that when the hour of my doom arrived, I was struck with terror at its
approach, and the anguish of my heart was so appalling, while looking
forward to its coming, that my inert body was convulsed with horror, and
so my deep slumber was suddenly broken. No sooner was I fully awake
than, being still alarmed by the things I had seen, I felt with my right
hand for the wound in my breast, searching at the present moment for
that which was already being prepared for my future misery. Finding that
no wound was there, I began to feel quite safe and even merry, and I
made a mock of the folly of dreams and of those who believe in them,
and so I rendered the work of the gods useless. Ah, wretched me! if I
mocked them then, I had good reason to believe in them afterward, to my
bitter sorrow and with the shedding of useless tears; good reason had I
also to complain of the gods, who reveal their secrets to mortals in
such mystic guise that the things that are to happen in the future can
hardly be said to be revealed at all. Being then fully awake, I raised
my drowsy head, and, as soon as I saw the light of the new-risen sun
enter my chamber, laying aside every other thought directly, I at once
left my couch.

That day, too, was a day of the utmost solemnity for almost everyone.
Therefore, attiring myself carefully in glittering cloth of gold, and
adorning every part of my person with deft and cunning hand, I made
ready to go to the August festival, appareled like unto the goddesses
seen by Paris in the vale of Ida. And, while I was lost in admiration of
myself, just as the peacock is of his plumage, imagining that the
delight which I took in my own appearance would surely be shared by all
who saw me, a flower from my wreath fell on the ground near the curtain
of my bed, I know not wherefore--perhaps plucked from my head by a
celestial hand by me unseen. But I, careless of the occult signs by
which the gods forewarn mortals, picked it up, replaced it on my head,