85
These, my friend, are but a few out of manifold achievements and activities of the dance, and I have given you a glimpse of them in order that you may not be highly displeased with me for viewing them with ardent eyes. If you should care to join me in looking on, I know very well that you will be wholly enthralled and will even catch the dancer-craze. So I shall not need to say to you what Circe said: Wonder holds me to see that you drained this draught unenchanted. Odyssey, X, 326. For you will be enchanted, and by Zeus it will not be any donkey’s head or pig’s heart that you will have, but your mind will be more firmly established and you will be so enraptured that you will not give even a tiny bit of the brew to anyone else to drink. Homer says, you know, of the golden wand of Hermes that he “charmeth the eyes of men” with it, Whomsoever he wishes, and others he wakes that are sleeping. Odyss., V, 47-48. Really, dancing does just that: it charms the eyes and makes them wide awake, and it rouses the mind to respond to every detail of its performances.
85
CRATO Upon my word, Lycinus, I have come to the point of believing you and am all agog, ear and eye alike. Do remember, my friend, when you go to the theatre, to reserve me a seat at your side, in order that you may not be the only one to come back to us wiser!
