This youth was the son of a man whose name sounded ill to any Roman patriot,--of that Opilio, who, having advanced to high rank under King Theodoric, was guilty of frauds, fell from his eminence, and, in hope of regaining the king's favour, forged evidence of treachery against Boethius.

His attire followed the latest model from Byzantium: a loose, long-sleeved tunic, descending to the feet, its hue a dark yellow, and over that a long mantle of white silk, held together upon one shoulder by a great silver buckle in the form of a running horse; silken shoes, gold embroidered, with leather soles dyed purple; and on each wrist a bracelet.

His black hair was short, and crisped into multitudinous curls with a narrow band of gold pressing it from the forehead to the ears.
'Oh, look at little Vivian!' cried Muscula.

'He has the eyes of an angry rat.

What vexes him?
Is it because he saw Basil touch Heliodora's slipper ?' 'If I had!' sputtered the boy.