Under his learned counsel the House of the Golden Pillars took on a
new magnificence. Artists were brought from Corinth and Rome and
Byzantium to adorn it with splendour. Its fame glittered around the
world. Banquets of incredible luxury drew the most celebrated guests
into its triclinium, and filled them with envious admiration. The
bees swarmed and buzzed about the golden hive. The human insects,
gorgeous moths of pleasure and greedy flies of appetite, parasites
and flatterers and crowds of inquisitive idlers, danced and
fluttered in the dazzling light that surrounded Hermas.

Everything that he touched prospered. He bought a tract of land in
the Caucasus, and emeralds were discovered among the mountains. He
sent a fleet of wheat-ships to Italy, and the price of grain doubled
while it was on the way. He sought political favour with the
emperor, and was rewarded with the governorship of the city. His
name was a word to conjure with.

The beauty of Athenais lost nothing with the passing seasons, but
grew more perfect, even under the inexplicable shade of
dissatisfaction that sometimes veiled it as a translucent cloud that
passes before the full moon. "Fair as the wife of Hermas" was a
proverb in Antioch; and soon men began to add to it, "Beautiful as
the son of Hermas"; for the child developed swiftly in that
favouring clime. At nine years of age he was straight and strong,
firm of limb and clear of eye. His brown head was on a level with
his father's heart. He was the jewel of the House of the Golden
Pillars; the pride of Hermas, the new Fortunatus.

That year another drop of success fell into his brimming cup. His