"she scorned even to wash herself in common water, obliging her servants instead to collect the dew that fell from the heavens for her to bathe in. Nor did she deign to touch her food with her fingers, but would command her eunuchs to cut it up into small pieces, which she would impale on a certain golden instrument with two prongs and thus carry to her mouth. Her rooms, too, were so heavy with incense and various perfumes (...)" (Damianus as cited by Norwich, John Julius (1982). A history of Venice (1st American ed.). New York: Knopf. ISBN0394524101. OCLC8033556.)
