Neaira departs on a hunt with a cadre of her favorite manservants. [Whoever returns with the loveliest catch shall receive a reward.] The skeletons jitter about, eager to please their haughty mistress. Though she has gone through great pains to build her army, still Neaira is unsatisfied. Her grandest desire is to assemble a throng of beautiful ivory soldiers that stretches far into the horizon.