CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Htv ?": Cornell University Library PA 6209.M3 1851 Metamorphoses of Apuleius '$%>- -. t;-f 3 1924 026 475 891 *. &; S "" "W-.- Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026475891 THE METAMORPHOSES OF APULEIUS ROMANCE OF THE SECOND CENTURY. THE METAMORPHOSES OF APULEIUS ; ROMANCE OF THE SECOND CENTURY. TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN, Br SIR GEORGE HEAD, AUTHOR OF " A TOUR OF MANY DATS IN ROME ; " " HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OP CARDINAL PACCA," TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN, ETC. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1851. FKIJITGB BV W. CUIlVf.s i!0 sn.\„, STAMF0RI1 STUEI/r. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. The Metamorphoses of Apuleius is a work singular of its kind, — a genuine ancient romance, written' at the beginning of the second century, replete with ; graphic and characterise? d escr iptioiis r scenes and inci- dents, exhibiting, in infinite variety, the habits, man- ; ners, and customs prevailing among the people in the I, provinces subject to the Eoman empire. Under thej form of a personal narrative, interspersed with episodes, are collected interesting, ^instructive, and amusing sketches relating to popular superstitions, religious ceremonies, social entertainments, proceedings of courts of law, dramatic spectacles of the amphitheatres, hordes of robbers, &c, &c, &c. Nevertheless, although the detail of marvellous and fabulous adventures, mingled with the common occurrences of every-day life at such an early period, must naturally be a species of light reading, calculated above all things to engage the attention of the general public, there is perhaps no work of the ancient writers with which they are so little acquainted. In order to account for a fact which at first sight vi TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. would seem incompatible with the nature of a per- formance of extraordinary merit, it must be taken into consideration, that the work in question of Apuleius appears before the world in the singular predicament s of a production written in Latin by a Greek and a •s foreigner. For Apuleius, the land of his birth having become a Eoman colony, made himself master of the language of the mother country without the aid of a preceptor, and composed in Latin the Metamorphoses, and all other of his works that have descended to posterity. Therefore although everywhere throughout his writings there is most clear and abundant testimony of the varied knowledge he possessed, as well as of a fertile imagination, acute understanding, and peculiar facility of description, his language is deficient in elegant purity of Latinity to such a degree, that de- spite of the abundance of quaint, humorous fancies, that in easy, familiar, and frequently eloquent diction he has embodied in an entertaining, well-concerted narrative, he can by no means be considered to deserve a place among genuine classic writers. The imperfection of the Latinity of the Metamor- phoses were a circumstance alone sufficient to account, to a great extent, for its limited circulation among classical students, and thence for its not acquiring a due meed of general celebrity ; though there have been hitherto other more serious obstacles in its way that require to be mentioned. Although Apuleius was a Platonic ^philosopher, and notwithstanding that the Metamor- TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. vii phoses is written throughout in a highly moral tone,^\ i evidently with a moral object in view ; moreover, that the pagan hero of his tale, after being conducted through various vicissitudes, terminates his career in the ranks of the priesthood of the goddess Isis, and that the descriptions of religious forms and ceremonies ( exclusively compose the whole substance of the eleventh J and last book; the pages nevertheless reflecting the spirit of a period seventeen hundred years ago, are occasionally deformed by passages such as, in the pre- sent state of civilization in the nineteenth century, are not to be tolerated. Moreover, in addition to the above objectionable qualities to free currency, Apuleius passes with extraordinary abruptness from subject to subject, and expresses himself not unfrequently with such conciseness and brevity, that here and there more time and attention are requisite thoroughly to compre- hend his meaning, than any reader under ordinary circumstances could be expected to bestow. Indeed, it may be cited as an instance of the prevailing ob- scurity, that in Valpy's London edition of the original, the proportion of explanatory notes in comparison to the text of the Metamorphoses are more than double. Finally, in all the Latin editions, the whole text, including narrative, episodes, &c, is confusedly jumbled together, without blank space between para- graphs, inverted commas to distinguish dialogue, or any auxiliary mark whatever — save the full stops that divide the sentences — to assist the eye of the reader, or viii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. enable him to anticipate the frequent changes from one subject to another of a totally different nature, which, occurring suddenly and unexpectedly, are calculated to break the continuity, and thereby perplex the mam scheme of the story. In preparing the present translation for the public, I have not been actuated by the presumptuous expec- tation to enlighten the classical reader, but have merely been influenced by the desire of doing the utmost in my power to remove the dead weight that for a long period has rested upon an agreeable and excellent work of an ancient writer. I have therefore, in the first place, divested it of every syllable calculated to give offence to the most scrupulous reader; and in the next, have endeavoured to place the composition in the perspicuous form necessary to its perfect elucidation. Eendering into English, with strict fidelity, every thought and image emanating from the mind of the author, and giving the value and true signification of his words — not less anxious, at the same time, to pre- serve and develope the full scope and character of his performance — I have called it in my title-page, in addi- tion to its original designation, "A Eomance of the second century,"— a title which, I trust, whether the book be resorted to merely as a version of the Latin original, or with reference to the light, amusing qualities of a romance, will not be found calculated either way to disappoint the reader. Accordingly, in order to assimilate it as much as possible to the above- TKANSLATOE'S PREFACE. IX mentioned description, I have arranged the paragraphs, marked the dialogue in the usual way, and, especially, with regard to the episodes have given a distinct number and a name to each, and separated all by blank space at the beginning and at the end, in such a manner that, being thoroughly detached from the body of the text, the reader may have opportunity of perusing narrative or episodes distinct from one another as he may feel inclined. The period and the circumstances under which Apuleius composed his Metamorphoses are not known with precision, neither has it been ascertained when he • himself flourished, farther than that he is supposed to have been about contemporary with Lucian, in the beginning of the second century. It is, at all events, generally admitted, that he was born of a good family at Madaura,* received the first rudiments of education at Carthage, thence proceeded to Athens to complete his studies, and afterwards set out on his travels through Italy, Greece, and Asia. There is, however, one romantic event recorded to have happened to him, that possibly may have influ- enced his mind with reference to the composition of the Metamorphoses. While on his way to Alexandria, he happened to fall sick at the town ofOea,f where his protracted visit in the house of a young man, his host, led to a matrimonial alliance with the young * A town in Numidia, S.W. of Carthage. •(• Now Tripoli. a 3 x TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. mini's mother, a lady of large independent fortune, named Pudentilla, who had at that time been fourteen years a widow. Soon after the. marriage was solemnized, the family of the lady, who as well as she herself appear to have been captivated at first with Apuleius's wit and learning, and to have anxiously promoted the alliance, joined all together in a conspiracy to dissolve the connexion, in order to prevent the alienation of Pudentilla *s property. Accordingly they resolved to accuse Apuleius of the crime of witchcraft, on the ground that he had won the lady's heart by means of spells and incantations. On which ridiculous charge, sustained on proofs the most absurd and frivolous, he was arraigned with all the due formalities of the law, and the cause actually tried at Sabrata,* then a Roman colony, before Claudius Maximus, the proconsul. On that occasion Apuleius pronounced in his defence the celebrated "Apology," one of the principal of his works now extant, and defeated his antagonists tri- umphantly. Although in that defence Apuleius never ventured to deny the existence of the deadly science of which he was accused, his forbearance is probably rather to be attributed to the desire of paying respect to the super- stitious feelings of the age in which he lived, than to his own actual belief in the power of sorcery. At all events, it is replete with satirical contempt of the * A maritime town in Africa, 70 miles from Tripoli. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. XI charge of his adversaries, and in its tone is precisely such as might be expected from him at a period when witchcraft had been denounced by the enlightened men of the age more than a hundred years before. Horace, for instance, had given the world a graphic picture of his sentiments on the subject of witchcraft in that witty apostrophe,* where, turning into ridicule the mysteries of Canidia and Sagana, he immortalizes their doings on a moonlight night on the Esquiline, and describes them seized with a sudden ridiculous panic, taking flight, and running away in dismay, helter- skelter, leaving false hair, teeth, and all the redoubt- able implements of their art behind them. After all, Canidia, whom in his fifth epode he attacks so viru- lently in a mock heroic strain, was doubtless no more of a witch than some object of a former attachment who slighted him in her youth, and therefore he was ever after twitting her under various titles, for in- stance, under the name of Lydia,| or of Lyce, J and, last of all, in allusion to her age and grey hair, Canidia. Now, whether or not the mind of Apuleius may have been influenced by the opinions of his learned predecessors, even if it were only permitted to draw an inference from the sarcastic tone of the defence above alluded to, there are sufficient grounds of proba- bility to come to the conclusion that, smarting under the vexatious and ludicrous charge of witchcraft made * Satire 8. t Li ^- i- Od. 25. t Lib. iv. Od. 13. xii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. against him, he had recourse to the composition of the Metamorphoses — which is generally believed to be a ''"satire on the superstition and vices of the age — as a ^vehicle for his sarcastic humour. Upon which suppo- sition, therefore, it may be taken for granted that he availed himself, as the ground-work of his composition, p-ef a pleasant fable of previous celebrity, which — relating to the miraculous adventures of a certain Lucius, who, by the magic art of the Thessalian witches, was trans- formed into an ass, and suffered a numerous train of vicissitudes till finally he was restored to his proper shape — particularly suited his purpose. This tale, however, commonly recognized under the title of the Golden Ass, has been jointly attributed to Apuleius and to Lucian, which latter version, written in Greek, is unquestionably similar, and identical in the main features of the story ; although — with the exception of the name of the hero Lucius, which is the same in both — the names of people and of places are different. Indeed, it is universally admitted that either both Apuleius and Lucian derived it from a common source, or that one took it from the other. By some, in a tone of slight confidence and on exceed- ingly slender authority, it is ascribed to one Lucius, of Patrse* It matters little, however, whether Apuleius borrowed the story from Lucian or from Lucius of Patrse, though it is probable he took it from Lucian. * A town at the N.W. of Peloponnesus. TKANSEATOK'S PREFACE. xiii But, on the other hand, it is almost incredible to imagine that Lucian took it from Apuleius, since he would hardly have condescended, even had he availed himself of the performance of a contemporary Latin author, to send before the world a Greek version so infinitely its inferior. Indeed, the Metamorphoses, as well in excellence of composition as in quantity, bears an overwhelming proportion to the version of Lucian, and contains, of matter which confessedly and undis- putedly belongs to Apuleius and to nobody else, the whole of the eleventh book and all the episodes, to- gether with very numerous increments and embellish- ments in the body of the narrative. Belonging to the latter portion — the literary pro- perty of Apuleius exclusively, to which no direct claim on the part of any other author has ever been made — the tale of Cupid and Psyche is to be especially noticed; which celebrated fable, written evidently with the intention to represent allegorically the career of the human soul, ^uxn, through scenes of mortal tribulation to a state of celestial beatitude after death — since Apuleius entertained a deadly enmity to the Christians and their ceremonies,* and there is, more- over, no prevailing indication on the part of the writer of any direct definite ideas of a Christian throughout the story — must therefore be alone attributed to the beautiful, images suggested involuntarily to his poetical * See note, page 306. xiv TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. mind by those mysterious events which. had been promulgated during the preceding century : which splendid images he engrafted on a structure of heathen mythology, and thereby producing the fable rn ques- tion, gave it a prominent place in the Metamorphoses. With the exception of Cupid and Psyche, which forms the fifth episode in the volume, all the remaining nine episodes, containing tales relating to crime, supersti- tion, the proceedings of criminal courts of justice, &c, being incidents of a character calculated to promote the object stated in the beginning, such as he might either have witnessed himself or heard of during his travels, ^it may be readily conceived that he introduced them I accordingly, in order to compose the series of Milesian | Tales, which he states in his extremely short preface are strung together for the entertainment of the reader. Little, however, is to be gathered of the object and design of the author's work in the few introductory lines above alluded to, which, in the edition of Valpy, are not even dignified with the title of a preface, but incorporated with the body of the text at the opening of the book. With regard to the term ^Milesian, "* * From Miletus, a town of Asia Minor, capital of Ionia, whose inhabitants were, celebrated for a description of pleasant fictions that, pw excellence, obtained among the ancients the epithet above cited. Miletus was also remarkable for the oracle of Apollo situated there ; and may be considered in the high road to that eastern source whence the Arabian Nights and other agreeable imaginative productions of a like nature have conti- TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xv the precise sense in which it was intended to be ap- plied by Apuleius — whether to the numerous incidents and anecdotes comprised in the narrative of the Golden Ass or jojhis. jspjisodes — must remain a matter of con- jecture ; though it is most probable that he merely meant to use it in a general sense, as applicable to the style and character of the various detached pieces col- lected together in his composition. Unquestionably, from the beginning to the end of the adventures of his hero Lucius, it was himself whom he intended to personate. Indeed, that such was his object, appears very clearly by a passage in the eleventh book, where he designates Lucius as a native of the city of Madaura,* his own birthplace. And again, in the description of the mock trial at Hypata, where Lucius was tried for his life for murder, of which description of the proceedings of the court, and the ludicrous circumstances connected with the charge, that appear to be directly pointed at the real charge of witchcraft on which he himself was actually tried at Sabrata, not a word is to be found in Lucian, but every syllable is the pure invention of Apuleius exclusively. In addition to the above instances, there are various others throughout the work that might be cited in support of the supposition that Apuleius and Lucius are to be considered as one and the same person ; nually emanated — even, as we learn by the term in question, before the time of Apuleius. * See page 407. xvi TRANSLATOR'S PRKFACE. but having stated in general elucidation of the sub- ject all that occurs to my inind at present, I must beg leave here to conclude my preface by humbly submitting to the favourable attention of the reader, without farther delay, an English version of the Meta- morphoses, whence the means, I trust, will be afforded him of determining the proposed question on his own judgment. G. H. January 20th, 1851. P E E F A C E. Courteous Eeader — If thou canst tolerate the writing of a reed plucked from the banks of the Nile on sheets of Egyptian papyrus, I will string together a collection of Milesian fables, and tickle thy benevolent ears with a merry whispering. I will astonish thee with the adventures of men transformed into various shapes, and again restored to their original form. But before I begin, I will first briefly say who I am. Mount Hymettus of Attica, the Isthmus of Corinth, and the Spartan Tenedos, fertile lands immortalised in the works of our most celebrated authors, are my an- cient domicile, where in early youth I learnt pure Attic Greek. Afterwards coming to Eome, a stranger to the native language of the Quirites, I applied myself to the study without the assistance of a preceptor, and acquired it with painful labour. Now, therefore, at the commencement (albeit the change of language bear some relation to my subject — the Magic Art), let me ask thy pardon, lest aught exotic in the discourse of one unpractised in a foreign tongue offend thee. Listen then to a pleasant Greek story that will please thee. CONTENTS. BOOK I. Departure of Lucius from Corinth — Overtakes two Travellers — Their Conversation. First Episode. — Tale of Aristomenes, the Commercial Traveller. Arrives at Hypata — Delivers Letters of Introduction to Milo — Is received into Milo's House — Adventure in the Pish Market — An arbitrary Magistrate . . . Page 1 BOOK II. Anxiety of Lucius relating to Witchcraft — Meets his Mother's Friend, Byrrhasna — Atrium of Byrrhama's Palace — Byr- rhasna cautions Lucius against the witch Pamphile, wife of his host Milo — Lucius, rejecting the advice of Byrrhaena, resolves to cultivate the acquaintance of Pamphile — In- gratiates himself with Fotis, Maid Servant of Pamphile — Lucius sups with Milo and Pamphile. Second Episode. — Diophanes the Chaldcean. Lucius sups with Byrrhjena. Third Episode. — Tale of Telephron, tlie Student. Lucius, returning home, kills three Men whom he takes to be Bobbers 31 CONTENTS. BOOK III. Lucius arrested for the Murder of three Citizens — Tried for his Life — Proceedings of the Trial — Unexpected termi- nation of the Trial — Lucius finds himself hoaxed — Fes- tival of the God of Laughter — Fotis the innocent cause of Lucius's Misfortune t— Her interview with Lucius — Her Confession — Promises Lucius to give him an opportunity of seeing her mistress Pamphile transform herself into a Bird ot other animal — Lucius witnesses the transformation of Pamphile into an Owl — Lucius, desirous of following Pam- phile's example, through the mistake of Fotis is changed into a Donkey — Ingratitude of Lucius's White Horse — Lucius, in the form of a Donkey, thrashed by his late servant — Milo's House attacked by Robbers — Lucius seized by the Bobbers, loaded with plunder, and driven away . . Page 66 i BOOK IV. Adventure of Lucius in a Kitchen Garden — Disappointed in search of an Antidote for his Enchantment — Caught by the Gardener — His escape — Pursued by Men and Dogs — Caught and cruelly beaten — Arrives at the Bobbers' Cave — The Bobbers' Dame — Conversation of the Bobbers. Foueth Episode. — The Tale of the Bobber. Departure of Bobbers on an Excursion — Their return with a young Damsel — Her excessive Grief — The Damsel relates her History — The Bobbers' Dame comforts the Damsel with an entertaining Story. Fifth Episode. — Tale of Cupid and Psyche . . 100 BOOK V. Continuation of Fifth Episode. — Cupid and Psyche . 142 CONTENTS. xxi BOOK VI. Conclusion of Fifth Episode. — Cupid and Psyclie. Departure of Lucius with the Bobbers to fetch Booty concealed in a Cave — Their return — Another departure without Lucius — Lucius resolves to escape — Lucius seized by the Bobbers' Dame — Lucius, assisted by the Damsel, defeats his Antagonist — Lucius carries off the Damsel — Lucius and the Damsel retaken by the Bobbers — Death of the Bobbers' Dame — The Bobbers condemn Lucius and the Damsel to suffer a cruel death . . . Page 177 BOOK VII. Arrival of a Spy of the Bobbers from Hypata — Proposal to recruit their Troop — A new Becruit — His History and liberal Contribution — The Becruit chosen Leader of the Troop — Discussion relating to the fate of the Damsel and Lucius — a Sacrifice to Mars — Grand Supper of the Bobbers — the new Leader factotum — Lucius's displeasure at the new Leader's behaviour towards the Damsel — An inte- resting Discovery — Escape of the Damsel Charity with her lover Tlepolemus and Lucius — Their triumphal entry into the native City of, Tlepolemus and Charity — Lucius sent to free Pasture — Is delivered to the care of the Master of the Stud of Horses — Lucius's Disappointment — Lucius put into a Mill — Lucius at last sent to Pasture — Lucius ill- used by the Horses — Lucius brings Wood from the Moun- tains — A cruel Donkey- driver — Lucius falsely accused by the Donkey-driver — Death of the Donkey-driver and escape of Lucius — Lucius seized by a Stranger — The Stranger taken, and Lucius retaken by the Servants of his late Master — Lucius cruelly beaten by the Mother of the Donkey- driver * • . 215 CONTENTS. BOOK VIII. Arrival of a Servant of Charity. Sixth Episode— Death of Charity and Tlepolemus. Flight of the Master of the Stud of Horses with Lucius and the other animals — Wolves — A Miraculous Adventure in the Valley — Arrival at night in a Village. Seventh Episode.— Singular Punishment of a Criminal. Lucius sold at a Pair — A Eeligious Impostor — Dancing- Priests of the Syrian Goddess — Their Impostures — Hos- pitably received in a great City — Lucius has a narrow escape of his Life T&ge 251 BOOK IX. Lucius flies for refuge to the Supper-room — Supposed to be afflicted with Hydrophobia — The test of Water — Am- biguous Oracle of Priests of the Syrian Goddess — The Impostors arrested for Theft and Sacrilege — Lucius sold to a Baker — Lucius cruelly worked in a, Mill — The Baker's •wicked Wife — Her traffic with Witches — Supernatural death of "the Baker — Lucius sold to a poor Gardener — Visit of the Gardener to a Bich Neighbour — 'Supernatural Omens — Tragical occurrence. Eighth Episode. — The Sural Tyrant. Adventure of the Gardener with a Soldier — Gardener and Lucius take refuge in a house in the City — Lucius and the Gardener discovered and captured .... 293 BOOK X. Departure of Lucius with his new Master, the Soldier — Their arrival at the House of a Decurion. CONTENTS. xxm Ninth Episode. — The Wicked Stepmother. Lucius sold to two brothers, Cook and Confectioner of a great Personage — Preference of Lucius to Human Pood — His depredations discovered — Behaviour of Lucius at the Supper- table — The Company delighted at Lucius's Accomplish- ments and Sagacity — Preparations for a Gladiatorial Ex- hibition — The great Personage rides Lucius to Corinth — The great Personage proposes to make Lucius perform at the Amphitheatre. Tenth Episode. — A Woman condemned to be thrown to Wild Beasts. Dramatic representation at the Amphitheatre — Lucius makes his escape and gallops to Cenchrese . . . Page 328 BOOK XI. A Night Scene on the Sea-shore — Prayer of Lucius to the Goddess IsW — Auspicious Appearance and Answer of the Goddess — Procession of the Goddess — Lucius recovers his proper Shape — Address of the Priest of Isis to Lucius — Ceremony of the dedication of a Ship to the Goddess — Religious ceremony in the Temple — Lucius recovers his White Horse — Initiation of Lucius as a Priest of the Goddess Isis by Mithras, her High Priest — Lucius sets sail from Cenchreas and arrives at Borne — Second and third cere- monies of Initiation to the Mysteries of the Gods Osiris and Serapis — Lucius received into the College of the Pastophori 372 THE METAMOKPHOSES OF APULEIUS: A ROMANCE OF THE SECOND CENTURY. BOOK I. Departure of Lucius from Corinth — Overtakes two Travellers — Their Conversation. Fibst Episode. — Tale of Aristommes the Commercial Traveller. Arrives at Hypata — Delivers Letters of Introduction to Milo — Is received into Milo's House — Adventure in the Fish- Market — An arbitrary Magistrate. My mothw was descended from the celebrated Plutarch and his nephew, the philosopher Sextus, persons whose names are honourable to their posterity ; and my family derives its origin from Thessaly, whither, having an affair of business to transact, I one day set forth mounted on a milk-white native horse of that country. I had ridden over lofty mountains, slippery valleys, dew-sprinkled plains, and rough clodded ground in abundance, till at last, the horse becoming weary, and myself tired of sitting in the saddle, I jumped upon my feet on a piece of green turf before me in order to shake B 2 JOURNEY TO THESSALY. BooK L offmy fatigue. Taking the bit out of the horse's mouth, I carefully wiped the sweat off his forehead, rubbed his ears, and was leading him slowly forward at a gentle pace, step by step, in order to give opportunity for relief and refreshment, as stretching forward his head and neck he cropped a hasty breakfast from the greensward on each side as he went along, when sud- denly I found myself the third of two other travellers who by chance were on the road before me. As they were talking, I listened to hear the subject of their con- versation, when one, addressing himself to the other, and bursting into a laugh — " A truce to such absurd stories," said he ; " prithee have done with thy monstrous lying." " Nay," said I, who have ever had a keen thirst to learn everything new, " speak rather what thou hast to say ■ for though not inquisitive nor desirous of universal knowledge, I delight, forsooth, to hear all I can. Be- sides, a pleasant entertaining story will heljl to relieve the steepness of the hill we are ascending." " Why," said the first speaker, " the lie he has just told has about as much truth in it as to declare that the magicians now-a-days are able to make rapid rivers turn right about and run backwards, lash the sluggish waves of the sea into violent motion, stop the breath of the winds, darken the sun, cause foam to drop from the moon, pluck the stars from their spheres, and turn day into night." " Then," replied I, addressing myself in a tone of Book I. JOUENEY TO THESSALY. 3 somewhat more confidence than before to him who spoke first, " let it not tire nor trouble thee to tell us the remainder of thy story ;" and turning to the other, " Heavy are thy ears," I continued, " and stubborn thy heart thus to reject what peradventure may turn out to be true. Little surely dost thou know, by Her- cules ! the depraved opinions that men form relating to all the new things they see and hear, and how they reject as untrue facts that, on a nearer survey, are self- evident and easily comprehended. Why, 'twas only last evening, when endeavouring to eat faster than my companions, and swallow a piece of soft cheese larger than ordinary, the glutinous morsel sticking in my throat, and closing up the breath in my windpipe, had nearly choked me. Nevertheless, not long ago, these two very eyes of mine saw at Athens, in front of the Pcecile portico, a mountebank insert in his gullet the terrible, very sharp blade of a sword ; and afterwards, in a similar manner, for a trifling remuneration, cram the iron point of a hunter's spear down his throat till he buried it deep in the viscera. Nay more; a slim, slender little lad got behind the fellow, and mounting upon the long handle, twisted, and twined, and played antics as if he had never a nerve nor a bone in his body. All of us who were present were lost in admiration to see him ; for he looked like the noble serpent of Esculapius clinging in slippery coils round its half-clipped knotted staff. But, I pray thee, thou the narrator of the wonderful story thy compa- B 2 4 FIRST EPISODE. Book I. nion talks of, tell it us again from the beginning, and I will promise to believe thee so far that thou shalt be sure of thy reward beforehand, and have thy dinner gratis at the first inn we come to." " As to thy offer," replied the other, " 'tis well and good ; therefore I accept the proposal, and will begin once more my story, solemnly taking the divinity of the sun that shines upon us to witness that it is absolutely true. The events that I shall relate have not only actually happened, but are commonly in the mouths of the people all over Thessaly, as thou wilt know beyond all doubt at the first city we come to." With that, without more ado, the speaker com- menced his tale as follows. FIEST EPISODE. TALE OF ARISTOMENES, THE COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. My name is Aristomenes. As to my business and my country, I am a native of the island of jEgina, whence I have been travelling hither and thither through | Thessaly, iEtolia, and Bceotia to procure articles of traffic, namely, honey of Hypata, cheese, and other Book I. FIRST EPISODE. 5 similar comestibles. Having received information of a large quantity of new cheese of exquisite flavour to be had at Hypata, the principal city of Thessaly, at a very low price, I made the best of my way thither with the intention of buying it all. But, alas ! as frequently happens to me, starting in the morning with the left unlucky foot foremost, the main object of my journey was frustrated ; and I found, on my arrival, that the whole lot had been purchased only the day before by a great wholesale dealer of the name of Lupus. In order to refresh myself after my rapid journey and my disappointment, I made a visit to the baths at an early hour in the evening, where, all of a sudden, I per- ceived a former companion of my own, called Socrates, sitting on the ground, half covered with a tattered mantle, looking like a beggar of broken victuals, and offal in the streets, and so disguised by the paleness of his countenance and the miserably emaciated state of his body, that I scarcely recognised him. Such a lamentable figure was he that, even when I approached near, I accosted him, although a particular acquaint- ance with whom I had been on intimate terms, with doubt and hesitation. " Mercy on us, my good friend Socrates !" said I, " what a figure thou art ! What means this misery ? What scandalous disgrace hath befallen thee ? Why, thy family, after seeking thee in vain by proclamation, have bewailed thee as dead; thy funeral obsequies have been performed ; thy children have been provided 6 FIRST EPISODE. Bo0K L ■with, tutors by a decree of the province ; thy wife, by grief and continual lamentations, hath well nigh cried her eyes out ; and her parents are tormenting her to marry another husband in order to restore her good looks and bring joy to the household ; and now, for- sooth, here thou art, appearing again among us like a spectral apparition, to our eternal discomfiture." " Oh, Aristomenes !" answered he, " never hast thou experienced in thine own person the ups and downs, the slippery turns, the unaccountable caprices, and the vicissitudes of fortune," at the same time endeavouring from very shame to hide the blush that suffused his cheeks, the coarse, patched garment that he lifted to cover his face left half his body bare. Unable to en- dure the sorrowful spectacle, I stretched out my hand, and endeavoured to lift him up ; but he buried his face in his rags and remained where he was, exclaiming— " Let me alone ! let me remain where I am ! Fortune, that hath brought me to this pitch of wretchedness, hath but a brief period left to enjoy her triumph," I nevertheless persisted in entreating him to get up and follow me, and clothing, though I can hardly say covering, his body with one of my own two garments, I prevailed on him to accompany me to the baths, where he was washed, scrubbed, and anointed, while I myself stood by and superintended an operation that, under present circumstances, was by no means super- fluous. So soon as he was properly cleansed and set to rights, I brought him to the inn, whither, tired as I Book I. FIRST EPISODE. 7 was myself, I had the greatest difficulty to support him; but when we arrived there I got him put to bed, gave him as much food as he could eat, and com- forted him with a good cup of wine. Then I began to entertain him with the news of our country, till our conversation assumed by degrees a tendency to merri- ment, and becoming at first flippant and jocular, he at last actually grew talkative and noisy. By and by, all of a sudden, changing his tone, spitefully striking his forehead with his right hand, and heaving a bitter sigh from the bottom of his heart, " Miserable man that I am!" he exclaimed, " the love of frequenting gladiatorial spectacles, since, as thou wilt remember, I departed on an affair of busi- ness to Macedonia, has brought me into this trouble. Thence, after ten months' absence, I was on my return homewards with a round sum of money, and bad nearly arrived at the city of Larissa, where I intended to witness a spectacle then about to be exhibited, when I was attacked in a rugged, lonely valley by a numerous band of robbers and Stripped of all I had. I escaped with my life with difficulty, and, reduced to a miserable state of penury, betook myself to a tavern kept by a certain old woman of the name of Meroe. This old woman, who was sufficiently well-looking for her age, when I had explained to her the cause of my long absence, had related the manner in which I had been robbed that very day, and expressed my earnest desire to reach my home, treated me, after she became acquainted with all 8 FIRST EPISODE. BooK *' these circumstances, with more than ordinary kindness, gave me a liberal supper and lodging gratuitously, and I remained in her house till the morning. Here Socrates, suddenly breaking off in his narrative, and looking round the room with an anxious coun- tenance ; " Hush ! " said he, placing his forefinger on his lips, as if there were listeners to our conversation, " I dare tell thee no more lest, through the intemperate use of my tongue, that terrible woman smite me with some' dire pestilence ! " " What terrible woman dost thou mean ? " said I. " What more of that potent hostess of thine, that queen of tavern keepers ? " " She is a witch of power divine ! " replied Socrates ; " a witch able to drag down the firmament, to support the world on her shoulders, freeze fountains, crumble mountains, raise the dead, dethrone the Gods, extin- guish the stars, and illuminate ■ the very depths of Tartarus ! " " Marry ! let down thy tragic curtain," said I ; " fold up thy scenic hangings, and, in ordinary lan- guage, say what thou hast to say." " Nay then," he replied, " will one or two or how many more of her performances suffice thee? for 1 can tell thee that the charms and incantations of the ^Ethiopians and Antipodes are, compared to hers, nought but dry leaves, as it were, of the magic art, and mere trifles. Listen, then, and hear the acts she hath perpetrated in broad daylight before many Book I. FIRST EPISODE. 