e lyre, and virtuous dames murmured them in the
solitude of the gynaeceum, flushing with emotion. The most famous
beauties of Athens contended for the poet, and he, already an invalid in
his young manhood, and unable to resist the strain of worldly adoration,
took refuge in the temple of AEsculapius when the cough compelled him to
spit blood; he went on a pilgrimage to the healing springs throughout
Greece and the islands; and no sooner did he begin to feel stronger,
with new blood surging through his veins, than, scorning the doctors, he
began once more the round of banqueting with business men and artists of
Attica, in company with famous hetaerae and genteel Cyprians, rolling from
the arms of one to another; paying for the caresses with verses which
the city afterward repeated; ever ardent, and consuming his life like
the torch which at the nocturnal feasts of Dionysus was passed by the
chain of bacchantes from hand to hand until lost in the infinite.

Coming from one of these orgies he met Myrrhina, and contemplating in
the moonlight her youthful beauty, undimmed and almost childlike there
in a place frequented by the filthy _lupas_, he raised his hand to his
eyes as if he feared he were being deceived by the aberrations of
intoxication. This must be Psyche with those firm, harmoniously curving
breasts, round as cups; with those correct and gentle outlines which
would have been the despair of sculptors at the Academy. The poet
experienced the same satisfaction as when, after hours of solitary
plodding along the wall of Themistocles from Athens to the port, he hit
upon the culminating verse of an ode.

She started to drag him to the old Thessalian's hut, but Simalion,
dazzled by the marble flesh which seemed to shine through the rags, took
her to his beautiful residence on the Street of Tripods, and there
Myrrhina remained like a lady, with slaves and luxurious garments.

This caprice of the poet astounded all Athens. In the Agora and in the
Cerameicus they talked of nothing but Simalion's new love. They marveled
at the rescue of a precious stone, forgotten and lost in the sands,
which suddenly shone forth on the forehead of a grandee.

The great hetaerae, who had never succeeded in making complete conquest of
the fickle poet, were amazed at seeing him devotedly attached to a young
girl from a _dicterion_, who was remembered by many adventurers in the
Piraeus. He took her out in his chariot, driving three horses wi