'Worthy of Phoebus,' returned the noble parasite--'or of Glaucus.'



Chapter II

THE BLIND FLOWER-GIRL, AND THE BEAUTY OF FASHION. THE ATHENIAN'S
CONFESSION. THE READER'S INTRODUCTION TO ARBACES OF EGYPT.

TALKING lightly on a thousand matters, the two young men sauntered
through the streets; they were now in that quarter which was filled with
the gayest shops, their open interiors all and each radiant with the
gaudy yet harmonious colors of frescoes, inconceivably varied in fancy
and design. The sparkling fountains, that at every vista threw upwards
their grateful spray in the summer air; the crowd of passengers, or
rather loiterers, mostly clad in robes of the Tyrian dye; the gay groups
collected round each more attractive shop; the slaves passing to and fro
with buckets of bronze, cast in the most graceful shapes, and borne upon
their heads; the country girls stationed at frequent intervals with
baskets of blushing fruit, and flowers more alluring to the ancient
Italians than to their descendants (with whom, indeed, "latet anguis in
herba," a disease seems lurking in every violet and rose); the numerous
haunts which fulfilled with that idle people the office of cafes and
clubs at this day; the shops, where on shelves of marble were ranged the
vases of wine and oil, and before whose thresholds, seats, protected
from the sun by a purple awning, invited the weary to rest and the
indolent to lounge--made a scene of such glowing and vivacious
excitement, as might well give the Athenian spirit of Glaucus an excuse
for its susceptibility to joy.