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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5465.txt b/5465.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4226c7d --- /dev/null +++ b/5465.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2277 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook The Sisters, by Georg Ebers, v5 +#27 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +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] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** 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 *** + +*******This file should be named 5465.txt or 5465.zip ******** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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