9 witnesses. In the first place, by pronouncing a single word she changed one of her lovers of whom she was jealous into a wild beaver, and exposed him to the persecution of the hunters, by way of retaliation for his slight of her. Then again because she had a grudge against a neighbouring innkeeper, for nothing more, forsooth ! than being of her own profession, she trans- formed him into a frog. Poor fellow ! he is now grown old ; and hoarsely croaking, as it were, in the way of business to his old customers, sometimes sits buried in the dregs of his own wine, and at other times swims on the surface. Then there was a lawyer of the Forum who conducted a cause against her, and she changed him into a ram; so the lawyer still pleads his causes with his head, and gives rebutters and surrebutters as he used to do. J(T inally, there was the wife of one of her lovers, a chatterbox, who spoke scandal of her ; and happening to be then about to increase her family, she condemned her to remain ever since that time in the same condition. Accordingly 'tis now eight years, people say, she has been continually growing larger and larger as if going to be brought to bed of an elephant. " At last she did so .much mischief, and inflicted in- jury on so many persons, that public indignation became aroused, and the people, bent on wreaking cruel venge- ance, determined to stone her to death the next morning. But, by virtue of her enchantments, she overturned the counsels of her enemies, and, like Medea, who first obtained the truce of a single day from Creon, and then B 3 10 FIRST EPISODE. Book I. reduced his house together with his daughter and himself to ashes ; so she,— as a few evenings ago when she was tipsy she told me herself, — set to work in a ditch with her deadly incantations, and wrought such a forcible spell, that the inhabitants for two whole days were closely confined to their houses. They neither could break the fastenings, nor unhinge the doors, nor make a breach in the walls ; but there remained close shut up till by mutual consent they one and all swore by everything good and solemn, not only never to lay hands upon her themselves, but even to protect her if attacked by others. When thus propitiated, she liberated the whole city with the exception of the prin- cipal conspirator, whom one stormy night she trans- ported with his whole family, house and all, walls, foundations, and the very ground the house stood upon, close shut up by magic as it was, to another city situ- ated at the top of a very high mountain a hundred miles distant. The latter city was badly supplied with water, on account of its elevated position ; and as, in consequence of the density of the population, there was no room for the mansion of the conspirator, she hastily put it down outside the walls, and there left it." " Faith, my good Socrates," said I, " 'tis a mar- vellous and fearful history thou hast related; like the point of a spear in the flesh, it has made a deep impression on my mind; truly am I smitten with serious fear and apprehension lest, through the super- natural power of this old woman, she may have over- Book I. FIRST EPISODE. 11 heard our conversation. By all means let us lie down to rest immediately and be quiet, and, so soon as our night's sleep hath sufficiently refreshed us, let us leave the house and get as far away as possible from the place before daylight." I had scarcely pronounced these words, when I per- ceived that the good Socrates, partly overcome by fatigue and excitement, and partly in consequence of having drank more wine than he had been lately accus- tomed to, was already fast asleep and snoring. I there- fore shut the chamber door, and having bolted it and carefully propped my bed against it to make it still more secure, I lay down upon the bed. After lying awake a little while in a state of trepidation, I began to close my eyes by degrees, but had scarcely lost my recollection when, a little before the third watch of the night, I heard all of a sudden a thundering crash — a noise greater than could possibly be produced by mortal robbers — and in an instant the door was burst open, thoroughly torn from the hinges, and thrown down in the room. At the same time the violence of the shock upset my small sorry bedstead, which, one crazy foot of rotten wood having given way, fell upon me topsy-turvy, and, as I was shaken out and rolled upon the floor, completely covered and concealed me- Notwithstanding the state of excessive fear I was in, I felt influenced by a singular natural sensation which, by the rule of contraries, in the same manner as tears are frequently produced on joyful occasions, so tickled 12 FIRST EPISODE. Boob. I. my fancy with the resemblance of Aristomenes to a tortoise, that I could hardly refrain from laughter. However, while I was thus completely protected by the bed, and lying at my length on the ground sideways, I peeped out from underneath to see what was the matter, and saw two elderly women, one carrying in her hand a lighted lamp and the other a sponge and a drawn sword, approach Socrates as he lay sound asleep. Then said she of the sword and sponge to the other : " Look, sister Panthia, there lies my Ganymede, my dear Endymion, who hath laughed me to scorn, and, on account of my age, hath despised my love ; nay, not only hath he scandalously defamed me, but, forsooth, purposes to run away in the morning, and leave me, like another deserted Calypso, to bewail the loss of my crafty Ulysses in eternal solitude. And there ! " — added she, extending her right hand and pointing me out to Panthia, — " there! see his worthy counsellor Aristomenes, the proposer of the manoeuvre, frightened to death under the bed, and looking at all we are doing. No doubt he thinks to tell all he knows with impunity ; but, sooner or later, I '11 be a match for him, and not only shall he pay for peeping, but rue his last night's loquacity into the bargain." At these words, wretch that I was, a cold perspiration immediately overspread my body, my heart palpitated, and my very bowels trembled in such a manner that the bed that lay upon ' me shook. Meanwhile, replied the amiable Panthia, " Well Book I. FIRST EPISODE. 13 sister, what shall be done with him ? Wilt thou that we hack him in pieces at once, after the fashion of the Bacchantes, or, after binding him hand and foot, shall we cut off his ears ? " " Nay," replied Meroe, whose name I presently per- ceived was in accordance with her character, and herself just the person Socrates had described her — " Nay, let him live. He shall live," said she, " were it only to scratch a shallow hole for this wretch's grave." So saying, and drawing the head of Socrates a little towards her, she plunged the blade of the sword up to the hilt in the left side of his throat, holding at the same time a small vessel so carefully underneath, that, as the blood gushed out, not a single drop fell on the ground. All this I witnessed with my own eyes, and more be- sides ; for that pattern of humanity Meroe, fearing per- adventure to omit some due observance in the immola- tion of her victim, thrust her hand down to the very viscera, and, stirring round and round, caught hold of the heart of my miserable comrade, and dragged it from its socket, while, through his windpipe severed en- tirely by the sword, his last breath came bubbling forth with an indistinct gurgling sound through the orifice. Panthia then closing up the gaping wound with the sponge, exclaimed, " Oh sponge ! thou that wast born in the sea, beware how you pass a river." So soon as she had pronounced the latter words, both women left the room through the open doorway, but had scarcely passed the threshold when the broken door resumed its pristine 14 FIRST EPISODE. Book I. form and position, the hinges fell into their sockets, and the doorposts, bars, bolts, and fastenings were all re- stored to their proper places. I, meanwhile, lying on the ground, prostrate and almost inanimate, drenched in cold perspiration, naked as a newborn babe, or a criminal condemned to the cross, and tormented by a multitude of bitter reflec- tions, — the posthumous thoughts, as it were, of a mind that had survived its body, — reasoned with myself as follows. " What," said I, " will become of me in the morning when this poor man shall be found with his throat cut? "Who, though I speak the truth, will believe me ? Thou, a strong man, they will say, if not able to defend thyself against a woman, might have called for help ; on the contrary, thou hast seen the throat of a man cut under thy very eyes, and wert silent. Why was not a similar outrage perpetrated upon thyself? Wherefore hath the pitiless cruelty of the assassin spared thee ? Why hath the natural im- pulse to conceal the evidence of a crime allowed thee, the witness, to live? Return then, they will say, to the death thou hast escaped." Such were the con- siderations that, repeated over and over again, entirely occupied my mind without remission till, the night being considerably spent and the morning approaching, thinking it advisable to get away clandestinely before the dawn of day, and, albeit with trembling solitary steps, pursue my journey, I rose up, and, taking my portmanteau, put the key in the lock. But the bolt, Book I. FIEST EPISODE. ] 5 when I endeavoured to turn it, as it were, in its over- fidelity, notwithstanding the door had flown abroad of its own accord in the middle of the night, now delayed to obey the summons of its own hey and refused to move. At last, after repeated turnings and grindings, I succeeded in opening it, and so soon as I was outside, " Holla ! " said I, calling to the porter; " where art thou ? I want thee to open the gates of the Inn. I must needs be away before daylight." " Open the gates of the Inn ! " replied the porter, who was lying on the ground at the door, half asleep ; " dost thou not know the roads are infested by robbers? Why what manner of man art thou to begin thy journey at this time of night? By my troth ! thou art some rogue or other with a crime on thy conscience, and hast a mind to put an end to thyself. But the head on my shoulders is no pumpkin, nor care I to risk my life for such a one as thou art." " The day will break speedily," replied I, " and nought can robbers take from a poor traveller. Thou fool, dost thou not know that to strip a naked man were work for half a score gladiators ? " " How do I know," rejoined the porter, as, over- come by sleep and laziness, he turned round on his other side ; " how do I know," said he, " thou hast not murdered the companion that accompanied thee hither last night, and now wouldst fain make thy escape ? And now I think on't, I had a terrible dream in the 16 FIRST EPISODE. ^°° K L night. Methought the earth opened and discovered the depths of Tartarus, and there, forsooth, I saw the hungry, ravenous dog Cerberus looking ready to devour me." Perceiving very clearly by these words of the porter, that the pitiless witch Meroe had been induced to spare my life, not from kindness and commiseration, but only for the further gratification of her cruelty, and to reserve me for the torments of the cross, I returned to my bedchamber with the full determination of terminating my existence, and for some time delibe- rated on the speediest method of accomplishing the object. But fortune seemed unwilling to provide me with any deadly implement, nor could I find anything at all in the room to suit my purpose till I bethought me of the little bed I had lain. upon. Accordingly addressing myself to it as follows, " Dearest little bed," said I, " partner in my troubles, and sole con- scious witness of last night's events, thou that alone can bear testimony to my innocence, furnish, I pray thee, to a wretch now hastening to the shades below a weapon to effect his purpose." With that I imme- diately began loosening the bed-cord, of which I flung one end over a beam which projected from the window, and made it fast; and having then made a firm slip- knot at the other end, I inserted my neck in the noose. Then I mounted on the bed, where standing at a con- venient height for the fatal operation, I was endea- vouring to kick the support from under me, so that Book I. FIRST EPISODE. 17 my weight being thrown upon the rope, it might close my windpipe and stop my breath, when the rope all 01 a sudden, being old and rotten, broke asunder, and I, falling with considerable force upon Socrates, who lay close by, tumbled him off his bed and rolled with him on the floor. At the same moment in came the porter, who burst into the room, exclaiming in a loud voice as he entered, "Holla I there; thou that a while ago wert in such a hurry to depart in the dark, what, art thou still snoring under the bedclothes ? " At these words, to my astonishment, whether owing to the discordant shouting of the porter, or to the acci- dent of my fall, Socrates, who I thought was dead, instantly sprang on his feet, and at the same time ex- claimed, " No wonder these hostlers are detested by all the travellers on the road ! Why, thou inquisitive, ill- mannered fellow, methinks thou hast a mind to steal something, that thou comest hither thus like a robber. Truly, thou hast awakened me out of a sound heavy sleep with thy bellowing." Overwhelmed with unexpected delight at the miracle, and embracing the porter in a fit of ecstasy, " Faithfullest of porters ! " said I, " my friend, my brother, my father, my everything ! never can I thank thee sufficiently for restoring to me the companion, of whose murder thou thyself when thou wast drunk awhile ago didst accuse me." Then I turned towards Socrates, and would have heartily embraced him too, 18 FIRST EPISODE. BoOK L but Socrates, the moment I came near, hastily retreated from me, saying, as he pushed me away, " Why, thou hast a grievous bad odour; where canst thou have been ?" And with that he began to question me more parti- cularly ; but I, thinking it prudent to be silent on the subject of the night's proceedings, evaded further in- quiry by uttering some absurd pleasantry, and pur- posely changed the conversation. Then taking him by the hand, " No more of ill smells," said I; "come, let us go abroad and scent the freshness of the morning air while we pursue our journey." Upon which once more I took up my portmanteau, and having paid the innkeeper the expense of our lodgings, we set forward on our way. When we had proceeded a little distance, and by the strong light that the beams of the rising sun began to throw on sur- rounding objects I very attentively and keenly scru- tinised the precise part of my comrade's throat which had been pierced by the sword, " Fool that thou art," said I to myself, " why, truly, thou wert buried in thy cups last night, and the overwhelming power of the wine caused thee to dream all these outrageous fan- tasies. For, behold Socrates safe, sound, and hearty ! Where now is the wound ? where the sponge ? where even is the scar — aye, the scar — of a wound so deep, so recent, and so terrible ?" And with that, addressing myself to Socrates " Well," said I, " may our trusty doctors affirm of Book I. FIRST EPISODE. 19 those who retire to bed crapulous with overladen stomachs, that heavy sleep and shocking dreams are the consequence ; for there appeared to me in the night — to me who, in my evening cups, exceeded the bounds of temperance — most dire and dreadful images ; nay, at this very moment, I feel as if I were in a state of profanation, sprinkled with human blood." " 'Tis not with human blood," replied Socrates, smiling ; " neither, verily, with any sort of perfume art thou sprinkled ; but, with regard to thy nocturnal fancies, I too in the night had a horrid dream, and me- thought my very heart was being torn from my bosom by the roots ; nay, I distinctly felt a pain there, and even now not only do I pant for breath to think on't, but my knees tremble, my feet totter, and I actually require some food to refresh my faltering steps." At these words of Socrates I lifted my wallet from my shoulder, and hastily taking out of it a piece of cheese and some bread, " Behold," said I, " thy break- fast ready for thee ; let us go sit down under that plane tree." Thither we removed accordingly, and I myself took some refreshment, while Socrates for some time ate with a greedy appetite. Suddenly, as I was looking at him attentively, he appeared to grow faint, and the colour of his cheeks being thoroughly disturbed, his countenance first became sallow as boxwood, afterwards turned deadly pale, till, the scene of the nocturnal furies being fresh in my imagination, I was struck with 20 FIRST EPISODE. Book I. such terror that the piece of bread I had put into my mouth, though a tiny morsel, stuck in the middle of my gullet, and would neither move up nor down. My apprehension, moreover, was increased by the number of people who now as the morning advanced were passing along the road ; for none of them, thought I to myself, will believe that one of two companions can thus be apparently the victim of a violent death without detriment to the other. Meanwhile Socrates continued to eat voraciously, till, having devoured a very large portion of a most excellent cheese, and taken as much as he could swallow, he began to call very impatiently for water to drink. Now, as there was a gentle silver stream, transparent as glass, and still as a placid lake, gliding along, not far from the roots of the plane tree, said I, " Behold yon rivulet ; its waters are bright tis the Milky Way; go drink thy fill." Socrates, at these words, immediately rising up, wrapped his cloak about his loins, knelt down on the level margin of the bank, and leaning forward with his legs doubled under him, bent down greedily towards the water. But the instant the tips of his lips came in contact with the moist, dewy surface, the wound in his throat burst open to its full profound depth, the sponge rolled out, a few drops of blood followed the sponge, and the inanimate corpse would unquestionably have fallen into the river had I not laid hold of one of the feet and, with the utmost difficulty, dragged it to the Book I. FIRST EPISODE. 21 top of the bank. ***** Thus died Socrates ; and I, after passing some time in bewailing my unfortunate companion, buried him in the sandy ground in the eternal precincts of the river, whence, trembling fear- fully, and as it were afraid of my own shadow, I bade adieu to my home and country, flying through many and various desert places, like a conscience-stricken homicide. At last condemning myself to voluntary banishment, I married another wife and have settled in JCtolia. END OF FIRST EPISODE. Here Aristomenes concluded his story ; and his com- panion, who had listened to it from the beginning with obstinate incredulity, now turning round and address- ing himself to me, "Was ever," said he, "a more fabulous fable invented, or more absurd lies ever told ? Thou," he continued, " whom thy dress and appear- ance pronounce to be a person of liberal education, say, dost thou believe what he hath related to us ?" " For my part," replied I, " I consider nothing im- possible, and believe that all things inevitably happen to mortals according to the decrees of fate. I think, moreover, that to thyself, and to me, and to mankind 22 AERIVES AT HYPATA. BoOK l - in general, there happen many wonderful occurrences, so wonderful, forsooth, as to have been perhaps within an ace of never happening at all, which would altoge- ther fail to obtain credibility in the eyes of an ignorant person. But this, by Hercules I I do believe most truly, and truly thankful am I for it into the bargain ; we have been agreeably entertained by a pleasant nar- rative that has diverted us from our fatigue, and en- abled us to pass over imperceptibly a good rough por- tion of a toilsome journey. Besides this horse of mine, methinks, hath also reaped the benefit, since his rider, carried along by the ears, as I have been, must needs ride lightly. And now, forsooth, here are we arrived at the gate of the city whither we were going." That gate of the city was in fact the common termi- nation of the journey and of the story ; for there both my companions diverged to the left side of the road towards some villages, and I proceeded alone and en- tered the gate. When I had got inside, and had reached the first house of accommodation for travellers, I inquired of an old woman, the landlady, whether the city were Hypata; upon which the old lady nodded her head. " Then," said I, " do you know among the first-class people in the town a person of the name of Mil© ?" "Milo," replied the old woman smiling, "is one ol our first-class people truly, if such be the title of one whose house is among the first in the city, for there it stands yonder, 'tother side the Pomcerium." Book I. INQUIRES FOR MILO'S HOUSE. 23 " Come, my good mother," said I, " a truce to this joking ; to what sect does Milo belong, and what man- ner of household does he entertain ?" "Do you see," replied the old lady, "that house, the last of all, with windows looking towards the city, and the door on one side with a narrow street in front ? that is Milo's house. Milo has abundance of ready money, but, though rich, hath a bad reputation ; nay, they call him a low, grovelling fellow of extraordinary avarice ; one, they say, who lives by usury, and realizes enormous profit on pledges of gold and silver. His household is miserable, his life secluded, and his occu- pation nothing but to count over and over again his rusty money. He has a wife and one solitary maid- servant, companions of his misery ; and for himself, whenever he goes abroad, his dress is almost the dress of a common beggar." At these words of the old lady I could not refrain from smiling ; and saying to myself at the same time, " Truly my friend Demeas has been wonderfully kind and considerate in providing me, during my travels, with a letter of introduction to such a singular person as Milo appears to be. In his house, at all events, one need not be afraid of smoke nor dread the smell of the kitchen." Thus saying, and thinking to myself, I walked on a little further, and presently, when I came to the door of the dwelling, finding the gate firmly barred and bolted, I began to call out for admittance. At last, 24 MILO'S HOUSE. Book I. after I had called and knocked a good while, a young damsel opened the door and came out. "Holla there!" said she, "you that are beating at the door so stoutly ; what hast thou brought with thee to pledge with my master ? What ! do you pretend to plead ignorance ? Do you not know that nought will serve you here but gold or silver ?" " Think not so unworthily of me, " said I, " but rather tell me whether I can be permitted to see thy master ?" " Aye, marry can you," said she, " but tell me first thy business." " I come from Corinth," said I, " and I have a letter from Demeas, who lives there, to thy master Milo." " Stay where you are," said she, "while I go to my master and announce thee." And having so said, she barred the door as fast as it was before and returned into the house. A few mi- nutes afterwards she came out again, and when she had opened the door, " My master," said she, " would fain see thee." I then entered the house and found Milo reclining on a very small couch, and just beginning supper with his wife sitting at his feet, and the table very scantily furnished.' " There," said Milo, pointing to the table, " behold thy entertainment." " 'Tis well," said I, giving him at the same time Demeas's letter. Milo having read the letter hastily, Book I. PRESENTS LETTER OF INTRODUCTION. 25 " My friend Demeas," said he, " has done well to introduce to me such a worthy guest as thou art." So saying, and bidding his wife begone, he invited me to sit down in her place. " Sit thee down," said he, taking hold of my gar- ment, and pulling me towards him, as through bash- fulness I stood hesitating to seat myself in the lady's place on the couch. " Sit thee down, I say, here ; for we have no chairs, nor as much other furniture as we have need of, for fear of robbers." I did as I was desired, and so soon as I was seated my host thus addressed me — " Thy genteel figure," said he, " and, moreover, thy excessive modesty, lead me, if I rightly conjecture, to conclude that, as my friend Demeas informs me in his letter, thou art sprung from a good family ; wherefore, I pray thee, despise not the humble fare you will meet with in this poor dwelling-house. The room next to this shall be thy bedchamber, and will make thee a comfortable receptacle, which though small will appear to me a great deal larger through the honour conferred on it by thy occupation. Live then with us in this house of mine as thy fancy leads thee; and if our slender household gods content thee, then wilt thou follow the glorious example, and wilt emulate the virtues of thy father's namesake, Theseus, who dis- dained not to accept the hospitality of the aged woman Hecale." When Milo had thus spoken he called to the maid-ser- c 2Q MILO'S DIRECTIONS TO FOTIS. Book I. vant. " Here, Fotis," said he, " take our guest's bag- gage ; lay it carefully in yon bedchamber, and bestir thyself. Go, quick, to the store-room; bring towels for rubbing, oil for anointing, and all things need- ful. Then thou wilt conduct the stranger to the nearest baths ; for truly fatigued must he be after his long journey." When I heard these directions, and reflected on the account I had had of Milo's parsimonious habits, being desirous of establishing myself in his good graces, " None of the things you speak of," said I, " have I occasion for ; such I commonly carry with me on a journey, and as for the baths I can readily find my way thither by making inquiry. But I truly am most anxious about my horse, for the beast has carried me stoutly ; therefore,'' continued I, addressing myself to the maid-servant, " I prithee, Fotis, take this money, and go buy hay and barley." Having arranged these matters and put my things in order in the bedchamber, I sallied forth to go to the baths ; but before I went thither inquired the way to the Forum Cupedinis, in order to provide myself with comestibles. When I arrived, I found a magnificent supply of fish exposed for sale in the market, and, asking the price of some, was told an hundred pieces of money, which I refused to give ; but bought them for twenty denarii, and was walking away with my bar- gain, when I was followed out of the Forum Cupedinis by one Pytheas, an old acquaintance with whom I had Book I. MEETS WITH PYTHEAS. 27 been schoolfellow at Athens. He immediately recog- nised me, and coming up to me, embraced me very kindly. "By Gemini!" said he, "my good friend Lucius, what a long time since I saw thee ! By Hercules, not since we both left our schoolmaster ! Tell me, I pray, what has brought thee to this part of the world ?" " All in good time," said I, " thou shalt know every- thing to-morrow ; but I perceive I have to congratulate thee ; for what do I see here ? Truly am I delighted that thou hast attained the object of thy ambition, which thy dress, thy magisterial appearance, thy at- tendants, and those fasces serve alike to proclaim." " Aye, by my troth !" replied he, " verily I am asdile and inspector of provisions; if it be to do marketing that thou comest hither, I can render thee good service." I declined the offer, since what I had procured al- ready was amply sufficient for my supper; but Pytheas having caught sight of the basket, took hold of it, and giving it a shake, in order to raise the fishes that were in it to a level surface, " What might you have paid for this refuse ?" said he. " I paid twenty denarii," said I, " and had trouble, enough to persuade the fishmonger to take the money." The latter words were scarcely out of my mouth when Pytheas seized me by the right hand, and imme- diately led me straight back again into the Forum Cu- pedinis. c 2 28 PYTHEAS AND THE FISHMONGER. Book I. " Now tell me," said he, " who sold you this good- for-nothing fish ?" I pointed to a little old man sitting in one corner of the Forum. Upon which Pytheas, by virtue of his asdileship, immediately began to harangue the old man severely. " What now," said . he, in a very imperial tone of voice to the fishmonger, " hast thou no mercy left in thee, neither for our friends nor for strangers, to ask such an exorbitant price for thy pitiful fish ? Truly, if you persist to raise the price of articles in the market after this fashion, our city, now the flower of the pro- vince of Thessaly, will be deserted like a rock or a desert, from the dearness of provisions. But I'll make you smart for it ; nay, I'll teach you how rogues are dealt with while I am a magistrate." So saying, Pytheas, without more ado, emptied the basket in the middle of the road, and bade one of his attendants trample all the fishes under his feet till they were crushed in pieces; which act having been per- formed to my friend's satisfaction, he, contented with the moral discipline inflicted on the fishmonger, recom- mended me to leave the Forum; "for," said he, "Lucius, I have sufficiently disgraced the little old fellow, and am satisfied." 1, on the contrary, was astonished and almost in a state of stupefaction at thus being, owing to the sage advice of my schoolfellow, deprived at once of my money and my supper. However, I went to the baths, Book I. RETURN TO MILOS HOUSE. 29 and afterwards, when I had done bathing, betook my- self to the hostelry of Milo. When I arrived at Milo's house, I would have gone at once to my bedchamber. " But," said the maid- servant Fotis, " thy host is inquiring for thee." Aware of his penury, I would fain have excused my- self civilly, and said, " I had need of sleep rather than food to refresh myself after my journey." Fotis delivered the message accordingly, but Milo himself came out, and, taking me by the right hand, courteously endeavoured to pull me in to supper, while I hung back and gently resisted. " But," said Milo, " until you accompany me I'll not quit thee." At the same time enforcing the latter words by an oath, he urged me so earnestly that finally I was obliged to give way to his perseverance and obey whether I would or not. Accordingly he conducted me to that couch of his where I had been before, and having reclined himself upon it, began to ask me a great variety of questions. " How is our friend Demeas?" said he ; " is he going on prosperously ? What sort of a wife has he ? How many children ? What establishment of servants ?" I answered every one of the above questions sepa- rately, and also replied unreservedly to various minute inquiries relating to the object of my journey ; but no sooner had I satisfied him on all these points than he became not less scrupulously inquisitive about my native town, and anxious to have intelligence of all the prin- 30 MILO'S INQUISITIVENESS. Book I. cipal people in it, especially the prefect, till, partly in consequence of my desperately long journey, and partly owing to the interminable series of queries he proposed to ine, I became so overwhelmed with drow- siness that sometimes I stopped short in the middle of my sentences, and frequently became utterly incapable of pronouncing a difficult word intelligibly. At length the loquacious old man permitted me to make my escape and retire to my' bedchamber, where, without fear of indigestion 1 — for his conversation was all I had got for supper— I threw myself down on the bed,, and freely gave myself up to the repose I had so much need of. Book II. ANXIETY ABOUT WITCHCRAFT. 31 BOOK II. Afixiety of Lucius relating to Witchcraft — Meets his Mother's Friend, Byrrhsena — Atrium of Byrrhsena's Palace — Byr- rhsena cautions Lucius against the witch Pamphile, wife of his host Milo — Lucius, rejecting the advice of Byrrhsena, resolves to cultivate the acquaintance of Pamphile — Ingra- tiates himself with Potis, Maid Servant of Pamphile — Luoius sups with Milo and Pamphile. Second Episode. — Diophanes the Chaldman. Lucius sups with Byrrhsena. Thied Episode. — Tale of Telephron, the Student. Lucius, returning home, kills three Men whom he takes to be Bobbers. So soon as the sun had chased the shades of night and ushered in the day, I awoke and instantly jumped out of bed, anxious, nay over-desirous, to become ac- quainted with all the rare, wonderful things to be seen in the neighbourhood. For now I felt I was in the heart of Thessaly, celebrated by the unanimous consent of the world for the incantations of magic ; and, more- over, in the very city alluded to in the beginning of the story of Aristomenes. Thus agitated between the earnest desire to investigate and the physical impulse of action, being in an extraordinary state of suspense 32 MEETS BYRRHiENA. Book II. and excitement, and examining everything about me with singular curiosity, finally my imagination be- came so wrought upon, that I fancied all I saw different from what it appeared to be, and believed every object some living creature that a deadly spell had trans- formed into another inanimate shape. The stones I kicked with my feet might, for aught I knew to the contrary, be men and women petrified; the birds I heard singing, feathered human creatures; the trees that surrounded the Pomcerium, people covered in like manner with leaves; and even the very fountains liquefied human bodies. Nay, I should hardly have been surprised, such was the state of illusion I was in, to see the statues and pictures begin moving and walk- ing ; to hear the walls speak ; the oxen and live cattle of all kinds utter prophecies ; and an oracle from the heavenly regions of light suddenly proclaim its edict upon earth. Painfully, as it were stupified with anxiety, perceiving no visible vestige of the things I was seeking, and continuing to wander all over the city, unconscious of my whereabout like a drunken man, I was reeling from door to door gazing at everything. I saw, when, all of a sudden, I found myself in the Forum Cupedinis, where 1 had been the day preceding There I beheld walking a little before me a lady, at tended by a numerous train of domestics ; accordingly I increased my pace, and soon overtaking her, per- ceived her at first sight to be a person of consequence. Golden earrings hung upon her cheeks, her dress was Book II. MEETS BYREH-fflNA. 