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+The Project Gutenberg EBook The Sisters, by Georg Ebers, v3
+#25 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+Title: The Sisters, v3
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5463]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on May 12, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SISTERS, BY EBERS, V3 ***
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
+
+
+
+[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
+file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
+entire meal of them.  D.W.]
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SISTERS
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Volume 3.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+While, in the vast peristyle, many a cup was still being emptied, and the
+carousers were growing merrier and noisier--while Cleopatra was abusing
+the maids and ladies who were undressing her for their clumsiness and
+unreadiness, because every touch hurt her, and every pin taken out of her
+dress pricked her--the Roman and his friend Lysias walked up and down in
+their tent in violent agitation.
+
+"Speak lower," said the Greek, "for the very griffins woven into the
+tissue of these thin walls seem to me to be lying in wait, and listening.
+
+"I certainly was not mistaken.  When I came to fetch the gems I saw a
+light gleaming in the doorway as I approached it; but the intruder must
+have been warned, for just as I got up to the lantern in front of the
+servants' tent, it disappeared, and the torch which usually burns outside
+our tent had not been lighted at all; but a beam of light fell on the
+road, and a man's figure slipped across in a black robe sprinkled with
+gold ornaments which I saw glitter as the pale light of the lantern fell
+upon them--just as a slimy, black newt glides through a pool.  I have
+good eyes as you know, and I will give one of them at this moment, if I
+am mistaken, and if the cat that stole into our tent was not Eulaeus."
+
+"And why did you not have him caught?"  asked Publius, provoked.
+
+"Because our tent was pitch-dark," replied Lysias, and that stout villain
+is as slippery as a badger with the dogs at his heels, Owls, bats and
+such vermin which seek their prey by night are all hideous to me, and
+this Eulaeus, who grins like a hyaena when he laughs--"
+
+"This Eulaeus," said Publius, interrupting his friend, "shall learn to
+know me, and know too by experience that a man comes to no good, who
+picks a quarrel with my father's son."
+
+"But, in the first instance, you treated him with disdain and
+discourtesy," said Lysias, "and that was not wise."
+
+"Wise, and wise, and wise!"  the Roman broke out.  "He is a scoundrel.
+It makes no difference to me so long as he keeps out of my way; but when,
+as has been the case for several days now, he constantly sticks close to
+me to spy upon me, and treats me as if he were my equal, I will show him
+that he is mistaken.  He has no reason to complain of my want of
+frankness; he knows my opinion of him, and that I am quite inclined to
+give him a thrashing.  If I wanted to meet his cunning with cunning I
+should get the worst of it, for he is far superior to me in intrigue.  I
+shall fare better with him by my own unconcealed mode of fighting, which
+is new to him and puzzles him; besides it is better suited to my own
+nature, and more consonant to me than any other.  He is not only sly, but
+is keen-witted, and he has at once connected the complaint which I have
+threatened to bring against him with the manuscript which Serapion, the
+recluse, gave me in his presence.  There it lies--only look.
+
+"Now, being not merely crafty, but a daring rascal too--two qualities
+which generally contradict each other, for no one who is really prudent
+lives in disobedience to the laws--he has secretly untied the strings
+which fastened it.  But, you see, he had not time enough to tie the roll
+up again!  He has read it all or in part, and I wish him joy of the
+picture of himself he will have found painted there.  The anchorite
+wields a powerful pen, and paints with a firm outline and strongly marked
+coloring.  If he has read the roll to the end it will spare me the
+trouble of explaining to him what I purpose to charge him with; if you
+disturbed him too soon I shall have to be more explicit in my accusation.
+Be that as it may, it is all the same to me."
+
+"Nay, certainly not," cried Lysias, "for in the first case Eulaeus will
+have time to meditate his lies, and bribe witnesses for his defence.  If
+any one entrusted me with such important papers--and if it had not been
+you who neglected to do it--I would carefully seal or lock them up.
+Where have you put the despatch from the Senate which the messenger
+brought you just now?"
+
+"That is locked up in this casket," replied Publius, moving his hand to
+press it more closely over his robe, under which he had carefully hidden
+it.
+
+"May I not know what it contain?"  asked the Corinthian.
+
+"No, there is not time for that now, for we must first, and at once,
+consider what can be done to repair the last mischief which you have
+done.  Is it not a disgraceful thing that you should betray the sweet
+creature whose childlike embarrassment charmed us this morning--of whom
+you yourself said, as we came home, that she reminded you of your lovely
+sister--that you should betray her, I say, into the power of the wildest
+of all the profligates I ever met--to this monster, whose pleasures are
+the unspeakable, whose boast is vice?  What has Euergetes--"
+
+"By great Poseidon!"  cried Lysias, eagerly interrupting his friend.
+"I never once thought of this second Alcibiades when I mentioned her.
+What can the manager of a performance do, but all in his power to secure
+the applause of the audience? and, by my honor! it was for my own sake
+that I wanted to bring Irene into the palace--I am mad with love for her
+--she has undone me."
+
+"Aye! like Callista, and Phryne, and the flute-player Stephanion,"
+interrupted the Roman, shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"How should it be different?" asked the Corinthian, looking at his friend
+in astonishment.  "Eros has many arrows in his quiver; one strikes
+deeply, another less deeply; and I believe that the wound I have received
+to-day will ache for many a week if I have to give up this child, who is
+even more charming than the much-admired Hebe on our cistern."
+
+"I advise you however to accustom yourself to the idea, and the sooner
+the better," said Publius gravely, as he set himself with his arms
+crossed, directly in front of the Greek.  "What would you feel inclined
+to do to me if I took a fancy to lure your pretty sister--whom Irene, I
+repeat it, is said to resemble--to tempt her with base cunning from your
+parents' house?"
+
+"I protest against any such comparison," cried the Corinthian very
+positively, and more genuinely exasperated than the Roman had ever seen
+him.
+
+"You are angry without cause," replied Publius calmly and gravely.  "Your
+sister is a charming girl, the ornament of your illustrious house, and
+yet I dare compare the humble Irene--"
+
+"With her! do you mean to say?"  Lysias shouted again.  "That is a poor
+return for the hospitality which was shown to you by my parents and of
+which you formally sang the praises.  I am a good-natured fellow and will
+submit to more from you than from any other man--I know not why, myself;
+--but in a matter like this I do not understand a joke!  My sister is the
+only daughter of the noblest and richest house in Corinth and has many
+suitors.  She is in no respect inferior to the child of your own parents,
+and I should like to know what you would say if I made so bold as to
+compare the proud Lucretia with this poor little thing, who carries water
+like a serving-maid."
+
+"Do so, by all means!"  interrupted Publius coolly, "I do not take your
+rage amiss, for you do not know who these two sisters are, in the temple
+of Serapis.  Besides, they do not fill their jars for men but in the
+service of a god.  Here--take this roll and read it through while I
+answer the despatch from Rome.  Here! Spartacus, come and light a few
+more lamps."
+
+In a few minutes the two young men were sitting opposite each other at
+the table which stood in the middle of their tent.  Publius wrote busily,
+and only looked up when his friend, who was reading the anchorite's
+document, struck his hand on the table in disgust or sprang from his seat
+ejaculating bitter words of indignation.  Both had finished at the same
+moment, and when Publius had folded and sealed his letter, and Lysias had
+flung the roll on to the table, the Roman said slowly, as he looked his
+friend steadily in the face: "Well?"
+
+"Well!" repeated Lysias.  I now find myself in the humiliating position
+of being obliged to deem myself more stupid than you--I must own you in
+the right, and beg your pardon for having thought you insolent and
+arrogant!  Never, no never did I hear a story so infernally scandalous as
+that in that roll, and such a thing could never have occurred but among
+these accursed Egyptians!  Poor little Irene!  And how can the dear
+little girl have kept such a sunny look through it all!  I could thrash
+myself like any school-boy to think that I--a fool among fools--should
+have directed the attention of Euergetes to this girl, and he, the most
+powerful and profligate man in the whole country.  What can now be done
+to save Irene from him?  I cannot endure the thought of seeing her
+abandoned to his clutches, and I will not permit it to happen.
+
+"Do not you think that we ought to take the water-bearers under our
+charge?"
+
+"Not only we ought but we must,"  said Publius decisively; "and if we did
+not we should be contemptible wretches.  Since the recluse took me into
+his confidence I feel as if it were my, duty to watch over these girls
+whose parents have been stolen from them, as if I were their guardian--
+and you, my Lysias, shall help me.  The elder sister is not now very
+friendly towards me, but I do not esteem her the less for that; the
+younger one seems less grave and reserved than Klea; I saw how she
+responded to your smile when the procession broke up.  Afterwards, you
+did not come home immediately any more than I did, and I suspect that it
+was Irene who detained you.  Be frank, I earnestly beseech you, and tell
+me all; for we must act in unison, and with thorough deliberation, if we
+hope to succeed in spoiling Euergetes' game."
+
+"I have not much to tell you," replied the Corinthian.  "After the
+procession I went to the Pastophorium--naturally it was to see Irene, and
+in order not to fail in this I allowed the pilgrims to tell me what
+visions the god had sent them in their dreams, and what advice had been
+given them in the temple of Asclepius as to what to do for their own
+complaints, and those of their cousins, male and female.
+
+"Quite half an hour had passed so before Irene came.  She carried a
+little basket in which lay the gold ornaments she had worn at the
+festival, and which she had to restore to the keeper of the temple-
+treasure.  My pomegranate-flower, which she had accepted in the morning,
+shone upon me from afar, and then, when she caught sight of me and
+blushed all over, casting down her eyes, then it was that it first struck
+me 'just like the Hebe on our cistern.'
+
+"She wanted to pass me, but I detained her, begging her to show me the
+ornaments in her hand; I said a number of things such as girls like to
+hear, and then I asked her if she were strictly watched, and whether they
+gave her delicate little hands and feet--which were worthy of better
+occupation than water-carrying--a great deal to do.  She did not hesitate
+to answer, but with all she said she rarely raised her eyes.  The longer
+you look at her the lovelier she is--and yet she is still a mere child-
+though a child certainly who no longer loves staying at home, who has
+dreams of splendor, and enjoyment, and freedom while she is kept shut up
+in a dismal, dark place, and left to starve.
+
+"The poor creatures may never quit the temple excepting for a procession,
+or before sunrise.  It sounded too delightful when she said that she was
+always so horribly tired, and so glad to go to sleep again after she was
+waked, and had to go out at once just when it is coldest, in the twilight
+before sunrise.  Then she has to draw water from a cistern called the
+Well of the Sun."
+
+"Do you know where that cistern lies?"  asked Publius.
+
+"Behind the acacia-grove," answered Lysias.  "The guide pointed it out to
+me.  It is said to hold particularly sacred water, which must be poured
+as a libation to the god at sunrise, unmixed with any other.  The girls
+must get up so early, that as soon as dawn breaks water from this cistern
+shall not be lacking at the altar of Serapis.  It is poured out on the
+earth by the priests as a drink-offering."
+
+Publius had listened attentively, and had not lost a word of his friend's
+narrative.  He now quitted him hastily, opened the tent-door, and went
+out into the night, looking up to discover the hour from the stars which
+were silently pursuing their everlasting courses in countless thousands,
+and sparkling with extraordinary brilliancy in the deep blue sky.  The
+moon was already set, and the morning-star was slowly rising--every night
+since the Roman had been in the land of the Pyramids he had admired its
+magnificent size and brightness.
+
+A cold breeze fanned the young man's brow, and as he drew his robe across
+his breast with a shiver, he thought of the sisters, who, before long,
+would have to go out in the fresh morning air.  Once more he raised his
+eyes from the earth to the firmament over his head, and it seemed to him
+that he saw before his very eyes the proud form of Klea, enveloped in a
+mantle sown over with stars.  His heart throbbed high, and he felt as if
+the breeze that his heaving breast inhaled in deep breaths was as fresh
+and pure as the ether that floats over Elysium, and of a strange potency
+withal, as if too rare to breathe.  Still he fancied he saw before him
+the image of Klea, but as he stretched out his hand towards the beautiful
+vision it vanished--a sound of hoofs and wheels fell upon his ear.
+Publius was not accustomed to abandon himself to dreaming when action was
+needed, and this reminded him of the purpose for which he had come out
+into the open air.  Chariot after chariot came driving past as he
+returned into his tent.  Lysias, who during his absence had been pacing
+up and down and reflecting, met him with the question:
+
+"How long is it yet till sunrise?"
+
+Hardly two hours," replied the Roman.  "And we must make good use of them
+if we would not arrive too late."
+
+"So I think too," said the Corinthian.  "The sisters will soon be at the
+Well of the Sun outside the temple walls, and I will persuade Irene to
+follow me.  You think I shall not be successful?  Nor do I myself--but
+still perhaps she will if I promise to show her something very pretty,
+and if she does not suspect that she is to be parted from her sister, for
+she is like a child."
+
+"But Klea," interrupted Publius thoughtfully, "is grave and prudent; and
+the light tone which you are so ready to adopt will be very little to her
+taste,  Consider that, and dare the attempt--no, you dare not deceive
+her.  Tell her the whole truth, out of Irene's hearing, with the gravity
+the matter deserves, and she will not hinder her sister when she knows
+how great and how imminent is the danger that threatens her."
