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+The Project Gutenberg EBook The Sisters, by Georg Ebers, v5
+#27 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+Title: The Sisters, v5
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5465]
+[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, V5 ***
+
+
+
+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 5.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+On the roof of the tower of the pylon by the gate of the Serapeum stood
+an astrologer who had mounted to this, the highest part of the temple, to
+observe the stars; but it seemed that he was not destined on this
+occasion to fulfil his task, for swiftly driving black clouds swept again
+and again across that portion of the heavens to which his observations
+were principally directed.  At last he impatiently laid aside his
+instruments, his waxed tablet and style, and desired the gate-keeper--
+the father of poor little Philo--whose duty it was to attend at night on
+the astrologers on the tower, to carry down all his paraphernalia, as the
+heavens were not this evening favorable to his labors.
+
+"Favorable!" exclaimed the gate-keeper, catching up the astrologer's
+words, and shrugging his shoulders so high that his head disappeared
+between them.
+
+"It is a night of horror, and some great disaster threatens us for
+certain.  Fifteen years have I been in my place, and I never saw such a
+night but once before, and the very next day the soldiers of Antiochus,
+the Syrian king, came and plundered our treasury.  Aye--and to-night is
+worse even than that was; when the dog-star first rose a horrible shape
+with a lion's mane flew across the desert, but it was not till midnight
+that the fearful uproar began, and even you shuddered when it broke out
+in the Apis-cave.  Frightful things must be coming on us when the sacred
+bulls rise from the dead and butt and storm at the door with their horns
+to break it open.  Many a time have I seen the souls of the dead
+fluttering and wheeling and screaming above the old mausoleums, and rock-
+tombs of ancient times.  Sometimes they would soar up in the air in the
+form of hawks with men's heads, or like ibises with a slow lagging
+flight, and sometimes sweep over the desert like gray shapeless shadows,
+or glide across the sand like snakes; or they would creep out of the
+tombs, howling like hungry dogs.  I have often heard them barking like
+jackals or laughing like hyenas when they scent carrion, but to-night is
+the first time I ever heard them shrieking like furious men, and then
+groaning and wailing as if they were plunged in the lake of fire and
+suffering horrible torments.
+
+"Look there--out there--something is moving again!  Oh!  holy father,
+exorcise them with some mighty bann.  Do you not see how they are growing
+larger?  They are twice the size of ordinary mortals."  The astronomer
+took an amulet in his hand, muttered a few sentences to himself, seeking
+at the same time to discover the figures which had so scared the gate-
+keeper.
+
+"They are indeed tall," he said when he perceived them.  "And now they
+are melting into one, and growing smaller and smaller--however, perhaps
+they are only men come to rob the tombs, and who happen to be
+particularly tall, for these figures are not of supernatural height."
+
+"They are twice as tall as you, and you are not short," cried the gate-
+keeper, pressing his lips devoutly to the amulet the astrologer held in
+his hand, "and if they are robbers why has no watchman called out to stop
+them?  How is it their screams and groans have not waked the sentinels
+that are posted there every night?  There--that was another fearful cry!
+Did you ever hear such tones from any human breast?  Great Serapis, I
+shall die of fright!  Come down with me, holy father, that I may look
+after my little sick boy, for those who have seen such sights do not
+escape unstricken."
+
+The peaceful silence of the Necropolis had indeed been disturbed, but the
+spirits of the departed had no share in the horrors which had been
+transacted this night in the desert, among the monuments and rocktombs.
+They were living men that had disturbed the calm of the sacred place,
+that had conspired with darkness in cold-blooded cruelty, greater than
+that of evil spirits, to achieve the destruction of a fellow-man; but
+they were living men too who, in the midst of the horrors of a most
+fearful night, had experienced the blossoming in their own souls of the
+divinest germ which heaven implants in the bosom of its mortal children.
+Thus in a day of battle amid blood and slaughter may a child be born that
+shall grow up blessed and blessing, the comfort and joy of his family.
+
+The lion-maned monster whose appearance and rapid disappearance in the
+desert had first alarmed the gate-keeper, had been met by several
+travellers on its way to Memphis, and each and all, horrified by its
+uncanny aspect, had taken to flight or tried to hide themselves--and yet
+it was no more than a man with warm pulses, an honest purpose, and a true
+and loving heart.  But those who met him could not see into his soul, and
+his external aspect certainly bore little resemblance to that of other
+men.
+
+His feet, unused to walking, moved but clumsily, and had a heavy body to
+carry, and his enormous beard and the mass of gray hair on his head--
+which he turned now this way and now that--gave him an aspect that might
+well scare even a bold man who should meet him unexpectedly.  Two stall-
+keepers who, by day, were accustomed to offer their wares for sale near
+the Serapeum to the pilgrims, met him close to the city.
+
+"Did you see that panting object?"  said one to the other as they looked
+after him.  "If he were not shut up fast in his cell I could declare it
+was Serapion, the recluse."
+
+"Nonsense," replied the other.  "He is tied faster by his oath than by
+chains and fetters.  It must be one of the Syrian beggars that besiege
+the temple of Astarte."
+
+"Perhaps," answered his companion with indifference.  "Let us get on now,
+my wife has a roast goose for supper this evening."
+
+Serapion, it is true, was fast tied to his cell, and yet the pedler had
+judged rightly, for he it was who hurried along the high-road frightening
+all he met.  After his long captivity walking was very painful to him;
+besides, he was barefoot, and every stone in the path hurt the soles of
+his feet which had grown soft; nevertheless he contrived to make a by no
+means contemptible pace when in the distance he caught sight of a woman's
+figure which he could fancy to be Klea.  Many a man, who in his own
+particular sphere of life can cut a very respectable figure, becomes a
+laughing-stock for children when he is taken out of his own narrow
+circle, and thrown into the turmoil of the world with all his
+peculiarities clinging to him.  So it was with Serapion; in the suburbs
+the street-boys ran after him mocking at him, but it was not till three
+smart hussys, who were resting from their dance in front of a tavern,
+laughed loudly as they caught sight of him, and an insolent soldier drove
+the point of his lance through his flowing mane, as if by accident, that
+he became fully conscious of his wild appearance, and it struck him
+forcibly that he could never in this guise find admission to the king's
+palace.
+
+With prompt determination he turned into the first barber's stall that he
+saw lighted up; at his appearance the barber hastily retreated behind his
+counter, but he got his hair and beard cut, and then, for the first time
+for many years, he saw his own face in the mirror that the barber held
+before him.  He nodded, with a melancholy smile, at the face--so much
+aged--that looked at him from the bright surface, paid what was asked,
+and did not heed the compassionate glance which the barber and his
+assistant sent after him.  They both thought they had been exercising
+their skill on a lunatic, for he had made no answer to all their
+questions, and had said nothing but once in a deep and fearfully loud
+voice:
+
+"Chatter to other people--I am in a hurry."
+
+In truth his spirit was in no mood for idle gossip; no, it was full of
+gnawing anxiety and tender fears, and his heart bled when he reflected
+that he had broken his vows, and forsworn the oath he had made to his
+dying mother.
+
+When he reached the palace-gate he begged one of the civic guard to
+conduct him to his brother, and as he backed his request with a gift of
+money he was led at once to the man whom he sought.  Glaucus was
+excessively startled to recognize Serapion, but he was so much engaged
+that he could only give up a few minutes to his brother, whose
+proceedings he considered as both inexplicable and criminal.
+
+Irene, as the anchorite now learned, had been carried off from the
+temple, not by Euergetes but by the Roman, and Klea had quitted the
+palace only a few minutes since in a chariot and would return about
+midnight and on foot from the second tavern to the temple.  And the poor
+child was so utterly alone, and her way lay through the desert where she
+might be attacked by dissolute soldiery or tomb-robbers or jackals and
+hyenas.  Her walk was to begin from the second tavern, and that was the
+very spot where low rioters were wont to assemble--and his darling was so
+young, so fair, and so defenceless!
+
+He was once more a prey to the same unendurable dread that had come over
+him, in his cell, after Klea had left the temple and darkness had closed
+in.  At that moment he had felt all that a father could feel who from his
+prison-window sees his beloved and defenceless child snatched away by
+some beast of prey.  All the perils that could threaten her in the palace
+or in the city, swarming with drunken soldiers, had risen before his mind
+with fearful vividness, and his powerful imagination had painted in
+glaring colors all the dangers to which his favorite--the daughter of a
+noble and respected man--might be exposed.
+
+He rushed up and down his cell like a wounded tiger, he flung himself
+against the walls, and then, with his body hanging far out of the window,
+had looked out to see if the girl--who could not possibly have returned
+yet--were not come back again.  The darker it grew, the more his anguish
+rose, and the more hideous were the pictures that stood before his fancy;
+and when, presently, a pilgrim in the Pastophorium who had fallen into
+convulsions screamed out loud, he was no longer master of himself--he
+kicked open the door which, locked on the outside and rotten from age,
+had been closed for years, hastily concealed about him some silver coins
+he kept in his chest, and let himself down to the ground.
+
+There he stood, between his cell and the outer wall of the temple, and
+now it was that he remembered his vows, and the oath he had sworn, and
+his former flight from his retreat.  Then he had fled because the
+pleasures and joys of life had tempted him forth--then he had sinned
+indeed; but now the love, the anxious care that urged him to quit his
+prison were the same as had brought him back to it.  It was to keep faith
+that he now broke faith, and mighty Serapis could read his heart, and his
+mother was dead, and while she lived she had always been ready and
+willing to forgive.
+
+He fancied so vividly that he could see her kind old face looking at him
+that he nodded at her as if indeed she stood before him.
+
+Then, he rolled an empty barrel to the foot of the wall, and with some
+difficulty mounted on it.  The sweat poured down him as he climbed up the
+wall built of loose unbaked bricks to the parapet, which was much more
+than a man's height; then, sliding and tumbling, he found himself in the
+ditch which ran round it on the outside, scrambled up its outer slope,
+and set out at last on his walk to Memphis.
+
+What he had afterwards learned in the palace concerning Klea had but
+little relieved his anxiety on her account; she must have reached the
+border of the desert so much sooner than he, and quick walking was so
+difficult to him, and hurt the soles of his feet so cruelly!  Perhaps he
+might be able to procure a staff, but there was just as much bustle
+outside the gate of the citadel as by day.  He looked round him, feeling
+the while in his wallet, which was well filled with silver, and his eye
+fell on a row of asses whose drivers were crowding round the soldiers and
+servants that streamed out of the great gate.
+
+He sought out the strongest of the beasts with an experienced eye, flung
+a piece of silver to the owner, mounted the ass, which panted under its
+load, and promised the driver two drachmm in addition if he would take
+him as quickly as possible to the second tavern on the road to the
+Serapeum.  Thus--he belaboring the sides of the unhappy donkey with his
+sturdy bare legs, while the driver, running after him snorting and
+shouting, from time to time poked him up from behind with a stick--
+Serapion, now going at a short trot, and now at a brisk gallop, reached
+his destination only half an hour later than Klea.
+
+In the tavern all was dark and empty, but the recluse desired no
+refreshment.  Only his wish that he had a staff revived in his mind, and
+he soon contrived to possess himself of one, by pulling a stake out of
+the fence that surrounded the innkeeper's little garden.  This was a
+somewhat heavy walking-stick, but it eased the recluse's steps, for
+though his hot and aching feet carried him but painfully the strength of
+his arms was considerable.
