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Excerpt from Stephania: A Trialogue
Scene - The hall of the old palace on the Aventine. To the left a throne; at the back a loggia, beyond which the Emperor is seen addressing the Romans.
Stephania robed in white with a censer in her hand, stands forth, and looks to right and left.
Stephania The palace is prepared, but I alone
Am here as hostess to the foreign guests.
So it should be! To the invaders who
Can offer welcome save the courtesan?
It is her office to diffuse strange grace
About the vacant rooms, to breed the smiles
Men love on joyless faces, to provide
The strong incitements of the slave born free,
And above all to make vice sibylline.
Am I not fitted?
(She stretches herself langourously at the foot of the throne, and clasps her censer)
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