Roman, only an hour before he visited you this morning, had our
little Hebe carried off from the temple, and conveyed to the house of
Apollodorus, the sculptor, at Memphis, you have only to come to see me in
my rooms early to-morrow after the first morning sacrifice. You will at
any rate wish to come and congratulate me; bring your children with you,
as I propose making them presents. You might even question the Roman
himself at the banquet to-day, but he will hardly appear, for the
sweetest gifts of Eros are bestowed at night, and as the temple of
Serapis is closed at sunset Publius has never yet seen his Irene in the
evening. May I expect you and the children after morning sacrifice?"

Before Cleopatra had time to answer this question another trumpet-blast
was heard, and she exclaimed: "That is Philometor, come to fetch us to
the banquet. I will ere long give the Roman the opportunity of defending
himself, though--in spite of your accusations--I trust him entirely.
This morning I asked him solemnly whether it was true that he was in love
with his friend's charming Hebe, and he denied it in his firm and manly
way, and his replies were admirable and worthy of the noblest mind, when
I ventured to doubt his sincerity. He takes truth more seriously than
you do. He regards it not only as beautiful and right to be truthful,
he says, but as prudent too; for lies can only procure us a small short-
lived advantage, as transitory as the mists of night which vanish as soon
as the sun appears, while truth is like the sunlight itself, which as
often as it is dimmed by clouds reappears again and again. And, he says,
what makes a liar so particularly contemptible in his eyes is, that to
attain his end, he must be constantly declaring and repeating the horror
he has of those who are and do the very same thing as he himself. The
ruler of a state cannot always be truthful, and I often have failed in
truth; but my intercourse with Publius has aroused much that is good in
me, and which had been slumbering with closed eyes; and if this man