though the evening was already far advanced. When they reached the house, he took the presents from the slave and sent him away, meaning to give them with his own hands, that the wise woman might the more favor him in a matter of his own, which he meant to advise with her about. While he waited there, calling once or twice, and knocking at the door, a person muffled in a cloak came up the street, and opening the door, bade him enter if he had business with Diotima, for that she would be there speedily. The young man took up the presents and followed the stranger through a court, into which the door opened, and thence into a great banquet room, where his conductor left him. Two torches burning in candlesticks over the door, made a murky light in the place. The floor and ceiling were of wood, rudely carved and painted with symbolic figures. On the walls were figures, very richly colored, representing the battles of the Gods and Titans, and a variety of other actions, all emblematical. At one end of the wall, about a small table set for feasting, stood three couches for as many guests. The couches were beautifully ornamented in the Tyrian fashion, with cushions of Tyrian cloth. On the table stood wine vases and cups of chased silver, such as came, at that period, from Italy and Egypt. At the other end of the hall were many vases of flowers, casting a delicious scent; and on a small altar, opposite the door, offerings of fresh flowers and incense were laid before an ivory group of the Graces, which stood in a niche of the wall.

When the young man had waited some time, a slave entered and lighted a bronze cresset that hung from the ceiling over the table, and which cast an odor in burning as of aloes and frankincense. Then came the prophetess herself, in a white robe, and crowned with flowers. Two others entered after her, one the stranger who had admitted the young man, and the other an uncouth figure, with ragged locks and a satirical physiognomy. These too were crowned, according to custom, and took each a couch on either side of the table; Diotima reclining on the middle one, which was highest. At the sight of this woman, Cymon was struck with amazement; for

in all his interviews, he had never seen her without a black veil. She seemed a century, it might be, in years, but full of life, with a countenance more angelic than human. Her skin was of a marble paleness, furrowed with delicate lines. Her eyes cast a supernatural light, and about her lips, that trembled as if with the birth of speech, there lay an expression of pain tempered with amiable gravity, which assured an instant respect in the beholder.

When the three had taken their places, they perceived Cymon standing very much embarrassed at the lower end of the hall; but at the instant, as he was coming forward to apologize, two slaves entered with another couch, which they placed by the table, and respectfully invited him to take his place upon it, the prophetess signifying the same with a cordial motion of the hand. The young man then explained himself.

"I bring you," said he, "excellent Diotima, a present of some wine and conserves from the citizens of this ward. The master of the feast commanded me, and I came."

"If you came willingly," said the prophetess, "we make you welcome; but if unwillingly, then permit us in some manner to signify our good will. Will you feast with us ?"

Cymon, in a confused manner, assented, and took the couch offered him, having with difficulty washed his hands in a basin which the two slaves held for him; at which the satirical guest laughed.

"I perceive, friend," said he, "you are either a musician or a drunkard, by the fiddling of your hands. But be comforted; we shall find you plenty of occupation in either capacity."

"You are very obliging," retorted the other; "but you mistake the cause of my trepidation. I took you for a Scythian or a Satyr by the cut of your face, but now you appear to be only some rude fellow."

"Well returned," said the other guest, laughing. "Our friend here has gotten what he gave; as on other occasions."

"He is unlucky, then," replied Cymon, "if he always gets what he gives. It is a poor jester that has never one triumph."

"I understand our friend differently," said Diotima, in a mild manner. "He de

sires our good will, and would not feel happy to triumph over any of our distresses. He will not fail to make you love him. He is a fortunate lover, whose friends and mistresses favor him in a surprising manner."

"How," said Cymon, laughing—" him? Pray, who is one of his mistresses, reverend prophetess ?"

"The Graces," answered she, "are sig nally kind to him."

Thereat the young man and the other guest laughed very heartily.

"He is like," said the former, " to have full exercise of his quality, for here are three of us against him."

"The deities will think you belie them, good Diotima," said Cymon, who had now perfectly recovered himself, "if you name him as one of their favorites." Then turning to the ivory goddesses, he exclaimed, I appeal to you, companions of the heavenly Venus, whether this fellow is indeed on the list of your favorites ?" while he spoke, between jest and earnest, raising a cup of wine to his lips, and fixing his eyes upon the figures.

