tuary with the expectation of
finding a peculiar, probably a powerful work, but one repugnant to his
taste, and left it fairly overpowered by the beauty of this noble work
of art.

What he had formerly seen of Hermon's productions had prejudiced
him against the artist, whose talent was great, but who, instead of
dedicating it to the service of the beautiful and the sublime, chose
subjects which, to Proclus, did not seem worthy of artistic treatment,
or, when they were, sedulously deprived them of that by which, in his
eyes, they gained genuine value. In Hermon's Olympian Banquet he--who
also held the office of a high priest of Apollo in Alexandria--had even
seen an insult to the dignity of the deity. In the Street Boy Eating
Figs, the connoisseur's eye had recognised a peculiar masterpiece, but
he had been repelled by this also; for, instead of a handsome boy, it
represented a starving, emaciated vagabond.

True to life as this figure might be, it seemed to him reprehensible,
for it had already induced others to choose similar vulgar subjects.

When recently at Althea's performance he had met Hermon and saw how
quickly his beautiful travelling companion allowed herself to be induced
to bestow the wreath on the handsome, black-bearded fellow, it vexed
him, and he had therefore treated him with distant coldness, and allowed
him to perceive the disapproval which the direction taken by his art had
awakened in his mind.

In the presence of Hermon's Demeter, the opinion of the experienced man
and intelligent connoisseur had suddenly changed.

The creator of this work was not only one of the foremost artists of his
day, nay, he had also been permitted to fathom the nature of the deity
and to bestow upon it a perfect form.

This Demeter was the most successful personification of the divine
goodness which rewards the sowing of seed with the harvest. When Hermon
created it, Daphne's image had hovered before his mind, even if he had
not been permitted to use her as a model, and of all the maidens whom he
knew there was scarcely one better suited to serve as the type for the
Demeter.

So what he had seen in Pelusium, and learned from women, was true. The
heart and mind of the artist who had created this work were not filled
with the image of Althea--who during the journey had bestowed many a
mark of favour upon the aging man, and with whom he was obliged to work
hand in hand for Queen Arsinoe's plans--but the daughter of Ar