exions, we can
impose upon our enemies!" "Yes, indeed," sneered Giton, "and be sure
and circumcise us, too, so we will be taken for Jews, pierce our ears so
we will look like Arabs, chalk our faces so that Gaul will take us for
her own sons; as if color alone could change one's figure! As if many
other details did not require consideration if a passable imposture is to
result! Even granting that the stained face can keep its color for some
time, suppose that not a drop of water should spot the skin, suppose that
the garment did not stick to the ink, as it often does, where no gum is
used, tell me! We can't make our lips so hideously thick, can we? We
can't kink our hair with a curling-iron, can we? We can't harrow our
foreheads with scars, can we? We can't force our legs out into the form
of a bow or walk with our ankle-bones on the ground, can we? Can we trim
our beards after the foreign style? No! Artificial color dirties the
body without changing it. Listen to the plan which I have thought out in
my desperation; let's tie our garments around our heads and throw
ourselves into the deep!"

CHAPTER THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRD.

"Gods and men forbid that you should make so base an ending of your
lives," cried Eumolpus. "No! It will be better to do as I direct. As
you may gather, from his razor, my servant is a barber: let him shave
your heads and eyebrows, too, and quickly at that! I will follow after
him, and I will mark my inscription so cleverly upon your foreheads that
you will be mistaken for slaves who have been branded! The same letters
will serve both to quiet the suspicions of the curious and to conceal,
under semblance of punishment, your real features!" We did not delay the
execution of this scheme but, sneaking stealthily to the ship's side, we
submitted our heads and eyebrows to the barber, that he might shave them
clean. Eumolpus covered our foreheads completely, with large letters
and, with a liberal hand, spread the universally known mark of the
fugitive over the face of each of us. As luck would have it, one of the
passengers, who was terribly seasick, was hanging over the ship's side
easing his stomach. He saw the barber busy at his unseasonable task by
the light of the moon and, cursing the omen which resembled the last
offering of a crew before shipwreck, he threw himself into his bunk.
Pretending not to hear his puking curses, we reverted to our melancholy
train of thought an