"If the anger of our guest against me,' said Meton, "is abated, (and I confess the rudeness,) I desire you will tell him for my sake in what sense you think I am favored by the Graces; for he imagines you are satirizing me, as I did him-though, indeed, I meant only to infuse a little courage by arousing bold anger in him; and now you see he is all at once witty and companionable."

"I thank you, good Satyr, for the faver," said the young man; "and now, Diotima, pray explain this mystery. I am impatient to hear you speak on that matter."

"If Lysis," said she, turning to the other guest, "is of your mind, I will say what I mean."

"Do so," said Lysis, "by-and-by; but now I would rather hear from your own lips, what you have promised the jester and myself-the story of your own life."

"Have patience with me, young sir,'

said the prophetess, addressing Cymon, "while I keep a promise with Lysis. When you have heard my story, we will talk of the other matter."

Diotima then called for water, and having washed her hands, she reclined on her left arm, and gesticulating slowly and gracefully with the right, continued the story, while the three guests drank and feasted themselves in silence.

The Lesbians, who are my countrymen, claim to be the rivals of the Athenians in all matters of taste and refinement, though they confess their superiority in war, and yield them an unwilling obedience. My father exceeded all the other citizens in his cordial hatred of Athens and her democracy, and being equally rich and powerful, was regarded, while he lived, as the leader of the patriotic party. For in Lesbos to be a patriot is to favor aristocracy; but here it is otherwise. My father's taste and opinions made his house a resort of cultivated persons of both sexes, and of all who professed any liberal art or science. Every day we were entertained with music and melodious verse; the most eloquent of the rhapsodists made us familiar with Homer, and the wittiest comedians entertained us with satires on the vulgar. Our nights were passed in banqueting, our mornings in the bath. We sat at evening under the shade of plane trees by cool rivulets, entertained with love tales, or with the sports and conversation of our friends. My early life slid away like a dream. I remember nothing remarkable until my fifteenth year; when I was made suddenly to feel the roughness of fortune, by a décree of the Demos, which banished my father from the Island for life. Taking none with him but myself, whom he tenderly loved, he sailed to Egypt in a vessel loaded with olives, with which, added to a remnant of his property, he meant to establish himself in Egypt, where there is a great colony of the Greeks. Let me assure you, my friends, I was not then what you now see me, a wrinkled old woman, but indeed, not a maid in Hellas might be ashamed of being likened to me: the marble Venus of Lesbos is a copy of my face and form, which the greatest of our artists preferred before all others. My beauty is celebrated in verse that will not perish, and I remem

ber to have heard, that even Simonides wrote a song upon me, for love's sake only; though my father did not fail to reward him handsomely for every verse."

"My father was in dread lest my beauty should bring some mischief upon him during the voyage, and bade me keep a veil over my face; but one day when there was a great calm, (we were just then on the Rhodian shore,) I laid aside my veil for the sake of coolness, and commanded the female slave who attended me, to draw the curtain that concealed us from the rowers. They lay asleep on the benches-all but one, a young Athenian, who observed the movement of the curtain, and fixed his eyes upon my face. I resumed my veil, not without some apprehensions of the consequences of this imprudence, which were justified by the event; for, on the second day after, the crew rose upon my father and thrust him into the sea. The young Athenian, after this feat, came somewhat rudely into my recess, and informed me that he was master of the galley, that my father had fallen overboard in the night, but that I need not suffer any apprehension on that account, as he meant to be my protector. Imagine my grief and consternation. I threw myself at his feet, and begged he would not injure my honor, or sell me into slavery, but would rather make me his wife, for that now I should have no other protector. The young man's soul was filled with compassion. He raised me from the ground, and with a tender embrace swore that he would be my friend and husband, and that he would die in my defence. I accordingly became his wife, and suffered no inconvenience but sorrow for the death of my father, which afflicted me dreadfully for a long time.

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I soon began to have confidence in my husband, and even loved him a little. He very soon explained that he had designed, with others of the crew, of whom three or four were free Athenians, and the rest slaves, to sell me for a slave in Egypt, expecting a great price by reason of my beauty; that in consideration of his service as inventor and chief executor of the plot, the ship, with its slaves and cargo, was to be his; but that he presently effected an exchange, and partly by threats, and partly by promises of I know not what

advantages, he had got me for his own property. And as the others knew nothing of me but through his report, he had misled them with a false account of my person, representing that as by no means the prodigy he had at first conceived it.