33 covered with golden ornaments, and the stuff of her garments also was in-wrought with gold. When I came up with her, an elderly gentleman, her com- panion, who walked close at her side, the moment he saw me, exclaimed, " By Hercules, here is Lucius ! " and, without more ado, embraced me. He then im- mediately whispered to the lady a few words I did not hear, and turning again to me, " Will you not," said he, "pay your respects to your relative? Go up to her and salute her." "I am not acquainted with the lady — I dare not," said I, turning away my head, while at the same time the colour rose in my cheeks, and I stood stock still. The lady looked me full in the face, and, addressing herself to her companion, " See," said she, " he hath his excellent mother, Salvia's, good breeding, and is inexpressibly like her into the bargain — tall enough in all conscience, a plump slender figure, clear com- plexion, and flaxen hair, which, like her, he wears plain and without affectation. Then he has his mother's easy, particularly graceful carriage, and her blue beau- tiful eyes, that, keen and brilliant as an eagle's, wander in every direction." Then addressing herself to me, "My Lucius," she added, "I have nursed thee in these very arms of mine, and no wonder ; for how could it possibly be otherwise, when not only am I related to thy mother by ties of kindred with the Plutarch family, but both of us had the same foster- mother, and were brought up and educated together ? c 3 34 ATEIUM OF BYERH^ENA'S PALACE. Book II. Indeed we entertained the affection of two sisters for one another, and have experienced similar fortunes in matrimony; though thy mother's marriage, as regards rank, is superior ; and she hath made a more splendid alliance. In short, I am your mother's early friend Byrrhsena, whose name probably you have frequently heard from your tutors ; fain would I that you come to our house with the same confidence as if it were your own." The time occupied by the lady in speaking having given me an opportunity to digest my bashfulness, " Parent," replied I, while we continued to walk along, " I am unable to do an uncourteous act, and having nought to complain of Milo, I cannot desert his house without a reasonable pretence. I will, nevertheless, most diligently, so long as I Temain there, seek every opportunity, consistent with the proper attention due to my host, to pay my respects to you whenever I come abroad." Then we entered into conversation, and talking on indifferent matters, beguiled the time as we went; till having proceeded a considerable distance along the street, we arrived at Byrrhsena's dwelling. In front of the house was a very beautiful atrium or quadrangle, with a column at each of the four angles, and each column supported a statue of the goddess Victory. The four statues stood each with extended wings planted upon a sphere, which unsteady support they appeared to be kicking away with their rosy feet; so that, though the voluble ball was motionless 1 the Book II. ATRIUM OF BYEEH^ENA'S PALACE. 35 figures seemed hardly to rest upon it, but rather to be suspended in the air. In the middle of the enclosure, precisely in the centre, fronting the spectator as he entered, was a singularly beautiful statue of Diana in Parian marble, whose gracefully balanced attitude and vigorous carriage rendered it a venerable, majestic object. This type of the deity was accompanied on each side by dogs, which, of Parian marble also, served for her supporters ; while their erect ears, savage-looking eyes, dilated nostrils, and snarling jaws were so naturally sculp- tured, that on hearing the barkings of the live dogs in the vicinity one might actually have imagined the noise proceeded from the marble throats of the latter. Their attitude was the chef-d'oeuvre of the sculptor's art, as, with fore feet and chests elevated in the act of running, their hind feet pressed the ground. Behind the statue of Diana, there was wrought out of a rough block of marble the similitude of a natural rock perforated by a cave, and overgrown with brushwood, leaves, moss, and herbage ; together with vines, and here and there small fruit trees ; and the reflection of the statue was seen upon the polished marble within the cave. Upon the extreme edge of the rock, above the aperture, apples and grapes hung pendulous, so exquisitely formed by art in imitation of nature, and so finely polished, that had fragrant autumn breathed upon them the tint of maturity, one might have thought to pluck and eat. Nay, reader, hadst thou leant forward and seen, amid other manifold truthful resemblances, 36 BYRKILENA CAUTIONS LUCIUS Book II. the grapes reflected in the water of a fountain that in a softly undulating stream emerged from below at the feet of the goddess, thou wouldst hare seen the bunches agitated, like life itself, with gentle tremulous motion And yet, forsooth, thou wouldst not have seen all ; for behold, as if in ambuscade amid the marble foliage, waiting the approach of Diana into the cave after bath- ing, and, though partly transformed and partaking the savage nature of a stag, there stood a figure of Actseon, gazing inquisitively on the shoulders of the goddess. Thrown into a state of extraordinary delight by all these beautiful objects, while I was scrupulously exa- mining one after another, Byrrhsena said a few words privately to her attendants, dismissed them, and, addressing herself to me, "Everything," said she, " you see here, I pray you, my dearest Lucius, look upon as your own. But I call to witness the Goddess, whose statue is before us, that I entertain the utmost fear and apprehension on your account, and am as earnestly desirous to set you on your guard, as if you were a son of my own. Beware, then— strenuously beware, I tell you, of the wicked arts and nefarious blandishments of Pamphile the wife of Milo, whom you say is your host. That woman is a most notoriously celebrated witch ; mistress, as is generally believed, of all sorts of sepulchral incantations. The dreadful crea- ture — who, they say, by the slightest puff of her breath upon the branch of a tree, a stone, or such other trifling Book II. AGAINST THE WITCH PAMPHILE. 37 • inanimate object, can extinguish the light of the sun and stars, submerge the elements below the depths of Tartarus, and dissolve the whole world into its original chaos — is particularly apt to take a fancy to a good- looking young man like yourself, when, no sooner does she become enamoured, than turning her whole heart and mind towards him, she invades his inmost spirit with her artifices, and binds him in the eternal fetters of profound love ; or if perchance he be fastidious and resist her, she either changes her victim, in the twinkling of an eye, into a stone, an ox, or some other sort of animal, or annihilates him entirely. The thought lest you fall into such snares as these, troubles me exceedingly ; and caution is the more necessary, since your age and appearance render you particularly liable to the attacks of a woman like Pamphile, whose devices and manoeuvres are interminable." Such was the counsel Byrrhsena gave me in a most earnest and impressive tone ; while, on the other hand, the intelligence it conveyed on a subject relative to which my curiosity had recently been so warmly excited, rendered it so thoroughly inefficient, that far from feel-- ing the slightest inclination to attend to her caution and beware of Pamphile, I resolved, on the contrary, to precipitate myself by a sudden jump at once into the abyss, and be a voluntary follower of her discipline, cost me what it would. Accordingly, I broke away from Byrrhsena in a frantic hurry, and ridding myself of the grasp of her hand, that seemed to hold me like 38 LUCIUS REJECTS THE ADVICE. Book II. « ah iron chain, I hastily pronounced the word " Adieu!" ran to the house of Milo as fast as my legs could carry, me, and although my accelerated pace gave me the appearance of a madman", communed with myself all the Way notwithstanding, in the following terms: " Now, then, Lucius," said I, "be thyself and be careful; behold the "opportunity, so long sought for, hath at length arrived, when thou mayest gorge thyself to thy heart's content with the miraculous. Thou art no longer a boy ; but art able to grapple, like a man, with the difficulties that beset thee. Manfully, there- fore, resist the wily arts of thy host's wife, Pamphile : but for the damsel Fotis, who hath wit and beauty, and a loquacious tongue that may enlighten thee on the object of thy pursuit, do all thou canst to gain her con- fidence and engage services that may aid thee. Did not the merry maiden arrange the chamber for thee yesterday night daintily ? Aye, and when all was done, she seemed loth to leave thee ; and more than once, methinks, on departing, inclined her head to cast a glance upon thee. Fear not, then, thus to exercise thy prudence in an agreeable and profitable adventure." Such were the resolutions that, passing in my mind all the time I was running to Milo's door, I had an opportunity the moment I arrived of beginning to put in execution, for Milo and his wife were abroad, and Fotis, when I entered the house, was busily em- ployed preparing a stuffed sausage for our dinner. The meat was already chopped upon a platter ready to be Book II. INGRATIATES HIMSELF WITH FOT1S. 39 immersed in a rich gravy, and the extraordinarily fra- grant fumes assailed my nostrils with a pleasing odour. Fotis was dressed in a style of scrupulous neatness, in a white, remarkably short-waisted, linen robe, girded by a bright-red riband; though I will content myself to speak of one alone of her various perfections, which I have ever considered the very first of female charms, according to the certain principles that regulate the consideration of the beautiful. And since the head is the most prominent 1 and conspicuous feature of the person, and the native gloss of the female hair appears in striking and advantageous contrast with the gaudy artificial colours of the garments on the body and limbs, where could I have recourse to a more engaging theme ? The generality of women, conscious that their native loveliness surpasses the variegated and golden texture of their dresses, wear scanty clothing, and dispense with the upper portion of their robes, to display the roseate hue of their naked shoulders. And well they know, forsooth, that, deprived of her hair, and thus her coun- tenance (may heaven avert such a catastrophe !) divested of its principal ornament, the most lovely woman upon earth, were she dropped from the sky, or born in the sea and nourished in the waves, or even Venus her- self, surrounded by the choir of Graces and a whole host of Cupids, — nay girded by the cestus fragrant with cinnamon and balsams, never would fascinate a Vulcan. 40 INGRATIATES HIMSELF WITH FOTIS. Book II. How ineffably beautiful is the rich lustre of the female hair glistening in vegetative strength before the light of the sun ! Keflecting in brighter and milder shades the hues of burnished gold and honey colour, then shining with the blackness of the crow, and radiant with the prismatic blossom-tints of the pigeon's neck ! Again, when moistened with Arabian perfume, parted by the teeth of a delicate comb, and collected ill a mass at the back of the head, it charms the approaching lover, and reflects his exhilarated countenance like a looking-glass. Such, in short, is the dignity properly belonging to this natural ornament, that whether a female be decked with gold, jewels, or silks, the most splendid articles of apparel, and all her adornment, are absolutely good for nothing, provided the distinctive feature of her person be not her hair. Now the hair of Fotis was remarkable for the extraordinary simplicity of its arrangement, and de- rived grace from the absence of all manner of artifice. Gathered together in luxuriant tresses and tied in a knot on the crown of the head, at the time in question, some of the curls hung pendulous adown her neck and throat, and others in sinuous ringlets rested on her bosom, when, bending forward and stooping over the fire as I entered the apartment, she stirred the sapid contents of a saucepan with a brisk rotatory motion of the body and shoulders, that exhibited her delicate figure to wonderful advantage. Addressing myself to her, so soon as' I came in — " Good morrow, sweet Book II. INVITED TO SUP WITH MILO. 41 maiden," said I; "verily thou art rendering good ser- vice with those fair hands of thine ; fortunate indeed are they who presently shall taste the banquet thou art preparing." " Away with thee from the fire," said she; " or the flame peradventure may scorch thee : nay, if a spark chance to go forth and light on thee, where then wilt thou find a doctor able to cure thee?" " 'Twere a pleasure," I replied, " to be roasted alive in thy agreeable company." * * * * At this moment our conversation was interrupted by a knocking at the door, which Fotis having made haste to open, there entered a messenger from Byrrhaena, who brought me a complimentary present, such as it was the custom of the country to send to a newly arrived stranger. This present, or as it was termed " xeniola," consisting of a fat pig, two couple and a half of fowls, and a cask of very rare old wine, I received with due acknowledgments, and had scarcely dismissed the messenger, when Milo and his wife returned; upon which I left the house and went to the baths. There I remained till I received a summons to supper from Milo, in obedience to which, returning, I placed myself by his side at a plain, neatly laid-out table. Not for- getful, however, of the caution of Byrrhaena, I retreated far away from mistress Pamphile, from whose coun- tenance, if I chanced to catch a glance, though never so momentary, my eyes, like birds smitten with the noxious vapours of the lake Avernus, suddenly fell on 42 SUPS "WITH MILO AND PAMPHILE. Book II. the ground. On the other hand I comforted myself by- looting very frequently at the damsel Fotis, who was waiting on tts. When it was evening, and the repast over, Pamphile looked at the lamp for some time very attentively, and said she, "We shall have a terrible shower of rain to-morrow." Upon which her husband inquired " How she found that out ?" " Tis the lamp," said she, "that predicts it." " Then," replied Milo, addressing himself to me and laughing, "the lamp we feed with oil is a wonderful Sibyl, who, from her observatory in the candelabrum, controls everything that passes in heaven, and watches the sun himself." " Truly," said I, " this is only a primary experi- ment in this sort of divination ; I can imagine it pos- sible that the little flame, though ignited by the hand of man, may be endowed with cognizance of the greater celestial fire its parent, and thence have a knowledge of things about to happen in the firmament,— nay, by divine presage, may, as it were, announce the same to us here on earth. Why, at this very moment at Corinth, the place of my habitation, there is a certain stranger, a Chaldsean, disturbing the whole city by his wonderful replies to questions that are asked him, and disclosing the! secrets of the Fates to the public for the consideration of a sum of money. He indicates the proper day when people ottght to be married; the day Book II. DIOPHANES THE CHALD-ffiAN. 43 when the foundations of a city should be laid, to have endurance ; the day to enter upon a commercial specu- lation, or to set forth on a journey, or to go on a voy- age in a ship across the sea. Nay, I consulted him myself upon the probable result of my present journey, and was assured, among many other wonderful pro- mises, that I should become an author, be the writer of an incredible fable, and acquire extraordinary re- nown." On hearing the above description of the Chaldaean, said Milo, smiling, " What sort of person is he, and what is his name ?" "He is a tall man," replied I; " his complexion dark, and they call him Diophanes." "The very same," quoth Milo, "and no other — that Chaldaean in like manner hath been in our neigh- bourhood telling many things to many people, and hath realised no small profit. And now, by my troth, while I think on't, I will tell thee a story about this Diophanes, whom fortune served scurvily at last, and played a cruel trick." 44 SECOND EPISODE. Book II. SECOND EPISODE. DIOPHANES THE CHALDEAN. One morning, while Diophanes was enunciating the - decrees of the Fates to a vast crowd of people standing round him in a circle, a certain merchant, by name Cerdo, desirous of knowing when he ought to set forth on his journey, advanced to the front and inquired of him the proper day. Diophanes told the merchant the proper day accordingly, and having taken the sum of an hundred denarii, paid to Mm as the price of his divi- nation, and put it in his purse, which was well stocked beforehand, lo and behold ! a young man of noble mien came gently behind him, and gave a pull at his gar- ment. Upon which Diophanes, turning round sud- denly, wonderstruck at the unexpected appearance of the other, and for the moment forgetful of his occu- pation, embraced the young man affectionately, and bade him sit down beside him. " How glad am I to see thee !" said he ; " for truly anxious have I been about thee for a very long time. When didst thou arrive ?" " Early this evening," replied the other; "but, my brother, in thy turn tell me how is it thou hast made such a rapid journey hither by sea and by land from the island of Eubcea?" Book II. SECOND EPISODE. 45 Here that egregious ChalcUean, Diophanes, taken aback and falling into a state of mental abstraction, replied, " 'Twere well if all our enemies and evil wishers had to undergo such a dreadful Ulyssean voy- age as I had. For we had terrible weather, and were assailed by storms and hurricanes continually. Our ship lost her mast and rudder, and our pilot not being able to make the port, we ran aground some distance from the land; myself and all the passengers were nearly swallowed up in, the ocean, had to swim for our lives, and lost everything we had. But this was not the end of our misfortunes; for having at last, with great difficulty, got on shore, and proceeded a little distance up the country with a few articles of necessaries, supplied us through the benevolent commiseration of friends and of strangers, a band of robbers suddenly attacked us, and we were a second time stripped of all we possessed. My poor brother Arisuatus, the only one of our party who offered re- sistance, lost his life by endeavouring to intimidate the assailants. They cut his throat before my eyes." While Diophanes was thus proceeding in a very doleful strain to tell the remainder of his story, the merchant, Cerdo, suddenly whipped up the purse containing the money he had paid as the price of the divination which the other had laid down before him, and was out of sight in an instant ; upon which the loud fit of laughter that burst forth among the spectators awakened Diophanes from 46 MILO'S TEDIOUS CONVERSATION. Book II. Ms fit of abstraction, and he saw at once the blunder he had committed through his indiscretion. END OF SECOND EPISODE. When Milo had finished his story he afterwards con- tinued to prose on for a considerable time in a strain of grievous prolixity, till I groaned inwardly in spirit, and took to myself no small share of blame for being the wilful cause, by the remarks I had made about the lamp, of bringing upon myself the penalty of his tedious conversation, and losing a large portion of the evening and its best enjoyments. At last exclaimed Milo, "Joking apart, master Lucius, I wish the Chakkean may have predicted rightly as to the happy, prosperous journey that he promised thee." " I ask thy pardon," replied I, determined to take courage and stand no longer upon ceremony, " but I will crave thy kind permission to bid adieu to Dio- phanes, and leave him to his destiny. Little doth -it boot me whether the spoils he took from the people lie at the bottom of the sea or are lost on dry land, for my bones still ache grievously from yesterday's fatigue, and I must needs retire to rest thus early.'' So saying, Book II. INVITED TO SUP WITH BYRRHjENA. 47 I immediately betook myself to my bedchamber and lay down to rest. Early the next morning a servant of Byrrhsena ar- rived at Milo's house with a message from his mis- tress, to ask me to a little supper. I earnestly re- quested to be allowed to decline the invitation, but the messenger came a second time, saying the lady would take no denial ; so, being in a dilemma what to do, I determined to make an oracle of Fotis, and be guided by her counsel. Fotis at first seemed little in- clined that I should stir from home at all, but finally agreed that I should accept Byrrhaana's invitation — " though," said she, " have a care : return home early ; for fear of the faction of mad-headed young nobles who infest the town at present and commit awful enormities. People are murdered continually, and their bodies fre- quently seen all over the town, lying in the middle of the streets. Neither are the guard of the Prefect of the province, in consequence of the distance of their location, able to prevent these outrages. Thy dress and appearance may cause thee to be waylaid by robbers, who will, moreover, have a contempt for thee as a foreigner." " Sweet Fotis," I replied, "quiet thy apprehensions. Unwillingly do I go to sup abroad ; and right anxious shall I be to return speedily and remove thy fears alto- gether. Neither shall I be quite alone or unattended; for, as is my usual custom on such occasions, I shall, by way of protection, carry a small dagger in my belt." 48 LUCIUS SUPS WITH BYKRHiENA. Book II. Having equipped myself accordingly, when the time arrived I proceeded to the house of Byrrhsena, where, as the lady was a person of prime consequence in the city, I found a very numerous assemblage of first-rate com- pany and a most splendid supper, consisting of all man- ner of delicacies. The couches, with feet and mouldings' of highly polished ivory, were covered with cloth in- wrought with gold ; and the capacious cups, unique in value but of extraordinary variety in design, were of all manner of beautiful graceful forms. One was of glass, beautifully wrought with embossed figures ; an- other of pure crystal, a third of bright silver, a fourth of glittering gold, and a fifth exquisitely wrought out of a piece of amber. In short, there were such things to be seen here as one would have thought impossible to have been made by the hand of man. The dishes were abundant, the attendants of the table numerous, and their dresses splendid. We were admirably waited upon by young damsels; and frequently curly-pated youths offered to the guests cups formed out of precious stones, containing exquisite old wine. Presently lights were brought in; and as the tone of conversation became more convivial and animated, quizzing jokes were freely bandied from one person to another across the table, and the shouts of laughter were loud and frequent, when Byrrhsena addressed herself to me, and, said she, " What think you now ? Will you be able to pass your time agreeably in this our country ? Methinks our temples, our baths, and our public works Book II. LUCIUS SUPS WITH BYRRH.ENA. 49 are excelled nowhere ; and as for comestibles, we are celebrated for our manner of living. Here, too, a per- son may be at his ease, and do just as he pleases; for the man of business has the bustle of the Bo- man metropolis, while another of quiet domestic habits enjoys the tranquillity of a village. In short, all pleasure- seeking people in the province resort r to Hypata." " All is perfectly true that you say," replied I ; " nor did I ever feel more completely at liberty in any other place I ever was in. But," added I smiling, "I am sadly frightened at the accounts I hear of the dealers in the magic art — of their dark mysterious dens and irresistible power. Why, they say that in this country the dead bodies cannot rest in their graves ; that the corpses are mutilated, and pieces of flesh ripped from the bones for spells to enchant the living. Nay, 'tis affirmed that such is the wonderful fancy the old hags have for the flesh of a foreigner, if the native of another country happen to die, they exert uncommon nimble- ness on the occasion, and either anticipate the time of the funeral procession by performing the business be- forehand, or do their work of depredation upon the body while on the blazing pile." " Aye marry do they," rejoined one of the guests at table ; "neither is any living man safe from them. Ask one of our friends here, who can tell all about it, for they have grievously lacerated his face and spoilt his beauty." D 50 LUCIUS SUPS WITH BYRRH-iENA. Book II. At these words an uncontrolled fit of laughter burst forth among all the company, and the eyes of every person at table were in an instant directed to one of the party who sat by himself in a comer ; moreover, the merriment was continued so long and pertinaciously that the individual became confused ; and presently, muttering a few words to himself, was about to leave the room in a fit of indignation, when Byrrhaena ad- dressed herself to him, and said, " Nay, my good Telephron, do not think of leaving us, but with thy wonted good humour relate to us that story of thine about the witches; my son Lucius here has never heard that wonderful narrative which thou hast told so often." " Aye willingly would I, lady," replied he, " were the manners of the people about me in accordance with your affability and good breeding ; but the insolence of some of these guests is quite intolerable." The above words were pronounced in a tone of deep excitement ; nevertheless, Byrrhaena repeated her request, and declared it would make her quite ill if the other refused; upon which Telephron, forced in a manner to do what she wished against his will, con- sented to tell the story. Accordingly he immediately proceeded to prepare himself with all due formality. First gathering up the covering of his couch to rest his elbow upon, then raising his body a little, and putting himself in the proper position, he stretched out his right hand after the manner of our orators, with the Book II. THIRD EPISODE. 51 third and fourth fingers closed, the rest pointing straight forward, and the thumb directed downwards, and finally, with a courteous smile upon his counte- nance, thus began : — THIRD EPISODE. TALE OF TELEPHRON THE STUDENT. Before I had finished my studies, and while I was yet a pupil, I went to Miletus to attend the Olympic games. Desirous of becoming well acquainted with the celebrated province of Thessaly, I had visited the greater portion of the principal places — when, under evil auspices, I arrived one day at Larissa. By that time I had nearly got rid of all the money I brougnt with me for my journey, and was reduced to extraor- dinary shifts in order to economise the little that remained. So circumstanced, I was loitering about tne town looking about me, when, coming by chance into the Forum, I saw, in the middle of the open space, a tall old man standing on the top of a large block of stone, and issuing a proclamation to the people in a d2 52 THIKD EPISODE. Book II. loud clear voice. " Any person," exclaimed he, " will- ing to undertake to guard a corpse, shall receive a good reward." On hearing these words, addressing myself to one of the passers by — ' ' What is the mean- ing of the proclamation," said I ; "do the dead men run away in this country ?" " Hold thy tongue," replied he. " Surely, as well as a foreigner, thou art a raw simpleton into the bargain, not to know that all over Thessaly, in the middle of which province thou art, the witches tear off pieces from the faces of the dead bodies with their teeth, to use, as the principal ingredients in their magic spells." " I pray thee, tell me," replied I, "of what kind are the duties attached to this funebral guardianship ? " " Duties ! " quoth the crier ; " why, keep thyself wide awake all night, with thine eyes fixed steadily upon the corpse, neither winking nor blinking, nor looking to the right nor looking to the left, either to one side or the other, be it never so little ; for the witches, infamous wretches as they are ! can slip out of their skins in an instant and change themselves into the form of any animal they have a mind ; and then they crawl along so slily, that the eyes of justice, nay, the eyes of the sun himself are not keen enough to perceive them. At all events, their wicked devices are infinite in num- ber and variety ; and whether it be in the shape of a bird, or a dog, or a mouse, or even of a common house- fly, that they exercise their dire incantations, if thou art not vigilant in the extreme they will deceive thee Book II. THIRD EPISODE. 53 one way or 6ther, and overwhelm thee with sleep. Nevertheless, as regards the reward, 'twill be from four • to six aurei : nor, although 'tis a perilous service, wilt thou receive more. Nay, hold ! I had almost for- gotten to give thee a necessary caution. Clearly understand, that if the corpse be not restored to the relatives in the morning entire, the deficient pieces of flesh torn off by the teeth of the witches must be replaced from the face of the sleepy guardian. Thou, accordingly, in such case, wilt be compelled to suffer mutilation." Thus spoke the crier ; upon which I summoned up all my courage and said to him, " Cease thy proclamation — behold a guardian ready — name the precise reward !" "A thousand nummi," answered he, "ready money, shall be paid thee : but beware, young man, and exert thy utmost diligence ; for the corpse thou wilt have to protect from these execrable Harpies was, when alive, the son of a principal inhabitant of the city." " Nonsense !" replied I; " such matters are but mere trifles. He whom thou seest before thee hath nerves of iron, and, like Argus, eyes in all parts of his body, that care not for sleep, and have the keen sight of the Argonaut Lynceus." I had no sooner uttered the above words than, with- out more ado, the crier beckoned me out of the forum, and conducted me to a certain house, of which the principal entrance was shut up. He, however, intro- duced me through a small back door into an inner 54 THIRD EPISODE. Book II. chamber, where, the windows being closed, he pointed to a lady dressed in black, who was weeping and lament- ing. Then, going close to the lady, he said, " Here is a person who hath engaged to take proper and faithful charge of thy late husband." " I pray thee," replied the lady, addressing herself to me, while she flung aside the hair that hung stream- ing over her face, and disclosed a countenance beautiful in the midst of grief; " see thou doest thy duty vigi- lantly." "Fear not on my account," replied I; "rather prepare a chaplet for the brows of thy victorious guardian." The latter speech of mine seemed to please her, for she rose up quickly, and bade me follow her into another chamber, where the dead body was lying covered with a snow-white linen cloth. Then were seven witnesses introduced into the latter chamber, in whose presence the lady, having lifted the cloth from the dead body, and shed her customary tears at the sight of it, care- fully enumerated all its members one by one, touching each with her hand separately. Meanwhile there stood at her side a person making notes on his tablets and writing all down, as she exclaimed, " Behold his nose entire, his eyes safe, his ears sound, his lips untouched, his chin perfect, etc. etc. etc. Do ye therefore, worthy Romans, bear testimony to this matter."* * The formula of the Eoman law : — " Vos in hanc rem, fconi Quirites, testimonium perhifcetote." Book II. THIRD EPISODE. 55 So soon as the latter words were pronounced in due form, all the parties signed and sealed the tablets, and the lady departed. Just as she was leaving the room, " Lady," said I, " I pray thee give orders that there be delivered to me the things I have need of." " What things hast thou need of?" said she. " A good large lamp," replied I; " oil enough to last till daylight, a jug of wine, cups, hot water, and a plate of good victuals from thy supper table." " Begone, foolish man," replied she, shaking her head : " think'st thou to find suppers and wine in a house of mourning, where not a puff of smoke hath been seen these many days ? Dost thou come hither for the sake of eating and drinking? Betake thee rather, in the place where thou art, to tears and lament- ations, and assume a manner of behaviour more suit- able to the occasion. Give him," said she, addressing herself to a maid servant, " give him the lamp and oil directly, Myrrhina." So saying she left the room„ and the door was shut immediately. Being thus left alone to comfort the corpse, I rubbed my eyes, and, in order to keep up my spirits, and for- tify myself in the best manner I could against the attacks of sleep, I began to sing songs. Meanwhile twilight came, and night, and dark night, and night still darker, and the dead of night, and at last every soul in the house was overwhelmed in sleep, amid 56 THIRD EPISODE. Book II. silence the most profound. At this time my fears, having been for some while increasing to an awful height, all of a sudden a weasel came creeping into the apartment, and stopped close opposite to me. The animal looked ao keenly at me, and with a degree of confidence so unusual in such a little creature, that my mind became more agitated and disturbed than ever ; though presently I said to it, " Away with thee, nasty little beast, that art hardly bigger than a mouse, be off with thee to the mice ; away, while yet 'tis well with thee; begone, I say." At these words the animal turned tail immediately, and ran out of the chamber ; but at the same instant I lost all manner of recollection, and fell into so profound a sleep that as I and the corpse lay side by side, not even the oracle of the god of Delphos could have deter- mined, on looking at both of us, which of the two were the most dead. In short I was so utterly senseless that I required a guardian for myself, and far from being able to take any care of the corpse, I might as well have not been there at all. * * * * The blast of the crested cohort had just sounded the reveille, and awakened me all of a sudden, when in- stantly springing upon my feet I went, in a dreadful state of alarm, to look at the dead body. Uncovering the face, and carefully holding the light to it, I exa- mined every feature separately; but I had scarcely time to satisfy myself that all was right and in good preservation, when the mournful widow burst into Book II. THIRD EPISODE. 57 the room, accompanied by her seven witnesses. Throw- ing herself forthwith upon the dead body, after weeping, and, in a state of great agitation, kissing it long and very affectionately, she rose up and began to examine and take an account of all its members by the light of the lamp. Then, so soon as she found everything in its proper place and as it should be, she turned round, and inquiring for her house steward, or Philodespotos, bade him immediately pay the good guardian, as she called me, his reward. The money was accordingly given me without delay, while at the same time said she, " Young man, not only do I thank thee most sincerely, but, by Hercules, in consideration of the diligent manner in which thou hast performed thy duty, I will enrol thee among the list of my household." Overjoyed at the unexpected hope of emolument, and astonished at the sight of the gold, I replied, as I tossed the shining pieces up and down, venti- lating them as it were in my hand, "Lady, depend upon me as one of thy devoted servants, whose ser- vices you may confidently command in future on a like occasion." The above words were scarcely out of my mouth when the servants, one and all, alarmed at the ominous nature of the expression, showered upon me the most bitter imprecations, and, snatching up every offensive implement they could lay hold of, attacked me in a body. One struck me in the lace with his fist, another d 3 58 THIRD EPISODE. Book II. nudged me with his elbow, a third punched my ribs, a fourth kicked me, a fifth pulled out my hair by the roots, and a sixth tore my clothes ; in short I was not only stripped of my garments, but, ill-used and lace- rated, as Adonis by the boar, or Orpheus by the Bacchantes, I was finally thrust out of doors, amid gene- ral clamour and hootings, into the street. I had wandered a little way from the spot when, — as calling to my recollection the inauspicious, imprudent speech I had made, 1 was deriving some comfort, though the reflection came too late, by thinking that the blows and stripes I had received were not more or heavier than I deserved, — lo ! and behold ! the funeral proces- sion of the dead body I had guarded, accompanied by the mourners, weeping and bewailing, and per- forming the last solemnities, with all the pomp of a public funeral given, according to the custom of the country, to a first-rate citizen, passed through the forum. At this moment an old man, absorbed in grief and weeping abundantly, approached the bier, and tearing his venerable white hair with both hands, "Romans!" exclaimed he, in a voice strained to the highest pitch, though interrupted with frequent sobs, " I implore you, for the sake of your religious faith and public morals, to espouse the cause of the relatives of a murdered citizen, and wreak your summary vengeance on yon wicked woman, perpetratress of the desperate crime; Tis she and she alone who, in order to obtain an inheritance and marry her paramour, hath extin- Book II. THIHD EPISODE. 