Having formed this resolution, they went into the house again. Astylus, in the mean time, proceeding to his father, when he happened to be disengaged, begged his permission to take Daphnis home with them on their return, alleging, that so beautiful a youth was too good for his present rustic situation, and would very soon under Gnatho's care acquire the polish of city manners. His father willingly complied with his request, and sending for Lamon and Myrtale, communicated to them as good news, that Daphnis would henceforth wait upon Astylus instead of tending goats, at the same time promising them two goatherds to supply his place. It was then, as the attendants were crowding round, and rejoicing to hear that they were to have among them so handsome a fellow-slave, that Lamon, having requested leave to speak, thus addressed his master. "Be pleased, master, to listen to an old man and hear the truth. I swear by Pan and the Nymphs, that I will not utter anything which is false.—I am not the father of Daphnis, nor was Myrtale so fortunate as to be his mother. The parents of this youth, whoever they were, exposed him in his infancy; perhaps, because, they had already more children than they knew how to maintain. I found him lying on the earth, and one of my she-goats nursing him. When she died, I buried her in the border of my garden, feeling a regard for her, inasmuch as she had done a mother's duty. I confess having found various tokens with the infant, which I still preserve; for they prove him to be born to a higher station than that which he now fills with me. I am not so high-minded as to slight the offer of his being an attendant on Astylus—an excellent servant to a virtuous and excellent master: but I cannot bear the idea of his being a sport for the drunken hours of Gnatho, who would fain take him to Mitylene, that he may be abused."
Lamon at the conclusion of this speech burst into tears. Gnatho began to bluster, and threatened to strike him, but Dionysophanes sternly frowning, ordered him to be silent; and again interrogating Lamon, urged him to tell the truth, and not to invent a tale merely to keep his son at home.—When Lamon continued unshaken in his assertions, called upon the gods to be his witnesses, and professed his readiness to submit to torture, should he be uttering a falsehood; his master, in the presence of Clearista, who sat by him, began to test the probability of the tale, as follows. "What motive can Lamon have to tell a falsehood, when two goatherds are offered him in lieu of one? How could a plain rustic possibly invent such a tale?—Besides, is it not altogether unlikely that such an old man and such a plain old woman can be the parents of so handsome a son."
He determined to rest no longer upon mere conjectures, but to examine the tokens, and to see whether they bespoke an illustrious birth. Myrtale had gone to fetch them, for they were preserved in an old bag. Dionysophanes was the first to examine them, and when he beheld the purple mantle, the golden clasp, and little sword with the ivory hilt, he exclaimed, Lord Jupiter! and called to Clearista to come and look at them.—When Clearista beheld them, she uttered a loud shriek, and cried out, "The friendly Fates, are not these the very things, which we exposed with our little one, when we sent Sophrosyne to leave him in this part of the country! they are none other, they are the very same, my husband! the child is ours. Daphnis is your son, and he has been tending his own father's flock."
Before she had done speaking, and while Dionysophanes was kissing the tokens and shedding tears of joy, Astylus, who now understood that Daphnis was his brother, threw off his cloak, and ran through the garden to give him the first salute. When Daphnis saw Astylus running towards him, followed by many others, and heard them calling out his own name, he thought they were coming to seize him and carry him off by violence. Accordingly he threw down his scrip, and his pipe, and ran towards the sea with the determined resolution to throw himself into it from the top of a high rock: and perhaps (strange to say!) his being found would have proved the occasion of his being lost for ever, had not Astylus perceiving the occasion of his alarm, called out, "Stop, stop, Daphnis, I am your brother: and they, who have hitherto been your masters, are now your parents. Lamon has just now given us the whole account of the she-goat, and has shewn us the tokens, which were found with you! look back! see! with what cheerful and smiling faces they are coming towards you! Brother, let me have the first kiss. I swear by the Nymphs, I am not deceiving you."
Not without hesitation was Daphnis induced after this solemn assertion to pause, and wait for Astylus, whom he received with a kiss. While they were embracing, his father and mother with Lamon and Myrtale and all the men and maid servants came thronging up, threw their arms round him, and kissed him with tears of joy. Daphnis affectionately saluted his father and mother before the rest and as though he had long known them, clasped them to his breast, and would not disengage himself from their embrace:—so soon does natural affection assert her rights.
For a time even Chloe was almost forgotten. After returning to the farm, and putting on a costly dress, he sat down by his real father, who spoke to the following effect.
"My children, I married when very young; and in a short space of time became as I considered myself a very fortunate father. First a son was born to me, next a daughter, and then you, my Astylus. I thought my family now large enough, for which reason I exposed Daphnis, the boy who was born in addition to the others, placing with him these ornaments, not as tokens, but to serve as funeral weeds.—Fortune had different plans in view.—My eldest son and daughter died of the same disease in one day: but the providence of the gods has preserved you, Daphnis, that we might have an additional stay in our old age.—Do not bear ill will towards me, from the remembrance of my having exposed you; for I did not do so with a willing mind, nor do you, Astylus, feel grieved that you will now have a part only, instead of the whole of my estate; for to a wise man no wealth is more valuable than a brother. Love each other;—and as for wealth you shall be able to vie even with princes. I shall leave to you extensive lands, a number of dexterous servants, stores of gold and silver, and whatever else forms the possession of the prosperous. Only this particular estate I reserve for Daphnis, with Lamon and Myrtale, and the goats which he himself has tended."
Before he had finished speaking, Daphnis sprang from his seat, and said, "Father, you very seasonably remind me of these matters. I will go and lead my goats to water, they must now be thirsty, and are no doubt waiting to hear my pipe, while I am sitting here." Every one laughed at hearing the master so willing to be still the goatherd. One of the servants was sent in place of Daphnis to tend the herd; while he and the rest of the company, after sacrificing to Jove the preserver, sat down together to a banquet. Gnatho was the only one who did not come to the entertainment; for being under great alarm, he remained all day and night in the temple of Bacchus, as a suppliant.
The report that Dionysophanes had found his son, and that Daphnis the goatherd was now master of the estate, having soon spread abroad, early the next morning numbers flocked to the cottage from various parts with congratulations to the youth and gifts to the father.—Dryas the foster-father of Chloe was among the first who arrived.
Dionysophanes kept them all, after sharing of his joy, to partake of an entertainment. Store of wine was provided, abundance of wheaten bread, wild fowl, sucking pigs, and sweets of various kinds, and many victims were sacrificed to the country's deities. Daphnis collected all his pastoral equipments, and distributed them in separate offerings to the gods. To Bacchus he presented his scrip, and coat of skin. To Pan his pipe and transverse-flute. To the Nymphs his crook, and the milkpails, which he had made with his own hands. The happiness arising from our wonted condition is however so much greater than that which springs from unexpected good fortune, that he could not refrain from tears when parting with each offering. He could not suspend his milkpails in the grotto without once more milking into them: nor his coat of skin without once more putting it on: nor his pipe without once more playing on it. He kissed each of them in turn; he talked to his goats and called them by their names; he drank from the fountain because he had so often done so in company with Chloe.—Still he did not yet venture to declare his love, but waited for a favourable opportunity.