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But from the golden net fastened to the ceiling only roses fell, and the now half-drunken Vinicius said to her, "I saw thee in the house of Aulus, at the fountain. It was daylight, and thou didst think that no one saw thee; but I saw thee. And I see thee thus yet, though that peplus hides thee. Cast aside the peplus, like Crispinilla. See, gods and men seek love.
But Vitelius burst forth again in unexpected laughter, and began to search for his ring in the peplus of Calvia Crispinilla. Hereupon Vestinius fell to imitating the cries of a frightened woman. Nigidia, a friend of Calvia, a young widow with the face of a child and the eyes of a wanton, said aloud, "He is seeking what he has not lost."
And I thought then: There is Poppæa, who cast aside two husbands for Nero, there is Calvia Crispinilla, there is Nigidia, there are almost all whom I know, save only Pomponia; they trafficked with faith and with oaths, but she and my own one will not desert, will not deceive, and will not quench the fire, even though all in whom I place trust should desert and deceive me.
In the course of a few days he saw Seneca, Domitius Afer, Crispinilla, and Diodorus, through whom he wished to reach Poppæa; he saw Terpnos, and the beautiful Pythagoras, and finally Aliturus and Paris, to whom Cæsar usually refused nothing. With the help of Chrysothemis, then mistress of Vatinius, he tried to gain even his aid, not sparing in this case and in others promises and money.
Had he not sense enough to understand that there are women different from Nigidia or Calvia Crispinilla or Poppæa, and from all those whom he meets in Cæsar's house? Did he not understand at once on seeing Lygia that she is an honest maiden, who prefers death to infamy?
"Stop, Chilo. Thou art not a dull man. We know that Junia and Calvia Crispinilla accused Pomponia Græcina of confessing the Christian superstition; but we know too, that a domestic court acquitted her. Wouldst thou raise this again?
But Vestinius, thinking that the question was of dreams, exclaimed, "But I believe in dreams, and Seneca told me on a time that he believes too." "Last night I dreamt that I had become a vestal virgin," said Calvia Crispinilla, bending over the table.
It seems that Crispinilla rendered her this service, she who cannot forgive Pomponia because one husband has sufficed her for a lifetime. A one-man Woman! To-day, in Rome, it is easier to get a half-plate of fresh mushrooms from Noricum than to find such. They tried her before a domestic court " "To thy judgment this is a wonderful house. Later on I will tell thee what I heard and saw in it."
"In Rome itself I had many agents and chiefly my sister, Galvia Crispinilla, a professional procuress and poisoner, who knew the worst secrets of the lives of all Rome's wealthy and noble debauchees, and our brother, Marcus Galvius Crispinillus, a professional informer and a valued member of the Imperial Secret Service.
At this Nero clapped his hands, other followed, and in a moment clapping of hands was heard all around, for Crispinilla had been divorced a number of times, and was known throughout Rome for her fabulous debauchery. But she, not disconcerted in the least, said, "Well! They are all old and ugly.
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