"I never went into society till I came to Rome.

I think it is at once brilliant and sedate--it has a magnificent air of historical antiquity, and it is a little paradoxical." "Where is the paradox ?" inquired Giovanni.
"'Es-tu libre?
Les lois sont-elles respectees?
Crains-tu de voir ton champ pille par le voisin?
Le maitre a-t-il son toit, et l'ouvrier son pain ?'" A smile flickered over the young artist's face as he quoted Musset's lines in answer to Giovanni's question.

Giovanni himself laughed, and looked at Anastase with somewhat increased interest.
"Do you mean that we are revelling under the sword of Damocles--dancing on the eve of our execution ?" "Not precisely.

A delicate flavour of uncertainty about to-morrow gives zest to the appetite of to-day.

It is impossible that such a large society should be wholly unconscious of its own imminent danger--and yet these men and women go about to-night as if they were Romans of old, rulers of the world, only less sure of themselves than of the stability of their empire." "Why not ?" asked Giovanni, glancing curiously at the pale young man beside him.