+
+The quick ride had diverted his mind, had even amused him, for he was
+easily pleased, and had recalled to him his youthful travels; but now, as
+he walked on alone in the desert, his thoughts reverted to Klea, and to
+her only.
+
+He looked round for her keenly and eagerly as soon as the moon came out
+from behind the clouds, called her name from time to time, and thus got
+as far as the avenue of sphinxes which connected the Greek and Egyptian
+temples; a thumping noise fell upon his ear from the cave of the Apis-
+tombs.  Perhaps they were at work in there, preparing for the approaching
+festival.  But why were the soldiers, which were always on guard here,
+absent from their posts to-night?  Could it be that they had observed
+Klea, and carried her off?
+
+On the farther side of the rows of sphinxes too, which he had now
+reached, there was not a man to be seen--not a watchman even though the
+white limestone of the tombstones and the yellow desert-sand shone as
+clear in the moonlight as if they had some internal light of their own.
+
+At every instant he grew more and more uneasy, he climbed to the top of a
+sand-hill to obtain a wider view, and loudly called Klea's name.
+
+There--was he deceived?  No--there was a figure visible near one of the
+ancient tomb-shrines--a form that seemed wrapped in a long robe, and when
+once more he raised his voice in a loud call it came nearer to him and to
+the row of sphinxes.  In greate haste and as fast as he could he got down
+again to the roadway, hurried across the smooth pavement, on both sides
+of which the long perspective of man-headed lions kept guard, and
+painfully clambered up a sand-heap on the opposite side.  This was in
+truth a painful effort, for the sand crumbled away again and again under
+his feet, slipping down hill and carrying him with it, thus compelling
+him to find a new hold with hand and foot.  At last he was standing on
+the outer border of the sphinx-avenue and opposite the very shrine where
+he fancied he had seen her whom he sought; but during his clamber it had
+become perfectly dark again, for a heavy cloud had once more veiled the
+moon.  He put both hands to his mouth, and shouted as loud as he could,
+"Klea!"--and then again, "Klea!"
+
+Then, close at his feet he heard a rustle in the sand, and saw a figure
+moving before him as though it had risen out of the ground.  This could
+not be Klea, it was a man--still, perhaps, he might have seen his
+darling--but before he had time to address him he felt the shock of a
+heavy blow that fell with tremendous force on his back between his
+shoulders.  The assassin's sand-bag had missed the exact spot on the nape
+of the neck, and Serapion's strongly-knit backbone would have been able
+to resist even a stronger blow.
+
+The conviction that he was attacked by robbers flashed on his
+consciousness as immediately as the sense of pain, and with it the
+certainty that he was a lost man if he did not defend himself stoutly.
+
+Behind him he heard another rustle in the sand.  As quickly as he could
+he turned round with an exclamation of "Accursed brood of vipers!" and
+with his heavy staff he fell upon the figure before him like a smith
+beating cold iron, for his eye, now more accustomed to the darkness,
+plainly saw it to be a man.  Serapion must have hit straight, for his foe
+fell at his feet with a hideous roar, rolled over and over in the sand,
+groaning and panting, and then with one shrill shriek lay silent and
+motionless.
+
+The recluse, in spite of the dim light, could see all the movements of
+the robber he had punished so severely, and he was bending over the
+fallen man anxiously and compassionately when he shuddered to feel two
+clammy hands touching his feet, and immediately after two sharp pricks in
+his right heel, which were so acutely painful that he screamed aloud, and
+was obliged to lift up the wounded foot.  At the same time, however, he
+did not overlook the need to defend himself.  Roaring like a wounded
+bull, cursing and raging, he laid about him on all sides with his staff,
+but hit nothing but the ground.  Then as his blows followed each other
+more slowly, and at last his wearied arms could no longer wield the heavy
+stake, and he found himself compelled to sink on his knees, a hoarse
+voice addressed him thus:
+
+"You have taken my comrade's life, Roman, and a two-legged serpent has
+stung you for it.  In a quarter of an hour it will be all over with you,
+as it is with that fellow there.  Why does a fine gentleman like you go
+to keep an appointment in the desert without boots or sandals, and so
+make our work so easy?  King Euergetes and your friend Eulaeus send you
+their greetings.  You owe it to them that I leave you even your ready
+money; I wish I could only carry away that dead lump there!"
+
+During this rough speech Serapion was lying on the ground in great agony;
+he could only clench his fists, and groan out heavy curses with his lips
+which were now getting parched.  His sight was as yet undimmed, and he
+could distinctly see by the light of the moon, which now shone forth from
+a broad cloudless opening in the sky, that the murderer attempted to
+carry away his fallen comrade, and then, after raising his head to listen
+for a moment sprang off with flying steps away into the desert.  But the
+recluse now lost consciousness, and when some minutes later he once more
+opened his eyes his head was resting softly in the lap of a young girl,
+and it was the voice of his beloved Klea that asked him tenderly.
+
+"You poor dear father!  How came you here in the desert, and into the
+hands of these murderers?  Do you know me--your Klea?  And he who is
+looking for your wounds--which are not visible at all--he is the Roman
+Publius Scipio.  Now first tell us where the dagger hit you that I may
+bind it up quickly--I am half a physician, and understand these things as
+you know."
+
+The recluse tried to turn his head towards Klea's, but the effort was in
+vain, and he said in a low voice: "Prop me up against the slanting wall
+of the tomb shrine yonder; and you, child, sit down opposite to me, for I
+would fain look at you while I die.  Gently, gently, my friend Publius,
+for I feel as if all my limbs were made of Phoenician glass, and might
+break at the least touch.  Thank you, my young friend--you have strong
+arms, and you may lift me a little higher yet.  So--now I can bear it;
+nay, I am well content, I am to be envied--for the moon shows me your
+dear face, my child, and I see tears on your cheeks, tears for me, a
+surly old man.  Aye, it is good, it is very good to die thus."
+
+"Oh, father, father!"  cried Klea.  "You must not speak so.  You must
+live, you must not die; for see, Publius here asks me to be his wife, and
+the Immortals only can know how glad I am to go with him, and Irene is to
+stay with us, and be my sister and his.  That must make you happy,
+father.--But tell us, pray tell us where the wound hurts that the
+murderer gave you?"
+
+"Children,  children,"  murmured  the  anchorite, and a happy smile
+parted his lips.  "The gracious gods are merciful in permitting me to see
+that--aye, merciful to me, and to effect that end I would have died
+twenty deaths."
+
+Klea pressed his now cold hand to her lips as he spoke and again asked,
+though hardly able to control her voice for tears:
+
+"But the wound, father--where is the wound?"  "Let be, let be," replied
+Serapion.  "It is acrid poison, not a dagger or dart that has undone my
+strength.  And I can depart in peace, for I am no longer needed for
+anything.  You, Publius, must now take my place with this child, and will
+do it better than I.  Klea, the wife of Publius Scipio!  I indeed have
+dreamt that such a thing might come to pass, and I always knew, and have
+said to myself a thousand times that I now say to you my son: This girl
+here, this Klea is of a good sort, and worthy only of the noblest.  I
+give her to you, my son Publius, and now join your hands before me here
+--for I have always been like a father to her."
+
+That you have indeed," sobbed Klea.  "And it was no doubt for my sake,
+and to protect me, that you quitted your retreat, and have met your
+death."
+
+"It was fate, it was fate," stammered the old man.
+
+"The assassins were in ambush for me," cried Publius, seizing Serapion's
+hand, "the murderers who fell on you instead of me.  Once more, where is
+your wound?"
+
+"My destiny fulfils itself," replied the recluse.  "No locked-up cell,
+no physician, no healing herb can avail against the degrees of Fate.
+I am dying of a serpent's sting as it was foretold at my birth; and if I
+had not gone out to seek Klea a serpent would have slipped into my cage,
+and have ended my life there.  Give me your hands, my children, for a
+deadly chill is creeping over me, and its cold hand already touches my
+heart."
+
+For a few minutes his voice failed him, and then he said softly:
+
+"One thing I would fain ask of you.  My little possessions, which were
+intended for you and Irene, you will now use to bury me.  I do not wish
+to be burnt, as they did with my father--no, I should wish to be finely
+embalmed, and my mummy to be placed with my mother's.  If indeed we may
+meet again after death--and I believe we shall--I would rather see her
+once more than any one, for she loved me so much--and I feel now as if I
+were a child again, and could throw my arms round her neck.  In another
+life, perhaps, I may not be the child of misfortune that I have been in
+this--in another life--now it grips my heart--in another----Children
+whatever joys have smiled on me in this, children, it was to you I have
+owed it--Klea, to you--and there is my little Irene too----"
+
+These were the last words of Serapion the recluse; he fell back with a
+deep sigh and was dead.  Klea and Publius tenderly closed his faithful
+eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+The unwonted tumult that had broken the stillness of the night had not
+been unobserved in the Greek Serapeum any more than in the Egyptian
+temple adjoining the Apis-tombs; but perfect silence once more reigned in
+the Necropolis, when at last the great gate of the sanctuary of Osiris-
+Apis was thrown open, and a little troop of priests arranged in a
+procession came out from it with a vanguard of temple servants, who had
+been armed with sacrificial knives and axes.
+
+Publius and Klea, who were keeping faithful watch by the body of their
+dead friend, saw them approaching, and the Roman said:
+
+"It would have been even less right in such a night as this to let you
+proceed to one of the temples with out my escort than to have let our
+poor friend remain unwatched."
+
+"Once more I assure you," said Klea eagerly "that we should have thrown
+away every chance of fulfilling Serapion's last wish as he intended, if
+during our absence a jackal or a hyena had mutilated his body, and I am
+happy to be able at least to prove to my friend, now he is dead, how
+grateful I am for all the kindness he showed us while he lived.  We ought
+to be grateful even to the departed, for how still and blissful has this
+hour been while guarding his body.  Storm and strife brought us
+together--"
+
+"And here," interrupted Publius, "we have concluded a happy and permanent
+treaty of peace for the rest of our lives."
+
+"I accept it willingly," replied Klea, looking down, "for I am the
+vanquished party."
+
+"But you have already confessed," said Publius, "that you were never so
+unhappy as when you thought you had asserted your strength against mine,
+and I can tell you that you never seemed to me so great and yet so
+lovable as when in the midst of your triumph, you gave up the battle for
+lost.  Such an hour as that, a man experiences but once in his lifetime.
+I have a good memory, but if ever I should forget it, and be angry and
+passionate--as is sometimes my way--remind me of this spot, or of this
+our dead friend, and my hard mood will melt, and I shall remember that
+you once were ready to give your life for mine.  I will make it easy for
+you, for in honor of this man, who sacrificed his life for yours and who
+was actually murdered in my stead, I promise to add his name of Serapion
+to my own, and I will confirm this vow in Rome.  He has behaved to us as
+a father, and it behoves me to reverence his memory as though I had been
+his son.  An obligation was always unendurable to me, and how I shall
+ever make full restitution to you for what you have done for me this
+night I do not yet know--and yet I should be ready and willing every day
+and every hour to accept from you some new gift of love.  'A debtor,'
+says the proverb, 'is half a prisoner,' and so I must entreat you to deal
+mercifully with your conquerer."
+
+He took her hand, stroked back the hair from her forehead, and touched it
+lightly with his lips.  Then he went on:
+
+"Come with me now that we may commit the dead into the hands of these
+priests."
+
+Klea once more bent over the remains of the anchorite, she hung the
+amulet he had given her for her journey round his neck, and then silently
+obeyed her lover.  When they came up with the little procession Publius
+informed the chief priest how he had found Serapion, and requested him to
+fetch away the corpse, and to cause it to be prepared for interment in
+the costliest manner in the embalming house attached to their temple.
+Some of the temple-servants took their places to keep watch over the
+body, and after many questions addressed to Publius, and after examining
+too the body of the assassin who had been slain, the priests returned to
+the temple.
+
+As soon as the two lovers were left alone again Klea seized the Roman's
+hand, and said passionately: "You have spoken many tender words to me,
+and I thank you for them; but I am wont always to be honest, and less
+than any one could I deceive you.  Whatever your love bestows upon me
+will always be a free gift, since you owe me nothing at all and I owe you
+infinitely much; for I know now that you have snatched my sister from the
+clutches of the mightiest in the land while I, when I heard that Irene
+had gone away with you, and that murder threatened your life, believed
+implicitly that on the contrary you had lured the child away to become
+your sweetheart, and then--then I hated you, and then--I must confess it\
+--in my horrible distraction I wished you dead!"
+
+"And you think that wish can offend me or hurt me?"  said Publius.  "No,
+my child; it only proves to me that you love me as I could wish to be
+loved.  Such rage under such circumstances is but the dark shadow cast by
+love, and is as inseparable from love as from any tangible body.  Where
+it is absent there is no such thing as real love present--only an airy
+vision, a phantom, a mockery.  Such an one as Klea does not love nor hate
+by halves; but there are mysterious workings in your soul as in that of
+every other woman.  How did the wish that you could see me dead turn into
+the fearful resolve to let yourself be killed in my stead?"
+
+"I saw the murderers," answered Klea, "and I was overwhelmed with horror
+of them and of their schemes, and of all that had to do with them; I
+would not destroy Irene's happiness, and I loved you even more deeply
+than I hated you; and then--but let us not speak of it."
+
+"Nay-tell me all."
+
+"Then there was a moment--"
+
+"Well, Klea?"
+
+"Then--in these last hours, while we have been sitting hand in hand by
+the body of poor Serapion, and hardly speaking, I have felt it all over
+again--then the midnight hymn of the priests fell upon my heart, and as I
+lifted up my soul in prayer at their pious chant I felt as if all my
+inmost heart had been frozen and hardened, and was reviving again to new
+life and tenderness and warmth.  I could not help thinking of all that is
+good and right, and I made up my mind to sacrifice myself for you and for
+Irene's happiness far more quickly and easily than I could give it up
+afterwards.  My father was one of the followers of Zeno--"
+
+"And you," interrupted Publius, "thought you were acting in accordance
+with the doctrine of the Stoa.  I also am familiar with it, but I do not
+know the man who is so virtuous and wise that he can live and act, as
+that teaching prescribes, in the heat of the struggle of life, or who is
+the living representative in flesh and blood of the whole code of ethics,
+not sinning against one of its laws and embodying it in himself.  Did you
+ever hear of the peace of mind, the lofty indifference and equanimity of
+the Stoic sages?  You look as if the question offended you, but you did
+not by any means know how to attain that magnanimity, for I have seen you
+fail in it; indeed it is contrary to the very nature of woman, and--
+the gods be thanked--you are not a Stoic in woman's dress, but a woman
+--a true woman, as you should be.  You have learned nothing from Zeno and
+Chrysippus but what any peasant girl might learn from an honest father,
+to be true I mean and to love virtue.  Be content with that; I am more
+than satisfied."
+
+"Oh, Publius," exclaimed the girl, grasping her friend's hand.
+"I understand you, and I know that you are right.  A woman must be
+miserable so long as she fancies herself strong, and imagines and feels
+that she needs no other support than her own firm will and determination,
+no other counsel than some wise doctrines which she accepts and adheres
+to.  Before I could call you mine, and went on my own way, proud of my
+own virtue, I was--I cannot bear to think of it--but half a soul, and
+took it for a whole; but now--if now fate were to snatch you from me, I
+should still know where to seek the support on which I might lean in need
+and despair.  Not in the Stoa, not in herself can a woman find such a
+stay, but in pious dependence on the help of the gods."
+
+"I am a man," interrupted Publius, "and yet I sacrifice to them and yield
+ready obedience to their decrees."
+
+"But," cried Klea, "I saw yesterday in the temple of Serapis the meanest
+things done by his ministers, and it pained me and disgusted me, and I
+lost my hold on the divinity; but the extremest anguish and deepest love
+have led me to find it again.  I can no longer conceive of the power that
+upholds the universe as without love nor of the love that makes men happy
+as other than divine.  Any one who has once prayed for a being they love
+as I prayed for you in the desert can never again forget how to pray.
+Such prayers indeed are not in vain.  Even if no god can hear them there
+is a strengthening virtue in such prayer itself.
+
+"Now I will go contentedly back to our temple till you fetch me, for I
+know that the discreetest, wisest, and kindest Beings will watch over our
+love."
+
+"You will not accompany me to Apollodorus and Irene?"  asked Publius in
+surprise.
+
+"No," answered Klea firmly.  "Rather take me back to the Serapeum.  I
+have not yet been released from the duties I undertook there, and it will
+be more worthy of us both that Asclepiodorus should give you the daughter
+of Philotas as your wife than that you should be married to a runaway
+serving-maid of Serapis."
+
+Publius considered for a moment, and then he said eagerly:
+
+"Still I would rather you should come with me.  You must be dreadfully
+tired, but I could take you on my mule to Apollodorus.  I care little for
+what men say of me when I am sure I am doing right, and I shall know how
+to protect you against Euergetes whether you wish to be readmitted to the
+temple or accompany me to the sculptor.  But do come--it will be hard on
+me to part from you again.  The victor does not lay aside the crown when
+he has just won it in hard fight."
+
+"Still I entreat you to take me back to the Serapeum," said Klea, laying
+her hand in that of Publius.
+
+"Is the way to Memphis too long, are you utterly tired out?"
+
+"I am much wearied by agitation and terror, by anxiety and happiness,
+still I could very well bear the ride; but I beg of you to take me back
+to the temple,"
+
+"What--although you feel strong enough to remain with me, and in spite of
+my desire to conduct you at once to Apollodorus and Irene?"  asked
+Publius astonished, and he withdrew his hand.  "The mule is waiting out
+there.  Lean on my arm.  Come and do as I request you."
+
+"No, Publius, no.  You are my lord and master, and I will always obey you
+unresistingly.  In one thing only let me have my own way, now and in the
+future.  As to what becomes a woman I know better than you, it is a thing
+that none but a woman can decide."
+
+Publius made no reply to these words, but he kissed her, and threw his
+arm round her; and so, clasped in each other's embrace, they reached the
+gate of the Serapeum, there to part for a few hours.
+
+Klea was let into the temple, and as soon as she had learned that little
+Philo was much better, she threw herself on her humble bed.
+
+How lonely her room seemed, how intolerably empty without Irene.  In
+obedience to a hasty impulse she quitted her own bed, lay herself down on
+her sister's, as if that brought her nearer to the absent girl, and
+closed her eyes; but she was too much excited and too much exhausted to
+sleep soundly.  Swiftly-changing visions broke in again and again on her
+sincerely devotional thoughts and her restless half-sleep, painting to
+her fancy now wondrously bright images, and now most horrible ones--now
+pictures of exquisite happiness, and again others of dismal melancholy.
+And all the time she imagined she heard distant music and was being
+rocked up and down by unseen hands.
+
+Still the image of the Roman overpowered all the rest.
+
+At last a refreshing sleep sealed her eyes more closely, and in her dream
+she saw her lover's house in Rolne, his stately father, his noble mother
+--who seemed to her to bear a likeness to her own mother--and the figures
+of a number of tall and dignified senators.  She felt herself much
+embarrassed among all these strangers, who looked enquiringly at her, and
+then kindly held out their hands to her.  Even the dignified matron came
+to meet her with effusion, and clasped her to her breast; but just as
+Publius had opened his to her and she flew to his heart, and she fancied
+she could feel his lips pressed to hers, the woman, who called her every
+morning, knocked at her door and awoke her.
+
+This time she had been happy in her dream and would willingly have slept
+again; but she forced herself to rise from her bed, and before the sun
+was quite risen she was standing by the Well of the Sun and, not to
+neglect her duty, she filled both the jars for the altar of the god.
+
+Tired and half-overcome by sleep, she set the golden vessels in their
+place, and sat down to rest at the foot of a pillar, while a priest
+poured out the water she had brought, as a drink-offering on the ground.
+
+It was now broad daylight as she looked out into the forecourt through
+the many-pillared hall of the temple; the early sunlight played round the
+columns, and its slanting rays, at this hour, fell through the tall
+doorway far into the great hall which usually lay in twilight gloom.
+
+The sacred spot looked very solemn in her eyes, sublime, and as it were
+reconsecrated, and obeying an irresistible impulse she leaned against a
+column, and lifting up her arms, and raising her eyes, she uttered her
+thankfulness to the god for his loving kindness, and found but one thing
+to pray for, namely that he would preserve Publius and Irene, and all
+mankind, from sorrow and anxiety and deception.
+
+She felt as if her heart had till now been benighted and dark, and had
+just disclosed some latent light--as if it had been withered and dry, and
+was now blossoming in fresh verdure and brightly-colored flowers.
+
+To act virtuously is granted even to those who, relying on themselves.
+earnestlv strive to lead moral, just and honest lives; but the happy
+union of virtue and pure inner happiness is solemnized only in the heart
+which is able to seek and find a God--be it Serapis or Jehovah.
+
+At the door of the forecourt Klea was met by Asclepiodorus, who desired
+her to follow him.  The high-priest had learned that she had secretly
+quitted the temple: when she was alone with him in a quiet room he asked
+her gravely and severely, why she had broken the laws and left the
+sanctuary without his permission.  Klea told him, that terror for her
+sister had driven her to Memphis, and that she there had heard that
+Publics Cornelius Scipio, the Roman who had taken up her father's cause,
+had saved Irene from king Euergetes, and placed her in safety, and that
+then she had set out on her way home in the middle of the night.
+
+The high-priest seemed pleased at her news, and when she proceeded to
+inform him that Serapion had forsaken his cell out of anxiety for her,
+and had met his death in the desert, he said:
+
+"I knew all that, my child.  May the gods forgive the recluse, and may
+Serapis show him mercy in the other world in spite of his broken oath!
+His destiny had to be fulfilled.  You, child, were born under happier
+stars than he, and it is within my power to let you go unpunished.  This
+I  do willingly; and  Klea, if my daughter Andromeda grows up, I can only
+wish that she may resemble you; this is the highest praise that a father
+can bestow on another man's daughter.  As head of this temple I command
+you to fill your jars to-day, as usual, till one who is worthy of you
+comes to me, and asks you for his wife.  I suspect he will not be long to
+wait for."
+
+"How do you know, father,--" asked Klea, coloring.
+
+"I can read it in your eyes," said Asclepiodorus, and he gazed kindly
+after her as, at a sign from him, she quitted the room.
