"O ye gods!" groans the stricken youth, "why have ye deserted me,
now, when my task is almost completed? I have thrown my soul, my
very life, into this block of marble, and now--"

Cleone, the beautiful dark-haired sister of the sculptor, felt the
blow as keenly as her brother, to whom she was utterly devoted. "O
immortal Athene! my goddess, my patron, at whose shrine I have
daily laid my offerings, be now my friend, the friend of my
brother!" she prayed.

Then, with the light of a new-born resolve shining in her eyes,
she turned to her brother, saying:--

"The thought of your brain shall live. Let us go to the cellar
beneath our house. It is dark, but I will bring you light and
food, and no one will discover our secret. You can there continue
your work; the gods will be our allies."

It is the golden age of Pericles, the most brilliant epoch of
Grecian art and dramatic literature.

The scene is one of the most memorable that has ever been enacted
within the proud city of Athens.

In the Agora, the public assembly or market place, are gathered
together the wisdom and wit, the genius and beauty, the glory and
power, of all Greece.

Enthroned in regal state sits Pericles, president of the assembly,