Oh what golden hours were for us
As we sat together there,
While the white vests of the chorus
Seemed to wave up a light air;
While the cothurns trod majestic
Down the deep iambic lines
And the rolling anapaestics
Curled like vapour over shrines.
"The head master was always holding my brother Willie up to me as an example;
but even he admitted that in my last year at Portora I had made astounding
progress. I laid the foundation there of whatever classical scholarship
I possess."
It occurred to me once to ask Oscar in later years whether the boarding school
life of a great, public school was not responsible for a good deal of sensual
viciousness.
"Englishmen all say so," he replied, "but it did not enter into my experience.
I was very childish, Frank; a mere boy till I was over sixteen. Of course I was
sensual and curious, as boys are, and had the usual boy imaginings; but I did
not indulge in them excessively.
"At Portora nine out of ten boys only thought of football or cricket or rowing.
Nearly every one went in for athletics--running and jumping and so forth; no one
appeared to care for sex. We were healthy young barbarians and that was all."
"Did you go in for games?" I asked.
"No," Oscar replied smiling, "I never liked to kick or be kicked."
"Surely you went about with some younger boy, did you not, to whom you told your
dreams and hopes, and whom you grew to care for?"
The question led to an intimate personal confession, which may take its place
here.
"It is strange you should have mentioned it," he said. "There was one boy,
and," he added slowly, "one peculiar incident. It occurred in my last year at
Portora. The boy was a couple of years younger than I--we were great friends;
we used to take long walks together and I talked to him interminably. I told
him what I should have done had I been Alexander, or how I'd have played king in
Athens, had I been Alcibiades. As early as I can remember I used to identify
myself with every distinguished character I read about, but when I was fifteen
or sixteen I noticed with some wonder that I could think of myself as Alcibiades
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