"Is it so pleasant to have to wade through dust? We have enough of that intolerable nuisance here in Egypt—or am I to be delighted at the prospect of hurting my feet on hard stones?"
"And what do the interpreters say?"
"Only silly nonsense."
"You have never found the right one; but I—I see the meaning of the oracle."
"You?"
"Ay, I! The stern Balbilla will at last descend from the lofty Olympus of her high-anti-mightiness and no longer disdain that immutable foundation-rock, the adoration of her faithful Verus."
"That foundation—that rock!" laughed the girl. "I should think it as well advised to try to walk on the surface of the sea out there as on that rock!"
"Only try."
"It is not necessary; Lucilla has made the experiment for me. Your interpretation is wrong; Caesar gave me a far better one."
"What was that?"