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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/5492.txt b/5492.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c106b0e --- /dev/null +++ b/5492.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2889 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook The Emperor, by Georg Ebers, Volume 10. +#54 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 10. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5492] +[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, V10 *** + + + +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 10. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Selene and Helios were baptized, and two days after dame Hannah with her +adopted children and Mary, escorted by the presbyter Hilarion and a +deacon, embarked in the harbor of Mareotis on board a Nile-boat which was +to convey them to their new home, the town of Besa in Upper Egypt. The +deformed girl had hesitated as to her answer to the widow's question +whether she would accompany her. Her old mother dwelt in Alexandria, and +then--but it was this "then" which helped her abruptly to cut short all +reflection and to pronounce a decided "yes," for it referred to Antinous. + +For a few minutes it had seemed unendurable to think that she should +never see him again, for she could not help often thinking of the +beautiful youth, and her whole heart ought to belong solely to the One +who had with His blood purchased peace for her on earth and bliss in the +world to come. + +The day after being baptized, Selene had gone to Paulina's town-house, +and there, with many tears had taken leave of Arsinoe. All the affection +which bound the sisters together found expression at this moment of +parting. Selene had heard from Paulina that Pollux was dead, and she +no longer grudged her rival sister that she grieved for him more +passionately than herself, though at first her peace of mind had more +than once been disturbed by memories of her old playfellow. + +She felt it hard to leave Alexandria, where most of her brothers and +sisters were left behind, and yet she rejoiced to think of a distant +home, for she was no longer the same creature that she had been a few +months since, and she longed for a remote scene of a new and sanctified +life. + +Eumenes and Hannah were in the right. It was not the widow but the +little blind boy who had won her to Christianity. The child's influence +had proceeded in a strange course. In the first instance the promises of +the slave Master that Helios should some day meet his father again in a +shining realm among beautiful angels had a powerful effect on the blind +child's tender heart and vivid imagination. In Hannah's house his hopes +had received fresh nurture, and Mary and the widow told him much about +their kind and loving God and His Son who loved children and had invited +them to come to Him. When Selene began to recover and he was permitted +to talk to her he poured out to her all his delight at what he had heard +from the women. At first, to be sure, his sister took no pleasure in +these fanciful fables and tried to shake his belief and lead back his +heart to the old gods. But while she tried to guide the child, by +degrees she felt compelled to follow in his path; at first with wavering +steps, but dame Hannah helped her by her example and with many words of +good counsel. She only taught her doctrine when the girl asked her +questions and begged for information. All that here surrounded Selene +breathed of love and peace, and the child felt this, spoke of it, forced +her to acknowledge it, and, in his own person, was the first object on +which to exercise a wish hitherto unknown to her, to be herself loving +and lovable. The boy's firm faith, which was not to be shaken by any +reasoning or by any of the myths which she knew, touched her deeply and +led to her asking Hannah what was the real bearing of one and another of +his statements. It had always seemed a comfort to her that the miseries +of our earthly life would come to an end with death; but Helios left her +without a reply when he said in a sad voice: + +"Do you feel no longing, then, to see our father and mother again?" + +To see her mother again! This thought gave her an interest in the next +world, and dame Hannah fanned the spark of hope in her soul into flame. + +Selene had seen and suffered much misery, and was accustomed to call the +gods cruel. Helios told her that God and the Saviour were good and kind, +and loved human beings as their children. + +"Is it not good and kind," asked he, "of our Heavenly Father to lead us +to dame Hannah?" + +"Yes, but we have all been torn apart," said Selene. "Never mind," said +the child confidently, "we shall all meet in Heaven." + +As she got well Selene asked after each of the children and Hannah +described all the families into which they had been received. The widow +did not look as if she spoke falsely, and the little ones, when they came +to see her, confirmed her report, and yet Selene could hardly believe in +the accuracy of the pictures drawn of their lives in the houses of the +Christians. + +The mother of a Christian family--says a great Christian teacher--should +be the pride of her children, the wife the pride of her husband, husband +and children the pride of the wife, and God the pride and glory of every +member of the household. Love and faith in fact the bond, contentment +and virtuous living the law of the family; and it was in just such a pure +and beneficent atmosphere, as Selene herself and Helios felt the blessing +of in Hannah's house, that each and all of her brothers and sisters were +growing up. Her upright sense gave an honest answer when she asked +herself what would have become of them all if her father had remained +alive and had been dispossessed of his office? They must all have +perished in misery and degradation. + +And now?--Perhaps in truth the Divine Being had dealt in kindness with +the children. + +Love, love, and again love, was breathed from all she saw and heard, and +yet--was it not love that had caused her greatest sorrows. Wherefore had +it been her lot to endure so much through the same sentiment which +beautified life to others? Had any one ever had more to suffer than she? +Aye indeed! A vivacious, eager youth had duped her and had promised +happiness to her sister instead of to her; it had been hard to bear--and +yet, the Saviour of whom Hellos had told her, had been far more severely +tried. Mankind, for whom He--the Son of God--had come down upon earth, +to save from misery and guilt, had rewarded His loving kindness by +hanging Him on the cross. In Him she could see a companion in suffering +and she asked the widow to tell her all about Him. Selene had made many +sacrifices to her family--she could never forget her walk to the papyrus- +factory--but He had let them mock Him and had shed His blood for His own. +And who was she?--and who was He? The Son of God. His image became dear +to her; she was never weary of hearing about His life and fate, His words +and deeds; and without her observing it the day came when her soul was +free to receive the teaching of Christ with fervent longing. With faith +she acquired that consciousness of guilt which had previously been +unknown to her. She had been busy and industrious out of pride and fear, +but never from love; she had selfishly tried to fling from her the sacred +gift of life without ever thinking what would become of those whom it was +her duty to care for. She had cursed her lovely sister who needed her +protection and care, and even Pollux, her childhood's playfellow; and a +thousand times had she imprecated the ruler of human destinies. All this +she now keenly felt with all the earnestness natural to her, but she was +soothed by the tidings that there was One who had redeemed the world, and +taken on Himself the sins of every repentant sinner. + +After Selene had once expressed to the widow her desire to be a +Christian, Hannah brought the bishop to see her. He himself undertook +to instruct the girl and he found in her a disciple anxious and craving +for knowledge. Just like those dried-up and dull-colored plants which, +when they are plunged in water, open out and revive, so did her heart, +untimely withered and dry; and she longed to be perfectly recovered that +she, like Hannah, might tend the sick and exercise that love which Christ +demands of His followers. That which most particularly appealed to her +in her new faith was that it did not promise joys to the rich who could +make great sacrifices, but to the miserable sinner who with a contrite +heart yearned for forgiveness, to the poor and abject, towards whom she +felt as though they belonged to the same family as herself. And her +valiant spirit could not be satisfied with intentions but longed to act +upon them. In Besa she could set to work with Hannah, and this prospect +lightened her grief in quitting Alexandria. + +A favoring wind bore the voyagers southward safe to their destination. + +Two days after their departure Antinous once more stole into Paulina's +garden. He went up to the widow's little house looking in vain for the +deformed girl; the road was open; her absence could but be pleasing to +him, and yet it disquieted him. His heart beat wildly, for to-day-- +perhaps he might find Selene alone. He opened the door without knocking, +but he dared not cross the threshold, for in the anteroom stood a strange +man, placing boards against the wall. The carpenter, a Christian to whom +Paulina had given this little house for his family to live in, asked +Antinous what he wanted. + +"Is dame Hannah at home?" stammered the Bithynian. + +"She no longer lives here." + +"And her adopted daughter, Selene?" + +"She is gone with her into Upper Egypt. Have you any message for her?" + +"No," said the lad, quite confounded. + +"When did they go?" + +"The day before yesterday." + +"And they are not coming back." + +"For the next few years, certainly not. Later may be, if it is the +Lord's pleasure." + +Antinous left the garden by the public gate, unmolested. He was very +pale, and he felt like a wanderer in the desert who finds the spring +choked where he had hoped to find a refreshing draught. + +Next day, at the first moment he could dispose of, Antinous again knocked +at the carpenter's door to inquire in what town of Upper Egypt the +travellers proposed to settle and the artisan told him frankly, "In +Besa." + +Antinous had always been a dreamer, but Hadrian had never seen him so +listless, so vaguely brooding as in these days. When he tried to rouse +him and spur him to greater energy his favorite would look at him +beseechingly, and though he made every effort to be of use to him and to +show him a cheerful countenance it was always with but brief success. +Even on the hunting excursions into the Libyan desert which the Emperor +frequently made, Antinous remained apathetic and indifferent to the +pleasures of the sport to which he had formerly devoted himself with +enjoyment and skill. + +The Emperor had remained in Alexandria longer than in any other place, +and was weary of festivities and banquets, of the wordy war with the +philosophers of the Museum, of conversing with the ecstatic mystics, the +soothsayers; astrologers and empirics with whom the place swarmed. And +the short audiences which he accorded to the heads of the different +religious communities, and the inspection of the factories and workshops +of this centre of industry, began to annoy him. One day he announced his +intention of visiting the southern provinces of the Nile valley. + +The high-priests of the native Egyptian faith had craved this favor of +him, and he was prompted, not only by his love of information and passion +for travelling, but also by considerations of state-craft, to gratify +this desire of a hierarchy which was extremely influential in those rich +and important provinces. The prospect of seeing with his own eyes those +marvels of Pharaonic times which attracted so many travellers, was also +an incitement, and his good spirits rose as soon as he observed what a +reviving effect his determination to visit southern Egypt had upon +Antinous. + +His favorite had for the last few weeks expressed not the smallest +pleasure at any single thing. The homage paid him no less by the +Alexandrian than by the Roman ladies of rank sickened him. At banquets +he sat a silent guest whose neighborhood could not add to anybody's +pleasure, and even the most brilliant and exciting exhibitions in the +Circus and the best contests and races in the Hippodrome had hardly +sufficed to attract his gaze. Formerly he had been an eager and +attentive spectator of the plays of Menander and of his imitators, +Alexis, Apollodorus and Posidippus; but now when they were performed he +stared into vacancy and thought of Selene. The prospect of going to the +place where she was living excited him powerfully and revived his +drooping courage for life. He could hope once more, and to the man who +sees light shining in the future the present is no longer dark. + +Hadrian rejoiced in this change in the lad and hastened the preparations +for their departure; still, some months passed before he could begin his +journey. + +In the first place he had to provide for newly colonizing Libya, which +had been depopulated by a revolt of the Jews. Then he had to come to a +determination as to certain new post-roads which were to connect the +different parts of the empire more nearly, and finally he had to await +the formal assent of the Roman Senate to some new resolutions concerning +the hereditary reversion of conferred free-citizenship. This assent was, +no doubt a matter of course, but the Emperor never issued an edict +without it, and he was very desirous that his decree should come into +operation as soon as possible. + +In the course of his visits to the Museum the sovereign had informed +himself as to the position of the several members of that institution, +and he was occupied in making certain regulations which should relieve +them of the more sordid cares of life; the condition of the aged teachers +and educators of the young had also attracted his observation, and he had +endeavored to improve it. + +When Sabina represented to him what a large outlay these new measures +would entail, he replied: + +"We do not allow the veterans to perish who placed their lives, and limbs +at the service of the state. Why then should those who serve it with +their intellect be burdened with petty cares? Which should we rank the +higher, power and poverty or mental wealth? The harder I--as the +sovereign--find it to answer the question the more positively do I feel +it to be my duty to mete out the same measure to all veterans alike, +whether officials, warriors or instructors." + +The Alexandrians themselves detained him too by a succession of new acts +of homage. They raised him to the rank of a divinity, dedicated a temple +to him, and instituted a series of new festivals in his honor; partly no +doubt to win his partiality for their city and to express their pride and +satisfaction in his long stay there, but also because the pleasure-loving +community was glad to seize this opportunity as a favorable one for +gratifying their own inclinations and revelling in mere unusual +enjoyment. Thus the Imperial visit swallowed up millions, and Hadrian, +who enquired into every detail and contrived to obtain information as to +the sums expended by the city, blamed the recklessness of his lavish +entertainers. He wrote afterwards to his brother-in-law, Servianus, his +fullest recognition of both the wealth and the industry of Alexandrians, +saying, with terms of praise, that among them not one was idle. One made +glass, another papyrus, another linen; and each of these restless +mortals, said he, is busied in some handiwork. Even the lame, the blind +and the maimed here sought and found employment. Nevertheless he calls +the Alexandrians a contumacious and good-for-nothing community, with +sharp and evil tongues that had spared neither Verus nor Antinous. Jews, +Christians, and the votaries of Serapis, he adds in the same letter, +serve but one God instead of the divinities of Olympus, and when he +asserts of the Christians that they even worshipped Serapis he means to +say that they were persuaded of the doctrine of the survival of the soul +after death. The dispute as to which temple should be assigned as the +residence of the newly-found Apis gave Hadrian much to do. From time +immemorial this sacred bull had been kept in the temple of Ptah at +Memphis, but this venerable city of the Pyramids had been outstripped by +Alexandria, and the