ns (I was bound to admit) carried some weight
with them. He said, first, that it was wrong to kill those who had
received us with so generous a hospitality; and secondly, that, as
I am no longer immortal, this brawny savage, with hair so curiously
coiled and matted over his brain-pan, might kill me; and thirdly,
that the whole affair might indirectly lead to his, Zeus', personal
inconvenience. Here then is enjoyment by one door quite shut out
from me.

APHRODITE.

Are there not deer in these woods, and perhaps wolves and boars?
There must be wild duck on the firth, and buzzards in the rocks.
Instead of challenging the barbarians to a foolish trial of
strength, why not make them your companions, and learn their
accomplishments?

ARES.

It is possible that I shall do so. But for the present, anger
gushes like an intermittent spring of bitter water in my bosom. I
forget for a moment, and the fountain falls; and then, with a rush,
memory leaps up in me, a column of poison. I say to myself, It cannot
be, it shall not be; but I grow calm again and find that it is.

APHRODITE.

The worst of the old immortality was the carelessness of it. We
were utterly unprepared for anything bordering on catastrophe, and
behold, without warning, we are swept away in a complete cataclysm
of our fortunes. I see, Ares, that it will be long before you can
recover serenity, or take advantage of the capabilities of our new
existence. They will appeal to you more slowly than to the rest
of us, and you will respond more unwillingly, because of your
lack--your voluntary and boasted lack--of all intellectual
suppleness.

ARES.

It is not the business of a soldier to be supple.

APHRODITE.

So it appears. And you will suffer for it. For, stiff and blank as
you may determine to be, circumstances will overpower you. Under
their influences you will not be able to avoid becoming softer and
more redundant. But you will resist the process, I see, and you
will make it as painful as you can.

ARES.

You discuss my case with a cheerful candour, Aphrodite. Are you
sure of being happier yourself?

APHRODITE.

Not _sure_; but I have a reasonable confidence that I shall be
fairly contented. For I, at least, am supple, and I court the
influences which you think it a point of gallantry to resist.

ARES.

You will continue, I suppose, to make your main business the
stimulating and the guiding of the affections? Here I admit that
suppleness,