GALLUS passed a few days at Baiæ with Lycoris and some friends, who happened to be there, in the enjoyment of the agreeable diversions of which the place afforded a rapid succession: he then returned to his villa, where Lycoris promised soon to join him. Hence all were in a bustle at the villa, some in arranging the apartments destined for the fair one, in the most pleasant manner possible, others in decking out afresh her favourite spots in the park, and contriving here and there something new to surprise her. Gallus repaired early in the morning to that lovely spot, where, amidst a cluster of rosebushes, a charming statue of Flora, had been erected, during his absence; the goddess was placed, as it were, in the very centre of her kingdom, holding dominion over the lovely creations of her power. She was clad in a light and almost transparent tunica, loosely confined by a girdle which had carelessly sunk down to her hips. Her left hand grasped its deeply-falling border, in such a manner that the blooming exuberance of the figure might be more than guessed at: her right hand held a luxuriant garland of flowers, destined, it would seem, to encircle the temples of a most lovely head, the position of which in this spot had a particular significancy.