temple of Serapis outvied that at Memphis in the +province of Sokari, tenfold in size and in magnificence. The Egyptians +of Alexandria, who dwelt in the quarter called Rhakotis, close to the +Serapeum, desired to have the incarnation of the god in the form of a +bull, in their midst; but the Memphites would not abandon their old +prescriptive rights, and the Emperor had found it far from easy to guide +the contest, which proved a very exciting one to all parties, to a +satisfactory issue. Memphis had its Apis, and the Serapeum was +indemnified by certain endowments which had formerly been granted +to the temple at Memphis. + +At last, in June, the Emperor could set out. He wished to traverse the +province on foot and on horseback, and Sabina was to follow by boat as +soon as the inundation should begin. + +The Empress would gladly have returned to Rome or to Tibur, for Verus had +been obliged to quit Egypt by the orders of the physician as soon as the +summer heat had set in. He departed with his wife, as the son of the +Imperial couple, but no word on Hadrian's part had justified him in +hoping confidently to be nominated as his successor to the sovereignty. + +The handsome rake's unlimited dissipations were severely checked by his +sufferings, but not altogether prevented, and on his return to Rome he +continued to indulge in all the pleasures of life. Hadrian's hesitation +and reluctance often disquieted him, for that imperial Sphinx had, +only too frequently, given the most unexpected solutions to his +mystifications. But the fatal end with which he had been threatened +caused him small anxiety; nay, Ben Jochai's prediction rather prompted +him to enjoy to the utmost every hour of health and ease that Fate might +still allow him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Balbilla and her companion, Publius Balbinus and other illustrious +Romans, Favorinus the sophist, and a numerous suite of chamberlains and +servants, were to accompany the Empress by water, while Hadrian set forth +on his land journey with a small escort to which he added a splendid +array of huntsmen. Before he reached Memphis, in crossing the Libyan +desert, through which his road lay, he had killed a few lions and many +other beasts of prey, and here he had once more found Antinous the best +of sporting companions. Cool headed in danger, indefatigable on foot, +content and serviceable in all circumstances, the young fellow seemed to +Hadrian to be a comrade created by the gods themselves for his special +delectation. When Hadrian was in the humor to brood and be silent the +whole day long, he never disturbed him by a word; but in these moods the +Emperor found his favorite's society indispensable, for the mere +consciousness of his presence soothed him. + +Antinous too, was happy on these occasions, for he felt that he was of +some use to his venerated master and could thus alleviate the burden +which had never ceased to weigh on his own soul ever since the crime he +had committed. Besides, he preferred dreaming to talking, and the +exercise in the open air preserved him from listless lassitude. + +In Memphis Hadrian was detained a whole month, for there he was expected +to visit the Egyptian temples with Sabina, who had arrived before him, +and to submit to many ceremonials invested with the regalia of the +Pharaohs. Sabina often felt as if she must faint when, crowned with the +ponderous vulture-headed fillet of the Queens of Egypt, weighed down with +long robes and golden ornaments, she was conducted with her husband, in +procession, through all the rooms, over the roof and finally into the +holiest place of some vast sanctuary. What senseless ceremonials they +had to go through in the course of these long circuits, and how many +sacrifices had they to attend! When she returned from these visitations +she was utterly exhausted, and indeed, it was no small exertion to +undergo so many fumigations with incense and so many aspersions, to +listen to so many litanies and hymns, to parade through such endless +halls and while being elevated to the rank of celestial beings, to be +crowned with so many crowns in turn and decorated with all kinds of +fillets and symbolic adornments. + +Her husband set her a good example, however; through all the ceremonials +he displayed the whole grave majesty of his nature, and among the +Egyptians behaved as one of themselves. He even took pleasure in the +mystical lore of the priests, with whom he often held long conversations. + +As at Memphis, so in all the principal temples of the great cities to the +southward, the Imperial pair accepted the homage of the hierarchy and the +honors due to divinity. Wherever Hadrian granted money for the extension +of a temple, he was required to perform the ceremony of laying a stone +with his own hand. But he always found time to hunt in the desert, to +manage the affairs of state, and to visit the most interesting monuments +of past times, and at Memphis especially, the city of the dead, with the +Pyramids, the great Sphinx, the Serapeum and the tombs of the Apis. + +Before quitting the city he and his companions consulted the oracle of +the sacred bull. The fairest future was promised to Balbilla; the bull +to whom she had to offer a cake, with her face averted, had approved of +her gift and had touched her hand with his moist muzzle. Hadrian was +left in ignorance as to the sentence of the priests of Apis, for it was +given to him in a sealed roll with an explanation of the signs it +contained; but he was solemnly adjured not to open them before at +least half a year had elapsed. + +It was only in the cities that Hadrian met his wife, for he pursued his +journey by land and she hers by water. The boats almost invariably +reached their destination sooner than the land-travellers, and when they +at last arrived, there was always a grand festival to welcome them, in +which however Sabina but rarely took part. Balbilla proved herself all +the more eager to make their arrival pleasant by some kindly surprise. +She sincerely reverenced Hadrian, and his favorite's beauty had an +irresistible charm for her artist's soul. It was a delight to her only +to look at him; his absence troubled her, and when he returned she was +always the first to greet him. And yet the bright girl troubled herself +about him neither more nor less than the other ladies in Sabina's train; +only Balbilla asked nothing of him but the pleasure of looking at him and +rejoicing in his beauty. + +If he had dared to mistake her admiration for love and to have offered +her his, the poetess would have indignantly brought him to his bearings; +and yet she gave unqualified expression to her admiration of the +Bithynian's splendid person, and indeed with rather remarkable +demonstrativeness. + +When the travellers made their appearance again after a prolonged absence +Antinous would find in the room in the ship where he was to live flowers, +and choice fruits sent by her, and verses in which she had sung his +praises. He put it all aside with the rest and only esteemed the donor +the less; but the poetess knew nothing of these sentiments in her +beautiful idol, and indeed troubled herself very little about his +feelings. She had hitherto found no difficulty in keeping within the +limits of what was becoming. But lately there had been moments in which +she had owned to herself that she might be carried away into overstepping +these limits. But what did she care for the opinion of those around her, +or about the inner life of the Bithyman, whose external perfection of +form was all that pleased her. She did not shrink from the possibility +of arousing hopes in him which she never could nor intended to fulfil, +for the idea did not once enter her mind; still she felt dissatisfied +with herself, for there was one person who might disapprove of her +proceedings, one who had indeed in plain words reprehended her fancy for +doing honor to the handsome boy with offerings of flowers, and the +opinion of that one person weighed with her more than that of all the +rest of the men and women she knew, put together. + +This one was Pontius the architect; and yet, strangely enough, it was +precisely her remembrance of him that urged her on from one folly to +another. She had often seen the architect in Alexandria, and when they +parted she had allowed him to promise to follow her and the Empress, and +to escort them at any rate for a part of their voyage up the Nile. But +he came not, nor had he sent any report of himself, though he was alive +and well, and every express that overtook them brought documents for +Caesar in his handwriting. + +So he, on whose faithful devotion she had built as on a rock, was no less +self-seeking and fickle than other men. She thought of him every day and +every hour; and as soon as a vessel from the north cast anchor within +sight, she watched the voyagers as they disembarked to detect him among +them. She longed for Pontius as a traveller who has lost his way sighs +for a sight of the guide who has deserted him; and yet she was angry with +him, for he had betrayed by a thousand tokens that he esteemed and cared +for her, that she had a certain power over his strong will--and now he +had broken his word and did not come. + +And she? She had not been unmoved by his devotion, and had been gentler +to this grandson of her father's freed slave than to the best-born man +of her own rank. And in spite of it all Pontius could spoil all the +pleasure of her journey and stay in Alexandria instead of following +in her wake. He could easily have intrusted his building to other +architects--the great metropolis was swarming with them! Well, if he did +not trouble himself about her she certainly need care even less about +him. Perhaps at last, at the end of their travels he might yet come, and +then he should see how much she cared for his admonitions. + +But she sighed impatiently for the hour when she might read him all the +verses she had addressed to Antinous, and ask him how he liked them. It +gave her a childish pleasure to add to the number of these little poems, +to finish them elaborately, and display in them all her knowledge and +ability. She gave the preference to artificial and massive metres; some +of the verses were in Latin, others in the Attic, and others again in the +Aeolian dialects of Greek, for she had now learnt to use this, and all to +punish Pontius--to vex Pontius--and at the same time to appear in his +eyes as brilliant as she could. She belauded Antinous, but she wrote for +Pontius, and for every flower she gave the lad she had sent a thought to +the architect, though with a curl on her lips of scornful defiance. + +But a young girl cannot be always praising the beauty of a youth in new +and varied forms with complete impunity, and thus there were hours when +Balbilla was inclined to believe that she really loved Antinous. Then +she would call herself his Sappho, and he seemed destined to be her +Phaon. During his long absences with the Emperor she would long to see +him--nay, even with tears; but, as soon as he was by her side again, and +she could look at his inanimate beauty and into his weary eyes, when she +heard the torpid "Yes" or "No" with which he replied to her questions, +the spell was entirely broken and she honestly confessed to herself that +she would as soon see him before her hewn in marble as clothed in flesh +and blood. + +In such moments as these her memory of the architect was particularly +fresh, and once, when their ship was sailing through a mass of lotos +leaves, above which one splendid full-blown flower raised its head, her +apt imagination, which rapidly seized on everything noteworthy and gave +it poetic form, entwined the incident in a set of verses, in which she +designated Antinous as the lotos-flower which fulfils its destiny simply +by being beautiful, and comparing Pontius to the ship which, well +constructed and well guided, invited the traveller to new voyages in +distant lands. + +The Nile voyage came to an end at Thebes of the hundred gates, and here +nothing that could attract the Roman travellers remained unvisited. The +tombs of the Pharaohs extending into the very heart of the rocky hills, +and the grand temples that stood to the west of the city of the dead, +shorn though they were of their ancient glory, filled the Emperor with +admiration. The Imperial travellers and their companions listened to the +famous colossus of Memnon, of which the upper portion had been overthrown +by an earthquake, and three times in the dawn they heard it sound. + +Balbilla described the incident in several long poems which Sabina caused +to be engraved on the stone of the colossus. The poetess imagined +herself as hearing the voice of Memnon singing to his mother Eos while +her tears, the fresh morning dew, fell upon the image of her son, fallen +before the walls of Troy. These verses she composed in the Aeolian +dialect, named herself as their writer and informed the readers--among +whom she included Pontius--that she was descended from a house no less +noble than that of King Antiochus. + +The gigantic structures on each bank of the Nile fully equalled Hadrian's +expectations, though they had suffered so much injury from earthquakes +and sieges, and the impoverished priesthood of Thebes were no longer in a +position to provide for their preservation even, much less for their +restoration. Balbilla accompanied Caesar on a visit to the sanctuary of +Ammon, on the eastern shore of the Nile. In the great hall, the most +vast and lofty pillared hall in the world, her impressionable soul felt a +peculiar exaltation, and as the Emperor observed how, with a heightened +color she now gazed upward, and then again, leaning against a towering +column, looked at the scene around her, he asked her what she felt, +standing in this really worthy abode of the gods. + +"One thing--above all things one thing!" cried the girl. "That +architecture is the sublimest of the arts! This temple is to me like +some grand epode, and the poet who composed it conceived it not in feeble +words but formed it out of almost immovable masses. Thousands of parts +are here combined to form a whole, and each is welded with the rest into +beautiful harmony and helps to give expression to the stupendous idea +which existed in the brain of the builder of this hall. What other art +is gifted with the power of creating a work so imperishable and so far +transcending all ordinary standards?" + +"A poetess crowning the architect with laurels!" exclaimed the Emperor. +"But is not the poet's realm the infinite, and can the architect ever get +beyond the finite and the limited?" + +"Then is the nature of the divinity a measurable unit?" asked Balbilla. +"No, it is not; and yet this hall gives one the impression that the very +divinity might find space in it to dwell in." + +"Because it owes it existence to a master-mind, which while it conceived +it stood on the boundary line of eternity. But do you think this temple +will outlast the poems of Homer?" + +"No; but the memory of it will no more fade away that of the wrath of +Achilles or the wanderings of the experienced Odysseus." + +"It is a pity that our friend Pontius cannot hear you," said Hadrian. +"He has completed the plans for a work which is destined to outlive me +and him and all of us. + +"I mean my own tomb. Besides that I intend him to erect gates, courts and +halls in the Egyptian style at Tibur, which may remind us of our travels +in this wonderful country. I expect him to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!" exclaimed Balbilla, and her face fired with a scarlet flush +to her very brow. