Those were his words; accordingly, we eked out a wretched existence during the interval, and when at length the spectacle began we were there looking on, for taking me with him on the pretext of going to see a Greek show that would be enjoyable and novel, he had brought me to the theatre. We took our seats, and first we saw wild beasts brought down with javelins, hunted with dogs, and loosed upon men in chains—criminals, we conjectured. Then the gladiators entered, and the herald, bringing in a tall youth, said that whoever wanted to fight with that man should come forward, and would receive ten thousand drachmas in payment for the encounter. Thereupon Sisinnes arose, and, leaping down, undertook to fight and requested arms. On receiving his pay, the ten thousand drachmas, he promptly put it in my hands, saying: “If I win, Toxaris, we shall go away together, with all that we need; but if I fall, bury me and go back to Scythia.”
