The temple of Terpsichore
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Supponhamos que tambem somos adeptos daquelle templo de Terpsicore, entremos por elle a dentro, e observemos o que por ahi vai de curioso e interessante.
Let us suppose that we too are devotees of that temple of Terpsichore; let us go inside, and observe what curious and interesting things are going on there.
Terpsichore is the Muse of dance in Greek myth, and to call the ballroom her 'templo' is the light classical flourish of an educated narrator winking at educated readers. The invitation 'entremos... e observemos' keeps the reader as companion, and the framing is almost theatrical: we are ushered into a lit interior to eavesdrop. Guimarães is deploying the conventions of the realist-society novel — the narrator as knowing guide through a social world — and doing it with a smile. The mock-solemn 'temple' also sets up a gentle irony: this shrine of pleasure and vanity is where the book's most serious business, the recognition and fate of Isaura, will quietly unfold, sacred matters transacted amid the dancing.
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