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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Serapis, Complete, by Georg Ebers
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Serapis, Complete
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Last Updated: March 9, 2009
+Release Date: October 17, 2006 [EBook #5507]
+[Last updated: April 27, 2014]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERAPIS, COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+SERAPIS, Complete
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+
+Translated from the German by Clara Bell
+
+
+
+
+SERAPIS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The busy turmoil of the town had been hushed for some hours; the moon
+and stars were keeping silent watch over Alexandria, and many of the
+inhabitants were already in the land of dreams. It was deliciously
+fresh--a truly gracious night; but, though peace reigned in the streets
+and alleys, even now there was in this pause for rest a lack of the
+soothing calm which refreshes and renews the spirit of man. For some few
+weeks there had been an oppressive and fevered tension in the repose
+of night. Every house and shop was closed as securely as though it were
+done, not only to secure slumber against intrusion, but to protect life
+and property from the spoiler; and instead of tones of jollity and mirth
+the sleeping city echoed the heavy steps and ringing arms of soldiers.
+Now and again, when the Roman word of command or the excited cry of some
+sleepless monk broke the silence, shops and doors were cautiously opened
+and an anxious face peered out, while belated wanderers shrunk into
+gateways or under the black shadow of a wall as the watch came past. A
+mysterious burden weighed on the Heart of the busy city and clicked its
+pulses, as a nightmare oppresses the dreamer.
+
+On this night of the year of our Lord 391, in a narrow street leading
+from the commercial harbor known as Kibotus, an old man was slinking
+along close to the houses. His clothes were plain but decent, and he
+walked with his head bent forward looking anxiously on all sides; when
+the patrol came by he shrank into the shadow; though he was no thief
+he had his reasons for keeping out of the way of the soldiery, for the
+inhabitants, whether natives or strangers, were forbidden to appear in
+the streets after the harbor was closed for the night.
+
+He stopped in front of a large house, whose long, windowless wall
+extended from one side street to the next, and pausing before the great
+gate, he read an inscription on which the light fell from a lamp above:
+"The House of the Holy Martyr. His widow here offers shelter to all who
+need it. He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord."
+
+"At how much per cent I wonder?" mattered the old man and a satirical
+smile curled his beardless lips. A heavy thud with the knocker rang
+through the silent street, and after a few short questions from within
+and equally curt replies from without, a small door was opened in the
+great gate. The stranger was on the point of crossing the vestibule when
+a human creature crept up to him on all fours, and clutched his ankle
+with a strong hand, exclaiming in a hoarse voice: "As soon as the door
+is shut--an entrance fee; for the poor, you know."
+
+The old man flung a copper piece to the gatekeeper who tried it, and
+then, holding on to the rope by which he was tied to a post like a
+watch-dog, he whined out "Not a drop to wet a Christian's lips?"
+
+"It has not rained for some time," retorted the stranger, who proceeded
+to open a second door which led into a vast court-yard open to the blue
+vault of heaven. A few torches stuck against the pillars and a small
+fire on the pavement added thin smoky, flickering light to the clear
+glory of the stars, and the whole quadrangle was full of a heavy,
+reeking atmosphere, compounded of smoke and the steam of hot food.
+
+Even in the street the wanderer had heard the dull buzz and roar which
+now met his ear as a loud medley of noises and voices, rising from
+hundreds of men who were encamped in the wide space before him--in
+groups or singly, sleeping and snoring, or quarrelling, eating, talking
+and singing as they squatted on the ground which was strewn with straw.
+
+The inn was full, and more than half of the humble guests were monks
+who, during the last two days, had flowed into the city from every
+Cenoby, Laura and hermitage in the desert, and from most of the
+monasteries in the surrounding district--the 'Nitriote Nome'. Some of
+them had laid their heads close together for confidential whispering,
+others squabbled loudly, and a large group in the northern angle of
+the court had raised a psalm which mingled strangely with the "three,"
+"four," "seven," of the men who were playing 'mora', and the cry of
+the cook inviting purchasers to his stall spread with meat, bread, and
+onions.
+
+At the end of the court furthest from the gateway there was a covered
+way, on to which a row of doors opened leading to the rooms devoted to
+families of women and children, each apartment being divided into two by
+a curtain across the middle. The stranger made his way into one of these
+rooms, where he was warmly welcomed by a young man, who was occupied in
+cutting a Kopais reed into a mouth-piece for a double flute, and by a
+tall matronly woman.
+
+The new-comer's name was Karnis and he was the head of a family of
+wandering singers who had arrived in Alexandria only the day before
+from Rome. His surroundings were poor and mean, for their ship had been
+attacked off the African coast by a band of pirates, and though they
+had saved their lives they had lost everything they possessed. The
+young owner of the vessel, to whom he owed his safety, had procured him
+admission to this Xenodochium,--[a refuge or inn]--kept by his mother
+the Widow Mary; Karnis had, however, found it far from comfortable, and
+had gone forth at noon to seek other quarters.
+
+"All in vain!" said he, as he wiped the heat drops from his forehead.
+"I have hunted Medius half the city through and found him at last at the
+house of Posidonius the Magian, whose assistant he is. There was singing
+behind a curtain--wretched rubbish; but there were some old airs too
+with an accompaniment on the flutes, in the style of Olympus, and really
+not so bad.
+
+"Then spirits appeared. By Sirius a queer business altogether! Medius
+is in the midst of it all. I arranged the chorus and sang with them a
+little. All I got for it was a little dirty silver--there! But as for
+a lodging--free quarters!--there are none to be found here for anything
+above an owl; and then there is the edict--that cursed edict!"
+
+During this speech the younger man had exchanged meaning glances
+with his mother. He now interrupted Karnis, saying in a tone of
+encouragement:
+
+"Never mind, father; we have something good in view."
+
+"You have?" said the old man with an incredulous shrug, while his wife
+served him with a small roast chicken, on a stool which did duty for a
+table.
+
+"Yes father, we!" the lad went on, laying aside his knife. "You know we
+vowed an offering to Dionysus for our escape, since he himself once fell
+into the hands of pirates, so we went at once to his temple. Mother knew
+the way; and as we--she, I mean, and Dada and myself..."
+
+"Heh! what is this?" interrupted Karnis, now for the first time noticing
+the dish before him. "A fowl--when we are so miserably poor? A whole
+fowl, and cooked with oil?" He spoke angrily, but his wife, laying her
+hand on his shoulder, said soothingly:
+
+"We shall soon earn it again. Never a sesterce was won by fretting.
+Enjoy to-day's gifts and the gods will provide for to-morrow."
+
+"Indeed?" asked Karnis in an altered key. "To be sure when a roast fowl
+flies into one's mouth instead of a pigeon.... But you are right as
+usual, Herse, as usual, only--here am I battening like a senator while
+you--I lay a wager you have drunk nothing but milk all day and eaten
+nothing but bread and radishes. I thought so? Then the chicken must
+pretend to be a pheasant and you, wife, will eat this leg. The girls
+are gone to bed? Why here is some wine too! Fill up your cup, boy. A
+libation to the God! Glory to Dionysus!" The two men poured the libation
+on the floor and drank; then the father thrust his knife into the breast
+of the bird and began his meal with a will, while Orpheus, the son, went
+on with his story:
+
+"Well, the temple of Dionysus was not to be found, for Bishop Theophilus
+has had it destroyed; so to what divinity could we offer our wreath
+and cake? Here in Egypt there is none but the great Mother Isis. Her
+sanctuary is on the shore of Lake Mareotis and mother found it at once.
+There she fell into conversation with a priestess who, as soon as she
+learnt that my mother belonged to a family of musicians--though Dame
+Herse was cautious in announcing this fact--and hoped to find employment
+in Alexandria, led her away to a young lady who was closely veiled. This
+lady," Orpheus went on--he not only played the flute but took the higher
+parts for a man's voice and could also strike the lyre--"desired us to
+go to her later at her own house, where she would speak with us. She
+drove off in a fine carriage and we, of course followed her orders; Agne
+was with us too. A splendid house! I never saw anything handsomer in
+Rome or Antioch. We were kindly received, and with the lady there were
+another very old lady and a tall grave man, a priest I should fancy or a
+philosopher, or something of that kind."
+
+"Not some Christian trap?" asked Karnis suspiciously. "You do not know
+this place, and since the edict..."
+
+"Never fear, father! There were images of the gods in the halls
+and corridors, and in the room where we were received by Gorgo, the
+beautiful daughter of Porphyrius, there was an altar before an image of
+Isis, quite freshly anointed.--This Porphyrius is a very rich merchant;
+we learnt that afterwards, and many other things. The philosopher asked
+us at once whether we were aware that Theodosius had lately promulgated
+a new edict forbidding young maidens to appear in public as singers or
+flute-players."
+
+"And did Agne hear that?" said the old man in a low voice as he pointed
+to the curtain.
+
+"No, she and Dada were in the garden on to which the room opened, and
+mother explained at once that though Agne was a Christian she was a very
+good girl, and that so long as she remained in our service she was bound
+to sing with us whenever she was required. The philosopher exclaimed
+at once: 'The very thing!' and they whispered together, and called the
+girls and desired them to show what they could do."
+
+"And how did they perform?" asked the old man, who was growing excited.
+
+"Dada warbled like a lark, and Agne--well you know how it always is. Her
+voice sounded lovely but it was just as usual. You can guess how much
+there is in her and how deep her feeling is but she never quite brings
+it out. What has she to complain of with us? And yet whatever she sings
+has that mournful, painful ring which even you can do nothing to alter.
+However, she pleased them better than Dada did, for I noticed that Gorgo
+and the gentleman glanced at each other and at her, and whispered a word
+now and then which certainly referred to Ague. When they had sung two
+songs the young lady came towards us and praised both the girls, and
+asked whether we would undertake to learn something quite new. I told
+her that my father was a great musician who could master the most
+difficult things at the first hearing."
+
+"The most difficult! Hm... that depends," said the old man. "Did she
+show it you?"
+
+"No; it is something in the style of Linus and she sang it to us."
+
+"The daughter of the rich Porphyrius sang for your entertainment?
+Yours?" said Karnis laughing. "By Sirius! The world is turning upside
+down. Now that girls are forbidden to perform to the gentlefolks, art is
+being cultivated by the upper classes; it cannot be killed outright. For
+the future the listeners will be paid to keep quiet and the singers pay
+for the right of torturing their ears--our ears, our luckless ears will
+be victimized."
+
+Orpheus smiled and shook his head; then, again dropping his knife, he
+went on eagerly:
+
+"But if you could only hear her! You would give your last copper piece
+to hear her again."
+
+"Indeed!" muttered his father. "Well, there are very good teachers here.
+Something by Linus did you say she sang?"
+
+"Something of that kind; a lament for the dead of very great power:
+'Return, oh! return my beloved, came back--come home!' that was the
+burthen of it. And there was a passage which said: 'Oh that each tear
+had a voice and could join with me in calling thee!' And how she sang
+it, father! I do not think I ever in my life heard anything like it. Ask
+mother. Even Dada's eyes were full of tears."
+
+"Yes, it was beautiful," the mother agreed. "I could not help wishing
+that you were there."
+
+Karnis rose and paced the little room, waving his arms and muttering:
+
+"Ah! so that is how it is! A friend of the Muses. We saved the large
+lute--that is well. My chlamys has an ugly hole in it--if the girls were
+not asleep... but the first thing to-morrow Ague.... Tell me, is she
+handsome, tall?"
+
+Herse had been watching her excitable husband with much satisfaction
+and now answered his question: "Not a Hera--not a Muse--decidedly not.
+Hardly above the middle height, slightly made, but not small, black
+eyes, long lashes, dark straight eyebrows. I could hardly, like Orpheus,
+call her beautiful..."
+
+"Oh yes, mother.--Beautiful is a great word, and one my father has
+taught me to use but rarely; but she--if she is not beautiful who
+is?--when she raised her large dark eyes and threw back her head to
+bring out her lament; tone after tone seemed to come from the bottom of
+her heart and rise to the furthest height of heaven. Ah, if Agne could
+learn to sing like that! 'Throw your whole soul into your singing.'--You
+have told her that again and again. Now, Gorgo can and does. And she
+stood there as steady and as highly strung as a bow, every note came out
+with the ring of an arrow and went straight to the heart, as clear and
+pure as possible."
+
+"Be silent!" cried the old man covering his ears with his hands. "I
+shall not close an eye till daylight, and then... Orpheus, take
+that silver--take it all, I have no more--go early to market and buy
+flowers--laurel branches, ivy, violets and roses. But no lotuses though
+the market here is full of them; they are showy, boastful things with
+no scent, I cannot bear them. We will go crowned to the Temple of the
+Muses."
+
+"Buy away, buy all you want!" said Herse laughing, as she showed her
+husband some bright gold pieces. "We got that to-day, and if all is
+well...." Here she paused, pointed to the curtain, and went on again in
+a lower tone: "It all depends of course, on Agne's playing us no trick."
+
+"How so? Why? She is a good girl and I will..."
+
+"No, no," said Herse holding him back. "She does not know yet what the
+business is. The lady wants her..."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"To sing in the Temple of Isis."
+
+Karnis colored. He was suddenly called from a lovely dream back to the
+squalid reality. "In the Temple of Isis," he said gloomily. "Agne? In
+the face of all the people? And she knows nothing about it?"
+
+"Nothing, father."
+
+"No? Well then, if that is the case... Agne, the Christian, in the
+Temple of Isis--here, here, where Bishop Theophilus is destroying
+all our sanctuaries and the monks outdo their master. Ah, children,
+children, how pretty and round and bright a soap-bubble is, and how soon
+it bursts. Do you know at all what it is that you are planning? If the
+black flies smell it out and it becomes known, by the great Apollo!
+we should have fared better at the hands of the pirates. And yet, and
+yet.--Do you know at all how the girl...?"
+
+"She wept at the lady's singing," interrupted Herse eagerly, "and,
+silent as she generally is, on her way home she said: 'To sing like
+that! She is a happy girl!'"
+
+Karnis looked up with renewed confidence.
+
+"Ah!" he exclaimed, "that is my Agne. Yes, yes, she truly loves her
+divine art. She can sing, she will sing! We will venture it, if you, I,
+all of us die for it!
+
+"Herse, Orpheus, what have we to lose? Our gods, too, shall have their
+martyrs. It is a poor life that has no excitement. Our art--why, all
+I have ever had has been devoted to it. I make no boast of having
+sacrificed everything, and if gold and lands were again to be mine I
+would become a beggar once more for the sake of art: We have always held
+the divine Muse sacred, but who can keep up a brave heart when he sees
+her persecuted! She may only be worshipped in darkness in these days,
+and the Queen of Gods and men shuns the light like a moth, a bat, an
+owl. If we must die let it be with and for Her! Once more let pure and
+perfect song rejoice this old heart, and if afterwards... My children,
+we have no place in this dim, colorless world. While the Arts lived
+there was Spring on the earth. Now they are condemned to death and it
+is Winter. The leaves fall from all the trees, and we piping birds need
+groves to sing in. How often already has Death laid his hand on our
+shoulder, every breath we draw is a boon of mercy--the extra length
+given in by the weaver, the hour of grace granted by the hangman to his
+victim! Our lives are no longer our own, a borrowed purse with damaged
+copper coins. The hard-hearted creditor has already bent his knuckles,
+and when he knocks the time is up. Once more let us have one hour of
+pure and perfect enjoyment, and then we will pay up capital and interest
+when we must."
+
+"It cannot and will not be yet," said Herse resolutely, but she wiped
+her eyes with her hand. "If Agne sings even, so long as she does it
+without coercion and of her own free-will no Bishop can punish us."
+
+"He cannot, he dare not!" cried the old man. "There are still laws and
+judges."
+
+"And Gorgo's family is influential as well as rich. Porphyrius has power
+to protect us, and you do not yet know what a fancy he has taken to us.
+Ask mother."
+
+"It is like a story," Herse put in. "Before we left, the old lady--she
+must be eighty or more--took me aside and asked me where we were
+lodging. I told her at the Widow Mary's and when she heard it she struck
+her crutch on the floor. 'Do you like the place?' she asked. I told her
+not at all, and said we could not possibly stop here."
+
+"Quite right!" cried Karnis. "The monks in the court-yard will kill us
+as dead as rats if they hear us learning heathen hymns."
+
+"That is what I told her; but the old lady did not allow me to finish;
+she drew me close to her and whispered, 'only do as my granddaughter
+wishes and you shall be safely housed and take this for the
+present'--and she put her hand into the purse at her girdle, gave the
+gold into my hand, and added loud enough for the others to hear: 'Fifty
+gold pieces out of my own pocket if Gorgo tells me that she is satisfied
+with your performance.'"
+
+"Fifty gold pieces!" cried Karnis clasping his hands. "That brightens
+up the dull grey of existence. Fifty, then, are certain. If we sing six
+times that makes a talent--[estimated in 1880 at $1100]--and that will
+buy back our old vineyard at Leontium. I will repair the old Odeum--they
+have made a cowhouse of it--and when we sing there the monks may come
+and listen! You laugh? But you are simpletons--I should like to see who
+will forbid my singing on my own land and in my own country. A talent of
+gold!
+
+"It is quite enough to pay on account, and I will not agree to any
+bargain that will not give me the field-slaves and cattle. Castles in
+the air, do you say? But just listen to me: We are sure you see of
+a hundred gold pieces at least..." He had raised his voice in his
+eagerness and while he spoke the curtains had been softly opened, and
+the dull glimmer of the lamp which stood in front of Orpheus fell on a
+head which was charming in spite of its disorder. A quantity of loose
+fair hair curled in papers stuck up all over the round head and fell
+over the forehead, the eyes were tired and still half shut, but the
+little mouth was wide awake and laughing with the frank amusement of
+light-hearted youth.
+
+Karnis, without noticing the listener, had gone on with his visionary
+hopes of regaining his estates by his next earnings, but at this point
+the young girl, holding the curtain in her right hand, stretched out her
+plump left arm and begged in a humble whine:
+
+"Good father Karnis, give me a little of your wealth; five poor little
+drachmae!"
+
+The old man started; but he instantly recovered himself and answered
+good-naturedly enough:
+
+"Go back to bed, you little hussy. You ought to be asleep instead of
+listening there!"
+
+"Asleep?" said the girl. "While you are shouting like an orator against
+the wind! Five drachmae, father. I stick to that. A new ribband for me
+will cost one, and the same for Agne, two. Two I will spend on wine for
+us all, and that makes the five."
+
+"That makes four--you are a great arithmetician to be sure!"
+
+"Four?" said Dada, as much amazed as though the moon had fallen. "If
+only I had a counting-frame. No, father, five I tell you--it is five."
+
+"No, child, four; and you shall have four," replied her father. "Plutus
+is at the door and to-morrow morning you shall both have garlands."
+
+"Yes, of violets, ivy and roses," added Dame Herse. "Is Agne asleep?"
+
+"As sound as the dead. She always sleeps soundly unless she lies wide
+awake all the night through. But we were both so tired--and I am still.
+It is a comfort to yawn. Do you see how I am sitting?"
+
+"On the clothes-chest?" said Herse.
+
+"Yes, and the curtain is not a strong back to the seat. Fortunately if I
+fall asleep I shall drop forwards, not backwards."
+
+"But there is a bed for each of you," said the mother, and giving the
+girl a gentle push she followed her into the sleeping-alcove. In a few
+minutes she came out again.
+
+"That is just like Dada!" she exclaimed. "Little Papias had rolled off
+the chest on which he was sleeping, so the good girl had put him into
+her bed and was sitting on the chest herself, tired as she was."
+
+"She would do anything for that boy," said Karnis. "But it is past
+midnight. Come, Orpheus, let us make the bed!"
+
+Three long hen-coops which stood piled against the wall were laid on
+the ground and covered with mats; on these the tired men stretched their
+limbs, but they could not sleep.
+
+The little lamp was extinguished, and for an hour all was still in the
+dark room. Then, suddenly, there was a loud commotion; some elastic
+object flew against the wall with a loud flap, and Karnis, starting up,
+called out: "Get out--monster!"
+
+"What is it?" cried Herse who had also been startled, and the old man
+replied angrily:
+
+"Some daemon, some dog of a daemon is attacking me and giving me no
+peace. Wait, you villain--there, perhaps that will settle you," and he
+flung his second sandal. Then, without heeding the rustling fall of some
+object that he had hit by accident, he gasped out:
+
+"The impudent fiend will not let me be. It knows that we need Agne's
+voice, and it keeps whispering, first in one ear and then in the other,
+that I should threaten to sell her little brother if she refuses; but
+I--I--strike a light, Orpheus!--She is a good girl and rather than do
+such a thing..."
+
+"The daemon has been close to me too," said the son as he blew on the
+spark he had struck.
+
+"And to me too," added Herse nervously. "It is only natural. There are
+no images of the gods in this Christian hovel. Away, hateful serpent!
+We are honest folks and will not agree to any vile baseness. Here is my
+amulet, Karnis; if the daemon comes again you must turn it round--you
+know how."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Early next morning the singers set out for the house of Porphyrius. The
+party was not complete, however, for Dada had been forced to remain at
+home. The shoes that the old man had flung to scare away the daemon had
+caught in the girl's dress which she had just washed, and had dragged
+it down on to the earth; she had found it in the morning full of holes
+burnt by the ashes into the damp material. Dada had no other presentable
+garment, so, in spite of her indignant refusal and many tears, she had
+to remain indoors with Papias. Agne's anxious offers to stay in her
+place with the little boy and to lend Dada her dress, both Karnis and
+his wife had positively refused; and Dada had lent her aid--at first
+silently though willingly and then with her usual merriment--in twining
+garlands for the others and in dressing Agne's smooth black plaits with
+a wreath of ivy and violets.
+
+The men were already washed, anointed and crowned with poplar and laurel
+when a steward arrived from Porphyrius to bid them follow him to his
+master's house. But a small sacrifice was necessary, for the messenger
+desired them to lay aside their wreaths, which would excite ill-feeling
+among the monks, and certainly be snatched off by the Christian mob.
+Karnis when he started was greatly disappointed, and as much depressed
+as he had been triumphant and hopeful a short time before.
+
+The monks, who had gathered outside the Xenodochium, glanced with
+scowling suspicion at the party, who could not recover the good spirits
+with which they had begun the day till they were fairly out of the
+narrow, gloomy alleys, reeking with tar and salt fish, that adjoined the
+harbor, and where they had to push their way through a dense throng.
+The steward led the van with Herse, talking freely in reply to her
+enquiries.
+
+His master, he said, was one of the great merchants of the city, whose
+wife had died twenty years since in giving birth to Gorgo. His two sons
+were at present absent on their travels. The old lady who had been
+so liberal in her treatment of the singers was Damia, the mother of
+Porphyrius. She had a fine fortune of her own, and notwithstanding her
+great age was still respected as the soul of business in the household,
+and as a woman deeply versed in the mysterious sciences. Mary, the pious
+Christian, who had founded the "House of the Holy Martyr," was the
+widow of Apelles, the brother of Porphyrius, but she had ceased all
+intercourse with her husband's family. This was but natural, as she was
+at the head of the Christian women of Alexandria, while the household
+of Porphyrius--though the master himself had been baptized--was as
+thoroughly heathen as any in Alexandria.
+
+Karnis heard nothing of all this, for he came last of the party. Orpheus
+and Agne followed next to Herse and the steward, and after them came two
+slaves, carrying the lutes and pipes. Agne walked with downcast eyes,
+as if she desired to avoid seeing all that surrounded her, though when
+Orpheus addressed her she shyly glanced up at him and answered briefly
+and timidly. They presently came out of an obscure alley by the canal
+connecting Kibotus with Lake Mareotis where the Nile-boats lay at
+anchor. Karnis drew a deeper breath, for here the air was clear and
+balmy; a light northerly breeze brought the refreshing fragrance of
+the sea, and the slender palm-trees that bordered the canal threw long
+shadows mingling with the massive shade of the sycamores. The road was
+astir with busy groups, birds sang in the trees, and the old musician
+drank in the exciting and aromatic atmosphere of the Egyptian Spring
+with keen enjoyment.
+
+As they reached the middle of the steep bridge across the canal he
+involuntarily stood still, riveted by the view of the southwest. In his
+excitement he threw up his arms, his eyes glistened with moisture and
+with the enthusiasm of youth, and, as was always the case when his
+emotions were stirred by some glorious work of God or man, an image rose
+to his mind, all unbidden--the image of his eldest son, now dead, but
+in life his closest and most sympathetic comrade. He felt as though
+his hand could grasp the shoulder of that son, too early snatched away,
+whose gifts had far transcended those of the surviving Orpheus--as
+though he too could gaze with him on the grand scene that lay before
+him.
+
+On a platform of rocks and mighty masonry rose a structure of wonderful
+magnificence and beauty, so brilliantly illuminated by the morning
+sun that its noble proportions and gorgeous colors showed in dazzling
+splendor and relief. Over the gilt dome bent the cloudless blue of the
+African sky, and the polished hemisphere shone, as radiant as the sun
+whose beams it reflected. Sloping planes for vehicles, and flights
+of steps for pedestrians led up to the gates. The lower part of this
+wonderful edifice--the great Temple of Serapis--was built to stand
+forever, and the pillars of the vestibule supported a roof more fitted
+to the majesty of the gods than to the insignificance of mortals;
+priests and worshippers moved here like children among the trunks of
+some gigantic forest. Round the cornice, in hundreds of niches, and on
+every projection, all the gods of Olympus and all the heroes and sages
+of Greece seemed to have met in conclave, and stood gazing down on the
+world in gleaming brass or tinted marble. Every portion of the building
+blazed with gold and vivid coloring; the painter's hand had added life
+to the marble groups in high relief that filled the pediments and the
+smaller figures in the long row of metopes. All the population of a town
+might have found refuge in the vast edifice and its effect on the mind
+was like that of a harmonious symphony of adoration sung by a chorus of
+giants.
+
+"All hail! Great Serapis! I greet thee in joyful humility, thankful that
+Thou hast granted to my old eyes to see Thy glorious and eternal temple
+once again!" murmured Karnis in devout contemplation. Then, appealing
+to his wife and son, he pointed in silence to the building. Presently,
+however, as he watched Orpheus gazing in speechless delight at its
+magnificent proportions he could not forbear.
+
+"This," he began with fervid enthusiasm, "is the stronghold of Serapis
+the King of the Gods! A work for all time. Its youth has lasted five
+hundred years, its future will extend to all eternity.--Aye, so it
+is; and so long as it endures in all its glory the old gods cannot be
+deposed!"
+
+"No one will ever dare to touch a stone of it," said the steward. "Every
+child in Alexandria knows that the world will crumble into dust and
+ashes if a finger is laid on that Temple, and the man who ventures to
+touch the sacred image..."
+
+"The god can protect himself!" interrupted the singer. "But you--you
+Christian hypocrites who pretend to hate life and love death--if you
+really long so vehemently for the end of all things, you have only to
+fall upon this glorious structure.--Do that, do that--only do that!"
+
+The old man shook his fist at the invisible foe and Herse echoed his
+words:
+
+"Aye, aye, only do that!" Then she added more calmly: "Well, if
+everything comes to an end at once the enemies of the gods will die with
+us; and there can be nothing terrible in perishing at the same time with
+everything that is beautiful or dear to us."
+
+"Nevertheless," said the steward, "the Bishop has put out his hand
+to touch the sanctuary. But our noble Olympius would not suffer the
+sacrilegious host to approach, and they had to retire with broken
+heads. Serapis will not be mocked; he will stand though all else perish.
+'Eternity,' the priest tells us, 'is to him but as an instant, and while
+millions of generations bloom and fade, he is still and forever the
+same!'"
+
+"Hail, all hail to the great god!" cried Orpheus with hands outstretched
+towards the temple.
+
+"Yea, hail! for everlasting glory shall be his!" repeated his father.
+"Great is Serapis, and his house and his image shall last..."
+
+"Till the next full moon!" said a passer-by in a tone of sinister
+mockery, shaking his fist in the face, as it were, of the god. Orpheus
+turned quickly to punish the prophet of evil; but he had disappeared in
+the crowd and the tide of men had borne him onwards. "Till the next full
+moon!" murmured Agne, who had shuddered at her companion's rapturous
+ejaculations, and she glanced uneasily at Orpheus; but by the time Herse
+addressed her a minute or two later she had controlled the expression of
+her features, and the matron's heart was gladdened by her bright
+smile. Nay, many a young Alexandrian, passing the group on foot or in a
+carriage, looked at her a second time, for that smile lent a mysterious
+charm to her pale, calm face. Nor had it faded away when they had
+crossed the bridge and were nearing the shores of the lake, for an idea
+once conceived lingered long in Agne's mind; and as she walked on in
+the bright glory of the morning's sun her mind's eye was fixed on a
+nocturnal scene--on the full moon, high in the sky--on the overthrow
+of the great idol and a glittering army among the marble ruins of the
+Serapeum. Apostles and martyrs soared around, the Saviour sat enthroned
+in glory and triumph, while angels, cradled on the clouds that were his
+footstool, were singing beatific hymns which sounded clearly in her ear
+above the many-voiced tumult of the quays. The vision did not vanish
+till she was desired to get into the boat.
+
+Herse was a native of Alexandria and Karnis had passed some of the best
+years of his life there; but to Orpheus and Agne all was new, and even
+the girl, when once she had escaped from the crowd and noise which
+oppressed her, took an interest in the scene and asked a question now
+and then. The younger man had not eyes enough to see all that claimed
+his attention and admiration.
+
+There were the great sluice-gates at the entrance to the canal that
+joined the lake to the sea--there, in a separate dock, lay the splendid
+imperial Nile-boats which served to keep up communication between the
+garrison of Alexandria and the military stations on the river--there,
+again, were the gaudy barges intended for the use of the 'comes', the
+prefect and other high officials--and there merchant-vessels of every
+size lay at anchor in countless number. Long trains of many-colored
+sails swept over the rippling lake like flights of birds across a
+cornfield, and every inch of the shore was covered with stores or
+buildings. Far away to the south long trellices of vine covered the
+slopes, broken by the silvery glaucous tones of the olive-groves, and
+by clumps of towering palms whose crowns mingled to form a lofty canopy.
+White walls, gaudily-painted temples and private villas gleamed among
+the green, and the slanting rays of the low sun, shining on the drops
+that fell from the never-resting wheels and buckets that irrigated the
+land, turned them into showers of diamonds. These water-works, of the
+most ingenious construction, many of them invented and contrived by
+scientific engineers, were the weapons with which man had conquered
+the desert that originally surrounded this lake, forcing it into green
+fertility and productiveness of grain and fruit. Nay, the desert had,
+for many centuries, here ceased to exist. Dionysus the generous, and the
+kindly garden-gods had blest the toil of men, and yet, now, in many
+a plot--in all which belonged to Christian owners--their altars lay
+scattered and overthrown.
+
+During the last thirty years much indeed was changed, and nothing to
+the satisfaction of old Karnis; Herse, too, shook her head, and when
+the rowers had pulled them about half-way across, she pointed to a broad
+vacant spot on the bank where a new building was just rising above the
+soil, and said sadly to her husband:
+
+"Would you know that place again? Where is our dear old temple gone? The
+temple of Dionysus." Karnis started up so hastily that he almost upset
+the boat, and their conductor was obliged to insist on his keeping
+quiet; he obeyed but badly, however, for his arms were never still as he
+broke out:
+
+"And do you suppose that because we are in Egypt I can keep my living
+body as still as one of your dead mummies? Let others keep still if they
+can! I say it is shameful, disgraceful; a dove's gall might rise at it!
+That splendid building, the pride of the city and the delight of men's
+eyes, destroyed--swept away like dust from the road! Do you see? Do you
+see, I say? Broken columns, marble capitals, here, there and everywhere
+at the bottom of the lake--here a head and there a torso! Great
+and noble masters formed those statues by the aid of the gods, and
+they--they, small and ignoble as they are, have destroyed them by the
+aid of evil daemons. They have annihilated and drowned works that were
+worthy to live forever! And why? Shall I tell you? Because they shun
+the Beautiful as an owl shuns light. Aye, they do! There is nothing they
+hate or dread so much as beauty; wherever they find it, they deface and
+destroy it, even if it is the work of the Divinity. I accuse them before
+the Immortals--for where is the grove even, not the work of man but
+the special work of Heaven itself? Where is our grove, with its cool
+grottos, its primaeval trees, its shady nooks, and all the peace and
+enjoyment of which it was as full as a ripe grape is full of sweet
+juice?"
+
+"It was cut down and rooted up," replied the steward. "The emperor gave
+the sanctuary over to Bishop Theophilus and he set to work at once to
+destroy it. The temple was pulled down, the sacred vessels went into the
+melting-pot, and the images were mutilated and insulted before they were
+thrown into the lime-kiln. The place they are building now is to be a
+Christian church. Oh! to think of the airy, beautiful colonnades that
+once stood there, and then of the dingy barn that is to take their
+place!"
+
+"Why do the gods endure it? Has Zeus lost his thunderbolts?" cried
+Orpheus clenching his hands, and paying no heed to Agne who sat pale and
+sternly silent during this conversation.
+
+"Nay, he only sleeps, to wake with awful power," said the old man.
+"See those blocks of marble and ruins under the waves. Swift work
+is destruction! And men lost their wits and looked on at the crime,
+flinging the delight of the gods into the water and the kiln. They were
+wise, very wise; fishes and flames are dumb and cannot cry to heaven.
+One barbarian, in one hour can destroy what it has taken the sublimest
+souls years, centuries, to create. They glory in destruction and ruin
+and they can no more build up again such a temple as stood there than
+they can restore trees that have taken six hundred years to grow.
+There--out there, Herse, in the hollow where those black fellows are
+stirring mortar--they have given them shirts too, because they are
+ashamed of the beauty of men's bodies--that is where the grotto was
+where we found your poor father."
+
+"The grotto?" repeated his wife, looking at the spot through her tears,
+and thinking of the day when, as a girl, she had hurried to the feast
+of Dionysus and sought her father in the temple. He had been famous as
+a gem-cutter. In obedience to the time-honored tradition in Alexandria,
+after intoxicating himself with new wine in honor of the god, he had
+rushed out into the street to join the procession. The next morning he
+had not returned; the afternoon passed and evening came and still he
+did not appear, so his daughter had gone in search of him. Karnis was
+at that time a young student and, as her father's lodger, had rented the
+best room in the house. He had met her going on her errand and had been
+very ready to help her in the search; before long they had found the
+old man in the ivy-grown grotto in the grove of Dionysus--motionless and
+cold, as if struck by lightning. The bystanders believed that the god
+had snatched him away in his intoxicated legion.
+
+In this hour of sorrow Karnis had proved himself her friend, and a few
+months after Herse had become his wife and gone with him to Tauromenium
+in Sicily.
+
+All this rose before her mind, and even Karnis sat gazing dumbly at the
+waves; for every spot where some decisive change has occurred in our
+lives has power to revive the past when we see it again after a long
+absence. Thus they all sat in silence till Orpheus, touching his father,
+pointed out the temple of Isis where he had met the fair Gorgo on the
+previous day. The old man turned to look at the sanctuary which, as yet,
+remained intact.
+
+"A barbarous structure!" he said bitterly. "The art of the Egyptians
+has long been numbered with the dead and the tiger hungers only for the
+living!"
+
+"Nay, it is not such a bad piece of work," replied the steward, "but it
+is out of their reach; for the ground on which it stands belongs to my
+old mistress, and the law protects private property.--You must at your
+leisure inspect the ship-yard here; it is perhaps the most extensive in
+the world. The timber that is piled there--cedar of Lebanon, oak from
+Pontus and heavy iron-wood from Ethiopia--is worth hundreds of talents."
+
+"And does all that belong to your master?"
+
+"No; the owner is the grandson of a freedman, formerly in his family.
+Now they are very rich and highly respected, and Master Clemens sits in
+the Senate. There he is--that man in a white robe."
+
+"A Christian, I should imagine," observed the singer.
+
+"Very true;" replied the steward. "But what is good remains good, and
+he is a worthy and excellent man notwithstanding. He keeps a tight
+hand over the ship-yard here and over the others too by the harbor
+of Eunostus. Only Clemens can never let other people have their own
+opinions; in that he is just like the rest of them. Every slave he buys
+must become a Christian and his sons are the same; even Constantine,
+though he is an officer in the imperial army and as smart and clever a
+soldier as lives.--As far as we are concerned we leave every man to his
+own beliefs. Porphyrius makes no secret of his views and all the vessels
+we use in the corn-trade are built by Christians.--But here we are."
+
+The boat stopped at a broad flight of marble steps which led from the
+lake into the garden of Porphyrius' house. Karnis as he walked through
+the grounds felt himself at greater ease, for here the old gods were
+at home; their statues gleamed among the dark clumps of evergreens, and
+were mirrored in the clear tanks, while delicious perfumes were wafted
+from the garlanded shrines and freshly anointed altars, to greet the
+newcomers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+The family of musicians were kindly received, but they were not
+immediately called upon to perform, for as soon as Damia heard that the
+pretty fair-haired child who had pleased her so much the day before
+had been obliged to remain at home, she had one of her granddaughter's
+dresses brought out, and requested Herse to go back to fetch her. Some
+slaves were to accompany Herse and transfer all her little property on
+board a Nile-boat belonging to Porphyrius, which was lying at anchor
+just off the ship-yard. In this large barge there were several cabins
+which had often accommodated guests, and which would now serve very well
+as a residence for Karnis and his party. Indeed, it was particularly
+well suited for a family of musicians, for they could practise there
+undisturbed, and Gorgo could at any time pay them a visit.
+
+Herse went back to the Xenodochium with a lighter heart; her son also
+returned to the city to replace a number of necessaries that had been
+lost on board ship, and Karnis, rejoicing to be out of the monk-haunted
+asylum had remained in the men's room in the house of his new patron,
+enjoying the good things which abounded there. He felt as though he was
+here once more at home after years of exile. Here dwelt the spirit of
+his fathers; here he found men who enjoyed life after his own fashion,
+who could share his enthusiasms and his hatreds. He drank noble liquor
+out of an elegantly carved onyx cup, all that he heard soothed his ears,
+and all that he said met with entire sympathy. The future prospects of
+his family, till now so uncertain, were hardly inferior to those which
+his vivid imagination had painted the night before. And even if Fortune
+should again desert him, the hours of present enjoyment should be
+written down to the profit side of life, and remain a permanent gain at
+any rate in memory.
+
+The venerable Damia, her son Porphyrius, and the fair Gorgo were in
+fact a trio such as are rarely met with. The master of the house, more
+cautious than the women, was inclined to think that his mother and
+daughter had been somewhat overhasty and imprudent in their advances and
+he had at first received Karnis with considerable reserve; but after a
+short interview he had convinced himself that the musician was a man of
+unusual culture and superior stamp. The old lady had, from the first,
+been predisposed in his favor, for she had read in the stars last night
+that the day was to bring her a fortunate meeting. Her wish was law, and
+Karnis could not help smiling when she addressed her son, whose hair
+had long been grey and who looked fully competent to manage his own
+household, as "my child," not hesitating to scold and reprove him. Her
+cathedra was a high arm-chair which she never quitted but to be
+carried to her observatory on the roof of the house, where she kept her
+astrological tablets and manuscripts. The only weakness about her was
+in her feet; but strong, and willing arms were always at her disposal
+to carry her about--to table, into her sleeping-room, and during the
+daytime out to sunny spots in the garden. She was never so happy as when
+Helios warmed her back with his rays, for her old blood needed it after
+the long night-watches that she still would keep in her observatory.
+Even during the hottest noon she would sit in the sun, with a large
+green umbrella to shade her keen eyes, and those who desired to speak
+with her might find shade as best they could. As she stood, much bent,
+but propped on her ivory crutches, eagerly following every word of a
+conversation, she looked as though she were prepared at any moment to
+spring into the middle of it and interrupt the speaker. She always said
+exactly what she meant without reserve or ruth; and throughout her long
+life, as the mistress of great wealth, she had always been allowed to
+have her own way. She asserted her rights even over her son, though
+he was the centre of a web whose threads reached to the furthest
+circumference of the known world. The peasants who tilled the earth by
+the Upper and Lower Nile, the shepherds who kept their flocks in the
+Arabian desert, in Syria, or on the Silphium meads of Cyrenaica, the
+wood-cutters of Lebanon and Pontus, the mountaineers of Hispania and
+Sardinia, the brokers, merchants, and skippers of every port on the
+Mediterranean, were bound by these threads to the villa on the shore of
+Mareotis, and felt the tie when the master there--docile as a boy to his
+mother's will--tightened or released his hold.
+
+His possessions, even in his youth, had been so vast that their
+increment could bring no added enjoyment to him or his family, and yet
+their increase had become his life's task. He strove for a higher sum to
+figure on the annual balance sheet, as eagerly as an athlete strives
+for a prize; and his mother not only inspected the account, but watched
+every important undertaking with keen interest. When her son and his
+colleagues doubted over some decision it was she who gave the casting
+vote; but though her advice in most cases proved sound and profitable,
+she herself ascribed this less to her own acumen and knowledge of the
+world than to the hints she obtained from the stars and from magical
+calculations. Her son did not follow her in these speculations, but
+he rarely disputed the conclusions that she drew from her astrological
+studies. While she was turning night into day he was glad to entertain
+a few learned friends, for all the hours of leisure that he could snatch
+from his pursuit of fortune, he devoted to philosophy, and the most
+distinguished thinkers of Alexandria were happy to be received at
+the hospitable table of so rich a patron. He was charmed to be called
+"Callias,"
+
+   [The noble Athenian family of Callias was famed for its wealth and
+   splendor.]
+
+and the heathen teachers at the schools of the Museum and Serapeum
+regarded him as a faithful ally. It was known that he had been baptized,
+but he never liked to hear the fact mentioned. He won all hearts by his
+perfect modesty, but even more perhaps by a certain air of suffering
+and melancholy which protected the wealthy merchant against the envy of
+detractors.
+
+In the course of her conversation with Karnis the old lady enquired
+particularly as to the antecedent history of Agne, for if there had been
+a stain on her character, or if she were by birth a slave, Gorgo could
+not of course be seen with her in public, and in that case Karnis would
+have to teach the lament of Isis to some freeborn singer. Karnis in
+reply could only shrug his shoulders, and beg the ladies and Porphyrius
+to judge for themselves when he should have related the young girl's
+story.
+
+Three years since, he said, he had been staying at Antioch at the time
+of a violent outbreak against the levying of certain taxes. There had
+been much bloodshed, and he and his family had got out of the city
+as quickly as they could. It was growing dusk when they turned into a
+wayside inn, where they found Agne and her little brother captives to a
+soldier. During the night the girl had crept up to the little boy's bed,
+and to comfort and lull him had begun to sing him a simple song. The
+singer's voice was so pure and pathetic that it had touched both him and
+his wife and they had at once purchased the girl and her brother for a
+small sum. He had simply paid what the soldier asked, not regarding the
+children in the light of slaves; nor had he had any description of them
+written out, though it was, no doubt, in his power to treat them as
+slaves and to sell them again, since the sale had taken place before
+witnesses who might still be found. He had afterwards learnt from the
+girl that her parents were Christians and had settled in Antioch only
+a few years previously; but she had no friends nor relatives there. Her
+father, being a tax-collector in the service of the Emperor, had moved
+about a great deal, but she remembered his having spoken of Augusta
+Treviroruin in Belgica prima, as his native place.--[Now Trier or
+Treves, on the Moselle.]
+
+Agne had witnessed the attack on her father's house by the angry mob
+who had killed her parents, their two slaves, and her elder brother. Her
+father must certainly have been an official of some rank, and probably,
+as it would seem, a Roman citizen, in which case--as Porphyrius
+agreed--both the young girl and her little brother could legally claim
+their freedom. The insurgents who had dragged the two children out into
+the street had been driven off by the troops, and it was from them that
+Karnis had rescued them. "And I have never regretted it," added the old
+musician, "for Agne is a sweet, gentle soul. Of her voice I need say
+nothing, since you yourselves heard it yesterday."
+
+"And were quite delighted with it!" cried Gorgo. "If flowers could sing
+it would be like that!"
+
+"Well, well," said Karnis. "She has a lovely voice--but she wants wings.
+Something--what, I know not, keeps the violet rooted to the soil."
+
+"Christian scruples," said the merchant, and Damia added:
+
+"Let Eros touch her--that will loosen her tongue."
+
+"Eros, always Eros!" repeated Gorgo shrugging her shoulders. "Nay, love
+means suffering--those who love drag a chain with them. To do the best
+of which he is capable man needs only to be free, true, and in health."
+
+"That is a great deal, fair mistress," replied Karnis eagerly. "With
+these three gifts the best work is done. But as to Agne--what can be
+further from freedom than a girl bound to service? her body, to be sure
+is healthy, but her spirit suffers; she can get no peace for dread of
+the Christian's terrors: Sin, Repentance, and Hell...."
+
+"Oh, we know how their life is ruined!" interrupted the old lady. "Was
+it Agne who introduced you to Mary's Asylum?"
+
+"No, noble lady."
+
+"But how then--that prudent saint generally selects her guests, and
+those that are not baptized..."
+
+"She certainly sheltered heathens on this occasion."
+
+"I am much surprised. Tell me how it happened."
+
+"We were at Rome," began Karnis, "and my patron there persuaded Marcus,
+Mary's son, to take us on board his ship at Ostia. We dropped anchor at
+Cyrene, where the young master wanted to pick up his brother and bring
+him also to Alexandria."
+
+"Then is Demetrius here?" asked Porphyrius.
+
+"Yes, sir. He came on board at Cyrene. Hardly had we got fairly to
+sea again when we saw two pirate ships. Our trireme was at once turned
+round, but in our hurry to regain the harbor we stuck fast on a
+sand bank; the boats were at once put out to save the passengers and
+Cynegius, the consul..."
+
+"Cynegius--on his way here!" exclaimed Porphyrius, much excited.
+
+"He landed yesterday with us in the harbor of Eunostus. The secretaries
+and officers of his suite filled one boat and Marcus and his brother
+were getting into the other with their men. We, and others of the free
+passengers, should have been left behind if Dada..."
+
+"That pretty little blonde?" asked Damia.
+
+"The very same. Marcus had taken a great fancy to her prattle and her
+songs during the voyage--no nightingale can sing more clearly--and when
+she begged and prayed him he gave way at once, and said: he would take
+her in his boat. But the brave child declared that she would jump into
+the sea before she would leave without us."
+
+"Well done!" cried the old lady, and Porphyrius added:
+
+"That speaks well for her and for you."
+
+"So after all Marcus found room for us in the boat--for all of us, and
+we got safely to land. A few days after we all came on in a troop-ship:
+Cynegius, the two brothers and the rest, all safe and sound; and, as
+we had lost everything we possessed, Marcus gave us a certificate which
+procured our admission into his mother's Xenodochium. And then the gods
+brought me and mine under the notice of your noble daughter."
+
+"Then Cynegius is here, positively here?" asked Porphyrius once more.
+Karnis assured him that he was, and the merchant, turning to his mother,
+went on:
+
+"And Olympius has not yet come home. It is always the same thing; he is
+as rash as a boy. If they should take him! The roads are swarming with
+monks. There is something astir. Bring out the chariot, Syrus, at once;
+and tell Atlas to be ready to accompany me. Cynegius here!--Ha, ha! I
+thank the gods!"
+
+The last exclamation was addressed to a man who at this instant came
+into the room, muffled up to the eyes. He threw off the hood of his
+cloak and the wrapper that went round his throat, concealing his long
+white beard, and as he did so he exclaimed with a gasp for breath:
+
+"Here I am once more!--Cynegius is here and matters look serious my
+friend."
+
+"You have been to the Museum?"
+
+"Without any obstruction. I found them all assembled. Brave lads. They
+are all for us and the gods. There are plenty of weapons. The Jews--[At
+that time about two-fifths of the whole population.]--are not stirring,
+Onias thinks he may vouch for that; and we must surely be a match for
+the monks and the imperial cohorts."
+
+"If the gods only stand by us to-day and tomorrow," replied Porphyrius
+doubtfully.
+
+"For ever, if only the country people do their duty!" cried the other.
+"But who is this stranger?"
+
+"The chief of the singers who were here yesterday," replied Gorgo.
+
+"Karnis, the son of Hiero of Tauromenium," said the musician, bowing to
+the stranger, whose stately figure and handsome, thoughtful head struck
+him with admiration.
+
+"Karnis of Tauromenium!" exclaimed the newcomer with glad surprise. "By
+Hercules! a strange meeting. Your hand, your hand, old man. How many
+years is it since we last emptied a wine-jar together at the house of
+old Hippias? Seven lustres have turned our hair grey, but we still can
+stand upright. Well, Karnis son of Hiero--and who am I?"
+
+"Olympius--the great Olympius!" cried Karnis, eagerly grasping the
+offered hand. "May all the gods bless this happy day!"
+
+"All the gods?" repeated the philosopher. "Is that what you say? Then
+you have not crawled under the yoke of the cross?"
+
+"The world can rejoice only under the auspices of the gods!" cried
+Karnis excitedly.
+
+"And it shall rejoice still, we will save it from gloom!" added the
+other with a flash of vehemence.
+
+"The times are fateful. We must fight; and no longer over trifles; we
+cannot now break each other's heads over a quibble, or believe that the
+whole world hangs on the question whether the instant of death is the
+last minute of this life or the first of the next. No--what now remains
+to be decided is whether the old gods shall be victorious, whether we
+shall continue to live free and happy under the rule of the Immortals,
+or whether we shall bow under the dismal doctrine of the carpenter's
+crucified son; we must fight for the highest hopes and aims of
+humanity."
+
+"I know," interrupted Karnis, "you have already done battle valiantly
+for great Serapis. They wanted to lay hands on his sanctuary but you and
+your disciples put them to rout. The rest got off scot-free..."
+
+"But they have taught me the value of my head," said Olympius laughing.
+"Evagrius prices it at three talents. Why, you might buy a house with
+the money and a modest man could live upon the interest. This worthy man
+keeps me concealed here. We must talk over a few things, Porphyrius; and
+you, Gorgo, do not forget the solemn festival of Isis. Now that Cynegius
+is here it must be made as splendid as possible, and he must tell the
+Emperor, who has sent him, what temper we Alexandrians are in. But where
+is the dark maiden I saw yesterday?"
+
+"In the garden," replied Gorgo.
+
+"She is to sing at the foot of the bier!" cried Olympius. "That must not
+be altered."
+
+"If I can persuade her--she is a Christian," said Karnis doubtfully.
+
+"She must," said the philosopher positively. "It will be a bad lookout
+indeed for the logic and rhetoric of Alexandria if an old professor and
+disputant cannot succeed in turning a young girl's resolutions upside
+down. Leave that to me. I shall find time for a chat with you by and
+bye, friend Karnis. How in the world does it happen that you, who so
+often have helped us with your father's coin, have come down to be the
+chief of a band of travelling musicians? You will have much to tell me,
+my good friend; but even such important matters must give way to those
+that are more pressing. One word with you, Porphyrius."
+
+Agne had been all this time awaiting Herse's return in the colonnade
+that ran along the garden-front of the house. She was glad to be alone,
+and it was very comfortable to rest on the soft cushions under the
+gilt-coffered ceiling of the arcade. At each end stood large shrubs
+covered with bunches of violet-blue flowers and the spreading branches
+cast a pleasant shade on the couch where she sat; the beautiful flowers,
+which were strange to her, were delightfully fragrant, and from time
+to time she helped herself to the refreshments which Gorgo herself had
+brought out to her. All she saw, heard, and felt, was soothing to her
+mind; never had she seen or tasted juicier peaches, richer bunches of
+grapes, fresher almonds or more tempting cakes; on the shrubs in the
+garden and on the grass-plots between the paths there was not a dead
+leaf, not a dry stem, not the tiniest weed. The buds were swelling on
+the tall trees, shrubs without end were covered with blossoms--white,
+blue, yellow, and red--while, among the smooth, shining leaves of the
+orange and lemon trees, gleamed the swelling fruit. On a round tank
+close at hand some black swans were noiselessly tracing evanescent
+circles and uttering their strange lament. The song of birds mingled
+with the plash of fountains, and even the marble statues, for all that
+they were dumb, seemed to be enjoying the sweet morning air and the stir
+and voice of nature.
+
+Yes, she could be happy here; as she peeled a peach and slowly
+swallowed the soft fragrant mouthfuls, she laughed to remember the
+hard ship's-biscuit, of the two previous days' fare. And it was Gorgo's
+privilege to revel in these good things day after day, year after year.
+It was like living in Eden, in the perpetual spring of man's first
+blissful home on earth. There could be no suffering here; who could
+cry here, who could be sorrowful, who could die?... Here a new train of
+thought forced itself upon her. She was still so young, and yet she was
+as familiar with the idea of death as she was with life; for whenever
+she had happened to tell any minister of her creed that she was an
+orphan and a slave, and deeply sad and sorrowful, the joys of eternity
+in Paradise had always been described to her for her consolation, and it
+was in hopes of Heaven that her visionary nature found such a modicum of
+comfort as might suffice to keep the young artist-soul from despair. And
+now it struck her that it must be hard, very hard to die, in the midst
+of all this splendor. Living here must be a foretaste of the joys of
+Paradise--and in the next world, among the angels of Heaven, in the
+presence of the Saviour--would it not be a thousand times more beautiful
+even than this? She shuddered, for, sojourning here, she was no longer
+to be counted as one of the poor and humble sufferers to whom Christ had
+promised the Kingdom of Heaven--here she was one of the rich, who had
+nothing to hope for after death.
+
+She pushed the peaches away with a feeling of oppression, and closed
+her eyes that she might no longer see all these perishable splendors
+and sinful works of the heathen, which pandered only to the senses. She
+longed to remain miserable and poor on earth, that she might rejoin her
+parents and dwell with them eternally.
+
+To her it was not a belief but a certainty that her father and mother
+were dwelling in Heaven, and she had often felt moved to pray that she
+might die and be reunited to them; but she must not die yet, for her
+little brother still needed her care. The kind souls whom she served
+let him lack for nothing, it is true, that could conduce to his bodily
+welfare; still, she could not appear before her parents without the
+little one in her hand, and he would be lost eternally if his soul fell
+into the power of the enemies of her faith. Her heart ached when she
+reflected that Karnis, who was certainly not one of the reprobate and
+whom she affectionately revered as a master in the art she loved--that
+Herse, and the light-hearted Dada, and Orpheus even, must all be doomed
+to perish eternally; and to save Orpheus she would willingly have
+forfeited half the joys of Paradise. She saw that he was no less an
+idolater than his parents; and yet, day by day, she prayed that his soul
+might be saved, and she never ceased to hope for a miracle--that he too
+might see a vision, like Paul, and confess the Saviour. She was so happy
+when she was with him, and never happier than when it was her fortune to
+sing with him, or to his admirable accompaniment on the lute. When she
+could succeed in forgetting herself completely, and in giving utterance
+by her lovely voice to all that was highest and best in her soul, he,
+whose ear was no less sensitive and appreciative than his father's,
+would frankly express his approval, and in these moments life was indeed
+fair and precious.
+
+Music was the bond between her and Orpheus, and when her soul was
+stirred she could feel and express herself in music. Song was the
+language of her heart, and she had learnt by experience that it was
+a language which even the heathen could both use and understand. The
+Eternal Father himself must find joy in such a voice as Gorgo's. She was
+a heathen, and yet she had thrown into her song all that Agne herself
+could feel when she lifted up her heart in passionate prayer. The
+Christian--so she had often been taught--must have no part with the
+idolaters; but it was God himself who had cast her on the hands of
+Karnis, and the Church commanded that servants should obey their
+masters. Singing seemed to her to be a language in itself, bestowed by
+God on all living creatures, even on the birds, wherein to speak to Him;
+so she allowed herself to look forward with pleasure to an opportunity
+of mingling her own voice with that of the heathen lady.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Not long after Porphyrius and the philosopher had retired to a private
+room Herse returned with Dada. Gorgo's blue spangled dress, which Damia
+had sent her, suited the girl to perfection; but she was quite out of
+breath, and her hair was in disorder. Herse, too, looked agitated, her
+face was red and she dragged little Papias, whose hand she held, rather
+roughly at her heels.
+
+Dada was evidently abashed; less by reason of the splendor that
+surrounded her than because her foster-mother had strictly enjoined her
+to be very quiet and mannerly in the presence of their patrons. She felt
+shy and strange as she made her low courtesy to the old lady; but Damia
+seemed to be pleased with the timid grace of her demeanor, for she
+offered her her hand--an honor she usually conferred only on her
+intimates, bid her stoop, and gave her a kiss, saying kindly: "You are
+a good brave girl. Fidelity to your friends is pleasing in the sight of
+the gods, and finds its reward even among men."
+
+Dada, obeying a happy impulse, threw herself on her knees before the old
+woman, kissed her hands, and then, sitting on her heels, nestled at her
+feet.
+
+Gorgo, however, noticing Herse's agitation, asked what had happened to
+them. Some monks, Herse explained, had followed them on the road hither,
+had snatched Dada's lyre from the slave who was carrying it and pulled
+the wreath out of her hair. Damia was furious as she heard it, and
+trembled with rage as she railed at the wild hordes who disgraced and
+desecrated Alexandria, the sacred home of the Muses; then she began to
+speak once more of the young captain, Mary's son, to whom the troupe of
+singers owed their lives.
+
+"Marcus," said she, "is said to be a paragon of chastity. He races in
+the hippodrome with all the gallants of the town and yet--if it is true
+it is a miracle--he shuns women as though he were a priest already. His
+mother is very anxious that he should become one; but he, by the grace
+of Aphrodite, is the son of my handsome Appelles, who, if he had gazed
+into those blue eyes all the way from Rome to Alexandria, would have
+surrendered at mercy; but then he would also have conquered them--as
+surely as I hope to live till autumn. You need not blush so, child.
+After all, Marcus is a man like other men. Keep your eyes open, Dame
+Herse!"
+
+"Never fear!" cried Herse. "And I have need to keep them open I am
+sorry to say. The young captain, who on board ship was so bashful and
+retiring, as soon as he was on land altered his time. While we were away
+this morning he crept into his own mother's inn like a ferret, opened
+the door of our room with the keys of which he has the command--it is
+shameful!--and proposed to the girl to fly, to leave us--she is the
+daughter of a dear sister of mine--and go with him; who but he knows
+where!"
+
+Damia struck the floor with her crutch and, interrupting the indignant
+matron with a spiteful laugh, exclaimed:
+
+"Ha, ha! The saintly Mary's most saintly son! Such wonders do not happen
+every day! Here, Dada--here; take this ring, it has been worn by a woman
+who once was young and who has had many lovers. Close--come close, my
+sweet child."
+
+Dada looked up at the old lady with puzzled eyes; Damia bent her head
+close to the girl's, and whispered, softly but vehemently in her ear:
+
+"Only turn that milksop's head, make him so madly and desperately in
+love with you that he does not know which way to turn for delicious
+torment. You can do it I know, and if you do--well, I make no promises;
+but on the day when all Alexandria is talking of that woman's son as
+wandering out, night after night, to watch under the window of the fair
+Dada, the heathen singer--when he drives you out in the face of day
+and in his own chariot, down the Canopic Way and past his mother's
+door--then child, ask, claim whatever you will, and old Damia will not
+refuse it."
+
+Then raising her head she added to the others:
+
+"In the afternoon, my friends, you can take possession of your new
+quarters. Go with them, Dada. By-and-bye we will find you a pretty room
+in the tower. Come and see me very often, sweet one, and tell me all
+your prettiest tales. When I am not too busy I shall always be glad to
+see you, for you and I have a secret you know."
+
+The girl stood up, looking uneasily at the old woman; Damia nodded
+knowingly, as much as to say that they quite understood each other and
+again offered her hand to Dada; but Dada could not kiss it; she turned
+and followed the others more gravely than usual.
+
+Gorgo guessed what the old lady would be at with Dada; as soon as the
+party of singers had taken leave she went up to her grandmother and said
+reproachfully:
+
+"That little fair thing will find no difficulty in making a fool of
+Marcus; for my part I hardly know him, but why should he pay for his
+mother's sins against you? How can he help..."
+
+"He cannot help it," interrupted Damia with decisive abruptness. "He can
+do nothing to save his mother, any more than you can help being a child
+of twenty and bound to hold your tongue till your opinion is asked."
+
+       ...........................
+
+The family of musicians had all met on board the barge which was lying
+at anchor in the lake, off the ship-yard. Orpheus had just been an
+eye-witness of the disturbance which prevailed throughout the city, and
+the wild howls and cries that were audible in the distance confirmed his
+report; but the waters of the lake were an unruffled mirror of blue,
+the slaves in the ship-yard were at work as usual, and the cooing
+turtle-doves flew from palm to palm.
+
+No signs of troubled times were to be seen in the floating home of the
+wanderers. The steward had provided for everything. There were rooms
+and beds to spare in the vessel; the large deck-cabin was a comfortable
+sitting-room, and from the little galley at the prow came a savory smell
+of cooking and a cheerful clang of pots and pans.
+
+"This is living!" exclaimed Karnis, stretching himself comfortably on a
+divan. "This abode seems made on purpose for our noble selves! Sit down,
+mother, make yourself at home. Here we are people of consequence, and
+if it were only to make things pleasant for the slaves we must behave as
+though we had never known people who take their meals squatted round an
+earthen bowl, and clawing out the broken meat. Enjoy the gifts of the
+present--who knows how long this golden hour may last! Ah, wife, it
+reminds us of former times! It would be very pleasant to be like this,
+side by side, and help ourselves from a table all our own to dainty
+dishes which we had not assisted in cooking. For you, old woman, have
+done everything with your own hands for so long, that you deserve to
+have some one to wait on you for once."
+
+A little table was placed by each divan and covered with appetizing
+food; the steward mixed some fine wine of the country with fresh, clear
+water, Orpheus offered the libation, and Karnis spiced the meal with
+jests and tales of his youth, of which he had been reminded by his
+meeting with his old friend and comrade Olympius.
+
+Dada interrupted him frequently, laughing more loudly and recklessly
+than usual; she was in a fever of excitement and Herse did not fail to
+remark it. The good woman was somewhat uneasy. The very fact that her
+husband always gave himself up heart and soul to the influences of the
+hour--though she was glad that he should enjoy this good fortune to the
+utmost--made her look beyond the present into the future. She had seen
+with her own eyes the tumult that was rife in Alexandria, and felt
+that they had arrived at an inauspicious moment. If it should come to
+a struggle between the Christians and the Heathen, Karnis, finding that
+his old friend Olympius was the head of his party, would infallibly
+seize the sword, and if, then, the victory remained with the Christians
+no mercy would be shown to those who had fought for the old gods.
+Gorgo's wish that Agne should sing in the temple of Isis was another
+source of anxiety; for if it came to that they might, only too probably,
+be accused of perverting a Christian to heathen worship, and be
+condemned to a severe penalty. All this had worn a very different aspect
+yesterday when she had thought of Alexandria as the gay home of her
+youth; but now she saw what a change had taken place in these thirty
+years. The Church had risen on the ruins of the Temple, and monks had
+forced the sacrificing priests into the background.
+
+Karnis and his troupe were musicians of no ordinary stamp; still the
+law concerning singing-girls might place him in peril, especially now
+that--to make matters worse--a young Christian was paying court to his
+pretty niece. What catastrophes might not be called down on his hapless
+head if so influential a woman as Marcus' mother Mary should come to
+know of her son's backsliding! Herse had long perceived how attractive
+that little simpleton was to all men--old and young--and when one of the
+lovers, of whom she had no lack, happened to take her fancy she was
+apt to forget herself and play a too audacious game; but as soon as she
+found she had gone too far and somewhat committed herself she would draw
+back and meet him, if she could not avoid him, with repellent and even
+unmannerly coldness. Again and again had Herse scolded and warned her,
+but Dada always answered her reproofs by saying that she could not make
+herself different from what she was, and Herse had never been able to
+remain stern and severe in the face of the foolish excuses that Dada put
+forward so convincingly.
+
+To-day the good woman could not quite make up her mind whether it
+would be wiser to warn Dada against Marcus and desire her to repel any
+advances he might attempt to make, or to let bygones be bygones. She
+knew full well how a trifling incident gains importance when undue
+emphasis is laid on it; she therefore had merely asked the girl what
+secret she could have with old Damia and had accepted some evasive
+subterfuge in reply, while, at the same time, she guessed the truth and
+was quite determined not to remit her watchfulness. For a time, at any
+rate, she thought she would let matters go their own way, and never
+mention the young fellow's name; but her husband spoilt this plan,
+for with the eager jollity of a man very much at his ease after a good
+dinner he called upon Dada to tell their the whole history of the young
+Christian's invasion in the morning. Dada at first was reticent, but the
+old man's communicative humor proved infectious and she presently told
+her story:
+
+"I was sitting alone with the poor little boy, like--well I do not know
+what like--you must find a comparison for yourselves. I was comforting
+myself with the reflection that the key was on the inside and the door
+locked, for I was getting frightened as the monks began to sing in the
+yard below, one part going off to the left, as it were, and the other
+part to the right. Did you ever see two drunken men walking arm in arm,
+and lurching first to one side and then to the other? You may laugh,
+but by the nine Muses it was just like that. Then Papias grew tired and
+cross and kept asking where Agne was, till at last he began to cry. When
+I asked him what he was crying for, he said he had forgotten, I really
+am patient--you must all allow that--I did not do anything to him, but,
+just to give him something to play with, I took out the key, for there
+was nothing else at hand that he could not break, and gave it to him and
+told him to play a tune on it. This delighted him, and he really did it
+quite prettily. Then I looked over my burnt dress and was horrified to
+see how large the holes were, and it struck me that I might turn it,
+because when you turn a thing the spots, you know, do not show."
+
+"You have invented that this very minute," cried Orpheus laughing. "We
+know you. If you can only turn the laugh against yourself..."
+
+"No, really," cried Dada, "the idea flew through my head like a bird
+through a room; but I remembered at once that a hole burnt through shows
+on both sides, so I threw the dress aside as past mending and sat down
+on the low stool to peep through the wicket by the door out at the yard;
+the singing had stopped and the silence frightened me almost as much.
+Papias had stopped his piping too, and was sitting in the corner where
+Orpheus sat to write his letter to Tauromenium."
+
+"I know," said Orpheus, "the inkstand was there, that the steward of the
+inn had lent us the day before."
+
+"Just so; and when mother came in, there he was, dipping his finger in
+the ink, and painting his white dress--you can study the pattern at
+your leisure.--But no not interrupt me.--Well, I was looking into the
+court-yard; it was quite empty; all the monks were gone. Suddenly a tall
+young man in a white dress with a beautiful sky-blue border appeared
+through the great gate. The gate-keeper crawled after him very humbly as
+far as his rope would allow and even the steward spoke to him with both
+hands pressed to his breast as if he had a faithful heart on the right
+side as well as the one on the left. This young man--it was our kind
+friend Marcus, of course--crossed the court, taking a zigzag at first,
+as a snipe flies, and then came towards our door. The steward and the
+gate-keeper had both vanished.--Do you remember the young Goths whom
+their father took to bathe in the Tiber last winter, when it was so
+cold? And how they first stood on the brink and dipped their toes in,
+and then ran away and when they came back again just wetted their heads
+and chests? But they had to jump in at last when their father shouted
+some barbaric words to them--I can see them now. Well, Marcus was
+exactly like those boys; but at last he suddenly walked straight up to
+our door and knocked."
+
+"He remembered your pretty face no doubt," laughed Karnis.
