delightful; and we must acknowledge that the country ought to appear
very beautiful to us, and that we have no time left for dulness in
this charming place, which all poets have celebrated under the name of
Tempe. For, not to mention the pleasures of hunting, which we can
enjoy at any hour, and the solemnity of the Pythian Games which are
about to be celebrated, you both take care to supply us with pleasures
that would charm away the sorrows of the most melancholy. How is it,
Sostratus, that we did not meet you in our walks?

SOS. A slight indisposition, Madam, prevented me from going there.

IPH. Sostratus is one of those men who think it unbecoming to be
curious like others, and who esteem it better to affect not to go
where everybody is anxious to be.

SOS. My Lord, affectation has little share in anything I do, and,
without paying you a compliment, there were things to be seen in this
festival which would have attracted me if some other motive had not
hindered me.

ARI. And has Clitidas seen it all?

CLI. Yes, Madam, but from the shore.

ARI. And why from the shore?

CLI. Well, Madam, I feared one of those accidents which generally
happen in such large crowds. Last night I dreamt of dead fish and
broken eggs, and I have learnt from Anaxarchus that broken eggs and
dead fish forebode ill luck.