A strange, indescribable harmony prevailed over the scene. Even
the calmness of absorbing expectation and trembling hope, expressed in
the demeanour of Numerian, seemed reflected in the actions of those
around him, in the quietness with which the women pursued their
employment, in the lower and lower whispers in which the men continued
their conversation. There was something pervading the air of the whole
apartment that conveyed a sense of the solemn, unworldly stillness which
we attach to the abstract idea of religion.
Of the two men cautiously talking together, one was the patrician,
Vetranio; the other, a celebrated physician of Rome.
Both the countenance and manner of the senator gave melancholy proof
that the orgie at his palace had altered him for the rest of his life.
He looked what he was, a man changed for ever in constitution and
character. A fixed expression of anxiety and gloom appeared in his
eyes; his emaciated face was occasionally distorted by a nervous,
involuntary contraction of the muscles; it was evident that the
paralysing effect of the debauch which had destroyed his companions
would remain with him to the end of his existence.
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