The General, looking up at the outcry, recalled the lad and bought of his fruit, tossing some of it into the lap of his companion.
"Faugh! The Jew's filth soils them," cried she, as the clusters were laid upon the rug.
"Let them be well cleansed then," said the General; "but in this country we must be less particular. The Jews believe that Adam, their first father, was made out of the ground, and surely the race seems fond of its original stock. But in one respect the Jews are cleaner than most people; vermin cannot abide their vile blood; it poisons even the fleas."
"The lad is finely formed," said the woman, eyeing him as a connoisseur. "His ankles are trim enough for a girl's, and his feet are not flattened and ill-shapen as those of most peasants are. And what a face! Ganymedes was not fairer. Look out, my lad, that the eagle does not fly away with you and make you cup-bearer to the gods."
"Why not make him your own Ganymedes, my divinity?" cried the General. "You have no Hebe of your own begetting to be jealous of him. What say you, my lad, would you like to be dressed in spangles and wait at the hand of the fairest of Astartes? And perhaps, being only a child, you might drink at her lips, since my goddess has lost her liking for an old soldier's kisses."
With a look of stupid inquiry the boy replied in the Samaritan patois, "An as for a bunch; three bunches for two ases; all for an obolo. Give me drachma and I bring you so much"—extending his arms as if to enclose a bushel.
The Greeks burst into laughter.
"Your learned wit is wasted on a Samaritan, as I am afraid mine would be on that Jerusalem Jew," said the mistress.
"It will not be wasted there. Glaucon speaks Greek well, as do all the better sort in the city. Besides, his head is just now as full as a pedlar's pack of all the scraps of our philosophy, poetry, and art that he can hear. He is specially interested in our Greek goddesses, and in making his hair curl. With his head in your lap you can arrange his locks and give him a lesson in the worship of Aphrodite at the same time. Glaucon will be as good a pupil of Helena as Pericles was of Aspasia."
The fruit-seller, impervious to their wit at his expense, gathered up the remnant of his wares, and started away; but quickly turning, he threw himself down upon his belly in the shadow of the tent, and resumed counting his coins, tallying each one with a jerk of his heels, as those dirty but graceful appendages waved over his back.