+
+"Good!"  said the Corinthian.  "I will be so solemnly earnest that the
+most wrinkled and furrowed graybeard among the censors of your native
+city shall seem a Dionysiac dancer compared with me.  I will speak like
+your Cato when he so bitterly complained that the epicures of Rome paid
+more now for a barrel of fresh herrings than for a yoke of oxen.  You
+shall be perfectly satisfied with me!--But whither am I to conduct Irene?
+I might perhaps make use of one of the king's chariots which are passing
+now by dozens to carry the guests home."
+
+"I also had thought of that," replied Publius.  "Go with the chief of the
+Diadoches, whose splendid house was shown to us yesterday.  It is on the
+way to the Serapeum, and just now at the feast you were talking with him
+incessantly.  When there, indemnify the driver by the gift of a gold
+piece, so that he may not betray us, and do not return here but proceed
+to the harbor.  I will await you near the little temple of Isis with our
+travelling chariot and my own horses, will receive Irene, and conduct her
+to some new refuge while you drive back Fuergetes' chariot, and restore
+it to the driver."
+
+"That will not satisfy me by any means," said Lysias very gravely; "I was
+ready to give up my pomegranate-flower to you yesterday for Irene, but
+herself--"
+
+"I want nothing of her," exclaimed Publius annoyed.  "But you might--it
+seems to me--be rather more zealous in helping me to preserve her from
+the misfortune which threatens her through your own blunder.  We cannot
+bring her here, but I think that I have thought of a safe hiding-place
+for her.
+
+"Do you remember Apollodorus, the sculptor, to whom we were recommended
+by my father, and his kind and friendly wife who set before us that
+capital Chios wine?  The man owes me a service, for my father
+commissioned him and his assistants to execute the mosaic pavement in the
+new arcade he was having built in the capitol; and subsequently, when the
+envy of rival artists threatened his life, my father saved him.  You
+yourself heard him say that he and his were all at my disposal."
+
+"Certainly, certainly," said Lysias.  "But say, does it not strike you as
+most extraordinary that artists, the very men, that is to say, who beyond
+all others devote themselves to ideal aims and efforts, are particularly
+ready to yield to the basest impulses; envy, detraction, and--"
+
+"Man!" exclaimed Publius, angrily interrupting the Greek, "can you never
+for ten seconds keep on the same subject, and never keep anything to
+yourself that comes into your head?  We have just now, as it seems to me,
+more important matters to discuss than the jealousy of each other shown
+by artists--and in my opinion, by learned men too.  The sculptor
+Apollodorus, who is thus beholden to me, has been living here for the
+last six months with his wife and daughters, for he has been executing
+for Philometor the busts of the philosophers, and the animal groups to
+decorate the open space in front of the tomb of Apis.  His sons are
+managers of his large factory in Alexandria, and when he next goes there,
+down the Nile in his boat, as often happens, he can take Irene with him,
+and put her on board a ship.
+
+"As to where we can have her taken to keep her safe from Euergetes, we
+will talk that over afterwards with Apollodorus."
+
+"Good, very good," agreed the Corinthian.  "By Heracles!  I am not
+suspicious--still it does not altogether please me that you should
+yourself conduct Irene to Apollodorus, for if you are seen in her company
+our whole project may be shipwrecked.  Send the sculptor's wife, who is
+little known in Memphis, to the temple of Isis, and request her to bring
+a veil and cloak to conceal the girl.  Greet the gay Milesian from me
+too, and tell her--no, tell her nothing--I shall see her myself
+afterwards at the temple of Isis."
+
+During the last words of this conversation, slaves had been enveloping
+the two young men in their mantles.  They now quitted the tent together,
+wished each other success, and set out at a brisk pace; the Roman to have
+his horses harnessed, and Lysias to accompany the chief of the Diadoches
+in one of the king's chariots, and then to act on the plan he had agreed
+upon with Publius.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Chariot after chariot hurried out of the great gate of the king's palace
+and into the city, now sunk in slumber.  All was still in the great
+banqueting-hall, and dark-hued slaves began with brooms and sponges to
+clean the mosaic pavement, which was strewed with rose leaves and with
+those that had fallen from the faded garlands of ivy and poplar; while
+here and there the spilt wine shone with a dark gleam in the dim light of
+the few lamps that had not been extinguished.
+
+A young flute-player, overcome with sleep and wine, still sat in one
+corner.  The poplar wreath that had crowned his curls had slipped over
+his pretty face, but even in sleep he still held his flute clasped fast
+in his fingers.  The servants let him sleep on, and bustled about without
+noticing him; only an overseer pointed to him, and said laughing:
+
+"His companions went home no more sober than that one.  He is a pretty
+boy, and pretty Chloes lover besides--she will look for him in vain this
+morning."
+
+"And to-morrow too perhaps," answered another; "for if the fat king sees
+her, poor Damon will have seen the last of her."
+
+But the fat king, as Euergetes was called by the Alexandrians, and,
+following their example, by all the rest of Egypt, was not just then
+thinking of Chloe, nor of any such person; he was in the bath attached to
+his splendidly fitted residence.  Divested of all clothing, he was
+standing in the tepid fluid which completely filled a huge basin of white
+marble.  The clear surface of the perfumed water mirrored statues of
+nymphs fleeing from the pursuit of satyrs, and reflected the shimmering
+light of numbers of lamps suspended from the ceiling.  At the upper end
+of the bath reclined the bearded and stalwart statue of the Nile, over
+whom the sixteen infant figures--representing the number of ells to which
+the great Egyptian stream must rise to secure a favorable inundation--
+clambered and played to the delight of their noble father Nile and of
+themselves.  From the vase which supported the arm of the venerable god
+flowed an abundant stream of cold water, which five pretty lads received
+in slender alabaster vases, and poured over the head and the enormously
+prominent muscles of the breast, the back and the arms of the young king
+who was taking his bath.
+
+"More, more--again and again," cried Euergetes, as the boys began to
+pause in bringing and pouring the water; and then, when they threw a
+fresh stream over him, he snorted and plunged with satisfaction, and a
+perfect shower of jets splashed off him as the blast of his breath
+sputtered away the water that fell over his face.
+
+At last he shouted out: "Enough!"  flung himself with all his force into
+the water, that spurted up as if a huge block of stone had been thrown
+into it, held his head for a long time under water, and then went up the
+marble steps of the bath shaking his head violently and mischievously in
+his boyish insolence, so as thoroughly to wet his friends and servants
+who were standing round the margin of the basin; he suffered himself to
+be wrapped in snowy-white sheets of the thinnest and finest linen, to be
+sprinkled with costly essences of delicate odor, and then he withdrew
+into a small room hung all round with gaudy hangings.
+
+There he flung himself on a mound of soft cushions, and said with a deep-
+drawn breath: "Now I am happy; and I am as sober again as a baby that has
+never tasted anything but its mother's milk.  Pindar is right! there is
+nothing better than water! and it slakes that raging fire which wine
+lights up in our brain and blood.  Did I talk much nonsense just now,
+Hierax?"
+
+The man thus addressed, the commander-in-chief of the royal troops, and
+the king's particular friend, cast a hesitating glance at the bystanders;
+but, Euergetes desiring him to speak without reserve, he replied:
+
+"Wine never weakens the mind of such as you are to the point of folly,
+but you were imprudent.  It would be little short of a miracle if
+Philometor did not remark--"
+
+"Capital!" interrupted the king sitting up on his cushions.  "You,
+Hierax, and you, Komanus, remain here--you others may go.  But do not go
+too far off, so as to be close at hand in case I should need you.  In
+these days as much happens in a few hours as usually takes place in as
+many years."
+
+Those who were thus dismissed withdrew, only the king's dresser, a
+Macedonian of rank, paused doubtfully at the door, but Euergetes signed
+to him to retire immediately, calling after him:
+
+"I am very merry and shall not go to bed.  At three hours after sunrise I
+expect Aristarchus--and for work too.  Put out the manuscripts that I
+brought.  Is the Eunuch Eulaeus waiting in the anteroom?  Yes--so much
+the better!
+
+"Now we are alone, my wise friends Hierax and Komanus, and I must explain
+to you that on this occasion, out of pure prudence, you seem to me to
+have been anything rather than prudent.  To be prudent is to have the
+command of a wide circle of thought, so that what is close at hand is no
+more an obstacle than what is remote.  The narrow mind can command only
+that which lies close under observation; the fool and visionary only that
+which is far off.  I will not blame you, for even the wisest has his
+hours of folly, but on this occasion you have certainly overlooked that
+which is at hand, in gazing at the distance, and I see you stumble in
+consequence.  If you had not fallen into that error you would hardly have
+looked so bewildered when, just now, I exclaimed 'Capital!'
+
+"Now, attend to me.  Philometor and my sister know very well what my
+humor is, and what to expect of me.  If I had put on the mask of a
+satisfied man they would have been surprised, and have scented mischief,
+but as it was I showed myself to them exactly what I always am and even
+more reckless than usual, and talked of what I wanted so openly that they
+may indeed look forward to some deed of violence at my hands but hardly
+to a treacherous surprise, and that tomorrow; for he who falls on his
+enemy in the rear makes no noise about it.
+
+"If I believed in your casuistry, I might think that to attack the enemy
+from behind was not a particularly fine thing to do, for even I would
+rather see a man's face than his rear--particularly in the case of my
+brother and sister, who are both handsome to look upon.  But what can a
+man do?  After all, the best thing to do is what wins the victory and
+makes the game.  Indeed, my mode of warfare has found supporters among
+the wise.  If you want to catch mice you must waste bacon, and if we are
+to tempt men into a snare we must know what their notions and ideas are,
+and begin by endeavoring to confuse them.
+
+"A bull is least dangerous when he runs straight ahead in his fury; while
+his two-legged opponent is least dangerous when he does not know what he
+is about and runs feeling his way first to the right and then to the
+left.  Thanks to your approval--for I have deserved it, and I hope to be
+able to return it, my friend Hierax.  I am curious as to your report.
+Shake up the cushion here under my head--and now you may begin."
+
+"All appears admirably arranged," answered the general.  "The flower of
+our troops, the Diadoches and Hetairoi, two thousand-five hundred men,
+are on their way hither, and by to-morrow will encamp north of Memphis.
+Five hundred will find their way into the citadel, with the priests and
+other visitors to congratulate you on your birthday, the other two
+thousand will remain concealed in the tents.  The captain of your brother
+Philometor's Philobasilistes is bought over, and will stand by us; but
+his price was high--Komanus was forced to offer him twenty talents before
+he would bite."
+
+"He shall have them," said the king laughing, "and he shall keep them
+too, till it suits me to regard him as suspicious, and to reward him
+according to his deserts by confiscating his estates.  Well! proceed."
+
+"In order to quench the rising in Thebes, the day before yesterday
+Philometor sent the best of the mercenaries with the standards of
+Desilaus and Arsinoe to the South.  Certainly it cost not a little to
+bribe the ringleaders, and to stir up the discontent to an outbreak."
+
+"My brother will repay us for this outlay," interrupted the king, "when
+we pour his treasure into our own coffers.  Go on."
+
+"We shall have most difficulty with the priests and the Jews.  The former
+cling to Philometor, because he is the eldest son of his father, and has
+given large bounties to the temples, particularly of Apollinopolis and
+Philae; the Jews are attached to him, because he favors them more than
+the Greeks, and he, and his wife--your illustrious sister--trouble
+themselves with their vain religious squabbles; he disputes with them
+about the doctrines contained in their book, and at table too prefers
+conversing with them to any one else."
+
+"I will salt the wine and meat for them that they fatten on here," cried
+Euergetes vehemently, "I forbade to-day their presence at my table, for
+they have good eyes and wits as sharp as their noses.  And they are most
+dangerous when they are in fear, or can reckon on any gains.
+
+"At the same time it cannot be denied that they are honest and tenacious,
+and as most of them are possessed of some property they rarely make
+common cause with the shrieking mob--particularly here in Alexandria.
+
+"Envy alone can reproach them for their industry and enterprise, for the
+activity of the Hellenes has improved upon the example set by them and
+their Phoenician kindred.
+
+"They thrive best in peaceful times, and since the world runs more
+quietly here, under my brother and sister, than under me, they attach
+themselves to them, lend my brother money, and supply my sister with cut
+stones, sapphires and emeralds, selling fine stuffs and other woman's
+gear for a scrap of written papyrus, which will soon be of no more value
+than the feather which falls from the wing of that green screaming bird
+on the perch yonder.
+
+"It is incomprehensible to me that so keen a people cannot perceive that
+there is nothing permanent but change, nothing so certain as that nothing
+is certain; and that they therefore should regard their god as the one
+only god, their own doctrine as absolutely and eternally true, and that
+they contemn what other peoples believe.
+
+"These darkened views make fools of them, but certainly good soldiers
+too--perhaps by reason indeed of this very exalted self-consciousness and
+their firm reliance on their supreme god."
