She was
evidently the one who was to appear upon the stage; her costume betrayed
it. It was not the fashionable costume of the day, such as was worn by
the distinguished ladies of Roman society; it was an ideal Greek
dress that seemed to have been made for the purpose of displaying and
rendering yet more voluptuous and enticing the great beauty of the
wearer.
She was very beautiful, this woman, with her sparkling black eyes
and dark shining hair, which had been gathered into a Grecian knot
behind--beautiful, with the laurel-wreath resting upon her high
forehead--beautiful, in the transparent Grecian robe which only so far
concealed the luxuriant forms of her full figure as to allow them to be
divined--beautiful, with those full, round, and entirely uncovered arms,
with their jewelled bracelets--beautiful, with her graceful neck, her
fully exposed, naked shoulders, and her voluptuously swelling bosom.
She was, in her appearance, a Greek, only her face was not Grecian. It
was wanting in the noble forms, the still cheerfulness and repose of
Grecian beauty, modest even in its voluptuousness. It was only the face
of a sensual and passionate Roman woman, and no Lais would have ventured
such a smile as played upon the dark-red lips of this Roman woman, or
such glowing glances as she shot like arrows from her dark eyes.
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