Why are they so interested in Saxa? Assuming that it's Saxa and not his wife or children that they're staring at.

While Zephyrs in flowing silks and mountain nymphs who wore revealing goatskins danced attendance, the Lusitanians continued to arrive from stage left and march past Hercules. They were carrying more treasures, this time in hand barrows instead of on mule back.

Corylus wasn't sure what the major products of Lusitania were, but he guessed hides and fish would cover the vast majority. This procession emphasized red-figured pottery of the highest quality.

A broad wine-mixing bowl, displayed on edge, showed the infant Hercules strangling the serpents which had attacked him in his cradle. At least there's a connection with the mime, Corylus thought. And in fairness, there were doubtless Greek colonies on the coast of Lusitania.

He looked at Tardus again, frowning slightly. The Senator was completely still. He couldn't be sick or even asleep, not and remain upright on a backless chair. His lack of animation seemed unnatural, even granting that this display of Saxa's wealth would be of less interest to another senator than to the members of the urban proletariat who filled most of the seats in the theater.

For the first time, Corylus speculated on the relationship between Saxa and Tardus. The internal politics of the Senate weren't greatly of interest to the son of a provincial knight, but most of Pandareus' present students were themselves sons of senators; it was inevitable that Corylus would hear a great deal.

Much of it was gibes directed against Saxa, since Varus was clearly the best scholar in the class and held his well-born fellows in contempt. The fact that he associated with Corylus, a mere knight, made the implied insult to his peers even sharper. Nobody was going to physically attack the son of so rich a man, but there was free discussion of Saxa's reputation as a superstitious fool who lived in Aristophanes' Cloud-Cuckoo Land.