+
+As soon as he was alone he sent for his secretary and said:
+
+"King Philometor has commanded that his brother Euergetes' birthday shall
+be kept to-day in Memphis.  Let all the standards be hoisted, and the
+garlands of flowers which will presently arrive from Arsinoe be fastened
+up on the pylons; have the animals brought in for sacrifice, and arrange
+a procession for the afternoon.  All the dwellers in the temple must be
+carefully attired.  But there is another thing; Komanus has been here,
+and has promised us great things in Euergetes' name, and declares that he
+intends to punish his brother Philometor for having abducted a girl--
+Irene--attached to our temple.  At the same time he requests me to send
+Klea the water-bearer, the sister of the girl who was carried off, to
+Memphis to be examined--but this may be deferred.  For to-day we will
+close the temple gates, solemnize the festival among ourselves, and allow
+no one to enter our precincts for sacrifice and prayer till the fate of
+the sisters is made certain.  If the kings themselves make their
+appearance, and want to bring their troops in, we will receive them
+respectfully as becomes us, but we will not give up Klea, but consign her
+to the holy of holies, which even Euergetes dare not enter without me;
+for in giving up the girl we sacrifice our dignity, and with that
+ourselves."
+
+The secretary bowed, and then announced that two of the prophets of
+Osiris-Apis desired to speak with Asclepiodorus.
+
+Klea had met these men in the antechamber as she quitted the high-priest,
+and had seen in the hand of one of them the key with which she had opened
+the door of the rock-tomb.  She had started, and her conscience urged her
+to go at once to the priest-smith, and tell him how ill she had fulfilled
+her errand.
+
+When she entered his room Krates was sitting at his work with his feet
+wrapped up, and he was rejoiced to see her, for his anxiety for her and
+for Irene had disturbed his night's rest, and towards morning his alarm
+had been much increased by a frightful dream.
+
+Klea, encouraged by the friendly welcome of the old man, who was usually
+so surly, confessed that she had neglected to deliver the key to the
+smith in the city, that she had used it to open the Apis-tombs, and had
+then forgotten to take it out of the new lock.  At this confession the
+old man broke out violently, he flung his file, and the iron bolt at
+which he was working, on to his work-table, exclaiming:
+
+"And this is the way you executed your commission.  It is the first time
+I ever trusted a woman, and this is my reward!  All this will bring evil
+on you and on me, and when it is found out that the sanctuary of Apis has
+been desecrated through my fault and yours, they will inflict all sorts
+of penance on me, and with very good reason--as for you, they will punish
+you with imprisonment and starvation."
+
+"And yet, father," Klea calmly replied, "I feel perfectly guiltless, and
+perhaps in the same fearful situation you might not have acted
+differently."
+
+"You think so--you dare to believe such a thing?"  stormed the old man.
+"And if the key and perhaps even the lock have been stolen, and if I
+have done all that beautiful and elaborate work in vain?"
+
+"What thief would venture into the sacred tombs?"  asked Klea doubtfully.
+
+"What!  are they so unapproachable?" interrupted Krates.  "Why, a
+miserable creature like you even dared to open them.  But only wait--only
+wait; if only my feet were not so painful--"
+
+"Listen to me," said the girl, going closer up to the indignant smith.
+"You are discreet, as you proved to me only yesterday; and if I were to
+tell you all I went through and endured last night you would certainly
+forgive me, that I know."
+
+"If you are not altogether mistaken!" shouted the smith.  "Those must be
+strange things indeed which could induce me to let such neglect of duty
+and such a misdemeanor pass unpunished."
+
+And strange things they were indeed which the old man now had to hear,
+for when Klea had ended her narrative of all that had occurred during the
+past night, not her eyes only but those of the old smith too were wet
+with tears.
+
+"These accursed legs!"  he muttered, as his eyes met the enquiring glance
+of the young girl, and he wiped the salt dew from his cheeks with the
+sleeve of his coat.  "Aye-a swelled foot like mine is painful, child, and
+a cripple such as I am is not always strong-minded.  Old women grow like
+men, and old men grow like women.  Ah! old age--it is bad to have such
+feet as mine, but what is worse is that memory fades as years advance.
+I believe now that I left the key myself in the door of the Apis-tombs
+last evening, and I will send at once to Asclepiodorus, so that he may
+beg the Egyptians up there to forgive me--they are indebted to me for
+many small jobs."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+All the black masses of clouds which during the night had darkened the
+blue sky and hidden the light of the moon had now completely disappeared.
+The north-east wind which rose towards morning had floated them away, and
+Zeus, devourer of the clouds, had swallowed them up to the very last.  It
+was a glorious morning, and as the sun rose in the heavens, and pierced
+and burnt up with augmenting haste the pale mist that hovered over the
+Nile, and the vapor that hung--a delicate transparent veil of bluish-grey
+bombyx-gauze--over the eastern slopes, the cool shades of night vanished
+too from the dusky nooks of the narrow town which lay, mile-wide, along
+the western bank of the river.  And the intensely brilliant sunlight
+which now bathed the streets and houses, the palaces and temples, the
+gardens and avenues, and the innumerable vessels in the harbor of
+Memphis, was associated with a glow of warmth which was welcome even
+there in the early morning of a winter's day.
+
+Boats' captains and sailors--were hurrying down to the shore of the Nile
+to avail themselves of the northeast breeze to travel southwards against
+the current, and sails were being hoisted and anchors heaved, to an
+accompaniment of loud singing.  The quay was so crowded with ships that
+it was difficult to understand how those that were ready could ever
+disentangle themselves, and find their way through those remaining
+behind; but each somehow found an outlet by which to reach the navigable
+stream, and ere long the river was swarming with boats, all sailing
+southwards, and giving it the appearance of an endless perspective of
+camp tents set afloat.
+
+Long strings of camels with high packs, of more lightly laden asses, and
+of dark-colored slaves, were passing down the road to the harbor; these
+last were singing, as yet unhurt by the burden of the day, and the
+overseers' whips were still in their girdles.
+
+Ox-carts were being laden or coming down to the landing-place with goods,
+and the ship's captains were already beginning to collect round the
+different great merchants--of whom the greater number were Greeks, and
+only a few dressed in Egyptian costume--in order to offer their freight
+for sale, or to hire out their vessels for some new expedition.
+
+The greatest bustle and noise were at a part of the quay where, under
+large tents, the custom-house officials were busily engaged, for most
+vessels first cast anchor at Memphis to pay duty or Nile-toll on the
+"king's table."  The market close to the harbor also was a gay scene;
+there dates and grain, the skins of beasts, and dried fish were piled in
+great heaps, and bleating and bellowing herds of cattle were driven
+together to be sold to the highest bidder.
+
+Soldiers on foot and horseback in gaudy dresses and shining armor,
+mingled with the busy crowd, like peacocks and gaudy cocks among the
+fussy swarm of hens in a farm yard; lordly courtiers, in holiday dresses
+of showy red, blue and yellow stuffs, were borne by slaves in litters or
+standing on handsome gilt chariots; garlanded priests walked about in
+long white robes, and smartly dressed girls were hurrying down to the
+taverns near the harbor to play the flute or to dance.
+
+The children that were playing about among this busy mob looked
+covetously at the baskets piled high with cakes, which the bakers' boys
+were carrying so cleverly on their heads.  The dogs innumerable, put up
+their noses as the dealers in such dainties passed near them, and many of
+them set up longing howls when a citizen's wife came by with her slaves,
+carrying in their baskets freshly killed fowls, and juicy meats to roast
+for the festival, among heaps of vegetables and fruits.
+
+Gardeners' boys and young girls were bearing garlands of flowers,
+festoons and fragrant nosegays, some piled on large trays which they
+carried two and two, some on smaller boards or hung on cross poles for
+one to carry; at that part of the quay where the king's barge lay at
+anchor numbers of workmen were busily employed in twining festoons of
+greenery and flowers round the flag-staffs, and in hanging them with
+lanterns.
+
+Long files of the ministers of the god-representing the five phyla or
+orders of the priesthood of the whole country--were marching, in holiday
+attire, along the harbor-road in the direction of the palace, and the
+jostling crowd respectfully made way for them to pass.  The gleams of
+festal splendor seemed interwoven with the laborious bustle on the quay
+like scraps of gold thread in a dull work-a-day garment.
+
+Euergetes, brother of the king, was keeping his birthday in Memphis to-
+day, and all the city was to take part in the festivities.
+
+At the first hour after sunrise victims had been sacrificed in the temple
+of Ptah, the most ancient, and most vast of the sanctuaries of the
+venerable capital of the Pharaohs; the sacred Apis-bull, but recently
+introduced into the temple, was hung all over with golden ornaments;
+early in the morning Euergetes had paid his devotions to the sacred
+beast--which had eaten out of his hand, a favorable augury of success for
+his plans; and the building in which the Apis lived, as well as the
+stalls of his mother and of the cows kept for him, had been splendidly
+decked with flowers.
+
+The citizens of Memphis were not permitted to pursue their avocations or
+ply their trades beyond the hour of noon; then the markets, the booths,
+the workshops and schools were to be closed, and on the great square in
+front of the temple of Ptah, where the annual fair was held, dramas both
+sacred and profane, and shows of all sorts were to be seen, heard and
+admired by men, women and children--provided at the expense of the two
+kings.
+
+Two men of Alexandria, one an AEolian of Lesbos, and the other a Hebrew
+belonging to the Jewish community, but who was not distinguishable by
+dress or accent from his Greek fellow-citizens, greeted each other on the
+quay opposite the landing-place for tho king's vessels, some of which
+were putting out into the stream, spreading their purple sails and
+dipping their prows inlaid with ivory and heavily gilt.
+
+"In a couple of hours," said the Jew, "I shall be travelling homewards.
+May I offer you a place in my boat, or do you propose remaining here to
+assist at the festival and not starting till to-morrow morning?  There
+are all kinds of spectacles to be seen, and when it is dark a grand
+illumination is to take place."
+
+"What do I care for their barbarian rubbish?"  answered the Lesbian.
+"Why, the Egyptian music alone drives me to distraction.  My business is
+concluded.  I had inspected the goods brought from Arabia and India by
+way of Berenice and Coptos, and had selected those I needed before the
+vessel that brought them had moored in the Mariotic harbor, and other
+goods will have reached Alexandria before me.  I will not stay an hour
+longer than is necessary in this horrible place, which is as dismal as it
+is huge.  Yesterday I visited the gymnasium and the better class of
+baths--wretched, I call them!  It is an insult to the fish-market and the
+horse-ponds of Alexandria to compare them with them."
+
+"And the theatre!"  exclaimed the Jew.  "The exterior one can bear to
+look at--but the acting!  Yesterday they gave the 'Thals' of Menander,
+and I assure you that in Alexandria the woman who dared to impersonate
+the bewitching and cold-hearted Hetaira would have been driven off the
+stage--they would have pelted her with rotten apples.  Close by me there
+sat a sturdy, brown Egyptian, a sugar-baker or something of the kind, who
+held his sides with laughing, and yet, I dare swear, did not understand a
+word of the comedy.  But in Memphis it is the fashion to know Greek, even
+among the artisans.  May I hope to have you as my guest?"
+
+"With pleasure, with pleasure!"  replied the Lesbian.  "I was about to
+look out for a boat.  Have you done your business to your satisfaction?"
+
+"Tolerably!"  answered the Jew.  "I have purchased some corn from Upper
+Egypt, and stored it in the granaries here.  The whole of that row yonder
+were to let for a mere song, and so we get off cheaply when we let the
+wheat lie here instead of at Alexandria where granaries are no longer to
+be had for money."
+
+"That is very clever!"  replied the Greek.  "There is bustle enough here
+in the harbor, but the many empty warehouses and the low rents prove how
+Memphis is going down.  Formerly this city was the emporium for all
+vessels, but now for the most part they only run in to pay the toll and
+to take in supplies for their crews.  This populous place has a big
+stomach, and many trades drive a considerable business here, but most of
+those that fail here are still carried on in Alexandria."
+
+"It is the sea that is lacking," interrupted the Jew; "Memphis trades
+only with Egypt, and we with the whole world.  The merchant who sends his
+goods here only load camels, and wretched asses, and flat-bottomed Nile-
+boats, while we in our harbors freight fine seagoing vessels.  When the
+winter-storms are past our house alone sends twenty triremes with
+Egyptian wheat to Ostia and to Pontus; and your Indian and Arabian goods,
+your imports from the newly opened Ethiopian provinces, take up less
+room, but I should like to know how many talents your trade amounted to
+in the course of the past year.  Well then, farewell till we meet again
+on my boat; it is called the Euphrosyne, and lies out there, exactly
+opposite the two statues of the old king--who can remember these stiff
+barbarian names?  In three hours we start.  I have a good cook on board,
+who is not too particular as to the regulations regarding food by which
+my countrymen in Palestine live, and you will find a few new books and
+some capital wine from Byblos."
+
+"Then we need not dread a head-wind," laughed the Lesbian.  "We meet
+again in three hours."
+
+The Israelite waved his hand to his travelling companion, and proceeded
+at first along the shore under the shade of an alley of sycamores with
+their broad unsymmetrical heads of foliage, but presently he turned aside
+into a narrow street which led from the quay to the city.  He stood still
+for a moment opposite the entrance of the corner house, one side of which
+lay parallel to the stream while the other--exhibiting the front door,
+and a small oil-shop--faced the street; his attention had been attracted
+to it by a strange scene; but he had still much to attend to before
+starting on his journey, and he soon hurried on again without noticing a
+tall man who came towards him, wearing a travelling-hat and a cloak such
+as was usually adapted only for making journeys.
+
+The house at which the Jew had gazed so fixedly was that of Apollodorus,
+the sculptor, and the man who was so strangely dressed for a walk through
+the city at this hour of the day was the Roman, Publius Scipio.  He
+seemed to be still more attracted by what was going on in the little
+stall by the sculptor's front door, than even the Israelite had been; he
+leaned against the fence of the garden opposite the shop, and stood for
+some time gazing and shaking his head at the strange things that were to
+be seen within.
+
+A wooden counter supported by the wall of the house-which was used by
+customers to lay their money on and which generally held a few oil-jars-
+projected a little way into the street like a window-board, and on this
+singular couch sat a distinguished looking youth in a light blue,
+sleeveless chiton, turning his back on the stall itself, which was not
+much bigger than a good sized travelling-chariot.  By his side lay a
+"Himation"--[A long square cloak, and an indispensable part of the dress
+of the Greeks.]--of fine white woolen stuff with a blue border.  His legs
+hung out into the street, and his brilliant color stood out in wonderful
+contrast to the dark skin of a naked Egyptian boy, who crouched at his
+feet with a cage full of doves.
+
+The young Greek sitting on the window-counter had a golden fillet on his
+oiled and perfumed curls, sandals of the finest leather on his feet, and
+even in these humble surroundings looked elegant--but even more merry
+than elegant--for the whole of his handsome face was radiant with smiles
+while he tied two small rosy-grey turtle doves with ribands of rose-
+colored bombyx-silk to the graceful basket in which they were sitting,
+and then slipped a costly gold bracelet over the heads of the frightened
+birds, and attached it to their wings with a white silk tie.
+
+When he had finished this work he held the basket up, looked at it with a
+smile of satisfaction, and he was in the very act of handing it to the
+black boy when he caught sight of Publius, who went up to him from the
+garden-fence.
+
+"In the name of all the gods, Lysias," cried the Roman, without greeting
+his friend, what fool's trick are you at there again!  Are you turned
+oil-seller, or have you taken to training pigeons?"
+
+"I am the one, and I am doing the other," answered the Corinthian with a
+laugh, for he it was to whom the Roman's speech was addressed.  "How do
+you like my nest of young doves?  It strikes me as uncommonly pretty, and
+how well the golden circlet that links their necks becomes the little
+creatures!"
+
+"Here, put out your claws, you black crocodile," he continued, turning to
+his little assistant, "carry the basket carefully into the house, and
+repeat what I say, 'From the love-sick Lysias to the fair Irene'--Only
+look, Publius, how the little monster grins at me with his white teeth.
+You shall hear that his Greek is far less faultless than his teeth.
+Prick up your ears, you little ichneumon--now once more repeat what you
+are to say in there--do you see where I am pointing with my finger?--to
+the master or to the lady who shall take the doves from you."
+
+With much pitiful stammering the boy repeated the Corinthian's message to
+Irene, and as he stood there with his mouth wide open, Lysias, who was an
+expert at "ducks and drakes" on the water, neatly tossed into it a silver
+drachma.  This mouthful was much to the little rascal's taste, for after
+he had taken the coin out of his mouth he stood with wide-open jaws
+opposite his liberal master, waiting for another throw; Lysias however
+boxed him lightly on his ears, and chucked him under the chin, saying as
+he snapped the boy's teeth together:
+
+"Now carry up the birds and wait for the answer."  "This offering is to
+Irene, then?"  said Publius.  "We have not met for a long time; where
+were you all day yesterday?"
+
+"It will be far more entertaining to hear what you were about all the
+night long.  You are dressed as if you had come straight here from Rome.
+Euergetes has already sent for you once this morning, and the queen
+twice; she is over head and ears in love with you."
+
+"Folly!  Tell me now what you were doing all yesterday."
+
+"Tell me first where you have been."
+
+"I had to go some distance and will tell you all about it later, but not
+now; and I encountered strange things on my way--aye, I must say
+extraordinary things.  Before sunrise I found a bed in the inn yonder,
+and to my own great surprise I slept so soundly that I awoke only two.
+hours since."
+
+"That is a very meagre report; but I know of old that if you do not
+choose to speak no god could drag a syllable from you.  As regards myself
+I should do myself an injury by being silent, for my heart is like an
+overloaded beast of burden and talking will relieve it.  Ah!  Publius, my
+fate to-day is that of the helpless Tantalus, who sees juicy pears
+bobbing about under his nose and tempting his hungry stomach, and yet
+they never let him catch hold of them, only look-in there dwells Irene,
+the pear, the peach, the pomegranate, and my thirsting heart is consumed
+with longing for her.  You may laugh--but to-day Paris might meet Helen
+with impunity, for Eros has shot his whole store of arrows into me.  You
+cannot see them, but I can feel them, for not one of them has he drawn
+out of the wound.  And the darling little thing herself is not wholly
+untouched by the winged boy's darts.  She has confessed so much to me
+myself.  It is impossible for me to refuse her any thing, and so I was
+fool enough to swear a horrible oath that I would not try to see her till
+she was reunited to her tall solemn sister, of whom I am exceedingly
+afraid.  Yesterday I lurked outside this house just as a hungry wolf in
+cold weather sneaks about a temple where lambs are being sacrificed, only
+to see her, or at least to hear a word from her lips, for when she speaks
+it is like the song of nightingales--but all in vain.  Early this morning
+I came back to the city and to this spot; and as hanging about forever
+was of no use, I bought up the stock of the old oil-seller, who is asleep
+there in the corner, and settled myself in his stall, for here no one can
+escape me, who enters or quits Apollodorus' house--and, besides, I am
+only forbidden to visit Irene; she herself allows me to send her
+greetings, and no one forbids me, not even Apollodorus, to whom I spoke
+an hour ago."
+
+"And that basket of birds that your dusky errand-boy carried into the
+house just now, was such a 'greeting?"
+
+"Of course--that is the third already.  First I sent her a lovely nosegay
+of fresh pomegranate-blossoms, and with it a few verses I hammered out in
+the course of the night; then a basket of peaches which she likes very
+much, and now the doves.  And there lie her answers--the dear, sweet
+creature!  For my nosegay I got this red riband, for the fruit this peach
+with a piece bitten out.  Now I am anxious to see what I shall get for my
+doves.  I bought that little brown scamp in the market, and I shall take
+him with me to Corinth as a remembrance of Memphis, if he brings me back
+something pretty this time.  There, I hear the door, that is he; come
+here youngster, what have you brought?"  Publius stood with his arms
+crossed behind his back, hearing and watching the excited speech and
+gestures of his friend who seemed to him, to-day more than ever, one of
+those careless darlings of the gods, whose audacious proceedings give us
+pleasure because they match with their appearance and manner, and we feel
+they can no more help their vagaries than a tree can help blossoming.  As
+soon as Lysias spied a small packet in the boy's hand he did not take it
+from him but snatched up the child, who was by no means remarkably small,
+by the leather belt that fastened up his loin-cloth, tossed him up as if
+he were a plaything, and set him down on the table by his side,
+exclaiming:
+
+"I will teach you to fly, my little hippopotamus!  Now, show me what you
+have got."
+
+He hastily took the packet from the hand of the youngster, who looked
+quite disconcerted, weighed it in his hand and said, turning to Publius:
+
+"There is something tolerably heavy in this--what can it contain?"
+
+"I am quite inexperienced in such matters," replied the Roman.
+
+"And I much experienced," answered Lysias.  "It might be, wait-it might
+be the clasp of her girdle in here.  Feel, it is certainly something
+hard."
+
+Publius carefully felt the packet that the Corinthian held out to him,
+with his fingers, and then said with a smile:
+
+"I can guess what you have there, and if I am right I shall be much
+pleased.  Irene, I believe, has returned you the gold bracelet on a
+little wooden tablet."
+
+"Nonsense!"  answered Lysias.  "The ornament was prettily wrought and of
+some value, and every girl is fond of ornaments."
+
+"Your Corinthian friends are, at any rate.  But look what the wrapper
+contains."
+
+"Do you open it," said the Corinthian.
+
+Publius first untied a thread, then unfolded a small piece of white
+linen, and came at last to an object wrapped in a bit of flimsy, cheap
+papyrus.  When this last envelope was removed, the bracelet was in fact
+discovered, and under it lay a small wax tablet.
+
+Lysias was by no means pleased with this discovery, and looked
+disconcerted and annoyed at the return of his gift; but he soon mastered
+his vexation, and said turning to his friend, who was not in the least
+maliciously triumphant, but who stood looking thoughtfully at the ground.
+
+"Here is something on the little tablet--the sauce no doubt to the
+peppered dish she has set before me."
+
+"Still, eat it," interrupted Publius.  "It may do you good for the
+future."
+
+Lysias took the tablet in his hand, and after considering it carefully on
+both sides he said:
+
+"It belongs to the sculptor, for there is his name.  And there--why she
+has actually spiced the sauce or, if you like it better the bitter dose,
+with verses.  They are written more clearly than beautifully, still they
+are of the learned sort."
+
+"Well?"  asked the Roman with curiosity, as Lysias read the lines to
+himself; the Greek did not look up from the writing but sighed softly,
+and rubbing the side of his finely-cut nose with his finger he replied:
+
+"Very pretty, indeed, for any one to whom they are not directly
+addressed.  Would you like to hear the distich?"
