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298 DAEKNESS AND DAWN
around the entrance, and broke into a respectful murmur of
greeting and applause as the gleam of the westering sun
flashed on the diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires which
encircled her neck and arms and thickly encrusted the broidery
of her inner robe. The assembled nobles and courtiers
bowed low, the attendants almost prostrated themselves as she
advanced towards her son. He seemed to be in his brightest
mood of hilarity and affection. He welcomed her with playful
sentences and attractive tenderness. He himself conducted
her to the banquet, which, to add to its delight, was
spread in a room where the couches were so arranged that
each guest could have a full view on one side of that ' golden
shore of happy Venus,' proud with the gifts of nature and of
art; and, on the other side, of the river with its painted shallops
and merry holiday-makers. No refinement of luxury or
beauty was lacking to the banquet. Nero assured her but
she knew that no one could believe a word he said he had
himself caught the fish by a line from the window beneath
which the sea-waves flowed. Then there were plates of melimela,
sweet as honeycombs, glowing rosily from their baskets
of silver filagree, and olives from Picenum, and cinnamon from
the shop of Niceros in Eome, which was so choice that, as he
solemnly assured his wealthy purchasers, it could only be procured
from the nest of the Phoenix.
Nero insisted that Agrippina should occupy the seat of
honour at the table above himself. When she gently remon-
'
strated, he said, To whom is the precedence due but to the
mother who gave me both my life and my Empire ? '
Never
had he seemed to her to shine with more princely charm
than at that entertainment ! He exerted himself to display
all his geniality and all his accomplishments. He bade her
look at the sea, and quoted some lines of young Martial to
her :
4
The wavelets wake from their purple sleep,
The soft breeze ruffles the dimpling deep,
Gently the painted shallops glide,
Borne by the breeze o'er the rippling tide.'
Sometimes he entered with grave dignity upon questions of
State, which he respectfully submitted to her maturer judgment
;
at other times, dropping the tone of confidential inquiry,
he plunged into almost boyish gaiety, and interchanged wit-