59 guished the life of the unhappy youth her husband, son of my sister, by poison." The tears of the old man, and his lamentations deli- vered in broken, interrupted sentences, made a violent impression on the people; and his manner was altoge- ther so plausible that the lower classes, giving full credence to his affirmation, became so violently irri- tated, that some proposed to set fire to the widow's house, and others, without more ado, were going to stone her. Nay, they actually encouraged the little boys to bring stones to pelt at her ; while she, pretending to shed tears, and assuming as devout an air as possible, peremptorily denied the heinous deed, and called the gods to bear witness to her innocence. Upon which said the old man, " Let, then, Divine Providence decide the truth, in answer to her denial. Behold one who lives among us, a celebrated prophet, Zaclas, the Egyptian. Already for a large reward hath he pledged to me his faith to recall the breath of the departed from the regions of death in the shades below, and reanimate his body for a few brief moments." Thus saying, he brought forward before the people a certain young man, clad in linen garments, with his head close shaven and his feet bound with sandals made of palm leaves. Then said the old man, after having for some time kissed the hands and embraced the knees of the other, " Oh Priest ! I implore thee, by the stars of the firmament, by the gods of the infernal regions, 60 THIRD EPISODE. Book II. by the elements of nature, by the silence of night, by the sacred island of the Nile and the overflowings of that river, by the mysteries of Memphis, and by the Sistrum of the island of Pharos, render unto these eyes, otherwise closed unto eternity, a brief moment of enjoy- ment, and pour into them a single slender ray of the light of the sun. The decrees of fate we dispute not, the right of the earth we deny not, but a momentary span of life for the consolation of vengeance we entreat and implore." The prophet, having thus propitiated the gods, touched the mouth, and in like manner the breast of the corpse, three times with a certain herb, and turning towards the glorious sun then rising in the East, stood wrapt in silent prayer. During the performance of this solemn scene, while the minds of the spectators were directed with intense interest to the forthcoming miracle, having already made my way through the crowd, I had mounted on a large high stone, and was standing close to the bier on the other side, steadily looking at the corpse, when, after the breast had become inflated by degrees, I saw the body grow gradually full of breath, till pulsation having returned to the heart, it raised its head and shoulders, and spoke from the bier as follows : — "Tell me, oh tell me, why dost thou recall me to life ? After drinking the waters of Lethe, after float- ing on the Stygian lake, why dost thou summon me to resume the luties of a momentary existence? Book II. THIRD EPISODE. 61 Cease, oh cease; leave me to my repose, I beseecK thee." When the above words had been heard to proceed from the newly-animated body, the Prophet became aroused to a state of higher inspiration, and exclaimed — " Nay, but thou shalt illuminate the mysteries of a grievous crime, and relate all the circumstances of thy death to the people. Knowest thou not that I have the power by my prayers to invoke the Furies and rack thy collapsed limbs with torture ?" The instant the Prophet had pronounced these last words, the corpse on the bier heaved a deep groan, and said to the people, "A noxious draught was given me treacherously by my newly-married wife. Compelled to yield my warm bed to her paramour, I died by poison." The egregious wife, on hearing the above words, contradicted the accusation with extraordinary presence of mind and audacity, and fell to arguing and wrangling with her resuscitated husband in an impudent, sacrile- gious tone. Meanwhile the people that listened to the conversation between them became violently excited, owing to their espousing two different sides of opinion ; for one party were for immediately burying alive the iniquitous woman in the same grave with the dead body, while the other, declaring that she was innocent, maintained that the corpse had told a he. The corpse itself, however, at this moment, when the clamour was at its height, decided the matter in dispute ; 62 THIRD EPISODE. Book II. for, uttering another deep groan, it exclaimed, " Then will I produce incontrovertible testimony, and prove the truth by things not known to mortal man. Be- hold," it continued, at the same time pointing its finger towards me, " Behold yon sagacious guardian of my body, whom those hags the witches, after long striving to elude his vigilance, under various forms, without success, covered at last with a cloud of drowsiness, and buried in profound repose. Then did they, han- kering after mortal spoils, call me by my name unceas- ingly, until my limbs, and cold stiffened joints strove with a feeble impulse to obey the magic spell. But the man, my guardian, whose name by chance is my name, alive in reality though dead asleep, arose instinctively at the sound of the mutual appellative, and walking in a state of senselessness, like an inanimate unconscious shadow, suffered instead of myself the intended mutilation. For though the door of the chamber was bolted, the witches entered through an unknown cranny, and first depriving him of his nose and ears, they replaced the truncated members by a waxen imitation, of so natural an appearance that human eyes are incapable of distinguishing it from the original. Behold yonder the wretch himself — he who hath received a reward for his vigilance at the cost of his nose and ears." No sooner did I hear the above announcement than I became exceedingly terrified, and, immediately putting my evil fortune to the test, my nose came off Book II. THIKD EPISODE. 63 in my hand, and my ears slipped through my fingers on the ground. Meanwhile as the spectators burst forth in loud shouts of laughter, nodded their heads and pointed their fingers at me, I stealthily made my escape, streaming with cold perspiration between the feet of the multitude. Thus rendered a ridiculous as well as a mutilated object, I never from that day returned to my native country, but concealing the want of ears by my hair, and glueing on a decent piece of linen cloth as a substitute for my nose, I have wandered about ever since from place to place as now you see me. END OF THIRD EPISODE. The guests being highly elated with wine when Telephron finished his story, the conclusion was hailed by renewed bursts of laughter, and they all proposed to drink his health, while Byrrhaena, addressing herself to me — "To-morrow," said she, "is a solemn festival here in Hypata, one upon which we Hypatians of all people in the world exclusively have, from the earliest founda- tions of the city, propitiated the merry God of Laugh- ter with jovial ceremonies. Your presence among us will add to our hilarity ; would that you could tax 64 LUCIUS KILLS THREE MEN Book II. your native wit in our behalf, and by some quaint n> vention enrich our sacrifice to the great deity." " By Hercules !" said I, " I will do my best endea- vour to comply with your desire; right glad would I be to produce a garment of smiles worthy to be laid on his Godship's shoulders." Just as I had made the above reply my servants ar- rived to admonish me of the lateness of the hour; upon which I got up immediately, bade a hasty adieu to Byrrhsena, and in a state, like the rest of the party, of crapulous repletion, set forth to stagger home- ward with unsteady steps. So soon as we had got out of the house, and were turning the corner, trying hard to find our way along the first wide street, a sud- den puff of wind extinguished our lamp, so that, from the unexpected change from light to darkness, we could hardly get on at all, and it was as much as ever we could do to proceed, knocking our toes against the stones all the way we went. We had contrived, how- ever, to reach the last street, and arrive close to Milo's house, when, lo and behold, we saw three lusty enormous fellows kicking at the door with their utmost strength ; and, far from being frightened at our pre- sence, the nearer we came the more violently did they bounce against it. All of us naturally concluded they were most desperate robbers ; so, snatching from my bosom, as quickly as I possibly could, my dagger which I had previously drawn on purpose and covered with my cloak, I threw myself in the midst of them, and Boob II. WHOM HE TAKES FOR ROBBERS.. 65 burying the point of my weapon deep in their bodies, I saw them- fall pierced with many grievous wounds, and all three, one after another, breathe their last at my feet. Fotis, awakened at the terribly noisy battle, came and opened the door, while I, panting for breath and bathed in perspiration, immediately crawled to bed, tired as if I had slain the giant Geryon, and fell fast asleep. 66 LUCIUS ARRESTED Book III. BOOK III. Lucius arrested for the Murder of three Citizens — Tried for his Life — Proceedings of the Trial — Unexpected termi- nation of the Trial — Lucius finds himself hoaxed — Fes- tival of the God of Laughter — Fotis the innocent cause of .Lucius's Misfortune — Her interview with Lucius — Her Confession — Promises Lucius to give him an opportunity of seeing her mistress Pamphile transform herself into a Bird or other animal — Lucius witnesses the transformation of Pamphile into an Owl — Lucius, desirous of following Pam- phile's example, through the mistake of Fotis is changed into a Donkey — Ingratitude of Lucius's White Horse — Lucius, in the form of a Donkey, thrashed by his late servant — Milo's House attacked by Robbers — Lucius seized by the Robbers, loaded with plunder, and driven away. Aurora had already mounted her chariot in the hea- vens, and uplifting her rosy arm above the purple trappings of her horses, Night, at the coming of a new- day, had renounced her dominion over my senses, when, heated at the vivid recollection of the last night's adventure, I started from sound repose. Overwhelmed with grief, I sat up in my bed upon my haunches, my legs bent under me, the joints of my fingers inter- laced alternately, the palms of my hands resting on my knees, and I wept abundantly. My imagination Book III. FOR THE MURDER OF THREE CITIZENS. 67 pictured to me the Forum, a trial, sentence of condem- nation, and the hangman. " For," said I to myself, " defiled as I am with the crime of a triple homicide, and besmeared with the blood of three citizens, there lives not a judge, mild and benevolent though he be, who can pronounce me innocent. Is this the glorious result of my journey predicted by Diophanes the Chaldaean ?" While such reflections were passing in my mind and I was deploring my evil fortune, I heard a great noise of people shouting in the street, and then a violent shaking at the outer door, which was burst open forth- with, and the magistrates with their subordinate func- tionaries, followed simultaneously by a miscellaneous crowd of people, rushed into the house and filled all the apartments to overflowing. Without more ado, though I made not the least resistance, two lictors, by order of the magistrates, seized hold of me, and dragged me away with them through the streets accompanied by a multitude of such extraordinary density that one would have thought the whole population of the city had collected in a continuous stream. Notwithstanding that I walked mournfully along, with my face bowed down towards the ground, aye, down to the shades below, I chanced to cast a glance on one side and per- ceived what surprised me very much — that every single person among the many thousands of people who sur- rounded us was laughing ready to split his sides. Nevertheless I was thus conducted through all the prin- 68 LUCIUS TKIED FOE HIS LIFE. Book III. cipal streets, turning corner after corner, like the victim of a lustral sacrifice led in a circuitous proces- sion to expiate some dire portent, till I was brought at last to the Forum and made to stand directly opposite the judgment seat. There the magistrates were already seated in their places upon an elevated platform, and the public crier was proclaiming silence, when, owing to the perilous pressure among the spectators, as well as on account of the public interest excited by the trial, there arose a sudden unanimous cry among the people to adjourn the proceedings to the theatre. The multi- tude accordingly removed without delay to the theatre, whither they ran with such extraordinary celerity that before we arrived all the entrances were blocked up, every seat in the cavea was occupied, and all parts of the building were stuffed up to the very roof, as thick as they could cram with people. Some clung to the columns, others hung upon the statues, several with their fore bodies thrust forward over beams and through the windows were only half visible, and very many, without the least regard to safety, but stimulated by the desire to witness all that was to be seen, had placed themselves in the most perilous situations. Meanwhile, having been led by the ministers of justice through the proscenium, and stationed in the middle of the orchestra, so soon as I arrived there, the crier, who had a voice like a bull, summoned my accuser to stand forth. At this proclamation an elderly man immedi- ately made his appearance, and a quantity of water, Book III. PROCEEDINGS AT THE TRIAL. 69 regulated to the time allowed for speaking, having been poured into a small vessel perforated at the bottom like a cullender, with very small holes, through which it escaped drop by drop, he thus addressed the people : — " Most worthy Eomans," said he, " the case I have to lay before you is one of no trifling magnitude, but rather a question that especially regards the peace of the city, and is likely to afford a serious example to posterity in days to come. Wherefore it becomes the more necessary for each and every one of you to look to the upholding of the public dignity, and take good care that yon nefarious homicide who has cruelly murdered so many of your citizens be not per- mitted to exercise his butcher's trade among you with impunity. Do not imagine, I beg of you, that I am actuated by any privy grudge, or am addressing you under the excitement of animosity or personal hatred, but listen while I place the matter in its proper light, and faithfully relate to you the circumstances that took place last night. As for myself, I am the prefect of the night-guard, whose vigilance and assiduity no one, I believe, has hitherto ventured to impeach. " Last night, going my rounds as usual and proceed- ing from door to door, I had nearly gone the circuit of the city, examining every thing in my way with the most scrupulous attention, when, nearly at the third watch, I perceived that barbarously cruel young man laying about him with his drawn dagger. Slaughtering on the right and on the left, three victims of his ferocity, 70 PROCEEDINGS AT THE TRIAL. Book III. their bodies still breathing and palpitating, were weltering in their blood at his feet. Deservedly conscience-stricken at the heinous act he had com- mitted, he immediately ran away, and escaping in the darkness of the night lay concealed in an adjacent house till the morning, when, by the providence of the Gods, who permit no such great crimes to pass unpu- nished, I, who laid wait at the door on purpose, took care to prevent him from starting on his clandestine enterprises any more, and now produce him before this court to receive a criminal sentence. You have con- sequently before you not only a prisoner contaminated by many murders, but a prisoner taken in the fact, and a foreigner. Press vigorously therefore to convict the subject of another country of a crime which, if committed by one of your own citizens, you would visit with capital punishment." When my inveterate accuser had concluded the above severe speech, the moment he was silent the crier addressed himself to me, and asked if I had anything to urge in my defence — for now, he said, was the time to begin, if I had anything to say. For my own part, at that moment I could do nothing but weep ; not, by Her- cules, so much on account of the bitterness of the accu- sation against me, as owing to the stings of my own wretched conscience. Nevertheless, the instant I was put upon my defence, an audacity, as if I were divinely inspired, suddenly arose within me, and I addressed the court as follows : — Book III. PEOCEEDINGS AT THE TRIAL. 71 " I cannot be ignorant," said I, " of the difficulty of that individual's position, who, like myself, pleads in his defence against an accusation of homicide, with the dead bodies of three murdered citizens lying exposed before him; or how arduous is the task, let him be never so truthful and explicit, to persuade so vast a multitude as are here assembled of his innocence. But if there be a sentiment of humanity that prevails among you, and I am allowed a patient public hearing for a little while, I shall have no difficulty in showing that it is not because I stand before you under peril of my life that I deserve to forfeit my life ; but that a fortuitous accident and a reasonable feeling of indigna- tion have been the means of my being subjected inno- cently to the reproach of the crime of which I am here arraigned. Last night as, at a later hour than usual, I was returning home from supper in a state approaching to intoxication (which state being itself a crime I will not pretend to deny), I had arrived close to the house where I reside — the house of your worthy citizen Milo — when I saw some desperate robbers in the act of forcing an entrance, and striving with might and main to wrest the door off its hinges. Already had they wrenched off the bolts and fastenings, and were medi- tating the immediate destruction of the inhabitants within, while one especially, the most able-bodied and ready-handed of them all, was urging and encouraging his companions. ' Come along,' said he, ' my boys — be brisk, my manly fellows ; and all of you stoutly 72 PROCEEDINGS AT THE TRIAL. Book III. attack them in their beds. Banish hesitation and sluggishness from your bosoms; let homicide, drawn sword in hand, stalk from end to end through the dwelling ; let us slay the sleepers outright, and beat to the ground all who show resistance; for by leaving not a soul safe in the house we shall return home safe ourselves.' " I acknowledge, on hearing these words, being armed with a dagger, which I am in the habit of carry- ing with me as a defence against similar atrocities, being in extreme fear on my own account, and being anxious to defend the family of my host and hostess, that I thought it the duty of a good citizen to make use of my weapon, were it only to endeavour to terrify and put to flight such outrageous robbers. But, Romans, the barbarous, blood-thirsty villains declined to run ! On the contrary, they offered bold resistance ; and when they saw me opposed to them in arms, drew up in regular order. Their leader, standard-bearer as it were, made at me with all his strength, caught me by the hair with both hands, bent my body backwards, and would have smashed my skull with a stone, which he called to his companions to give him, had I not the good fortune to make a sure thrust at him and over- throw him. Presently, by a well-aimed blow at another, piercing through his shoulder blade, I killed him clinging to my legs and biting my feet; and finally, as the third was all abroad and rushing wildly upon me, I ran him through the chest. And now, Book III. PROCEEDINGS AT THE TBIAL. 73 having vindicated the cause of peace, having protected the house of my host, and having laboured for the welfare of the public, I should have imagined mysel^ deserving of public approbation rather than liable to punishment. I have never before been accused of any offence ; I have always been esteemed and well regarded in my own country ; and have ever cherished an un- blemished character as the first of earthly blessings. Neither am I able to comprehend why, because I was excited by a justifiable feeling of vengeance against three terrible villains, I am thus summoned to this place at all to clear myself of the accusation. For nobody can prove I had a motive to commit the crime I stand charged with, either through the desire of booty or from animosity to the deceased robbers, none of whose faces did I ever see till the encounter in question." Having brought my defence thus far towards the con- clusion, then stretching out my hands in a supplicating attitude, while tears burst forth afresh, I most pathe- tically invoked the commiseration of the public. Appealing personally to one after another, I besought them by their love to their children, and their regard to charity, till thinking their feelings touched on the score of humanity, and their hearts sufficiently wrought to pity, I was finally calling to witness the eye of jus- tice, the sun, &c, and recommending my case to the providence of the gods, when elevating my eyes to- wards the spectators in the Cavea, I beheld, as if the 74 PEOCEEDINGS AT THE TKIAL. Book III. floodgates of risibility were let loose among them all, a general laughing and tittering ; and Milo, my worthy host and acquaintance, laughing louder than anybody. " Alas ! for the consciences and probity of man- kind !" thought I in silence to myself; " the host in whose defence thou hast hazarded thy life and be- come an homicide, not only affords thee no comfort under thy misfortune, but sits there heartlessly laughing at thee !" I had, however, little time for continuing these reflections before the proceedings of the court were interrupted by the appearance of two women, who came forward both together; one, dressed in black, with a child at her bosom, and the other, who fol- lowed the first, very old, and covered with exceedingly ragged apparel. These women, crying and lamenting most bitterly, passed through the middle of the theatre j proceeded with the most mournful air and gestures to the bier on which the bodies of the slain robbers lay, covered by a cloth, and there, standing over the bier, they shook olive branches they carried in their hands over the corpses. After making a dismal noise and howling, at last the younger woman addressed the court as follows : — " Have pity,'' said she, " have pity, in the name of the public, in the name of the common law, and in the name of humanity, on the relict of a youth who has been cruelly murdered, and render her, I beseech you, the consolation of vengeance in her widowhood Book III. PROCEEDINGS AT THE TRIAL. 75 as an atonement for the unmerited calamity. Protect too the fortunes of a child left destitute in his infancy, and by the blood of the assassin who has infringed your laws vindicate the public authority." So soon as the woman had pronounced these words, the senior magistrate got up and addressed the people as follows : — " For the crime that the prisoner has com- mitted, which not even he himself is able to deny, a heavy punishment must be inflicted ; but apart from the ques- tion of his individual guilt, there remains with us the important consideration how to discover the accomplices of the atrocious deed. For without accomplices it is in- credible one solitary person could have vanquished and deprived of life three so robust men as the deceased. Now it will be indispensable to have recourse to the torture to extract the truth; and as the accom- plices of the prisoner have all run away and made their escape, the thing comes simply to this, — that the question be administered to himself. Then will he be compelled to say who they are, and we shall have the means of thoroughly putting an end to this for- midable banditti." When the magistrate had concluded his harangue, the instruments of torture used according to the Greek custom, namely, the wheel, heated irons, va- rious sorts of scourges, &c, were immediately brought into court. At this moment, while I was terrified and horror- struck at these formidable appearances, and my fears e 2 76 PROCEEDINGS AT THE TRIAL. Book III. were doubled at the sad idea of leaving the world with a mutilated body, the elder of the two women, who all the time had been disturbing the proceedings of the court with her loud bewailings, thus addressed the spec- tators : — "Most worthy citizens," said she, "I pray you permit the dead bodies of my wretched sons to be uncovered, in order that the contemplation of their youth and beauty may instigate a just feeling of indig- nation, and stir up the people's rage in due proportion to the crime, before you nail to the cross that villain, their murderer." The spectators assented to the proposal of the old woman .by acclamation, and the magistrate accordingly ordered the dead bodies that lay on the bier to be unco- vered, and the coverings to be removed by myself with my own hands. In obedience to the command the lictors, without more ado, compelled me, as quickly as they were able, to comply. Unwilling to revive, as it were, my crime of the day before by a fresh dis- play, I resisted and struggled a good deal; till at last they dragged from my side by force the hand to be used to my own destruction. But when that hand, against my will, overcome by stern necessity, and yielded reluctantly, was extended over the corpses, and withdrew the pall that overlaid them — Gracious powers, what a catastrophe! What a wonderful sight did I behold ! What a monstrosity ! How miraculous and sudden the change of my fortunes ! A moment before my name was enrolled among the members of Pluto's Book HI. UNEXPECTED TERMINATION. 77 family, and my body the private property of Proserpine. Now, in a single instant, the face of affairs was totally reversed, and I stood staring in mute astonishment ! Words are incapable of describing the effect of the picture that appeared before my eyes ! In short, the corpses of the murdered men were nothing more than three wine skins, pierced while in a state of infla- tion with various holes, that so far as I could call to my recollection, exactly corresponded, aperture for aperture, with the gaping wounds I remembered to have inflicted on the robbers, in my battle of the night before. At this extraordinary spectacle the inclination to merriment among the people, which had been for some time as it were smouldering, and very many had been able to restrain successfully, now blazed forth in full confla- gration. The whole assemblage continued to laugh without ceasing until they were thoroughly satiated. Some laughed till their stomachs ached, others clapped their hands on their sides to relieve the tension, and all now began to move out of the theatre replete with mirth and happiness — several first coming up to congratulate me, and every one as he departed casting a look behind at myself. For my own part, from the moment I lifted up the pall I had stood riveted to the spot, cold and motionless as a stone. Nay, I had hardly more life in me than one of the statues or a column of the theatre. At last, before I had, as it were, emerged from the shades below, a tap of the hand from my host Milo suddenly brought me to my recollection. 78 FESTIVAL OF THE GOD OF LAUGHTER. Book III. Milo then kindly drew me towards him with gentle force, and, — while, the tears glistening in my eyes, I wept and sobbed incessantly, — led me, reluctant as I was to move, through retired streets and by-ways to his own house. When we arrived there, he did all he could to assuage my grief and trepidation ; but the indignation I felt at the injury I had received was beyond his power to relieve. Such was the profound depth it lay buried in my bosom, that neither were the magistrates themselves more successful. They with their attend- ants and all the insignia of office came to our house on purpose to console me. " My Lord Lucius," said they, endeavouring to tranquillize my mind by their conversation, " we are not ignorant of the honourable family to which you belong, nor of the position you hold in society. Nay, the names of your noble celebrated ancestors are known throughout the whole province. Comfort thy- self then, we pray thee, and cast away the sorrow and grief of heart that afflict thee. 'Tis not for the sake of contumely that the present trick, which hath caused thee such infinite pain, has been played upon thee ; but 'tis a pleasant invention, an innocent agreeable prank, such as each revolving year we contrive on the day when we celebrate our festival in order to propitiate and en- liven a jocund deity, the great God of Laughter. May the blithsome divinity acknowledge you as his bene- factor, and accompany you whithersoever you go; may he be continually propitious; may he relieve Book III. LUCIUS'S KEPLY. 79 your bosom of present misery ; may he protect your mind from future anguish.; may he free your heart from the dominion of melancholy, and for ever may he clothe your serene brow with joyous smiles. For the amusement you have afforded us, the citizens have already pronounced a decree to your immortal honour : to you, as the patron of Hypata, a brazen statue will be erected." To the above address of the magistrates I said a few words in reply, to the effect that " I duly appreciated the honours conferred upon me in so singular a man- ner by the very splendid city of Hypata, but that, with regard to the selection of objects for their statues and their pictures, I would venture to recommend .the citi- zens to bestow the honour on some more worthy per- sonage, one who either were older than myself, or at least had rendered the state a better service than to set them all laughing as I had done." At all events in my answer I made choice of the most discreet terms that prudence could suggest, and when it was over and the magistrates were about to take their departure, feeling much relieved, I was en- abled, as I bade them adieu, to summon to my counte- nance a momentary courteous expression. No sooner were they gone, than a servant from Byrrhaena came running to the house with a message to remind me that the time was approaching of a ban- quet at her house, which I had promised the evening before to attend. 80 RETURNS TO MILO'S HOUSE. Book III. Terrified at the announcement, and, after what had passed, horrorstruck at the idea of going near Byr- rhsena's house, " Tell thy mistress," said I, " that I would willingly obey her commands and wait upon her, but it is not in my power to do so without committing a breach of hospitality towards my host. For Milo hath conjured me by the presiding deity of to-day to re- main with him to supper, and I have absolutely pledged myself to stay. Neither will he allow me to leave his company nor go abroad. I would therefore fain have thy mistress release me from my obligation until a future day." Milo all the time I was speaking to the servant kept a fiim hold on me, and so soon as the other went a^vay, he insisted on conducting me to the nearest baths, whi- ther, having ordered bathing implements to be sent after us, we went immediately. So much did my mind recoil at the idea of being the laughing-stock of the public, that as we passed along the streets I kept out of sight as much as I could by walking all the way close to the side of my companion ; notwith- standing which the people so nodded and winked and pointed at me that I was absolutely driven out of my senses. How I got washed, how I was dried, or how I got home, such was the intense sense of shame I felt, for the life of me I cannot remember. But at all events, after I had bathed, and found my way back to Milo's house, and partaken of his frugal supper, which I hur- ried over in extreme haste, the repast was no sooner Book III. FOTIS'S INTERVIEW WITH LUCIUS. 81 finished than I made the excuse of a violent headache caused by long continuous weeping, and craved an in- dulgence that was readily conceded to me — permission to retire to my chamber. When I found myself alone I immediately threw my- self on the bed in a fit of melancholy despondency, and was completely overwhelmed by a host of the most bitter reflections for some time, till, at the moment that my grief was at the utmost, the door was opened sud- denly, and Fotis, who had just performed her service with her mistress, and left her in bed, unexpectedly en- tered my apartment. Advancing towards me with a lowering brow, a countenance disfigured by the con- tortions of mental anguish, and in manner and appear- ance as different from her former talkative, joyous self as can possibly be imagined. — " I freely confess," said she, in a hesitating, timid tone of voice, " I have been the cause to thee of this day's trouble; take therefore, I pray thee," (at the same time drawing from her bosom a kind of leathern thong and offering it to me,) " this scourge, and have thy re- venge on a perfidious woman ; nay, even though thou inflict a heavier punishment than I deserve, take thy revenge, I say. But yet believe, I beseech thee, that 'tis not of my own will that the calamity hath befallen thee ! Be the Gods more merciful than that through my fault or failing the very smallest pebble ever bruise thy foot! Rather would I suffer death than evil betide thee. Sad enough my lot if the act that e 3 82 FOTIS'S CONFESSION. Book III. with a totally different intention I Was ordered to per- form, hath brought thee harm." On hearing these words of Fotis an intense feeling of my usual curiosity immediately seized my mind; and with a burning desire to know the cause of all that had happened to me, " Away with it," said I ; " let me tear in a thousand pieces the most audacious and wicked of thongs that ever was seen, rather than it inflict a single stripe on thy sweet person, or fall in palpable contact with thy white, downy, dove-like skin. But tell me, oh tell me, I beseech thee, in strict confidence, what deed hast thou done, or how hath the perversity of fortune converted thy doing to my detriment? I take that dear face of thine to witness that no mortal in existence — not even thou thyself — could persuade me to believe thee capable of thinking aught to harm me. Nor can innocent intentions, even through the uncertainty or perversity of chance, ever be rendered culpable." " I am sadly terrified," replied Fotis, who trembled fearfully, " I am terribly afraid,'-' said she, in a low tone of voice, almost subdued to a whisper, " to unfold the mysteries of this house and reveal the secret perform- ances of my mistress, and yet I think too favourably of thee and thy acquirements to hesitate to trust thee. For besides the dignity of thy noble ancestry and thine own lofty mind, the various sacred mysteries into which thou hast already been initiated have neces- Book III. POWERS OP PAMPHILE. 