Gratitude, intense gratitude, had taken possession of his whole being.
This feeling mastered him completely and seemed to be fostered and
strengthened by every breath, every heart throb, every glance into his
own soul and the future.

Besides, many beauties, nay, even many marvels, presented themselves to
his restored eyes. The whole wealth of the magic of beauty, intellect,
and pleasure in life, characteristic of the Greek nature, appeared to
have followed King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoe-Philadelphus hither.
Gardens had been created on the arid, sandy soil, whose gray and yellow
surface extended in every direction, the water on the shore of the canal
which united Pithom with the Nile not sufficing to render it possible to
make even a narrow strip of arable land. Fresh water flowed from
beautiful fountains adorned with rich carvings, and the pure fluid filled
large porphyry and marble basins. Statues, single and in groups, stood
forth in harmonious arrangement against green masses of leafage, and
Grecian temples, halls, and even a theatre, rapidly constructed in the
noblest forms from light material, invited the people to devotion, to the
enjoyment of the most exquisite music, and to witness the perfect
performance of many a tragedy and comedy.

Statues surrounded the hurriedly erected palaestra where the Ephebi every
morning practised their nude, anointed bodies in racing, wrestling, and
throwing the discus. What a delight it was to Hermon to feast his eyes
upon these spectacles! What a stimulus to the artist, so long absorbed
in his own thoughts, who had so recently returned from the wilderness to
the world of active life, when he was permitted, in Erasistratus's tent,
to listen to the great scholars who had accompanied the King to the
desert! Only the regret that Daphne was not present to share his
pleasure clouded Hermon's enjoyment, when Eumedes related to his parents,