noon
And dost thou think that I will receive consolation at thy hands -- at thine -- one of the most active artificers in this web of treachery in which I am so basely entangled ? '' `` Not entangled certainly by my means '' -- answered Agelastes ; `` clap your hands , call for what you wish , and the slave who refuses instant obedience had better been unborn . Had I not , with reference to your safety and your honour , agreed for a short time to be your keeper , that office would have been usurped by the Caesar , whose object you know , and may partly guess the modes by which it would be pursued . Why then dost thou childishly weep at being held for a short space in an honourable restraint , which the renowned arms of your husband will probably put an end to long ere to-morrow at noon ? '' `` Canst thou not comprehend , '' said the Countess , `` thou man of many words , but of few honourable thoughts , that a heart like mine , which has been trained in the feelings of reliance upon my own worth and valour , must be necessarily affected with shame at being obliged to accept , even from the sword of a husband , that safety which I would gladly have owed only to my own ? '' `` Thou art misled , Countess , '' answered the philosopher , `` by thy pride , a failing predominant in woman . Thinkest thou there has been no offensive assumption in laving aside the character of a mother and a wife , and adopting that of one of those brain-sick female fools , who , like the bravoes of the other sex , sacrifice every thing that is honourable or useful to a frantic and insane affectation of courage ?