The slaves removed the plates of the first course, and brought on the second which consisted of fish and meat. A small roasted wild boar occupied the centre of the table; great pheasants with their plumage laid as a covering upon their cooked flesh, were displayed on plates surrounded by hard-boiled eggs and fragrant herbs; thrushes spitted upon reeds were arranged in form of crowns; hares, on being carved, displayed a stuffing of rosemary and thyme; and wild doves were brought on with quails and thrushes. There were innumerable dishes of fish, reminding the Greeks of the viands of their native land, and between mouthfuls they discussed the glauci from Megara, the eels from Scione, and breams and xiphiae from the coasts of Phalerum and from the Hellespont. Each guest chose his favorite food from among the different dishes, and regaled his friends with it, presents being carried by slaves from one end of the table to the other. More wines, in sealed and dusty amphoræ, were brought up from the cellars, and overflowed the festal goblets. Wine from Chios, rare and costly, mingled with those from Cæcubum, from Falerno, and from Massico, in Italy, and those from Laurona and from the Saguntine domain. To the bouquet of these liquids was added the aroma of the sauces, into which entered, following the complicated recipes of the Grecian cuisine, silphium, parsley, sesame, fennel, cumin, and garlic. Sónnica barely touched her food; she neglected the successive plates, heaped with presents from her guests, to smile at Actæon. "I love you," she whispered. "I feel as if a Thessalian magus had cast a spell over me. My whole being responds to the throb of love. Do you see these fishes? I am afraid to eat them; I feel that I would be committing a sacrilege, because roses and fishes are dedicated to Venus, the mother of our joy. I only wish to drink--to drink profoundly. I feel within me a fire which caresses, yet consumes me." The guests gormandized, rendering tribute to Sónnica's cook, an Asiatic, purchased in Athens by one of her navigators. He had cost her almost the price of a villa; but they considered the money well spent, and they admired the art with which his meditations in a corner of the kitchen produced these astonishing combinations, afterward executed by the other slaves--above all that happy invention of a mild sauce of dates and honey for the roasts. With such a slave it were possible to enjoy one's food throughout the whole of life and to ward off death for many years.