Vesta was an old maid by choice. […] They lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and warfare. […] Like Nereus, he was a little old man of the sea. […] At last a small thatched cottage received them, where Baucis, a pious old dame, and her husband Philemon had grown old together. […] Arachne bade the old dame to keep her counsel for others.