“Here—you were not wont to be so strict!”
“And the greater pity! If I had always known Eurymachus, as I know him now....”
“Indeed! and how do you know him now?”
“He has opened my eyes; I know now how deeply I have sinned....”
“He is a philosopher then, who converts fair sinners from their evil ways?”
“He is a hero!” exclaimed Euterpe with enthusiasm.
“You do not stint your praise. Does he belong to the Empress?”
“To her steward, Stephanus. Ah! my lord, he is a tyrant....”
“So they say.”
“How he treated the poor fellow! It beats all description. For one single word he had him flogged till he was raw, and then tied him up in the park in the noontide sun. The gnats and flies....” But at the woman’s last words Quintus had gone nearer to her.