Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 4, 2025
"Tell us, go on, out with your stories. They are all old friends!" stammered Florus. "But while Favorinus chatters we can drink." The Gaul cast a contemptuous glance at the Roman, and answered promptly: "My stories are too good for a drunken man."
Hadrian went into the vacant room, lay down on a couch that stood by the wall, and urged the slaves who were busied in removing the dishes and vessels used by his predecessors, and which were swarming with flies. As soon as he was alone he listened to the conversation which was being carried on between Favorinus, Florus, and their Greek guests.
He knew the two first very well, and not a word of what they were saying escaped his keen ear. Favorinus was praising the Alexandrians in a loud voice, but in flowing and elegantly-accented Greek. The self-reliant, keen, and vivacious natives of the African metropolis were far more to his taste than the Athenians; these dwelt only in, and for, the past; the Alexandrians rejoiced in the present.
The Athenians, stone in hand already, were at once disarmed, and from that time onwards paid him honour and respect, which ultimately rose to reverence. I will now give some specimens of his pointed and witty sayings, which may begin with his answers to Favorinus.
"I can easily relieve you of the company of Favorinus and Ptolemaeus; send them to meet the Emperor." "To what end?" "To entertain him." "He has his plaything with him," said Sabina, and her thin lips curled with an expression of bitter contempt. "His artistic eye delights in the beauty of Antinous, which is celebrated, but which it has not yet been my privilege to see."
As Favorinus and the Alexandrians raised themselves on their pillows Florus cried: "No god shall make me stir from this place, not if the whole house is burnt down and Alexandria and Rome, and for aught I care every nest and nook on the face of the earth. It may all burn together. The Roman Empire can never be greater or more splendid than under Caesar!
"Always the same," laughed the prefect, nodding to the audacious jester. "Sabina wants to speak to you." "Directly, directly," said Verus. "My story is a true one, and you all ought to be grateful to me for having released you from that tedious philologer who has now button-holed my witty friend Favorinus. I like your Alexandria, Titianus; still it is not a great capital like Rome.
Hadrian went into the vacant room, lay down on a couch that stood by the wall, and urged the slaves who were busied in removing the dishes and vessels used by his predecessors, and which were swarming with flies. As soon as he was alone he listened to the conversation which was being carried on between Favorinus, Florus, and their Greek guests.
The circle of couches on which lay Florus, Favorinus and their Alexandrian friends stood like an island in the midst of the surging sea of the orgy. Even here the cup had been bravely passed round, and Florus was beginning to speak somewhat indistinctly, but conversation had hitherto had the upper hand.
He knew the two first very well, and not a word of what they were saying escaped his keen ear. Favorinus was praising the Alexandrians in a loud voice, but in flowing and elegantly-accented Greek. The self-reliant, keen, and vivacious natives of the African metropolis were far more to his taste than the Athenians; these dwelt only in, and for, the past; the Alexandrians rejoiced in the present.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking