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Theos gazed down upon him in unspeakable, melancholy scorn, . . was it only through time-serving creatures such as this miserable Zabastes, that the after-glory of perished poets was proclaimed to the world? ... What then was the actual worth of Fame?
"Aye, death is an unpleasing suggestion!" suddenly said Zabastes, who had gradually moved up nearer and nearer till he made one of the group immediately round Sah-luma "'Tis a word that should never be mentioned in the presence of Kings!
The old critic Zabastes, squeezing his lean, bent body from out the throng, hobbled after Sah-luma at some little distance behind the harp-bearer, muttering to himself as he went, and bestowing many a side-leer and malicious grin on those among his acquaintance whom he here and there recognized.
The slave departed on his errand ... and Zabastes edging himself out from the hushed and attentive throng of nobles stood as it were in the foreground of the picture, his thin lips twisted into a sneer. and his lean hands grasping his staff viciously as though he longed to strike somebody down with it.
By my faith, 'twill be a most desperate howling! ... and I'll not walk abroad till the terror hath abated. Moreover, I have work to do, some lately budded thoughts of mine have ripened into glorious conclusion, and Zabastes hath orders presently to attend me that he may take my lines down from mine own dictation.
"Does 'Zabastes' still loom on your horizon?" inquired his companion mirthfully "Or are you still inclined as in the Past to treat him, whether he comes singly or in numbers, as the Poet's court-jester, and paid fool?" Alwyn laughed lightly.
"I' faith, so could not I!" interposed Zabastes grimly. "For when a bard begins to gabble goose-like platitudes which merely concern his own vocation, the gods only know when he can be persuaded to stop!
"Thou must check thy tongue today, Zabastes!" said a handsome youth in dazzling blue and silver, who, just then detaching himself from the crowd, laid a hand on the Critic's arm and laughed as he spoke "I doubt me much whether the King is in humor for thy grim fooling!
Were Zabastes like thee, discerningly just and reasonable, he would be all unfit for his vocation, for 'tis an odd circumstance that praise in the public news-sheet does a writer more harm than good, while ill-conditioned and malicious abuse doth very materially increase and strengthen his reputation. 'Tis the People's verdict which alone gives fame."
The vague trouble and depression that had weighed upon his soul for hours now vanished completely, and hastening along, he sprang lightly up the marble stairs, and into the rainbow-colored, spacious hall, where the first person he saw was Zabastes the Critic. "Ah, good Zabastes!" he cried gayly, "Where is thy master Sah- luma? Has he returned in safety?"
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