"The fate of men is different to the destiny of women."
"Would you like to hear what was prophesied of me?"
"What a question!"
"Listen then; the saying I will repeat to you came to me from no less an oracle than the Delphic Pythia:
"'That which thou boldest most precious and dear
Shall be torn from thy keeping,
And from the heights of Olympus,
Down shalt thou fall in the dust.'"
"Is that all?"
"Nay—two consolatory lines follow."
"And they are—?"
"Still the contemplative eye
Discerns under mutable sand drifts
Stable foundations of stone,
Marble and natural rock."
"And you are inclined to complain of this oracle?"