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Shortly after starting from Thebes--on the second day of November-- +Hadrian came to a great decision. Verus should be acknowledged not +merely as his son but also as his successor. + +Sabina's urgency would not alone have sufficed to put a term to his +hesitancy, especially as it had lately been farther increased by a wish +that was all his own. His wife's heart had pined for a child, but he too +had longed for a son, and he had found one in Antinous. His favorite was +a boy he had picked up by chance, the son of humble though free parents, +but it lay in the Emperor's power to make him great, to confer on him the +highest posts of honor in the Empire, and at last to recognize him +publicly as his heir. Antinous, if any one, had deserved this at his +hands, and on no other man could he so ungrudgingly bestow everything +that he possessed. + +These ideas and hopes had now filled his mind for many months, but the +nature and the mood of the young Bithyman had been more and more adverse +to them. + +Hadrian had striven more earnestly than his predecessors to raise the +fallen dignity of the Senate, and still he could count securely on its +consent to any measure. The leading official authorities of the Republic +had been recognized and allowed the full exercise of their powers. To be +sure, be they whom they might, they all had to obey the Emperor, still +they were always there; and even with a weak ruler at its head the Empire +might continue to subsist within the limits established by Hadrian, and +restricted with wise moderation. Nevertheless, only a few months +previously he would not have ventured to think of the adoption of his +favorite. Now he hoped to find himself somewhat nearer to the fulfilment +of his wishes. It is true Antinous was still a dreamer; but in their +wanderings and hunting excursions through Egypt he had proved himself +gallant and prompt, intelligent, and, after their departure from Thebes, +even bold and lively at times. Antinous, under this aspect, he himself +might take in hand, and even name him as his successor in due time, when +he had risen from one post of honor to another. For the present this +plan must remain unrevealed. + +When he publicly adopted Verus any idea of a possible new selection of a +son was excluded, and he might unhesitatingly venture to appoint Sabina's +darling his successor, for the most famous of the Roman physicians had +written to Hadrian, by his desire, saying that the praetor's undermined +strength could not be restored, and that, at the best, he could only have +a limited number of years to live. Well, then, Verus might die slowly +and contentedly in the midst of the most splendid anticipations, and when +he should have closed his eyes it would be time enough to set the +dreamer--by that time matured to vigorous manhood--in the vacant place. + +On the return journey from Thebes to Alexandria Hadrian met his wife at +Abydos, and revealed to her his intention of proclaiming the son of her +choice as his successor. Sabina thanked him with an exclamation of +"At last!" which expressed partly her satisfaction, but partly too her +annoyance at her husband's long delay. Hadrian gave her his permission +to return to Rome from Alexandria, and on the very same day messages were +despatched with letters both to the Senate and to the prefects of Egypt. + +The despatch intended for Titianus charged him to proclaim publicly the +adoption of the praetor, to arrange at the same time for a grand +festival, and on that occasion to grant to the people, in Caesar's name, +all the boons and favors which by the traditional law of Egypt the +Sovereign was expected to bestow at the birth of an heir to the throne. +The whole suite of the Imperial pair celebrated Hadrian's decision by +splendid banquets, but the Emperor did not himself take part in them, but +crossed to the other bank of the Nile and went to Antaeopolis in the +desert, meaning to penetrate from thence into the gorges of the Arabian +desert and to chase wild beasts. No one was to accompany him but +Antinous, Mastor, and a few huntsmen and some dogs. + +He meant to rejoin the ships at Besa. He had postponed his visit to this +place till the return journey, because he had travelled up by the western +shore of the Nile, and the passage across the river would have taken up +too much time. + +The travellers' tents were pitched one sultry evening in November, +between the Nile and the limestone range, in which was arrayed a long row +of tombs of the period of the Pharaohs. Hadrian had gone to visit these, +for the remarkable pictures on the walls delighted him, but Antinous +remained behind, for he had already looked at similar works oftener than +he cared for, in Upper Egypt. He found these pictures monotonous and +unlovely, and he had not the patience to investigate their meaning as his +master did. He had been a hundred times into the ancient rock-tombs, +only not to leave Hadrian and not for his own amusement; but to-day--he +could hardly bear himself for impatience and excitement, for he knew that +a ride, a walk, of a few hours, would carry him to Besa and to Selene. +The Emperor would remain absent three or four hours at any rate, and if +he made up his mind to it he could have sought out the girl for whom his +heart was longing before his return, and still be back again before his +master. + +But before acting he must reflect. There was the Emperor climbing the +hill-side where he could see him, and messengers were expected and he had +been charged to receive them. It they should bring bad news, his master +must on no account be alone. Ten times did he go up to his good hunter +to leap upon his back; once he even took down the horse's head-gear to +put on his bridle, but in the very act of slipping the complicated bit +between the teeth of his steed his resolution gave way. During all this +delay and hesitation the minutes slipped away, and at last it was so late +that Hadrian might return and it was folly to think of carrying his +plan into execution. The expected express arrived with several letters, +but the Emperor did not come back. It grew dark, and heavy rain-drops +fell from the overcast sky, and still Antinous was alone. His anxious +longing was mingled with regret for the lost opportunity of seeing Selene +and alarm at the Emperor's prolonged absence. + +In spite of the rain, which began to fill more violently, he went out +into the open air, of which the sweltering oppressiveness had helped to +fetter his feeble volition, and called to the dogs, with whose help he +proposed seeking the Emperor; but just then he heard the bark of Argus, +and soon after Hadrian and Mastor stepped out of the darkness into the +brightness which shone out from the tent, where lights were burning. + +The Emperor gave his favorite but a brief greeting and silently submitted +while Antinous dried his hair and brought him some refreshments, and +Mastor bathed his feet and dressed him in fresh garments. As he reclined +with the Bithyman, before the supper which was standing ready, he said: + +"A strange evening! how hot and oppressive the atmosphere is. We must be +on the lookout, something serious is brewing." + +"What happened to you, my Lord?" + +"Many things. At the door of the very first tomb that I was about to +enter I found an old black woman who stretched out her hands against us +to keep us out and shrieked out words that sounded horrible." + +"Did you understand her?" + +"No--who can learn Egyptian." + +"Then you do not know what she said?" + +"I was to find out--she cried out 'Dead!' and again 'Dead!' and in the +tomb which she was watching there were I know not how many persons +attacked by the plague." + +"You saw them?" + +"Yes, I had only heard of this disease till then. It is frightful, and +quite answers to the descriptions I had read of it." + +"But Caesar!" cried Antinous reproachfully and in alarm. + +"When we turned our backs on the tombs," continued Hadrian, paying no +heed to the lad's exclamation, "we were met by an elderly man dressed in +white and a strange-looking maiden. She was lame but of remarkable +beauty." + +"And she was going to the sick?" + +"Yes, she had brought medicine and food to them." + +"But she did not go in among them?" asked Antinous eagerly. + +"She did, in spite of my warnings. In her companion I recognized an old +acquaintance." + +'An old one?" + +"At any rate older than myself. We had met in Athens when we still were +young. At that time he was one of the school of Plato and the most +zealous, nay, perhaps the most gifted of us all." + +"How came such a man among the plague-stricken people of Besa? Is he +become a physician?" + +"No. But at Athens he sought fervently and eagerly for the truth, and +now he asserts that he has found it." + +"Here, among the Egyptians?" + +"In Alexandria among the Christians." + +"And the lame girl who accompanied the philosopher--does she too believe +in the crucified God?" + +"Yes. She is a sick-nurse or something of the kind. Indeed there is +something grand in the ecstatic craze of these people." + +"Is it true that they worship an ass and a dove?" + +"Nonsense!" + +"I did not want to believe it; and at any rate they are kind, and succor +all who suffer, even strangers who do not belong to their sect." + +"How do you know?" + +"One hears a great deal about them in Alexandria." + +"Alas! alas!--I never persecute an imaginary foe, as such I reckon the +creeds and ideas of other men; still, I cannot but ask myself whether it +can add to the prosperity of the state when citizens cease to struggle +against the pressure and necessity of life and console themselves for +them instead, by the hope of visionary happiness in another world which +perhaps only exists in the fancy of those who believe in it." + +"I should wish that life might end with death," said Antinous +thoughtfully; "and yet--" + +"Well?" + +"If I were sure that in that other world I should find those I long to +see again, then I might long for a future life." + +"And would you really like, throughout all eternity, to push and struggle +in the crowd of old acquaintances which death does not diminish but +rather multiplies?" + +"Nay, not that--but I should like to be permitted to live for ever with a +few chosen friends." + +"And should I be one of them?" + +"Yes--indeed," cried Antinous warmly and pressing his lips to Hadrian's +hand. + +"I was sure of it--but even with the promise of never being obliged to +part with you my darling, I would never sacrifice the only privilege +which man enjoys above the immortals." + +"What privilege can you mean?" + +"The right of withdrawing from the ranks of the living as soon as +annihilation seems more endurable than existence and I choose to call +death to release me." + +"The gods, it is true, cannot die." + +"And the Christians only to link a new life on to death." + +"But a fairer and a happier than this on earth." They say it is a life +of bliss. But the mother of this everlasting life is the ineradicable +love of existence in even the most wretched of our race, and hope is its +father. They believe in a complete freedom from suffering in that other +world because He whom they call their Redeemer, the crucified Christ, has +saved them from all sufferings by His death." + +"And can a man take upon him the sufferings of others, think you, like a +garment or a burden?" + +"They say so, and my friend from Athens is quite convinced. In books of +magic there are many formulas by which misfortunes may be transferred not +merely from men to beasts, but from one human being to another. Very +remarkable experiments have even been carried out with slaves, and to +this day I have to struggle in several, provinces to suppress human +sacrifices by which the gods are to be reconciled or propitiated. Only +think of the innocent Iphigenia who was dragged to the altar; did not the +gulf in the Forum close when Curtius had leaped into it? When Fate +shoots a fatal arrow at you and I receive it in my breast, perhaps she is +content with the chance victim and does not enquire as to whom she has +hit." + +"The gods would be exorbitant indeed if they were not content with your +blood for mine!" + +"Life is life, and that of the young is of better worth than that of the +old. Many joys will yet bloom for you." + +"And you are indispensable to the whole world." + +"After me another will come. Are you ambitious, boy?" + +"No, my Lord." + +"What then can be the meaning of this: that every one wishes me joy of my +son Verus excepting you. Do you not like my choice?" + +Antinous colored and looked at the ground, and Hadrian went on: + +"Say honestly what you feel." + +"The praetor is ill." + +"He can have but a few years to live, and when he is dead--" + +"He may recover--" + +"When he is dead, I must look out for another son. What do you think +now? Who is the being that every man, from a slave to a consul, would +soonest hear call him 'Father?"' + +"Some one he tenderly loved." + +"True--and particularly when that one clung to him with unchangeable +fidelity. I am a man like any other, and you, my good fellow, are always +nearest to my heart, and I shall bless the day when I may authorize +you, before all the world, to call me 'Father.' Do not interrupt me. +If you resolutely concentrate your will and show as keen a sense for +ruling men as you do for the chase, if you try to sharpen your wits and +take in what I teach you, it may some day happen that Antinous instead of +Verus--" + +"Nay, not that, only not that!" cried the lad, turning very pale and +raising his hands beseechingly. + +"The greatness with which Destiny surprises us seems terrible so long as +it is new to us," said Hadrian. "But the seaman is soon accustomed to +the storms, and we come to wear the purple as you do your chiton." + +"Oh, Caesar, I entreat you," said Antinous, anxiously, "put aside these +ideas; I am not fit for great things." + +"The smallest saplings grow to be palms." + +"But I am only a wretched little herb that thrives awhile in your shadow. +Proud Rome--" + +"Rome is my handmaid. She has been forced before now to be ruled by men +of inferior stamp, and I should show her how the handsomest of her sons +can wear the purple. The world may look for such a choice from a +sovereign whom it has long known to be an artist, that is a high-priest +of the Beautiful. And if not, I will teach it to form its taste on +mine." + +"You are pleased to mock me, Caesar," cried the Bithynian. "You +certainly cannot be in earnest, and if it is true that you love me--" + +"What now, boy?" + +"You will let me live unknown for you, care for you; you will ask nothing +of me but reverence and love and fidelity." + +"I have long had them, and I now would fain repay my Antinous for all +these treasures." + +"Only let me stay with you, and if necessary let me die for you." + +"I believe, boy, you would be ready to make the sacrifice we were +speaking of for me!" + +"At any moment without winking an eyelash." + +"I thank you for those words. It has turned out a pleasant evening, and +what a bad one I looked forward to--" + +"Because the woman by the tomb startled you?" + +"'Dead,' is a grim word. It is true that 'death'--being dead--can +frighten no wise man; but the step out of light into darkness is fearful. +I cannot get the figure of the old hag and her shrill cry out of my mind. +Then the Christian came up, and his discourse was strange and disturbing +to my soul. Before it grew dark he and the limping girl went homewards; +I stood looking after them and my eyes were dazzled by the sun which was +sinking over the Libyan range. The horizon was clear, but behind the +day-star there were clouds. In the west, the Egyptians say, lies the +realm of death. I could not help thinking of this; and the oracle, the +misfortunes that the stars threatened me with in the course of this year, +the cry of the old woman--all these crowded into my mind together. But +then, as I observed how the sun struggled with the clouds and approached +nearer and nearer to the hill-tops on the farther side of the river, I +said to myself: If it sets in full radiance you may look confidently to +the future; if it is swallowed up by clouds before it sinks to rest, then +destiny will fulfil itself; then you must shorten sail and wait for the +storm." + +"And what happened?" + +"The fiery globe burnt in glowing crimson, surrounded by a million rays. +Each seemed separate from the rest and shone with glory of its own; it +was as though the sinking disc had been the centre of bow-shots +innumerable and golden arrow-shafts radiated to the sky in every +direction. The scene was magnificent and my heart beat high with happy +excitement, when suddenly and swiftly a dark cloud fell, as though +exasperated by the wounds it had received from those fiery darts; a +second followed, and a third, and sinister Daimons flung a dark and +fleecy curtain over the glorious head of Helios, as the executioner +throws a coarse black cloth over the head of the condemned, when he +sets his knee against him to strangle him." + +At this narrative Antinous covered his face with both hands, and murmured +in terror: + +"Frightful, frightful! What can be hanging over us? Only listen, how it +thunders, and the rain thrashes the tent." + +"The clouds are pouring out torrents; see the water is coming in already. +The slaves must dig gutters for it to run off. Drive the pegs tighter +you fellows out there or the whirlwind will tear down the slight +structure." + +"And how sultry the air is!" + +"The hot wind seems to warm even the flood of rain. Here it is still +dry; mix me a cup of wine, Antinous. Have any letters come?" + +"Yes, my Lord." + +"Give them to me, Mastor." + +The slave, who was busily engaged in damming up with earth and stones, +the trickling stream of rain-water that was soaking into the tent, sprang +up, hastily dried his hands, took a sack out of the chest in which the +Emperor's despatches were kept and gave it to his master. Hadrian opened +the leather bag, took out a roll, hastily broke it open, and then, after +rapidly glancing at the contents, exclaimed: + +"What is this? I have opened the record of the oracle of Apis. How did +it come among to-day's letters?" + +Antinous went up to Hadrian, looked at the sack, and said: + +"Mastor has made a mistake. These are the documents from Memphis. I +will bring you the right despatch-bag." + +"Stay!" said Hadrian, eagerly seizing his favorite's hand. "Is this a +mere trick of chance or a decree of Fate? Why should this particular +sack have come into my hands to-day of all others? Why, out of twenty +documents it contains, should I have taken out this very one? Look +here.