ected Hermione, thinking only of her husband, "for
I have won no pentathlon."

"Ah, _makaira_, dearest and best," he answered, looking not on the
glorious citadel but on her face, "could I have won the parsley wreath had
there been no better wreath awaiting me at Eleusis? And to-day I am
gladdest of the glad. For the gods have sent me blessings beyond desert, I
no longer fear their envy as once. I enjoy honour with all good men. I
have no enemy in the world. I have the dearest of friends, Cimon,
Themistocles--beyond all, Democrates. I am blessed in love beyond Peleus
espoused to Thetis, or Anchises beloved of Aphrodite, for my golden
Aphrodite lives not on Olympus, nor Paphos, nor comes on her doves from
Cythera, but dwells--"

"Peace." The hand laid on his mouth was small but firm. "Do not anger the
goddess by likening me unto her. It is joy enough for me if I can look up
at the sun and say, 'I keep the love of Glaucon the Fortunate and the
Good.' "

Walking thus in their golden dream, the two crossed the Agora, turned to
the left from the Pnyx, and by crooked lanes went past the craggy rock of
Areopagus, till before them rose a wooden palisade and a gate. Through
this a steep path led upward to the citadel. Not to the Acropolis of fame.
The buildings then upon the Rock in one short year would lie in heaps of
fire-scarred ruin. Yet in that hour before Glaucon and Hermione a not
unworthy temple rose, the old "House of Athena," prototype of the later
Parthenon. In the morning light it stood in beauty--a hundred Doric
columns, a sculptured pediment, flashing with white marble and with tints
of scarlet, blue, and gold. Below it, over the irregular plateau of the
Rock, spread avenues of votive statues of gods and heroes in stone,
bronze, or painted wood. Here and there were numerous shrines and small
temples, and a giant altar for burning a hundred oxen. So hand in hand the
twain went to the bronze portal of the Temple. The kindly old priest on
guard smiled as he sprinkled them with the purifying salt water out of the
brazen laver. The door closed behind them. For a moment they seemed to
stand in the high temple in utter darkness. Then far above through the
marble roof a softened light came creeping toward them. As from unfolding
mist, the great calm face of the ancient goddess looked down with its
unchanging smile. A red coal glowed on the tripod at her feet. Glaucon
shook incense over the brazier. While it smoked, Hermi