een interrupting the
Corinthian. "Hebe is but a bud, an unopened blossom, while I am a
mother, and I flatter myself I am something of a philosopher--"

"And can with justice assure yourself," interrupted Aristarchus, "that
with every charm of youth you also possess the characters attributed to
Peitho, the goddess, who can work her spells not only on the heart but
on the intellect also. The maiden bud is as sweet to look upon as
the rose, but he who loves not merely color but perfume too--I mean
refreshment, emotion and edification of spirit--must turn to the
full-blown flower; as the rose--growers of lake Moeris twine only the
buds of their favorite flower into wreaths and bunches, but cannot use
them for extracting the oil of imperishable fragrance; for that they
need the expanded blossom. Represent Peitho, my Queen! the goddess
herself might be proud of such a representative."

"And if she were so indeed," cried Cleopatra, "how happy am I to hear
such words from the lips of Aristarchus. It is settled--I play Peitho.
My companion Zoe may take the part of Artemis, and her grave sister
that of Pallas Athene. For the mother's part we have several matrons to
choose from; the eldest daughter of Epitropes appears to me fitted for
the part of Aphrodite; she is wonderfully lovely."

"Is she stupid too?" asked Euergetes. "That is also an attribute of the
ever-smiling Cypria."

"Enough so, I think, for our purpose," laughed Cleopatra. "But where are
we to find such a Hebe as you have described, Lysias? The daughter of
Alimes the Arabarch is a charming child."

"But she is brown, as brown as this excellent wine, and too thoroughly
Egyptian," said the high-steward, who superintended the young Macedonian
cup-bearers; he bowed deeply as he spoke, and modestly drew the queen's
attention to his own daughter, a maiden of sixteen. But Cleopatra
objected, that she was much taller than herself, and that she would have
to stand by the Hebe, and lay her hand on her arm.

Other maidens were rejected on various grounds, and Euergetes had
already proposed to send off a carrier-pigeon to Alexandria to command
that some fair Greek girl should be sent by an express quadriga to
Memphis--where the dark Egyptian gods and men flourish, and are more
numerous than the fair race of Greeks--when Lysias exclaimed:

"I saw to-day the very girl we want, a Hebe that might have stepped out
from the marble group at my father's, and have been endued with