--I will explain these signs to you. Here stand three pairs of arms +bearing shields and spears, close by the name of the Egyptian month that +corresponds to our November. These are the three signs of misfortune. +The lutes up there are of happier omen. The masts here indicate the +usual state of affairs. Three of these hieroglyphics always occur +together. Three lutes indicate much good fortune, two lutes and one mast +good fortune and moderate prosperity, one pair of arms and two lutes +misfortune, followed by happiness, and so forth. Here, in November, +begin the arms with weapons, and here they stand in threes and threes, +and portend nothing but unqualified misfortune, never mitigated by a +single lute. Do you see, boy? Have you understood the meaning of these +signs?" + +"Perfectly well; but do you interpret them rightly? The fighting arms +may perhaps lead to victory." + +"No. The Egyptians use them to indicate conflict, and to them conflict +and unrest are identical with what we call evil and disaster." + +"That is strange!" + +"Nay, it is well conceived; for they say that everything was originally +created good by the gods, but that the different portions of the great +All changed their nature by restless and inharmonious mingling. This +explanation was given me by the priest of Apis, and here--here by the +month of November are the three fighting arias--a hideous token. If one +of the flashes which light up this tent so incessantly, like a living +stream of light were to strike you, or me, and all of us--I should not +wonder. Terrible--terrible things hang over us! It requires some +courage under such omens as these, to keep an untroubled gaze and not to +quail." + +"Only use your own arms against the fighting arms of the Egyptian gods; +they are powerful," said Antinous; but Hadrian let his head sink on his +breast, and said, in a tone of discouragement: + +"The gods themselves must succumb to Destiny." + +The thunder continued to roar. More than once the storm snapped the +tent-ropes, and the slaves were obliged to hold on to the Emperor's +fragile shelter with their hands; the chambers of the clouds poured +mighty torrents out upon the desert range which for years had not known a +drop of rain, and every rift and runlet was filled with a stream or a +torrent. + +Neither Hadrian nor Antinous closed their eyes that fearful night. The +Emperor had as yet opened only one of the rolls that were in the day's +letter-bag; it contained the information that Titianus the prefect was +cruelly troubled by his old difficulty of breathing, with a petition from +that worthy official to be allowed to retire from the service of the +state and to withdraw to his own estate. It was no small matter for +Hadrian to dispense for the future with this faithful coadjutor, to lose +the man on whom he had had his eye to tranquillize Judaea--where a fresh +revolt had raised its head, and to reduce it again to subjection without +bloodshed. To crush and depopulate the rebellious province was within +the power of other men, but to conquer and govern it with kindness +belonged only to the wise and gentle Titianus. The Emperor had no heart +to open a second letter that night. He lay in silence on his couch till +morning began to grow gray, thinking over every evil hour of his life-- +the murders of Nigrinus, of Tatianus and of the senators, by which he had +secured the sovereignty--and again he vowed to the gods immense +sacrifices if only they would protect him from impending disaster. + +When he rose next morning Antinous was startled at his aspect, for +Hadrian's face and lips were perfectly bloodless. After he had read the +remainder of his letters he started, not on foot but on horseback, with +Antinous and Mastor for Besa, there to await the rest of the escort. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +The unchained elements had raged that night with equal fury over the Nile +city of Besa. The citizens of this ancient town had done all they could +to give the Imperial traveller a worthy reception. The chief streets had +been decked with ropes of flowers strung from mast to mast and from house +to house, and by the harbor, close to the river shore, statues of Hadrian +and his wife had been erected. But the storm tore down the masts and the +garlands, and the lashed waters of the Nile had beaten with irresistible +fury on the bank; had carried away piece after piece of the fertile +shore, flung its waves, like liquid wedges into the rifts of the parched +land; and excavated the high bank by the landing-quay. + +After midnight the storm was still raging with unheard-of fury; it swept +the palm thatch from many of the houses, and beat the stream with such +violence that it was like a surging sea. The full unbroken force of the +flood beat again and again on the promontory on which stood the statues +of the Imperial couple. Shortly before the first dawn of light the +little tongue of land, which was protected by no river wall, could no +longer resist the furious attack of the waters; huge clods of soil +slipped and fell with a loud noise into the river and were followed by a +large mass of the cliff, with a roar as of thunder the plateau behind +sank, and the statue of the Emperor which stood upon it began to totter +and lean slowly to its fall. When day broke it was lying with the +pedestal still above ground, but the head was buried in the earth. + +At break of day the citizens left their houses to inquire of the +fishermen and boatmen what had occurred in the harbor during the night. +As soon as the storm had abated, hundreds, nay thousands, of men, women +and children thronged the landing-place round the fallen statue--they saw +the land-slip and knew that the current had torn the land from the bank +and caused the mischief. Was it that Hapi, the Nile-god, was angry with +the Emperor? At any rate the disaster that had befallen the image of the +sovereign boded evil, that was clear. + +The Toparch, the chief municipal authority, at once set to work to +reinstate the statue which was itself uninjured, for Hadrian might arrive +in a few hours. Numerous men, both free and slaves, crowded to undertake +the work, and before long the statue of Hadrian, executed in the Egyptian +style, once more stood upright and gazing with a fixed countenance +towards the harbor. Sabina's was also put back by the side of her +husband's and the Toparch went home satisfied. With him most of the +starers and laborers left the quay, but their place was taken by other +curious folks who had missed the statue from its place, where the land +had fallen, and now expressed their opinions as to the mode and manner of +its fall. + +"The wind can never have overturned this heavy mass of limestone," said a +ropemaker: "And see how far it stands from the broken ground." + +They say it fell on the top of land-slip," answered a baker. + +"That is how it was," said a sailor. + +"Nonsense!" cried the ropemaker. "If the statue had stood on the ground +now carried away, it must have fallen at once into the water and have +sunk to the bottom--any child can see that other powers have been at work +here." + +"Very likely," said a temple-servant who devoted himself to the +interpretation of signs: "The gods may have overset the proud image to +give a warning token to Hadrian." + +"The immortals do not mix in the affairs of men in our day," said the +sailor; "but in such a fearful night as this peaceful citizens remain +within doors and so leave a fair field for Caesar's foes." + +"We are all faithful subjects," said the baker indignantly. + +"You are a pack of rebellious rabble," retorted a Roman soldier, who like +the whole cohort quartered in the province of Hermopolis, had formerly +served in Judaea under the cruel Tinnius Rufus. "Among you worshippers +of beasts squabbles never cease, and as to the Christians, who have made +their nests out there on the other side of the valley, say the worst you +can of them and still you would be flattering them." + +"Brave Fuscus is quite right!" cried a beggar. The wretches have +brought the plague into our houses; wherever the disease shows itself +there are Christian men and women to be seen. They came to my brother's +house; they sat all night by his sick children and of course both died." + +"If only my old governor Tinnius Rufus were here," growled the soldier, +"they would none of them be any better off than their own crucified god." + +"Well, I certainly have nothing in common with them," replied the baker. +"But what is true must continue true. They are quiet, kind folks and +punctual in payment, who do no harm and show kindness to many poor +creatures." + +"Kindness?" cried the beggar, who had received alms himself from the +deacon of the church at Besa, but had also been exhorted to work. "All +the five priests of Sekket of the grotto of Artemis have been led away by +them and have basely abandoned the sanctuary of the goddess. And is it +good and kind that they should have poisoned my brother's children with +their potions?" + +"Why should they not have killed the children?" asked the soldier. +"I heard of the same things in Syria; and as to this statue, I will never +wear my sword again--" + +"Hark! listen to the bold Fuscus," cried the crowd. "He has seen much." + +"I will never wear my sword again if they did not knock over the statue +in the dark." + +"No, no," cried the sailor positively. "It fell with the land that was +washed away; I saw it lying there myself." + +"And are you a Christian, too?" asked the soldier, "or do you suppose +that I was in jest when I swore by my sword? I have served in Bithynia, +in Syria, and in Judaea. I know these villains, good people. There were +hundreds of Christians to be seen there who would throw away life like a +worn-out shoe because they did not choose to sacrifice to the statues of +Caesar and the gods." + +"There, you hear!" cried the beggar. "And did you see a single man of +them among the citizens who set to work to restore the statue to its +place?" + +"There were none of them there," said the sailor, who was beginning to +share the soldier's views. + +"The Christians threw down the Emperor's statue," the beggar shouted to +the crowd. "It is proved, and they shall suffer for it. Every man who +is a friend of the divine Hadrian come with me now and have them out of +their houses." + +"No uproar!" interrupted the soldier to the furious man. "There is the +tribune, he will hear you." + +The Roman officer, who now came past with a troop of soldiers to receive +the Emperor outside the city, was greeted by the crowd with loud +shouting. He commanded silence and made the soldier tell him what had so +violently excited the people. + +"Very possibly," said the tribune, a sinewy and stern-looking man, who, +like Fuscus, had served under Tinnius Rufus, and had risen from a sutler +to be an officer, "Very possibly--but where are your proofs?" + +"Most of the citizens helped in reerecting the statue, but the Christians +held aloof from the work," cried the beggar. "There was not one to be +seen. Ask the sailor, my lord; he was by and he can bear witness to it." + +"That certainly is more than suspicious. This matter must be strictly +inquired into. Pay heed, you people." + +"Here comes a Christian girl!" cried the sailor. + +"Lame Martha; I know her well," interrupted the beggar. "She goes into +all the plague-stricken houses and poisons the people. She stayed three +days and three nights at my brother's turning the children's pillows till +they were carried out. Wherever she goes death follows." + +Selene, now known as Martha, paid no heed to the crowd, but with her +blind brother Helios, now called John, went calmly on her way which led +from the raised bank down to the landing-quay. There she wished to hire +a boat to take her across the stream, for in a village on the island over +against the town dwelt some sick Christians to whom she was carrying +medicines and whom she was intending to watch. For months past her whole +life had been devoted to the suffering. She had carried help even into +heathen homes, and shrunk from neither fever nor plague. Her cheeks had +gained no color, but her eyes shone with a gentler and purer light which +glorified the severe beauty of her features. As the girl approached the +captain he fixed his eyes on her, and called out: + +"Hey! pale-face--are you a Christian?" + +"Yes, my lord," replied Selene, and she went on quietly and indifferently +with her brother. + +The Roman looked after her, and as she passed by Hadrian's statue, and, +as she did so, dropped her head rather lower than before, he roughly +ordered her to stop and to tell him why she had averted her face from the +statue of Caesar. + +"Hadrian is our ruler as well as yours," answered the young girl. "I am +in haste for there are sick people on the island." + +"You will bring them no good!" cried the beggar. "Who knows what is +hidden there in the basket?" + +"Silence!" interrupted the tribune. "They say, girl that your fellow- +believers overthrew the statue of Caesar in the night." + +"How should that be? We honor Caesar no less than you do." + +"I will believe you, and you shall prove it. There stands the statue of +the divine Caesar. Come with me and worship it." Selene looked with +horror in the face of the stern man, and could not find a word of reply. + +"Well!" asked the captain, "will you come? Yes or no?" + +Selene struggled for self-possession, and when the soldier held out his +hand to her she said with a trembling voice: + +"We honor the Emperor but we pray to no statue--only to our Father in +Heaven." + +"There you have it!" laughed the beggar. + +"Once more I ask you," cried the tribune. "Will you worship this statue, +or do you refuse to do so?" + +A fearful struggle possessed Selene's soul. If she resisted the Roman +her life was in danger, and the fury of the populace would be aroused +against her fellow-believers--if, on the other hand, she obeyed him, she +would be blaspheming God, breaking her faith to the Saviour who loved +her, sinning against the truth and her own conscience. A fearful dread +fell upon her, and deprived her of the power to lift her soul in prayer. +She could not, she dared not, do what was required of her, and yet the +overweening love of life which exists in every mortal led her feet to the +base of the idol and there stayed her steps. + +"Lift up your hands and worship the divine Caesar," cried the tribune, +who with the rest of the lookers-on had watched her movements with keen +excitement. + +Trembling, she set her basket on the ground and tried to withdraw her +hand from her brother's; but the blind boy held it fast. He fully +understood what was required of his sister, he knew full well, from the +history of many martyrs that had been told him, what fate awaited her and +him if they resisted the Roman's demand; but he felt no fear and +whispered to her: + +"We will not obey his desires Martha; we will not pray to idols, we will +cling faithfully to the Redeemer. Turn me away from the image, and I +will say 'Our Father.'" + +With a loud voice and his lustreless eyes upraised to Heaven, the boy +said the Lord's prayer. Selene had first set his face towards the river, +and then she herself turned her back on the statue; then, lifting her +hands, she followed the child's example. + +Helios clung to her closely, her loudly uttered prayer was one with his, +and neither of them saw or heard anything more of what befell them. + +The blind boy had a vision of a distant but glorious light, the maiden of +a blissful life made beautiful by love, as she was flung to the ground in +front of the statue of Hadrian, and the excited mob rushed upon her and +her faithful little