But still Rome envied him that Chrysothemis.

Then he recalled Poppaea; and that most famous Poppaea also seemed to him soulless, a waxen mask.

In that maiden with Tanagrian outlines there was not only spring, but a radiant soul, which shone through her rosy body as a flame through a lamp.
"Vinicius is right," thought he, "and my Chrysothemis is old, old!--as Troy!" Then he turned to Pomponia Graecina, and, pointing to the garden, said,--"I understand now, domina, why thou and thy husband prefer this house to the Circus and to feasts on the Palatine." "Yes," answered she, turning her eyes in the direction of little Aulus and Lygia.
But the old general began to relate the history of the maiden, and what he had heard years before from Atelius Hister about the Lygian people who lived in the gloom of the North.
The three outside had finished playing ball, and for some time had been walking along the sand of the garden, appearing against the dark background of myrtles and cypresses like three white statues.

Lygia held little Aulus by the hand.

After they had walked a while they sat on a bench near the fish-pond, which occupied the middle of the garden.