“You are jesting,” interrupted the old warrior. “I aided him only as the drops in the stream help to turn the wheel of the mill. As to his body, true, I marched at the head of the procession which bore it to Memphis and thence to Alexandria. In the Soma I was permitted to think of him with devout reverence, and meantime I felt as if I had again seen him with these eyes—exactly as he looked in the Egyptian fishing village of Rhacotis, which he transformed into your magnificent Alexandria. What a youth he was! Even what would have been a defect in others became a beauty in him. The powerful neck which supported his divine head was a little crooked; but what grace it lent him when he turned kindly to any one! One scarcely noticed it, and yet it was like the bend of a petitioner, and gave the wish which he expressed resistless power. When he stood erect, the sharpest eye could not detect it. Would that he could appear before me thus once more! Besides, the buildings which surrounded the golden coffin were nearly completed at the time of our departure.” “But the statues, reliefs, and mosaic work were lacking,” said Hermon. “They were executed by Lysippus, Euphranor, and others of our greatest artists; the paintings by Apelles himself, Antiphilus, and Nicias. Only those who had won renown were permitted to take part in this work, and the Ares rushing to battle, created by our Myrtilus, can be seen among the others. The tomb of Alexander was not entirely completed until three years ago.” “At the same time as the Paneum,” added Philotas, completing the sentence; and Althea, waving her beaker toward the old hero, remarked: “When you have your quarters in the royal palace with your crowned admirer, Arsinoe—which, I hope, will be very soon—I will be your guide.” “That office is already bestowed on me by the Lady Thyone,” Daphne quietly replied. “And you think that, in this case, obedience is the husband’s duty?” cried the other, with a sneering laugh. “It would only be the confirmation of a wise choice,” replied Philippus, who disliked the Thracian’s fawning manner. Thyone, too, did not favour her, and had glanced indignantly at her when Althea made her rude remark. Now she turned to Daphne, and her plain face regained its pleasant expression as she exclaimed: “We really promised your father to let him show us the way, child; but, unfortunately, we are not yet in Alexandria and the Paneum.” “But you would set out to-morrow,” Hermon protested, “if we could succeed in fitly describing what now awaits you there. There is only one Alexandria, and no city in the world can offer a more beautiful scene than is visible from the mountain in the Paneum gardens.” “Certainly not,” protested the young hipparch, who had studied in Athens. “I stood on the Acropolis; I was permitted to visit Rhodes and Miletus—”