+
+"May be. However, I did not stir. I kept as still as a mouse, sitting on
+my stool and watching him through the key-hole, till presently he called
+out: 'Is no one there?' Then I forgot and answered: 'They are all
+out!' Of course I had betrayed myself--but it is impossible to think of
+everything at once. Oh! yes--you may laugh. And he smiled too--he is a
+very handsome fellow--and desired me most pressingly to open the door
+as he had something of the greatest importance to say to me. I said he
+could talk very well through the gap at the top; that Pyramus and Thisbe
+had even kissed through a chink in a wall. But he would not see the
+joke; he got graver and more earnest, and insisted, saying that our
+fate, his and mine, hung on that hour, and that not a soul must overhear
+what he had to say. The top of the door was too high to whisper through,
+so there was nothing for it but to ask Papias for the key; however, he
+did not know where he had put it. I afterwards thought of asking him
+what he had done with his flute and he fetched it then at once.--In
+short, the key was nowhere to be found. I told Marcus this and he wrung
+his hands with vexation; but in a few minutes the inn-steward, who must
+have been hiding to listen behind a pillar, suddenly appeared as if he
+had dropped from the skies, took a key out of his girdle, threw the door
+wide open, and vanished as if the earth had swallowed him.
+
+"There we stood, Marcus and I, face to face. He was quite agitated; I
+really believe the poor fellow was trembling, and I did not feel very
+confident; however, I asked him what it was that he wanted. Then he
+recovered himself a little: 'I wished,'--he began; so I went on:
+'Thou wishedst,'--and it might have gone on to the end: 'he wished, we
+wished'---and so forth, like the children at school at Rome, when we
+were learning Greek; but, Papias came to the rescue, for he ran up to
+Marcus and asked him to toss him up high, as he used to do on board
+ship. Marcus did as he was asked, and then he suddenly broke out into
+such a torrent of words that I was quite terrified. First he said so
+many fine things that I quite expected a declaration of love, and was
+trying to make up my mind whether I would laugh him out of it or
+throw myself into his arms--for he really is a dear, good, handsome
+fellow--and if you would like to know the truth I should have been very
+willing to oblige him--to a certain extent. But he asked me nothing, and
+from talking of me--listen to this Father Karnis--and saying that the
+great Father in Heaven had granted me every good gift, he went on to
+speak of you as a wicked, perverse and reprobate old heathen."
+
+"I will teach him!" exclaimed Karnis shaking his fist.
+
+"Nay, but listen," Dada went on. "He praised you and mother for a great
+many things; but do you know what he says is wrong? He says you will
+imperil my psyche--my soul, my immortal soul. As if I had ever heard of
+any Psyche but the Psyche whom Eros loved!"
+
+"That is quite another thing," said Karnis very seriously. "In many
+songs, you know, I have tried to make you uplift your soul to a higher
+flight. You have learnt to sing, and there is no better school for a
+woman's soul than music and singing. If that conceited simpleton--why,
+he is young enough to be my grandson--if he talks any such nonsense to
+you again you may tell him from me..."
+
+"You will tell him nothing," cried Herse, "for we can have nothing
+whatever to do with the Christian. You are my own sister's child and I
+desire and order you--do you hear--to keep out of his way, if he ever
+tries to come near you again..."
+
+"Who is likely to find us here?" said Dada. "Besides, he has no such
+ideas and motives as you suppose. It is what he calls my soul that he
+cares for and not myself; and he wanted to take me away, not to his own
+house, but to some man who would be the physician of my soul, he said.
+I am generally ready enough to laugh, but what he said was so impressive
+and solemn, and so wonderfully earnest and startling that I could not
+jest over it. At last I was more angry at his daring to speak to me in
+such a way than any of you ever thought I could be, and that drove him
+half mad. You came in, mother, just as the gentleman had fallen on his
+knees to implore me to leave you."
+
+"And I gave him my mind on the subject," retorted Herse with grim
+satisfaction. "I let him know what I thought of him. He may talk about
+the soul--what he is after is the girl. I know these Christians and I
+know what the upshot will be. He will take advantage of the edict to
+gain his ends, and then you will be separated from us and shut up in a
+reformatory or a refuge or a cloister or whatever they call their dismal
+prisons, and will learn more about your soul than you will care to know.
+It will be all over then with singing, and laughter, and amusement. Now
+you know the truth, and if you are wise you will keep out of his way
+till we leave Alexandria; and that will be as soon as possible, if you
+listen to reason, Karnis."
+
+She spoke with such earnest conviction that Dada remained silent with
+downcast eyes, and Karnis sat up to think the matter over.
+
+However, there was no time now for further reflection; the steward came
+in and desired that he, with his son and Agne should go at once to Gorgo
+to practise the lament of Isis.
+
+This command did not include Herse and Dada, who remained on the barge.
+Herse having plenty to occupy her in the lower rooms, Dada went on deck
+and watched the others on their way to the house; then she sat looking
+at the shipwrights at their work and tossed fruit and sweetmeats, the
+remains of their dessert, for the children to catch who were playing on
+the shore. Meanwhile she thought over Marcus' startling speech, Damia's
+injunctions and Herse's warnings.
+
+At first it seemed to her that Herse might be right, but by degrees she
+fell back into her old conviction that the young Christian could mean
+no harm by her; and she felt as sure that he would find her out wherever
+she might hide herself, as that it was her pretty and much-admired
+little person that he sought to win, and not her soul--for what could
+such an airy nothing as a soul profit a lover? How rapturously he had
+described her charms, how candidly he had owned that her image was
+always before him even in his dreams, that he could not and would not
+give her up--nay, that he was ready to lay down his life to save her
+soul. Only a man in love could speak like this and a man so desperately
+in love can achieve whatever he will. On her way from the Xenodochium
+to the house of Porphyrius she had passed him in his chariot, and had
+admired the splendid horses which he turned and guided with perfect
+skill and grace. He was scarcely three years older than herself; he was
+eighteen--but in spite of his youth and simplicity he was not unmanly;
+and there was something in him--something that compelled her to be
+constantly thinking of him and asking herself what that something was.
+Old Damia's instructions troubled her; they took much of the charm from
+her dream of being loved by Marcus, clasped in his arms, and driven
+through the city in his chariot.
+
+It was impossible--yes, quite impossible, she was sure--that they should
+have parted forever; as she sat, thinking still of him and glancing from
+time to time at the toiling carpenters, a boat pulled up at the landing
+close to the barge out of which jumped an officer of the imperial guard.
+Such a handsome man! with such a noble, powerful, sunburnt face, a
+lightly waving black beard, and hair that fell from under his gold
+helmet! The short-sword at his side showed him to be a tribune or
+prefect of cavalry, and what gallant deeds must not this brilliant and
+glittering young warrior have performed to have risen to such high rank
+while still so young! He stood on the shore, looking all round, his
+eyes met hers and she felt herself color; he seemed surprised to see her
+there and greeted her respectfully with a military salute; then he went
+on towards the unfinished hulk of a large ship whose bare curved ribs
+one or two foremen were busily measuring with tape and rule.
+
+An elderly man of dignified aspect was standing close by, who, as Dada
+had already discovered, was the head of the ship-yard, and the warrior
+hastened towards him. She heard him say: "Father," and in the next
+instant she saw the old man open his arms and the officer rush to
+embrace him.
+
+Dada never took her eyes off the couple who walked on, arm in arm and
+talking eagerly, till they disappeared into a large house on the further
+side of the dockyard.
+
+"What a handsome man!" Dada repeated to herself, but while she waited to
+see him return she gazed across the lake by which Marcus might find
+his way to her. And as she lingered, idly dreaming, she involuntarily
+compared the two men. There were fine soldiers in plenty in Rome,
+and the ship-builder's son was in no particular superior to a hundred
+others; but such a man as Marcus she had never before seen--there could
+hardly be such another in the world. The young guard was one fine
+tree among a grove of fine trees; but Marcus had something peculiar
+to himself, that distinguished him from the crowd, and which made him
+exceptionally attractive and lovable. His image at length so completely
+filled her mind that she forgot the handsome officer, and the shipmaster
+and every one else.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Karnis and his two companions were a long time away. Dada had almost
+forgotten her wish to see the young soldier once more, and after playing
+with little Papias for some time, as she might have played with a dog,
+she began to feel dull and to think the quiet of the boat intolerable.
+The sun was sinking when the absentees returned, but she at once
+reminded Karnis that he had promised to take her for a walk and show her
+Alexandria. Herse, however, forbid her going on such an expedition
+till the following day. Dada, who was more irritable and fractious than
+usual, burst into tears, flung the distaff that her foster-mother put
+into her hand over the side of the ship, and declared between her sobs
+that she was not a slave, that she would run away and find happiness
+wherever it offered. In short she was so insubordinate that Herse
+lost patience and scolded her severely. The girl sprang up, flung on a
+handkerchief and in a moment would have crossed the plank to the shore;
+Karnis, however, held her back.
+
+"Why, child," he said, "do you not see how tired I am?" The appeal had
+its effect; Dada recovered her reason and tried to look up brightly, but
+her eyes were still tearful and heavy and she could only creep away into
+a corner and cry in silence. The old man's heart was very soft towards
+the girl; he would have been glad only to speak a few kind words to her
+and smoothe down her hair; however, he made an effort, and whispering a
+few words to his wife said he was ready, if Dada wished it, to take her
+as far as the Canopic way and the Bruchium.
+
+Dada laughed with delight, wiped away her tears, flung her arms round
+the musician's neck and kissed his brown cheeks, exclaiming:
+
+"You are the best of them all! Make haste, and Agne shall come too; she
+must see something of the city."
+
+But Agne preferred to remain on board, so Karnis and Dada set out
+together. Orpheus followed them closely for, though the troops had
+succeeded in quelling the uproar, the city was still in a state of
+ferment. Closely veiled, and without any kind of adornment--on this
+Herse had positively insisted--the girl, clinging to the old man's arm,
+made her way through the streets, asking questions about everything she
+saw; and her spirits rose, and she was so full of droll suggestions that
+Karnis soon forgot his fatigue and gave himself up to the enjoyment
+of showing her the old scenes that he knew and the new beauties and
+improvements.
+
+In the Canopic way Dada was fairly beside herself with delight. Houses
+like palaces stood arrayed on each side. Close to the buildings ran a
+covered arcade, and down the centre of the roadway there was a broad
+footpath shaded by sycamores. This fine avenue swarmed with pedestrians,
+while on each side chariots, drawn by magnificent horses, hurried past,
+and riders galloped up and down; at every step there was something new
+and interesting to be seen.
+
+Rome, even, could not boast of a handsomer street, and Dada expressed
+her delight with frank eagerness; but Karnis did not echo her praises;
+he was indignant at finding that the Christians had removed a fine
+statue of the venerable Nile-god surrounded by the playful forms of his
+infant children, which had formerly graced the fountain in the middle of
+the avenue, and had also overthrown or mutilated the statues of Hermes
+that had stood by the roadside. Orpheus sympathized in his wrath which
+reached its climax when, on looking for two statues, of Demeter and of
+Pallas Athene, of which Karnis had spoken to his son as decorating the
+gateway of one of the finest houses in the city, they beheld instead,
+mounted on the plinths, two coarsely-wrought images of the Lamb with its
+Cross.
+
+"Like two rats that have been caught under a stone!" cried the old
+man. "And what is most shameful is that I would wager that they have
+destroyed the statues which were the pride of the town and thrown them
+on a rubbish heap. In my day this house belonged to a rich man
+named Philippus. But stop--was not he the father of our hospitable
+protector..."
+
+"The steward spoke of Porphyrius as the son of Philippus," Orpheus said.
+
+"And Philippus was a corn merchant, too," added Karnis. "Demeter was
+figurative of a blessing on the harvest, for it was from that the house
+derived its wealth, and Pallas Athene was patroness of the learning that
+was encouraged by its owners. When I was a student here every wealthy
+man belonged to some school of philosophy. The money-bag did not count
+for everything. Heathen or Jew, whether engaged in business or enjoying
+the revenues of an inherited fortune, a man was expected to be able to
+talk of something besides the price of merchandise and the coming and
+sailing of vessels."
+
+During this conversation Dada had withdrawn her hand from the old man's
+arm to raise her veil, for two men had gone up to the gate between the
+images that had roused Karnis to wrath, and one of them, who at this
+instant knocked at the door, was Mary's son.
+
+"Father, see, there he is!" cried Dada, as the door was opened, speaking
+louder than was at all necessary to enable her companion to hear her;
+the musician at once recognized Marcus, and turning to his son he said:
+
+"Now we may be quite sure! Porphyrius and this young Christian's father
+were brothers. Philippus must have left his house to his eldest son who
+is the one that is dead, and it now belongs no doubt to Mary, his widow.
+I must admit, child, that you choose your adorers from respectable
+families!"
+
+"I should think so," said the girl laughing. "And that is why he is so
+proud. My fine gentleman has not even a glance to cast at us. Bang! the
+door is shut. Come along, uncle!"
+
+The young man in question entered the hall of his father's house with
+his companion and paused there to say in a tone of pressing entreaty:
+"Only come and speak with my mother; you really must not leave like
+this."
+
+"How else?" said the other roughly. "You stick to your way, I will go
+mine. You can find a better steward for the estate--I go to-morrow.
+May the earth open and swallow me up if I stay one hour longer than is
+absolutely necessary in this demented place. And after all Mary is your
+mother and not mine."
+
+"But she was your father's wife," retorted Marcus.
+
+"Certainly, or you would not be my brother. But she--I have amply
+repaid any kindness she ever did me by ten years of service. We do not
+understand each other and we never shall."
+
+"Yes, yes, you will indeed. I have been in church and prayed--nay, do
+not laugh--I prayed to the Lord that he would make it all work right and
+He--well, you have been baptized and made one of His flock."
+
+"To my misfortune! You drive me frantic with your meek and mild ways,"
+cried the other passionately. "My own feet are strong enough for me to
+stand on and my hand, though it is horny, can carry out what my brain
+thinks right."
+
+"No, no, Demetrius, no. You see, you believe in the old gods..."
+
+"Certainly," said the other with increasing irritation. "You are merely
+talking to the winds, and my time is precious. I must pack up my small
+possessions, and for your sake I will say a few words of farewell when
+I take the account-books to your mother. I have land enough belonging to
+myself alone, at Arsinoe; I know my own business and am tired of letting
+a woman meddle and mar it. Good-bye for the present, youngster. Tell
+your mother I am coming; I shall be with her in just an hour."
+
+"Demetrius!" cried the lad trying once more to detain his brother; but
+Demetrius freed himself with a powerful wrench and hurried across the
+court-yard--gay with flowers and with a fountain in the middle--into
+which the apartments of the family opened, his own among the number.
+
+Marcus looked after him sadly; they differed too widely in thought and
+feeling ever to understand each other completely, and when they stood
+side by side no one would have imagined that they were the sons of one
+father, for even in appearance they were strongly dissimilar. Marcus was
+slight and delicate, Demetrius, on the contrary, broad-shouldered and
+large-boned.
+
+After this parting from his half-brother Marcus betook himself to the
+women's rooms where Mary, after superintending the spinning and other
+work of the slave-girls, in the rooms at the back, was wont to sit
+during the evening. He found his mother in eager conversation with a
+Christian priest of advanced age, an imposing personage of gentle and
+dignified aspect. The widow, though past forty, might still pass for
+a handsome woman: it was from her that her son had inherited his tall,
+thin figure with narrow shoulders and a slight stoop, his finely-cut
+features, white skin and soft, flowing, raven-black hair. Their
+resemblance was rendered all the more striking by the fact that each
+wore a simple, narrow circlet of gold-round the head; nay it would have
+seemed some unusual trick of Nature's but that their eyes were quite
+unlike. Hers were black, and their gaze was shrewd and sharp and
+sometimes sternly hard; while the dreamy lustre of her son's, which were
+blue, lent his face an almost feminine softness.
+
+She must have been discussing some grave questions with the old man,
+for, as the young man entered the room, she colored slightly and her
+long, taper fingers impatiently tapped the back of the couch on which
+she was lounging.
+
+Marcus kissed first the priest's hand and then his mother's, and,
+after enquiring with filial anxiety after her health, informed her that
+Demetrius would presently be coming to take leave of her.
+
+"How condescending?" she said coldly. "You know reverend Father what it
+is that I require of him and that he refuses. His peasants--always his
+peasants! Now can you tell me why they, who must feel the influence and
+power of their masters so much more directly than the lower class in
+towns, they, whose weal or woe so obviously depends on the will of the
+Most High, are so obstinately set against the Gospel of Salvation?"
+
+"They cling to what they are used to," replied the old man. "The seed
+they sow bore fruit under the old gods; and as they cannot see nor
+handle our Heavenly Father as they can their idols, and at the same
+time have nothing better to hope for than a tenth or a twentieth of the
+grain..."
+
+"Yes, mine and thine--the miserable profit of this world!" sighed the
+widow. "Oh! Demetrius can defend the idolatry of his favorites warmly
+enough, never fear. If you can spare the time, good Father, stay and
+help me to convince him."
+
+"I have already stayed too long," replied the priest, "for the Bishop
+has commanded my presence. I should like to speak to you, my dear
+Marcus; to-morrow morning, early, will you come to me? The Lord be with
+you, beloved!"
+
+He rose, and as he gave Mary his hand she detained him a moment signing
+to her son to leave them, and said in a low tone:
+
+"Marcus must not suspect that I know of the error into which he has been
+led; speak roundly to his conscience, and as to the girl, I will take
+her in hand. Will it not be possible for Theophilus to grant me an
+interview?"
+
+"Hardly, at present," replied the priest. "As you know, Cynegius is here
+and the fate of the Bishop and of our cause hangs on the next few days.
+Give up your ambitious desires I beseech you, daughter, for even if
+Theophilus were to admit you I firmly believe, nay--do not be angry--I
+can but hope that he would never give way on this point."
+
+"No?" said the widow looking down in some embarrassment; but when her
+visitor was gone she lifted her head with a flash of wilful defiance.
+
+She then made Marcus, who had on the previous day given her a full
+account of his voyage from Rome, tell her all that had passed between
+himself and Demetrius; she asked him how he liked his horse, whether he
+hoped to win the approaching races, and generally what he had been doing
+and was going to do. But it did not escape her notice that Marcus was
+more reticent than usual and that he tried to bring the conversation
+round to his voyage and to the guests in the Xenodochium; however, she
+always stopped him, for she knew what he was aiming at and would not
+listen to anything on that subject.
+
+It was not till long after the slaves had lighted the three-branched
+silver lamps that Demetrius appeared. His stepmother received him
+kindly and began to talk on indifferent subjects; but he replied with
+ill-disguised impatience, for he had not come to chatter and gossip. She
+fully understood this; but it pleased her to check and provoke him and
+she did it in a way which vividly reminded him of his early days, of the
+desolation and unhappiness that had blighted his young life when this
+woman had taken the place of his own tender gentle mother, and come
+between him and his father. Day after day, in that bygone time, she
+had received him just as she had this evening: with words that sounded
+kindly, but with a cold, unloving heart. He knew that she had always
+seen his boyish errors and petty faults in the worst light, attributing
+them to bad propensities and innate wickedness, that she had injured him
+in his father's eyes by painting a distorted image of his disposition
+and doings--and all these sins he could not forgive her. At the time of
+his father's assassination Demetrius was already grown to man's estate,
+and as the eldest son it would have been his right and duty to take
+part with his uncle Porphyrius in the management of the business; but
+he could not endure the idea of living in the same place with his
+stepmother, so, having a pronounced taste for a country life, he left
+the widow in possession of the house in the Canopic street, persuaded
+his uncle to pay over his father's share in the business in hard cash
+and then had quitted Alexandria to take entire charge of the family
+estates in Cyrenaica. In the course of a few years he had become an
+admirable farmer; the landowners throughout the province were glad to
+take his advice or follow his example, and the accounts which he
+now laid on the table by the side of Mary's couch--three goodly
+rolls--proved by the irrefragable evidence of figures that he had
+actually doubled their revenues from the estates of which he had been
+the manager. He had earned his right to claim his independence, to
+persist in his own determinations and to go his own way; he was animated
+by the pride of an independent nature that recklessly breaks away from a
+detested tie when it has means at command either to rest without anxiety
+or to devote its energies to new enterprise.
+
+When Demetrius had allowed his stepmother time enough for subjects in
+which he took no interest, he laid his hand on the account-books and
+abruptly observed that it was now time to talk seriously. He had already
+explained to Marcus that he could no longer undertake to meet her
+requirements; and as, with him, to decide was to act, he wished at once
+to come to a decision as to whether he should continue to manage the
+family estates in the way he thought proper, or should retire and
+devote himself to the care of his own land. If Mary accepted the latter
+alternative he would at once cancel their deed of agreement, but even
+then he was very willing to stay on for a time in Cyrenaica, and put the
+new steward, when she had appointed one, in the way of performing his
+onerous duties. After that he would have nothing more to do with the
+family estates. This was his last word; and whichever way she decided,
+they might part without any final breach, which he was anxious to avoid
+if only for the sake of Marcus.
+
+Demetrius spoke gravely and calmly; still, the bitterness that filled
+his soul imparted a flavor to his speech that did not escape the widow,
+and she replied with some emphasis that she should be very sorry to
+think that any motives personal to herself had led to his decision;
+she owed much, very much, to his exertions and had great pleasure in
+expressing her obligations. He was aware, of course, that the property
+he had been managing had been purchased originally partly with her
+fortune and partly out of her husband's pocket, and that half of it was
+therefore hers and half of it the property of Marcus and himself;
+but that by her husband's will the control and management were hers
+absolutely. She had endeavored to carry out the intentions of her
+deceased husband by entrusting the stewardship of the estate to
+Demetrius while he was still quite young; under his care the income had
+increased, and she had no doubt that in the future he might achieve even
+greater results; at the same time, the misunderstandings that the whole
+business had given rise to were not to be endured, and must positively
+be put an end to, even if their income were to diminish by half.
+
+"I," she exclaimed, "am a Christian, with my whole heart and soul. I
+have dedicated my body and life to the service of my Saviour. What shall
+all the treasures of the world profit me if I lose my soul; and that,
+which is my immortal part, must inevitably perish if I allow my pockets
+to be filled by the toil of heathen peasants and slaves. I therefore
+must insist--and on this point I will not yield a jot--that our slaves
+in Cyrenaica, a flock of more than three thousand erring sheep, shall
+either submit to be baptized or be removed to make way for Christians."
+
+"That is to say..." began Demetrius hastily.
+
+"I have not yet done," she interrupted. "So far as the peasants are
+concerned who rent and farm our land they all, without exception--as you
+said yesterday--are stiff-necked idolaters. We must give them time to
+think it over, but the annual agreement will not be renewed with any who
+will not pledge themselves to give up the old sacrifices and to worship
+the Redeemer. If they submit they will be safe--in this world and
+the next; if they refuse they must go, and the land must be let to
+Christians in their stead."
+
+"Just as I change this seat for another!" said Demetrius with a laugh,
+and lifting up a heavy bronze chair he flung it down again on the hard
+mosaic pavement so that the floor shook.
+
+Maria started violently.
+
+"My body may tremble," she said in great excitement, "but my soul
+is firm when its everlasting bliss is at stake. I insist--and my
+representative, whether he be you or another, must carry my orders into
+effect without an hour's delay--I insist that every heathen shrine,
+every image of the field and garden-gods, every altar and sacred stone
+which the heathens use for their idolatrous practices shall be pulled
+down, overthrown, mutilated and destroyed. That is what I require and
+insist on."
+
+"And that is what I will never consent to," cried Demetrius in a voice
+like low thunder. "I cannot and will not. These things have been held
+precious and sacred to men for thousands of years and I cannot, will
+not, blow them off the face of the earth, as you blow a feather off your
+cloak. You may go and do it yourself; you may be able to achieve it."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Mary drawing herself up with a glance of
+indignant protest.
+
+"Yes--if any one can do it you can!" repeated Demetrius imperturbably.
+"I went to-day to seek the images of our forefathers--the venerable
+images that were clear to our infancy, the portraits of our fathers'
+fathers and mothers, the founders of the honor of our race. And where
+are they? They have gone with the protectors of our home, the pride
+and ornament of this house--of the street, of the city--the Hermes and
+Pallas Athene that you--you flung into the lime-kiln. Old Phabis told me
+with tears in his eyes. Alas poor house that is robbed of its past, of
+its glory, and of its patron deities!"
+
+"I have placed it under a better safeguard," replied Maria in a
+tremulous voice, and she looked it Marcus with an appeal for sympathy.
+"Now, for the last time, I ask you: Will you accede to my demands or
+will you not?"
+
+"I will not," said Demetrius resolutely.
+
+"Then I must find a new agent to manage the estates."
+
+"You will soon find one; but your land--which is our land too--will
+become a desert. Poor land! If you destroy its shrines and sanctuaries
+you will destroy its soul; for they are the soul of the land. The first
+inhabitants gathered round the sanctuary, and on that sanctuary and the
+gods that dwell there the peasant founds his hopes of increase on what
+he sows and plants, and of prosperity for his wife and children and
+cattle and all that he has. In destroying his shrines you ruin his
+hopes, and with them all the joy of life. I know the peasant; he
+believes that his labors must be vain if you deprive him of the gods
+that make it thrive. He sows in hope, in the swelling of the grain he
+sees the hand of the gods who claim his joyful thanksgiving after the
+harvest is gathered in. You are depriving him of all that encourages and
+uplifts and rejoices his soul when you ruin his shrines and altars!"
+
+"But I give him other and better ones," replied Mary.
+
+"Take care then that they are such as he can appreciate," said Demetrius
+gravely. "Persuade him to love, to believe, to hope in the creed you
+force upon him; but do not rob him of what he trusts in before he is
+prepared to accept the substitute you offer him.--Now, let me go; we
+are neither of us in the temper to make the best arrangements for the
+future. One thing, at any rate, is certain: I have nothing more to do
+with the estate."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+After leaving his stepmother Demetrius made good use of his time and
+dictated a number of letters to his secretary, a slave he had brought
+with him to Alexandria, for the use of the pen was to him unendurable
+labor. The letters were on business, relating to his departure from
+Cyrenaica and his purpose of managing his own estates for the future,
+and when they lay before him, finished, rolled up and sealed, he felt
+that he had come to a mile-stone on his road, a landmark in his life. He
+paced the room in silence, trying to picture to himself the fate of
+the slaves and peasants who, for so many years, had been his faithful
+servants and fellow-laborers, whose confidence he had entirely won, and
+many of whom he truly loved. But he could not conceive of their life,
+their toil or their festivals, bereft of images, offerings, garlands,
+and hymns of rejoicing. To him they were as children, forbidden to laugh
+and play, and he could not help once more recurring to his boyhood and
+the day of his going to school, when, instead of running and shouting in
+his father's sunny garden, he had been made to sit still and silent in
+a dull class-room. And now had the whole world reached such a boundary
+line in existence beyond which there was to be no more freedom and
+careless joy--where a ceaseless struggle for higher things must begin
+and never end?
+
+If the Gospel were indeed true, and if all it promised could ever find
+fulfilment, it might perhaps be prudent to admit the sinfulness of man
+and to give up the joys and glories of this world to win the eternal
+treasure that it described. Many a good and wise man whom he had
+known--nay the Emperor, the great and learned Theodosius himself--was
+devoted heart and soul to the Christian faith, and Demetrius knew
+from his own experience that his mother's creed, in which he had been
+initiated as a boy and from which his father, after holding him at the
+font had perverted him at an early age, offered great consolations and
+enduring help to those whose existence was one of care, poverty,
+and suffering. But his laborers and servants? They were healthy and
+contented. What power on earth could induce them--a race that clung
+devotedly to custom--to desert the faith of their fathers, and the
+time-honored traditions to which they owed all the comforts and
+pleasures of life, or to seek in a strange creed the aid which they
+already believed that they possessed.
+
+He did not repent of his determination; but he nevertheless said to
+himself that, when once he was gone, Mary would proceed only too soon
+on the work of extermination and destruction; and every temple on the
+estate, every statue, every whispering grotto, every shrine and stone
+anointed by pious hands, doomed now to perish, rose before his fancy.
+
+Demetrius was accustomed to rise at cock-crow and go to bed at an early
+hour, and he was on the point of retiring even before the usual time,
+when Marcus came to his room and begged him to give him yet an hour.
+
+"You are angry with my mother," said the younger man with a look of
+melancholy entreaty, "but you know there is nothing that she would not
+sacrifice for the faith. And you can smile so bitterly! But only put
+yourself in my place. Loving my mother as I do, it is acutely painful
+to me to see another person--to see you whom I love, too, for you are
+my friend and brother--to see you, I say, turn your back on her so
+completely. My heart is heavy enough to-day I can tell you."
+
+"Poor boy!" said the countryman. "Yes, I am truly your friend, and am
+anxious to remain so; you are not to blame in this business--and for
+that matter, I am anything but cheerful. You have chosen to say: Down
+with the shrines! Perish all those who do not think as we do! Still,
+look at the thing as you will, in some cases certainly violence must
+ensue--nay, if no blood is shed it will be a wonder! You sum up the
+matter in one common term: The heathen peasants on the estate. My view
+of it is totally different; I know these farmers and their wives and
+children, each one by name and by sight. There is not one but is ready
+to bid me good day and shake my hand or kiss my dress. Many a one has
+come to me in tears and left me happy.--By the great Zeus! no one ever
+accused me of being soft-hearted, but I could wish this day that I were
+harder; and my blood turns to gall as I ask--What is all this for--to
+what possible end?"
+
+"For the sake and honor of the faith, Demetrius; for the eternal
+salvation of our people."
+
+"Indeed!" retorted Demetrius with a drawl, "I know better. If that and
+that alone were intended you would build churches and chapels and send
+us worthy priests--Eusebius and the like--and would try to win men's
+hearts to your Lord by the love you are always talking so much about.
+That was my advice to your mother, only this morning. I believe the end
+might be attained by those means, among us as elsewhere; ultimately it
+will, no doubt, be gained--but not to-day nor to-morrow. A peasant, when
+he had become accustomed to the church and grasped a trust in the new
+God, would of his own accord give up the old gods and their sanctuaries;
+I could count you off a dozen such instances. That I could have looked
+on at calmly, for I want only men's arms and legs and do not ask for
+their souls; but to burn down the old house before you have collected
+wood and stone to build a new one I call wicked.--It is cruelty and
+madness, and when so shrewd a woman as your mother is bent on carrying
+through such a measure, come what may, there is something more behind
+it."
+
+"You think she wants to get rid of you--you, Demetrius!" interrupted
+Marcus eagerly. "But you are mistaken, you are altogether wrong. What
+you have done for the estate..."
+
+"Oh! as for that!" cried the other, "what has my work to do with all
+this? Ere the year is out everything that can remind us of the heathen
+gods is to be swept away from the hamlets and fields of the pious Mary.
+That is what is intended! Then they will hurry off to the Bishop with
+the great news and to crown one marvel with another, the reversion
+will be secured of a martyr's nimbus. And this is what all this zeal is
+for--this and nothing else!"
+
+"You are speaking of my mother, remember!" cried Marcus, looking at his
+brother with a touching appeal in his eyes. Demetrius shook his shaggy
+head and spoke more temperately as he went on:
+
+"Yes, child, I had forgotten that--and I may be mistaken of course, for
+I am no more than human. Here one thing follows so close on another, and
+in this house I feel so battered and storm-tossed, that I hardly know
+myself. But old Phabis tells me that steps are being seriously taken to
+procure the title of Martyr for our father Apelles."
+
+"My mother is quite convinced that he died for the faith, and she loved
+him devotedly..."
+
+"Then it is so!" cried Demetrius, grinding his teeth and thumping his
+fist down on the table. "The lies sown by one single man have produced
+a deadly weed that is smothering this miserable house! You--to be sure,
+what can you know of our father? I knew him; I have been present when
+he and his friends, the philosophers, have laughed to scorn things
+which not only you Christians but even pious heathen regard as sacred.
+Lucretius was his evangelist, and the Cosmogony of that utter atheist
+lay by his pillow and was his companion wherever he went."
+
+"He admired the heathen poets, but he was a Christian all the same,"
+replied Marcus.
+
+"Neither more nor less than Porphyrius, our uncle, or myself," retorted
+his brother. "Since the day when our grandfather Philippus was baptized,
+wealth and happiness have deserted this house. He gave up the old gods
+solely that he might not lose the right of supplying the city and the
+Emperor with corn, and became a Christian and made his sons Christians.
+But he had us educated by his heathen friends, and though we passed for
+Christians we were not so in fact. When it was absolutely necessary he
+showed himself in church with us; but our daily life, our pleasures, our
+pastimes were heathen, and when life began for us in earnest we offered
+a bleeding sacrifice to the gods. It was impossible to retract honestly,
+since a renegade Christian returning to the worship of the old gods is
+incapacitated by law from making a will. You know this; and when you ask
+me why I am content to live alone, without either wife or child--and I
+love children, even those of other people--a solitary man dragging
+out my days and nights joylessly enough--I tell you: I am openly and
+honestly a worshipper of our old gods, and I will not go to church
+because I scorn a lie. What should I do with children who, in
+consequence of my retractation, must forfeit all I might leave them? It
+was this question of inheritance only that induced my father to have us
+baptized and to make a pretense of Christianity. He set out for Petra
+with his Lucretius in his satchel--I packed it with my own hands into
+his money-bag--to put in a claim to supply grain to the 'Rock city.'
+He was slain on his way home; most likely by his servant Anubis, who
+certainly knew what money he had with him, and who vanished and left no
+trace. Because--about the same time--a band of Saracens had fallen on
+some Christian anchorites and travellers, in the district between Petra
+and Aila, your mother chose to assume a right to call our father a
+martyr! But she knew his opinions full well, I tell you, and shed many a
+tear over them, too.--Now she has expended vast sums on church-building,
+she has opened the Xenodochium and pours her money by lavish handfuls
+clown the insatiable throats of monks and priests. To what end? To have
+her husband recognized as a martyr. Hitherto her toil and money have
+been wasted. In my estimation the Bishop is a perfectly detestable
+tyrant, and if I know him at all he will take all she will give and
+never grant her wish. Now she is preparing her great move, and hopes
+to startle him into compliance by a new marvel. She thinks that, like
+a juggler who turns a white egg black, she can turn a heathen district
+into a Christian one by a twist of her finger. Well--so far as I am
+concerned I will have nothing to do with the trick."
+
+During this harangue Marcus had alternately gazed at the floor and fixed
+his large eyes in anguish on his brother's face. For some minutes he
+found nothing to reply, and he was evidently going through a bitter
+mental struggle. Demetrius spoke no more, but arranged the sheets of
+papyrus that strewed the table. At length Marcus, after a deep sigh,
+broke out in a tone of fervent conviction and with a blissful smile that
+lighted up his whole face:
+
+"Poor mother! And others misunderstand her just as you do; I myself
+was in danger of doubting her. But I think that now I understand her
+perfectly. She loved my father so completely that she hopes now to win
+for his immortal soul the grace which he, in the flesh, neglected to
+strive after. He was baptized, so she longs to win, by her prayers and
+oblations, the mercy of the Lord who is so ready to forgive. She herself
+firmly believes in the martyrdom of her beloved dead, and if only the
+Church will rank him among those who have died for Her, he will be
+saved, and she will find him standing in the pure radiance of the realms
+above, with open arms, overflowing with fervent love and gratitude, to
+welcome the faithful helpmate who will have purged his soul. Yes, now I
+quite understand; and from this day forth I will aid and second her; the
+hardest task shall not be too hard, the best shall not be too good,
+if only we may open the gates of Heaven to my poor father's imperilled
+soul."
+
+As he spoke his eye glistened with ecstatic light; his brother, too,
+was touched, and to hide his emotion, he exclaimed, more recklessly and
+sharply than was his wont:
+
+"That will come all right, never fear, lad!" But he hastily wiped his
+eyes with his hand, slapped Marcus on the shoulder, and added gaily: "It
+is better to choke than to swallow down the thing you think right, and
+it never hurt a man yet to make a clean breast of his feelings, even if
+we do not quite agree we understand each other the better for it. I have
+my way of thinking, you have yours; thus we each know what the other
+means; but after the tragedy comes the satyr play, and we may as well
+finish this agitating evening with an hour's friendly chat."
+
+So saying Demetrius stretched himself on a divan and invited Marcus
+to do the same, and in a few minutes their conversation had turned,
+as usual, to the subject of horses. Marcus was full of praises of the
+stallions his brother had bred for him, and which he had ridden that
+very day round the Myssa--[The Myssa was the Meta, or turning-post]--in
+the Hippodrome, and his brother added with no small complacency:
+
+"They were all bred from the same sire and from the choicest mares. I
+broke them in myself, and I only wish.... But why did you not come to
+the stables this morning?"
+
+"I could not," replied Marcus coloring slightly. Then we will go
+to-morrow to Nicopolis and I will show you how to get Megaera past the
+Taraxippios."--[The terror of the horses.]
+
+"To-morrow?" said Marcus somewhat embarrassed. "In the morning I must go
+to see Eusebius and then...."
+
+"Well, then?"
+
+"Then I must--I mean I should like...."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Well, to be sure I might, all the same.--But no, it is not to be
+done--I have...."
+
+"What, what?" cried Demetrius with increasing impatience: "My time is
+limited and if you start the horses without knowing my way of managing
+them they will certainly not do their best. As soon as the market begins
+to fill we will set out. We shall need a few hours for the Hippodrome,
+then we will dine with Damon, and before dark...."
+
+"No, no," replied Marcus, "to-morrow, certainly, I positively
+cannot...."
+
+"People who have nothing to do always lack time," replied the other. "Is
+to-morrow one of your festivals?"
+
+"No, not that=-and Good Heavens! If only I could...."
+
+"Could, could!" cried Demetrius angrily and standing close in front of
+his brother with his arms folded. "Say out honestly: 'I will not go,' or
+else, 'my affairs are my own secret and I mean to keep it.'--But give me
+no more of your silly equivocations."
+
+His vehemence increased the younger man's embarrassment, and as he stood
+trying to find an explanation which might come somewhat near the truth
+and yet not betray him, Demetrius, who had stood watching him closely,
+suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"By Aphrodite, the daughter of the foam! it is a love affair--an
+assignation.--Woman, woman, always woman!"
+
+"An assignation!" cried Marcus shaking his head. "No indeed, no one
+expects me; and yet--I had rather you should misunderstand me than think
+that I had lied. Yes--I am going to seek a woman; and if I do not find
+her to-morrow, if in the course of tomorrow I do not succeed in my
+heart's desire, she is lost--not only to me, though I cannot give up the
+heavenly love for the sake of the earthly and fleshly--but to my Lord
+and Saviour. It is the life--the everlasting life or death of one of
+God's loveliest creatures that hangs on to-morrow's work."
+
+Demetrius was greatly astonished, and it was with an angry gesture of
+impatience that he replied:
+
+"Again you have overstepped the boundary within which we can possibly
+understand each other. In my opinion you are hardly old enough to
+undertake the salvation of the imperilled souls of pretty women. Take
+care what you are about, youngster! It is safe enough to go into the
+water with those who can swim, but those who sink are apt to draw you
+down with them. You are a good-looking young fellow, you have money and
+fine horses, and there are women enough who are only too ready to spread
+their nets abroad..."
+
+"What are you thinking of?" cried Marcus passionately. "It is I who am
+the fisher--a fisher of souls, and so every true believer ought to be.
+She--she is innocence and simplicity itself, in spite of her roguish
+sauciness. But she has fallen into the hands of a reprobate heathen, and
+here, where vice prowls about the city like a roaring lion, she will be
+lost--lost, if I do not rescue her. Twice have I seen her in my dreams;
+once close to the cavern of a raging dragon, and again on the edge of
+a precipitous cliff, and each time an angel called out to me and bid me
+save her from the jaws of the monster, and from falling into the abyss.
+Since then I seem to see her constantly; at meals, when I am in company,
+when I am driving,--and I always hear the warning voice of the angel.
+And now I feel it a sacred duty to save her--a creature on whom the
+Almighty has lavished every gift he ever bestowed on the daughters of
+Eve--to lead her into the path of Salvation."
+
+Demetrius had listened to his brother's enthusiastic speech with growing
+anxiety, but he merely shrugged his shoulders and said:
+
+"I almost envy you your acquaintance with this favorite of the gods; but
+you might, it seems to me, postpone the work of salvation. You were away
+from Alexandria for half a year, and if she could hold out so long as
+that..."
+
+"Do not speak so; you ought not to speak so!" cried Marcus, pressing
+his hand on his heart as though in physical pain. "But I have no time to
+lose, for I must at once find out where the old singer has taken her. I
+am not so inexperienced as you seem to think. He has brought her here to
+trade in her beauty, and enrich himself. Why, you, too, saw her on
+board ship; I, as you know, had arranged for them to be taken in at my
+mother's Xenodochium."
+
+"Whom?" asked Demetrius folding his hands.
+
+"The singers whom I brought with me from Ostia. And now they have
+disappeared from thence, and Dada..."
+
+"Dada!" cried Demetrius, bursting into a loud laugh without heeding
+Marcus who stepped up to him, crimson with rage. "Dada! that little fair
+puss! You see her day and night and an angel calls upon you to save that
+child's merry soul? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, boy! Why, what
+shall I wager now? I will stake this roll of gold that I could make her
+come with me to-morrow--with me, a hard-featured countryman, freckled
+all over like a plover's egg, where my clothes do not protect my skin,
+and with hair on end like the top of a broom--yes, that she will follow
+me to Arsinoe or wherever I choose to bid her. Let the hussy go, you
+simple innocent. Such a Soul as hers is of small account even in a less
+exclusive Heaven than yours is."
+
+"Take back those words!" cried Marcus, beside himself and clenching
+his fist. "But that is just like you! Your impure eyes and heart defile
+purity itself, and see spots even in the sun. Nothing is too bad for a
+'singing girl,' I know. But that is just the marrow of the matter; it is
+from that very curse that I mean to save her. If you can accuse her
+of anything, speak; if not, and if you do not want to appear a base
+slanderer in my eyes, take back the words you have just spoken!"
+
+"Oh! I take them back of course," said Demetrius indifferently. "I know
+nothing of your beauty beyond what she has herself said to me and you
+and Cynegius and his Secretaries--with her pretty, saucy eyes. But the
+language of the eye, they say, is not always to be depended on; so take
+it as unsaid. And, if I understood you rightly, you do not even know
+where the singers are hiding? If you have no objection, I will help you
+to seek them out."
+
+"That is as you please," answered Marcus hotly. "All your mockery will
+not prevent my doing my duty."
+
+"Very right, very right," said his brother. "Perhaps this damsel is
+unlike all the other singing-girls with whom I used so often to spend
+a jolly evening in my younger days. Once, at Barca, I saw a white
+raven--but perhaps after all it was only a dove. Your opinion, in this
+case, is at any rate better founded than mine, for I never thought twice
+about the girl and you did.--But it is late; till to-morrow, Marcus."
+
+The brothers parted for the night, but when Demetrius found himself
+alone he walked up and down the room, shaking his head doubtfully.
+Presently, when his body-slave came in to pack for him, he called out
+crossly:
+
+"Let that alone--I shall stay in Alexandria a few days longer."
+
+Marcus could not go to bed; his brother's scorn had shaken his soul
+to the foundations. An inward voice told him that his more experienced
+senior might be right, but at the same time he hated and contemned
+himself for listening to its warnings at all. The curse that rested on
+Dada was that of her position; she herself was pure--as pure as a lily,
+as pure as the heart of a child, as pure as the blue of her eyes and
+the ring of her voice. He would obey the angel's behest! He could and he
+must save her!
+
+In the greatest excitement he went out of the house, through the great
+gate, into the Canopic way, and walked on. As he was about to turn down
+a side street to go to the lake he found the road stopped by soldiers,
+for this street led past the prefect's house where Cynegius, the
+Emperor's emissary, was staying; he had come, it was said, to close the
+Temples, and the excited populace had gathered outside the building,
+during the afternoon, to signify their indignant disapprobation. At
+sundown an armed force had been called out and had dispersed the crowd;
+but it was by another road that the young Christian at length made his
+way to the shore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+While Marcus was restlessly wandering on the shore of Mareotis, dreaming
+of Dada's image and arranging speeches of persuasive eloquence by which
+to touch her heart and appeal to her soul, silence had fallen on the
+floating home of the singers. A light white mist, like a filmy veil--a
+tissue of clouds and moonbeams--hung over the lake. Work was long since
+over in the ship-yard, and the huge skeletons of the unfinished ships
+threw weird and ghostly shadows on the silvered strand-forms like black
+visions of crayfish, centipedes, or enormous spiders.
+
+From the town there came not a sound; it lay in the silence of
+intoxicated sleep. The Roman troops had cleared the streets, the lights
+were dead in every house, and in all the alleys and squares; only the
+moon shone over the roofs of Alexandria, while the blazing beacon of
+the light-house on the north-eastern point of the island of Pharos shone
+like a sun through the darkness.
+
+In a large cabin in the stern of the vessel lay the two girls, on soft
+woollen couches and covered with rugs. Agne was gazing wide-eyed into
+the darkness; Dada had long been asleep, but she breathed painfully
+and her rosy lips were puckered now and then as if she were in some
+distress. She was dreaming of the infuriated mob who had snatched the
+garland from her hair--she saw Marcus suddenly interfere to protect her
+and rescue her from her persecutors--then she thought she had fallen off
+the gangway that led from the land to the barge, and was in the water
+while old Damia stood on the shore and laughed at her without trying
+to help her. Night generally brought the child sound sleep or pleasant
+dreams, but now one hideous face after another haunted her.
+
+And yet the evening had brought her a great pleasure. Not long after
+their return from their walk the steward had come down to the boat
+and brought her a very beautiful dress, with greetings from his old
+mistress; he had at the same time brought an Egyptian slave-woman, well
+skilled in all the arts of the toilet, who was to wait upon her so long
+as she remained in Alexandria. Dada had never owned such a lovely dress!
+The under-robe was of soft sea-green bombyx silk, with a broad border,
+delicately embroidered, of a garland of roses and buds. The peplos
+was of the same color and decorated to match; costly clasps of mosaic,
+representing full-blown roses and set in oval gold settings, fastened
+it on the shoulders. In a separate case were a gold girdle, a bracelet,
+also of gold, in the shape of a snake, a gold crescent with a rose,
+like those on the shoulder-clasps, in its centre, and a metal mirror of
+spotless lustre.
+
+The slave, a middle-aged woman with a dark cunning face, had helped her
+to put on this new garment; she had also insisted on dressing her hair,
+and all the time had never ceased praising the charms that nature had
+bestowed on her young mistress, with the zeal of a lover.
+
+Agne had looked on smiling, good-naturedly handing the slave the pins
+and ribbands she had needed, and sincerely rejoicing in her companion's
+beauty and delight.
+
+At last Dada had made her appearance in the deckroom and was greeted by
+many an Ah! and Oh! of admiration from the men of the party, including
+Medius, the singer whom Karnis had met in the street. Even Herse, who
+had received her quite disagreeably on her return from the city, could
+not suppress a smile of kindly approval, though she shook her finger at
+her saying:
+
+"The old lady has set her heart on turning your head completely I see.
+All that is very pretty, but all the good it will do will be to rouse
+spiteful tongues. Remember, Dada, that you are my sister's child; I
+promise you I shall not forget it, and I shall keep my eye upon you."
+
+Orpheus made haste to light every lamp and taper, of which there were
+plenty, for the barge was handsomely furnished, and when Dada was
+plainly visible in the brilliant illumination Karnis exclaimed:
+
+"You look like a senator's daughter! Long live the Fair!"
+
+She ran up to him and kissed him; but when Orpheus walked all round
+her, examining the fineness of the tissue and the artistic finish of the
+clasps, and even turned the snake above her round elbow, she sharply bid
+him let her be.
+
+Medius, a man of the age of Karnis who had formerly been his intimate
+companion, never took his eyes off the girl, and whispered to the
+old musician that Dada would easily carry off the palm for beauty in
+Alexandria, and that with such a jewel in his keeping he might recover
+wealth and position and by quite honest means. At his suggestion she
+then assumed a variety of attitudes; she stood as Hebe, offering nectar
+to the gods--as Nausicae, listening to the tale of Odysseus--and as
+Sappho, singing to her lyre. The girl was delighted at all this, and
+when Medius, who kept close to her, tried to persuade her to perform
+in a similar manner in the magical representations at the house of
+Posidonius, before a select company of spectators, she clapped her hands
+exclaiming:
+
+"You took me all round the city, father, and as your reward I should
+like to earn back your pretty vineyards, I should stand like this, you
+know, and like this--to be stared at. I only hope I might not be seized
+with a sudden impulse to make a face at the audience. But if they did
+not come too close I really might..."
+
+"You could do no better than to play the parts that Posidonius might
+give you," interrupted Medius. "His audiences like to see good daemons,
+the kindly protecting spirits, and so forth. You would have to appear
+among clouds behind a transparent veil, and the people would hail you
+with acclamations or even raise their hands in adoration."
+
+All this seemed to Dada perfectly delightful, and she was on the point
+of giving her hand to Medius in token of agreement, when her eye caught
+the anxious gaze of the young Christian girl who stood before her with
+a deep flush on her face. Agne seemed to be blushing for her. The color
+rushed to her own cheeks, and shortly saying: "No--after all, I think
+not," she turned her back on the old man and threw herself on the
+cushions close to where the wine-jug was standing. Medius now began to
+besiege Karnis and Herse with arguments, but they refused all his
+offers as they intended quitting Alexandria in a few days, so he had
+no alternative but to submit. Still, he did not altogether throw up the
+game, and to win Dada's consent, at any rate, he made her laugh with
+a variety of comical pranks and showed her some ingenious conjuring
+tricks, and ere long their floating home echoed with merriment, with the
+clinking of wine-cups and with songs, in which even Agne was obliged to
+take part. Medius did not leave till near midnight and Herse then sent
+them all to bed.
+
+As soon as the slave had undressed her young mistress and left the girls
+alone, Dada threw herself into the arms of Agne who was on the point
+of getting into bed, and kissed her vehemently, exclaiming: "You are
+much--so much better than I! How is that you always know what is right?"
+
+Then she lay down; but before she fell asleep she once more spoke to
+Agne: "Marcus will find us out, I am certain," she said, "and I should
+really like to know what he has to say to me."
+
+In a few minutes sleep had sealed her eyes, but the Christian girl lay
+awake; her thoughts would not rest, and Sleep, who the night before had
+taken her to his heart, to-night would not come near her pillow; so much
+to agitate and disturb her soul had taken place during the day.
+
+She had often before now been a silent spectator of the wild rejoicings
+of the musician's family, and she had always thought of these
+light-hearted creatures as spendthrifts who waste all their substance
+in a few days to linger afterwards through years of privation and
+repentance. Troubled, as she could not fail to be, as to the eternal
+salvation of these lost souls, though happy in her own faith, she had
+constantly turned for peace to her Saviour and always found it; but
+to-night it was not so, for a new and unexpected temptation had sprung
+up for her in the house of Porphyrius.
+
+She had heard Gorgo sing again, and joined her own voice with hers.
+Dirges, yearning hymns, passionate outpourings in praise of the mighty
+and beautiful divinity had filled her ear and stirred her soul with an
+ecstatic thrill, although she knew that they, were the composition
+of heathen poets and had first been sung to the harmony of lutes by
+reprobate idolaters. And yet, and yet they had touched her heart, and
+moved her soul to rapture, and filled her eyes with tears.
+
+She could not but confess to herself that she could have given no
+purer, sweeter, or loftier expression to her own woes, thankfulness,
+aspirations, and hopes of ever lasting life and glory, than this gifted
+creature had given to the utterance of her idolatry. Surprise, unrest,
+nay, some little jealousy had been mingled with her delight at Gorgo's
+singing. How was it that this heathen could feel and utter emotions
+which she had always conceived of as the special privilege of the
+Christian, and, for her own part, had never felt so fervently as in
+the hours when she had drawn closest to her Lord? Were not her own
+sentiments the true and right ones; had her intercourse with these
+heathens tainted her?
+
+This doubt disturbed her greatly; it must be based on something more
+than mere self-torture, for she had not once thought of asking to whom
+the two-part hymn, with its tender appeal, was addressed, when Karnis
+had first gone through it with her alone; nor even subsequently, when
+she had sung it with Gorgo--timidly at first, more boldly the second
+time, and finally without a mistake, but carried completely away by the
+beauty and passion of the emotions it expressed.
+
+She knew now, for Karnis himself had told her. It was the Lament of
+Isis for her--lost husband and brother--oh that horrible heathen
+confusion!--The departed Osiris. The wailing widow, who called on him
+to return with "the silent speech of tears," was that queen of the
+idolater's devils whose shameful worship her father had often spoke of
+with horror. Still, this dirge was so true and noble, so penetrated with
+fervent, agonized grief, that it had gone to her heart. The sorrowing
+Mother of God, Mary herself, might thus have besought the resurrection
+of her Son; just thus must the "God-like maid"--as she was called in the
+Arian confession of her father--have uttered her grief, her prayers, and
+her longings.
+
+But it was all a heathen delusion, all the trickery and jugglery of the
+Devil, though she had failed to see through it, and had given herself up
+to it, heart and soul. Nay, worse! for after she had learnt that Gorgo
+was to represent Isis and she herself Nephthys, the sister of the divine
+pair, she had opposed the suggestion but feebly, even though she knew
+that they were to sing the hymn together in the Temple of Isis; and when
+Gorgo had clasped her in her arms with sisterly kindness, begging her
+not to spoil her plans but to oblige her in this, she had not repulsed
+the tempter with firm decision, but merely asked for time to think it
+over.
+
+How indeed could she have found the heart to refuse the noble girl,
+whose beauty and voice had so struck and fascinated her, when she flung
+her arms round her neck, looked into her eyes and earnestly besought
+her:
+
+"Do it for my sake, to please me. I do not ask you to do anything
+wicked. Pure song is acceptable to every god. Think of your lament, if
+you like, as being for your own god who suffered on the cross. But I
+like singing with you so much; say yes. Do not refuse, for my sake!"
+
+She had thrown her arms so gladly, so much too gladly round the heathen
+lady--for she had a loving heart and no one else had ever made it a
+return in kind--and clinging closely to her she had said:
+
+"As you will; I will do whatever you like."
+
+Then Orpheus, too, had urged her to oblige Gorgo, and himself, and all
+of them; and it had seemed almost impossible to refuse the first request
+that the modest youth--to whom she would willingly have granted anything
+and everything--had ever made. Still, she had held back; and in her
+anxious bewilderment, not daring to think or act, she had tried every
+form of excuse and postponement. She would probably have been awkward
+enough about this, but Gorgo was content to press her no further, and
+when, after leaving the house, she had summoned up courage to refuse to
+enter the Temple of Isis, Karnis had only said: "Be thankful that this
+gifted lady, the favorite of the Muses, should think you worthy to sing
+with her. We will see about the rest by-and-bye."
+
+Now, in the watches of the sleepless night, she saw clearly the abyss
+above which she was standing. She, like Judas, was on the point of
+betraying her Saviour; not indeed for money, but in obedience to the
+transient sound of an earthly voice, for the pleasure of exercising
+her art, to indulge a hastily-formed liking; nay, perhaps because it
+satisfied her childish vanity to find herself put on an equality with a
+lady of rank and wealth, and matched with a singer who had roused Karnis
+and Orpheus to such ardent admiration.
+
+She was an enigma to herself; while passages out of the Bible crowded on
+her memory to reproach her conscience.
+
+There lay Dada's embroidered dress. Worn for the first time this day, in
+a month it would be unpresentably shabby and then, ere long, flung aside
+as past wearing. Like this--just like this--was every earthly pleasure,
+every joy of this brief existence. Alas, she certainly was not happy
+here in Karnis' sense of the word; but in the other world there were
+joys eternal, and she had only to deny herself the petty enjoyments of
+this life to secure unfailing and everlasting happiness in the next.
+There she would find an endless flow of all her soul could desire,
+there perhaps she might be allowed to cool the lips of Gorgo, as Lazarus
+cooled those of the rich man.
+
+She was quite clear now what her answer would be to-morrow, and, firmly
+resolved not to allow herself to think of singing in the Temple of Isis,
+she at last fell asleep just as the light began to dawn in the east. She
+did not wake till late, and it was with downcast eyes and set lips that
+she went with Karnis and Orpheus to the house of Porphyrius.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+When the steward went to summons the musicians to his master's house he
+had again had no bidding for Dada, and she was very indignant at being
+left behind. "That old cornsack's daughter," she said, "was full of her
+airs, and would have nothing to say to them excepting to make use of
+them for her own purposes!" If she had not been afraid of being thought
+intrusive she would have acted on old Damia's invitation to visit her
+frequently, and have made her appearance, in defiance of Gorgo, dropping
+like a shooting-star into the midst of their practising. It never
+occurred to her to fancy that the young lady had any personal dislike
+to her, for, though she might be ignored and forgotten, who had ever had
+any but a kind word for her. At the same time she assumed the right of
+feeling that "she could not bear" the haughty Gorgo, and as the party
+set out she exclaimed to Agne, "Well, you need not kill her for me, but
+at any rate, I send her no greeting; it is a shame that I should be left
+to mope alone with Herse. Do not be surprised if you find me turned to a
+stark, brown mummy--for we are in Egypt, you know, the land of mummies.
+I bequeath my old dress to you, my dear, for I know you would never
+put on the new one. If you bewail me as you ought I will visit you in a
+dream, and put a sugarplum in your mouth--a cake of ambrosia such as the
+gods eat. You are not even leaving me Papias to tease!"
+
+For in fact Agne's little brother, dressed in a clean garment, was to be
+taken to Gorgo who had expressed a wish to see him.
+
+When they had all left the ship Dada soon betrayed how superficial her
+indignation had been; for, presently spying through the window of the
+cabin the young cavalry officer's grey-bearded father, she sprang up
+the narrow steps--barefoot as she was accustomed to be when at home--and
+threw herself on a cushion to lean over the gunwale of the upper deck,
+which was shaded by a canvas awning, to watch the ship-yard and the
+shore-path. Before she had begun to weary of this occupation the
+waiting-slave, who had been up to the house to put various matters in
+order, came back to the vessel, and squatting down at her feet was
+ready to give her all the information she chose to require. Dada's
+first questions naturally related to Gorgo. The young mistress, said
+the slave, had already dismissed many suitors, the sons of the greatest
+families of Alexandria, and if her suspicions--those of Sachepris, the
+slave--were well founded, all for the sake of the old shipbuilder's
+son, whom she had known from childhood and who was now an officer in
+the Imperial guard. However, as she opined, this attachment could hardly
+lead to marriage, since Constantine was a zealous Christian and his
+family were immeasurably beneath that of Porphyrius in rank; and though
+he had distinguished himself greatly and risen to the grade of Prefect,
+Damia, who on all occasions had the casting-vote, had quite other views
+for her granddaughter.
+
+All this excited Dada's sympathies to the highest pitch, but she
+listened with even greater attention when her gossip began to speak of
+Marcus, his mother, and his brother. In this the Egyptian slave was the
+tool of old Damia. She had counted on being questioned about the young
+Christian, and as soon as Dada mentioned his name she shuffled on her
+knees close up to the girl, laid her hand gently on her arm and
+looking up into her eyes with a meaning flash, she whispered in broken
+Greek--and hastily, for Herse was bustling about the deck: "Such a
+pretty mistress, such a young mistress as you, and kept here like
+a slave! If the young mistress only chose she could easily--quite
+easily--have as good a lover as our Gorgo, and better; so pretty and so
+young! And I know some one who would dress the pretty mistress in red
+gold and pale pearls and bright jewels, if sweet Dada only said the
+word."
+
+"And why should sweet Dada not say the word?" echoed the girl gaily.
+"Who is it that has so many nice things and all for me? You--I shall
+never remember your name if I live to be as old as Damia...."
+
+"Sachepris, Sachepris is my name," said the woman, "but call me anything
+else you like. The lover I mean is the son of the rich Christian, Mary.
+A handsome man, my lord Marcus; and he has horses, such fine horses, and
+more gold pieces than the pebbles on the shore there. Sachepris knows
+that he has sent out slaves to look for the pretty mistress. Send him a
+token--write to my lord Marcus."
+
+"Write?" laughed Dada. "Girls learn other things in my country; but if
+I could--shall I tell you something? I would not write him a line. Those
+who want me may seek me!"
+
+"He is seeking, he is trying to find the pretty mistress," declared the
+woman; "he is full of you, quite full of you, and if I dared...."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I would go and say to my lord Marcus, quite in a secret...."
+
+"Well, what? Speak out, woman."
+
+"First I would tell him where the pretty mistress is hidden; and then
+say that he might hope once--this evening perhaps--he is not far off, he
+is quite near this... over there; do you see that little white house? It
+is a tavern and the host is a freedman attached to the lady Damia, and
+for money he would shut his shop up for a day, for a night, for many
+days.--Well, and then I would say--shall I tell you all? My lord Marcus
+is there, waiting for his pretty mistress, and has brought her dresses
+that would make the rose-garment look a rag. You would have gold too, as
+much gold as heart can wish. I can take you there, and he will meet you
+with open arms."
+
+"What, this evening?" cried Dada, and the blue veins swelled on her
+white forehead. "You hateful, brown serpent! Did Gorgo teach you such
+things as this? It is horrible, disgraceful, sickening!"
+
+So base a proposal was the last thing she would ever have expected from
+Marcus--of all men in the world, Marcus, whom she had imagined so good
+and pure! She could not believe it; and as her glance met the cunning
+glitter of the Egyptian's eyes her own sparkled keenly, and she
+exclaimed with a vehemence and decision which her attendant had never
+suspected in her:
+
+"It is deceit and falsehood from beginning to end! Go, woman, I will
+hear no more of it. Why should Marcus have come to you since yesterday
+if he does not know where I am? You are silent--you will not say?... Oh!
+I understand it all. He--I know he would never have ventured it. But
+it is your 'noble lady Damia'--that old woman, who has told you what to
+say. You are her echo, and as for Marcus.... Confess, confess at once,
+you witch...."
+
+"Sachepris is only a poor slave," said the woman raising her hands in
+entreaty. "Sachepris can only obey, and if the pretty mistress were to
+tell my lady Damia..."
+
+"It was she then who sent for me to go to the little tavern?"
+
+The woman nodded. "And Marcus?"
+
+"If the pretty mistress had consented..."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Then--but Great Isis! if you tell of me!"
+
+"I will not tell; go on."
+
+"I should have gone to my lord Marcus and invited him, from you..."
+
+"It is shameful!" interrupted Dada, and a shudder ran through her slight
+frame. "How cruel, how horrible it is! You--you will stay here till the
+others come home and then you will go home to the old woman. I thank
+the gods, I have two hands and need no maid to wait upon me! But look
+there--what is the meaning of that? That pretty litter has stopped and
+there is an old man signing to you."
+
+"It is the widow Mary's house steward," whined the woman, while Dada
+turned pale, wondering what a messenger from Marcus' mother could want
+here.
+
+Herse, who had kept a watchful eye on the landing-plank, on Dada's
+account, had also seen the approach of the widow's messenger and
+suspected a love-message from Marcus; but she was utterly astounded when
+the old man politely but imperiously desired her--Herse to get into the
+litter which would convey her to his mistress's house. Was this a trap?
+Did he merely want to tempt her from the vessel so as to clear the way
+for his young master? No--for he handed her a tablet on which there was
+a written message, and she, an Alexandrian, had been well educated and
+could read:
+
+"Mary, the widow of Apelles, to the wife of Karnis, the singer." And
+then followed the same urgent request as she had already received by
+word of mouth. To reassure herself entirely she called the slave-woman
+aside, and asked her whether Phabis was indeed a trust worthy servant
+of the widow's. Evidently there was no treason to be apprehended and she
+must obey the invitation, though it disturbed her greatly; but she was a
+cautious woman, with not only her heart but her brains and tongue in the
+right place, and she at once made up her mind what must be done under
+the circumstances. While she gave a few decorative touches to her person
+she handed the tablet to the waiting-woman, whom she had taken into her
+own room, and desired her to carry it at once to her husband, and tell
+him whither she had gone, and to beg him to return without delay to take
+care of Dada. But what if her husband and son could not come away? The
+girl would be left quite alone, and then... The picture rose before
+her anxious mind of Marcus appearing on the scene and tempting Dada
+on shore--of her niece stealing away by herself even, if the young
+Christian failed to discover her present residence--loitering alone
+along the Canopic way or the Bruclumn, where, at noon, all that was most
+disreputable in Alexandria was to be seen at this time of year--she saw,
+shuddered, considered--and suddenly thought of an expedient which
+seemed to promise an issue from the difficulty. It was nothing new and a
+favorite trick among the Egyptians; she had seen is turned to account
+by a lame tailor at whose house her father had lodged, when he had to
+go out to his customers and leave his young negress wife alone at home.
+Dada was lying barefoot on the deck: Herse would hide her shoes.
+
+She hastily acted on this idea, locking up not only Dada's sandals, but
+also Agne's and her own, in the trunk they had saved; a glance at the
+slave's feet assured her that hers could be of no use.
+
+"Not if fire were to break out," thought she, "would my Dada be seen in
+the streets with those preposterous things on her pretty little feet."
+
+When this was done Herse breathed more freely, and as she took leave of
+her niece, feeling perhaps that she owed her some little reparation, she
+said in an unusually kind tone:
+
+"Good bye, child. Try to amuse yourself while I am gone. There is plenty
+to look at here, and the others will soon be back again. If the city is
+fairly quiet this evening we will all go out together, to Canopus, to
+eat oysters. Good bye till we meet again, my pet!" She kissed the child,
+who looked up at her in astonishment, for her adopted mother was not
+usually lavish of such endearments.
+
+Before long Dada was alone, cooling herself with her new fan and eating
+sweetmeats; but she could not cease thinking of the shameful treachery
+planned by old Damia, and while she rejoiced to reflect that she had not
+fallen into the net, and had seen through the plot, her wrath against
+the wicked old woman and Gorgo--whom she could not help including--burnt
+within her. Meanwhile she looked about her, expecting to see Marcus, or
+perhaps the young officer. Finding it impossible to think any evil of
+the young Christian, and having already trusted him so far, her fancy
+dwelt on him with particular pleasure; but she was curious, too, about
+the prefect, the early love of the proud merchant's daughter.
+
+Time went on; the sun was high in the heavens, she was tired of staring,
+wondering and thinking, and, yawning wearily, she began to consider
+whether she would make herself comfortable for a nap, or go down
+stairs and fill up the time by dressing herself up in her new garments.
+However, before she could do either, the slave returned from her errand
+to the house, and a few moments after she espied the young officer
+crossing the ship-yard towards the lake; she sat up, set the crescent
+straight that she wore in her hair, and waved her fan in a graceful
+greeting.
+
+The cavalry prefect, who knew that, of old, the barge was often used by
+Porphyrius' guests, though he did not happen to have heard who were its
+present occupants--bowed, with military politeness and precision, to the
+pretty girl lounging on the deck. Dada returned the greeting; but this
+seemed likely to be the end of their acquaintance, for the soldier
+walked on without turning round. He looked handsomer even than he
+had seemed the day before; his hair was freshly oiled and curled, his
+scale-armor gleamed as brightly, and his crimson tunic was as new and
+rich as if he were going at once to guard the Imperial throne. The
+merchant's daughter had good taste, but her friend looked no less
+haughty than herself. Dada longed to make his acquaintance and find out
+whether he really had no eyes for any one but Gorgo. To discover that it
+was not so, little as she cared about him personally, would have given
+her infinite satisfaction, and she decided that she must put him to the
+test. But there was no time to lose, so, as it would hardly do to call
+after him, she obeyed a sudden impulse, flung overboard the handsome fan
+which had been in her possession but one day, and gave a little cry in
+which alarm and regret were most skilfully and naturally expressed.
+
+This had the wished-for effect. The officer turned round, his eyes met
+hers, and Dada leaned far over the boat's side pointing to the water and
+exclaiming:
+
+"It is in the water--it has fallen into the lake!--my fan!"
+
+The officer again bowed slightly; then he walked from the path down to
+the water's edge, while Dada went on more quietly:
+
+"There, close there! Oh, if only you would!...
+
+"I am so fond of the fan, it is so pretty. Do you see, it is quite
+obliging? it is floating towards you!" Constantine had soon secured the
+fan, and shook it to dry it as he went across the plank to the vessel.
