to stay where they were, and to take great care that they were not seen by any body, I prepared to leave them; but Chariclea caught hold of my garment, and detained me. "'Father,' she cried, 'it will be treacherous and unjust in you to leave me already, and alone, under the care of Theagenes only. You do not consider how faithless a guardian a lover is, when his mistress is in his power, and no one present to impose respect upon him. He will with difficulty restrain himself, when he sees the object of his ardent desires defenceless before him; wherefore I insist upon your not leaving me, till I have exacted an oath from Theagenes, that he will not attempt to obtain any favours which I am not disposed to grant, till I arrive in my country, and am restored to my family; or, at least, if the gods should envy me that happiness, till I am by my own consent become his wife.' "I was surprised yet pleased with what she said, and agreed entirely with her in her sentiments. I raised a flame upon the hearth in place of an altar, threw on a few grains of frankincense, and Theagenes took the oath, indignant at its being required of him, and that such an obligation should deprive him of showing voluntarily that respect to Chariclea, which he was already determined to show without any such compulsion. He should now, he said, have no merit in it; all the restraint he put upon himself would be imputed to the fear of perjury.[14] He swore, however, by the Pythian Apollo, by Diana, by Venus herself, and the Loves, that he would conform himself in every instance to the will of Chariclea. These and other solemn vows having been mutually taken under the auspices of the gods, I made what haste I could to Charicles.