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148 DARKNESS AND DAWN
instinctive dread of Poppsea, and who, if the day of her lawless
exercise of power had not been ended within two months
of her son's accession, would have made Poppsea undergo the
fate which she had already inflicted on Lollia Paulina. By
careful contrivance Otho had managed to keep Poppaea at a
distance from Nero. The task was easier, because Nero was
short-sighted, and Poppaea, either in affectation of modesty,
or from thinking that it became her, adopted the fashion of
Eastern women, in covering the lower part of her face with
a veil when she went forth in public.
But that evening Nero, for the first time, saw her near at
hand and face to face, and she had taken care that he should
see her in the full lustre of her charms.
Beyond all doubt she was not only dazzlingly beautiful, but
also possessed that spell of brilliant and mobile expression,
and the consummate skill in swaying the minds of men,
which in earlier days had enabled Cleopatra to kindle the
love of Julius Caesar, and to hold empery over the heart of
Marcus Antonius. Her features were almost infantile in
their winning piquancy, and wore an expression of the most
engaging innocence. Her long and gleaming tresses, which
almost the first
among the ladies of Rome she sprinkled with
gold, were not tortured and twisted into strange shapes, but
parted in soft, natural waves over her forehead, and flowed
with perfect grace over her white neck, setting off the exquisite
shape of her head. She was dressed that evening in
robes which made up for their apparent simplicity by their
priceless value. They were of the most delicate colours and
the most exquisite textures. The tunic was of that pale
shining gold which the ancients described by the word 'hyaline
' the stola
;
was of saffron colour. Her dress might have
been described in terms like those which the poet applies to
his sea-nymph
'Her vesture showed the yellow samphire-pod,
Her girdle the dove-coloured wave serene ;
'
and, indeed, the sea-nymph's robe had already been described
by Ovid, speaking of the dress known as undulata
Hie, tindas imitatus, habet quoque nomen ab undis,
Crediderim nymphas hac ego veste tegi.'