brother. The military tribune tried in vain to hold +back the populace, and by the time the soldiers had succeeded in driving +the excited mob away from their victims, both the young hearts, in the +midst of the triumph of their faith, in the midst of their hopes of an +eternal and blissful life, had ceased to beat for ever. + +The occurrence disturbed the captain and made him very uneasy. This +girl, this beautiful boy, who lay before him pale corpses, had been +worthy of a better fate, and he might be made to answer for them; for the +law forbade that any Christian should be punished for his faith without a +judge's sentence. He therefore commanded that the dead should be carried +at once to the house to which they belonged, and threatened every one, +who should that day set foot in the Christian quarter, with the severest +punishment. + +The beggar went off, shrieking and shouting, to his brother's house to +tell the mistress that lame Martha, who had nursed her daughter to death, +was slain; but he gained an evil reward, for the poor woman bewailed +Selene as if she had been her own child, and cursed him and her +murderers. + +Before sundown Hadrian arrived at Besa, where he found magnificent tents +pitched to receive him and his escort. The disaster that had befallen +his statue was kept a secret from him, but he felt anxious and ill. He +wished to be perfectly alone, and desired Antinous to go to see the city +before it should be dark. The Bithynian joyfully embraced this +permission as a gift of the gods; he hurried through the decorated high +streets, and made a boy guide him from thence into the Christian quarter. +Here the streets were like a city of the dead; not a door was open, not a +man to be seen. + +Antinous paid the lad, sent him away, and with a beating heart went from +one house to another. Each looked neat and clean, and was surrounded by +trees and shrubs, but though the smoke curled up from several of the +roofs every house seemed to have been deserted. At last he heard the +sound of voices. Guided by these he went through a lane to an open place +where hundreds of people, men, women and children, were assembled in +front of a small building which stood in the midst of a palm grove. + +He asked where dame Hannah lived, and an old man silently pointed to the +little house on which the attention of the Christians seemed to be +concentrated. The lad's heart throbbed wildly and yet he felt anxious +and embarrassed, and he asked himself whether he had not better turn back +and return next morning when he might hope to find Selene alone. + +But no! Perhaps he might even now be allowed to see her. + +He modestly made his way through the throng, which had set up a song in +which he could not determine whether it was intended to express feelings +of sadness or of triumph. Now he was standing at the gate of the garden +and saw Mary the deformed girl. She was kneeling by a covered bier and +weeping bitterly. Was dame Hannah dead? No, she was alive, for at this +moment she came out of her house, leaning on an old man, pale, calm and +tearless. Both came forward, the old man uttered a short prayer and then +stooping down, lifted the sheet which covered the dead. + +Antinous pushed a step forward but instantly drew two steps back--then +covering his eyes with his hand he stood as if rooted to the spot. + +There was no vehement lamentation. The old man began a discourse. +All around were sounds of suppressed weeping, singing and praying but +Antinous saw and heard nothing. He had dropped his hand and never took +his eyes off the white face of the dead till Hannah once more covered it +with the sheet. Even then he did not stir. + +It was not till six young girls lifted Selene's modest bier and four +matrons took up that of little Helios on their shoulders and the whole +assembly moved away after them, that he too turned and followed the +mourning procession. He looked on from a distance while the larger and +the smaller coffins were carried into a rocktomb, while the entrance was +carefully closed, and the procession dispersed some here and some there. + +At last he found himself alone and in front of the door of the vault. +The sun went down, and darkness spread rapidly over hill and vale. When +no one was to be seen who could observe him, he threw up his arms, +clasped the pillar at the entrance of the tomb, pressed his lips against +the rough wooden door and struck his forehead against it while his whole +body trembled with the tearless anguish of his spirit. + +For some minutes he stood so and did not hear a light step which came up +behind him. It was Mary, who had come once more to pray by the grave of +her beloved friend. She at once recognized the youth and softly called +him by his name. + +"Mary," he answered, clasping her hand eagerly. "How did she die?" + +"Slain," she said, sadly. "She would not worship Caesar's image." + +Antinous shuddered at the words, and asked, "And why would she not?" + +"Because she was faithful to our belief, and so hoped for the mercy of +the Saviour. Now she is a blessed angel." + +"Are you sure of that?" + +"As sure as I live in hope of meeting the martyr who rests here, again in +Heaven!" + +"Mary." + +"Leave go of my hand!" + +"Will you do me a service, Mary?" + +"Willingly, Antinous--but pray do not touch me." + +"Take this money and buy the loveliest wreath that is to be had here. +Hang it on this tomb, and say as you do so--call out--, From Antinous to +Selene.'" + +The deformed girl took the money he gave her and said: + +"She often prayed for you." + +"To her God?" + +"To our Redeemer, that he might give you also joy. She died for Christ +Jesus; now she is with him, and he will grant her prayers." + +Antinous was silent for a while, then he said: + +"Once more give me your hand, Mary, and now farewell. Will you sometimes +think of me, and pray for me too, to your Redeemer?" + +"Yes, yes, and you will not quite forget me, the poor cripple?" + +"Certainly not, you good, kind girl! Perhaps we may some day meet +again." With these words Antinous hurried down the hill and through the +town to the Nile. + +The moon had risen and was mirrored in the rough water. Just so had its +image played upon the waves when Antinous had rescued Selene from the +sea. The lad knew that Hadrian would be expecting him, still he did not +seek his tent. A violent emotion had overpowered him; he restlessly +paced up and down the river-bank rapidly reviewing in his memory the more +prominent incidents of his past life. He seemed to hear again every word +of the dialogue that had taken place yesterday between Hadrian and +himself. Before his inward eye he saw once more his humble home in +Bithynia, his mother, his brothers and sisters whom he should never see +again. Once more he lived through the dreadful hour when he had deceived +his beloved master and had been an incendiary. An overmastering dread +fell upon him as he thought of Hadrian's wish to put him in the place of +the man whom the prudent sovereign had chosen as his successor--a choice +that was perhaps the direct outcome of his own crime. He, Antinous, who +to-day could not think of the morrow, who always kept out of the way of +the discourse of grave men because he found it so hard to follow their +meaning, he who knew nothing but how to obey, he who was never happy but +alone with his master and his dreaming, far from the bustle of the world +--he, to be burdened with the purple, with anxiety, with a mountain-load +of responsibility! + +No, no; the idea was unheard-of--impossible! And yet Hadrian never gave +up a wish he had once expressed in words. The future loomed before his +soul like some overpowering foe. Suffering, unrest, and misfortune +stared him in the face, turn which way he would. + +What was the hideous fatality that threatened his sovereign? It was +approaching, it must come if no one--aye, if no one should be found to +stand between him and the impending blow, and to receive in his own +breast--in his own heart, bared to receive the wound--the spear hurled by +the vengeful god. And he--he, and he alone was the one who might do +this. + +The thought flashed into his mind like a sudden blaze of light; and if +he should find the courage to devote himself to death for his dear master +all his sins against him would be expiated; then--then--oh, how lovely a +thought!--then might he not find entrance into the gates of that realm of +bliss which Selene's prayers had opened to him? There he would see his +mother again and his father, and by and bye his brothers and sisters--but +now, at once in a few minutes Her whom he loved and who had trodden the +ways of death before him. + +An exquisite sense of hope such as he had never felt before flooded his +soul. There lay the Nile--here was a boat. He gave it a strong push +into the stream and with a powerful leap, as when hunting he had often +sprung from rock to rock, he jumped into the boat. He had just seized an +oar when Mastor, who had been desired by the Emperor to seek him, +recognized him in the moonlight and desired him to return with him to the +tents. + +But Antinous did not obey. As he pushed out into the stream he called +out: + +"Greet my Lord from me--greet him lovingly, a thousand times, and tell +him Antinous loved him more than his life. Fate demands a victim. The +world cannot dispense with Hadrian, but Antinous is a mere nonentity, +whom none will miss but Caesar, and for him Antinous flings himself into +the jaws of death." + +"Stay-stop! hapless boy, come back!" shouted the slave, and leaping +into a boat he followed that of the Bithynian, which, impelled by strong +and steady strokes, flew away into the current. + +Mastor rowed with all his might, but he could not gain upon the boat he +was pursuing. Thus in a wild race both reached the middle of the stream. +There, the slave saw Antinous fling away his oar, and an instant later he +heard Antinous call loudly on the name of Selene, and then, in helpless +inactivity, he saw the lad glide into the waters, and the Nile swallowed +in its flood the noblest and fairest of victims. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A night and a day had slipped away since the death of the Bithynian. +Ships and boats from every part of the province had collected before Besa +to seek for the body of the drowned youth, the shores swarmed with men, +and cressets and torches had dimmed the moonlight on river and shore all +through the night; but they had not yet succeeded in finding the body of +the beautiful youth. + +Hadrian had heard in what way Antinous had perished. He had required +Mastor to repeat to him more than once the last words of his faithful +companion and neither to add nor to omit a single syllable. Hadrian's +accurate memory cherished them all and now he had sat till dawn and from +dawn till the sun had reached the meridian, repeating them again and +again to him self. He sat gloomily brooding and would neither eat +nor drink. The misfortune which had threatened him had fallen--and what +a grief was this! If indeed Fate would accept the anguish he now felt in +the place of all other suffering it might have had in store for him he +might look forward to years free from care, but he felt as though he +would rather have spent the remainder of his existence in sorrow and +misery with his Antinous by his side than enjoy, without him, all that +men call happiness, peace and prosperity. + +Sabina and her escort had arrived-a host of men; but he had strictly +ordered that no one, not even his wife, was to be admitted to his +presence. The comfort of tears was denied him, but his grief gripped him +at the heart, clouded his brain and made hint so irritably sensitive that +an unfamiliar voice, though even at a distance, disturbed him and made +him angry. + +The party who had arrived by water were not allowed to occupy the tents +which had been pitched for them not far from his, because he desired to +be alone, quite alone, with his anguish of spirit. Mastor, whom he had +hitherto regarded rather a useful chattel than as a human creature, now +grew nearer to him--had he not been the one witness of his darling's +strange disappearance. Towards the close of this, the most miserable +night he had ever known, the slave asked him whether he should not fetch +the physician from the ships, he looked so pale; but Hadrian forbade it. + +"If I could only cry like a woman," he said, "or like other fathers whose +sons are snatched away by death, that would he the best remedy. You poor +souls will have a bad time now, for the sun of my life has lost its light +and the trees by the way-side have lost their verdure." + +When he was alone once more he sat staring into vacancy and muttered to +himself: + +"All mankind should mourn with me for if I had been asked yesterday how +perfect a beauty might be bestowed on one of their race I could have +pointed proudly to you, my faithful boy and have said, 'Beauty like that +of the gods.' Now the crown is cut off from the trunk of the palm and +the maimed thing can only be ashamed of its deformity; and if all +humanity were but one man it would look like one who has had his right +eye torn out. I will not look on the monsters, lean and fat, that they +may not spoil my taste for the true type! Oh faithful, lovable, +beautiful boy! What a blind, mad fool have you been! And yet I cannot +blame your madness. You have pierced my soul with the deepest thrust of +all and yet I cannot even be angry with you. Superhuman! godlike was +your faithful devotion. Aye, indeed, it was!" As he thus spoke he rose +from his seat and went on resolutely and decidedly: + +"Here I stretch out this my right hand-hear me, ye Immortals! Every city +in the Empire shall raise an altar to Antinous, and the friend of whom +you have robbed me I will make your equal and companion. Receive him +tenderly, oh, ye undying rulers of the world! Which among you can boast +of beauty greater than his? and which of you ever displayed so much +goodness and faithfulness as your new associate?" + +This vow seemed to have given Hadrian some comfort. For above half an +hour he paced his tent with a firmer tread, then he desired that +Heliodorus his secretary might be called. + +The Greek wrote what his sovereign dictated. This was nothing less than +that henceforth the world should worship a new divinity in the person of +Antinous. + +At noonday a messenger in breathless haste came to say that the body of +the Bithynian had been found. Thousands flocked to see the corpse, and +among them Balbilla, who had behaved like a distracted creature when she +heard to what an end her idol had come. She had rushed up and down the +river-bank, among the citizens and fishermen, dressed in black mourning +robes and with her hair flying about her. The Egyptians had compared her +to the mourning Isis seeking the body of her beloved husband, Osiris. +She was beside herself with grief, and her companion implored her in vain +to calm herself and remember her rank and her dignity as a woman. But +Balbilla pushed her vehemently aside, and when the news was brought that +Nile had yielded up his prey she rushed on foot to see the body, with the +rest of the crowd. + +Her name was in every mouth, everyone knew that she was the Empress' +friend, and so she was willingly and promptly obeyed when she commanded +the bearers who carried the bier on which the recovered body lay to set +it down and to lift up the sheet which shrouded it. Pale and trembling, +she went up to it and gazed down at the drowned man; but only for a +moment could she endure the sight. She turned away with a shudder, and +desired the bearers to go on. When the funeral procession had +disappeared and she could no longer hear the shrill wailing of the +Egyptian women, and no longer see them streaking their breast, head, and +hair with damp earth and flinging up their arms wildly in the air, she +turned to her companion and said calmly: "Now, Claudia, let us go home." + +In the evening at supper she appeared dressed in black, like Sabina and +all the rest of the suite, but she was calm and ready with an answer to +every observation. + +Pontius had travelled with them from Thebes to Besa, and she had spared +him nothing that could punish him for his long absence, and had +mercilessly compelled him to listen to all her verses on Antinous. + +He meanwhile had been perfectly cool about it, and had criticised her +poems exactly as if they had referred not to a man of flesh and blood but +to some statue or god. This epigram he would praise, the next he would +disparage, a third condemn. Her confession that she had been in the +habit of complimenting Antinous with flowers and fruit he heard with