for they turn not aside at the cries of men! Weeping like a coward! And
you are not humiliated that a woman can cause you so much suffering?"

"Am I a child?" said Matho. "Do you think that I am moved by their faces
and songs? We kept them at Drepanum to sweep out our stables. I have
embraced them amid assaults, beneath falling ceilings, and while the
catapult was still vibrating!--But she, Spendius, she!--"

The slave interrupted him:

"If she were not Hanno's daughter--"

"No!" cried Matho. "She has nothing in common with the daughters of
other men! Have you seen her great eyes beneath her great eyebrows, like
suns beneath triumphal arches? Think: when she appeared all the torches
grew pale. Her naked breast shone here and there through the diamonds of
her necklace; behind her you perceived as it were the odour of a temple,
and her whole being emitted something that was sweeter than wine and
more terrible than death. She walked, however, and then she stopped."

He remained gaping with his head cast down and his eyeballs fixed.

"But I want her! I need her! I am dying for her! I am transported with
frenzied joy at the thought of clasping her in my arms, and yet I hate
her, Spendius! I should like to beat her! What is to be done? I have a
mind to sell myself and become her slave! YOU have been that! You were
able to get sight of her; speak to me of her! Every night she ascends
to the terrace of her palace, does she not? Ah! the stones must quiver
beneath her sandals, and the stars bend down to see her!"