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diff --git a/old/ge55v10.txt b/old/ge55v10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3aa940 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ge55v10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20928 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook The Emperor, by Georg Ebers, Complete +#55 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, Complete + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5493] +[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 EBERS, COMPLETE *** + + + +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, Complete + +By Georg Ebers + + + +Translated by Clara Bell + + + + +PREFACE. + +It is now fourteen years since I planned the story related in these +volumes, the outcome of a series of lectures which I had occasion to +deliver on the period of the Roman dominion in Egypt. But the pleasures +of inventive composition were forced to give way to scientific labors, +and when I was once more at leisure to try my wings with increase of +power I felt more strongly urged to other flights. Thus it came to pass +that I did I not take the time of Hadrian for the background of a tale +till after I had dealt with the still later period of the early monastic +move in "Homo Sum." Since finishing that romance my old wish to depict, +in the form of a story, the most important epoch of the history of that +venerable nation to which I have devoted nearly a quarter century of my +life, has found its fulfilment. I have endeavored to give a picture of +the splendor of the Pharaonic times in "Uarda," of the subjection of +Egypt to the new Empire of the Persians in "An Egyptian Princess," of the +Hellenic period under the Lagides in "The Sisters," of the Roman dominion +and the early growth of Christianity in "The Emperor," and of the +anchorite spirit--in the deserts and rocks of the Sinaitic Peninsula--in +"Homo Sum." Thus the present work is the last of which the scene will be +laid in Egypt. This series of romances will not only have introduced the +reader to a knowledge of the history of manners and culture in Egypt, but +will have facilitated his comprehension of certain dominant ideas which +stirred the mind of the Ancients. How far I may have succeeded in +rendering the color of the times I have described and in producing +pictures that realize the truth, I myself cannot venture to judge; for +since even present facts are differently reflected in different minds, +this must be still more emphatically the case with things long since past +and half-forgotten. Again and again, when historical investigation has +refused to afford me the means of resuscitating some remotely ancient +scene, I have been obliged to take counsel of imagination and remember +the saying that 'the Poet must be a retrospective Seer,' and could allow +my fancy to spread her wings, while I remained her lord and knew the +limits up to which I might permit her to soar. I considered it my lawful +privilege to paint much that was pure invention, but nothing that was not +possible at the period I was representing. A due regard for such +possibility has always set the bounds to fancy's flight; wherever +existing authorities have allowed me to be exact and faithful I have +always been so, and the most distinguished of my fellow-professors in +Germany, England, France and Holland, have more than once borne witness +to this. But, as I need hardly point out, poetical and historical truth +are not the same thing; for historical truth must remain, as far as +possible, unbiassed by the subjective feeling of the writer, while +poetical truth can only find expression through the medium of the +artist's fancy. + +As in my last two romances, so in "The Emperor," I have added no notes: +I do this in the pleasant conviction of having won the confidence of my +readers by my historical and other labors. Nothing has encouraged me to +fresh imaginative works so much as the fact that through these romances +the branch of learning that I profess has enlisted many disciples whose +names are now mentioned with respect among Egyptologists. Every one who +is familiar with the history of Hadrian's time will easily discern by +trifling traits from what author or from which inscription or monument +the minor details have been derived, and I do not care to interrupt the +course of the narrative and so spoil the pleasure of the larger class of +readers. It would be a happiness to me to believe that this tale +deserves to be called a real work of art, and, as such, its first +function should be to charm and elevate the mind. Those who at the same +time enrich their knowledge by its study ought not to detect the fact +that they are learning. + +Those who are learned in the history of Alexandria under the Romans may +wonder that I should have made no mention of the Therapeutai on Lake +Mareotis. I had originally meant to devote a chapter to them, but Luca's +recent investigations led me to decide on leaving it unwritten. I have +given years of study to the early youth of Christianity, particularly in +Egypt, and it affords me particular satisfaction to help others to +realize how, in Hadrian's time, the pure teaching of the Saviour, as yet +little sullied by the contributions of human minds, conquered--and could +not fail to conquer--the hearts of men. Side by side with the triumphant +Faith I have set that noble blossom of Greek life and culture--Art which +in later ages, Christianity absorbed in order to dress herself in her +beautiful forms. The statues and bust of Antinous which remain to us of +that epoch, show that the drooping tree was still destined to put forth +new leaves under Hadrian's rule. + +The romantic traits which I have attributed to the character of my hero, +who travelled throughout the world, climbing mountains to rejoice in the +splendor of he rising sun, are authentic. One of the most difficult +tasks I have ever set myself was to construct from the abundant but +essentially contradictory accounts of Hadian a human figure in which I +could myself at all believe; still, how gladly I set to work to do so! +There was much to be considered in working out this narraive, but the +story itself has flowed straight from the ieart of the writer; I can only +hope it may find its way to that of the reader. + + LEIPZIG, November, 1880. + + GEORG EBERS. + + + + +THE EMPEROR, Part 1. + +CHAPTER I. + +The morning twilight had dawned into day, and the sun had risen on the +first of December of the year of our Lord 129, but was still veiled by +milk-white mists which rose from the sea, and it was cold. + +Kasius, a mountain of moderate elevation, stands on a tongue of land that +projects from the coast between the south of Palestine and Egypt. It is +washed on the north by the sea which, on this day, is not gleaming, as is +its wont, in translucent ultramarine; its more distant depths slowly +surge in blue-black waves, while those nearer to shore are of quite a +different hue, and meet their sisters that lie nearer to the horizon in a +dull greenish-grey, as dusty plains join darker lava beds. The +northeasterly wind, which had risen as the sun rose, now blew more +keenly, wreaths of white foam rode on the crests of the waves, though +these did not beat wildly and stormily on the mountain-foot, but rolled +heavily to the shore in humped ridges, endlessly long, as if they were of +molten lead. Still the clear bright spray splashed up when the gulls +dipped their pinions in the water as they floated above it, hither and +thither, restless and uttering shrill little cries, as though driven by +terror. + +Three men were walking slowly along the causeway which led from the top +of the hill down into the valley, but it was only the eldest, who walked +in front of the other two, who gave any heed to the sky, the sea, the +gulls, and the barren plain that lay silent at his feet. He stopped, and +as soon as he did so, the others followed his example. The landscape +below him seemed to rivet his gaze, and it justified the disapproval with +which he gently shook his head, which was somewhat sunk into his beard. +A narrow strip of desert stretched westward before him as far as the eye +could reach, dividing two levels of water. Along this natural dyke a +caravan was passing, and the elastic feet of the camels fell noiselessly +on the road they trod. The leader, wrapped in his white mantle, seemed +asleep, and the camel-drivers to be dreaming; the dull-colored eagles +by the road-side did not stir at their approach. To the right of the +stretch of flat coast along which the road ran from Syria to Egypt, lay +the gloomy sea, overhung by grey clouds; to the left lay the desert, a +strange and mysterious feature in the landscape, of which the eye could +not see the end, either to the east or to the west, and which looked here +like a stretch of snow, there like standing water, and again like a +thicket of rushes. + +The eldest of our travellers gazed constantly towards heaven or into the +distance; the second, a slave who carried rugs and cloaks on his broad +shoulders, never took his eyes off his master; and the third, a young, +free-man, looked wearily and dreamily down the road. + +A broad path, leading to a stately temple, crossed that which led from +the summit of the mountain to the coast, and the bearded pedestrian +turned up it; but he followed it only for a few steps, then he turned his +head with a dissatisfied air, muttered a few unintelligible words into +his beard, turned round and hastily retraced his steps to the narrow way, +down which he went towards the valley. His young companion followed him +without raising his head or interrupting his reverie, as if he were his +shadow, but the slave lifted his cropped fair head and a stolen smile +crossed his lips as on the left hand side of the Kasius road he caught +sight of a black kid, and close beside it an old woman who, at the +approach of the three men covered her wrinkled face in alarm with her +dark blue veil. + +"That is the reason then!" said the slave to himself with a nod, and +blowing a kiss into the air to a black-haired girl who crouched at the +old woman's feet. But she, for whom the greeting was intended, did not +observe this mute courtship, for her eyes followed the travellers, and +especially the young man, as if spellbound. As soon as the three were +far enough off not to hear her, the girl asked with a shiver, as if some +desert-spectre had passed by-and in a low voice "Grandmother, who was +that?" + +The old woman raised her veil, laid her hand on her grandchild's mouth, +and whispered: + +"It was he." + +"The Emperor?" + +The old woman answered with a significant nod, but the girl squeezed +herself up, against her grandmother, with vehement curiosity stretching +out her dusky head to see better, and asked softly: "The young one?" + +"Silly child! the one in front with a grey beard." + +"He? Oh, I wish the young one was the Emperor!" + +It was in fact Hadrian, the Roman Emperor, who walked on in silence +before his escort, and it seemed as though his advent had given life to +the desert, for as he approached the reed-swamp, the kites flew up in the +air, and from behind a sand-hill on the edge of the broader road which +Hadrian had avoided, came two men in priestly robes. They both belonged +to the temple of Baal of Kariotis, a small structure of solid stone, +which faced the sea, and which the Emperor had yesterday visited. + +"Do you think he has lost his way?" said one to the other, in the +Phoenician tongue. + +"Hardly," was the answer. "Master said that he could always find a road +again by which he had once gone, even in the dark." + +"And yet he is gazing more at the clouds than at the road." + +"Still, he promised us yesterday." + +"He promised nothing for certain," interrupted the other. + +"Indeed he did; at parting he called out--and I heard him distinctly: +'Perhaps I shall return and consult your oracle.'" + +"Perhaps." + +"I think he said 'probably.'" + +"Who knows whether some sign he has seen up in the sky may not have +turned him back; he is going to the camp by the sea." + +"But the banquet is standing ready for him in our great hall." + +"He will find what he needs down there. Come, it is a wretched morning, +and I am being frozen." + +"Wait a little longer-look there." + +"What?" + +"He does not even wear a hat to cover his grey hair." + +"He has never yet been seen to travel with anything on his head." + +"And his grey cloak is not very imperial looking." + +"He always wears the purple at a banquet." + +"Do you know who his walk and appearance remind me of?" + +"Who?" + +"Of our late high-priest, Abibaal; he used to walk in that ponderous, +meditative way, and wear a beard like the Emperor's." + +"Yes, yes--and had the same piercing grey eye." + +"He too used often to gaze up at the sky. They have both the same broad +forehead, too; but Abibaal's nose was more aquiline, and his hair curled +less closely." + +"And our governor's mouth was grave and dignified, while Hadrian's lips +twitch and curl at all he says and hears, as if he were laughing at it +all." + +"Look, he is speaking now to his favorite--Antonius I think they call the +pretty boy." + +"Antinous, not Antonius. He picked him up in Bithynia, they say." + +"He is a beautiful youth." + +"Incomparably beautiful! What a figure and what a face! Still, I cannot +wish that he were my son." + +"The Emperor's favorite!" + +"For that very reason. Why, he looks already as if he had tried every +pleasure, and could never know any farther enjoyment." + + ............................ + +On a little level close to the sea-shore, and sheltered by crumbling +cliffs from the east wind, stood a number of tents. Between them fires +were burning, round which were gathered groups of Roman soldiers and +imperial servants. Half-naked boys, the children of the fishermen and +camel-drivers who dwelt in this wilderness, were running busily hither +and thither, feeding the flames with dry stems of sea-grass and dead +desert-shrubs; but though the blaze flew high, the smoke did not rise; +but driven here and there by the squalls of wind, swirled about close to +the ground in little clouds, like a flock of scattered sheep. It seemed +as though it feared to rise in the grey, damp, uninviting atmosphere. +The largest of the tents, in front of which Roman sentinels paced up and +down, two and two, on guard, was wide open on the side towards the sea. +The slaves who came out of the broad door-way with trays on their cropped +heads-loaded with gold and silver vessels, plates, wine-jars, goblets, +and the remains of a meal had to hold them tightly with both hands that +they might not be blown over. + +The inside of the tent was absolutely unadorned. The Emperor lay on a +couch near the right wall, which was blown in and bulged by the wind; his +bloodless lips were tightly set, his arms crossed over his breast, and +his eyes half closed. But he was not asleep, for he often opened his +mouth and smacked his lips, as if tasting the flavor of some viand. From +time to time he raised his eyelids--long, finely wrinkled, and blue- +veined--turning his eyes up to heaven or rolling them to one side and +then downwards towards the middle of the tent. There, on the skin of a +huge bear trimmed with blue cloth, lay Hadrian's favorite Antinous. His +beautiful head rested on that of the beast, which had been slain by his +sovereign, and its skull and skin skilfully preserved, his right leg, +supported on his left knee, he flourished freely in the air, and his +hands were caressing the Emperor's bloodhound, which had laid its sage- +looking head on the boy's broad, bare breast, and now and then tried to +lick his soft lips to show its affection. But this the youth would not +allow; he playfully held the beast's muzzle close with his hands or +wrapped its head in the end of his mantle, which had slipped back from +his shoulders. + +The dog seemed to enjoy the game, but once when Antinous had drawn the +cloak more tightly round its head and it strove in vain to be free from +the cloth that impeded its breathing, it set up a loud howl, and this +doleful cry made the Emperor change his attitude and cast a glance of +displeasure at the boy lying on the bear-skin, but only a glance, not a +word of blame. And soon the expression, even of his eyes, changed, and +he fixed them on the lads's figure with a gaze of loving contemplation, +as though it were some noble work of art that he could never tire of +admiring. And truly the Immortals had moulded this child of man to such +a type; every muscle of that throat, that chest, those arms and legs was +a marvel of softness and of power; no human countenance could be more +regularly chiselled. Antinous observing that his master's attention had +been attracted to his play with the dog, let the animal go and turned his +large, but not very brilliant, eyes on the Emperor. + +"What are you