“I have only seen him to-day for the third time—how can I judge?”
“To me he is quite too delightful. What a pity that he is already married.—To be sure, even then he would be too old....”
“Do you think so?” said Claudia absently.
“Why, you seem to have forgotten that he was consul a long time ago.”
“Was he?”
“Yes, of course, with Glabrio. How often your father has spoken of him.”
“I do not happen to remember it.”
“To be sure, we were still in the nursery, and stories of Cupid and Psyche[238] interested us more than the virtues of a statesman.”
Claudia sighed: “Happy childhood!” she said sadly.
“Nerva even—old Nerva—thinks great things of him,” Lucilia went on, without observing this diversion. “He calls him his son, and is always ready to listen to his counsels—and in fact it is well worth while to listen to what Trajan has to say. You cannot think how cleverly, how wisely and judiciously he can talk. And at the same time he is so honest, so simple, so unpretentious! No one would imagine from his appearance, that he once was the commander-in-chief of all the forces in Germany, with unlimited authority, and won a glorious victory.”