of horses in the metopes; the prodigious works of Phidias. How I long to
see all that! When a ship comes into port from Greece I run away from
the pottery and spend whole days in the taverns with the mariners. I
drink with them, I give them presents of figurines in lewd attitudes,
which make them laugh, just for the sake of getting them to tell me what
they have seen--the temples, the statues, the paintings; and their
stories, instead of calming me, excite my longing.... Ah, if Sonnica
would allow it!... If only she would let me go in one of her ships when
they set sail for Greece!"

Afterward, he added earnestly:

"This girl you see here, my sweet Rhanto, is all that sustains me. If
she did not exist I should long ago have sought the _gubernator_ of a
ship, should have sold myself to him as a slave, if necessary, to
travel over the world, to see Greece, and to become an artist like those
to whom you render there the same honors as to the gods."

The three walked on in silence for some time behind the cloud of dust
raised by the goats. The boy gradually recovered his serenity at the
side of Rhanto, who had taken one of his hands in hers.

"And you--why do you come here?" he asked Actaeon.

"I came as did your father. I am a Greek without fortune, and I wish to
offer my arms to the Saguntine Republic in its wars with the Turdetani."

"Speak to Mopsus. You will find him in the Forum, or above on the
Acropolis near the temple of Hercules, where the magistrates gather. He
will be glad to see you; he adores those of your race, and he will stand
sponsor for you before the city."

Again silence fell. The Greek noticed the loving glances exchanged
between the two young people, the fervid pressure of their clasped
hands, the tender inclination of their healthy young bodies, which
seeking each other, clung together. Erotion, as if obeying an unspoken
request from his beloved, drew from his bosom a flute made of a hollow
reed, and began to blow upon it softly, producing tender, pastoral
music, to which the goats responded with bleating.

The Greek realized that his presence was becoming undesirable to the
happy lovers, for they gradually slackened their pace.

"Farewell, children! Travel without haste; youth is on time whenever it
arrives. We shall meet again in the city."

"May the gods protect you, stranger," replied Rhanto. "If you need
anything you will find me in the Forum where I have to sell these
cheeses and som