a +shrug of the shoulders, saying pleasantly: "Give him as many presents as +you will; I know that you expect no gifts from your divinity in return +for your sacrifices." + +His words had surprised and delighted her. Pontius always understood +her, and did not deserve that she should wound him. So she let him gaze +into her soul, and told him how much she loved Antinous so long as he was +absent. Then she laughed and confessed that she was perfectly +indifferent to him as soon as they were together. + +When, after the Bithynian's death, she lost all self-control he simply +let her alone, and begged Claudia to do the same. + +The same day that the body was found it was burnt on a pile of precious +wood. Hadrian had refused to see it when he learnt that the death by +drowning had terribly distorted the lad's features. + +A few hours after the ashes of the Bithynian had been collected and +brought in a golden vase to Hadrian, the Nile fleet was once more under +sail, this time with the Emperor on board one of the boats, to proceed +without farther halt to Alexandria. + +Hadrian remained alone with only his slave and his secretary on the boat +that conveyed him; but he several times sent to Pontius to desire him to +come from the ship on which he was and visit him on his. He liked to +hear the architect's deep voice, and discussed with him the plans which +Pontius had sketched for his mausoleum in Rome and the monument to his +lost favorite which he proposed to have erected from designs of his own +in the large city which he intended should stand on the site of the +little town of Besa, and which he had already named Antinoe. But these +discussions only took up a limited number of hours, and then the +architect was at liberty to return to Sabina's boat, on which Balbilla +also lived. + +A few days after they had quitted Besa he was sitting alone with the +poetess on the deck of the Nile boat which, borne by the current and +propelled by a hundred oars, was rapidly and steadily nearing its +destination. Ever since the death of the hapless favorite Pontius had +avoided mentioning him to her. She had now become as observant and as +talkative as before, and in her eyes there even shone at times a ray of +the old sunny gayety of her nature. The architect thought he +comprehended the characteristic change in her sentiments, and would not +allude to the cause of the violent but transient fever under which she +had suffered. "What did you discuss with Caesar to-day?" asked Balbilla +of her friend. Pontius looked down at the ground and considered whether +he could venture to utter the name of Antinous before the poetess. +Balbilla observed his hesitation and said: + +"Speak on; I can hear anything. That folly is past and over." + +"Caesar is at work at the plans for a new town to be built and called +Antinoe, and a sketch for a monument to his ill-fated favorite," said +Pontius. "He will not accept any help, but I have to teach him to +discriminate what is possible from what is impossible." + +"Ah! he is always gazing at the stars and you look steadily at the road +on which you are walking." + +"An architect can make no use of anything that is unsteady or that has no +firm foundation." + +"That is a hard saying, Pontius. It is true that during the last few +weeks I have behaved like a fool." + +"I only wish that every tottering structure could recover its balance as +quickly and as certainly as you! Antinous was a demigod for beauty, and +a good faithful fellow besides." + +"Do not speak of him any more," exclaimed Balbilla shuddering. "He +looked dreadful. Can you forgive me for my conduct?" + +"I never was angry with you." + +"But I lost your esteem." + +"No, Balbilla. Beauty, which is dear to us all, and which the Muse has +kissed, attracted your easily moved poet's soul and it fluttered off at +random. Let it fly! My friend's true womanly nature was never carried +away by it. She stands on a rock, that I am sure of." + +"How good and kind in you to say so--too good, too kind! for I am a +feeble creature, turned by every breeze that blows, a vain little fool +who does not know one hour what she may do the next, a spoilt child that +likes best to do the thing it ought to leave undone, a weak girl who +finds a pleasure in doing battle with men. For all in all--" + +"For all in all a darling of the gods who to-day can climb the rocks with +a firm step and to-morrow lies dreaming in the sunshine among flowers-- +for all in all a nature that has no equal and which lacks nothing, +nothing whatever that constitutes a true woman excepting--" + +"I know what I lack," cried Balbilla. "A strong man on whom I can +depend, whose warnings I can respect. You, you are that man; you and +none other, for as soon as I feel you by my side I find it difficult to +do what I know to be wrong. Here I am, Pontius! Will you have me with +all my moods, with all my faults and weaknesses?" + +"Balbilla!" cried the architect, beside himself with heartfelt agitation +and surprise, and he pressed her hand long and fervently to-his lips. + +"You will? You will take me? You will never leave me, you will warn, +support me and protect me?" + +"Till my last day, till death, as my child, as the apple of my eye, as-- +dare I say it and believe it?--as my love, my second self, my wife." + +"Oh! Pontius, Pontius," she exclaimed, grasping his broad, right hand in +both her own. "This hour restores to the orphaned Balbilla, father and +mother and gives her besides the husband that she loves." + +"Mine, mine!" cried the architect. "Immortal gods! During half a +lifetime I have never found time, in the midst of labor and fatigue, +to indulge in the joys of love and now you give me with interest and +compound interest the treasure you have so long withheld." + +"How can you, a reasonable man, so over-estimate the value of your +possession? But you shall find some good in it. Life can no longer be +conceived of as worth having without the possessor." + +"And to me it has so long seemed empty and cold without you, you strange, +unique, incomparable creature." + +"But why did you not come sooner, and so give me no time to behave like a +fool?" + +"Because, because," said Pontius, gravely, "such a flight towards the sun +seemed to me too bold; because I remember that my father's father--" + +"He was the noblest man that the ancestor of my house attracted to its +greatness." + +"He was--consider it duly at this moment--he was your grandfather's +slave." + +"I know it, but I also know, that there is not a man on earth who is +worthier of freedom than you are, or whom I could ask as humbly as I ask +you: Take me, poor, foolish Balbilla, to be your wife, guide me and make +of me whatever you can, for your own honor and mine." + +The brief Nile voyage brought days and hours of the highest happiness to +Balbilla and her lover. Before the fleet sailed into the Mareotic harbor +of Alexandria, Pontius revealed his happy secret to the Emperor. Hadrian +smiled for the first time since the death of his favorite, and desired +the architect to bring Balbilla to him. + +"I was wrong in my interpretation of the Pythian oracle," said he, as he +laid the poetess's hand in that of Pontius. "Would you like to know how +it runs Pontius--do not prompt me, my child. Anything that I have read +through once or twice I never forget. Pythia said: + + '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; + Still the contemplative eye discerns under mutable sand-drifts + Stable foundations of stone, marble and natural rock.' + +"You have chosen well girl. The oracle guaranteed you a safe road to +tread through life. As to the dust of which it speaks, it exists no +doubt in a certain sense, but this hand wields the broom that will sweep +it away. Solemnize your marriage in Alexandria as soon as you will, but +then come to Rome, that is the only condition I impose. A thing I always +have at heart is the introduction of new and worthy members into the +class of Knights, for it is in that way alone that its fallen dignity can +be restored. This ring, my Pontius, gives you the rank of eques, and +such a man as you are, the husband of Balbilla and the friend of Caesar +may no doubt by-and-bye find a seat in the Senate. What this generation +can produce in stone and marble, my mausoleum shall bear witness to. +Have you altered the plan of the bridge?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +In Alexandria the news of the nomination of the "sham Eros" to be the +Emperor's successor was hailed with joy, and the citizens availed +themselves gladly of his fresh and favorable opportunity to hold one +festival after another. Titianus took care to provide for the due +performance of the usual acts of grace, and among others he threw open +the prison-gates of Canopus, and the sculptor Pollux was set at liberty. + +The hapless artist had grown pale, it is true, in durance vile, but +neither leaner nor enfeebled in body; on the other hand all the vigor of +his intellect, all his bright courage for life and his happy creative +instinct, seemed altogether crushed out of him. His face, as in his +dirty and ragged chiton, he journeyed from Canopus to Alexandria, +revealed neither eager thankfulness for the unexpected boon of liberty, +nor happiness at the prospect of seeing again his own people and Arsinoe. + +In the town he went, unintelligently dreaming as he walked, from one +street to another, but he was familiar with every stone of the way, and +his feet found their way to his sister's house. How happy was Diotima, +how her children rejoiced, how impatient was each one to conduct him to +the old folks! How high in the air the Graces frisked and leaped in +front of the new little home to welcome the returned absentee! And +Doris, poor Doris, almost fainted with joyful surprise and her husband +had to support her in his arms when her long vanished son, whom she had +never given up for lost, however, suddenly stood before her and said: +"Here am I." How fondly she kissed and caressed her dear, cruel, +restored fugitive. The singer too loudly expressed his joy alike in +verse and in prose, and fetched his best theatrical dress out of the +chest to put it on his son in the place of his ragged chiton. + +A mighty torrent of curses and execrations flowed from the old man's lips +as Pollux told his story. The sculptor found it difficult to bring it to +an end, for his father interrupted him at every word, and all the while +he was talking his mother forced him to eat and drink incessantly, even +when he could no more. After he had assured her that he was long since +replete, she pushed two more pots on to the fire, for he must have been +half-starved in prison, and what he did not want now he would find room +for two hours hence. Euphorion himself conducted Pollux to the bath in +the evening, and as they went home together he never for an instant left +his side; the sense of being near him did him good and was like some +comfortable physical sensation. + +The singer was not usually inquisitive, but on this occasion he never +ceased asking questions till Doris led her son to the bed she had freshly +made for him. After the artist had gone to rest, the old woman once more +slipped into his room, kissed his forehead, and said: + +"To-day you have still been thinking too much of that hideous prison--but +to-morrow my boy, to-morrow you will be the same as before, will you +not?" + +"Only leave me alone mother; I shall soon be better," he replied. "This +bed is as good as a sleeping-draught; the plank in the prison was quite a +different thing." + +"You have never asked once for your Arsinoe," said Doris. + +"What can she matter to me? Only let me sleep." But the next morning +Pollux was just the same as he had been the previous evening, and as the +days went on his condition remained unchanged. His head drooped on his +breast, he never spoke but when he was spoken to, and when Doris or +Euphorion tried to talk to him of the future, he would ask: "Am I a +burden to you?" or begged them not to worry him. + +Still, he was gentle and kind, took his sister's children in his arms, +played with the Graces, whistled to the birds, went in and out, and +played a valiant part at every meal. Now and again he would ask after +Arsinoe. Once he allowed himself to be guided to the house where she +lived, but he would not knock at Paulina's door and seemed overawed by +the grandeur of the house. After he had been brooding and dreaming for a +week, so idle, listless, and absent that his mother's heart was filled +with anxious fears every time she looked at him, his brother Teuker hit +upon a happy idea. + +The young gem-cutter was not usually a frequent visitor to his parents' +house, but since the return of the hapless Pollux he called there almost +daily. His apprenticeship was over and he seemed on the high-road to +become a great master in his art; nevertheless he esteemed his brother's +gifts as far beyond his own and had tried to devise some means of +reawakening the dormant energies of the luckless man's brain. + +"It was at this table," said Teuker to his mother, "that Pollux used to +sit. This evening I will bring in a lump of clay and a good piece of +modelling wax. Just put it all on the table and lay his tools by the +side of it; perhaps when he sees them he will take a fancy again to work. +If he can only make up his mind to model even a doll for the children he +will soon get into the vein again, and he will go on from small things to +great." + +Teuker brought the materials, Doris set them out with the modelling +tools, and next morning watched her son's proceedings with an anxious +heart. He got up late, as be had always done since his return home, and +sat a long time over the bowl of porridge which his mother had prepared +for his breakfast. Then he sauntered across to his table, stood in front +of it awhile, broke off a piece of clay and kneaded and moulded it in his +fingers into balls and cylinders, looked at one of them more closely and +then, flinging it on the ground, he said, as he leaned across the table +supporting himself on both hands to put his face near his mother's: + +"You want me to work again; but it is of no use--I could do no good with +it." + +The old woman's eyes filled with tears, but she did not answer him. In +the evening Pollux begged her to put away the tools. + +When he was gone to bed she did so, and while she was moving about with a +light in the dark, lumber-room in which she had kept them with other +disused things, her eye fell on the unfinished wax model which had been +the last work of her ill-starred son. A new idea struck her. She called +Euphorion, made him throw the clay into the court-yard and place the +model on the table by the side of the wax. Then she put out the very +same tools as he had been using on the fateful day of their expulsion +from Lochias, close to the cleverly-sketched portrait, and begged her +husband to go out with her quite early next morning and to remain absent +till mid-day. + +"You will see," she said, "when he is standing face to face with his last +work and there is no one by to disturb him or look at him, he will find +the ends of the threads that have been cut and perhaps be able to gather +them up again and go on with the work where it was interrupted." + +The mother's heart had hit upon the right idea. When Pollux had eaten +his breakfast he went to his table exactly as he had done the clay +before; but the sight of the work in hand had quite a different effect to +the mere raw clay and wax. His eyes sparkled; he walked round the table +with an attentive gaze examining his work as keenly and as eagerly as if +it were some fine thing he saw for the first time. Memory revived in +his mind. He laughed aloud, clasped his hands and said to himself, +"Capital! Something may be made of that!" + +His dull weariness slipped off him, as it were; a confident smile parted +his lips and he seized the wax with a firm hand. But he did not begin to +work at once; he only tried whether his fingers had not lost their +cunning, and whether the yielding material was obedient to his will. The +wax was no less docile to his touch than in former days, as he pinched or +pulled it. Perhaps then the tormenting thought that blighted his life, +the dread that in the prison he had ceased to be an artist, and had lost +all his faculty was nothing more than a mad delusion! He must at any +rate try how he could get on at the work. + +No one was by to observe him--he might dare the attempt at once. The +sweat of anguish stood in large beads on his brow as he finally +concentrated his volition, shook back the hair from his face and took up +a lump of the wax in both hands. There stood