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EMPEROR AND AESTHETE 111
audience heard it, while Nero was chanting his own divine
verses with the most bewitching
trills of his own divine
voice !
Nero, in his rage, half thought of having him arrested on
the charge of high treason an accusation of which the
meshes were equally adapted to entangle the most daring
criminals and the most trivial offenders. But when he
poured out his wrath to Petronius, his elegant friend laughed
immoderately, and pacified Nero's offended vanity by dwelling
on Vespasian's somnolence as a proof of his vulgarity.
'I suppose, then,' said Nero, ' I must say with Horace,
" solvuntur risu tabulae "V
Yes,' said Petronius, '
and you may add " tu missus alibis."
'
Why not make a clean sweep of these dreadful old fogies in
the Villa Castor ?
Pliny has told us all we care to know
about flamingoes and lampreys. Seneca's pomposities grow
stale. We have been sufficiently amused for the present by
the blushes of Persius, and the good Silius Italicus is as
tedious as his own epic. Give them a respectful farewell.
Send for Paris the actor, and Aliturus the pantomime, and
some of your fairest slaves to wait on us at our choicest
banquets. Let us dismiss this humbug of respectability and
pluck the blossom of the days.'
The advice fell on congenial ears. It was intimated to the
guests in the Villa Castor that they might present their
respects to the Emperor, and disperse where they chose.
They were not sorry to depart from such dubious neighbours
as those in the Villa Pollux. Vespasian and Titus were
rudely sent off the next morning, without being permitted to
see Nero again. Flavia Domitilla accompanied them, and as
the presence of Britannicus was always a trouble to Nero, he
was allowed to spend the rest of the autumn in the humble
Sabine villa of Vespasian's family at Phalacrine, near Reate,
where he would not only have Titus as a companion, but also
his cousins the two young sons of Vespasian's brother,
Flavius Sabinus.
'
Among those dull farmers,' said Nero, ' he is not likely to
into his head. Let him eat beans and
have any nonsense put
bacon, and grow as sluggish as his friends.'
To Nero and the fashionable nobles of his time every man
was sluggish and plebeian who did not care to season his recreation
with a variety of vices.