The next scene is the banqueting hall itself, where the guests recline on couches around the tables:— “For now the floor and all men’s hands are clean, And all the cups, and since the feasters’ brows Are wreathed with garlands, while the slaves around Bring fragrant perfume in well-suited dishes: And in the middle stands the joyful bowl; And wine’s at hand, which ne’er deserts the guests Who know its worth, in earthen jars well kept, Well-flavoured, fragrant with the sweet fresh flowers; And in the midst the frankincense sends forth Its holy perfume, and the water’s cold And sweet and pure.”[171] The host, a rich and vulgar _parvenu_, is surrounded by sycophants, who are as ready to parade his wealth and his imaginary virtues as he is to listen to and believe their flatteries; and the conversation, carried on in a loud voice during the banquet, mainly runs upon his munificence towards his slaves and freedmen, and his great possessions. After the first course, wine is poured over the hands of the guests, for no one offers them water;[172] and glass jars are carried round bearing labels, “Opimian, Falernian, a hundred years old!” A human skeleton made of silver is then produced, and the host incites his guests to partake of the good things before them by crying out in a loud voice:— “Vain as vanity are we, Swift life’s transient flames decay; What this is we soon shall be, Then be merry whilst you may.”[173] The course which follows deserves special attention. It is placed in a circular tray divided into twelve sections, marked with the signs of the zodiac, and each contains an appropriate dish. Thus in Aries there are rams’-head pies; in Sagittarius, a hare; in Pisces, two mullets; and so on. The entertainment is here diversified by the entrance of an Egyptian slave, who sings a song in praise of some celebrated wine. The host’s lady drinks but little (as yet), but she has an ugly tongue and chatters eternally. The old story; the parvenu husband does sometimes manage to conform himself to his new sphere of life—his wife never! But we must not say too much even for him in this instance. He leads the conversation, and is listened to with rapt attention. After the fashion of a dinner-giver who instructed his servant to let a tongue fall from a dish to enable him to make his pun about a _lapsus linguæ_, so the Roman host had provided the zodiacal dishes as a theme for wise dissertation. He spoke learnedly of the signs under which men of various trades are born. Under Libra, for example, it appears that all retail dealers, butchers, druggists, &c., are brought into the world! Then he turned the conversation to some contemptible feast that had been given by one of his wealthy rivals. “Call that a feast!” he said. “Why, there was a trumpery show of gladiators; such decrepit wretches, one might have blown them down.” He had seen better men thrown to the beasts by torchlight!