+
+"Yes, they certainly are," assented Hierax.  "But they serve your brother
+more willingly, and at a lower price, than us."
+
+"I will show them," cried the king, "that their taste is a perverted and
+obnoxious one.  I require of the priests that they should instruct the
+people to be obedient, and to bear their privations patiently; but the
+Jews," and at these words his eyes rolled with an ominous glare, "the
+Jews I will exterminate, when the time comes."
+
+"That will be good for our treasury too," laughed Komanus.
+
+"And for the temples in the country," added Euergetes, "for though I seek
+to extirpate other foes I would rather win over the priests; and I must
+try to win them if Philometor's kingdom falls into my hands, for the
+Egyptians require that their king should be a god; and I cannot arrive
+at the dignity of a real god, to whom my swarthy subjects will pray with
+thorough satisfaction, and without making my life a burden to me by
+continual revolts, unless I am raised to it by the suffrages of the
+priests."
+
+"And nevertheless," replied Hierax, who was the only one of Euergetes'
+dependents, who dared to contradict him on important questions,
+"nevertheless this very day a grave demand is to be preferred on your
+account to the high-priest of Serapis.  You press for the surrender of a
+servant of the god, and Philometor will not neglect--"
+
+"Will not neglect," interrupted Euergetes, "to inform the mighty
+Asclepiodorus that he wants the sweet creature for me, and not for
+himself.  Do you know that Eros has pierced my heart, and that I burn
+for the fair Irene, although these eyes have not yet been blessed with
+the sight of her?
+
+"I see you believe me, and I am speaking the exact truth, for I vow I
+will possess myself of this infantine Hebe as surely as I hope to win my
+brother's throne; but when I plant a tree, it is not merely to ornament
+my garden but to get some use of it.  You will see how I will win over
+both the prettiest of little lady-loves and the high-priest who, to be
+sure, is a Greek, but still a man hard to bend.  My tools are all ready
+outside there.
+
+"Now, leave me, and order Eulaeus to join me here."
+
+"You are as a divinity," said  Komanus, bowing deeply, "and we but as
+frail mortals.  Your proceedings often seem dark and incomprehensible to
+our weak intellect, but when a course, which to us seems to lead to no
+good issue, turns out well, we are forced to admit with astonishment that
+you always choose the best way, though often a tortuous one."
+
+For a short time the king was alone, sitting with his black brows knit,
+and gazing meditatively at the floor.  But as soon as he heard the soft
+foot-fall of Eulaeus, and the louder step of his guide, he once more
+assumed the aspect of a careless and reckless man of the world, shouted a
+jolly welcome to Eulaeus, reminded him of his, the king's, boyhood, and
+of how often he, Eulaeus, had helped him to persuade his mother to grant
+him some wish she had previously refused him.
+
+"But now, old boy," continued the king, "the times are changed, and with
+you now-a-days it is everything for Philometor and nothing for poor
+Euergetes, who, being the younger, is just the one who most needs your
+assistance."
+
+Eulaeus bowed with a smile which conveyed that he understood perfectly
+how little the king's last words were spoken in earnest, and he said:
+
+"I purposed always to assist the weaker of you two, and that is what I
+believe myself to be doing now."
+
+"You mean my sister?"
+
+"Our sovereign lady Cleopatra is of the sex which is often unjustly
+called the weaker.  Though you no doubt were pleased to speak in jest
+when you asked that question, I feel bound to answer you distinctly that
+it was not Cleopatra that I meant, but King Philometor."
+
+"Philometor?  Then you have no faith in his strength, you regard me as
+stronger than he; and yet, at the banquet to-day, you offered me your
+services, and told me that the task had devolved upon you of demanding
+the surrender of the little serving-maiden of Serapis, in the king's
+name, of Asclepiodorus, the high-priest.  Do you call that aiding the
+weaker?  But perhaps you were drunk when you told me that?
+
+"No?  You were more moderate than I?  Then some other change of views
+must have taken place in you; and yet that would very much surprise me,
+since your principles require you to aid the weaker son of my mother--"
+
+"You are laughing at me," interrupted the courtier with gentle
+reproachfulness, and yet in a tone of entreaty.  "If I took your side it
+was not from caprice, but simply and expressly from a desire to remain
+faithful to the one aim and end of my life."
+
+"And that is?"
+
+"To provide for the welfare of this country in the same sense as did your
+illustrious mother, whose counsellor I was."
+
+"But you forget to mention the other--to place yourself to the best
+possible advantage."
+
+"I did not forget it, but I did not mention it, for I know how closely
+measured out are the moments of a king; and besides, it seems to me as
+self-evident that we think of our personal advantage as that when we buy
+a horse we also buy his shadow."
+
+"How subtle!  But I no more blame you than I should a girl who stands
+before her mirror to deck herself for her lover, and who takes the same
+opportunity of rejoicing in her own beauty.
+
+"However, to return to your first speech.  It is for the sake of Egypt
+as you think--if I understand you rightly--that you now offer me the
+services you have hitherto devoted to my brother's interests?"
+
+"As you say; in these difficult times the country needs the will and the
+hand of a powerful leader."
+
+"And such a leader you think I am?"
+
+"Aye, a giant in strength of will, body and intellect--whose desire to
+unite the two parts of Egypt in your sole possession cannot fail, if you
+strike and grasp boldly, and if--"
+
+"If?"  repeated the king, looking at the speaker so keenly that his eyes
+fell, and he answered softly:
+
+"If Rome should raise no objection."
+
+Euergetes shrugged his shoulders, and replied gravely:
+
+"Rome indeed is like Fate, which always must give the final decision in
+everything we do.  I have certainly not been behindhand in enormous
+sacrifices to mollify that inexorable power, and my representative,
+through whose hands pass far greater sums than through those of the
+paymasters of the troops, writes me word that they are not unfavorably
+disposed towards me in the Senate."
+
+"We have learned that from ours also.  You have more friends by the Tiber
+than Philometor, my own king, has; but our last despatch is already
+several weeks old, and in the last few days things have occurred--"
+
+"Speak!" cried Euergetes, sitting bolt upright on his cushions.  "But if
+you are laying a trap for me, and if you are speaking now as my brother's
+tool, I will punish you--aye! and if you fled to the uttermost cave of
+the Troglodytes I would have you followed up, and you should be torn in
+pieces alive, as surely as I believe myself to be the true son of my
+father."
+
+"And I should deserve the punishment," replied Eulaeus humbly.  Then he
+went on: "If I see clearly, great events lie before us in the next few
+days."
+
+"Yes--truly," said Euergetes firmly.
+
+"But just at present Philometor is better represented in Rome than he has
+ever been.  You made acquaintance with young Publius Scipio at the king's
+table, and showed little zeal in endeavoring to win his good graces."
+
+"He is one of the Cornelii," interrupted the king, "a distinguished young
+man, and related to all the noblest blood of Rome; but he is not an
+ambassador; he has travelled from Athens to Alexandria, in order to learn
+more than he need; and he carries his head higher and speaks more freely
+than becomes him before kings, because the young fellows fancy it looks
+well to behave like their elders."
+
+"He is of more importance than you imagine."
+
+"Then I will invite him to Alexandria, and there will win him over in
+three days, as surely as my name is Euergetes."
+
+"It will then be too late, for he has to-day received, as I know for
+certain, plenipotentiary powers from the Senate to act in their name in
+case of need, until the envoy who is to be sent here again arrives."
+
+"And I only now learn this for the first time!" cried the king springing
+up from his couch, "my friends must be deaf, and blind and dull indeed,
+if still I have any, and my servants and emissaries too!  I cannot bear
+this haughty ungracious fellow, but I will invite him tomorrow morning--
+nay I will invite him to-day, to a festive entertainment, and send him
+the four handsomest horses that I have brought with me from Cyrene.  I
+will--"
+
+"It will all be in vain," said Eulaeus calmly and dispassionately.
+"For he is master, in the fullest and widest meaning of the word, of the
+queen's favor--nay--if I may permit myself to speak out freely--of
+Cleopatra's more than warm liking, and he enjoys this sweetest of gifts
+with a thankful heart.  Philometor--as he always does--lets matters go
+as they may, and Cleopatra and Publius--Publius and Cleopatra triumph
+even publicly in their love; gaze into each other's eyes like any pair of
+pastoral Arcadians, exchange cups and kiss the rim on the spot where the
+lips of the other have touched it.  Promise and grant what you will to
+this man, he will stand by your sister; and if you should succeed in
+expelling her from the throne he would boldly treat you as Popilius
+Laenas did your uncle Antiochus: he would draw a circle round your
+person, and say that if you dared to step beyond it Rome would march
+against you."
+
+Euergetes listened in silence, then, flinging away the draperies that
+wrapped his body, he paced up and down in stormy agitation, groaning from
+time to time, and roaring like a wild bull that feels itself confined
+with cords and bands, and that exerts all its strength in vain to rend
+them.
+
+Finally he stood still in front of Eulaeus and asked him:
+
+"What more do you know of the Roman?"
+
+"He, who would not allow you to compare yourself to Alcibiades, is
+endeavoring to out-do that darling of the Athenian maidens; for he is not
+content with having stolen the heart of the king's wife, he is putting
+out his hand to reach the fairest virgin who serves the highest of the
+gods.  The water-bearer whom Lysias, the Roman's friend, recommended for
+a Hebe is beloved by Publius, and he hopes to enjoy her favors more
+easily in your gay palace than he can in the gloomy temple of Serapis."
+
+At these words the king struck his forehead with his hand, exclaiming:
+"Oh! to be a king--a man who is a match for any ten! and to be obliged to
+submit with a patient shrug like a peasant whose grain my horsemen crush
+into the ground!
+
+"He can spoil everything; mar all my plans and thwart all my desires--and
+I can do nothing but clench my fist, and suffocate with rage.  But this
+fuming and groaning are just as unavailing as my raging and cursing by
+the death-bed of my mother, who was dead all the same and never got up
+again.
+
+"If this Publius were a Greek, a Syrian, an Egyptian--nay, were he my own
+brother--I tell you, Eulaeus, he should not long stand in my way; but he
+is plenipotentiary from Rome, and Rome is Fate--Rome is Fate."
+
+The king flung himself back on to his cushions with a deep sigh, and as
+if crushed with despair, hiding his face in the soft pillows; but Eulaeus
+crept noiselessly up to the young giant, and whispered in his ear with
+solemn deliberateness:
+
+"Rome is Fate, but even Rome can do nothing against Fate.  Publius Scipio
+must die because he is ruining your mother's daughter, and stands in the
+way of your saving Egypt.  The Senate would take a terrible revenge if he
+were murdered, but what can they do if wild beasts fall on their
+plenipotentiary, and tear him to pieces?"
+
+"Grand! splendid!"  cried Euergetes, springing again to his feet, and
+opening his large eyes with radiant surprise and delight, as if heaven
+itself had opened before them, revealing the sublime host of the gods
+feasting at golden tables.
+
+"You are a great man, Eulaeus, and I shall know how to reward you; but
+do you know of such wild beasts as we require, and do they know how to
+conduct themselves so that no one shall dare to harbor even the shadow of
+a suspicion that the wounds torn by their teeth and claws were inflicted
+by daggers, pikes or spearheads?"
+
+"Be perfectly easy," replied Eulaeus.  "These beasts of prey have already
+had work to do here in Memphis, and are in the service of the king--"
+
+"Aha! of my gentle brother!"  laughed Euergetes.  "And he boasts of never
+having killed any one excepting in battle--and now--"
+
+"But Philometor has a wife," interposed Eulaeus; and Euergetes went on.
+
+"Aye, woman, woman! what is there that a man may not learn from a woman?"
+
+Then he added in a lower tone: "When can your wild beasts do their work?"
+
+"The sun has long since risen; before it sets I will have made my
+preparations, and by about midnight, I should think, the deed may be
+done.  We will promise the Roman a secret meeting, lure him out to the
+temple of Serapis, and on his way home through the desert--"
+
+"Aye, then,--" cried the king, making a thrust at his own breast as
+though his hand held a dagger, and he added in warning: "But your beasts
+must be as powerful as lions, and as cautious-as cautious, as cats.  If
+you want gold apply to Komanus, or, better still, take this purse.  Is it
+enough?  Still I must ask you; have you any personal ground of hatred
+against the Roman?"
+
+"Yes," answered Eulaeus decisively.  "He guesses that I know all about
+him and his doings, and he has attacked me with false accusations which
+may bring me into peril this very day.  If you should hear that the queen
+has decided on throwing me into prison, take immediate steps for my
+liberation."
+
+"No one shall touch a hair of your head; depend upon that.  I see that it
+is to your interest to play my game, and I am heartily glad of it, for a
+man works with all his might for no one but himself.  And now for the
+last thing:  When will you fetch my little Hebe?"
+
+"In an hour's time I am going to Asclepiodorus; but we must not demand
+the girl till to-morrow, for today she must remain in the temple as a
+decoy-bird for Publius Scipio."
+
+"I will take patience; still I have yet another charge to give you.
