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Half of my soul! now will I live." Participating in their master's happiness, they all wept.
Apollonius now divested himself of his mourning dress, and attired himself in regal habiliments. "O my lord!" said his followers, "how much your daughter resembles you! Were there no other guide, that would indicate her birth." The delighted girl overwhelmed her recovered parent with kisses. "Blessed be God," cried she, "who has been so gracious to me, and given me to see, and live, and die with you." Then entering into a more detailed account of her adventures, she related what she endured from the wretched Leno, and how the Almighty had protected her.
Athanagoras, fearing lest another might demand her in marriage, threw himself at the king's feet, and modestly intimating how instrumental he had been in promoting their happy reunion, besought him to bestow his child upon him. "I cannot deny you," returned Apollonius, "for you have alleviated her sorrows, and been the means of my present and future happiness. Take her. But deeply shall Leno feel my vengeance." Athanagoras immediately returned to the city, and convoked an assembly of the people. "Let not our city perish," said he, addressing them, "for the crimes of one impious wretch. I know that king Apollonius, the father of the beautiful Tharsia, has arrived. Behold where his navy rides.
