|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: the slave to make her magnificent; and she was obeying her mistress
with barbaric taste full at once of refinement and ingenuity.
Over a first delicate and vinous-coloured tunic she passed a second
embroidered with birds' feathers. Golden scales clung to her hips, and
from this broad girdle descended her blue flowing silver-starred
trousers. Next Taanach put upon her a long robe made of the cloth of
the country of Seres, white and streaked with green lines. On the edge
of her shoulder she fastened a square of purple weighted at the hem
with grains of sandastrum; and above all these garments she placed a
black mantle with a flowing train; then she gazed at her, and proud of
her work could not help saying:
 Salammbo |