+Represent the matter to the high-priest in such a way that he shall think
+my brother wishes to gratify one of my fancies by demanding--absolutely
+demanding--the water-bearer on my behalf.  Provoke the man as far as is
+possible without exciting suspicion, and if I know him rightly, he will
+stand upon his rights, and refuse you persistently.  Then, after you,
+will come Komanus from me with greetings and gifts and promises.
+
+"To-morrow, when we have done what must be done to the Roman, you shall
+fetch the girl in my brother's name either by cunning or by force; and
+the day after, if the gods graciously lend me their aid in uniting the
+two realms of Egypt under my own hand, I will explain to Asclepiodorus
+that I have punished Philometor for his sacrilege against his temple, and
+have deposed him from the throne.  Serapis shall see which of us is his
+friend.
+
+"If all goes well, as I mean that it shall, I will appoint you Epitropon
+of the re-united kingdom--that I swear to you by the souls of my deceased
+ancestors.  I will speak with you to-day at any hour you may demand it."
+
+Eulaeus departed with a step as light as if his interview with the king
+had restored him to youth.
+
+When Hierax, Komanus, and the other officers returned to the room,
+Euergetes gave orders that his four finest horses from Cyrene should be
+led before noonday to his friend Publius Cornelius Scipio, in token of
+his affection and respect.  Then he suffered himself to be dressed, and
+went to Aristarchus with whom he sat down to work at his studies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+The temple of Serapis lay in restful silence, enveloped in darkness,
+which so far hid its four wings from sight as to give it the aspect of a
+single rock-like mass wrapped in purple mist.
+
+Outside the temple precincts too all had been still; but just now a
+clatter of hoofs and rumble of wheels was audible through the silence,
+otherwise so profound that it seemed increased by every sound.  Before
+the vehicle which occasioned this disturbance had reached the temple, it
+stopped, just outside the sacred acacia-grove, for the neighing of a
+horse was now audible in that direction.
+
+It was one of the king's horses that neighed; Lysias, the Greek, tied him
+up to a tree by the road at the edge of the grove, flung his mantle over
+the loins of the smoking beast; and feeling his way from tree to tree
+soon found himself by the Well of the Sun where he sat down on the
+margin.
+
+Presently from the east came a keen, cold breeze, the harbinger of
+sunrise; the gray gloaming began by degrees to pierce and part the tops
+of the tall trees, which, in the darkness, had seemed a compact black
+roof.  The crowing of cocks rang out from the court-yard of the temple,
+and, as the Corinthian rose with a shiver to warm himself by a rapid walk
+backwards and forwards, he heard a door creak near the outer wall of the
+temple, of which the outline now grew sharper and clearer every instant
+in the growing light.
+
+He now gazed with eager observation down the path which, as the day
+approached, stood out with increasing clearness from the surrounding
+shades, and his heart began to beat faster as he perceived a figure
+approaching the well, with rapid steps.  It was a human form that
+advanced towards him--only one--no second figure accompanied it; but it
+was not a man--no, a woman in a long robe.  Still, she for whom he waited
+was surely smaller than the woman, who now came near to him.  Was it the
+elder and not the younger sister, whom alone he was anxious to speak
+with, who came to the well this morning?
+
+He could now distinguish her light foot-fall--now she was divided from
+him by a young acacia-shrub which hid her from his gaze-now she set down
+two water-jars on the ground--now she briskly lifted the bucket and
+filled the vessel she held in her left hand--now she looked towards the
+eastern horizon, where the dim light of dawn grew broader and brighter,
+and Lysias thought he recognized Irene--and now--Praised be the gods!  he
+was sure; before him stood the younger and not the elder sister; the very
+maiden whom he sought.
+
+Still half concealed by the acacia-shrub, and in a soft voice so as not
+to alarm her, he called Irene's name, and the poor child's blood froze
+with terror, for never before had she been startled by a man here, and at
+this hour.  She stood as if rooted to the spot, and, trembling with
+fright, she pressed the cold, wet, golden jar, sacred to the god, closely
+to her bosom.
+
+Lysias repeated her name, a little louder than before, and went on, but
+in a subdued voice:
+
+"Do not be frightened, Irene; I am Lysias, the Corinthian--your friend,
+whose pomegranate-blossom you wore yesterday, and who spoke to you after
+the procession.  Let me bid you good morning!"
+
+At these words the girl let her hand fall by her side, still holding the
+jar, and pressing her right hand to her heart, she exclaimed, drawing a
+deep breath:
+
+"How dreadfully you frightened me!  I thought some wandering soul was
+calling me that had not yet returned to the nether world, for it is not
+till the sun rises that spirits are scared away."
+
+"But it cannot scare men of flesh and blood whose purpose is good.
+I, you may believe me, would willingly stay with you, till Helios departs
+again, if you would permit me."
+
+"I can neither permit nor forbid you anything," answered Irene.  "But,
+how came you here at this hour?"
+
+"In a chariot," replied Lysias smiling.
+
+"That is nonsense--I want to know what you came to the Well of the Sun
+for at such an hour."
+
+"I What but for you yourself?  You told me yesterday that you were glad
+to sleep, and so am I; still, to see you once more, I have been only to
+glad to shorten my night's rest considerably."
+
+"But, how did you know?"
+
+"You yourself told me yesterday at what time you were allowed to leave
+the temple."
+
+"Did I tell you?  Great Serapis!  how light it is already.  I shall be
+punished if the water-jar is not standing on the altar by sunrise, and
+there is Klea's too to be filled."
+
+"I will fill it for you directly--there--that is done; and now I will
+carry them both for you to the end of the grove, if you will promise me
+to return soon, for I have many things to ask you."
+
+"Go on--only go on," said the girl; "I know very little; but ask away,
+though you will not find much to be made of any answers that I can give."
+
+"Oh! yes, indeed, I shall--for instance, if I asked you to tell me all
+about your parents.  My friend Publius, whom you know, and I also have
+heard how cruelly and unjustly they were punished, and we would gladly do
+much to procure their release."
+
+"I will come--I will be sure to come," cried Irene loudly and eagerly,
+"and shall I bring Klea with me?  She was called up in the middle of the
+night by the gatekeeper, whose child is very ill.  My sister is very fond
+of it, and Philo will only take his medicine from her.  The little one
+had gone to sleep in her lap, and his mother came and begged me to fetch
+the water for us both.  Now give me the jars, for none but we may enter
+the temple."
+
+"There they are.  Do not disturb your sister on my account in her care of
+the poor little boy, for I might indeed have one or two things to say to
+you which she need not hear, and which might give you pleasure.  Now, I
+am going back to the well, so farewell!  But do not let me have to wait
+very long for you."  He spoke in a tender tone of entreaty, and the girl
+answered low and rapidly as she hurried away from him:
+
+"I will come when the sun is up."
+
+The Corinthian looked after her till she had vanished within the temple,
+and his heart was stirred--stirred as it had not been for many years.  He
+could not help recalling the time when he would teaze his younger sister,
+then still quite a child, putting her to the test by asking her, with a
+perfectly grave face, to give him her cake or her apple which he did not
+really want at all.  The little one had almost always put the thing he
+asked for to his mouth with her tiny hands, and then he had often felt
+exactly as he felt now.
+
+Irene too was still but a child, and no less guileless than his darling
+in his own home; and just as his sister had trusted him--offering him
+the best she had to give--so this simple child trusted him; him, the
+profligate Lysias, before whom all the modest women of Corinth cast down
+their eyes, while fathers warned their growing-up sons against him;
+trusted him with her virgin self--nay, as he thought, her sacred person.
+
+"I will do thee no harm, sweet child!"  he murmured to himself, as he
+presently turned on his heel to return to the well.  He went forward
+quickly at first, but after a few steps he paused before the marvellous
+and glorious picture that met his gaze.  Was Memphis in flames?  Had fire
+fallen to burn up the shroud of mist which had veiled his way to the
+temple?
+
+The trunks of the acacia-trees stood up like the blackened pillars of a
+burning city, and behind them the glow of a conflagration blazed high up
+to the heavens.  Beams of violet and gold slipped and sparkled between
+the boughs, and danced among the thorny twigs, the white racemes of
+flowers, and the tufts of leaves with their feathery leaflets; the clouds
+above were fired with tints more pure and tender than those of the roses
+with which Cleopatra had decked herself for the banquet.
+
+Not like this did the sun rise in his own country!  Or, was it perhaps
+only that in Corinth or in Athens at break of day, as he staggered home
+drunk from some feast, he had looked more at the earth than at the
+heavens?
+
+His horses began now to neigh loudly as if to greet the steeds of the
+coming Sun-god.  Lysias hurried to them through the grove, patted their
+shining necks with soothing words, and stood looking down at the vast
+city at his feet, over which hung a film of violet mist--at the solemn
+Pyramids, over which the morning glow flung a gay robe of rose-color--on
+the huge temple of Ptah, with the great colossi in front of its pylons--
+on the Nile, mirroring the glory of the sky, and on the limestone hills
+behind the villages of Babylon and Troy, about which he had, only
+yesterday, heard a Jew at the king's table relating a legend current
+among his countrymen to the effect that these hills had been obliged to
+give up all their verdure to grace the mounts of the sacred city
+Hierosolyma.
+
+The rocky cliffs of this barren range glowed at this moment like the fire
+in the heart of the great ruby which had clasped the festal robe of King
+Euergetes across his bull-neck, as it reflected the shimmer of the
+tapers: and Lysias saw the day-star rising behind the range with blinding
+radiance, shooting forth rays like myriads of golden arrows, to rout and
+destroy his foe, the darkness of night.
+
+Eos, Helios, Phoebus Apollo--these had long been to him no more than
+names, with which he associated certain phenomena, certain processes and
+ideas; for he when he was not luxuriating in the bath, amusing himself in
+the gymnasium, at cock or quail-fights, in the theatre or at Dionysiac
+processions--was wont to exercise his wits in the schools of the
+philosophers, so as to be able to shine in bandying words at
+entertainments; but to-day, and face to face with this sunrise,
+he believed as in the days of his childhood--he saw in his mind's eye
+the god riding in his golden chariot, and curbing his foaming steeds,
+his shining train floating lightly round him, bearing torches or
+scattering flowers--he threw up his arms with an impulse of devotion,
+praying aloud:
+
+"To-day I am happy and light of heart.  To thy presence do I owe this,
+O! Phoebus Apollo, for thou art light itself.  Oh! let thy favors
+continue--"
+
+But he here broke off in his invocation, and dropped his arms, for he
+heard approaching footsteps.  Smiling at his childish weakness--for such
+he deemed it that he should have prayed--and yet content from his pious
+impulse, he turned his back on the sun, now quite risen, and stood face
+to face with Irene who called out to him:
+
+"I was beginning to think that you had got out of patience and had gone
+away, when I found you no longer by the well.  That distressed me--but
+you were only watching Helios rise.  I see it every day, and yet it
+always grieves me to see it as red as it was to-day, for our Egyptian
+nurse used to tell me that when the east was very red in the morning it
+was because the Sun-god had slain his enemies, and it was their blood
+that colored the heavens, and the clouds and the hills."
+
+"But you are a Greek," said Lysias, "and you must know that it is Eos
+that causes these tints when she touches the horizon with her rosy
+fingers before Helios appears.  Now to-day you are, to me, the rosy dawn
+presaging a fine day."
+
+"Such a ruddy glow as this," said Irene, "forebodes great heat, storms,
+and perhaps heavy rain, so the gatekeeper says; and he is always with the
+astrologers who observe the stars and the signs in the heavens from the
+towers near the temple-gates.  He is poor little Philo's father.
+I wanted to bring Klea with me, for she knows more about our parents than
+I do; but he begged me not to call her away, for the child's throat is
+almost closed up, and if it cries much the physician says it will choke,
+and yet it is never quiet but when it is lying in Klea's arms.  She is so
+good--and she never thinks of herself; she has been ever since midnight
+till now rocking that heavy child on her lap."
+
+"We will talk with her presently," said the Corinthian.  "But to-day
+it was for your sake that I came; you have such merry eyes, and your
+little mouth looks as if it were made for laughing, and not to sing
+lamentations.  How can you bear being always in that shut up dungeon
+with all those solemn men in their black and white robes?"
+
+There are some very good and kind ones among them.  I am most fond of old
+Krates, he looks gloomy enough at every one else; but with me only he
+jokes and talks, and he often shows me such pretty and elegantly wrought
+things."
+
+"Ah! I told you just now you are like the rosy dawn before whom all
+darkness must vanish."
+
+"If only you could know how thoughtless I can be, and how often I give
+trouble to Klea, who never scolds me for it, you would be far from
+comparing me with a goddess.  Little old Krates, too, often compares me
+to all sorts of pretty things, but that always sounds so comical that I
+cannot help laughing.  I had much rather listen to you when you flatter
+me."
+
+"Because I am young and youth suits with youth.  Your sister is older,
+and so much graver than you are.  Have you never had a companion of your
+own age whom you could play with, and to whom you could tell everything?"
+
+"Oh!  yes when I was still very young; but since my parents fell into
+trouble, and we have lived here in the temple, I have always been alone
+with Klea.  What do you want to know about my father?"