+Dada joyfully received it, stroked the feathers smooth, and warmly
+thanked its preserver, while he assured her that he only wished he could
+have rendered her some greater service. He was then about to retire with
+a bow no less distant than before, but he found himself unexpectedly
+detained by the Egyptian slave who, placing herself in his way, kissed
+the hem of his tunic and exclaimed:
+
+"What joy for my lord your father and the lady your mother, and for poor
+Sachepris! My lord Constantine at home again!"
+
+"Yes, at home at last," said the soldier in a deep pleasant voice. "Your
+old mistress is still hale and hearty? That is well. I am on my way to
+the others."
+
+"They know that you have come," replied the slave. "Glad, they are all
+glad. They asked if my lord Constantine forgot old friends."
+
+"Never, not one!"
+
+"How long now since my lord Constantine went away--two, three years, and
+just the same. Only a cut over the eyes--may the hand wither that gave
+the blow!"
+
+Dada had already observed a broad scar which marked the soldier's brow
+as high up as she could see it for the helmet, and she broke in:
+
+"How can you men like to slash and kill each other? Just think, if that
+cut had been only a finger's breadth lower--you would have lost your
+eyes, and oh! it is better to be dead than blind. When all the world is
+bright not to be able to see it; what must that be! The whole earth in
+darkness so that you see nothing--no one; neither the sky, nor the lake,
+nor the boat, nor even me."
+
+"That would indeed be a pity," said the prefect with a laugh and a
+shrug.
+
+"A pity!" exclaimed Dada. "As if it were nothing at all! I should find
+something else to say than that. It gives me a shudder only to think of
+being blind. How dreadfully dull life can be with one's eyes open! so
+what must it be when they are of no use and one cannot even look about
+one. Do you know that you have done me not one service only, but two at
+once?"
+
+"I?" said the officer.
+
+"Yes, you. But the second is not yet complete. Sit down awhile, I
+beg--there is a seat. You know it is a fatal omen if a visitor does not
+sit down before he leaves.--That is well.--And now, may I ask you: do
+you take off your helmet when you go into battle? No.--Then how could a
+swordcut hurt your forehead?"
+
+"In a hand to hand scuffle," said the young man, "everything gets out of
+place. One man knocked my helmet off and another gave me this cut in my
+face."
+
+"Where did it happen?"
+
+"On the Savus, where we defeated Maximus."
+
+"And had you this same helmet on?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Oh! pray let me look at it! I can still see the dent in the metal; how
+heavy such a thing must be to wear!"
+
+Constantine took off his helmet with resigned politeness and put it into
+her hands. She weighed it, thought it fearfully heavy, and then lifted
+it up to put it on her own fair curls; but this did not seem to please
+her new acquaintance, and saying rather shortly: "Allow me--" he took it
+from her, set it on his head and rose.
+
+But Dada pointed eagerly to the seat.
+
+"No, no," she said, "I have not yet had enough of your second kindness.
+I was on the point of death from sheer tedium; then you came, just in
+time; and if you want to carry out your work of mercy you must tell me
+something about the battle where you were wounded, and who took care of
+you afterwards, and whether the women of Pannonia are really as handsome
+as they are said to be..."
+
+"I am sorry to say that I have not time," interrupted the officer.
+"Sachepris here is far better qualified to amuse you than I; some years
+since, at any rate, she lead a wonderful store of tales. I wish you a
+pleasant day!"
+
+And with this farewell greeting, Constantine left the vessel, nor did he
+once look back at it or its pretty inhabitant as he made his way towards
+the house of Porphyrius.
+
+Dada as she gazed after him colored with vexation; again she had done
+a thing that Herse and--which she regretted still more--that Agne would
+certainly disapprove of. The stranger whom she had tried to draw into a
+flirtation was a really chivalrous man. Gorgo might be proud of such a
+lover; and if now, he were to go to her and tell her, probably with
+some annoyance, how provokingly he had been delayed by that pert little
+singing-girl, it would be all her own fault. She felt as though there
+were something in her which forced her to seem much worse than she
+really was, and wished to be. Agne, Marcus, the young soldier--nay,
+even Gorgo, were loftier and nobler than she or her people, and she
+was conscious for the first time that the dangers from which Marcus had
+longed to protect her were not the offspring of his fancy. She could not
+have found a name for them, but she understood that she was whirled and
+tossed through life from one thing to another, like a leaf before the
+wind, bereft of every stay or holdfast, defenceless even against the
+foolish vagaries of her own nature. Everyone, thought the girl to
+herself, distrusted and suspected her, and, solely because she was one
+of a family of singers, dared to insult and dishonor her. A strange
+spite against Fate, against her uncle and aunt, against herself even,
+surged up in her, and with it a vague longing for another and a better
+life.
+
+Thus meditating she looked down into the water, not noticing what was
+going on around her, till the slave-woman, addressing her by name,
+pointed to a carriage drawn up at the side of the road that divided the
+grove of the Temple of Isis from the ship-yard, and which the Egyptian
+believed that she recognized as belonging to Marcus. Dada started up and
+ran off to the cabin to fetch her shoes, but everything in the shape of
+a sandal had vanished, and Herse had been wise when she had looked
+at those of the Egyptian, for Dada did the same and would not have
+hesitated to borrow them if they had been a little less dirty and
+clumsy.
+
+Herse, no doubt, had played her this trick, and it was easy to guess
+why! It was only to divert her suspicions that the false woman had
+been so affectionate at parting. It was cheating, treachery-cruel and
+shameful! She, who had always submitted like a lamb--but this was too
+much--this she could not bear--this!... The slave-woman now followed
+her to desire her to come up on deck; a new visitor had appeared on the
+scene, an old acquaintance and fellow-voyager: Demetrius, Marcus' elder
+brother.
+
+At any other time she would have made him gladly welcome, as a companion
+and comfort in her solitude; but he had chosen an evil hour for his
+visit and his proposals, as the girl's red cheeks and tearful eyes at
+once told him.
+
+He had come to fetch her, cost him what it might, and to carry her away
+to his country-home, near Arsinoe on the coast. It was not that he had
+any mad desire to make her his own, but that he thought it his most
+urgent duty to preserve his inexperienced brother from the danger into
+which his foolish passion for the little singing-girl was certain
+to plunge him. A purse full of gold, and a necklace of turquoise and
+diamonds, which he had purchased from a jeweller in the Jews' quarter
+for a sum for which he had often sold a ship-load of corn or a whole
+cellar full of wine or oil, were to supplement his proposals; and he
+went straight to the point, asking the girl simply and plainly to leave
+her friends and accompany him to Arsinoe. When she asked him, in much
+astonishment, "What to do there?" he told her he wanted a cheerful
+companion; he had taken a fancy to her saucy little nose, and though he
+could not flatter himself that he had ever found favor in her eyes he
+had brought something with him which she would certainly like, and
+which might help him to win her kindness. He was not niggardly, and if
+this--and this--and he displayed the sparkling necklace and laid the
+purse on her pillow--could please her she might regard them as an
+earnest of more, as much more as she chose, for his pockets were deep.
+
+Dada did not interrupt him, for the growing indignation with which she
+heard him took away her breath. This fresh humiliation was beyond the
+bounds of endurance; and when at last she recovered her powers of speech
+and action, she flung the purse off the divan, and as it fell clattering
+on the floor, she kicked it away as far as possible, as though it were
+plague-tainted. Then, standing upright in front of her suitor, she
+exclaimed:
+
+"Shame upon you all! You thought that because I am a poor girl, a
+singing-girl, and because you have filthy gold.... Your brother Marcus
+would never have done such a thing, I am very sure!... And you, a horrid
+peasant!... If you ever dare set foot on this vessel again, Karnis and
+Orpheus shall drive you away as if you were a thief or an assassin!
+Eternal Gods! what is it that I have done, that everyone thinks I must
+be wicked? Eternal Gods...."
+
+And she burst into loud spasmodic sobs and vanished down the steps that
+led below.
+
+Demetrius called after her in soothing words and tones, but she would
+not listen. Then he sent down the slave to beg Dada to grant him a
+hearing, but the only answer he received was an order to quit the barge
+at once.
+
+He obeyed, and as he picked up the purse he thought to himself:
+
+"I may buy ship and vineyard back again; but I would send four more
+after those if I could undo this luckless deed. If I were a better and
+a worthier man, I might not so easily give others credit for being evil
+and unworthy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The town of Alexandria was stirred to its very foundations. From dawn
+till night every centre of public traffic and intercourse was the scene
+of hostile meetings between Christians and heathen, with frequent frays
+and bloodshed, only stopped by the intervention of the soldiery.
+Still, as we see that the trivial round of daily tasks is necessarily
+fulfilled, even when the hand of Fate lies heaviest on a household,
+and that children cannot forego their play even when their father is
+stretched on his death-bed, so the minor interests of individual lives
+pursued their course, even in the midst of the general agitation and
+peril.
+
+The current of trade and of public business was, of course, checked at
+many points, but they never came to a stand-still. The physician visited
+the sick, the convalescent made his first attempt, leaning on a friendly
+arm, to walk from his bedroom to the "viridarium," and alms were given
+and received. Hatred was abroad and rampant, but love held its own,
+strengthening old ties and forming new ones. Terror and grief weighed
+on thousands of hearts, while some tried to make a profit out of
+the prevailing anxiety, and others--many others--went forth, as
+light-hearted as ever, in pursuit of pleasure and amusement.
+
+Horses were ridden and driven in the Hippodrome, and feasts were held
+in the pleasure-houses of Canopus, with music and noisy mirth; in the
+public gardens round the Paneum cock-fighting and quail-fighting were as
+popular as ever, and eager was the betting in new gold or humble
+copper. Thus may we see a child, safe on the roof of its father's house,
+floating its toy boat on the flood that has drowned them all out; thus
+might a boy fly his gaudy kite in the face of a gathering storm; thus
+does the miser, on whom death has already laid its bony hand, count his
+hoarded coin; thus thoughtless youth dances over the heaving soil at the
+very foot of a volcano. What do these care for the common weal? Each
+has his separate life and personal interests. What he himself needs or
+desires--the greatest or the least--is to him more important and more
+absorbing than the requirements of the vast organism in which he is no
+more than a drop of blood or the hair of an eyelash.
+
+Olympius was still in concealment in the house of Porphyrius--Olympius,
+whose mind and will had formerly had such imperious hold on the fate
+of the city, and to whose nod above half of the inhabitants were still
+obedient. Porphyrius and his family shared his views and regarded
+themselves as his confederates; but, even among them, the minor details
+of life claimed their place, and Gorgo, who entered into the struggle
+for the triumph of the old gods, gave but a half-hearted attention to
+the great cause to which she was enthusiastically devoted, because a
+companion of her childhood, to whose attentions she had every claim,
+delayed his visit longer than was kind.
+
+She had performed her 'Isis' lament the day before with all her heart
+and soul, and had urgently claimed Agne's assistance; but to-day, though
+she had been singing again and well, she had stopped to listen whenever
+she heard a door open in the adjoining room or voices in the garden,
+and had sung altogether with so much less feeling and energy than before
+that Karnis longed to reprove her sharply enough. This, however, would
+have been too indiscreet, so he could only express his annoyance by
+saying to his son, in a loud whisper:
+
+"The most remarkable gifts, you see, and the highest abilities are of no
+avail so long as Art and Life are not one and the same--so long as Art
+is not the Alpha and Omega of existence, but merely an amusement or a
+decoration."
+
+Agne had been true to herself, and had modestly but steadfastly declared
+that she could not possibly enter the temple of Isis, and her refusal
+had been accepted quite calmly, and without any argument or controversy.
+She had not been able to refuse Gorgo's request that she would repeat
+to-day the rehearsal she had gone through yesterday, since, to all
+appearance, her cooperation at the festival had been altogether given
+up. How could the girl guess that the venerable philosopher, who had
+listened with breathless admiration to their joint performance, had
+taken upon himself to dissipate her doubts and persuade her into
+compliance?
+
+Olympius laid the greatest stress on Agne's assistance, for every
+one who clung to the worship of the old gods was to assemble in the
+sanctuary of Isis; and the more brilliant and splendid the ceremony
+could be made the more would that enthusiasm be fired which, only too
+soon, would be put to crucial proof. On quitting the temple the crowd of
+worshippers, all in holiday garb, were to pass in front of the Prefect's
+residence, and if only they could effect this great march through the
+city in the right frame of mind, it might confidently be expected
+that every one who was not avowedly Jew or Christian, would join
+the procession. It would thus become a demonstration of overwhelming
+magnitude and Cynegius, the Emperor's representative, could not fail to
+see what the feeling was of the majority of the towns folk, and what it
+was to drive matters to extremes and lay hands on the chief temples of
+such a city.
+
+To Olympius the orator, grown grey in the exercise of logic and
+eloquence, it seemed but a small matter to confute the foolish doubts
+of a wilful girl. He would sweep her arguments to the winds as the
+storm drives the clouds before it; and any one who had seen the two
+together--the fine old man with the face and front of Zeus, with
+his thoughtful brow and broad chest, who could pour forth a flood of
+eloquence fascinatingly persuasive or convincingly powerful, and the
+modest, timid girl--could not have doubted on which side the victory
+must be.
+
+To-day, for the first time, Olympius had found leisure for a prolonged
+interview with his old friend Karnis, and while the girls were in
+the garden, amusing little Papias by showing him the swans and tame
+gazelles, the philosopher had made enquiries as to the Christian girl's
+history and then had heard a full account of the old musician's past
+life. Karnis felt it as a great favor that his old friend, famous now
+for his learning--the leader of his fellow-thinkers in the second city
+of the world, the high-priest of Serapis, to whose superior intellect
+he himself had bowed even in their student days--should remember his
+insignificant person and allow him to give him the history of the
+vicissitudes which had reduced him--the learned son of a wealthy
+house--to the position of a wandering singer.
+
+Olympius had been his friend at the time when Karnis, on leaving
+college, instead of devoting himself to business and accounts, as his
+father wished, had thrown himself into the study of music, and at once
+distinguished himself as a singer, lute-player and leader of heathen
+choirs. Karnis was in Alexandria when the news reached him of his
+father's death. Before quitting the city he married Herse, who was
+beneath him alike in birth and in fortune, and who accompanied him
+on his return to Tauromenium in Sicily, where he found himself the
+possessor of an inheritance of which the extent and importance greatly
+astonished him.
+
+At Alexandria he had been far better acquainted with the theatre than
+with the Museum or the school of the Serapeum; nay, as an amateur, he
+had often sung in the chorus there and acted as deputy for the regular
+leader. The theatre in his native town of Tauromenium had also been a
+famous one of old, but, at the time of his return, it had sunk to a very
+low ebb. Most of the inhabitants of the beautiful city nestling at
+the foot off Etna, had been converted to Christianity; among them the
+wealthy citizens at whose cost the plays had been performed and the
+chorus maintained. Small entertainments were still frequently given,
+but the singers and actors had fallen off, and in that fine and spacious
+theatre nothing was ever done at all worthy of its past glories. This
+Karnis deeply regretted, and with his wonted energy and vigor he soon
+managed to win the interest of those of his fellow-citizens who remained
+faithful to the old gods and had still some feeling for the music and
+poetry of the ancient Greeks, in his plans for their revival.
+
+His purpose was to make the theatre the centre of a reaction against the
+influence of the Christians, by vieing with the Church in its efforts
+to win back the renegade heathen and confirming the faithful in
+their adhesion. The Greeks of Tauromenium should be reminded from the
+stage-boards of the might of the old gods and the glories of their past.
+To this end it was needful to restore the ruined theatre, and Karnis,
+after advancing the greater part of the money required, was entrusted
+with the management. He devoted himself zealously to the task, and
+soon was so successful that the plays at Tauromenium, and the musical
+performances in its Odeum, attracted the citizens in crowds, and were
+talked of far and wide. Such success was of course only purchased at
+a heavy cost, and in spite of Herse's warnings, Karnis would never
+hesitate when the object in view was the preservation or advancement of
+his great work.
+
+Thus passed twenty years; then there came a day when his fine fortune
+was exhausted, and a time when the Christian congregation strained every
+nerve to deal a death-blow to the abomination of desolation in their
+midst. Again and again, and with increasing frequency, there were
+sanguinary riots between the Christians who forced their way into the
+theatre and the heathen audience, till at last a decree of the Emperor
+Theodosius prohibited the performance of heathen plays or music.
+
+Now, the theatre at Tauromenium, for which Karnis had either given or
+advanced his whole inheritance, had ceased to exist, and the usurers
+who, when his own fortune was spent, had lent him moneys on the security
+of the theatre itself--while it still flourished--or on his personal
+security, seized his house and lands and would have cast him into the
+debtor's prison if he had not escaped that last disgrace by flight. Some
+good friends had rescued his family and helped them to follow him, and
+when they rejoined him he had begun his wanderings as a singer. Many
+a time had life proved miserable enough; still, he had always remained
+true to his art and to the gods of Olympus.
+
+Olympius had listened to his narrative with many tokens of sympathy and
+agreement, and when Karnis, with tears in his eyes, brought his story
+to a close, the philosopher laid his hand on his friend's shoulder and
+drawing him towards him, exclaimed:
+
+"Well done, my brave old comrade! We will both be faithful to the same
+good cause! You have made sacrifices for it as I have; and we need not
+despair yet. If we triumph here our friends in a thousand towns will
+begin to look up. The reading of the stars last night, and the auguries
+drawn from this morning's victims, portend great changes. What is down
+to the ground to-day may float high in the air to-morrow. All the signs
+indicate: 'A fall to the Greatest;' and what can be greater than Rome,
+the old tyrant queen of the nations? The immediate future, it is true,
+can hardly bring the final crash, but it is fraught with important
+consequences to us. I dreamed of the fall of the Caesars, and of a great
+Greek Empire risen from the ruins, powerful and brilliant under the
+special protection of the gods of Olympus; and each one of us must
+labor to bring about the realization of this dream. You have set a noble
+example of devotion and self-sacrifice, and I thank you in the name of
+all those who feel with us--nay, in the name of the gods themselves whom
+I serve! The first thing to be done now is to avert the blow which the
+Bishop intends shall strike us by the hand of Cynegius--it has already
+fallen on the magnificent sanctuary of the Apamaean Zeus. If the
+ambassador retires without having gained his purpose the balance will
+be greatly--enormously, in our favor, and it will cease to be a folly to
+believe in the success of our cause."
+
+"Ah! teach us to hope once more," cried the musician. "That in itself is
+half the victory; still, I cannot see how this delay..."
+
+"It would give us time, and that is what we want," replied Olympius.
+"Everything is in preparation, but nothing is ready. Alexandria, Athens,
+Antioch, and Neapolis are to be the centres of the outbreak. The great
+Libanius is not a man of action, and even he approves of our scheme. No
+less a man than Florentin has undertaken to recruit for our cause among
+the heathen officers in the army. Messala, and the great Gothic captains
+Fraiut and Generid are ready to fight for the old gods. Our army will
+not lack leaders..."
+
+"Our army!" exclaimed Karnis in surprise. "Is the matter so far
+advanced?"
+
+"I mean the army of the future," cried Olympius enthusiastically. "It
+does not count a man as yet, but is already distributed into several
+legions. The vigor of mind and body--our learned youth on one hand and
+strong-armed peasantry on the other--form the nucleus of our force.
+Maximus could collect, in the utmost haste, the army which deprived
+Gratian of his throne and life, and was within a Hair-breadth of
+overthrowing Theodosius; and what was he but an ambitious rebel, and
+what tempted his followers but their hopes of a share in the booty? But
+we--we enlist them in the name of the loftiest ideas and warmest desires
+of the human heart, and, as the prize of victory, we show them the
+ancient faith with freedom of thought--the ancient loveliness of life.
+The beings whom the Christians can win over--a patch-work medley of
+loathsome Barbarians--let them wear out their lives as they choose!
+We are Greeks--the thinking brain, the subtle and sentient soul of the
+world. The polity, the empire, that we shall found on the overthrow
+of Theodosius and of Rome shall be Hellenic, purely Hellenic. The old
+national spirit, which made the Greeks omnipotent against the millions
+of Darius and Xerxes, shall live again, and we will keep the Barbarians
+at a distance as a Patrician forbids his inferiors to count themselves
+as belonging to his illustrious house. The Greek gods, Greek heroism,
+Greek art and Greek learning, under our rule shall rise from the
+dust--all the more promptly for the stringent oppression under which
+their indomitable spirit has so long languished."
+
+"You speak to my heart!" cried Karnis. "My old blood flows more swiftly
+already, and if I only had a thousand talents left to give..."
+
+"You would stake them on the future Greek Empire," said Olympius
+eagerly. "And we have adherents without number who feel as you do,
+my trusty friend. We shall succeed--as the great Julian would have
+succeeded but for the assassins who laid him low at so early an age; for
+Rome..."
+
+"Rome is still powerful."
+
+"Rome is a colossus built up of a thousand blocks; but among them a
+hundred and more be but loosely in their places, and are ready to drop
+away from the body of the foul monster--sooner rather than later. Our
+shout alone will shake them down, and they will fall on our side, we may
+choose the best for our own use. Ere long--a few months only--the hosts
+will gather in the champaign country at the foot of Vesuvius, by land
+and by sea; Rome will open its gates wide to us who bring her back her
+old gods; the Senate will proclaim the emperor deposed and the Republic
+restored. Theodosius will come out against us. But the Idea for which
+we go forth to fight will hover before us, will stir the hearts of those
+soldiers and officers who would gladly--ah! how gladly-sacrifice to the
+Olympian gods and who only kiss the wounds of the crucified Jew under
+compulsion. They will desert from the labarum, which Constantine carried
+to victory, to our standards; and those standards are all there, ready
+for use; they have been made in this city and are lying hidden in the
+house of Apollodorus. Heaven-sent daemons showed them in a vision to my
+disciple Ammonius, when he was full of the divinity and lost in ecstasy,
+and I have had them made from his instructions."
+
+"And what do they represent?"
+
+"The bust of Serapis with the 'modius' on his head. It is framed in a
+circle with the signs of the zodiac and the images of the great Olympian
+deities. We have given our god the head of Zeus, and the corn-measure
+on his head is emblematic of the blessing that the husbandman hopes for.
+The zodiac promises us a good star, and the figures representing it
+are not the common emblems, but each deeply significant. The Twins,
+for instance, are the mariner's divinities, Castor and Pollux; Hercules
+stands by the Lion whom he has subdued; and the Fishes are dolphins,
+which love music. In the Scales, one holds the cross high in the air
+while the other is weighed down by Apollo's laurel-wreath and the bolts
+of Zeus; in short, our standard displays everything that is most dear
+to the soul of a Greek or that fills him with devotion. Above all, Nike
+hovers with the crown of victory. If only fitting leaders are to be
+found at the centres of the movement, these standards will at once be
+sent out, and with them arms for the country-folk. A place of meeting
+has already been selected in each province, the pass-word will be given,
+and a day fixed for a general rising."
+
+"And they will flock round you!" interrupted Karnis, "and--I, my son,
+will not be absent. Oh glorious, happy, and triumphant day! Gladly will
+I die if only I may first live to see the smoking offerings sending up
+their fragrance to the gods before the open doors of every temple in
+Greece; see the young men and maidens dancing in rapt enthusiasm to the
+sound of lutes and pipes, and joining their voices in the chorus! Then
+light will shine once more on the world, then life will once more mean
+joy, and death a departure from a scene of bliss."
+
+"Aye, and thus shall it be!" cried Olympius, fired by this eager
+exposition of his own excitement, and he wrung the musician's hand.
+"We will restore life to the Greeks and teach them to scorn death as of
+yore. Let the Christians, the Barbarians, make life miserable and seek
+joy in death, if they list! But the girls have ceased singing. There
+is still much to be done to-day, and first of all I must confute the
+objections of your recalcitrant pupil."
+
+"You will not find it an easy task," said Karnis. "Reason is a feeble
+weapon in contending with a woman."
+
+"Not always," replied the philosopher. "But you must know how to use it.
+Leave me to deal with the child. There are really no singing-women left
+here; we have tried three, but they were all vulgar and ill taught. This
+girl, when she sings with Gorgo, has a voice that will go to the heart
+of the audience. What we want is to fire the crowd with enthusiasm, and
+she will help us to do it."
+
+"Well, well. But you, Olympius, you who are the very soul of the
+revulsion we hope for, you must not be present at the festival. Indeed,
+sheltered as you are under Porphyrius' roof, there is a price on your
+head, and this house swarms with slaves, who all know you; if one of
+them, tempted by filthy lucre..."
+
+"They will not betray me," smiled the philosopher. "They know that their
+aged mistress, Damia, and I myself command the daemons of the upper
+and lower spheres, and that at a sign from her or from me they would
+instantly perish; and even if there were an Ephialtes among them, a
+spring through that loop-hole would save me. Be easy, my friend. Oracles
+and stars alike foretell me death from another cause than the treason of
+a slave."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Olympius followed Agne into the garden where he found her sitting by the
+marble margin of a small pool, giving her little brother pieces of bread
+to feed the swans with. He greeted her kindly and, taking up the child,
+showed him a ball which rose and fell on the jet of water from the
+fountain. Papias was not at all frightened by the big man with his white
+beard, for a bright and kindly gleam shone in his eyes, and his voice
+was soft and attractive as he asked him whether he had such another ball
+and could toss it as cleverly as the fountain did.
+
+Papias said: "No," and Olympius, turning to Agne, went on:
+
+"You should get him a ball. There is no better plaything, for play ought
+to consist in pleasant exertion which is in itself its object and gain.
+Play is the toil of a little child; and a ball, which he can throw and
+run after or catch, trains his eye, gives exercise to his limbs and
+includes a double moral which men of every age and position should act
+upon: To look down on the earth and keep his gaze on the heavens."
+
+Agne nodded agreement and thanks, while Olympius set the child down
+and bid him run away to the paddock where some tame gazelles were kept.
+Then, going straight to the point, he said:
+
+"I hear you have declined to sing in the temple of Isis; you have been
+taught to regard the goddess to whom many good men turn in faith and
+confidence, as a monster of iniquity, but, tell me, do you know what she
+embodies?"
+
+"No," replied Agne looking down; but she hastily rose from her seat and
+added with some spirit: "And I do not want to know, for I am a Christian
+and your gods are not mine."
+
+"Well, well; your beliefs, of course, differ from ours in many points:
+still, I fancy that you and I have much in common. We belong to those
+who have learnt to 'look upwards'--there goes the ball, up again!--and
+who find comfort in doing so. Do you know that many men believe that the
+universe was formed by concurrence of mechanical processes and is still
+slowly developing, that there is no divinity whose love and power guard,
+guide and lend grace to the lives of men?"
+
+"Oh! yes, I have been obliged to hear many such blasphemous things in
+Rome!"
+
+"And they ran off you like water off the silvery sheen of that swan's
+plumage as he dips and raises his neck. Those who deny a God are, in
+your estimation, foolish or perhaps abominable?"
+
+"I pity them, with all my heart."
+
+"And with very good reason. You are an orphan and what its parents are
+to a child the divinity is to every member of the human race. In this
+Gorgo, and I, and many others whom you call heathen, feel exactly as you
+do; but you--have you ever asked yourself why and how it is that you, to
+whom life has been so bitter, have such a perfect conviction that there
+is a benevolent divinity who rules the world and your own fate to kindly
+ends? Why, in short, do you believe in a God?"
+
+"I?" said Ague, looking puzzled, but straight into his face. "How could
+anything exist without God? You ask such strange questions. All I can
+see was created by our Father in Heaven."
+
+"But there are men born blind who nevertheless believe in Him."
+
+"They feel Him just as I see Him."
+
+"Nay you should say: 'As I believe that I see and feel Him.' But I, for
+my part, think that the intellect has a right to test what the soul only
+divines, and that it must be a real happiness to see this divination
+proved by well-founded arguments, and thus transformed to certainty. Did
+you ever hear of Plato, the philosopher?"
+
+"Yes, Karnis often speaks of him when he and Orpheus are discussing
+things which I do not understand."
+
+"Well, Plato, by his intellect, worked out the proof of the problem
+which our feelings alone are so capable of apprehending rightly. Listen
+to me: If you stand on a spit of land at the entrance to a harbor and
+see a ship in the distance sailing towards you--a ship which carefully
+avoids the rocks, and makes straight for the shelter of the port--are
+you not justified in concluding that there is, on board that ship, a man
+who guides and steers it? Certainly. You not only may, but must infer
+that it is directed by a pilot. And if you look up at the sky and
+contemplate the well-ordered courses of the stars--when you see how
+everything on earth, great and small, obeys eternal laws and unerringly
+tends to certain preordained ends and issues, you may and must infer the
+existence of a ruling hand. Whose then but that of the Great Pilot of
+the universe--the Almighty Godhead.--Do you like my illustration?"
+
+"Very much. But it only proves what I knew before."
+
+"Nevertheless, you must, I think, be pleased to find it so beautifully
+expressed."
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"And must admire the wise man who thought out the comparison.
+Yes?--Well, that man again was one of those whom you call heathen, who
+believed as we believe, and who at the same time worked out the evidence
+of the foundations of his faith for you as well as himself. And we,
+the later disciples of Plato--[Known as the school of the
+Neo-Platonists]--have gone even further than our master, and in many
+respects are much nearer to you Christians than you perhaps suspect.
+You see at once, of course, that we are no more inclined than you
+to conceive of the existence of the world and the destiny of man as
+independent of a God? However, I dare say you still think that your
+divinity and ours are as far asunder as the east from the west. But can
+you tell me where any difference lies?"
+
+"I do not know," said Ague uneasily. "I am only an ignorant girl; and
+who can learn the names even of all your gods?"
+
+"Very true," said Olympius. "There is great Serapis, whose temple
+you saw yesterday; there is Apollo, to whom Karnis prefers to offer
+sacrifice; there is Isis the bountiful, and her sister Nephthys, whose
+lament you and my young friend sing together so thrillingly; and besides
+these there are more immortals than I could name while Gorgo--who is
+leading your little brother to the lake out there--walked ten times from
+the shore to us and back; and yet--and yet my child, your God is ours
+and ours is yours."
+
+"No, no, He is not, indeed!" cried Agne with increasing alarm.
+
+"But listen," Olympius went on, with the same kind urgency but with
+extreme dignity, "and answer my questions simply and honestly. We are
+agreed, are we not?--that we perceive the divinity in the works of his
+creation, and even in his workings in our own souls. Then which are the
+phenomena of nature in which you discern Him as especially near to you?
+You are silent. I see, you have outlived your school-days and do not
+choose to answer to an uninvited catechism. And yet the things I wish
+you to name are lovely in themselves and dear to your heart; and if only
+you did not keep your soft lips so firmly closed, but would give me the
+answer I ask for, you would remember much that is grand and beautiful.
+You would speak of the pale light of dawn, the tender flush that tinges
+the clouds as the glowing day-star rises from the waves, of the splendor
+of the sun-as glorious as truth and as warm as divine love. You would
+say: In the myriad blossoms that open to the morning, in the dew that
+bathes them and covers them with diamonds, in the ripening ears in the
+field, in the swelling fruit on the trees--in all these I see the mercy
+and wisdom of the divinity. I feel his infinite greatness as I gaze on
+the wide expanse of deep blue sea; it comes home to me at night when I
+lift my eyes to the skies and see the sparkling hosts of stars roll over
+my head. Who created that countless multitude, who guides them so that
+they glide past in glorious harmony, and rise and set, accurately timed
+to minutes and seconds, silent but full of meaning, immeasurably distant
+and yet closely linked with the fate of individual men?--All this bears
+witness to the existence of a God, and as you contemplate it and
+admire it with thankful emotion, you feel yourself drawn near to the
+Omnipotent. Aye, and even if you were deaf and blind, and lay bound and
+fettered in the gloom of a closely-shut cavern, you still could feel if
+love and pity and hope touched your heart. Rejoice then, child! for the
+immortals have endowed you with good gifts, and granted you sound senses
+by which to enjoy the beauty of creation. You exercise an art which
+binds you to the divinity like a bridge; when you give utterance to your
+whole soul in song that divinity itself speaks through you, and when you
+hear noble music its voice appeals to your ear. All round you and within
+you, you can recognize its power just as we feel it--everywhere and at
+all times.
+
+"And this incomprehensible, infinite, unfettered, bountiful and
+infallibly wise Power, which penetrates and permeates the life of the
+universe as it does the hearts of men, though called by different names
+in different lands, is the same to every race, wherever it may dwell,
+whatever its language or its beliefs. You Christians call him the
+Heavenly Father, we give him the name of the Primal One. To you, too,
+your God speaks in the surging seas, the waving corn, the pure light of
+day; you, too, regard music which enchants your heart, and love which
+draws man to man, as his gifts; and we go only a step further, giving a
+special name to each phenomenon of nature, and each lofty emotion of
+the soul in which we recognize the direct influence of the Most High;
+calling the sea Poseidon, the corn-field Demeter, the charm of music
+Apollo, and the rapture of love Eros. When you see us offering sacrifice
+at the foot of a marble image you must not suppose that the lifeless,
+perishable stone is the object of our adoration. The god does not
+descend to inform the statue; but the statue is made after the Idea
+figured forth by the divinity it is intended to represent; and through
+that Idea the image is as intimately connected with the Godhead, as,
+by the bond of Soul, everything else that is manifest to our senses is
+connected with the phenomena of the supersensuous World. But this is
+beyond you; it will be enough for you if I assure you that the statue of
+Demeter, with the sheaf in her arms, is only intended to remind us to be
+grateful to the Divinity for our daily bread--a hymn of praise to Apollo
+expresses our thanks to the Primal One for the wings of music and song,
+on which our soul is borne upwards till it feels the very presence of
+the Most High. These are names, mere names that divide us; but if
+you were called anything else than Agne--Ismene, for instance, or
+Eudoxia--would you be at all different from what you are?--There you
+see--no, stay where you are--you must listen while I tell you that
+Isis, the much--maligned Isis, is nothing and represents nothing but the
+kindly influences of the Divinity, on nature and on human life. What she
+embodies to us is the abstraction which you call the loving-kindness of
+the Father, revealed in his manifold gifts, wherever we turn our eyes.
+The image of Isis reminds us of the lavish bounties of the Creator,
+just as you are reminded by the cross, the fish, and the lamb, of your
+Redeemer. Isis is the earth from whose maternal bosom the creative
+God brings forth food and comfort for man and beast; she is the tender
+yearning which He implants in the hearts of the lover and the beloved
+one; she is the bond of affection which unites husband and wife, brother
+and sister, which is rapture to the mother with a child at her breast
+and makes her ready and able for any sacrifice for the darling she has
+brought into the world. She shines, a star in the midnight sky, giving
+comfort to the sorrowing heart; she, who has languished in grief, pours
+balm into the wounded souls of the desolate and bereaved, and gives
+health and refreshment to the suffering. When nature pines in winter
+cold or in summer drought and lacks power to revive, when the sun is
+darkened, when lies and evil instincts alienate the soul from its pure
+first cause, then Isis uplifts her complaint, calling on her husband,
+Osiris, to return, to take her once more in his arms and fill her with
+new powers, to show the benevolence of God once more to the earth and
+to us men. You have learnt that lament; and when you sing it at her
+festival, picture yourself as standing with the Mother of Sorrows--the
+mother of your crucified divinity, by his open grave, and cry to your
+God that he may let him rise from the dead."
+
+Olympius spoke the last words with excited enthusiasm as though he were
+certain of the young girl's consent; but the effect was not what he
+counted on; for Agne, who had listened to him, so far, with increasing
+agitation, setting herself against his arguments like a bird under
+the fascinating glare of the snake's eye, at this last address seemed
+suddenly to shake off the spell of his seductive eloquence as the leaves
+drop from the crown of a tree shaken by the blast; the ideas of her
+Saviour and of the hymn she was to sing were utterly irreconcilable
+in her mind; she remembered the struggle she had fought out during the
+night, and the determination with which she had come to the house this
+morning. All the insidious language she had just heard was forgotten,
+swept away like dust from a rocky path, and her voice was firmly
+repellent as she said:
+
+"Your Isis has nothing in common with the Mother of our God, and how
+can you dare to compare your Osiris with the Lord who redeemed the world
+from death?"
+
+Olympius, startled at the decision of her tone, rose from his seat, but
+he went on, as though he had expected this refusal:
+
+"I will tell you--I will show you. Osiris--we will take him as being
+an Egyptian god, instead of Serapis in whose mysterious attributes you
+would find much to commend itself even to a Christian soul--Osiris, like
+your Master, voluntarily passed through death--to redeem the world from
+death--in this resembling your Christ. He, the Risen One, gives new
+light, and life, and blossom, and verdure to all that is darkened, dead
+and withered. All that seems to have fallen a prey to death is, by him,
+restored to a more beautiful existence; he, who has risen again, can
+bring even the departed soul to a resurrection; and when during this
+life its high aims have kept it unspotted by the dust of the sensual
+life, and he, as the judge, sees that it has preserved itself worthy of
+its pure First Cause, he allows it to return to the eternal and supreme
+Spirit whence it originally proceeded.
+
+"And do not you, too, strive after purification, to the end that your
+soul may find an everlasting home in the radiant realms? Again and
+again do we meet with the same ideas, only they bear different forms
+and names. Try to feel the true bearing of my words, and then you will
+gladly join in the pathetic appeal to the sublime god to return. How
+like he is to your Lord! Is he not, like your Christ, a Saviour, and
+risen from the dead? The Temple or the Church--both are the sanctuaries
+of the Deity. By the ivy-wreathed altar of the weeping goddess, at the
+foot of the tall cypresses which cast their mysterious shadows on the
+snowy whiteness of the marble steps on which lies the bier of the god,
+you will feel the sacred awe which falls upon every pure soul when it is
+conscious of the presence of the Deity--call Him what you will.
+
+"Isis, whom you now know, and who is neither more nor less than a
+personification of divine mercy, will make you a return by restoring you
+to the freedom for which you pine. She will allow you to find a home in
+some Christian house through our intervention, in acknowledgment of the
+pious service you are rendering, not to her but to the faith in divine
+goodness. There you may live with your little brother, as free as
+heart can desire. To-morrow you will go with Gorgo to the temple of the
+goddess ..."
+
+But Agne broke in on his speech: "No, I will not go with her!"
+
+Her cheeks were scarlet and her breath came short and fast with
+excitement as she went on:
+
+"I will not, I must not, I cannot! Do what you will with me: sell me and
+my brother, put us to turn a mill--but I will not sing in the temple!"
+
+Olympius knit his brows; his beard quivered and his lips parted in
+wrath, but he controlled himself and going close to the girl he laid
+his hand on her shoulder and said in a deep grave tone of fatherly
+admonition:
+
+"Reflect, child, pause; think over what I have been saying to you;
+remember, too, what you owe the little one you love, and to-morrow
+morning tell us that you have duly weighed your answer. Give me your
+hand, my daughter; believe me, Olympius is one of your sincerest
+well-wishers."
+
+He turned his back on her and was going in doors. In front of the house
+Porphyrius and Karnis were standing in eager colloquy. The news that
+Marcus' mother Mary had sent for Herse had reached the singer, and
+his vivid fancy painted his wife as surrounded by a thousand perils,
+threatened by the widow, and carried before the judges. The merchant
+advised him to wait and see what came of it, as did Damia and Gorgo
+who were attracted to the spot by the vehemence of the discussion; but
+Karnis would not be detained, and he and Orpheus hurried off to the
+rescue. Thus Agne was left alone in the garden with her little
+brother, and perceiving that no one paid any further attention to their
+proceedings, she fell on her knees, clasped the child closely to her and
+whispered:
+
+"Pray with me, Papias; pray, pray that the Lord will protect us, and
+that we may not be turned out of the way that leads us to our parents!
+Pray, as I do!"
+
+For a minute she remained prostrate with the child by her side.
+Then, rising quickly, she took him by the hand and led him in almost
+breathless haste through the garden-gate out into the road, bending her
+steps towards the lake and then down the first turning that led to the
+city.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+Agne's flight remained unperceived for some little time, for every
+member of the merchant's household was at the moment intent on some
+personal interest. When Karnis and Orpheus had set out Gorgo was left
+with her grandmother and it was not till some little time after that she
+went out into the colonnade on the garden side of the house, whence she
+had a view over the park and the shore as far as the ship-yard. There,
+leaning against the shaft of a pillar, under the shade of the blossoming
+shrubs, she stood gazing thoughtfully to the southward.
+
+She was dreaming of the past, of her childhood's joys and privations.
+Fate had bereft her of a mother's love, that sun of life's spring. Below
+her, in a splendid mausoleum of purple porphyry, lay the mortal remains
+of the beautiful woman who had given her birth, and who had been
+snatched away before she could give her infant a first caress. But all
+round the solemn monument gardens bloomed in the sunshine, and on the
+further side of the wall covered with creepers, was the ship-yard, the
+scene of numberless delightful games. She sighed as she looked at the
+tall hulks, and watched for the man who, from her earliest girlhood, had
+owned her heart, whose image was inseparable from every thing of joy
+and beauty that she had ever known, and every grief her young soul had
+suffered under.
+
+Constantine, the younger son of Clemens the shipbuilder, had been her
+brothers' companion and closest friend. He had proved himself their
+superior in talents and gifts, and in all their games had been the
+recognized leader. While still a tiny thing she would always be at their
+heels, and Constantine had never failed to be patient with her, or to
+help and protect her, and then came a time when the lads were all
+eager to win her sympathy for their games and undertakings. When her
+grandmother read in the stars that some evil influences were to cross
+the path of Gorgo's planet, the girl was carefully kept in the house; at
+other times she was free to go with the boys in the garden, on the lake
+or to the ship-yard. There the happy playmates built houses or boats;
+there, in a separate room, old Melampus modelled figure-heads for the
+finished vessels, and he would supply them with clay and let them model
+too. Constantine was an apt pupil, and Gorgo would sit quiet while he
+took her likeness, till, out of twenty images that he had made of her,
+several were really very like. Melampus declared that his young master
+might be a very distinguished sculptor if only he were the son of poor
+parents, and Gorgo's father appreciated his talent and was pleased when
+the boy attempted to copy the beautiful busts and statues of which
+the house was full; but to his parents, and especially his mother,
+his artistic proclivities were an offence. He himself, indeed, never
+seriously thought of devoting himself to such a heathenish occupation,
+for he was deeply penetrated by the Christian sentiments of his family,
+and he had even succeeded in inflaming the sons of Porphyrius, who had
+been baptized at an early age, with zeal for their faith. The merchant
+perceived this and submitted in silence, for the boys must be and remain
+Christians in consequence of the edict referring to wills; but the
+necessity for confessing a creed which was hateful to him was so painful
+and repulsive to a nature which, though naturally magnanimous was
+not very steadfast, that he was anxious to spare his sons the same
+experience, and allowed them to accompany Constantine to church and to
+wear blue--the badge of the Christians--at races and public games, with
+a shrug of silent consent.
+
+With Gorgo it was different. She was a woman and need wear no colors;
+and her enthusiasm for the old gods and Greek taste and prejudices were
+the delight of her father. She was the pride of his life, and as he
+heard his own convictions echoed in her childish prattle, and later in
+her conversation and exquisite singing, he was grateful to his mother
+and to his friend Olympius who had implanted and cherished these
+feelings in his daughter. Constantine's endeavors to show her the beauty
+of his creed and to win her to Christianity were entirely futile; and
+the older they grew, and the less they agreed, the worse could each
+endure the dissent of the other.
+
+An early and passionate affection attracted the young man to his
+charming playfellow; the more ardently he cherished his faith the more
+fervently did he desire to win her for his wife. But Olympius' fair
+pupil was not easy of conquest; nay, he was not unfrequently hard beset
+by her questions and arguments, and while, to her, the fight for a creed
+was no more than an amusing wrestling match, in which to display her
+strength, to him it was a matter in which his heart was engaged.
+
+Damia and Porphyrius took a vain pleasure in their eager discussions,
+and clapped with delight, as though it were a game of skill, when
+Gorgo laughingly checkmated her excited opponent with some unanswerable
+argument.
+
+But there came a day when Constantine discovered that his eager defence
+of that which to him was high and holy, was, to his hearers, no more
+than a subject of mockery, and henceforth the lad, now fast growing to
+manhood, kept away from the merchant's house. Still, Gorgo could always
+win him back again, and sometimes, when they were alone together, the
+old strife would be renewed, and more seriously and bitterly than of
+old. But while he loved her, she also loved him, and when he had so
+far mastered himself as to remain away for any length of time she wore
+herself out with longing to see him. They felt that they belonged to
+each other, but they also felt that an insuperable gulf yawned between
+them, and that whenever they attempted to clasp hands across the abyss a
+mysterious and irresistible impulse drove them to open it wider, and to
+dig it deeper by fresh discussions, till at last Constantine could not
+endure that she, of all people, should mock at his Holy of Holies and
+drag it in the dust.
+
+He must go--he must leave Gorgo, quit Alexandria, cost what it
+might. The travellers' tales that he had heard from the captains of
+trading-vessels and ships of war who frequented his father's house had
+filled him with a love of danger and enterprise, and a desire to see
+distant lands and foreign peoples. His father's business, for which he
+was intended, did not attract him. Away--away--he would go away; and a
+happy coincidence opened a path for him.
+
+Porphyrius had taken him one day on some errand to Canopus; the elder
+man had gone in his chariot, his two sons and Constantine escorting him
+on horseback. At the city-gates they met Romanus, the general in command
+of the Imperial army, with his staff of officers, and he, drawing
+rein by the great merchant's carriage, had asked him, pointing to
+Constantine, whether that were his son.
+
+"No," replied Porphyrius, "but I wish he were." At these words the
+ship-master's son colored deeply, while Romanus turned his horse round,
+laid his hand on the young man's arm and called out to the commander of
+the cavalry of Arsinoe: "A soldier after Ares' own heart, Columella! Do
+not let him slip."
+
+Before the clouds of dust raised by the officers' horses as they rode
+off, had fairly settled, Constantine had made up his mind to be a
+soldier. In his parents' house, however, this decision was seen under
+various aspects. His father found little to say against it, for he had
+three sons and only two shipyards, and the question seemed settled by
+the fact that Constantine, with his resolute and powerful nature, was
+cut out to be a soldier. His pious mother, on the other hand, appealed
+to the learned works of Clemens and Tertullian, who forbid the faithful
+Christian to draw the sword; and she related the legend of the holy
+Maximilianus, who, being compelled, under Diocletian, to join the army,
+had suffered death at the hands of the executioner rather than shed his
+fellow-creatures' blood in battle. The use of weapons, she added, was
+incompatible with a godly and Christian life.
+
+His father, however, would not listen to this reasoning; new times, he
+said, were come; the greater part of the army had been baptized; the
+Church prayed for, victory, and at the head of the troops stood the
+great Theodosius, an exemplar of an orthodox and zealous Christian.
+
+Clemens was master in his own house, and Constantine joined the heavy
+cavalry at Arsinoe. In the war against the Blemmyes he was so fortunate
+as to merit the highest distinction; after that he was in garrison at
+Arsinoe, and, as Alexandria was within easy reach of that town, he was
+in frequent intercourse with his own family and that of Porphyrius. Not
+quite three years previously, when a revolt had broken out in favor
+of the usurper Maximus in his native town, Constantine had assisted in
+suppressing it, and almost immediately afterwards he was sent to Europe
+to take part in the war which Theodosius had begun, again against
+Maximus.
+
+An unpleasant misunderstanding had embittered his parting from Gorgo;
+old Damia, as she held his hand had volunteered a promise that she and
+her granddaughter would from time to time slay a beast in sacrifice on
+his behalf. Perhaps she had had no spiteful meaning in this, but he had
+regarded it as an insult, and had turned away angry and hurt.
+Gorgo, however, could not bear to let him go thus; disregarding her
+grandmother's look of surprise, she had called him back, and giving him
+both hands had warmly bidden him farewell. Damia had looked after him in
+silence and had ever afterwards avoided mentioning his name in Gorgo's
+presence.
+
+After the victory over Maximus, Constantine, though still very young,
+was promoted to the command of the troop in the place of Columella,
+and he had arrived in Alexandria the day before at the head of his 'ala
+miliaria'.
+
+   [The ala miliaria consisted of 24 'turmae' or 960 mounted troopers
+   under the conduct of a Prefect.]
+
+Gorgo had never at any time ceased to think of him, but her passion had
+constantly appeared to her in the light of treason and a breach of faith
+towards the gods, so, to condone the sins she committed on one side by
+zeal on another, she had come forth from the privacy of her father's
+house to give active support to Olympius in his struggle for the faith
+of their ancestors. She had become a daily worshipper at the temple of
+Isis, and the hope of hearing her sing had already mere than once filled
+it to overflowing at high festivals. Then, while Olympius was defending
+the sanctuary of Serapis against the attacks of the Christians, she and
+her grandmother had become the leaders of a party of women who made
+it their task to provide the champions of the faith with the means of
+subsistence.
+
+All this had given purpose to her life; still, every little victory in
+this contest had filled her soul with regrets and anxieties. For months
+and years she had been conspicuous as the opponent of her lover's
+creed, and the bright eager child had developed into a grave girl a
+clear-headed and resolute woman. She was the only person in the house
+who dared to contradict her grandmother, and to insist on a thing when
+she thought it right. The longing of her heart she could not still, but
+her high spirit found food for its needs in all that surrounded her,
+and, by degrees, would no doubt have gained the mastery and have been
+supreme in all her being and doing, but that music and song still
+fostered the softer emotions of her strong, womanly nature.
+
+The news of Constantine's return had shaken her soul to the foundations.
+Would it bring her the greatest happiness or only fresh anguish and
+unrest?
+
+She saw him coming!--The plume of his helmet first came in sight above
+the bushes, and then his whole figure emerged from among the shrubbery.
+She leaned against the pillar for support now, for her knees trembled
+under her. Tall and stately, his armor blazing in the sunshine, he came
+straight towards her--a man, a hero--exactly as her fancy had painted
+him in many a dark and sleepless hour. As he passed her mother's tomb,
+she felt as though a cold hand laid a grip on her beating heart. In
+a swift flash of thought she saw her own home with its wealth and
+splendor, and then the ship-builder's house-simple, chillingly bare,
+with its comfortless rooms; she felt as though she must perish, nipped
+and withered, in such a home. Again she thought of him standing on his
+father's threshold, she fancied she could hear his bright boyish laugh
+and her heart glowed once more. She forgot for the moment--clear-headed
+woman though she was, and trained by her philosopher to "know
+herself"--she forgot what she had fully acknowledged only the night
+before: That he would no more give up his Christ than she would her
+Isis, and that if they should ever reach the dreamed-of pinnacle of joy
+it must be for an instant only, followed by a weary length of misery.
+Yes--she forgot everything; doubts and fears were cast aside; as his
+approaching footsteps fell on her ear, she could hardly keep herself
+from flying, open armed, to meet him.
+
+He was standing before her; she offered him her hand with frank
+gladness, and, as he clasped it in his, their hearts were too full for
+words. Only their eyes gave utterance to their feelings, and when he
+perceived that hers were sparkling through tears, he spoke her name
+once, twice--joyfully and yet doubtfully, as if he dared not interpret
+her emotion as he would. She laid her left hand lightly on his which
+still grasped her right, and said with a brilliant smile: "Welcome,
+Constantine, welcome home! How glad I am to see you back again!"
+
+"And I--and I..." he began, greatly moved.
+
+"O Gorgo! Can it really be years since we parted?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," she said. "Anxious, busy, struggling years!"
+
+"But to-day we celebrate the festival of Peace," he exclaimed fervently.
+"I have learnt to leave every man to go his own way so long as I am
+allowed to go mine. The old strife is buried; take me as I am and I, for
+my part, will think only of the noble and beautiful traits in which your
+nature is so rich. The fruit of all wholesome strife must be peace; let
+us pluck that fruit, Gorgo, and enjoy it together. Ah! as I stand here
+and gaze out over the gardens and the lake, hearing the hammers of
+the shipwrights, and rejoicing in your presence, I feel as though our
+childhood might begin all over again--only better, fuller and more
+beautiful!"
+
+"If only my brothers were here!"
+
+"I saw them."
+
+"Oh! where?"
+
+"At Thessalonica, well and happy--I have letters for you from them."
+
+"Letters!" cried Gorgo, drawing away her hand. "Well, you are a tardy
+messenger! Our houses are within a stone's throw, and yet in a whole
+day, from noon till noon, so old a friend could not find a few minutes
+to deliver the letters entrusted to him, or to call upon such near
+neighbors ..."
+
+"First there were my parents," interrupted the young soldier. "And then
+the tyrant military duty, which kept me on the stretch from yesterday
+afternoon till an hour or two since. Romanus robbed me even of my sleep,
+and kept me in attendance till the morn had set. However, I lost but
+little by that, for I could not have closed my eyes till they had beheld
+you! This morning again I was on duty, and rarely have I ridden to the
+front with such reluctance. After that I was delayed by various details;
+even on my way here--but for that I cannot be sorry for it gave me this
+chance of finding you alone. All I ask now is that we may remain so, for
+such a moment is not likely to be repeated.--There, I heard a door..."
+
+"Come into the garden," cried Gorgo, signing to him to follow her. "My
+heart is as full as yours. Down by the tank under the old sycamores--we
+shall be quietest there."
+
+Under the dense shade of the centenarian trees was a rough-hewn bench
+that they themselves had made years before; there Gorgo seated herself,
+but her companion remained standing.
+
+"Yes!" he exclaimed. "Here--here you must hear me! Here where we have
+been so happy together!"
+
+"So happy!" she echoed softly.
+
+"And now," he went on, "we are together once more. My heart beats
+wildly, Gorgo; it is well that this breastplate holds it fast, for I
+feel as though it would burst with hope and thankfulness."
+
+"Thankfulness?" said Gorgo, looking down.
+
+"Yes, thankfulness--sheer, fervent passionate gratitude! What you have
+given me, what an inestimable boon, you yourself hardly know; but no
+emperor could reward love and fidelity more lavishly than you have
+done--you, the care and the consolation, the pain and the joy of my
+life! My mother told me--it was the first thing she thought of--how
+you shed tears of grief on her bosom when the false report of my death
+reached home. Those tears fell as morning dew on the drooping hopes
+in my heart, they were a welcome such as few travellers find on their
+return home. I am no orator, and if I were, how could speech in any way
+express my feelings? But you know them--you understand what it is, after
+so many years..."
+
+"I know," she said looking up into his eyes, and allowing him to seize
+her hand as he dropped on the bench by her side. "If I did not I could
+not bear this--and I freely confess that I shed many more tears over you
+than you could imagine. You love me, Constantine..."
+
+He threw his arm round her; but she disengaged herself, exclaiming:
+
+"Nay--I implore you, not so--not yet, till I have told you what troubles
+me, what keeps me from throwing myself wholly, freely into the arms of
+happiness. I know what you will ask--what you have a right to ask; but
+before you speak, Constantine, remember once more all that has so often
+saddened our life, even as children, that has torn us asunder like a
+whirlwind although, ever since we can remember, our hearts have flowed
+towards each other. But I need not remind you of what binds us--that we
+both know well, only too well...."
+
+"Nay," he replied boldly: "That we are only beginning to know in all its
+fullness and rapture. The other thing the whirlwind of which you speak,
+has indeed tossed and tormented me, more than it has you perhaps; but
+since I have known that you could shed tears for me and love me I have
+had no more anxieties; I know for certain that all must come right! You
+love me as I am, Gorgo. I am no dreamer nor poet; but I can look
+forward to finding life lovely and noble if shared with you, so long as
+one--only one thing is sure. I ask you plainly and truly: Is your heart
+as full of love for me as mine is for you? When I was away did you think
+of me every day, every night, as I thought of you, day and night without
+fail?"
+
+Gorgo's head sank and blushes dyed her cheeks as she replied: "I love
+you, and I have never even thought of any one else. My thoughts and
+yearnings followed you all the while you were away... and yet... oh,
+Constantine! That one thing..."
+
+"It cannot part us," said the young man passionately, "since we have
+love--the mighty and gracious power which conquers all things! When love
+beckon: the whirlwind dies away like the breath from a child's lips;
+it can bridge over any abyss; it created the world and preserves the
+existence of humanity, it can remove mountains--and these are the most
+beautiful words of the greatest of the apostles: 'It is long suffering
+and kind, it believes all things, hopes all things' and it knows no end.
+It remains with us till death and will teach us to find that peace whose
+bulwark and adornment, whose child and parent it is!"
+
+Gorgo had looked lovingly at him while he spoke, and he, pressing her
+hand to his lips went on with ardent feeling:
+
+"Yes, you shall be mine--I dare, and I will go to ask you of your
+father. There are some words spoken in one's life which can never be
+forgotten. Once your father said that he wished that I was his son. On
+the march, in camp, in battle, wherever I have wandered, those words
+have been in my mind; for me they could have but one meaning: I would be
+his son--I shall be his son when Gorgo is my wife!--And now the time has
+come..."
+
+"Not yet, not to-day," she interrupted eagerly. "My hopes are the
+same as yours. I believe with you that our love can bring all that is
+sweetest into our lives. What you believe I must believe, and I will
+never urge upon you the things that I regard as holiest. I can give up
+much, bear much, and it will all seem easy for your sake. We can
+agree, and settle what shall be conceded to your Christ and what to our
+gods--but not to-day; not even to-morrow. For the present let me first
+carry out the task I have undertaken--when that is done and past,
+then.... You have my heart, my love; but if I were to prove a deserter
+from the cause to-day or to-morrow it would give others--Olympius--a
+right to point at me with scorn."
+
+"What is it then that you have undertaken?" asked Constantine with grave
+anxiety.
+
+"To crown and close my past life. Before I can say: I am yours, wholly
+yours..."
+
+"Are you not mine now, to-day, at once?" he urged.
+
+"To day-no," she replied firmly. "The great cause still has a claim upon
+me; the cause which I must renounce for your sake. But the woman who
+gives only one person reason to despise her signs the death-warrant of
+her own dignity. I will carry out what I have undertaken.... Do not ask
+me what it is; it would grieve you to know.--The day after tomorrow,
+when the feast of Isis is over...."
+
+"Gorgo, Gorgo!" shouted Damia's shrill voice, interrupting the young
+girl in her speech, and half a dozen slave-women came rushing out in
+search of her.
+
+They rose, and as they went towards the house Constantine said very
+earnestly:
+
+"I will not insist; but trust my experience: When we have to give
+something up sooner or later, if the wrench is a painful one, the sooner
+and the more definitely it is done the better. Nothing is gained by
+postponement and the pain is only prolonged. Hesitation and delay,
+Gorgo, are a barrier built up by your own hand between us and our
+happiness. You always had abundance of determination; be brave then,
+now, and cut short at once a state of things that cannot last."
+
+"Well, well," she said hurriedly. "But you must not, you will not
+require me to do anything that is beyond my strength, or that would
+involve breaking my word. To-morrow is not, and cannot be yours; it must
+be a day of leave-taking and parting. After that I am yours, I cannot
+live without you. I want you and nothing else. Your happiness shall be
+mine; only, do not make it too hard to me to part from all that has been
+dear to me from my infancy. Shut your eyes to tomorrow's proceedings,
+and then--oh! if only we were sure of the right path, if only we could
+tread it together! We know each other so perfectly, and I know, I feel,
+that it will perhaps be a comfort to our hearts to be patient with each
+other over matters which our judgment fails to comprehend or even to
+approve. I might be so unutterably happy; but my heart trembles within
+me, and I am not, I dare not be quite glad yet."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+The young soldier was heartily welcomed by his friends of the merchant's
+family; but old Damia was a little uneasy at the attitude which he
+and Gorgo had taken up after their first greeting. He was agitated and
+grave, she was eager and excited, with an air of determined enterprise.
+
+Was Eros at the bottom of it all? Were the young people going to carry
+out the jest of their childhood in sober earnest? The young officer was
+handsome and attractive enough, and her granddaughter after all was but
+a woman.
+
+So far as Constantine was concerned the old lady had no personal
+objection to him; nay, she appreciated his steady, grave manliness and,
+for his own sake, was very glad to see him once more; but to contemplate
+the ship-builder's son--the grandson of a freedman--a Christian and
+devoted to the Emperor, even though he were a prefect or of even higher
+grade--as a possible suitor for her Gorgo, the beautiful heiress of the
+greater part of her wealth--the centre of attraction to all the gilded
+youth of Alexandria--this was too much for her philosophy; and, as
+she had never in her life restrained the expression of her sentiments,
+though she gave him a friendly hand and the usual greeting, she very
+soon showed him, by her irony and impertinence, that she was as hostile
+to his creed as ever.
+
+She put her word in on every subject, and when, presently,
+Demetrius--who, after Dada's rebuff, had come on to see his uncle--began
+speaking of the horses he had been breeding for Marcus, and Constantine
+enquired whether any Arabs from his stables were to be purchased in the
+town, Damia broke out:
+
+"You out-do your crucified God in most things I observe! He could ride
+on an ass, and a stout Egyptian nag is not good enough for you."
+
+However, the young officer was not to be provoked; and though he was
+very well able to hold his own in a strife of words, he kept himself
+under control and pretended to see nothing in the old woman's taunts but
+harmless jesting.
+
+Gorgo triumphed in his temperate demeanor, and thanked him with grateful
+glances and a silent grasp of the hand when opportunity offered.
+
+Demetrius, who had also known Constantine as a boy, and who, through
+Porphyrius, had sold him his first charger, met him very warmly and
+told him with a laugh that he had seen him before that day, that he
+had evidently learnt something on his travels, that he had tracked
+the prettiest head of game in all the city; and he slapped him on
+the shoulder and gave him what he meant to be a very knowing glance.
+Constantine could not think where Demetrius had seen him or what he
+meant; while Gorgo supposed that he alluded to her, and thought him
+perfectly odious.
+
+Porphyrius pelted the prefect with questions which Constantine was very
+ready to answer, till they were interrupted by some commotion in the
+garden. On looking out they saw a strange and unpleasing procession,
+headed by Herse who was scolding, thumping and dragging Dada's Egyptian
+slave, while her husband followed, imploring her to moderate her fury.
+Behind them came Orpheus, now and then throwing out a persuasive word
+to soothe the indignant matron. This party soon came up with the others,
+and Herse, unasked, poured out an explanation of her wrath.
+
+She had had but a brief interview with Mary, Marcus' mother, for she had
+positively opposed the Christian lady's suggestion that Karnis and his
+family would do well to quit Alexandria as soon as possible, accepting
+an indemnification from Mary herself. To the widow's threats of seeking
+the intervention of the law, she had retorted that they were not public
+singers but free citizens who performed for their own enjoyment; to the
+anxious mother's complaints that Dada was doing all she could to attract
+Marcus, she had answered promptly and to the point that her niece's good
+name would certainly out-weigh anything that could be said against a
+young man to whom so much license was allowed in Alexandria. She would
+find some means of protecting her own sister's child. Mary had replied
+that Herse would do well to remember that she--Mary--had means at her
+command of bringing justice down on those who should attempt to entrap a
+Christian youth, and tempt him into the path of sin.
+
+This had closed the interview. Herse had found her husband and son
+waiting for her at the door of Mary's house and had at once returned
+with them to the ship. There an unpleasant surprise awaited them; they
+had found no one on board but the Egyptian slave, who told them that
+Dada had sent her on shore to procure her some sandals; on her return
+the girl had vanished. The woman at the same time declared that she had
+seen Agne and her brother leave the garden and make for the high-road.
+
+So far as the Christian girl was concerned Herse declared there would
+be no difficulty; but Dada, her own niece, had always clung to them
+faithfully, and though Alexandria was full of sorcerers and Magians
+they could hardly succeed in making away with a fullgrown, rational, and
+healthy girl. In her inexperience she had, no doubt, gone at the bidding
+of some perfidious wretch, and the Egyptian witch, the brown slave had,
+of course, had a finger in the trick. She would accuse no one, but she
+knew some people who would be only too glad if Dada and that baby-faced
+young Christian got into trouble and disgrace together. She delivered
+herself of this long story with tears of rage and regret, angrily
+refusing to admit any qualifying parentheses from her husband, to whose
+natural delicacy her rough and vociferous complaints were offensive in
+the presence of the high-bred ladies of the house. Old Damia, however,
+had listened attentively to her indignant torrent of words, and had only
+shrugged her shoulders with a scornful smile at the implied accusation
+of herself.
+
+Porphyrius, to whom the whole business was simply revolting, questioned
+Herse closely and when the facts were clearly established, and it also
+was plainly proved that Agne had escaped from the garden, he desired
+the slave-woman to tell her story of all that had occurred during the
+absence of Karnis, promising her half a dozen stripes from the cane on
+the soles of her feet for every false word she might utter. The threat
+was enough to raise a howl from the Egyptian; but this Porphyries soon
+put a stop to, and Sachepris, with perfect veracity, told her tale of
+all that had happened till Herse's return to the vessel. The beginning
+of the narrative was of no special interest, but when she was pressed to
+go faster to the point she went on to say:
+
+"And then--then my lord Constantine came to us on the ship, and the
+pretty mistress laughed with him and asked him to take off his helmet,
+because the pretty mistress wanted to see the cut, the great sword-cut
+above his eyes, and my lord Constantine took it off."
+
+"It is a lie!" exclaimed Gorgo.
+
+"No, no; it is true. Sachepris does not want her feet flayed, mistress,"
+cried the slave. "Ask my lord Constantine himself."
+
+"Yes, I went on board," said Constantine. "Just as I was crossing the
+ship-yard a young girl dropped her fan into the lake. I fished it out at
+her request, and carried it back to her."
+
+"Yes, that was it," cried Sachepris. "And the pretty mistress laughed
+with my lord Constantine--is it not true?--and she took his helmet out
+of his hand and weighed it in hers..."
+
+"And you could stop on your way here to trifle with that child?" cried
+Gorgo wrathfully. "Pah! what men will do!"
+
+These words portended rage and intense disgust to Constantine. "Gorgo!"
+he cried with a reproachful accent, but she could not control her
+indignation and went on more vehemently than ever:
+
+"You stopped--with that little hussy--on your way to me--stopped to
+trifle and flirt with her! Shame! Yes, I say shame! Men are thought
+lucky in being light-hearted, but, for my part, may the gods preserve me
+from such luck! Trifling, whispering, caressing--a tender squeeze of the
+hand--solemnly, passionately earnest!--And what next? Who dares warrant
+that it will not all be repeated before the shadows are an ell long on
+the shore!"
+
+She laughed, a sharp, bitter laugh; but it was a short one. She ceased
+and turned pale, for her lover's face had undergone a change that
+terrified her. The scar on his forehead was purple, and his voice was
+strange, harsh and hoarse as he leaned forward to bring his face on a
+level with hers, and said:
+
+"Even if you had seen me with your own eyes you ought not to have
+believed them! And if you dare to say that you do believe it, I can say
+Shame! as well as you. My life may be at stake but I say: Shame!"
+
+As he spoke he clutched the back of a chair with convulsive fury and
+stood facing the girl like an avenging god of war, his eyes flashing to
+meet hers. This was too much for old Damia; she could contain herself no
+longer, and striking her crutch on the floor she broke out:
+
+"What next shall we hear! You threaten and storm at the daughter of
+this house as if she were a soldier in your camp! Listen to me, my
+fine gentleman, and mind what I say: In the house of a free Alexandrian
+citizen no one has any right to give his orders--be he Caesar, Consul or
+Comes; he has only to observe the laws of good manners." Then turning to
+Gorgo she shook her head with pathetic emphasis; "This, my love, is the
+consequence of too much familiar condescension. Come, an end of this!
+Greeting and parting often go hand in hand."
+
+The prefect turned on his heel and went towards the steps leading to the
+garden; but Gorgo flew after him and seized his hand, calling out to the
+old woman:
+
+"No, no, grandmother; he is in the right, I am certain he is in the
+right. Stop, Constantine--wait, stay, and forgive my folly! If you love
+me, mother, say no more--he will explain it all presently."
+
+The soldier heaved a sigh of relief and assented in silence, while the
+slave went on with her story: "And when my lord Constantine was gone, my
+lord Demetrius came and he--but what should poor Sachepris say--ask my
+lord Demetrius himself to tell you."
