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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5490.txt b/5490.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d592896 --- /dev/null +++ b/5490.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2359 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook The Emperor, by Georg Ebers, Volume 8. +#52 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Emperor, Part 2, Volume 8. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5490] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 28, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMPEROR, BY GEORG EBERS, V8 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +THE EMPEROR, Part 2. + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 8. + + +CHAPTER X. + +The story told by Mastor which had so greatly agitated Pollux and had +prompted him to his mad flight was the history of events which had taken +place in the steward's rooms during the hours when the young artist was +helping his parents to transfer their household belongings into his +sister's tiny dwelling. Keraunus was certainly not one of the most +cheerful of men, but on the morning when Sabina came to the palace and +the gate-keeper was driven from his home, he had worn the aspect of a +thoroughly-contented man. + +Since visiting Selene the day before he had given himself no farther +concern about her. She was not dangerously ill and was exceptionally +well taken care of, and the children did not seem to miss her. Indeed, +he himself did not want her back to-day. He avoided confessing this to +himself it is true, still he felt lighter and freer in the absence of his +grave monitor than he had been for a long time. It would be delightful, +he thought, to go on living in this careless manner, alone with Arsinoe +and the children, and now and again he rubbed his hands and grinned +complacently. When the old slave-woman brought a large dish full of +cakes which he had desired her to buy, and set it down by the side of the +children's porridge, he chuckled so heartily that his fat person shook +and swayed; and he had very good reason to be happy in his way, for +Plutarch quite early in the morning, had sent a heavy purse of gold +pieces for his ivory cup, and a magnificent bunch of roses to Arsinoe; +he might give his children a treat, buy himself a solid gold fillet, and +dress Arsinoe as finely as though she were the prefect's favorite +daughter. + +His vanity was gratified in every particular. + +And what a splendid fellow was the slave who now--with a superbly +reverential bow-presented him with a roast chicken and who was to walk +behind him in the afternoon to the council-chamber. The tall Thessalian +who marched after the Archidikastes to the Hall of justice, carrying his +papers, was hardly grander than his "body-servant." He had bought him +yesterday at quite a low price. The well-grown Samian was scarcely +thirty years old; he could read and write and was in a position therefore +to instruct the children in these arts; nay, he could even play the lute. +His past, to be sure, was not a spotless record, and it was for that +reason that he had been sold so cheaply. He had stolen things on several +occasions; but the brands and scars which he bore upon his person were +hidden by his new chiton and Keraunus felt in himself the power to cure +him of his evil propensities. + +After desiring Arsinoe to let nothing he about of any value, for their +new house-mate seemed not to be perfectly honest, he answered his +daughter's scruples by saying: + +"It would be better, no doubt, that he should be as honest as the old +skeleton I gave in exchange for him, but I reflect that even if my body- +servant should make away with some of the few drachmae we carry about +with us, I need not repent of having bought him, since I got him for many +thousand drachmae less than he is worth, on account of his thefts, while +a teacher for the children would have cost more than he can steal from us +at the worst. I will lock up the gold in the chest with my documents. +It is strong and could only be opened with a crow-bar. Besides the +fellow will have left off stealing at any rate at first, for his late +master was none of the mildest and had cured him of his pilfering I +should think, once for all. It is lucky that in selling such rascals we +should be compelled to state what their faults are; if the seller fails +to do so compensation maybe claimed from him by the next owner for what +he may lose. Lykophron certainly concealed nothing, and setting aside +his thieving propensities the Samian is said to be in every respect a +capital fellow." + +But father," replied Arsinoe, her anxiety once more urging her to speak, +"it is a bad thing to have a dishonest man in the house." + +"You know nothing about it child!" answered Keraunus. "To us to live +and to be honest are the same thing, but a slave!--King Antiochus is said +to have declared that the man who wishes to be well served must employ +none but rascals." + +When Arsinoe had been tempted out on to the balcony by her lover's snatch +of song and had been driven in again by her father, the steward had not +reproved her in any way unkindly, but had stroked her cheeks and said +with a smile: "I rather fancy that lad of the gatekeeper's--whom I once +turned out of doors has had his eye on you since you were chosen for +Roxana. Poor wretch! But we have very different suitors in view for you +my little girl. How would it be, think you, if rich Plutarch had sent +you those roses, not on his own behalf but as a greeting on the part of +his son? I know that he is very desirous of marrying him but the +fastidious man has never yet thought any Alexandrian girl good enough for +him." + +"I do not know him, and he does not think of a poor thing like me," said +Arsinoe. + +"Do you think not?" asked Keraunus smiling. "We are of as good family, +nay of a better than Plutarch, and the fairest is a match for the +wealthiest. What would you say child to a long flowing purple robe and a +chariot with white horses, and runners in front?" + +At breakfast Keraunus drank two cups of strong wine, in which he allowed +Arsinoe to mix only a few drops of water. While his daughter was curling +his hair a swallow flew into the room; this was a good omen and raised +the steward's spirits. Dressed in his best and with a well-filled purse, +he was on the point of starting for the council-chamber with his new +slave when Sophilus the tailor and his girl-assistant were shown into the +living-room. The man begged to be allowed to try the dress, ordered for +Roxana by the prefect's wife, on the steward's daughter. Keraunus +received him with much condescension and allowed him to bring in the +slave who followed him with a large parcel of dresses,--and Arsinoe, who +was with the children, was called. + +Arsinoe was embarrassed and anxious and would far rather have yielded her +part to another; still, she was curious about the new dresses. The +tailor begged her to allow her maid to dress her; his assistant would +help her because the dresses which were only slightly stitched together +for trying on, were cut, not in the Greek but in the Oriental fashion. + +"Your waiting woman," he added turning to Arsinoe, "will be able to learn +to-day the way to dress you on the great occasion." + +"My daughter's maid," said Keraunus, winking slily at Arsinoe, "is not in +the house." + +"Oh, I require no help," cried the tailor's girl. "I am handy too at +dressing hair, and I am most glad to help such a fair Roxana." + +"And it is a real pleasure to work for her," added Sophilus. "Other +young ladies are beautified by what they wear, but your daughter adds +beauty to all she wears." + +"You are most polite," said Keraunus, as Arsinoe and her handmaid left +the room. + +"We learn a great deal by our intercourse with people of rank," replied +the tailor. "The illustrious ladies who honor me with their custom like +not only to see but to hear what is pleasing. Unfortunately there are +among them some whom the gods have graced with but few charms, and they, +strangely enough, crave the most flattering speeches. But the poor +always value it more than the rich when benevolence is shown them." + +"Well said," cried Keraunus. "I myself am but indifferently well off for +a man of family, and am glad to live within my moderate means--so that my +daughter--" + +"The lady Julia has chosen the costliest stuffs for her; as is fitting-- +as the occasion demands," said the tailor. "Quite right, at the same +time--" + +"Well, my lord?" + +"The grand occasion will be over and my daughter, now that she is grown +up, ought to be seen at home and in the street in suitable and handsome, +though not costly, clothes. + +"I said just now, true beauty needs no gaudy raiment." + +"Would you be disposed now, to work for me at a moderate price?" + +"With pleasure; nay, I shall be indebted to her, for all the world will +admire Roxana and inquire who may be her tailor." + +"You are a very reasonable and right-minded man. What now would you +charge for a dress for her?" + +"That we can discuss later." + +"No, no, I beg you sincerely--" + +"First let me consider what you want. Simple dresses are more difficult, +far more difficult to make, and yet become a handsome woman better than +rich and gaudy robes. But can any man make a woman understand it? I +could tell you a tale of their folly! Why many a woman who rides by in +her chariot wears dresses and gems to conceal not merely her own limbs, +but the poverty-stricken condition of her house." + +Thus, and in this wise did Keraunus and the tailor converse, while the +assistant plaited up Arsinoe's hair with strings of false pearls that she +had brought with tier, and fitted and pinned on her the costly white and +blue silk robes of an Asiatic princess. At first Arsinoe was very still +and timid. She no longer cared to dress for any one but Pollux; but the +garments prepared for her were wonderfully pretty--and how well the +fitter knew how to give effect to her natural advantages. While the +neat-handed woman worked busily and carefully many merry jests passed +between them--many sincere and hearty words of admiration--and before +long Arsinoe had become quite excited and took pleased interest in the +needle-woman's labors. + +Every bough that is freshly decked by spring seems to feel gladness, and +the simple child who was to-day so splendidly dressed was captivated by +pleasure in her own beauty, and its costly adornment which delighted her +beyond measure. Arsinoe now clapped her hands with delight, now had the +mirror handed to her, and now, with all the frankness of a child, +expressed her satisfaction not only with the costly clothes she wore, +but with her own surprisingly grand appearance in them. + +The dress-maker was enchanted with her, proud and delighted, and could +not resist the impulse to give a kiss to the charming girl's white, +beautifully round throat. + +"If only Pollux could see me so!" thought Arsinoe. "After the +performance perhaps I might show myself in my dress to Selene, and then +she would forgive my taking part in the show. It is really a pleasure to +look so nice!" + +The children all stood round her while she was being dressed, and shouted +with admiration each time some new detail of the princess's attire was +added. Helios begged to be allowed to feel her dress, and after +satisfying herself that his little hands were clean she stroked them over +the glistening white silk. + +She had now advanced so far that her father and the tailor could be +called in. She felt remarkably content and happy. Drawn up to her +tallest, like a real king's daughter, and yet with a heart beating as +anxiously as that of any girl would who is on the point of displaying her +beauty--hitherto protected and hidden in her parents' home--to the +thousand eyes of the gaping multitude, she went towards the sitting-room; +but she drew back her hand she had put forth to raise the latch, for she +heard the voices of several men who must just now have joined her father. + +"Wait a little while, there are visitors," she cried to the seamstress +who had followed her, and she put her ear to the door to listen. At +first she could not make out anything that was going on, but the end of +the strange conversation that was being carried on within was so +hideously intelligible that she could never forget it so long as she +lived. + +Her father had ordered two new dresses for her, beating down the price +with the promise of prompt payment, when Mastor came into the steward's +room and informed Keraunus that his master and Gabinius, the curiosity- +dealer from Nicaea, wished to speak with him. + +"Your master," said Keraunus haughtily, "may come in; I think that he +regrets the injury he has done me; but Gabinius shall never cross this +threshold again, for he is a scoundrel." + +"It would be as well that you should desire that man to leave you for the +present," said the slave, pointing to the tailor. + +"Whoever comes to visit me," said the steward loftily, "must be satisfied +to meet any one whom I permit to enter my house." + +"Nay, nay," said the slave urgently, "my master is a greater man than you +think. Beg this man to leave the room." + +"I know, I know very well," said Keraunus with a smile. "Your master is +an acquaintance of Caesar's. But we shall see, after the performance +that is about to take place, which of us two Caesar will decide for. +This tailor has business here and will stay at my pleasure. Sit in the +corner there, my friend." + +"A tailor!" cried Mastor, horrified. "I tell you he must go." + +"He must!" asked Keraunus wrathfully. "A slave dares to give orders in +my house? We will see." + +"I am going," interrupted the artisan who understood the case. "No +unpleasantness shall arise here on my account, I will return in a quarter +of an hour." + +"You will stay," commanded Keraunus. "This insolent Roman seems to think +that Lochias belongs to him; but I will show him who is master here." + +But Mastor paid no heed to these words spoken in a high pitch; he took +the tailor's hand and led him out, whispering to him: + +"Come with me if you wish to escape an evil hour." + +The two men went off and Keraunus did not detain the artisan, for it +occurred to his mind that his presence did him small credit. He purposed +to show himself in all his dignity to the overbearing architect, but he +also remembered that it was not advisable to provoke unnecessarily the +mysterious bearded stranger, with the big clog. Much excited, and not +altogether free from anxiety, he paced up and down his room. To give +himself courage he hastily filled a cup from the wine-jar that stood on +the breakfast table, emptied it, refilled it and drank it off a second +time without adding any water, and then stood with his arms folded and a +strong color in his face awaiting his enemy's visit. + +The Emperor walked in with Gabinius. Keraunus expected some greeting, +but Hadrian spoke not a word, cast a glance at him of the utmost contempt +and passed by him without taking any more notice of him than if he had +been a pillar or a piece of furniture. The blood mounted to the +steward's head and heated his eyes and for fully a minute he strove in +vain to find words to give utterance to his rage. Gabinius paid no more +heed to Keraunus than the Roman had done. He walked on ahead and paused +in front of the mosaic for which he had offered so high a price, and over +which a few days since he had been so sharply dealt with by the steward. + +"I would beg you," he said, "to look at this masterpiece." + +The Emperor looked at the ground, but hardly had he begun to study the +picture, of which he quite understood and appreciated the beauty, when +just behind him he heard in a hoarse voice these words uttered with +difficulty: + +"In Alexandria--it is the custom, to greet--to say something--to the +people you visit." Hadrian half turned his head towards the speaker and +said indifferently but with strong and insulting contempt: + +"In Rome too it is the custom to greet honest people." Then looking down +again at the mosaic he said, "Exquisite, exquisite an inestimable and +precious work." At Hadrian's words Keraunus' eyes almost started out of +his head. His face was crimson and his lips pale; he went close up to +him and as soon as he had found breath to speak he said: + +"What have you--what are your words intended to convey?" + +Hadrian turned suddenly and full upon the steward; in his eyes sparkled +that annihilating fire which few could endure to gaze on and his deep +voice rolled sullenly through the room as he said to the miserable man: + +"My words are intended to convey that you have been an unfaithful +steward, that I know what you would rather I should not know, that I have +learned how you deal with the property entrusted to you, that you--" + +"That I?"--cried the steward trembling with rage and stepping close up to +the Emperor. + +"That you," shouted Hadrian in his face, "tried to sell this picture to +this man; in short that you are a simpleton and a scoundrel into the +bargain." + +"I--I," gasped Keraunus slapping his hand on his fat chest. "I--a--a-- +but you shall repent of these words." + +Hadrian laughed coldly and scornfully, but Keraunus sprang on Gabinius +with a wonderful agility for his size, clutched him by the collar of his +chiton and shook the feeble little man as if he were a sapling, shrieking +meanwhile: + +"I will choke you with your own lies--serpent, mean viper!" + +"Madman!" cried Hadrian "leave hold of the Ligurian or by Sirius you +shall repent it." + +"Repent it?" gasped the steward. "It will be your turn to repent when +Caesar comes. Then will come a day of reckoning with false witnesses, +shameless calumniators who disturb peaceful households, while credulous +idiots--" + +"Man, man," interrupted Hadrian, not loudly but sternly and ominously, +"you know not to whom you speak." + +"Oh I know you--I know you only too well. But I--I--shall I tell you who +I am?" + +"You--you are a blockhead," replied the monarch shrugging his shoulders +contemptuously. Then he added calmly, with dignity--almost with +indifference: + +"I am Caesar." + +At these words the steward's hand dropped from the chiton of the half- +throttled dealer. Speechless and with a glassy stare he gazed in +Hadrian's face for a few seconds. Then he suddenly started, staggered +backwards, uttered a loud choking, gurgling, nameless cry, and fell back +on the floor like a mass of rock shaken from its foundations by an +earthquake. The room shook again with his fall. + +Hadrian was startled and when he saw him lying motionless at his feet he +bent over him--less from pity than from a wish to see what was the matter +with him; for he had also dabbled in medicine. Just as he was lifting +the fallen man's hand to feel his pulse Arsinoe rushed into the room. +She had heard the last words of the antagonists with breathless anxiety +and her father's fall and now threw herself on her knees by the side of +the unhappy man, just opposite to Hadrian, and as his distorted and grey- +white face told her what had occurred she broke out in a passionate cry +of anguish. Her brothers and sisters followed at her heels, and when +they saw their favorite sister bewailing herself they followed her +example without knowing at first what Arsinoe was crying for, but soon +with terror and horror at their father lying there stiff and disfigured. +The Emperor, who had never had either son or daughter of his own, found +nothing so intolerable as the presence of crying children. However he +endured the wailing and whimpering that surrounded him till he had +ascertained the condition of the man lying on the ground before him. + +"He is dead," he said in a few minutes. "Cover his face, Master." + +Arsinoe and the children broke out afresh, and Hadrian glanced down at +them with annoyance. When his eye fell on Arsinoe, whose costly robe, +merely pinned and slightly stitched together had come undone with the +vehemence of her movements and were hanging as flapping rags in tumbled +disorder, he was disgusted with the gaudy fluttering trumpery which +contrasted so painfully with the grief of the wearer, and turning his +back on the fair girl he quitted the chamber of misery. + +Gabinius followed him with a hideous smirk. He had directed the +Emperor's attention to the mosaic pavement in the steward's room, and had +shamelessly accused Keraunus of having offered to sell him a work that +belonged to the palace, contrasting his conduct with his own rectitude. +Now the calumniated man was dead, and the truth could never come to +light; this was necessarily a satisfaction to the miserable man, but he +derived even greater pleasure from the reflection that Arsinoe could not +now fill the part of Roxana, and that consequently there was once more a +possibility that it might devolve on his daughter. + +Hadrian walked on in front of him, silent and thoughtful. Gabinius +followed him into his writing-room, and there said with fulsome +smoothness: + +"Ah, great Caesar, thus do the gods punish with a heavy hand the crimes +of the guilty." + +Hadrian did not interrupt him, but he looked him keenly and enquiringly +in the face, and then said, gravely, but coolly: + +"It seems to me, man, that I should do well to break off my connection +with you, and to give some other dealer the commissions which I proposed +to entrust to you." + +"Caesar!" stammered Gabinius, "I really do not know--" + +"But I do know," interrupted the Emperor. "You have attempted to mislead +me, and throw your own guilt on the shoulders of another." + +"I--great Caesar? I have attempted--" began the Ligurian, while his +pinched features turned an ashy grey. "You accused the steward of a +dishonorable trick," replied Hadrian. "But I know men well, and I know +that no thief ever yet died of being called a scoundrel. It is only +undeserved disgrace that can cost a man's life." + +"Keraunus was full-blooded, and the shock when he learnt that you were +Caesar--" + +"That shock accelerated the end no doubt," interrupted the monarch, "but +the mosaic in the steward's room is worth a million of sesterces, and now +I have seen enough to be quite sure that you are not the man to save your +money when a work like that mosaic is offered you for sale--be the +circumstances what they may. If I see the case rightly, it was Keraunus +who refused your demand that he should resign to you the treasure in his +charge. Certainly, that was the case exactly! Now, leave me. I wish to +be alone." + +Gabinius retired with many bows, walking backwards to the door, and then +turned his back on the palace of Lochias muttering many impotent curses +as he went. + +The steward's new 'body-servant,' the old black woman, Mastor, the tailor +and his slave, helped Arsinoe to carry her father's lifeless body and lay +it on a couch, and the slave closed his eyes. He was dead--so each told +the despairing girl, but she would not, could not believe it. As soon as +she was alone with the old negress and the dead, she lifted up his heavy, +clumsy arm, and as soon as she let go her hold it fell by his side like +lead. She lifted the cloth from the dead man's face, but she flung it +over him again at once, for death had drawn his features. Then she +kissed his cold hand and brought the children in and made them do the +same, and said sobbing: + +"We have no father now; we shall never, never see him again." + +The little blind boy felt the dead body with his hands, and asked his +sister: + +"Will he not wake again to-morrow morning and make you curl his hair, and +take me up on his knee?" + +"Never, never; he is gone, gone for ever." + +As she spoke Mastor entered the room, sent by his master. Yesterday had +he not heard from the overseer of the pavement-workers the comforting +tidings that after our grief and suffering here on earth there would be +another, beautiful, blissful and eternal life? He went kindly up to +Arsinoe and said: + +"No, no, my children; when we are dead we become beautiful angels with +colored wings, and all who have loved each other here on earth will meet +again in the presence of the good God." + +Arsinoe looked at the slave with disapproval. + +"What is the use," she asked, "of cheating the children with silly tales? +Their father is gone, quite gone, but we will never, never forget him." + +"Are there any angels with red wings?" asked the youngest little girl. + +"Oh! I want to be an angel!" cried Helios, clapping his hands. "And +can the angels see?" + +"Yes, dear little man," replied Mastor, "and their eyes are wonderfully +bright, and all they look upon is beautiful." + +"Tell them no more Christian nonsense," begged Arsinoe. "Ah! children, +when we shall have burned our father's body there will be nothing left of +him but a few grey ashes." + +But the slave took the little blind boy on his knees and whispered to +him: + +"Only believe what I tell you--you will see him again in Heaven." + +Then he set him down again, gave Arsinoe a little bag of gold pieces in +Caesar's name, and begged her--for so his master desired--to find a new +abode and, after the deceased was burned on the morrow, to quit Lochias +with the children. When Mastor was gone Arsinoe opened the chest, in +which lay her father's papyri and the money that Plutarch had paid for +the ivory cup, put in the heavy purse sent by the Emperor, comforting +herself while her tears flowed, with the reflection that she and the +children were provided at any rate against immediate want. + +But where was she to go with the little ones? Where could she hope to +find a refuge at once? What was to become