e young maidens and the handsome boys, bearing flaming torches, and
strewing handfuls of crocus flowers along the way, hardly attracted any
attention. The idea of beholding Nyssia had preoccupied all minds.

At last Candaules appeared, riding in a chariot drawn by four horses,
as beautiful and spirited as those of the sun, all rolling their golden
bits in foam, shaking their purple-decked manes, and restrained
with great difficulty by the driver, who stood erect at the side of
Candaules, and was leaning back to gain more power on the reins.

Candaules was a young man full of vigour, and well worthy of his
Herculean origin. His head was joined to his shoulders by a neck massive
as a bull's, and almost without a curve; his hair, black and lustrous,
twisted itself into rebellious little curls, here and there concealing
the circlet of his diadem; his ears, small and upright, were of a ruddy
hue; his forehead was broad and full, though a little low, like all
antique foreheads; his eyes full of gentle melancholy, his oval cheeks,
his chin with its gentle and regular curves, his mouth with its slightly
parted lips--all bespoke the nature of the poet rather than that of
the warrior. In fact, although he was brave, skilled in all bodily
exercises, could subdue a wild horse as well as any of the Lapithae,
or swim across the current of rivers when they descended, swollen with
melted snow, from the mountains, although he might have bent the bow of
Odysseus or borne the shield of Achilles, he seemed little occupied with
dreams of conquest; and war usually so fascinating to young kings,
had little attraction for him. He contented himself with repelling the
attacks of his ambitious neighbours, and sought not to extend his own
dominions. He preferred building palaces, after plans suggested by
himself to the architects, who always found the king's hints of no small
value, or to form collections of statues and paintings by artists of
the elder and later schools. He had the works of Telephanes of Sicyon,
Cleanthes, Ardices of Corinth, Hygiemon, Deinias, Charmides, Eumarus,
and Cimon, some being simple drawings, and others paintings in various
colours or monochromes. It was even said that Candaules had not
disdained to wield with his own royal hands--a thing hardly becoming
a prince--the chisel of the sculptor and the sponge of the encaustic
painter.

But why should we dwell upon-Candaules? The reader undoubtedly feels
like the people of