Dionysus [rising to his feet].
I shall do well, however, to go before she comes.
Æsculapius.
By no means. I should prefer your staying. Nike will prefer it, too. In the old days she always liked you to be her harbinger.
Dionysus.
Not always; sometimes my panthers turned and bit her. But my panthers and my vines are gone to keep her laurels and her palm-tree company. I think I will not stay, Æsculapius. But what does Nike want with you?
[Slowly and pensively descending from the upper woods, Nike enters.]
Dionysus.
I was excusing myself, Nike, to our learned