of them when all they now +possessed was spent. The gods be thanked! she was not forlorn; she +still had friends. She could find protection and love with Pollux and +look to dame Doris for motherly counsel. + +She quickly dried her eyes and changed the remains of her splendor for +the dark dress in which she was accustomed to work at the papyrus +factory; then, as soon as she had taken the pearls out of her hair, she +went down to the little gate-house. + +She was only a few steps from the door--but why did not the Graces come +springing out to meet her? Why did she see no birds, no flowers in the +window? Was she deceived, was she dreaming or was she tricked by some +evil spirit? The door of the dear home-like little dwelling was wide +open and the sitting-room was absolutely empty, not a chattel was left +behind, forgotten--not a leaf from a plant was lying on the ground; for +dame Doris, in her tidy fashion, had swept out the few rooms where she +had grown grey in peace and contentment as carefully as though she were +to come into them again to-morrow. + +What had happened here? Where were her friends gone? A great terror +came over her, all the misery of desolation fell upon her, and as she +sank upon the stone bench outside the gate-house to wait for the +inhabitants who must presently return, the tears again flowed from her +eyes and fell in heavy drops on her hands as they lay in her lap. + +She was still sitting there, thinking with a throbbing heart of Pollux +and of the happy morning of this now dying day, when a troup of Moorish +slaves came towards the deserted house. The head mason who led them +desired her to rise from the bench, and in answer to her questions, told +her that the little building was to be pulled down, and that the couple +who had inhabited it were evicted from their post, turned out of doors +and had gone elsewhere with all their belongings. But where Doris and +her son had taken themselves no one knew. Arsinoe as she heard these +tidings felt like a sailor whose vessel has grounded on a rocky shore, +and who realizes with horror that every plank and beam be neath him +quivers and gapes. As usual, when she felt too weak to help herself +unaided, her first thought was of Selene, and she decided to hasten off +to her and to ask her what she could do, what was to become of her and +the children. + +It was already growing dark. With a swift step, and drying her eyes from +time to time on her peplum as she went, she returned to her own room to +fetch a veil, without which she dared not venture so late into the +streets. On the steps--where the dog had thrown down Selene--she met a +man hurrying past her; in the dim light she fancied he bore some +resemblance to the slave that her father had bought the day before; but +she paid no particular heed, for her mind was full of so many other +things. In the kitchen sat the old negress in front of a lamp and the +children squatted round her; by the hearth sat the baker and the butcher, +to whom her father owed considerable sums and who had come to claim their +dues, for ill news has swifter wings than good tidings, and they had +already heard of the steward's death. Arsinoe took the lamp, begged the +men to wait, went into the sitting-room, passing, not without a shudder, +the body of the man who a few hours since had stroked her cheeks and +looked lovingly into her eyes. + +How glad she felt to be able to pay her dead father's debts and save the +honor of his name! She confidently drew the key out of her pocket and +went up to the chest. What was this? She knew, quite positively, that +she had locked it before going out and yet it was now standing wide open; +the lid, thrown back, hung askew by one hinge; the other was broken. A +dread, a hideous suspicion, froze her blood; the lamp trembled in her +hand as she leaned over the chest which ought to have contained every +thing she possessed. There lay the old documents, carefully rolled +together, side by side, but the two bags with Plutarch's money and the +Emperor's, had vanished. She took out one roll after another; then she +tossed them all out on to the floor till the bottom of the chest was +bare--but the gold was really gone, nowhere to be found. + +The new slave had forced open the lid of the chest and stolen the whole +possessions of the orphans of the man who, to gratify his own vanity, had +brought him into the house. + +Arsinoe screamed aloud, called in her creditors, explained to them all +that had occurred and implored them to pursue the thief; and when they +only listened to her with an incredulous shrug, she swore that she was +speaking the truth, and promised that whether the slave were caught or +not she would pay them with the price of her own and her father's +personal ornaments. She knew the name of the dealer of whom her father +had bought the slave and told it to the unsatisfied dealers, who at last +left her to follow up the thief as promptly as possible. + +Once more Arsinoe was alone. Tearless, but shivering and scarcely +mistress of herself from misery and agitation, she took out her veil, +flung it over her head, and hurried through the court and along the +streets to her sister. + +Verily, since Sabina's visit to the palace all good spirits had deserted +it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +In a perfectly dark spot by the wall of the widow's garden, stood the +cynic philosopher who had met Antinous with so little courtesy, defending +himself eagerly, but in low tones against the rebukes of another man, +who, dressed, like himself in a ragged cloak and bearing a beggar's +wallet, appeared to be one of the same kidney. + +"Do not deny," said the latter, "that you cling much to the Christians." + +"But hear me out," urged the other. + +"I need hear nothing, for I have seen you for the tenth time sneaking in +to one of their meetings." + +"And do I deny it? Do I not honestly confess that I seek truth wherever +I may, where I see even a gleam of hope of finding it?" + +"Like the Egyptian who wanted to catch the miraculous fish, and at last +flung his hook into the sand." + +"The man acted very wisely." + +"What now!" + +"A marvel is not to be found just where everything else is. In hunting +for truth you must not be afraid of a bog." + +"And the Christian doctrine seems to be very much such a muddy thicket." + +"Call it so for aught I care." + +"Then beware lest you find yourself sticking in the morass." + +"I will take care of myself." + +"You said just now that there were decent folks among them." + +"A few no doubt. But the others! eternal gods! mere slaves, beggars, +ruined handicraftstmen, common people, untaught and unphilosophical +brains, and women, for the most part." + +"Avoid them then." + +"You ought to be the last to give me that advice." + +"What do you mean?" + +The other went close up to him and asked him in a whisper: + +"Why, where do you suppose I get the money with which I pay for our food +and lodging?" + +"So long as you do not steal it, it is all the same to me." + +"If I had no more, you would ask the question fast enough." + +"Certainly not, we strive after virtue and ought to do everything to +render ourselves independent of nature and her cravings. But to be sure +she often asserts her rights--to return then: where do you get the +money?" + +"Why, it burns in the purses of the people in there. It is their duty to +give to the poor, and to tell the truth, their pleasure also; and so week +by week they give me a few drachmae for my suffering brother." + +"Bah! you are the only son of your father, and he is dead." + +"'All men are brethren' say the Christians, consequently I may call you +mine without lying." + +"Join them then for aught I care," laughed the other. "How would it be +if I followed you among the Christians? Perhaps they would give me +weekly money too, for my suffering brother, and then we could have double +meals." + +The cynics laughed loudly and parted; one went back into the city, the +other into the garden belonging to the Christian widow. + +Arsinoe had entered here before the dishonest philosopher and had gone +straight to Hannah's house without being detained by the gate-keeper. As +she got nearer to her destination, she tried more and more earnestly to +devise some way in which she might inform her sister of all the dreadful +things that had happened, and which she must learn sooner or later, +without giving her too great a shock. Her dread was not much less than +her grief. As she reflected on the last few days and on all that had +occurred, it almost seemed as though she herself had been the cause of +the misfortunes of her family. + +On the way to see Selene she could shed no tears, but she could not help +softly moaning to herself now and then. A woman, who for some distance +had kept pace with her, thought she must be suffering some severe bodily +pain, and when the girl passed her, she looked after her with sincere +compassion, the wailing of the desolate young creature had sounded so +piteous. + +True, midway, Arsinoe had suddenly stopped and had thought that instead +of going to Selene for advice, she would turn round and seek Pollux and +ask him to help her. The thought of her lover forced its way through all +her sorrow and anxiety, through the reproaches she heaped upon herself +and the vague plans floating in the air which her brain--unaccustomed to +any serious thought, vainly tried to sketch for the future. He was kind, +and would certainly be ready to help her; but maidenly modesty held her +back from seeking him at so late an hour; besides, how could she discover +him or his parents? + +The place where her sister was she was now familiar with, and no one +could judge of their position better or give sounder counsel than prudent +Selene. So she had not turned round, but had hurried on to reach her +destination as soon as possible; and now she was standing before the +little house in the garden. Before opening the door she once more +considered in what way she could prepare Selene and tell her terrible +news, and, as all that happened stood vividly before her mind's eye, she +began to weep once more. + +In front of her, and following her, men and veiled women, singly or in +couples or in larger groups, passed into Paulina's garden. They came +from workshops and writing-rooms, from humble houses in narrow lanes, and +from the handsomest and largest in the main street. Each and all, from +the wealthy merchant down to the slave who could not call the coarse +tunic or scanty apron that he wore, his own, walked gravely and with a +certain dignified reserve. All who met within that gate greeted each +other as friends; the master gave a brotherly kiss to the servant, the +slave to his owner; for the congregation to which they all belonged was +as one body, animated and dwelt in by Christ, so that each member was +esteemed as equal to the others however different their gifts of body or +mind might be, or the worldly possessions with which they were endowed. +Before God and his Saviour the rich ship-owner or the grey-haired sage +stood no higher than the defenceless widow and the ignorant slave +crippled with blows. Still, the members of the community submitted to +those more implicitly than to these, for the special talents which graced +certain superior Christians were gifts of grace from the Lord, readily +acknowledged as such and, so far as they concerned the inner man, deemed +worthy of honor. + +On Sunday, the day of the Resurrection of the Lord, all Christians, +without exception, visited their place of assembly for divine worship. +To-day, being the middle of the week, all who could or chose came to the +love-feast at Paulina's suburban house. She herself dwelt in the city +and she had placed the banqueting hall of her villa, which would hold +more than a hundred souls, at the disposal of her fellow Christians in +that quarter of the town. The regular service was held in the morning, +but after the day's labor was ended the Christians met at one table to +have an evening meal in common, or--on other occasions to partake of the +sacramental supper. After sunset the elders, deacons, and deaconesses-- +most of whom, so long as it was light, had secular work to attend to--met +to take counsel together. + +Paulina, the widow of Pudeus and sister of Pontius the architect, was a +woman of considerable property and at the same time a prudent steward, +who did not consider herself justified in seriously impairing her son's +inheritance. This son was residing at Smyrna as a partner in an uncle's +business, and always avoided Alexandria, as he did not like his mother's +intercourse with the Christians. Paulina took the most anxious care not +to make any inroads on the capital intended for him, and never allowed +her hospitality to her fellow-believers to cost her any more than it did +the other wealthy