Indeed, I swear it to you by the dog and the plane-tree.

Heavens, what strange gods!

What's that you say? Don't you think the dog is a god? Perhaps you have not noticed how great Anoubis is in Egypt, and Seirios in the heavens, and Kerberos among the dead.

You are right, it was my mistake. But what is your manner of life?

I live by myself in a sort of state that I fashioned with a foreign form of government, and I enact my own laws.

I should like to hear one of your principles.

Well, this is the most important: my decision about women. No woman is assigned to one man alone, but to every one who wishes her in marriage. Have you, then, abrogated the laws about marriage?

What!

Dear me, yes, and all such petty formalities. Beauty shall be the reward of the bravest-those who have accomplished some brilliant feat of daring.