Odacis continued combing her hair. She lifted the splendid tresses, burying both hands in the brilliant cascade; she gently wound it over her arms like an enormous golden serpent; then she shook it out, dividing it into small locks to dry it, and then she smoothed it lovingly with the ivory combs piled on the table near at hand, veritable prodigies of art, with the finest of teeth, their upper parts engraved with scenes representing forests, arrogant nymphs in pursuit of stags, and malodorous satyrs giving chase to nude beauties. After drying the hair the coiffeur proceeded to dye it. With a small, long-necked amphora she moistened it with a solution of saffron and gum arabic, and opening a little chest of gold dust she sprinkled it over the ample, silky skein, which assumed the brilliancy of the sun's rays. Then twisting the locks above her forehead around an iron heated over a small brazier, she formed tight curls which covered the Greek woman's brow almost to her eyes; she gathered the mass of hair at the neck, tying it with a red ribbon firmly interbraided, and she curled the crown of the coiffure, imitating the spiral flames of a torch.
Sónnica arose. Two of the slaves approached with a heavy earthen amphora of milk, and dipping a sponge into it, they washed their mistress' body as she stood near the piscina, to remove the bean-paste. The glossy whiteness of her skin reappeared more fresh and moist.
Odacis, with silver tweezers in her hand, carefully inspected her mistress' body, with the attentive and frowning brow of the artist preparing a great work. She had charge of the depilation; her skillful hand won praise for its gentleness as it obstinately sought out the lightest down, implacably destroying it with her tweezers, in deference to the Greek custom of imitating the polished smoothness of the statues.
Sónnica being again seated in her ivory chair, the touching up of the face began. On the table near at hand was a formidable array of bottles, alabaster vases, pots of bronze and of silver, little caskets of ivory and gold, all engraved, brilliant, covered with delicate figures, ornamented with precious stones, containing Egyptian and Hebraic essences, balsams from Arabia, perfumes and intoxicating cosmetics brought by caravans from the heart of Asia to Phœnician ports, and thence to Greece or Carthage, bought for Sónnica by the pilots of her vessels in their venturesome trading voyages.
Odacis painted her face white, and then, moistening a small wooden style with attar of roses, she thrust it into a bronze pot decorated with garlands of lotus and filled with a dark powder. It was the kohol, sold by Egyptian merchants at a fabulous price. The slave applied the point of the style to the Greek's eyelids, dyeing them an intense black, and tracing a fine line about the corners, which made them appear larger and softer.
The toilet was almost complete. The slaves were opening the innumerable bottles and vases arranged in rows upon the marble table, and the atmosphere of the room was laden with costly perfumes—spikenard from Sicily, incense and myrrh from Judea, aloes from India, and cumin from Greece. Odacis took a small glass amphora inlaid with gold, with a conical stopper, terminating in a fine point which served to deposit antimony above the eyes to brighten them, and, after finishing this operation, she presented to her mistress the three ointments for imparting color to the skin in different shades—vermilion, carmine, and the Egyptian red extracted from the body of the crocodile.
The slave began delicately coloring her mistress' body with a fine brush. She produced a pink flush on her cheeks and dainty ears; she marked rose petals on her bosom, and she colored her elbows and the harmoniously curving relievo of her dimpled sides. Then, with Egyptian red, she colored one by one the nails of her fingers and toes, while another slave put on her white sandals with papyrus soles and buckles of gold. Perfumes were showered upon her, each on a different part of the body, so that it might resemble a bouquet of flowers in which various aromas were mingled. Odacis presented the jewel-casket, within which precious stones lay shimmering like restless and glistening fish. The Greek woman's pointed fingers lifted with indifference the heap of collars, rings, and pendants, which, like all Grecian jewelry, were more valuable on account of the workmanship of the artists than for the richness of the material. Scenes from the great poems were reproduced almost microscopically in carnelian cameos, onyx, and agate, and the emeralds, topazes, and amethysts were decorated with profiles of goddesses and heroes.
The slave clasped a necklace of stones of complicated design upon Sónnica's uncovered breast; she loaded her fingers to the tips with rings, and the whiteness of her arms seemed more diaphanous girdled here and there by wide bracelets of gold. To add more expression to the countenance, Odacis decorated her mistress with small patches, and then she proceeded to bind around her body the fascia, or corset of the epoch, a broad woolen band to support the breast. Sónnica, gazing into the burnished bronze, smiled at her statue-like reflection, as beautiful as Venus in repose.
"Which costume, my mistress?" asked Odacis. "Do you wish the tunic with the golden flowers brought from Crete, or the kalásiris veils, transparent as air, which you ordered bought in Alexandria?"
Sónnica could not decide. She would choose in the vestiary; and in the majesty of her unveiled beauty, her papyrus sandals rustling, she walked from her dormitory followed by her slaves.