row of Tuscan
columns, a few small flower beds, and a fountain springing high
in the air from the conch of a Triton, and falling back into a large
shell of white marble, which it was so contrived as to keep ever
full without at any time overflowing.
Beyond this was a summer triclinium or dining room facing
the north, and provided with the three-sided couch, from which [46]
it took its name, embracing a circular table. Through this they
passed into a smaller court adorned like the other by a jet d'eau,
surrounded by several small boudoirs and bed chambers luxuriously
decorated, which were set apart to the use of the females
of the family, and guarded night and day by the most trusty of
the slaves.
Hence a strong door gave access to a walled space, throughout
the length of which on either hand ran a long range of offices, and
above them the dormitories of the slaves, with a small porter's
lodge or guard room by the gate, opening on the orchard in the
rear.