aries
with all merited distinction. Tell me more about your military
exploits."

"I have made war in Lacedaemon, under the orders of Cleomenes."

"A famous captain! The renown of the deeds of the Spartan king has even
reached these shores. What news of him?"

"I left him when, conquered but not mastered, he took refuge in
Alexandria. There he dwelt as an exile under the protection of Ptolemy;
but, according to what I heard not long ago in New Carthage, he got into
trouble through a palace intrigue. The Egyptian monarch ordered his
execution, and Cleomenes, with his twelve companions, died fighting.
When he fell, a pile of corpses lay before him."

"Worthy end for a hero! Where did you learn the military art?"

"I began in Sicily and Carthage, in the camps of the mercenaries, and I
finished my education in the Prytaneum of Athens. My father was Lysias,
captain in the service of Hamilcar, put to death afterwards by the
Carthaginians in their war with the mercenaries, which is called the
'Inexpiable War.'"

"Famous schools, and an excellent father! His name also came to my ears
in the epoch when I was running over the world, before taking service in
Saguntum. You are welcome, Actaeon! If you wish to enlist in the
hoplites, you shall figure in the first rank of the phalanx with the
heavy armor and the long spear. But, no, you Athenians prefer to fight
light-armed. You are more to be feared in the onset than on account of
the force of your blows. You shall be a peltast, with javelin and light
shield; you shall fight unhampered, and surely great deeds will be
related of you."

Some old men whom the archer greeted respectfully passed near.

"Those are senators," Mopsus said, "assembling because it is market day.
Many of them come from their villas on the public domain, and ride up to
the Acropolis in their litters. They meet on that portico."

Actaeon saw them taking their seats on wooden chairs with curved
claw-legs supporting the head of the Nemean lion. Their countenances and
dress denoted the great diversity of races existing in the city. The men
of Iberian origin came from their country-houses, bearded, grimy, with
linen cuirass lined with heavy wool, a two-edged short sword hanging
from the shoulder, and a hat of hardened leather equivalent to a helmet.
The Grecian merchants presented themselves with faces shaven, wrapped in
white chlamys, from which the right arm emerged bare; a fillet was bound
around the ha