pretensions to being entitled to meet them and by shoals of social
bounders who had none. Their influence was so powerful that
they were unremittingly sought, waylaid, pursued and besieged
by persons who hoped to enlist their interest in the appointment
or promotion of this, that or the other connection or relative; by
the same persons they were continually overwhelmed with
presents of flowers, fruit, delicacies, dainties, ornaments, laces,
garments, pieces of furniture, horses, slaves, and of anything
and everything capable of being made a present of in the Roman
world; likewise with social invitations-chiefly to dinners, banquets
and feasts. Invitations to banquets and dinners Brinnaria seldom
declined, unless her duties made acceptance impossible or the
invitation came from people beneath her notice. As she had said
to Aurelius, she had an excellent appetite. She had an epicurean
tendency from her early years and was fond of oysters,
sweetbreads, eels, thrushes, turbot and other articles of food
esteemed as delicacies by the Romans. But she was a hearty eater
and consumed generous portions of roast meats, particularly of
pork, which even in late imperial times was the staple of Roman
diet. She never lost her childish relish for boiled pork and cabbage,
for bacon, for ham, hot or cold. She was by no means a glutton,
ate deliberately and daintily, and while she ate, joined in the
general conversation or even led it. She had a quick wit and a
sharp tongue and her sallies were acclaimed. She was sought
after as a guest not merely because she was a Vestal, but for
herself, for her gaiety and her unexpected utterances.

On the whole she preferred informal dinners to formal banquets
and liked better to dine with her friends than with the most
luxurious entertainers in Roman society.