“How so? Am I inferior to Aspasia in beauty?”
“I should hope not,” said Plotinus ambiguously.
“Or in the irregularity of my deportment?”
“I should think not,” said Plotinus, with more confidence.
“Then why does the Plato of our age hesitate to welcome his Diotima?”
“Because,” said Plotinus, “you are not Diotima, and I am not Plato.”
“I am sure I am as much like Diotima as you are like Plato,” retorted the lady. “But let us come to our own time. Do I not hear that that creature Pannychis has obtained the freedom of the philosophers’ city, and the right to study therein?”
“She takes private lessons from Hermon, who is responsible for her.”
“The very thing!” exclaimed Leaena triumphantly. “I take private lessons from thee, and thou art responsible for me. Venus! what’s that?”
The exclamation was prompted by the sudden appearance of an enormous serpent, which, emerging from a chink in the wall, glided swiftly towards the couch of Plotinus. He reached forward to greet it, uttering a cry of pleasure.