+
+"That is soon done," replied Demetrius, who had failed to understand
+a great deal of all that had been going forward. "My brother Marcus
+is over head and ears in love with the little puss--she is a pretty
+creature--and to save that simple soul from mischief I thought I would
+take the business on my own shoulders which are broader and stronger
+than his. I went boldly to work and offered the girl--more shame for me,
+I must say--the treasures of Midas; however, offering is one thing and
+accepting is another, and the child snapped me up and sent me to the
+right about--by Castor and Pollux! packed me off with my tail between my
+legs! My only comfort was that Constantine had just quitted the pretty
+little hussy. By the side of the god of war, thought I, a country Pan
+makes but a poor figure; but this Ares was dismissed by Venus, and so,
+if only to keep up my self-respect, I was forced to conclude that the
+girl, with all her pertness, was of a better sort than we had supposed.
+My presents, which would have tempted any other girl in Alexandria to
+follow a cripple to Hades, she took as an insult; she positively cried
+with indignation, and I really respect pretty little Dada!"
+
+"She is my very own sister's child," Herse threw in, honestly angered
+by the cheap estimation in which every one seemed to hold her adopted
+child. "My own sister's," she insisted, with an emphasis which seemed to
+imply that she had a whole family of half-sisters. "Though we now earn
+our bread as singers, we have seen better days; and in these hard
+times Croesus to-day may be Irus to-morrow. As for us, Karnis did not
+dissipate his money in riotous living. It was foolish perhaps but it
+was splendid--I believe we should do the same again; he spent all his
+inheritance in trying to reinstate Art. However, what is the use of
+looking after money when it is gone! If you can win it, or keep it you
+will be held of some account, but if you are poor the dogs will snap at
+you!--The girl, Dada--we have taken as much care of her as if she were
+our own, and divided our last mouthful with her before now. Karnis used
+to tease her about training her voice--and now, when she could really do
+something to satisfy even good judges--now, when she might have helped
+us to earn a living-now..."
+
+The good woman broke down and burst into tears, while Karnis tried to
+soothe and comfort her.
+
+"We shall get on without them somehow," he said. "'Nil desperandum' says
+Horace the Roman. And after all they are not lizards that can hide in
+the cracks of the walls; I know every corner of Alexandria and I will go
+and hunt them up at once."
+
+"And I will help you, my friend," said Demetrius, "We will go to the
+Hippodrome--the gentry you will meet with there are capital blood-hounds
+after such game as the daughter of your 'own sister,' my good woman. As
+to the black-haired Christian girl--I have seen her many a time on board
+ship..."
+
+"Oh! she will take refuge with some fellow-Christians," remarked
+Porphyrius. "Olympius told me all about her. I know plenty of the same
+sort in the Church. They fling away life and happiness as if they were
+apple-peelings to snatch at something which they believe to constitute
+salvation. It is folly, madness! pure unmitigated madness! To have sung
+in the temple of the she-devil Isis with Gorgo and the other worshippers
+would have cost her her seat in Paradise. That, as I believe, is the
+cause of her flight."
+
+"That and nothing else!" cried Karnis. "How vexed the noble Olympius
+will be. Indeed, Apollo be my witness! I have not been so disturbed
+about anything for many a day. Do you happen to recollect," he went on,
+turning to Demetrius, "our conversation on board ship about a dirge for
+Pytho? Well, we had transposed the lament of Isis into the Lydian mode,
+and when this young lady's wonderful voice gave it out, in harmony with
+Agne's and with Orpheus' flute, it was quite exquisite! My old heart
+floated on wings as I listened! And only the day after to-morrow the
+whole crowd of worshippers in the temple of Isis were to enjoy that
+treat!--It would have roused them to unheard-of enthusiasm. Yesterday
+the girl was in it, heart and soul; nay, only this morning she and the
+noble Gorgo sang it through from beginning to end. One more rehearsal
+to-morrow, and then the two voices would have given such a performance
+as perhaps was never before heard within the temple walls."
+
+Constantine had listened to this rhapsody with growing agitation; he was
+standing close to Gorgo, and while the rest of the party held anxious
+consultation as to what could be done to follow up and capture the
+fugitives, he asked Gorgo in a low voice, but with gloomy looks:
+
+"You intended to sing in the temple of Isis? Before the crowd, and with
+a girl of this stamp?"
+
+"Yes," she said firmly.
+
+"And you knew yesterday that I had come home?" She nodded.
+
+"And yet, this morning even, while you were actually expecting me, you
+could practise the hymn with such a creature?"
+
+"Agne is not such another as the girl who played tricks with your
+helmet," replied Gorgo, and the black arches of her eyebrows knit into
+something very like a scowl. "I told you just now that I was not yours
+today, nor to-morrow. We still serve different gods."
+
+"Indeed we do!" he exclaimed, so vehemently that the others looked
+round, and old Damia again began to fidget in her chair.
+
+Then with a strong effort he recovered himself and, after standing for
+some minutes gazing in silence at the ground, he said in a low tone:
+
+"I have borne enough for to-day. Gorgo, pause, reflect. God preserve me
+from despair!"
+
+He bowed, hastily explained that his duties called him away, and left
+the spot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+The amateurs of horse-racing who assembled in the Hippodrome could
+afford no clue to Dada's hiding-place, because she had not, in fact,
+run away with any gay young gallant. Within a few minutes of her sending
+Sachepris to fetch her a pair of shoes, Medius had hailed her from the
+shore; he wanted to speak with Karnis, and having come on an ass it was
+not in vain that the incensed damsel entreated him to take her with him.
+He had in fact only come to try to persuade Karnis and his wife to spare
+Dada for a few performances, such as he had described, in the house of
+Posidonius. His hopes of success had been but slender; and now the whole
+thing had settled itself, and Dada's wish that her people should not,
+for a while, know where to find her was most opportune for his plans.
+
+In the days when Karnis was the manager of the theatre at Tauromenium
+Medius had led the chorus, and had received much kindness at the hands
+of the girl's uncle. All this, he thought, he could now repay, for
+certainly his old patron was poor enough, and he intended honestly to
+share with his former benefactor the profits he expected to realize
+with so fair a prodigy as Dada. No harm could come to the girl,
+and gold--said he to himself--glitters as brightly and is just as
+serviceable, even when it has been earned for us against our will.
+
+Medius, being a cautious man, made the girl bring her new dress away
+with her, and the girdle and jewels belonging to it, and his neat hands
+packed everything into the smallest compass. He filled up the basket
+which he took for the purpose with sweetmeats, oranges and pomegranates
+"for the children at home," and easily consoled Dada for the loss of her
+shoes. He would lead the ass and she should ride. She covered her face
+with a veil, and her little feet could be hidden under her dress. When
+they reached his house he would at once have "a sweet little pair of
+sandals" made for her by the shoemaker who worked for the wife of the
+Comes and the daughters of the Alabarch--[The chief of the Jewish
+colony in Alexandria.]--These preparations and the start only took a few
+minutes; and their rapid search and broken conversation caused so much
+absurd confusion that Dada had quite recovered her spirits and laughed
+merrily as she tripped bare-foot across the strand. She sprang gaily
+on to the little donkey and as they made their way along the road, the
+basket containing her small wardrobe placed in front of her on the ass's
+shoulders, she remarked that she should be mistaken for the young
+wife of a shabby old husband, returning from market with a load of
+provisions.
+
+She was delighted to think of what Herse's face would be when, on her
+return home, she should discover that the prisoner could make her escape
+even without shoes.
+
+"Let her have a good hunt for me!" she cried quite enchanted. "Why
+should I always be supposed to be ready for folly and wickedness! But
+one thing I warn you: If I am not comfortable and happy with you, and
+if I do not like the parts you want me to fill, we part as quickly as
+we have come together.--Why are you taking me through all these dirty
+alleys? I want to ride through the main streets and see what is going
+on." But Medius would not agree to this, for in the great arteries
+of the town there were excitement and tumult, and they might think
+themselves fortunate if they reached his house unmolested.
+
+He lived in a little square, between the Greek quarter and Rhacotis
+where the Egyptians lived, and his house, which was exactly opposite the
+church of St. Marcus, accommodated Medius himself, his wife, his widowed
+daughter and her five children, besides being crammed from top to bottom
+with all sorts of strange properties, standing or hanging in every
+available space. Dada's curiosity had no rest, and by the time she had
+spent a few hours in the house her host's pretty little grandchildren
+were clinging to her with devoted affection.
+
+Agne had not been so fortunate as to find a refuge so easily. With no
+escort, unveiled, and left entirely to her own guidance, leading the
+little boy, she hurried forward, not knowing whither. All she thought
+was to get away--far away from these men who were trying to imperil her
+immortal soul.
+
+She knew that Karnis had actually bought her, and that she was,
+therefore, his property and chattel. Even Christian doctrine taught
+her that the slave must obey his master; but she could not feel like a
+slave, and if indeed she were one her owner might destroy and kill her
+body, but not her soul. The law, however, was on the side of Karnis, and
+it allowed him to pursue her and cast her into prison. This idea
+haunted her, and for fear of being caught she avoided all the chief
+thoroughfares and kept close to the houses as she stole through the side
+streets and alleys. Once, in Antioch, she had seen a runaway slave, who,
+having succeeded in reaching a statue of the Emperor and laying his hand
+on it, was by that act safe from his pursuers. There must surely be
+such a statue somewhere in Alexandria--but where? A woman, of whom she
+enquired, directed her down a wider street that would take her into the
+Canopic Way. If she crossed that and went down the first turning to the
+left she would reach a large open square in the Bruchium, and there, in
+front of the Prefect's residence and by the side of the Bishop's house,
+stood the new statue of Theodosius.
+
+This information, and the mention of the Bishop, gave a new course to
+her proceedings. It was wrong to defy and desert her master, but to obey
+him would be deadly sin. Which must she choose and which avoid? Only one
+person could advise in such a case--only one could relieve her mind of
+its difficulties and terrors: The Shepherd of souls in the city--the
+Bishop himself. She too was a lamb of his flock; to him and to no one
+else could she turn.
+
+This thought fell on her heart like a ray of light dispersing the clouds
+of uncertainty and alarm. With a deep breath of relief she took the
+child in her arms and told him--for he was whimpering to know where she
+was taking him, and why he might not go back to Dada--that they were
+going to see a good, kind man who would tell them the way home to their
+father and mother. Papias, however, still wailed to go to Dada and not
+to the man.
+
+Half insisting and half coaxing him with promises, she dragged him along
+as far as the main street. This was full of an excited throng; soldiers
+on foot and on horseback were doing what they could to keep the peace,
+and the bustle amused the little boy's curiosity so that he soon forgot
+his homesickness. When, at length, Ague found the street that led to
+the Prefect's house she was fairly carried along by the surging, rushing
+mob. To turn was quite impossible; the utmost she could do was to keep
+her wits about her, and concentrate her strength so as not to be parted
+from the child. Pushed, pulled, squeezed, scolded, and abused by other
+women for her folly in bringing a child out into such a crowd, she at
+last found herself in the great square. A hideous hubbub of coarse, loud
+voices pierced her unaccustomed ears; she could have sunk on the earth
+and cried; but she kept up her courage and collected all her energies,
+for she saw in the distance a large gilt cross over a lofty doorway.
+It was like a greeting and welcome home. Under its protection she would
+certainly, find rest, consolation and safety.
+
+But how was she to reach it? The space before her was packed with men
+as a quiver is packed with arrows; there was not room for a pin
+between. The only chance of getting forward was by forcing her way, and
+nine-tenths of the crowd were men--angry and storming men, whose wild
+and strange demeanor filled her with terror and disgust. Most of
+them were monks who had flocked in at the Bishop's appeal from the
+monasteries of the desert, or from the Lauras and hermitages of Kolzum
+by the Red Sea, or even from Tabenna in Upper Egypt, and whose hoarse
+voices rent the air with vehement cries of: "Down with the idols! Down
+with Serapis! Death to the heathen!"
+
+This army of the Saviour whose very essence was gentleness and whose
+spirit was love, seemed indeed to have deserted from his standard of
+light and grace to the blood-stained banner of murderous hatred. Their
+matted locks and beards fringed savage faces with glowing eyes; their
+haggard or paunchy nakedness was scarcely covered by undressed hides of
+sheep and goats; their parched skins were scarred and striped by the use
+of the scourges that hung at their girdles. One--a "crown bearer"--had
+a face streaming with blood, from the crown of thorns which he had
+vowed to wear day and night in memory and imitation of the Redeemer's
+sufferings, and which on this great occasion he pressed hard into the
+flesh with ostentatious martyrdom. One, who, in his monastery, had
+earned the name of the "oil-jar," supported himself on his neighbors'
+arms, for his emaciated legs could hardly carry his dropsical carcass
+which, for the last ten years, he had fed exclusively on gourds, snails,
+locusts and Nile water. Another was chained inseparably to a comrade,
+and the couple dwelt together in a cave in the limestone hills near
+Lycopolis. These two had vowed never to let each other sleep, that so
+their time for repentance might be doubled, and their bliss in the next
+world enhanced in proportion to their mortifications in this.
+
+One and all, they were allies in a great fight, and the same hopes,
+ideas, and wishes fired them all. The Abominable Thing--which imperilled
+hundreds of thousands of souls, which invited Satan to assert his
+dominion in this world--should fall this day and be annihilated forever!
+To them the whole heathen world was the "great whore;" and though the
+gems she wore were beautiful to see and rejoiced the mind and heart of
+fools, they must be snatched from her painted brow; they would scourge
+her from off the face of the redeemed earth and destroy the seducer of
+souls forever. "Down with the idols! Down with Serapis! Down with the
+heathen!" Their shouts thundered and bellowed all about Agne; but, just
+as the uproar and crush were at the worst, a tall and majestic figure
+appeared on a balcony above the cross and extended his hand in calm
+and dignified benediction towards the seething mass of humanity. As he
+raised it all present, including Ague, bowed and bent the knee.
+
+Agne felt, knew, that this stately man was the Bishop whom she sought,
+but she did not point him out to her little brother, for his aspect was
+that of some proud sovereign rather than of "the good, kind man" of whom
+she had dreamed. She could never dare to force her way into the presence
+of this great lord! How should the ruler over a million souls find time
+or patience for her and her trivial griefs?
+
+However, there must be within his dwelling sundry presbyters and
+deacons, and she would address herself to one of them, as soon as the
+crowd had dispersed enough for her to make her way to the door beneath
+the cross. Twenty times at least did she renew her efforts, but she made
+very small progress; most of the monks, as she tried to squeeze past
+them, roughly pushed her back; one, on whose arm she ventured to lay her
+hand, begging him to make way for her, broke out into shrieks as though
+a serpent had stung him, and when the crush brought her into contact
+with the crown-bearer he thrust her away exclaiming:
+
+"Away woman! Do not touch me, spawn of Satan tool of the evil one! or I
+will tread you under foot!"
+
+Retreat had been as impossible as progress, and long hours went by
+which to her seemed like days; still she felt no fatigue, only alarm
+and disgust, and, more than anything else, an ardent desire to reach the
+Bishop's palace and take counsel of a priest. It was long past noon when
+a diversion took place which served at any rate to interest and amuse
+the crying child.
+
+On the platform above the doorway Cynegius came forth--Cynegius, the
+Emperor's delegate; a stout man of middle height, with a shrewd round
+head and a lawyer's face. State dignitaries, Consuls and Prefects had,
+at this date, ceased to wear the costume that had marked the patricians
+of old Rome--a woollen toga that fell in broad and dignified folds from
+the shoulders; a long, close-fitting robe had taken its place, of purple
+silk brocade with gold flowers. On the envoy's shoulder blazed the badge
+of the highest officials, a cruciform ornament of a peculiarly thick and
+costly tissue. He greeted the crowd with a condescending bow, a herald
+blew three blasts on the tuba, and then Cynegius, with a wave of his
+hand introduced his private secretary who stood by his side, and who at
+once opened a roll he held and shouted at the top of a ringing voice:
+
+"Silence in Caesar's name!"
+
+The trumpet then sounded for the fourth time, and silence so complete
+fell on the crowded square that the horses of the mounted guard in front
+of the Prefect's house could be heard snorting and champing.
+
+"In Caesar's name," repeated the official, who had been selected for the
+duty of reading the Imperial message. Cynegius himself bent his head,
+again waved his hand towards his secretary, and then towards the statues
+of the Emperor and Empress which, mounted on gilt standards, were
+displayed to the populace on each side of the balcony; then the reading
+began:
+
+"Theodosius Caesar greets the inhabitants of the great and noble city of
+Alexandria, by Cynegius, his faithful ambassador and servant. He knows
+that its true and honest citizens confess the Holy Faith in all piety
+and steadfastness, as delivered to believers in the beginning by Peter,
+the prince of the Apostles; he knows that they hold the true Christian
+faith, and abide by the doctrine delivered by the Holy Ghost to the
+Fathers of the Church in council at Nicaea.
+
+"Theodosius Caesar who, in all humility and pride, claims to be the
+sword and shield, the champion and the rampart of the one true faith,
+congratulates his subjects of the great and noble city of Alexandria
+inasmuch as that most of them have turned from the devilish heresy of
+Arius, and have confessed the true Nicaean creed; and he announces to
+them, by his faithful and noble servant Cynegius, that this faith and no
+other shall be recognized in Alexandria, as throughout his dominions.
+
+"In Egypt, as in all his lands and provinces, every doctrine opposed to
+this precious creed shall be persecuted, and all who confess, preach or
+diffuse any other doctrine shall be considered heretics and treated as
+such."
+
+The secretary paused, for loud and repeated shouts of joy broke from the
+multitude. Not a dissentient word was heard-indeed, the man who should
+have dared to utter one would certainly not have escaped unpunished. It
+was not till the herald had several times blown a warning blast that the
+reader could proceed, as follows:
+
+"It has come to the ears of your Caesar, to the deep grieving of his
+Christian soul, that the ancient idolatry, which so long smote mankind
+with blindness and kept them wandering far from the gates of Paradise,
+still, through the power of the devil, has some temples and altars in
+your great and noble city. But because it is grievous to the Christian
+and clement heart of the Emperor to avenge the persecutions and death
+which so many holy martyrs have endured at the hands of the
+bloodthirsty and cruel heathen on their posterity, or on the miscreant
+and--misbelieving enemies of our holy faith--and because the Lord
+hath said 'vengeance is mine'--Theodosius Caesar only decrees that the
+temples of the heathen idols in this great and noble city of Alexandria
+shall be closed, their images destroyed and their altars overthrown.
+Whosoever shall defile himself with blood, or slay an innocent beast for
+sacrifice, or enter a heathen temple, or perform any religious ceremony
+therein, or worship any image of a god made by hands-nay, or pray in any
+temple in the country or in the city, shall be at once required to pay a
+fine of fifteen pounds of gold; and whosoever shall know of such a crime
+being committed without giving information of it, shall be fined to the
+same amount."--[Codex Theodosianus XVI, 10, 10.]
+
+The last words were spoken to the winds, for a shout of triumph,
+louder and wilder than had ever before been heard even on this favorite
+meeting-place of the populace, rent the very skies. Nor did it cease,
+nor yield to any trumpet-blast, but rolled on in spreading waves down
+every street and alley; it reached the ships in the port, and rang
+through the halls of the rich and the hovels of the poor; it even
+found a dull echo in the light-house at the point of Pharos, where the
+watchman was trimming the lamp for the night; and in an incredibly
+short time all Alexandria knew that Caesar had dealt a death-blow to the
+worship of the heathen gods.
+
+The great and fateful rumor was heard, too, in the Museum and the
+Serapeum; once more the youth who had grown up in the high schools of
+the city, studying the wisdom of the heathen, gathered together; men
+who had refined and purified their intellect at the spring of Greek
+philosophy and fired their spirit with enthusiasm for all that was good
+and lovely in the teaching of ancient Greece--these obeyed the summons
+of their master, Olympius, or flew to arms under the leadership of
+Orestes, the Governor, for the High-Priest himself had to see to the
+defences of the Serapeum.--Olympius had weapons ready in abundance, and
+the youths rapidly collected round the standards he had prepared, and
+rushed into the square before the Prefect's house to drive away the
+monks and to insist that Cynegius should return forthwith to Rome with
+the Emperor's edict.
+
+Young and noble lads were they who marched forth to the struggle,
+equipped like the Helleman soldiers of the palmy days of Athens; and as
+they went they sang a battle-song of Callinus which some one--who, no
+one could tell--had slightly altered for the occasion:
+
+       "Come, rouse ye Greeks; what, sleeping still!
+        Is courage dead, is shame unknown?
+        Start up, rush forth with zealous will,
+        And smite the mocking Christians down!"
+
+Everything that opposed their progress was overthrown. Two maniples of
+foot-soldiers who held the high-road across the Bruchium attempted
+to turn them, but the advance of the inflamed young warriors was
+irresistible and they reached the street of the Caesareum and the square
+in front of the Prefect's residence. Here they paused to sing the last
+lines of their battlesong:
+
+       "Fate seeks the coward out at home,
+        He dies unwept, unknown to fame,
+        While by the hero's honored tomb
+        Our grandsons' grandsons shall proclaim:
+       'In the great conflict's fiercest hour
+        He stood unmoved, our shield and tower.'"
+
+It was here, at the wide opening into the square, that the collision
+took place: on one side the handsome youths, crowned with garlands, with
+their noble Greek type of heads, thoughtful brows, perfumed curls, and
+anointed limbs exercised in the gymnasium--on the other the sinister
+fanatics in sheep-skin, ascetic visionaries grown grey in fasting,
+scourging, and self-denial.
+
+The monks now prepared to meet the onset of the young enthusiasts who
+were fighting for freedom of thought and enquiry, for Art and Beauty.
+Each side was defending what it felt to be the highest Good, each was
+equally in earnest as to its convictions, both fought for something
+dearer and more precious than this earthly span of existence. But the
+philosophers' party had swords; the monks' sole weapon was the scourge,
+and they were accustomed to ply that, not on each other but on their own
+rebellious flesh. A wild and disorderly struggle began with swingeing
+blows on both sides; prayers and psalms mingling with the battle-song of
+the heathen. Here a monk fell wounded, there one lay dead, there again
+lay a fine and delicate-looking youth, felled by the heavy fist of a
+recluse. A hermit wrestled hand to hand with a young philosopher who,
+only yesterday had delivered his first lecture on the Neo-Platonism of
+Plotinus to an interested audience.
+
+And in the midst of this mad struggle stood Agne with her little
+brother, who clung closely to her skirts and was too terrified to shed
+a tear or utter a cry. The girl was resolutely calm, but she was too
+utterly terror-stricken even to pray. Fear, absorbing fear had stunned
+her thoughts; it overmastered her like some acute physical pain which
+began in her heart and penetrated every fibre of her frame.
+
+Even while the Imperial message was being read she had been too
+frightened to take it all in; and now she simply shut her eyes tight and
+hardly understood what was going on around her, till a new and different
+noise sounded close in her ears: the clatter of hoofs, blare of trumpets
+and shouts and screams. At last the tumult died away and, when she
+ventured to open her eyes and look about her, the place all round her
+was as clear as though it had been swept by invisible hands; here and
+there lay a dead body and there still was a dense crowd in the street
+leading to the Caesareum, but even that was dispersing and retreating
+before the advance of a mounted force.
+
+She breathed freely once more, and released the child's head from the
+skirt of her dress in which he had wrapped and buried it. The end of her
+alarms was not yet come, however, for a troop of the young heathen came
+flying across the square in wild retreat before a division of the heavy
+cavalry, which had intervened to part the combatants.
+
+The fugitives came straight towards her; again she closed her eyes
+tightly, expecting every instant to find herself under the horses' feet.
+Then one of the runaways knocked down Papias, and she could bear no
+more; her senses deserted her, her knees failed under her, she lost
+consciousness, and with a dull groan she fell on the dusty pavement.
+Close to her, as she lay, rushed the pursued and the pursuers--and at
+last, how long after she knew not, when she recovered her senses she
+felt as if she were floating in the air, and presently perceived that a
+soldier had her in his arms and was carrying her like a child.
+
+Fresh alarms and fresh shame overwhelmed the poor girl; she tried to
+free herself and found him quite ready to set her down. When she was
+once more on her feet and felt that she could stand she glanced wildly
+round her with sudden recollection, and then uttered a hoarse cry, for
+her mouth and tongue were parched:
+
+"Christ Jesus! Where is my brother?" She pushed back her hair with a
+desperate gesture, pressing her hands to her temples and peering all
+round her with a look of fevered misery.
+
+She was still in the square and close to the door of the Prefect's
+house; a man on horseback, in all probability her preserver's servant,
+was following them, leading his master's horse. On the pavement lay
+wounded men groaning with pain; the street of the Caesareum was lined
+with a double row of footsoldiers of Papias no sign!
+
+Again she called him, and with such deep anguish in her voice, which was
+harsh and shrill with terror, that the young officer looked at her with
+extreme compassion.
+
+"Papias, Papias--my little brother! O God my Saviour!--where, where is
+the child?"
+
+"We will have him sought for," said the soldier whose voice was gentle
+and kind. "You are too young and pretty--what brought you into this
+crowd and amid such an uproar?"
+
+She colored deeply and looking down answered low and hurriedly: "I was
+going to see the Bishop."
+
+"You chose an evil hour," replied Constantine, for it was he who had
+found her lying on the pavement and who had thought it only an act of
+mercy not to trust so young and fair a girl to the protection of his
+followers. "You may thank God that you have got off so cheaply. Now, I
+must return to my men. You know where the Bishop lives? Yes, here. And
+with regard to your little brother.... Stay; do you live in Alexandria?"
+"No, my lord."
+
+"But you have some relation or friend whom you lodge with?"
+
+"No, my lord. I am... I have... I told you, I only want to see my lord
+the Bishop."
+
+"Very strange! Well, take care of yourself. My time is not my own; but
+by-and-bye, in a very short time, I will speak to the city watchmen; how
+old is the boy?"
+
+"Nearly six."
+
+"And with black hair like yours?"
+
+"No, my lord--fair hair," and as she spoke the tears started to her
+eyes. "He has light curly hair and a sweet, pretty little face."
+
+The prefect smiled and nodded. "And if they find him," he went on,
+"Papias, you say, is his name where is he to be taken?"
+
+"I do not know, my lord, for--and yet! Oh! my head aches, I cannot
+think--if only I knew.... If they find him he must come here--here to my
+lord the Bishop."
+
+"To Theophilus?" said Constantine in surprise. "Yes, yes--to him," she
+said hastily. "Or--stay--to the gate-keeper at the Bishop's palace."
+
+"Well, that is less aristocratic, but perhaps it is more to the
+purpose," said the officer; and with a sign to his servant, he twisted
+his hand in his horse's mane, leaped into the saddle, waved her a
+farewell, and rejoined his men without paying any heed to her thanks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+There was much bustle and stir in the hall of the Episcopal palace.
+Priests and monks were crowding in and out; widows, who, as deaconesses,
+were entrusted with the care of the sick, were waiting, bandages in
+hand, and discussing their work and cases, while acolytes lifted the
+wounded on to the litters to carry them to the hospitals.
+
+The deacon Eusebius, whom we have met as the spiritual adviser of
+Marcus, was superintending the good work, and he took particular care
+that as much attention should be shown to the wounded heathen as to the
+Christians.
+
+In front of the building veterans of the twenty-first legion paced up
+and down in the place of the ordinary gate-keepers, who were sufficient
+protection in times of peace.
+
+Agne looked in vain for any but soldiers, but at last she slipped in
+unobserved among the men and women who were tending the wounded. She
+was terribly thirsty, and seeing one of the widows mixing some wine and
+water and offer it to one of the wounded men who pushed it away, she
+took courage and begged the deaconess to give her a drink. The woman
+handed her the cup at once, asking to whom she belonged that she was
+here.
+
+"I want to see my lord, the Bishop," replied Agne, but then correcting
+herself, she added hastily: "If I could see the Bishop's gate-keeper, I
+might speak to him."
+
+"There he is," said the deaconess, pointing to an enormously tall man
+standing in the darkest and remotest corner of the hall. The darkness
+reminded her for the first time that it was now evening. Night was
+drawing on, and then where could she take refuge and find shelter? She
+shuddered and simply saying: "Thank you," she went to the man who had
+been pointed out to her and begged that if her little brother should be
+found and brought to him, he would take charge of him.
+
+"To be sure," said the big man good-naturedly. "He can be taken to the
+orphanage of the 'Good Samaritan' if they bring him here, and you can
+enquire for him there."
+
+She then made so bold as to ask if she could see a priest; but for this
+she was directed to go to the church, as all those who were immediately
+attached to the Bishop were to-day fully occupied, and had no time
+for trifles. Agne, however, persisted in her request till the man lost
+patience altogether and told her to be off at once; but at this instant
+three ecclesiastics came in at the door by which her friend was on
+guard, and Agne, collecting all her courage, went up to one of them, a
+priest of advanced age, and besought him urgently:
+
+"Oh! reverend Father, I beg of you to hear me. I must speak to a priest,
+and that man drives me away and says you none of you have time to attend
+to me!"
+
+"Did he say that!" asked the priest, and he turned angrily on the
+culprit saying: "The Church and her ministers never lack time to attend
+to the needs of any faithful soul--I will follow you, brothers.--Now, my
+child, what is it that you need?"
+
+"It lies so heavily on my soul," replied Agne, raising her eyes and
+hands in humble supplication. "I love my Saviour, but I cannot always do
+exactly as I should wish, and I do not know how I ought to act so as not
+to fall into sin."
+
+"Come with me," said the priest, and leading the way across a small
+garden, he took her into a wide open court and from thence in at a side
+door and up a flight of stairs which led to the upper floor. As
+she followed him her heart beat high with painful and yet hopeful
+excitement. She kept her hands tightly clasped and tried to pray, but
+she could hardly control her thoughts of her brother and of all she
+wanted to say to the presbyter.
+
+They presently entered a lofty room where the window-shutters were
+closed, and where a number of lamps, already lighted, were hanging over
+the cushioned divans on which sat rows of busy scribes of all ages.
+
+"Here we are," said the priest kindly, as he seated himself in an
+easy-chair at some little distance from the writers. "Now, tell me fully
+what troubles you; but as briefly as you can, for I am sparing you these
+minutes from important business."
+
+"My lord," she began, "my parents were freeborn, natives of Augusta
+Trevirorum. My father was a collector of tribute in the Emperor's
+service ..."
+
+"Very good--but has this anything to do with the matter?"
+
+"Yes, yes, it has. My father and mother were good Christians and in
+the riots at Antioch--you remember, my lord, three years ago--they were
+killed and I and my brother--Papias is his name..."
+
+"Yes, yes--go on."
+
+"We were sold. My master paid for us--I saw the money; but he did not
+treat us as slaves. But now he wants me--he, Sir, is wholly devoted to
+the heathen gods-and he wants me..."
+
+"To serve his idols?"
+
+"Yes, reverend Father, and so we ran away."
+
+"Quite right, my child."
+
+"But the scriptures say that the slave shall obey his master?"
+
+"True; but higher than the master in the flesh is the Father in Heaven,
+and it is better a thousand times to sin against man than against God."
+
+This conversation had been carried on in an undertone on account of the
+scribes occupied at the desks; but the priest raised his voice with his
+last words, and he must have been heard in the adjoining room, for
+a heavy curtain of plain cloth was opened, and an unusually deep and
+powerful voice exclaimed:
+
+"Back again already, Irenaeus! That is well; I want to speak with you."
+
+"Immediately, my lord--I am at your service in a moment.--Now, my
+child," he added, rising, "you know what your duty is. And if your
+master looks you up and insists on your assisting at the sacrifice
+or what ever it may be, you will find shelter with us. My name is
+Irenaeus."
+
+Here he was again interrupted, for the curtain was lifted once more and
+a man came out of the inner room whom no one could forget after having
+once met him. It was the Bishop whom Agne had seen on the balcony; she
+recognized him at once, and dropped on her knees to kiss the hem of
+his robe in all humility. Theophilus accepted the homage as a matter of
+course, hastily glancing at the child with his large keen eyes; Agne
+not daring to raise hers, for there was certainly something strangely
+impressive in his aspect. Then, with a wave of his long thin hand to
+indicate Agne, he asked:
+
+"What does this girl want?"
+
+"A freeborn girl--parents Christian--comes from Antioch..." replied
+Irenaeus. "Sold to a heathen master--commanded to serve idols--has run
+away and now has doubts..."
+
+"You have told her to which Lord her service is due?" interrupted the
+Bishop. Then, turning to Agne, he said: "And why did you come here
+instead of going to the deacon of your own church?"
+
+"We have only been here a few days," replied the girl timidly, as
+she ventured to raise her eyes to the handsome face of this princely
+prelate, whose fine, pale features looked as if they had been carved out
+of marble.
+
+"Then go to partake of the sacred Eucharist in the basilica of Mary,"
+replied the Bishop. "It is just now the hour--but no, stop. You are a
+stranger here you say; you have run away from your master--and you are
+young, very young and very.... It is dark too. Where are you intending
+to sleep?"
+
+"I do not know," said Agne, and her eyes filled with tears.
+
+"That is what I call courage!" murmured Theophilus to the priest, and
+then he added to Agne: "Well, thanks to the saints, we have asylums
+for such as you, here in the city. That scribe will give you a document
+which will secure your admission to one. So you come from Antioch? Then
+there is the refuge of Seleucus of Antioch. To what parish--[Parochia in
+Latin]--did your parents belong?"
+
+"To that of John the Baptist?"
+
+"Where Damascius was the preacher?"
+
+"Yes, holy Father. He was the shepherd of our souls."
+
+"What! Damascius the Arian?" cried the Bishop. He drew his fine and
+stately figure up to its most commanding height and closed his thin lips
+in august contempt, while Irenaeus, clasping his hands in horror, asked
+her:
+
+"And you--do you, too, confess the heresy of Arius?"
+
+"My parents were Arians," replied Agne in much surprise. "They taught me
+to worship the godlike Saviour."
+
+"Enough!" exclaimed the Bishop severely. "Come Irenaeus."
+
+He nodded to the priest to follow him, opened the curtain and went in
+first with supreme dignity.
+
+Agne stood as if a thunderbolt had fallen, pale, trembling and
+desperate. Then was she not a Christian? Was it a sin in a child to
+accept the creed of her parents? And were those who, after charitably
+extending a saving hand, had so promptly withdrawn it--were they
+Christians in the full meaning of the All-merciful Redeemer?
+
+Agonizing doubts of everything that she had hitherto deemed sacred and
+inviolable fell upon her soul; doubts of everything in heaven and earth,
+and not merely of Christ and of his godlike, or divine goodness--for
+what difference was there to her apprehension in the meaning of the
+two words which set man to hunt and persecute man? In the distress and
+hopeless dilemma in which she found herself, she shed no tears; she
+simply stood rooted to the spot where she had heard the Bishop's
+verdict.
+
+Presently her attention was roused by the shrill voice of an old writer
+who called out to one of the younger assistants.
+
+"That girl disturbs me, Petubastis; show her out." Petubastis, a pretty
+Egyptian lad, was more than glad of an interruption to his work which
+somehow seemed endless to-day; he put aside his implements, stroked back
+the black hair that had fallen over his face, and removing the reed-pen
+from behind his ear, stuck in a sprig of dark blue larkspur. Then
+he tripped to the door, opened it, looked at the girl with the cool
+impudence of a connoisseur in beauty, bowed slightly, and pointing the
+way out said with airified politeness:
+
+"Allow me!"
+
+Agne at once obeyed and with a drooping head left the room; but the
+young Egyptian stole out after her, and as soon as the door was shut he
+seized her hand and said in a whisper: "If you can wait half an hour at
+the bottom of the stairs, pretty one, I will take you somewhere where
+you will enjoy yourself."
+
+She had stopped to listen, and looked enquiringly into his face, for she
+had no suspicion of his meaning; the young fellow, encouraged by this,
+laid his hand on her shoulder and would have drawn her towards him but
+that she, thrusting him from her as if he were some horrible animal,
+flew down the steps as fast as her feet could carry her, and through the
+courtyard back into the great entrance-hall.
+
+Here all was, by this time, dark and still; only a few lamps lighted
+the pillared space and the flare of a torch fell upon the benches
+placed there for the accommodation of priests, laymen and supplicants
+generally.
+
+Utterly worn out--whether by terror or disappointment or by hunger and
+fatigue she scarcely knew--she sank on a seat and buried her face in her
+hands.
+
+During her absence the wounded had been conveyed to the sick-houses;
+one only was left whom they had not been able to move. He was lying on
+a mattress between two of the columns at some little distance from
+Agne, and the light of a lamp, standing on a medicine-chest, fell on his
+handsome but bloodless features. A deaconess was kneeling at his
+head and gazed in silence in the face of the dead, while old Eusebius
+crouched prostrate by his side, resting his cheek on the breast of the
+man whose eyes were sealed in eternal sleep. Two sounds only broke the
+profound silence of the deserted hall: an occasional faint sob from the
+old man and the steady step of the soldiers on guard in front of the
+Bishop's palace. The widow, kneeling with clasped hands, never took her
+eyes off the face of the youth, nor moved for fear of disturbing the
+deacon who, as she knew, was praying--praying for the salvation of the
+heathen soul snatched away before it could repent. Many minutes passed
+before the old man rose, dried his moist eyes, pressed his lips to the
+cold hand of the dead and said sadly:
+
+"So young--so handsome--a masterpiece of the Creator's hand!... Only
+to-day as gay as a lark, the pride and joy of his mother-and now! How
+many hopes, how much triumph and happiness are extinct with that life. O
+Lord my Saviour, Thou hast said that not only those who call Thee Lord,
+Lord, shall find grace with our Father in Heaven, and that Thou hast
+shed Thy blood for the salvation even of the heathen--save, redeem
+this one! Thou that are the Good Shepherd, have mercy on this wandering
+sheep!"
+
+Stirred to the bottom of his soul the old man threw up his arms and
+gazed upwards rapt in ecstasy. But presently, with an effort, he said to
+the deaconess:
+
+"You know, Sister, that this lad was the only son of Berenice, the
+widow of Asclepiodorus, the rich shipowner. Poor, bereaved mother! Only
+yesterday he was driving his guadriga out of the gate on the road to
+Marea, and now--here! Go and tell her of this terrible occurrence. I
+would go myself but that, as I am a priest, it might be painful to her
+to learn of his tragic end from one of the very men against whom the
+poor darkened youth had drawn the sword. So do you go, Sister, and treat
+the poor soul very tenderly; and if you find it suitable show her very
+gently that there is One who has balm for every wound, and that we--we
+and all who believe in Him--lose what is dear to us only to find it
+again. Tell her of hope: Hope is everything. They say that green is the
+color of hope, for it is the spring-tide of the heart. There may be a
+Spring for her yet."
+
+The deaconess rose, pressed a kiss on the eyes of the dead youth,
+promised Eusebius that she would do her best and went away. He, too,
+was about to leave when he heard a sound of low sobbing from one of the
+benches. He stood still to listen, shook his old head, and muttering to
+himself:
+
+"Great God--merciful and kind.... Thou alone canst know wherefore Thou
+hast set the rose-garland of life with so many sharp thorns," he went up
+to Agne who rose at his approach.
+
+"Why, my child," he said kindly, "what are you weeping for? Have you,
+too, lost some dear one killed in the fray?"
+
+"No, no," she hastily replied with a gesture of terror at the thought.
+
+"What then do you want here at so late an hour?"
+
+"Nothing--nothing," she said. "That is all over! Good God, how long I
+must have been sitting here--I--I know I must go; yes, I know it."
+
+"And are you alone-no one with you?"
+
+She shook her head sadly. The old man looked at her narrowly.
+
+"Then I will take you safe home," he said. "You see I am an old man and
+a priest. Where do you live, my child?"
+
+"I? I..." stammered Agne, and a torrent of scalding tears fell down her
+cheeks. "My God! my God! where, where am I to go?"
+
+"You have no home, no one belonging to you?" asked the old man. "Come,
+child, pluck up your courage and tell me truly what it is that troubles
+you; perhaps I may be able to help you."
+
+"You?" she said with bitter melancholy. "Are not you one of the Bishop's
+priests?"
+
+"I am a deacon, and Theophilus is the head of my church; but for that
+very reason..."
+
+"No," said Agne sharply, "I will deceive no one. My parents were Arians,
+and as my beliefs are the same as theirs the Bishop has driven me away
+as an outcast, finally and without pity."
+
+"Indeed," said Eusebius. "Did the Bishop do that? Well, as the head of a
+large community of Christians he, of course, is bound to look at things
+in their widest aspect; small things, small people can be nothing to
+him. I, on the contrary, am myself but a small personage, and I care
+for small things. You know, child, that the Lord has said 'that in
+his Father's kingdom there are many mansions,' and that in which Arius
+dwells is not mine; but it is in the Father's kingdom nevertheless. It
+cannot be so much amiss after all that you should cling to the creed of
+your parents. What is your name?"
+
+"Agne."
+
+"Agne, or the lamb. A pretty, good name! It is a name I love, as I, too,
+am a shepherd, though but a very humble one, so trust yourself to me,
+little lamb. Tell me, why are you crying? And whom do you seek here? And
+how is it that you do not know where to find a home?"
+
+Eusebius spoke with such homely kindness, and his voice was so full of
+fatherly sympathy that hope revived in Agne's breast, and she told him
+with frank confidence all he wanted to know.
+
+The old man listened with many a "Hum" and "Ha"--then he bid her
+accompany him to his own house, where his wife would find a corner that
+she might fill.
+
+She gladly agreed, and thanked him eagerly when he also told the
+doorkeeper to bring Papias after them if he should be found. Relieved
+of the worst of her griefs, Agne followed her new friend through the
+streets and lanes, till they paused at the gate of a small garden and he
+said: "Here we are. What we have we give gladly, but it is little,
+very little. Indeed, who can bear to live in luxury when so many are
+perishing in want and misery?"
+
+As they went across the plot, between the little flower-beds, the deacon
+pointed to a tree and said with some pride: "Last year that tree bore
+me three hundred and seven peaches, and it is still healthy and
+productive."
+
+A hospitable light twinkled in the little house at the end of the
+garden, and as they entered a queer-looking dog came out to meet his
+master, barking his welcome. He jumped with considerable agility on his
+fore-legs, but his hind legs were paralyzed and his body sloped away and
+stuck up in the air as though it were attached to an invisible board.
+
+"This is my good friend Lazarus," said the old man cheerfully. "I
+found the poor beggar in the road one day, and as he was one of God's
+creatures, although he is a cripple, I comfort myself with the verse
+from the Psalms: 'The Lord has no joy in the strength of a horse,
+neither taketh he pleasure in any man's legs.'"
+
+He was so evidently content and merry that Agne could not help laughing
+too, and when, in a few minutes, the deacon's wife gave her a warm and
+motherly reception she would have been happier than she had been for a
+long time past, if only her little brother had not been a weight on her
+mind and if she had not longed so sadly to have him safe by her side.
+But even that anxiety presently found relief, for she was so weary and
+exhausted that, after eating a few mouthfuls, she was thankful to lie
+down in the clean bed that Elizabeth had prepared for her, and she
+instantly fell asleep. She was in the old deacon's bed, and he made
+ready to pass the night on the couch in his little sitting-room.
+
+As soon as the old couple were alone Eusebius told his wife how and
+where he had met the girl and ended by saying:
+
+"It is a puzzling question as to these Arians and other Christian
+heretics. I cannot be hard on them so long as they cling faithfully
+to the One Lord who is necessary to all. If we are in the right--and
+I firmly believe that we are--and the Son is of one substance of the
+Father, he is without spot or blemish; and what can be more divine than
+to overlook the error of another if it concerns ourselves, or what more
+meanly human than to take such an error amiss and indulge in a cruel
+or sanguinary revenge on the erring soul? Do not misunderstand me. I,
+unfortunately--or rather, I say, thank God!--I have done nothing great
+here on earth, and have never risen to be anything more than a deacon.
+But if a boy comes up to me and mistakes me for an acolyte or something
+of that kind, is that a reason why I should flout or punish him? Not a
+bit of it.
+
+"And to my belief our Saviour is too purely divine to hate those who
+regard Him as only 'God-like.' He is Love. And when Arius goes to Heaven
+and sees Jesus Christ in all His divine glory, and falls down before Him
+in an ecstasy of joy and repentance, the worst the Lord will do to him
+will be to take him by the ear and say: 'Thou fool! Now thou seest what
+I really am; but thine errors be forgiven!'"
+
+Elizabeth nodded assent. "Amen," she said, "so be it.--And so, no doubt,
+it will be. Did the Lord cast out the woman taken in adultery? Did he
+not give us the parable of the Samaritan?--Poor little girl! We have
+often wished for a daughter and now we have found one; a pretty creature
+she is too. God grants us all our wishes! But you must be tired, old
+man; go to rest now."
+
+"Directly, directly," said Eusebius; but then, striking his forehead
+with his hand, he went on in much annoyance: "And with all this tumult
+and worry I had quite forgotten the most important thing of all: Marcus!
+He is like a possessed creature, and if I do not make a successful
+appeal to his conscience before he sleeps this night mischief will come
+of it. Yes, I am very tired; but duty before rest. It is of no use to
+contradict me, Mother. Get me my cloak; I must go to the lad." And a few
+minutes later the old man was making his way to the house in the Canopic
+street.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Dread and anxiety had taken possession of the merchant's household
+after Constantine had left them. Messengers came hurrying in, one after
+another, to request the presence of Olympius. A heathen secretary of
+Evagrius the Governor, had revealed what was astir, and the philosopher
+had at once prepared to return to the Serapeum. Porphyrius himself
+ordered his closed harmamaxa to be brought out, and undertook to fetch
+weapons and standards to the temple from a storehouse where they were
+laid by. This building stood on a plot of ground belonging to him in
+Rhacotis, behind a timber-yard which was accessible from the streets
+in front and behind, but sheltered from the public gaze by sheds and
+wood-stacks.
+
+The old aqueduct, which supplied the courts of sacrifice and the
+Subterranean crypts of the temple where the mysteries of Serapis were
+celebrated, passed close by the back-wall of this warehouse. Since
+the destruction of the watercourse, under the Emperor Julian, the
+underground conduit had been dry and empty, and a man by slightly
+stooping could readily pass through it unseen into the Serapeum. This
+mysterious passage had lately been secretly cleared out, and it was now
+to be used for the transport of the arms to the temple precincts.
+
+Damia had been present at the brief but vehement interview between
+her son and Olympius, and had thrown in a word now and again: "It is
+serious, very serious!" or, "Fight it out--no quarter!"
+
+The parting was evidently a very painful one to Olympius; when the
+merchant held out both his hands the older man clasped them in his and
+held them to his breast, saying: "Thanks, my friend; thanks for all
+you have done. We have lived--and if now we perish it is for the future
+happiness of our grandchildren. What would life be to you and me if it
+were marred by scourgings and questionings?--The omens read ill, and if
+I am not completely deceived we are at the beginning of the end. What
+lies beyond!... we as philosophers must meet it calmly. The supreme Mind
+that governs us has planned the universe so well, that it is not likely
+that those things of which we now have no knowledge should not also be
+ordered for the best. The pinions of my soul beat indeed more freely
+and lightly as I foresee the moment when it shall be released from the
+burden of this flesh!"
+
+The High-Priest raised his arms as though indeed he were prepared to
+soar and uttered a fervent and inspired prayer in which he rehearsed to
+the gods all that he and his had done in their honor and vowed to offer
+them fresh sacrifices. His expressions were so lofty, and his flow
+of language so beautiful and free, that Porphyrius did not dare to
+interrupt him, though this long delay on the part of the leader of
+the cause made him intolerably anxious. When the old man--who was as
+emotional as a boy--ceased speaking, his white beard was wet with
+tears, and seeing that even Damia's and Gorgo's eyes were moist, he was
+preparing to address them again; but Porphyrius interposed. He gave him
+time only to press his lips to Datnia's hand and to bid Gorgo farewell.
+
+"You were born into stirring times," he said to her, "but under a good
+sign. Two worlds are in collision; which shall survive?--For you, my
+darling, I have but one wish: May you be happy!"
+
+He left the room and the merchant paced up and down lost in gloomy
+thoughts. Presently, as he caught his mother's eye fixed uneasily upon
+him, he murmured, less to her than to himself: "If he can think thus of
+what the end will be, who can still dare to hope?" Damia drew herself up
+in her chair.
+
+"I," she exclaimed passionately, "I--I dare, and I do hope and trust in
+the future. Is everything to perish which our forefathers planned and
+founded? Is this dismal superstition to overwhelm and bury the world
+and all that is bright and beautiful, as the lava stream rolled over the
+cities of Vesuvius? No, a thousand times no! Our retrograde and cowardly
+generation, which has lost all heart to enjoy life in sheer dread of
+future annihilation, may perhaps be doomed by the gods, as was that of
+Deucalion's day. Well--if so, what must be must! But such a world as
+they dream of never can, never will last. Let them succeed in their
+monstrous scheme! if the Temple of temples, the House of Serapis, were
+to be in ashes and the image of the mighty god to be dashed to pieces,
+what then.... I say what then? Then indeed everything will be at an
+end--we, everybody; but they too, they, too, will perish."
+
+She clenched her fist with hatred and revenge and went on: "I know what
+I know--there are legible and infallible signs, and it is given to me
+to interpret them, and I tell you: It is true, unerringly true, as every
+Alexandrian child has learnt from its nurse: When Serapis falls the
+earth will collapse like a dry puff-ball under a horse's hoof. A hundred
+oracles have announced it, it is written in the prophecies of the
+heavenly bodies, and in the scroll of Fate. Let them be! Let it come!
+The end is sweet to those who, in the hour of death, can see the enemy
+thrust the sword into his own breast."
+
+The old woman sank back panting and gasping for breath, but Gorgo
+hastened to support her in her arms and she soon recovered. Hardly had
+she opened her eyes again than, seeing her son still in the room, she
+went on angrily:
+
+"You--here still? Do you think there is any time to spare? They will be
+waiting, waiting for you! You have the key and they need weapons."
+
+"I know what I am about," replied Porphyrius calmly. "All in good time.
+I shall be on the spot long before the youngsters have assembled. Cyrus
+will bring me the pass-words and signs; I shall send off the messengers,
+and then I shall still be in time for action."
+
+"Messengers! To whom?"
+
+"To Barkas. He is at the head of more than a thousand Libyan peasants
+and slaves. I shall send one, too, to Pachomius to bid him win us over
+adherents among the Biamite fishermen and the population of the eastern
+Delta."
+
+"Right, right--I know. Twenty talents--Pachomius is poor--twenty talents
+shall be his, out of my private coffer, if only they are here in time."
+
+"I would give ten, thirty times as much if they were only here now!"
+cried the merchant, giving way for the first time to the expression
+of his real feelings. "When I began life my father taught me the new
+superstitions. Its chains still hang about me; but in this fateful hour
+I feel more strongly than ever, and I mean to show, that I am faithful
+to the old gods. We will not be wanting; but alas! there is no escape
+for us now if the Imperial party are staunch. If they fall upon us
+before Barkas can join us, all is lost; if, on the contrary, Barkas
+comes at once and in time, there is still some hope; all may yet be
+well. What can a party of monks do? And as yet only our Constantine's
+heavy cavalry have come to the assistance of the two legions of the
+garrison."
+
+"Our Constantine!" shrieked Damia. "Whose? I ask you, whose? We have
+nothing to do with that miserable Christian!"
+
+But Gorgo turned upon her at once:
+
+"Indeed, grandmother," she exclaimed, quivering with rage, "but we have!
+He is a soldier and must do his duty; but he is fondly attached to us."
+
+"Us, us?" retorted the old woman with a laugh. "Has he sworn love to
+you, let me ask? Has he? and you-do you believe him, simple fool? I know
+him, I know him! Why, for a scrap of bread and a drop of wine from the
+hand of his priest he would see you and all of us plunged into misery!
+But see, here are the messengers."
+
+Porphyrius gave his instructions to the young men who now entered the
+hall, hurried them off, clasped Gorgo in a tender embrace and then bent
+over his mother to kiss her--a thing he had not done for many a day.
+Old Damia laid aside her stick, and taking her son's face in both her
+withered hands, muttered a few words which were half a fond appeal and
+half a magical formula, and then the women were alone. For a long while
+both were silent. The old woman sat sunk in her arm-chair while Gorgo
+stood with her back against the pedestal of a bust of Plato, gazing
+meditatively at the ground. At last it was Damia who spoke, asking to be
+carried into the women's rooms.
+
+Gorgo, however, stopped her with a gesture, went close to her and said:
+"No, wait a minute, mother; first you must hear what I have to say."
+
+"What you have to say?" asked her grandmother, shrugging her shoulders.
+
+"Yes. I have never deceived you; but one thing I have hitherto concealed
+from you because I was never till this morning sure of it myself--now I
+am. Now I know that I love him."
+
+"The Christian?" said the old woman, pushing aside a shade that screened
+her eyes.
+
+"Yes, Constantine; I will not hear you abuse him." Damia laughed
+sharply, and said in a tone of supreme scorn:
+
+"You will not? Then you had better stop your ears, my dear, for as long
+as my tongue can wag...."
+
+"Hush, grandmother, say no more," said the girl resolutely. "Do not
+provoke me with more than I can bear. Eros has pierced me later than he
+does most girls and has done it but once, but how deeply you can never
+know. If you speak ill of him you only aggravate the wound and you would
+not be so cruel! Do not--I entreat you; drop the subject or else..."
+
+"Or else?"
+
+"Or else I must die, mother--and you know you love me."
+
+Her tone was soft but firm; her words referred to the future, but that
+future was as clear to Gorgo's view as if it were past. Damia gave a
+hasty, sidelong glance at her grandchild, and a cold chill ran through
+her; the--girl stood and spoke with an air of inspiration--she was full
+of the divinity as Damia thought, and the old woman herself felt
+as though she were in a temple and in the immediate presence of the
+Immortals.
+
+Gorgo waited for a reply, but in vain; and as her grandmother remained
+silent she went back to her place by the pedestal. At last Damia raised
+her wrinkled face, looked straight in the girl's eyes and asked:
+
+"And what is to be the end of it?"
+
+"Aye--what?" said Gorgo gloomily and she shook her head. "I ask myself
+and can find no answer, for his image is ever present to me and yet
+walls and mountains stand between us. That face, that image--I might
+perhaps force myself to shatter it; but nothing shall ever induce me to
+let it be defiled or disgraced! Nothing!"
+
+The old woman sank into brooding thought once more; mechanically she
+repeated Gorgo's last word, and at intervals that gradually became
+longer she murmured, at last scarcely audibly: "Nothing--nothing!"
+
+She had lost all sense of time and of her immediate surroundings, and
+long-forgotten sorrows crowded on her memory: The dreadful day when
+a young freedman--a gifted astronomer and philosopher who had been
+appointed her tutor, and whom she had loved with all the passion of a
+vehement nature--had been kicked out of her father's house by slaves,
+for daring to aspire to her hand. She had given him up--she had been
+forced to do so; and after she was the wife of another and he had risen
+to fame, she had never given him any token that she had not forgotten
+him. Two thirds of a century lay between that happy and terrible time,
+and the present. He had been dead many a long year, and still she
+remembered him, and was thinking of him even now. A singular effort of
+fancy showed her herself, as she had then been, and Gorgo--whom she
+saw not with her bodily eyes, though the girl was standing in front
+of her--two young creatures side by side. The two were but one in her
+vision; the same anguish that embittered one life now threatened the
+other. But after all she, Damia, had dragged this grief after her
+through the weary decades, like the iron ball at the end of a chain
+which keeps the galley-slave to his place at the oar, and from which he
+can no more escape than from a ponderous and ever-present shadow; and
+Gorgo's sorrow could not at any rate be for long, since the end of all
+things was at hand--it was coming slowly but with inevitable certainty,
+nearer and nearer every hour.
+
+When had a troop of enthusiastic students and hastily-collected
+peasant-soldiers ever been able to snake an effectual stand against the
+hosts of Rome? Damia, who only a few minutes since had spoken with
+such determined encouragement to her son, had terrible visions of the
+Imperial legions putting Olympius to rout, with the Libyans under
+Barkas and the Biamite rabble under Pachomius; storming the Serapeum
+and reducing it to ruin: Firebrands flying through its sacred halls,
+the roof giving way, the vaults falling in; the sublime image of the
+god--the magnificent work of Bryaxis--battered by a hail of stones, and
+sinking to mingle with the reeking dust. Then a cry rose up from all
+nature, as though every star in heaven, every wave of ocean, every leaf
+of the forest, every blade in the meadow, every rock on the shore and
+every grain of sand in the measureless desert had found a voice; and
+this universal wail of "Woe, woe!" was drowned by rolling thunder such
+as the ear of man had never heard, and no mortal creature could hear
+and live. The heavens opened, and out of the black gulf of death-bearing
+clouds poured streams of fire; consuming flames rose to meet it from
+the riven womb of earth, rushing up to lick the sky. What had been air
+turned to fire and ashes, the silver and gold stars fell crashing from
+the firmament, and the heavens themselves bowed and collapsed, burying
+the ruined earth. Ashes, ashes, fine grey dusty ashes pervaded space,
+till presently a hurricane rose and swept away the chaos of gloom, and
+vast nothingness yawned before her: a bottomless abyss--an insatiable
+throat, swallowing down with greedy thirst all that was left; till where
+the world had been, with gods and men and all their works, there was
+only nothingness; hideous, inscrutable and unfathomable. And in it,
+above it, around it--for what are the dimensions of nothingness?--there
+reigned the incomprehensible Unity of the Primal One, in calm and
+pitiless self-concentration, beyond--the Real, nay even beyond the
+Conceivable--for conception implies plurality--the Supreme One of the
+Neo-Platonists to whose school she belonged.
+
+The old woman's blood ran cold and hot as she pictured the scene; but
+she believed in it, and chose to believe in it; "Nothing, nothing..."
+which she had begun by muttering, insensibly changed to "Nothingness,
+nothingness!" and at last she spoke it aloud.
+
+Gorgo stood spellbound as she gazed at her grandmother. What had come
+over her? What was the meaning of this glaring eye, this gasping breath,
+this awful expression in her face, this convulsive action of her hands?
+Was she mad? And what did she mean by "Nothingness, nothingness..."
+repeated in a sort of hollow cry?
+
+Terrified beyond bearing she laid her hand on Dalnia's shoulder, saying:
+"Mother, mother! wake up! What do you mean by saying 'nothingness,
+nothingness' in that dreadful way?"
+
+Dainia collected her scattered wits, shivered with cold and then said,
+dully at first, but with a growing cheerfulness that made Gorgo's blood
+run cold: "Did I say 'nothingness'? Did I speak of the great void, my
+child? You are quick of hearing. Nothingness--well, you have learnt to
+think; are you capable of defining the meaning of the word--a monster
+that has neither head nor tail, neither front nor back--can you, I say,
+define the idea of nothingness?"
+
+"What do you mean, mother?" said Gorgo with growing alarm.
+
+"No, she does not know, she does not understand," muttered the old woman
+with a dreary smile. "And yet Melampus told me, only yesterday, that you
+understood his lesson on conic sections better than many men. Aye, aye,
+child; I, too, learnt mathematics once, and I still go through various
+calculations every night in my observatory; but to this day I find it
+difficult to conceive of a mathematical point. It is nothing and yet
+it is something. But the great final nothingness!--And that even is
+nonsense, for it can be neither great nor small, and come neither sooner
+nor later. Is it not so, my sweet? Think of nothing--who cannot do that;
+but it is very hard to imagine nothingness. We can neither of us achieve
+that. Not even the One has a place in it. But what is the use of racking
+our brains? Only wait till to-morrow or the day after; something
+will happen then which will reduce our own precious persons and this
+beautiful world to that nothingness which to-day is inconceivable. It
+is coming; I can hear from afar the brazen tramp of the airy
+and incorporeal monster. A queer sort of giant--smaller than the
+mathematical point of which we were speaking, and yet vast beyond all
+measurement. Aye, aye; our intelligence, polyp-like, has long arms and
+can apprehend vast size and wide extent; but it can no more conceive of
+nothingness than it can of infinite space or time.
+
+"I was dreaming that this monstrous Nought had come to his kingdom and
+was opening a yawning mouth and toothless jaws to swallow its all
+down into the throat that it has not got--you, and me, and your young
+officer, with this splendid, recreant city and the sky and the earth.
+Wait, only wait! The glorious image of Serapis still stands radiant, but
+the cross casts an ominous shadow that has already darkened the light
+over half the earth! Our gods are an abomination to Caesar, and Cynegius
+only carries out his wishes..."
+
+Here Damia was interrupted by the steward, who rushed breathless into
+the room, exclaiming:
+
+"Lost! All is lost! An edict of Theodosius commands that every temple
+of the gods shall be closed, and the heavy cavalry have dispersed our
+force."
+
+"Ah ha!" croaked the old woman in shrill accents. "You see, you see!
+There it is: the beginning of the end! Yes--your cavalry are a powerful
+force. They are digging a grave--wide and deep, with room in it
+for many: for you, for me, and for themselves, too, and for their
+Prefect.--Call Argus, man, and carry me into the Gynaeconitis--[The
+women's apartment]--and there tell us what has happened." In the women's
+room the steward told all he knew, and a sad tale it was; one thing,
+however, gave him some comfort: Olympius was at the Serapeunt and had
+begun to fortify the temple, and garrison it with a strong force of
+adherents.
+
+Damia had definitively given up all hope, and hardly heeded this part
+of his story, while on Gorgo's mind it had a startling effect. She
+loved Constantine with all the fervor of a first, and only, and
+long-suppressed passion; she had repented long since of her little fit
+of suspicion, and it would have cost her no perceptible effort to
+humble her pride, to fly to him and pray for forgiveness. But she could
+not--dared not--now, when everything was at stake, renounce her fidelity
+to the gods for whose sake she had let him leave her in anger, and to
+whom she must cling, cost what it might; that would be a base desertion.
+If Olympius were to triumph in the struggle she might go to her lover
+and say: "Do you remain a Christian, and leave me the creed of my
+childhood, or else open my heart to yours." But, as matters now stood,
+her first duty was to quell her passion and retrain faithful to the end,
+even though the cause were lost. She was Greek to the backbone; she knew
+it and felt it, and yet her eye had sparkled with pride as she heard
+the steward's tale, and she seemed to see Constantine at the head of his
+horsemen, rushing upon the heathen and driving them to the four winds
+like a flock of sheep. Her heart beat high for the foe rather than
+for her hapless friends--these were but bruised reeds--those were the
+incarnation of victorious strength.
+
+These divided feelings worried and vexed her; but her grandmother
+had suggested a way of reconciling them. Where he commanded victory
+followed, and if the Christians should succeed in destroying the image
+of Serapis the joints of the world would crack and the earth would
+crumble away. She herself was familiar with the traditions and the
+oracles which with one consent foretold this doom; she had learnt them
+as an infant from her nurse, from the slave-women at the loom, from
+learned men and astute philosophers--and to her the horrible prophecy
+meant a solution of every contradiction and the bitter-sweet hope of
+perishing with the man she loved.
+
+As it grew dark another person appeared: the Moschosphragist--[The
+examiner of sacrificed animals]--from the temple of Serapis, who, every
+day, examined the entrails of a slaughtered beast for Damia; to-day the
+augury had been so bad that he was almost afraid of revealing it. But
+the old woman, sure of it beforehand, took his soothsaying quite calmly,
+and only desired to be carried up to her observatory that she might
+watch the risings of the stars.
+
+Gorgo remained alone below. From the adjoining workrooms came the
+monotonous rattle of the loom at which, as usual, a number of slaves
+were working.
+
+Suddenly the clatter ceased. Damia had sent a slave-girl down to say
+that they might leave off work and rest till next day if they chose. She
+had ordered that wine should be distributed to them in the great hall,
+as freely as at the great festival of Dionysus.
+
+All was silent in the Gynaeconitis. The garlands of flowers, which Gorgo
+herself had helped some damsels of her acquaintance to twine for
+the temple of Isis, lay in a heap-the steward had told her that the
+venerable sanctuary was to be closed and surrounded by soldiers. This
+then put an end to the festival; and she could have been heartily glad,
+for it relieved her of the necessity of defying Constantine; still, it
+was with tender melancholy that she thought of the gentle goddess in
+whose sanctuary she had so often found comfort and support. She could
+remember, as a tiny child, gathering the first flowers in her little
+garden, and sticking them in the ground near the tank from which water
+was fetched for libations in the temple; with the pocketmoney given
+her by her elders, she had bought perfumes to pour on the altars of the
+divinity; and often when her heart was heavy she had found relief in
+prayer before the marble statue of the goddess. How splendid had the
+festivals of Isis been, how gladly and rapturously had she sung in
+their honor! Almost everything that had lent poetry and dignity to her
+childhood had been bound up with Isis and her sanctuary--and now it was
+closed and the image of the divine mother was perhaps lying in fragments
+in the dirt!
+
+Gorgo knew all the lofty ideals which lay at the foundation of the
+worship of this goddess; but it was not to them that she had turned for
+help, but to the image in whose mystical strength she trusted. And
+what had already been done to Isis and her temple might soon be done to
+Serapis and to his house.
+
+She could not bear the thought, for she had been accustomed to regard
+the Serapeum as the very heart of the universe--the centre and fulcrum
+on which the balance of the earth depended; to her, Serapis himself was
+inseparable from his temple and its atmosphere of magical and mystical
+power. Every prophecy, every Sibylline text, every oracle must be
+false if the overthrow of that image could remain unpunished--if the
+destruction of the universe failed to follow, as surely as a flood
+ensues from a breach in a dyke. How indeed could it be otherwise,
+according to the explanation which her teacher had given her of the
+Neo-Platonic conception of the nature of the god?
+
+It was not Serapis but the great and unapproachable One--supreme above
+comprehension and sublime beyond conception, for whose majesty every
+name was too mean, the fount and crown of Good and Beauty, in whole
+all that exists ever has been and ever shall be. He it was who, like a
+brimful vessel, overflowed with the quintessence of what we call divine;
+and from this effluence emanated the divine Mind, the pure intelligence
+which is to the One what light is to the sun. This Mind with its
+vitality--a life not of time but of eternity--could stir or remain
+passive as it listed; it included a Plurality, while the One was Unity,
+and forever indivisible. The concept of each living creature proceeded
+from the second: The eternal Mind; and this vivifying and energizing
+intelligence comprehended the prototypes of every living being, hence,
+also, of the immortal gods--not themselves but their idea or image. And
+just as the eternal Mind proceeded from the One, so, in the third place,
+did the Soul of the universe proceed from the second; that Soul whose
+twofold nature on one side touched the supreme Mind, and, on the other,
+the baser world of matter. This was the immortal Aphrodite, cradled in
+bliss in the pure radiance of the ideal world and yet unable to free
+herself from the gross clay of matter fouled by sensuality and the
+vehicle of sin.
+
+The head of Serapis was the eternal Mind; in his broad breast slept
+the Soul of the Universe, and the prototypes of all created things; the
+world of matter was the footstool under his feet. All the subordinate
+forces obeyed him, the mighty first Cause, whose head towered up to
+the realm of the incomprehensible and inconceivable One. He was the sum
+total of the universe, the epitome of things created; and at the
+same time he was the power which gave them life and intelligence and
+preserved them from perishing by perpetual procreation. It was his might
+that kept the multiform structure of the material and psychical world
+in perennial harmony. All that lived--Nature and its Soul as much as Man
+and his Soul--were inseparably dependent on him. If he--if Serapis were
+to fall, the order of the universe must be destroyed; and with him: The
+Synthesis of the Universe--the Universe itself must cease to exist.
+
+But what would survive would not be the nothingness--the void of which
+her grandmother had spoken; it would be the One--the cold, ineffable,
+incomprehensible One! This world would perish with Serapis; but perhaps
+it might please that One to call another world into being out of his
+overflowing essence, peopled by other and different beings.