members of the circle that met at her house. There +the rich brought more than they needed for themselves and the poor were +always welcome; not feeling themselves oppressed by the benevolence they +profited by, for they were often told that their entertainer was not a +mortal, but the Saviour, who invited each one who followed him faithfully +to be his guest. + +The hour was approaching which would summon dame Hannah to join the +assembly of her fellow Christians. She could not fail to appear, for she +was one of the deaconesses entrusted with the distribution of alms and +the care of the sick. She noiselessly made her preparations for going, +carefully setting the lamp behind the water-pitcher so that it should not +dazzle Selene, and she desired Mary to be exact in administering the +medicine to her patient. She knew that the girl had yesterday attempted +to make away with herself, and guessed the cause; but she asked no +questions and disturbed the poor child, who slept a good deal or lay +dreaming with open eyes, as little as possible. The old physician +wondered at her sound constitution, for since her plunge into the water +the fever had left her and even the injured foot was not much the worse. +Hannah might now hope the best for Selene if no unforeseen contingency +checked her recovery. To prevent this the unfortunate girl was never to +be left alone, and Mary had gladly agreed with her friend to fill her +place whenever she was obliged to leave the house. + +The meeting of the elders and guardians had already begun when Hannah +took her tablets in her hand, on which was noted the distribution she had +made of the money entrusted to her during the last week. She greeted the +sick girl and Mary with a kindly look and whispered to the deformed girl: + +"I will think of thee in my prayers thou faithful soul. There is some +food in the little cupboard--not much, for we must be sparing, the last +medicine was so dear." + +In the little anteroom a lamp was burning which Mary had lighted as it +began to grow dark, and the widow paused for a moment, considering +whether she should not extinguish it to save the oil. She had taken up +the tongs that hung by it, and was about to put it out, when she heard a +gentle tap at the house-door. Before she could enquire who it was that +asked admission at so late an hour, the door was opened and Arsinoe +entered the little hall. Her eyes were still full of tears and she had +great difficulty in finding words to return Hannah's greeting. + +"Why what ails you my child?" asked the Christian anxiously when by the +dim light, she saw how tearful and sad the girl looked. Arsinoe was long +before she could answer. At last she collected herself sufficiently to +sob out amid her tears: + +"Oh dame Hannah! It is all over with us--my father, our poor father--" + +The widow guessed at the blow that bad fallen on the sisters and full of +anxiety on Selene's account she interrupted the weeping child saying: + +"Hush, hush my child-Selene must not hear you. Come out with me and then +you can tell me all." Once outside the door Hannah put her arm round +Arsinoe drew her towards her, kissed her forehead, and said: + +"Now speak and tell me every thing; think that I am your mother or your +sister. Poor Selene is still too weak to advise or help you. Take +courage. What happened to your poor father?" + +"Struck by apoplexy, dead--dead!" wept the girl. Poor, dear little +orphan," said the widow in a husky voice and she clasped Arsinoe closely +in her arms. For some time she allowed the girl to weep silently on her +bosom; then she spoke: + +"Give me your hand my daughter and tell me how it has all happened so +suddenly. Your father was quite well yesterday and now? Yes my girl +life is a grave matter, you have to learn it while you are still young. +I know you have six little brothers and sisters and perhaps you may soon +lack even the necessaries of life. But that is no disgrace; I am +certainly even poorer than you and yet, by God's help, I hope to be able +to advise you and perhaps even to assist you. Every thing that I can +possibly do shall be done, but first I must know how matters stand with +you and what you need." + +There was so much kindness and consolation in the Christian's tones, so +much to revive hope that Arsinoe willingly complied with her demand and +began her story. + +At first, to be sure, her pride shunned confessing how poor, how +absolutely destitute they were; but Hannah's questions soon brought the +truth to light; and when Arsinoe perceived that the widow understood the +misfortunes of their house in their fullest extent, and that it would be +unavailing to conceal how matters stood with her and the children, she +yielded to the growing impulse to relieve her soul by pouring out her +griefs and described frankly and without reserve the whole position of +the family, to the good woman who listened with attention and sympathy. +The widow asked about each child separately, and ended by enquiring who, +in Arsinoe's absence, was left in charge of the little ones; and when she +heard that the old slave-woman to whose care the children were entrusted, +was infirm and half-blind, she shook her head thoughtfully. + +"Here help is needed and at once," she said decidedly. "You must go back +to the little ones presently. Your sister must not at present hear of +your father's death; when your future lot is to some extent secure we +will tell her by degrees all that has occurred. Now come with me, it is +by the Lord's guidance that you came here at the right moment." + +Hannah conducted Arsinoe to Paulina's villa, first into a small room at +the side of the entrance hall, where the deaconesses took off their veils +and their warm wraps in winter evenings. There the girl could be alone, +and safe from inquisitive questionings which could not fail to be painful +to her. Hannah desired her to await her return, and then joined her +colleagues. + +In order to do so she had to pass through the room where the elders and +deacons were sitting in council. The bishop, who presided over the +assembly, sat on a raised seat at the head of an oblong table, and on his +right hand and his left sat a number of elderly men, some of whom seemed +to be of Jewish or Egyptian extraction but most of them were Greeks. In +these the lofty intellectual brow was conspicuous, in those a bright, +ecstatic expression particularly in the eyes. Hannah went past the +assembly with a reverential greeting into the adjoining room in which the +deaconesses sat waiting, for women were not admitted to join or hear +the deliberations of the elders. The bishop, a fine old man with a full +white beard; raised his kindly eyes as the door closed upon Hannah, fixed +them for a few moments on the tips of his fingers that he had raised and +then addressed the presbyter who had presented for baptism several +candidates who had been grounded during the past year in the Christian +faith and doctrine, as follows: + +"Most of the catechumens you have presented to me cling faithfully no +doubt to the Redeemer. They believe in Him and love Him. But have they +attained to that sanctification, that new birth in Christ, which alone +can justify us in admitting them through baptism among the lambs of our +Good Shepherd? Let us beware of the tainted sheep which may infect the +whole flock. Verily, in these latter years there has been no lack of +them, and they have been received among us and have brought the name of +Christian into evil repute. Shall I give you an example? There was an +Egyptian in Rhakotis; few seemed to strive so fervently as he for the +remission of his sins. He could fast for many days, and yet no sooner +was he baptized than he broke into a goldsmith's shop. He was condemned +to death, and before his end he sent for me and confessed to me that in +former years he had soiled his soul with many robberies and murders. He +had hoped to win forgiveness of his sins by the act of baptism, the mere +washing in water, not by repentance and a new birth to a pure and holy +life; and he had gone on boldly in new sin because he confidently hoped +that he might again count on the unwearying mercy of the Saviour. Others +again, who had been brought up in the practice of the ablutions which +have to be performed by those who are initiated into the deeper secrets +of the heathen mysteries, regarded baptism as an act of purification, a +mystical process of happy augury, or at the best a figurative +purification of the soul, and crowded to receive it. Here, in +Alexandria, the number of these deluded ones is especially great; for +where could any superstition find a more favorable soil than in this seat +of philosophical half-culture, or over-culture; of the worship of +Serapis, of astrology, of societies of Mystics, of visionaries and +exorcisers, and of incredulity--the twin-sister of credulity. Be +cautious then to hold back from baptism all those who regard it as a +preserving charm or an act of good omen--remembering that the same water +which, sprinkled on sanctified hearts, leads them to holy living, brings +death to the unclean soul. It is your turn to speak, Irenaeus." + +"I only have to say," began the young Christian thus designated, "that I +have recently met among the catechumens with some who have attached +themselves to us from the basest motives. I mean the idlers who are glad +to receive our alms. Have you noticed here a cynic philosopher whose +starving brother we maintain? Our deacon Clemens has just ascertained +that he is the only son of his father--" + +"We will investigate this matter more closely when we discuss the +distribution of alms," replied the bishop. "Here we have petitions from +several women who desire to have their children baptized; this question +we cannot decide here; it must be referred to the next Synod. So far as +I am concerned, I should be inclined not to reject the prayer of the +mothers. Wherein does the utmost aim of the Christian life consist? It +seems to me in being perfectly conformable to the example of the Saviour. +And was not he a Man among men, a Youth among the young, a Child among +children? Did not His existence lend sanctity to every age, and +especially childhood? He commanded that little children should be +brought to Him, and He promised them the Kingdom of Heaven. Wherefore +then should we exclude them and deny them baptism?" + +"I cannot share your views," replied a presbyter with a high forehead and +sunken eyes. "We ought no doubt to follow the Saviour, but those who +tread in His steps should do so of their own free choice, out of love for +Him, and after He has sanctified their souls. What is the sense of a new +birth in a life that has scarcely begun. + +"Your discourse," replied the bishop, "only confirms my opinion that +this question is one for a higher assembly. We will now close our +discussion of that point, and go on to the care of the poor. Call in the +women, my good Justinius." + +The deaconesses came into the room and took seats at the lower end of the +table, Paulina, the widow of Pudeus, taking her place opposite the bishop +in the middle of the other women. She had learnt from Selene's kind +nurse in what pressing difficulties the children of the deceased steward +now found themselves, and that Hannah had promised to assist them. + +The deacons first gave their reports of what their works had been among +the poor; after them the women were allowed to speak. Paulina, a tall, +slight woman with black hair faintly streaked with gray, drew from her +dress, which was perfectly plain, but made of particularly soft, fine +white woollen stuff--a tablet that she placed before her, and slowly +raising her eyes and looking at the assembly she said: + +"Dame Hannah has a melancholy story to tell you, for which I crave your +sympathy. Will you be so good as to allow her to speak?" + +Paulina seemed to feel that she was the hostess to her brethren. She +looked ill and suffering; a line of pain had settled about her lips, and +there were always dark shades under her eyes; still, there was something +firm and decisive in her voice, and her glance was anything rather than +soft and winning. After her commanding tones Hannah's tale sounded as +soft as a song. She described the different natures of the two sisters +as lovingly as though they were her own daughters, each in her own way +seemed to her so worthy of compassion, and she spoke with pathetic lament +of the unprotected, helpless orphans abandoned to misery, and among them +a pretty little blind boy. And she ended her speech by saying: + +"The steward's second daughter--she is sixteen and so beautiful that she +must be exposed to every temptation--has now the whole charge of the +nourishment and care of her six young brothers and sisters. Ought we to +withhold from them a protecting hand? No, so surely