+
+"That I will ask you by-and-by.  Now only tell me, have you never played
+at hide and seek with other girls?  May you never look on at the merry
+doings in the streets at the Dionysiac festivals?  Have you ever ridden
+in a chariot?"
+
+"I dare say I have, long ago--but I have forgotten it.  How should I have
+any chance of such things here in the temple?  Klea says it is no good
+even to think of them.  She tells me a great deal about our parents--how
+my mother took care of us, and what my father used to say.  Has anything
+happened that may turn out favorably for him?  Is it possible that the
+king should have learned the truth?  Make haste and ask your questions at
+once, for I have already been too long out here."
+
+The impatient steeds neighed again as she spoke, and Lysias, to whom this
+chat with Irene was perfectly enchanting, but who nevertheless had not
+for a moment lost sight of his object, hastily pointed to the spot where
+his horses were standing, and said:
+
+"Did you hear the neighing of those mettlesome horses?  They brought me
+hither, and I can guide them well; nay, at the last Isthmian games I won
+the crown with my own quadriga.  You said you had never ridden standing
+in a chariot.  How would you like to try for once how it feels?  I will
+drive you with pleasure up and down behind the grove for a little while."
+
+Irene heard this proposal with sparkling eyes and cried, as she clapped
+her hands:
+
+"May I ride in a chariot with spirited horses, like the queen?  Oh!
+impossible!  Where are your horses standing?"
+
+In this instant she had forgotten Klea, the duty which called her back to
+the temple, even her parents, and she followed the Corinthian with winged
+steps, sprang into the two-wheeled chariot, and clung fast to the
+breastwork, as Lysias took his place by her side, seized the reins, and
+with a strong and practised hand curbed the mettle of his spirited
+steeds.
+
+She stood perfectly guileless and undoubting by his side, and wholly at
+his mercy as the chariot rattled off; but, unknown to herself, beneficent
+powers were shielding her with buckler and armor--her childlike
+innocence, and that memory of her parents which her tempter himself
+had revived in her mind, and which soon came back in vivid strength.
+
+Breathing deep with excitement, and filled with such rapture as a bird
+may feel when it first soars from its narrow nest high up into the ether
+she cried out again and again:
+
+"Oh, this is delightful! this is splendid!" and then:
+
+"How we rush through the air as if we were swallows!  Faster, Lysias,
+faster!  No, no--that is too fast; wait a little that I may not fall!
+Oh, I am not frightened; it is too delightful to cut through the air just
+as a Nile boat cuts through the stream in a storm, and to feel it on my
+face and neck."
+
+Lysias was very close to her; when, at her desire, he urged his horses to
+their utmost pace, and saw her sway, he involuntarily put out his hand to
+hold her by the girdle; but Irene avoided his grasp, pressing close
+against the side of the chariot next her, and every time he touched her
+she drew her arm close up to her body, shrinking together like the
+fragile leaf of a sensitive plant when it is touched by some foreign
+object.
+
+She now begged the Corinthian to allow her to hold the reins for a little
+while, and he immediately acceded to her request, giving them into her
+hand, though, stepping behind her, he carefully kept the ends of them in
+his own.  He could now see her shining hair, the graceful oval of her
+head, and her white throat eagerly bent forward; an indescribable
+longing came over him to press a kiss on her head; but he forbore, for he
+remembered his friend's words that he would fulfil the part of a guardian
+to these girls.  He too would be a protector to her, aye and more than
+that, he would care for her as a father might.  Still, as often as the
+chariot jolted over a stone, and he touched her to support her, the
+suppressed wish revived, and once when her hair was blown quite close to
+his lips he did indeed kiss it--but only as a friend or a brother might.
+Still, she must have felt the breath from his lips, for she turned round
+hastily, and gave him back the reins; then, pressing her hand to her
+brow, she said in a quite altered voice--not unmixed with a faint tone of
+regret:
+
+"This is not right--please now to turn the horses round."
+
+Lysias, instead of obeying her, pulled at the reins to urge the horses to
+a swifter pace, and before he could find a suitable answer, she had
+glanced up at the sun, and pointing to the east she exclaimed:
+
+"How late it is already!  what shall I say if I have been looked for, and
+they ask me where I have been so long?  Why don't you turn round--nor ask
+me anything about my parents?"
+
+The last words broke from her with vehemence, and as Lysias did not
+immediately reply nor make any attempt to check the pace of the horses,
+she herself seized the reins exclaiming:
+
+"Will you turn round or no?"
+
+"No!" said the Greek with decision.  "But--"
+
+"And this is what you intended!" shrieked the girl, beside herself.
+"You meant to carry me off by stratagem--but wait, only wait--"
+
+And before Lysias could prevent her she had turned round, and was
+preparing to spring from the chariot as it rushed onwards; but her
+companion was quicker than she; he clutched first at her robe and then
+her girdle, put his arm round her waist, and in spite of her resistance
+pulled her back into the chariot.
+
+Trembling, stamping her little feet and with tears in her eyes, she
+strove to free her girdle from his grasp; he, now bringing his horses to
+a stand-still, said kindly but earnestly:
+
+"What I have done is the best that could happen to you, and I will even
+turn the horses back again if you command it, but not till you have heard
+me; for when I got you into the chariot by stratagem it was because I was
+afraid that you would refuse to accompany me, and yet I knew that every
+delay would expose you to the most hideous peril.  I did not indeed take
+a base advantage of your father's name, for my friend Publius Scipio, who
+is very influential, intends to do everything in his power to procure his
+freedom and to reunite you to him.  But, Irene, that could never have
+happened if I had left you where you have hitherto lived."
+
+During this discourse the girl had looked at Lysias in bewilderment, and
+she interrupted him with the exclamation:
+
+"But I have never done any one an injury!  Who can gain any benefit by
+persecuting a poor creature like me:
+
+"Your father was the most righteous of men," replied Lysias, "and
+nevertheless he was carried off into torments like a criminal.  It is not
+only the unrighteous and the wicked that are persecuted.  Have you ever
+heard of King Euergetes, who, at his birth, was named the 'well-doer,'
+and who has earned that of the 'evil doer' by his crimes?  He has heard
+that you are fair, and he is about to demand of the high-priest that he
+should surrender you to him.  If Asclepiodorus agrees--and what can he do
+against the might of a king--you will be made the companion of flute-
+playing girls and painted women, who riot with drunken men at his wild
+carousals and orgies, and if your parents found you thus, better would it
+be for them--"
+
+"Is it true, all  you are  telling me?"  asked Irene with flaming cheeks.
+
+"Yes," answered Lysias firmly.  "Listen Irene--I have a father and a dear
+mother and a sister, who is like you, and I swear to you by their heads--
+by those whose names never passed my lips in the presence of any other
+woman I ever sued to--that I am speaking the simple truth; that I seek
+nothing but only to save you; that if you desire it, as soon as I have
+hidden you I will never see you again, terribly hard as that would be to
+me--for I love you so dearly, so deeply--poor sweet little Irene--as you
+can never imagine."
+
+Lysias took the girl's hand, but she withdrew it hastily, and raising her
+eyes, full of tears, to meet his she said clearly and firmly:
+
+"I believe you, for no man could speak like that and betray another.
+But how do you know all this?  Where are you taking me?  Will Klea follow
+me?"
+
+"At first you shall be concealed with the family of a worthy sculptor.
+We will let Klea know this very day of all that has happened to you,
+and when we have obtained the release of your parents then--but--Help us,
+protecting Zeus!  Do you see the chariot yonder?  I believe those are the
+white horses of the Eunuch Eulaeus, and if he were to see us here, all
+would be lost!  Hold tight, we must go as fast as in a chariot race.
+There, now the hill hides us, and down there, by the little temple of
+Isis, the wife of your future host is already waiting for you; she is no
+doubt sitting in the closed chariot near the palm-trees.
+
+"Yes, certainly, certainly, Klea shall hear all, so that she may not be
+uneasy about you!  I must say farewell to you directly and then,
+afterwards, sweet Irene, will you sometimes think of the unhappy Lysias;
+or did Aurora, who greeted him this morning, so bright and full of happy
+promise, usher in a day not of joy but of sorrow and regret?"  The Greek
+drew in rein as he spoke, bringing his horses to a sober pace, and looked
+tenderly in Irene's eyes.  She returned his gaze with heart-felt emotion,
+but her gunny glance was dimmed with tears.
+
+"Say something," entreated the Greek.  "Will you not forget me?  And may
+I soon visit you in your new retreat?"
+
+Irene would so gladly have said yes--and yes again, a thousand times yes;
+and yet she, who was so easily carried away by every little emotion of
+her heart, in this supreme moment found strength enough to snatch her
+hand from that of the Greek, who had again taken it, and to answer
+firmly:
+
+"I will remember you for ever and ever, but you must not come to see me
+till I am once more united to my Klea."
+
+"But Irene, consider, if now--" cried Lysias much agitated.
+
+"You swore to me by the heads of your nearest kin to obey my wishes,"
+interrupted the girl.  "Certainly I trust you, and all the more readily
+because you are so good to me, but I shall not do so any more if you do
+not keep your word.  Look, here comes a lady to meet us who looks like a
+friend.  She is already waving her hand to me.  Yes, I will go with her
+gladly, and yet I am so anxious--so troubled, I cannot tell you--but I am
+so thankful too!  Think of me sometimes, Lysias, and of our journey here,
+and of our talk, and of my parents:  I entreat you, do for them all you
+possibly can.  I wish I could help crying--but I cannot!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Lysias eyes had not deceived him.  The chariot with white horses which he
+had evaded during his flight with Irene belonged to Eulaeus.  The morning
+being cool--and also because Cleopatra's lady-in-waiting was with him--he
+had come out in a closed chariot, in which he sat on soft cushions side
+by side with the Macedonian lady, endeavoring to win her good graces by a
+conversation, witty enough in its way.
+
+"On the way there," thought he, "I will make her quite favorable to me,
+and on the way back I will talk to her of my own affairs."
+
+The drive passed quickly and pleasantly for both, and they neither of
+them paid any heed to the sound of the hoofs of the horses that were
+bearing away Irene.
+
+Eulaeus dismounted behind the acacia-grove, and expressed a hope that Zoe
+would not find the time very long while he was engaged with the high-
+priest; perhaps indeed, he remarked, she might even make some use of the
+time by making advances to the representative of Hebe.
+
+But Irene had been long since warmly welcomed in the house of
+Apollodorus, the sculptor, by the time they once more found themselves
+together in the chariot; Eulaeus feigning, and Zoe in reality feeling,
+extreme dissatisfaction at all that had taken place in the temple.
+The high-priest had rejected Philometor's demand that he should send
+the water-bearer to the palace on King Euergetes' birthday, with a
+decisiveness which Eulaeus would never have given him credit for, for he
+had on former occasions shown a disposition to measures of compromise;
+while Zoe had not even seen the waterbearer.
+
+"I fancy," said the queen's shrewd friend, "that I followed you somewhat
+too late, and that when I entered the temple about half an hour after
+you--having been detained first by Imhotep, the old physician, and then
+by an assistant of Apollodorus, the sculptor, with some new busts of the
+philosophers--the high-priest had already given orders that the girl
+should be kept concealed; for when I asked to see her, I was conducted
+first to her miserable room, which seemed more fit for peasants or goats
+than for a Hebe, even for a sham one--but I found it perfectly deserted.
+
+"Then I was shown into the temple of Serapis, where a priest was
+instructing some girls in singing, and then sent hither and thither,
+till at last, finding no trace whatever of the famous Irene, I came to
+the dwelling-house of the gate-keeper of the temple.
+
+"An ungainly woman opened the door, and said that Irene had been gone
+from thence for some long time, but that her elder sister was there,
+so I desired she might be fetched to speak with me.  And what, if you
+please, was the answer I received?  The goddess Klea--I call her so as
+being sister to a Hebe--had to nurse a sick child, and if I wanted to
+see her I might go in and find her.
+
+"The tone of the message quite conveyed that the distance from her down
+to me was as great as in fact it is the other way.  However, I thought it
+worth the trouble to see this supercilious water-bearing girl, and I went
+into a low room--it makes me sick now to remember how it smelt of
+poverty--and there she sat with an idiotic child, dying on her lap.
+Everything that surrounded me was so revolting and dismal that it will
+haunt my dreams with terror for weeks to come and spoil all my cheerful
+hours.
+
+"I did not remain long with these wretched creatures, but I must confess
+that if Irene is as like to Hebe as her elder sister is to Hera,
+Euergetes has good grounds for being angry if Asclepiodorus keeps the
+girl from him.
+
+"Many a queen--and not least the one whom you and I know so intimately-
+would willingly give half of her kingdom to possess such a figure and
+such a mien as this serving-girl.  And then her eyes, as she looked at me
+when she rose with that little gasping corpse in her arms, and asked me
+what I wanted with her sister!
