All this is not idle fancy, on which the painter has been lavishing needless pains; he is hinting that Alexander has also another love, in War; though he loves Roxana, he does not forget his armour. And, by the way, there was some extra nuptial virtue in the picture itself, outside the realm of fancy; for it did Aetion's wooing for him. He departed with a wedding of his own as a sort of pendant to that of Alexander; _his_ groom's-man was the King; and the price of his marriage-piece was a marriage. Herodotus, then (to return to him), thought that the Olympic festival would serve a second purpose very well--that of revealing to the Greeks a wonderful historian who had related their victories as he had done. As for me--and in Heaven's name do not suppose me so beside myself as to intend any comparison between my works and his; I desire his favour too much for that--but one experience I have in common with him. On my first visit to Macedonia, _my_ thoughts too were busy with my best policy. My darling wish was to be known to you all, and to exhibit my writings to as many Macedonians as might be; I decided that it would be too great an undertaking at such a time of year to go round in person visiting city by city; but if I seized the occasion of this your meeting, appeared before you all, and delivered my discourse, my aspirations, I thought, might be realized that way. And now here are you met together, the _elite_ of every city, the true soul of Macedonia; the town which lodges you is the chief of all, little enough resembling Pisa, with its crowding, its tents and hovels and stifling heat; there is as great a difference between this audience and that promiscuous crowd, mainly intent upon mere athletics, and thinking of Herodotus only as a stop-gap; here we have orators, historians, professors, the first in each kind--that is much in itself; my arena, it seems, need not suffer from comparison with Olympia. And though, if you insist on matching me with the Polydamases, Glaucuses, and Milos of literature, you must think me a very presumptuous person, it is open to you on the other hand to put them out of your thoughts altogether; and if you strip and examine me independently, you may decide that at least I need not be whipped. [Footnote: Cf. _Remarks addressed to an Illiterate Book-fancier_, 9.] Considering the nature of the contest, I may well be satisfied with that measure of success. ZEUXIS AND ANTIOCHUS