the portrait of Antinous +with the head only half-finished. Now--could he succeed in modelling +that lovely head free-hand and from memory? + +His breath came fast, and his hands trembled as he set to work; but soon +his hand was as steady as ever, his eye was calm and keen again, and the +work progressed. The fine features of the young Bithynian were distinct +to his mind's eye, and when, about four hours after, his mother looked in +at the window to see what Pollux was doing, whether her little stratagem +had succeeded, she cried out with surprise, for the favorite's bust, a +likeness in every feature, stood on a plinth side by side with the +original sketch. Before she could cross the threshold her son had run to +meet her, lifted her in his arms, and kissing her forehead and lips he +exclaimed, radiant with delight: + +"Mother, I still can work. Mother, mother, I am not lost!" + +In the afternoon his brother came in and saw what he had been doing, and +now--and not till now--could Teuker honestly be glad to have found his +brother again. + +While the two artists were sitting together, and the gem-cutter was +suggesting to the sculptor, who had complained of the bad light in his +parent's house, that he should carry the statue to his master's workshop +--which was much lighter--to complete it, Euphorion had quietly gone to +some remote corner of his provision-shed and brought to light an amphora +full of noble Chian wine which had been given to him by a rich merchant, +for whose wedding he had performed the part of Hymenaeus with a chorus of +youths. For twenty years had he still preserved this jar of wine for +some specially happy occasion. This jar and his best lute were the only +objects which Euphorion had carried with his own hand from Lochias to his +daughter's house and then again to his own new abode. With an air of +dignified pride the singer set the old amphora before his sons, but Doris +laid hands upon it at once and said: + +"I am glad to bestow the good gift upon you, and would willingly drink a +cup of it with you; but a prudent general does not celebrate his triumph +before he has won the battle. As soon as the statue of the beautiful lad +is completed, I myself, will wreathe this venerable jar with ivy, and beg +you spare it to us, my dear old man--but not before." + +"Mother is right," said Pollux. "And if the amphora is really destined +for me, if you will allow it, my father shall not remove the pitch wig +from its venerable head, till Arsinoe is mine once more!" + +"That is well my boy," cried Doris, "and then I will crown, not merely +the jar but all of us too, with nothing but sweet roses." + +The next day Pollux, with his unfinished statue, removed to the workshop +of his brother's master. The worthy man cleared the best place for the +young sculptor, for he thought highly of him and wished to make good, as +far as lay in his power, the injustice the poor fellow had suffered from +the treachery of Papias. Now, from sunrise till evening fell, Pollux was +constant to his work. He gave himself up to the resuscitated pleasure +and power of creation with real passion. Instead of using wax he had +recourse to clay, and formed a tall figure which represented Antinous as +the youthful Bacchus, as the god might have appeared to the pirates. A +mantle fell in light folds from his left shoulder to his ankles, leaving +the broad breast and right aria entirely free; vine-leaves and grapes +wreathed his flowing locks, and a pine-cone, flame-shaped, crowned his +brow. The left arm was raised in a graceful curve, and his fingers +lightly grasped a thyrsus which rested on the ground and stood taller +than the god's head; by the side of this magnificent figure stood a +mighty wine-jar, half hidden by the drapery. + +For a whole week Pollux had devoted himself to this task during all the +hours of daylight with unflagging zeal and diligence. Before night fell +he was accustomed to leave his work and walk up and down in front of +Paulina's house, but for the present he refrained from knocking at the +door and asking after the girl he loved. He had heard from his mother +how anxiously she was guarded from him and his; still Paulina's severity +would certainly not have hindered the artist from making the attempt to +possess himself of his dearest treasure. What held him back from even +approaching Arsinoe, was the vow he had made to himself never to tempt +her to quit her new and sheltered home till he had acquired a firm +certainty of being once for all an artist, a true artist, who might hope +to do something great, and who might dare to link the fate of the woman +he loved, with his own. + +When, on the eighth morning of his labors, he was taking a few minutes +rest, his brother's master came past the rapidly advancing work, and +after contemplating it for some time exclaimed: + +"Splendid, splendid! Our time has produced nothing to compare with it!" + +An hour later Pollux was standing at the door of Paulina's town-house, +and let the knocker fall heavily on the door. The steward opened to him +and asked him what he wanted. He asked to speak with dame Paulina, but +she was not at home. Then he asked after Arsinoe, the daughter of +Keraunus, who had found a home with the rich widow. The servant shook +his head. + +"My mistress is having her searched for," he said. "She disappeared +yesterday evening. The ungrateful creature! She has tried to run away +several times before now." + +The artist laughed, slapped the steward on the back, and said: + +"I will soon find her!" and he sprang away down the street, and back to +his parents. + +Arsinoe had received much kindness in Paulina's house, but she had also +gone through many bad hours. For months she had been obliged to believe +that her lover was dead. Pontius had told her that Pollux had entirely +vanished and her benefactress persisted in al ways speaking of him as of +one dead. The poor child had shed many tears for him, and when the +longing to talk of him with some one who had known him had taken +possession of her she had entreated Paulina to allow her to go to see his +mother or to let Doris visit her. But the widow had desired her to give +up all thought of the idol-maker and his belongings, speaking with +contempt of the gate-keeper's worthy wife. Just at that time Selene also +left the city, and now Arsinoe's longing for her old friends grew to a +passionate craving to see them again. + +One day she yielded to the promptings of her heart and slipped out into +the street to seek Doris; but the door-keeper, who had been charged by +Paulina never to allow her to go outside the door without his mistress's +express permission, noticed her and brought her back to her protectress-- +not this time only, but, on several subsequent occasions when she +attempted to escape. + +It was not merely her longing to talk about Pollux which made her new +home unendurable to Arsinoe, but many other reasons besides. She felt +like a prisoner; and in fact she was one, for after each attempt at +flight her freedom of movement was still farther impeded. It is true +that she had soon ceased to submit patiently to all that was required of +her and even had often opposed her adoptive mother with vehement words, +tears and execrations, but these unpleasant scenes, which always ended by +a declaration on Paulina's part that she forgave the girl, had always +resulted in a long break in her drives and in a variety of small +annoyances. Arsinoe was beginning to hate her benefactress and +everything that surrounded her, and the hours of catechising and of +prayer, which she could not escape, were a positive martyrdom. Ere long +the doctrine to which Paulina sought to win her was confounded in her +mind with that which it was intended to drive out, and she defiantly shut +her heart against it. + +Bishop Eumenes, who had been elected in the spring Patriarch of the +Christians of Alexandria, visited her oftener than usual during the +summer when Paulina lived in her suburban villa. Paulina, it is true, +had fancied she could do without his help, and that she could and must +carry her task through to the end by herself; but the worthy old man had +felt sympathetically drawn to the poor ill-guided child, and sought to +soothe and calm her mind and show her the goal, towards which Paulina +desired to lead her, in all its beauty. After such discourses Arsinoe +would be softened and felt inclined to believe in God and to love Christ, +but no sooner had her protectress called her again into the school-room +and put the very same things before her in her own way than the girl's +heartstrings drew close again; and when she was desired to pray she +raised her hands, indeed, but out of sheer defiance, she prayed in spirit +to the Greek gods. + +Frequently Paulina received visits from heathen acquaintances in rich +dresses and the sight of them always reminded Arsinoe of former days. +How poor she had been then! and yet she had always had a blue or a red +ribbon to plait in her hair and trim the edge of her peplum. Now she +might wear none but white dresses and the least scrap of colored ornament +to dress her hair or smarten her robe was strictly forbidden. Such vain +trifles, Paulina would say, were very well for the heathen, but the Lord +looked not at the body but at the heart. + +Ah! and the poor little heart of the hapless child could not offer a very +pleasing sight to the Father in Heaven, for hatred and disgust, sadness, +impatience, and blasphemy seethed in it from morning till night. This +young nature was surely formed for love and contentment, and both had +left her weeping. Still Arsinoe never ceased to yearn for them. + +When November had begun and another attempt to run away during their move +back to the town-house had failed, Paulina tried to punish her by never +speaking a word to her for a fortnight, and forbidding even the slave- +women to speak to her. In these two weeks the talkative girl was reduced +almost to desperation, and she even thought of throwing herself off the +roof down into the court-yard. But she clung too dearly to life to carry +this horrible project into execution. On the first of December Paulina +once more spoke to her, forgave her ingratitude, as usual in a long, kind +speech, and told her how many hours she had spent in praying for her +enlightenment and improvement. + +Paulina spoke the truth, and yet but half the truth, for she had never +felt a real love for Arsinoe, and had now for a long time watched her +come and go with actual dislike; but she required her conversion in order +that the warmest wish of her heart might find fulfilment. It was for the +happiness of her daughter, and not for the sake of her recalcitrant +companion, that she prayed for her enlightenment and never ceased in her +efforts to open the callous heart of her adopted child to the true faith. + +In the afternoon preceding that morning when Pollux had at last knocked +at the Christian widow's door, the sun shone with particular brilliancy, +and Paulina had allowed the girl to go out with her. They spent some +little time with a Christian family who dwelt on the shore of Lake +Mareotis, and so it fell out that they did not return home till late in +the evening. Arsinoe had long learnt, while she sat apparently gazing at +the ground, to keep her eyes out of the carriage and to see everything +that was going on around her; and as the chariot turned into their own +street she spied in the distance a tall man who looked like her long-wept +Pollux. She fixed her eyes upon him, and had some difficulty in keeping +herself from calling out aloud, for he it was who walked slowly down the +street. She could not be mistaken, for the torches of two slaves who +were walking in front of a litter had broadly lighted up his face and +figure. + +He was not lost--he was living, and seeking her. She could have shouted +aloud for joy, but she did not stir till Paulina's chariot was standing +still in front of her house. The door-keeper bustled out as usual to +help his mistress to step out of the high-slung vehicle. Thus Paulina +for an instant turned her back, and in that moment Arsinoe sprang out of +the opposite side of the chariot, and was flying down towards the street +where she had seen her lover. Before Paulina could discover that she was +gone the runaway found herself in the midst of the throng which, when the +day's work was over, poured out from the workshops and factories on their +way home. + +Paulina's slaves, who were sent out at once to seek the fugitive, had to +return home this time empty-handed; but Arsinoe, on her part, had not +succeeded in finding him she sought. For an hour she looked round and +about her in vain; then she perceived that her search must be +unsuccessful, and wondered how she might find her way to his parents' +house. Rather than return to her benefactress she would have joined the +roofless crew who passed the night on the hard marble pavement of the +forecourts of the temple. + +At first she rejoiced in the sense of recovered liberty, but when none of +the passers-by could tell her where Euphorion, the singer, lived, and +some young men followed her and addressed her with impudent speeches, +terror made her turn aside into a street which led to the Bruchiom; her +persecutors had not even then ceased to follow her, when a litter, +escorted by lictors and several torch-bearers, was carried past. It was +Julia, the kind wife of the prefect, who sat in it; Arsinoe recognized +her at once, followed her, and reached the door of her residence at the +same moment as she herself. As the matron got out of her litter she +observed the girl who placed herself modestly, but with hands uplifted in +entreaty, at the side of her path. Julia greeted the pretty creature in +whom she had once taken a motherly interest with affectionate sympathy, +beckoned Arsinoe to her, smiled as she listened to her request for a +night's shelter, and led her with much satisfaction to her husband. + +Titianus was ill; still he was glad once more to see the ill-fated +palace-steward's pretty daughter; he listened to her story of her flight +with many signs of disapprobation, but kindly withal, and expressed the +warmest satisfaction at hearing that the sculptor Pollux was still in the +land of the living. + +The grand and lordly bed in one of the strangers' rooms in the prefect's +house had held many a more illustrious guest, but never one whose sleep +was brightened by happier dreams than the poor orphaned "little +fugitive," who, no longer ago than yesterday, had cried herself to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Arsinoe was up betimes on the following morning; much embarrassed by all +the splendor that surrounded her, she walked up and down her room +thinking of Pollux. Then she stopped to take pleasure in her own image +displayed in a large mirror which stood on a dressing-table, and between +whiles she compared the couch, on which she lay clown again at full +length, with those in Paulina's house. Once more she felt herself a +prisoner, but this time she liked her prison, and presently, when she +heard slaves passing by her room, she flew to the door to listen, for it +was just possible that Titianus might have sent to fetch Pollux, and +would allow him to come to see her. At last a slave-woman came in, +brought her some breakfast, and desired her from Julia to go into the +garden and look at the flowers and aviaries till she should be sent for. + +Early that morning the news had reached the prefect that Antinous had +sought his death in the Nile, and it had shocked him greatly, less on +account of the hapless youth than for Hadrian's sake. When he had given +the proper officials orders to announce the melancholy news and to desire +the citizens to give some public expression of their sympathy with the +Emperor's sorrow, he gave audience to the Patriarch Eumenes. + +This venerable man, ever since the transactions which he had conducted-- +with reference to the thanksgiving of the Christians for the safety of +the Emperor after the fire, had been one of the most esteemed friends of +Titianus and Julia. The prefect discussed with the Patriarch the +inauspicious effects that the death of the young fellow might be expected +to have on the Emperor, and as a result, on the government, although the +favorite had had no qualities of mind to distinguish him. + +"Whenever Hadrian," continued Titianus, "would give his unresting brain +an hour's relaxation, and release himself from disappointment and +vexation and the severe toil and anxiety of which his life is overfull, +be would go out hunting with the bold youth or would have the handsome, +good-hearted boy into his own room. The