+
+Gorgo was startled out of these meditations by a wild tumult which came
+up from the slaves' hall some distance off and reached her ears in the
+women's sitting-room. Could her grandmother have opened the wine stores
+all too freely; were the miserable wretches already drunk?
+
+No, the noise was not that of a troop of slaves who have forgotten
+themselves, and given the rein to their wild revelry under the influence
+of Dionysus! She listened and could distinctly hear lamentable howls and
+wild cries of grief. Something frightful must have happened! Had some
+evil befallen her father? Greatly alarmed she flew across the courtyard
+to the slaves' quarters and found the whole establishment, black and
+white alike, in a state of frenzy. The women were rushing about with
+their hair unbound over their faces, beating their breasts and wailing,
+the men squatted in silence with their wine-cups before them untouched,
+softly sobbing and whining.
+
+What had come upon them--what blow had fallen on the house?
+
+Gorgo called her old nurse and learnt from her that the Moschosphragist
+had just told them that the troops had been placed all round the
+Serapeum and that the Emperor had commanded the Prefect of the East to
+lay violent hands on the temple of the King of gods. Today or to-morrow
+the crime was to be perpetrated. They had been warned to pray and repent
+of their sins, for at the moment when the holiest sanctuary on earth
+should fall the whole world would crumble into nothingness. The entrails
+of the beast sacrificed by Damia had been black as though scorched,
+and a terrific groan had been heard from the god himself in the great
+shrine; the pillars of the great hypostyle had trembled and the three
+heads of Cerberus, lying at the feet of Serapis; had opened their jaws.
+
+Gorgo listened in silence to the old woman's story; and all she said in
+reply was: "Let them wail."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The day had flown swiftly for Dada under the roof of Medius; there were
+costumes and scenery in wonderful variety for her to look over; the
+children were bright and friendly, and she had enjoyed playing with
+them, for all her little tricks and rhymes, which Papias was familiar
+with by this time, were to them new and delightful. It amused her,
+too, to see what the domestic difficulties were of which the singer had
+described himself as being a victim.
+
+Medius was one of those men who buy everything that strikes them as
+cheap--for instance, that very morning, at Kibotus he had stood to watch
+a fish auction and had bought a whole tub-full of pickled fish for "a
+mere trifle;" but when, presently, the cargo was delivered, his wife
+flew into a great rage, which she vented first on the innocent lad who
+brought the fish, and then on the less innocent purchaser. They would
+not get to the bottom of the barrel and eat the last herring, she
+asserted, till they were a century old. Medius, while he disputed so
+monstrous a statement, vehemently declared that such wholesome and
+nutritious food as those fish was undoubtedly calculated to prolong the
+lives of the whole family to an exceptionally great age.
+
+This discussion, which was not at all by way of a jest, amused Dada
+far more than the tablets, cylinders and cones covered with numbers and
+cabalistic signs, to which Medius tried to direct her attention.
+She darted off in the midst of his eager explanations to show his
+grandchildren how a rabbit sniffs and moves his ears when he is offered
+a cabbage-leaf.
+
+The report, which reached them in the afternoon, of the proceedings in
+the square by the Prefect's house, disturbed Medius greatly, and he set
+off at once for the scene of action.
+
+He did not return till evening, and then he looked like an altered man.
+He must have witnessed something very terrible, for his face was as
+pale as death, and his usually confident and swaggering manner had given
+place to a stricken and care-worn air. He walked up and down the room,
+groaning as he went; he flung himself on the divan and stared fixedly at
+the ground; he wandered into the atrium and gazed cautiously out on the
+street. Dada's presence seemed suddenly to be the source of much anxiety
+to him, and the girl, painfully conscious of this, hastened to tell him
+that she would prefer to return home at once to her uncle and aunt.
+
+"You can please yourself," was all he said, with a shrug and a sigh.
+"You may stay for aught I care. It is all the same now!"
+
+So far his wife had left him to himself, for she was used to his violent
+and eccentric behavior whenever anything had crossed him; but now she
+peremptorily desired to be informed what had happened to him and he at
+once acceded. He had been unwilling to frighten them sooner than was
+needful, but they must learn it sooner or later: Cynegius had arrived to
+overthrow the image of Serapis, and what must ensue they knew only too
+well. "To-day," he cried, "we will live; but by to-morrow--a thousand to
+one-by to-morrow there will be an end of all our joys and the earth will
+swallow up the old home and us with it!"
+
+His words fell on prepared ground; his wife and daughter were appalled,
+and as Medius went on to paint the imminent catastrophe in more vivid
+colors, his energy growing in proportion to its effect on them, they
+began at first to sob and whimper and then to wail loudly. When the
+children, who by this time were in bed, heard the lamentations of their
+elders, they, too, set up a howl, and even Dada caught the infection. As
+for Medius himself, he had talked himself into such a state of terror by
+his own descriptions of the approaching destruction of the world that he
+abandoned all claim to his proud reputation as a strong-minded man, and
+quite forgot his favorite theory that everything that went by the name
+of God was a mere invention of priests and rulers to delude and oppress
+the ignorant; at last he even went so far as to mutter a prayer, and
+when his wife begged to be allowed to join a family of neighbors in
+sacrificing a black lamb at daybreak, he recklessly gave her a handful
+of money.
+
+None of the party closed an eye that night. Dada could not bear to
+remain in the house. Perhaps all these horrors existed only in Medius'
+fancy; but if destruction were indeed impending, she would a thousand
+times rattier perish with her own relations than with these people, in
+whom there was something--she did not know what--for which she felt a
+deep aversion. This she explained to her host early in the day and he
+was ready to set out at once and restore her to the care of Karnis.
+
+In fact, the purpose for which he had needed her must certainly come to
+nothing. He himself was attached to the service of Posidonius, a great
+magician and wizard, to whom half Alexandria flocked--Christians, Jews,
+and heathens--in order to communicate with the dead, with gods and with
+demons, to obtain spells and charms by which to attract lovers or injure
+foes, to learn the art of becoming invisible, or to gain a glimpse into
+the future. In the performance which was being planned Dada was to have
+appeared to a bereaved mother as the glorified presence of her lost
+daughter; but the disturbance in the city had driven the matron, who was
+rich, to take refuge in the country the previous afternoon. Nor was it
+likely that the sorcerer's other clients--even if all turned out better
+than could be hoped--would venture into the streets by night. Rich
+people were timid and suspicious; and as the Emperor had lately
+promulgated fresh and more stringent edicts against the magic arts,
+Posidonius had thought it prudent to postpone the meeting. Hence Medius
+had at present no use for the girl; but he affected to agree so readily
+to her wishes merely out of anxiety to relieve Isarnis as soon as
+possible of his uneasiness as to her fate.
+
+The morning was bright and hot, and the town was swarming with an
+excited mob soon after sunrise. Terror, curiosity and defiance were
+painted on every face; however, Medius and his young companion made
+their way unhindered as far as the temple of Isis by the lake. The doors
+of the sanctuary were closed, and guarded by soldiers; but the southern
+and western walls were surrounded by thousands and thousands of heathen.
+Some hundreds, indeed, had passed the night there in prayer, or in sheer
+terror of the catastrophe which could not fail to ensue, and they were
+kneeling in groups, groaning, weeping, and cursing, or squatting in
+stolid resignation, weary, crushed and hopeless. It was a heart-rending
+sight, and neither Dada--who till this moment had been dreading Dame
+Herse's scolding tongue far more than the destruction of the world--nor
+her companion could forbear joining in the wail that rose from this vast
+multitude. Medius fell on his knees groaning aloud and pulled the girl
+down beside him; for, upon the wall that enclosed the temple precincts,
+they now saw a priest who, after holding the sacred Sistrum up to view
+and muttering some unintelligible prayers and invocations, proceeded to
+address the people.
+
+He was a short stout man, and the sweat streamed down his face as he
+stood under the blazing sun to sketch a fearful picture of the monstrous
+doom which was hanging over the city and its inhabitants. He spoke
+with pompous exaggeration, in a shrill, harsh voice, wiping his face
+meanwhile with his white linen robe or gasping for air, when breath
+failed him, like a fish stranded on the beach. All this, however, did
+not trouble his audience, for the hatred that inspired his language, and
+the terror of the immediate future which betrayed itself in every word
+exactly reflected their feelings. Dada alone was moved to mirth; the
+longer she looked at him the more she felt inclined to laugh; besides,
+the day was so bright--a pigeon on the wall pattered round his mate,
+nodding and wriggling after the funny manner of pigeons in love--and,
+above all, her heart beat so high and she had such a happy instinctive
+feeling that all was ordered for the best, that the world seemed to
+her a beautiful and fairly secure dwelling-place, in spite of the dark
+forebodings of the zealous preacher. On the eve of destruction the earth
+must surely look differently from this; and it struck her as highly
+improbable that the gods should have revealed their purpose to such a
+queer old driveller as this priest, and have hidden it from other men.
+The very fact that this burly personage should prophesy evil with such
+conviction made her doubt it; and presently, when the plumes of three
+or four helmets became visible behind the speaker, and a pair of strong
+hands grasped his thick ankles and suddenly dragged him down from his
+eminence and back into the temple, she could hardly keep herself from
+laughing outright.
+
+Now, however, there was more real cause for alarm a trumpet-blast was
+heard, and a maniple of the twenty-second legion marched down in close
+order on the crowd who fled before them. Medius was one of the first to
+make off; Dada kept close to his side, and when, in his alarm, he fairly
+took to his heels, she did the same; for, in spite of the reception she
+apprehended, she felt that the sooner she could rejoin her own people
+the better. Never till now had she known how dear they were to her.
+Herse might scold; but her sharpest words were truer and better than
+the smooth flattery of Medius. It was a joy to think of seeing them
+again--Agne, too, and little Papias--and she felt as though she were
+about to meet them after years of separation.
+
+By this time they were at the ship-yard, which was divided only by a
+lane from the Temple-grove; there lay the barge. Dada pulled off her
+veil and waved it in the air, but the signal met with no response.
+They were at the house, no doubt, for some men were in the very act of
+drawing up the wooden gangway which connected the vessel with the land.
+Medius hurried forward and was so fortunate as to overtake the steward,
+who had been superintending the operation, before he reached the
+garden-gate.
+
+The old man was rejoiced to see them, and told them at once that his old
+mistress had promised Herse to give Dada shelter if she should return
+to them. But Dada was proud. She had no liking for Gorgo or her
+grandmother; and when she had caught up to Medius, quite out of breath,
+she positively refused the old lady's hospitality.
+
+The barge was deserted. Karnis--so the steward informed her--had
+withdrawn to the temple of Serapis with his son, intending to assist in
+its defence; and Herse had accompanied them, for Olympius had said that
+women would be found useful in the beleaguered sanctuary, in preparing
+food for the combatants and in nursing the wounded.
+
+Dada stood looking at their floating home, utterly disappointed and
+discouraged. She longed to follow her aunt and to gain admission to the
+Serapeutn; but how could she do this now, and of what use could she hope
+to be? There was nothing heroic in her composition, and from her infancy
+she had always sickened at the sight of blood. She had no alternative
+but to return with Medius, and take refuge under his roof.
+
+The singer gave her ample time for reflection; he had seated himself,
+with the steward, under the shade of a sycamore, and the two men were
+absorbed in convincing each other, by a hundred arguments which they had
+picked up during the last day or two, how inevitably the earth must be
+annihilated if the statue of Serapis should be overthrown. In the warmth
+of their discussion they paid no heed to the young girl, who was sitting
+on a fallen Hermes by the road-side. Her vigorous and lively temperament
+rendered her little apt to dream, or even meditate, in broad daylight;
+but the heat and the recent excitement had overwrought her and she fell
+into a drowsy reverie. Now and again, as her heavy head drooped on
+her breast, she fancied the Serapeum had actually fallen; then, as she
+raised it again, she recovered her consciousness that it was hot, that
+she had lost her home, and that she must, however unwillingly, return
+with Medius. But at length her eyelids closed, and as she sat in the
+full blaze of the sun, a rosy light filled her eyes and a bright vision
+floated before her: Marcus took the modius--the corn measure--from the
+head of the statue of Serapis and offered it to her; it was quite full
+of lilies and roses and violets, and she was delighted with the flowers
+and thanked him warmly when he set the modius down before her. He held
+out his hands to her calmly and kindly, and she gave him hers, feeling
+very happy under the steady, compassionate gaze of his large eyes which
+had often watched her, on board ship, for some minutes at a time. She
+longed to say something to him, but she could not speak; and she looked
+on quite unmoved as the statue of the god and the hall in which it stood
+were wrapt in flames. No smoke mingled with this clear and genial blaze,
+but it compelled her to shade her dazzled eyes; and as she lifted her
+hand she woke to see Medius standing in front of her.
+
+He desired her to come home with him at once, and she rose to obey,
+listening in silence to his assurances that the lives of Karnis and
+Orpheus would not be worth a sesterce if they fell into the hands of the
+Roman soldiers.
+
+She walked on, more hopeless and depressed than she had ever felt in her
+life before, past the unfinished hulks in the ship-yard where no one was
+at work to-day when, coming down the lane that divided the wharf from
+the temple precincts, she saw an old man and a little boy. She had not
+time to ask herself whether she saw rightly or was mistaken before
+the child caught sight of her, snatched his hand away from that of his
+companion, and flew towards her, shouting her name. In the next moment
+little Papias had rushed rapturously into her arms and, as she lifted
+him up, had thrown his hands round her neck, clinging to her as if he
+would never leave go again, while she hugged him closely for joy, and
+kissed him with her eyes full of tears. She was herself again at once;
+the sad and anxious girl was the lively Dada once more.
+
+The man who had been leading the little boy was immediately besieged
+with questions, and from his answers they learnt that he had found the
+child the evening before at the corner of a street, crying bitterly;
+that he had taken him home, and with some little difficulty had
+ascertained from him that he belonged to some people who were living
+on board a barge, close to a ship-yard. In spite of the excitement that
+prevailed he had brought the child home as soon as possible, for
+he could fancy how anxious his parents must be. Dada thanked the
+kind-hearted artisan with sincere warmth, and the man, seeing how happy
+the girl and the child were at having met, went his way quite satisfied.
+
+Medius had stood by and had said nothing, but he looked on the pretty
+little boy with much favor. If the earth were not to crumble into
+nothingness after all, this child would be a real treasure trove; and
+when Dada begged him to find a corner for Papias in his house, though
+he hinted at the smallness of his earnings and the limited space at his
+command, he yielded, if reluctantly, to her entreaties, on her offering
+him her gold brooch to cover his expenses.
+
+As they made their way back she cast many loving glances at the child;
+she was extremely fond of him, and he seemed a link to bind her to her
+own people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+The singer's wife and daughter had joined some neighbors in sacrificing
+a black lamb to Zeus, a ceremony that was usual on the occasion of
+earthquakes or very severe storms; but it was done very secretly,
+for the edicts prohibiting the sacrifice of victims to the gods were
+promptly and rigidly enforced. The more the different members of the
+family came into contact with other citizens, the more deeply rooted was
+their terror that the end of all things was at hand. As soon as it was
+dark the old man buried all his savings, for even if everyone else were
+to perish, he felt that he--though how or why he knew not--might be
+exempt from the common doom.
+
+The night was warm, and great and small alike slept--or lay awake--under
+the stars so as not to be overwhelmed by the crash of roofs and walls;
+the next day was oppressively hot, and the family cowered in a row in
+the scanty shade of a palm and of a fig-tree, the only growth of any
+size in the singer's garden. Medius himself, in spite of the scorching
+sun, could not be still.
+
+He rushed off to the town again and again, but only to return each time
+to enhance the anguish of the household by relating all sorts of horrors
+which he had picked up in his wanderings. They were obliged to satisfy
+their hunger with bread, cheese, and fruit, for the two slave-women
+positively refused to risk their lives by cooking in the house.
+
+Medius' temper varied as he came and went; now he was gentle and
+affectionate, and then again he raged like a madman; and his wife outdid
+him. At one moment she would abandon him and the children, while she
+anointed the household altar and put up prayers; at the next she railed
+at the baseness and cruelty of the gods. When her husband brought
+the news that the Serapeum was surrounded by the Imperial troops, she
+scoffed and spit at the sacred images, and five minutes later she was
+vowing a sacrifice to the deities of Olympus. The general confusion was
+distracting; as the sun rose, the anguish, physical and mental, of the
+whole family greatly increased, and by noon had reached an appalling
+pitch.
+
+Dada looked on intensely disgusted, and only shook her head when one
+or another of her companions was sure she felt a shock of earthquake or
+heard the roll of distant thunder. She could not explain to herself why
+she, who was usually timid enough, was exempt from the universal panic
+though she felt deeply pitiful towards the terrified women and children.
+None of them troubled themselves about her; the day dragged on with
+intolerable slowness, quenching all her gay vivacity, while she was
+utterly exhausted by the scorching African sun, of which, till now,
+she had never known the power. At last, in the afternoon, she found
+the little garden, which was by this time heated like an oven, quite
+unbearable, and she looked round for Papias. The child was sitting on
+the wall looking at the congregation streaming into the basilica of St.
+Mark. Dada followed his example, and when the many-voiced psalms rang
+out of the open door of the church, she listened to the music, for it
+seemed long since she had heard any, and after wiping the perspiration
+from the little boy's face with her peplos, she pointed to the building
+and said: "It must be nice and cool in there."
+
+"Of course it is," said Papias.
+
+"It is never too hot in church. I will tell you what--we will go there."
+This was a bright idea; for, thought Dada, any place must be pleasanter
+than this; and she felt strongly tempted, too, to see the inside of one
+of Agne's temples and to sing once more, or, at any rate, hear others
+sing.
+
+"Come along," she said, and they stole through the deserted house to get
+into the street by the atrium. Medius saw them, but he made no attempt
+to detain them; he had sunk into lethargic indifference. It was not an
+hour since he had taken stock of his life and means, setting the small
+figure of his average income against his hospitality to Dada and her
+little companion; but then, again, he had calculated that, if all went
+well, he might make considerable profits out of the girl and the child.
+Now, he felt it was all the same to him whether he and his family and
+Dada met their doom in the house or out of it.
+
+Dada and Papias soon reached the church of St. Mark, the oldest
+Christian basilica in the city. It consisted of a vestibule--the
+narthex--and the body of the church, a very long hall, with a flat roof
+ceiled with stained wood and supported on a double row of quite simple
+columns. This space was divided into two parts by a screen of pierced
+work; the innermost portion had a raised floor or podium, on which stood
+a table with chairs placed round it in a semicircle. The centre seat
+was higher and more richly decorated than the others. These chairs were
+unoccupied; a few deacons in 'talares' of light-colored brocade were
+busied about the table.
+
+In the middle of the vestibule there was a small tank; here a number
+of penitents had collected who, with their flayed ribs and abject
+lamentations, offered a more melancholy spectacle than even the
+terrified crowd whom Dada had seen the day before, gathered round the
+temple of Isis. Indeed, she would have withdrawn at once but that
+Papias dragged her forward, and when she had passed through the great
+door into the nave she breathed a sigh of relief. A soothing sense
+of respite came over her, such as she had rarely felt; for the lofty
+building, which was only half full, was deliciously cool and the subdued
+light was restful to her eyes. The slight perfume of incense and the
+sober singing of the assembled worshippers were soothing to her senses,
+and, as she took a seat on one of the benches, she felt sheltered and
+safe.
+
+The old church struck her as a home of perfect peace; in all the city,
+she thought, there could hardly be another spot where she might rest so
+quietly and contentedly. So for some little time she gave herself
+up, body and soul, to the refreshing influences of the coolness, the
+solemnity, the fragrance and the music; but presently her attention was
+attracted to two women in the seats just in front of her.
+
+One of them, who had a child on her arm, whispered to her neighbor:
+
+"You here, Hannah, among the unbaptized? How are you going on at home?"
+
+"I cannot stay long," was the answer. "It is all the same where one
+sits, and when I leave I shall disturb no one. But my heart is heavy;
+the child is very bad. The doctor says he cannot live through the day,
+and I felt as if I must come to church."
+
+"Very right, very right. Do you stay here and I will go to your house at
+once; my husband will not mind waiting."
+
+"Thank you very much, but Katharine is staying with the boy and he is
+quite safe there."
+
+"Then I will stay and pray with you for the dear little child."
+
+Dada had not missed a word of this simple dialogue. The woman whose
+child was ill at home, and who had come here to pray for strength or
+mercy, had a remarkably sweet face; as the girl saw the two friends
+bow their heads and fold their hands with downcast eyes, she thought to
+herself: "Now they are praying for the sick child..." and involuntarily
+she, too, bent her curly head, and murmured softly: "O ye gods, or thou
+God of the Christians, or whatever thou art called that hast power over
+life and death, make this poor woman's little son well again. When I get
+home again I will offer up a cake or a fowl--a lamb is so costly."
+
+And she fancied that some invisible spirit heard her, and it gave her
+a vague satisfaction to repeat her simple supplication over and over
+again.
+
+Meanwhile a miserable blind dwarf had seated himself by her side; near
+him stood the old dog that guided him. He held him by a string and had
+been allowed to bring his indispensable comrade into the church. The
+old man joined loudly and devoutly in the psalm which the rest of the
+congregation were singing; his voice had lost its freshness, no doubt,
+but he sang in perfect tune. It was a pleasure to Dada to listen, and
+though she only half understood the words of the psalm she easily caught
+the air and began to sing too, at first timidly and hardly audibly; but
+she soon gained courage and, following the example of little Papias,
+joined in with all her might.
+
+She felt as though she had reached land after a stormy and uncomfortable
+voyage, and had found refuge in a hospitable home; she looked about her
+to discover whether the news of the approaching destruction of the
+world had not penetrated even here, but she could not feel certain;
+for, though many faces expressed anguish of mind, contrition, and a
+passionate desire--perhaps for help or, perhaps, for something quite
+different--not a cry of lamentation was to be heard, such as had rent
+the air by the temple of Isis, and most of the men and women assembled
+here were singing, or praying in silent absorption. There were none of
+the frenzied monks who had terrified her in the Xenodochium and in the
+streets; on this day of tumult and anxiety they are devoting all
+their small strength and great enthusiasm to the service of the Church
+militant.
+
+This meeting, at so unusual an hour, had been convened by Eusebius, the
+deacon of the district, with the intention of calming the spirits of
+those who had caught the general infection of alarm. Dada could see the
+old man step up into a raised pulpit on the inner side of the
+screen which parted the baptized from the unbaptized members of the
+congregation; his silvery hair and beard, and the cheerful calm of his
+face, with the high white forehead and gentle, loving gaze, attracted
+her greatly. She had heard Karnis speak of Plato, and knew by heart
+some axioms of his doctrine, and she had always thought of the sage as
+a young man; but in advanced age, she fancied, he might have looked like
+Eusebius. Aye, and it would have well beseemed this old man to die, like
+the great Athenian, at a mirthful wedding-feast.
+
+The priest was evidently about to give a discourse, and much as she
+admired him, this idea prompted her to quit the church; for, though she
+could sit still for hours to hear music, she found nothing more irksome
+than to be compelled to listen for any length of time to a speech she
+might not interrupt. She was therefore rising to leave; but Papias held
+her back and entreated her so pathetically with his blue baby-eyes not
+to take him away and spoil his pleasure that she yielded, though the
+opportunity was favorable for moving unobserved, as the woman in front
+of her was preparing to go and was shaking hands with her neighbor. She
+had indeed risen from her seat when a little girl came in behind her and
+whispered, loud enough for Dada's keen ears to catch the words: "Come
+mother, come home at once. He has opened his eyes and called for you.
+The physician says all danger is over."
+
+The mother in her turn whispered to her friend in glad haste: "All is
+well!" and hurried away with the girl. The friend she had left raised
+her hands and eyes in thanksgiving, and Dada, too, smiled in sympathy
+and pleasure. Had the God of the Christian heard her prayer with theirs.
+
+Meanwhile the preacher had ended his preliminary prayer and began to
+explain to his hearers that he had bidden them to the church in order
+to warn them against foolish terrors, and to lead them into the frame of
+mind in which the true Christian ought to live in these momentous times
+of disturbance. He wished to point out to his brethren and sisters in
+the Lord what was to be feared from the idols and their overthrow, what
+the world really owed to the heathen, and what he expected from his
+fellow-believers when the splendid and imminent triumph of the Church
+should be achieved.
+
+"Let us look back a little, my beloved," he said, after this brief
+introduction. "You have all heard of the great Alexander, to whom this
+noble city owes its existence and its name. He was a mighty instrument
+in the hand of the Lord, for he carried the tongue and the wisdom of
+the Greeks throughout all lands, so that, in the fulness of time,
+the doctrine which should proceed from the only Son of God might be
+understood by all nations and go home to all hearts. In those days every
+people had its own idols by hundreds, and in every tongue on earth
+men put up their prayers to the supreme Power which makes itself felt
+wherever mortal creatures dwell. Here, by the Nile, after Alexander's
+death, reigned the Ptolemies; and the Egyptian citizens of Alexandria
+prayed to other gods than their Greek neighbors, so that they could
+never unite in worshipping their divinities; but Philadelphus,
+the second Ptolemy, a very wise man, gave them a god in common. In
+consequence of a vision seen in a dream he had the divinity brought from
+Sinope, on the shores of Pontus, to this town. This idol was Serapis,
+and he was raised to the throne of divinity here, not by Heaven, but by
+a shrewd and prudent man; a grand temple was built for him, which is to
+this day one of the wonders of the world, and a statue of him was made,
+as beautiful as any image ever formed by the hand of man. You have
+seen and know them both, and you know too, how, before the gospel was
+preached in Alexandria, crowds of all classes, excepting the Jews,
+thronged the Serapeum.
+
+"A dim perception of the sublime teaching of the Lord by whom God has
+redeemed the world had dawned, even before His appearance on earth, on
+the spirit of the best of the heathen, and in the hearts of those wise
+men who--though not born into the state of grace--sought and strove
+after the truth, after inward purity, and an apprehension of the
+Almighty. The Lord chose them out to prepare the hearts of mankind for
+the good tidings, and make them fit to receive the gospel when the Star
+should rise over Bethlehem.
+
+"Many of these sages had infused precious doctrine into the worship of
+Serapis before the hour of true redemption had come. They enjoined the
+servants of Serapis to be more zealous in the care of the soul than in
+that of the body, for they had detected the imperishable nature of the
+spiritual and divine part of man; they saw that we are brought into
+existence by sin and love, and we must therefore die to our sinful love
+and rise again through the might of love eternal. These Hellenes, like
+the Egyptian sages of the times of the Pharaohs, divined and declared
+that the soul was held responsible after death for all it had done of
+good or evil in its mortal body. They distinguished virtue and sin by
+the eternal law, which was written in the hearts even of the heathen, to
+the end that they, by nature, might do the works of the law; nay, there
+were some of their loftiest spirits who, though they knew not the
+Lord, it is true, required the repentance in the sinner, in the name of
+Serapis, and pronounced that it was good to give up the delusive joys
+and vain pleasures of the flesh and to break away from the evil--whether
+of body or of soul--which we are led into by the senses. They called
+upon their disciples to hold meetings for meditation whereby they might
+discern truth and the divinity; and the vast precincts of the Serapeum
+contained cells and alcoves for penitents and devotees, in which many
+a soul touched by grace, dead to the world and absorbed in the
+contemplation of such things as they esteemed high and heavenly, has
+ripened to old age and death.
+
+"But, my beloved, the Light in which we rejoice, through no merits or
+deserts of our own, had not yet been shed on the lost children of those
+days of darkness; and all those noble, and indeed most admirable efforts
+were polluted by an admixture, even here, of coarse superstition, bloody
+sacrifices, and foolish adoration of perishable stone idols and beasts
+without understanding; and in other places by the false and delusive
+arts of Magians and sorcerers. Even the dim apprehension of true
+salvation was darkened and distorted by the subtleties of a vain and
+inconsistent philosophy, which held a theory as immutably true one day
+and overthrew or denied it the next. Thus, by degrees, the temple of the
+idol of Sinope degenerated into a stronghold of deceit and bloodshed,
+of the basest superstition, the pleasures of the flesh, and abominations
+that cried to Heaven. Learning, to be sure, was still cherished in the
+halls of the Serapeum; but its disciples turned with hardened hearts
+from the truth which was sent into the world by the grace of God, and
+they remained the prophets of error. The doctrines which the sages had
+associated with the idea of Serapis, debased and degraded by the most
+contemptible trivialities; lost all their worth and dignity; and after
+the great Apostle to whom this basilica is dedicated, had brought the
+gospel to Alexandria, the idol's throne began to totter, and the tidings
+of salvation shook its foundations and brought it to the verge of
+destruction in spite of the persecutions, in spite of the edicts of the
+apostate Julian, in spite of the desperate efforts of the philosophers,
+sophists, and heathen--for our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, has given
+certainty and actuality to the fleeting shadow of half-divined truth
+which lies in the core of the worship of Serapis. The pure and radiant
+star of Christian love has risen in the place of the dim nebulous mist
+of Serapis; and just as the moon pales when the sun appears triumphant,
+the worship of Serapis has died away in a thousand places where the
+gospel has been received. Even here, in Alexandria, its feeble flame
+is kept alive only by infinite care, and if the might of our pious and
+Christian Emperor makes itself felt-tomorrow, or next day--then, my
+beloved, it will vanish in smoke, and no power on earth can fan it
+into life again. Not our grandsons, no, but our own children will ask:
+Who--what was Serapis? For he who shall be overthrown is no longer a
+mighty god but an idol bereft of his splendor and his dignity. This is
+no struggle of might against might; it is the death-stroke given to a
+wounded and vanquished foe. The tree is rotten to the core and can crush
+no one in its fall, but it will cover all who stand near it with dust
+and rubbish. The sovereign has outlived his dominion, and when his
+fingers drop the sceptre few indeed will bewail him, for the new King
+has already mounted the throne and His is the Kingdom, and the power,
+and the glory, forever! Amen."
+
+Dada had listened to the deacon's address with no particular interest,
+but the conclusion struck her attention. The old man looked dignified
+and honest; but Father Karnis was a well-meaning man, no doubt, and one
+of those who are wont to keep on the winning side. How was it that the
+preacher could draw so pitiable a picture of the very same god whose
+greatness her uncle had praised in such glowing terms only two days
+since? How could the same thing appear so totally different to two
+different people?
+
+The priest looked more sagacious than the musician; Marcus, the young
+Christian, had a most kind heart; there was not a better or gentler
+creature under the sun than Agne--it was quite possible that
+Christianity was something very different in reality from what her
+foster parents chose to represent. As to the frightful consequences of
+the overthrow of the temple of Serapis, on that point she was completely
+reassured, and she prepared to listen with greater attention as Eusebius
+went on:
+
+"Let us rejoice, beloved! The great idol's days are numbered! Do you
+know what that false worship has been in our midst? It has been like
+a splendid and richly-dressed trireme sailing, plague-stricken, into a
+harbor full of ships and boats. Woe to those who allow themselves to be
+tempted on board by the magnificence of its decorations! How great is
+their chance of infection, how easily they will carry it from ship to
+ship, and from the ships on to the shore, till the pestilence has
+spread from the harbor to the city! Let us then be thankful to those who
+destroy the gorgeous vessel, who drive it from amongst us, or sink or
+burn it. May our Father in Heaven give courage to their hearts, strength
+to their hands and blessing on their deeds! When we hear: 'Great Serapis
+has fallen to the earth and is no more, we and the world are free from
+him!' then, in this city, and wherever Christians dwell and worship, let
+a solemn festival be held.
+
+"But still let us be just, still let us bear in mind all the great and
+good gifts that the trireme brought to our parents when it rode the
+waves manned by a healthy crew. If we do, it will be with sincere pity
+that we shall watch the proud vessel sink to the bottom, and we shall
+understand the grief of those whom once it bore over ebb and flow, and
+who believe they owe every thing to it. We shall rejoice doubly, too,
+to think that we ourselves have a safe bark with stout planks and strong
+masts, and a trustworthy pilot at the helm; and that we may confidently
+invite others to join us on board as soon as they have purified
+themselves of the plague with which they have been smitten.
+
+"I think you will all have understood this parable. When Serapis falls
+there will be lamentation and woe among the heathen; but we, who are
+true Christians, ought not to pass them by, but must strive to heal and
+save the wounded and sick at heart. When Serapis falls you must be the
+physicians--healers of souls, as the Lord hath said; and if we desire to
+heal, our first task must be to discover in what the sufferings consist
+of those we wish to succor, for our choice of medicine must depend on
+the nature of the injury.
+
+"What I mean is this: None can give comfort but those who know how to
+sympathize with the soul that craves it, who feel the sorrows of others
+as keenly as though they were their own. And this gift, my brethren, is,
+next to faith, the Christian grace which of all others best pleases our
+Heavenly Master.
+
+"I see it in my mind's eye! The ruined edifice of the Serapeum, the
+masterpiece of Bryaxis laid in fragments in the dust, and thousands of
+wailing heathen! As the Jews wept and hung their harps on the trees by
+the waters of Babylon when they remembered Zion, so do I see the heathen
+weep as they think of the perished splendor. They themselves, indeed,
+ruined and desecrated the glory they bewail; and when something higher
+and purer took its place they hardened their hearts, and, instead of
+leaving the dead to bury their dead and throwing themselves hopefully
+into the new life, they refused to be parted from the putrefying corpse.
+They were fools, but their folly was fidelity; and if we can win them
+over to our holy faith they will be faithful unto death, as they have
+been to their old gods, clinging to Jesus and earning the crown of life.
+'There will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth than
+over ninety and nine that need no repentance,'--that you have heard; and
+whichever among you loves the Saviour can procure him a great joy if he
+guides only one of these weeping heathen into the Kingdom of Heaven.
+
+"But perhaps you will ask: Is not the sorrow of the heathen a vain
+thing? What is it after all that they bewail? To understand that, try to
+picture to yourselves what it is that they think they are losing. Verily
+it is not a small matter, and it includes many things for which we and
+all mankind owe them a debt of gratitude. We call ourselves Christians
+and are proud of the name; but we also call ourselves Hellenes, and are
+proud of that name too. It was under the protection of the old gods,
+whose fall is about to be consummated, that the Greeks achieved
+marvellous deeds, nurturing the gifts of the intellect which the
+Almighty bestowed on their race, like faithful gardeners, and making
+them bring forth marvellous fruit. In the realm of thought the Greek
+is sovereign of the nations, and he has given to perishable matter a
+perfection of form which has elevated and vivified it to immortality.
+Nothing more beautiful has ever been imagined or executed, before or
+since, or by any other people, than was produced by Greece in its prime.
+But perhaps you will ask, why did not the Redeemer come down among our
+fathers in those glorious days? Because beauty, as they conceived and
+still conceive of it, is a mere perishable accident of matter, and
+because a race which thus devoted every thought and feeling to an
+inspired and fervent worship of beauty--which was so absorbed in the
+contemplation of the visible, could have no longing for the invisible
+which is the real life that came down among us with the only-begotten
+Son of God. Nevertheless Beauty is beautiful; and when the time shall
+come when the visible is married to the invisible, when eternal Truth is
+clothed in perfect form, then, and not till then, will the ideal which
+our fathers strove after in the great old days be realized, by the grace
+of the Saviour.
+
+"But this visible beauty, which they so passionately cherished, does us
+good service too, so long as we do not allow it to dazzle us and lead
+us astray from the one thing needful. To whom, if not to the heathen
+Hellenes, do our great teachers owe, under God, the noble art of
+coordinating their loftiest feelings, and casting them in forms which
+are intelligible to the Christian and at once instruct, delight,
+and edify him? It was in a heathen school that each one of your
+pastors--that even I, the humblest of them--studied that rhetoric which
+enables me to utter with a flowing tongue the things which the Spirit
+gives me to speak to you; and if some day there are Christian schools,
+in which our sons may acquire the same power, they must adopt many of
+the laws devised by the heathen. If in the future we are rich enough to
+raise churches to the Almighty, to the Virgin Mary and the great Saints,
+in any way worthy of their sublime merits, we shall owe our skill to the
+famous architects of heathen Hellas. We are indebted to the arts of the
+heathen for a thousand things in daily use, beside numberless others
+that lend charm to existence. Yes, my beloved, when we consider all they
+did for us we cannot in justice withhold our tribute of gratitude and
+admiration.
+
+"Nor can we doubt that the best of them were acceptable to the Almighty
+himself, for he granted to them to see darkly and from afar what he has
+brought nigh to us, and poured into our hearts by divine revelation.
+You all know the name of Plato. He, from whom Salvation was hidden,
+saw remotely, by presentiment as it were, many things which to us, the
+Redeemed, are clear and plain and near. He perceived the relation of
+earthly beauty and heavenly truth. The great gift of Love binds and
+supports us all and Plato gave the name of the divine Eros, that is
+divine love, to an inspired devotion to the Imperishable. He placed
+goodness--the Good--at the top of the great scale of Ideas which he
+constructed. The Good was, to him, the highest Idea and the uttermost of
+which we can conceive:--Good, whose properties he made manifest by every
+means his lofty and lucid mind could command. This heathen, my brethren
+and sisters, was well worthy of the grace bestowed on us. Do justice
+then to the blinded souls, justice in Plato's sense of the word; he
+calls the virtue of reason Wisdom; the virtue of spirit Courage, and the
+virtue of the senses Temperance. Well, well! 'Prove all things and hold
+fast that which is good.' That is to say: consider what may be worth
+anything in the works of the heathen that it may be duly preserved;
+but, on the other hand, tread all that is idolatry in the dust, all
+that brings the unclean thing among us, all that imperils our souls and
+bodies, or anything that is high and pure in life; but do not forget,
+my beloved, all that the heathen have done for us. Be temperate in all
+things; avoid excess of zeal; for thus, and thus only, can we be just.
+'It is not to hate, but to love each other that we are here.' It was
+not a Christian but Sophocles, one of the greatest of the heathen, who
+uttered those words, and he speaks them still to us!"
+
+Eusebius paused and drew a deep breath.
+
+Dada had listened eagerly, for it pleased her to hear all that she
+had been wont to prize spoken of here with due appreciation. But since
+Eusebius had begun to discourse about Plato she had been disturbed by
+two men sitting just in front of her. One was tall and lean, with a
+long narrow head, and the other a shorter and more comfortable-looking
+personage. The first fidgeted incessantly, nudging and twitching his
+companion, and looking now and then as if he were ready to start up and
+interrupt the preacher. This behavior evidently annoyed his neighbors
+who kept signing to him to be quiet and hushing him down, while he took
+no notice of their demonstrations but kept clearing his throat with
+obtrusive emphasis and at last scraped and shuffled his feet on the
+floor, though not very noisily. But Eusebius began again:
+
+"And now, my brethren, how ought we to demean ourselves in these fateful
+times of disturbance? As Christians; only--or rather, by God's aiding
+grace as Christians in the true sense of our Lord and Master, according
+to the precepts given by Him through the Apostles. Their words shall
+be mine. They say there are two paths--the path of Life and the path of
+Death, and there is a great difference between them. The path of Life is
+this: First, Thou shalt love God who hath created thee; next thou shalt
+love thy neighbor as thyself, and whatsoever thou wouldst men should do
+unto thee even so do unto them; but what thou wouldst not have done unto
+thee do thou not to them. And the sum of the doctrine contained in these
+words is this: Bless those that curse you, pray for your enemies and
+repent for those who persecute you, for 'if ye love them that love you
+what thank have ye? Do not even the heathen the same?' Love those that
+hate you and you will have no enemies.
+
+"Take this teaching of the holy Apostles to heart this day. Beware of
+mocking or persecuting those who have been your enemies. Even the nobler
+heathen regarded it as an act of grace to respect the conquered foe, and
+to you, as Christians, it should be a law. It is not so hard to forgive
+an enemy when we regard him as a possible friend in the future; and the
+Christian can go so far as to love him when he remembers that every man
+is his brother and neighbor, and equally precious in the sight of the
+Saviour who is dearer to us than life.
+
+"The heathen, the idolater, is the Christian's archfoe; but soon he will
+be in fetters at our feet. And, then, my brethren, pray for him; for if
+the Almighty, who is without spot or stain and perfect beyond words,
+can forgive the sinner, ye who are base and guilty may surely forgive.
+'Fishers of souls' we all should be; try to fulfil the injunction. Draw
+the enemy to you by kindness and love; show him by your example
+the beauty of the Christian life; let him perceive the benefits of
+Salvation; lead those whose gods and temples we have overthrown, into
+our churches; and when, after triumphing over those blind souls by the
+sword, we have also conquered them by love, faith and prayer--when they
+can rejoice with us in the Redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ--then
+shall we all be as one fold under one shepherd, and peace and joy shall
+reign in the city which is now torn by dissension and strife."
+
+At this point the preacher was interrupted, for a loud uproar broke out
+in the Narthex--[The vestibule of the early Christian basilica which was
+open to penitents.]--shouts and cries of men fighting, mingled with the
+dull roar of a bull.
+
+The congregation started to their feet in extreme consternation, and the
+door was flung open and a host of heathen youths rushed into the nave,
+followed by an overwhelming force of Christians from whom they had
+sought refuge in the sanctuary. Here they turned at bay to make a last
+desperate resistance. Garlands, stripped of their leaves and flowers,
+still crowned their heads and hung over their shoulders. They had been
+attacked close to the church, by a party of monks when in the act of
+driving a gaily-decorated steer to the temple of Apollo, in defiance of
+the Imperial edict; and the beast, terrified by the tumult, had rushed
+into the narthex for shelter.
+
+The fight in the church was a short one; the idolaters were soon
+vanquished; but Eusebius threw himself between them and the monks, and
+tried to save the victims from the revengeful fury of the conquerors.
+The women had all made for the door, but they did not venture out into
+the vestibule, for the young bull was still raging there, trampling or
+tossing everything that came in his way. At last, however, a soldier of
+the city-watch dealt him a sword-thrust in the neck, and he fell
+rolling in his own blood. At once the congregation forced their way out,
+shrieking with alarm and excitement, Dada among the number, dragging
+the child with her. Papias pulled with all his might to keep her back,
+declaring with vehement insistence that he had seen Agne in the church
+and wanted to go back to her. Dada, however, neither heard nor heeded;
+frightened out of her wits she went on with the crowd, taking him with
+her.
+
+She never paused till she reached the house of Medius, quite out of
+breath; but then, as the little boy still asserted that he had seen his
+sister in the sanctuary, she turned back with him, as soon as the throng
+had dispersed. In the church there was no one to hinder them; but they
+got no further than the dividing screen, for on the floor beyond lay
+the mutilated and bleeding bodies of many a youth who had fallen in the
+contest.
+
+How she made her way back to the house of Medius once more she never
+knew. For the first time she had been brought face to face with life in
+hideous earnest, and when the singer went to look for her in her room,
+at dusk, he was startled to find her bright face clouded and her eyes
+dim with tears. How bitterly she had been weeping Medius indeed could
+not know; he ascribed her altered appearance to fear of the approaching
+cataclysm and was happy to be able to tell her, in all good faith, that
+the danger was as good as over. Posidonius, the Magian, had been to see
+him, and had completely reassured him. This man, whose accomplice he
+had been again and again in producing false apparitions of spirits and
+demons, had once gained an extraordinary influence over him by
+casting some mysterious spell upon him and reducing his will to abject
+subjection to his own; and this magician, who had recovered his
+own self-possession, had assured him, with an inimitable air of
+infallibility, that the fall of the Temple of Serapis would involve no
+greater catastrophe than that of any old worn-out statue. Since this
+announcement Medius had laughed at his own alarms; he had recovered his
+"strong-mindedness," and when Posidonius had given him three tickets for
+the Hippodrome he had jumped at the offer.
+
+The races were to be run next day, in spite of the general panic that
+had fallen on the citizens; and Dada, when he invited her to join him
+and his daughter in-the enjoyment of so great a treat, dried her eyes
+and accepted gleefully.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Alarming as was the outlook in Alexandria, the races, were to be held
+as usual. This had been decided only a few hours since at the Bishop's
+palace, and criers had been sent abroad throughout the streets
+and squares of the city to bid the inhabitants to this popular
+entertainment. In the writing-office of the Ephemeris, which would be
+given to the public the first thing in the morning, five hundred slaves
+or more were occupied in writing from dictation a list of the owners of
+the horses, of the 'agitatores' who would drive them, and of the prizes
+offered to the winners, whether Christians or heathen.
+
+   [Ephemeris--The news-sheet, which was brought out, not only in Rome,
+   but in all the cities of the Empire, and which kept the citizens
+   informed of all important events.]
+
+The heat in the Episcopal council-hall had been oppressive, and not less
+so the heat of temper among the priests assembled there; for they
+had fully determined, for once, not to obey their prelate with blind
+submission, and they knew full well that Theophilus, on occasion, if his
+will were opposed, could not merely thunder but wield the bolt.
+
+Besides the ecclesiastical members of the council, Cynegius,
+the Imperial legate--Evagrius, the Prefect--and Romanus, the
+commander-in-chief and Comes of Egypt,--had all been present. The
+officials of the Empire--Roman statesmen who knew Alexandria and her
+citizens well, and who had often smarted under the spiritual haughtiness
+of her Bishop--were on the prelate's side. Cynegius was doubtful; but
+the priests, who had not altogether escaped the alarms that had stricken
+the whole population, were so bold as to declare against a too hasty
+decision, and to say that the celebration of the games at a time of such
+desperate peril was not only presumptuous but sinful, and a tempting of
+God.
+
+In answer to a scornful enquiry from Theophilus as to where the danger
+lay if--as the Comes promised--Serapis were to be overthrown on the
+morrow, one of the assembly answered in the name of his colleagues. This
+man, now very old, had formerly been a wonderfully successful exorcist,
+and, notwithstanding that he was a faithful Christian, he was the leader
+of a gnostic sect and a diligent student of magic. He proceeded to
+argue, with all the zeal and vehemence of conviction, that Serapis was
+the most terrible of all the heathen daemons, and that all the oracles
+of antiquity, all the prophecies of the seers, and all the conclusions
+of the Magians and astrologers would be proved false if his fall--which
+the present assembly could only regard as a great boon from Heaven--did
+not entail some tremendous convulsion of nature.
+
+At this Theophilus gave the reins to his wrath; he snatched a little
+crucifix from the wall above his episcopal throne, and broke it in
+fragments, exclaiming in deep tones that quavered with wrath:
+
+"And which do you regard as the greater: The only-begotten Son of God,
+or that helpless image?" And he flung the pieces of the broken crucifix
+down on the table round which they were sitting. Then, as though
+horror-stricken at his own daring act, he fell on his knees, raised his
+eyes and hands in prayer, and gathering up the broken image, kissed it
+devoutly.
+
+This rapid scene had a tremendous effect. Amazement and suspense were
+painted on every face, not a hand, not a lip moved as Theophilus rose
+again and cast a glance of proud and stern defiance round the assembly,
+which each man took to himself. For some moments he remained silent,
+as though awaiting a reply; but his repellent mien and majestic bearing
+made it sufficiently clear that he was ready to annihilate any opponent.
+In fact none of the priests contradicted him; and, though Evagrius
+looked at him with a doubting shake of his shrewd head, Cynegius on
+the other hand nodded assent. The Bishop, however, seemed to care for
+neither dissent nor approval, and it was in brief and cutting terms,
+with no flourish of rhetoric, that he laid it down that wood and stone
+had nothing to do with the divine Majesty, even though they were made
+in the image of all that was Holy and worshipful or were most lavishly
+beautified by the hand of man with the foul splendors of perishable
+wealth. The greater the power ascribed by superstition to the base
+material--whatever form it bore--the more odious must it be to the
+Christian. Any man who should believe that a daemon could turn even a
+breath of the Most High to its own will and purpose, would do well to
+beware of idolatry, for Satan had already laid his clutches somewhere on
+his robe.
+
+At this sweeping accusation many a cheek colored wrathfully, and not
+a word was spoken when the Bishop proceeded to require of his hearers
+that, if the Serapeum should fall into the hands of the Imperial troops,
+it should be at once and ruthlessly destroyed, and that his hearers
+should not cease from the work of ruin till this scandal of the city
+should be swept from the face of the earth.
+
+"If then the world crumbles to atoms!" he cried, "well and good--the
+heathen are right and we are wrong, and in that case it were better
+to perish; but as surely as I sit on this throne by the grace of God,
+Serapis is the vain imagining of fools and blind, and there is no god
+but the God whose minister I am!"
+
+"Whose Kingdom is everlasting, Amen!" chanted an old priest; and
+Cynegius rose to explain that he should do nothing to hinder the total
+overthrow of the temple and image.
+
+Then the Comes spoke in defence of the Bishop's resolution to allow
+the races to be held, as usual, on the morrow. He sketched a striking
+picture of the shallow, unstable nature of the Alexandrians, a people
+wholly given over to enjoyment. The troops at his command were few in
+number in comparison with the heathen population of the city, and it was
+a very important matter to keep a large proportion of the worshippers
+of Serapis occupied elsewhere at the moment of the decisive onset.
+Gladiator-fights were prohibited, and the people were tired of wild
+beasts; but races, in which heathen and Christian alike might enter
+their horses for competition, must certainly prove most attractive just
+at this time of bitter rivalry and oppugnancy between the two religions,
+and would draw thousands of the most able-bodied idolaters to the
+Hippodrome. All this he had already considered and discussed with the
+Bishop and Cynegius; nay, that zealous destroyer of heathen worship
+had come to Alexandria with the express purpose of overthrowing the
+Serapeum; but, as a prudent statesman, he had first made sure that the
+time and circumstances were propitious for the work of annihilation. All
+that he had here seen and heard had only strengthened his purpose; so,
+after suggesting a few possible difficulties, and enjoining moderation
+and mercy as the guiding principles of his sovereign, he commanded, in
+the Emperor's name, that the sanctuary of Serapis should be seized by
+force of arms and utterly destroyed, and that the races should be held
+on the morrow.
+
+The assembled council bowed low; and when Theophilus had closed the
+meeting with a prayer he withdrew to his ungarnished study, with his
+head bent and an air of profound humility, as though he had met with a
+defeat instead of gaining a victory.
+
+       .......................
+
+The fate of the great god of the heathen was sealed, but in the wide
+precincts of the Serapeum no one thought of surrender or of prompt
+defeat. The basement of the building, on which stood the grandest temple
+ever erected by the Hellenes, presented a smooth and slightly scarped
+rampart of impregnable strength to the foe. A sloping way extended up
+over a handsomely-decorated incline, and from the middle of the grand
+curve described by this road, two flights of steps led up to the three
+great doors in the facade of the building.
+
+The heathen had taken care to barricade this approach in all haste,
+piling the road and steps with statuary-images of the gods of the finest
+workmanship, figures and busts of kings, queens, and heroes, Hermes,
+columns, stelae, sacrificial stones, chairs and benches-torn from their
+places by a thousand eager hands. The squared flags of the pavement and
+the granite blocks of the steps had been built up into walls and these
+were still being added to after the besiegers had surrounded the temple;
+for the defenders tore down stones, pilasters, gutters and pieces of the
+cornice, and flung them on to the outworks, or, when they could, on to
+the foe who for the present were not eager to commence hostilities.
+
+The captains of the Imperial force had miscalculated the strength of
+the heathen garrison. They supposed a few hundreds might have entrenched
+themselves, but on the roof alone above a thousand men were to be seen,
+and every hour seemed to increase the number of men and women crowding
+into the Serapeum. The Romans could only suppose that this constantly
+growing multitude had been concealed in the secret halls and chambers of
+the temple ever since Cynegius had first arrived, and had no idea that
+they were still being constantly reinforced.
+
+Karnis, Herse, and Orpheus, among others, had made their way thither
+from the timber-yard, down the dry conduit, and an almost incessant
+stream of the adherents of the old gods had preceded and followed them.
+
+While Eusebius had been exhorting his congregation in the church of St.
+Mark to Christian love towards the idolaters, these had collected in the
+temple precincts to the number of about four thousand, all eager for
+the struggle. A vast multitude! But the extent of the Serapeum was so
+enormous that the mass of people was by no means densely packed on the
+roof, in the halls, and in the underground passages and rooms. There was
+no crowding anywhere, least of all in the central halls of the temple
+itself; indeed, in the great vestibule crowned with a dome which formed
+the entrance, in the vast hall next to it, and in the magnificent
+hypostyle with a semicircular niche on the furthest side in which stood
+the far-famed image of the god, there were only scattered groups of men,
+who looked like dwarfs as the eye compared them with the endless rows of
+huge columns.
+
+The full blaze of day penetrated nowhere but into the circular
+vestibule, which was lighted by openings in the drum of the cupola that
+rested on four gigantic columns. In the inner hall there was only dim
+twilight; while the hypostyle was quite dark, but for a singularly
+contrived shaft of light which produced a most mysterious effect.
+
+The shadows of the great columns in the fore hall, and of the double
+colonnade on each side of the hypostyle, lay like bands of crape on
+the many-colored pavement; borders, circles, and ellipses of mosaic
+diversified the smooth and lucent surface, in which were mirrored the
+astrological figures which sparkled in brighter hues on the ceiling,
+the trophies of symbols and mythological groups that graced the walls
+in tinted high relief, and the statues and Hermes between the columns.
+A wreath of lovely forms and colors dazzled the eye with their
+multiplicity and profusion, and the heavy atmosphere of incense which
+filled the halls was almost suffocating, while the magical and mystical
+signs and figures were so many and so new that the enquiring mind,
+craving for an explanation and an interpretation of all these
+incomprehensible mysteries, hardly dared investigate them in detail.
+
+A heavy curtain, that looked as though giants must have woven it on a
+loom of superhuman proportions, hung, like a thick cloud shrouding a
+mountain-peak, from the very top of the hypostyle, in grand folds over
+the niche containing the statue, and down to the floor; and while it
+hid the sacred image from the gaze of the worshipper it attracted his
+attention by the infinite variety of symbolical patterns and beautiful
+designs which were woven in it and embroidered on it.
+
+The gold and silver vessels and precious jewels that lay concealed by
+this hanging were of more value than many a mighty king's treasure; and
+everything was on so vast a scale that man shuddered to feel his own
+littleness, and the mind sought some new standard of measurement by
+which to realize such unwonted proportions. The finite here seemed to
+pass into the infinite; and as the spectator gazed up, with his head
+thrown back, at the capitals of the lofty columns and the remote
+height of the ceiling, his sight failed him before he had succeeded
+in distinguishing or even perceiving a small portion only of the
+bewildering confusion of figures and emblems that were crowded on to
+the surface. Greek feeling for beauty had here worked hand in hand with
+Oriental taste for gorgeous magnificence, and every detail could bear
+examination; for there was not a motive of the architecture, not a work
+of sculpture, painting, or mosaic, not a product of the foundry or the
+loom, which did not bear the stamp of thorough workmanship and elaborate
+finish. The ruddy, flecked porphyry, the red, white, green, or yellow
+marbles which had been used for the decorations were all the finest and
+purest ever wrought upon by Greek craftsmen. Each of the hundreds of
+sculptured works which here had found a home was the masterpiece of some
+great artist; as the curious visitor lingered in loving contemplation of
+the mosaics on the polished floor, or examined the ornamental mouldings
+that framed the reliefs, dividing the walls into panels, he was
+filled with wonder and delight at the beauty, the elegance and the
+inventiveness that had given charm, dignity, and significance to every
+detail.
+
+Adjoining these great halls devoted especially to the worship of the
+god, were hundreds of courts, passages, colonnades and rooms, and
+others not less numerous lay underground. There were long rows of rooms
+containing above a hundred thousand rolls of books, the famous library
+of the Serapeum, with separate apartments for readers and copyists;
+there were store-rooms, refectories and assembly-rooms for the
+high-priests of the temple, for teachers and disciples; while acrid
+odors came up from the laboratories, and the fragrance of cooking from
+the kitchen and bake-houses. In the very thickness of the walls of the
+basement were cells for penitents and recluses, long since abandoned,
+and rooms for the menials and slaves, of whom hundreds were employed
+in the precincts; under ground spread the mystical array of halls,
+grottoes, galleries and catacombs dedicated to the practice of the
+Mysteries and the initiation of neophytes; on the roof stood various
+observatories--among them one erected for the study of the heavens by
+Eratosthenes, where Claudius Ptolemaeus had watched and worked. Up here
+astronomers, star-gazers, horoscopists and Magians spent their nights,
+while, far below them, in the temple-courts that were surrounded by
+store-houses and stables, the blood of sacrificed beasts was shed and
+the entrails of the victims were examined.
+
+The house of Serapis was a whole world in little, and centuries had
+enriched it with wealth, beauty, and the noblest treasures of art and
+learning. Magic and witchcraft hedged it in with a maze of mystical and
+symbolical secrets, and philosophy had woven a tissue of speculation
+round the person of the god. The sanctuary was indeed the centre of
+Hellenic culture in the city of Alexander; what marvel then, that
+the heathen should believe that with the overthrow of Serapis and his
+temple, the earth, nay the universe itself must sink into the abyss?
+
+Anxious spirits and throbbing hearts were those that now sought shelter
+in the Serapeum, fully prepared to perish with their god, and yet eager
+with enthusiasm to avert his fall if possible.
+
+A strange medley indeed of men and women had collected within
+these sacred precincts! Grave sages, philosophers, grammarians,
+mathematicians, naturalists, and physicians clung to Olympius and obeyed
+him in silence. Rhetoricians with shaven faces, Magians and sorcerers,
+whose long beards flowed over robes embroidered with strange figures;
+students, dressed after the fashion of their forefathers in the palmy
+days of Athens; men of every age, who dubbed themselves artists though
+they were no more than imitators of the works of a greater epoch,
+unhappy in that no one at this period of indifference to beauty called
+upon them to prove what they could do, or to put forth their highest
+powers. Actors, again, from the neglected theatres, starving histrions,
+to whom the stage was prohibited by the Emperor and Bishop, singers and
+flute-players; hungry priests and temple-servitors expelled from the
+closed sanctuaries; lawyers, scribes, ships' captains, artisans, though
+but very few merchants, for Christianity had ceased to be the creed of
+the poor, and the wealthy attached themselves to the faith professed by
+those in authority.
+
+One of the students had contrived to bring a girl with him, and several
+others, seeing this, went back into the streets by the secret way and
+brought in damsels of no very fair repute, till the crowd of men was
+diversified by a considerable sprinkling of wreathed and painted
+girls, some of them the outcast maids of various temples, and others
+priestesses of higher character, who had remained faithful to the old
+gods or who practised magic arts.
+
+Among these women one, a tall and dignified matron in mourning robes,
+was a conspicuous figure. This was Berenice, the mother of the young
+heathen who had been ridden down and wounded in the skirmish near the
+Prefect's house, and whose eyes Eusebius had afterwards closed. She had
+come to the Serapeum expressly to avenge her son's death and then to
+perish with the fall of the gods for whom he had sacrificed his young
+life. But the mad turmoil that surrounded her was more than she could
+bear; she stood, hour after hour, closely veiled and absorbed in her own
+thoughts, neither raising her eyes nor uttering a word, at the foot of a
+bronze statue of justice dispensing rewards and punishments.
+
+Olympius had entrusted the command of the little garrison of armed men
+to Memnon, a veteran legate of great experience, who had lost his left
+arm in the war against the Goths. The high-priest himself was occupied
+alternately in trying to persuade the hastily-collected force to
+obey their leader, and in settling quarrels, smoothing difficulties,
+suppressing insubordination, and considering plans with reference to
+supplies for his adherents, and the offering of a great sacrifice at
+which all the worshippers of Serapis were to assist. Karnis kept near
+his friend, helping him so far as was possible; Orpheus, with others
+of the younger men, had been ordered to the roof, where they were
+employed--under the scorching sun, reflected from the copper-plated
+covering and the radiating surface of the dome--in loosening blocks of
+stone from the balustrade to be hurled down to-morrow on the besieging
+force.
+
+Herse devoted herself to the sick and wounded, for a few who had
+ventured forth too boldly to aid in barricading the entrance, had
+been hurt by arrows and lances flung by the idle soldiery; and a still
+greater number were suffering from sun-stroke in consequence of toiling
+on the top of the building.
+
+Inside the vast, thick-walled halls it was much cooler than in the
+streets even, and the hours glided fast to the besieged heathen. Many of
+them were fully occupied, or placed on guard; others were discussing the
+situation, and disputing or guessing at what the outcome might, or must
+be. Numbers, panic-stricken or absorbed in pious awe, sat huddled on
+the ground, praying, muttering magical formulas, or wailing aloud. The
+Magians and astrologers had retired with knots of followers into
+the adjoining studies, where they were comparing registers, making
+calculations, reading signs, devising new formulas and defending them
+against their opponents.
+
+An incessant bustle went on, to and fro between these rooms and the
+great library, and the tables were covered with rolls and tablets
+containing ancient prophecies, horoscopes and potent exorcisms.
+Messengers, one after another, were sent out from thence to command
+silence in the great halls, where the assembled youths and girls were
+kissing, singing, shouting and dancing to the shrill pipe of flutes and
+twang of lutes, clapping their hands, rattling tambourines--in short,
+enjoying to the utmost the few hours that might yet be theirs before
+they must make the fatal leap into nothingness, or at least into the dim
+shades of death.
+
+The sun was sinking when suddenly the great brazen gong was loudly
+struck, and the hard, blatant clatter rent the air of the temple-hall.
+The mighty waves of sound reverberated from the walls of the sanctuary
+like the surge of a clangorous sea, and sent their metallic vibration
+ringing through every room and cell, from the topmost observatory-turret
+to the deepest vault beneath, calling all who were within the precincts
+to assemble. The holy places filled at once; the throng poured in
+through the vestibule, and in a few minutes even the hypostyle, the
+sanctum of the veiled statue, was full to overflowing. Without any
+distinction of rank or sex, and regardless of all the usual formalities
+or the degrees of initiation which each had passed through, the
+worshippers of Serapis crowded towards the sacred niche, till a chain,
+held up by neokores--[Temple-servants]--at a respectful distance from
+the mystical spot, checked their advance. Densely packed and in almost
+breathless silence, they filled the nave and the colonnades, watching
+for what might befall.
+
+Presently a dull low chant of men's voices was heard. This went on for
+a few minutes, and then a loud pean in honor of the god rang through the
+temple with an accompaniment of flutes, cymbals, lutes and trumpets.
+
+Karnis had found a place with his wife and son; all three, holding
+hands, joined enthusiastically in the stirring hymn; and, with them,
+Porphyrius, who by accident was close to them, swelling the song of the
+multitude. All now stood with hands uplifted and eyes fixed in anxious
+expectancy on the curtain. The figures and emblems on the hanging were
+invisible in the gloom--but now-now there was a stir, as of life, in the
+ponderous folds,--they moved--they began to ripple like streams, brooks,
+water-falls, recovering motion after long stagnation--the curtain slowly
+sank, and at length it fell so suddenly that the eye could scarcely note
+the instant. From every lip, as but one voice, rose a cry of admiration,
+amazement, and delight, for Serapis stood revealed to his people.
+
+The noble manhood of the god sat with dignity on a golden throne that
+was covered with a blaze of jewels; his gracious and solemn face
+looked down on the crowd of worshippers. The hair that curled upon his
+thoughtful brow, and the kalathos that crowned it were of pure gold
+At his feet crouched Cerberus, raising his three fierce heads with
+glistening ruby eyes. The body of the god--a model of strength in
+repose--and the drapery were of gold and ivory. In its perfect harmony
+as a whole, and the exquisite beauty of every detail, this statue bore
+the stamp of supreme power and divine majesty. When such a divinity as
+this should rise from his throne the earth indeed might quake and the
+heavens tremble! Before such a Lord the strongest might gladly bow, for
+no mortal ever shone in such radiant beauty. This Sovereign must triumph
+over every foe, even over death--the monster that lay writhing in
+impotent rage at his feet!
+
+Gasping and thrilled with pious awe, enraptured but dumb with reverent
+fear, the assembled thousands gazed on the god dimly revealed to them in
+the twilight, when suddenly, for a moment of solemn glory, a ray of the
+setting sun--a shaft of intense brightness--pierced the star-spangled
+apse of the niche and fell on the lips of the god as though to kiss its
+Lord and Father.
+
+A shout like a thunder-clap-like the roar of breakers on a reef, burst
+from the spectators; a shout of triumph so mighty that the statues
+quivered, the brazen altars rang, the hangings swayed, the sacred
+vessels clattered and the lamps trembled and swung; the echo rolled
+round the aisles like a whirlpool at the flood, and was dashed from
+pillar to column in a hundred wavelets of sound. The glorious sun still
+recognized its lord; Serapis still reigned in undiminished might; he had
+not yet lost the power to defend himself, his world and his children!
+
+The sun was gone, night fell on the temple and suddenly there was a
+swaying movement of the apse above the statue; the stars were shaken by
+invisible hands, and colored flames twinkled with dazzling brightness
+from a myriad five-rayed perforations. Once more the god was revealed to
+his worshippers under a flood of magical glory, and now fully visible in
+his unique beauty. Again the great halls rang with the acclamations of
+the delirious throng; Olympius stepped forth, arrayed in a flowing robe
+with the insignia and decorations of the high-priesthood; standing in
+front of the image he poured on the pedestal a libation to the gods out
+of a golden cup, and waved a censer of the costliest incense. Then, in
+burning words, he exhorted all the followers of Serapis to fight and
+conquer for their god, or--if need must--to perish for and with him. He
+added a fervent prayer in a loud ringing voice--a cry for help that came
+from the bottom of his heart, and went to the souls of his hearers.
+
+Then a solemn hymn was chanted as the curtain was raised; and while
+the assembled multitude watched it rise in reverent silence, the
+temple-servants lighted the lamps that illuminated the sanctuary from
+every cornice and pillar.
+
+Karnis had left hold of his companions' hands, for he wanted to wipe
+away the tears of devotional excitement that flowed down his withered
+cheeks; Orpheus had thrown his arms round his mother, and Porphyrius,
+who had joined a group of philosophers and sages, sent a glance of
+sympathy to the old musician.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+By an hour after sunset the sacrifice of a bull in the great court of
+the Serapeum was consummated, and the Moscosphragist announced that the
+god had graciously accepted it--the examination of the entrails showed
+more favorable indications than it had the day before. The flesh of the
+slaughtered beast went forthwith to the kitchen; and, if the savor of
+roast beef that presently rose up was as grateful to Serapis as to
+his worshippers, they might surely reckon on a happy issue from the
+struggle.
+
+The besieged, indeed, were, ere long, in excellent spirits; for Olympius
+had taken care to store the cellars of the sanctuary with plenty of good
+wine, and the happy auguries drawn from the appearance of the god and
+the state of the victim had filled them with fresh confidence. As there
+was not sleeping accommodation for nearly all the men, they had to turn
+night into day; and as, to most of them, life consisted wholly in the
+enjoyment of the moment, and all was delightful that was new or strange,
+they soon eat and drank themselves into a valiant frame of mind.
+
+Couches, such as they were wont to be on at meals, there were not, so
+each man snatched up the first thing he could lay his hands on to
+serve as a seat. When cups were lacking the jugs and vessels from the
+sanctuary were sent for, and passed from one to another. Many a youth
+lounged with his head in some fair one's lap; many a girl leaned back
+to back with some old man; and as flowers were not to be had, messengers
+were sent to the town to buy them, with vine-wreaths and other greenery.
+
+They were easily procured, and with them came the news that the races
+were to be held next morning.
+
+This information was regarded by many as being of the first importance;
+Nicarchus, the son of the rich Hippocleides, and Zenodotus a weaver of
+tapestry--whose quadriga had once proved victorious--hastily made their
+way into the town to give the requisite orders in their stables, and
+they were closely followed by Hippias, the handsome agitator, who was
+the favorite driver in the arena for the horses belonging to wealthy
+owners. In the train of these three every lover of horses vanished from
+the scene, with a number of Hippias' friends, and of flower-sellers,
+door-keepers, and ticket-holders-in short, of all who expected to derive
+special pleasure or profit from the games. Each man reflected that one
+could not be missed, and as the god was favorably disposed he might
+surely contrive to defend his own temple till after the races were over;
+they would then return to conquer or die with the rest.