as we love the +Saviour we ought not. You agree with me? Well then, do not let us delay +our help. The second daughter of the deceased Keraunus is here, in this +house; to-morrow early the children must all quit the palace, and now, +while I am speaking, are at home alone and but ill tended." + +The Christian woman's good words fell on kindly soil, and the presbyters +and deacons determined to recommend the congregation who should assemble +at the love-feast to give their assistance to the steward's children. + +The elders had still much to discuss, so Hannah and Paulina were charged +with the task of appealing to the hearts of the well-to-do members of the +congregation to provide for the orphans. The poor widow first conducted +her wealthy friend and hostess to the little room where Arsinoe was +waiting with growing impatience. She looked paler than usual but, in +spite of her tear-reddened eyes which she kept fixed on the ground, she +was so lovely, so touchingly lovely, that the mere sight of her moved +Paulina's heart. She had once had two children, an only daughter besides +her son. The girl bad died in the spring-time of her maidenhood, and +Paulina thought of her at every hour of her life. It was for her sake +that she had been baptized and devoted her existence to a series of +painful sacrifices. She strove with all her might to be a good +Christian--for surely she, the self-denying woman who had taken up the +cross of her own free will, the suffering creature who loved stillness +and who had made her country-house, which she visited daily, a scene of +unrest, could not fail to win Heaven, and there she hoped to meet her +innocent child. + +Arsinoe reminded her of her Helena, who certainly had been far less fair +than the steward's lovely daughter, but whose image had assumed new and +glorified forms in the mother's faithful heart. Since her son had left +home for a foreign country she had often asked herself whether she might +not find some young creature to take into her home, to attach to herself, +to bring up as a Christian, and to bring as an offering to her Saviour's +feet. + +Her daughter had died a heathen, and nothing troubled Paulina so deeply +as that her soul was lost, and that her own struggling and striving for +grace could not lead her to the goal beyond the grave. No sacrifice +seemed too great to purchase her child's beatitude, and now, standing +before Arsinoe and looking at her with deep emotion and admiration, she +was seized with an idea which swiftly ripened to resolve. She would win +this sweet soul for the Redeemer, and implore Him with ceaseless prayers +to save her hapless child as a reward for the work of grace in Arsinoe's +soul; and she felt as if she had signed the compact with the Redeemer, +when, fully determined on this course, she went up to the girl and asked +her: + +"You are quite forlorn, quite without relations?" Arsinoe bowed her head +in assent, and Paulina went on: + +"And do you bear your loss with resignation?" + +"What is resignation?" asked the girl modestly. Hannah laid her hand on +the widow's arm and whispered: + +"She is a heathen." + +"I know it," said Paulina shortly, and then went on kindly but +positively: + +"You and yours have lost both parents and a home by your father's death. +You shall find a new home in my house, with me; I ask nothing of you in +return but your love." + +Arsinoe looked at the haughty lady in astonishment. She could not yet +feel any impulse of affection towards her, and she did not as yet +understand that what was required of her was the one gift which the best +will, the most loving heart in the world, could not offer at a command. +Paulina did not wait for her reply, but signed to Hannah to follow her to +join the congregation now assembled at the evening meal. + +A quarter of an hour later the two women returned. The steward's orphans +were provided for. Two or three Christian families were ready and +willing to take in some of them, and many a kindly house-mother had +begged to have the blind child; but in vain, for Hannah had claimed the +right to bring up the hapless little boy in her own house, at any rate +for the present. She knew how Selene clung to him, and hoped by his +presence to be able to work powerfully on the crushed and chilled heart +of the poor girl. + +Arsinoe did not contravene the arrangements of the two women. She +thanked them, indeed, for she felt that she once more stood on firm +ground, but she also was immediately aware that it would be strewn with +sharp stones. The thought of parting from her little brothers and +sisters was terrible and cruel, and never left her mind for an instant, +while, accompanied by Hannah in person, she made her way back to Lochias. + +The next morning her kind friend appeared again and led her and the +little troup to Paulina's town-house. The steward's creditors divided +his little possessions; nothing but the chest of papyri followed the girl +to her new home. The hour in which the fondly-linked circle of children +was riven asunder, when one child was taken here and another there, was +the bitterest which Arsinoe had ever experienced or ever could experience +through all the after years of her life. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A lovely garden adjoined the Caesareum, the palace in which Sabina was +residing. Balbilla was fond of lingering there, and as the morning of +the twenty-ninth of December was particularly brilliant--the sky and its +infinite mirror the sea, gleaming in indescribably deep blue, while the +fragrance of a flowering shrub was wafted in at her window like an +invitation to quit the house she had sought a certain bench which, though +placed in a sunny spot, was slightly shaded by an acacia. This seat was +screened from the more public paths by bushes; the promenaders who did +not seek Balbilla could not observe her here, but she could command a +view, through a gap in the foliage, of the path, which was strewn with +small shells. + +To-day, however, the young poetess was far from feeling any curiosity; +instead of gazing at the shrubbery enlivened by birds, at the clear +atmosphere or the sparkling sea, her eyes were fixed on a yellow roll of +papyrus and she was impressing very dry details on her retentive memory. + +She had determined to keep her word to learn to speak, write, and compose +verses in the Aeolian dialect of the Greek tongue. She had chosen for +her teacher Apollonius, the great grammarian, who was apt to call his +scholars "the dullards;" and the work which was the present object of her +studies was derived from the famous library of the Serapeum, which far +exceeded in completeness that of the Museum since the siege of Julius +Caesar in the Bruchiom, when the great Museum library was burnt. + +Any one observing Balbilla at her occupation could hardly have believed +that she was studying. There was no fixed effort in her eyes or on her +brow; still, she read line for line, not skipping a single word; only she +did it not like a man who climbs a mountain with sweat on his brow, but +like a lounger who walks in the main street of some great city, and is +charmed at every new and strange thing that meets his eye. Each time she +came upon some form of structure in the book she was reading that had +been hitherto unknown to her, she was so delighted that she clapped her +hands and laughed out softly. Her learned master had never before met +with so cheerful a student, and it annoyed him, for to him science was a +serious matter while she seemed to make a joke of it, as she did of every +thing, and so desecrated it in his eyes. After she had been sitting an +hour on the bench, studying in her own way, she rolled up the book and +stood up to refresh herself a little. Feeling sure that no one could see +her, she stretched herself in all her limbs and then stepped up to the +gap in the shrubbery in order to see who a man in boots might be who was +pacing up and down in the broad path beyond. + +It was the praetor--and yet it was not! Verus, under this aspect at any +rate, she had never seen till now. Where was the smile that was wont to +twinkle in his merry eye like the sparkle of a diamond and to play +saucily about his lips--where the unwrinkled serenity of his brow and the +defiantly audacious demeanor of his whole handsome person? He was slowly +striding up and down with a gloomy fire in his eye, a deeply-lined brow, +and his head sunk on his breast: and yet it was not bowed with sorrow. +If so, could he have snapped his fingers in the air as he did just as he +passed in front of Balbilla, as much as to say: "Come what may! to-day I +live and laugh the future in the face!" + +But this vestige of his old reckless audacity did not last longer than +the time it took to part his fingers again, and the next time Verus +passed Balbilla he looked, if possible, more gloomy than before. +Something very unpleasant must have arisen to spoil the good humor of her +friend's husband; and the poetess was sincerely sorry; for, though she +herself had daily to suffer under the praetor's impertinence, she always +forgave it for the sake of the graceful form in which he knew how to +clothe his incivilities. + +Balbilla longed to see Verus content once more, and she therefore came +forth from her hiding place. As soon as he saw her he altered the +expression of his features and cried out as brightly as ever: + +"Welcome, fairest of the fair!" + +She made believe not to recognize him, but, as she passed him and bowed +her curly head, she said gravely and in deep tones: + +"Good day to you, Timon." + +"Timon?" he asked, taking her hand. + +"Ah! is it you, Verus?" she answered, as though surprised. "I thought +the Athenian misanthrope had quitted Hades and come to take the air in +this garden." + +"You thought rightly," replied the praetor. "But when Orpheus sings the +trees dance, the Muse can turn dull, motionless stones into a Bacchante, +and when Balbilla appears Timon is at once transformed into the happy +Verus." + +"The miracle does not astonish me," laughed the girl. "But is it +permitted to ask what dark spirit so effectually produced the contrary +result, and made a Timon of the fair Lucilla's happy husband?" + +"I ought rather to beware of letting you see the monster, or our joyous +muse Balbilla might easily become the sinister Hecate. But the malicious +sprite is close at hand, for he is hidden in this little roll." + +"A document from Caesar?" + +"Oh! no, only a letter from a Jew." + +"Possibly the father of some fair daughter!" + +"Wrongly guessed--as wrong as possible!" + +"You excite my curiosity." + +"Mine has already been satisfied by this roll. Horace is wise when he +says that man should never trouble himself about the future." + +"An oracle!" + +"Something of the kind." + +"And can that darken this lovely morning to you? Did you ever see me +melancholy? Yet my future is threatened by a prophecy--such a hideous +prophecy." + +"The fate of men is different to the destiny of women." + +"Would you like to hear what was prophesied of me?" + +"What a question!" + +"Listen then; the saying I will repeat to you came to me from no less an +oracle than the Delphic Pythia: + + "'That which thou boldest most precious and dear + Shall be torn from thy keeping, + And from the heights of Olympus, + Down shalt thou fall in the dust.'" + +"Is that all?" + +"Nay--two consolatory lines follow." + +"And they are--?" + + "Still the contemplative eye + Discerns under mutable sand drifts + Stable foundations of stone, + Marble and natural rock." + +"And you are inclined to complain of this oracle?" + +"Is it so pleasant to have to wade through dust? We have enough of that +intolerable nuisance here in Egypt--or am I to be delighted at the +prospect of hurting my feet on hard stones?" + +"And what do the interpreters say?" + +"Only silly nonsense." + +"You have never found the right one; but I--I see the meaning of the +oracle." + +"You?" + +"Ay, I! The stern Balbilla will at last descend from the lofty Olympus +of her high-anti-mightiness and no longer disdain that immutable +foundation-rock, the adoration of her faithful Verus." + +"That foundation--that rock!" laughed the girl. "I should think it as +well advised to try to walk on the surface of the sea out there as on +that rock!" + +"Only try." + +"It is not necessary; Lucilla has made the experiment for me. Your +interpretation is wrong; Caesar gave me a far better one." + +"What was that?" + +"That I should give up writing poetry and devote myself to strict +scientific studies. He advised me to try astronomy." + +"Astronomy," repeated Verus, growing graver. Farewell, fair one; I +must go to Caesar!" + +"We were with him yesterday at Lochias. How everything is changed there! +The pretty little gate house is gone, there is nothing more to be seen of +all the cheerful bustle of