doing here?" asked Hadrian kindly. + +"Nothing," said the boy. + +"No one can do nothing. Even if we fancy we have succeeded in doing +nothing we still continue to think that we are unoccupied, and to think +is a good deal." + +"But I cannot even think." + +Every one can think; besides you were not doing nothing, for you were +playing." + +"Yes, with the dog." With these words Antinous stretched out his legs on +the ground, pushed away the dog, and raised his curly head on both hands. + +"Are you tired?" asked the Emperor. + +"Yes." + +"We both kept watch for an equal portion of the night, and I, who am so +much older, feel quite wide awake." + +"It was only yesterday that you were saying that old soldiers were the +best for night-watches." + +The Emperor nodded, and then said: + +"At your age while we are awake we live three times as fast as at mine, +and so we need to sleep twice as long. You have every right to be tired. +To be sure it was not till three hours after midnight that we climbed the +mountain, and how often a supper party is not over before that." + +"It was very cold and uncomfortable up there." + +"Not till after the sun had risen." + +"Ah! before that you did not notice it, for till then you were busy +thinking of the stars." + +"And you only of yourself--very true." + +"I was thinking of your health too when that cold wind rose before Helios +appeared." + +"I was obliged to await his rising." + +"And can you discern future events by the way and manner of the rising of +the sun?" + +Hadrian looked in surprise at the speaker, shook his head in negation, +looked up at the top of the tent, and after a long pause said, in abrupt +sentences, with frequent interruptions: + +"Day is the present merely, and the future is evolved out of darkness; +the corn grows from the clods of the field; the rain falls from the +darkest clouds; a new generation is born of the mother's womb; the limbs +recover their vigor in sleep. And what is begotten of the darkness of +death--who can tell?" + +When, after saying this, the Emperor had remained for some time silent, +the youth asked him: + +"But if the sunrise teaches you nothing concerning the future why should +you so often break your night's rest and climb the mountain to see it?" + +"Why? Why?" repeated Hadrian, slowly and meditatively, stroking his +grizzled beard; then he went on as if speaking to himself: + +"That is a question which reason fails to answer, before which my lips +find no words; and, if I had them at my command, who among the rabble +would understand me? Such questions can best be answered by means of +parables. Those who take part in life are actors, and the world is their +stage. He who wants to look tall on it wears the cothurnus, and is not a +mountain the highest vantage ground that a man can find for the sole of +his foot? Kasius there is but a hill, but I have stood on greater giants +than he, and seen the clouds rise below me, like Jupiter on Olympus." + +"But you need climb no mountains to feel yourself a god," cried Antinous; +"the godlike is your title--you command and the world must obey. With a +mountain beneath his feet a man is nearer to heaven no doubt than he is +on the plain." + +"Well?" + +"I dare not say what came into my mind." + +"Speak out." + +"I knew a little girl who when I took her on my shoulder would stretch +out her arms and exclaim, 'I am so tall!' She fancied that she was taller +than I then, and yet was only little Panthea." + +"But in her own conception of herself, it was she who was tall, and that +decides the issue, for to each of us a thing is only that which it seems +to us. It is true they call me godlike, but I feel every day, and a +hundred times a day, the limitations of the power and nature of man, and +I cannot get beyond them. On the top of a mountain I cease to feel them; +there I feel as if I were great, for nothing is higher than my head, far +or near. And when, as I stand there, the night vanishes before my eyes, +when the splendor of the young sun brings the world into new life for me, +by restoring to my consciousness all that just before had been engulfed +in gloom, then a deeper breath swells my breast, and my lungs fill with +the purer and lighter air of the heights. Up there, alone and in +silence, no hint can reach me of the turmoil below, and I feel myself one +with the great aspect of nature spread before me. The surges of the sea +come and go, the tree-tops in the forest bow and rise, fog and mist roll +away and part asunder hither and thither, and up there I feel myself so +merged with the creation that surrounds me that often it even seems as +though it were my own breath that gives it life. Like the storks and the +swallows, I yearn for the distant land, and where should the human eye be +more likely to be permitted, at least in fancy, to discern the remote +goal than from the summit of a mountain? + +"The limitless distance which the spirit craves for seems there to assume +a form tangible to the senses, and the eye detects its border line. My +whole being feels not merely elevated, but expanded, and that vague +longing which comes over me as soon as I mix once more in the turmoil of +life, and when the cares of state demand my strength, vanishes. But you +cannot understand it, boy. These are things which no other mortal can +share with me." + +"And it is only to me that you do not scorn to reveal them!" cried +Antinous, who had turned round to face the Emperor, and who with wide +eyes had not lost one word. + +"You?" said Hadrian, and a smile, not absolutely free from mockery, +parted his lips. "From you I should no more have a secret than from the +Cupid by Praxiteles, in my study at Rome." + +The blood mounted to the lad's cheeks and dyed them flaming crimson. The +Emperor observed this and said kindly: + +"You are more to me than the statue, for the marble cannot blush. In the +time of the Athenians Beauty governed life, but in you I can see that the +gods are pleased to give it a bodily existence, even in our own days, and +to look at you reconciles me to the discords of existence. It does me +good. But how should I expect to find that you understand me; your brow +was never made to be furrowed by thought; or did you really understand +one word of all I said?" + +Antinous propped himself on his left arm, and lifting his right hand, he +said emphatically: + +"Yes." + +"And which," asked Hadrian. + +"I know what longing is." + +"For what?" + +"For many things." + +"Tell me one." + +"Some enjoyment that is not followed by depression. I do not know of +one." + +"That is a desire you share with all the youth of Rome, only they are apt +to postpone the reaction. Well, and what next?" + +"I cannot tell you." + +"What prevents your speaking openly to me?" + +"You, yourself did." + +"I?" + +"Yes, you; for you forbid me to speak of my home, my mother, and my +people." + +The Emperor's brow darkened, and he answered sternly: + +"I am your father and your whole soul should be given to me." + +"It is all yours," answered the youth, falling back on to the bear-skin, +and drawing the pallima closely over his shoulders, for a gust blew +coldly in at the side of the tent, through which Phlegon, the Emperor's +private secretary, now entered and approached his master. He was +followed by a slave with several sealed rolls under his arms. + +"Will it be agreeable to you, Caesar, to consider the despatches and +letters that have just arrived?" asked the official, whose carefully- +arranged hair had been tossed by the sea-breeze. + +"Yes, and then we can make a note of what I was able to observe in the +heavens last night. Have you the tablets ready?" + +"I left them in the tent set up especially for the work, Caesar." + +"The storm has become very violent." + +"It seems to blow from the north and east both at once, and the sea is +very rough. The Empress will have a bad voyage." + +"When did she set out?" + +"The anchor was weighed towards midnight. The vessel which is to fetch +her to Alexandria is a fine ship, but rolls from side to side in a very +unpleasant manner." + +Hadrian laughed loudly and sharply at this, and said: + +"That will turn her heart and her stomach upside down. I wish I were +there to see--but no, by all the gods, no! for she will certainly forget +to paint this morning; and who will construct that edifice of hair if all +her ladies share her fate. We will stay here to-day, for if I meet her +soon after she has reached Alexandria she will be undiluted gall and +vinegar." + +With these words Hadrian rose from his couch, and waving his hand to +Antinous, went out of the tent with his secretary. + +A third person standing at the back of the tent had heard the Emperor's +conversation with his favorite; this was Mastor, a Sarmatian of the race +of the Taryges. He was a slave, and no more worthy of heed than the dog +which had followed Hadrian, or than the pillows on which the Emperor had +been reclining. The man, who was handsome and well grown, stood for some +time twisting the ends of his long red moustache, and stroking his round, +closely-cropped head with his bands; then he drew the open chiton +together over his broad breast, which seemed to gleam from the remarkable +whiteness of the skin. He never took his eyes off Antinous, who had +turned over, and covering his face with his hands had buried them in the +bear's hairy mane. + +Mastor had something he wanted to say to him, but he dared not address +him for the young favorite's demeanor could not be reckoned on. Often he +was ready to listen to him and talk with him as a friend, but often, too, +he repulsed him more sharply than the haughtiest upstart would repel the +meanest of his servants. At last the slave took courage and called the +lad by his name, for it seemed less hard to submit to a scolding than to +smother the utterance of a strong, warm feeling, unimportant as it might +be, which was formed in words in his mind. Antinous raised his head a +little on his hands and asked: + +"What is it?" + +"I only wanted to tell you," replied the Sarmatian, "that I know who the +little girl was that you so often took upon your shoulders. It was your +little sister, was it not, of whom you were speaking to me lately?" + +The lad nodded assent, and then once more buried his head in his hands, +and his shoulders heaved so violently that it would seem that he was +weeping.--Mastor remained silent for a few minutes, then he went up to +Antinous and said: + +"You know I have a son and a little daughter at home, and I am always +glad to hear about little girls. We are alone and if it will relieve +your heart." + +"Let me alone, I have told you a dozen times already about my mother and +little Parthea," replied Antinous, trying to look composed. + +"Then do so confidently for the thirteenth," said the slave. "In the +camp and in the kitchen I can talk about my people as much as I like. +But you--tell me, what do you call the little dog that Panthea made a +scarlet cloak for?" + +"We called it Kallista," cried Antinous wiping his eyes with the back +of his hand. "My father would not allow it but we persuaded my mother. +I was her favorite, and when I put my arms round her and looked at her +imploringly she always said 'yes' to anything I asked her." + +A bright light shone in the boy's weary eyes; he had remembered a whole +wealth of joys which left no depression behind them. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +One of the palaces built in Alexandria by the Ptolemaic kings stood on +the peninsula called Lochias which stretched out into the blue sea like a +finger pointing northwards; it formed the eastern boundary of the great +harbor. Here there was never any lack of vessels but to-day they were +particularly numerous, and the quay-road paved with smooth blocks of +stone, which led from the palatial quarter of the town--the Bruchiom as +it was called--which was bathed by the sea, to the spit of land was so +crowded with curious citizens on foot and in vehicles, that all +conveyances were obliged to stop in their progress before they had +reached the private harbor reserved for the Emperor's vessels. + +But there was something out of the common to be seen at the landing- +place, for there lying under the shelter of the high mole were the +splendid triremes, galleys, long boats and barges which had brought +Hadrian's wife and the suite of the imperial couple to Alexandria. A +very large vessel with a particularly high cabin on the after deck and +having the head of a she-wolf on the lofty and boldly-carved prow excited +the utmost attention. It was carved entirely in cedar wood, richly +decorated with bronze and ivory, and named the Sabina. A young +Alexandrian pointed to the name written in gold letters on the stern, +nudging his companion and saying with a laugh: + +"Sabina has a wolf's head then!" + +"A peacock's would suit her better. Did you see her on her way to the +Caesareum?" replied the other. + +"Alas! I did," said the first speaker, but he said no more perceiving, +close behind him, a Roman lictor who bore over his left shoulder his +fasces, a bundle of elmrods skilfully tied together, and who, with a wand +in his right-hand and the assistance of his comrades, was endeavoring to +part the crowd and make room for the chariot of his master, Titianus, the +imperial prefect, which came slowly in the rear. This high official had +overheard the citizens' heedless words, and turning to the man who stood +beside him, while with a light fling he threw the end of his toga into +fresh folds, he said: + +"An extraordinary people! I cannot feel annoyed with them, and yet I +would rather walk from here to Canopus on the edge of a knife than on +that of an Alexandrian's tongue." + +"Did you hear what the stout man was saying about Verus?" + +"The lictor wanted to take him up, but nothing is to be done with them +by violence. If they had to pay only a sesterce for every venomous word, +I tell you Pontius, the city would be impoverished and our treasury would +soon be fuller than that of Gyges at Sardis." + +"Let them keep their money," cried the other, the chief architect of the +city, a man of about thirty years of age with highly-arched brows and +eager piercing eyes; and grasping the roll he held in his hand with a +strong grip, he continued: + +"They know how to work, and sweat is bitter. While they are busy they +help each other, in idleness they bite each other, like unbroken horses +harnessed to the same pole. The wolf is a fine brute, but if you break +out his teeth he becomes a mangy hound." + +"You speak after my own heart," cried the prefect. "But here we are, +eternal gods! I never imagined anything so bad as this. From a distance +it always looked handsome enough!" + +Titianus and the architect descended from the chariot, the former desired +a lictor to call the steward of the palace, and then he and his companion +inspected first the door which led into it. It looked fine enough with +its double columns which supported a lofty pediment, but, all the same, +it did not present a particularly pleasing aspect, for the stucco had, in +several places, fallen from the walls, the capitals of the marble columns +were lamentably injured and the tall doors, overlaid with metal, hung +askew on their hinges. Pontius inspected every portion of the door-way +with a keen eye and then, with the prefect, went into the first court of +the palace, in which, in the time of the Ptolemies, the tents had stood +for ambassadors, secretaries, and the officers in waiting on the king. +There they met with an unexpected hindrance, for across the paved court- +yard, where the grass grew in tufts, and tall thistles were in bloom, a +number of ropes were stretched aslant from the little house in which +dwelt the gate-keeper; and on these ropes were hung newly-washed garments +of every size and shape. + +"A pretty residence for an Emperor," sighed Titianus, shrugging his +shoulders, but stopping the lictor, who had raised his fasces to cut the +ropes. + +"It is not so bad as it looks," said the architect positively. "Gate- +keeper! hi, gate-keeper! Where is the lazy fellow hiding himself?" + +While he called out and the lictor hurried forward into the interior of +the palace, Pontius went towards the gate-keeper's lodge, and having made +his way in a stooping attitude through the damp clothes, there he stood +still. Ever since he had come in at the gate annoyance and vexation had +been stamped on his countenance, but now his large mouth spread into a +smile, and he called to the prefect in an undertone: + +"Titianus, just take the trouble to come here." + +The elderly dignitary, whose tall figure exceeded that of the architect +in height by a full head, did not find it quite so easy to pass under the +ropes with his head bent down; but he did it with good humor, and while +carefully avoiding pulling down the wet linen, he called out: + +"I am beginning to feel some respect for children's shirts; one