Domitia did not stir; she seemed paralyzed by the fury of this attack.--At last, however, she rose. “You are very right, Quintus,” she said. “It was too much to expect. Go and sleep, and dream of your wedding. But the gods, you know, are envious. They often grant us joys in our dreams and deny the reality. But now, before you go, kneel to the Empress!” and as she spoke a stiletto flashed ominously in her hand. Quintus, however, had with equal swiftness drawn his dagger. “Fair and gently!” he said drawing back. “The honor of being stabbed by the fair hand of Domitia is a temptation no doubt....” She colored and dropped the weapon. “Leave me!” she said, going to lean against the balustrade. “I do not know what I am doing; my brain is reeling. Forgive me--forgive me!” Quintus made no reply, and casting a glance of furious hatred at him she hurried down the steps, glided through the gap in the brushwood into the deserted park, and vanished among the shrubs. Quintus stood looking after her. “One foe the more!” said he to himself. “Well, what does it matter? Either to be made an end of by the knife of an assassin--or to live on, my very soul sickened with it all.... Pah!” And he made his way homewards, singing a Greek drinking-song as he went. FOOTNOTES: [82] COENA. The second and last principal meal after the day’s work was over. Under the emperors the coena began about half-past two o’clock in the afternoon, in winter probably somewhat later. It corresponded in its relation to the other hours of the day, to the “dîner” of the French, for the Romans were early risers, and even among the aristocratic classes day began at sunrise. [83] CAVAEDIUM or peristyle was the name given to the second court-yard of the Roman house, which was connected with the first or atrium by one or two corridors. The dining-room, as well as the study of the master of the house, were in the cavaedium. The space between the latter and the atrium, called the tablinum, contained the family papers; it was the business office. [84] TYPHON. The evil genius who killed Osiris. (See note 32, vol. 1.) The Greeks regarded him as a monster of original evil, the personification of the Simoom and other destructive hot winds, or of the primeval force of volcanoes. [85] CITHARA (κιθάρα). A favorite musical instrument. The strings, usually of gut, were sounded by means of a _plectrum_ (πλῆκτρον) of wood, ivory, or metal. Music was as common an accomplishment among ladies of rank then as now, and they often composed both the words and airs of their songs. Statius tells us that his step-daughter did so, and Pliny the younger says the same of his third wife.