"It was presumptuous of me to bring thee here," she said after a while. "I feared that thou wast dead, and the Cæsar...."
"Would have defiled my body. Then would I kiss the ground where the hem of thy gown did touch it, for thy graciousness hath made it sacred."
"I pray thee rise," she said, "thou art weak."
"Not to me."
"Not to thee, but before thee, Augusta; before thy beauty and thy purity, the exquisite creations of God."
"Of thy God, O Taurus Antinor," she said with a little sigh. "He hath naught to do with me."
"He made thee for man's delight, to gladden the heart of those on whom thy glance doth rest."
She had ordered him to sit on a pile of cushions which lay not far from her chair. Thus was he almost at her feet, and she could look down upon his massive shoulders and on his head bent slightly forward as he spoke.
She thought then how like unto a ruler of men he was, how much strength and power did his whole person express. She wondered, with a happy little feeling of anticipation, how he would take the news which she would impart to him, what he would say, how he would look when he knew that she was prepared to crown him with the diadem of Augustus, and to bestow on him the full gifts of her love.