can at +any rate get through them without breaking one's spine. Oh! this is +delicious--quite delicious!" + +This exclamation was caused by the sight which the architect had invited +the prefect to come and enjoy, and which was certainly droll enough. The +front of the gate-keeper's house was quite grown over with ivy which +framed the door and window in its long runners. Amidst the greenery hung +numbers of cages with starlings, blackbirds, and smaller singing-birds. +The wide door of the little house stood open, giving a view into a +tolerably spacious and gaily-painted room. In the background stood a +clay model of an Apollo of admirable workmanship; above, and near this, +the wall was hung with lutes and lyres of various size and form. + +In the middle of the room, and near the open door, was a table, on which +stood a large wicker cage containing several nests of young goldfinches, +and with green food twined among the osiers. There were, too, a large +wine-jar and an ivory goblet decorated with fine carving. Close to the +drinking-vessels, on the stone top of the table, rested the arm of an +elderly woman who had fallen asleep in the arm-chair in which she sat. +Notwithstanding the faint grey moustache that marked her upper-lip and +the pronounced ruddiness of her fore head and cheeks, she looked pleasant +and kind. She must have been dreaming of something that pleased her, for +the expression of her lips and of her eyes-one being half open and the +other closely shut-gave her a look of contentment. In her lap slept a +large grey cat, and by its side--as though discord never could enter this +bright little abode which exhaled no savor of poverty, but, on the +contrary, a peculiar and fragrant scent--lay a small shaggy dog, whose +snowy whiteness of coat could only be due to the most constant care. Two +other dogs, like this one, lay stretched on the floor at the old lady's +feet, and seemed no less soundly asleep. + +As the prefect came up, the architect pointed to this study of still- +life, and said in a whisper: + +"If we had a painter here it would make a lovely little picture." + +"Incomparable," answered Titianus, "only the vivid scarlet on the dame's +cheeks seems to me suspicious, considering the ample proportions of the +wine-jar at her elbow." + +"But did you ever see a calmer, kindlier, or more contented countenance?" + +"Baucis must have slept like that when Philemon allowed himself leave of +absence for once! or did that devoted spouse always remain at home?" + +"Apparently he did. Now, peace is at an end." The approach of the two +friends had waked one of the little dogs. He gave tongue, and his +companion immediately jumped up and barked as if for a wager. The old +woman's pet sprang out of her lap, but neither his mistress nor the cat +let themselves be disturbed by the noise, and slept on. + +"A watcher among a thousand!" said the architect, laughing. + +"And this phalanx of dogs which guard the palace of a Caesar," added +Titianus, "might be vanquished with a blow. Take heed, the worthy matron +is about to wake." + +The dame had in fact been disturbed by the barking. She sat up a little, +lifted her hands, and then, half singing, half muttering a few words, she +sank back again in her chair. + +"This is delicious!" cried the prefect. + +"Begone dull care" she sang in her sleep. + +"How may this rare specimen of humanity look when she is awake?" + +"I should be sorry to drive the old lady out of her nest!" said the +architect unrolling his scroll. + +"You shall touch nothing in the little house," cried the prefect eagerly. +"I know Hadrian; he delights in such queer things and queer people, and I +will wager he will make friends with the old woman in his own way. Here +at last comes the steward of this palace." + +The prefect was not mistaken; the hasty step he had heard was that of the +official they awaited. At some little distance they could already hear +the man, panting as he hurried up, and as he came, before Titianus could +prevent him, he had snatched down the cords that were stretched across +the court and flung all the washing on the ground. As soon as the +curtain had thus dropped which had divided him from the Emperor's +representative and his companion, he bowed to the former as low as the +rotund dimensions of his person would allow; but his hasty arrival, the +effort of strength he had made, and his astonishment at the appearance of +the most powerful personage in the Nile Province in the building +entrusted to his care, so utterly took away his breath--of which he at +all times was but "scant"--that he was unable even to stammer out a +suitable greeting. Titianus gave him a little time, and then, after +expressing his regret at the sad plight of the washing, now strewn upon +the ground, and mentioning to the steward the name and position of his +friend Pontius, he briefly explained to him that the Emperor wished to +take up his abode in the palace now in his charge; that he--Titianus--was +cognizant of the bad condition in which it then was, and had come to take +council with him and the architect as to what could be done in the course +of a few days to make the dilapidated residence habitable for Hadrian, +and to repair, at any rate, the more conspicuous damage. He then desired +the steward to lead him through the rooms. + +"Directly--at once," answered the Greek, who had attained his present +ponderous dimensions through many years of rest: "I will hasten to fetch +the keys." And as he went, puffing and panting, he re-arranged with his +short, fat fingers the still abundant hair on the right side of his head. +Pontius looked after him. + +"Call him back, Titianus," said he. "We disturbed him in the midst of +curling his hair; only one side was done when the lictor called him away, +and I will wager my own head that he will have the other side frizzled +before he comes back. I know your true Greek!" + +"Well, let him," answered Titianus. "If you have taken his measure +rightly he will not be able to give his attention without reserve to our +questions till the other half of his hair is curled. I know, too, how to +deal with a Hellene." + +"Better than I, I perceive," said the architect in a tone of conviction. +"A statesman is used to deal with men as we do with lifeless materials. +Did you see the fat fellow turn pale when you said that it would be but a +few days before the Emperor would make his entry here? Things must look +well in the old house there. Every hour is precious, and we have +lingered here too long." + +The prefect nodded agreement and followed the architect into the inner +court of the palace. How grand and well-proportioned was the plan of +this immense building through which the steward Keraunus, who returned +with his fine curls complete all round, now led the Romans. It stood on +an artificial hill in the midst of the peninsula of Lochias, and from +many a window and many a balcony there were lovely prospects of the +streets and open squares, the houses, palaces and public buildings of the +metropolis, and of the harbor, swarming with ships. The outlook from +Lochias was rich, gay and varied to the south and west, but east and +north from the platform of the palace of the Ptolemies, the gaze fell on +the never-wearying prospect of the eternal sea, limited only by the vault +of heaven. When Hadrian had sent a special messenger from Mount Kasius +to desire his prefect Titianus to have this particular building prepared +for his reception, he knew full well what advantages its position +offered; it was the part of his officials to restore order in the +interior of the palace, which had remained uninhabited from the time of +Cleopatra's downfall. He gave them for the purpose eight, or perhaps +nine, days--little more than a week. And in what a condition did +Titianus and Pontius find this now dilapidated and plundered scene of +former magnificence--the sweat pouring from their foreheads with their +exertions as they inspected and sketched, questioned and made notes of it +all. + +The pillars and steps in the interior were tolerably well preserved, but +the rain had poured in through the open roofs of the banqueting and +reception-lulls, the fine mosaic pavements had started here and there, +and in other places a perfect little meadow had grown in the midst of a +hall, or an arcade; for Octavianus Augustus, Tiberius, Vespasian, Titus +and a whole series of prefects, had already carefully removed the finest +of the mosaics from the famous palace of the Ptolemies, and carried them +to Rome or to the provinces, to decorate their town houses or country +villas. In the same way the best of the statues were gone, with which a +few centuries previously the art-loving Lagides had decorated this +residence--besides which they had another, still larger, on the Bruchiom. + +In the midst of a vast marbled hall stood an elegantly-wrought fountain, +connected with the fine aqueduct of the city. A draught of air rushed +through this hall, and in stormy weather switched the water all over the +floor, now robbed of its mosaics, and covered, wherever the foot could +tread, with a thin, dark green, damp and slippery coating of mossy plants +and slime. It was here that Keraunus leaned breathless against the wall, +and, wiping his brow, panted rather than said: "At last, this is the +end!" + +The words sounded as if he meant his own end and not that of their +excursion through the palace, and it seemed like a mockery of the man +himself when Pontius unhesitatingly replied with decision: + +"Good, then we can begin our re-examination here, at once." + +Keraunus did not contradict him, but, as he remembered the number of +stairs to be climbed over again, he looked as if sentence of death had +been passed upon him. + +"Is it necessary that I should remain with you during the rest of your +labors, which must be principally directed to details?" asked the +prefect of the architect. + +"No," answered Pontius, "provided you will take the trouble to look at +once at my plan, so as to inform yourself on the whole of what I propose, +and to give me full powers to dispose of men and means in each case as it +arises." + +"That is granted," said Titianus. "I know that Pontius will not demand a +man or a sesterce more or less than is needed for the purpose." + +The architect bowed in silence and Titianus went on. + +"But above all things, do you think you can accomplish your task in eight +days and nine nights?" + +"Possibly, at a pinch; and if I could only have four days more at my +disposal, most probably." + +"Then all that is needed is to delay Hadrian's arrival by four days and +nights." + +"Send some interesting people--say the astronomer Ptolemaeus, and +Favorinus, the sophist, who await him here--to meet him at Pelusium. +They will find some way of detaining him there." + +"Not a bad idea! We will see. But who can reckon on the Empress's +moods? At any rate, consider that you have only eight days to dispose +of." + +"Good." + +"Where do you hope to be able to lodge Hadrian?" + +"Well, a very small portion of the old building is, strictly speaking, +fit to use." + +"Of that, I regret to say, I have fully convinced myself," said the +prefect emphatically, and turning to the steward, he went on in a tone +less of stern reproof than of regret. + +"It seems to me, Keraunus, that it would have been your duty to inform me +earlier of the ruinous condition of the building." + +"I have already lodged a complaint," replied the man, "but I was told in +answer to my report that there were no means to apply to the purpose." + +"I know nothing of these things," cried Titianus. + +"When did you forward your petition to the prefect's office?" + +"Under your predecessor, Haterius Nepos." + +"Indeed," said the prefect with a drawl. + +"So long ago. Then, in your place, I should have repeated my application +every year, without any reference to the appointment of a new prefect. +However, we have now no time for talking. During the Emperor's residence +here, I shall very likely send one of my subordinates to assist you!" + +Titianus turned his back on the steward, and asked the architect: + +"Well, my good Pontius, what part of the palace have you your eye upon?" + +"The inner halls and rooms are in the best repair." + +"But they are the last that can be thought of," cried Titianus. "The +Emperor is satisfied with everything in camp, but where fresh air and a +distant prospect are to be had, he must have them." + +"Then let us choose the western suite; hold the plan my worthy friend." + +The steward slid as he was desired, the architect took his pencil and +made a vigorous line in the air above the left side of the sketch, +saying: + +"This is the west front of the palace which you see from the harbor. +From the south you first come into the lofty peristyle, which may be used +as an antechamber; it is surrounded with rooms for the slaves and body- +guard. The next smaller sitting-rooms by the side of the main corridor +we may assign to the officers and scribes, in this spacious hypaethral +hall--the one with the Muses--Hadrian may give audience and the guests +may assemble there whom he may admit to eat at his table in this broad +peristyle. The smaller and well-preserved rooms, along this long passage +leading to the steward's house, will do for the pages, secretaries and +other attendants on Caesar's person, and this long saloon, lined with +fine porphyry and green marble, and adorned with the beautiful frieze +in bronze will, I fancy, please Hadrian as a study and private +sitting-room." + +"Admirable!" cried Titianus, "I should like to show your plan to the +Empress." + +"In that case, instead of eight days I must have as many weeks," said +Pontius coolly. + +"That is true," answered the prefect laughing. "But tell me, +Keraunus, how comes it that the doors are wanting to all the best rooms?" + +"They were of fine thyra wood, and they were wanted in Rome." + +"I must have seen one or another of them there," muttered the prefect. + +"Your cabinet-workers will have a busy time, Pontius." + +"Nay, the hanging-makers may be glad; wherever we can we will close the +door-ways with heavy curtains." + +"And what will you do with this damp abode of fogs, which, if I mistake +not, must adjoin the dining-hall?" + +"We will turn it into a garden filled with ornamental foliage." + +"That is quite admissable--and the broken statues?" + +"We will get rid of the worst." + +The Apollo and the nine Muses stand in the room you intend for an +audience-hall--do they not?" + +"Yes." + +"They are in fairly good condition, I think." + +"Urania is wanting entirely," said the steward, who was still holding the +plan out in front of him. + +"And what became of her?" asked Titianus, not without excitement. + +"Your predecessor, the prefect Haterius Nepos, took a particular fancy +to it and carried it with him to Rome." + +"Why Urania of all others?" cried Titianus angrily. She, above all, +ought not to be missing from the hall of audience of Caesar the pontiff +of heaven! What is to be done?" + +"It will be difficult to find an Urania ready-made as tall as her +sisters, and we have no time to search one out, a new one must be made." + +"In eight days?" + +"And eight nights." + +"But my good friend, only to get the marble--" + +"Who thinks of marble? Papias will make us one of straw, rags and +gypsum--I know his magic hand--and in order that the others may not be +too unlike their new-born sister they shall be whitewashed." + +"Capital--but why choose Papias when we have Harmodius?" + +"Harmodius takes art in earnest, and we should have the Emperor here +before he had completed his sketches. Papias works with thirty +assistants at anything that is ordered of him, so long as it brings him +money. His last things certainly amaze me, particularly the Hygyeia for +Dositheus the Jew, and the bust of Plutarch put up in the Caesareum. +they are full of grace and power. But who can distinguish what is his +work and what that of his scholars? Enough, he knows how things should +be done; and if a good sum is to be got by it he will hew you out a whole +sea-fight in marble in five days." + +"Then give Papias the commission but the hapless mutilated pavements- +what will you do with them?" + +"Gypsum and paint must mend them," said Pontius, "and where that will not +do, we must lay carpets on the floor in the Eastern fashion. Merciful +night! how dark it is growing; give me the plan Keraunus and provide us +with torches and lamps for to-day, and the next following ones must have +twenty-four hours apiece, full measure. I must ask you for half a dozen +trustworthy slaves Titianus; I shall want them for messengers. What are +you standing there for man? Lights, I said. You have had half a +lifetime to rest in, and when Caesar is gone you will have as many more +years for the same laudable purpose--" + +As he spoke the steward had silently gone off, but the architect did not +spare him the end of the sentence; he shouted after him: + +"Unless by that time you are smothered in your own fat. Is it Nile-mud +or blood that runs in that huge mortal's veins?" + +"I am sure I do not care," said the prefect, "so long as the glorious +fire that flows in yours only holds out till the work is done. Do not +allow yourself to be overworked at first, nor require the impossible of +your strength, for Rome and the world still expect great things of you. +I can now write in perfect security to the Emperor that all will be ready +for him in Lochias, and as a farewell speech, I can only say, it is folly +to be discouraged if only Pontius is at hand to support and assist me." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The prefect ordered the lictors, who were awaiting him with his chariot, +to hasten to his house, and to conduct to Pontius several most worthy +slaves, familiar with Alexandria--some of whom he named--and at the same +time to send the architect a good couch with pillows and coverlets, and +to despatch a good meal and fine wine to the old palace at Lochias. Then +he mounted his chariot and drove through the Bruchiom along the shore to +the great edifice known as the Caesareum. He got on but slowly, for the +nearer he approached his destination the denser was the crowd of +inquisitive citizens, who stood closely packed round the vast +circumference of the building. Quite from a distance the prefect could +see a bright light; it rose to heaven from the large pans of pitch which +were placed on the towers on each side of the tall gate of the Caesareum +which faced the sea. To the right and left of this gate stood a tall +obelisk, and on each of these, men were lighting lamps which had been +attached to the sides and placed on the top, on the previous day. + +"In honor of Sabina," said the prefect to himself. "All that this +Pontius does is thoroughly done, and there is no more complete sinecure +than the supervision of his arrangements." + +Fully persuaded of this he did not think it necessary to go up to the +illuminated door-way which led into the temple erected by Octavian in +honor of Julius Caesar; on the contrary, he directed the charioteer to +stop at a door built in the Egyptian style, which faced the garden of the +palace of the Ptolemies, and which led to the imperial residence that had +been built by the Alexandrians for Tiberius, and had been greatly +extended and beautified under the later Caesars. A sacred grove divided +it from the temple of Caesar, with which it communicated by a covered +colonnade. Before this door there were several chariots and horses, and +a whole host of slaves, black and white, were in attendance with their +masters' litters. Here lictors kept back the sight-seeking crowd, +officers were lounging against the pillars, and the Roman guard were just +assembling with a clatter of arms, to the sound of a trumpet within the +door, to await their dismissal. + +Everything gave way respectfully before the chariot of the prefect, and +as Titianus walked through the illuminated arcades of the Caesareum, +passing by the masterpieces of statuary placed there, and the rows of +pictures--and reached the halls in which the library of the palace was +kept, he could not help thinking of all the care and trouble which with +the assistance of Pontius, he had for months devoted to rendering this +palace which had not been used since Titus had set out for Judaea, fit +quarters for Hadrian's reception. The Empress now lived in the rooms +intended for her husband, and decorated with the choicest works of art, +and Titianus reflected with regret that, after Sabina had once become +aware of their presence there, it would be quite impossible to transfer +them to Lochias. At the door of the splendid room which he had intended +for Hadrian he was met by Sabina's chamberlain who undertook to conduct +him at once into the presence of his mistress. + +The roof of the hall in which the prefect found the Empress, in summer +was open to the sky; but at this season was suitably covered in by a +movable copper roof, partly to keep off the rain of the Alexandrian +winter, and partly too because, even in the warmer season Sabina was wont +to complain of cold; but beneath it a wide opening allowed the air free +entrance and exit. As Titianus entered the room a comfortable warmth and +subtle perfume met his senses; the warmth was produced by stoves of a +peculiar form standing in the middle of the room; one of these +represented Vulcan's forge. Brightly glowing charcoal lay in front of +the bellows which were worked by an automaton, at short regular +intervals, while the god and his assistants modelled in brass, stood +round the genial fire with tongs and hammers. The other stove was a +large silver bird's-nest, in which likewise charcoal was burning. Above +the glowing fuel a phoenix, also in brass, and in the likeness of an +eagle, seemed striving to soar heavenwards. Besides these a number of +lamps lighted the saloon, which in truth looked too large for the number +of people assembled in it, and which was lavishly furnished with +gracefully-formed seats, couches, and tables, vases of flowers and +statues. + +The prefect and Pontius had intended a quite different room to serve for +smaller assemblies, and had fitted it up suitably for the purpose, but +the Empress had preferred the great hall to the smaller room. The +venerable and nobly-born statesman was filled with vexation, nay, with an +embarrassment that made him feel estranged, when he had to glance round +the room to find the persons in it, collected, as they were, into small +knots. He could hear nothing but hushed voices; here an unintelligible +murmur and there a suppressed laugh, but from no one a frank speech or +full utterance. For a moment he felt as if he had found admittance to +the abode of whispering calumny, and yet he knew why here no one dared to +speak out or above a murmur. Loud voices hurt the Empress, and a clear +voice was a misery to her, and yet few men possessed so loud and +penetrating a chest voice as her husband, who was not wont to lay +restraint upon himself for any human being, not even for his wife. + +Sabina sat on a large divan, more like a couch than a chair; her feet +were buried in the shaggy fell of a buffalo, and her knees and ankles +wrapped round with down-cushions covered with silk. Her head she held +very upright, and it was difficult to imagine how her slender throat +could support it, loaded as it was with strings of pearls and precious +stones which were braided in the tall structure of her reddish-gold hair, +that was arranged in long cylindrical curls pinned closely side by side. +The Empress's thin face looked particularly small under the mass of +natural and artificial adornment which towered above her brow. Beautiful +she could never have been, even in her youth, but her features were +regular, and the prefect confessed to himself as he looked at Sabina's +face, marked as it was with minute wrinkles and touched up with red and +white, that the sculptor who a few years previously had been commissioned +to represent her as 'Venus Victrix' might very well have given the +goddess a certain amount of resemblance to the imperial model. If only +her eyes, which were absolutely bereft of lashes, had not been quite so +small and keen--in spite of the dark lines painted round them--and if +only the sinews in her throat had not stood out quite so conspicuously +from the flesh which formerly had covered them! + +With a deep bow Titianus took the Empress's right hand, covered with +rings; but she withdrew it quickly from that of her husband's friend and +relative, as if she feared that the carefully-cherished limb--useless as +it was for any practical purpose, a mere toy among hands--might suffer +some injury, and wrapped it and her arm in her upper-robe. But she +returned the prefect's friendly greeting with all the warmth at her +command. Though formerly at Rome she had been accustomed to see Titianus +every day at her house, this was their first meeting in Alexandria; for +the previous day, exhausted by the sufferings of her sea-voyage, she had +been carried in a closed litter to the Caesareum, and this morning she +had declined to receive his visit, as her whole time was given up to her +physicians, bathing-women, and coiffeurs. + +"How can you survive in this country?" she said in a low but harsh voice, +which always made the hearer feel that it was that of a dull, fractious, +childless woman. "At noon the sun burns you up, and in the evening it is +so cold--so intolerably cold!' As she spoke she drew her robe closer +round her, but Titianus, pointing to the stoves in the middle of the +hall, said: + +"I hoped we had succeeded in cutting the bowstrings of the Egyptian +winter, and it is but a feeble weapon." + +"Still young, still imaginative, still a poet!" said the Empress +wearily. "I saw your wife a couple of hours since. Africa seems to suit +her less well; I was shocked to see Julia, the handsome matron, so +altered. She does not look well." + +"Years are the foe of beauty." + +"Frequently they are, but true beauty often resists their attacks." + +"You are yourself the living proof of your assertion." + +"That is as much as to say that I am growing old." + +"Nay--only that you know the secret of remaining beautiful." + +"You are a poet!" murmured the Empress with a twitch of her thin +under-lip. + +"Affairs of state do not favor the Muses." + +"But I call any man a poet who sees things more beautiful than they are, +or who gives them finer names than they deserve--a poet, a dreamer, a +flatterer--for it comes to that." + +"Ah! modesty can always find words to repel even well-merited +admiration." + +"Why this foolish bandying of words?" sighed Sabina, flinging herself +back in her chair. "You have been to school under the hair-splitting +logicians in the Museum here, and I have not. Over there sits Favorinus, +the sophist; I dare say he is proving to Ptolemaeus that the stars are +mere specks of blood in our eyes, which we choose to believe are in the +sky. Florus, the historian, is taking note of this weighty discussion; +Pancrates, the poet, is celebrating the great thoughts of the +philosopher. As to what part the philologist there can find to take in +this important event you know better than I. What is the man's name?" + +"Apollonius." + +"Hadrian has nick-named him 'the obscure.' The more difficult it is to +understand the discourses of these gentlemen the more highly are they +esteemed." + +"One must dive to obtain what lies at the bottom of the water--all that +floats on the surface is borne by the waves, a plaything for children. +Apollonius is a very learned man." + +"Then my husband ought to leave him among his disciples and his books. +It was his wish that I should invite these people to my table. Florus +and Pancrates I like--not the others." + +"I can easily relieve you of the company of Favorinus and Ptolemaeus; +send them to meet the Emperor." + +"To what end?" + +"To entertain him." + +"He has his plaything with him," said Sabina, and her thin lips curled +with an expression of bitter contempt. + +"His artistic eye delights in the beauty of Antinous, which is +celebrated, but which it has not yet been my privilege to see." + +"And you are very anxious to see this marvel?" + +"I cannot deny it." + +"And yet you want to postpone your meeting with Caesar?" said Sabina, +and a keen glance of inquiry and distrust twinkled in her little eyes. + +"Why do you want to delay my husband's arrival?" + +"Need I tell you," said Titianus eagerly, "how greatly I shall rejoice to +see once more my sovereign, the companion of my youth, the greatest and +wisest of men, after a separation of four years? What would I not give +if he were here already! And yet I would rather that he should arrive +in fourteen days than in eight." + +"What reason can you have?" + +"A mounted messenger brought me a letter to-day in which the Emperor +tells me that he proposes to inhabit the old palace at Lochias, and not +the Caesareum." + +At these words Sabina's forehead clouded, her gaze, dark and blank, was +fixed on her lap, and biting her under-lip, she muttered: + +"Because I am here." + +Titianus made as though he had not heard these words, and continued in an +easy tone: + +"There he has a wide outlook into the distance, which is what he has +loved from his youth up. But the old building is much dilapidated, and +though I have already begun to exert all the forces at my command, with +the assistance of our admirable architect, Pontius, to restore a portion +of it at any rate, and make it a habitable and not too uncomfortable +residence, the time is too short to do anything thoroughly worthy--" + +"I wish to see my husband here, and the sooner the better," interrupted +the Empress with decision. Then she turned towards the row of pillars +which stood by the right-hand wall of the hall, and which were at some +distance from her couch, calling out "Verus." But her voice was so weak +that it did not reach the person addressed, so turning to the prefect, +she said: "I beg of you to call Verus to me, the praetor Lucius Aurelius +Verus." Titianus immediately obeyed. + +As he entered the hall he had already exchanged friendly greetings with +the man to whom the Empress wished to speak. He now did not succeed in +attracting his attention till he stood close at his elbow, for he formed +the centre of a small group of men and women who were hanging on his +words. What he was saying in a subdued voice must have been +extraordinarily diverting, for it could be seen that his hearers were +making the greatest efforts to keep their suppressed laughter from +breaking out into a shout that would shake the very hall, a noise the +Empress detested. When the prefect came up to Verus, a young girl, whose +pretty head was crowned by a perfect thicket of little ringlets, was just +laying her hand on his arm and saying: + +"Nay-that is too much; if you go on like this, for the future whenever +you speak I shall stop my ears with my hands, as sure as my name is +Balbilla." + +"And as sure as you are descended from King Antiochus," added Verus +bowing. + +"Always the same," laughed the prefect, nodding to the audacious jester. + +"Sabina wants to speak to you." + +"Directly, directly," said Verus. "My story is a true one, and you all +ought to be grateful to me for having released you from that tedious +philologer who has now button-holed my witty friend Favorinus. I like +your Alexandria, Titianus; still it is not a great capital like Rome. +The people have not yet learned not to be astonished; they are +perpetually in amazement. When I go out driving--" + +"Your runners ought to fly before you with roses in their hair and wings +on their shoulders like Cupids." + +"In honor of the Alexandrian ladies?" + +"As if the Roman ladies in Rome, and the fair Greeks at Athens," +interrupted Balbilla. + +"The praetor's runners go faster than Parthian horses," cried the +Empress's chamberlain. "He has named them after the winds." + +"As they deserve," added Verus "Come, Titianus." He laid his hand in a +confidential manner on the arm of the prefect, to whom he was related; +and as they went towards Sabina he whispered in his ear: + +"I can keep her waiting as if I were the Emperor." + +Favorinus who had been engaged in talk with Ptolemaeus, the astronomer, +Apollonius, and the philosopher and poet Pancrates in another part of the +hall, looked after the two men and said: + +"A handsome couple. One the personification of imperial and dignified +Rome; the other with his Hermes-like figure." + +"The other"--interrupted the philologist with stern displeasure, "the +other is the very incarnation of the haughtiness, the luxury pushed to +insanity, and the infamous depravity of the metropolis. That dissipated +ladies-man." + +"I will not defend his character," said Favorinus in his pleasant voice, +and with an elegance in his pronunciation of Greek which delighted even +the grammarian. "His ways and doings are disgraceful; still you must +allow that his manners are tinged with the charm of Hellenic beauty, that +the Charites kissed him at his birth, and though, by the stern laws of +virtue we must condemn him, he deserves to be crowned with praise and +garlands from the point of view of the feeling for beauty." + +"Oh! for the artist who wants a model he is a choice morsel." + +"The Athenian judges acquitted Phryne because she was beautiful." + +"They did wrong." + +"Hardly in the eyes of the gods, whose fairest works must deserve our +respect." + +"Still poison may be kept in the most beautiful vessels." + +"And yet body and soul always to a certain extent correspond." + +"And can you dare to call the handsome Verus the admirable Verus?" + +"No, but the reckless Lucius Aurelius Verus is at the same time the +gayest and pleasantest of all the Romans, free alike from spite or +carefulness, he troubles himself with