sight of the Bithynian's beauty +delighted his eye, and how well Antinous knew how to listen to him-- +silent, modest and attentive! Hadrian loved him as a son, and the poor +fellow clung to his master in return with more than a son's fidelity; his +death itself proved it. Caesar himself said to me once; "In the midst of +the turmoil of waking life, when I see Antinous a feeling comes over me +as if a beautiful dream stood incorporate before my eyes." + +"Caesar's grief at losing him must indeed be great," said the Patriarch. + +"And the loss will add to the gloom of his grave and brooding nature, +render his restless scheming and wandering still more capricious, and +increase his suspiciousness and irritability." + +"And the circumstances under which Antinous perished," added Eumenes, +"will afford new ground for his attachment to superstitions." + +"That is to be feared. We have not happy days before us; the revolt in +Judaea, too, will again cost thousands of lives." + +"If only it had been granted to you to assume the government of that +province." + +"But you know, my worthy friend, the condition I am in. On my bad days +I am incapable of commanding a thought or opening my lips. When my +breathlessness increases I feel as if I were being suffocated. I have +placed many decades of my life at the disposal of the state, and I now +feel justified in devoting the diminished strength which is left me to +other things. I and my wife think of retiring to my property by lake +Larius, and there to try whether we may succeed, she and I, in becoming +worthy of the salvation and capable of apprehending the truth that you +have offered us. You are there Julia? As the determination to retire +from the world has matured in us, we have, both of us, remembered more +than once the words of the Jewish sage, which you lately told us of. +When the angel of God drove the first man out of Paradise, he said: +'Henceforth your heart must be your Paradise.' We are turning our backs +on the pleasure of a city life--" + +"And we do so without regret," said Julia, interrupting her husband, "for +we bear in our minds the germ of a more indestructible, purer, and more +lasting happiness." + +"Amen!" said the Patriarch. "Where two such as you dwell together there +the Lord is third in the bond." "Give us your disciple Marcianus to be +our travelling-companion," said Titianus. + +"Willingly," said Eumenes. "Shall he come to visit you when I leave +you?" + +"Not immediately," replied Julia. "I have this morning an important and +at the same time pleasant business to attend to. You know Paulina, the +widow of Pudeus. She took into her keeping a pretty young creature--" + +"And Arsinoe has run away from her." + +"We took her in here," said Titianus. "Her protectress seems to have +failed in attracting her to her, or in working favorably on her nature." + +"Yes," said the Patriarch. "There was but one key to her full, bright +heart--Love--but Paulina tried to force it open with coercion and +persistent driving. It remained closed--nay, the lock is spoiled.--But, +if I may ask, how came the girl into your house?" + +"That I can tell you later, we did not make her acquaintance for the +first time yesterday." + +"And I am going to fetch her lover to her," cried the prefect's wife. + +"Paulina will claim her of you," said the Patriarch. "She is having her +sought for everywhere; but the child will never thrive under her +guidance." + +"Did the widow formally adopt Arsinoe?" asked Titianus. + +"No; she proposed doing so as soon as her young pupil--" + +"Intentions count for nothing in law, and I can protect our pretty little +guest against her claim." + +"I will fetch her," said Julia. "The time must certainly have seemed +very long to her already. Will you come with me, Eumenes?" + +"With pleasure," replied the old man, "Arsinoe and I are excellent +friends; a conciliatory word from me will do her good, and my blessing +cannot harm even a heathen. Farewell, Titianus, my deacons are expecting +me." + +When Julia returned to the sitting-room with her protegee, the child's +eyes were wet with tears, for the kind words of the venerable old man had +gone to her heart and she knew and acknowledged that she had experienced +good as well as evil from Paulina. + +The matron found her husband no longer alone. Wealthy old Plutarch with +his two supporters was with him, and in black garments, which were +decorated with none but white flowers, instead of many colored garments; +he presented a singular appearance. The old man was discoursing eagerly +to the prefect; but as soon as he saw Arsinoe he broke off his harangue, +clapped his hands and was quite excited with the pleasure of seeing once +more the fair Roxana for whom he had once visited in vain all the gold- +workers' shops in the city. + +"But I am tired," cried Plutarch, with quite youthful vivacity, "I am +quite tired of keeping the ornaments for you. There are quite enough +other useless things in my house. They belong to you, not to me, and +this very day I will send them to the noble Julia, that she may give them +to you. Give me your hand, dear child; you have grown paler but more +womanly. What do you think, Titianus, she would still do for Roxana; +only your wife must find a dress for her again. All in white, and no +ribband in your hair!--like a Christian." + +"I know some one who will find out the way to fitly crown these soft +tresses," replied Julia. "Arsinoe is the bride of Pollux, the sculptor." + +"Pollux!" exclaimed Plutarch, in extreme excitement. "Move me forward, +Antaeus and Atlas, the sculptor Pollux is her lover? A great, a splendid +artist! The very same, noble Titianus, of whom I just now speaking to +you." + +"You know him?" asked the prefect's wife. + +"No, but I have just left the work-shop of Periander, the gem-cutter, and +there I saw the model of a statue of Antinous that is unique, marvellous, +incomparable! The Bithynian as Dionysus! The work would do no discredit +to a Phidias, to a Lysippus. Pollux was out of the way, but I laid my +hand at once on his work; the young master must execute it immediately in +marble. Hadrian will be enchanted with this portrait of his beautiful +and devoted favorite. You must admire it, every connoisseur must! I +will pay for it, the only question is whether I or the city should +present it to Caesar. This matter your husband must decide." + +Arsinoe was radiant with joy at these words, but she stepped modestly +into the background as an official came in and handed Titianus a dispatch +that had just arrived. + +The prefect read it; then turning to his friend and his wife, he said: + +"Hadrian ascribes to Antinous the honors of a god." + +"Fortunate Pollux!" exclaimed Plutarch. "He has executed the first +statue of the new divinity. I will present it to the city, and they +shall place it in the temple to Antinous of which we must lay the first +stone before Caesar is back here again. Farewell, my noble friends! +Greet your bridegroom from me, my child. His work belongs to me. Pollux +will be the first among his fellow-artists, and it has been my privilege +to discover this new star--the eighth artist whose merit I have detected +while he was still unknown. Your future brother-in-law too, Teuker, will +turn out well. I am having a stone cut by him with a portrait of +Antinous. Once more farewell; I must go to the Council. We shall have +to discuss the subject of a temple to the new divinity. Move on you +two!" + +An hour after Plutarch had quitted the prefect's house Julia's chariot +was standing at the entrance of a lane, much too narrow to admit a +vehicle with horses, and which ended in a little plot on which stood +Euphorion's humble house. Julia's outrunners easily found out the +residence of the sculptor's parents, led the matron and Arsinoe to the +spot, and showed them the door they should knock at. + +"What a color you have, my little girl!" said Julia. "Well, I will not +intrude on your meeting, but I should like to deliver you with my own +hand into those of your future mother. Go to that little house, Arctus, +and beg dame Doris to step out here. Only say that some one wishes to +speak with her, but do not mention my name." + +Arsinoe's heart beat so violently that she was incapable of saying a word +of thanks to her kind protectress. "Step behind this palm-tree," said +the lady. Arsinoe obeyed; but she felt as though it was some outside +volition, and not her own, that guided her to her hiding-place. She +heard nothing of the first words spoken by the Roman lady and Doris. She +only saw the dear old face of her Pollux's mother, and in spite of her +reddened eyes and the wrinkles which trouble had furrowed in her face, +she could not tire of looking at it. It reminded her of the happiest +days of her childhood, and she longed to rush forward and throw her arms +round the neck of the kindly, good-hearted woman. Then she heard Julia +say: "I have brought her to you. She is just as sweet and as maidenly +and lovely as she was the first time we saw her in the theatre." + +"Where is she? Where is she?" asked Doris in a trembling voice. + +Julia pointed to the palm, and was about to call Arsinoe, but the girl +could no longer restrain her longing to fall on the neck of some one dear +to her, for Pollux had come out of the door to see who had asked for his +mother, and to see him and to fly to his breast with a cry of joy had +been one and the same act to Arsinoe. + +Julia gazed at the couple with moistened eyes, and when, after many kind +words for old and young alike, she took leave of the happy group, she +said: + +"I will provide for your outfit my child, and this time I think you will +wear it, not merely for one transient hour but through a long and happy +life." + +Joyful singing sounded out that evening from Euphorion's little home. +Doris and her husband, and Pollux and Arsinoe, Diotima and Teuker, decked +with garlands, reclined round the amphora which was wreathed with roses, +drinking to pleasure and joy, to art and love, and to all the gifts of +the present. The sweet bride's long hair was once more plaited with +handsome blue ribbons. + +Three weeks after these events Hadrian was again in Alexandria. He kept +aloof from all the festivals instituted in honor of the new god Antinous, +and smiled incredulously when he was told that a new star had appeared in +the sky, and that an oracle had declared it to be the soul of his lost +favorite. + +When Plutarch conducted the Emperor and his friends to see the Bacchus +Antinous, which Pollux had completed in the clay, Hadrian was deeply +struck and wished to know the name of the master who had executed this +noble work of art. Not one of his companion's had the courage to speak +the name of Pollux in his presence; only Pontius ventured to come forward +for his young friend. He related to Hadrian the hapless artist's history +and begged him to forgive him. The Emperor nodded his approval, and +said: + +"For the sake of this lost one he shall be forgiven." + +Pollux was brought into his presence, and Hadrian, holding out his hand +said as he pressed the sculptor's: + +"The Immortals have bereft me of his love and faithfulness, but your art +has preserved his beauty for me and for the world--" + +Every city in the Empire vied in building temples and erecting statues to +the new god, and Pollux, Arsinoe's happy husband, was commissioned to +execute statues and busts of Antinous for a hundred towns; but he refused +most of the orders, and would send out no work as his own that he had not +executed himself on a new conception. His master, Papias, returned to +Alexandria, but he was received there by his fellow-artists with such +insulting contempt, that in an evil hour he destroyed himself. Teuker +lived to be the most famous gem-engraver of his time. + +Soon after Selene's martyrdom dame Hannah quitted Besa; the office of +Superior of the Deaconesses at Alexandria was intrusted to her, and she +exercised it with much blessing till an advanced age. Mary, the deformed +girl, remained behind in the Nile-port, which under Hadrian was extended +into the magnificent city of Antmoe. There were there two graves from +which she could not bear to part. + +Four years after Arsinoe's marriage with Pollux, Hadrian called the young +sculptor to Rome; he was there to execute the statue of the Emperor in a +quadriga. This work was intended to crown and finish his mausoleum +constructed by Pontius, and Pollux carried it out in so admirable a +manner, that when it was ended, Hadrian said to him with a smile: + +"Now you have earned the right to pronounce sentence of death on the +works of other masters." Euphorion's son lived in honor and prosperity +to see his children, the children of his faithful wife Arsinoe--who was +greatly admired by the Tiber-grow up to be worthy citizens. They +remained heathen; but the Christian love which Eumenes had taught +Paulina's foster-daughter was never forgotten, and she kept a kindly +place for it in her heart and in her household. A few months before the +young couple left Alexandria, Doris had peacefully gone to her last rest, +and her husband died soon after her; the want of his faithful companion +was the complaint he succumbed to. + +On the shores of the Tiber, Pontius was still the sculptor's friend. +Balbilla and her husband gave their corrupt fellow-citizens the example +of a worthy, faithful marriage on the old Roman pattern. The poetess's +bust had been completed by Pollux in Alexandria, and with all its tresses +and little curls, it found favor in Balbilla's eyes. + +Verus was to have enjoyed the title of Caesar even during Hadrian's +lifetime, but after a long illness he died the first. Lucilla nursed him +with unfailing devotion and enjoyed the longed-for monopoly of his +attentions through a period of much suffering. It was on their son that +in later years the purple devolved. + +The predictions of the prefect Titianus were fulfilled, for the Emperor's +faults increased with years and the meaner side of his mind and nature +came into sharper relief. Titianus and his wife led a retired life by +lake Larius, far from the world, and both were baptized before they died. +They never pined for the turmoil of a pleasure-seeking world or its +dazzling show, for they had learnt to cherish in their own hearts all +that is fairest in life. + +It was the slave Mastor who brought to Titianus the news of the +sovereign's death. Hadrian had given him his freedom before he died and +had left him a handsome legacy. + +The prefect gave him a piece of land to farm and continued in friendly +relations with his Christian neighbor and his pretty daughter, who grew +up among her father's co-religionists. + +When Titianus had told his wife the melancholy news he added solemnly: + +"A great sovereign is dead. The pettinesses which disfigured the man +Hadrian will be forgotten by posterity, for the ruler Hadrian was one of +those men whom Fate sets in the places they belong to, and who, true to +their duty, struggle indefatigably to the end. With wise moderation he +was so far master of himself as to bridle his ambition and to defy the +blame and prejudice of all the Romans. The hardest, and perhaps the +wisest, resolution of his life was to abandon the provinces which it +would have exhausted the power of the Empire to retain. He travelled +over every portion of his dominion within the limits he himself had set +to it, shrinking from neither frost nor heat, and he tried to be as +thoroughly acquainted with every portion of it as if the Empire were a +small estate he had inherited. His duties as a sovereign forced him to +travel, and his love of travel lightened the duty. He was possessed +by a real passion to understand and learn everything. Even the +Incomprehensible set no limits to his thirst for knowledge, but ever +striving to see farther and to dig deeper than is possible to the mind of +man, he wasted a great part of his mighty powers in trying to snatch +aside the curtain which hides the destinies of the future. No one ever +worked at so many secondary occupations as he, and yet no former Emperor +ever kept his eye so unerringly fixed on the main task of his life, the +consolidation and maintenance of the strength of the state and the +improvement and prosperity of its citizens." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Incomprehensible set no limits to his thirst for knowledge +You must admire it, every connoisseur must + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMPEROR, BY GEORG EBERS, V10 *** + +***********This file should be named 5492.txt or 5492.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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