83 sarily taught thee to appreciate the holiness of secrecy and fidelity. Preserve then, I beseech thee, most reli- giously locked up in the lowest depths of thy bosom the things I am about to relate to thee, and let thy constant impregnable silence repay the sincerity of my narrative. For my regard towards thee so compels me to unfold mysteries entrusted to no other mortal on earth, save myself, that thou shalt thoroughly know the state of our house and the miraculous secrets of my mistress. " First then I must tell thee that she who can control the elements, shake the stars in their spheres, raise the spirits of the dead, and enthral the divinities themselves, employs her magic spells on no occasions with more violent earnestness than on those which hap- pen not unfrequently whenever, as is the case at pre- sent, she chances to cast the eyes of affection on a good looking young man. The object of her choice with whom she is now enamoured most desperately is a young Boeotian, whose heart she has been for some days using her most potent manoeuvres to fascinate. Twas but yesterday evening I heard her— nay, heard her with these very ears — threaten the sun himself to throw a cloud of mist about his disc, and involve the world in perpetual darkness, provided he declined to move with accelerated speed to the horizon, and produce night prematurely, in order to enable her the sooner to begin to exercise her magical incantations. For the youth, as she was coming from the baths, by 84 POWERS OF PAMPHILE. Book III. chance was sitting in a barber's shop, where she hap- pened to catch sight of him. Accordingly, so soon as she reached the house, she commanded me to go instantly to the shop of the barber and procure clan- destinely the cuttings of the young man's hair, which, falling to the ground from the barber's scissors, lay scattered about the floor. In obedience to the orders of my mistress, I went thither directly, and was diligently, though slily as possible, picking up the hair by stealth when the barber observing me, ' Ho, ho!' quoth he, 'dost thou come here again, thou wretch, to steal the hair of the choice young men, my customers ? Marry, if ever I catch thee again at these thy wicked pranks I'll have thee before the magis- trates.' Then, suiting the action to the word, and roughly seizing me by the arm— for I must tell thee that, like my mistress, I have a notorious character for the practice of witchcraft all over the city — he scolded me bitterly, and began to search all about me, and finally discovered and took away from me the hair I had picked up on the floor and concealed in my bosom. The misfortune grievously afflicted me; for I feared my mistress, whose temper is violent in the extreme under similar disappointment, and is always wont to beat me on a like occasion, would use me cruelly. Nay, I thought of running away from her outright, and surely would have done so, had not a momentary thought of thee come across my mind, when I abandoned the idea instantly. Distressed, however, at the loss Book III. POWERS OF PAMPHILE. 85 beyond measure, I was sadly and dismally bending my steps homeward empty-handed, when passing through a street in the way I saw a man clipping with a pair of shears some goat-skins sewn together for the purpose of wine-bags, which were inflated and hung upon a wall. Perceiving that the goat-hair already clipped and lying on the ground was flaxen-coloured, precisely resembling the hair of the young Boeotian, I imme- diately picked up a good handful to carry it home, and, concealing the truth from my mistress, gave it her instead of the hair that had been taken from me. " All this happened in the evening while you were at Byrrhsena's supper, when Pamphile, previous to thy return home, impatient for the approach of darkness, and aroused to a state of necromantic frenzy, commenced her deadly incantations. Then did she ascend to the upper part of the house, and enter a balcony com- manding a wide sweep of prospect on the horizon towards the east, open on both sides, and covered by a shingled roof — a locality particularly suited to the purpose of her secret mysteries, — and there she began her operations by putting in order the implements of art belonging to her deadly workshop. Collecting together divers sorts of aromatics, tablets engraved with unknown characters, nails wrenched from ships wrecked on the ocean, limbs and remnants of buried and unburied corpses, noses, and fingers, pieces of flesh of crucified criminals sticking to the iron nails, blood- 36 POWERS OP PAMPHILE. Book III. stained daggers of assassins, and skulls from which the teeth of wild beasts had ripped the scalp — all these things she arranged in proper order ; and then, after performing a sacrifice, and pronouncing an incantation ■ over the palpitating entrails of the victim, she poured over them a libation of cow's milk, mountain honey, and wine diluted with spring-water. Finally, she took the goat-hair, mixed with it much perfume, plaited it in several different locks, tied all the locks in a knot together, and threw them on the live coals of a chafing- dish to be consumed. And now behold, no sooner had the goat-hair fallen on the fire and begun to smoke with a shrill crackling sound, than, through the irre- sistible power of magic, the parent bodies, animated simultaneously by the potent spell, and coerced by the occult force of the divinities, received human breath, and thought, and heard, and walked accord- ingly. Walking, they proceeded whither the odour of the burning spoils attracted their footsteps, and they instead of the Boeotian youth endeavoured to force ah entrance through the door of Milo's house. This was the moment when, coming to the spot in a state of intoxication, thy brain confused by wine, and thy sight deceived by the obscurity of a dark night, thou, like Ajax in his madness, didst draw thy dagger valiantly, and wound, and slay, and lay about thee ; and though truly thou didst not like Ajax destroy and mutilate whole flocks of sheep, yet didst thou perform a nobler "act than he : for, letting out the wind, as thou hast, Book III. LUCIUS'S CURIOSITY. 87 from three inflated goat-skins, thine enemies were all laid prostrate without shedding a drop of blood. Therefore art thou no longer a homicide, but a goati- cide." Thus reassured and exhilarated by the narrative of Fotis, and answering in my turn jestingly, said I, " Well then, since the empty goatskins that I killed were three in number, 1 may account this first proof of my prowess one of the twelve labours of Hercules, whether the slaughter of the three-bodied giant Ge- ryon, or the three-headed dog Cerberus. Wherefore I readily forgive thee the crime thou hast been guilty of, and entirely banish from my mind all the sorrow and anguish it has cost me, provided you comply with the request I now earnestly implore of you. Give me an opportunity — on the next occasion when thy mistress exercises her supernatural magic power, and changes herself into the form of any sort of animal — to witness the transformation; for I am most ar- dently desirous of seeing the performance of a deed of witchcraft, and thou, methinks, art not altogether a novice in the mysteries. Thus far, indeed, I know for certain, and, knowing, feel most sensibly, that not- withstanding I have hitherto viewed with indifference the charms of many a noble Roman lady, thy rosy cheeks, thy brilliant eyes, and thy shining hair have thoroughly enthralled my senses, and led me captive." " Oh ! Lucius," replied Fotis, " verily I will do thy 88 WITNESSES THE TRANSFORMATION Book III. bidding at my own peril, notwithstanding that my mis- tress, because the public watch all her operations with extraordinary vigilance, performs all her mysteries in the most secret solitude, and in the presence of no living human being. But as I admonished thee in the beginning, preserve a profound silence in a matter of such awful importance, and I will diligently seek a fitting opportunity to show thee the desired spectacle." A few days after the above interview, Fotis one morning running into my apartment in a state of great haste and trepidation, told me that her mistress, in consequence of the failure of her recent incantations, which, with regard to her design on the young Boeotian, had been unsuccessful, intended that evening to transform herself into a bird, and fly away to her beloved one. Accordingly she bade me prepare my- self to witness the wonderful proceeding, and in pur- suance of the arrangement, fulfilled her promise faithfully. At. the first watch of the night, she came to summon me to the appointment, and conducted me, walking before all the way, with a soft noiseless step on tiptoe, to a chamber in the upper part of the house, immediately adjoining the above-mentioned celebrated balcony. Then Fotis showed me a crack in the door, and bade me look through it, upon which I looked, and saw Pamphile first divest herself of all her garments ; and then, having unlocked a chest, take from it several little boxes, and open one of the Book III. OF PAMPHILE INTO AN OWL. 89 latter, which contained a certain ointment. Rubbing this ointment a good while previously between the palms of her hands, she anointed her whole body, from the very nails of her toes to the hair on the crown of her head; and when she was anointed all over, she whispered many magic words to a lamp, as if she were talking to it. Then she began to move her arms, first with tremulous jerks, and afterwards by a gentle undulating motion, till a glittering downy surface by degrees overspread her body, feathers and strong quills burst forth suddenly, her nose became a hard crooked beak, her toes changed to curved talons, and Pamphile was no longer Pamphile, but it was an owl I saw before me. And now, uttering a harsh querulous scream, leaping from the ground by little and little, in order to try her powers, and presently poising herself aloft on her* pinions, she stretched forth her wings on either side to their full extent, and flew straight away. Having now been actually a witness of the perform- ance of the magic art, and of the metamorphosis of Pamphile, I remained for some time in such a stupified state of astonishment, that although not positively spell- bound by the influence of enchantment, I could have readily fancied myself divested of the figure of Lucius, and transformed into any other animal. In short, I was temporarily deprived of my senses, and in a waking dream. At last, after I had rubbed my eyes some time, had recovered a little from the amazement and abstrac- tion of mind, and begun to feel a consciousness of the 90 LUCIUS BEQUESTS FOTIS Book III. reality of things about me, I finally took hold of the hand of Fotis, and, in order to make myself quite sure I was awake, placing that fair hand upon my eyes, — " Sweet damsel," said I, " by these eyes, that are thine in truth and for ever devoted to thee, render me, I implore thee, a proof of the regard thou hast professed for me, and bind me for ever to thyself with the bonds of an eternal unappreciable obligation. Bring me, I beseech thee, my Venus, a portion of the ointment with which thy mistress hath just now anointed, and when thou hast made me a bird I will be thy slave, and ever wait upon thee like a winged Cupid." " Sweetheart," replied Fotis, " thou art cunning as a fox ! What ! wouldst thou have me let slip the axe upon my ankles of my own free will ? Why then I shall hardly preserve my Lucius from the little she wolves of Thessaly ! * When thou art once become a bird, whither shall I go to seek thee — where ever again can I expect to see thee?" * The meaning of the passage according to the reading I have adopted from the Franofort edition of 1621 — " Aim, mquit, vvl- pmaris a/masio, meque sponte asciwm cruribus meis illidere com- pellis ? Siccme me vix a Ivpidis amservo Thessalis t" — appears to be, that as the woodman who wounds himself with his axe in the forest becomes a prey to wolves, so does Fotis, by giving wings to -Lucius, put herself in the power of her rivals the Thessalian damsels. In the Paris Delphin edition of 1628 the same passage is ren- dered differently, as follows : — " An mquit vulpinaris amasio meque sponte asciam cruribus meis illidere compellis ? Siccine mev/m ipsa Lwiwm pueUis canservo Thessalis ?" Book III. TO EFFECT HIS TEATS SFOBMATION. 91 " May the immortal gods decree otherwise," replied I. "Even were I the imperial eagle, Jove's trusty messenger and arm-bearer, soaring triumphantly through the skies, with the wide expanse of the firmament open before me, yet would I speedily renounce the dignity of celestial flight, and drop earthward to my nest. Nay, by that lovely knot of hair of thine, that hath so en- chained my spirit, never, I swear, will I prefer any other human being in the world to my Fotis. Moreover, when thou hast time for reflection, little hast thou need to be jealous ; for when I have anointed and become a bird, far, very far away will it behove me to keep from human habitations. A beautiful and agreeable lover, truly, were an owl for a fair lady ! Why the moment those birds of night take refuge in people's houses, all manner of schemes are used to catch them, and when captured, they are nailed on the door outside the dwelling, to expiate, by excruciating torments, the evil destiny portended to the family. Lay then aside thy fears, lovely damsel, on that score ; and rather tell me what I had well-nigh forgotten to inquire of thee. When I have become a bird, what deed must be done, or what sound uttered, in order that I may get rid of my wings, and transform myself again into Lucius ? " " Make thyself easy on that account," replied she ; " my mistress has made me acquainted with every thing and substance necessary to restore all man- ner of metamorphosed figures to their original human form. Though I would not have thee think me in- 92 LUCIUS, THROUGH FOTIS'S MISTAKE, Book III. debted to her benevolence for a faculty which hitherto, forsooth, I have never exerted otherwise than towards herself, when, as on an occasion like the present, it has become necessary to disengage her from enchantment. The means to produce a result so important axe mar- vellously simple — nothing more than various common herbs — for instance, a few grains of aniseed and laurel- leaves infused in spring water for a draught and lotionj" Being quite satisfied on the latter point, and Fotis having given me the assurance over and over again, I finally prevailed upon her to accede to my earnest re- quest. Accordingly, she crept gently out of the apartment, quickly returned with the box of ointment, hastily placed it" in my hands, and then immediately departed. Elated to an extraordinary degree at the sight of the precious treasure, I kissed the box several times successively ; and uttering repeated aspirations in hopes of a prosperous flight, I stripped off all my clothes as quick as possible, dipped my fingers greedily into the box, and having thence extracted a good large lump of ointment, rubbed it all over my body and limbs. When I was thoroughly anointed, I swung my arms up and down, in imitation of the move- ment of a bird's pinions, and continued to do so a little while, when, instead of any perceptible token of feathers or wings making their appearance, my own thin skin, alas ! grew into a hard leathern hide covered with bristly hair, my fingers and toes disappeared, Book III. CHANGED INTO A DONKEY. 93 the palms of my hands and the soles of my feet be- came four solid hoofs, and from the end of my spine a long tail proceeded. My face was enormous, my mouth wide, my nostrils gaping, my lips pendulous, and I had a pair of immoderately long, rough, hairy ears. In short, when I came to contemplate my transformation to its full extent, I found that instead of a bird I had become changed into an ass. No sooner was I aware of the misfortune that had befallen me, than, before I was able to give utterance to lamentation, Fotis at that very moment returned into the apartment, while I, not only deprived of human form, but of human speech also, looked at her reproach- fully with tearful eyes, and bemoaned my fate in silence. Perceiving what an animal I had become, she beat her forehead with her hands in a paroxysm of grief) exclaiming "I am undone ! I am for ever undone ! Through haste, trepidation, and the like- ness of one to the other, I took the wrong box of ointment ! " Then, addressing herself to me, she added, " 'Tis fortunate that the remedy for thy trans- formation is not difficult ; again once more, ere long, thou wilt be my Lucius: nought more hast thou to do but eat roses in the morning, and then immediately thou wilt quit the form of an ass, and regain thy human figure. Would that this evening, as I am frequently used to do, I had plaited roses into chaplets; then thou wouldst not, even for a single night, have re- mained in thy present condition. Now, alas ! ere I 94 INGRATITUDE OF THE WHITE HORSE. Book III. can be able to procure thee the floral remedy, another day must dawn." Thus did Fotis continue for some time to express her sorrow, while I, a perfect ass and beast of burden, though no longer Lucius, being nevertheless still in possession of human understanding, deliberated all the time with myself whether, in case she had intentionally deceived me, I ought not immediately to fall upon such a wicked creature, and bite her and kick her to death. But more mature reflection prevented my com- mitting myself to such a rash enterprise, which, by inflicting the punishment of death upon Fotis, would have extinguished all chance of her assistance. Shaking my head therefore dejectedly, determining to bear in silence my temporary disgrace, and going to seek that very worthy horse of mine that 1 had ridden on my journey, I found him standing in the stable, together with another ass like myself, belonging to my host Milo. And now, thought I to myself, if there be aught of silent holy recognition and sympathy among dumb ani- mals for one another, then will that horse not only treat me with common hospitality, but will behave to me, as the Koroans behave to their ambassadors, most magnificently. But, oh Jupiter hospitalis, and all ye secret guardians of good faith, it was just the contrary ! The moment that pretty nag of mine perceived me coming to the manger, he, together with Milo's ass, immediately inclined their noses towards one another, and plotted schemes for my destruction. Concluding Book III. INGRATITUDE OF THE WHITE HORSE. 95 that I was advancing with the design to eat their food, they laid back their ears both together, and, furiously lashing forth their heels, drove me away from the very barley which, with my own hands, I had laid ( before an ungrateful servant the evening before. Being thus scurvily used, and, as it were, driven into banishment, I retreated to a solitary corner of the stable to ruminate on the insolence of my colleagues, comforting myself by the reflection that in the morning, the very first mo- ment a breakfast of roses restored me to the form of Lucius, and enabled me to execute the design, I would have my revenge on the perfidious horse. At this moment, while these thoughts and plans were passing through my mind, I suddenly looked up and perceived a small zedicula supported against one of the beams, which, standing in the middle of the stable, bore the weight of the roof; and within the aedicula there was a little statue of Hippona, the tutelar goddess of horses, wearing on its head, in addition to the usual ar- ticles of ornament, a chaplet of fresh blooming roses ! Inspired with instant joy at the sight of the salutary spectacle, replete with exhilarating hope, and valiantly rearing upon my hinder legs, I rested my fore-legs on the beam as high as I could reach, stretched out my neck, extended my lips as far as I was able, and was making a violent endeavour to catch hold of the roses, when all of a sudden my servant boy, who had constantly charge of the horse, and was lying down beside him, most un- luckily saw my proceedings. The boy, the moment he 96 THRASHED BY HIS LATE SERVANT. Book III. perceived what I was about, springing upon his feet in a rage, "Thou brute of a jackass," said he, "what mortal being can bear thy doings any longer ? A while ago thou wert for stealing the corn from my cattle, and now thou art robbing the statues of the gods ! But soon will I cripple and set thee a hobbling, thou heretic." With that, looking about the stable for a weapon, and by chance striking his foot against a bundle of sticks on the ground, he chose the biggest he could find amongst them, a rough knotted cudgel, and began to thresh my wretched hide with it most cruelly. Neither did he cease to belabour me until a grievous alarm, that broke out all of a sudden, compelled him to leave off; for there arose in the house a most violent noise, accom- panied by thumping and smashing at the outer gate, and a general shouting of the people out of doors that proclaimed the presence of robbers. The boy, terrified out of his wits, immediately ran away, while a troop of banditti, every one carrying a torch as well as a sword, their blades gleaming in the flames, like the rays of the rising sun, and illuminating the darkness of night, violently burst open the doors, and invaded every one of the chambers, while they guarded the out- side of the building so effectually with their sentinels, that the neighbours were completely prevented from rendering any assistance. Meanwhile, with their heavy axes, they broke the strong bars belonging to the door of a room in the middle of the house, where Milo kept his money and valuables ; and having speedily pos- Book III. LOADED WITH PLUNDER. 97 sessed themselves of all it contained, carried everything away in sacks. When, however, they proceeded to re- move the things from the house, and for that purpose were making a partition of the booty among one an- other, the superabundance of their wealth caused them to be reduced to extraordinary shifts ; for the number of packages to be carried was considerably more than the beasts of burden at their disposal were able to bear. Accordingly they led out of the stable my horse, Milo's ass, and myself, put extraordinarily heavy loads on the backs of each of us, and, leaving an empty house behind, drove us away from the door, flourishing their large sticks over our backs all the way we went, while one of their confederates remained behind to watch and give notice of the measures taken by the magistrates in consequence of the robbery. Thus were we hurried along through retired bypaths of the moun- tains the remainder of the night, so that, in conse- quence of the extraordinary steepness of the road, the number of heavy packages on my back, and the distance we had travelled, I was almost dead before daybreak, and yet, in spite of our fatigue, we were still compelled to go on. At last it was broad daylight, and we were approaching near to a village, when a thought, calcu- lated at once to relieve me from my painful condition, though at a late period, occurred to me. The village, when we arrived there, being full of people celebrating their ninth-day fair, I determined to promulgate my 98 PEOSPECT OF DELIVERANCE. Book III. miseries to the civil power, and claim their protection, through the venerable name of the Emperor. There- fore, so soon as I found myself in the middle of a crowd of Greek men and women, I made a strenuous effort to enunciate the august dissyllable, and pronounce the words " Oh ! Caesar " in the genuine Greek language. But, alas! though the "Oh!" came forth clear and sonorous, not a particle of the word " Caesar " could I bring out for the life of me. Neither was my disap- pointment by the failure the only misfortune, for the robbers, exceedingly irritated at my discordant clamour, fell to threshing me with their knotted sticks, and per- sisted without remission until no human being alive, had I been dead and flayed, could have converted my hide to a corn-sieve* At last, after we had travelled some way beyond the village, we passed some farms and country houses, where, in a pleasantly situated little garden, a sight suddenly burst upon my eyes that seemed as if provided unexpectedly by Jupiter himself, on purpose for my deliverance. Among the various beautiful plants and flowers growing in the garden, were several new-blown roses, dripping with morning dew ! Filled with ex- ceeding joy of heart, and elated with hope, I was moving briskly, with open mouth and watering lips, towards the lovely prize, when a reflection important to my safety came across me, and bade me at once re- * Such as, made of sheepskin pierced with holes, are in use in Italy and elsewhere at the present day. Book III. TRANSFORMATION DEFERRED. 99 frain from my present inclination. For, thought I to myself, " to accomplish the transformation from the ass to thy form of Lucius, in the midst of a band of robbers, were only to rush to certain destruction ; either would they take thee for a wizard, and therefore destroy thee, or deprive thee of life at all events, in order to prevent the appearance of a living witness of their deeds." Such considerations compelled me to yield to dire necessity, and accordingly, with patient resigna- tion, relinquishing the idea of eating roses for the pre- sent, I continued to champ the bridle under the form of an ass for a longer period. F. 2 100 UNLADEN BY THE ROBBERS. Book IV. BOOK IV. Adventure of Lucius in a Kitchen Garden — Disappointed in search of an Antidote for his Enchantment — Caught by the Gardener — His escape — Pursued by Men and Dogs — Caught and cruelly beaten — Arrives at the Bobbers' Cave — The Bobbers' Dame — Conversation of the Bobbers. Fourth Episode. — The Tale of the Bobber. Departure of Bobbers on an Excursion — Their return with a young Damsel — Her excessive Grief — The Damsel relates her History — The Bobbers' Dame comforts the Damsel with an entertaining Story. Fifth Episode. — Tale of Cupid and Psyche. Hating now pursued our journey till the middle of the day, when the heat of the noontide sun was exceedingly scorching, we turned aside by a diverging road, and entered a small village, where we went to a house in- habited by some old men, who were friends and acquaint- ance of the robbers, or so, at least, though I was an ass, they appeared, in my judgment, to be, by the cordial manner in which they embraced and conversed together. Indeed, they whispered to one another with an air of profound secrecy, and the robbers gave them things taken off our backs as if it were their share of the booty. Finally, they removed the entire loads from all of us, Book IV. IN A KITCHEN GARDEN. 101 and turned us loose in a neighbouring meadow to graze in the plenitude of liberty. For my own part, although I was perishing with hunger, not being yet quite habituated to make a dinner on grass, the senti- ment of social fellowship was insufficient to detain me in the company of my own horse and Milo's ass, par- ticularly as I perceived a quantity of kitchen vegetables growing in a small garden a little way off behind the stable. I went thither accordingly, and having boldly broken a way through the fence, filled my belly to my very heart's content with the greens, notwithstanding they were raw ; and after I had done eating, I began to look round about me in every direction, and to invoke the gods to my assistance, in hopes of catching sight of the glitter of roses in some of the adjacent gardens. For the solitude of the spot inspired me with an addi- tional inducement to attempt my transformation under circumstances where, after swallowing the remedy and casting aside the grovelling form of a quadruped, I might, when I recovered and stood up under the erect form of a man, be thoroughly concealed by shrubs and unobserved by any human being. With such an object in contemplation, a host of agree- able thoughts and anticipations began to arise in my mind, crowding upon one another in continual succes- sion, like the waves of the ocean, when suddenly, among the plants and shrubs that encompassed a mountain dale at a little distance, I espied, predominant among the foliage, the bright vermilion hue of roses. Delighted at 102 IN SEAECH OF AN ANTIDOTE. Book IV. the spectacle, and not being altogether endowed with the heart of a brute beast, my imagination immediately pic- tured to me a grove inhabited by Venus and the Graces, in whose shady recesses the genial flower of the Queen of Love and Beauty flourished in more than ordinary splendour. So, invoking the divinity " Peospeeous Event," I instantly struck off in a gallop, without more ado, and, by Hercules, no longer felt like an ass, but actually fancied myself going at the tiptop speed of a race- horse striving for the goal in the Circus. But, alas ! this noble and remarkable effort of agility was not suf- ficiently rapid to outstrip the course of my evil fortune. For when I arrived at the spot, the space I had mis- taken for a dale was nought but the bed of a river, and the blooming objects of my desire, not those lovely ten- der roses, moist with divine nectarean dew, the wounds of whose very thorns and brambles yield delight and blessedness, but a sort of inodorous flower resembling roses, and growing in little light red cups upon the trees that lined the bank. The leaves of the trees in question are oblong, like laurel leaves, and the faint- scented flowers are called by the common people in their rural vocabulary "laurel roses." Finding myself thus entangled in the web of misfor- tune, I at once abandoned all further hope of preserva- tion, and knowing those flowers and leaves to be fatal to all sorts of cattle, I determined voluntarily to destroy myself by eating the deadly poison. Accordingly, I was proceeding to execute my intention, though with Book TV. CAUGHT BY THE GARDENER. 103 slow and hesitating steps, when a young fellow, who at once I knew to be the gardener, whose garden I had made a desert of, came furiously upon me. Having only just discovered the mischief I had done him, he ran after me, and, having caught me, began without ceremony to belabour me with a great stick he carried in his hand, and continued to distribute his blows so thick over all parts of my body, that I actually thought he would have killed me. And so, indeed, had I not taken my own part and defended my life, he certainly would have done ; but breaking away from him, sud- denly whirling round, and flinging my loins up into the air, I launched out my hinder hoofs at him several times in rapid succession till I sent him prostrate and severely wounded against a bank on the mountain's side. "Then I galloped fast away from the place, but a woman, I sup- pose his wife, who was near the spot, a little higher up the hill, happening to look down below and see him lying on his stomach half dead, immediately ran towards him crying and howling so loud, that it seemed as if she had no other reason for her expression of pity than to bring me to destruction. For she aroused all the country people by her clamorous lamentations, and they instantly shouted to their dogs, and the dogs flew upon me from all quarters ready to tear me to pieces, while the men did all they could to exasperate and halloo them on, till certainly my life was placed in very imminent danger. Taking, therefore, counsel with myself to suit the emer. gency, when I saw such a pack of dogs, great in size, 104 BEATEN BY RUSTICS. Book IV. and many in number, enormous animals rather fit to grapple with lions or bears than torment a poor jackass, all approaching with infuriated speed to attack me, I immediately gave up all hopes of running away any farther, and galloped back to the stable whence I came as fast as my legs could carry me. Thither, however, the rustics, after calling off their dogs with much difficulty, followed me, and, having caught hold of me, immedi- ately tied me to a ring in the wall with a strong lea- thern thong, and began beating me so furiously that they most certainly would have put an end to me, had I not, by aid of a miraculous catastrophe, produced jointly by the pain of the blows and the abundance of raw greens I had devoured, been suddenly enabled to scatter in dismay the enemies in my rear, and afford time to my masters, the robbers, to come to my rescue. The sun had descended from his meridian height and was slanting his beams upon the earth, when we were all once more led out of the stable, and a heavier load was placed upon my back than upon any of the others. Consequently, after we had gone through a considerable portion of the day's journey I was tho- roughly overpowered and knocked up by distance and the weight of my load. At last, while, disheartened by the blows of the robbers' sticks and the pain of my bat- tered hoofs, I was moving onwards limping and tripping as I went, we came to a gently flowing rivulet that pursued its winding course by the side of the road. Here I resolved to watch the first opportunity I could Book IV. SCHEME OF ESCAPE. 105 seize and then bolt into the water, where, thought I, " Instantly bending my four legs under me and drop- ping down on my belly, there, in spite of the blows of all their sticks, will I remain : aye, sooner shall they run me through with a sword than compel me to rise." I moreover reflected that it was very likely that the rob- bers, seeing I was half dead and reduced to an extreme state of debility, might consider me deserving of an honourable discharge, and be content, were it only from impatience of being delayed on the road and the fear of pursuit, to divide the load I carried on my back among the other beasts of burden, and leave me a prey to the wolves and vultures without wreaking their ven- geance on me any further. No sooner, however, had I completed the arrangement of this admirable scheme than it was thwarted by untoward fortune ; for all of a sudden the other jackass, as if he actually anticipated by divination what I intended to do, pretended to be overcome with fatigue also, and instantly dropping down in the road, with all the baggage on his back, lay there like a dead creature. Upon which the robbers, perceiving that neither by beating nor by goading, nor by pulling at his legs, nor by rocking him this way and that way by his ears and tail, could they prevail upon him to get up, became exasperated by a delay which to them, under the circumstances, seemed the period of a man's life, and took counsel together as to what was to be done in the emergency. Considering the animal no better than if he were dead, or made of stone, they f 3 106 THE KOBBEES' CAVE. Book IV. determined to waste no more time about him ; so they cut through the sinews of all his legs with a sword, and after dividing the load on his back between my horse and myself, dragged him, yet breathing, to the side of the road, and pitched him headlong over a high pre- cipice into the valley below. Taking warning, there- fore, by the fate of my miserable comrade, and knowing by the conversation I had overheard among the robbers that their place of habitation, where our journey would finally terminate and ourselves have plenty of rest, was not far distant, I resolved not to have any more re- course to treacherous tricks, but prove myself an honest ass to my masters for the time to come. We had proceeded but a little way after the event above related, when we ascended a gentle hill and arrived at the place of our destination, where no sooner had we halted, than the loads were removed from off all our backs, and the things taken within the dwell- ing. At this moment, the instant I felt myself re- lieved from the weight of my burden, in order to obtain the refreshment of a bath for my weariness, I rolled myself over and over again in the dust. Whence, reader, it behoves me to arise at this period of my nar- rative to make trial of my abilities, and to prove to thee satisfactorily that though, indeed, at the present period I was an ass in form, I was not altogether an ass in sense and understanding. The things, moreover, that henceforth I shall have to describe alike require it. First, then, with regard to the locality of the spot, Book IV. THE ROBBERS' CAVE. ' 107 and the robbers' cave, — the part of the mountain where we now were was rough and rugged, covered with large trees, and rose to an extraordinary height. Winding paths, leading between craggy rocks towards the summit, were rendered inaccessible, and naturally protected on either side by holes, and fissures, and gullies choked with brambles ; while below, the surface of the dales and valleys was overflowed by stagnant pools and the waters of a sluggish lake, which waters, from a source on the crest of the mountain, were vomited forth in bubbling streams, which first fell headlong over a precipice, and then pursued a meander- ing course downwards in various tiny silver rivulets. Immediately above the cave stood a lofty tower, and in front of the cave a small enclosure, like a sheep-fold, fenced with hurdles instead of a wall, and with a door formed of the branches of small trees ; which enclosure, reader, on my authority you may call the robbers' atrium. Besides the above objects there was no other appearance of house or building, save a small roughly- constructed hut of reeds, where, as I afterwards learned, those of the banditti appointed to keep watch during the night remained. Such being the appearance on the outside of the robbers' domicile, they having left us fastened to the adjacent trees with strong leathern thongs, now en- tered the enclosure, and thence, compressing their limbs in a crouching attitude, crawled one after ano- ther into the cave. No sooner had they arrived within 108 THE ROBBERS' DAME. Book IV. than immediately they began to call and shout in an angry tone ; upon which an old woman made her ap- pearance, who, notwithstanding age had bent her double, appeared to be entrusted with the entire charge of all these lusty young men. " Why," exclaimed one of them to the aged dame, " thou that art, like a corpse on the funeral pile, a dis- grace to mortal life, and Pluto's abomination, dost thou make game of us that thou hast thus been sitting at home all day idle ? "What, at this late hour, after all our labours and perils, hast thou nothing to give us for supper, and. nought to think of but continually to pour wine down thy throat into that greedy growling sto- mach of thine ?" " Brave, honourable young gentlemen, my masters," replied the old woman, who seemed frightened out of her wits, " brave, honourable young gentlemen," said she, in a tremulous creaking voice, " all, all is ready — stewed meats, sweet and smoking in rich gravy, wine in abundance, cups cleaned bright, and plenty of loaves of bread. The water, too, for your hasty bath is heated as usual." In consequence of the latter assurance of the old woman, the robbers immediately undressed themselves, and when they were stripped stark naked they sluiced their bodies with hot water and afterwards anointed themselves with oil. Then, while their limbs were refreshed by the warmth of a large fire, they reclined at the table, which was abundantly supplied with dishes. Book IV. CONVERSATION OF THE ROBBERS. 