no doctrines of virtue, and as when +a thing pleases him, he desires to possess it, he endeavors to give +pleasure to every one else." + +"He has wasted his pains so far as I am concerned." + +"I do as he wishes." + +The last words both of the philologer and the sophist were spoken +somewhat louder than was usual in the presence of the Empress. Sabina, +who had just told the praetor which residence her husband had decided on +inhabiting, drew up her shoulders and pinched her lips as if in pain, +while Verus turned a face of indignation--a face which was manly in spite +of all the delicacy and regularity of the features--on the two speakers, +and his fine bright eyes caught the hostile glance of Apollonius. + +An intimation of aversion to his person was one of the things which to +him were past endurance; he hastily passed his hand through his blue- +black hair, which was only slightly grizzled at the temples and flowed +uncurled, but in soft waving locks round his head, and said, not heeding +Sabina's question as to his opinion of her husband's latest instructions: + +"He is a repulsive fellow, that wrangling logician; he has an evil eye +that threatens mischief to us all, and his trumpet voice cannot hurt you +more than it does me. Must we endure him at table with us every day?" + +"So Hadrian desires." + +"Then I shall start for Rome," said Verus decidedly. "My wife wants to +be back with her children, and as praetor, it is more fitting that I +should stay by the Tiber than by the Nile." + +The words were spoken as lightly as though they were nothing more than a +proposition to go to supper, but they seemed to agitate the Empress +deeply, for her head, which had seemed almost a fixture during her +conversation with Titianus, now shook so violently that the pearls and +jewels rattled in the erection of curls. There she sat for some seconds +staring into her lap. + +Verus stooped to pick up a gem that had fallen from her hair, and as he +did so she said hastily: + +"You are right. Apollonius is intolerable. Let us send him to meet my +husband." + +"Then I will remain," answered Verus, as pleased as a wilful boy who has +got his own way. + +"Fickle as the wind," murmured Sabina, threatening him with her finger. +"Show me the stone--it is one of the largest and finest; you may keep +it." + +When an hour later, Verus quitted the hall with the prefect, Titianus +said: + +"You have done me a service cousin, without knowing it. Now can you +contrive that Ptolemaeus and Favorinus shall go with Apollonius to meet +the Emperor at Pelusium?" + +"Nothing easier" was the answer. + +And the same evening the prefect's steward conveyed to Pontius the +information that he might count on having probably fourteen days for his +work, instead of eight or nine only. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +In the Caesareum, where the Empress dwelt, the lights were extinguished +one after another; but in the palace of Lochias they grew more numerous +and brighter. In festal illuminations of the harbor pitch cressets on +the roof, and long rows of lamps that accumulated architectonic features +of the noble structure, were always kindled; but inside it, no blaze so +brilliant had ever lighted it within the memory of man. The harbor +watchmen at first gazed anxiously up at Lochias, for they feared that a +fire must have broken out in the old palace; they were soon reassured +however, by one of the prefect's lictors, who brought them a command to +keep open the harbor gates that night, and every night till the Emperor +should have arrived, to all who might wish to proceed from Lochias to the +city, or from the city to the peninsula, under the orders of Pontius the +architect. And till long past midnight not a quarter of an hour passed +in which the people whom the architect had summoned to his aid were not +knocking at the harbor gates, which, though not locked were all guarded. +The little house belonging to the gate-keeper was also brightly lighted +up; the birds and cats belonging to the old woman whom the prefect and +his companions had found slumbering by her wine-jar, were now fast +asleep, but the little dogs still flew loudly yelping into the yard each +time a new-comer entered by the open gate. + +"Come, Aglaia, what will folks think of you? Thalia, my beauty, behave +like a good dog; come here, Euphrosyne, and don't be so silly!" cried +the old lady in a voice which was both pleasant and peremptory, as she +stood-wide awake now-behind her table, folding together the dried +clothes. The little barking beasts who were thus endowed with the names +of the three Graces did not trouble themselves much about her +affectionate admonitions; to their sorrow, for it happened more than once +to each of them, when they had got under the feet of some new-comer, to +creep, whining and howling, into the house again to seek consolation from +their mistress, who would pick up the sufferer and soothe it with kisses +and coaxing. + +The old lady was no longer alone, for in the background, on a long and +narrow couch which stood in front of the statue of Apollo, lay a tall, +lean man, wearing a red chiton. A little lamp hanging from the ceiling +threw a dull light on him and on the lute he was playing. To the faint +sound of the instrument, which was rather a large one, and which he had +propped on the pillow by his side, he was singing, or rather murmuring +a long ditty. Twice, thrice, four times he repeated it in the same way. +Now and again he suddenly let his voice sound more loudly--and though his +hair was quite grey his voice was not unpleasing--and sang a few phrases +full of expression and with artistic delivery; and then, when the dogs +barked too vehemently, he would spring up, and with his lute in his left- +hand and a long pliable rattan in his right, he would rush into the +court-yard, shout the names of the dogs, and raise his cane as if he +would kill them; but he always took care not to hit them, only to beat on +the pavement near them. When, returning from such an excursion, he +stretched himself again on his couch, the old woman, pointing to the +hanging-lamp which the impatient creature often knocked with his head, +would call out, "Euphorion, mind the oil." + +And he each time answered with the same threatening gesture and the same +glare in his black eyes: + +"The little brutes!" + +The singer had been diligently practising his musical exercises for about +an hour, when the dogs rushed into the court-yard, not barking this time, +but yelping loudly with joy. The old woman laid aside the washing and +listened, but the tall man said: + +"As many birds come flying before the Emperor as gulls before a storm. +If only they would leave us in peace--" + +"Hark, that is Pollux; I know by the dogs," said the woman, hastening as +fast as she could over the threshold and out to meet him. But the +expected visitor was already at the door. He picked up the three four- +footed Graces who leaped round him, one after the other by the skin of +the neck, and gave each a tap on its nose. Then, seeing the old woman, +he took her head between his hands, and kissed her forehead, saying, +"Good-evening, little Mother," and shook hands with the singer, adding, +"How are you, great, big Father?" + +"You are as big as I am," replied the man thus addressed, and he drew the +younger man towards him, and laid one of his broad hands on his own grey +head and the other on that of his first-born, with its wealth of brown +hair. + +"As if we were cast in the same mould," cried the youth; and in fact he +was very like his father--like, no doubt, as a noble hunter is like a +worn-out hack--as marble is like limestone--as a cedar is like a fir- +tree. Both were remarkably tall, had thick hair, dark eyes, and strongly +aquiline noses, exactly of the same shape; but the cheerful brightness +which irradiated the countenance of the youth had certainly not been +inherited from the lute-player, but from the little woman who looked up +into his face and patted his arm. + +But whence did he derive the powerful, but indescribable something which +gave nobility to his head, and of which it was impossible to say whether +it lay in his eye, or in the lofty brow, arched so differently to that of +either parent? + +"I knew you would come," cried his mother. "This afternoon I dreamed it, +and I can prove that I expected you, for there, on the brazier, stands +the stewed cabbage and sausage waiting for you." + +"I cannot stay now," replied Pollux. "Really, I cannot, though your kind +looks would persuade me, and the sausage winks at me out of the cabbage- +pan. My master, Papias, is gone on ahead, and in the palace there we are +to work wonders in less time than it generally takes to consider which +end the work should be begun at." + +"Then I will carry the cabbage into the palace for you," said Doris, +standing on tip-toe to hold a sausage to the lips of her tall son. +Pollux bit off a large mouthful and said, as he munched it: + +"Excellent! I only wish that the thing I am to construct up there may +turn out as good a statue as this savory cylinder--now fast disappearing +--was a superior and admirable sausage." + +"Have another?" said Doris. + +"No mother; and you must not bring the cabbage either. Up to midnight +not a minute must be lost, and if I then leave off for a little while you +must by that time be dreaming of all sorts of pleasant things." + +"I will carry you the cabbage then," said his father, "for I shall not be +in bed so early at any rate. The hymn to Sabina, composed by Mesomedes, +is to be performed with the chorus, as soon as the Empress visits the +theatre, and I am to lead the upper part of the old men, who grow young +again at the sight of her. The rehearsal is fixed for to-morrow, and I +know nothing about it yet. Old music, note for note, is ready and safe +in my throat, but new things--new things!" + +"It is according to circumstances," said Pollux, laughing. + +"If only they would perform your father's Satyr-play, or his Theseus!" +cried Doris. + +"Only wait a little, I will recommend him to Caesar as soon as he is +proud to call me his friend, as the Phidias of the age. Then, when he +asks me 'Who is the happy man who begot you?' I will answer: It is +Euphorion, the divine poet and singer; and my mother, too, is a worthy +matron, the gate-keeper of your palace, Doris, the enchantress, who +turns dingy clothes into snow-white linen." + +These last words the young artist sang in a fine and powerful voice to a +mode invented by his father. + +"If only you had been a singer!" exclaimed Euphorion. + +"Then I should have enjoyed the prospect," retorted Pollux, "of spending +the evening of my life as your successor in this little abode." + +"And now for wretched pay, you plant the laurels with which Papias crowns +himself!" answered the old man shrugging his shoulders. + +"His hour is coming, too," cried Doris, "his merit will be recognized; +I saw him in my dreams, with a great garland on his curly head!" + +"Patience, father-patience," said the young man, grasping his father's +hand. "I am young and strong, and do all I can. Here, behind this +forehead, good ideas are seething; what I have succeeded in carrying out +by myself, has at any rate brought credit and fame to others, although it +is all far from resembling the ideal of beauty that here--here--I seem to +see far away and behind a cloud; still I feel that if, in a moment of +kindness, Fortune will but shed a few fresh drops of dew on it all I +shall, at any rate, turn out something better than the mere ill-paid +right-hand of Papias, who, without me does not know what he ought to do, +or how to do it." + +"Only keep your eyes open and work hard," cried Doris. + +"It is of no use without luck," muttered the singer, shrugging his +shoulders. + +The young artist bid his parents good-night, and was about to leave, but +his mother detained him to show him the young goldfinches, hatched only +the day before. Pollux obeyed her wish, not merely to please her, but +because he liked to watch the gay little bird that sat warming and +sheltering her nestlings. Close to the cage stood the huge wine-jar and +his mother's cup, decorated by his own hand. His eye fell on these, and +he pushed them aside in silence. Then, taking courage, he said, +laughing: "The Emperor will often pass by here, mother; give up +celebrating your Dionysiac festival. How would it do if you filled the +jar with one-fourth wine and three-fourths water? It does not taste +badly." + +"Spoiling good gifts," replied his mother. + +"One-fourth wine-to please me," Pollux entreated, taking his mother by +the shoulders and kissing her forehead. + +"To please you, you great boy!" said Doris, as her eyes filled with +tears. "Why for you, if I must, I would drink nothing but wretched +water. Euphorion you may finish what is left in the jar presently." + + ......................... + +Pontius had already begun his labors, at first with aid only of his +assistants who had followed him on foot. Measuring, estimating, sending +short notes and writing figures, names and suggestions on the plan, and +on his folding wax-tablets, he was not idle for an instant, though +frequently interrupted by the appointed superintendents of the workshops +and manufactures in Lochias, whose co-operation he required. They only +came at this late hour because they were called upon by the prefect's +orders. + +Papias, the sculptor, introduced himself among the latest, though Pontius +had written to him with his own hand that he had to communicate to him a +very remunerative and particularly pressing commission for the Emperor, +which might, perhaps, be taken in hand that very night. The matter in +question was a statue of Urania, which must be completed in eight days by +the same method which Papias had introduced at the last festival of +Adonis, and to the scale which he, Pontius, indicated, in the palace of +Lochias itself. With regard to several works of restoration which had to +be carried out with equal rapidity, and as to the price to be paid, they +could agree at the same time and place. + +The sculptor was a man of foresight and did not appear on the scene alone +but with his best assistant, Pollux, the son of the worthy couple at the +gate, and several slaves who dragged after him sundry trunks and carts +loaded with tools, boards, clay, gypsum and other raw materials of his +art. On the road to Lochias he had informed the young sculptor of the +business in hand, and had told him in a condescending tone that he would +be permitted to try his skill in reconstructing the Urania. At the gate +he had permitted Pollux to greet his parents, and had gone alone into the +palace to open his bargain with the architect without the presence of +witnesses. + +The young artist perfectly understood his master. He knew that he would +be expected to carry out the statue of Urania, while his task-master, +after making some trifling alterations in the completed work, would +declare that it was his own. Pollux had for two years been obliged, more +than once, to put up with similar treatment; and now, as usual, he +submitted to this dishonest manoeuvre because, under his master there was +plenty to do, and the delight of work was to him the greatest he could +have. + +Papias, to whom he had gone early as an apprentice and to whom he owed +the knowledge he possessed, was no miser, still Pollux needed money, not +for himself alone but because he had taken on himself the charge of a +widowed sister and her children as if they were his own family. He was +always glad to take some comfort into the narrow home of his parents, who +were poor, and to maintain his younger brother Teuker--who had devoted +himself to the same art--during the years of his apprenticeship. Again +and again he had thought of telling his master that he should start on +his own footing and earn laurels for himself, but what then would become +of those who relied on his help, if he gave up his regular earnings and +if he got no commissions when there were so many unknown beginners eager +for them? Of what avail were all his ability and the most honest good- +will if no opportunity offered for his executing his work in noble +materials? With his own means he certainly was in no position to do so. + +While he was talking to his parents Papias had opened his transactions +with the architect. Pontius explained to the sculptor what was required +and Papias listened attentively; he never interrupted the speaker, but +only stroked his face from time to time, as if to make it smoother than +it was already, though it was shaved with peculiar care and formed and +colored like a warm mask; meanwhile draping the front of his rich blue +toga, which he wore in the fashion of a Roman senator, into fresh folds. + +But when Pontius showed him, at the end of the rooms destined for the +Emperor, the last of the statues to be restored, and which needed a new +grin, Papias