"This last confession nettled me not a little, and through all my sorrows I perceived an uneasiness of a very different kind. For the first time in my life, my personal advantages had been underrated. This leaven worked so powerfully, I resolved at last to right myself by a public disclosure; and one morning as we were coming by the western mouth of the Nile, where the Greeks are accustomed to enter Egypt, I let my veil drop as if by accident, while standing upon the stern in sight of my husband's companions. perceived that they were astonished at my beauty, and that very night my husband was killed and thrown overboard. My horror and remorse may be conceived when I discovered the consequences of my weakness; but there was nothing left me but to bear it in silence. I was sold soon after to a rich Egyptian, who took me to his house, and finding my person agreeable, gave me every advantage and comfort that could be desired. The houses of Egypt resemble those of Athens, but are far more elegant and convenient. Indeed, the manners of the Egyptians surpass ours in most particulars, and I must regard them as a people far in advance of us in everything appertaining to luxury. We are their superiors in war, and might be their governors, did we but know it; and for the arts, nothing can be worse than their taste in these; but they know better than any other people the way to enjoy and make life comfortable.

"I soon became familiar with the language and manners of my master, and my proficiency was such he made a point of conversing with me himself, displaying a vast deal of learning, and singular notions in regard to religion; for I soon found that his opinions of the gods were not like those of my father, but much more mystical and refined. Manes (for that was my master's name) had been a priest of Ammon, in the desert, and had there learned the greater mysterics. The Pharao respected his learning and abilities so much as to grant him a pension with an office of

trust about the court; but because he too much favored the Greeks, the council denied him a judgeship, for which he had solicited, as it would have given him too frequent opportunities of showing Lis regard for our nation. Nevertheless my good master was a man of virtue above the Egyptian standard, and was faithful not only to his religion, but to the moral intimations of his own breast.

"After two years' residence with him, when I had perfectly acquired the language, and might, but for my beauty, have passed for an Egyptain, he procured me at vast cost an initiation as priestess. The wife of a priest in Egypt, is priestess herself, by virtue of her family and marriage; but if an Egyptian takes a woman of Greece to be his wife, he must procure her this privilege by enormous bribes, because of a law which forbids any but a man or woman of the pure land to be initiated. But in Egypt money will do everything.

"At this time Pythagoras was in Egypt, and had become, a priest through favor of my husband and others of the Greek faction, who meant to break down the old prejudices. Seeing the military spirit of their nation extinct, and the Pharaos dependant on foreigners for the defence of his territory, they wished to mingle the two nations, declaring that as they were of Egyptian origin, the Greeks should be admitted of the military order, and treated as the brothers of the Egyptians. But these projects and opinions came all to nought.

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Pythagoras came often to our house in Heliopolis to converse with my husband. I remember well his tall, spare figure, and delicate complexion. His appearance and expression were unlike anything I have ever seen, for they combined the expression of an enthusiast with the manners of an aristocrat.

"We lived splendidly at Heliopolis. My husband's palace adjoined the great temple, where the worship of Ammon and of the Sun is daily solemnized. From the windows of the balcony and from the roof, we overlooked the great avenue leading to the temple, along which processions moved on each one of the many feast days of the Egyptians. One half the time we spent in banqueting and celebrations, the remainder

in study and the rites of the Sun. My husband instructed me in all the mysteries. I read secretly the books of thrice great Hermes, which treat of polity, medicine, and indeed of all that appertains to this life; I composed poems in the sacred character, and soon had the reputation of the most learned, as well as of the handsomest woman in Egypt. My evening parties, suppers and festivals, were attended by all the nobility and their wives. Young nobles drove in their chariots every morning to my doors. Ambitious mothers sent their daughters to hear my conversations, and great wits were not ashamed to learn my verses, and repeat my good sayings.

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Let me describe to you one of my parties, that you may know how much better the women fare in Egypt, than with you Greeks. Wishing to make a young enthusiast, the daughter of a priest, acquainted with the wonderful Pythagoras, I sent him an invitation by a slave, on a scroll of gilt papyrus. At evening he came in a little bronze chariot, drawn by a spirited horse which he drove with his own hand. Alighting at the door of the court, he gave the reins to a servant, and passing through the court under a canopy of cloth, spangled to represent the heavens, under a shower of perfumes, he advanced to the great staircase, which is opposite the street door. Here my husband met him, clad in a dress of the purest linen of Egypt, and they two came together into the chamber where my friends were assembled.

