A Portrait-study (10)

Polystratus Stay. I know now whom you mean, as well from your description as from her nationality. You said that there were eunuchs in her train?

Lycinus Yes; and soldiers too.

Polystratus My simple friend, the lady you have been describing is a celebrity, and possesses the affections of an Emperor.

Lycinus And her name?

Polystratus Adds one more to the list of her charms; for it is the same as that of Abradatas’s wife.[*] You know Xenophon’s enthusiastic account of that beautiful and virtuous woman?—And you have read it a dozen times.

Lycinus Yes; and every time I read it, it is as if she stood before me. I almost hear her uttering the words the historian has put into her mouth, and see her arming her husband and sending him forth to battle.