PLUTUS. 220

warning her adversaries that it would not be long
before they sent for her.

The next thing was to cure Plutus of his blind-
ness. The story of how this. was done was told
next morning by Cario to his mistress.

“The first thing that we did was to take him
down to the shore and bathe him in the sea. After
that we went up to the temple, offered on the altar
the usual sacrifices, and then laid Plutus down,
every one of us at the same time making his own
bed. He was not the only suppliant. Indeed, I
noticed another blind man, who, however, is a clev-
erer thief than most people with eyes, and there
were other persons suffering from all manner of
diseases. Then an attendant came round, put out
the light, and bade us go to sleep, telling us to be
silent in case we should hear any noise. As for me,
I could not get to sleep; there was an old woman .-
near me, and a little way off from her head was a
pitcher of porridge, for which I had quite an inspired
longing, so good did it smell. And when I opened
my eyes I saw the priest snatching the pastry and
figs from the holy table, and then going the round
of the altars to see if there was a cake left on any
of them. Whatever he found he consecrated into
a wallet that he had. When I found that this was
a devotion practised in the place, I crept up to the
porridge-pitcher. The old woman heard me coming,
and put out her hand to hold the porridge, and I