forgotten thy marriage, and doest esteeme this stranger and bloudy
theefe above thy husband which thy Parents ordained for thee, now
perceive I well thou hast no remorse of conscience, but more delight to
tarry and play the harlot heere amongst so many swords. What? knowest
thou not how the other theeves if they knew thy demeanour would put
thee to death as they had once appointed, and so worke my destruction
likewise? Well now I perceive thou hast a pleasure in the dammage
and hurt of other. While I did angerly devise with my selfe all these
things, I perceived by certaine signes and tokens (not ignorant to
so wise an Asse) that he was not the notable theefe Hemus, but rather
Lepolemus her husband, for after much communication he beganne to speake
more franckly, not fearing at all my presence, and said, Be of good
cheere my sweete friend Charites, for thou shalt have by and by all
these thy enemies captive unto thee. Then hee filled wine to the theeves
more and more, and never ceased, till as they were all overcome with
abundance of meat and drinke, when as hee himselfe abstained and bridled
his owne appetite. And truely I did greatly suspect, least hee had
mingled in their cups some deadly poyson, for incontinently they all
fell downe asleepe on the ground one after an other, and lay as though
they had beene dead.




THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CHAPTER

How the Gentlewoman was carried home by her husband while the theeves
were asleepe, and how much Apuleius was made of.

When the theeves were all asleepe by their great and immoderate