said decisively: + +"It cannot be done." + +"That is a rash verdict," replied the architect. "Do you not know the +proverb, which, being such a good one, is said to have been first uttered +by more than one sage: 'That it shows more ill-judgment to pronounce a +thing impossible than to boast that we can achieve a task however much it +may seem to transcend our powers.'" + +Papias smiled and looked down at his gold-embroidered shoes as he said: + +"It is more difficult to us sculptors to imagine ourselves waging Titanic +warfare against the impossible, than it is to you who work with enormous +masses. I do not yet see the means which would give me courage to begin +the attack." + +"I will tell you," replied Pontius quickly and decidedly. "On your side +good-will, plenty of assistants and night-watchers; on ours, the Caesar's +approval and plenty of gold." + +After this the transaction came to a prompt and favorable issue, and the +architect could but express his entire approbation, in most cases, of the +sculptor's judicious and well-considered suggestions. + +"Now I must go home," concluded Papias. "My assistants will proceed at +once with the necessary preparations. The work must be carried on behind +screens, so that no one may disturb us or hinder us with remarks." + +Half an hour later a scaffolding was already erected in the middle of the +hall where the Urania was to stand. + +It was concealed from; public gaze by thick linen stretched on tall +wooden frames, and behind these screens Pollux was busied in framing a +small model in wax, while his master had returned home to make +arrangements for the labors of the following day. + +It wanted only an hour of midnight, and still the supper sent to the +palace for the architect by the prefect remained untouched. Pontius was +hungry enough, but before attacking the meal that a slave had set out on +a marble table--the roast meat which looked so inviting, the orange-red +crayfish, the golden-brown pasty and the many-hued fruits--he conceived +it his duty to inspect the rooms to be restored. It was needful to see +whether the slaves who had been set, in the first place to clean out all +the rooms, were being intelligently directed by the men set over them, +whether they were doing their duty and had all that they required; they +had got some hours to work, then they were to rest and to begin again at +sunrise, reinforced by other laborers both slave and free. + +More and better lighting was universally demanded, and when, in the hall +of the Muses, the men who were cleaning the pavement and scraping the +columns loudly clamored for torches and lamps, a young man's head peered +over the screen which shut in the place reserved for the restoration of +the Urania, and a lamentable voice cried out: + +"My Muse, with her celestial sphere, is the guardian of star-gazers and +is happiest in the dark--but not till she is finished. To form her we +must have light and more light--and when it is lighter here the voice of +the people down there, which does not sound very delightful up in this +hollow space, will diminish somewhat also. Give light, then, O, men! +Light for my goddess, and for your scrubbers and scourers." + +Pontius looked up smiling at Pollux, who had uttered this appeal, and +answered: + +Your cry of distress is fully justified, my friend. But do you really +believe in the power of light to diminish noise?" + +"At any rate," replied Pollux, "where it is absent, that is to say in +the dark, every noise seems redoubled." + +"That is true, but there are other reasons for that," answered the +architect. "To-morrow in an interval of work we will discuss these +matters. Now I will go to provide you with lamps and lights." + +"Urania, the protectress of the fine arts, will be beholden to you," +cried Pollux as the architect went away. + +Pontius meanwhile sought his chief foreman to ask him whether he had +delivered his orders to Keraunus, the palace-steward, to come to him, +and to put the cressets and lamps commonly used for the external +illuminations, at the service of his workmen. + +"Three times," was the answer "have I been myself to the man, but each +time he puffed himself out like a frog and answered me not a word, but +only sent me into a little room with his daughter--whom you must see, for +she is charming--and a miserable black slave, and there I found these few +wretched lamps that are now burning." + +"Did you order him to come to me?" + +"Three hours ago, and again a second time, when you were talking with +Papias." + +The architect turned his back upon the foreman in angry haste, +unrolled the plan of the palace, quickly found upon it the abode of the +recalcitrant steward, seized a small red-clay lamp that was standing near +him, and being quite accustomed to guide himself by a plan, went straight +through the rooms, which were not a few, and by a long corridor from the +hall of the Muses, to the lodging of the negligent official. An unclosed +door led him into a dark ante-chamber followed by another room, and +finally into a large, well-furnished apartment. All these door-ways, +into what seemed to be at once the dining and sitting-room of the +steward, were bereft of doors, and could only be closed by stuff +curtains, just now drawn wide open. Pontius could therefore look in, +unhindered and unperceived, at the table on which a three-branched bronze +lamp was standing between a dish and some plates. The stout man was +sitting with his rubicund moon-face towards the architect, who, indignant +as he was, would have gone straight up to him with swift decision, if, +before entering the second room, a low but pitiful sob had not fallen on +his ear. + +The sob proceeded from a slight young girl who came forward from a door +beyond the sitting-room, and who now placed a platter with a loaf on the +table by the steward. + +"Come, do not cry, Selene," said the steward, breaking the bread slowly +and with an evident desire to soothe his child. + +"How can I help crying," said the girl. "But tomorrow morning let me buy +a piece of meat for you; the physician forbade you to eat bread." + +"Man must be filled," replied the fat man, "and meat is dear. I have +nine mouths to fill, not counting the slaves. And where am I to get the +money to fill us all with meat?" + +"We need none, but for you it is necessary." + +"It is of no use, child. The butcher will not trust us any more, the +other creditors press us, and at the end of the month we shall have just +ten drachmae left us." + +The girl turned pale, and asked in anxiety: + +"But, father, it was only to-day that you showed me the three gold pieces +which you said had been given you as a present out of the money +distributed on the arrival of the Empress." + +The steward absently rolled a piece of bread-crumb between his fingers +and said: + +"I spent that on this fibula with an incised onyx--and as cheap as dirt, +I can tell you. If Caesar comes he must see who and what I am; and if I +die any one will give you twice as much for it as I paid. I tell you the +Empress's money was well laid out on the thing." Selene made no answer, +but she sighed deeply, and her eye glanced at a quantity of useless +things which her father had acquired and brought home because they were +cheap, while she and her seven sisters wanted the most necessary things. + +"Father," the girl began again after a short silence, "I ought not to go +on about it, but even if it vexes you, I must--the architect, who is +settling all the work out there, has sent for you twice already." + +"Be silent!" shouted the fat man, striking his hand on the table. "Who +is this Pontius, and who am I!" + +"You are of a noble Macedonian family, related perhaps even to the +Ptolemies; you have your seat in the Council of the Citizens--but do, +this time, be condescending and kind. The man has his hands full, he is +tired out." + +"Nor have I been able to sit still the whole day, and what is fitting, is +fitting. I am Keraunus the son of Ptolemy, whose father came into Egypt +with Alexander the Great, and helped to found this city, and every one +knows it. Our possessions were diminished; but it is for that very +reason that I insist on our illustrious blood being recognized. Pontius +sends to command the presence of Keraunus! If it were not infuriating it +would be laughable--for who is this man, who? I have told you his father +was a freedman of the former prefect Claudius Balbillus, and by the favor +of the Roman his father rose and grew rich. He is the descendant of +slaves, and you expect that I shall be his obedient humble servant, +whenever he chooses to call me?" + +But father, my dear father, it is not the son of Ptolemy, but the palace- +steward that he desires shall go to hire." + +"Mere chop-logic!--you have nothing to say, not a step do I take to go to +him." + +The girl clasped her hands over her face, and sobbed loudly and +pitifully. Keraunus started up and cried out, beside himself. + +"By great Serapis. I can bear this no longer. What are you whimpering +about?" + +The girl plucked up courage and going up to the indignant man she said, +though more than once interrupted by tears. + +"You must go father--indeed you must. I spoke to the foreman, and he +told me coolly and decidedly that the architect was placed here in +Caesar's name, and that if you do not obey him you will at once be +superseded in your office. And if that were to happen, if that-- +O father, father, only think of blind Helios and poor Berenice! Arsinoe +and I could earn our bread, but the little ones--the little ones." + +With these words the girl fell on her knees lifting her hands in entreaty +to her obstinate parent. The blood had mounted to the man's face and +eyes, and pressing his hand to his purple forehead he sank back in his +chair as if stricken with apoplexy. His daughter sprang up and offered +him the cup full of wine and water which was standing on the table; but +Keraunus pushed it aside with his hands, and panted out, while he +struggled for breath: + +"Supersede me--in my place--turn me out of this palace! Why there, in +that ebony trunk, lies the rescript of Euergetes which confers the +stewardship of this residence on my ancestor Philip, and as a hereditary +dignity in his family. Now Philip's wife had the honor of being the +king's mistress--or, as some say, his daughter. There lies the document, +drawn up in red and black ink on yellow papyrus and ratified with the +seal and signature of Euergetes the Second. All the princes of the +Lagides have confirmed it, all the Roman prefects have respected it, and +now--now." + +"But father" said the girl interrupting her father, and wringing her +hands in despair, "you still hold the place and if you will only give +in." + +"Give in, give in," shrieked the corpulent steward shaking his fat hands +above his blood-shot face. "I will give in--I will not bring you all to +misery--for my children's sake I will allow myself to be ill-treated and +down-trodden, I will go--I will go directly. Like the pelican I will +feed my children with my heart's blood. But you ought to know what it +costs me, to humiliate myself thus; it is intolerable to me, and my heart +is breaking--for the architect, the architect has trampled upon me as if +I were his servant; he wished--I heard him with these ears--he shrieked +after me a villanous hope that I might be smothered in my own fat--and +the physician has told me I may die of apoplexy! Leave me, leave me. +I know those Romans are capable of anything. Well--here I am; fetch me +my saffron-colored pallium, that I wear in the council, fetch me my gold +fillet for my head. I will deck myself like a beast for sacrifice, and I +will show him--" + +Not a word of this harangue had escaped the ears of the architect who had +been at first indignant and then moved to laughter, and withal it had +touched his heart. A sluggish and torpid character was repugnant to his +vigorous nature, and the deliberate and indifferent demeanor of the stout +steward, on an occasion which had prompted him and all concerned to act +as quickly and energetically as possible, had brought words to his lips +which he now wished that he had never spoken. It is true that the +steward's false pride had roused his indignation, and who can listen +calmly to any comment on a stain on his birth? But the appeal of this +miserable father's daughter had gone to his heart. He pitied the fatuous +simpleton whom, with a turn of his hand, he could reduce to beggary, and +who had evidently been far more deeply hurt by his words than Pontius had +been by what he had overheard, and so he followed the kindly impulse of a +noble nature to spare the unfortunate. + +He rapped loudly with his knuckles on the inside of the door-post of the +ante-room, coughed loudly, and then said, bowing deeply to the steward on +the threshold of the sitting-room: + +"Noble Keraunus--I have come, as beseems me, to pay you my respests. +Excuse the lateness of the hour, but you can scarcely imagine how busy +I have been since we parted." + +Keraunus had at first started at the late visitor, then he stared at him +in consternation. He now went towards him, stretched out both hands as +if suddenly relieved of a nightmare, and a bright expression of such warm +and sincere satisfaction overspread his countenance that Pontius wondered +how he could have failed to observe what a well-cut face this fat +original had. + +"Take a seat at our humble table," said Keraunus. "Go Selene and call +the slaves. Perhaps there is yet a pheasant in the house, a roast fowl +or something of the kind--but the hour, it is true, is late." + +"I am deeply obliged to you," replied the architect, smiling. "My supper +is waiting for me in the hall of the Muses, and I must return to my work- +people. I should be grateful to you if you would accompany me. We must +consult together as to the lighting of the rooms, and such matters are +best discussed over a succulent roast and a flask of wine." + +"I am quite at your service," said Keraunus with a bow. + +"I will go on ahead," said the architect, "but first will you have the +goodness to give all that you have in the way of cressets, lights and +lamps to the slaves, who, in a few minutes, shall await your orders at +your door." + +When Pontius had departed, Selene exclaimed with a deep sigh + +"Oh! what a fright I have had! I will go now and find the lamps. How +terribly it might have ended." + +"It is well that he should have come," murmured Keraunus. "Considering +his birth and origin, the architect is certainly a well-bred man." + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Facts are differently reflected in different minds +Have not yet learned not to be astonished +Ill-judgment to pronounce a thing impossible +Years are the foe of beauty + + + + + + +THE EMPEROR, Part 1. + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 2. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Pontius had gone to the steward's room, with a frowning brow, but it was +with a smile on his strongly-marked lips, and a brisk step that he +returned to his work-people. The foreman came to meet him with looks of +enquiry as he said. "The steward was a little offended and with reason; +but now we are capital friends and he will do what he can in the matter +of lighting." + +In the hall of the Muses he paused outside the screen, behind which +Pollux was working, and called out: + +"Friend sculptor, listen to me, it is high time to have supper." + +"It is, indeed," replied Pollux, "else it will be breakfast." + +"Then lay aside your tools for a quarter of an hour and help me and the +palace-steward to demolish the food that has been sent me." + +"You will need no second assistant if Keraunus is there. Food melts +before him like ice before the sun." + +"Then come and save him from an overloaded stomach." + +"Impossible, for I am just now dealing most unmercifully with a bowl full +of cabbage and sausages. My mother had cooked that food of the gods and +my father has brought it in to his first-born son." + +"Cabbage and sausages!" repeated the architect, and its tone betrayed +that his hungry stomach would fain have made closer acquaintance with the +savory mess. + +"Come in here," continued Pollux, "and be my guest. The cabbage has +experienced the process which is impending over this palace--it has been +warmed up." + +"Warmed-up cabbage is better than freshly-cooked, but the fire over which +we must try to make this palace enjoyable again, burns too hotly and must +be too vigorously stirred. The best things have been all taken out, and +cannot be replaced." + +"Like the sausages, I have fished out of my cabbages," laughed the +sculptor. "After all I cannot invite you to be my guest, for it would be +a compliment to this dish if I were now to call it cabbage with sausages. +I have worked it like a mine, and now that the vein of sausages is nearly +exhausted, little remains but the native soil in which two or three +miserable fragments remain as memorials of past wealth. But my mother +shall cook you a mess of it before long, and she prepares it with +incomparable skill." + +"A good idea, but you are my guest." + +"I am replete." + +"Then come and spice our meal with your good company." + +"Excuse me, sir; leave me rather here behind my screen. In the first +place, I am in a happy vein, and on the right track; I feel that +something good will come of this night's work." + +"And tomorrow--" + +"Hear me out." + +"Well." + +"You would be doing your other guest an ill-service by inviting me." + +"Do you know the steward then?" + +"From my earliest youth, I am the son of the gatekeeper of the palace." + +"Oh, ho! then you came from that pretty little lodge with the ivy and +the birds, and the jolly old lady." + +"She is my mother--and the first time the butcher kills she will concoct +for you and me a dish of sausages and cabbage without an equal." + +"A very pleasing prospect." + +"Here comes a hippopotamus--on closer inspection Keraunus, the steward." + +"Are you his enemy?" + +"I, no; but he is mine--yes," replied Pollux. "It is a foolish story. +When we sup together don't ask me about it if you care to have a jolly +companion And do not tell Keraunus that I am here, it will lead to no +good." + +"As you wish, and here are our lamps too." + +"Enough to light the nether world," exclaimed Pollux, and waving his hand +to the architect in farewell he vanished behind the screens to devote +himself entirely to his model. + +It was long past midnight, and the slaves who had set to work with much +zeal had finished their labors in the hall of the Muses. They were now +allowed to rest for some hours on straw that had been spread for them in +another wing of the building. The architect himself wished to take +advantage of this time to refresh himself by a short sleep, for the +exertions of the morrow, but between this intention and its fulfilment an +obstacle was interposed, the preposterous dimensions namely of his +guest. He had invited the steward on purpose to give him his fill of +meat, and Keraunus had shown himself amenable to encouragement in this +respect. But after the last dish bad been removed the steward thought +that good manners demanded that he should honor his entertainer by his +illustrious presence, and at the same time the prefect's good wine +loosened the tongue of the man, who was not usually communicative. + +First he spoke of the manifold infirmities which tormented him and +endangered his life, and when Pontius, to divert his talk into other +channels, was so imprudent as to allude to the Council of Citizens, +Keraunus gave full play to his eloquence, and, while he emptied cup after +cup of wine, tried to lay down the reasons which had made him and his +friends decide on staking everything in order to deprive the members of +the extensive community of Jews in the city of their rights as citizens, +and to expel them, if possible, from Alexandria. So warm was his zeal +that he totally forgot the presence of the architect, and his humble +origin, and declared to be indispensable, that even the descendants of +freed-slaves should be disenfranchised. + +Pontius saw in the steward's inflamed eyes and cheeks that it was the +wine which spoke within him, and he made no answer; and determined that +the rest he needed should not be thus abridged, he rose from table and +briefly excusing himself he retired to the room in which the couch had +been prepared for him. After he had undressed he desired his slave to +see what Keraunus was about, and soon received the reassuring information +that the steward was fast asleep and snoring. + +"Only listen," said the slave, to confirm his report. "You can hear him +grunting and snuffing as far as this. I pushed a cushion under his head, +for otherwise, so full as he is, the stout gentleman might come to some +harm." + +Love is a plant which springs up for many who have never sown it, and +grows into a spreading tree for many who have neither fostered nor tended +it. How little had Keraunus ever done to win the heart of his daughter, +how much on the contrary which could not fail to overshadow and trouble +her young life. And yet Selene, whose youth--for she was but nineteen-- +needed repose and to whom the evening with the reprieve of sleep brought +more pleasure than the morning with its load of cares and labor, sat by +the three-branched lamp and watched, and tormented herself more and more +as it grew later and later, at her father's long absence. About a week +before the strong man had suddenly lost consciousness; only, it is true, +for a few minutes, and the physician had told her that though he appeared +to be in superabundant health, the attack indicated that he must follow +his prescriptions strictly and avoid all kinds of excess. A single +indiscretion, he had declared, might swiftly and suddenly cut the thread +of his existence. After her father had gone out in obedience to the +architect's invitation, Selene had brought out her youngest brothers' and +sisters' garments, in order to mend them. Her sister Arsinoe, who was +her junior by two years, and whose fingers were as nimble as her own, +might indeed have helped her, but she had gone to bed early and was +sleeping by the children who could not be left untended at night. Her +female slave, who had been in her grandmother's service, ought to have +assisted her; but the old half-blind negress saw even worse by lamp-light +than by daylight, and after a few stitches could do no more. Selene sent +her to bed and sat down alone to her work. + +For the first hour she sewed away without looking up, considering, +meanwhile, how she could best contrive to support the family till the end +of the month on the few drachmae she could dispose of. As it got later +she grew wearier and wearier, but still she sat at the work, though her +pretty head often sank upon her breast. She must await her father's +return, for a potion prepared by the physician stood waiting for him, and +she feared he would forget it if she did not remind him. + +By the end of the second hour sleep overcame her, and she felt as if the +chair she was sitting on was giving way under her, and as if it was +sinking at first slowly and then quicker and quicker, into a deep abyss +that opened beneath her. Looking up for help in her dream, she could see +nothing but her father's face, which looked aside with indifference. As +her dream went on she called him and called him again, but for a long +time he did not seem to hear her. At last he looked down at her and when +he perceived her he smiled, but instead of helping her he picked up +stones and clods from the edge of the gulf and threw them on her hands +with which she had clutched the brambles and roots that grew out of the +rift of the rocks. She entreated him to cease, implored him, shrieked to +him to spare her, but not a muscle moved in the face above her; it seemed +set in a vacant smile, and even his heart was dead too, for he ruthlessly +flung down now a pebble, now a clod, one after the other, till her hands +were losing their last feeble hold and she was on the point of falling +into the fatal gulf below. Her own cry of terror aroused her, but during +the brief process of returning from her dream to actuality, she saw +through swiftly parting mists--only for an instant, and yet quite plainly +--the tall grass of a meadow, spangled with ox-eye daisies, white and +gold, with violet-hued blue bells and scarlet poppies, among which she +was lying--as in a soft green bed, while near the sward lay a sparkling +blue lake and behind it rose beautiful swelling hills, with red cliffs, +and green groves, and meadows bright in the clear sunshine. A clear sky, +across which a soft breeze gently blew light silvery flakes of cloud, +bent over the lovely but fleeting picture, which she could not compare +with anything she had ever seen near her own home. + +She had only slept for a short time, but when, once more thoroughly +awake, she rubbed her eyes, she thought her dream must have lasted for +hours. + +One flame of the three-branched lamp had flickered into extinction and +the wick of another was beginning to waste. She hastily put it out with +a pair of tongs that hung by a chain, and then after pouring fresh oil +into the lamp that was still burning she carried the light into her +father's sleeping room. + +He had not yet returned. She was seized with a mortal terror. Had the +architect's wine bereft him of his senses? Had he on his way back to his +rooms been seized with a fresh attack of giddiness? In spirit she saw +the heavy man incapable of raising himself, dying perhaps where he had +fallen. + +No choice remained to her; she must go at once to the hall of the Muses +and see what had happened to her father, pick him up, give him help or-- +if he still were feasting--endeavor to tempt him back by any excuse she +could find. Everything was at stake; her father's life and with it +maintenance and shelter for eight helpless creatures. + +The December night was stormy, a keen and bitter wind blew through the +ill-closed opening in the roof of the room as Selene, before she began +her expedition, tied a handkerchief over her head and threw over her +shoulders a white mantle which had been worn by her dead mother. In the +long corridor which lay between her father's rooms and the front portion +of the palace, she had to screen the flickering light of the little lamp +with her left hand, carrying it in her right; the flame blown about by +the draught and her own figure were mirrored here and there in the +polished surface of the dark marble. The thick sandals she had tied on +to her feet roused loud echoes in the empty rooms as they fell on the +stone pavements, and terror possessed Selene's anxious soul. Her fingers +trembled as they held the lamp and her heart beat audibly as, with bated +breath, she went through the cupolaed hall in which Ptolemy Euergetes +'the fat' was said, some years ago, to have murdered his own son, and in +which even a deep breath roused an echo. + +But even in this room she did not forget to look to the right and left +for her father. She breathed a sigh of relief when she perceived a +streak of light which shone through the gaping rift of a cracked side- +door of the hall of the Muses and fell in a broken reflection on the +floor and the wall of the last room through which she had to pass. She +now entered the large hall which was dimly lighted by the lamps behind +the sculptor's screen, and by several tapers, now burnt down low. These +were standing on a table knocked together out of blocks of wood and +planks at the extreme end of the hall, and behind this her father was +sound asleep. + +The deep notes brought out of the sleeper's broad chest, were echoed in a +very uncanny way from the bare walls of the vast empty room, and she was +frightened by them and still more by the long black shadows of the +pillars, that lay, like barriers, across her path. She stood listening +in the middle of the hall and soon recognized in the alarming tones a +sound that was only too familiar. Without a moment's hesitation she +started to run, and hastened to the sleeper, shook him, pushed him, +called him, sprinkled his forehead with water, and appealed to him by the +tenderest names with which her sister Arsinoe was wont to coax him. +When, in spite of all this, he neither spoke nor stirred, she flung the +full light of the lamp on his face. Then she thought she perceived that +a bluish tinge had overspread his bloated features, and she broke into +the deep, agonized, weeping which, a few hours previously had touched the +architect's heart. + +There was a sudden stir behind the screens which enclosed the sculptor +and the work in progress. Pollux had been working for a long time with +zeal and pleasure, but at last the steward's snoring had begun to disturb +him. The body of the Muse had already taken a definite form and he could +begin to work out the head with the earliest dawn of day. He now dropped +his arms wearily, for as soon as he ceased to create with his whole heart +and mind he felt tired, and saw plainly that without a model he could do +nothing satisfactory with the drapery of his Urania. So he pulled his +stool up to a great chest full of gypsum to get a little repose by +leaning against it. + +But sleep avoided the artist who was too much excited by his rapid +night's work, and as soon as Selene opened the door he sat upright and +peeped through an opening between the frames of his place of retirement. +When he saw the tall draped figure in whose hand a lamp was trembling, +when he watched her cross the spacious hall, and then suddenly stand +still, he was not a little startled, but this did not hinder him from +noting every step of the nocturnal spectre with far more curiosity than +alarm. Then, when Selene looked round her, and the lamp illuminated her +face, be recognized the steward's daughter, and immediately knew what she +must be seeking. + +Her vain attempts to rouse the sleeper, though somewhat pathetic, had in +them at the same time something irresistibly ludicrous, and Pollux felt +sorely tempted to laugh. But as soon as Selene began to weep so bitterly +he hastily pushed apart two of the laths of the screen, went up and +called her name, at first softly not to frighten her, and then more +loudly. When she turned her head he begged her warmly not to be alarmed +far he was no ghost, only a very humble and ordinary mortal, in fact-as +she might see--nothing more, alas! than the son of Euphorian, the gate- +keeper, good for nothing as yet, but treading the path to something +better. + +"You, Pollux?" asked the girl with surprise. + +"The very man. But you--can I help you?" + +"My poor father," sobbed Selene. "He does not stir, he is immovable-- +and his face--oh! merciful gods." + +"A man who snores is not dead," said the sculptor. "But the doctor told +him--" + +"He is not even ill! Pontius only gave him stronger wine to drink than +he is used to. Let him be; he is sleeping with the pillow under his +neck, as comfortably as a child. When he began just now to trumpet a +little too loud I whistled as loud as a plover, for that often silences a +snorer; but I could more easily have made those stone Muses dance than +have roused him." + +"If only we could get him to bed." + +"Well, if you have four horses at hand." + +"You are as bad as you ever were!" + +"A little less so, Selene, only you must become accustomed again to my +way of speaking. This time I only mean that we two together are not +strong enough to carry him away." + +"But what can I do, then? The doctor said--" + +"Never mind the doctor. The complaint your father is suffering from is +one I know well. It will be gone to-morrow, perhaps by sundown, and the +only pain it will leave behind, he will feel under his wig. Only leave +him to sleep." + +"But it is so cold here." + +"Take my cloak and cover him with that." + +"Then you will be frozen." + +"I am used to it. How long has Keraunus had dealings with the doctor?" + +Selene related the accident that had befallen her father and how +justified were her fears. The sculptor listened to her in silence and +then said in a quite altered tone: + +"I am truly sorry to hear it. Let us put some cold water on his +forehead, and until the slaves come back again I will change the wet +cloth every quarter of an hour. Here is a jar and a handkerchief--good, +they might have been left on purpose. Perhaps, too, it will wake him, +and if not the people shall carry him to his own rooms." + +"Disgraceful, disgraceful!" sighed the girl. + +"Not at all; the high-priest of Serapis even is sometimes unwell. Only +let me see to it." + +"It will excite him afresh if he sees you. He is so angry with you--so +very angry." + +"Omnipotent Zeus, what harm have I done you, fat father! The gods +forgive the sins of the wise, and a man will not forgive the fault +committed by a stupid lad in a moment of imprudence." + +"You mocked at him." + +"I set a clay head that was like him on the shoulders of the fat Silenus +near the gate, that had lost its own head. It was my first piece of +independent work." + +"But you did it to vex my father." + +"Certainly not, Selene; I was delighted with the joke and nothing more." + +"But you knew how touchy he is." + +"And does a wild boy of fifteen ever reflect on the consequences of his +audacity? If he had but given me a thrashing his annoyance would have +discharged itself like thunder and lightning, and the air would have been +clear again. But, as it was, he cut the face off the work with a knife, +and deliberately trod the pieces under foot as they lay on the ground. +He gave me one single blow--with his thumb--which I still feel, it is +true, and then he treated me and my parents with such scorn, so coldly +and hardly, with such bitter contempt--" + +"He never is really violent, but wrath seems to eat him inwardly, and