“I would do anything in the world to see you at the palace, beloved. If you no longer desire me tell me who attracts you and she shall be my friend. The women of my court are beautiful. I have twelve who from their birth have been kept in my gynæceum and are ignorant that men exist. They shall all be your mistresses if you come and see me after them. Others I have with me who have had more lovers than the sacred courtesans and are expert in love. Say one word. I have, too, a thousand foreign slaves: those you desire shall be given to you. I will dress them like myself, in yellow silk, gold and silver. “No, you are the handsomest and coldest of men. You love no one, you lend yourself simply out of charity for those whom your eyes have filled with love. You allow me to obtain my happiness from your presence, but only in the way a beast allows itself to be led, looking elsewhere. You are full of condescension. Ye Gods! Ye Gods! I shall end by separating from you, young coxcomb whom all the city adores and no one can make weep. I have others besides women at the palace. I have strong Ethiopians who have chests of bronze and arms knotted with muscles. I shall soon forget you. But the day I am sure that your absence no longer makes me suffer, that I have replaced you, I will send you from the top of the bridge of Hêrmes to join my necklaces and rings like a jewel I have worn too long. Ah! what it is to be a queen!” She raised herself and seemed to be waiting for an answer. But Demetrios still remained impassible and made no more movement than if he had not heard. “Do you not understand?” He nonchalantly leant upon his elbow as he said in a very unconcerned way-- “I have just had an idea for a story. “Long ago before Thrace was conquered by your father’s ancestors it was overrun by wild animals and a few timid men dwelt there as well. “The animals were very fine; there were lions red as the sun, tigers streaked like the evening and bears black as night. “The men were small and flat-nosed, clad in old hairless skins, and armed with big spears and clumsy bows. They hid themselves in mountain caves, behind huge blocks of stone which they moved with the greatest difficulty. Their life was spent in hunting. There was blood in the forests. “The land was so mournful that the Gods had deserted it. When at the break of day Artemis left Olympus his path was never towards the north. The wars there never disturbed Ares. The absence of flutes and citharas turned away Apollo from it. The triple Hecate shone there alone like the face of a Medusa upon a petrified land. “Now a man came there to dwell; a man of a more fortunate race, who did not walk about clad in skins like the savages in the mountains. “He wore a long white robe which trailed behind him a little. Through the beautiful glades of the forest he loved to wander at night in the moonlight holding in his hand a little lute with three silver strings.