As soon as the resuscitated ones had a little recovered from their terror, and those around from their astonishment, they began confusedly asking questions one of another; how those they found on land had come there; and they in their turn, how these had been in the wrecked vessel. Polycarp, seeing that she had filled with water through the aperture which had been made, now commanded that she should be towed into the harbour, and drawn ashore by means of machinery, which was speedily done. All the people who had been in the hull now came ashore, and were received by the king and his daughters, and all the principal citizens, with as much joy as admiration; but what chiefly excited this, especially in Sinforosa, was the incomparable loveliness of Auristella. Transila, too, was very much admired; and the odd, but becoming dress, the youth and grace of the fair barbarian, Constance, (not to mention the comeliness of her mother, Ricla,) did not pass unnoticed.
The city being near, without more ado they all went thither on foot.
Periander had, during this time, found an opportunity of speaking to Auristella, Ladislaus to Transila, and Antonio to his wife and children; all were relating their adventures to one another; only Auristella was silent, occupied entirely in looking at Sinforosa. But at length she said to Periander, "Is that very beautiful lady, who is walking yonder, by chance the king's daughter; and is her name Sinforosa?"
"She is," answered Periander, "one in whom beauty and courtesy unite."
"Very courteous she ought to be," replied Auristella, "for she is very beautiful."
"Even if she were not so much so," he rejoined, "the obligations I owe to her, my sweet sister, would make her seem fair in my eyes."
"If you go by obligations, and if they help to enhance beauty, mine must then seem the greatest on earth to you, according to those you owe me."
"We cannot," said Periander, "compare things divine with things human. Praise and hyperbole, however excessive, has each its limit. When one says a woman is more beautiful than an angel, it is a kind of exaggeration by courtesy; in thy case alone, O sweetest sister mine, rules fail, and truth only gathers strength from speaking of thy beauty."
"If my sufferings and my miseries have not injured mine, O my brother, I might perhaps believe that the praises you bestow upon it are true; but I put my hope in a compassionate Heaven, that my sorrows may at last be one day turned into joy, and my troubles into prosperity. Meanwhile, I implore you, never to let what you owe to me be erased from your memory by any other charms or obligations whatsoever; but that mine may satisfy your heart, and fill the vacuum there, if you find that the beauty of my mind and person, such as it is, offers a compound of charms that can satisfy your wishes."