The first houses of Ostia were now visible on either hand, and the bustle and stir in the road grew busier. Seamen of every nation, fishermen with red worsted caps, porters, and barrowmen, pushed and crowded each other. In five minutes they had reached the quay; at the farther end of the mole lay the trireme, gaily dressed with flags, and towering majestically above the fishing vessels and barges. The young men got out, and the carriage rolled away, escorted by the Sicambrians and Numidians, as far as the embowered villa, which it reached in a few minutes. FOOTNOTES: [360] A SLAVE HAD JUST ANNOUNCED, THAT IT WAS TWO HOURS AFTER SUNRISE. In aristocratic families the hours of the day were announced by a slave, kept specially for this purpose. [361] BERENICE’S HAIR. A constellation, so called from the glittering hair of Berenice, daughter of Magas of Cyrene. See Cat. 66. [362] THE SENATORIAL PURPLE. From ancient times the privilege of wearing a broad purple stripe upon the edge of the toga was one of the distinctions of the Roman senators. The second class (_equites_) among other prerogatives, possessed the right to wear a gold ring on the finger. But at a very early period abuse of this privilege crept in, until members of the third class, nay, even freedmen, presumed to assume this badge of honor. The severest punishments, such as confiscation of property, etc., could not prevent the misdemeanor. At the time of my story, the gold ring was actually as common as the use of the “von” in addressing simple citizens in Austria at the present day. See Mart. _Ep._ XI, 37, where the freedman Zoilus ventures to don a huge gold ring. The ring worn by Caius Aurelius--though legitimately his--must therefore have seemed all the more contemptible, in comparison with the senatorial purple. By the way, it may be said, that in the time of Tiberius the use of the purple was also abused. See Dio Cass. LVII, 13. [363] THE BONA DEA. A somewhat mystical divinity, allied with the Ops, the Fauna, and the Hellenic Demeter. Her temple stood on the northeastern slope of the Aventine Hill. [364] THE DELPHIAN WAY, (_Clivus Delphini_), led from the Circus Maximus to the Porta Raudusculana. [365] CLEAR A WAY THROUGH THE MASS OF PEOPLE. When people of distinction went out, this making a way through the crowd was often done with much ostentation, but it was always the duty of a few slaves to walk before their masters, and thus smooth the way for them. [366] KNIGHT’S PORTION. 400,000 sesterces. [367] A LARGE FOUR-WHEELED CHARIOT. Allusion is here made to the _rheda_ (the travelling-coach) or the _carruca_ (a comfortable, nay, magnificent equipage).