So the landlord brought dice and dice boxes, and Phaon--who had come to the conclusion that he had to deal with a light-headed bumpkin, who represented merely so much fair plunder--began to play with a careless heart. The landlord brought more and more flagons of wine, wine that was mixed with little water and was consequently very heady. But the game--with some veering of fortune--went the freedman's way. He won a denarius; then another; then a third; lost a fourth time; won back everything and five denarii more; and finally his opponent, heated with play, consented to stake two gold pieces. "What did you say a minute ago to the landlord?" muttered Phaon, feeling that the undiluted liquor was getting the best of him. "This wine is very strong. It makes my head ache." "_Phy!_" retorted Agias. "Who complains of good liquor? I only told the host to set another lamp near us. Shall we play again?" "By Zeus!" exclaimed the delighted freedman. "Here I have cast four 'sixes' once more." And again he drained the beaker. "_Vah!_" sniffed Agias. "Luck will turn at last. Let us play for real stakes. More wine, mine host! I will put down ten philippi. This will be worth winning or losing." "As you say," gleefully chuckled Phaon, tossing the gold on the table. "Yes, more wine, I say too. One always enjoys play when his temples are all athrob." Agias quietly reached over, took up his opponent's dice box, and rattled it, and appeared inspecting and fingering the _tali_.[105] "You have won your throws fairly," he said, handing it back. "Now let us invoke the decision of Fortune once more. A libation to the Genius of Good Luck!" And instead of spilling out a few drops only, he canted the flagon too far and spattered the wine on to the floor. [105] Four-sided dice. "Heracles!" growled Phaon, "what a poor hazard! I have thrown four 'ones'!" "And I have all 'fours' and 'sixes,'" cried Agias, in delight, sweeping the money toward him. "The gods blast my luck," muttered the freedman, "I shall be ruined at this rate." And he poured down more liquor. "I have hardly five philippi left." "Come," shouted Agias, jumping up; "I make a fair offer. Your five philippi against all my winnings." Phaon had a dim consciousness that he was getting very drunk, that he ought to start at once for Praeneste, and that it was absolutely needful for him to have some money for bribes and gratuities if he was not to jeopardize seriously the success of his undertaking. But Agias stood before him exultant and provoking. The freedman could not be induced to confess to himself that he had been badly fleeced by a fellow he expected to plunder. In drunken desperation he pulled out his last gold and threw it on the table. "Play for that, and all the Furies curse me if I lose," he stormed. Agias cast two "threes," two "fours." "I must better that," thundered the freedman, slapping the tali out on to the table. "'Ones' again," roared Agias; "all four! you have lost!"