+
+"Read it to me, I beg of you."
+
+"Well then," said the Corinthian, and sighing again he read aloud;
+
+         'Sweet is the lot of the couple whom love has united;
+          But gold is a debt, and needs must at once be restored.'
+
+"There, that is the dose.  But doves are not human creatures, and I know
+at once what my answer shall be.  Give me the fibula, Publius, that
+clasps that cloak in which you look like one of your own messengers.  I
+will write my answer on the wax."
+
+The Roman handed to Lysias the golden circlet armed with a strong pin,
+and while he stood holding his cloak together with his hands, as he was
+anxious to avoid recognition by the passers-by that frequented this
+street, the Corinthian wrote as follows:
+
+         "When doves are courting the lover adorns himself only;
+          But when a youth loves, he fain would adorn his beloved."
+
+"Am I allowed to hear it?"  asked Publius, and his friend at once read
+him the lines; then he gave the tablet to the boy, with the bracelet
+which he hastily wrapped up again, and desired him to take it back
+immediately to the fair Irene.  But the Roman detained the lad, and
+laying his hand on the Greek's shoulder, he asked him: "And if the young
+girl accepts this gift, and after it many more besides--since you are
+rich enough to make her presents to her heart's content--what then,
+Lysias?"
+
+"What then?"  repeated the other with more indecision and embarrassment
+than was his wont.  "Then I wait for Klea's return home and--Aye! you may
+laugh at me, but I have been thinking seriously of marrying this girl,
+and taking her with me to Corinth.  I am my father's only son, and for
+the last three years he has given me no peace.  He is bent on my mother's
+finding me a wife or on my choosing one for myself.  And if I took him
+the pitch-black sister of this swarthy lout I believe he would be glad.
+I never was more madly in love with any girl than with this little Irene,
+as true as I am your friend; but I know why you are looking at me with a
+frown like Zeus the Thunderer.  You know of what consequence our family
+is in Corinth, and when I think of that, then to be sure--"
+
+"Then to be sure?"  enquired the Roman in sharp, grave tone.
+
+"Then I reflect that a water-bearer--the daughter of an outlawed man, in
+our house--"
+
+"And do you consider mine as being any less illustrious in Rome than your
+own is in Corinth?" asked Publius sternly.
+
+"On the contrary, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica.  We are important by
+our wealth, you by your power and estates."
+
+"So it is--and yet I am about to conduct Irene's sister Klea as my lawful
+wife to my father's house."
+
+"You are going to do that!" cried Lysias springing from his seat, and
+flinging himself on the Roman's breast, though at this moment a party of
+Egyptians were passing by in the deserted street.  "Then all is well,
+then--oh!  what a weight is taken off my mind!--then Irene shall be my
+wife as sure as I live!  Oh Eros and Aphrodite and Father Zeus and
+Apollo!  how happy I am!  I feel as if the biggest of the Pyramids yonder
+had fallen off my heart.  Now, you rascal, run up and carry to the fair
+Irene, the betrothed of her faithful Lysias--mark what I say--carry her
+at once this tablet and bracelet.  But you will not say it right; I will
+write here above my distich: 'From the faithful Lysias to the fair Irene
+his future wife.'  There--and now I think she will not send the thing
+back again, good girl that she is!  Listen, rascal, if she keeps it you
+may swallow cakes to-day out on the Grand Square till you burst--and yet
+I have only just paid five gold pieces for you.  Will she keep the
+bracelet, Publius--yes or no?"
+
+"She will keep it."
+
+A few minutes later the boy came hurrying back, and pulling the Greek
+vehemently by his dress, he cried:
+
+"Come, come with me, into the house."  Lysias with a light and graceful
+leap sprang right over the little fellow's head, tore open the door, and
+spread out his arms as he caught sight of Irene, who, though trembling
+like a hunted gazelle, flew down the narrow ladder-like stairs to meet
+him, and fell on his breast laughing and crying and breathless.
+
+In an instant their lips met, but after this first kiss she tore herself
+from his arms, rushed up the stairs again, and then, from the top step,
+shouted joyously:
+
+"I could not help seeing you this once! now farewell till Klea comes,
+then we meet again," and she vanished into an upper room.
+
+Lysias turned to his friend like one intoxicated, he threw himself down
+on his bench, and said:
+
+"Now the heavens may fall, nothing can trouble me!  Ye immortal gods, how
+fair the world is!"
+
+"Strange boy!" exclaimed the Roman, interrupting his friend's rapture.
+"You can not stay for ever in this dingy stall."
+
+"I will not stir from this spot till Klea comes.  The boy there shall
+fetch me victuals as an old sparrow feeds his young; and if necessary I
+will lie here for a week, like the little sardines they preserve in oil
+at Alexandria."
+
+"I hope you will have only a few hours to wait; but I must go, for I am
+planning a rare surprise for King Euergetes on his birthday, and must go
+to the palace.  The festival is already in full swing.  Only listen how
+they are shouting and calling down by the harbor; I fancy I can hear the
+name of Euergetes."
+
+"Present my compliments to the fat monster!  May we meet again soon--
+brother-in-law!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+King Euergetes was pacing restlessly up and down the lofty room which his
+brother had furnished with particular magnificence to be his reception-
+room.  Hardly had the sun risen on the morning of his birthday when he
+had betaken himself to the temple of Ptah with a numerous suite--before
+his brother Philometor could set out--in order to sacrifice there, to win
+the good graces of the high-priest of the sanctuary, and to question of
+the oracle of Apis.  All had fallen out well, for the sacred bull had
+eaten out of his hand; and yet be would have been more glad--though it
+should have disdained the cake he offered it, if only Eulaeus had brought
+him the news that the plot against the Roman's life had been successful.
+
+Gift after gift, addresses of congratulation from every district of the
+country, priestly decrees drawn up in his honor and engraved on tablets
+of hard stone, lay on every table or leaned against the walls of the vast
+ball which the guests had just quitted.  Only Hierax, the king's friend,
+remained with him, supporting himself, while he waited for some sign from
+his sovereign, on a high throne made of gold and ivory and richly
+decorated with gems, which had been sent to the king by the Jewish
+community of Alexandria.
+
+The great commander knew his master well and knew too that it was not
+prudent to address him when he looked as he did now.  But Euergetes
+himself was aware of the need for speech, and he began, without pausing
+in his walk or looking at his dignified friend:
+
+"Even the Philobasilistes have proved corrupt; my soldiers in the citadel
+are more numerous and are better men too than those that have remained
+faithful to Philometor, and there ought to be nothing more for me to do
+but to stir up a brief clatter of swords on shields, to spring upon the
+throne, and to have myself proclaimed king; but I will never go into the
+field with the strongest division of the enemy in my rear.  My brother's
+head is on my sister's shoulders, and so long as I am not certain
+of her--"
+
+A chamberlain rushed into the room as the king spoke, and interrupted him
+by shouting out:
+
+"Queen Cleopatra."
+
+A smile of triumph flashed across the features of the young giant; he
+flung himself with an air of indifference on to a purple divan, and
+desired that a magnificent lyre made of ivory, and presented to him by
+his sister, should be brought to him; on it was carved with wonderful
+skill and delicacy a representation of the first marriage, that of Cadmus
+with Harmonia, at which all the gods had attended as guests.
+
+Euergetes grasped the chords with wonderful vigor and mastery, and began
+to play a wedding march, in which eager triumph alternated with tender
+whisperings of love and longing.
+
+The chamberlain, whose duty it was to introduce the  queen to her
+brother's presence, wished to interrupt this performance of his
+sovereign's; but Cleopatra held him back, and stood listening at the
+door with her children till Euergetes had brought the air to a rapid
+conclusion with a petulant sweep of the strings, and a loud and ear-
+piercing discord; then he flung his lute on the couch and rose with well-
+feigned surprise, going forward to meet the queen as if, absorbed in
+playing, he had not heard her approach.
+
+He greeted his sister affectionately, holding out both his hands to her,
+and spoke to the children--who were not afraid of him, for he knew how to
+play madcap games with them like a great frolicsome boy--welcoming them
+as tenderly as if he were their own father.
+
+He could not weary of thanking Cleopatra for her thoughtful present--so
+appropriate to him, who like Cadmus longed to boast of having mastered
+Harmonia, and finally--she not having found a word to say--he took her by
+the hand to exhibit to her the presents sent him by her husband and from
+the provinces.  But Cleopatra seemed to take little pleasure in all these
+things, and said:
+
+"Yes, everything is admirable, just as it has always been every year for
+the last twenty years; but I did not come here to see but to listen."
+
+Her brother was radiant with satisfaction; she on the contrary was pale
+and grave, and, could only now and then compel herself to a forced smile.
+
+"I fancied," said Euergetes, "that your desire to wish me joy was the
+principal thing that had brought you here, and, indeed, my vanity
+requires me to believe it.  Philometor was with me quite early, and
+fulfilled that duty with touching affection.  When will he go into the
+banqueting-hall?"
+
+"In half an hour; and till then tell me, I entreat you, what yesterday
+you--"
+
+"The best events are those that are long in preparing," interrupted her
+brother.  "May I ask you to let the children, with their attendants,
+retire for a few minutes into the inner rooms?"
+
+"At once!" cried Cleopatra eagerly, and she pushed her eldest boy, who
+clamorously insisted on remaining with his uncle, violently out of the
+door without giving his attendant time to quiet him or take him in her
+arms.
+
+While she was endeavoring, with angry scolding and cross words, to hasten
+the children's departure, Eulaeus came into the room.  Euergetes, as soon
+as he saw him, set every limb with rigid resolve, and drew breath so
+deeply that his broad chest heaved high, and a strong respiration parted
+his lips as he went forward to meet the eunuch, slowly but with an
+enquiring look.
+
+Eulaeus cast a significant glance at Hierax and Cleopatra, went quite
+close up to the king, whispered a few words into his ear, and answered
+his brief questions in a low voice.
+
+"It is well," said Euergetes at last, and with a decisive gesture of his
+hand he dismissed Eulaeus and his friend from the room.
+
+Then he stood, as pale as death, his teeth set in his under-lip, and
+gazing blankly at the ground.
+
+He had his will, Publius Cornelius Scipio lived no more; his ambition
+might reach without hindrance the utmost limits of his desires, and yet
+he could not rejoice; he could not escape from a deep horror of himself,
+and he struck his broad forehead with his clenched fists.  He was face to
+face with his first dastardly murder.
+
+"And what news does Eulaeus bring?"  asked Cleopatra in anxious
+excitement, for she had never before seen her brother like this; but he
+did not hear these words, and it was not till she had repeated them with
+more insistence that he collected himself, stared at her from head to
+foot with a fixed, gloomy expression, and then, letting his hand fall on
+her shoulder so heavily that her knees bent under her and she gave a
+little cry, asked her in a low but meaning tone:
+
+"Are you strong enough to bear to hear great news?"
+
+"Speak," she said in a low voice, and her eyes were fixed on his lips
+while she pressed her hand on her heart.  Her anxiety to hear fettered
+her to him, as with a tangible tie, and he, as if he must burst it by the
+force of his utterance, said with awful solemnity, in his deepest tones
+and emphasizing every syllable:
+
+"Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica is dead."
+
+At these words Cleopatra's pale cheeks were suddenly dyed with a crimson
+glow, and clenching her little hands she struck them together, and
+exclaimed with flashing eyes:
+
+"I hoped so!"