builders and artists, and what were gay +workshops are turned into dull, commonplace halls. The screens in the +hall of the Muses had to go a week ago, and with them the young scatter- +brain who set himself against my curls with so much energy that I was on +the point of sacrificing them--" + +"Without them you would no longer be Balbilla," cried Verus eagerly. +"The artist condemns all that is not permanently beautiful, but we are +glad to see any thing that is graceful, and can find pleasure in it with +the other children of the time. The sculptor may dress his goddesses +after the fashion of graver days and the laws of his art, but mortal +women--if he is wise--after the fashion of the day. However, I am +heartily sorry for that clever, genial young fellow. He has offended +Caesar and was turned out of the palace, and now he is nowhere to be +found." + +"Oh!" cried Balbilla, full of regret, "poor man--and such a fine fellow! +And my bust? we must seek him out. If the opportunity offers I will +entreat Caesar--" + +"Hadrian will hear nothing about him. Pollux has offended him deeply." + +"From whom do you know that?" + +"From Antinous." + +"We saw him, too, only yesterday," cried Balbilla, eagerly. + +"If ever a man was permitted to wear the form of a god among mortals, it +is he." + +"Romantic creature!" + +"I know no one who could look upon him with indifference. He is a +beautiful dreamer, and the trace of suffering which we observed yesterday +in his countenance is probably nothing more than the outward expression +of that obscure regret, felt by all that is perfect, for the joy of +development and conscious ripening into an incarnation of the ideal in +its own kind, of which he is an instance in himself." + +The poetess spoke the last words in a rapt tone, as if the form of a god +was then and there before her eyes. Verus had listened to her with a +smile, but now he interrupted her, and, holding up a warning finger, he +said: + +"Poetess, philosopher, and sweetest maiden, beware of descending from +your Olympus for the sake of this boy! When imagination and dreaminess +meet half-way they make a pair which float in the clouds and never even +suspect the existence of that firmer ground of which your oracle speaks." + +"Nonsense," said Balbilla crossly. "Before we can fall in love with a +statue, Prometheus must animate it with a soul and fire from heaven." + +"But often," retorted the praetor, "Eros proves to be a substitute for +that unhappy friend of the gods." + +"The true or the sham Eros," asked Balbilla testily. + +"Certainly not the sham Eros," replied Verus. "On this occasion he +merely plays the part of a kindly monitor, taking the place of Pontius, +the architect, of whom your worthy matron-companion is so much afraid. +During the tumult of the Dionysiac festival you are reported to have +carried on as grave a discussion as any two gray-bearded philosophers +walking in the Stoa among attentive students." + +"With intelligent men, no doubt, we talk with intelligence!" + +"Aye, and with stupid ones gayly. How much reason have I to be thankful +that I am one of the stupid ones. Farewell, till we meet again, fair +Balbilla," and the praetor hurried off. + +Outside the Caesareum he got into his chariot and set out for Lochias. +The charioteer held the reins, while he himself gazed at the roll in his +hand which contained the result of the calculations of the astrologer, +Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai; and this was certainly likely enough to disturb +the cheerfulness of the most reckless of men. + +When, during the night which preceded the praetor's birthday, the Emperor +should study the heavens with special reference to the position of the +stars at his birth, he would find that, as far as till the end of the +second hour after midnight all the favorable planets promised Verus a +happy lot, success and distinction. But, with the commencement of the +third hour--so said Ben Jochai--misfortune and death would take +possession of his house of destiny; in the fourth hour his star would +vanish, and anything further that might declare itself in the sky during +that night would have nothing more to do with him, or his destiny. The +Emperor's star would triumph over his. Verus could make out but little +of the signs and calculations in the tables annexed by the Jew, but that +little confirmed what was told in the written statement. + +The praetor's horses carried him swiftly along while he reflected on what +remained for him to do under these unfavorable circumstances, in order +not to be forced to give up entirely the highest goal of his ambition. +If the Rabbi's observations were accurate--and of this Verus did not for +a moment doubt--all his hopes of adoption were at an end in spite of +Sabina's support. How should Hadrian choose for his son and successor a +man who was destined to die before him? How could he, Verus, expect that +Caesar should ally his fortunate star with the fatal star of another +doomed to die? + +These reflections did nothing to help him, and yet he could not escape +from them, till suddenly his charioteer pulled up the horses abruptly by +the side of the footway to make room for a delegation of Egyptian priests +who were going in procession to Lochias. The powerful hand with which +his servant had promptly controlled the fiery spirit of the animals +excited his approbation, and seemed to inspire him to put a clog boldly +on the wheels of speeding fate. When they were no longer detained by the +Egyptian delegates he desired the charioteer to drive slowly, for he +wished to gain time for consideration. + +"Until the third hour after midnight," said he to himself. "all is to go +well; it is not till the fourth hour that signs are to appear in the sky +which are of evil augury for me. Of course the sheep will play round the +dead lion, and the ass will even spurn him with his hoof so long as he is +merely sick. In the short space of time between the third and fourth +hours all the signs of evil are crowded together. They must be visible; +but"--and this "but" brought sudden illumination to the praetor's mind, +"why should Caesar see them?" + +The anxious aspirant's heart beat faster, his brain worked more actively, +and he desired the driver to make a short circuit, for he wanted to gain +yet more time for the ideas that were germinating in his mind to grow and +ripen. + +Verus was no schemer; he walked in at the front door with a free and +careless step, and scorned to climb the backstairs. Only for the +greatest object and aim of his life was he prepared to sacrifice his +inclinations, his comfort and his pride, and to make unhesitating use of +every means at hand. For the sake of that he had already done many +things which he regretted, and the man who steals one sheep out of the +flock is followed by others without intending it. The first degrading +action that a man commits is sure to be followed by a second and a third. +What Verus was now projecting he regarded as being a simple act of self- +defence; and after all, it consisted merely in detaining Hadrian for an +hour, interrupting him in an idle occupation--the observation of the +stars. + +There were two men who might be helpful to him in this matter--Antinous +and the slave Mastor. He first thought of Mastor; but the Sarmatian was +faithfully devoted to his master and could not be bribed. And besides!-- +No! it really was too far beneath him to make common cause with a slave. +But he could count even less on support from Antinous. Sabina hated her +husband's favorite, and for her sake Verus had never met the young +Bithynian on particularly friendly terms. He fancied, too, that he had +observed that the quiet, dreamy lad kept out of his way. It was only by +intimidation, probably, that the favorite could be induced to do him a +service. + +At any rate, the first thing to be done was to visit Lochias and there to +keep a lookout with his eyes wide open. If the Emperor were in a happy +frame of mind he might, perhaps, be induced to appear during the latter +part of the night at the banquet which Verus was giving on the eve of his +birthday, and at which all that was beautiful to the eye and ear was to +be seen and heard; or a thousand favoring and helpful accidents might +occur--and at any rate the Rabbi's forecast furnished him good fortune +for the next few years. + +As he dismounted from his chariot in the newly-paved forecourt and was +conducted to the Emperor's anteroom he looked as bright and free from +care as if the future lay before him sunny and cloudless. + +Hadrian now occupied the restored palace, not as an architect from Rome +but as sovereign of the world; he had shown himself to the Alexandrians +and had been received with rejoicings and an unheard-of display in his +honor. The satisfaction caused by the imperial visit was everywhere +conspicuous and often found expression in exaggerated terms; indeed the +council had passed a resolution to the effect that the month of December, +being that in which the city had had the honor of welcoming the +'Imperator,' should henceforth be called: + +"Hadrianus." The Emperor had to receive one deputation after another and +to hold audience after audience, and on the following morning the +dramatic representations were to begin, the processions and games which +promised to last through many days, or--as Hadrian himself expressed it-- +to rob him of at least a hundred good hours. Notwithstanding, the +monarch found time to settle all the affairs of the state, and at night +to question the stars as to the fate which awaited him and his dominions +during all the seasons of the new year now so close at hand. + +The aspect of the palace at Lochias was entirely changed. In the place +of the gay little gate-house stood a large tent of gorgeous purple stuff, +in which the Emperor's body-guard was quartered, and opposite to it +another was pitched for lictors and messengers. The stables were full of +horses. Hadrian's own horse, Borysthenes, which had had too long a rest, +pawed and stamped impatiently in a separate stall, and close at hand the +Emperor's retrievers, boar-hounds and harriers were housed in hastily- +contrived yards and kennels. + +In the wide space of the first court soldiers were encamped, and close +under the walls squatted men and women--Egyptians, Greeks and Hebrews-- +who desired to offer petitions to the sovereign. Chariots drove in and +out, litters came and went, chamberlains and other officials hurried +hither and thither. The anterooms were crowded with men of the upper +classes of the citizens who hoped to be granted audience by the Emperor +at the proper hour. Slaves, who offered refreshments to those who waited +or stood idly looking on, were to be seen in every room, and official +persons, with rolls of manuscript under their arms, bustled into the +inner rooms or out of the palace to carry into effect the orders of their +superior. + +The hall of the Muses had been turned into a grand banqueting-hall. +Papias, who was now on his way to Italy by the Emperor's command, had +restored the damaged shoulder of the Urania. Couches and divans stood +between the statues, and under a canopy at the upper end of the vast room +stood a throne on which Hadrian sat when he held audience. On these +occasions he always appeared in the purple, but in his writing-room, +which he had not changed for another, he laid aside the imperial mantle +and was no more splendid in his garb than the architect Claudius Venator +had been. + +In the rooms that had belonged to the deceased Keraunus now dwelt an +Egyptian without wife or children--a stern and prudent man who had done +good service as house-steward to the prefect Titianus, and the living- +room of the evicted family now looked dreary and uninhabited. The mosaic +pavement which had indirectly caused the death of Keraunus, was now on +its way to Rome, and the new steward had not thought it worth while to +fill up the empty, dusty, broken-up place which had been left in the +floor of his room by the removal of the work of art, nor even to cover it +over with mats. Not a single cheerful note was audible in the abandoned +dwelling but the twitter of the birds which still came morning and +evening to perch on the balcony, for Arsinoe and the children had never +neglected to strew the parapet with crumbs for them at the end of each +meal. + +All that was gracious, all that was attractive in the old palace had +vanished at Sabina's visit, and even Hadrian himself was a different man +to what he had been a few days previously. The dignity with which he +appeared in public was truly imperial and unapproachable, and even when +he sat with his intimates in his favorite room he was grave, gloomy and +taciturn. The oracle, the stars, and other signs announced some terrible +catastrophe for the coming year with a certainty that he could not evade; +and the few careless days that he had been permitted to enjoy at Lochias +had ended with unsatisfactory occurrences. + +His wife, whose bitter nature struck him in all its repellent harshness +here in Alexandria--where everything assumed sharper outlines and more +accentuated movement than in Rome--had demanded of him boldly that he +should no longer defer the adoption of the praetor. + +He was anxious and unsatisfied; the infinite void in his heart yawned +before him whenever he looked into his soul, and at every glance at the +future of his external life a long course of petty trifles started up +before him which could not fail to stand in the way of his unwearying +impulse to work. Even the vegetative existence of his handsome favorite +Antinous, untroubled as it was by the sorrows or the joys of life, had +undergone a change. The youth was often moody, restless and sad. Some +foreign influences seemed to have affected him, for he was no longer +content to hang about his person like a shadow; no, he yearned for +liberty, had stolen into the city several times, seeking there the +pleasures of his age which formerly he had avoided. + +Nay, a change had even come over his cheerful and willing slave Mastor. +Only his hound remained always the same in unaltered fidelity. + +And he himself? He was the same to-day as ten years since: different +every day and at every hour of the day. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +When Verus entered the palace Hadrian had returned thither but a few +minutes previously from the city. The praetor was conducted through the +reception-rooms to the private apartments, and here he had not long to +wait, for Hadrian wished to speak with him immediately. He found the +sovereign so thoroughly out of tune that he could not think of inviting +him to his banquet. The Emperor restlessly paced the room while Verus +answered his questions as to the latest proceedings of the Senate in +Rome, but he several times interrupted his walk and gazed into the +adjoining room. + +Just as the praetor had concluded his report Argus set up a howl of +delight and Antinous came into the room. Verus at once withdrew into +the window and pretended to be absorbed in looking out on the harbor. + +"Where have you been?" asked the Emperor, disregarding the praetor's +presence. + +"Into the city a little way," was the Bithynian's answer. + +"But you know I cannot bear to miss you when I come home." + +"I thought you would have been longer absent." + +"For the future arrange so that I may be able to find you at whatever +time I may seek you. Tell me, you do not like to see me vexed and +worried?" + +"No, my lord," said the lad and he raised a supplicating hand and looked +beseechingly at his master. + +"Then let it pass. But now for something else; how did this little phial +come into the hands of the dealer Hiram?" As he spoke the Emperor took +from his table the little bottle of Vasa Murrhina which the lad had given +to Arsinoe and which she had sold to the Phoenician, and held it up +before the favorite's eyes. Antinous turned pale, and stammered in great +confusion. "It is incomprehensible--I cannot in the least recollect--" + +"Then I will assist your memory," said the Emperor decidedly. "The +Phoenician appears to me to be an honester man than that rogue Gabinius. +In his collection, which I have just been to see, I found this gem, that +Plotina--do you hear me, boy--that Trajan's wife Plotina, my heart's +friend, never to be forgotten, gave me years ago. It was one of my +dearest possessions and yet I thought it not too precious to give to +you on your last birthday." + +"Oh, my lord, my dear lord!" cried Antinous in a low tone and again +lifting his eyes and hands in entreaty. + +"Now, I ask you," continued Hadrian, gravely, and without allowing +himself to yield to the lad's beseeching looks, "how could this object +have passed into the possession of one of the daughters of the wretched +palace-steward Keraunus from whom Hiram confessed that he had bought it?" + +Antinous vainly strove for utterance; Hadrian however came to his aid by +asking him more angrily than before: + +"Did the girl steal it from you? Out with the truth!" + +"No, no," replied the Bithynian quickly and decidedly. "Certainly not. +I remember--wait a minute--yes, that was it.--You know it contained +excellent balsam, and when the big dog threw down Selene--the steward's +daughter is called Selene--threw her down the steps so that she lay hurt +on the stones I fetched the phial and gave her the balsam." + +"With the bottle that held it?" asked the Emperor looking at Antinous. + +"Yes, my lord--I had no other." + +"And she kept it and sold it at once." + +"You know, of course, her father--" + +"A gang of thieves!" snarled Hadrian. + +"Do you know what has become of the girl?" + +"Yes my lord," said Antinous trembling with alarm. "I will have her +taken by the lictors," asserted the infuriated sovereign. + +"No," said the lad positively. "No, you positively must not do that." + +"No--? we shall see!" + +"No, positively not, for at the same time you must know that Keraunus' +daughter Selene--" + +"Well?" + +"She flung herself into the water in despair; yes, into the water, at +night--into the sea." + +"Oh!" said Hadrian more gently, "that certainly alters the case. The +lictors would find it difficult to apprehend a shade and the girl has +suffered the worst punishment of all.--But you? what shall I say to your +perfidy? You knew the value of the gem. You knew how highly I valued +it, and could part with it to such hands?" + +"It contained the salve," stammered the boy. "How could I think--?" + +The Emperor interrupted the boy, striking his forehead with his hand as +he spoke: + +"Aye, think--we have known unfortunately too long that thinking is not +your strong point. This little bottle has cost me a pretty sum; still, +as it once belonged to you I give it back to you again; I only require +you to take better care of it this time. I shall ask for it again before +long! But in the name of all the gods, boy, what is the matter? Am I so +alarming that a simple question from me is enough to drive all the blood +out of your cheeks? Really and truly, if I had not had the thing from +Plotina I should have left it in the Phoenician's hands and not have made +all this coil about it." + +Antinous went quickly up to the Emperor to kiss his hand, but Hadrian +pressed his lips to his brow with fatherly affection. + +"Simpleton," he said, "if you want me to be pleased with you, you must be +again just what you were before we came to Alexandria. Leave it to +others to do things to vex me. You are created by the gods to delight +me." + +During Hadrian's last words a chamberlain had entered the room to inform +the Emperor that the deputation of the Egyptian priesthood had arrived to +do homage to him. He immediately assumed the purple mantle and proceeded +to the hall of the Muses where, surrounded by his court, he received the +high-priests and spiritual fathers of the different temples of the Nile +Valley, to be hailed by them as the Son of Sun-god, and to assure them +and the religion they cherished his gracious countenance. He vouchsafed +his consent to their prayer that he would add sanctity and happiness to +the temples of the immortals which they served by gracing them with his +presence, but set aside for the moment the question as to which town +might be permitted to have the care of the recently-discovered Apis. + +This audience took up several hours. Verus shirked the duty of attending +it with Titianus and the other dignitaries of the court, and remained +sitting motionless by the window; it was not till Hadrian was gone from +the room that he came forward into it again. He was quite alone, for +Antinous had left the room with the Emperor. The praetor's remaining +behind had not escaped the lad's notice, but he sought to avoid him, for +the domineering, mocking spirit of Verus repelled him. Besides this the +terror which he had gone through, as well as the consciousness that he +had been guilty of a lie and had daringly deceived his kind master, +had upset a soul hitherto untainted by any subterfuge and had +thrown him off his balance. He longed to be alone, for it would have +been keenly painful to him at this moment to discuss indifferent +subjects, or to be forced to affect an easy demeanor. He sat in his +little room, before a table, with his face buried in his hands that +rested on it. + +Verus did not immediately follow him, for he understood what was passing +in his mind and knew that here he could not escape him. In a few minutes +all was still alike in the large room and in the small one. Then the +praetor heard the door between the smaller room and the corridor hastily +opened and immediately the Bithynian's exclamation: + +"At last, Mastor--have you seen Selene?" + +With two long, noiseless steps Verus went close to the door leading into +the adjoining room, and listened for the slave's answer, though a less +sharp ear than that of the praetor might have heard every syllable. + +"How should I have seen her?" asked the Sarmatian sharply. "She is still +suffering and in bed. I gave your flowers to the deformed girl who takes +care of her; but I will not do it again, you may rely upon it, not if you +coax even more fondly than you did yesterday and promise me all Caesar's +treasure into the bargain! And what can you want with that wretched, +pale-faced, innocent creature? I am but a poor slave, but I can tell you +this--" + +Here the Sarmatian broke off abruptly, and Verus rightly guessed that +Antinous had remembered his presence in the Emperor's room and had signed +to the slave to be silent. + +But the listener had learnt enough. The favorite had told his master a +lie, and the suicide of the steward's daughter was a pure romance. Who +would have believed that the silent, dreamy lad had so much presence of +mind, and such cunning powers of invention? The praetor's handsome face +was radiant with satisfaction as he made these reflections, for now he +had the Bithynian under his thumb, and now he knew how to accomplish all +he wished. Antinous himself had indicated the right course when he had +hastened to the Emperor with a gush of tenderness, in which the warmth +was certainly not affected, to kiss his hand. + +The favorite loved his master, and Verus could ground his demands on this +love without exposing himself, or having to dread the Emperor's avenging +hand in case of betrayal. He knocked at the door of the adjoining room +with a firm hand, and then went confidently and composedly up to the +Bithyman, told him that he had an important matter to discuss with him, +begged him to return with him into the Emperor's room and then said, as +soon as they were alone together: + +"I am so unfortunate as not to be able to number you among my particular +friends; but one strong sentiment we have in common. We both love +Caesar." + +"I love him, certainly," replied the lad. + +"Well then, you must have it at heart to spare him all great sorrow, and +to prevent grave apprehensions from paralyzing the pinions of his free +and noble soul." + +"No doubt." + +"I knew I should find a colleague in you. See this roll. It contains +the calculations and diagrams of the greatest astrologer of our time, and +from these it is to be discovered that this night, from the end of the +second hour of the morning till the beginning of the fourth, the stars +will announce fearful disasters to our Sovereign. Do you understand?" + +"Alas! perfectly." + +"After that the indications of evil disappear. Now if we could only +succeed in preventing Hadrian observing the heavens merely during the +third hour after midnight we should preserve him from trouble and +anxiety, which will torment and spoil his life. Who knows whether the +stars may not be? But even if they tell the truth, misfortune, when it +does come, always comes much too soon. Do you agree with me?" + +"Your suggestion sounds a very sensible one--still I think--" + +"It is both sensible and wise," said the praetor, shortly and decidedly, +interrupting the boy. "And it must be your part to hinder Hadrian from +marking the course of the stars from the end of the second to the +beginning of the fourth hour after midnight." + +"My part?" cried Antinous, startled. + +"Yours--for you are the only person who can accomplish it." + +"I?" repeated the Bithynian, greatly perturbed. "I--disturb Caesar in +his observations!" + +"It is your duty." + +"But he never allows any one to disturb him at his studies, and if I were +to attempt it he would be very angry and send me off in no time. No, no, +what you ask is impossible." + +"It is not only possible but imperatively necessary." + +"That it certainly cannot be," replied Antinous, clasping his forehead +in