+
+"There was an impressive and lurid glow in those solemn eyes, which
+looked as if they had been taken out of some Medusa's head to be set in
+her beautiful face.  And there was a sinister threat in them too which
+seemed to say: 'Require nothing of her that I do not approve of, or you
+will be turned into stone on the spot.'  She did not answer twenty words
+to my questions, and when I once more tasted the fresh air outside, which
+never seemed to me so pleasant as by contrast with that horrible hole,
+I had learnt no more than that no one knew--or chose to know--in what
+corner the fair Irene was hidden, and that I should do well to make
+no further enquiries.
+
+"And now, what will Philometor do?  What will you advise him to do?"
+
+"What cannot be got at by soft words may sometimes be obtained by a
+sufficiently large present," replied Eulaeus.  "You know very well that
+of all words none is less familiar to these gentry than the little word
+'enough'; but who indeed is really ready to say it?
+
+"You speak of the haughtiness and the stern repellent demeanor of our
+Hebe's sister.  I have seen her too, and I think that her image might be
+set up in the Stoa as a happy impersonation of the severest virtue: and
+yet children generally resemble their parents, and her father was the
+veriest peculator and the most cunning rascal that ever came in my way,
+and was sent off to the gold-mines for very sufficient reasons.  And for
+the sake of the daughter of a convicted criminal you have been driven
+through the dust and the scorching heat, and have had to submit to her
+scorn and contemptuous airs, while I am threatened with grave peril on
+her account, for you know that Cleopatra's latest whim is to do honor to
+the Roman, Publius Scipio; he, on the other hand, is running after our
+Hebe, and, having promised her that he will obtain an unqualified pardon
+for her father, he will do his utmost to throw the odium of his robbery
+upon me.
+
+"The queen is to give him audience this very day, and you cannot know how
+many enemies a man makes who, like me, has for many years been one of the
+leading men of a great state.  The king acknowledges, and with gratitude,
+all that I have done for him and for his mother; but if, at the moment
+when Publius Scipio accuses me, he is more in favor with her than ever,
+I am a lost man.
+
+"You are always with the queen; do you tell her who these girls are, and
+what motives the Roman has for loading me with their father's crimes; and
+some opportunity must offer for doing you and your belongings some
+friendly office or another."
+
+"What a shameless crew!"  exclaimed Zoe.  "Depend upon it I will not be
+silent, for I always do what is just.  I cannot bear seeing others
+suffering an injustice, and least of all that a man of your merit and
+distinction should be wounded in his honor, because a haughty foreigner
+takes a fancy to a pretty little face and a conceited doll of a girl."
+
+Zoe was in the right when she found the air stifling in the gate-keeper's
+house, for poor Irene, unaccustomed to such an atmosphere, could no more
+endure it than the pretentious maid of honor.  It cost even Klea an
+effort to remain in the wretched room, which served as the dwelling-place
+of the whole family; where the cooking was carried on at a smoky hearth,
+while, at night, it also sheltered a goat and a few fowls; but she had
+endured even severer trials than this for the sake of what she deemed
+right, and she was so fond of little Philo--her anxious care in arousing
+by degrees his slumbering intelligence had brought her so much soothing
+satisfaction, and the child's innocent gratitude had been so tender a
+reward--that she wholly forgot the repulsive surroundings as soon as she
+felt that her presence and care were indispensable to the suffering
+little one.
+
+Imhotep, the most famous of the priest-physicians of the temple of
+Asclepius--a man who was as learned in Greek as in Egyptian medical lore,
+and who had been known by the name of "the modern Herophilus" since King
+Philometor had summoned him from Alexandria to Memphis--had long since
+been watchful of the gradual development of the dormant intelligence of
+the gate-keeper's child, whom he saw every day in his visits to the
+temple.  Now, not long after Zoe had quitted the house, he came in to see
+the sick child for the third time.  Klea was still holding the boy on her
+lap when he entered.  On a wooden stool in front of her stood a brazier
+of charcoal, and on it a small copper kettle the physician had brought
+with him; to this a long tube was attached.  The tube was in two parts,
+joined together by a leather joint, also tubular, in such a way that the
+upper portion could be turned in any direction.  Klea from time to time
+applied it to the breast of the child, and, in obedience to Imhotep's
+instructions, made the little one inhale the steam that poured out of it.
+
+"Has it had the soothing effect it ought to have?"  asked the physician.
+
+"Yes, indeed, I think so," replied Klea,  "There is not so much noise in
+the chest when the poor little fellow draws his breath."
+
+The old man put his ear to the child's mouth, laid his hand on his brow,
+and said:
+
+"If the fever abates I hope for the best.  This inhaling of steam is an
+excellent remedy for these severe catarrhs, and a venerable one besides;
+for in the oldest writings of Hermes we find it prescribed as an
+application in such cases.  But now he has had enough of it.  "Ah! this
+steam--this steam!  Do you know that it is stronger than horses or oxen,
+or the united strength of a whole army of giants?  That diligent enquirer
+Hero of Alexandria discovered this lately.
+
+"But our little invalid has had enough of it, we must not overheat him.
+Now, take a linen cloth--that one will do though it is not very fine.
+Fold it together, wet it nicely with cold water--there is some in that
+miserable potsherd there--and now I will show you how to lay it on the
+child's throat.
+
+"You need not assure me that you understand me, Klea, for you have hands
+--neat hands--and patience without end!  Sixty-five years have I lived,
+and have always had good health, but I could almost wish to be ill for
+once, in order to be nursed by you.  That poor child is well off better
+than many a king's child when it is sick; for him hireling nurses, no
+doubt, fetch and do all that is necessary, but one thing they cannot
+give, for they have it not; I mean the loving and indefatigable patience
+by which you have worked a miracle on this child's mind, and are now
+working another on his body.  Aye, aye, my girl; it is to you and not
+me that this woman will owe her child if it is preserved to her.  Do you
+hear me, woman? and tell your husband so too; and if you do not reverence
+Klea as a goddess, and do not lay your hands beneath her feet, may you
+be--no--I will wish you no ill, for you have not too much of the good
+things of life as it is!"
+
+As he spoke the gate-keeper's wife came timidly up to the physician and
+the sick child, pushed her rough and tangled hair off her forehead a
+little, crossed her lean arms at full length behind her back, and,
+looking down with out-stretched neck at the boy, stared in dumb amazement
+at the wet cloths.  Then she timidly enquired:
+
+"Are the evil spirits driven out of the child?"
+
+"Certainly," replied the physician.  "Klea there has exorcised them, and
+I have helped her; now you know."
+
+"Then I may go out for a little while?  I have to sweep the pavement of
+the forecourt."
+
+Klea nodded assent, and when the woman had disappeared the physician
+said:
+
+"How many evil demons we have to deal with, alas! and how few good ones.
+Men are far more ready and willing to believe in mischievous spirits than
+in kind or helpful ones; for when things go ill with them--and it is
+generally their own fault when they do--it comforts them and flatters
+their vanity if only they can throw the blame on the shoulders of evil
+spirits; but when they are well to do, when fortune smiles on them of
+course, they like to ascribe it to themselves, to their own cleverness or
+their superior insight, and they laugh at those who admonish them of the
+gratitude they owe to the protecting and aiding demons.  I, for my part,
+think more of the good than of the evil spirits, and you, my child,
+without doubt are one of the very best.
+
+"You must change the compress every quarter of an hour, and between
+whiles go out into the open air, and let the fresh breezes fan your
+bosom--your cheeks look pale.  At mid-day go to your own little room,
+and try to sleep.  Nothing ought to be overdone, so you are to obey me."
+
+Klea replied with a friendly and filial nod, and Imhotep stroked down her
+hair; then he left; she remained alone in the stuffy hot room, which grew
+hotter every minute, while she changed the wet cloths for the sick child,
+and watched with delight the diminishing hoarseness and difficulty of his
+breathing.  From time to time she was overcome by a slight drowsiness,
+and closed her eyes for a few minutes, but only for a short while; and
+this half-awake and half-asleep condition, chequered by fleeting dreams,
+and broken only by an easy and pleasing duty, this relaxation of the
+tension of mind and body, had a certain charm of which, through it all,
+she remained perfectly conscious.  Here she was in her right place; the
+physicians kind words had done her good, and her anxiety for the little
+life she loved was now succeeded by a well-founded hope of its
+preservation.
+
+During the night she had already come to a definite resolution,
+to explain to the high-priest that she could not undertake the office
+of the twin-sisters, who wept by the bier of Osiris, and that she would
+rather endeavor to earn bread by the labor of her hands for herself and
+Irene--for that Irene should do any real work never entered her mind--
+at Alexandria, where even the blind and the maimed could find occupation.
+Even this prospect, which only yesterday had terrified her, began now to
+smile upon her, for it opened to her the possibility of proving
+independently the strong energy which she felt in herself.
+
+Now and then the figure of the Roman rose before her mind's eye, and
+every time that this occurred she colored to her very forehead.  But
+to-day she thought of this disturber of her peace differently from
+yesterday; for yesterday she had felt herself overwhelmed by him with
+shame, while to-day it appeared to her as though she had triumphed over
+him at the procession, since she had steadily avoided his glance, and
+when he had dared to approach her she had resolutely turned her back upon
+him.  This was well, for how could the proud foreigner expose himself
+again to such humiliation.
+
+"Away, away--for ever away!"  she murmured to herself, and her eyes and
+brow, which had been lighted up by a transient smile, once more assumed
+the expression of repellent sternness which, the day before, had so
+startled and angered the Roman.  Soon however the severity of her
+features relaxed, as she saw in fancy the young man's beseeching look,
+and remembered the praise given him by the recluse, and as--in the middle
+of this train of thought--her eyes closed again, slumber once more
+falling upon her spirit for a few minutes, she saw in her dream Publius
+himself, who approached her with a firm step, took her in his arms like a
+child, held her wrists to stop her struggling hands, gathered her up
+with rough force, and then flung her into a canoe lying at anchor by the
+bank of the Nile.
+
+She fought with all her might against this attack and seizure, screamed
+aloud with fury, and woke at the sound of her own voice.  Then she got
+up, dried her eyes that were wet with tears, and, after laying a freshly
+wetted cloth on the child's throat, she went out of doors in obedience to
+the physician's advice.
+
+The sun was already at the meridian, and its direct rays were fiercely
+reflected from the slabs of yellow sandstone that paved the forecourt.
+On one side only of the wide, unroofed space, one of the colonnades that
+surrounded it threw a narrow shade, hardly a span wide; and she would not
+go there, for under it stood several beds on which lay pilgrims who, here
+in the very dwelling of the divinity, hoped to be visited with dreams
+which might give them an insight into futurity.
+
+Klea's head was uncovered, and, fearing the heat of noon, she was about
+to return into the door-keeper's house, when she saw a young white-robed
+scribe, employed in the special service of Asclepiodorus, who came across
+the court beckoning eagerly to her.  She went towards him, but before he
+had reached her he shouted out an enquiry whether her sister Irene was in
+the gate-keeper's lodge;  the high-priest desired to speak with her, and
+she was nowhere to be found.  Klea told him that a grand lady from the
+queen's court had already enquired for her, and that the last time she
+had seen her had been before daybreak, when she was going to fill the
+jars for the altar of the god at the Well of the Sun.
+
+"The water for the first libation," answered the priest, "was placed on
+the altar at the right time, but Doris and her sister had to fetch it for
+the second and third.  Asclepiodorus is angry--not with you, for he knows
+from Imhotep that you are taking care of a sick child--but with Irene.
+Try and think where she can be.  Something serious must have occurred
+that the high-priest wishes to communicate to her."
+
+Klea was startled, for she remembered Irene's tears the evening before,
+and her cry of longing for happiness and freedom.  Could it be that the
+thoughtless child had yielded to this longing, and escaped without her
+knowledge, though only for a few hours, to see the city and the gay life
+there?
+
+She collected herself so as not to betray her anxiety to the messenger,
+and said with downcast eyes:
+
+"I will go and look for her."
+
+She hurried back into the house, once more looked to the sick child,
+called his mother and showed her how to prepare the compresses, urging
+her to follow Imhotep's directions carefully and exactly till she should
+return; she pressed one loving kiss on little Philo's forehead--feeling
+as she did so that he was less hot than he had been in the morning--and
+then she left, going first to her own dwelling.
+
+There everything stood or lay exactly as she had left it during the
+night, only the golden jars were wanting.  This increased Klea's alarm,
+but the thought that Irene should have taken the precious vessels with
+her, in order to sell them and to live on the proceeds, never once
+entered her mind, for her sister, she knew, though heedless and easily
+persuaded, was incapable of any base action.
+
+Where was she to seek the lost girl?  Serapion, the recluse, to whom she
+first addressed herself, knew nothing of her.
+
+On the altar of Serapis, whither she next went, she found both the
+vessels, and carried them back to her room.
+
+Perhaps Irene had gone to see old Krates, and while watching his work and
+chattering to him, had forgotten the flight of time--but no, the priest-
+smith, whom she sought in his workshop, knew nothing of the vanished
+maiden.  He would willingly have helped Klea to seek for his favorite,
+but the new lock for the tombs of the Apis had to be finished by mid-day,
+and his swollen feet were painful.