109 Scarcely, however, were they severally arranged in their places than a parcel of other young men, many more in number than the first portion, entered the cave, who, without a moment's hesitation, one would have pronounced to be robbers also ; for they brought with them booty of various sorts, such as abundance of gold and silver in' money and drinking vessels, as well as silken garments embroidered with gold. And now the latter portion of the troop having alike with their com- panions refreshed themselves by a bath, reclined at the table among the others, with the exception of a few on whom the duty of waiting on all the rest had devolved by lot. Then, all at once falling to eating and drinking, in the most disorderly manner, they attacked the heaped platters of stewed meat, whole mounds of bread, and the cups arranged in soldierlike array all along the table. And when they had done they raised a violent noise by romping together, bawling forth songs as loud as they were able, playing all manner of jokes, and bantering one another ; in short they behaved like so many The- ban Lapithse or Centaurs. At last one who in stature surpassed all the others, addressing himself to the Test of his companions — "Right bravely," said he, "did we pummel that house of Milo in Hypata, and valuable is the booty that our strength and valour hath procured. Moreover we have returned back again to our camp in safety ; aye, and if 'twere aught to reckon, with eight legs more than we started with. But ye who have been foraging 110 CONVERSATION OF THE ROBBERS. Book IV. among the cities of Bceotia have your ranks diminished by the loss of the bravest of leaders, Lamachus; whom far rather had I seen here safe and sound among you than all the trumpery packages you have brought hither. Nay, while the memory of Lamachus, whom, no doubt, excess of courage stimulated to destruction, will hold a place among kings and noble leaders of armies, as for all of you, ye are nought but sneaking, cowardly fellows, who go crawling about the public baths, and commit your petty burglaries in old women's miserable habitations." When the tall stout robber had finished speaking, one of the new comers to whom he had addressed him- self replied as follows : — " Dost thou not know," said he, "or art thou alone of all the men belonging to our band in ignorance that, of all manner of houses, such as thou hast spoken of are the most difficult to attack, while large houses are broken open with greater facility ? Art thou not aware that in extensive buildings the apartments are scattered abroad, distant from one another, and in numerous families each person pays more regard to his own safety than the property of the master ? But the frugal solitary inhabitant of a small dwelling, whether the valuables he has to protect be few or many, invariably makes a vigorous resistance in behalf of his property, and defends it at the risk of his life. Listen then, and by a tale that I will relate I will show thee the truth of what I say." Book IV. FOURTH EPISODE. Ill FOUBTH EPISODE. TALE OP THE ROBBER. So soon as we had arrived in the seven-gated city of Thebes, as is the usual practice of our profession, we diligently made inquiries relating to. the property of the inhabitants. Accordingly we heard of a certain banker, called Chryseros, who had the reputation of possessing a great deal of money, though, for fear of being appointed in consequence of his wealth to various offices and civil duties, he did all that lay in his power to conceal his treasure and make people believe he was poor. Dirty in his person and dressed in rags, he occupied a house which though small was strongly barred and bolted notwithstanding, and there, living in silence and solitude, he sat like a hen upon her nest, brooding all day over his money-bags. The house of this banker we determined to attack, imagining we should be able to possess ourselves of all his riches without difficulty or interruption ; and as the resistance of one single pair of arms was a matter of little consideration, we made no preparation for the enterprise otherwise than to assemble ourselves one evening all together at his door at nightfall. When we arrived there, not thinking it expedient for fear of alarming the neigh- bours either to break the lock, or smash the door, or 112 FOURTH EPISODE. Book IV. lift the latter off its hinges, Lamachus, our sublime standard-bearer, confident in his well-tried valour, engaged to do the business single-handed, and, intro- ducing his arm through an aperture made for the convenience of the people within to hang up the key, endeavoured to draw back a bolt that was on the other side. Meanwhile that most villanous of bipeds Chry- seros, who all the time had been awake and listening to what we were doing, advanced in breathless silence, and, coming softly and stealthily to the spot with an enormous nail, made a violent effort all of a sudden, and nailed the hand of our leader to the wooden plank, leaving him there transfixed like a crucified criminal. Then immediately ascending to the roof of his wretched hovel, he bawled and shouted, and exclaimed that his house was on fire, till he alarmed all the neighbours, calling on the people by their pro- per names, and in the name of the public safety, to render their assistance. The people accordingly, sti- mulated by the imminent danger, and terrified on account of their own property, came running to the spot with alacrity, so that we should speedily have been overwhelmed with numbers, or reduced to the necessity of abandoning Lamachus, had not he himself devised a desperate expedient suited to the critical juncture. Instantly cutting off his arm right through the shoulder-joint, and leaving it hanging to the door, we tore our garments for bandages, enveloped the wound with abundance of covering, in order to prevent Book IV. FOURTH EPISODE. 113 our track being discovered by the dropping of the blood, and hurried our comrade away along with us as fast as he was able to go. But that courageous, noble- minded hero, thus urged to sudden flight by the grievous multitude of people in the neighbourhood that pressed upon us, perceiving that nought but flight could save us from our peril, and feeling himself inca- pable of keeping pace with the rest of us, while safety for himself on the spot where we were was out of the question, besought and entreated us by the right hand of Mars, and by all manner of prayers and arguments, to acquit ourselves of our oath of allegiance to one another and at once free a brave companion from the horrors of captivity and torture. " For who," said he, " without a right arm can cut throats or plunder ? Without a right arm how can a brave robber survive? Happy, thrice happy, were he to meet a voluntary death by the hands of his comrades." Lamachus in vain continued to persuade us to accede to his wishes, for we unanimously refused to commit a crime that we considered no less than parricide, so at last he took hold of his sword with his re m a in i n g left hand, kissed it several times, and buried it in his bosom with so violent an effort that the point passed through and through his body, — and thus died our magnanimous leader. When he was no more, overcome with vene- ration for his courage, we speedily wrapped his remains in a linen garment, and committed his body to the river, 114 FOURTH EPISODE. Book IV. thence to find, in the bosom of the wide ocean, a place of concealment and a sepulchre. Such being the termination appointed by Lamachus himself of a life celebrated for noble deeds, I will now proceed to relate how by the sinister influence of fortune Alcimus, another of our brave leaders, was deprived of existence, and how he miserably perished in spite of his well-concerted enterprises. Such was the misfor- tune we experienced on the occasion of attacking an- other small dwelling occupied by a lone proprietor like Chryseros. Alcimus, having mounted to the roof of the cottage of a certain old woman, had made a hole through the tiles, had descended into one of the upper chambers where the aged dame — whose windpipe, more is the pity, he forgot first of all to squeeze — lay asleep, and thence had thrown out of the window into the street, where we stood below ready to receive the articles, everything that the apartment contained worth carrying away. At last, after getting cleverly rid of all the old woman's goods,, he came to the bed upon which she lay, so, rolling her out of it on the floor, he was proceeding to toss the blankets also after the other things out of the window, when the wicked old wretch threw herself on her knees before him, and, said she, "Nay, my son, wouldst thou cast out a poor old woman's miserable property to the rich neighbours? To yon wealthy people who live in the house opposite?" Alcimus, deceived at this crafty speech, immedi- ately looked out of the window in order to take a Book IV. FOURTH EPISODE. 115 survey of the vicinity, not only to assure himself that the plunder fell into no other hands than those of his comrades, but to scrutinize the indications of wealth belonging to the people opposite, and discover whether the account given by the old woman of the inmates of the house were true. While Alcimus was thus engaged, observing all without with sagacious vigi- lance, but, careless of his own safety, his head and shoulders stretched out of the window till his weight was over-pendulous and his body unsteady, the old woman, while his attention was fixedly engaged on his purpose, came gently behind him, and by a feeble but sudden and unexpected effort, throwing him off his balance, hurled him in a moment headlong into the street. In addition to the height of the fill, he alighted on an enormously large stone, where he lay on the ground with all his ribs broken and vomiting blood in a stream, till death, that left him barely enough of life to relate to us what had happened, speedily put an end to his torments. Thus we, having suffered a double calamity in the loss of two of our comrades, resolved to abandon at once our Theban enterprises ; and accordingly, per- forming the rites of sepulture as we had done to Lamachus, we committed the body of his worthy fol- lower to the waves, and immediately departed on Our way to Plateae, the next large city. When we arrived at Platea?, we learnt that a certain celebrated person- age, of noble family and enormous fortune, by name 116 FOURTH EPISODE. Book IV. Demochares, remarkable for the splendour of his public entertainments, was speedily about to give a gladiatorial exhibition worthy of his great wealth; and the pre- parations then in progress were on a scale of such mag- nificence, that the most eloquent person alive could hardly find words to express the extent and variety. Already there were collected from various parts, and assembled in the city, bands of practised gladiators, hunters celebrated for pedestrian prowess, and gangs of criminals, who, condemned to be devoured by wild beasts in the arena, were meanwhile pampering their bodies with luxurious food, in hopeless apathy. Then there were also constructed and ready, moveable ma- chines in the form of turrets, formed of planks lashed together like wooden houses, beautifully painted out- side with pictures, and intended for receptacles for the performers during the festivity. With respect to the vastly numerous collection of wild beasts, which, without regard to labour or expense, had been brought from foreign countries for the purpose of being made the laving sepulchres of many a devoted victim, it were quite impossible to give an account of the number and appearance, though among them were also a great number of bears procured in the neighbour- hood. Many of the latter animals, in addition to the ordi- nary apparatus of the ensuing spectacle, the immense fortune of Demochares had enabled him to obtain by purchase, others were taken in the chace by his own servants, and several were given him by friends, who Book IV. FOURTH EPISODE. 117 on the present occasion vied with one another in show- ing similar tokens of generosity. Meanwhile the en- vious glance of evil Fortune fell upon Demochares, and marred these noble preparations for the public amuse- ment. Although all the bears were carefully and sumptuously provided for, they were suddenly visited by a dire pestilence, which, whether in consequence of their long confinement and want of exercise, or owing to the burning heat of the sun, reduced them to a sadly emaciated state, and killed the greater number. Such, indeed, was the awful mortality that prevailed, that very few were left alive ; and, reader, you might have seen in the streets wherever you went, the dead and half-dead bodies of bears all over the town, lying like stranded vessels on the sea-shore. While the state of appearances, when we arrived at Platese, was as above stated, the ignoble vulgar, whom unmitigated poverty compelled to feed without Discrimination, were flocking from all quarters to the city to fill their shrunken bellies, and batten on the sordid offal of the carcases. The latter circumstance suggested to our comrade Babulus and myself a clever invention. In the first place, we selected from among the dead bodies of the bears that of a female exceeding all the rest in size and condition, and, as if we had need of the flesh for the purpose of nourishment, conveyed it to our habitation. There we stripped from the body the skin, with the head, separated at the neck-joint, attached to it, as well 118 FOURTH EPISODE. Book IV. as all the feet and claws ; and carefully scraping the inner surface of the hide till we had considerably atte- nuated the substance, we sprinkled it with finely- powdered ashes, and exposed it in the sun to dry. While the oily matter was being exhaled by the force of celestial heat, we vigorously gorged ourselves with a portion of the sound pulpy flesh ; and when we had made a hearty meal, we all took a solemn oath that one of our number — one rather remarkable for stoutness of heart than bodily strength, but a volunteer above all things — should be sewn up in the hide, and carried in the form of a live bear to the house of Demochares, in order to facilitate our entrance, on a seasonable occa- sion, in the dead of night. An enterprise so plausible stimukted not a few of our brave college to undertake the execution, and finally our comrade Thrasyleo was selected from among many others to undergo the hazard of the die. With a serene countenance, therefore, Thrasyleo took hold of the hide, which was now rendered quite soft and flexible, and having wrapped it about himself in such a manner that his head occupied the neck of the animal at that part precisely where the spine had been divided, we brought the edges close together, and sewed the seams with fine stitches, overlaid with the thick hair growing along the line of juncture. Then we pierced small holes in front of his eyes and nostrils, in order that he might see, and have air to breathe. So soon as he was thus completely disguised, we purchased a Book IV. FOURTH EPISODE. 119 beast's cage for a small sum of money, into which Thrasyleo, who was now transformed into the perfect resemblance of a bear, with unflinching courage crawled. After the above preliminaries were arranged, and we had thus made a beginning, in order to carry the remainder of our design into execution we completed the manoeuvre as follows : — Having ascertained that in the neighbourhood there was a particularly intimate friend of Demochares, by name Nicanor, we addressed a counterfeit letter in Nicanor's name to Demochares, expressive of his desire to dedicate to the latter, in token of friendship, the first fruits of a hunting party. We then waited until late in the evening, and, availing ourselves of the dark- ness, or rather applying the obscurity of the season to an unholy purpose, we carried the cage containing our comrade Thrasyleo, together with the counterfeit letter above mentioned, to the house of Demochares. We had no sooner arrived there than Demochares, vastly de- lighted at the size and appearance of the animal that he believed to be a bear, in excess of joy at the liberality of his friend Nicanor, immediately took from the purse he carried about him ten pieces of gold, which he ordered to be given us by his attendants, " as a remu- neration," he said, "for the pleasure we were the means of affording him." Meanwhile the people had already assembled in great numbers to view the large animal newly imported; and, instigated by the influence of novelty that invariably excites the minds of men on the 120 FOURTH EPISODE. Book IV. sight of any new spectacle, many were proceeding to examine him rather too inquisitively, had not Thrasyleo played his part so well, and so cleverly managed his menacing gestures, that he contrived to keep them all at proper distance. They declared unanimously that Demochares, sufficiently celebrated before in many pre- vious instances, was the happiest and luckiest man alive, whom Fortune, determined to assist in one way or other, now that he had suffered so heavy a loss among his wild beasts, had once more condescended to uphold by this new arrival. At last, when all the people pre- sent were satisfied with the inspection of the bear, De- mochares issued orders for its immediate removal to one of his farms, and was giving most particular directions re- lative to the manner of carefully transporting it thither, when, said I, addressing myself to Demochares, " Our bear, noble sir, hath suffered severely from fatigue and the heat of the sun during the long journey ; beware, therefore, to trust her with others of her kind among thy herd, which, methinks, are hardly yet recovered from the late pestilence. Nay, well art thou aware that such creatures delight to roam at large in shady groves and on pleasant hills, and resort to moist caverns and cool fountains continually. Wherefore thine own dwell- ing, forsooth, whose open airy site is refreshed by the salubrious breezes of the adjacent lake, might peradven- ture afford a more suitable receptacle for the bear than the place where 'tis proposed to send her." At these words, Demochares, reflecting on the great number Book IV. FOURTH EPISODE. 121 of bears he had already lost, became alarmed at the ad- monition, and readily consented to have the cage, with Thrasyleo, carried into his house, and placed wherever we thought proper. "Whereupon, addressing myself once more to Demochares, "Since heat and vexation," said I, " have marvellously afflicted the temper of the brute, and we are better acquainted with the proper times to give her meat and drink than a stranger, will- ingly will we, if thou think well of it, remain within all night and watch the cage." " We need none of thy services," replied Demochares: "daily practice hath sufficiently exercised my household in the treatment of bears, and right well do they understand the manner of feeding them." So soon as Demochares had given us the latter reply, we made our obeisance and took our leave. We then departed out of the gate of the city, along the road, whence we soon diverged on observing a monumental building in a retired position on one side. On arriving there, finding the building to be a columbarium, we broke open the numerous receptacles of the dust and ashes of the dead, whose covers were already half de- stroyed by age and natural decay, and thus made ready convenient hiding-places for the booty we expected to obtain from the house of Demochares. And now a moon- less night having arrived, such as, according to the usual observances of our sect, is always chosen for such operations, our whole band assembled at an hour when the first powerful impulse of sound sleep invades and 122 FOURTH EPISODE. Book IV. overcomes the hearts of mortals, and all of us stood, sword in hand, ready to fulfil the obligations of our oath, at the appointed spot. In like manner, Thrasyleo; with intuitive burglarious instinct, having hit upon the precise moment, simultaneously crept out of his cage, put to death every one of the guards who lay asleep near the door, and finally haying killed the porter himself by a thrust of a sword, he opened the gate with the key taken from the latter, and let us all in. In therefore we all rushed immediately, and being speedily collected within the body of the building, we pror ceeded without more ado to break open the door of a chamber that Thrasyleo showed us, where, as he had sagaciously remarked the evening before, a large quan- tity of silver plate was deposited. Having by our united force accomplished the latter object without difficulty, I proposed to my comrades that they should each take as much of the gold and silver treasure as he was able to carry, and convey it with the utmost speed to the columbarium, there to be left in charge of those who, of all other mortals in the world, are most fitted to be trusted, namely, the dead; and that then they should return without delay to the house of Demor chares to fill their sacks again. At the same time I said I would remain alone where I was for the general good, and taking post in front of the house door, would keep careful watch lest anything extraordinary might occur before they came back. For methought the figure of a great she bear, loose and running about all over the Book IV. FOURTH EPISODE. 123 house, was a most opportune safeguard, and sufficient to frighten out of their wits any member of the family that might happen to awake. Who, indeed, at the sight of such an enormous beast, especially a person aroused out of his sleep in the middle of the night, would not, how- ever brave and intrepid he might be naturally, imme- diately take to his heels and run away in a state of fear and trepidation? — aye, and bolt himself into the cellar ? An unfortunate result, however, attended these judi- cious arrangements, as ill luck would have it; for, while I was thus remaining in a state of anxious suspense waiting the return of my comrades, one of the servant boys of the house happening to awake in consequence of a noise produced by some untoward fatality, crept out of bed, and the moment he caught sight, as he thought, of an enormous wild beast wandering at full liberty about the apartments, immediately retraced his steps the way he came, and in the most cautious manner possible, preserving the strictest silence all the time, communicated to all the inhabitants of the dwelling the spectacle he had witnessed. Accordingly the attendants and domestics of the extensive household being thus alarmed, made their appearance, without a moment's delay, in such numbers that the house appeared filled with a multitude of people, every one of whom, besides bearing a night light of one sort or other, such as a torch, a lamp, a wax candle, or a tallow candle, which altogether thoroughly illuminated the darkness with a G2 124 FOURTH EPISODE. Book IV. blazing light, carried also a weapon of some description, either a club or a spear, a drawn sword or similar offensive implement, with which they collectively guarded every approach to the house, and then brought a parcel of huge rough wolf-dogs to attack the bear. Meanwhile, as the tumult continued to increase more and more, I retreated gradually, moving step by step backwards by slow degrees, till I got out of the house, and ensconced myself behind the outer gate, whence I had a view of the conflict, and perceived Thrasyleo de- fending himself most wonderfully against the dogs. Such, indeed, was the effectual resistance he opposed to his antagonists, by the various attitudes and movements of his body and limbs, that, though struggling as it were against the triple jaws of Cerberus, and though life was almost extinct within him, yet, mindful of his former glorious deeds, steady to his allegiance, and determined even to his last breath to fulfil the scenic part he had voluntarily undertaken, he finally succeeded, fighting at one time and retreating at another, to make his way out of the house. But, alasl though he got out of doors and reached the public way, he was yet unable to attain the enjoyment of liberty, for several other savage dogs belonging to the people in the adjoining street came rushing to the spot, and reinforcing the dogs of the chase that followed from the house, now mingled all together in a united pack, and attacked him conjointly, while Thrasyleo, hemmed in and sur- rounded on every side by the raging animals, was Book IV. FOURTH EPISODE. 125 severely lacerated by their . teeth in all parts of his body. At last, unable to bear the cruel terrible spec- tacle any longer, overcome with grief, and anxious to adopt the only possible means in my power secretly to help my comrade, I mingled among some of the clusters of people who were hurrying to the spot from all directions, and addressing myself to those who ap- peared to be encouraging the dogs, " Shame, shame," said I, "to rob the people of their sport at the coming spectacle, and sutler such a fine bear to be destroyed in this manner ! " But the artifice was of no avail, nor were my words of any service to the unfortunate Thrasyleo. On the contrary, just at the moment they were uttered, one tall strong fellow came running out of the house and pierced his body with a spear ; then followed, with drawn swords, a second and a third, and afterwards several more, all emboldened by the increase of their numbers, till, to the honour of our noble band, the de- voted Thrasyleo, whom neither sword nor spear, nor the teeth of furious dogs, could compel to forfeit his oath or utter a cry or groan, submitted with vigorous generosity to his cruel lot, and yielded his life to fate with a growl worthy of immortality. Such, indeed, was the impression he created by his valour among the crowd, that the morning had elapsed — aye, and the day was pretty well advanced— before any of the inha- bitants of the city, notwithstanding the creature that they took to be a bear was lying dead on the ground, 126 FOURTH EPISODE. Book IV. would venture to lay a finger on the body or even approach the carcase. At length, however, a certain butcher, who happened to be a little bolder than his neighbours, advancing at first timidly and slowly, and coming nearer and nearer by degrees, ripped open with his knife the hide of the bear and robbed it of the jmgnanimous robber, the brave Thrasyleo, who though lost to us still lives in glorious memory. Forthwith we made a rapid retreat from the city of Platese, and having collected the packages of booty left under the care of the faithful dead at the Columbarium, we left the locality with a full impression on our minds that, seared at the wicked practices of our profession, thither had Fidelity fled and taken her abode. Fatigued with the weight of the loads and our long rough jour- ney, and oppressed with sorrow at the loss of three of our comrades, such are the circumstances under which we have procured and brought hither the booty which now you see. END OF THE FOURTH EPISODE. Here the robber brought his narrative to a conclusion, upon which the remainder of the troop proceeded im- mediately to make a libation of pure undiluted wine, poured from golden cups, to the memory of their de- Book IV. ROBBERS DEPART ON AN EXCURSION. 127 ceased comrades ; and after they had finished, having first sang a few songs in order to conciliate the god Mars, they all, one after another, fell fast asleep. My masters being thus employed, the old woman served out to myself and my horse such a quantity of barley without stint or measure, that my horse, no doubt, who had it all to himself, might have fancied himself at supper with those dancing gluttonous priests, the Salii. Meanwhile, for my part, although I had fasted so long that the spiders had begun to spin their webs about my lips, and moreover had had frequent op- portunities in former times of eating good rich gravy broth made of well-dried, well-crushed barley, I now preferred to rummage in a corner where the robbers deposited their bread, and exercise my jaws upon the loaves I found there till a late hour of the night, when the robbers suddenly awoke, and, striking their camp, sallied forth without more ado on a predatory excursion. Away they all went, some armed with swords, and others disguised like hobgoblins, and hur- rying away from the cave at a rapid pace, left me, whom sleep had not yet summoned from my occupation, chew- ing and chewing on most bravely and steadily. Such, indeed, was the profound depth of the belly I had to provide for, that although, in the days when I was Lucius, I should have departed satisfied from table after eating one or two loaves at farthest, I had now already devoured two whole basketsful, and was just finishing the third. Nay even when broad daylight disturbed 128 KETURN WITH A DAMSEL. Book IV. me busy at the work, and the modesty of a jackass compelled me to leave the provender, it was with pain and sorrow that I at length tore myself away, and went to slake my thirst at the rivulet close by. Although the robbers when they departed had gone in full force and armed to the teeth, they returned again at an early hour in the day. Nevertheless they had taken no booty, not so much as an old worn out gaberdine, and all their countenances bore an anxious, discontented expression, notwithstanding they brought with them one solitary prisoner, a damselj who, judging from the style of her dress, belonged to a noble family, and in appearance was a person such as, by Hercules ! even I myself; although I was an ass, could not refrain from admiring. Meanwhile; as they led her into the cave, she tore her hair and rent her clothes and cried most bitterly ; and they; on the other hand, doing all they possibly could to alleviate her distress of mind and persuade her to make light of her misfortune, com- forted her with soothing words, as follows : — " Thy life," said they, " is safe ; neither shall any one offer thee harm. Have patience then ; for 'tis the poverty of our sect that compels us to the necessity. Thy parents, moreover, albeit avaricious, possess heaps of money, and they right speedily will spare a fitting sum to procure thy ransom." But such exhortations on the part of the robbers failed to alleviate in the slightest degree the grief of the damsel. No wonder ! She on the contrary bent Book IV. HER EXCESSIVE GRIEF. 129 her face on her knees and wept immoderately, till the robbers, calling in the old woman and bidding the latter sit near her, speak kindly to her, and amuse her with conversation, again departed out of doors on their vocation. The discourse, however, of the little old woman was quite unavailing and incapable of allur- ing her from her lamentations. She continued to cry and scream and scream and cry again, louder and louder, till her very stomach trembled, and her conti- nual unintermitting sobs drew tears even from my ass's eyes. " Miserable wretch that I am !" exclaimed she, " to be thus torn from my revered parents, my dearest friends, from all my family, and our kind good ser- vants ! A prisoner in a rocky cavern; a slave bereft of liberty, the ill-fated prey of a troop of banditti, de- prived of all the comforts I have enjoyed from my infancy ! — Cease to cry ! How is it possible ? How even can life be supportable ? Here, while I remain among a host of savage robbers, a horrible troop of gladiators, without a single moment's safety, like a sheep in the butcher's shambles." Thus did the poor young damsel continue to lament, till, in addition to her grief of heart, the muscular ten- sion and convulsive heavings of her chest and throat produced corporeal lassitude and closed her languid eyes in sleep. But awaking suddenly again at a short interval, with a violent start; and springing up as if bereft of her senses entirely, she afflicted herself a great deal g3 130 HER EXCESSIVE GRIEF. Book. IV. more violently than before, cruelly smiting her beauti- ful face, and beating her bosom with the palms of her hands, while the tears showered from her eyes in greater abundance, and her sighs were more profound than ever. When the old woman inquired what it was that could possibly have caused this new paroxysm, " All, all is now over with me I" exclaimed she, " utterly and everlastingly am I ruined and undone ! Nay, I will hang myself, or drown myself, or throw myself over a precipice." The old woman, hearing the latter exclamation, grew a little angry, and with a severe expression of countenance bade her declare what ailed her afresh ? — what caused her to rise from her sleep so suddenly ? — and wherefore she gave way to such ungovernable lamentations ? " Surely," said she, " thou hast not a mind to de- fraud my young men of thy ransom money ? But let's have no more on't, for, by my troth, little do robbers care for a young maiden's tears, I can tell thee ; and if thou dost not cease, and that right quickly, I'll have thee burnt alive." The young damsel was sadly terrified at the above speech of the old woman, and immediately kissing her hand, " Good mother," said she, " have a little pa- tience; spare me, I beseech thee, and pity, for the love of humanity, my sad misfortune. Thy grey hairs have made thee venerable, and age that hath brought thee experience surely hath not entirely dried up the Book IV. RELATES HER HISTORY. 