Is that you, Christopher Chant?

[ricardienne]

I'm pretty sure this was a scene from Conrad's Fate, or Christopher wishes it had been!:

From Heliodorus's Aethiopica (7.27): the hero Theagenes has been enslaved by the wicked Persian princess Arsace (she wants to sleep with him; he wants to save himself for eventual marriage to the heroine), and has been entrusted to trusted slave Achaemenes for training:

Καὶ τοῦ Ἀχαιμένους ἀποδεικνύναι τι καὶ ὑφηγεῖσθαι τῶν οἰνοχοϊκῶν πειρωμένου προσδραμὼν ὁ Θεαγένης ἑνὶ τῶν κυλικοφόρων τριπόδων καὶ φιάλην τῶν πολυτίμων ἀνελόμενος «Οὐδὲν» ἔφη «δέομαι διδασκάλων, ἀλλ´ αὐτοδίδακτος ὑπουργήσω τῇ δεσποίνῃ τὰ οὕτω ῥᾷστα μὴ θρυπτόμενος· σὲ μὲν γάρ, ὦ βέλτιστε, ἡ τύχη εἰδέναι τὰ τοιαῦτα καταναγκάζει, ἐμοὶ δὲ ἡ φύσις τὰ πρακτέα καὶ ὁ καιρὸς ὑπαγορεύει.» Καὶ ἅμα προσέφερε τῇ Ἀρσάκῃ προσηνὲς κερασάμενος εὔρυθμόν τέ τι καὶ ἄκροις τοῖς δακτύλοις ἐποχῶν τὴν φιάλην.

When Achaemenes tried to demonstrate and instruct him in the arts of a wine-pourer, Theagenes, running up to one of the stands that held the cups and taking up one of the most valuable vessels, said, "I need no lessons, but I shall serve my mistress self-taught, not prancing around for such an easy task as this. For you, my good fellow, have been forced by your fortune to learn such things, but my nature and the moment instruct me in what has to be done." And at once he mixed an appropriate drink and carried it to Arsake, bearing the vessel in a rather graceful manner and in the tips of his fingers.