+
+Then some others began to think of wives and children in bed at home,
+and they, too, departed; still, by far the larger proportion remained
+behind--above three thousand in all, men and women. These at once
+possessed themselves of the half-emptied wine-jars left by the
+deserters; gay music was got up, and then, wreathed with garlands on
+their heads and shoulders, and 'filled with the god' they drank, shouted
+and danced far into the night. The merry feast soon became a wild orgy;
+loud cries of Evoe, and tumultuous singing reached the ears of the
+Magians, who had once more settled down to calculations and discussions
+over their rolls and tablets.
+
+The mother of the youth that had been killed still sat huddled at the
+foot of the statue of justice, enduring the anguish of listening to
+these drunken revels with dull resignation. Every shout of laughter,
+every burst of mad mirth from the revellers above cut her to the
+heart--and yet, how they would have gladdened her if only one other
+voice could have mingled with those hundreds! When Olympius, still in
+his fullest dress, and carrying his head loftily as became him, made
+his way through the temple at the head of his subordinates, he noticed
+Berenice--whom he had known as a proud and happy mother--and begged her
+to join the friends whom he had bidden to his own table; but she dreaded
+any social contact with men whom she knew, and preferred to remain where
+she was at the feet of the goddess.
+
+Wherever the high-priest went he was hailed with enthusiasm: "Rejoice,"
+he would say to encourage the feasters, cheering them with wise and
+fervid exhortations, reminding them of Pharaoh Mycerinus who, having
+been told by an oracle that he had only six years to live, determined to
+prove the prophecy false, and by carousing through every night made the
+six years allotted to him a good dozen.
+
+"Imitate him!" cried Olympius as he raised a cup to his lips, "crowd
+the joys of a year into the few hours that still are left us, and pour a
+libation to the god as I do, out of every cup ere you drink."
+
+His appeal was answered by a rapturous shout; the flutes and cymbals
+piped and clanged, metal cups rang sharply as the drinkers pledged
+each other, and the girls thumped their tambourines, till the calf-skin
+droned and the bells in the frames tinkled shrilly.
+
+Olympius thanked them, and bowed on all sides, as he walked from group
+to group of his adherents. Seldom, indeed, had his heart beat so high!
+His end perhaps was very near, but it should at least be worthy of his
+life.
+
+He knew how the sunbeam had been reflected so as to kiss the statue's
+lips. For centuries had this startling little scene and the sudden
+illumination of the niche round the head of the god been worked in
+precisely the same way at high festivals--[They are mentioned by
+Rufinus.]--these were mere stimulants to the dull souls of the vulgar
+who needed to be stirred up by the miraculous power of the god,
+which the elect recognized throughout the universe, in the wondrous
+co-operation of forces and results in nature, and in the lives of men.
+He, for his part, firmly believed in Serapis and his might, and in the
+prophecies and calculations which declared that his fall must involve
+the dissolution of the organic world and its relapse into chaos.
+
+Many winds were battling in the air, each one driving the ship of life
+towards the whirlpool. To-day or to-morrow--what matter which? The
+threatened cataclysm had no terrors for Olympius. One thing only was a
+pang to his vanity: No succeeding generations would preserve the memory
+of his heroic struggle and death for the cause of the gods. But all was
+not yet lost, and his sunny nature read in the glow of the dying clay
+the promise and dawn of a brilliant morrow. If the expected succor
+should arrive--if the good cause should triumph here in Alexandria--if
+the rising were to be general throughout Greek heathendom, then indeed
+had he been rightly named Olympius by his parents--then he would not
+change places with any god of Olympus--then the glory of his name, more
+lasting than bronze or marble, would shine forth like the sun, so long
+as one Greek heart honored the ancient gods and loved its native land.
+
+This night--perhaps its last--should see a grand, a sumptuous feast;
+he invited his friends and adherents--the leaders of spiritual life in
+Alexandria--to a 'symposium', after the manner of the philosophers and
+dilettanti of ancient Athens, to be held in the great concert-hall of
+the Serapeum.
+
+How different was its aspect from that of the Bishop's council-chamber!
+The Christians sat within bare walls, on wooden benches, round a plain
+table; the large room in which Olympius received his supporters was
+magnificently decorated, and furnished with treasures of art in fine
+inlaid work, beaten brass and purple stuffs-a hall for kings to meet in.
+Thick cushions, covered with lion and panther-skins, tempted fatigue or
+indolence; and when the hero of the hour joined his guests, after his
+progress through the precincts, every couch was occupied. To his
+right lay Helladius, the famous grammarian and high-priest of Zeus;
+Porphyrius, the benefactor of the Serapeum, was on his left; even Karnis
+had been allotted a place in his old friend's social circle, and greatly
+appreciated the noble juice of the grape, that was passed round, as well
+as the eager and intelligent friction of minds, from which he had long
+been cut off.
+
+Olympius himself was unanimously chosen Symposiarch, and he invited the
+company to discuss, in the first instance, the time-honored question:
+Which was the highest good?
+
+One and all, he said, they were standing on a threshold, as it were;
+and as travellers, quitting an old and beloved home to seek a new and
+unknown one in a distant land, pause to consider what particular joy
+that they have known under the shelter of the old Penates has been the
+dearest, so it would beseem them to reflect, at this supreme moment,
+what had been the highest good of their life in this world. They were
+on the eve, perhaps, of a splendid victory; but, perchance, on the other
+hand, their foot was already on the plank that led from the shore of
+life to Charon's bark.
+
+The subject was a familiar one and a warm discussion was immediately
+started. The talk was more flowery and brilliant, no doubt, than in old
+Athens, but it led to no deeper views and threw no clearer light on the
+well-worn question. The wranglers could only quote what had been said
+long since as to the highest Good, and when presently Helladius called
+upon them to bring their minds to bear on the nature of humanity, a
+vehement disputation arose as to whether man were the best or the worst
+of created beings. This led to various utterances as to the mystical
+connection of the spiritual and material worlds, and nothing could
+be more amazing than the power of imagination which had enabled these
+mystical thinkers to people with spirits and daemons every circle of
+the ladder-like structure which connected the incomprehensible and
+self-sufficing One with the divine manifestation known as Man. It became
+quite intelligible that many Alexandrians should fear to fling a stone
+lest it might hit one of the good daemons of which the air was full--a
+spirit of light perhaps, or a protecting spirit. The more obscure their
+theories, the more were they overloaded with image and metaphor;
+all simplicity of statement was lost, and yet the disputants prided
+themselves on the brilliancy of their language and the wealth of their
+ideas. They believed that they had brought the transcendental within
+the grasp of intelligent sense, and that their empty speculations had
+carried them far beyond the narrow limits of the Ancients.
+
+Karnis was in raptures; Porphyrius only wished for Gorgo by his side,
+for, like all fathers, he would rather that his child should have
+enjoyed this supreme intellectual treat than himself.
+
+       ........................
+
+In Porphyrius' house, meanwhile, all was gloom and anxiety. In spite
+of the terrific heat Damia would not be persuaded to come down from the
+turret-room where she had collected all the instruments, manuals and
+formulas used by astrologers and Magians. A certain priest of Saturn,
+who had a great reputation as a master of such arts, and who, for many
+years, had been her assistant whenever she sought to apply her science
+to any important event, was in attendance--to give her the astrological
+tables, to draw circles, ellipses or triangles at her bidding, to
+interpret the mystical sense of numbers or letters, which now and then
+escaped her aged memory; he made her calculations or tested those
+she made herself, and read out the incantations which she thought
+efficacious under the circumstances. Occasionally, too, he suggested
+some new method or fresh formula by which she might verify her results.
+
+She had fasted, according to rule, the whole forenoon, and was
+frequently so far overcome by the heat as to drop asleep in the midst
+of her studies; then, when she woke with a start, if her assistant
+had meanwhile worked out his calculation to a result contrary to her
+anticipations, she took him up sharply and made him begin again from the
+beginning. Gorge, went up from time to time; but, though she offered the
+old woman refreshment prepared by her own hand, she could not persuade
+her even to moisten her lips with a little fruitsyrup, for to break the
+prescribed fast might endanger the accuracy of her prognostications
+and the result of all her labor. However, when she seemed to doze, her
+granddaughter sprinkled strong waters about the room to freshen the
+air, poured a few drops on the old lady's dress, wiped the dews from
+her brow, and fanned her to cool her. Damia submitted to all this; and
+though she had only closed her weary eyes, she pretended to be asleep in
+order to have the pleasure of being cared for by her darling.
+
+Towards noon she dismissed the Magian and allowed herself a short
+interval of rest and sleep; but as soon as she woke she collected her
+wits, and set to work again with fresh zeal and diligence. When, at
+last, she had mastered all the signs and omens, she knew for certain
+that nothing could avert the awful doom foretold by the oracles of old.
+
+The fall of Serapis and the end of the world were at hand.
+
+The Magian covered his head as he saw, plainly demonstrated, how she had
+reached this conclusion, and he groaned in sincere terror; she, however,
+dismissed him with perfect equanimity, handing him her purse, which she
+had filled in the morning, and saying:
+
+"To last till the end."
+
+The sun was now long past the meridian and the old woman, quite worn
+out, threw herself back in her chair and desired Gorgo to let no one
+disturb her; nay, not to return herself till she was sent for. As soon
+as Damia was alone she gazed at herself in a mirror for some little
+time, murmuring the seven vocables incessantly while she did so; and
+then she fixed her eyes intently on the sky. These strange proceedings
+were directed to a particular end, she was endeavoring to close her
+senses to the external world, to become blind, deaf, and impervious to
+everything material--the polluting burthen which divided her divine and
+spiritual part from the celestia fount whence it was derived; to set her
+soul free from its earthly shroud--free to gaze on the god that was its
+father. She had already more than once nearly attained to this state by
+long fasting and resolute abstraction and once, in a moment she could
+never forget, had enjoyed the dizzy ecstasy of feeling herself float,
+as it were through infinite space, like a cloud, bathed in glorious
+radiance. The fatigue that had been gradually over powering her now
+seconded her efforts; she soon felt slight tremor; a cold sweat broke
+out all over her; she lost all consciousness of her limbs, and all sense
+of sighs and hearing; a fresher and cooler air seemed to revive not her
+lungs only, but every part of her body, while undulating rays of red and
+violet light danced before her eyes. Was not their strange radiance
+an emanation from the eternal glory that she sought? Was not some
+mysterious power uplifting her, bearing her towards the highest goal?
+Was her soul already free from the bondage of the flesh? Had she indeed
+become one with God and had her earnest seeking for the Divinity ended
+in glorification? No; her arms which she had thrown up as if to fly,
+fell by her side it was all in vain. A pain--a trifling pain in her
+foot, had brought her down again to the base world of sense which she so
+ardently strove to soar away from.
+
+Several times she took up the mirror, looked in it fixedly as before,
+and then gazed upwards; but each time that she lost consciousness of the
+material world and that her liberated soul began to move its unfettered
+pinions, some little noise, the twitch of a muscle, a fly settling on
+her hand, a drop of perspiration falling from her brow on to her cheek,
+roused her senses to reassert themselves.
+
+Why--why was it so difficult to shake off this burthen of mortal clay?
+She thought of herself as of a sculptor who chisels away all superfluous
+material froth his block of marble, to reveal the image of the god
+within; but it was easier to remove the enclosing stone than to release
+the soul from the body to which it was so closely knit. Still, she did
+not give up the struggle to attain the object which others had achieved
+before her; but she got no nearer to it--indeed, less and less near,
+for, between her and that hoped-for climax, rose up a series of memories
+and strange faces which she could not get rid of. The chisel slipped
+aside, went wrong or lost its edge before the image could be extracted
+from the block.
+
+One illusion after another floated before her eyes first it was Gorgo,
+the idol of her old heart, lying pale and fair on a sea of surf that
+rocked her on its watery waste--up high on the crest of a wave and then
+deep down in the abyss that yawned behind it. She, too--so young, a
+hardly-opened blossom--must perish in the universal ruin, and be crushed
+by the same omnipotent hand that could overthrow the greatest of the
+gods; and a glow of passionate hatred snatched her away from the aim of
+her hopes. Then the dream changed she saw a scattered flock of ravens
+flying in wide circles, at an unattainable height, against the clouds;
+suddenly they vanished and she saw, in a grey mist, the monument to
+Porphyrius' wife, Gorgo's long-departed mother. She had often visited
+the mausoleum with tender emotion, but she did not want to see it
+now--not now, and she shook it off; but in its place rose up the image
+of her daughter-in-law herself, the dweller in that tomb, and no effort
+of will or energy availed to banish that face. She saw the dead woman
+as she had seen her on the last fateful occasion in her short life. A
+solemn and festal procession was passing out through the door of their
+house, headed by flute-players and singing-girls; then came a white
+bull; a garland of the scarlet flowers of the pomegranate--[This tree
+was regarded as the symbol of fertility, on account of its many-seeded
+fruit.]--hung round its massive neck, and its horns were gilt. By its
+side walked slaves, carrying white baskets full of bread and cakes and
+heaps of flowers, and these were followed by others, bearing light-blue
+cages containing geese and doves. The bull, the calves, the flowers and
+the birds were all to be deposited in the temple of Eileithyia, as
+a sacrifice to the protecting goddess of women in child-birth. Close
+behind the bull came Gorgo's mother, dressed with wreaths, walking
+slowly and timidly, with shy, downcast eyes-thinking perhaps of the
+anguish to come, and putting up a silent prayer.
+
+Damia followed with the female friends of the house, the clients and
+their wives and some personal attendants, all carrying pomegranates in
+the right hand, and holding in the left a long wreath of flowers which
+thus connected the whole procession.
+
+In this order they reached the ship-yard; but at that spot they were met
+by a band of crazy monks from the desert monasteries, who, seeing the
+beast for sacrifice, abused them loudly, cursing the heathen. The slaves
+indignantly drove them off, but then the starveling anchorites fell upon
+the innocent beast which was the chief abomination in their eyes. The
+bull tossed his huge head, snuffing and snorting to right and left,
+stuck out his tail and rushed away from the boy whose guidance he had
+till now meekly followed, flung a monk high in the air with his huge
+horns, and then turned in his fury on the women who were behind.
+
+They fled like a flock of doves on which a hawk comes swooping down;
+some were driven quite into the lake and others up against the paling of
+the shipyard, while Damia herself--who was going through it all again
+in the midst of her efforts to rise to the divinity--and the young wife
+whom she had vainly tried to shelter and support, were both knocked
+down. To that hour of terror Gorgo owed her birth, while to her mother
+it was death.
+
+On the following day Alexandria beheld a funeral ceremony as solemn,
+as magnificent, and as crowded as though a conquering hero were being
+entombed; it was that of the monk whom the bull had gored; the Bishop
+had proclaimed that by this attack on the abomination of desolation--the
+blood-sacrifice of idolatry--he had won an eternal crown in Paradise.
+
+But now the black ravens crossed Damia's vision once more, till
+presently a handsome young Greek gaily drove them off with his thyrsus.
+His powerful and supple limbs shone with oil, applied in the gymnasium
+of Timagetes, the scene of his frequent triumphs in all the sports and
+exercises of the youthful Greeks. His features and waving hair were
+those of her son Apelles; but suddenly his aspect changed: he was an
+emaciated penitent, his knees bent under the weight of a heavy cross;
+his widow, Mary, had declared him a martyr to the cause of the crucified
+Jew and defamed his memory in the eyes of his own son and of all men.
+Damia clenched her trembling hands. Again those ravens came swirling
+round, flapping their wings wildly over the prostrate penitent.
+
+Then her husband appeared to her, calmly indifferent to the birds of
+ill-omen. He looked just as she remembered him many--so many years ago,
+when he had come in smiling and said: "The best stroke of business I
+ever did! For a sprinkling of water I have secured the corn trade with
+Thessalonica and Constantinople; that is a hundred gold solidi for each
+drop."
+
+Yes, he had made a good bargain. The profits of that day's work
+were multiplied by tens, and water, nothing in the world but Nile
+water--Baptismal water the priest had called it--had filled her son's
+money-bags, too, and had turned their plot of land into broad estates;
+but it had been tacitly understood that this sprinkling of water
+established a claim for a return, and this both father and son had
+solemnly promised. Its magic turned everything they touched to gold, but
+it brought a blight on the peace of the household. One branch, which had
+grown up in the traditions of the old Macedonian stock, had separated
+from the other; and her husband's great lie lay between them and the
+family still living in the Canopic way, like a wide ocean embittered
+with the salt of hatred. That he had infused poison into his son's life
+and compelled him, proud as he was, to forfeit the dignity of a free
+and high-minded man. Though devoted in his heart to the old gods he
+had humbled himself, year after year, to bow the knee with the hated
+votaries of the Christian faith, and in their church, to their crucified
+Lord, and had publicly confessed Christ. The water--the terrible
+thaumaturgic stream--clung to him more inseparably than the brand-mark
+on a slave's arm. It could neither be dried up nor wiped away; for
+if the false Christian, who was really a zealous heathen, had boldly
+confessed the Olympian gods and abjured the odious new faith, the gifts
+of the all-powerful water and all the possessions of their old family
+would be confiscated to the State and Church, and the children of
+Porphyrius, the grandchildren of the wealthy Damia, would be beggars.
+And this--all this--for the sake of a crucified Jew.
+
+The gods be praised the end of all this wretchedness was at hand! A
+thrill of ecstasy ran through her as she reflected that with herself
+and her children, every soul, everything that bore the name of Christian
+would be crushed, shattered and annihilated. She could have laughed
+aloud but that her throat was so dry, her tongue so parched; but her
+scornful triumph was expressed in every feature, as her fancy showed her
+Marcus riding along the Canopic street with that little heathen hussy
+Dada, the singing girl, while her much-hated daughter-in-law looked
+after them, beating her forehead in grief and rage.
+
+Quite beside herself with delight the old woman rocked backwards and
+forwards in her chair; not for long, however, for the black birds seemed
+to fill the whole room, describing swift, interminable spirals round her
+head. She could not hear them, but she could see them, and the whirling
+vortex fascinated her; she could not help turning her head to follow
+their flight; she grew giddy and she was forced to try to recover her
+balance.
+
+The old woman sat huddled in her chair, her hands convulsively clutching
+the arms, like a horseman whose steed has run away with him round and
+round the arena; till at length, worn out by excitement and exhaustion,
+she became unconscious, and sank in a heap on the ground, rigid and
+apparently lifeless.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+Gorgo, when she had left her grandmother, could not rest. Her lofty
+calmness of demeanor had given way to a restless mood such as she
+had always contemned severely in others, since she had ceased to be a
+vehement child and grown to be a woman. She tried to beguile the alarm
+that made her pulses beat so quickly, and the heart-sickness that ached
+like a wound, by music and singing; but this only added to her torment.
+The means by which she could usually recover her equanimity of mind had
+lost their efficacy, and Sappho's longing hymn, which she began to
+sing, had only served to bring the fervid longing of her own heart to
+light--to set it, as it were, in the full glare of the sun. She had
+become aware that every fibre, every nerve of her being yearned for the
+man she loved; she would have thrown away her life like a hollow nut for
+one single hour of perfect joy with him and in him. The faith in the old
+gods, the heathen world which contained the ideal of her young soul, her
+detestation of Christianity, her beautiful art--everything, in short,
+that had filled the spiritual side of her life, was cast into the shade
+by the one absorbing passion that possessed her soul. Every feeling,
+every instinct, urged her to abandon herself entirely to her lover, and
+yet she never for one instant doubted which side she would take in the
+approaching conflict of the great powers that ruled the world. The last
+few hours had only confirmed her conviction that the end of all things
+was at hand. The world was on the eve of destruction; she foresaw that
+she must perish--perish with Constantine, and that, in her eyes, was a
+grace from the gods.
+
+While Damia was vainly struggling to liberate her soul from the bondage
+of the flesh, Gorgo had been wandering uneasily about the house; now
+going to the slaves, encouraging them with brave words, and giving them
+employment to keep them from utter desperation, and then stealing up to
+see whether her grandmother might not by this time be in need of her.
+As it grew dark she observed that several of the women, and even some of
+the men, had made their escape. These were such as had already shown
+a leaning towards the new faith, and who now made off to join their
+fellow-Christians, or to seek refuge in the churches under the
+protection of the crucified God whose supreme power might, perhaps, even
+yet, avert the impending catastrophe.
+
+Twice had Porphyrius sent a messenger to assure his mother and daughter
+that all was well with him, that a powerful party was prepared to defend
+the Serapeum, and that he should pass the night in the temple. The
+Romans were evidently hesitating to attack it, and if, next morning,
+the heathen should succeed in repelling the first onset, reinforcements
+might yet be brought up in time. Gorgo could not share these hopes; a
+client of her father's had brought in a rumor that the Biamites, after
+advancing as far as Naucratis, had been dispersed by a few of the
+Imperial maniples. Fate was stalking on its way, and no one could give
+it pause.
+
+The evening brought no coolness, and when it was already quite dark, as
+her grandmother had not yet called her, Gorgo could no longer control
+her increasing anxiety, so, after knocking in vain at the door of the
+observatory, she went in. Her old nurse preceded her with a lamp,
+and the two women stood dumb with consternation, for the old lady lay
+senseless on the ground. Her head was thrown back against the seat of
+the chair off which she had slipped, and her pale face was lifeless and
+horrible to look at, with its half-closed eyes and dropped jaw.
+Wine, water, and strong essences were all at hand, and they laid the
+unconscious woman on a couch intended for the occasional use of the
+wearied observer. In a few minutes they had succeeded in reviving the
+old lady; but her eyes rested without recognition on the girl who knelt
+by her side, and she murmured to herself: "The ravens--where are they
+gone? Ravens!"
+
+Her glance wandered round the room, to the tablets and rolls which had
+been tossed off the couch and the table to make room for her, and for
+the lamps and medicaments. They lay in disorder on the floor, and the
+sight of this confusion produced a favorable excitement and reaction;
+she succeeded in expressing herself in husky accents and broken, hardly
+intelligible sentences, so far as to scold them sharply for their
+irreverence for the precious documents, and for the disorder they had
+created. The waiting-woman proceeded to pick them up: but Damia again
+became unconscious. Gorgo bathed her brow and tried to pour some
+wine between her teeth, but she clenched them too firmly, till the
+slave-woman came to her assistance and they succeeded in making Damia
+swallow a few drops. The old woman opened her eyes, smacking her tongue
+feebly; but she took the cup into her own hand to hold it to her lips;
+and though she trembled so that half the contents were spilt, she drank
+eagerly till it was quite empty. "More," she gasped with the eagerness
+of intense thirst, "more--I want drink!"
+
+Gorgo gave her a second and a third draught which Damia drank with equal
+eagerness; then, with a deep breath, she looked up fully conscious, at
+her granddaughter.
+
+"Thank you, child," she said. "Now I shall do very well for a little
+while. The material world and all that belongs to it weighs us down and
+clings to us like iron fetters. We may long and strive to be free, but
+it pursues us and holds us fast. Only those who are content with their
+miserable humanity can enjoy it. They laugh, as you know, at Praxilla,
+the poetess, because she makes the dying Adonis lament, when face to
+face with death, that he is forced to leave the apples and pears behind
+him. But is not that subtly true? Yes, yes; Praxilla is right! We fast,
+we mortify ourselves--I have felt it all myself--to partake of divinity.
+We almost perish of hunger and thirst, when we might be so happy if
+only we would be satisfied with apples and pears! No man has ever yet
+succeeded in the great effort; those who would be truly happy must be
+content with small things. That is what makes children so happy. Apples
+and pears! Well, everything will be at an end for me ere long--even
+those. But if the great First Cause spares himself in the universal
+crash, there is still the grand idea of Apples and Pears; and who knows
+but that it may please Him, when this world is destroyed, to frame
+another to come after it. Will He then once more embody the ideas of
+Man--and Apples and Pears? It would be plagiarism from himself. Nay, if
+He is merciful, He will never again give substance to that hybrid idea
+called Man; or, if He does, He will let the poor wretch be happy with
+apples and pears--I mean trivial joys; for all higher joys, be they what
+they may, are vanity and vexation.... Give me another draught. Ah, that
+is good! And to-morrow is the end. I could find it in my heart to regret
+the good gifts of Dionysus myself; it is better than apples and pears;
+next to that comes the joy that Eros bestows on mortals, and there must
+be an end to all that, too. That, however, is above the level of apples
+and pears. It is great, very great happiness, and mingled therefor with
+bitter sorrow. Rapture and anguish--who can lay down the border line
+that divides them? Smiles and tears alike belong to both. And you are
+weeping? Aye, aye--poor child! Come here and kiss me." Damia drew the
+head of the kneeling girl close to her bosom and pressed her lips to
+Gorge's brow. Presently, however, she relaxed her embrace and, looking
+about the room, she exclaimed:
+
+"How you have mixed and upset the book-rolls! If only I could show you
+how clearly everything agrees and coincides. We know now exactly how it
+will all happen. By the day after to-morrow there will be no more earth,
+no more sky; and I will tell you this, child: If, when Serapis falls,
+the universe does not crumble to pieces like a ruinous hovel, then the
+wisdom of the Magians is a lie, the course of the stars has nothing to
+do with the destinies of the earth and its inhabitants, the planets are
+mere lamps, the sun is no more than a luminous furnace, the old gods are
+marsh-fires, emanations from the dark bog of men's minds--and the great
+Serapis.... But why be angry with him? There is no doubt--no if nor
+but.... Give me the diptychon and I will show you our doom. There--just
+here--my sight is so dazzled, I cannot make it out.--And if I could,
+what matter? Who can alter here below what has been decided above? Leave
+me to sleep now, and I will explain it all to you to-morrow if there is
+still time. Poor child, when I think how we have tormented you to learn
+what you know, and how industrious you have been! And now--to what end?
+I ask you, to what end? The great gulf will swallow up one and all."
+
+"So be it, so be it!" cried Gorgo interrupting her. "Then, at any rate,
+nothing that I love on earth will be lost to me before I die!"
+
+"And the enemy will perish in the same ruin!" continued Damia, her eyes
+sparkling with revived fire. "But where shall we go to--where? The soul
+is divine by nature and cannot be destroyed. It must return--say, am I
+right or wrong?--It will return to its first fount and cause; for like
+attracts and absorbs like, and thus our deification, our union with the
+god will be accomplished."
+
+"I believe it--I am sure of it!" replied Gorgo with conviction.
+
+"You are sure of it?" retorted the old woman. "But I am not. For our
+clearest knowledge is but guesswork when it is not based on numbers.
+Nothing is proved or provable but by numbers, but they are surer than
+the rocks in the sea; that is why I believe in our coming doom, for,
+on those tablets, we have calculated it to a certainty. But who can
+calculate evidence of the future fate of the soul? If, indeed, the old
+order should not pass away--if the depths should remain below and the
+empyrean still keep its place above--then, to be sure, your studies
+would not be in vain; for then your soul, which is fixed on spiritual,
+supernatural and sublime conceptions, would be drawn upwards to the
+great Intelligence of which it is the offspring, to the very god, and
+become one with him--absorbed into him, as the rain-drop fallen from a
+cloud rises again and is reunited to its parent vapor. Then--for there
+may be a metempsychosis--your songful spirit might revive to inform a
+nightingale, then..."
+
+Damia paused; and gazed upwards as if in ecstasy, and it was not till
+a few minutes later that she went on, with a changed expression in her
+face: "Then my son's widow, Mary, would be hatched out of a serpent's
+egg and would creep a writhing asp.... Great gods! the ravens! What can
+they mean? They come again. Air, air! Wine! I cannot--I am choking--take
+it away!--To-morrow--to-day.... Everything is going; do you see--do
+you feel? It is all black--no, red; and now black again. Everything is
+sinking; hold me, save me; the floor is going from under me.--Where is
+Porphyrius? Where is my son?--My feet are so cold; rub them. It is the
+water! rising--it is up to my knees. I am sinking--help! save me! help!"
+The dying woman fought with her arms as if she were drowning; her cries
+for help grew fainter, her head drooped on her laboring chest, and in a
+few minutes she had breathed her last in her grandchild's arms, and her
+restless, suffering soul was free.
+
+Never before had Gorgo seen death. She could not persuade herself that
+the heart which had been so cold for others, but had throbbed so warmly
+and tenderly for her, was now stilled for ever; that the spirit which,
+even in sleep, had never been at rest, had now found eternal peace. The
+slave-woman had hastily taken her place, had closed the dead woman's
+eyes and mouth, and done all she could to diminish the horror of the
+scene, and the terrible aspect of the dead in the sight of the girl who
+had been her one darling. But Gorgo had remained by her side, and,
+while she did everything in her power to revive the stiffening body,
+the overwhelming might of Death had come home to her with appalling
+clearness. She felt the limbs of one she had loved growing cold and
+rigid under her hands, and her spirit rose in obstinate rebellion
+against the idea that annihilation stood between her and the woman
+who had so amply filled a mother's place. She insisted on having every
+method of resuscitation tried that had ever been heard of, and made her
+nurse send for physicians, though the woman solemnly assured her that
+human help was of no avail: then she sent for the priest of Saturn
+who--as the dead woman herself had told her--knew mighty spells which
+had called back many a departed spirit to the body it had quitted.
+
+When, at last, she was alone and gazed on the hard, set features of the
+dead, though she shuddered with horror, she so far controlled herself
+as to press her lips in sorrow and gratitude to the thin hand whose
+caresses she had been wont to accept as a mere matter of course. How
+cold and heavy it was! She shivered and dropped it, and the large rings
+on the fingers rattled on the wooden frame of the couch. There was no
+hope; she understood that her friend and mother was indeed dead and
+silent forever.
+
+Deep and bitter grief overwhelmed her completely, with the sense of
+abandoned loneliness, the humiliating feeling of helplessness against
+a brutal power that marches on, scorning humanity, as a warrior treads
+down the grass and flowers in his path. She fell on her knees by the
+corpse, sobbing passionately, and crying like an indignant child when a
+stronger companion has robbed it of some precious possession. She wept
+with rage at her own impotence; and her tears flowed faster and faster
+as she more fully realized how lonely she was, and what a blow this must
+be to her father. In this hour no pleasant reminiscences of past family
+happiness came to infuse a drop of sweetness into the bitterness of her
+grief. Only one reflection brought her any comfort, and that was the
+thought that the grave which had yawned already for her grandmother
+would soon, very soon, open for herself and all living souls. On the
+table, close at hand, lay the evidence of their impending doom, and
+a longing for that end gradually took complete possession of her,
+excluding every other feeling. Thinking of this she rose from her knees
+and ceased to weep.
+
+When, presently, her waiting-woman should return, she was resolved to
+leave the house at once; she could not bear to stay; her feelings and
+duty alike indicated the place where she might find the last hour's
+happiness that she expected or desired of life. Her father must learn
+from herself, and not from a stranger, of the loss that had befallen
+them, and she knew that he was in the Serapeum--on the very spot where
+she might hope next morning to meet Constantine. It would be her lover's
+duty to open the gate to destruction, and she would be there to pass
+through it at his side.
+
+She waited a long, long time, but at last there was a noise on the
+stairs. That was her nurse's step, but she was not alone. Had she
+brought the leech and the exorciser? The door opened and the old steward
+came in, carrying a three-branched lamp; then followed the slave-woman,
+and then--her heart stood still then came Constantine and his mother.
+
+Gorgo, pale and speechless, received her unexpected visitors. The nurse
+had failed to find the physician, whose aid would, at any rate, have
+come too late; and as the housekeeper had taken herself off with others
+of the Christian slaves, the faithful soul had said to herself that "her
+child" would want some womanly help and comfort in her trouble, and had
+gone to the house of their neighbor Clemens, to entreat his wife to
+come with her to see the dead, and visit her forlorn young mistress.
+Constantine, who had come home a short time previously, had said
+nothing, but had accompanied the two women.
+
+While Constantine gazed with no unkindly feelings at the still face of
+Damia--to whom, after all, he owed many a little debt of kindness--and
+then turned to look at Gorgo who stood downcast, pale, and struggling
+to breathe calmly, Dame Marianne tried to proffer a few words of
+consolation. She warmly praised everything in the dead woman which was
+not in her estimation absolutely reprobate and godless, and brought
+forward all the comforting arguments which a pious Christian can command
+for the edification and encouragement of those who mourn a beloved
+friend; but to Gorgo all this well-meant discourse was as the babble of
+an unknown tongue; and it was only when, at length, Marianne went up
+to her and drew her to her motherly bosom, to kiss her, and bid her be
+welcome under Clelnens' roof till Porphyrius should be at home again,
+that she understood that the good woman meant kindly, and honestly
+desired to help and comfort her.
+
+But the allusion to her father reminded her of the first duty in her
+path; she roused her energies, thanked Marianne warmly, and begged her
+only to assist her in carrying the corpse into the thalamos, and then
+to take charge of the keys. She herself, she explained, meant at once to
+seek her father, since he ought to learn from no one but herself of
+his mother's death. Nor would she listen for a moment to her friend's
+pressing entreaties that she would put off this task, and pass the
+night, at any rate, under her roof.
+
+Constantine had kept in the background; it was not till Gorgo approached
+the dead and gave the order to carry the body down into the house that
+he came forward, and with simple feeling offered her his hand. The girl
+looked frankly in his face, and, as she put her hand in his, she said in
+a low voice: "I was unjust to you, Constantine. I insulted and hurt you;
+but I repented sincerely, even before you had left the house. And you
+owe me no grudge, I know, for you understood how forlorn I must be
+and came to see me. There is no ill-feeling, is there, nothing to come
+between us?"
+
+"Nothing, nothing!" he eagerly exclaimed, seizing her other hand with
+passionate fervor.
+
+She felt as if all the blood in her body had rushed in a full tide to
+her heart--as if he were some part of her very being, that had been torn
+out, snatched from her, and that she must have back again, even if it
+cost them both their life and happiness. The impulse was irresistible;
+she drew away her hands from his grasp and flung them round his neck,
+clinging to him as a weary child clings to its mother. She did not know
+how it had come about--how such a thing was possible, but it was done;
+and without paying any heed to Marianne, who looked on in dismay
+while her son's lips were pressed to the brow and lips of the lovely
+idolatress, she wept upon her lover's shoulders, feeling a thousand
+roses blossoming in her soul and a thousand thorns piercing and tearing
+her heart.
+
+It had to be, that she felt; it was at once their union and their
+parting. Their common destiny was but for a moment, and that moment had
+come and gone. All that now retrained for them was death--destruction,
+with all things living; and she looked forward to this, as a man watches
+for the dawn after a sleepless night. Marianne stood aside; she dimly
+perceived that something vital was going on, that something inevitable
+had happened which would admit of no interference. Gorgo, as she
+freed herself from Constantine's embrace, stood strangely solemn and
+unapproachable. To the simple matron she was an inscrutable riddle to
+which she could find no clue; but she was pleased, nevertheless, when
+Gorgo came up to her and kissed her hand. She could not utter a word,
+for she felt that whatever she might say, it would not be the right
+thing; and it was a real relief to her to busy herself over the removal
+of the body, in which she could be helpful.
+
+Gorgo had covered the dead face; and when old Damia had been carried
+down to the thalamos and laid in state on the bridal bed, she strewed
+the couch with flowers.
+
+Meanwhile, the priest of Saturn had been found, and he declared in all
+confidence that no power on earth could have recalled this departed
+soul. Damia's sudden end and the girl's great grief went to his faithful
+heart, and he gladly acceded to Gorgo's request that he would wait for
+her by the garden-gate and escort her to the Serapeum. When he had left
+them she gave the keys of her grandmother's chests and cupboards
+into Marianne's keeping; then she went into the adjoining room, where
+Constantine had been waiting while she decked the bed of death, and bid
+him a solemn, but apparently calm, farewell. He put out his arm to clasp
+her to his heart, but this she would not permit; and when he besought
+her to go home with them she answered sadly, "No, my dearest... I must
+not; I have other duties to fulfil."
+
+"Yes," he replied emphatically, "and I, too--I have mine. But you have
+given yourself to me. You are my very own; you belong to me only,
+and not to yourself; and I desire, I command you to yield to my first
+request. Go with my mother, or stay here, if you will, with the dead.
+Wherever your father may be, it is not, cannot be, the right place for
+you--my betrothed bride. I can guess where he is. Oh! Gorgo, be warned.
+
+"The fate of the old gods is sealed. We are the stronger and to-morrow,
+yes to-morrow--by your own head, by all I hold dear and sacred!--Serapis
+will fall!"
+
+"I know it," she said firmly. "And you are charged to lay hands on the
+god?"
+
+"I am, and I shall do it."
+
+She nodded approbation and then said submissively and sweetly: "It is
+your duty, and you cannot do otherwise. And come what may we are one,
+Constantine, forever one. Nothing can part us. Whatever the future may
+bring, we belong to each other, to stand or fall together. I with you,
+you with me, till the end of time." She gave him her hand and looked
+lovingly into his eyes; then she threw herself into his mother's arms
+and kissed her fondly.
+
+"Come, come with me, my child," said Marianne; but Gorgo freed herself,
+exclaiming: "Go, go; if you love me leave me; go and let me be alone."
+
+She went back into the thalamos where the dead lay at peace, and before
+the others could follow her she had opened a door hidden behind some
+tapestry near the bed, and fled into the garden.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+The night was hot and gloomy. Heavy clouds gathered in the north, and
+wreaths of mist, like a hot vapor-bath, swayed over the crisply-foaming
+wavelets that curled the lustreless waters of the Mareotis Lake. The
+moon peeped, pale and shrouded, out of a russet halo, and ghostly
+twilight reigned in the streets, still heated by the baked walls of the
+houses.
+
+To the west, over the desert, a dull sulphurous yellow streaked the
+black clouds, and from time to time the sultry air was rent by a
+blinding flash sent across the firmament from the north. There was a
+hot, sluggish wind blowing from the southwest, which drove the sand
+across the lake into the streets; the fine grit stung: and burnt
+the face of the wanderer who hurried on with half-closed eyes and
+tightly-shut lips. A deep oppression seemed to have fallen on nature and
+on man; the sudden gusts of the heated breeze, the arrow-like shafts of
+lightning, the weird shapes and colors of the clouds, all combined to
+give a sinister, baleful and portentous aspect to this night, as though
+skies and waters, earth and air were brooding over some tremendous
+catastrophe.
+
+Gorgo had thrown a veil and handkerchief round her head and followed the
+priest with an aching brow and throbbing heart. When she heard a step
+behind her she started-for it might be Constantine following her
+up; when a gust of wind flung the stinging sand in her face, or the
+storm-flash threw a lurid light on the sky, her heart stood still, for
+was not this the prelude to the final crash.
+
+She was familiar with the way they were going, but its length seemed
+to have stretched tenfold. At last, however, they reached their
+destination. She gave the pass-word at the gate of her father's
+timber-yard and exchanged the signs agreed upon; in a few minutes she
+had made her way through the piles of beams and planks that screened the
+entrance to the aqueduct--a slave who knew her leading the way with a
+light--and she and her companion entered the underground passage.
+
+It was hot and close; bats, scared by the flare of the torch, fluttered
+round her with a ghostly rustle, startling and disgusting her; still,
+she felt less alarm here than outside; and when, as she went forward she
+thought of the great temple she was coming to, of its wonderful beauty
+and solemn majesty, she only cared to press onward to that refuge of
+ineffable splendor where all would be peace. To die there, to perish
+there with her lover, did not seem hard; nay, she felt proud to think
+that she might await death in the noblest edifice ever raised to a god
+by mortal hands. Here Fate might have its way; she had known the highest
+joy she had ever dreamed of, and where on earth was there a sublimer
+tomb than this sanctuary of the sovereign of the universe, whose
+supremacy even the other gods acknowledged with trembling!
+
+She had known the sacred halls of the temple from her childhood, and she
+pictured them as filled with thousands of lofty souls, united in this
+supreme hour by one feeling and one purpose. She even fancied she could
+hear the inspired and heartfelt strains of the enthusiasts who were
+prepared to give their lives for the god of their fathers, that she
+breathed the odor of incense and burnt sacrifices, that she saw the
+chorus of youths and maidens, led by priests and dancing with solemn
+grace in mazy circles round the flower-decked altars. There among the
+elders who had gathered round Olympius to meditate devoutly on the
+coming doom and on the inmost meaning of the mysteries--among the adepts
+who were anxiously noting, in the observatories of the Serapeum, the
+fateful courses of the stars, the swirling of the clouds and the flight
+of birds, she would doubtless find her father; and the fresh wound bled
+anew as she remembered that she was the bearer of news which must deeply
+shock and grieve him. Still, no doubt, she would find him wrapped in
+dignified readiness for the worst, sorrowing serenely for the doomed
+world, and so her melancholy message would come to a prepared and
+resigned heart.
+
+She had no fear of the crowd of men she would find in the Serapeum.
+Her father and Olympius were there to protect her, and Dame Herse, too,
+would be a support and comfort; but even without those three, on such a
+night as this--the last perhaps that they might ever see--she would have
+ventured without hesitation among thousands, for she firmly believed
+that every votary of the gods was awaiting his own end and the crash of
+falling skies with devout expectancy, and perhaps with not less terror
+than herself.
+
+These were her thoughts as she and her guide stopped at a strong door.
+This was presently opened and they found themselves in an underground
+chamber, devoted to the mysteries of the worship of Serapis, in which
+the adepts were required to go through certain severe ordeals before
+they were esteemed worthy to be received into the highest order of the
+initiated--the Esoterics. The halls and corridors which she now went
+through, and which she had never before seen, were meagrely lighted with
+lamps and torches, and all that met her eye filled her with reverent awe
+while it excited her imagination. Everything, in fact--every room and
+every image--was as unlike nature, and as far removed from ordinary
+types as possible, in arrangement and appearance. After passing through
+a pyramidal room, with triangular sides that sloped to a point, she came
+to one in the shape of a polygonal prism. In a long, broad corridor she
+had to walk on a narrow path, bordered by sphinxes; and there she clung
+tightly to her guide, for on one side of the foot-way yawned a gulf of
+great depth. In another place she heard, above her head, the sound of
+rushing waters, which then fell into the abyss beneath with a loud roar.
+After this she came upon a large grotto, hewn in the living rock and
+defended by a row of staring crocodiles' heads, plated with gold; the
+heavy smell of stale incense and acrid resins choked her, and her way
+now lay over iron gratings and past strangely contrived furnaces. The
+walls were decorated with colored reliefs: Tantalus, Ixion, and Sisyphus
+toiling at his stone, looked down on her in hideous realism as she went.
+Rock chambers, fast closed with iron doors, as though they enclosed
+inestimable treasures or inscrutable secrets, lay on either hand, and
+her dress swept against numerous images and vessels closely shrouded in
+hangings.
+
+When she ventured to look round, her eye fell on monstrous forms and
+mystical signs and figures; if she glanced upwards, she saw human and
+animal forms, and mixed with these the various constellations, sailing
+in boats--the Egyptian notion of their motions--along the back of a
+woman stretched out to an enormous length; or, again, figures by some
+Greek artist: the Pleiades, Castor and Pollux as horsemen with stars on
+their heads, and Berenice's star-gemmed hair.
+
+The effect on the girl was bewildering, overpowering, as she made her
+way through this underground world. The things she had glimpses of were
+very sparely illuminated, nay scarcely discernible, and yet appallingly
+real; what mysteries, what spells might not be hidden in all she did
+not see! She felt as if the end of life, which she was looking for, had
+already begun, as if she had already gone down, alive, into Hades.
+
+The path gradually sloped upwards and at last she ascended, by a spiral
+staircase, to the ground-floor of the temple. Once or twice she had met
+a few men, but solemn silence reigned in those subterranean chambers.
+
+The sound of their approaching and receding steps had only served to
+make her aware of the complete stillness. This was just as it should
+be--just as she would have it. This peace reminded her of the profound
+silence of nature before a tempest bursts and rages.
+
+Gorgo took off her veil as she went up the stairs, shook out the folds
+of her dress, and assumed the dignified and reverent demeanor which
+became a young girl of rank and position when approaching the altars
+of the divinity. But as she reached the top a loud medley of noises and
+voices met her ear-flutes, drums?--The sacred dance, she supposed, must
+be going on.
+
+She came out into a room on one side of the hypostyle; her companion
+opened a high door, plated with gilt bronze and silver, and Gorgo
+followed him, walking gravely with her head held high and her eyes fixed
+on the ground, into the magnificent hall where the sacred image sat
+enthroned in veiled majesty. They crossed the colonnade at the side of
+the hypostyle and went down two steps into the vast nave of the temple.
+
+The wild tumult that she had heard on first opening the door had
+surprised and puzzled her; but now, as she timidly looked up and around
+her, she felt a shock of horror and revulsion such as might come over a
+man who, walking by night and believing that he is treading on flowers,
+suddenly finds that the slimy slope of a bottomless bog is leading him
+to perdition. She tottered and clutched at a statue, gazing about
+her, listening to the uproar, and wondering whether she were awake or
+dreaming.
+
+She tried not to see and hear what was going on there; it was revolting,
+loathsome, horrible; but it was too manifest to be overlooked or
+ignored; its vulgarity and horror forced it on her attention. For some
+time she stood spell-bound, paralyzed; but then she covered her
+face with her hands; maidenly shame, bitter disillusion, and pious
+indignation at the gross desecration of all that she deemed most sacred
+and inviolable surged up in her stricken soul, and she burst into tears,
+weeping as she had never wept in all her life before. Sobbing bitterly,
+she wrapped her face in her veil, as though to protect herself from
+storm and chill.
+
+No one heeded her; her companion had left her to seek her father. She
+could only await his return, and she looked round for a hiding place.
+Then she observed a woman in mourning garb sitting huddled at the
+foot of the statue of justice; she recognized her as the widow of
+Asclepiodorus and breathed more freely as she went up to her and said,
+between her sobs "Let me sit by you; we can mourn together."
+
+"Yes, yes, come," said the other; and without enquiring what Gorgo's
+trouble might be, moved only by the mysterious charm of finding another
+in like sorrow with herself, she drew the girl to her and bending over
+her, at length found relief in tears.
+
+The two weeping women sat in silence, side by side, while in front of
+them the orgy went on its frantic course. A party of men and women were
+dancing down the hall, singing and shouting. Flutes yelled, cymbals
+clanged, drums rattled and droned, without either time or tune. Drunken
+pastophori had flung open the rooms where the vestments and sacred
+vessels were kept, and from these treasuries the ribald mob had dragged
+forth panther-skins such as the priests wore when performing the sacred
+functions, brass cars for carrying sacrifices, wooden biers on which the
+images of the gods were borne in solemn processions, and other precious
+objects. In a large room adjoining, a party of students and girls were
+concocting some grand scheme for which they needed much time and large
+supplies of wine; but most of those who had possessed themselves of the
+plunder had taken it into the hypostyle and were vying with each other
+in extravagant travesties.
+
+A burly wine-grower was elected to represent Dionysus and was seated
+with nothing but some wreaths of flowers to cover his naked limbs, in
+a four-wheeled sacrificial car of beaten brass. An alabaster wine-jar
+stood between his fat knees, and his heavy body rolled with laughter as
+he was drawn in triumph through the sacred arcades by a shouting rabble,
+as fast as they could run. Numbers of the intoxicated crew, mad with
+excitement and wine, had cast off their clothes which lay in heaps
+between the pillars, soaking in puddles of spilt wine. In their wild
+dance the girls' hair had fallen about their heated faces, tangled with
+withered leaves and faded flowers, and the men, young and old alike,
+leaped and waltzed like possessed creatures, flourishing thyrsus-staves
+and the emblems of the lusty wine-god.
+
+A small band of priests and philosophers ventured into the chaos in the
+hope of quelling the riot, but a tipsy flute-player placed himself in
+front of them and throwing back his head blew a furious blast to
+heaven on his double pipe, shrill enough to wake the dead, while a girl
+seconded him by flinging her tambourine in the face of the intruding
+pacificators. It bounced against the shaft of a column, and then fell on
+the shaven head of a priestling, who seized it and tossed it back. The
+game was soon taken up, and before long, one tambourine after another
+was flying over the heads of the frenzied crew. Every one was eager to
+have one, and sprung to catch them, scuffling and struggling and making
+the parchment sound on his neighbor's head.
+
+Some of the women had jumped on to the processional biers and were being
+carried round the hall by staggering youths, screaming with alarm and
+laughter; if one of them lost her balance and fell she was captured with
+shrieks of merriment and forced to mount her insecure eminence again.
+Presently the car of Dionysus came to wreck over the body of an
+unconscious toper, but no one stopped to set it right; and though the
+hapless representative of the god howled loudly to them to stop while
+he extricated himself from the machine, in which he had stuck, it was
+in vain; the score or so of youths who were dragging it tore on, passing
+close by Gorgo, who noted with indignation, that the brasswork of the
+axles was cutting deeply into the splendid mosaic of the pavement.
+At last the burly god fell out by his sheer weight, and his followers
+restored him to consciousness by taking him by the heels and dipping his
+towzled and bleeding head into a huge jar of wine and water. Then some
+hundreds of his drunken votaries danced madly round the rescued god; and
+as all the tambourines were split and the flute-players had no breath
+left, time was kept by beating with thyrsus-staves against the pillars,
+while three men, who had found the brazen tubas among the temple
+vessels, blew with all their might and main.
+
+Strong opposition, however, was roused by this mad uproar. A party of
+worshippers, in the first place, rebelled against it; these had been
+standing with veiled heads, near the statue of Serapis, muttering
+exorcisms after a Magian and howling lamentably at intervals; then a
+preacher, who had succeeded in collecting a little knot of listeners,
+bid the trumpeters cease; and finally, a party of actors and singers,
+who had assembled in the outer hall to perform a satira play, tried
+to stop them, though they themselves were making such a noise that the
+trumpet-blast could have affected them but little. When the players
+found that remonstrance had no effect they rushed into the hypostyle and
+tried to reduce the musicians to silence by force.
+
+Then a frenzied contest began; but the combatants were soon separated;
+the actors and their antagonists fell on each other's necks, and a
+Homeric poet, who had compiled an elegy for the evening on the "Gods
+coerced by the hosts of the new superstition," made up simply of lines
+culled from the Iliad and Odyssey, seized this favorable opportunity. He
+had begun to read it at the top of his voice, screaming down the general
+din, when everything was forgotten in the excitement caused by the
+entrance of a procession which was the successful result of many raids
+on the temple-treasuries and lumber-rooms.
+
+A storm of applause greeted its appearance; the tipsiest stammered out
+his approval, and the picture presented to drunken eyes was indeed a
+beautiful and gorgeous one. On a high platform-intended for the display
+of a small image of Serapis and certain symbols of the god, at great
+festivals--Glycera, the loveliest hetaira of the town, was drawn in
+triumph through the temple. She reclined in a sort of bowl representing
+a shell, placed at the top of the platform, and on the lower stages sat
+groups of fair girls, swaying gently with luxurious grace, and flinging
+flowers down to the crowd who, with jealous rivalry, strove to catch
+them. Everyone recognized the beautiful hetaira as Aphrodite, and she
+was hailed, as with one voice, the Queen of the World. The men rushed
+forward to pour libations in her honor, and to join hands and dance in a
+giddy maze round her car.
+
+"Take her to Serapis!" shouted a drunken student. "Marry her to the god.
+Heavenly Love should be his bride!"
+
+"Yes--take her to Serapis," yelled another. "It is the wedding of
+Serapis and Glycera."
+
+The crazy rabble pushed the machine towards the curtain, with the
+beautiful, laughing woman on the top, and her bevy of languishing
+attendants.
+
+Until this instant the vivid lightning outside, and the growling of
+distant thunder had not been heeded by the revellers, but now a blinding
+flash lighted up the hall and, at the same instant, a tremendous peal
+crashed and rattled just above them, and shook the desecrated shrine.
+A sulphurous vapor came rolling in at the openings just below the roof,
+and this first flash was immediately followed by another which seemed to
+have rent the vault of heaven, for it was accompanied by a deafening and
+stunning roar and a terrific rumbling and creaking, as though the metal
+walls of the firmament had burst asunder and fallen in on the earth--on
+Alexandria--on the Serapeum.
+
+The whole awful force of an African tempest came crashing down upon
+them; the wild revel was stilled; the trembling topers dropped their
+cups, fevered checks turned pale, the dancers parted and threw up their
+hands in agonized supplication, words of lust and blasphemy died on
+their lips and turned to prayers and muttered charms. The terrified
+nymphs that surrounded Venus sprang from the car, and the foam-born
+goddess in the shell tried to free herself from the garlands and gauzes
+in which she was involved, shrieking aloud when she perceived that
+she could not descend unaided from her elevated position. Other voices
+mingled with hers--lamenting, cursing, and entreating; for now the
+rainclouds burst, and through the window-openings poured a cold flood,
+chilling and wetting the drunken mob within.
+
+The storm raved through the halls and corridors; lightning and thunder
+raged fiercely overhead; and the terrified wretches, suddenly sobered,
+rushed about or huddled together, like ants whose nest has been
+upturned. And into the midst of this dismayed throng rushed Orpheus, the
+son of Karnis, who had been till now on guard on the roof, crying out:
+"The world is coming to an end, the heavens are opening! Father--where
+is my father?"
+
+And everyone believed him; they snatched off their garlands, tore their
+hair and gave themselves up to the utmost despair. Wailing, sobbing,
+howling-furious, but impotent, they appealed to each other; and though
+they had no hope of living to see another morning, or perhaps another
+hour, each one thought only of himself, of his garments, and of how he
+might best cover his limbs that shivered with terror and cold. From
+the Scuffling mob round the heaps of cast-off clothes came deep groans,
+piteous weeping, the shrieks of women, and the despairing moans of the
+panic-stricken wretches.
+
+It was a fearful scene, at once heart-rending and revolting; Gorgo
+looked on, gnashing her teeth with rage and disgust, and only wishing
+for the end of the world and of her own life as a respite from it all.
+These crazed and miserable wretches, cowardly fools, these beasts in
+the guise of human beings, deserved no better than to perish; but was
+it conceivable that the supreme being should destroy the whole of
+the beautiful and wisely-planned world for the sake of this base and
+loathsome rabble.
+
+It thundered, it lightened, the foundations of the temple shook--but she
+no longer looked for the final crash; she had ceased to believe in the
+majesty, the power and the purity of the divinity behind the veil.
+Her cheeks burnt with shame, she felt it a disgrace ever to have been
+numbered among his adherents; and, as the howling of the terrified crowd
+grew every moment louder and wilder, the memory of Constantine's grave
+and fearless manliness rose before her, in all its strength and beauty.
+She was his, his wholly and forever; and for the future all that was his
+should be hers: his love, his home, his noble purpose--and his God.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+The doubtful light of dawn was beginning to break through the
+storm-clouds as they exhausted their fury on the Serapeum, but the
+terrified heathen did not notice it. No captain, no prophet, no
+comforter had come to revive their courage and hopes; for Olympius and
+his guests, the leaders of the intellectual life of Alexandria--and
+among them the chief priests of the sanctuary--were tardy in making
+their appearance.
+
+The lightning-flash which had fallen on the brassplated cupola, and then
+discharged its force along a flagstaff, had alarmed even the sages and
+philosophers; and the Symposium had come to an abrupt end but little
+more dignified than the orgy in the temple-halls. Few, to be sure, of
+the high-priest's friends had allowed themselves to be so far scared as
+to betray their terrors frankly; on the contrary, when the crack of
+doom really seemed to have sounded, rhetoric and argument grew even
+more eager than before round Olympius' table; and Gorgo's opinion of her
+fellow-heathen might not have been much raised if she could have heard
+Helladius, the famous philologist and biographer, reciting verses from
+"Prometheus bound," his knees quaking and lips quivering as he heard
+the thunder; or seen Ammonius, another grammarian who had written a
+celebrated work on "The Differences of Synonyms," rending his robe and
+presenting his bared breast as a target to the lightning, with a glance
+round at the company to challenge their admiration. His heroic display
+was, unfortunately, observed by few; for most of them, including
+Eunapius, a neo-platonic philosopher distinguished as a historian and an
+implacable foe of the Christians, had wrapped their heads in their robes
+and were awaiting the end in sullen resignation. Some had dropped
+on their knees and were praying with uplifted hands, or murmuring
+incantations; and a poet, who had been crowned for a poem entitled:
+"Man the Lord and Master of the Gods," had fainted with fear, and his
+laurel-wreath had fallen into a dish of oysters.
+
+Olympius had risen from his place as Symposiarch and was leaning against
+a door-post awaiting death with manly composure. Father Karnis, who had
+made rather too free with the wine-cup, but had been completely sobered
+by the sudden fury of the storm, had sprung up and hastened past the
+high-priest to seek his wife and son; he knew they could not be far off,
+and desired to perish with them.
+
+Porphyrius and his next neighbor, Apuleius, the great physician, were
+among those who had covered their faces. Porphyrius could look forward
+more calmly than many to the approaching crisis; for, as a cautious man
+and far-seeing merchant, he had made provision for every contingency.
+If, in spite of a Christian victory, the world should still roll on,
+and if the law which declared invalid the will of an apostate should be
+enforced against him, a princely fortune, out of the reach of Church or
+State, lay safe in the hands of a wealthy and trustworthy friend for his
+daughter's use; if, on the other hand, heaven and earth met in a
+common doom, he had by him an infallible remedy against a lingering and
+agonizing death.
+
+The whole party had sat during some long and anxious minutes,
+listening to the appalling thunder-claps, when Orpheus rushed into the
+banqueting-room, with the same frenzied and terror-stricken haste as
+before, among the revellers, crying: "It is the end-all is over! The
+world is falling asunder! Fire is come down from heaven! The earth is
+in flames already--I saw it with my own eyes! I have come down from the
+roof....
+
+"Father! Where is my father?"
+
+At this news the company started up in fresh alarm, Pappus, the
+mathematician, cried out: "The conflagration has begun! Flame and fire
+are falling from the skies!"
+
+"Lost-lost!" wailed Eunapius; while Porphyrius hastily felt in the folds
+of his purple garment, took out a small crystal phial and went, pale but
+calm, up to the high-priest. He laid his hand on the arm of the friend
+whom he had looked up to all his life with affectionate admiration, and
+said with an expression of tender regret:
+
+"Farewell. We have often disputed over the death of Cato--you
+disapproving and I approving it. Now I follow his example. Look--there
+is enough for us both."
+
+He hastily put the phial to his mouth, and part of the liquid had passed
+his lips before Olympius understood the situation and seized his arm.
+The effect of the deadly fluid was instantly manifest; but Porphyrius
+had hardly lost consciousness when Apuleius had rushed to his side.
+The physician had succumbed to the universal panic and resigned himself
+doggedly to Fate; but as soon as an appeal was made to his medical skill
+and he heard a cry for help, he had thrown off the wrapper from his head
+and hastened to the merchant's side to combat the effects of the poison,
+as clear-headed and decisive as in his best hours by the bed of sickness
+or in the lecture-room.
+
+When the very backbone of the soul seems to be broken, a sense of duty
+is the one and last thing that holds it together and keeps it upright;
+and nature has implanted in us such a strong and instinctive regard for
+life--which we are so apt to contemn--that even within a few paces of
+the grave we cherish and foster it as carefully as in its prime, when
+the end seems still remote.
+
+The merchant's desperate deed had been done under the very eyes of
+Orpheus, and the newer horror so completely overshadowed the older, that
+he hastened unbidden to help the physician lay the unconscious man on
+the nearest couch; but then he went off again in search of his parents.
+Olympius, however, who at the sight of his friend's weakness had
+suddenly comprehended how much depended, in these last hours, on his own
+resolute demeanor, detained the youth, and sternly desired him to give
+an exact and clear account of what had happened on the roof. The young
+musician obeyed; and his report was certainly far from reassuring.
+
+A ball of fire had fallen with a terrific noise on the cupola, mingling
+with flames that seemed to rise like streams of fire from the earth.
+Then, again the heavens had opened with a blinding flash and Orpheus had
+seen--with his own eyes seen--a gigantic monster--an uprooted mountain
+perhaps--which had slowly moved towards the back-wall of the Serapeum
+with an appalling clatter; and not rain, but rivers, rushing torrents of
+water, had poured down on the men on guard.
+
+"It is Poseidon," cried the lad, "bringing up the ocean against the
+temple, and I heard the neighing of his horses. It was not an illusion,
+I heard it with my own ears...."
+
+"The horses of Poseidon!" interrupted Olympius. "The horses of the
+Imperial cavalry were what you heard!"
+
+He ran to the window with the activity of a younger man and, lifting the
+curtain, looked out to the eastward. The storm had vanished as rapidly
+as it had come up and it was day. Over the rosy skirts of Eos hung a
+full and heavy robe of swelling grey and black clouds, edged with
+a fringe of sheeny gold. To the north a sullen flash now and then
+zigzagged across the dark sky, and the roll of the thunder was faint
+and distant; but the horses whose neighing had affrighted Orpheus were
+already near; they were standing close to the southern or back-wall of
+the temple, in which there was no gate or entrance of any kind. What
+object could the Imperial cavalry have in placing themselves by that
+strong and impenetrable spot?
+
+But there was no time for much consideration, for at this instant the
+gong, which was sounded to call the defenders of the Serapeum together,
+rang through the precincts.
+
+Olympius needed no spur or encouragement. He turned to his guests with
+the passion and fire of a fanatical leader, of the champion of a great
+but imperilled cause, and bid them be men and stand by him to resist
+the foe till death. His voice was husky with excitement as he spoke his
+brief but vehement call to arms, and the effect was immense, precisely
+because the speaker, carried away by the tide of feeling, had not tried
+to impress the learned and eloquent men whom he addressed by any tricks
+of elocution or choice of words. They, too, were fired by the spark of
+the old man's enthusiasm; they gathered round him, and followed him at
+once to the rooms where the weapons had been deposited for use.
+
+Breastplates girt on to their bodies, and swords wielded in their hands
+made soldiers of the sages at once, and inspired them with martial
+ardor. Little was spoken among these heroes of "the mighty word."
+They were bent on action. Olympius Had desired Apuleius to go into his
+private room adjoining the hypostyle with Porphyrius, on whose senseless
+and rigid state no treatment had as yet had any effect. Some of the
+temple-servants carried the merchant down a back staircase, while
+Olympius hastily and silently led his comrades in arms up the main steps
+into the great halls of the temple.
+
+Here the chivalrous host were doomed to surprise and disappointment
+greater than the most hopeless of them was prepared to meet. Olympius
+himself for a moment despaired; for his ecstatic adherents had during
+the night turned to poltroons and tipplers, and the sacred precincts
+of the sanctuary looked as if a battle had been fought and lost there.
+Broken and bruised furniture, smashed instruments, garments torn and
+wet, draggled wreaths, and faded flowers were strewn in every direction.
+The red wine lay in pools like blood on the scarred beauties of the
+inlaid pavement; here and there, at the foot of a column, lay an
+inert body--whether dead or merely senseless who could guess?--and the
+sickening reek of hundreds of dying lamps filled the air, for in the
+confusion they had been left to burn or die as they might.
+
+And how wretched was the aspect of the sobered, terror-stricken,
+worn-out men and women. An obscure consciousness of having insulted the
+god and incurred his wrath lurked in every soul. To many a one prompt
+death would have seemed most welcome, and one man--a promising pupil
+of Helladius, had actually taken the leap from existence into the
+non-existence which, as he believed, he should find beyond the grave;
+he had run his had violently against a pillar, and lay at the foot of it
+with a broken skull.
+
+With reeling brains, aching brows, and dejected hearts, the unhappy
+creatures had got so far as to curse the present; and those who dared to
+contemplate the future thought of it only as a bottomless abyss, towards
+which the flying hours were dragging them with unfelt but irresistible
+force. Time was passing--each could feel and see that; night was gone,
+it would soon be day; the storm had passed over, but instead of the
+inexorable powers of nature a new terror now hung over them: the no
+less inexorable power of Caesar. To the struggle of man against the gods
+there was but one possible end: Annihilation. In the conflict of man
+against man there might yet be, if not victory, at least escape. The
+veteran Memnon, with his one arm, had kept watch on the temple-roof
+during that night's orgy, planning measures for repulsing the enemy's
+attack, till the storm had burst on him and his adherents with the
+"artillery of heaven." Then the greater portion of the garrison had
+taken refuge in the lower galleries of the Serapeum, and the old general
+was left alone at his post, in the blinding and deafening tempest. He
+threw his remaining arm round a statue that graced the parapet of the
+roof to save himself from being swept or washed away; and he would still
+have shouted his orders, but that the hurricane drowned his voice, and
+none of his few remaining adherents could have heard him speak. He, too,
+had heard the champing of horses and had seen the moving mountain
+which Orpheus had described. It was in fact a Roman engine of war; and,
+faithful though he was to the cause he had undertaken, something like a
+feeling of joy stirred his warrior's soul, as he looked down on the fine
+and well-drilled men who followed the Imperial standards under which
+he had, ere now, shed his best blood. His old comrades in arms had not
+forgotten how to defy the tempest, and their captains had been well
+advised in preparing to attack first what seemed the securest side of
+the temple. The struggle, he foresaw, would be against tried soldiers,
+and it was with a deep curse and a smile of bitter scorn that he thought
+of the inexperienced novices under his command. It was only yesterday
+that he had tried to moderate Olympius' sanguine dreams, and had said to
+him: "It is not by enthusiasm but by tactics that we defeat a foe!"
+
+The skill and experience he had to contend with were in no respect
+inferior to his own; and he would know, only too soon, what the
+practical worth might be of the daring and enthusiastic youths whom he
+had undertaken to command, and of whom he still had secret hopes for the
+best.
+
+The one thing to do was to prevent the Christians from effecting the
+breach which they evidently intended to make in the back-wall, before
+the Libyan army of relief should arrive; and, at the same time, to
+defend the front of the temple from the roof. There was a use for every
+one who could heave a stone or flourish a sword; and when he thought
+over the number of his troops he believed he might succeed in holding
+the building for some considerable time. But he was counting on false
+premises, for he did not know how attractive the races had proved to his
+"enthusiastic youth" and how great a change had come over most of them.
+
+As soon as the wind had so far subsided that he could stand alone, he
+went to collect those that still remained, and to have the brass gong
+sounded which was to summon the combatants to their posts. Its metallic
+clang rang loud and far through the dim dawn; a deaf man might have
+heard it in the deepest recess of the sanctuary--and yet the minutes
+slipped by--a quarter of an hour--and no one had come at its call. The
+old captain's impatience turned to surprise, his surprise became wrath.
+The messengers he sent down did not return and the great moving shed
+of the Romans was brought nearer and nearer to the southern side of the
+temple, screening the miners from the rare missiles which the few men
+remaining with him cast clown by his orders.
+
+The enemy were evidently making a suitable foundation on which to place
+the storming engine--a beam with a ram's head of iron-to make a breach
+in the temple-wall. Every minute's delay on the part of the besieged was
+an advantage to the enemy. A hundred-two hundred more hands on the roof,
+and their tactics might yet be defeated.
+
+Tears of rage, of the bitter sense of impotence, started to the old
+soldier's eyes; and when, at length, one of his messengers came back and
+told him that the men and women alike seemed quite demented, and all
+and each refused to come up on the roof, he uttered a wrathful curse and
+rushed down-stairs himself.
+
+He stormed in on the trembling wretches; and when he beheld with his
+own eyes all that his volunteers had done dining that fateful night, he
+raved and thundered; asked them, rather confusedly perhaps, if they knew
+what it was to be expected to command and find no obedience; scolded the
+refractory, driving some on in front of him; and then, as he perceived
+that some of them were making off with the girls through the door
+leading to the secret passage, he placed himself on guard with his sword
+drawn, and threatened to cut down any who attempted to escape.
