companion. But I?
Far from thinking constantly, like her, solely of others and their
welfare, I should only too often, selfish as I now am, be mindful of
myself. But when I realize who I am, I see before me a blind man who is
poorer than a beggar, because the scorching flames melted even the gold
which was to help him pay his debts."

"Folly!" cried the matron. "For what did Archias gather his boundless
treasures? And when his daughter is once yours--"

"Then," Hermon went on bitterly, "the blinded artist's poverty will be
over. That is your opinion, and the majority of people will share it. But
I have my peculiarities, and the thought of being rescued from hunger and
thirst by the woman I love, and who ought to see in me the man from whom
she receives the best gifts--to be dependent on her as the recipient of
her alms--seems to me worse than if I were once more to lose my sight. I
could not endure it at all! Every mouthful would choke me. Just because
she is so dear to me, I can not seek her hand; for, in return for her
great self-sacrificing love, I could give her nothing save the keen
discontent which seizes the proud soul that is forced constantly to
accept benefits, as surely as the ringing sound follows the blow upon the
brass. My whole future life would become a chain of humiliations, and do
you know whither this unfortunate marriage would lead? My teacher Straton
once said that a man learns to hate no one more easily than the person
from whom he receives benefits which it is out of his power to repay.
That is wise, and before I will see my great love for Daphne transformed
to hate, I will again try the starving which, while I was a sculptor at
Rhodes, I learned tolerably well."

"But would not a great love," asked Thyone, "suffice to repay tenfold the
perishable gifts that can be bought with gold and silver?"

"No, and again no!" Hermon answered in an agitated tone. "Something else
would blend with the love I brought to the marriage, something that must
destroy all the compensation it might offer; for I see myself becoming a
resentful misanthrope if I am compelled to relinquish the pleasure of
creating and, condemned to dull inaction, can do nothing except allow
myself to be tended, drink, eat, and sleep. The gloomy mood of her
unfortunate husband would sadden Daphne's existence even more than my
own; for, Thyone, though I should strive with all my strength to bear
patiently, with her dear aid, the burden imp