+
+Euergetes withdrew a step from his sister, and said: "You were right.
+It is not only among the race of gods that the most fearful of all are
+women!"
+
+"What have you to say?"  retorted Cleopatra.  "And am I to believe that a
+toothache has kept the Roman away from the banquet yesterday, and again
+from coming to see me to-day?  Am I to repeat, after you, that he died of
+it?  Now, speak out, for it rejoices my heart to hear it; where and how
+did the insolent hypocrite meet his end?"
+
+"A serpent stung him," replied Euergetes, turning from his sister.  "It
+was in the desert, not far from the Apis-tombs."
+
+"He had an assignation in the Necropolis at midnight--it would seem to
+have begun more pleasantly than it ended?"
+
+Euergetes nodded assent to the question, and added gravely:
+
+"His fate overtook him--but I cannot see anything very pleasing in the
+matter."
+
+"No?"  asked the queen.  "And do you think that I do not know the asp
+that ended that life in its prime?  Do you think that I do not know, who
+set the poisoned serpent on the Roman?  You are the assassin, and Eulaeus
+and his accomplices have helped you!  Only yesterday I would have given
+my heart's blood for Publius, and would rather have carried you to the
+grave than him; but to-day, now that I know the game that the wretch has
+been playing with me, I would even have taken on myself the bloody deed
+which, as it is, stains your hands.  Not even a god should treat your
+sister with such contempt--should insult her as he has done--and go
+unpunished!  Another has already met the same fate, as you know--
+Eustorgos, Hipparchon of Bithynia, who, while he seemed to be dying of
+love for me, was courting Kallistrata my lady in waiting; and the wild
+beasts and serpents exercised their dark arts on him too.  Eulaeus'
+intelligence has fallen on you, who are powerful, like a cold hand on
+your heart; in me, the weak woman, it rouses unspeakable delight.  I gave
+him the best of all a woman has to bestow, and he dared to trample it in
+the dust; and had I no right to require of him that he should pour out
+the best that he had, which was his life, in the same way as he had dared
+to serve mine, which is my love?  I have a right to rejoice at his death.
+Aye!  the heavy lids now close those bright eyes which could be falser
+than the stern lips that were so apt to praise truth.  The faithless
+heart is forever still which could scorn the love of a queen--and for
+what?  For whom?  Oh, ye pitiful gods!"
+
+With these words the queen sobbed aloud, hastily lifting her hands to
+cover her eyes, and ran to the door by which she had entered her
+brother's rooms.
+
+But Euergetes stood in her way, and said sternly and positively:
+
+"You are to stay here till I return.  Collect yourself, for at the next
+event which this momentous day will bring forth it will be my turn to
+laugh while your blood shall run cold."  And with a few swift steps he
+left the hall.
+
+Cleopatra buried her face in the soft cushions of the couch, and wept
+without ceasing, till she was presently startled by loud cries and the
+clatter of arms.  Her quick wit told her what was happening.  In frantic
+haste she flew to the door but it was locked; no shaking, no screaming,
+no thumping seemed to reach the ears of the guard whom she heard
+monotonously walking up and down outside her prison.
+
+And now the tumult and clang of arms grew louder and louder, and the
+rattle of drums and blare of trumpets began to mingle with the sound.
+She rushed to the window in mortal fear, and looked down into the palace-
+yard; at that same instant the door of the great banqueting-hall was
+flung open, and a flying crowd streamed out in distracted confusion--then
+another, and a third--all troops in King Philometor's uniform.  She ran
+to the door of the room into which she had thrust her children; that too
+was locked.  In her desperation she once more sprang to the window,
+shouted to the flying Macedonians to halt and make a stand--threatening
+and entreating; but no one heard her, and their number constantly
+increased, till at length she saw her husband standing on the threshold
+of the great hall with a gaping wound on his forehead, and defending
+himself bravely and stoutly with buckler and sword against the body-guard
+of his own brother, who were pressing him sorely.  In agonized excitement
+she shouted encouraging words to him, and he seemed to hear her, for with
+a strong sweep of his shield he struck his nearest antagonist to the
+earth, sprang with a mighty leap into the midst of his flying adherents,
+and vanished with them through the passage which led to the palace-
+stables.
+
+The queen sank fainting on her knees by the window, and, through the
+gathering shades of her swoon her dulled senses still were conscious of
+the trampling of horses, of a shrill trumpet-blast, and at last of a
+swelling and echoing shout of triumph with cries of, "Hail: hail to the
+son of the Sun--Hail to the uniter of the two kingdoms; Hail to the King
+of Upper and Lower Egypt, to Euergetes the god."
+
+But at the last words she recovered consciousness entirely and started
+up.  She looked down into the court again, and there saw her brother
+borne along on her husband's throne-litter by dignitaries and nobles.
+Side by side with the traitor's body-guard marched her own and
+Philometor's Philobasilistes and Diadoches.
+
+The magnificent train went out of the great court of the palace, and
+then--as she heard the chanting of priests--she realized that she had
+lost her crown, and knew whither her faithless brother was proceeding.
+
+She ground her teeth as her fancy painted all that was now about to
+happen.  Euergetes was being borne to the temple of Ptah, and proclaimed
+by its astonished chief-priests, as King of Upper and Lower Egypt, and
+successor to Philometor.  Four pigeons would be let fly in his presence
+to announce to the four quarters of the heavens that a new sovereign had
+mounted the throne of his fathers, and amid prayer and sacrifice a golden
+sickle would be presented to him with which, according to ancient custom,
+he would cut an ear of corn.
+
+Betrayed by her brother, abandoned by her husband, parted from her
+children, scorned by the man she had loved, dethroned and powerless,
+too weak and too utterly crushed to dream of revenge--she spent two
+interminably long hours in the keenest anguish of mind, shut up in her
+prison which was overloaded with splendor and with gifts.  If poison had
+been within her reach, in that hour she would unhesitatingly have put an
+end to her ruined life.  Now she walked restlessly up and down, asking
+herself what her fate would be, and now she flung herself on the couch
+and gave herself up to dull despair.
+
+There lay the lyre she had given to her brother; her eye fell on the
+relievo of the marriage of Cadmus and Harmonia, and on the figure of a
+woman who was offering a jewel to the bride.  The bearer of the gift was
+the goddess of love, and the ornament she gave--so ran the legend--
+brought misfortune on those who inherited it.  All the darkest hours of
+her life revived in her memory, and the blackest of them all had come
+upon her as the outcome of Aphrodite's gifts.  She thought with a shudder
+of the murdered Roman, and remembered the moment when Eulaeus had told
+her that her Bithynian lover had been killed by wild beasts.  She rushed
+from one door to another--the victim of the avenging Eumenides--shrieked
+from the window for rescue and help, and in that one hour lived through a
+whole year of agonies and terrors.
+
+At last--at last, the door of the room was opened, and Euergetes came
+towards her, clad in the purple, with the crown of the two countries on
+his grand head, radiant with triumph and delight.
+
+"All hail to you, sister!"  he exclaimed in a cheerful tone, and lifting
+the heavy crown from his curling hair.  "You ought to be proud to-day,
+for your own brother has risen to high estate, and is now King of Upper
+and Lower Egypt."
+
+Cleopatra turned from him, but he followed her and tried to take her
+hand.  She however snatched it away, exclaiming:
+
+"Fill up the measure of your deeds, and insult the woman whom you have
+robbed and made a widow.  It was with a prophecy on your lips that you
+went forth just now to perpetrate your greatest crime; but it falls on
+your own head, for you laugh over our misfortune--and it cannot regard
+me, for my blood does not run cold; I am not overwhelmed nor hopeless,
+and I shall--"
+
+"You," interrupted Euergetes, at first with a loud voice, which presently
+became as gentle as though he were revealing to her the prospect of a
+future replete with enjoyment, "You shall retire to your roof-tent with
+your children, and there you shall be read to as much as you like, eat as
+many dainties as you can, wear as many splendid dresses as you can
+desire, receive my visits and gossip with me as often as my society may
+seem agreeable to you--as yours is to me now and at all times.  Besides
+all this you may display your sparkling wit before as many Greek and
+Jewish men of letters or learning as you can command, till each and all
+are dazzled to blindness.  Perhaps even before that you may win back your
+freedom, and with it a full treasury, a stable full of noble horses, and
+a magnificent residence in the royal palace on the Bruchion in gay
+Alexandria.  It depends only on how soon our brother Philometor--who
+fought like a lion this morning--perceives that he is more fit to be a
+commander of horse, a lute-player, an attentive host of word-splitting
+guests--than the ruler of a kingdom.  Now, is it not worthy of note to
+those who, like you and me, sister, love to investigate the phenomena of
+our spiritual life, that this man--who in peace is as yielding as wax,
+as week as a reed--is as tough and as keen in battle as a finely tempered
+sword?  We hacked bravely at each other's shields, and I owe this slash
+here on my shoulder to him.  If Hierax--who is in pursuit of him with his
+horsemen--is lucky and catches him in time, he will no doubt give up the
+crown of his own free will."
+
+"Then he is not yet in your power, and he had time to mount a horse!"
+cried Cleopatra, her eyes sparkling with satisfaction; "then all is not
+yet lost for us.  If Philometor can but reach Rome, and lay our case
+before the Senate--"
+
+"Then he might certainly have some prospect of help from the Republic,
+for Rome does not love to see a strong king on the throne of Egypt," said
+Euergetes.  "But you have lost your mainstay by the Tiber, and I am about
+to make all the Scipios and the whole gens Cornelia my stanch allies, for
+I mean to have the deceased Roman burnt with the finest cedar-wood and
+Arabian spices; sacrifices shall be slaughtered at the same time as if he
+had been a reigning king, and his ashes shall be sent to Ostia and Rome
+in the costliest specimen of Vasa murrina that graces my treasure-house,
+and on a ship specially fitted, and escorted by the noblest of my
+friends.  The road to the rampart of a hostile city lies over corpses,
+and I, as general and king--"
+
+Euergetes suddenly broke off in his sentence, for a loud noise and
+vehement talking were heard outside the door.  Cleopatra too had not
+failed to observe it, and listened with alert attention; for on such a
+day and in these apartments every dialogue, every noise in the king's
+antechamber might be of grave purport.
+
+Euergetes did not deceive himself in this matter any more than his
+sister, and he went towards the door holding the sacrificial sickle,
+which formed part of his regalia, in his right hand.  But he had not
+crossed the room when Eulaeus rushed in, as pale as death, and calling
+out to his sovereign:
+
+"The murderers have betrayed us; Publius Scipio is alive, and insists on
+being admitted to speak with you."
+
+The king's armed hand fell by his side, and for a moment he gazed blankly
+into vacancy, but the next instant he had recovered himself, and roared
+in a voice which filled the room like rolling thunder:
+
+"Who dares to hinder the entrance of my friend Publius Cornelius Scipio?
+And are you still here, Eulaeus--you scoundrel and you villain!  The
+first case that I, as King of Upper and Lower Egypt, shall open for trial
+will be that which this man--who is your foe and my friend--proposes to
+bring against you.  Welcome! most welcome on my birthday, my noble
+friend!"
