Kleitos' Illness

Kleitos, a likeable young man, about twenty-three years old with a first-class education, a rare knowledge of Greek is seriously ill. He caught the fever that reaped a harvest this year in Alexandria. The fever found him already worn out morally by the pain of knowing that his friend, a young actor, had stopped loving and wanting him. He's seriously ill, and his parents are terribly worried. An old servant who brought him up is also full of fear for Kleitos' life; and in her panic she remembers an idol she used to worship when she was young, before she came there as a maid, to the house of distinguished Christians, and turned Christian herself. She secretly brings some votive bread, some wine and honey, and places them before the idol. She chants whatever phrases she remembers from old prayers: odds and ends. The ninny doesn't realize that the black demon couldn't care less whether a Christian gets well or not.