"By Pollux and his sister, he shall not!" cried Cerons. "I will speak to Thaïs, and without flattering myself, I think she will listen to me rather than to that sooty-faced Lapithan. Place! Place, dogs!"
And striking with his fist the men, upsetting the old women and treading on the young children, he reached Thaïs, and taking her aside —
"Dearest girl," he said, "look at me, remember, and tell me truly if you renounce love."
But Paphnutius threw himself between Thais and Cerons.
"Impious wretch!" he cried, "beware and touch her not; she is sacred — she belongs to God."
"Get away, baboon!" replied the young man furiously. "Let me speak to my sweetheart, or if not I will drag your obscene carcase by the beard to the fire, and roast you like a sausage."
And he put his hand on Thaïs. But, pushed away by the monk with unexpected force, he staggered back four paces and fell at the foot of the pile amongst the scattered ashes.
Old Taddeus, meanwhile, had been going from one to the other, pulling the ears of the slaves and kissing the hands of the masters, inciting each and all against Paphnutius, and had already formed a little band resolutely determined to oppose the monk who would steal Thaïs from them.
