PLUTUS. 231

less time than you could drink a pint of wine —
Plutus stood up seeing as you or I. I clapped my
hands for joy, and woke my master; the god and
his serpents vanished into the sanctuary, and we all
wished Plutus joy of his recovery, and watched till
the day broke. And now he is coming with a great
crowd of people after him rejoicing and singing.”
The slave had scarcely finished his narrative when
Plutus appeared, and returned thanks in solemn fash-
ion for his recovery : —
“First the great Sun I reverence; then the plain,
The famous plain where holy Pallas dwells,
And Cecrops’ hospitable land, my home.
The past I do remember sore ashamed,
In what ill company I spent my days,
Unknowing; how all ignorant I fled
From worthier friends, unhappy that I was!
Choosing the bad I erred; I erred no less
The good refusing. But this self-same hour
I changed my ways in all things, so that man
May know me to have sinned against my will.”

And indeed the change was something marvellous.
Chremylus, who had not been popular in the days of
his poverty, now found himself the object of admiring
attention from friends without number. In his house
everything was changed. The bin, in old times gen-
erally empty, was full of the finest flour, the jar of
delicious wine, the coffers of gold and silver. The
well was brimming over with oil, and the oil-cruse
with perfume. The fish-platters, once of wood and