Those who had little means or none lived as parasites of
more fortunate relatives; though beggars, they housed in palaces--
palaces, it is true, which had often no more comfort within their
marble walls than the insulae where the ignoble laid their heads.
When all had perused the will, Basil rose up and addressed them. He
began by a seemingly careless allusion to the tattle about himself,
which, as it appeared, had been started in Rome by some one who
wished him ill. The serious matter of which he had to speak regarded
the daughter of Maximus. No one here, of course, would be inclined
to take up the defence of Aurelia, whose history was known to all,
he would merely make known to them that after having abjured her
religious errors, and when living quietly in the Surrentine villa,
she had been treacherously seized and carried off he knew not
whither. It was not difficult to surmise by whom this plot had been
laid, but he would leave that point for his hearers' discussion. Him
it chiefly concerned to make known the strange facts so far as he
knew them; and this he proceeded to do.
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