False Favourites 2
Balbinus nodded his sympathies. He tilted his head forward and said, “Without upsetting you, Senator, I might say that when Nero removed his wife, Octavia, he had far less reason than you.” “In some ways she has been good for me ….” “Like a fair wind,” Balbinus said. “I could not bear to have her suffer.” “Only the soft warmth of the gods will touch her.” The next day Kallias visited Sabina and delicately plucked her from the couch. “Yes, I understand,” he whispered into her terrified face, and with gentle hands he carried her squirming to the pool. Tenderly, he held her thrashing body under the perfumed waters until the surface smoothed False Favourites.