+
+In the midst of all this Olympius and his party had come into the
+ball and seeing the commander struggling, sword in hand, with the
+recalcitrant fugitives, where the noise was loudest, he and his guests
+hastened to the rescue and defended the door against the hundreds who
+were crowding to fly. The old man was grieved to turn the weapons they
+had seized in their sacred ardor, against the seceders from their own
+cause; but it had to be. While the loyal party--among them Karnis and
+Orpheus--guarded the passage to the underground rooms with shield and
+lance, Olympius took council of the veteran captain, and they rapidly
+decided to allow all the women to depart at once and to divide the men
+into two parties-one to be sent to fight on the roof, and the other to
+defend the wall where the Roman battering-ram was by this time almost
+ready to attack.
+
+The high-priest took his stand boldly between his adherents and the
+would-be runaways and appealed to them in loud and emphatic tones to do
+their duty. They listened to him silently and respectfully; but when he
+ended by stating that the women were commanded to withdraw, a terrific
+outcry was raised, some of the girls clung to their lovers, while others
+urged the men to fight their way out.
+
+Several, however, and among them the fair Glycera who a few hours since
+had smiled down triumphantly on her worshippers as Aphrodite, availed
+themselves at once of the permission to quit this scene of horrors,
+and made their way without delay to the subterranean passages. They had
+adorers in plenty in the city. But they did not get far; they were met
+by a temple-servant flying towards the great hall, who warned them
+to return thither at once: the Imperial soldiers had discovered the
+entrance to the aqueduct and posted sentries in the timber-yard. They
+turned and followed him with loud lamentations, and hardly had they
+got back into the temple when a new terror came upon them: the iron
+battering-ram came with a first heavy shock, thundering against the
+southern wall.
+
+The Imperial troops were in fact masters of the secret passage; and they
+had begun the attack on the Serapeum in earnest. It was serious--but all
+was not yet lost; and in this fateful hour Olympius and Memnon proved
+their mettle. The high-priest commanded that the great stone trap-doors
+should be dropped into their places, and that the bridges across the
+gulfs, in the underground rooms reserved for the initiated, should be
+destroyed; and this there was yet time to do, for the soldiers had not
+yet ventured into those mysterious corridors, where there could not fail
+to be traps and men in ambush. Memnon meanwhile had hurried to the spot
+where the battering-ram had by this time dealt a second blow, shouting
+as he went to every man who was not a coward to follow him.
+
+Karnis, Orpheus and the rest of the high-priest's guests obeyed his call
+and gathered round him; he commanded that everything portable should be
+brought out of the temple to be built into a barricade behind the point
+of attack, and that neither the most precious and beautiful statues, nor
+the brass and marble stelae and altar-slabs should be spared. Screened
+by this barricade, and armed with lances and bows--of which there were
+plenty at hand--he proposed, when the breach was made, to check the
+further advance of the foe.
+
+He was not ill-pleased that the only way of escape was cut off; and
+as soon as he had seen the statues dragged from their pedestals, the
+altar-stones removed from the sacred places they had filled for half
+a century, benches and jars piled together and a stone barricade thus
+fairly advanced towards completion, he drafted off a small force for the
+defences on the roof. There was no escape now; and many a one who,
+to the very last, had hoped to find himself free, mounted the stairs
+reluctantly, because he would there be more immediately in the face of
+the foe than when defending the breach.
+
+Olympius distributed weapons, and went from one to another, speaking
+words of encouragement; presently he found Gorgo who, with the bereaved
+widow, was still sitting at the foot of the statue of justice. He told
+her that her father was ill, and desired a servant to show her the way
+to his private room, that she might help the leech in attending on him.
+Berenice could not be induced to stir; she longed only for the end and
+was persuaded that it could not be far off. She listened eagerly to the
+blows of the battering-engine; each one sounded to her like a shock to
+the very structure of the universe. Another--and another--and at last
+the ancient masonry must give way and the grave that had already opened
+for her husband and her son would yawn to swallow her up with her
+sorrows. She shuddered and drew her hood over her face to screen it from
+the sun which now began to shine in. Its light was a grievance to her;
+she had hoped never to see another day.
+
+The women, and with them a few helpless weaklings, had withdrawn to the
+rotunda, and before long they were laughing as saucily as ever.
+
+From the roof blocks of stone and broken statues were hailing down on
+the besiegers, and in the halls below, the toiler who paused to wipe
+the sweat from his brow would brook no idleness in his comrade; the most
+recalcitrant were forced to bestir themselves, and the barricade inside
+the southern wall soon rose to a goodly height. No rampart was ever
+built of nobler materials; each stone was a work of art and had been
+reverenced for centuries as something sacred, or bore in an elegant
+inscription the memorial of noble deeds. This wall was to protect the
+highest of the gods, and among the detachment told off to defend it,
+were Karnis, his son, and his wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+Gorgo sat by the bed of her apparently lifeless father, gazing fondly at
+the worn and wax-like features, and listening to his breathing, now soft
+and easy and again painful and convulsive, as it fluttered through his
+nostrils. She held his cold damp hand tightly clasped, or stroked it
+gently, or now and then, when his closed eyelids quivered, raised it
+tenderly to her lips.
+
+The room in which they were lay on one side of the hypostyle and behind
+the right-hand--or western--colonnade; more forward, therefore, than
+the veiled statue and to its left hand. The noise of the toilers at the
+barricade and the crash of the blows of the battering-ram came up from
+just below, and at each thud of the engine the senseless man started
+convulsively and a look of intense pain crossed his face. But, though
+it was indeed grievous to Gorgo to see her father suffering, though she
+told herself again and again that, ere long, the sanctuary must fall
+into the hands of the Christians, she felt safe, thankful and sheltered
+up here, in her old friend's half-lighted and barely-furnished room,
+shut off, at any rate, from the frenzied wretches of whom she thought
+only with loathing and fear.
+
+She was wearied out with her night of unrest, but the agitation and
+excitement she had gone through were still vividly present to her mind,
+and even on the comfortable couch in her own snug room at home her
+perturbed spirit would have prevented her sleeping. Her brain was still
+in a ferment, and here, in comparative peace, she had time to think over
+all she had gone through during the last few hours, and the catastrophes
+that had befallen her grandmother and her father. She had exchanged but
+few words with the physician, who was still unceasingly busy in trying
+to restore his patient to consciousness, and who had assured her that he
+had every hope of her father's recovery.
+
+But at length the girl looked up with an eager gaze and said, sadly
+enough: "You said something about an antidote to poison, Apuleius? Then
+my father tried to escape the final destruction by attempting to kill
+himself.--Is it so?"
+
+The leech looked at her keenly, and after confirming her suspicion and
+explaining to her exactly how the fateful deed had been accomplished, he
+went on:
+
+"The storm had completely unnerved him--it unmanned us all--and yet that
+was only the prelude to the tremendous doom which is hanging over
+the universe. It is at hand; we can hear its approach; the stones are
+yielding! the Christian's engines are opening the way for it to enter!"
+
+Apuleius spoke in a tone of sinister foreboding, and the falling stones
+dislodged by the battering-ram thundered a solemn accompaniment to his
+prophecy. Gorgo, turned pale; but it was not the physician's ominous
+speech that alarmed her, but the quaking of the walls of the room.
+Still, the Serapeum was built for eternity; the ram might bring down a
+wall, but it could not destroy or even shake the building itself.
+
+Outside, the hubbub of fighting men grew louder and louder every minute,
+and Apuleius, increasingly anxious, went to the door to listen. Gorgo
+could see that his hands trembled! he--a man--was frightened, while
+she felt no anxiety but for her suffering father! Through that breach
+Constantine would enter--and where he commanded she was safe. As to
+the destruction of the universe--she no longer believed in it. When the
+physician turned round and saw her calmly and quietly wiping the cold
+drops from the sick man's brow, he said gloomily: "Of what use is it to
+shut our eyes like the ostrich. They are fighting down there for life
+or death--we had better prepare for the end. If they venture--and they
+will--to lay a sacrilegious hand on the god, besiegers and besieged
+alike--the whole world together, must perish."
+
+But Gorgo shook her head. "No, no," she cried, with zealous confidence.
+"No, Apuleius, Serapis is not what you believe him to be; for, if he
+were, would he suffer his enemies to overthrow his temple and his image?
+Why does he not, at this supreme moment, inspire his worshippers
+with courage? I have seen the men--mere boys--and the women who have
+assembled here to fight for him. They are nothing but drivellers and
+triflers. If the master is like his men it serves him right if he is
+overthrown; to weep for him would be waste of woe!"
+
+"And can the daughter of Porphyrius say this?" exclaimed the leech.
+
+"Yes, Apuleius, yes. After what I have seen, and heard, and endured this
+night, I cannot speak otherwise. It was shameful, horrible, sickening;
+I could rage at the mere thought of being supposed to be one of that
+debased crew. It is disgrace and ignominy even to be named in the same
+breath! A god who is served as this god has been is no god of mine! And
+you--you are learned--a sage and a philosopher--how can you believe that
+the God of the Christians when he has conquered and crippled yours, will
+ever permit Serapis to destroy His world and the men He created?"
+
+Apuleius drew himself up. "Are you then a Christian?" he asked swiftly
+and sternly.
+
+But Gorgo could not reply; she colored deeply and Apuleius vehemently
+repeated his question: "Then you really are a Christian?"
+
+She looked frankly in his face: "No," she said, "I am not; but I wish I
+were."
+
+The physician turned away with a shrug; but Gorgo drew a breath of
+relief, feeling that her avowal had lifted a heavy burthen from her
+soul. She hardly knew how the bold and momentous confession had got
+itself spoken, but she felt that it was the only veracious answer to the
+physician's question.
+
+They spoke no more; she was better pleased to remain silent, for her own
+utterance had opened out to her a new land of promise--of feeling and of
+thought.
+
+Her lover henceforth was no longer her enemy; and as the tumult of the
+struggle by the breach fell on her ear, she could think with joy of
+his victorious arms. She felt that this was the purer, the nobler, the
+better cause; and she rejoiced in the love of which he had spoken as the
+support and the stay of their future life together--as sheltering them
+like a tower of strength and a mighty refuge. Compared with that love
+all that she had hitherto held dear or indispensable as gracing life,
+now seemed vain and worthless; and as she looked at her father's still
+face, and remembered how he had lived and what he had suffered, she
+applied those words of Paul which Constantine had spoken at their
+meeting after his return, to him, too; and her heart overflowed with
+affection towards her hapless parent. She knew full well the meaning of
+the deep lines that marked his lips and brow; for Porphyrius had never
+made any secret of his distress and vexation whenever he found himself
+compelled to confess a creed in which he did not honestly believe. This
+great falsehood and constant duplicity, this divided allegiance to two
+masters, had poisoned the existence of a man by nature truthful; and
+Gorgo knew for whose sake and for what reasons he had subjected himself
+to this moral martyrdom. It was a lesson to her to see him lying
+there, and his look of anguish warned her to become, heart and soul,
+a Christian as she felt prompted. She would confess Christ for love's
+sake-aye, for love's sake; for in this hour the thing she saw most
+clearly in the faith which she purposed to adopt, and of which
+Constantine had so often spoken to her with affectionate enthusiasm, was
+Everlasting Love.
+
+Never in her life had she felt so much at peace, so open to all that was
+good and beautiful; and yet, outside, the strife grew louder and more
+furious; the Imperial tuba sounded above the battle-cry of the heathen,
+and the uproar of the struggle came nearer and nearer.
+
+The battering-ram had made a large breach in the southern wall, and,
+protected by their shed, the heavy-armed infantry of the twenty-second
+legion had forced their way up; but many a veteran had paid for his
+rashness with his life, for the storming party had been met by a perfect
+shower of arrows and javelins. Still, the great shield had turned many a
+spear, and many an arrow had glanced harmless from the brazen armor and
+helmets; the men that had escaped pressed onwards, while fresh ranks
+of soldiers made their way in, over the bodies of the fallen. The
+well-drilled foe came creeping up to the barricade on their knees, and
+protected by bronze bucklers, while others, in the rear, flung lances
+and arrows over their heads at the besieged. A few of the heathen fell,
+and the sight of their blood had a wonderful effect on their comrades.
+Rage surged up in the breasts of the most timid, and fear vanished
+before the passion for revenge; cowardice turned to martial ardor, and
+philosophers and artists thirsted for blood. The red glare of strife
+danced before the eyes of the veriest book-worm; fired by the terrible
+impulse to kill, to subdue, to destroy the foe, they fought desperately
+and blindly, staking their lives on the issue.
+
+Karnis, that zealous votary of the Muses, stood with Orpheus, on the
+very top of the barricade throwing lance after lance, while he sang at
+the top of his voice snatches of the verses of Tyrtaeus, in the teeth,
+as it were, of the foe who were crowding through the breach; the sweat
+streamed from his bald head and his eye flashed fire. By his side stood
+his son, sending swift arrows from an enormous bow. The heavy curls of
+his hair had come unbound and fell over his flushed face. When he hit
+one of the Imperial soldiers his father applauded him eagerly; then,
+collecting all his strength, flung another lance, chanting a hexameter
+or a verse of an ode. Herse crouched half hidden behind a sacrificial
+stone which lay at the top of the hastily-constructed rampart, and
+handed weapons to the combatants as they needed them. Her dress was torn
+and blood-stained, her grey hair had come loose from the ribbands and
+crescent that should have confined it; the worthy matron had become a
+Megaera and shrieked to the men: "Kill the dogs! Stand steady! Spare
+never a Christian!"
+
+But the little garrison needed no incitement; the fevered zeal which
+possessed them wholly, seconded their thirst for blood and doubled their
+strength.
+
+An arrow, shot by Orpheus, had just glanced over the breastplate and
+into the throat of a centurion who had already set foot on the lowest
+step, when Karnis suddenly dropped the spear he was preparing to fling
+and fell without a cry. A Roman lance had hit him, and he lay transfixed
+by the side of a living purple fount, like a rock in the surf from which
+a sapling has sprung. Orpheus saw his father's life-blood flowing and
+fell on his knees by his side; but the old man pointed to the bow that
+his son had cast aside and murmured eagerly: "Leave me--let me be. What
+does it matter about me? Fight--for the gods--I say. For the gods! Go
+on, aim truly!"
+
+But the lad would not leave the dying man, and seeing how deeply the
+spear had struck to the old man's heart he groaned aloud, throwing up
+his arms in despair. Then an arrow hit his shoulder, another pierced
+his neck, and he, too, fell gasping for breath. Karnis saw him drop, and
+painfully raised himself a little to help him; but it was too much
+for him; he could only clench his fist in helpless fury and chant,
+half-singing, half-speaking, as loud he was able, Electra's curse:
+
+     "This my last prayer, ye gods, do not disdain!
+     For them turn day to night and joy to pain!"
+
+But the heavy infantry, who by this time were crowding through the
+breach, neither heard nor heeded his curse. He lost consciousness and
+did not recover it till Herse, after lifting up her son and propping him
+against a plinth, pressed a cloth against the stump of the lance
+still remaining in the wound to staunch the swiftly flowing blood, and
+sprinkled his brow with wine. He felt her warm tears on his face, and as
+he looked up into her kind, faithful eyes, brimming over with tears of
+sympathy and regret, his heart melted to tenderness. All the happiest
+hours of the life they had spent together crowded on his memory; he
+answered her glance with a loving and grateful gaze and painfully held
+out his hand. Herse pressed it to her lips, weeping bitterly; but he
+smiled up at her, nodding his head and repeating again and again the
+line from Lucian: "Be comforted: you, too, must soon follow."
+
+"Yes, yes--I shall follow soon," she repeated with sobs. "Without you,
+without either of you, without the gods--what would become of me here."
+
+And she turned to her son who, fully conscious, had followed every word
+and every gesture of his parents and tried himself to say something. But
+the arrow in his neck choked his breath, and it was such agony to speak
+that he could only say hoarsely: "Father mother!" But these poor words
+were full of deep love and gratitude, and Karnis and Herse understood
+all he longed to express.
+
+Tears choked the poor woman's utterance so that neither of the three
+could say another word, but they were at any rate close together, and
+could look lovingly in each other's eyes. Thus passed some few minutes
+of peace for them, in spite of the blare of trumpets, and shrieks and
+butchery; but Herse's kerchief was dyed and soaked with her husband's
+blood, and the old man's eyes were glazed and staring as they wandered
+feebly on the scene, as though to get a last general picture of the
+world in which they had always sought to see only what was fair.
+Suddenly they remained fixed on the face of a statue of Apollo, which
+had been flung on to the barricade; and the longer they dwelt on the
+beautiful countenance of the god the more they sparkled with a clear
+transfigured gleam. Once more, with a final effort, he raised his heavy
+hand and pointed to the sun-crowned head of the immortal youth while he
+softly murmured:
+
+"He--he--all that was fair in existence--Orpheus, Herse--we owe it all
+to him. He dies with us.--They--the enemy--in conquering us conquer
+thee! They dream of a Paradise beyond death; but where thou reignest, O
+Phoebus, there is bliss even on earth! They boast that they love death
+and hate life; and when they are the victors they will destroy lute and
+pipe, nay, if they could, would exterminate beauty and extinguish
+the sun. This beautiful happy world they would have dark, gloomy,
+melancholy, hideous; thy kingdom, great Phoebus, is sunny, joyful and
+bright...!" Here his strength failed him; but presently he rallied once
+more and went on, with eager eyes: "We crave for light, for music,
+lutes and pipes--for perfumed flowers on careless brows--we--hold me
+up Herse--and thou, heal me, O Phoebus Apollo!--Hail, all hail! I thank
+thee--thou hast accepted much from me and hast given me all! Come, thou
+joy of my soul! Come in thy glorious chariot, attended by Muses and
+Hours! See, Orpheus, Herse--do you see Him coming?"
+
+He pointed with a confident gesture to the distance; and his anxious
+eyes followed the indication of his hand; he raised himself a little
+by a last supreme effort; but instantly fell back; his head sank on
+the bosom of his faithful partner and a stream of blood flowed from
+his quivering lips. The votary of the Muses was dead; and a few minutes
+after Orpheus, too, fell senseless.
+
+War-cries and trumpet-calls rang and echoed through the Serapeum. The
+battle was now a hand-to-hand fight; the besiegers had surmounted
+the barricade and stood face to face with the heathen. Herse saw them
+coming; she snatched the dart from her husband's wound, and fired by
+hatred and a wild thirst for vengeance, she rushed upon the besiegers
+with frantic and helpless fury, cursing them loudly. She met the death
+she craved; a javelin struck her and she fell close to her husband and
+son. Her death struggle was a short one; she had only time and strength
+to extend a hand to lay on each before she herself was a corpse.
+
+The battle raged round the heap of dead; the Imperial troops drove the
+garrison backwards into the temple-halls, and the plan of attack which
+had been agreed upon at a council of war held in the palace of
+the Comes, was carried out, point by point, with cool courage and
+irresistible force. A few maniples pursued the fugitives into the main
+entrance hall, helped them to force the gates open, and then drove them
+down the slope and steps, over the stones that had been heaped up for
+protection, and into the very arms of the division placed in front of
+the temple. These at once surrounded them and took them prisoners, as
+the hunter traps the game that rushes down upon him when driven by the
+dogs and beaters. Foremost to fly were the women from the rotunda, who
+were welcomed with acclamations by the soldiers.
+
+But those who now tried to defend themselves found no quarter. Berenice
+had picked up a sword that was lying on the ground and had opened a vein
+with the point of it; her body, bathed in blood, was found at the foot
+of the statue of justice.
+
+No sooner had the Christians mastered the barricade than a few maniples
+had been sent up to the roof, and the defenders had been compelled to
+surrender or to throw themselves from the parapet. Old Memnon, who had
+been fighting against his Imperial master and could hope for no mercy,
+sprang at once into the gulf below, and others followed his example; for
+the end of all things was now close at hand, and to the nobler souls to
+die voluntarily in battle for great Serapis seemed finer and worthier
+than to languish in the enemy's chains.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+The terrific storm of the preceding night had thrown the whole city into
+dismay. Everyone knew the danger that threatened Serapis, and what must
+ensue if he were overthrown; and everyone had thought that the end of
+the world had indeed come. But the tempest died away; the sun's bright
+glow dispersed the clouds and mist; sea and sky smiled radiantly blue,
+and the trees and herbage glistened in revived freshness.
+
+Not yet had the Romans dared to lay hands on the chief of the gods,
+the patron and protector of the city. Serapis had perhaps sent the
+lightning, thunder and rain as a message to warn his foes. If only they
+might abstain from the last, worst crime of desecrating his image!
+
+Nor was this the hope of the heathen only; on the contrary: Jews and
+Christians no less dreaded the fall of the god and of his temple. He was
+the pride, the monumental glory of the city of Alexander; the centre of
+foundations and schools which benefited thousands. The learning which
+was the boast of Alexandria dwelt under his protection; to the Serapeum
+was attached a medical Faculty which enjoyed the reputation of being
+the first in the world; from its observatory the course of the year
+was forecast and the calendar was promulgated. An hour's slumber in its
+halls brought prophetic dreams, and the future must remain undivined if
+Serapis were to fall, for the god revealed it to his priests, not merely
+by the courses and positions of the stars, but by many other signs;
+and it was a delight and a privilege to look forward from the certain,
+tangible present to the mysteries of the morrow.
+
+Even Christian seers answered the questionings of their followers in
+a way which portended the worst, and it was a grief to many of the
+baptized to think of their native city without Serapis and the Serapeum,
+just as we cannot bear to cut down a tree planted by the hand of an
+ancestor, even though it may darken our home. The temple ought to be
+closed, bloody sacrifices to the god should be prohibited--but his
+image--the noblest work of Bryaxis--to mutilate, or even to touch that
+would be a rash, a fateful deed, treason to the city and an outrage on
+the world.
+
+Thus thought the citizens; thus, too, thought the soldiers, who were
+required by military discipline to draw the sword against the god in
+whom many of them believed.
+
+As the news spread that the troops were to attack the Serapeum early
+next morning, thousands of spectators collected, and filled the temple
+itself in breathless anxiety to watch the issue of the struggle.
+
+The sky was as clear and blue as on any other fine day; but over the sea
+to the north lay a light stratum of clouds--the harbingers perhaps of
+the appalling blackness which the god would presently bring up against
+his enemies.
+
+The men who had defended the Serapeum were led away; it had been
+determined in a council of war that they should be treated with
+clemency, and Cynegius had proclaimed free and full pardon to every
+prisoner who would swear never, for the future, to sacrifice to the god
+or worship in his temple.
+
+Not one of the hundreds who had fallen into the hands of the Romans had
+refused to take the oath; they dispersed at once, though with suppressed
+fury, many of them joining the crowd who stood waiting and watching
+for the next step to be taken by the Romans--for the final crash of the
+universe, perhaps.
+
+The doors of the temple were thrown wide open; the temple-servants and
+hundreds of soldiers were busied in clearing the steps and approaches
+of the stones and fragments of statuary with which the heathen had
+encumbered them. As soon as this task was finished the dead and wounded
+were removed; among those who still breathed was Orpheus, the son of
+Karnis. Those who had been so happy as to escape in the defence of the
+sanctuary and had mingled with the crowd were besieged with questions,
+and all agreed that the statue of the god was as yet inviolate.
+
+The citizens were relieved, but ere long were startled by a new alarm;
+an Ala of heavy cavalry came upon the scene, opening a way for an
+immensely long procession whose chanted psalms rang out from afar, loud
+above the cries and murmurs of the mob, the clatter of harness, and
+stamping of horses. It was clear now where the monks had been. They were
+not usually absent when there was a skirmish with the heathen; but,
+till this moment, they had been seen only in twos or threes about the
+Serapeum. Now they came forward shouting a psalm of triumph, their eyes
+glaring, wilder and more ruthless than ever.
+
+The Bishop marched at their head, in his vestments, under a magnificent
+canopy; his lofty stature was drawn to its full height and his lips were
+firmly closed.
+
+He looked like a stern judge about to mount the tribunal to pronounce
+sentence with inexorable severity on some execrable crime.
+
+The crowd quailed.
+
+The Bishop and the monks in the Serapeum, meant the overthrow of the
+statue of the sovereign god--death and destruction. The boldest turned
+pale; many who had left wife and children at home stole away to await
+the end of the world with those they loved; others remained to watch the
+menaced sanctuary, cursing or praying; but the greater number, men and
+women alike, crowded into the temple, risking their lives to be present
+at the stupendous events about to be enacted there and which promised to
+be a drama of unequalled interest.
+
+At the bottom of the ascent the Comes rode forth to meet the Bishop,
+leaped from his saddle and greeted him with reverence. The Imperial
+legate had not made his appearance; he had preferred to remain for the
+present at the prefect's house, intending to preside, later in the day,
+at the races as the Emperor's representative, side by side with the
+Prefect Evagrius--who also kept aloof during the attack on the Serapeum.
+After a brief colloquy, Romanus signed to Constantine, the captain of
+the cavalry; the troop dismounted, and, led by their officer, marched up
+the slope that led to the great gate of the Serapeum. They were followed
+by the Comes with his staff; next to him pale and somewhat tremulous
+came some of the city officials and a few Christian members of the
+senate; and then the Bishop--who had preferred to come last--with all
+the Christian priesthood and a crowd of chanting monks. The train
+was closed by a division of heavy-armed infantry; and after them the
+populace rushed in, unchecked by the soldiers who stood outside the
+temple.
+
+The great halls of the Serapeum had been put in order as well as
+possible in so short a time. Of all those who, the day before,
+had crowded in to defend the god and his house, none were left but
+Porphyrius and those who were nursing him. After a long and agonizing
+period of silence heavy fists came thundering at the door. Gorgo started
+up to unbolt it, but Apuleius held her back; so it was forced off its
+hinges and thing into the temple-aisle on which the room opened. At the
+same instant a party of soldiers entered the room and glanced round it
+enquiringly.
+
+The physician turned as pale as death, and sank incapable of speech on
+a seat by his patient's couch; but Gorgo turned with calm dignity to the
+centurion who led the intruders, and explained to him who she was,
+and that she was here under the protection of the leech to tend her
+suffering father. She concluded by asking to speak with Constantine
+the prefect of cavalry, or with the Comes Romanus, to whom she and her
+father were well known.
+
+There was nothing unusual in a sick man being brought into the Serapeum
+for treatment, and the calm, undoubting superiority of Gorgo's tone
+as well as the high rank of the men whose protection she appealed to,
+commanded the centurion's respectful consideration; however, his orders
+were to send every one out of the temple who was not a Roman soldier, so
+he begged her to wait a few minutes, and soon returned with the legate
+Volcatius, the captain of his legion. This knightly patrician well
+knew--as did every lover of horses--the owner of the finest stable in
+Alexandria, and was quite willing to allow Gorgo and Apuleius to
+remain with their patient; at the same time he warned them that a great
+catastrophe was imminent. Gorgo, however, persisted in her wish to be by
+her father's side, so he left her a guard to protect them.
+
+The soldiers were too busy to linger; instead of replacing the door they
+had torn down, they pushed it out of their way; and Gorgo, seeing that
+her father remained in precisely the same condition, drew back the
+curtain which was all that now divided them from the hypostyle, and
+looked out over the heads of a double row of soldiers. They were posted
+close round the lower step of the platform that raised the hypostyle
+above the nave and the colonnades on each side of it.
+
+In the distance Gorgo could see a vast body of men slowly approaching
+in detachments, and with long pauses at intervals. They stopped for
+some time in the outer hall, and before they entered the basilica twenty
+Christian priests came in with strange gestures and a still stranger
+chant; these were exorcists, come to bann the evil spirits and daemons
+that must surely haunt this high place of idolatry and abominations.
+They carried crosses which they flourished like weapons against an
+unseen foe, and touched the columns with them, the pavement and the
+few remaining statues; they fell on their knees, making the sign of
+the cross with the left hand; and, finally, they ranged themselves like
+soldiers in three ranks in front of the niche containing the statue,
+pointed their crosses at the god, and recited in loud, angry, and
+commanding tones the potent anathemas and mysterious formulas which they
+thought calculated to expel the most reprobate and obdurate of all the
+heathen devils. A host of acolytes, following at their heels, swung
+their censers about the plague-spot--the shrine of the king of idols;
+while the exorcists dipped wands into a cauldron carried by their
+attendants, and sprinkled the mystical figures on the hanging and on the
+mosaic pavement.
+
+All this occupied several minutes. Then--and Gorgo's heart beat
+high--then Constantine came in, armed and equipped, and behind him an
+Ala of picked men, the elite of his troop; bearded men with tanned
+and scarred faces. Instead of swords they carried axes, and they were
+followed by sappers bearing tall ladders which, by Constantine's
+orders, they leaned up against the niche. The infantry ranged under the
+colonnades at the sides were evidently startled at the sight of these
+ladders, and Gorgo could perceive by the trembling of the curtain near
+which she and Apuleius were standing, how deeply the physician was
+agitated. It was as though the axe had been displayed with which a king
+was about to be decapitated.
+
+Now the Bishop came in with the municipal dignitaries; priests and
+monks, chanting as they walked, filled the broad hall, incessantly
+making the sign of the cross; and the crowd that poured into the
+hypostyle pressed as far forward as they were allowed by the chain which
+the soldiers held outstretched between them and their superiors.
+
+The populace-heathen and Christian of every sect and degree-filled the
+aisles, too; but the chain also kept them off the upper end, on to which
+the room opened in which Porphyrius lay; so that Gorgo's view of the
+curtain and apse remained unhindered.
+
+The psalm rang loudly through the temple-courts above the murmur and
+grumble of the angry, terrified and expectant mob. They were prepared
+for the worst; each one knew the crime which was to be perpetrated, and
+yet few, perhaps, really believed that any one would dare to commit
+it. Whichever way she looked Gorgo saw only white faces, stamped with
+passion, dismay, and dread. The very priests and soldiers themselves had
+turned pale, and stood with bloodless cheeks and set teeth, staring at
+the ground; some, to disguise their alarm, cast wrathful and defiant
+glances at the rebellious mob, who tried to drown the psalm-singing in
+loud menaces and curses, and the echoes of the great building doubled
+their thousand voices.
+
+A strange unrest seethed in this dense mass of humanity. The heathen
+were trembling with rage, clutching their amulets and charms, or shaking
+angry fists; the Christians thrilled with anxiety and pious zeal, and
+used their hands to lift the cross or to ward off the evil one with
+outstretched fingers. Every face and every gesture, the muttered curses
+and pious hymns--all showed that some terrible and fateful event was
+impending over all. Gorgo herself felt as though she were standing on
+the brink of a crater, while air and earth heaved around her; she felt
+and saw the eruption of the volcano threatening, every instant, to burst
+at her feet, and to choke and ruin every living thing.
+
+The uproar among the heathen grew louder and louder; fragments of stone
+and wood came flying towards the spot where the Bishop and officials
+were standing; but, suddenly, the tumult ceased, and, as if by a
+miracle, there was silence--perfect silence--in the temple. It was as
+though at a sign from the Omnipotent Ruler the storm-lashed ocean had
+turned to the calm of a land-locked lake. At a nod from the Bishop some
+acolytes had stepped up to the niche where the statue of the god was
+shrouded and the curtain, which till now had hidden it, slowly began to
+fall.
+
+There sat Serapis, looking down in majestic indifference, as cold and
+unapproachable as if his sublime dignity was far removed above the
+petty doings of the crawling humanity at his feet; and the effect was
+as impressive now as it had been the evening before. How beautiful--how
+marvellously grand and lofty was this work of human hands! Even the
+Christians could not repress a low, long-drawn murmur of surprise,
+admiration, and astonishment. The heathen were at first silent,
+overcome by pious awe and ecstasy; but then they broke out in a loud and
+triumphant shout, and their cries of "Hail to Serapis!" "Serapis, reign
+forever!" rang from pillar to pillar and echoed from the stony vault of
+the apse and ceiling.
+
+Gorgo crossed her hands over her bosom as she saw the god revealed in
+his glorious beauty. Spotlessly pure, complete and perfect, the noble
+statue stood before her; an idol indeed, and perishable--but still
+divine as a matchless work, wrought by the loving hands of a votary of
+the god, inspired by the immortals. She gazed spell-bound on the form
+which, though human, transcended humanity as eternity transcends time,
+as the light of the sun transcended the blazing beacon on Pharos; and
+she said to herself that it was impossible that an irreverent hand
+should be laid on this supremely lovely statue, crowned with the might
+of undying beauty.
+
+She saw that even the Bishop drew back a step when the curtain had
+fallen, and his lips parted involuntarily to utter a cry of admiration
+like the others; but she saw, too, that he closed them again and pressed
+them more firmly together; that his eye sparkled with a fiercer light as
+the shout of the heathen rose to heaven, that the knotted veins on his
+high forehead swelled with rage as he heard the cry of "Serapis, Hail,
+all hail!" Then she noted the Comes, as he whispered soothing words in
+the prelate's ear, praying him perhaps to spare the statue--not as an
+idol, but as a work of art; as he turned from Theophilus with a shrug;
+and then--her heart stood still, and she had to cling to the curtain--he
+pointed to the statue, with a nod of intelligence to Constantine. The
+young officer bowed with military formality and gave a word of command
+to his men, which was drowned by the wild cries of the heathen as soon
+as they apprehended with dismay what its import was.
+
+The veterans were stirred. A subaltern officer, putting the standard he
+bore into the hands of the man next to him and taking his axe from him
+instead, rushed towards the statue, gazed up at it--and then, letting
+the axe sink, withdrew slowly to rejoin the others who still stood
+hesitating, looking at each other with doubting and defiant eyes.
+
+Once more Constantine shouted his order, louder and more positively than
+before; but the men did not move. The subaltern flung his axe on the
+ground and the rest followed his example, pointing eagerly to the god,
+and vehemently adjuring their prefect--refusing apparently to obey his
+commands--for he went to the recalcitrant standard-bearer, a grey-haired
+veteran, and laying his hand on the man's shoulder shook him angrily,
+evidently threatening him and his comrades.
+
+In these brave souls a struggle was going on, between their sense of
+discipline and devotion to their fine young leader, and their awe of
+the god; it was visible in their puzzled faces, in their hands raised
+in supplication. Constantine, however, relentlessly repeated his order;
+and, when they still refused to obey, he turned his back on their ranks
+with a gesture of bitter contempt, and shouted his commands to the
+infantry posted by the colonnade behind which Gorgo was watching all
+these proceedings.
+
+But these also were refractory. The heathen were triumphant, and
+encouraged the soldiers with loud cries to persist.
+
+Constantine turned once more to his own men, and finding them obstinate
+in their disobedience, he went forward himself to where the ladders were
+standing, moved one of them from the wall and leaned it up against the
+body of the statue, seized the axe that lay nearest, and mounted from
+rung to rung. The murmurs of the heathen were suddenly silenced; the
+multitude were so still that the least sound of one plate of armor
+against another was audible, that each man could hear his neighbor
+breathe, and that Gorgo fancied she could hear her own heart throb.
+
+The man and the god stood face to face, and the man who was about to
+lay hands on the god was her lover. She watched his movements with
+breathless interest; she longed to call out to him, to follow him as
+he mounted the ladder, to fall on his neck and keep him from committing
+such sacrilege--not out of fear of the ruin he might bring upon the
+world, but only because she felt that the first blow he should deal to
+this beautiful and unique work of art might wreck her love for him, as
+his axe would wreck the ivory. She was not afraid for him; he seemed
+to her inviolable and invulnerable; but her whole soul shuddered at the
+deed which he was steeling himself to perpetrate. She remembered their
+happy childhood together, his own artistic attempts, the admiration with
+which he had gazed at the great works of the ancient sculptors--and
+it seemed impossible that he, of all men he, should lay hands on that
+masterpiece, that he, of all men, should be the one to insult, mutilate
+and ruin it. It was not--could not be true!
+
+But there he was, at the top of the ladder; he passed the axe from his
+left hand to his right, and leaning back a little, looked at the head
+of the god from one side. She could see his face plainly, and note
+every movement and look; she watched him keenly, and saw the loving
+and compassionate expression with which he fixed his gaze on the noble
+features of Serapis, saw him clutch his left hand to his heart as if in
+pain. The crowd below might fancy that he lacked courage, that he was
+absorbed in prayer, or that his soul shrank from dealing the fateful
+blow to the great divinity; but she could see that he was bidding a
+silent farewell, as it were, to the sublime work of an inspired artist,
+which it pained and shocked him to destroy. And this comforted her;
+it gave her views of the situation a new direction, and suggested the
+question whether he, a soldier and a Christian, when commanded by his
+superior to do this deed ought to shrink or hesitate, if he were indeed,
+heart and soul, what, after all, he was. Her eyes clung to him, as
+a frightened child clings to its mother's neck; and the expectant
+thousands, in an agony of suspense, like her, saw nothing but him.
+
+Stillness more profound never reigned in the heart of the desert than
+now in this vast and densely-crowded hall. Of all man's five senses only
+one was active: that of sight; and that was concentrated on a single
+object a man's hand holding an axe. The hearts of thousands stood
+still, their breath was suspended, there was a singing in their ears,
+a dazzling light in their eyes--eyes that longed to see, that must
+see--and that could not; thousands stood there like condemned criminals,
+whose heads are on the block, who hear the executioner behind them, and
+who still, on the very threshold of death, hope for respite and release.
+
+Gorgo found no answer to her own questionings; but she, too, wanted
+to see--must see. And she saw Constantine close his eyes, as though he
+dared not contemplate the deed that Fate had condemned him to do; she
+saw him lay his left hand on the god's sacred beard, saw him raise his
+right for the fatal blow--saw, heard, felt the axe crash again and
+again on the cheek of Serapis--saw the polished ivory fall in chips
+and shavings, large and small, on the stone floor, and leap up with an
+elastic rebound or shiver into splinters. She covered her face with her
+hands and hid her head in the curtain, weeping aloud. She could only
+moan and sob, and feel nothing, think nothing but that a momentous and
+sinister act had been perpetrated. An appalling uproar like the noise of
+thunder and the beating of surf rose up on every side, but she heeded it
+not; and when at length the physician called her by her name, when she
+turned from the curtain and once more looked out, instead of the sublime
+image of the god she saw in the niche a shapeless log of wood, a hideous
+mass against which several ladders were propped, while the ground was
+heaped and strewed with scraps of ivory, fragments of gold-plate, and
+chips of marble. Constantine had disappeared; the ladders and the plinth
+of the statue were covered with a swarm of soldiers and monks who were
+finishing the work of destruction. As soon as the young officer had
+struck the first blow, and the god had submitted in abject impotence,
+they had rushed upon him and saved their captain the trouble of ending
+the task he had begun.
+
+The great idol was desecrated. Serapis was no more--the heaven of the
+heathen had lost its king. The worshippers of the deposed god, sullen,
+furious, and bitterly disabused, made their way out of the temple and
+looked up at the serene blue sky, the unclouded sunshine, for some
+symptoms of an avenging tempest; but in vain.
+
+Theophilus had also quitted the scene with the Comes, leaving the
+work of devastation in the competent hands of the monks. He knew his
+skin-clad adherents well; and he knew that within a very few days not
+an idol, not a picture, not a token would remain intact to preserve the
+memory of the old gods; a thousand slaves charged to sweep the Serapeum
+from the face of the earth would have given his impatience twenty times
+as long to wait. The Comes went off at once to the Hippodrome, preceded
+by hundreds who had hurried off to tell the assembled multitude that
+Alexandria had lost her god.
+
+Constantine, however, had not left the temple; he had withdrawn into one
+of the aisles and seated himself on the steps, where he remained, sunk
+in thought and gazing at the ground. He was a soldier and took service
+and discipline in earnest. What he had done he had been forced to
+do; but no one could guess how hard it had been to him to fulfil this
+terrible duty. His own act was abominable in his eyes, and yet he would
+have done it again to-morrow, if it had again been required of him
+under similar circumstances. He bewailed the beautiful statue as a lost
+treasure of art; but he felt that it was indispensable that it should
+perish out of the world. And at the same time he thought of Gorgo,
+wondering how she--who had only the day before pledged herself to him,
+whom he loved with fervent passion, to whom, as he well knew, his faith
+was something monstrous in its contempt for beauty--would bear to learn
+that he, her lover, was the man who, like some coarse barbarian, had
+defaced this noble work and ruined this vision of beauty, no less dear
+to him than it was to her. Still, as he sat brooding and searching the
+very depths of his soul, he could not help feeling that he had certainly
+acted rightly and would do the same again, even at the risk of losing
+her. To him Gorgo, was the noblest of God's creatures, and how could he
+have borne to go through life at her side with a stain on his honor? But
+he did not conceal from himself the fact that his deed had opened a
+wide gulf between them; and it was with deep pathos that his thoughts
+recurred to the antique conception of tragedy--of fate which pursues
+its innocent victims as though they were guilty. This day perhaps would
+witness the sunset of his life's joy, would drive him forth once more to
+war--to fight, and do nothing but fight, till death should meet him on
+the battle-field. And as he sat there his eyes grew dim and heavy and
+his head fell on his heaving breast.
+
+Suddenly he felt a light touch on his shoulder, and turning round, he
+saw Gorgo standing with her hand outstretched; he started to his feet,
+seized it with eager passion and looking sadly into the young girl's
+eyes said, with deep emotion:
+
+"I would I might hold this hand forever--but you will leave me, you will
+turn from me when I tell you of the deed that mine has done."
+
+"I know it," she said firmly. "And it was a hard task even for you--a
+painful duty--was it not?"
+
+"Terrible! horrible!" he exclaimed with a shudder, as he recalled the
+feelings of that momentous instant. She looked sympathetically into his
+eyes.
+
+"And you did it," she cried, "because you felt that you must and will
+be wholly what you profess to be? It is right--the only right; I feel it
+so. I will try to imitate you, and rise above the half-heartedness
+which is the bane of existence, and which makes the firm path of life a
+trembling, swaying bridge. I am yours, wholly yours; I have none other
+gods but yours, and for love of you I will learn to love your God--for
+you have often and often called him a God of Love."
+
+"And He is a God of Love!" cried Constantine, "and you will know him and
+confess him even without teaching; for our Saviour lives in every heart
+that is filled with love. Oh! Gorgo, I have destroyed that beautiful
+idol, but I will let you see that even a Christian can duly value and
+cherish beauty in his home and in his heart."
+
+"I am sure of it," she exclaimed joyfully. "The world goes on its way
+and does not quake, in spite of the fall of Serapis; but I feel as
+though in my inmost soul a world had perished and a new one was created,
+nobler and purer, and perhaps even more lovely than the old one!"
+
+He pressed her hand to his lips; she signed to him to follow her and led
+the way to her father's couch. Porphyrius was sitting up, supported in
+the physician's arms; his eyes were open, and as they entered he greeted
+them with a faint smile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+The spacious Hippodrome was filled with some thousands of spectators. At
+first many rows of seats had been left vacant, though usually on the
+eve of the great races, the people would set out soon after midnight
+and every place would be filled long before the games began; indeed the
+upper tiers of the tribune, which were built of wood and were free to
+all comers, with standing-room behind, were commonly so crowded early in
+the morning that the crush ended in a free fight.
+
+On this occasion, the storm of the previous night, the anxiety caused
+by the conflict round the Serapeum, and the prevalent panic as to
+the approaching end of the world, kept great numbers away from their
+favorite diversion; but when the sky recovered its radiant blue, and
+when it became known that the statue of Serapis had escaped uninjured
+in the siege of his sanctuary--when Cynegius, the Imperial legate, and
+Evagrius, the city-prefect, had entered the theatre with much
+pomp, followed by several senators and ladies and gentlemen of
+rank-Christians, Heathen, and Jews--the most timid took courage; the
+games had been postponed for an hour, and before the first team was led
+into the arched shed whence the chariots started, the seats, though less
+densely packed than usual, were amply filled.
+
+The number of chariots entered for competition was by no means smaller
+than on former occasions, for the heathen had strained every nerve to
+show their fellow-citizens of different creeds, and especially Caesar's
+representative, that, in spite of persecution and in defiance of
+Imperial edicts, they were still a power worthy of consideration. The
+Christians, on their part, did their utmost to outdo the idolaters on
+the same ground where, not long since, they had held quite the second
+place.
+
+The Bishop's epigram: That Christianity had ceased to be the religion of
+the poor, was amply confirmed; the greater proportion of the places for
+senators, officials and rich citizens were occupied by its adherents,
+and the men and women who professed the Faith were by no means behind
+their heathen peers in magnificence of dress and jewels.
+
+The horses, too, entered by the Christians could not fail to please
+the connoisseur, as they punctually made their appearance behind the
+starting-place, though he might have felt more confidence--and not
+without reason--in the heathen steeds, and more particularly in their
+drivers, each of whom had won on an average nine races out of ten.
+
+The horses in the quadriga with which Marcus, the son of Mary, made his
+appearance in the arena had never before been driven in the Hippodrome.
+Demetrius, the owner's brother, had bred and trained them--four
+magnificent black Arabs--and they excited much interest among the
+knowing judges who were wont to collect and lounge about the 'oppidum',
+as it was called, behind the 'carceres'--[The covered sheds or stalls
+in which the horses were brought to wait for the start.]--to inspect the
+racers, predict the winner, offer counsel to the drivers, and make
+bets. These perfect creatures were perhaps as fine as the famous team
+of golden bays belonging to Iphicrates, which so often had proved
+victorious; but the agitatores, or drivers, attracted even more interest
+than the horses. Marcus, though he knew how to handle the reins--he
+had already been seen in experimental races--could hardly hold his
+own against Hippias, the handsome young heathen, who, like most of the
+drivers in the arena, was an agitator by profession. A story was told
+of his having driven over a bridge which was not quite as wide as the
+outside edges of his chariot-wheels; and there were many witnesses
+to the feat he had performed of writing his mistress' name with his
+chariot-tracks in the sand of the Hippodrome.
+
+The betting was freest and the wagers highest on Hippias and the team
+belonging to Iphicrates. Some few backed Marcus and his Arabs, but for
+smaller sums; and when they compared the tall but narrow-shouldered
+figure of the young Christian with the heroic breadth of Hippias' frame,
+and his delicate features, dreamy blue eyes and downy black moustache
+with the powerful Hermes-head of his rival, they were anxious about
+their money. If his brother now, the farmer Demetrius--who was standing
+by the horses' heads--or some well-known agitator had held the reins, it
+would have been a pleasure and a profit to back such horses. Marcus had
+been abroad, too, and men shrugged their shoulders over that, for it was
+not till the last few days that he had been seen exercising his horses
+in the Hippodrome.
+
+Time was going on, and the Imperial envoy, who had been elected to
+preside as judge, at length took his place; Demetrius whispered a few
+last words of advice to his brother and went back into the arena. He had
+secured a good place on the stone podium and on the shady side, though
+there were several seats vacant among those belonging to his family; but
+he did not care to occupy one of these, preferring to keep out of the
+way of his step-mother, who had made her appearance with a senator and
+his wife to whom she was related. He had not seen her for two days; his
+promise to Karnis that he would try to find Dada, had kept him fully
+occupied, and he had done his best in all earnest to discover the girl.
+
+The honest indignation with which this young creature had refused his
+splendid offers, in spite of the modest circumstances of her life, had
+roused his respect, and he had felt it an insult to himself and to his
+brother when Gorgo had spoken of her with contempt. For his part, he had
+never met with any one more fascinating; he could not cease dreaming of
+her, and the thought that she might be swallowed up in the foul mire of
+a great city made him miserable. His brother had the first claim on
+her and he would not dispute it; while he had sought her unweariedly
+in every resort of the young and gay--nay even in Canopus--he had only
+meant to place her in safety, as a treasure which runs a risk of being
+lost to the family, though, when at last its possession is secured,
+it becomes the property of the member who can prove the best right
+of ownership. But all his efforts had been in vain; and it was in an
+unhappy mood that he went at last to the Hippodrome. There the bitter
+hostility and party-feeling which he had everywhere observed during his
+present visit to his native city, were not less conspicuous than they
+had been in the streets. The competing chariots usually arrived at
+the amphitheatre in grand procession, but this had not been thought
+advisable in the prevailing excitement; they had driven into the oppidum
+singly and without any display; and the images of the gods, which in
+former days had always been placed on the spina before the games began,
+had long since fallen into disuse.
+
+   [The spina was the division down the middle of the arena. At each
+   end of it were placed the metae or goals, at a distance from it of
+   about 13 feet. The spina was originally constructed of wood,
+   subsequently it was of stone, and its height was generally about 29
+   feet. The spina in the Circus of Caracalla was more than 900 feet
+   long.]
+
+All this was vexatious to Demetrius, and when he had taken his seat
+it was in no pleasant temper that he looked round at the ranks of
+spectators.
+
+His step-mother was sitting on the stuffed bench covered with lion-skins
+which was reserved for the family. Her tunic and skirt displayed the
+color blue of the Christian charioteer, being made of bright blue and
+silver brocade of a beautiful pattern in which the cross, the fish, and
+the olive-branch were elegantly combined. Her black hair was closely and
+simply smoothed over her temples and she wore no garland, but a string
+of large grey pearls, from which hung a chaplet of sapphires and opals,
+lying on her forehead. A veil fell over the back of her head and she sat
+gazing into her lap as if she were absorbed in prayer; her hands were
+folded and held a cross. This placid and demure attitude she deemed
+becoming to a Christian matron and widow. Everyone might see that she
+had not come for worldly pleasure, but merely to be present at a triumph
+of her fellow-Christians--and especially her son--over the idolaters.
+Everything about her bore witness to the Faith, even the pattern on her
+dress and the shape of her ornaments; down to the embroidery on her silk
+gloves, in which a cross and an anchor were so designed as to form a
+Greek X, the initial letter of the name of Christ. Her ambition was to
+appear simple and superior to all worldly vanities; still, all she wore
+must be rich and costly, for she was here to do honor to her creed. She
+would have regarded it as a heathen abomination to wear wreaths of fresh
+and fragrant flowers, though for the money which that string of pearls
+had cost she might have decked the circus with garlands from end to end,
+or have fed a hundred poor for a twelvemonth. It seems so much easier to
+cheat the omniscient Creator of the Universe than our fellow-fools!
+
+So Dame Maria sat there in sour and virtuous dignity, looking like
+the Virgin Mary as painters and sculptors were at that time wont to
+represent her; and her farmer-son shuddered whenever his eye fell on
+his step-mother. It did him good, by contrast, to hear a hearty peal of
+laughter that came up from the lowest ranks of the podium. When he had
+discovered the spot from whence it proceeded he could hardly believe his
+eyes, for there sat the long-sought Dada, between an old man and a
+young woman, laughing as though something had just occurred to amuse her
+extremely. Demetrius stretched his limbs with a feeling of relief and
+satisfaction; then he rose, and seeing his city agent seated just behind
+the girl, he begged him to change places with him, as he thought it
+advisable not to lose sight of the game now it was caught; the old
+man was very ready to oblige him and went up to the other seat with a
+meaning smile.
+
+For the first time since she could recollect anything Dada had spent
+a sleepless night. Whether the wind and thunder would have sufficed to
+keep her awake who can tell; but the thoughts that had whirled through
+her brain had been varied and exciting enough to rob her of sleep. Her
+own people who were fighting for Serapis--how were they faring; and
+Agne--what had become of her? Then her mind turned to the church, and
+the worthy old priest's sermon; to the races that she was to see--and
+the face and figure of the handsome young Christian rose vividly and
+irresistibly before her fancy. Of course--of course, she wished his
+horses to win; but it was strange enough that she, Karnis' niece, should
+be on the side of the Christians. Stranger still that she had entirely
+ceased to believe in all the abuse which, from her earliest childhood,
+she had heard heaped on the followers of the crucified Jew. It could
+only be that Karnis had never been able to forgive them for having
+ruined his theatre at Tauromenium, and so, perhaps, had never known them
+thoroughly.
+
+She had enjoyed many a happy hour at the festivals of the old gods; and
+they were no doubt beautiful and festive divinities, or terrible when
+they were wroth; still, in the depths of her soul there had for some
+time lurked a vague, sweet longing which found no fulfilment in any
+heathen temple. She knew no name for it and would have found it hard to
+describe, but in the church, listening to the prayers and hymns and the
+old deacon's discourse, it had for the first time been stilled; she had
+felt then and there that, helpless and simple as she was, and even if
+she were to remain parted from her foster parents, she need never feel
+abandoned, but could rest and hope in a supreme, loving, and helpful
+power. And indeed she needed such a protector; she was so easily
+beguiled. Stephanion, a flute-player she had known in Rome, had wheedled
+everything she had a fancy for out of poor Dada, and when she had
+got into any mischief laid it all on Dada's shoulders. There must be
+something particularly helpless about her, for everyone, as a matter of
+course, took her in hand and treated her like a child, or said things
+that made her angry.
+
+In the Hippodrome, however, she forgot everything in the present
+pleasure, and was happy enough in finding herself in the lowest row
+of places, in the comfortable seats on the shady side, belonging to
+Posidonius, the wealthy Magian. This was quite different from her
+experience in Rome, where once, in the Circus Maximus, she had stood in
+the second tier of the wooden gallery and had been squeezed and pushed,
+while no one had taken any notice of her and she had only seen the races
+from a distance, looking down on the heads of the men and horses. Herse
+never would take her a second time, for, as they came out, they had been
+followed and spoken to by men, young and old; and after that her aunt
+had fancied she never could be safe, scenting danger at every turn, and
+would not allow her ever again to go out alone in the city.
+
+This was altogether a much finer place, for here she was parted from
+the race-course only by a narrow watercourse which, as it happened, was
+bridged over just in front of her; the horses would pass close to her;
+and besides, it was pleasant to be seen and to feel conscious of a
+thousand flattering glances centered on herself.
+
+Even the great Cynegius, Caesar's envoy and deputy, who had often
+noticed her on board ship, turned again and again to look at her. He was
+carried in on a golden litter by ten huge negroes, preceded by twelve
+lictors bearing fasces wreathed with laurel; and he took his seat, robed
+in purple and embroidery, on a magnificent throne in the middle of the
+tribune above the starting sheds; however, Dada troubled herself no more
+about the overdressed old man.
+
+Her eyes were everywhere, and she made Medius or his daughter name
+everybody and explain everything. Demetrius was delighted with her eager
+enjoyment; presently, nudging the singer, she whispered to him with much
+satisfaction:
+
+"Look how the people down below are craning their necks to look at us!
+My dress is so very pretty--I wonder where your friend Posidonius gets
+these lovely roses. There are above a hundred buds in this garland
+across my shoulders and down to my girdle, I counted them in the litter
+as I came along. It is a pity they should die so soon; I shall dry the
+leaves and make scent of them."
+
+Demetrius could not resist the temptation; he leaned forward and said
+over her shoulder: "There are hardly enough for that."
+
+At this unexpected address Dada looked round, and she blushed as she
+recognized Marcus' brother; he, however, hastened to assure her that he
+deeply regretted his audacious proposals of two days since, and the girl
+laughed, and said that he had come off worst, and that she might have
+sent him away a little more civilly perhaps; but the truth was she
+had been out of temper to begin with--any one would be cross that was
+treated as Dame Herse had treated her: hiding her shoes and leaving
+her a prisoner on the deck of a barge in the middle of a lake! Then
+she introduced him to Medius, and finally enquired about Marcus and his
+horses, and whether he had any chance of winning the race.
+
+The countryman answered all her questions; and when, presently, a
+flower-girl came along the ranks of seats, selling wreaths of blue and
+red flowers and ribbands, Demetrius bought two lovely olive-wreaths to
+fling to the winner--his brother he hoped. Medius and his daughter wore
+red knots--the color of the Heathen, and Dada, following their example,
+had a similar bow on her shoulder; now, however, she accepted a blue
+ribband that Demetrius bought for her and pinned it in the place of
+the red one as being the color of Marcus, to the old singer's great
+annoyance. Demetrius laughed loudly in his deep bass tones, declaring
+that his brother was already most anxious to win, and that, when he saw
+her with these ribbands he would strain every nerve, in gratitude
+for her partisanship. He could assure her that Marcus thought of her
+constantly.
+
+"I am glad of that," she said simply; and she added that it was the same
+with her, for she had been thinking all night of Marcus and his horses.
+Medius could not help remarking that Karnis and Herse would take it very
+ill that she should display the Christian color to-day of all days; to
+which she only replied that she was sorry for that, but that she
+liked blue better than red. The answer was so abrupt and short that it
+startled Demetrius, who had hitherto seen Dada gentle and pliant; and
+it struck him at once how deep an aversion the girl felt for her present
+protectors.
+
+There was music, as usual, in the towers at either end of the row
+of carceres; but it was less stirring and cheerful than of yore, for
+flutes, and several of the heathen airs had been prohibited. Formerly,
+too, the Hippodrome had been a place where lovers could meet and where
+many a love-affair had been brought to a happy climax; but to-day none
+of the daughters of the more respectable families were allowed to quit
+the women's apartments in their own homes, for danger was in the air;
+the course of events in the Serapeum had kept many of the younger men
+from witnessing the races, and some mysterious influence seemed to weigh
+upon the gaiety and mirth of which the Hippodrome on a gala day was
+usually the headquarters.
+
+Wild excitement, expectation strung to the highest pitch, and
+party-feeling, both for and against, had always, of course, been rife
+here; but to-day they were manifest in an acuter form--hatred had
+added its taint and lent virulence to every emotion. The heathen were
+oppressed and angered, their rights abridged and defied; they saw the
+Christians triumphant at every point, and hatred is a protean monster
+which rages most fiercely and most venomously when it has lurked in the
+foul career of envy.
+
+The Christians could hate, too, and they hated the idolaters who gloried
+with haughty self-sufficiency in their intellectual inheritance; the
+traditions of a brilliant past. They, who had been persecuted and
+contemned, now had the upper hand; they were in power, and the more
+insolently they treated their opponents, the more injustice they
+did them, and the less the victimized heathen were able to revenge
+themselves, the more bitterly did the Christians detest the party they
+contemned as superstitious idolaters. In their care for the soul--the
+spiritual and divine part--the Christians had hitherto neglected the
+graces of the body; thus the heathen had remained the undisputed masters
+of the palaestra and the hippodrome. In the gymnasium the Christian
+refused even to compete, for the exhibition of his naked body he
+regarded as an abomination; but on the race-course he had lately been
+willing to display his horses, and many times had disputed the crown
+with the hereditary victors, so that, even here, the heathen felt
+his time-honored and undisputed supremacy endangered. This was
+intolerable--this must be averted--the mere thought of being beaten on
+this ground roused the idolaters to wrath and malice. They displayed
+their color in wreaths of scarlet poppies, pomegranate flowers and red
+roses, with crimson ribbands and dresses; white and green, the colors
+formerly adopted by the competitors, were abandoned; for all the heathen
+were unanimous in combining their forces against the common foe.
+The ladies used red sun-shades and the very baskets, in which the
+refreshments were brought for the day, were painted red.
+
+The widow Mary, on the other hand, and all the Christians were robed in
+blue from head to foot, their sandals being tied with blue ribbands;
+and Dada's blue shoulder-knot was in conspicuous contrast to her bright
+rose-colored dress.
+
+The vendors of food who wandered round the circus had eggs dyed blue
+and red, cakes with sugared icing and refreshing drinks in jars of both
+colors. When a Christian and a Heathen found themselves seated side by
+side, each turned a shoulder to the other, or, if they were forced to
+sit face to face, eyed each other with a scowl.
+
+Cynegius did all he could to postpone the races as long as possible;
+he was anxious to wait till the Comes had finished his task in the
+Serapeum, so that the troops might be free to act in any emergency that
+might arise before the contests in the Hippodrome were fairly ended.
+Time did not hang heavy on his hands for the vast multitude here
+assembled interested him greatly, though he had frequently been a
+spectator of similar festivities in Rome and Constantinople; but this
+crowd differed in many particulars from the populace of those cities.
+In the topmost tiers of free seats black and brown faces predominated
+greatly over white ones; in the cushioned and carpeted ranks of the
+stone podium--the lower portion of the amphitheatre--mingled with Greeks
+and Egyptians, sat thousands of splendidly dressed men and women
+with strongly-marked Semitic features: members of the wealthy Jewish
+community, whose venerable head, the Alabarch, a dignified patriarch in
+Greek dress, sat with the chief members of the senate, near the envoy's
+tribune.
+
+The Alexandrians were not a patient race and they were beginning to
+rebel against the delay, making no small noise and disturbance, when
+Cynegius rose and with his white handkerchief waved the signal for the
+races to begin. The number of spectators had gradually swelled from
+fifty to sixty and to eighty thousand; and no less than thirty-six
+chariots were waiting behind the carceres ready to start.
+
+Four 'missus' or races were to be run. In each of the three first twelve
+chariots were to start, and in the fourth only the leaders in the
+three former ones were to compete. The winner of the olive-wreath and
+palmbranch in this final heat would bear the honors of the day; his
+party would be victorious and he would quit the Hippodrome in triumph.
+
+Lots were now drawn in the oppidum to decide which shed each chariot was
+to start from, and in which naissus each was to run. It was Marcus' fate
+to start among the first lot, and, to the horror of those who had backed
+his chances, Hippias, the hero of the Hippodrome, was his rival, with
+the four famous bays.
+
+Heathen priests poured libations to Poseidon, and Phoebus Apollo, the
+patron divinities of horses and of the Hippodrome--for sacrifices of
+blood were prohibited; while Christian presbyters and exorcists blessed
+the rival steeds in the name of the Bishop. A few monks had crept in,
+but they were turned out by the heathen with bitter jeers, as unbidden
+intruders.
+
+Cynegius repeated his signal. The sound of the tuba rang through the
+air, and the first twelve chariots were led into the starting-sheds. A
+few minutes later a machine was set in motion by which a bronze eagle
+was made to rise with outspread wings high into the air, from an altar
+in front of the carceres; this was the signal for the chariots to come
+forth from their boxes. They took up their positions close behind a
+broad chalk line, traced on the ground with diagonal slope, so as to
+reduce the disadvantage of standing outermost and having a larger curve
+to cover.
+
+Until this moment only the privileged possessors of the seats over the
+carceres had been able, by craning backwards, to see the horses and
+drivers; now the competitors were visible to the multitude which,
+at their first appearance, broke out into vociferous applause. The
+agitatores had to exert all their strength to hold in the startled and
+eager teams, and make them stand even for a few short minutes; then
+Cynegius signalled for the third time. A golden dolphin, which had been
+suspended from a beam, and on which the eye of every charioteer was
+fixed, dropped to the ground, a blast on the 'salpinx', or war-trumpet,
+was sounded, and forty-eight horses flew forth as though thrown forward
+by one impulsion.
+
+The strength of four fine horses whirled each light, two-wheeled chariot
+over the hard causeway as though it were a toy. The down-pour of the
+previous night had laid the dust; the bright sunshine sparkled and
+danced in rapidly-changing flashes, mirrored in the polished gilding
+of the bronze or the silver fittings of the elegantly-decorated,
+semicircular cars in which the drivers stood.
+
+Five blue and seven red competitors had drawn the first lots. The eye
+rested with pleasure on the sinewy figures whose bare feet seemed rooted
+to the boards they stood on, while their eyes were riveted on the goal
+they were striving to reach, though--as the eye of the archer sees
+arrow, bow and mark all at once--they never lost sight of the horses
+they were guiding. A close cap with floating ribbands confined their
+hair, and they wore a short sleeveless tunic, swathed round the body
+with wide bands, as if to brace their muscles and add to their strength.
+The reins were fastened around the hips so as to leave the hands free,
+not only to hold them but also to ply the whip and use the goad. Each
+charioteer had a knife in his girdle, to enable him to release himself,
+in case of accident, from a bond that might prove fatal.
+
+Before long the bay team was leading alone. Behind were two Christian
+drivers, followed by three red chariots; Marcus was last of all, but it
+was easy to see that it was by choice and not by necessity that he was
+hanging back. He was holding in his fiery team with all his strength and
+weight--his body thrown back, his feet firmly set with his knees against
+the silver bar of the chariot, and his hands gripping the reins. In a
+few minutes he came flying past Dada and his brother, but he did not
+see them. He had not even caught sight of his own mother, while the
+professional charioteers had not failed to bow to Cynegius and nod to
+their friends. He could only keep his eyes and mind fixed on his horses
+and on the goal.
+
+The multitude clapped, roared, shouted encouragement to their party,
+hissed and whistled when they were disappointed--venting their utmost
+indignation on Marcus as he came past behind the others; but he either
+heard them not or would not hear. Dada's heart beat so wildly that she
+thought it would burst. She could not sit still; she started to her
+feet and then flung herself back on her cushions, shouting some spurring
+words to Marcus in the flash of time when he might perhaps hear them.
+When he had passed, her head fell and she said sadly enough: "Poor
+fellow!--We have bought our wreaths for nothing after all, Demetrius!"
+
+But Demetrius shook his head and smiled.
+
+"Nay," he said, "the boy has iron sinews in that slight body. Look how
+he holds the horses in! He is saving their strength till they need it.
+Seven times, child, seven times he has to go round this great circus and
+past the 'nyssa'. You will see, he will catch up what he has lost, yet.
+Hippias, you see, is holding in his horses, too; it is his way of
+giving himself airs at starting. Now he is close to the 'nyssa'--the
+'kampter'--the 'meta' they call it at Rome; the smaller the bend he
+can make round it the better for him, but it is risky work. There--you
+see!--They drive round from right to left and that throws most of the
+work on the lefthand beast; it has to turn almost in its own length.
+Aura, our first horse, is as supple as a panther and I trained her to
+do it, myself.--Now, look out there! that bronze figure of a rearing
+horse--the 'Taraxippos' they call it--is put there to frighten the
+horses, and Megaera, our third horse, is like a mad thing sometimes,
+though she can go like a stag; every time Marcus gets her quietly past
+the Taraxippos we are nearer to success.--Look, look,=-the first chariot
+has got round the nyssa! It is Hippias! Yes, by Zeus, he has done it! He
+is a detestable braggart, but he knows his business!"
+
+This was one of the decisive moments of the race. The crowd was silent;
+expectation was at the utmost pitch of tension, and Dada's eyes were
+fixed spell-bound on the obelisk and on the quadrigas that whirled round
+the bourn.
+
+Next to Hippias came a blue team, and close behind were three red ones.
+The Christian who had succeeded in reaching the nyssa second, boldly
+took his horses close round the obelisk, hoping to gain space and get
+past Hippias; but the left wheel of his chariot grazed the granite
+plinth, the light car was overset, and the horses of the red chariot,
+whose noses were almost on his shoulder, could not be pulled up short
+in time. They fell over the Christian's team which rolled on the
+ground; the red chariot, too, turned over, and eight snorting beasts lay
+struggling in the sand.
+
+The horses in the next chariot bolted as they were being driven past
+this mass of plunging and neighing confusion; they defied their driver's
+impotent efforts and galloped across the course back into the caiceres.
+
+The rest had time and space enough to beware of the wreck and to give it
+a wide berth, among them Marcus. The melee at the Meta had excited his
+steeds almost beyond control, and as they tore past the Taraxippos the
+third horse, Megaera, shied violently as Demetrius had predicted. She
+flung herself on one side, thrust her hind quarters under the pole, and
+kicked desperately, lifting the chariot quite off the ground; the young
+charioteer lost his footing and slipped. Dada covered her face with her
+hands, and his mother turned pale and knit her brows with apprehension.
+The youth was still standing; his feet were on the sand of the arena;
+but he had a firm grip on the right-hand spiral ornament that terminated
+the bar round the chariot. Many a heart stood still with anxiety, and
+shouts of triumph and mockery broke from the red party; but in less than
+half a minute, by an effort of strength and agility, he had his knees on
+the foot-board, and then, in the winking of an eye, he was on his feet
+in the chariot, had gathered up the reins and was rushing onward.
+
+Meanwhile, however, Hippias had far outstripped all the rest, and as
+he flew past the carceres he checked his pace, snatched a cup from
+a lemonade-seller, tossed the contents down his throat with haughty
+audacity amid the plaudits of the crowd, and then dashed on again. A
+wide gap, indeed, still lay between him and Marcus.
+
+By the time the competitors again came round to the nyssa, the slaves in
+attendance had cleared away the broken chariots and led off the horses.
+A Christian still came next to Hippias followed by a red agitator;
+Marcus had gained on the others and was now fourth.
