the anteroom. This over, I was told to divest both of their robes.
Phanes then put on the stranger's trousers, coat and girdle; on his own
curls he placed the pointed Persian cap. The stranger wrapped himself in
the Athenian's chiton and mantle, placed the golden circlet above his
brow, caused the hair to be shaved from his upper lip, and ordered me to
follow him into the garden. Phanes, whom in his present dress, none
could imagine to be other than a Persian, mounted one of the horses still
waiting before the gate; the stranger called after him, 'Farewell Gyges,
farewell beloved Persian, a pleasant journey to thee, Gyges!' The
servant, who had been waiting, followed on the other horse. I could hear
the clatter of arms among the bushes, but the Athenian was allowed to
depart unmolested, the soldiers, without doubt, believing him to be a
Persian.

"On returning to the house the stranger's orders were: 'Accompany me to
Phanes' bark, and cease not to call me by the Athenian's name.' 'But the
boatmen will betray you,' I said. 'Then go alone to them,' he answered,
'and command them to receive me as their master, Phanes.' Then I prayed
him to allow me to take the dress of the fugitive and become a prey to
the pursuers; but he would by no means allow this, and said my gait and
carriage would betray me. There alas! he spoke truly, for only the free
man can walk erect; the neck of the slave is bent; the schools in which
the noble and the freeborn learn grace and beauty of movement are not for
him. And so it must remain, the children must be even as the fathers;
can the unclean onion-root produce a rose, or the unsightly radish a
hyacinth? Constant bondage bows the neck of the slave, but the
consciousness of freedom gives dignity to the stature."

"But what has become of my son?" interrupted Croesus.