131 source of pity in thy bosom. Listen then, oh lis- ten, I pray thee, to the tale of wretchedness that I will unfold to thee. " I was pledged in the bonds of mutual love to a handsome youth, a citizen of high consideration, whom the public had unanimously dignified with civic honours. He was my own first cousin, three years only older than myself, with whom I had been brought up and educated in the same house from my infancy. The nuptial day, by the consent of our parents, was already appointed; our names were in- scribed on the tablets; victims had been sacrificed in the temples and on the public altars ; our house was crowded with a throng of friends and acquaintance in- vited to the ceremony ; the chambers were illuminated with torches, and the walls entirely covered with laurel leaves — when all of a sudden, while the whole assemblage were chanting the hymeneal song, and my mother, supporting me on her bosom, was arranging my bridal dress jin simple form, and tenderly whis- pering in my ear her parental aspirations and her future hopes, her kisses were at once interrupted by a number of armed men who, formed in a compact, wedge-like band, waving their naked glittering swords, and raging as in the moment of battle, came rushing like gladiators into the chamber. To shed blood they cared not, neither did they seek for plunder; but, although not a single individual of the servants op- posed their progress nor offered the least resistance, 132 KELATES HER HISTOKY. Book IV. they forcibly tore me, trembling and half dead with fear, from my mother's arms. Thus was our marriage put an end to, like the nuptials of Perithous and the daughter of Athrax, and a most horrible dream, imme- diately before I aWoke, renewed all my misery. " For methought people were carrying me by violence through solitary desert places, away from house and home and friends; and although, calling and reiter- ating the name of my husband, I refused to walk, they still continually persisted to hurry me along. Then methought I saw my husband dressed in his bridal dress and crowned with cbaplets. And everywhere we Went; methought my husband followed me. And me- thought he called to the people for assistance, and he said I was his lovely wife; and the people listened to the clamour and became excited ; and then the robbers grew angry, but Still my husband followed, followed on unceasingly. At last methought one robber burst into a terrible rage, and took up a great stone that lay in the road, and threw the stone at my wretched hus- band, and killed my husband on the spot. And so the horrible sight frightened me out of my sleep and I started up." When the damsel had related her dream to the old woman, she again Wept violently, and the other heaving a sigh at the sight of the poor maiden's tears thus addressed her : — " Be of good cheer, my young mistress," said she, " and be not terrified at the idle phantasies of dreams. Book IV. FIFTH EPISODE. 133 Besides, dreams dreamt in the day time are never accounted true, and frequently even the events that appear in a dream during the night eventually happen quite contrary. To dream of weeping, for example, or of being beaten, nay, even to dream thou art killed outright, is nought than a sure sign of marvellous good fortune ; while to think thou art laughing, or stuffing thyself with sweetmeats, is a certain foreboding of evil; followed always by sorrow; sickness, or some dire mis- fortune; But I will tell thee an old woman's story j and if thou wilt listen to my pretty tale 'twill speedily cause thee to forget all thy trouble." The old woman having thus spoken began without more ado as follows : — FIFTH EPISODE; CUPID AND PSYCHE. Once upon a time; in a certain city, there lived a king and a queen, and they had three fair daughters. The charms of the two elder sisters were a fitting and a constant theme of praise for all mankind, but the transcendent loveliness of the younger baffled the power of human language, and words were insufficient to con- 134 FIFTH EPISODE. Book IV. vey an adequate idea of the perfection of her beauty. The busy tongue of Fame attracted to the spot great numbers of the citizens, and strangers from foreign parts, to view the extraordinary spectacle ; but, unable to approach the radiant image, they all halted before her presence in mute astonishment, and placing their hands before their faces, in the attitude prescribed at the solemnities of the goddess Venus, stood stupified and riveted to the spot. Forthwith, accordingly, tid- ings were spread abroad through the adjacent provinces and among the neighbouring cities, that the celebrated divinity, engendered in the azure depths of the ocean, and nourished on the foamy dew of the waves, had abjured her celestial sway, and mingled indiscrimi- nately with mortals in all parts of the earth; or at least that another Venus, other than the Venus of the sea, had dropped from the celestial stars, or been born on earth. And now, as the news, travelling from day to day with increased rapidity, and speedily traversing the islands in the vicinity, extended over various of the continental provinces, many were the mortals who, by long journeys by land and by sea, flocked to see the glorious specimen of the age, while the votaries of Venus no longer set sail in ships to Paphos, nor to Cnidos, nor even to Cythera, to visit her principal shrines, but her sacrifices were unperformed, her tem- ples were desecrated, her pedestals overturned, and her ceremonies neglected — chaplets were no longer brought to decorate her images, and cold extinguished Book IV. FIFTH EPISODE. 135 ashes disgraced her widowed altars. A divinity, in short, was idealized in a human countenance, and the great goddess of Love was worshipped in the person of a mortal maid, whom the people conciliated by banquets and the sacrifice of victims, instead of the absent Venus. And every morning as she walked abroad, they threw flowers and nosegays on her path, in testimony of their veneration. The true and real Venus, grievously incensed at heart at the undisguised translation of celestial honours to a creature of human race, indignantly shook her head, and muttering aloud to herself in her impatience, ex- claimed, with increasing tone of voice, ' ' What ! shall Venus, the first early parent of the universe, the initi- ative source of the elements, the nurse of the terrestrial world, be thus treated? Submit to participate with a mortal damsel honours alone due to her own ma- jesty ? Shall mortal dross profane a name perpetuated in heaven ? Shall the uncertain homage of vicarious worship at a common altar be permitted? Nay, for- sooth, shall a short-lived mortal maiden thus walk abroad under my likeness ? As if 'twere for nought that the shepherd of Mount Ida pronounced a verdict whose accuracy and justice even great Jove himself applauded, and preferred my unparalleled beauty to the beauty of the other goddesses ! Whosoever she be that hath thus obtained these honours, verily will I ere long make her repent the usurpation of my beauty." Thus spake the goddess, and forthwith summoned to 136 FIFTH EPISODE. Book IV. her presence her winged son, that evil-mannered saucy scapegrace, who — petulant by natural disposition, capa- ble of nothing good, armed with flames and darts, and holding in contempt all manner of social obligations — runs by night from house to house, is the cause of in- numerable bickerings in private families, and does all manner of mischief with impunity. Such was the youth whom the goddess conducted to the above-mentioned city, and, groaning with rage and indignation, having brought him to the presence of Psyche, for that was the name of the damsel, she acquainted him with all that had happened to her beauteous rival, and notwith- standing his already audacious disposition, addressed him in the following words : — " I conjure thee by all the ties of" maternal love, by thine arrow's honied point, and by thy torch's genial warmth; revenge; aye, and with filial reverence inflict an overflowing meed of vengeance for thy parent's injury. One thing above all I implore of thee to do; and do willinglyi Punish the contu- macious beauty. Inspire her heart with ardent love of a mortal of mean condition, a wretch whom Fortune hath stripped of health and patrimony, a miserable gro- velling outcast whose character Fame hath blasted, a being such as the universal world, within its wide ex- panse, hath not his fellow;" After Venus had said the above words, and kissed Cupid long and tenderly, she hied her to the nearest shores of the ebbing and flowing sea. And now behold her brushing, with rosy feet, the dew from the top- Book IV. FIFTH EPISODE. 137 most surface of the water, and presently seated on a liquid mountain of the profound ocean, whither the powers of the deep, anticipating her half engendered wish, and obedient to her call, as if it were a command of long ago, arrive to do homage. First came the daughters of Nereus singing in chorus, followed by the rough blue-bearded god Neptune, with his spouse, half fish half woman, the full-bosomed Salacia* and their charioteer, the' little Palsemon, careering on the back of a dolphin, while in front, astern, and round about, hosts of Tritons furrowed the broad briny waste. Thus did the cortege that waited upon Venus proceed to the palace of Oceanus, while one with a sonorous shell sounded a pleasing melody, another shaded his mistress from the noxious effects of the sun's burning rays with a silken mantle, a third bore a looking-glass, which, to reflect her form, he held aloft before her eyesj and the remainder dived in sport beneath her tWo-yoked car. Psyche, despite of her matchless loveliness, reaped not the mortal fruit of her beauty. Eulogised beyond measure, and gazed at unceasingly, no suitor notwith- standing, either royal, noble, or plebeian, came to claim her hand in marriage. For her beauty was rather re- garded as of a divine nature, or as the polished marble of a sculptor's statue. But her elder sisters, whose more moderate charms fame had not so spread abroad among people and nations, long since had kings for their husbands and were happily wedded. Thus the deserted Psyche, sick at heart, and faint in body, sat 138 FIFTH EPISODE. Book IV. at home pining in widowed virginity, and, — lamenting those very allurements that fascinated all the world be- side,-!-lived hateful to herself. And now the wretched father of a still more unhappy daughter, suspicious of the enmity of the Celestials, and dreading their anger, forthwith betook himself to Miletus to consult the most ancient oracle of Apollo, and there, conciliating their wrath with prayers and by the sacrifice of victims, he besought of the great divinity a spouse for the melancholy virgin. Whereupon Apollo gave a reply accordingly, which, though by right of his son who built Miletus, he was properly a Greek and Ionian, was delivered nevertheless in the Latin lan- guage, to the following effect : — " With funeral pomp along the mountain's side Bid the procession move : there leave the bride, The tender Psyche, sad devoted maid, On yonder rock in bridal dress array'd. Nor hope a bridegroom mortal like thyself ; But eke a wicked, cruel, viprous elf, Who terrifies the gods with flames, and darts That penetrate and wound immortal hearts, Who o'er all nature bears puissant sway, And wings his course beyond the realms of day, While at his step each Stygian wave recoils, And mighty Jove himself shrinks cow'ring in his toils." The King listened with sorrow to the holy prophetic announcement ! His countenance became sad and gloomy; happiness and joy fled from his heart, as with feeble steps and listless gait he wended his way Book IV. FIFTH EPISODE. 139 back to his kingdom, and communicated to the Queen, his spouse, the ominous sentence of the oracle. And now behold, the weeping and mourning within the palace continued several days, till at last, when dire ne- cessity compelled the fulfilment of the divine command, the fatal ceremonial was enacted, and the procession of the deadly nuptials arranged in order. A funeral dirge and bitter lamentations were substituted for the nup- tial song ; the pipes, instead of a hymeneal strain, sounded a plaintive Lydian melody; and as Psyche wiped the tears from her cheeks with the bridal veil, a black sooty dross overspread the flame of the torches and obscured their light. But Psyche, — though all the citizens commiserated her fate and the fate of her un- happy relatives, and though they had closed the public courts and courts of law in token of their sympathy, — conscious of the necessity of obedience to the celestial mandate, anticipated with courageous resolution her des- tined ordeal, and bade the procession, accompanied by the entire population of the city, proceed to its desti- nation. Then when the joint solemnities of a marriage ' and a burial were ready to be impressively performed — when a living being was about to be devoted to the tomb, and Psyche laid, not upon the bridal couch, but upon her bier, and while her parents, overwhelmed with grief at the awful scene, stood aghast and hesi- tating, the damsel herself addressed to them the fol- lowing exhortation : — " Why do ye weep thus continually? Why thus 140 FIFTH EPISODE. Book IV. torment your old age ? Why waste your breath, more dear to. me than mine own, with repeated cries? Why tear your white hair ? Why beat your revered bosoms ? Why let vain hopeless tears deform your vene- rable cheeks? Why cast upon me those heart-breaking thrilling looks? Are such demonstrations the re- ward of my egregious beauty ? Too late, alas ! now do ye perceive yourselves stricken by the deadly shaft of envy. Long, long ago, when the people and na- tions Were paying me divine honours, and calling me the new born Venus, should ye have wept and lamented* The name of Venus, full surely I see and feel, hath brought me to perish. Away, then, to the rock! To the spot where fate ordains, thither lead me ! Haste, haste ! I say, to my auspicious nuptials. Away to my noble bridegroom ! Wherefore should I decline to meet a spouse born not only for mine but for all the world's destruction ?" When Psyche had pronounced the above words, she took her place in the procession, and with firm, unfaltering step proceeded among the ranks of the vast population to the appointed lofty rock on the mountain, where, upon its topmost summit, the multitude, extin- guishing the lighted torches with their tears, abandoned the devoted damsel, and left her alone. Then, the ceremony at an end, the people, reclining their heads on their bosoms, returned to their homes, and the wretched parents, overcome by grief and weariness, closed the windows and doors of their palace, and aban- Book IV. FIFTH EPISODE. 141 doned themselves to darkness and despair. Scarcely, however, had they departed, when, as Psyche, timid and solitary, lay weeping and trembling on the verge of the rock, the mild breath of Zephyr blowed a gentle breeze, that inspired with a tremulous motion her in- flated garments, and, tenderly lifting her adown the mountain height, laid her on the flowery lap of the valley below. 142 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. BOOK V. Continuation of Fifth Episode. — Cupid and Psyche. Psyche, reclining on a bed of dewy grass, and delighted by the fragrance of the soft tender herbage, was relieved from her agitation of mind by a sound sweet sleep, from which she presently awoke refreshed both in body and spirit. Immediately on awaking she saw before her a grove of large very tall trees, and in the midst of the grove was a fountain whose waters were clear as crystal. A little way from the fountain stood a palace — a palace .not formed by human hands, but reared by skill divine, / such, reader, as, hadst thou entered it, thou wouldst at once have pronounced the beautiful and charming abode of some deity. The lofty ceilings, supported by golden columns, were curiously wrought with citron wood and ivory, and the walls that met the eye of the spectator coming within were encrusted with silver, whereon, in bass relief, or chased engraving, were wild beasts and various domestic cattle, represented with such subtle perfection of art, that nought but a god, or a demigod, or man inspired by a miracle, could have imagined the numberless variety of ferine forms moulded from the precious metal. The pavements also were ornamented Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 143 with an infinite diversity of pictures in mosaic, com- posed of precious stones ; and happy, oh happy, were .the possessors of similar treasures, could they, as here, always trample their splendid gems and necklaces under their feet. The rest of this spacious extensive palace was alike precious beyond measure, and the walls of the chambers, of the portico, nay, even of the very baths, were so covered with glittering masses of gold, that the objects shone, as it were, in defiance of the sun, by the light of their own created day. Truly, so abundantly divine and boundless was the wealth displayed everywhere, that one might have imagined great Jove himself were the fabricator of a domicile to commune with the chil- dren of men. Psyche, overcome with delight and wonder at the sight of such a lovely locality, began to advance a little nearer to the building, and gaining confidence by little and little, and by slow degrees, at last ventured to over- step the threshold. Impelled by irresistible curiosity and fascinated by the charming spectacle, she gazed, and admired, and examined all she saw before her, be- holding, with infinite astonishment, the heaps of untold treasure, treasure of every sort, that lay strewed on the ground all the way she went, as she wandered to the nethermost portion of the apartments of the divine architect. In fact, there exists nothing valuable under the sun that was not there. But while she continued to admire such indescribable riches, the riches, as it 144 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. were, of the universal world all lying together* one circumstance surprised her and wrapped her mind in wonder more than every thing. There was no guard, animate nor inanimate ; neither man, nor chain, nor lock, nor bar, nor bolt, nor defence of any kind whatever. And now, while the wondering and delighted damsel stood lost in mute amazement at the scene before her, her attention was suddenly arrested by the sound of a human voice, which, as a creature divested of bodily form, thus addressed her : — " Why, mistress, art thou surprised ? All the wealth thou seest before thee is thine own. Lo, yonder is thy bedchamber ; hie thee thither ; refresh thy limbs with rest, and when thou art willing, call for thy bath, and we, thine handmaidens, whose voices thou now hearest, will wait upon thee diligently, and dress thee, and prepare thee a royal banquet speedily." Psyche felt inspired by the blessing of Divine Pro- vidence, and, obedient to the insubstantial voices that she heard, first invoked the aid of sleep to relieve her fatigue, and was afterwards refreshed by a bath. When she had bathed and dressed, she proceeded to the cham- ber adjoining, where, at the farther end of the room, was a hemicycle, and within the hemicycle a table laid out with all the utensils appropriate for a banquet. Per- ceiving the preparations were intended especially for herself, she reclined upon an elevated couch close to the table, where no sooner had she placed herself, than simultaneously abundance of dainty dishes and necta- Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 145 rean wines in copious variety appeared before her eyes, and, as it were, impelled by spiritual impulse, with- out the aid of human hands, were laid upon the table. Neither was a single human being to be seen. Her servants, whose words were heard continually falling from invisible lips, were only voices. The banquet was delicious. After it was over, a man's voice sang of its own accord, while a musician, alike invisible, played an accompaniment upon the harp with masculine energy. Then the modulated harmony of a multitude of voices sounded in her ears, and though no human being, neither man nor woman, was to be seen, com- pleted a full chorus. At last the enchanting music ceased, and the even- ing having already far advanced, Psyche had retired to rest, when, at the dead of night, a gentle murmuring sound fell upon her ears, and not only terrified her the more because she was all alone in the dark and could see nothing at all, but because people ignorant of the object of their fear are invariably the most alarmed. Before the dawn of day, the invisible spouse of Psyche had left her and fled far away, and the voices as before came to render homage to their mistress and hail the new made bride. Novelty, as usual under . similar circumstances, was now the joy of her life, and the sound of the invisible voices the solace of her solitude. Her parents, mean- while, bowed down by age and excessive grief, con- fined themselves to their palace, whither her elder H 146 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. sisters, hearing of her disappearance from the rock, and leaving their homes with anxious dismal countenances, respectively betook themselves with the utmost haste and eagerness, to visit and consult them. On the night of that eventful day did the invisible husband of Psyche thus address her : "Dearest wife, sweetest, sweetest Psyche, fortune hath a grievous peril in store which it behoves thee most vigilantly to guard against. The report of thy death hath reached the ears of thy sisters, and speedily will they repair to the rock whence I brought thee to seek tidings of thy fate. If therefore the sound of lamentations coming from that quarter strike upon thine ears, give no reply, — no, nor even dare to bend thine eyes towards the spot. Fail not to do as I warn thee ; if thou dost otherwise, 'twill bring a grievous sorrow upon me and be destruction to thyself." Psyche immediately promised to do all he required ; but when the night had passed away, and he had dis- appeared as usual, she wasted the whole of the en- suing day in tears, lamenting to herself over and over again her bereavement from human conversation, and commiserating the grief of her sisters whom she herself was unable to help, and, a prisoner though in a splen- did palace, was forbidden to see. Finally she would neither eat, nor bathe, nor amuse herself at all, but the whole entire day she did nothing but cry, cried on till night, cried herself to sleep, and even after she was asleep still continued to cry till she was Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 147 awakened by her husband, who, that particular night, happened to come by chance earlier than usual. Then did her husband tenderly embrace her, and expostulate as follows : — " Is this the way, Psyche, of performing thy pro- mise? Is this what I, thy husband, have to expect from thee? Wilt thou never cease, neither by day nor by night, to torment thyself and sadden even the very hours when I am with thee ? Nay, do then as thou wilt ; follow the baneful dictates of thy inclina- tion. Albeit remember what now I tell thee — full soon, alas ! wilt thou repent, and then too late, the serious admonition I gave thee." Psyche nevertheless persisted in her supplications in spite of the above remonstrances, till, by violent entreaties and actually threatening to put an end to her life in case of a refusal, she extorted her hus- band's compliance to her wishes, and not only obtained his consent to see her sisters, and do all in her power to soothe their sorrow, but gained permission to make them as many handsome presents of golden ornaments and necklaces as she thought proper. But he strictly enjoined her — and repeated the injunction often, till he made her tremble— to keep the invisibility of his form a profound secret, lest, by yielding to a sacrile- gious curiosity, she might voluntarily cast herself from the pinnacle of her present good fortune, and be torn from his embraces for ever. Psyche had no sooner expressed her grateful thanks h 2 148 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. than her heart recovered its buoyancy. " Sweetest husband," said she, " an hundred deaths would I die rather than part from thee. More dear to me art thou than my life ; nay, whoever thou art, even wert thou Cupid's self, not more tenderly could I love thee. Yet one thing more, I beseech thee, grant me, dear, dear spouse, sweet soul of thy Psyche. Bid Zephyr, thy servant who bore me to thee, bring hither also my sisters in the same airy vehicle." To the latter request her husband, overcome with tenderness, consented unwillingly, and after promising to comply with everything she demanded, vanished from her arms before daybreak. Meanwhile the sisters of Psyche made all possible haste to ascend the mountain and reach that part of the rock where she had been left alone. There they wept and la- mented, and beat their bosoms, and called aloud to their lost sister by her proper name, till the continuous sound of their waitings, echoed and re-echoed by the surround- ing crags and cliffs, penetrated through downward space to thervalley below and fell on the ears of Psyche. Psyche, at the well known sound of her sisters' voices, trembled violently, and running out of the palace in a state of delirious agitation, " Whence these doleful lamentations?" exclaimed she, " why thus need- lessly afflict yourselves ? Here, here am I whom ye mourn. Cease then the dismal sounds; for now at last ye may embrace her for whom those tears have flowed so long and incessantly." Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 149 No sooner had she thus expressed herself than, according to her husband's directions, Psyche sum- moned Zephyr to her presence, and giving him his orders, Zephyr submitted willingly to her authority, and without a moment's delay, a gentle breeze lifted her sisters from the rock, and wafted them safely to the valley. Many now were the moments passed in mutual en- dearments which were continued till tears, repressed for a considerable period, burst forth anew from joy. At length said Psyche, " Come now, my sisters ; cheer up your afflicted spirits, and recreate yourselves awhile within our dwelling." Then, without more ado, she led them into her golden house, showed them the vast trea- sures it contained, and allowed them to hear the voices of her numerous obedient family of servants. Then she conducted them to a most beautiful bath, and re- freshed them by the delicacies of a divine banquet, till, satiated with copious abundance of celestial viands, envy was generated in the lowest depths of their bo- soms, and one especially inquisitively inquiring parti- culars of her husband, the lord and master of such boundless wealth, demanded incessantly what manner of man he was, who, and whence he came. But Psyche, mindful of his injunctions, refrained from vio- lating her promise, and preserved the secret of her bosom ; but, feigning a tale for the occasion, said he was young and handsome, a youth who passed his time among the mountains in rural occupations and hunting, 150 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. and whose cheeks were newly shadowed by a beard like the fleece of a new born lamb. Then, fearing lest she might further betray her trust in case the conver- sation were protracted, she once more summoned Zephyr to h«r presence, and presenting her sisters with a copious variety of jewels, necklaces, and golden ornaments, bade him transport them back again to the rock whence they came. No sooner was the command given than it was exe- cuted, and these two ungrateful sisters, whose hearts were burning with envy more and more, thus conversed together as they returned towards their homes. One, after a considerable period of silence, began by saying to. the other, " Oh wicked, cruel Fortune ! truly indeed do people say that thou art blind ! Sister, canst thou bear that we, the eldest, Sustain a destiny so different from hers, and yet are born of the same parents as her- self ? Shall we, married to foreign husbands, their servants rather than their wives, live abroad in a strange country far away from our parents, while our youngest sister has a god for her husband^ and enjoys such boundless wealth that she knows not how to make use of what she hath ? Didst thou not see, sister, the number and beauty of the necklaces lying every where about the house? — the splendid dresses, the brilliant jewels, and the ornaments of gold that, wherever we went, we trod under our feet ? Truly if her husband be handsome as she describes him, no happier crea- ture is there in the whole wide world than she. Aye, Book. V. FIFTH EPISODE. 151 and this husband-god of hers, so soon as continued acquaintance and conversation strengthen his affection, may peradventure transform her into a 'goddess. A goddess ! By Hercules, and so, according to her lofty bearing, she already fancies herself; for needs must the woman who hath unearthly voices for her attendants, and can command the very winds, breathe the immor- tal aspirations of a goddessi But, woe is me ! I am wedded to a husband who, in age older than my father, and in size a dwarf not taller than a boy, with a head as bald as a pumpkin, keeps the house close fastened with bolts and chains all the day long." " Well, sister, mayst thou say what thou hast said," replied the other > " though, for my part, my lot is no better than thine. My husband, forsooth, is bent double with age, and the gout hath so crippled his joints that my duties rather than the duties of a wife are those of a laborious nurse, to rub his crooked fingers indurated with chalk-stones, and scald these delicate hands with nasty fomentations and cata- plasms. >But 'tis thou thyself, sister, not I, who sub- mits to all these indignities with a patient, aye, and, — suffer me to speak out freely and say what I think, — a servile spirit. Ij forsooth, bear to sustain so different a destiny ! Why it tortures me even to think of good fortune so unworthily bestowed, and I can sustain it no longer. Bethink thee of the haughtiness and arro- gance of her behaviour; how ostentatiously she boasted of her wealth, and how she betrayed her pride of heart 152 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. in every gesture. Then the trifling things she selected for us out of her incalculable treasure, how ungra- ciously she tossed, as it were, the articles into our laps, and how, getting speedily tired of us, we were pro- pelled, or puffed, or hissed away. But, as I hope to live and am a woman, I'll knock her off her lofty perch ere long — aye, upset her from the pinnacle of all these riches. As for thee, if thou canst feel as 'tis meet thou should, the contumely offered to thy sister, why thou wilt join thy force to mine in valid counsel, and we will cooperate together. Meanwhile let us not show the jewels we carry with us to any human being, no, not even to our parents ; neither let us appear to know that our sister is alive ; for truly we who have witnessed a spectacle sufficiently grievous to ourselves, will not be the heralds of her good fortune. On the contrary she shall know that riches, apart from the cognizance of the world, yield not happiness to the possessor ; aye, and shall feel, moreover, that as well as incorporeal handmaidens, she hath also elder sisters. But now let us away to our husbands, and there, when we resume our conversation, in our own poor quiet dwellings, and have time for cool reflection, we shall be better provided with a plan for humbling her pride than at present." Such were the wicked purposes designed by these two bad women and applauded by their evil nature. Accordingly, concealing all the valuable presents they had received, they went first to their parents, where, Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 153 tearing their hair and beating their faces, as in truth they richly deserved in good earnest, they pretended to weep and bewail the loss of their sister, and feigned the appearance of real grief so well that the wounded hearts of the poor old people were burst open afresh, and all their recent unhappiness was renewed as keen as ever. But no sooner had they thus been the cause of all this sorrow to the aged pair than, bloated with malicious rage, they deserted them in a hurry, and plotting in- sidious, aye murderous schemes against their guiltless sister, they hastened to their homes. Thus were circumstances proceeding in the dwell- ings of the elder sisters, when, at one of the nocturnal conferences of Psyche with her unknown husband, he addressed her in terms of admonition as follows : — " Behold how the skirmishers of thy evil fortune are already advancing towards thee ! Alas ! how great the danger, that, unless avoided by firmness and ex- treme precaution, will confront thee hand to hand! Already are the perfidious she wolves at their endea- vours to ensnare thee by various artifices; already have they the desire to persuade thee to view my countenance, which, if only once and for a moment thou dost behold, never, oh never, wilt thou see again. When, therefore, the mischievous vampires actually come, — for they will come again, fraught with noxious schemes, full well I know,— hold thou no converse with them, I charge thee. But, even shouldst thou yield thus far through thy natural simplicity of dispo- h 3 154 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. sition and tenderness of heart* then do I at all events enjoin thee not to hear or say a single word relating to thy husband. . . . ; And yet there is one thing more I needs must tell thee. Young as thou art,' ere long thou wilt bear an infant, which, if thou preserve our secret in silence; will be born divine ; if thou profane our secret; — mortal." Psyche was delighted and consoled at thia intelli- gence. Her eyes sparkled with pleasure. Already, in anticipation of a divine offspring, the pledge of future glory, she rejoiced in maternal dignity, and, anxiously reckoning the intervening months and days, contem- plated the coming event in childish ignorance* Meanwhile her sisters; those nefarious; pestilential Furies, exhaling the poison of vipers from their lips, hastened with impious celerity on board ship, and set sail to the palace of Psyche, who in due time previously was again put on her guard by her husband in one of their nightly conversations. And thus during his tem- porary, fleeting visit did he address her : — " The day of trial hath arrived; the bitter calamity soon will press upon thee. Thine own sex and thine own blood are in arms against thee. The enemy have struck their camp, have sounded the trumpet; are on their march towards thee. The hands of thy sisters direct the sword's point at thy throat. Alas, darling Psyche ! by what dangers are we surrounded ! Take pity on thyself! Have pity upon me, and preserve steadfast religious silence. Save thy husband, save Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 155 thyself) save our infant offspring from impending de- struction. Neither see nor listen to a word from thy sisters, I implore thee. Sisters ? No ! those profligate women, after the deadly hatred they have shown thee, after trampling under foot the ties of kindred, are no longer thy sisterSi Listen to them not, I say. No! though like syrens they utter their cries from the rock till the surrounding heights ring with the sound of their lamentations." Psyche, while tears and sobs choked her utterance, notwithstanding the above address of her spouse, re- plied in broken sentences as follows : — " Have not I given thee already proof of my fidelity ? Dost thou not know I can keep thy secret? Wherefore, then, shouldst thou fear to test e'en now once again my firmness and constancy? Once more, then, I be- seech thee, give thy orders to Zephyr ; once more let Zephyr fulfil his duty ; once more let me see my sis- ters. Eecreate the heart of thy Psyche with one; only one more interview. I implore thee by those locks that, fragrant with perfume, hang about thy neck ; by thy cheeks, tender and smooth as my own; by thy bosom glowing, if not with immortal fire, with warmth incomprehensible. Grant me, then, oh grant me the boon I ask, and let Psyche, thy dear devoted Psyche, embrace her sisters for the last time. The sight of thine own revered countenance is, alas ! denied her— that countenance which, one day at least, in the face of a darling infant will she surely behold. Then, then 156 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. indeed, will she truly see4hee, thee that art even now the light of her eyes in this nocturnal darkness." The husband of Psyche, overcome and enchanted by her fascinating endearments, granted the utmost of her request, and, anticipating the light of the coming dawn, brushed the tears from her eyes with his curly locks, and fled away. Meanwhile her sisters, linked together, as it were, in the yoke of sisterly conspiracy, left their homes once more in precipitate haste, without even giving their parents notice of their departure. So soon as their ship approached the shore, they hurried from the vessel to the rock. Thence, with the ungovernable rashness of over confidence, they flung themselves at once head- long over the precipice, without awaiting for a moment the presence of the buoyant breeze ; but Zephyr, ever mindful of the divine mandate, supported them on a passing puff of air, and, though unwillingly, laid them on the ground in safety. With rapid steps, and without a moment's delay, they went to the palace of Psyche, whom, with joyful countenances that concealed a world of treachery, they embraced earnestly ; while one, simu- lating a sister's tenderness, thus addressed their vic- tim : — " Oh, Psyche ! how inexpressible is the delight thou hast in store for us ! For truly by thy altered appearance do I perceive thou art about to become a mother. What infinite joy and happiness wilt thou confer on thy whole family ! How delighted shall we be to nurse the charming dear baby, which, if it be like Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 157 its parents, and so no doubt it will be, will surely be as beautiful as a little Cupid !" In this manner they continued for some time, by a false display of affection, to gain the heart of their sister more and more, while she, after they had been seated for a while, and had recovered a little from their fatigue, ordered, as before, baths with heated water to be pre- pared, also splendid couches to recline on after bathing ; and, lastly, a banquet composed of innumerable exqui- site delicacies to be laid before them. When the ban- quet was over, Psyche commanded her invisible attend- ants to sound the harp, and a harp was immediately sounded, — to play on the pipe, and a pipe was played, — to sing in concert, and the air resounded with the melody of a host of harmonious voices that soothed the hearts of the hearers with the most enchanting music, though not a creature was to be seen. But neither had the harmony of the voices nor of the instrumental music sufficient power of fascination to soften the hard hearts of those two sorceresses, or bend their minds from their preconcerted scheme. Accordingly they began immediately to lead her towards the snare by turning the conversation to the subject of her husband, and treacherously to make inquiries about his parentage and condition. Psyche meanwhile, through the ex- treme simplicity of her nature, forgetful of the account she had given before, and inventing an entirely new story for the occasion, now replied, in answer to the interrogations of her sisters, that her husband was a 158 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. native of the adjoining province, a person of middle age, whose hair was beginning to be sprinkled with gray. She added that he was a merchant engaged in very large commercial transactions. Having so said; unwilling, as in the former instance, to dwell longer on the conversation, she now loaded her sisters with splendid presents, and consigned them to their windy vehicle. While, borne aloft and propelled by Zephyr's gentle breath, they were steadily floating towards their homes; the following conversation passed between them : " The silly creature!" exclaimed one, "didst thou not perceive, sister, the monstrous lie she told us? First; said she, ' he is a young man with a soft downy beard just beginning to grow;' and now, forsooth; he hath become of middle age, with a few glittering silver hairs among his locks. Why, what manner of man can her husband be, thus to have grown old on a sudden ? Depend on it, she has either invented the He or has never seen him. No matter, we must, in the first place, utterly deprive her of her riches as soon as possible, whichever be the truth — although, forsooth, if indeed she hath never seen her husband, she hath surely wedded a god, and a god will be her offspring, which heaven forbid ! Nay, were a divine infant to be born of her, I should hang myself most assuredly the mo- ment it saw daylight. But for the present we will go home to our parents, and there consider farther what had better be done on the Subject we talked of before." Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 159 Thus did the sisters continue to converse together until they arrived at the dwelling of their early home, when they were wrought to such a pitch of angry fury, that they would scarcely deign to look at their parents ; and after they went to rest, they lay tumbling and toss- ing all night in bed till morning. So soon as it was 1 dawn of day they arose immediately, and setting forth by a similar voyage as before, back again to the rock, they threw themselves once more off the precipice, and once more, by the kindly aid of Zephyr, though rather roughly handled on the descent by a violent blast of wind, were deposited safely on the ground. Thence again they hastened to Psyche's habitation, and having arrived there, and, by violent pressure of their eyelids, squeezed out a few deceitful tears, one thus addressed her : — " Oh; Psyche, what a happy blessed state of ignorance art thou in! How tran- quilly, forsooth, dost thou sit here at thy home, vm 1 aware of thy danger, while we, thy vigilant guardians, anxious in everything that concerns thee, are in terror at thy perilous predicament! We have heard then for a truth — and as 'tis 1 our duty to be thy partners" in sorrow and misfortune, we durst not conceal it from thee — that thou art wedded to nothing more nor less than a great serpent, a hideous, many-folded, gaping- mouthed monster, with crest dripping noxious poison^ that crawls to bed to thee every night. Eecall to thy mind for a moment, I beseech thee, the oracle of the Pythian Apollo, who promised and foretold thee a ltiO FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. cruel viperous creature for thy bridegroom ; and observe, moreover, that 'tis no wild fancy of our own that I re- late, for the hunters and husbandmen in the vicinity have actually seen the serpent I tell thee of, every evening swimming across the shoals of the adjacent river, after his feeding-time. Neither is it for nought, say they, thou art nourished here so sumptuously, nor for other purpose than to make thee a more dainty morsel for thy monster husband, who, so soon as thou art properly plump and fat, will certainly de- vour thee. With thyself, then, rests the choice at pre- sent, whether to believe what we, thy sisters, now tell thee, and preserve thy life by living with us, free from all manner of danger, or whether you prefer to be buried deep in the bowels of a truculent monster. So if the charms of vocal solitude in this beautiful valley, and the fascinating allurements of a horrible venomous serpent, incline thee to remain where thou art, at least we, thy loving sisters, will have done our duty towards thee." The simple-minded, tender-hearted, unhappy Psyche was altogether overwhelmed with fear at this shocking recital ; and being for the moment bereft of her senses, forgot all her husband's admonitions and her own pro- mises, and precipitated herself at once into the lowest abyss of misfortune. Accordingly the blood fled from her cheeks, her face was overspread with a livid pale- ness, and she trembled violently, while she thus ad- dressed her sisters, in a voice half extinct from want of Book. V. FIFTH EPISODE. 161 breath, and incapable of uttering three words consecu- tively : " Dearest sisters," said she, " I know you have acted towards me as you ought, and have done no more than perform a pious duty; neither, methinks, are the people who have related the story altogether the inventors of a falsehood. To confess the truth, never have I yet, even for a moment, seen the face of my husband, nor do I know his family. I hear, indeed, the sound of his voice, when he talks to me at night in an undertone ; but I am obliged to bear with his fancies, and, for everything else that relates to him, am in a state of ignorance. This I know too truly, that he has a terrible aversion to daylight, and rejoices in darkness. For every morning, before early dawn, he flies away from me. He may indeed, if not actually the creature you describe, be at least a winged animal. Besides, he has strictly warned me — nay, terrified me — from the thought of ever beholding his countenance, which if I ever do cast my eyes upon, some dire ca- lamity, he said, will surely befal me. Desert not your sister, then, in the present crisis, but, lest all your former vigilance be rendered useless by an unseasonable act of negligence, render all the assistance in your power to extricate her from danger." When Psyche had done speaking, the two wicked women, perceiving they had made a breach in her heart, and that her inmost thoughts lay naked and exposed, treacherously sallied forth, as it were, from their ambuscade, and drawing the sword of deceit 162 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. from the scabbard, assailed her simple^ wavering mind. Then, accordingly, one addressed her as follows : — ' Since, under the present emergency* when thy life is at stake, the bonds of kindred compel us to haveno regard to our own peril, I will explain to thee a manner of act- ing, which, as both of us have reflected on it long and maturely; We think the only possible mode of securing thy safety. Provide thyself with a knife, sharp as a razor, — which 'twere better, in order to render the edge still more acute, to pass along the palm of thy hand, — and also with a lamp, well trimmed, full of oil, and a shade covering the bright light of the flame. Conceal both the knife and the lamp under thy bed, on the side where thou art accustomed to lie, until the serpent hath entered the apartment, glided into bed as usual, and stretching himself out at length, hath begun to breathe audibly, under the impulse of the first sound sleep. Delay not then for an instant to slide out of bed, and on bare feet and tip-toe, with a soft, gentle step, go, free the lamp from its hid- ing-place in the dark, and, with its light to help thee to execute thy noble purpose, courageously ele- vate thy right hand, and, with as vigorous an effort as thy strength can command, divide the noxious serpent's vertebrae at the nape of his neck, and completely cut off his head. Fear not that we shall leave thee alone without assistance in thy enterprise ; for the moment thou hast killed the serpent, and secured thine own safety, we will speedily be with thee, help thee to Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 163 remove thy treasure, and wed thee to another mortal, human. creature, like thyself." When the sisters of Psyche had wrought upon and inflamed her mind to a' sufficient pitch of determina- tion, they deserted her immediately, for they were afraid to be present during the perpetration of the deed they themselves had suggested, notwithstanding the promise they had given to remain on the spot and render their assistance. Accordingly, confiding them- selves as usual to the wings of the wind, they were conveyed aloft and laid upon the rock, whence they hurried with impetuous haste on foot to the sea-shore, and sailed homewards in their vessel. Meanwhile Psyche being now by herself and solitary, if one whose heart is agitated by the cruel furies can be said to be alone, was tormented by a host of conflicting passions, and her bosom heaved like the surface of the ocean. Though her design was fixed, and her mind reso- lute, yet so soon as she began to think in earnest of what she was going to do, she shrunk appalled by her unhappy fate, and was distracted by doubt and hesita- tion, Hurrying and procrastinating by turns, at one moment rash, at another tremulous* sometimes diffident, sometimes irascible, there was one pervading sentiment notwithstanding, that continually regulated her heart. In spite of the biiter hatred she felt towards the beast, she persisted to love the husband. At last night arrived, and Psyche having already prepared all the necessary apparatus, her husband came 164 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. as usual. And now lie was overwhelmed with sound sleep, when Psyche, whose heart the influence of fate had steeled to the performance of the deed, though at other times feeble in body and infirm in purpose, feeling now her strength invigorated, and her natural feminine weakness replaced by masculine courage, un- covered the lamp and grasped the knife in her hand. But no sooner were the mysteries of the chamber illu- minated by the first rays of light, than she beheld the very gentlest and sweetest of all the wild beasts that ever were seen in the world — the beautiful God of Love, Cupid himself — softly, soundly sleeping. The lamp- in her hand, in the presence of the lovely spectacle, shone with exhilarated brightness, and the sacrilegious knife repented the keenness of its edge, while Psyche, astonished at the wondrous vision, dropped on her knees in a fright, and, pale and trem- bling, had well nigh buried the blade in her own bosom in her eagerness to conceal it, had not the wea- pon itself leaped voluntarily from the rash hand that held it, in horror of committing the crime. But as she continued to view the divine beauty of Cupid's countenance her faint sick heart became refreshed by degrees, and after a while she gazed with delight on the luxuriant golden hair that, teeming with ambrosial perfume, hung in curls over his forehead and shoulders, and shone with a gloss so brilliant that the dazzled flame of the lamp quivered from the reflection. His cheeks were the colour of the rose, his neck white as Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 165 milk, and from the shouldera of the god grew a pair of wings, the tender, delicate^ downy points of whose white dewy feathers were tremulously wafted up and down as it were in wanton sport, notwithstanding that the pinions rested in repose upon a body that, tran- scendantly beautiful and smooth, displayed the loveli- ness of Venus herself in the person. of her offspring. At last Psyche all of a sudden espied lying at the loot of the bed on the ground a bow and a quiver full of arrows, the auspicious arms of the most powerful of deities, and, seized with admiration and insatiable curiosity to touch her husband's weapons, she drew one of the arrows out of the quiver and began to feel and examine it. Accordingly the point gently pressed upon her thumb, inflicting a tiny puncture from the tremulous movement of the joint, a minute atom of blood, like a dew-drop, started to the surface of the skin, and the simple Psyche, wounded by an arrow of the Grod of Love, became more enamoured than ever. Overcome by the sense of her good fortune, and in- fatuated more and more every moment, she leant in excess of tenderness over the rosy deity, trembling and agitated lest she might awake him, till the lamp ele- vated in her hand, whether from the genuine envious perfidy of its nature, or the desire itself to impress a kiss on an object so beautiful, spirted a drop of scald- ing oil from the summit of its flame on Cupid's right shoulder. Oh rash, audacious lamp ! love's vile minister, that 166 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. surely wert originally invented by some anxious lover longing to renew the day in the presence of his mis- tress, how couldst thou dare to burn the god of mortal and immortal fire ? Up sprang the scalded deity, and recognising the sad tokens of detected infidelity immediately flew away. In silence would he have left the arms of his wretched wife and gone clean out of sight, but Psyche, seizing him suddenly by the right leg as he arose, ready to accompany him at all hazards through the regions of the air, held on with both her hands, a miserable ap- pendage as it were to his flight, till fatigue compelled her to relinquish her hold, and she fell in despair to the ground. Meanwhile her divine lover, averse to leaving her at once in so abject a position, perched on the topmost branch of a cypress tree close by, and an- grily addressed her as follows ; — " Oh, simple, simple Psyche, wherefore did I set at nought the precepts of my mother Venus? Wherefore not obey her com- mands and inspire thee with a base ignoble passion for the lowest, the most degraded being among mortal men ? "Wherefore did I myself become enamoured and fly to thee as thy lover? Wherefore did I, redoubtable archer as I am, wound myself with my own weapon and make thee my wife ? Full well I know I have shown lack of wisdom in giving thee a preference, for which, forsooth, as well as for all other kindly acts I have done for thee, now thou wouldst repay me by believing me to be a serpent, and by taking a knife in thy hand to Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 167 cut off my head. Aye, the very head whose eyes have so doated on thee. Fain would I have warned thee against this calamity by the admonitions I gave thee, and even now will I inflict upon thee no severer pu- nishment than to fly away and leave thee. But speedily shall thy two wicked counsellors feel the weight of my vengeance." Cupid, so soon as he had said the above words, threw himself into the air upon his pinions, and first mount- ing aloft, darted straight away, while Psyche, prostrate on the ground, watched the course of his flight and kept him in view as long as she was able. But when the rapid movement of his wings through the immensity of space had alienated him from her sight, she rose hastily on her feet, and in the deep affliction of her heart, pouring forth the most bitter lamentations, rushed recklessly to an adjacent river, and precipitated her- self from the bank into the water. The gentle river, in honour and in fear of the god of Love, whose fiery in- fluence scorched even the nymphs of the stream and the denizens of its waters, wafted her buoyantly towards the shore, and one of its obedient waves tossed her unhurt and safe upon a tuft of green grass. Close to the spot where she lay the rustic Pan was by chance amorously reclining beside the goddess Canna, instructing her to modulate innumerable pleasing melo- dies on vocal reeds. The goat-legged deity, cognizant of the misfortune of the fainting heart-stricken Psyche, kindly beckoned her to the spot, where,— surrounded by 168 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. a flock of sportive goats wandering here and there at pasture, and clipping as it were the river's locks, — he sat resting on its brow, and thus addressed her in the following consolatory words : " Notwithstanding I am a countryman and a shepherd, pretty damsel, I am come to a good old age, and have had much experience under various different circumstances ; wherefore if I rightly conjecture, and the conjectures of prudent men many people call the faculty of divination, — if I rightly con- jecture I say, and if I were to judge by thy tottering and more frequently irresolute steps, by the excessive paleness of thy countenance, and, above all things, by the sad expression of thine eyes — thou art in love most desperately. I pray thee then listen attentively while I give thee some wholesome advice. Think not to throw thyself off a precipice, nor to accomplish thy own destruction by any means whatsoever, but cast away thy sorrow, cheer up thy heart, and offer up thy fervent prayers to Cupid, the most potent of all the deities, who forsooth, delicate, spoilt stripling as he is, must be coaxed and flattered mightily." When the shepherd god had ceased to speak, Psyche made no reply, but simply doing homage to the pro- pitious divinity, passed forward on her way. She had gone only a little distance after her departure, when, as she was walking along with toilsome steps, she came to a path leading out of the road in a direction she- knew not whither ; and having by this time completely lost her way, she followed the path and continued to Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 169 proceed till it brought her to a certain city. Now this city happened to be immediately within the verge of the dominions of the king who was the husband of one of her sisters, and the place where they lived; upon which Psyche, so soon as she became cognizant of the circumstance, immediately sent a message to her sister to announce her arrival. Accordingly she was speedily introduced into her sister's presence, and after they had mutually embraced each other, and the forms of saluta- tion were over, her sister asked her what was the cause that had brought her thither, and Psyche, in answer to the interrogative, replied as follows: — " You surely cannot have so soon forgotten the advice you gave me, — nay, the trouble you took to persuade me to take a knife and kill my husband, who, you said, was a beast in dis- guise ; a monster that would one day or other engulph me in his voracious gullet? Well, I did as we had agreed between us. But when the first glare of light discovered to me his countenance, I beheld a truly wonderful and divine spectacle. Divine I say. Cupid, Venus's own son, fast and sound asleep. Astonished at the sight of such good fortune, and so over-delighted at the prospect of happiness that I knew not what I did, a drop of boiling oil fell out of the lamp and, by the very worst of all possible bad luck, dropped upon his shoulder. The pain instantly awoke him; so, starting up accordingly, and seeing me stand- ing with the knife in one hand and the lamp in the other—' Away with thea instantly,' said he, ' I I 170 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. divorce thee from my bed for ever. Yet, notwith- standing the horrible crime thou hast committed, take with thee what is thine own, and I will marry thy sister ' (thee it was that by name he mentioned par- ticularly), ' and forthwith have the nuptials celebrated.' When he had thus said he immediately summoned Zephyr to his presence, and commanded him to bid a gale of wind bear me beyond the precincts of the palace." When Psyche had finished the above fictitious narra- tive, and thus had retaliated for the injury sustained from her sister, the latter became violently agitated. Boused to furious excitement by the noxious stings of envy and avarice, she invented a story forthwith to deceive the king her husband, saying she had received the news of the death of one of her parents, and set sail without more ado on her way to the palace of Cupid. Hurrying from the ship to the rock with the utmost haste, she made a violent leap over the pre- cipice, notwithstanding at the time there was blowing a wind over which Zephyr had no control. " Oh, Cupid!" exclaimed she, gasping with vain hope as she . sprang from the giddy height, " receive thy worthy wife, and Zephyr, do thou acknowledge her thy mis- tress." Fate treating her as she deserved, ordained it otherwise, and she perished miserably. Neither alive nor dead did she reach the goal of her ambition. Her limbs lay scattered here and there among the crags of the rocks ; vultures and the wild beasts of the moun- tains preyed on her lacerated bowels. Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 171 And now after one of the wicked sisters had breathed her last, vengeance was not slow to overtake the other. When the former left the city of her domicile Psyche departed also, and continuing her wandering course, arrived in a few days at another city, where in like manner the other sister was residing with the king, her husband, in his dominions. The other sister, in like manner with the first, having interrogated Psyche, and Psyche having led her also into the snare by the same inveigling reply, she, following the other's example, and emulous of becoming the spouse of Cupid and sup- planting her younger sister, hurried immediately to the rock as the other had done, and there met a similar fate. While the forlorn Psyche was wandering all over the country, thinking of nothing at all in the world than how and where to find her husband, and seeking him wherever she went, Cupid lay groaning on his mother's own bed severely scalded by the boiling oil of the lamp. A snow white seagull, the bird that as it floats on the waves of the sea flaps its wings upon the water, carried the intelligence to Venus, and plunging down precipi- tately, approached her just as she had gone to bathe, and was swimming on the surface of the ocean. " Thy son," said the bird, " is suffering grievously from a wound that fire hath inflicted ; his life is in danger. Disgrace too hath fallen on thy family, and rumours are abroad, and in the mouths of all the people. They say, forsooth, that he hath been paying court to a damsel in 12 172 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. the mountains, while thou wert away. While thou art amusing thyself here swimming in the sea, all the world is in confusion during thy absence. Pleasure, Ease, and Elegance have fled at thy departure ; mortals have grown rude, rustic, and slovenly ; the social and conjugal ties of love and affection are at an end ; parents cast chilling glances even on their own children ; men's hearts are swayed by a sordid host of uncongenial im- pulses. In short, the earth is nought but a bleak desert waste without thee." Such were the words derogatory to the character of the Queen of Love and her son, that the meddling loquacious bird chattered in the ear of Venus ; whereat she was enraged exceedingly, and immediately replied as follows:—" Say'st thou that that good son of mine hath gotten himself a mistress ? Tell me then, Oh tell me, I pray thee, thou who in bringing the news hast ren- dered me a lovjng service, what is her name who hath enticed my ingenuous beardless boy? Is it one of the band of Nymphs, or of the number of Hours, or of the choir of Muses, or is it, peradventure, one of the Graces that belong to mine own household ?" " Eeally, my mistress," replied the bird, " I cannot tell thee ; but," — unable to preserve silence owing to its extraordinarily talkative disposition, it continued, — " I think if I remember right, the damsel, whom he loves to distraction, is called Psyche." "Psyche?" exclaimed Venus with indignation, "the same ambitious wench who hath taken my name and Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 173 usurped my beauty ? Aye, and forsooth may think me a go-between, who brought him designedly into her presence?" So saying, without a moment's delay, she emerged from the sea, and transporting herself to her golden chamber with infinite rapidity, found her wounded boy lying there sick in bed as had been told her. Unable to contain her passion, before she passed the threshold of the door, she exclaimed, in an ele- vated voice, — " Pretty pranks of thine, truly ! Mar- vellously fitting to thy birth and character! First, disobey the commands of thy mother, who hath au- thority over thee ! Aye, neglect to torment her enemy with the pains of a sordid attachment ! And next, thou profligate, half-grown stripling, take to wife thyself, and give me for a daughter-in-law, the creature whom I detest most of all other women in the world ! But, conceited fop, odious seducer, dost thou think thyself my only noble son ? aye, for- sooth, and consider me too old to have another like thee ? But I will have another son in spite of thee, I'd have thee to know; nayj a better son than thou art. I will adopt the son of one of my handmaidens ; and, the more to vex thee, I will give him thy wings, and thy torch, and thy bow, and every one of those arrows of thine that thou hast misused so scandalously. For none of thy equipment dost thou inherit from thy father; but thy accoutrements, and all thou hast, belong to me. Even from thy very childhood, wicked 174 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. boy as thou art, hast thou had thine hands full of mis- chief,— .continually shooting thy darts at thy elders most irreverently. Aye, thou hast wounded me, thine own mother, once every day and oftener, and paid me no more regard than if I were a widow, thou matri- cide. Even the bravest of all warriors, thy father-in- law, hath not the power to daunt thee ; but thou hast frequently led him, too, astray, to my pain and sorrow. But, verily, shaltthou repent of all thy tricks, and sour and bitter shall be the cup of pleasure at thy nuptials. Let us see, forsooth, how then shall I proceed ? Whi- ther", now that I am made a laughing-stock, shall I go for counsel ? What means have I to coerce the slippery little lizard? Ask assistance of that countrified, slovenly dame, Sobriety, who, because on his very account I have so often affronted her, is always my enemy ? No, I can do no such thing. My flesh creeps at the thought of an interview with her. But, yes ! sweet is the comfort of vengeance, come whence it will ! She, and no other in the universe, will so serve my purpose to chastise the little puppy severely, — empty his quiver of its arrows, blunt their points, unstring his bow, extinguish his torch, and compel him to bear the very worst of corporal punishments and disagreeable remedies — abstinence. Nor then, even, will the injury I have suffered be thoroughly atoned for, till I have shorn those shining, golden locks, that these hands so oft have sorted, and clipped the wings steeped in the nectar of my bosom." Book V. FIFTH EPISODE. 175 . Thus spake the highly irritated goddess, who no sooner delivered herself of the violent apostrophe, than, turning on her heel in a boiling, bilious rage, she forthwith burst out of doors away from her palace. There immediately she encountered the two goddesses, Ceres and Juno. They, observing that her features were swollen, and that her face was flushed with exces- sive anger, inquired the reason why her sparkling eyes, otherwise so mild and fascinating, were coerced by a supercilious frown ? " Can you be ignorant," exclaimed she, " of the stories abroad relating to my family, the doings of the youth whom no longer I will call my son ? Opportunely, oh ! most opportunely, have you come hither to compose my raging bosom, and render me assistance to execute a deed of vengeance. Aid me, then, I pray you, to discover the retreat of the fugitive, wandering Psyche." Now, both the above-mentioned goddesses were already cognizant of all the events that had happened, as above alluded to; but, nevertheless, both being anxious to soften the impetuosity of Venus's temper, they thus addressed her :— " "Wherefore, good mistress, dost thou thus seek the destruction of a damsel with whom thy son hath fallen in love ? What sin, forsooth, hath he committed? Why shouldst thou so obsti- nately oppose thyself to his happiness? Where is the harm, we pray thee, tell us, e'en though — aye, and with right good-will — he hath bestowed a smile or two upon a pretty damsel ? Bethink thee of his sex and of 176 FIFTH EPISODE. Book V. his youthful age. Surely you have forgotten the num- ber of his years, or imagine, forsooth, that because he hath a young appearance, he mil remain a boy for ever. Fie upon thee, considerate female as thou art, not only thus inquisitively to pry into the gaieties of thy beautiful son, and take him to task for his loves and indiscretions, but blame him for exercising the agreeable arts and occupations taught him by thine own self. Aye, by thine own self, we tell thee ; and let us ask, moreover, which of the gods, or where is the mortal* who will bear with thee, if thus thou run abroad scattering pleasure and delight in every direc- tion among the people, while, within thine own house, the very centre and emporium of female frailty, Love be detained a prisoner ?" Thus did the two goddesses, fearing they might themselves be one day wounded by the arrows of Cupid, propitiate the God of Love in his absence, while Venus, becoming still more irritated at her having injuries turned into ridicule; haughtily turned her back upon the speakers,* and hastily transported herself to the sea. Book VI. FIFTH EPISODE. 177 BOOK VI. Conclusion of Fifth Episode. — Cupid and Psyche. Departure of Lucius with the Bobbers to fetch Booty concealed in a Cave — Their return — Another departure without Lucius — Lucius resolves to escape — Lucius seized by the Robbers' Dame — Lucius, assisted by the Damsel, defeats his Antagonist — Lucius carries off the Damsel — Lucius and the Damsel retaken by the Robbers — Death of the Robbers' Dame — The Robbers condemn Lucius and the Damsel to suffer a cruel death. Psyche, meanwhile, distracted by various vicissitudes, and incessantly travelling by day, without being able to rest at night, went seeking her husband in all parts of the country. More anxious to find him, in the hope, even though the endearments of a wife proved unavail- ing, of pacifying his anger towards her, at all events, by her humble prayers. At last, as she was wandering along on her way, she happened to cast her eyes upon the summit of a high mountain, and espied a certain temple. Upon which said she to herself, " How do I know that my husband hath not his place of habitation in the temple I see yonder?" And with that she hastened her pace and directed her course thither ; and though she was then thoroughly exhausted by continual i 3 178 EIFTH EPISODE. Book VI. toil, love and hope so accelerated her steps, that she felt her frame refreshed, and climbed the heights of the mountain with renewed vigour, nimbly and skil- fully mounting from ridge to ridge, till she arrived at the distant shrine. So soon as she approached the spot, she perceived a great many sheaves of wheat, abundance of wheat-ears, and others twisted into chaplets, lying loose on the ground. There were, together with the above, some ears of barley; and also, immediately in front of the temple, a number of reaping-hooks, and other harvest implements, all promiscuously scattered here and there in a disorderly manner, as the reapers are used to cast such things carelessly out of their hands in the heat of the day. Now Psyche, considering that she ought by no means to fail in religious regard to- wards the temple, but rather to appeal to the pity and benevolence of the gods, by the observance of all their ceremonies, began diligently to arrange and put in order every one of the things that were thus lying in confusion, and to lay each object apart in its proper place. While she was thus engaged, the bountiful goddess Ceres, observing how diligently and anxiously she was employed in the performance of the duty to- wards her temple, exclaimed to her from a considerable distance, " Oh miserable Psyche, how canst thou busy thyself at present with the implements of my temple, or think of aught than to save thyself while Venus in a raging passion is eagerly tracking thy foot- steps all over the world, and vows to wreak upon thee Book VI. FIFTH EPISODE. 179 the utmost force of her divine vengeance ? " Psyche, so soon as she heard the above words of Ceres, eagerly rushed towards the goddess and threw herself pros- trate before her. Then sweeping the ground with her hair, and wetting the feet of the divinity with her tears, which flowed abundantly, she implored her protection in an earnest prayer, as follows : — " I im- plore thee by thy fruit-bearing right hand, by the joyous ceremonies of harvest, by the silent rites of the Canephorae, by thy servants the winged serpents of thy car, by the furrows of the Sicilian soil, by the raptive chariot of Pluto, by the earth that closed upon thy daughter descending to the shades below, by Pro- serpine's dreary nuptials, by the light of the -