I here formally renounce, what was never mine, all control over your royal highness. And now, Bacchus, let us sift to the bottom this mythological mystery. First of all, what god am I? Of course I know I am only a minor one in the meantime, so do not scruple to tell me, however insignificant my rank may be. Silenus. We will discuss it, friend, over a bottle.--Harlequin, remove Ariadne and this youth. Good people, accompany them with singing to the shore. Ione. Adventures throng upon me. Song. The boat is chafing at our long delay, And we must leave too soon The spicy sea-pinks and the inborne spray, The tawny sands, the moon. Keep us, O Thetis, in our western flight! Watch from thy pearly throne Our vessel, plunging deeper into night To reach a land unknown. [Harlequin, Columbine, Ariadne, Sarmion, go out.] SCENE III.--The same. Silenus, Scaramouch, and Glaucus sitting round a rock. Bacchantes set bottles of wine and go out. Silenus. Taste this, good Scarab. My little godling, drink. [All drink. Scaramouch. Body and bouquet! what is this? Silenus. Wine, sir, crushed from grapes the sun never ripened. Glaucus. Is this to be bought? Silenus. What! are you still buying and selling here? Come, drink again. [All drink.] Does it not search into the dark corners and irrigate the waste places of the brain? This will make you gods, truly. And you still buy and sell below the moon? Scaramouch. The old story, sir-- East and west, and north and south, Under the crescent, or under the cross, One song you hear in every mouth, "Profit and loss, profit and loss." Silenus. Is it so? I should have expected some change. Glaucus. Where have you been not to know that the divine institution of buying and selling is as vigorous as ever? Silenus. I did not know it was divine, and I have been with Bacchus among the stars. Scaramouch. Roads and railways! what does he mean? Silenus. And is money still the cure for all the ills of life? Is it still the talisman, eh!--my brand-new demigod? And the great and glorious institution of rich and poor, good spick-and-span divinity--is the world not tired of that gift of the gods yet? Glaucus. This is empty railing: there must always be rich and poor. Silenus. Let the rich hope so. But drink: these thoughts unnerve me. [All drink. Scaramouch. Good Bacchus, great Bacchus, you must be careful. Such a slip in public as you made just now would ruin us. Silenus. What slip did I make? Scaramouch. You talked of being with Bacchus; now, you are Bacchus. Silenus. So I am. Well, it was a slip. Scaramouch. Tell us about the stars. Silenus. Aha! good Scarab, we travelled about from planet to planet, from orb to orb, and each fresh sphere grew an original wine. As pebbles to grapes, are grapes to the fruits they crush there. Damsels, Hebes all,