"Your young master, I fear," he said, "has not long to live; no one can ride this horse."
"Three circumstances," replied Philip, seating himself deliberately on a roll of hay, "are unknown to you. I will tell you them. The first is, that this is not at all a case for mere horsemanship, although it is not to be denied that horsemanship is necessary. Courage and wit are more needful than any bodily adroitness in reminding brutes that their master is man. That is the first circumstance. The second is, that my young master learnt his riding among the Ætolians, who are not matched in the world."
"Take a sip of wine," said Lygdus, handing him a flask of hide.
"After you," said the wary old freedman.
Lygdus drank a little, wiped the mouth of the flask with a vine-leaf, and tendered it once more to Philip, saying,
"The first and second of your remarks seem to me to be appropriate, although I think the Gaulish riders equal to the Ætolians. I should like to hear the third circumstance."
Philip sipped some of the wine, gave back the vessel to the slave, and proceeded,
"The third has relation to your phrase, 'I fear.' My master, Paulus Lepidus Æmilius, has been born and reared to fear death not over-much."
"Edepol!" cried Lygdus; "what is to be feared more?"