"Need I describe the formal grace, the learned courtesy of the reception, when my husband, with a serene gravity, conducted his famous guest to a chair not inferior to Pharao's, and placing himself on his right hand, commanded me to sit upon the left? Then how the women and young nobles, who had risen at his entrance, came forward singly and were introduced. the women by myself, and the men by my husband; and how gracefully and soberly Pythagoras received them, rising and doing courtesy to each with a polite inclination of the head ?"

us

"I beseech you, fair Diotima," said Cymon, interrupting her, "relate to all the particulars of this reception, and the conversation of Pythagoras with your

her desire of hearing him converse. For I have a suspicion of something extraor dinary in such a dialogue, though it happened on so courtly an occasion."

Please, good friend," said Lysis, "Diotima shall tell us what she pleases. Thou art very impertinent to make such a request."

"He thinks there is some love matter in it," said the other; "for I plainly observe a kind of lustre in his eyes.'

"It is the wine, good Meton," observed the young man, blushing. "And now, dear Diotima, I will not again interrupt you."

"The room of reception," said the prophetess, continuing her story, "was of vast size, supported by rows of columns of white marble, stained with emblematic figures. The floor was covered with a thick cloth of wool, worked in figures of sphinxes and water lilies, in blue and gold. The roof had many openings, between the beams of gilt cedar, which rested on the columns; through which came a light subdued by passing through colored slabs of transparent stone. The columns were garlanded with water-lilies, which gave a rich perfume, and from opposite openings in the pictured walls, might be heard at intervals the voice of sweet singers, and the soft music of harps and flutes, echoing and accompanying each other. When the guests were seated, a collation was served by a band of black slaves, clothed each in white tunic, to heighten the darkness of their skin."

"Pray tell me," said Mycon, "whether these were Ethiopians."

"No," said the prophetess, "they were from a country of forests beyond the great desert. The Ethiopians resemble the Egyptians. But these blacks hardly resemble men, so uncouth are they. When the black slaves had taken away the collation, which we ate from little plates of glass, the blacks entertained us with songs and dances after their manner, with which the guests, and especially Pythagoras, were wonderfully delighted, and evinced their pleasure by repeated

bursts of merriment."

Here the jester Meton made a motion with his hand, and said:

"I confess, good Diotima, this descrip

company of young people, though you went on with it until morning. But I am prodigiously stupid at the hearing of all kinds of histories, unless some demon turns them all into jests for me. But this story of yours is far too dull for jesting, and I therefore weary of it. Pray, say nothing more about these garlands and courtesies-let us have a little of the talk that passed. I fancy Pythagoras made a rare ass of himself."

Hear the fellow!" exclaimed Cymon. But if you are to suffer by him, good Diotima, I am content to suffer with you. Nevertheless, I long to hear something of this conversation. Pray, what was the topic of it?"

As Cymon said this, he took up a vase of wine very suddenly, and put it to his face to hide his confusion, for he was terribly in love with a fair niece of Diotima's who was in the house, and whom he hoped to catch a sight of that night. Nothing would serve him but to talk of love, for he watched an opportunity to let Diotima into his secret, and at the same time to discover the generosity of his sentiments. But Diotima had detected and approved his passion for her niece. But on this occasion he became subject to a certain proverb; for, tipping the vase too far, he poured the wine over his bosom and over the pillow of the couch, on which he leaned with his left elbow. Thereat the others laughed again, and he, covered with confusion, would have run from the room, had not Lysis laid hands upon him.

Come," said he, "young sir, you shall share the couch with me, since your own is taken by Bacchus."

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Ay," said the jester, "his courage, that I gave him, he lost to the Graces, and now, that his couch is taken by Bacchus, he has nothing left but his youth and his innocence."

Cymon, greatly nettled at this speech, which was spoken in a ridiculously sad voice, began to conceive a suspicion of Meton, and would have violently hurled the vase at his head, had he not been staid by a look from Diotima, who, when he had taken his place upon the couch with Lysis, continued her story as follows:

:

"I shall not hesitate, my friends, to relate a part of the conversation of Pythago