“You have expressed the same ideas in verse,” said Favorinus.

“Oh! a jest at supper-time.  So long as I am in Alexandria and waiting on Caesar I can make myself very comfortable every day at the ’Olympian table’ of this admirable cook.”

“But how runs your poem?” asked Pancrates.

“I have forgotten it, and it deserved no better fate,” replied Florus.

“But I,” laughed the Gaul, “I remember the beginning.  The first lines, I think, ran thus: 

                  “’Let others envy Caesar’s lot;
                    To wander through Britannia’s dales
                    And be snowed up in Scythian vales
                    Is Caesar’s taste—­I’d rather not?’”

As he heard these words Hadrian struck his fist into the palm of his left hand, and while the feasters were hazarding guesses as to why he was so long in coming to Alexandria, he took out the folding tablet he was in the habit of carrying in his money-bag, and hastily wrote the following lines on the wax face of it: 

                   ‘Let others envy Florus’ lot;
                    To wander through the shops for drink,
                    Or, into foolish dreaming sink
                    In a cook-shop, where sticky flies
                    Buzz round him till he shuts his eyes
                    Is Florus’ taste—­I’d rather not?’

[From verses by Hadrian and Florus, preserved in Spartianus.]

Hardly had he ended the lines, muttering them to himself with much relish as he wrote, when the waiter showed in Pollux.  The sculptor had failed to find Antinous, and suggested that the young man had probably gone home; he also begged that he might not be detained long at supper, for he had met his master Papias, who had been extremely annoyed by his long absence.  Hadrian was no longer satisfied with the artist’s society, for the conversation in the next room was to him far more attractive than that of the worthy young fellow.  He himself was anxious to quit the meal soon, for he felt restless and uneasy.  Antinous could no doubt easily find his way to Lochias, but recollections of the evil omens he had observed in the heavens last night flitted across his soul like bats through a festal hall, marring the pleasure on which he again tried to concentrate it, in order to enjoy his hours of liberty.

Even Pollux was not so light-hearted as before.  His long walk had made him hungry, and he addressed himself so vigorously to the excellent dishes which rapidly followed each other by his entertainer’s orders, and emptied the cup with such unfailing diligence, that the Emperor was astonished:  but the more he had to think about, the less did he talk.

Pollux, to be sure, had had his answer ready for his master, and without considering how easy it would have been to part from him in kindness, he had shortly and roundly quitted his service.  Now indeed he stood on his own feet, and he was longing to tell Arsinoe and his parents of what he had done.