+
+The last words were addressed to Publius, who now entered the room with
+stately dignity, and clad in the ample folds of the white toga worn by
+Romans of high birth.  He held a sealed roll or despatch in his right
+hand, and, while he bowed respectfully to Cleopatra, he seemed entirely
+to overlook the hands King Euergetes held out in welcome.  After his
+first greeting had been disdained by the Roman, Euergetes would not have
+offered him a second if his life had depended on it.  He crossed his arms
+with royal dignity, and said:
+
+"I am grieved to receive your good wishes the last of all that have been
+offered me on this happy day."
+
+"Then you must have changed your mind," replied Publius, drawing up his
+slight figure, which was taller than the king's, "You have no lack of
+docile instruments, and last night you were fully determined to receive
+my first congratulations in the realm of shades."
+
+"My sister," answered Euergetes, shrugging his shoulders, "was only
+yesterday singing the praises of your uncultured plainness of speech; but
+to-day it is your pleasure to speak in riddles like an Egyptian oracle."
+
+"They cannot, however, be difficult to solve by you and your minions,"
+replied Publius coldly, as he pointed to Eulaeus.  "The serpents which
+you command have powerful poisons and sharp fangs at their disposal; this
+time, however, they mistook their victim, and have sent a poor recluse of
+Serapis to Hades instead of one of their king's guests."
+
+"Your enigma is harder than ever," cried the king.  "My intelligence at
+least is unequal to solve it, and I must request you to speak in less
+dark language or else to explain your meaning."
+
+"Later, I will," said Publius emphatically, "but these things concern
+myself alone, and I stand here now commissioned by the State of Rome
+which I serve.  To-day Juventius Thalna will arrive here as ambassador
+from the Republic, and this document from the Senate accredits me as its
+representative until his arrival."
+
+Euergetes took the sealed roll which Publius offered to him.  While he
+tore it open, and hastily looked through its contents, the door was again
+thrown open and Hierax, the king's trusted friend, appeared on the
+threshold with a flushed face and hair in disorder.
+
+"We have him!"  he cried before he came in.  "He fell from his horse near
+Heliopolis."
+
+"Philometor?"  screamed Cleopatra, flinging herself upon Hierax.  "He
+fell from his horse--you have murdered him?"
+
+The tone in which the words were said, so full of grief and horror that
+the general said compassionately:
+
+"Calm yourself, noble lady; your husband's wound in the forehead is not
+dangerous.  The physicians in the great hall of the temple of the Sun
+bound it up, and allowed me to bring him hither on a litter."
+
+Without hearing Hierax to the end Cleopatra flew towards the door, but
+Euergetes barred her way and gave his orders with that decision which
+characterized him, and which forbade all contradiction:
+
+"You will remain here till I myself conduct you to him.  I wish to have
+you both near me."
+
+"So that you may force us by every torment to resign the throne!"  cried
+Cleopatra.  "You are in luck to-day, and we are your prisoners."
+
+"You are free, noble queen," said the Roman to the poor woman, who was
+trembling in every limb.  "And on the strength of my plenipotentiary
+powers I here demand the liberty of King Philometor, in the name of the
+Senate of Rome."
+
+At these words the blood mounted to King Euergetes' face and eyes, and,
+hardly master of himself, he stammered out rather than said:
+
+"Popilius Laenas drew a circle round my uncle Antiochus, and threatened
+him with the enmity of Rome if he dared to overstep it.  You might excel
+the example set you by your bold countryman--whose family indeed was far
+less illustrious than yours--but I--I--"
+
+"You are at liberty to oppose the will of Rome," interrupted Publius with
+dry formality, "but, if you venture on it, Rome, by me, will withdraw her
+friendship.  I stand here in the name of the Senate, whose purpose it is
+to uphold the treaty which snatched this country from the Syrians, and by
+which you and your brother pledged yourselves to divide the realm of
+Egypt between you.  It is not in my power to alter what has happened
+here; but it is incumbent on me so to act as to enable Rome to distribute
+to each of you that which is your due, according to the treaty ratified
+by the Republic.
+
+"In all questions which bear upon that compact Rome alone must decide,
+and it is my duty to take care that the plaintiff is not prevented from
+appearing alive and free before his protectors.  So, in the name of the
+Senate, King Euergetes, I require you to permit King Philometor your
+brother, and Queen Cleopatra your sister, to proceed hence, whithersoever
+they will."  Euergetes, breathing hard in impotent fury, alternately
+doubling his fists, and extending his quivering fingers, stood opposite
+the Roman who looked enquiringly in his face with cool composure; for a
+short space both were silent.  Then Euergetes, pushing his hands through
+his hair, shook his head violently from side to side, and exclaimed:
+
+"Thank the Senate from me, and say that I know what we owe to it, and
+admire the wisdom which prefers to see Egypt divided rather than united
+in one strong hand--Philometor is free, and you also Cleopatra."
+
+For a moment he was again silent, then he laughed loudly, and cried to
+the queen:
+
+"As for you sister--your tender heart will of course bear you on the
+wings of love to the side of your wounded husband."
+
+Cleopatra's pale cheeks had flushed scarlet at the Roman's speech; she
+vouchsafed no answer to her brother's ironical address, but advanced
+proudly to the door.  As she passed Publius she said with a farewell wave
+of her pretty hand.
+
+"We are much indebted to the Senate."
+
+Publius bowed low, and she, turning away from him, quitted the room.
+
+"You have forgotten your fan, and your children!" the king called after
+her; but Cleopatra did not hear his words, for, once outside her
+brother's apartment, all her forced and assumed composure flew to the
+winds; she clasped her hands on her temples, and rushed down the broad
+stairs of the palace as if she were pursued by fiends.
+
+When the sound of her steps had died away, Euergetes turned to the Roman
+and said:
+
+"Now, as you have fulfilled what you deem to be your duty, I beg of you
+to explain the meaning of your dark speeches just now, for they were
+addresed to Euergetes the man, and not the king.  If I understood you
+rightly you meant to imply that your life had been attempted, and that
+one of those extraordinary old men devoted to Serapis had been murdered
+instead of you."
+
+"By your orders and those of your accomplice Eulaeus," answered Publius
+coolly.
+
+"Eulaeus, come here!" thundered the king to the trembling courtier, with
+a fearful and threatening glare in his eyes.  "Have you hired murderers
+to kill my friend--this noble guest of our royal house--because he
+threatened to bring your crimes to light?"
+
+"Mercy!" whimpered Eulaeus sinking on his knees before the king.
+
+"He confesses his crime!" cried Euergetes; he laid his hand on the girdle
+of his weeping subordinate, and commanded Hierax to hand him over without
+delay to the watch, and to have him hanged before all beholders by the
+great gate of the citadel.  Eulaeus tried to pray for mercy and to speak,
+but the powerful officer, who hated the contemptible wretch, dragged him
+up, and out of the room.
+
+"You were quite right to lay your complaint before me," said Euergetes
+while Eulaeus cries and howls were still audible on the stairs.  "And you
+see that I know how to punish those who dare to offend a guest."
+
+"He has only met with the portion he has deserved for years," replied
+Publius.  "But now that we stand face to face, man to man, I must close
+my account with you too.  In your service and by your orders Eulaeus set
+two assassins to lie in wait for me--"
+
+"Publius Cornelius Scipio!" cried the king, interrupting his enemy in an
+ominous tone; but the Roman went on, calmly and quietly:
+
+"I am saying nothing that I cannot support by witnesses; and I have truly
+set forth, in two letters, that king Euergetes during the past night has
+attempted the life of an ambassador from Rome.  One of these despatches
+is addressed to my father, the other to Popilius Lamas, and both are
+already on their way to Rome.  I have given instructions that they are to
+be opened if, in the course of three months reckoned from the present
+date, I have not demanded them back.  You see you must needs make it
+convenient to protect my life, and to carry out whatever I may require of
+you.  If you obey my will in everything I may demand, all that has
+happened this night shall remain a secret between you and me and a third
+person, for whose silence I will be answerable; this I promise you, and I
+never broke my word."
+
+"Speak," said the king flinging himself on the couch, and plucking the
+feathers from the fan Cleopatra had forgotten, while Publius went on
+speaking.
+
+"First I demand a free pardon for Philotas of Syracuse, 'relative of the
+king,' and president of the body of the Chrematistes, his immediate
+release, with his wife, from their forced labor, and their return from
+the mines."
+
+"They both are dead," said Euergetes, "my brother can vouch for it."
+
+"Then I require you to have it declared by special decree that Philotas
+was condemned unjustly, and that he is reinstated in all the dignities he
+was deprived of.  I farther demand that you permit me and my friend
+Lysias of Corinth, as well as Apollodorus the sculptor, to quit Egypt
+without let or hindrance, and with us Klea and Irene, the daughters of
+Philotas, who serve as water-bearers in the temple of Serapis.--Do you
+hesitate as to your reply?"
+
+"No," answered the king, and he tossed up his hand.  "For this once I
+have lost the game."
+
+"The daughters of Philotas, Klea and Irene," continued Publius with
+imperturbable coolness, "are to have the confiscated estates of their
+parents restored to them."
+
+"Then your sweetheart's beauty does not satisfy you!" interposed
+Euergetes satirically.
+
+"It amply satisfies me.  My last demand is that half of this wealth shall
+be assigned to the temple of Serapis, so that the god may give up his
+serving-maidens willingly, and without raising any objections.  The other
+half shall be handed over to Dicearchus, my agent in Alexandria, because
+it is my will that Klea and Irene shall not enter my own house or that of
+Lysias in Corinth as wives, without the dowry that beseems their rank.
+Now, within one hour, I must have both the decree and the act of
+restitution in my hands, for as soon as Juventius Thalna arrives here--
+and I expect him, as I told you this very day--we propose to leave
+Memphis, and to take ship at Alexandria."
+
+"A strange conjuncture!" cried Euergetes.  "You deprive me alike of my
+revenge and my love, and yet I see myself compelled to wish you a
+pleasant journey.  I must offer a sacrifice to Poseidon, to the Cyprian
+goddess, and to the Dioscurides that they may vouchsafe your ship a
+favorable voyage, although it will carry the man who in the future, can
+do us more injury at Rome by his bitter hostility, than any other."
+
+"I shall always take the part of which ever of you has justice on his
+side."
+
+Publius quitted the room with a proud wave of his hand, and Euergetes,
+as soon as the door had closed behind the Roman, sprang from his couch,
+shook his clenched fist in angry threat, and cried:
+
+You, you obstinate fellow and your haughty patrician clan may do me
+mischief enough by the Tiber; and yet perhaps I may win the game in spite
+of you!
+
+"You cross my path in the name of the Roman Senate.  If Philometor waits
+in the antechambers of consuls and senators we certainly may chance to
+meet there, but I shall also try my luck with the people and the
+tribunes.
+
+"It is very strange!  This head of mine hits upon more good ideas in an
+hour than a cool fellow like that has in a year, and yet I am beaten by
+him--and if I am honest I can not but confess that it was not his luck
+alone, but his shrewdness that gained the victory.  He may be off as soon
+as he likes with his proud Hera--I can find a dozen Aphrodites in
+Alexandria in her place!
+
+"I resemble Hellas and he Rome, such as they are at present.  We flutter
+in the sunshine, and seize on all that satisfies our intellect or
+gratifies our senses: they gaze at the earth, but walk on with a firm
+step to seek power and profit.  And thus they get ahead of us, and yet--
+I would not change with them."
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+A debtor, says the proverb, is half a prisoner
+Old women grow like men, and old men grow like women
+They get ahead of us, and yet--I would not change with them
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SISTERS, BY EBERS, V5 ***
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