rk soles inside their
shoes, and the tall ones to wear light sandals, and to shrink their
heads down between their shoulders; she made pads for the thin,
whalebone corsets for the stout, she stained the gray hair with soot,
and those who had good teeth she obliged to carry a stalk of myrtle
between their lips, counseling them to smile at the slightest word.

The young girl possessed the old witch's confidence to such an extent
that she assisted her in the most dangerous part of her science, the
confection of love-philters and the making of charms, which had more
than once caused her to be prosecuted by the officials of the Areopagus.
The richest hetaerae consulted her about their desires and revenges, and
she gave them the benefit of her knowledge. To accomplish the impotence
of a man or the sterility of a woman, it was only necessary to give them
a glass of wine in which a barbel had been stewed; to attract a
forgetful lover a cake of unleavened dough was burned in a fire made of
branches of thyme and laurel; and to convert love into hatred it was
only necessary to follow the man, stepping in his tracks the opposite
way, placing the right foot where he had put his left, and murmuring at
the same time: "I am upon you, I step on you." If one wished to cause a
satiated lover to return, the old woman rolled a bronze ball which she
carried in her bosom, asking Venus to cause the lover to roll in over
the threshold of the door in the same manner, and if the conjury
produced no effect, the wax image of the person beloved was thrown into
the brazier while asking the gods to melt the frozen heart with love
even as the figure melted. With these enchantments, accompanied by
mysterious invocations, went philters composed of aphrodisiacs and
exciting herbs, which frequently led to death.

One moonlight spring night Myrrhina had an adventure in the Cerameicus,
which resulted in her abandoning the den of the Thessalian. Seated
behind a tomb, her howl soft as a lament attracted a man wrapped in a
white mantle. By the brilliancy of his eyes and the insecurity of his
step he seemed to be intoxicated. He wore on his head a crown of
withered roses.

Myrrhina divined that he was a distinguished citizen coming from a
banquet. It was the poet Simalion, a young aristocrat who had won a
crown in the Olympian games, and in whom Athens saw revived the
inspiration of Anacreon. The richest hetaerae sang his verses at banquets
to the music of th