Page:Gesta Romanorum - Swan - Wright - 2.djvu/289

Rh Oh, my lord! are you not a Lapsatenarian. (76)

Leno. Why?

Tharsia. Because the Lapsateni worship Priapus.

Leno. Know you not, wretched girl, that you have entered the house of the miser Leno?

Casting herself at his feet, she exclaimed, "Oh, sir! do not dishonour me; be not guilty of such a flagrant outrage."

Leno. Are you ignorant that with Leno, and the torturer, neither prayers nor tears are available?

He sent for the overseer of the women, and desired him to array Tharsia in the most splendid apparel, and proclaim around the city the price of her dishonour. The overseer did as he was ordered; and on the third day a crowd of people arrived preceded by Leno with music. But Athanagoras came first in a mask, and Tharsia, looking despairingly upon him, threw herself at his feet. "Pity me, my lord;