130 SOPIIENE AND SOPHOCLES. 



filled with the most exquisite perfumes; both boys and girls crowned 

 with roses, decked with beautiful flowers, hardly gave way to the 

 most illustrious citizens, who assembled round me from every 

 quarter. Such was Socrates amidst his disciples! Who among us, 

 said they, shall be happy enough to welcome him to his home ? 

 Whom will he prefer ? All their vows were centred in me. It 

 seemed that it was for my own sake, and that the ambassador was 

 indebted for nothing to the dignity of his mission. Dangerous 

 honours ! How many tears, what bitterness, did you leave behind 

 you ! Sosthenes prevailed over his rivals, and I ascended his'car. I 

 entered a magnificent palace, of which I became, as it were, the 

 owner, and ran through all the apartments of it. I walked into a 

 garden, the magnificent abode of wonders and delights. The fruits 

 there vie with the flowers in colour ; the purple of the violet yields 

 to that of the grape ; the vine bending under its own weight blends 

 them together. They are scarcely to be distinguished : here, the 

 myrtle-tree, interwoven with the cypress, forms so thick a bower 

 that the sun-beams cannot penetrate it ; there, I behold the rose 

 half blown, while others appear in full beauty of bloom. The 

 wanton zephyr flutters around, and seems to embellish them by his 

 sighs. Moreover the hyacinth, the lily, the amaranth imitate the 

 variety and liveliness of the colours that deck the messenger of the 

 gods, when she is sent to reveal their will to mankind. Here, one 

 finds in abundance every thing that industry and the assiduous 

 labour of a judicious gardener can produce ; there, benevolent 

 nature confounds all the seasons, and there, adorned- with every 

 charm, Flora and Pomona reign in all their glory. 



Astonished and enchanted, I thought myself in the gardens of 

 Alcinous, and no longer attribute to imaginary dreams what the 

 poets sing of the Elysian fields. Insensibly I drew near a fountain ; 

 to admire it was not difficult ; but how am I to describe it ? 



In a rustic grotto, where art does not dare to bestow any thing on 

 nature, springs a pellucid water, the liquid crystal of which runs 

 down a canal covered with pebbles, and, flowing through a flowery 

 green into another more spacious basin, proceeds and swells, a river 

 which, spreading on both sides as far as the sight can reach, termi- 

 nates the prospect of that charming place. The top of this grotto 

 is shaded with evergreen shrubs which no hand has profaned. Both 

 channels are bordered with bushy trees, which preserve a perpetual 

 coolness. Secret meditation, sleep still sweeter, inhabit this retreat. 

 A venerable old man, the Nestor of his age, with a serene look, and 

 eyes still sparkling, was musing there on the vanity of human things, 

 and on the omnipotence of the gods. Awed by his presence, I 

 slopped lest I should interrupt him. I worshipped the divinity of 

 that peaceful place. " Beautiful naiad," said I, " may your waters, 

 ever pure, ever delicious, give pleasure to those who come to visit 

 them, and quench the thirst of whoever tastes them ! May I myself 

 learn on your banks, that the most blooming youth flows away as 

 swift as your waves I" 



Sosthenes now informed me that it was time for me to pull off my 

 garments of ceremony, and to take my seat at table. Though 

 unwillingly, I followed him. Panthia his wife, and his daughter 



