His yellowish complexion was varied with pimples; and his nose, covered with them completely, might indicate too great a love for the bottle.

His neglected apparel, composed of a dark tunic of goat's wool and a mantle of similar material with holes in it, showed real or simulated poverty.
At sight of him, Homer's Thersites came to the mind of Petronius.

Hence, answering with a wave of the hand to his bow, he said,-- "A greeting, divine Thersites! How are the lumps which Ulysses gave thee at Troy, and what is he doing himself in the Elysian Fields ?" "Noble lord," answered Chilo Chilonides, "Ulysses, the wisest of the dead, sends a greeting through me to Petronius, the wisest of the living, and the request to cover my lumps with a new mantle." "By Hecate Triformis!" exclaimed Petronius, "the answer deserves a new mantle." But further conversation was interrupted by the impatient Vinicius, who inquired directly,--"Dost thou know clearly what thou art undertaking ?" "When two households in two lordly mansions speak of naught else, and when half Rome is repeating the news, it is not difficult to know," answered Chilo.

"The night before last a maiden named Lygia, but specially Callina, and reared in the house of Aulus Plautius, was intercepted.

Thy slaves were conducting her, O lord, from Caesar's palace to thy 'insula,' and I undertake to find her in the city, or, if she has left the city--which is little likely--to indicate to thee, noble tribune, whither she has fled and where she has hidden." "That is well," said Vinicius, who was pleased with the precision of the answer.