the care of his mother. The little creature, in her lisping way, called
herself baby Minta; and this appellation she retained, until Phidias
gave her the name of Eudora.

Philothea, the orphan daughter of Alcimenes, son of Anaxagoras, was a
year or two older than Eudora. She was brought to Athens, at about the
same period; and as they resided very near each other, the habitual
intercourse of childhood naturally ripened into mature friendship. No
interruption of this constant intimacy occurred, until Philothea was
appointed one of the Canephorae, whose duty it was to embroider the
sacred peplus, and to carry baskets in the grand procession of the
Panathenaea. Six months of complete seclusion within the walls of the
Acropolis, were required of the Canephorae. During this protracted
absence, Aspasia persuaded Phidias to bring Eudora frequently to her
house; and her influence insensibly produced a great change in that
young person, whose character was even more flexile than her form.




CHAPTER II.

"With grace divine her soul is blest,
And heavenly Pallas breathes within her breast;
In wonderous arts than woman more renowned,
And more than woman with deep wisdom crowned.
HOMER.


It was the last market hour of Athens, when Anaxagoras, Philothea, and