+
+Klea stood outside the old man's door sunk in thought, and it occurred to
+her that Irene had often, in her idle hours, climbed up into the dove-cot
+belonging to the temple, to look out from thence over the distant
+landscape, to visit the sitting birds, to stuff food into the gaping
+beaks of the young ones, or to look up at the cloud of soaring doves.
+The pigeon-house, built up of clay pots and Nile-mud, stood on the top of
+the storehouse, which lay adjoining the southern boundary wall of the
+temple.
+
+She hastened across the sunny courts and slightly shaded alleys, and
+mounted to the flat roof of the storehouse, but she found there neither
+the old dove-keeper nor his two grandsons who helped him in his work, for
+all three were in the anteroom to the kitchen, taking their dinner with
+the temple-servants.
+
+Klea shouted her sister's name; once, twice, ten times--but no one
+answered.  It was just as if the fierce heat of the sun burnt up the
+sound as it left her lips.  She looked into the first pigeon-house, the
+second, the third, all the way to the last.  The numberless little clay
+tenements of the brisk little birds threw out a glow like a heated oven;
+but this did not hinder her from hunting through every nook and corner.
+Her cheeks were burning, drops of perspiration stood on her brow, and she
+had much difficulty in freeing herself from the dust of the pigeon-
+houses, still she was not discouraged.
+
+Perhaps Irene had gone into the Anubidium, or sanctuary of Asclepius, to
+enquire as to the meaning of some strange vision, for there, with the
+priestly physicians, lived also a priestess who could interpret the
+dreams of those who sought to be healed even better than a certain
+recluse who also could exercise that science.  The enquirers often had to
+wait a long time outside the temple of Asclepius, and this consideration
+encouraged Klea, and made her insensible to the burning southwest wind
+which was now rising, and to the heat of the sun; still, as she returned
+to the Pastophorium--slowly, like a warrior returning from a defeat--she
+suffered severely from the heat, and her heart was wrung with anguish and
+suspense.
+
+Willingly would she have cried, and often heaved a groan that was more
+like a sob, but the solace of tears to relieve her heart was still denied
+to her.
+
+Before going to tell Asclepiodorus that her search had been unsuccessful,
+she felt prompted once more to talk with her friend, the anchorite; but
+before she had gone far enough even to see his cell, the high-priest's
+scribe once more stood in her way, and desired her to follow him to the
+temple.  There she had to wait in mortal impatience for more than an
+hour in an ante room.  At last she was conducted into a room where
+Asclepiodorus was sitting with the whole chapter of the priesthood
+of the temple of Serapis.
+
+Klea entered timidly, and had to wait again some minutes in the presence
+of the mighty conclave before the high-priest asked her whether she could
+give any information as to the whereabouts of the fugitive, and whether
+she had heard or observed anything that could guide them on her track,
+since he, Asclepiodorus, knew that if Irene had run away secretly from
+the temple she must be as anxious about her as he was.
+
+Klea had much difficulty in finding words, and her knees shook as she
+began to speak, but she refused the seat which was brought for her by
+order of Asclepiodorus.  She recounted in order all the places where she
+had in vain sought her sister, and when she mentioned the sanctuary of
+Asclepius, and a recollection came suddenly and vividly before her of the
+figure of a lady of distinction, who had come there with a number of
+slaves and waiting-maids to have a dream interpreted, Zoe's visit to
+herself flashed upon her memory; her demeanor--at first so over-friendly
+and then so supercilious--and her haughty enquiries for Irene.
+
+She broke off in her narrative, and exclaimed:
+
+"I am sure, holy father, that Irene has not fled of her own free impulse,
+but some one perhaps may have lured her into quitting the temple and me;
+she is still but a child with a wavering mind.  Could it possibly be that
+a lady of rank should have decoyed her into going with her?  Such a
+person came to-day to see me at the door-keeper's lodge.  She was richly
+dressed and wore a gold crescent in her light wavy hair, which was
+plaited with a silk ribband, and she asked me urgently about my sister.
+Imhotep, the physician, who often visits at the king's palace, saw her
+too, and told me her name is Zoe, and that she is lady-in-waiting to
+Queen Cleopatra."
+
+These words occasioned the greatest excitement throughout the conclave of
+priests, and Asclepiodorus exclaimed:
+
+"Oh! women, women!  You indeed were right, Philammon; I could not and
+would not believe it!  Cleopatra has done many things which are forgiven
+only in a queen, but that she should become the tool of her brother's
+basest passions, even you, Philammon, could hardly regard as likely,
+though you are always prepared to expect evil rather than good.  But now,
+what is to be done?  How can we protect ourselves against violence and
+superior force?"
+
+Klea had appeared before the priests with cheeks crimson and glowing from
+the noontide heat, but at the high-priest's last words the blood left her
+face, she turned ashy-pale, and a chill shiver ran through her trembling
+limbs.  Her father's child--her bright, innocent Irene--basely stolen for
+Euergetes, that licentious tyrant of whose wild deeds Serapion had told
+her only last evening, when he painted the dangers that would threaten
+her and Irene if they should quit the shelter of the sanctuary.
+
+Alas, it was too true!  They had tempted away her darling child, her
+comfort and delight, lured her with splendor and ease, only to sink her
+in shame!  She was forced to cling to the back of the chair she had
+disdained, to save herself from falling.
+
+But this weakness overmastered her for a few minutes only; she boldly
+took two hasty steps up to the table behind which the high-priest was
+sitting, and, supporting herself with her right hand upon it, she
+exclaimed, while her voice, usually so full and sonorous, had a hoarse
+tone:
+
+"A woman has been the instrument of making another woman unworthy of the
+name of woman! and you--you, the protectors of right and virtue--you who
+are called to act according to the will and mind of the gods whom you
+serve--you are too weak to prevent it?  If you endure this, if you do not
+put a stop to this crime you are not worthy--nay, I will not be
+interrupted--you, I say, are unworthy of the sacred title and of the
+reverence you claim, and I will appeal--"
+
+"Silence, girl!"  cried Asclepiodorus to the terribly excited Klea.
+"I would have you imprisoned with the blasphemers, if I did not well
+understand the anguish which has turned your brain.  We will interfere on
+behalf of the abducted girl, and you must wait patiently in silence.
+You, Callimachus, must at once order Ismael, the messenger, to saddle the
+horses, and ride to Memphis to deliver a despatch from me to the queen;
+let us all combine to compose it, and subscribe our names as soon as we
+are perfectly certain that Irene has been carried off from these
+precincts.  Philammon, do you command that the gong be sounded which
+calls together all the inhabitants of the temple; and you, my girl, quit
+this hall, and join the others."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Klea obeyed the high-priest's command at once, and wandered--not knowing
+exactly whither--from one corridor to another of the huge pile, till she
+was startled by the sound of the great brazen plate, struck with mighty
+blows, which rang out to the remotest nook and corner of the precincts.
+This call was for her too, and she went forthwith into the great court
+of assembly, which at every moment grew fuller and fuller.  The temple-
+servants and the keepers of the beasts, the gate-keepers, the litter-
+bearers, the water-carriers-all streamed in from their interrupted meal,
+some wiping their mouths as they hurried in, or still holding in their
+hands a piece of bread, a radish, or a date which they hastily munched;
+the washer-men and women came in with hands still wet from washing the
+white robes of the priests, and the cooks arrived with brows still
+streaming from their unfinished labors.  Perfumes floated round from the
+unwashed hands of the pastophori, who had been busied in the laboratories
+in the preparation of incense, while from the library and writing-rooms
+came the curators and scribes and the officials of the temple counting-
+house, their hair in disorder, and their light working-dress stained with
+red or black.  The troop of singers, male and female, came in orderly
+array, just as they had been assembled for practice, and with them came
+the faded twins to whom Klea and Irene had been designated as successors
+by Asclepiodorus.  Then came the pupils of the temple-school, tumbling
+noisily into the court-yard in high delight at this interruption to their
+lessons.  The eldest of these were sent to bring in the great canopy
+under which the heads of the establishment might assemble.
+
+Last of all appeared Asclepiodorus, who handed to a young scribe a
+complete list of all the inhabitants and members of the temple, that he
+might read it out.  This he proceeded to do; each one answered with an
+audible "Here" as his name was called, and for each one who was absent
+information was immediately given as to his whereabouts.
+
+Klea had joined the singing-women, and awaited in breathless anxiety a
+long-endlessly long-time for the name of her sister to be called; for it
+was not till the very smallest of the school-boys and the lowest of the
+neat-herds had answered, "Here," that the scribe read out, "Klea, the
+water-bearer," and nodded to her in answer as she replied "Here!"
+
+Then his voice seemed louder than before as he read.  "Irene, the water-
+bearer."
+
+No answer following on these words, a slight movement, like the bowing
+wave that flies over a ripe cornfield when the morning breeze sweeps
+across the ears, was evident among the assembled inhabitants of the
+temple, who waited in breathless silence till Asclepiodorus stood forth,
+and said in a distinct and audible voice:
+
+"You have all met here now at my call.  All have obeyed it excepting
+those holy men consecrated to Serapis, whose vows forbid their breaking
+their seclusion, and Irene, the water-bearer.  Once more I call, 'Irene,'
+a second, and a third time--and still no answer; I now appeal to you all
+assembled here, great and small, men and women who serve Serapis.  Can
+any one of you give any information as to the whereabouts of this young
+girl?  Has any one seen her since, at break of day, she placed the first
+libation from the Well of the Sun on the altar of the god?  You are all
+silent!  Then no one has met her in the course of this day?  Now, one
+question more, and whoever can answer it stand forth and speak the words
+of truth.
+
+"By which gate did this lady of rank depart who visited the temple early
+this morning?--By the eastern gate--good.
+
+"Was she alone?--She was.
+
+"By which gate did the epistolographer Eulaeus depart?--By the east.
+
+"Was he alone?--He was.
+
+"Did any one here present meet the chariot either of the lady or of
+Eulaeus?"
+
+"I did," cried a car-driver, whose daily duty it was to go to Memphis
+with his oxen and cart to fetch provisions for the kitchen, and other
+necessaries.
+
+"Speak," said the high-priest.
+
+"I saw," replied the man, "the white horses of my Lord Eulaeus hard by
+the vineyard of Khakem; I know them well.  They were harnessed to a
+closed chariot, in which besides himself sat a lady."
+
+"Was it Irene?"  asked Asclepiodorus.
+
+"I do not know," replied the tarter, "for I could not see who sat in the
+chariot, but I heard the voice of Eulaeus, and then a woman's laugh.  She
+laughed so heartily that I had to screw my mouth up myself, it tickled me
+so."
+
+While Klea supposed this description to apply to Irene's merry laugh-
+which she had never thought of with regret till this moment--the high-
+priest exclaimed:
+
+"You, keeper of the eastern gate, did the lady and Eulaeus enter and
+leave this sanctuary together?"
+
+"No," was the answer.  "She came in half an hour later than he did, and
+she quitted the temple quite alone and long after the eunuch."
+
+"And Irene did not pass through your gate, and cannot have gone out by
+it?--I ask you in the name of the god we serve!"
+
+"She may have done so, holy father," answered the gate-keeper in much
+alarm.  "I have a sick child, and to look after him I went into my room
+several times; but only for a few minutes at a time-still, the gate
+stands open, all is quiet in Memphis now."
+
+"You have done very wrong," said Asclepiodorus severely, "but since you
+have told the truth you may go unpunished.  We have learned enough.  All
+you gate-keepers now listen to me.  Every gate of the temple must be
+carefully shut, and no one--not even a pilgrim nor any dignitary from
+Memphis, however high a personage he may be--is to enter or go out
+without my express permission; be as alert as if you feared an attack,
+and now go each of you to his duties."
+
+The assembly dispersed; these to one side, those to another.
+
+Klea did not perceive that many looked at her with suspicion as
+though she were responsible for her sister's conduct, and others with
+compassion; she did not even notice the twin-sisters, whose place she and
+Irene were to have filled, and this hurt the feelings of the good elderly
+maidens, who had to perform so much lamenting which they did not feel at
+all, that they eagerly seized every opportunity of expressing their
+feelings when, for once in a way, they were moved to sincere sorrow.
+But neither these sympathizing persons nor any other of the inhabitants
+of the temple, who approached Klea with the purpose of questioning or of
+pitying her, dared to address her, so stern and terrible was the solemn
+expression of her eyes which she kept fixed upon the ground.
+
+At last she remained alone in the great court; her heart beat faster
+unusual, and strange and weighty thoughts were stirring in her soul.
+One thing was clear to her: Eulaeus--her father's ruthless foe and
+destroyer--was now also working the fall of the child of the man he
+had ruined, and, though she knew it not, the high-priest shared her
+suspicions.  She, Klea, was by no means minded to let this happen without
+an effort at defence, and it even became clearer and clearer to her mind
+that it was her duty to act, and without delay.  In the first instance
+she would ask counsel of her friend Serapion; but as she approached his
+cell the gong was sounded which summoned the priests to service, and at
+the same time warned her of her duty of fetching water.
+
+Mechanically, and still thinking of nothing but Irene's deliverance, she
+fulfilled the task which she was accustomed to perform every day at the
+sound of this brazen clang, and went to her room to fetch the golden jars
+of the god.