his hand. "Only listen! Hadrian has known for several days past that +some great misfortune threatens him. I heard it from his own lips. If +you know him at all you must know that he gazes at the stars not merely +to rejoice in future happiness, but also to fortify himself against the +disasters which threaten him or the state. What would crush a weaker man +only serves to arm his bold spirit. He can bear all that may befall, and +it would be a crime to deceive him." + +"To cloud his heart and mind would be a greater," retorted Verus. +"Devise some means of taking him away from his star-gazing for only an +hour." + +"I dare not, and even if I wished it, it could not be done. Do you +suppose he follows me whenever I call?" + +"But you know him; invent something which will be sure to make him come +down from his watchtower." + +"I cannot invent or think of any thing." + +"Nothing?" asked Verus, going close tip to the Bithynian. "You just now +gave striking proof to the contrary." + +Antinous turned pale and the praetor went on: + +"When you wanted to rescue the fair Selene from the lictors your swift +invention threw her into the sea!" + +"She did throw herself in, as truly as that the gods--" + +"Stay, stay," cried the praetor. "No perjury, at least! Selene is +living, you send her flowers, and if I should think proper to conduct +Hadrian to the house of Paulina--" + +"Oh!" cried Antinous lamentably enough, and grasping the Roman's hand. +"You will not--you can not. Oh Verus! you will not do that." + +"Simpleton," laughed the praetor, slapping the alarmed youth lightly on +the shoulder. "What good could it do me to ruin you? I have only one +thing at heart just now, and that is to save Caesar from care and +anxiety. Keep him occupied only during the third hour after midnight and +you may count on my friendship; but if out of fear or ill-will you refuse +me your assistance you do not deserve your sovereign's favor and then you +will compel me--" + +"No more, no more!" cried Antinous interrupting his tormentor in despair. + +"Then you promise me to carry out my wish?" + +"Yes, by Hercules! Yes, what you require shall be done. But eternal +gods! how am I to get Caesar--" + +"That, my young friend, I leave with perfect confidence to you and your +shrewdness." + +"I am not shrewd--I can devise nothing," groaned the lad. + +"What you could do out of terror of your master you can do still better +for love of him," retorted the praetor. "The problem is an easy one; and +if after all you should not succeed I shall feel it no less than my duty +to explain to Hadrian how well Antinous can take care of his own +interests and how badly of his master's peace of mind. Till to-morrow, +my handsome friend--and if for the future you have flowers to send, my +slaves are quite at your service." + +With these words the praetor left the room, but Antinous stood like one +crushed, pressing his brow against the cold porphyry pillar by the +window. What Verus required of him did not seem to have any harm in it, +and yet it was not right. It was treason to his noble master, whom he +loved with tender devotion as a father, a wise, kind friend, and +preceptor, and whom he reverenced and feared as though he were a god. +To plot to hide impending trouble from him, as if he were not a man but a +feeble weakling, was absurd and contemptible, and must introduce an error +of unknown importance and extent into his sovereign's far-seeing +predeterminations. Many other reasons against the praetor's demands +crowded on him, and as each occurred to his mind he cursed his tardy +spirit which never let him see or think the right thing till it was too +late. His first deceit had already involved him in a second. + +He hated himself; he hit his forehead with his fists and sobbed aloud +bitterly again and again, though he shed no tears. Still, in the midst +of his self-accusation, the flattering voice made itself heard in his +soul: "It is only to preserve your master from sorrow, and it is nothing +wrong that you are asked to do." And each time that his inward ear heard +these words he began to puzzle his brain to discover in what way it might +be possible for him to tempt the Emperor, at the hour named, down from +his watch-tower in the palace. But he could hit on no practicable plan. + +"It cannot be done, no--it cannot be done!" he muttered to himself and +then he asked himself if it were not even his duty to defy the praetor +and to confess to Hadrian that he had deceived him in the morning. If +only it had not been for the little bottle! Could he ever confess that +he had heedlessly parted with this gift of all others from his master? +No, it was too hard, it might cost him his sovereign's affection for +ever. And if he contented himself with a half-truth and confessed, +merely to anticipate the praetor's accusation, that Selene was still +living, then he would involve the daughters of the hapless Keraunus in +persecution and disgrace Selene whom he loved with all the devotion of a +first passion, which was enhanced and increased by the hindrances that +had come in its way. It was impossible to confess his guilt-quite +impossible. The longer he thought, tormenting himself to find some way +out of it all, the more confused he became, and the more impotent his +efforts at resistance. The praetor had entangled him with thongs and +meshes, and at every struggle to escape they only seemed knotted more +closely round him. + +His head began to ache sadly; and what an endless time Caesar was absent! +He dreaded his return, and yet he longed for it. When at last Hadrian +came in and signed to Master to relieve him of his imperial robes, +Antinous slipped behind him, and silently and carefully fulfilled the +slave's office. He felt uneasy and worried, and yet he forced himself to +appear in good spirits during supper when he had to sit opposite the +Emperor. + +When, shortly before midnight, Hadrian rose from the table to go up to +the watch-tower on the northern side of the palace, Antinous begged to be +allowed to carry his instruments for him, and the Emperor, stroking his +hair, said kindly: + +"You are my dear and faithful companion. Youth has a right to go astray +now and then so long as it does not entirely forget the path in which it +ought to tread." + +Antinous was deeply touched by these words, and he secretly pressed to +his lips a fold of the Emperor's toga as he walked in front. It was as +though he wanted to make amends in advance for the crime he had not yet +committed. + +Wrapped in his cloak he kept the Emperor silent company during his +studies, till the close of the first hour after midnight. The sharp, +north wind which blew through the darkness did his aching head good, and +still he racked his wits for some pretext to attract Hadrian from his +labors, but in vain. His tormented brain was like a dried-up well; +bucket after bucket did he send down, but not one brought up the +refreshing draught he needed. Nothing--nothing could he think of that +could conduce to his end. Once he plucked up courage and said +imploringly as he went close up to the Emperor: "Go down earlier to-night +my lord; you really do not allow yourself enough rest and will injure +your health." + +Hadrian let him speak, and answered kindly: + +"I sleep in the morning. If you are tired, go to bed now." + +But Antinous remained, gazing, like his master, at the stars. He knew +very few of the brilliant bodies by their names, but some of them were +very dear to him, particularly the Pleiades which his father had pointed +out to him and which reminded him of his home. There he had been so +quiet and happy, and how wildly his anxious heart was throbbing now! + +"Go to bed, the second hour is beginning," said Hadrian. + +"Already!" said the boy; and as he reflected how soon that must be done +which Verus had required of him, and then looked up again at the heavens, +it seemed to him as though all the stars in the blue vault over his head +had glided from their places and were dancing in wild and whirling +confusion between the sky and the sea. He closed his eyes in his +bewilderment; then, bidding his master good-night he lighted a torch and +by its flaring and doubtful light descended from the tower. + +Pontius had erected this slight structure expressly for Hadrian's nightly +observations. It was built of timber and Nile-mud and stood up as a tall +turret on the secure foundation of an ancient watch-tower built of hewn +stone, which, standing among the low buildings that served as storehouses +for the palace, commanded a free outlook over all the quarters of the +sky. Hadrian, who liked to be alone and undisturbed when observing the +heavens, had preferred this erection--even after he had made himself +known to the Alexandrians--to the great observatory of the Serapeum, from +which a still broader horizon was visible. + +After Antinous had got out of the smaller and newer tower into the larger +and older one he sat down on one of the lowest steps to collect his +thoughts and to quiet his loudly-beating heart. His vain cogitations +began all over again. Time slipped on-between the present moment and the +deed to be done there were but a certain number of minutes. He told +himself so, and his weary brain stirred more actively, suggesting to him +to feign illness and bring the Emperor to his bedside. But Hadrian was +physician enough to see that he was well, and even if he should allow +himself to be deceived, he, Antinous, was a deceiver. This thought +filled him with horror of himself and with dread for the future, and yet +it was the only plan that gave any hope of success. And even when he +sprang to his feet and walked hastily up and down among the out-houses +he could hit upon no other scheme. And how fast the minutes flew! The +third hour after midnight must be quite close at hand, and he had +scarcely left himself time to rush back into the palace, throw himself on +his couch, and call Mastor. Quite bewildered with agitation and +tottering like a drunken man he hastened back into the old tower where he +had left his torch leaning against the wall and looked up the stone +stairs; it suddenly flashed through his mind that he might go up again +to fling himself down them. What did he care for his miserable life. + +His fall, his cry, would bring the Emperor down from his observatory and +he knew that he would not leave his bleeding favorite uncared for and +untended he could count upon that. And if then Hadrian watched by his +bed it would be that, perhaps, of a dying man, but not of a deceiver. +Fully determined on extreme measures, he tightened the girdle which held +his chiton above his hips and once more went out into the night to judge +by the stars what hour it was. He saw the slender sickle of the waning +moon-the same moon which at the full had been mirrored in the sea when he +had gone into the water to save Selene. The image of the pale girl rose +before him, tangibly distinct. He felt as if he held her once more in +his arms--saw her once more lying on her bed-could once more press his +lips to her cold brow. Then the vision vanished; instead he was +possessed by a wild desire to see her, and he said to himself that he +could not die without having seen her once more. + +He looked about him in indecision. Before him lay one of the largest of +the storehouses that surrounded the tower. With his torch in one hand he +went in at the open door. In the large shed lay the chests and cases, +the hemp, linseed, straw and matting that had been used in packing the +vessels and works of art with which the palace had been newly furnished. +This he knew; and now, looking up at the stars once more and seeing that +the second hour after midnight had almost run to an end, a fearful +thought flashed through his mind, and without daring to consider, he +flung the torch into the open shed, crammed to the roof with inflammable +materials, and stood motionless, with his arms crossed, to watch through +the door of the shed the rapidly spreading flame, the soaring smoke, the +struggle and mingling of the noiseless wreaths of black vapor from the +various combustibles with the ruddy light, the victory of the fire and +the leaping flames as they flew upward. + +The roof, thatched with palm-leaves and reeds, had begun to crackle when +Antinous rushed into the tower only a few paces off crying: "Fire--fire!" +and up the stairs which led to the observatory of the imperial stargazer. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Youth has a right to go astray now and then +Feeling themselves oppressed by the benevolence + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMPEROR, BY GEORG EBERS, V8 *** + +**********This file should be named 5490.txt or 5490.zip *********** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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