midday
`` But since Greek rhetoricians taught us , it is easier for me even to say Hera than Juno . '' He turned his eyes then to Pomponia , as if to signify that in presence of her no other divinity could come to his mind : and then he began to contradict what she had said touching old age . `` People grow old quickly , it is true ; but there are some who live another life entirely , and there are faces moreover which Saturn seems to forget . '' Petronius said this with a certain sincerity even , for Pomponia Græcina , though descending from the midday of life , had preserved an uncommon freshness of face ; and since she had a small head and delicate features , she produced at times , despite her dark robes , despite her solemnity and sadness , the impression of a woman quite young . Meanwhile little Aulus , who had become uncommonly friendly with Vinicius during his former stay in the house , approached the young man and entreated him to play ball . Lygia herself entered the triclinium after the little boy . Under the climbing ivy , with the light quivering on her face , she seemed to Petronius more beautiful than at the first glance , and really like some nymph .