ving me something; some give me copper
coins, others a piece of cloth or a patera of wine; most of them blows
and bites; all have given me something, and I have accepted, though I
detested them. But you, who come poor and hungry, who do not seek me but
reject me, who give me nothing, just your being near me has made a new
pleasure surge through my body. As I give you food I feel intoxicated,
as if I were fresh from a banquet. Tell me, Greek, are you really a man,
or are you the father of the gods, descending to earth to honor me?"

Exalted by her own words, she arose, standing half way up the marble
steps, and extending her rigid arms toward the temple, bathed in
moonlight, exclaimed:

"Aphrodite! My goddess! If some day I manage to get together the price
of two white doves, I will present them on thy altar, adorned with
flowers and fire-colored ribbons, in memory of this night."

The Greek drank the bitter liquid from the jar and offered it to the
woman, whose lips sought the same spot on the rim which had been touched
by his.

She did not taste the supper which the Greek held out to her; she
continued drinking, and the wine made her more talkative.

"If you only knew what it has cost me to get all this! The lanes are
full of drunken men, who wallow in the mire and drag themselves along on
their hands, tearing one's clothing and biting one's legs. Wine runs
out of the doorways of the inns. They were fighting on the wharf a
little while ago. Some Africans were holding one of their companions
head down in the water to cure his broken skull; a Celtiberian had
opened a great gash in it with his clenched fist. Others amused
themselves by catching Tuga, an Iberian girl, by the feet, and thrusting
her head in the biggest vat in the tavern as long as they dared. She was
half drowned when they pulled her out. It is their usual diversion. I
saw poor Albura, a friend of mine, seated on the ground covered with
blood, holding in the palm of her hand one of her eyes which a drunken
Egyptian had knocked out with a fisticuff. This kind of thing happens
every night! And yet, all at once, I have become afraid. I have only
just met you, and still it seems to me as if I were living in a new
world, and that for the first time I give heed to my surroundings."

She told him the story of her life. They called her Bacchis, and she was
uncertain what was her native land. No doubt she was born in some other
port, for she vaguely remembered