Once about daybreak I saw her bathing in the garden fountain; and I swear to thee by that foam from which Aphrodite rose, that the rays of the dawn passed right through her body.

I thought that when the sun rose she would vanish before me in the light, as the twilight of morning does.

Since then, I have seen her twice; and since then, too, I know not what rest is, I know not what other desires are, I have no wish to know what the city can give me.

I want neither women, nor gold, nor Corinthian bronze, nor amber, nor pearls, nor wine, nor feasts; I want only Lygia.

I am yearning for her, in sincerity I tell thee, Petronius, as that Dream who is imaged on the Mosaic of thy tepidarium yearned for Paisythea,--whole days and night do I yearn." "If she is a slave, then purchase her." "She is not a slave." "What is she?
A freed woman of Plautius ?" "Never having been a slave, she could not be a freed woman." "Who is she ?" "I know not,--a king's daughter, or something of that sort." "Thou dost rouse my curiosity, Vinicius." "But if thou wish to listen, I will satisfy thy curiosity straightway.
Her story is not a long one.