‘Will you go back with me for a time?’ said the voice of the tempter. ‘No one would take better care of you than I: no one knows the city and its ways better than I—every day for weeks could I show you new sights.’
But Neæra could only say no, and shake her head in a despairing way.
‘I would not be happy to leave my father.’
‘Let him come too.’
‘It would be useless to ask him.’
‘For your sake he would come.’
‘For the sake of a pleasure trip?—No! Besides he has been there, and not long since returned.’
‘And was not that on your account? What he has done once can he not do again? You know right well that he is never so happy as when you are pleased. His own enjoyment would be as great as yours.’
‘It is out of the question,’ said Neæra firmly, though her [pg 244]cheeks flushed; and Cestus, who had seated himself on a stool, regarded her with evident, though restrained enjoyment.
‘Yes, it is quite true he has been to Rome on your account and no other,’ he continued, ‘and it is just as true, in my mind, that he will go there again on your account.’