with all the ardour of his fiery soul. But what happened at Actium?
That shameful flight of the cooing dove after his mate, at which
generations yet unborn will point in mockery! He who does not see more
deeply will attribute to the foolish madness of love this wretched
forgetfulness of duty, honour, fame, the present and the future; but I,
Iras--and this is the thought which whitens one hair after another, which
will speedily destroy the remnant of your mistress's former beauty by the
exhaustion of sleepless nights--I know better. It was not love which
drew Antony after me, not love that trampled in the dust the radiant
image of reckless courage, not love that constrained the demigod to
follow the pitiful track of a fugitive woman."

Here her voice fell, and seizing the girl's wrist with a painful
pressure, she drew her closer to her side and whispered:

"The goblet of Nektanebus is connected with it. Ay, tremble! The powers
that emanate from the glittering wonder are as terrible as they are
unnatural. The magic spell exerted by the beaker has transformed the
heroic son of Herakles, the more than mortal, into the whimpering coward,
the crushed, broken nonentity I found upon the galley's deck. You are
silent? Your nimble tongue finds no reply. How could you have forgotten
that you aided me to win the wager which forced Antony to gaze into the
beaker before I filled it for him? How grateful I was to Anubis when
he finally consented to trust to my care this marvel of the temple
treasures, when the first trial succeeded, and Antony, at my bidding,
placed the magnificent wreath which he wore upon the bald brow of that
crabbed old follower of Aristoteles, Diomedes, whom he detested in his
inmost soul! It was scarcely a year ago, and you know how rarely at
first I used the power of the terrible vessel. The man whom I loved
obeyed my slightest glance, without its aid. But later--before the