93, 9.] They delighted to lie soft, and alleged it as a great testimony of hardiness to lie upon a mattress.

They ate lying upon beds, much after the manner of the Turks in this age: "Inde thoro pater AEneas sic orsus ab alto." ["Thus Father AEneas, from his high bed of state, spoke." -- AEneid, ii.

2.] And 'tis said of the younger Cato, that after the battle of Pharsalia, being entered into a melancholy disposition at the ill posture of the public affairs, he took his repasts always sitting, assuming a strict and austere course of life.

It was also their custom to kiss the hands of great persons; the more to honour and caress them.

And meeting with friends, they always kissed in salutation, as do the Venetians: "Gratatusque darem cum dulcibus oscula verbis." ["And kindest words I would mingle with kisses." -- Ovid, De Pont., iv.