[154] GOLD PLATES. A room has been discovered on the Aventine, whose walls were concealed by gilded bronze plates encrusted with medals; on the Palatine there was an apartment lined with plates of silver, set with precious stones. The halls and chambers in Nero’s _domus aurea_ were covered with golden plates. [155] STEPHANUS. I have taken considerable liberties in dealing with this personage in his relation to the Empress Domitia. He is, however, historical. [156] THE OYSTER, (_ostrea_ or _ostreum_) was considered a great dainty in ancient times. (See note, 42, Vol. 1, “lobster.”) [157] THERE IS NOT IN ALL ROME ONE FAITHFUL WIFE, OR ONE INNOCENT GIRL. See Martial _Ep._ IV, 71. “Long have I search’d, my Soph, the town, To find a damsel that would frown, But not a damsel will deny, As if a shame ’t were to be shy; As if a sin, will no one dare: I see not one denying fair. ‘Then of the fair is no one chaste?’ A thousand, Soph, you urge in haste. ‘What does the chaste? Enlarge my views.’ She does not grant, nor yet refuse.” ELPHINSTON. In contrast to the hyperbolical expressions of the satirical writers, we are made acquainted in the letters of the younger Pliny, with a number of women of noble character; the historians too, especially Tacitus, as well as inscriptions on the monuments prove--if proof were required--that even in this corrupt age feminine virtue and loftiness of character were not rare. It is natural, that a satirical author should have special keenness of vision for errors and weaknesses. [158] WHAT RAVIDUS?. The poem to which Martial here alludes is found Cat. _Carm._ XL. “Quaenam te mala mens, miselle Ravide Agit praecipitem in meos iambos?” [159] TRYPHON, (LUPERCUS). The episode described here, which seems almost like a satirical allusion to the present time, is only one of Martial’s epigrams transposed into action. (Mart. _Ep._ I, 117.) “As oft, Sir Tradewell, as we meet, You’re sure to ask me in the street, When you shall send your boy to me, To fetch my book of poetry? etc.” OLDHAM.