Give me that linen wrapper, Olympias, and then he may come! Why, there he is already! First you ask permission, brother, and then disdain to wait till it is given you." "Longing and waiting," replied Euergetes, "are but an ill-assorted couple.

I wasted this evening with common soldiers and fawning flatterers; then, in order to see a few noble countenances, I went into the prison, after that I hastily took a bath, for the residence of your convicts spoils one's complexion more, and in a less pleasant manner, than this little shrine, where everything looks and smells like Aphrodite's tiring-room; and now I have a longing to hear a few good words before supper-time comes." "From my lips ?" asked Cleopatra.
"There are none that can speak better, whether by the Nile or the Ilissus." "What do you want of me ?" "I--of you ?" "Certainly, for you do not speak so prettily unless you want something." "But I have already told you! I want to hear you say something wise, something witty, something soul-stirring." "We cannot call up wit as we would a maid-servant.

It comes unbidden, and the more urgently we press it to appear the more certainly it remains away." "That may be true of others, but not of you who, even while you declare that you have no store of Attic salt, are seasoning your speech with it.
All yield obedience to grace and beauty, even wit and the sharp-tongued Momus who mocks even at the gods." "You are mistaken, for not even my own waiting-maids return in proper time when I commission them with a message to you." "And may we not to be allowed to sacrifice to the Charites on the way to the temple of Aphrodite ?" "If I were indeed the goddess, those worshippers who regarded my hand-maidens as my equals would find small acceptance with me." "Your reproof is perfectly just, for you are justified in requiring that all who know you should worship but one goddess, as the Jews do but one god.

But I entreat you do not again compare yourself to the brainless Cyprian dame.

You may be allowed to do so, so far as your grace is concerned; but who ever saw an Aphrodite philosophizing and reading serious books?
I have disturbed you in grave studies no doubt; what is the book you are rolling up, fair Zoe ?" "The sacred book of the Jews, Sire," replied Zoe; "one that I know you do not love." "And you--who read Homer, Pindar, Sophocles, and Plato--do you like it ?" asked Euergetes.
"I find passages in it which show a profound knowledge of life, and others of which no one can dispute the high poetic flight," replied Cleopatra.