"৳ Struck with these reproaches, the tuneful choir cast down their eyes with respect; and testifying their shame by their glowing cheeks, they immediately left the room, and, filled with sorrow, fled her presence. As for myself, my eyes were blinded by a flood of tears, so that I could not discover who this august dame was, endued with an authority so absolute. I was amazed; with my countenance fixed on the ground, I waited in silence her pleasure. She... approached, and sat down on the foot of my bed; and beholding my dejected eye, and my face disfigured with grief, she bewailed my wretched condition in the following moving strains:"