+
+As she entered the empty room her cat sprang to meet her with two leaps
+of joy, putting up her back, rubbing her soft head against her feet with
+her fine bushy tail ringed with black stripes set up straight, as cats
+are wont only when they are pleased.  Klea was about to stroke the
+coaxing animal, but it sprang back, stared at her shyly, and, as she
+could not help thinking, angrily with its green eyes, and then shrank
+back into the corner close to Irene's couch.
+
+"She mistook me!"  thought Klea.  "Irene is more lovable than I even to
+a beast, and Irene, Irene--"  She sighed deeply at the name, and would
+have sunk down on her trunk there to consider of new ways and means--all
+of which however she was forced to reject as foolish and impracticable--
+but on the chest lay a little shirt she had begun to make for little
+Philo, and this reminded her again of the sick child and of the duty of
+fetching the water.
+
+Without further delay she took up the jars, and as she went towards the
+well she remembered the last precepts that had been given her by her
+father, whom she had once been permitted to visit in prison.  Only a few
+detached sentences of this, his last warning speech, now came into her
+mind, though no word of it had escaped her memory; it ran much as
+follows:
+
+"It may seem as though I had met with an evil recompense from the gods
+for my conduct in adhering to what I think just and virtuous; but it only
+seems so, and so long as I succeed in living in accordance with nature,
+which obeys an everlasting law, no man is justified in accusing me.  My
+own peace of mind especially will never desert me so long as I do not set
+myself to act in opposition to the fundamental convictions of my inmost
+being, but obey the doctrines of Zeno and Chrysippus.  This peace every
+one may preserve, aye, even you, a woman, if you constantly do what you
+recognize to be right, and fulfil the duties you take upon yourself.  The
+very god himself is proof and witness of this doctrine, for he grants to
+him who obeys him that tranquillity of spirit which must be pleasing in
+his eyes, since it is the only condition of the soul in which it appears
+to be neither fettered and hindered nor tossed and driven; while he, on
+the contrary, who wanders from the paths of virtue and of her daughter,
+stern duty, never attains peace, but feels the torment of an unsatisfied
+and hostile power, which with its hard grip drags his soul now on and now
+back.
+
+"He who preserves a tranquil mind is not miserable, even in misfortune,
+and thankfully learns to feel con tented in every state of life; and that
+because he is filled with those elevated sentiments which are directly
+related to the noblest portion of his being--those, I mean--of justice
+and goodness.  Act then, my child, in conformity with justice and duty,
+regardless of any ulterior object, without considering whether your
+action will bring you pleasure or pain, without fear of the judgment of
+men or the envy of the gods, and you will win that peace of mind which
+distinguishes the wise from the unwise, and may be happy even in adverse
+circumstances; for the only real evil is the dominion of wickedness, that
+is to say the unreason which rebels against nature, and the only true
+happiness consists in the possession of virtue.  He alone, however, can
+call virtue his who possesses it wholly, and sins not against it in the
+smallest particular; for there is no difference of degrees either in good
+or in evil, and even the smallest action opposed to duty, truth or
+justice, though punishable by no law, is a sin, and stands in opposition
+to virtue.
+
+"Irene," thus Philotas had concluded his injunctions, "cannot as yet
+understand this doctrine, but you are grave and have sense beyond your
+years.  Repeat this to her daily, and when the time comes impress on your
+sister--towards whom you must fill the place of a mother--impress on her
+heart these precepts as your father's last will and testament."
+
+And now, as Klea went towards the well within the temple-wall to fetch
+water, she repeated to herself many of these injunctions; she felt
+herself encouraged by them, and firmly resolved not to give her sister up
+to the seducer without a struggle.
+
+As soon as the vessels for libation at the altar were filled she returned
+to little Philo, whose state seemed to her to give no further cause for
+anxiety; after staying with him for more than an hour she left the gate-
+keeper's dwelling to seek Serapion's advice, and to divulge to him all
+she had been able to plan and consider in the quiet of the sick-room.
+
+The recluse was wont to recognize her step from afar, and to be looking
+out for her from his window when she went to visit him; but to-day he
+heard her not, for he was stepping again and again up and down the few
+paces which the small size of his tiny cell allowed him to traverse.  He
+could reflect best when he walked up and down, and he thought and thought
+again, for he had heard all that was known in the temple regarding
+Irene's disappearance; and he would, he must rescue her--but the more he
+tormented his brain the more clearly he saw that every attempt to snatch
+the kidnapped girl from the powerful robber must in fact be vain.
+
+"And it must not, it shall not be!" he had cried, stamping his great
+foot, a few minutes before Klea reached his cell; but as soon as he was
+aware of her presence he made an effort to appear quite easy, and cried
+out with the vehemence which characterized him even in less momentous
+circumstances:
+
+"We must consider, we must reflect, we must puzzle our brains, for the
+gods have been napping this morning, and we must be doubly wide-awake.
+Irene--our little Irene--and who would have thought it yesterday!  It is
+a good-for-nothing, unspeakably base knave's trick--and now, what can we
+do to snatch the prey from the gluttonous monster, the savage wild beast,
+before he can devour our child, our pet little one?
+
+"Often and often I have been provoked at my own stupidity, but never,
+never have I felt so stupid, such a godforsaken blockhead as I do now.
+When I try to consider I feel as if that heavy shutter had been nailed
+clown on my head.  Have you had any ideas?  I have not one which would
+not disgrace the veriest ass--not a single one."
+
+"Then you know everything? "asked Klea, "even that it is probably our
+father's enemy, Eulaeus, who has treacherously decoyed the poor child to
+go away with him?"
+
+"Yes, Yes!"  cried Serapion, "wherever there is some scoundrel's trick to
+be played he must have a finger in the pie, as sure as there must be meal
+for bread to be made.  But it is a new thing to me that on this occasion
+he should be Euergetes' tool.  Old Philammon told me all about it.  Just
+now the messenger came back from Memphis, and brought a paltry scrap of
+papyrus on which some wretched scribbler had written in the name of
+Philometer, that nothing was known of Irene at court, and complaining
+deeply that Asclepiodorus had not hesitated to play an underhand game
+with the king.  So they have no idea whatever of voluntarily releasing
+our child."
+
+"Then I shall proceed to do my duty," said Klea resolutely.  "I shall go
+to Memphis, and fetch my sister."
+
+"The anchorite stared at the girl in horror, exclaiming: "That is folly,
+madness, suicide!  Do you want to throw two victims into his jaws instead
+of one?"
+
+"I can protect myself, and as regards Irene, I will claim the queen's
+assistance.  She is a woman, and will never suffer--"
+
+"What is there in this world that she will not suffer if it can procure
+her profit or pleasure?  Who knows what delightful thing Euergetes may
+not have promised her in return for our little maid?  No, by Serapis!
+no, Cleopatra will not help you, but--and that is a good idea--there is
+one who will to a certainty.  We must apply to the Roman Publius Scipio,
+and he will have no difficulty in succeeding."
+
+"From him," exclaimed Klea, coloring scarlet, "I will accept neither good
+nor evil; I do not know him, and I do not want to know him."
+
+"Child, child!" interrupted the recluse with grave chiding.  "Does your
+pride then so far outweigh your love, your duty, and concern for Irene?
+What, in the name of all the gods, has Publius done to you that you avoid
+him more anxiously than if he were covered with leprosy?  There is a
+limit to all things, and now--aye, indeed--I must out with it come what
+may, for this is not the time to pretend to be blind when I see with both
+eyes what is going on--your heart is full of the Roman, and draws you to
+him; but you are an honest girl, and, in order to remain so, you fly from
+him because you distrust yourself, and do not know what might happen if
+he were to tell you that he too has been hit by one of Eros' darts.  You
+may turn red and white, and look at me as if I were your enemy, and
+talking contemptible nonsense.  I have seen many strange things, but I
+never saw any one before you who was a coward out of sheer courage, and
+yet of all the women I know there is not one to whom fear is less known
+than my bold and resolute Klea.  The road is a hard one that you must
+take, but only cover your poor little heart with a coat of mail, and
+venture in all confidence to meet the Roman, who is an excellent good
+fellow.  No doubt it will be hard to you to crave a boon, but ought you
+to shrink from those few steps over sharp stones?  Our poor child is
+standing on the edge of the abyss; if you do not arrive at the right
+time, and speak the right words to the only person who is able to help in
+this matter, she will be thrust into the foul bog and sink in it, because
+her brave sister was frightened at--herself!"
+
+Klea had cast down her eyes as the anchorite addressed her thus; she
+stood for some time frowning at the ground in silence, but at last she
+said, with quivering lips and as gloomily as if she were pronouncing a
+sentence on herself.
+
+"Then I will ask the Roman to assist me; but how can I get to him?"
+
+"Ah!--now my Klea is her father's daughter once more," answered Serapion,
+stretching out both his arms towards her from the little window of his
+cell; and then he went on: "I can make the painful path somewhat smoother
+for you.  My brother Glaucus, who is commander of the civic guard in the
+palace, you already know; I will give you a few words of recommendation
+to him, and also, to lighten your task, a little letter to Publius
+Scipio, which shall contain a short account of the matter in hand.  If
+Publius wishes to speak with you yourself go to him and trust him, but
+still more trust yourself.
+
+"Now go, and when you have once more filled the water-jars come back to
+me, and fetch the letters.  The sooner you can go the better, for it
+would be well that you should leave the path through the desert behind
+you before nightfall, for in the dark there are often dangerous tramps
+about.  You will find a friendly welcome at my sister Leukippa's; she
+lives in the toll-house by the great harbor--show her this ring and she
+will give you a bed, and, if the gods are merciful, one for Irene too."
+
+"Thank you, father," said Klea, but she said no more, and then left him
+with a rapid step.
+
+Serapion looked lovingly after her; then he took two wooden tablets faced
+with wax out of his chest, and, with a metal style, he wrote on one a
+short letter to his brother, and on the other a longer one to the Roman,
+which ran as follows:
+
+"Serapion, the recluse of Serapis, to Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica,
+the Roman.
+
+"Serapion greets Publius Scipio, and acquaints him that Irene, the
+younger sister of Klea, the water-bearer, has disappeared from this
+temple, and, as Serapion suspects, by the wiles of the epistolographer
+Eulaeus, whom we both know, and who seems to have acted under the orders
+of King Ptolemy Euergetes.  Seek to discover where Irene can be.  Save
+her if thou canst from her ravishers, and conduct her back to this temple
+or deliver her in Memphis into the hands of my sister Leukippa, the wife
+of the overseer of the harbor, named Hipparchus, who dwells in the toll-
+house.  May Serapis preserve thee and thine."
+
+The recluse had just finished his letters when Klea returned to him.
+The girl hid them in the folds of the bosom of her robe, said farewell to
+her friend, and remained quite grave and collected, while Serapion, with
+tears in his eyes, stroked her hair, gave her his parting blessing, and
+finally even hung round her neck an amulet for good luck, that his mother
+had worn--it was an eye in rock-crystal with a protective inscription.
+Then, without any further delay, she set out towards the temple gate,
+which, in obedience to the commands of the high priest, was now locked.
+The gate-keeper--little Philo's father--sat close by on a stone bench,
+keeping guard.  In a friendly tone Klea asked him to open the gate; but
+the anxious official would not immediately comply with her request, but
+reminded her of Asclepiodorus' strict injunctions, and informed her that
+the great Roman had demanded admission to the temple about three hours
+since, but had been refused by the high-priest's special orders.  He had
+asked too for her, and had promised to return on the morrow.
+
+The hot blood flew to Klea's face and eyes as she heard this news.
+Could Publius no more cease to think of her than she of him?  Had
+Serapion guessed rightly?  "The darts of Eros"--the recluse's phrase
+flashed through her mind, and struck her heart as if it were itself a
+winged arrow; it frightened her and yet she liked it, but only for one
+brief instant, for the utmost distrust of her own weakness came over her
+again directly, and she told herself with a shudder that she was on the
+high-road to follow up and seek out the importunate stranger.
+
+All the horrors of her undertaking stood vividly before her, and if she
+had now retraced her steps she would not have been without an excuse to
+offer to her own conscience, since the temple-gate was closed, and might
+not be opened to any one, not even to her.
+
+For a moment she felt a certain satisfaction in this flattering
+reflection, but as she thought again of Irene her resolve was once more
+confirmed, and going closer up to the gate-keeper she said with great
+determination:
+
+"Open the gate to me without delay; you know that I am not accustomed to
+do or to desire anything wrong.  I beg of you to push back the bolt at
+once."
+
+The man to whom Klea had done many kindnesses, and whom Imhotep had that
+very day told that she was the good spirit of his house, and that he
+ought to venerate her as a divinity--obeyed her orders, though with some
+doubt and hesitation.  The heavy bolt flew back, the brazen gate opened,
+the water-bearer stepped out, flung a dark veil over her head, and set
+out on her walk.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+If you want to catch mice you must waste bacon
+Man works with all his might for no one but himself
+Nothing permanent but change
+Nothing so certain as that nothing is certain
+Priests that they should instruct the people to be obedient
+
+
+
+
+
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