I followed the ripple Of the stream; I crept Where the waters wept— The floss in the foss Gurgling across ‘The bosses of moss, Like a dryad’s nipple In the mouth of Pant Crassus. O pearl of the house! you came to the end? Atrcra. The dusk of the slave, the dawn of a friend? Crassus. Freedom is thine for the skill and the will. Auicia. The skil! is mine—but the will lies still, Still as the earth that dare not stir Till the kiss of the sun awaken her! Crassus. Yet at these secrets and riddles? Behold! I can fill thy lap with a harvest of gold. Aurea. Yet all the gold you could give to me Would fall at my feet when I rose to be free. 14