sweetness continually, had not known. He could not hide the thought in
himself, and said, turning to Pomponia,--"I am considering in my soul
how different this world of yours is from the world which our Nero
rules."

She raised her delicate face toward the evening light, and said with
simplicity,--"Not Nero, but God, rules the world."

A moment of silence followed. Near the triclinium were heard in the
alley, the steps of the old general, Vinicius, Lygia, and little Aulus;
but before they arrived, Petronius had put another question--"But
believest thou in the gods, then, Pomponia?"

"I believe in God, who is one, just, and all-powerful," answered the
wife of Aulus Plautius.




Chapter III

"SHE believes in God who is one, all-powerful, and just," said
Petronius, when he found himself again in the litter with Vinicius. "If
her God is all-powerful, He controls life and death; and if He is just,
He sends death justly. Why, then, does Pomponia wear mourning for
Julius? In mourning for Julius she blames her God. I must repeat this
reasoning to our Bronzebeard, the monkey, since I consider that in
dialectics I am the equal of Socrates. As to women, I agree that each
has three or four souls, but none of them a reasoning one. Let Pomponia
meditate with Seneca or Cornutus over the question of what their great