"And where was a poor little girl like that to find the talents which it would cost to procure the costume of an Asiatic princess, Alexander's bride?"
"Plutarch, and the prefect's wife had undertaken that."
"A mere beggar."
"How well the family jewels would have suited our daughters!"
"Do we want to show Caesar nothing but a few silly pretty faces?—and not something of our wealth and taste?"
"Supposing Hadrian asks who this Roxana is, and had to be told that a collection had to be made to get her a proper costume."
"Such things never could happen anywhere but in Alexandria."
"Every one wants to know whether she worked in Plutarch's factory. They say it is not true—but the painted old villain still loves a pretty face. He smuggled her in, you may be sure; where there is smoke there is fire, and it is beyond a doubt that she gets money from the old man."
"What for?"
"Ah! you had better enquire of a priest of Aphrodite. It is nothing to laugh at, it is scandalous, audacious!"