+
+In the third round the chariot of the red driver in front of Marcus
+made too sharp a turn and ran up against the granite. The broken car was
+dragged on by the terrified beasts, and the charioter with it, till, by
+the time they were stopped, he was a corpse. In the fifth circuit the
+Christian who till now had been second to Hippias shared the same
+fate, though he escaped with his life; and then Marcus drove past the
+starting-sheds next to Hippias.
+
+Hippias had ceased to flout and dally. In spite of the delay that Marcus
+had experienced from the Taraxippos, the space that parted his bays
+from the black Arabs had sensibly diminished, round after round; and
+the interest of the race now centered entirely in him and the young
+Christian. Never before had so passionate and reckless a contest been
+fought out on this venerable race-course, and the throng of spectators
+were carried away by the almost frenzied rivalry of the two drivers. Not
+a creature in the upper tiers had been able to keep his seat; men and
+women alike had risen to their feet and were shouting and roaring to the
+competitors. The music in the towers might have ceased, so completely
+was it drowned by the tumult in the amphitheatre.
+
+Only the ladies, in the best places above the starting-sheds, preserved
+their aristocratic calm; Still, when the seventh and decisive round was
+begun, even the widow Mary leaned forward a little and clasped her hands
+more tightly over the cross in her lap. Each time that Marcus had driven
+round the obelisk or past the Taraxippos, Dada had clutched her head
+with her hands and set her teeth in her lip; each time, as he happily
+steered clear of the fatal stone and whirled past the dreadful bronze
+statue, she had relaxed her grip and leaned back in her seat with a sigh
+of relief. Her sympathy made her one with Marcus; she felt as if his
+loss must be her death and his victory her personal triumph.
+
+During the sixth circuit Hippias was still a long way ahead of the young
+Christian; the distance which lay between Marcus and the team of bays
+seemed to have become a fixed quantity, for, do what he could, he could
+not diminish it by a hand-breadth. The two agitatores had now completely
+altered their tactics; instead of holding their horses in they urged
+them onward, leaning over the front of their chariots, speaking to the
+horses, Shouting at them with hoarse, breathless cries, and flogging
+them unsparingly. Steamy sweat and lathering foam streaked the flanks of
+the desperate, laboring brutes, while clouds of dust were flung up
+from the dry, furrowed and trampled soil. The other chariots were left
+further and further behind those of Hippias and Marcus, and when, for
+the seventh and last time, these two were nearing the nyssa, the crowd
+for a moment held its breath, only to break out into louder and wilder
+cries, and then again to be hushed. It seemed as though their exhausted
+lungs found renewed strength to shout with double energy when their
+excitement had kept them silent for a while.
+
+Dada spoke no more; pale and gasping, she sat with her eyes fixed on the
+tall obelisk and on the cloud of dust which, as the chariots neared the
+nyssa, seemed to grow denser. At about a hundred paces from the nyssa
+she saw, above the sandy curtain, the red cap of Hippias flash past, and
+then--close behind it--the blue cap worn by Marcus. Then a deafening,
+thundering roar from thousands of throats went up to heaven, while,
+round the obelisk--so close to it that not a horse, not a wheel could
+have found room between the plinth and the driver-the blue cap came
+forward out of the cloud, and, behind it now--no longer in front, though
+not more than a length behind--came the red cap of Hippias. When within
+a few feet of the nyssa, Marcus had overtaken his antagonist, had passed
+the point with a bold and perilously close turn, and had left the bays
+behind him.
+
+Demetrius saw it all, as though his eye had power to pierce the
+dust-cloud, and now he, too, lost his phlegmatic calm. He threw up his
+arms as if in prayer and shouted, as though his brother could hear him:
+
+"Well done, splendid boy! Now for the kentron--the goad--drive it in,
+send it home if they die for it! Give it them well!"
+
+Dada, who could only guess what was happening, looked round at him,
+asking in tremulous tones: "Has he passed him? Is he gaining on him?
+Will he win?" But Demetrius did not answer; he only pointed to the
+foremost of the flying clouds on which the second was fast advancing,
+and cried in a frenzy of excitement:
+
+"Death and Hades! The other is catching him up. The dog, the sneak! If
+only the boy would use his goad. Give it them, Marcus! Give it them,
+lad! Never give in now! Great Father Poseidon!--there--there!--no! I can
+hardly stand--Yes, he is still in front, and now--now--this must settle
+it! Thunder and lightning! They are close together again--may the dust
+choke him! No--it is all right; my Arabs are in front! All is well, keep
+it up, lad, well done! We have won!"
+
+The horses were pulled up, the dust settled; Marcus, the Christian, had
+won the first missus. Cynegius held out the crown to the victor,
+who bowed to receive it. Then he waved his hand to his mother, who
+graciously waved hers in return, and he drove into the oppidurn and was
+lost to sight.
+
+Hippias flung down his whip in a rage, but the triumphant shouts of the
+Christians drowned the music, the trumpet-blasts and the angry murmurs
+of the defeated heathen. Threatening fists were shaken in the air, while
+behind the carceres the drivers and owners of the red party scolded,
+squabbled and stormed; and Hippias, who by his audacious swagger
+had given away the race to their hated foe--to the Blues, the
+Christians--narrowly escaped being torn in pieces.
+
+The tumult and excitement were unparalleled; but Dada saw and heard
+nothing. She sat in a blissful dream, gazing into her lap, while tears
+of joyful reaction rolled down her cheeks. Demetrius saw her tears and
+was glad; then, pointing out Mary to the girl, he informed her that she
+was the mother of Marcus. And he registered a secret vow that, cost what
+it might, he would bring his victorious brother and this sweet child
+together.
+
+The second and third missus, like the first, were marked by serious
+accidents; both, however, were won for the Red party. In the fourth,
+the decisive race, there were but three competitors: Marcus and the two
+heathen winners. Demetrius watched it with less anxiety; he knew that
+his Arabs were far superior to the Egyptian breed in staying power, and
+they also had the advantage of having had a longer rest. In fact, the
+final victory was adjudged to the young Christian.
+
+Long before it was decided Dada had been impatiently fingering her
+wreaths, and could hardly wait any longer to fling them into Marcus'
+chariot. When it was all over she might perhaps have an opportunity of
+speaking to him; and she thought how delightful his voice was and what
+fine, kind eyes he had. If only he were to bid her be his, she would
+follow him whither and wherever he desired, whatever Karnis and Herse
+might say to the contrary. She thought no one could be so glad of his
+success as she was; she felt as if she belonged to him, had always
+belonged to him, and only some spiteful trick of Fate had come between
+them.
+
+There was a fresh blast of trumpets; the victor, in obedience to a
+time-honored custom, was to drive round the arena at a foot-pace and
+show his brave team to the multitude. He came nearer and nearer, and
+Demetrius proposed that they should cross the little watercourse that
+parted the podium from the arena and follow the chariot, so as to
+give his brother the wreaths instead of flinging them to him. The girl
+colored and could say neither yes or no; but she rose, hung one of the
+olive-crowns on her arm with a happy, bashful smile, and handed the
+other to her new friend; then she followed him across the little bridge
+on to the race-course which, now that the games were over, was crowded
+with Christians.
+
+The brothers exchanged pleased greetings from afar, but Marcus did not
+see Dada till she was close to him and stood, with a shy but radiant
+glance of intense delight, holding out the olive-wreath for his
+acceptance. He felt as though Heaven had wrought a miracle in his favor.
+Never before had he thought her half so lovely. She seemed to have
+grown since he had seen her last, to have gained a deeper and nobler
+expression; and he observed, too, the blue favors on her shoulder and
+among the roses that crowned her fair curls. Gladness and surprise
+prevented his speaking; but he took the garland she offered him and,
+seizing her hands, stammered out: "Thanks--thank you, Dada."
+
+Their eyes met, and as he gazed into her face he forgot where he was,
+did not even wonder why his brother had suddenly turned away and,
+beginning some long-winded speech, had rushed after a man who hastily
+covered his head and tried to escape; he did not notice that thousands
+of eyes were fixed on him, and among them his mother's; he could merely
+repeat: "thanks" and "Dada"--the only words he could find. He would
+perhaps have gone on repeating them, but that he was interrupted; the
+'porta libitinaria'--the gate through which the dead or injured were
+usually carried out, was thrown open, and a rabble of infuriated heathen
+rushed in, crying: "Serapis is fallen! They have destroyed the image of
+Serapis! The Christians are ruining the sanctuaries of the gods!"
+
+A sudden panic seized the assembled multitude; the Reds rushed down from
+their places into the arena to hear the details and ask questions--ready
+to fight for the god or to fly for safety. In an instant the victor's
+chariot was surrounded by an angry mob; Dada clutched it for protection,
+and Marcus, without pausing to reflect--indeed hardly master of his own
+actions--turned and lifted her into it by his side; then, urging his
+horses forward, he forced a way through the crowd, past the caiceres. He
+glanced anxiously up at the seats but could nowhere see his mother, so
+he guided the exhausted beasts, steaming with sweat and dappled with
+foam, through the open gate and out of the circus. His stable-slaves had
+run after him; he released himself from the reins on his hips and flung
+them to the grooms. Then he helped Dada to leap from the car.
+
+"Will you come with me?" he asked her simply; and the girl's reply was:
+"Wherever you bid me."
+
+At the news that Serapis was overthrown Dame Mary had started from
+her seat with eager haste that ill-became her dignity and, under the
+protection of the body-guard in attendance on Cynegius, had found her
+way to her litter.
+
+In the Hippodrome the tumult rose to a riot; Reds and Blues rushed
+from the upper tiers, down the ranks of the podium and into the dusty
+race-course; falling on each other tooth and nail like wild beasts;
+and the bloody fray--no uncommon termination to the day, even in more
+peaceful times--lasted till the Imperial soldiery parted the unarmed
+combatants.
+
+The Bishop was triumphant; his adherents had won the day at every point;
+nor was he sorry to learn that Olympius, Helladius, Ainmonius and many
+other spiritual leaders of the heathen world had succeeded in escaping.
+They might come back; they might preach and harangue as much as they
+chose: their power was broken. The Church had nothing now to fear
+from them, and their philosophy and learning would still and always be
+valuable in the mental training of her priests.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+The great Hippodrome of Alexandria was outside the Canopic gate, on the
+northern side of the road leading to Eleusis which to-day was crowded
+with passengers, all moving in the same direction. The tumult roused by
+the intelligence that Serapis was overthrown made all the more peaceful
+and peace-loving of the spectators hurry homewards; and as these, for
+the most part, were of the richer classes, who came and went in litters
+or chariots, their conveyances left but scanty space on the wide
+causeway for foot passengers, still, there they were, in considerable
+numbers, all wending their way towards the city, and the heathen who
+came rushing towards the Hippodrome behind the first heralds of the
+disaster, had great difficulty in making their way against the stream.
+
+Marcus and Dada allowed themselves to be carried onward by the throng
+which was tending towards the city-walls and the Canopic gate. Phabis,
+Mary's old steward, whose duty it had been to help his young master to
+dress after the races were over, had snatched the agitator's cap from
+the youth's head and flung a cloak over his shoulders, hastily following
+him as he went off with the young girl by his side. The old man quite
+understood what was in the wind for he it was who had conducted Dame
+Herse to his mistress' presence. He had thought her a shrewd and
+kind-hearted woman, and it now struck him that she must certainly have
+been in the right when she accused Marcus of designs on her pretty
+niece. At the time he had refused to believe it, for he had never in his
+life detected his young master in any underhand or forbidden courses;
+but, after all, Marcus was his father's son, and, in his younger
+days, the old man had often and often had to risk his skin in Apelles'
+love-intrigues. And now it was the Son's turn--and if he were to take
+his fancy for that pretty chit as seriously as he did most things, if he
+got the notion into his head of marrying the little singer--what a storm
+there was brewing between him and his mother!
+
+The old man did his best to keep up with Marcus who did not see or heed
+him, for his eyes and attention were centered on the fair companion who
+was clinging to his arm, while he tried to force a passage through the
+mob, towards the gate. Miracle on miracle seemed to him to have been
+wrought in his behalf; for Heaven had not only sent him Dada, but she
+was wearing blue ribbands; and when he asked her why, she had replied
+"For your sake, and because I like your Faith."
+
+He was tired to death; but as soon as Dada had put her hand through his
+arm he lead felt refreshed as if by magic. His swollen and blistered
+hands, to be sure, were painful and his shoulders ached and winced from
+stiffness; but as she pressed his arm to her side and looked up gladly
+in his face--telling him how happy she was while he responded: "And how
+I love you!"--he felt himself in Heaven, and pain and discomfort were
+forgotten. The crush did not allow them to say more than a few words;
+but the things their eyes and lips could smile were sweeter and dearer
+than anything they had ever known before.
+
+They had got through the gate and were in the Canopic way when Dada
+suddenly perceived that his lips were white, and felt the arm tremble
+on which her hand was lying. She asked him what ailed him; he made
+no reply, but put his hand to his head, so she led him aside into the
+public garden that lay to their right between the little Stadium and the
+Maeandrian circus. In this pretty spot, fresh with verdure and spring
+flowers, she soon found a bench shaded by a semicircular screen of
+dark-tufted tamarisk, and there she made him lie down. He yielded at
+once, and his pale face and fixed gaze showed her that he was in a
+fainting state. Indeed, he must be quite worn out by the terrible
+struggle of the race, and after it was over he had not given himself
+time to take a cup of drink or a scrap of food for refreshment. It was
+only too natural that his strength should fail him, so, without feeling
+at all alarmed but only very pitiful and anxious to help, she ran back
+to a fruit-stall which they had passed at the entrance to the garden
+from the street.
+
+How glad she was that she still had the four drachmae which she had
+coaxed out of Karnis in the Xenodochium that evening; she could buy
+whatever she liked for her lover. When she went back-loaded with
+oranges, apples, hard-boiled eggs, bread and salt, in the skirt of her
+dress that she gathered up with one hand, and with a flask of wine
+and water, and a gourdbowl in the other-she found him still lying
+unconscious. However, when she had moistened his forehead and lips he
+opened his eyes, and then she peeled him an orange as daintily as she
+could and begged him to try it, and as she was herself very hungry she
+took a hearty share. She was enchanted at making him her guest, and at
+finding that he enjoyed the simple meal and soon was quite revived.
+In fact, in a few minutes he had altogether recovered his strength and
+consciousness of satisfaction; and as he lay back with Dada's hand
+in his, gazing happily and thankfully into her sweet eyes, a sense of
+peace, rest and bliss came over him such as he had never before known.
+He thought he had never tasted such delicious food, or such exquisite
+wine as the wretched Mareotic from the fruitstall. He took the apple she
+had begun eating out of her hand and bit it where her white teeth had
+been; he made her drink first out of the gourd-cup, and, as one of the
+three eggs she had brought with her was bad, they had quite a little
+battle for the last, till he finally gave way and eat it.
+
+When they had finished Dada's purchases to the last mouthful she asked
+him, for the first time, where he meant to take her, and he said he
+intended placing her in the house of his former tutor, Eusebius, the
+deacon, where she would be a welcome guest and find her old companion
+Agne. Of this she was sincerely glad; and when, on hearing the title of
+Deacon, she questioned Marcus further, and identified Eusebius as the
+worthy old man whose discourse in the basilica had so deeply impressed
+her, she told Marcus how she had gone into the church, and how, from
+that hour, she had felt at peace. A quite new feeling had sprung up in
+her soul, and since then she had constantly longed to see him again
+and talk it all over with him:--The little she had learnt of Christian
+doctrine did her heart good and had given her comfort and courage. The
+world was so beautiful, and there were many more good men than bad.
+It was a pleasure to love one's neighbor, and as for forgiving a
+wrong--that she had never found difficult. It must be good to live on
+earth if everyone loved his neighbor as she loved him and he loved her;
+and life could not be a great hardship if in every trouble there was
+some one who was always ready to hear our cry and help us, out of pure
+beneficence.
+
+Her innocent talk was to Marcus the greatest marvel of this day of
+miracles. The soul which he had dreamed that he was called to save had,
+of its own accord, turned to walk in the path of salvation; he went on
+to tell her of the things which he felt to be most sublime and glorious
+in his creed, and at length he confessed that, though he had always
+loved his neighbor for Christ's sake, never till now had true and
+perfect love been revealed to him. No power on earth could now part
+him from her, and when she should have been baptized there would be
+no further difficulty; their love might last till, and beyond, death,
+through all the ages of eternity. And she listened to him, perfectly
+content; and said that she was his, wholly his, now, and for ever and
+ever.
+
+There were to-day but few people in the garden which was usually full
+in the afternoon, of idlers, and of children with their nurses; but the
+disturbance in the streets had kept these at home, and the idlers had
+found more to attract them at the Hippodrome and in the crowded roads.
+This favored the lovers, who could sit hand in hand, looking into each
+other's eyes; and when old Phabis, who had lost sight of them long
+since, at length discovered them in the park, he could see from his
+lurking-place as he crept closer, that his young master, after glancing
+cautiously round, pressed a kiss on the little singer's hair, and then
+on her eyes and at last on her lips.
+
+The hours flew fast between serious talk and delightful dalliance, and
+when they tore themselves away from their quiet retreat it was already
+dusk. They soon found themselves in the Canopic way, in the thick of the
+crowd which they were now occasionally obliged to meet, for those who
+were making homewards had long since dispersed, and thousands were still
+crowding to the Hippodrome where a brisk fight was still going on. As
+they passed his mother's house Marcus paused and, pointing it out to
+Dada, told her that the day was not far distant when he should bring her
+home hither. But the girl's face fell.
+
+"Oh no!" she exclaimed, in a low voice. "Not here-not to this great
+palace in a street. Let us live in a little house, quite quietly, by
+ourselves. A house with a garden, and a seat in the shade. Your mother
+lives here!"
+
+And then she blushed scarlet and looked down. He guessed, however, what
+was passing in her mind, and bid her only to have patience, for as soon
+as she was a baptized Christian Eusebius would intercede for her. And
+he spoke warmly of his mother's piety and virtues, and asked Dada if she
+had seen her at the races.
+
+"Yes," she replied timidly; and when he went on to ask her if she had
+not thought Mary very handsome and dignified, she answered frankly:
+"Yes--very; but then she is so tall and grand-looking-she must wish for
+a daughter-in-law very different from a poor, forsaken orphan like me--a
+mere singer, looked down upon by every one! It is different with you;
+you are satisfied with me as I am, and you know that I love you. If I
+never find my uncle again I have no one on earth to care for me but you;
+but I want no other, for you are my one and only hope, and to live for
+you and with you is enough. Only you must never leave me or I shall die!
+But you never can, for you told me that my soul was dearer to you than
+your own life; and so long as I have you and your love I shall grow
+better and better every day; but if you ever let me be parted from you
+I shall be utterly lost. Yes, understand that once for all--ruined and
+lost, body and soul!--I do not know what it is that terrifies me, but do
+let us go on, away from this house. Suppose your mother were to see us!"
+
+He did as she wished and tried to soothe her, praising his mother's
+virtues with the affectionate blindness of a son; but she only half
+listened to his eulogy, for, as they approached Rhacotis the throng grew
+denser, they had no opportunities for conversation, they could think
+of nothing but battling their way through the crowd; still, they were
+happy.
+
+   [The quarter of the city inhabited by the Egyptians. It was the old
+   town close to which Alexander the Great built his splendid new
+   city.]
+
+They thus got to the street of the Sun--one of the main arteries of
+the city cutting the Canopic way at right angles--and they went down it
+towards the Gate of Helios in the south wall. The Serapeum lay to their
+right, several streets leading to it from the street of the Sun. To
+reach the house where Eusebius lived they ought to have turned down the
+street of the Acropolis, but a compact mass of frenzied creatures came
+storming down it from the Serapeum, and towards them. The sun was now
+fast setting over the City of the Dead on the western horizon. Marcus
+tried to get out of the middle of the road and place Dada in safety by
+the house at the corner, but in vain; the rabble that came crowding out
+of the side street was mad with excitement, and could think of nothing
+but the trophies it had snatched from the temple. Several dozen men,
+black and white alike--and among them some monks and even women,
+had harnessed themselves to an enormous truck, commonly used for the
+carriage of beams, columns, and heavy blocks of stone, on which they
+had erected a huge but shapeless mass of wood, the core, and all that
+remained, of the image of Serapis; this they were dragging through the
+streets.
+
+"To the Hippodrome! Burn it! Down with the idols! Look at the divine
+form of Serapis! Behold the god!"
+
+These were the cries that rent the air from a thousand throats, an
+ear-splitting accompaniment to the surging storm of humanity.
+
+The monks had torn the desecrated block from the niche in the Serapeum,
+hauled it through the courts on to the steps, and were now taking it to
+the arena where it was to be burnt. Others of their kidney, and some of
+the Christian citizens who had caught the destructive mania, had forced
+their way into the temple of Anubis, hard by the Serapeumn, where they
+had overthrown and wrecked the jackal-headed idols and the Canopic
+gods--four huge jars with lids representing respectively a man's head,
+an ape's, a hawk's and a jackal's. They were now bearing these heads in
+triumph, while others were shouldering the limbs of broken statues of
+Apollo, of Athene, or of Aphrodite, or carrying the fragments in baskets
+to cast them into the flames in the Hippodrome after the wooden stock
+of the great Serapis. The mob had broken off the noses of all the heads,
+had smeared the marble with pitch, or painted it grossly with the red
+paint they had found in the writing-rooms of the Sera peum. Every one
+who could get near enough to the remains of the statue, or to a fragment
+of a ruined idol, spit upon it, struck it or thrust at it; and not a
+heathen had, as yet, dared to interfere.
+
+Behind the oak block of the image of Serapis and the other trophies
+of victory, came an endless stream of men of all ages, of monks and of
+women, compelling a large carruca--[A four-wheeled chariot used in the
+city and for travelling.]--that had fallen into their hands, and which
+they had completely surrounded, to keep pace with them. The two fine
+horses that drew it had to be led by the bridle; they were trembling
+with terror and excitement and made repeated attempts to kick over the
+pole or to rear.
+
+In this vehicle was Porphyrius, who had fully recovered consciousness,
+and by his side sat Gorgo. Constantine had not stirred from the side of
+the convalescent till Apuleius had pronounced him out of all danger;
+but then the young officer's duty had called him away. The merchant
+had hailed the news of his daughter's, union with the companion of her
+childhood as a most satisfactory and long-expected event.
+
+A party of the Prefect's guards had been charged to bring the carriage
+for Porphyrius to the door of the temple, and the abbot of a monastery
+at Arsinoe, who was well known to the Prefect, undertook to escort them
+on their road home and protect them from the attacks of the raving mob.
+At the spot where the side street intersected the street of the Sun, and
+where Marcus and Dada had been forced to stop, unable either to proceed
+or to return, a troop of armed heathen had given the Christian rabble
+a check at the very moment when the carruca came up, and falling on
+the foe who had mocked and insulted their most sacred treasure, began
+a furious fray. Quite close to the young lovers a heathen cut down a
+Christian who was carrying the besmirched head of a Muse. Dada clung
+in terror to Marcus, who was beginning to be seriously alarmed for her
+when, looking round for aid or refuge, he caught sight of his brother
+forcing his way through the throng, and gesticulating vehemently. The
+farmer was telegraphing to the occupants of the carruca as well, and
+when he at last reached Marcus he briefly explained to him that the
+first thing to be done was to place Dada in safety.
+
+Only too glad to be out of the crush and danger, the girl nimbly climbed
+into the chariot, and, after hastily greeting the father and daughter,
+signed to Marcus to follow her; but Demetrius held his brother back, and
+it was hurriedly agreed that Dada should be sent for that evening to
+the house of Porphyrius. Demetrius whispered a few words of enthusiastic
+praise of the little singer into Gorgo's ear; then the carriage moved
+on again. Many of the heathen who had collected round it recognized
+Porphyrius, the noble friend of the great Olympius, and cleared a
+passage for him, so that at last he got out of the gate uninjured, and
+turned into the quieter street of Euergetes which led to the temple of
+Isis, the ship-yard and the merchant's residence.
+
+But few words were exchanged in the chariot, for it was only step by
+step and with considerable difficulty that the horses could get along.
+It was now quite dark and the mob had spread even into this usually
+deserted quarter.
+
+A flaring glow that tinged the temple, the wharf and the deep sky itself
+with a gorgeous crimson glare, showed very plainly what the populace
+were employed in doing. The monks had set fire to the temple of Isis
+and the flames had been driven by the northwest wind down into the
+ship-yard, where they had found ample food in the enormous timber stacks
+and the skeletons of ships. Tall jets of rushing and crackling sparks
+were thrown skywards to mingle with the paler stars. Porphyrius could
+see what danger his house was in; but thanks to the old steward's
+foresight and the indefatigable diligence of the slaves, it escaped the
+conflagration.
+
+The two brothers, meanwhile, had left the mob far behind them. Demetrius
+was not alone, and as soon as he had introduced Marcus to his companion,
+an abbot of friendly mien, the monk warmly expressed his pleasure at
+meeting another son of Apelles, to whom he had once owed his life.
+Demetrius then told his brother what his adventures had been during the
+last few hours, and where he had met this worthy Father.
+
+While taking Dada down into the arena to join Marcus, he had caught
+sight of Anubis, the Egyptian slave who had been his father's companion
+in his last memorable journey to Syria, and who, since the death of
+Apelles, had totally disappeared, the countryman had instantly followed
+him, seized him--not without a struggle and some little danger--and then
+had him led off by the city-guard to the prison by the Prefect's house.
+Once secured he had been induced to speak, and his narrative proved
+beyond a doubt that Apelles had perished in a skirmish with the
+Saracens; the Egyptian slave had only taken advantage of his master's
+death to make off with the money he had with him. He had found his way
+to Crete, where he had purchased a plot of ground with his plunder; but
+then, craving to see his wife and children once more, he had come back
+to fetch them away to his new home. Finally, to confirm the truth of his
+story, which--clearing him apparently of the murder of his master--did
+not invite implicit belief, he told Demetrius that he had seen in
+Alexandria, only the day before, a recluse who had been present when
+Apelles fell, and Demetrius had at once set out to find this monk,
+enquiring among those who had swarmed into the city. He had very soon
+been successful; Kosnias, who since then had been elected abbot of the
+monastery to which he belonged, now again told Marcus the story of his
+father's heroic courage in the struggle with the freebooters who had
+attacked his caravan. Apelles, he said, had saved his life and that of
+two other anchorites, one of whom was in Alexandria at this very time.
+They were travelling from Hebron to Aila, a party of seven, and had
+placed themselves under the protection of the Alexandrian merchant's
+escort; everything had gone well till the infidel Saracens had fallen
+upon them in the high land south of Petra. Four of the monks had been
+butchered out of hand; but Apelles, with a few of the more resolute
+spirits in the company, had fought the heathen with the valor of a lion.
+He, Kosmas, and his two surviving comrades had effected their escape,
+while Apelles engaged the foe; but from a rocky height which they
+climbed in their flight they saw him fall, and from that hour they
+had always mentioned him in their prayers. It would be an unspeakable
+satisfaction to him to do his utmost to procure for such a man as
+Apelles the rank he deserved in the list of martyrs for the Faith.
+
+Marcus, only too happy, wanted to hurry away at once to his mother and
+tell her what he had heard, but Demetrius detained him. The
+Bishop-he told his brother--had desired his immediate presence, to be
+congratulated on his victory; his first duty was to obey that mandate,
+and he should at once avail himself of its favorable opportunity to
+obtain for his deceased parent the honor he had earned.
+
+It rather startled Marcus to find his brother taking its interest in
+a matter which, so lately, he had vehemently opposed; however, he
+proceeded at once to the episcopal palace, accompanied by the abbot, and
+half an hour later Demetrius, who had awaited his return, met him coming
+out with sparkling eyes. The Prelate, he said, had received him very
+graciously, had thanked him for his prowess and had bid him crave a
+reward. He at once had spoken of his father, and called the recluse to
+witness to the facts. The Bishop had listened his story, and had ended
+by declaring himself quite willing to put the name of Apelles on the
+list of the Syrian martyrs. Theophilus had been most unwilling hitherto
+to reject the petitions of so good and illustrious Christian as Mary;
+and now, after such ample testimony as to the manner of her husband's
+death, it was with sincere satisfaction that he bestowed this high mark
+of honor on the Christian victor and his admirable mother. "So now,"
+added the young man, "I shall fly home, and how happy my mother will
+be...."
+
+But Demetrius would not allow him to finish his sentence. He laid his
+hand on the young man's shoulder saying: "Patience, my dear fellow,
+patience! You must stay with me for the present, and not go to your
+mother till I have settled everything that is necessary. Do not
+contradict me I entreat you, unless you want to deprive me of the
+happiness of remedying an injustice to your pretty Dada. What you most
+desire for yourself and her is your mother's blessing--and do you think
+that will be easy to obtain? Far from it, lad! But I can manage it for
+you; and I will, too, if only you will do as I bid you, and if the old
+Heathen's niece can be induced to be baptized...."
+
+"She is a Christian already!" exclaimed Marcus eagerly.
+
+"Well then, she can be yours to-morrow," Demetrius went on calmly, "if
+you listen to the advice of your older and wiser brother. It cannot be
+very hard upon you, for you must own that if I had not fought it out
+with Anubis--and the rascal bit all he could reach like a trapped
+fox--if I had not got him locked up and almost run my legs off in
+hunting down the worthy abbot, our father would never have enjoyed the
+promotion which he is at last to obtain. Who would ever have believed
+that I should get any satisfaction out of this 'Crown of Martyrdom'?
+By the gods! It is by no means impossible, and I hope the manes of the
+deceased will forgive me for your sake. But it is getting late, so only
+one thing more: for my own share of the business all I claim is my right
+to tell your mother myself of all that has occurred; you, on your part,
+must go at once to Eusebius and beg him to receive Dada in his house.
+If he consents--and he certainly will--take him with you to our uncle
+Porphyrius and wait there till I come; then, if all goes well, I will
+take you and Dada to your mother--or, if not, we will go with Eusebius."
+
+"Dada to my mother!" cried Marcus. "But what will she...."
+
+"She will receive her as a daughter," interrupted his brother, "if
+you hold your tongue about the whole business till I give you leave to
+speak.--There, the tall gate-keeper is closing the episcopal palace,
+so nothing more can come out of there to-night. You are a lucky
+fellow--well good-bye till we meet again; I am in a hurry."
+
+The farmer went off, leaving Marcus with a thousand questions still
+unasked. However, the young man did his bidding and went, hopeful though
+not altogether free from doubts, to find his old tutor and friend.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+While Marcus carried out his brother's instructions Dada was expecting
+him and Eusebius with the greatest impatience. Gorgo had charged her
+waiting-woman to conduct the girl into the music-room and to tell her
+that she would join her there if her father was in such a state as to
+allow of it. Some refreshments were brought in to her, all delicate and
+tempting enough; but Dada would not touch them, for she fancied that the
+merchant's daughter was avoiding her intentionally, and her heart ached
+with a sense of bereavement and loneliness. To distract her thoughts she
+wandered round the room, looking at the works of art that stood against
+the walls, feeling the stuffs with which the cushions were covered and
+striking a lute which was leaning against the pedestal of a Muse. She
+only played a few chords, but they sufficed to call up a whole train of
+memories; she sank on a divan in the darkest corner she could find in
+the brilliantly-lighted room, and gave herself up to reviewing the many
+events of the last few days. It was all so bright, so delightful, that
+it hardly seemed real, and her hopes were so radiantly happy that for a
+moment she trembled to think of their fulfilment--but only for a moment;
+her young soul was full of confidence and elation, and if a doubt
+weighed it down for an instant it was soon cast off and her spirit rose
+with bold expectancy.
+
+Her heart overflowed with happiness and thankfulness as she thought of
+Marcus and his love for her; her fancy painted the future always by his
+side, and though her annoyance at Gorgo's continued absence, and her
+dread of her lover's mother slightly clouded her gladness, the sense of
+peace and rapture constantly came triumphantly to the front. She forgot
+time as it sped, till at length Gorgo made her appearance.
+
+She had not deliberately kept out of the little singer's way; on the
+contrary, she had been detained by her father, for not till now had she
+dared to tell him that his mother, the beloved mistress of his
+house, was no more. In the Serapeum she had not mentioned it, by the
+physician's orders; and now, in addition, through the indiscretion of
+a friend, he had received some terrible tidings which had already been
+known for some hours in the city and which dealt him a serious blow.
+His two sons were in Thessalonica, and a ship, just arrived from thence,
+brought the news-only too well substantiated, that fifteen thousand of
+the inhabitants of that town had been treacherously assassinated in the
+Circus there.
+
+This hideous massacre had been carried out by the Imperial troops at
+Caesar's command, the wretched citizens having been bidden to witness
+the races and then ruthlessly butchered. A general of the Imperial
+army--a Goth named Botheric--had been killed by the mob, and the Emperor
+had thus avenged his death.
+
+Porphyrius knew only too well that his sons would never have been
+absent from any races or games. They certainly must have been among the
+spectators and have fallen victims to the sword of the slaughterer. His
+mother and two noble sons were snatched from him in a day; and he would
+again have had recourse to poison as a refuge from all, if a dim ray of
+hope had not permitted him to believe in their escape. But all the same
+he was sunk in despair, and behaved as though he had nothing on earth
+left to live for. Gorgo tried to console him, encouraged his belief in
+her brothers' possible safety, reminded him that it was the duty of a
+philosopher to bear the strokes of Fate with fortitude; but he would not
+listen to her, and only varied his lamentations with bursts of rage.
+
+At last he said he wished to be alone and reminded Gorgo that she ought
+to go to Dada. His daughter obeyed, but against her will; in spite of
+all that Demetrius had said in the young girl's favor she felt a little
+shy of her, and in approaching her more closely she had something of
+the feeling of a fine lady who condescends to enter the squalid hovel of
+poverty. But her father was right: Dada was her guest and she must treat
+her with kindness.
+
+Outside the door of the music-room she dried away her tears for her
+brothers, for her emotion seemed to her too sacred to be confessed to a
+creature who boldly defied the laws laid down by custom for the conduct
+of women. From Dada's appearance she felt sure that all those lofty
+ideas, which she herself had been taught to call "moral dignity" and
+"a yearning for the highest things," must be quite foreign to this girl
+with whom her cousin had condescended to intrigue. She felt herself
+immeasurably her superior; but it would be ungenerous to allow her
+to see this, and she spoke very kindly; but Dada answered timidly and
+formally.
+
+"I am glad," Gorgo began, "that accident brought you in our way;" and
+Dada replied hastily: "I owe it to your father's kindness, and not to
+accident."
+
+"Yes, he is very kind," said Gorgo, ignoring Dada's indignant tone. "And
+the last few hours have brought him terrible sorrows. You have heard, no
+doubt, that he has lost his mother; you knew her--she had taken quite a
+fancy to you, I suppose you know."
+
+"Oh! forget it!" cried Dada.
+
+"She was hard to win," Gorgo went on, "but she liked you. Do you not
+believe me? You should have seen how carefully she chose the dress you
+have on at this minute, and matched the ornaments to wear with it."
+
+"Pray, pray say no more about it," Dada begged. "She is dead, and I have
+forgiven her--but she thought badly, very badly of me."
+
+"It is very bad of you to speak so," interrupted Gorgo, making no
+attempt to conceal her annoyance at the girl's reply. "She--who is
+dead--deserves more gratitude for her liberality and kindness!"
+
+Dada shook her head.
+
+"No," she said firmly. "I am grateful, even for the smallest kindness; I
+have not often met with disinterested generosity. But she had an end in
+view--I must say it once for all. She wanted to make use of me to bring
+shame on Marcus and grief on his mother. You surely must know it; for
+why should you have thought me too vile to sing with you if you did not
+believe that I was a good-for-nothing hussy, and quite ready to do your
+dead grandmother's bidding? Everybody, of course, looked down upon us
+all and thought we must be wicked because we were singers; but you knew
+better; you made a distinction; for you invited Agne to come to your
+house and sing with you.--No, unless you wish to insult me, say no more
+about my owing the dead lady a debt of gratitude!"
+
+Gorgo's eyes fell; but presently she looked up again and said:
+
+"You do not know what that poor soul had suffered. Mary, her son's
+widow, had been very cruel to her, had done her injuries she could never
+forgive--so perhaps you are right in your notion; but all the same,
+my grandmother had a great liking for you--and after all her wish is
+fulfilled, for Marcus has found you and he loves you, too, if I am not
+mistaken!"
+
+"If you are not mistaken!" retorted Dada. "The gods forefend!--Yes, we
+have found each other, we love each other. Why should I conceal it?"
+
+"And Mary, his mother--what has she to say to it?" asked Gorgo.
+
+"I do not know," replied Dada abashed.
+
+"But she is his mother, you know!" cried Gorgo severely. "And he will
+never--never--marry against her will. He depends on her for all that he
+has in the world."
+
+"Then let her keep it!" exclaimed Dada. "The smaller and humbler the
+home he gives me the better I shall like it. I want his love and nothing
+more. All--all he desires of me is right and good; he is not like other
+men; he does not care for nothing but my pretty face. I will do whatever
+he bids me in perfect confidence; and what he thinks about me you may
+judge for yourself, for he is going to put me in the care of his tutor
+Eusebius."
+
+"Then you have accepted his creed?" asked Gorgo. "Certainly I have,"
+said Dada.
+
+"I am glad of that for his sake," said the merchant's daughter. "And if
+the Christians only did what their preachers enjoin on them one might be
+glad to become one. But they make a riot and destroy everything that is
+fine and beautiful. What have you to say to that--you, who were brought
+up by Karnis, a true votary of the Muses?"
+
+"I?" said Dada. "There are bad men everywhere, and when they rise
+to destroy what is beautiful I am very sorry. But we can love it and
+cherish it all the same."
+
+"You are happy indeed if you can shut your eyes at the dictates of your
+heart!" retorted Gorgo, but she sighed. "Happy are they and much to be
+envied who can compel their judgment to silence when it is grief to
+hear its voice. I--I who have been taught to think, cannot abandon
+my judgment; it builds up a barrier between me and the happiness that
+beckons me. And yet, so long as truth remains the highest aim of man, I
+will bless the faculty of seeking it with all the powers of my mind.
+My betrothed husband, like yours, is a Christian; and I would I could
+accept his creed as unflinchingly as you; but it is not in my nature
+to leap into a pool when I know that it is full of currents and
+whirlpools.--However, the present question has to do with you and not
+with me. Marcus, no doubt, will be happy to have won you; but if he does
+not succeed in gaining his mother's consent he will not continue happy
+you may rely upon it. I know these Christians! they cannot conceive of
+any possible joy in married life without their parents' blessing, and
+if Marcus defies his mother he will torture his conscience and lead a
+death-in-life, as though he were under some heavy load of guilt."
+
+"For all that, and all that," Dada insisted, "he can no more be happy
+without me than I can without him. I have never in my life paid court to
+any one, but I have always met with kindness. Why then should I not be
+able to win his mother's heart? I will wager anything and everything
+that she will take kindly to me, for, after all, she must be glad when
+she sees her son happy. Eusebius will speak for us and she will give
+its her blessing! But if it is not to be, if I may never be his wife
+honestly and in the face of the world, still I will not give him up, nor
+he me. He may deal with me as he will--as if he were my god and I were
+his slave!"
+
+"But, my poor child, do you know nothing of womanly honor and womanly
+dignity?" cried Gorgo clasping her hands. "You complain of the lot of
+a singing-girl, and the cruel prejudices of the world--and what are you
+saying? Let me have my way, you would say, or I scorn your morality?"
+
+"Scorn!" exclaimed Dada firing up. "Do you say I scorn morality? No,
+indeed no. I am an insignificant little person; there is nothing proud
+or great about me, and as I know it full well I am quite humble; in all
+my life I never dared to think of scorn, even of a child. But here,
+in my heart, something was awoke to life--through Marcus, only through
+him--something that makes me strong; and when I see custom and tradition
+in league against me because I am a singer, when they combine to keep me
+out of what I have a right to have--well, within these few hours I have
+found the spirit to defend myself, to the death if need be! What you
+call womanly honor I have been taught to hold as sacred as you yourself,
+and I have kept it as untainted as any girl living. Not that I meant
+to do anything grand, but you have no idea of what it is when every man
+thinks he has a right to oppress and insult a girl and try to entrap
+her. You, and others like you, know nothing of small things, for you are
+sheltered by walls and privileges. We are every man's game, while they
+approach you as humbly as if you were goddesses.--Besides! It is not
+only what I have heard from Karnis, who knows the world and fine folks
+like you; I have seen it for myself at Rome, in the senators' houses,
+where there were plenty of young lords and great men's daughters--for
+I have not gone through life with my eyes shut; with you love is like
+lukewarm water in a bath, but it catches us like fire. Sappho of Lesbos
+flung herself from the Leucadian rock because Phaon flouted her, and if
+I could save Marcus from any calamity by doing the same, I would follow
+her example.--You have a lover, too; but your feeling for him, with all
+the 'intellect' and 'reflections,' and 'thought' of which you spoke,
+cannot be the right one. There is no but or if in my love at any rate;
+and yet, for all that, my heart aches so sorely and beats so wildly,
+I will wait patiently with Eusebius and submit to whatever I am
+bidden.--And in spite of it all you condemn me unheard, for you.... But
+why do you stand and look like that? You look just like you did that
+time when I heard you sing. By all the Muses! but you, too, like us,
+have some fire in your veins, you are not one of the lukewarm sort; you
+are an artist, and a better one than I; and if you ever should feel the
+right love, then--then take care lest you break loose from propriety
+and custom--or whatever name you give to the sacred powers that subdue
+passion--even more wildly than I--who am an honest girl, and mean to
+remain so, for all the fire and flame in my breast!"
+
+Gorgo remembered the hour in which she had, in fact, proffered to the
+man of her choice as a free gift, the love which, by every canon of
+propriety, she ought only to have granted to his urgent wooing. She
+blushed and her eyes fell before the humble little singer; but while
+she was considering what answer she could make men's steps were heard
+approaching, and presently Eusebius and Marcus entered the room,
+followed by Gorgo's lover. Constantine was in deep dejection, for one of
+his brothers had lost his life in the burning of his father's ship-yard,
+and as compared with this grief, the destruction of the timber stores
+which constituted the chief part of his wealth scarcely counted as a
+calamity.
+
+Gorgo had met him with a doubtful and embarrassed air; but when she
+learnt of the blow that had fallen on him and his parents, she clung to
+him caressingly and tried to comfort him. The others sympathized deeply
+with his sorrow; but soon it was Dada's turn to weep, for Eusebius
+brought the news of her foster-parent's death in the fight at the
+Serapeum, and of Orpheus being severely wounded.
+
+The cheerful music-room was a scene of woe till Demetrius came to
+conduct his brother and Dada to the widow Mary who was expecting them.
+He had arrived in a chariot, for he declared his legs would no longer
+carry him. "Men," said he, "are like horses. A swift saddle-horse is
+soon tired when it is driven in harness and a heavy cart-horse when
+it is made to gallop. His hoofs were spoilt for city pavements, and
+scheming, struggling and running about the streets were too much for his
+country brains and wore him out, as trotting under a saddle would weary
+a plough-horse. He thanked the gods that this day was over. He would
+not be rested enough till to-morrow to be really glad of all his
+success."--But in spite of this assertion he was radiant with
+overflowing satisfaction, and that in itself cheered the mourners whom
+he tried to encourage. When he said they must be going, Gorgo kissed the
+little singer; indeed, as soon as she saw how deeply she was grieved,
+shedding bitter but silent tears, she had hastened to take her in her
+arms and comfort her like a sister.
+
+Constantine, Gorgo and old Eusebius were left together, and the young
+girl was longing to unburden her over-full heart. She had agreed to
+her lover's request that she would at once accompany him to see his
+sorrowing parents; still, she could not appear before the old Christian
+couple and crave their blessing in her present mood. Recent events
+had embittered her happy belief in the creed into which she had thrown
+herself, and much as it pained her to add a drop to Constantine's cup of
+sorrow, duty and honesty commanded that she should show him the secrets
+of her soul and the doubts and questionings which had begun to trouble
+her. The old priest's presence was a comfort to her; for her earnest
+wish was to become a Christian from conviction; as soon as they were
+alone she poured out before them all the accusations she had to bring
+against the adherents of their Faith: They had triumphed in ruining the
+creations of Art; the Temple of Isis and the ship-yard lay in ashes,
+destroyed by Christian incendiaries; their tears were not yet dry
+when they flowed afresh for the sons of Porphyrius--Christians
+themselves--who, unless some happy accident had saved them, must have
+perished with thousands of innocent sufferers--believers and infidels
+together--by the orders of the Emperor whom Constantine had always
+lauded as a wise sovereign and pious Christian, as the Defender of the
+Faith, and as a faithful disciple of the Redeemer.
+
+When, at last, she came to an end of her indictment she appealed
+to Constantine and Eusebius to defend the proceedings of their
+co-religionists, and to give her good grounds for confessing a creed
+which could sanction such ruthless deeds.
+
+Neither the Deacon nor his pupil attempted to excuse these acts; nay,
+Constantine thought they were in plain defiance of that high law of
+Love which the Christian Faith imposes on all its followers. The wicked
+servant, he declared, had committed crimes in direct opposition to the
+spirit and the letter of the Master.
+
+But this admission by no means satisfied Gorgo; she represented to
+the young Christian that a master must be judged by the deeds of his
+servant; she herself had turned from the old gods only because she felt
+such intense contempt for their worshippers; but now it had been her lot
+to see--the Deacon must pardon her for saying so--that many a Christian
+far outdid the infidels in coarse brutality and cruelty. Such an
+experience had filled her with distrust of the creed she was required to
+subscribe to--she was shaken to the very foundations of her being.
+
+Eusebius had, till now, listened in silence; but as she ended he went
+towards her, and asked her gently whether she would think it right
+to turn the fertilizing Nile from its bed and leave its shores dry,
+because, from time to time, it destroyed fields and villages in the
+excess of its overflow? "This day and its deeds of shame," he went on
+sadly, "are a blot on the pure and sublime book of the History of our
+Faith, and every true Christian must bitterly bewail the excesses of
+a frenzied mob. The Church must no less condemn Caesar's sanguinary
+vengeance; it casts a shade on his honor and his fair name, and his
+conscience no doubt will punish him for such a crime. Far be it from me
+to defend deeds which nothing can justify..."
+
+But Gorgo interrupted him. "All this," she said, "does not alter the
+fact that such crimes are just as possible and as frequent with you, as
+with those whom I am expected to give up, and who..."
+
+"But it is not merely on account of their ill deeds that you are giving
+them up, Gorgo," Constantine broke in. "Confess, dear girl, that your
+wrath makes you unjust to yourself and your own heart. It was not out of
+aversion for the ruthless and base adherents of the old gods but--as
+I hope and believe--out of love for me that you consented to adopt my
+faith--our faith."
+
+"True, true," she exclaimed, coloring as she remembered the doubts Dada
+had cast on the truth of her love.
+
+"True, out of love for you--love of Love and of peace, I consented
+to become a Christian. But with regard to the deeds committed by your
+followers, tell me yourself--and I appeal to you reverend Father--what
+inspired them: Love or Hate."
+
+"Hate!" said Constantine gloomily; and Eusebius added sorrowfully
+
+"In these dark days our Faith is seen under an aspect that by no means
+fairly represents its true nature, noble lady; trust my words! Have you
+not yourself seen, even in your short life, that what is highest and
+greatest can in its excess, be all that is most hideous? A noble pride,
+if not kept within bounds, becomes overweening ambition; the lovely
+grace of humility degenerates into an indolent sacrifice of opinion and
+will; high-hearted enterprise into a mad chase after fortune, in which
+we ride down everything that comes in the way of success. What is nobler
+than a mother's love, but when she fights for her child she becomes a
+raving Megaera. In the same way the Faith--the consoler of hearts--turns
+to a raging wild-beast when it stoops to become religious partisanship.
+If you would really understand Christianity you must look neither down
+to the deluded masses, and those ambitious worldlings who only use it
+as a means to an end by inflaming their baser passions, nor up to the
+throne, where power translates the impulse of a disastrous moment into
+sinister deeds. If you want to know what true and pure Christianity is,
+look into our homes, look at the family life of our fellow believers.
+I know them well, for my humble functions lead me into daily and hourly
+intercourse with them. Look to them if you purpose to give your hand to
+a Christian and make your home with him. There, my child, you will
+see all the blessings of the Saviour's teaching, love and soberness,
+pitifulness to the poor and a real heart-felt eagerness to forgive
+injuries. I have seen a Christian bestow his last crust on his hapless
+foe, on the enemy of his house, on the Heathen or the Jew, because they,
+too, are men, because our neighbor's woes should be as our own--I
+have seen them taken in and cherished as though they were
+fellow-Christians.--There you will find a striving after all that is
+good, a never-fading hope in better days to come, even under the worst
+afflictions; and when death requires the sacrifice of all that is
+dearest, or swoops down on life itself, a firm assurance of the
+forgiveness of sins through Christ. Believe me, mistress, there is no
+home so happy as that of the Christian; for he who really apprehends the
+Saviour and understands his teaching need not mar his own joys in this
+life to the end that he may be a partaker of the bliss of the next.
+On the contrary: He who called the erring to himself, who drew little
+children to his heart, who esteemed the poor above the rich, who was
+a cheerful guest at wedding-feasts, who bid us gain interest on the
+spiritual talents in our care, who commanded us to remember Him at a
+social meal, who opened hearts to love--He longed to release the life
+of the humblest creature from want and suffering. Where love and peace
+reign must there not be happiness? And as He preached love and peace
+above all else, He cannot have desired that we should intentionally
+darken our lives on earth and load them with sorrow and miseries in
+order to will our share of Heaven. The soul that is full of the happy
+confidence of being one with Him and his love, is released from the
+bondage of sin and sorrow, even here below; for Jesus has taken all the
+sins and pains of the world on himself; and if Fate visits the Christian
+with the heaviest blows he bears them in silence and patience. Our Lord
+is Love itself; neither hatred nor envy are known to Him as they are to
+the gods of the Heathen; and when he afflicts us, it is as the wise and
+tender pastor of our souls, and for our good. The omniscient Lord knows
+his own counsel, and the Christian submits as a child does to a wise
+father whose loving kindness he can always trust; nay, he can even thank
+him for sorrow and pain as though they were pleasurable benefits."
+
+Gorgo shook her head.
+
+"That all sounds very beautiful and good; it is required of the
+Christian, and sometimes, no doubt, fulfilled; but the Stoa demands the
+same virtues of its disciples. You, Constantine, knew Damon the Stoic,
+and you will remember how strictly he enjoined on all that they should
+rise superior to pain and grief. And then, when his only daughter
+lost her sight--she was a great friend of mine--he behaved like one
+possessed. My father, too, has often spoken to you of philosophy as a
+help to contemning the discomforts of life, and bearing the sports of
+Fate with a lofty mind; and now? You should see the poor man, reverend
+Father. What good have all the teachings of the great master done him?"
+
+"But he has lost so much--so much!" sighed Constantine thinking of his
+own loss; and Eusebius shook his head.
+
+"In sorrow such as his, no philosophy, no mental effort can avail. The
+blows that wound the affections can only be healed by the affections,
+and not by the intellect and considerations of reason. Faith, child!
+Faith is the true Herb of Grace. The intellect is its foe; the feelings
+are its native soil where it finds constant nourishment; and however
+deep the bleeding wound of the mourner may be, Faith can heal it and
+reconcile the sufferer to his loss. You have been taught to value a fine
+understanding, to measure everything by it, to build everything on its
+decisions. To you the knowledge you have attained to by argument and
+inference is supreme; but the Creator has given us a heart as well as
+a brain; our affections, too, stir and grow in their own way, and the
+knowledge they can attain to, my child, is Faith. You love--and Love
+is part of your affections; and now take my advice; do not let that
+reasoning intelligence, which has nothing to do with love, have anything
+to say in the matter; cherish your love and nurture it from the
+rich stores of your heart; thus only can it thrive to beauty and
+harmony.--And this must suffice for to-day, for I have already kept the
+wounded waiting too long in the Serapeum. If you desire it, another time
+I will show you Christianity in all its depth and beauty, and your
+love for this good man will prepare the way and open your heart to my
+teaching. A day will come when you will be able to listen to the voice
+of your heart as gladly as you have hitherto obeyed the dictates of your
+intellect; something new will be born in you which you will esteem as
+a treasure above all you ever acquired by reason and thought. That day
+will assuredly dawn on you; for he whom you love has opened the path for
+you that leads to the gates of Truth; and as you seek you will not fail
+to find.--And so farewell. When you crave a teacher you have only to
+come to him--and I know he will not have long to wait."
+
+Gorgo looked thoughtfully at the old man as he went away and then went
+with Constantine to see his parents. It was in total silence that they
+made their way along the short piece of road to the house of Clemens.
+Lights were visible in the viridarium and the curtains of the doorway
+were drawn back; as they reached the threshold Constantine pointed to
+a bier which had been placed in the little court among the flower-beds;
+his parents were on their knees by the side of it.
+
+Neither he nor Gorgo ventured to disturb their wordless devotions, but
+presently the ship-master rose, drawing his fine, stalwart figure to its
+full height; then turning his kind, manly, grave face to his wife, who
+had also risen to her feet, he laid one hand on her still abundant white
+hair and held out the other which she took in hers. Mariamne dried her
+eyes and looked up, in her husband's face as he said firmly and calmly:
+
+"The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away!' She hid her face on his
+shoulder and responded sadly but fervently:
+
+"Blessed be the name of the Lord!"
+
+"Yea--Blessed!" repeated Clemens emphatically but he passed his arm
+across his eyes. "For thirty-two years hath He lent him to us; and in
+our hearts...." and he struck his broad breast, "in here, he will never
+die for you or for me. As for the rest--and there was a deal of property
+of our own and of other folks in these wood-piles--well, in time we
+shall get over that. We may bless the Almighty for what we have left!"
+
+Gorgo felt her lover's hand grasp hers more tightly and she understood
+what he meant; she clung closer to him and whispered softly: "Yes, that
+is grand--that is the Truth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+In the great house in the Canopic street it was late ere all was quiet
+for the night. Even Demetrius, in spite of his fatigue, broke through
+his rule of "early to bed"; he felt he must see the reaping of the
+harvest he had sown for his brother.
+
+It had been no easy task to persuade Mary to accede to his
+importunities, but to his great joy he at last succeeded.
+
+He would have met with a rough dismissal if he had begun by praising
+Dada and expressing his wish to see her married to Marcus; he had gained
+his point inch by inch, very quietly; but when he had explained to her
+that it was in his hands to secure the martyr's crown for her husband
+she had turned suspicious and ironical, had made him swear that it was
+true, threatening him with punishments in this world and in the next;
+but he had let it all pass over his head, had solemnly sworn as she
+desired him, pledging not merely the salvation of his soul but his
+possessions in this world; till, at length, convinced that it really was
+in his power to gratify the dearest wish of her heart, she had yielded
+somewhat and altered her demeanor. Still, he had not spoken a word to
+help her through her deliberations and bewilderment, but had left her
+to fight out the hard struggle with her own soul; not without some
+malicious enjoyment but also not without anxiety, till the first
+decisive question was put to him by his stepmother.
+
+She had heard that Dada was quite resolved to be baptized, and having
+once more made sure of the fact that the girl was anxious to become a
+Christian, she next asked:
+
+"And it was Marcus who won her to the faith?"
+
+"He alone."
+
+"And you can swear that she is a pure-minded and well-conducted girl?"
+
+"Certainly, with the firmest conviction."
+
+"I saw her in the arena--she is pretty, uncommonly charming indeed--and
+Marcus...?"
+
+"He has set his heart on the girl, and I am sure that his passion is
+sincere and unselfish. On the other hand I need hardly remind you that
+in this city there are many women, even among those of the first rank,
+whose birth and origin are far more doubtful than those of your
+son's little friend, for she, at any rate, is descended from free and
+respectable parents. Her uncle's connections are among the best families
+in Sicily; not that we need trouble ourselves about that, for the wife
+of Philip's grandson would command respect even if she were only a
+freed-woman."
+
+"I know, I know," murmured Mary, as though all this were of minor
+importance in her eyes; and then for some little time she remained
+silent. At last she looked up and exclaimed in a voice that betrayed the
+struggle still going on in her soul:
+
+"What have I to care for but my child's happiness? In the sight of God
+we are all equal--great and small alike; and I myself am but a weak
+woman, full of defects and sins--but for all that I could have wished
+that the only son of a noble house might have chosen differently. All
+I can say is that I must look upon this marriage as a humiliation laid
+upon me by the Almighty--still, I give it my sanction and blessing, and
+I will do freely and with my whole heart if my son's bride brings as her
+marriage-portion the one thing which is the first and last aim of all my
+desires: The everlasting glory of Apelles. The martyr's crown will open
+the gates of Heaven to him--who was your father, too, Demetrius. Gain
+that and I myself will lead the singer to my son's arms."
+
+"That is a bargain!" cried Demetrius--and soon after midnight he had
+retired to rest, after seeing Mary fulfil her promise to give a parental
+blessing to the betrothed pair.
+
+A few weeks later Dada and Gorgo were both baptized, and both by the
+name of Cecilia; and then, at Mary's special entreaty, Marcus' marriage
+was solemnized with much pomp by the Bishop himself.
+
+Still, and in spite of the lavish demonstrations of more than motherly
+affection which the widow showered her daughter-in-law, Dada felt a
+stranger, and ill at ease in the great house in the Canopic way. When
+Demetrius, a few weeks after their marriage, proposed Marcus that he
+should undertake the management of family estates in Cyrenaica, she
+jumped at the suggestion; and Marcus at once decided to act upon it
+when his brother promised to remain with him for the first year or two,
+helping him with his advice and instructions.
+
+Their fears lest Mary should oppose the project, proved unfounded; for,
+though the widow declared that life would be a burden to her without her
+children, she soon acceded to her son's wishes and admitted that they
+were kind and wise. She need not fear isolation, for, as the widow of
+the martyred Apelles, she was the recognized leader of the Christian
+sisterhood in the town, and preferred working in a larger circle than
+that of the family. She always spoke with enthusiasm to her visitors
+of her daughter-in-law Cecilia, of her beauty, her piety and her
+gentleness; in fact, she did all she could to make it appear that she
+herself had chosen her son's wife. But she did not care to keep this
+"beloved daughter" with her in Alexandria, for the foremost position in
+every department of social life was far more certain to be conceded to
+the noble widow of a "martyred witness" in the absence of the pretty
+little converted singer.
+
+So the young couple moved to Cyrenaica, and Dada was happy in learning
+to govern her husband's large estates with prudence and good sense. The
+gay singing-girl became a capable housewife, and the idle horse-loving
+Marcus a diligent farmer. For three years Demetrius staid with them as
+adviser and superintendent; even afterwards he frequently visited them,
+and for months at a time, and he was wont to say:
+
+"In Alexandria I am heart and soul, a Heathen, but in the house with
+your Cecilia I am happy to be a Christian."
+
+Before they quitted the city a terrible blow fell on Eusebius. The
+sermon he had delivered just before the overthrow of Serapes, to soothe
+the excited multitude and guide them in the right way, had been regarded
+by the Bishop of the zealot priests, who happened to be present, as
+blasphemous and as pandering to the infidels; Theophilus, therefore, had
+charged his nephew Cyril--his successor in the see--to verify the facts
+and enquire into the deacon's orthodoxy. It thus came to light that
+Agne, an Arian, was not only living under his roof, but had been trusted
+by him to nurse certain sick persons among the orthodox; the old man
+was condemned by Cyril to severe acts of penance, but Theophilus decided
+that he must be deprived of his office in the city, where men of sterner
+stuff were needed, and only allowed the charge of souls in a country
+congregation.
+
+It was a cruel blow to the venerable couple to be forced to quit the
+house and the little garden where they had been happy together for half
+a lifetime; however, the change proved to be to their advantage, for
+Marcus invited his worthy teacher to be the spiritual pastor of his
+estates. The churches he built for his peasants were consecrated by
+Eusebius, whose mild doctrine and kindly influence persuaded many
+laborers and slaves to be baptized and to join his flock of disciples.
+But the example and amiability of their young mistress was even more
+effectual than his preaching. Men and women, slaves and free, all adored
+and respected her; to imitate her in all she did could only lead to
+honor and happiness, could only be right and good and wise. Thus by
+degrees, and without the exertion of any compulsion, the temples and
+shrines on the Martyr's inheritance were voluntarily abandoned, and fell
+into ruin and decay.
+
+It was the same on the property of Constantine, which lay at no more
+than a day's journey from that of Marcus; the two young couples were
+faithful friends and good neighbors. The estate which had come into
+Constantine's possession had belonged to Barkas, the Libyan, who, with
+his troops, had been so anxiously and vainly expected to succor the
+Serapeum. The State had confiscated his extensive and valuable lands,
+and the young officer, after retiring from the service, had purchased
+them with the splendid fortune left to Gorgo by her grandmother.
+
+The two sons of Porphyrius had, as it proved, been so happy as to escape
+in the massacre at Thessalonica; and as they were Christians and piously
+orthodox, the old man transferred to them, during his lifetime,
+the chief share of his wealth; so that henceforth he could live
+honestly--alienated from the Church and a worshipper of the old gods,
+without anxiety as to his will. The treasures of art which Constantine
+and Gorgo found in the house of Barkas they carefully preserved, though,
+ere long, few heathen were to be found even in this neighborhood which
+had formerly been the headquarters of rebellion on behalf of the old
+religion.
+
+Papias was brought up with the children of Marcus and Dada Cecilia,
+while his sister Agne, finding herself relieved of all care on his
+account, sought and found her own way through life.
+
+Orpheus, after seeing his parents killed in the fight at the Serapeum,
+was carried, sorely wounded, to the sick-house of which Eusebius was
+spiritual director. Agne had volunteered to nurse him and had watched
+by his couch day and night. Eusebius had also brought Dada and Papias
+to visit them, and Dada had promised, on behalf of Marcus, that Agne and
+her brother should always be provided for, even in the event of the good
+Deacon's death. The little boy was for the moment placed in Eusebius'
+care, and it was a cause of daily rejoicing to Agne to hear from the
+kind old man of all the charming qualities he discovered in the child
+who was perfectly happy with the old folks, and who, though he was
+always delighted to see his sister, was quite content to part from her
+and return home with Eusebius, or with Dada, to whom he was devoted.
+
+Orpheus recognized no one, neither Agne nor the child--and when
+visitors had been to see him, in his fevered ravings he would talk more
+vehemently than ever of great Apollo and other heathen divinities. Then
+he would fancy that he was still fighting in the Serapeum and butchering
+thousands of Christian foes with his own hand. Agne, whom he rarely
+recognized for a moment, would talk soothingly to him, and even try to
+say a few words about the Saviour and the life to come; but he always
+interrupted her with blasphemous exclamations, and cursed and abused
+her. Never had she gone through such anguish of soul as by his bed of
+suffering, and yet she could not help gazing at his face; and when she
+told herself that he must soon be no more, that the light of his eyes
+would cease to shine on hers, she felt as though the sun were about
+to be extinguished and the earth darkened for all time. However, his
+healthy vigor kept him lingering for many days and nights.
+
+On the last evening of his life he took Agne for a Muse, and calling to
+her to come to him seized her hand and sank back unconscious, never to
+move again. She stood there as the minutes slowly passed, waiting in
+agonized suspense till his hand should be cold in hers; and as she
+waited she overheard a dialogue between two deaconesses who were
+watching by a sleeping patient. One of them was telling the other that
+her sister's husband, a mason, had died an obdurate heathen and a bitter
+enemy of the Christian Church. Then Dorothea, his widow, had devoted
+herself to saving his soul; she left her children, abandoning them to
+the charity of the congregation, and had withdrawn to a cloister to
+pray in silence and unceasingly for the soul of her deceased husband.
+At first he used to appear to her in her dreams, with furious gestures,
+accompanied by centaurs and goat-footed creatures, and had desired her
+to go home to her children and leave his soul in peace, for that he was
+in very good quarters with the jolly devils; but soon after she had
+seen him again with scorched limbs, and he lead implored her to pray
+fervently for mercy on him, for that they were torturing him cruelly in
+hell.
+
+Dorothea had then retired into the desert of Kolzoum where she was still
+living in a cave, feeding on herbs, roots, and shell-fish thrown up on
+the sea-shore. She had schooled herself to do without sleep, and prayed
+day and night for her husband's soul; and she lead obtained strength
+never to think of anything but her own and her husband's salvation, and
+to forget her children completely. Her fervid devotion had at length met
+with full reward; for some little time her husband had appeared to her
+in a robe of shining light and often attended by lovely angels.
+
+Agne had not lost a word of this narrative, and when, next morning,
+she felt the cold hand of the dead youth and looked at his drawn and
+pain-stricken features, she shuddered with vague terrors: he, she
+thought, like Dorothea's husband, must have hell-torments to endure.
+When she presently found herself alone with the corpse she bent over it
+and kissed the pale lips, and swore to herself that she would save his
+soul.
+
+That same evening she went back to Eusebius and told him of her wish
+to withdraw to the desert of Koizoum and become a recluse. The old man
+besought her to remain with him, to take charge of her little brother,
+and not to abandon him and his old wife; for that it was a no less
+lovely Christian duty to be compassionate and helpful, and cherish the
+feeble in their old age. His wife added her entreaties and tears; but a
+sudden chill had gripped Agne's heart; dry-eyed and rigid she resisted
+their prayers, and took leave of her benefactors and of Papias.
+Bare-foot and begging her way, she started for the south-east and
+reached the shores of the Red Sea. There she found the stonemason's
+widow, emaciated and haggard, with matted hair, evidently dying. Agne
+remained with her, closed her eyes, and then lived on as Dorothea had
+lived, in the same cave, till the fame of her sanctity spread far beyond
+the boundaries of Egypt.
+
+When Papias had grown to man's estate and was installed as steward to
+Demetrius, he sought his sister many times and tried to persuade her to
+live with him in his new home; but she never would consent to quit her
+solitary cell. She would not have exchanged it for a king's palace; for
+Orpheus appeared to her in nightly visions, radiant with the glories of
+Heaven; and time was passing and the hour drawing near when she might
+hope to be with him once more.
+
+The widow Mary, in her later years, made many pilgrimages to holy places
+and saintly persons, and among others to Agne, the recluse; but she
+would never be induced to visit Cyrenaica, whither she was frequently
+invited by her children and grandchildren; some more powerful excitant
+was needed to prompt her to face the discomforts of a journey.
+
+The old Heathen cults had completely vanished from the Greek capital
+long before her death. With it died the splendor and the power of the
+second city in the world; and of all the glories of the city of
+Serapis nothing now remains but a mighty column--[Known as Pompey's
+Pillar.]--towering to the skies, the last surviving fragment of the
+beautiful temple of the sovereign-god whose fall marked so momentous
+an epoch in the life of the human race. But, like this pillar, outward
+Beauty--the sense of form that characterized the heathen mind--has
+survived through the ages. We can gaze up at the one and the other, and
+wherever the living Truth--the Spirit of Christianity--has informed and
+penetrated that form of Beauty, the highest hopes of old Eusebius have
+been realized. Their union is solemnized in Christian Art.
+
+
+
+     ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+     Christian hypocrites who pretend to hate life and love death
+     Christianity had ceased to be the creed of the poor
+     Great happiness, and mingled therefor with bitter sorrow
+     He may talk about the soul--what he is after is the girl
+     He spoke with pompous exaggeration
+     It is not by enthusiasm but by tactics that we defeat a foe
+     Love means suffering--those who love drag a chain with them
+     People who have nothing to do always lack time
+     Perish all those who do not think as we do
+     Pretended to see nothing in the old woman's taunts
+     Rapture and anguish--who can lay down the border line
+     Reason is a feeble weapon in contending with a woman
+     To her it was not a belief but a certainty
+     Trifling incident gains importance when undue emphasis is laid
+     Very hard to imagine nothingness
+     Whether man were the best or the worst of created beings
+     Words that sounded kindly, but with a cold, unloving heart
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Serapis, Complete, by Georg Ebers
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