I +have rarely seen him so angry as he was that time." + +"But if he had only settled the account with me on the spot! but my +father was by, and hot words fell like rain, and my mother added her +share, and from that time there has been utter hostility between our +little house and you up here. What hurt me most was that you and your +sister were forbidden to come to see us and to play with me." + +"That has spoilt many pleasant hours for me, too." + +"It was nice when we used to dress up in my father's theatrical finery +and cloaks." + +"And when you made us dolls out of clay.". + +"Or when we performed the Olympian games." + +"I was always the teacher when we played at school with our little +brothers and sisters." + +"Arsinoe gave you most trouble." + +"Oh! and what fun when we went fishing!" + +"And when we brought home the fishes and mother gave us meal and raisins +to cook them." + +"Do you remember the festival of Adonis, and how I stopped the runaway +horse of that Numidian officer?" + +"The horse had knocked over Arsinoe, and when we got home mother gave you +an almond-cake." + +"And your ungrateful sister bit a great piece out of it and left me only +a tiny morsel. Is Arsinoe as pretty as she promised to become? It is +two years since I last saw her; at our place we never have time to leave +work till it is dark. For eight months I had to work for the master at +Ptolemais, and often saw the old folks but once in the month." + +"We go out very little, too, and we are not allowed to go into your +parents' house. My sister--" + +"Is she pretty?" + +"Yes, I think she is. Whenever she can get hold of a piece of ribbon she +plaits it in her hair, and the men in the street turn round to look at +her. She is sixteen now." + +"Sixteen! What, little Arsinoe! Why, how long then is it since your +mother died?" + +"Four years and eight months." + +"You remember the date very exactly; such a mother is not easily +forgotten, indeed. She was a good woman and a kinder I never met. +I know, too, that she tried to mollify your father's feeling, but +she could not succeed, and then she need must die!" + +"Yes," said Selene gloomily. "How could the gods decree it! They are +often more cruel than the hardest hearted man." + +"Your poor little brothers and sisters!" + +The girl bowed her head sadly and Pollux stood for some time with his +eyes fixed on the ground. Then he raised his head and exclaimed: + +"I have something for you that will please you." + +"Nothing ever pleases me now she is dead." + +"Yes, yes indeed," replied the young sculptor eagerly. "I could not +forget the good soul, and once in my idle moments I modelled her bust +from memory. To-morrow I will bring it to you." + +"Oh!" cried Selene, and her large heavy eyes brightened with a sunny +gleam. + +"Now, is not it true, you are pleased?" + +"Yes indeed, very much. But when my father learns that it is you who +have given me the portrait--" + +"Is he capable of destroying it?" + +"If he does not destroy it, he will not suffer it in the house as soon +as he knows that you made it." Pollux took the handkerchief from the +steward's head, moistened it afresh, and exclaimed as he rearranged it +on the forehead of the sleeping man: + +"I have an idea. All that matters is that my bust should serve to remind +you often of your mother; the bust need not stand in your rooms. The +busts of the women of the house of Ptolemy stand on the rotunda, which +you can see from your balcony, and which you can pass whenever you +please; some of them are badly mutilated and must be got rid of. I will +undertake to restore the Berenice and put your mother's head on her +shoulders. Then you have only to go out and look at her. Will that do?" + +"Yes, Pollux; you are a good man." + +"So I told you just now. I am beginning to improve. But time--time! +if I am to undertake to repair Berenice I must begin by saving the +minutes." + +"Go back to your work now; I know how to apply a wet compress only too +well." + +With these words Selene threw back her mantle over her shoulders so as to +leave her hands free for use, and stood with her slender figure, her pale +face, and the fine broadly-flowing folds of rich stuff, like a statue in +the eyes of the young sculptor. + +"Stop--stay so--just so," cried Pollux to the astonished girl, so loudly +and eagerly that she was startled. + +"Your cloak hangs with a wonderfully-free flow from your shoulders--in +the name of all the gods do not touch it. If only I might model from it +I should in a few minutes gain a whole day for our Berenice. I will wet +the handkerchief at intervals in the pauses." Without waiting for +Selene's answer the sculptor hastened into his nook and returned first +with one of the lamps he worked by in each hand, and some small tools in +his mouth, and then fetched his wax model which he placed on the outer +side of the table, behind which the steward was sleeping. The tapers +were put out, the lamps pushed aside, and raised or lowered, and when at +last a tolerably suitable light was procured Pollux threw himself on a +stool, straddled his legs, craned his head forward as far as his neck +would allow, looking, with his hooked nose, like a vulture that strives +to descry his distant prey-cast his eyes down, raised them again to take +in something fresh, and after a long gaze looked down again while his +fingers and nails moved over the surface of the wax-figure, sinking into +the plastic material, applying new pieces to apparently complete +portions, removing others with a decided nip and rounding them off with +bewildering rapidity to use them for a fresh purpose. + +He seemed to be seized with cramp in his hands, but still under his +knotted brow his eye shone earnest, resolute and calm, and yet full of +profound and speechless inspiration. Selene had said not a word that +permitted his using her as a model; but, as if his enthusiasm was +infectious, she remained motionless, and when, as he worked, his gaze +met hers she could detect the stern earnestness which at this moment +possessed her eager companion. + +Neither of them opened their lips for some time. At last he stood back +from his work, stooping low to look first at Selene and then at his +statuette with keen examination from head to foot; and then, drawing a +deep breath, and rubbing the wax over with his finger, he said: + +"There, that is how it must go! Now I will wet your father's +handkerchief and then we can go on again. If you are tired you can +rest." + +She availed herself but little of this permission and presently he began +work again. As he proceeded carefully to replace some folds of her +drapery which had fallen out of place, she moved her foot as if to draw +back, but he begged her earnestly to stand still and she obeyed his +request. + +Pollux now used his fingers and modelling tools more calmly; his gaze was +less wistful and he began to talk again. + +"You are very pale," he said. "To be sure the lamp-light and a sleepless +night have something to do with it." + +"I look just the same by daylight, but I am not ill." + +"I thought Arsinoe would have been like your mother, but now I see many +features of her face in yours again. The oval of their form is the same +and, in both, the line of the nose runs almost straight to the forehead; +you have her eyes and the same bend of the brow, but your mouth is +smaller and more sharply cut, and she could hardly have made such a heavy +knot of her hair. I fancy, too, that yours is lighter than hers." + +"As a girl she must have had still more hair, and perhaps she may have +been as fair as I was--I am brown now." + +"Another thing you inherit from her is that your hair, without being +curly, lies upon your head in such soft waves." + +"It is easy to keep in order." + +"Are not you taller than she was?" + +"I fancy so, but as she was stouter she looked shorter. Will you soon +have done?" + +"You are getting tired of standing?" + +"Not very." + +"Then have a little more patience. Your face reminds me more and more of +our early years; I should be glad to see Arsinoe once more. I feel at +this moment as if time had moved backwards a good piece. Have you the +same feeling?" + +Selene shook her head. + +"You are not happy?" + +"No." + +"I know full well that you have very heavy duties to perform for your +age." + +"Things go as they may." + +"Nay, nay. I know you do not let things go haphazard. You take care of +your brothers and sisters like a mother." + +"Like a mother!" repeated Selene, and she smiled a bitter negative. + +"Of course a mother's love is a thing by itself, but your father and the +little ones have every reason to be satisfied with yours." + +"The little ones are perhaps, and Helios who is blind, but Arsinoe does +what she can." + +"You certainly are not content, I can hear it in your voice, and you used +formerly to be as merry and happy as your sister, though perhaps not so +saucy." + +"Formerly--" + +"How sadly that sounds! And yet you are handsome, you are young, and +life lies before you." + +"But what a life!" + +"Well, what?" asked the sculptor, and taking his hands from his work he +looked ardently at the fair pale girl before him and cried out fervently: + +"A life which might be full of happiness and satisfied affection." + +The girl shook her head in negation and answered coldly: + +"'Love is joy,' says the Christian woman who superintends us at work in +the papyrus factory, and since my mother died I have had no love. I +enjoyed all my share of happiness once for all in my childhood, now I am +content if only we are spared the worst misfortunes. Otherwise I take +what each day brings, because I can not do otherwise. My heart is empty, +and if I ever feel anything keenly, it is dread. I have long since +ceased to expect any thing good of the future." + +"Girl!" exclaimed Pollux. "Why, what has been happening to you? I do +not understand half of what you are saying. How came you in the papyrus +factory?" + +"Do not betray me," begged Selene. "If my father were to hear of it." + +"He is asleep, and what you confide to me no one will ever hear of +again." + +"Why should I conceal it? I go every day with Arsinoe for two hours to +the manufactory, and we work there to earn a little money." + +"Behind your father's back?" + +"Yes, he would rather that we should starve than allow it. Every day I +feel the same loathing for the deceit; but we could not get on without +it, for Arsinoe thinks of nothing but herself, plays draughts with my +father, curls his hair, plays with the children as if they were dolls, +but it is my part to take care of them." + +"And you, you say, have no share of love. Happily no one believes you, +and I least of all. Only lately my mother was telling me about you, and +I thought you were a girl who might turn out just such a wife as a woman +ought to be." + +"And now?" + +"Now, I know it for certain." + +"You may be mistaken." + +"No, no! your name is Selene, and you are as gentle as the kindly +moonlight; names, even, have their significance." + +"And my blind brother who has never even seen the light is called +Helios!" answered the girl. + +Pollux had spoken with much warmth, but Selene's last words startled him +and checked the effervescence of his feelings. Finding he did not answer +her bitter exclamation, she said, at first coolly, but with increasing +warmth: + +"You are beginning to believe me, and you are right, for what I do for +the children is not done out of love, or out of kindness, or because I +set their welfare above my own. I have inherited my father's pride, and +it would be odious to me if my brothers and sisters went about in rags, +and people thought we were as poor and helpless as we really are. What +is most horrible to me is sickness in the house, for that increases the +anxiety I always feel and swallows up my last coin; the children must not +perish for want of it. I do not want to make myself out worse than I am; +it grieves me too to see them drooping. But nothing that I do brings me +happiness--at most it moderates my fears. You ask what I am afraid of? +--of everything, everything that can happen to me, for I have no reason +to look forward to anything good. When there is a knock, it may be a +creditor; when people look at Arsinoe in the street, I seem to see +dishonor lurking round her; when my father acts against the advice of the +physician I feel as if we were standing already roofless in the open +street. What is there that I can do with a happy mind? I certainly am +not idle, still I envy the woman who can sit with her hands in her lap +and be waited on by slaves, and if a golden treasure fell into my +possession, I would never stir a finger again, and would sleep every +day till the sun was high and make slaves look after my father and the +children. My life is sheer misery. If ever we see better days I shall +be astonished, and before I have got over my astonishment it will all be +over." + +The sculptor felt a cold chill, and his heart which had opened wide to +his old playfellow shrank again within him. Before he could find the +right words of encouragement which he sought, they heard in the hall, +where the workmen and slaves were sleeping, the blast of a trumpet +intended to awake them. Selene started, drew her mantle more closely +round her, begged Pollux to take care of her father, and to hide the +wine-jar which was standing near him from the work-people and then, +forgetting her lamp, she went hastily toward the door by which she had +entered. Pollux hurried after her to light the way and while he +accompanied her as far as the door of her rooms, by his warm and urgent +words which appealed wonderfully to her heart, he extracted from her a +promise to stand once more in her mantle as his model. + +A quarter of an hour later the steward was safe in bed and still sleeping +soundly, while Pollux, who had stretched himself on a mattress behind his +screen, could not for a long time cease to think of the pale girl with +her benumbed soul. At last sleep overcame him too, and a sweet dream +showed him pretty little Arsinoe, who but for him must infallibly have +been killed by the Numidian's restive horse, taking away her sister +Selene's almond-cake and giving it to him. The pale girl submitted +quietly to the robbery and only smiled coldly and silently to herself. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Alexandria was in the greatest excitement. + +The Emperor's visit now immediately impending had tempted the busy hive +of citizens away from the common round of life in which, day after day, +--swarming, hurrying, pushing each other on, or running each other down-- +they raced for bread and for the means of filling their hours of leisure +with pleasures and amusements. The unceasing wheel of industry to-day +had pause in the factories, workshops, storehouses and courts of justice, +for all sorts and conditions of men were inspired by the same desire to +celebrate Hadrian's visit with unheard-of splendor. All that the +citizens could command of inventive skill, of wealth, and of beauty was +called forth to be displayed in the games and processions which were to +fill up a number of days. The richest of the heathen citizens had +undertaken the management of the pieces to be performed in the Theatre, +of the mock fight on the lake, and of the sanguinary games in the +Amphitheatre; and so great was the number of opulent persons that many +more were prepared to pay for smaller projects, for which there was no +opening. Nevertheless the arrangements for certain portions of the +procession, in which even the less wealthy were to take a share, the +erection of the building in the Hippodrome, the decorations in the +streets, and the preparations for entertaining the Roman visitors +absorbed sums so large that they seemed extravagant even to the prefect +Titianus, who was accustomed to see his fellow-officials in Rome squander +millions. + +As the Emperor's viceroy it behoved him to give his assent to all that +was planned to feast his sovereign's eye and ear. On the whole, he left +the citizens of the great town free to act as they would; but he had, +more than once, to exert a decided opposition to their overdoing the +thing; for though the Emperor might be able to endure a vast amount of +pleasure, what the Alexandrians originally proposed to provide for him to +see and hear would have exhausted the most indefatigable human energy. + +That which gave the greatest trouble, not merely to him, but also to the +masters of the revels chosen by the municipality, were the never-dormant +hostility between the heathen and the Jewish sections of the inhabitants, +and the processions, since no division chose to come last, nor would any +number be satisfied to be only the third or the fourth. + +It was from a meeting, where his determined intervention had at last +brought all these preliminaries to a decision beyond appeal, that +Titianus proceeded to the Caesareum to pay the Empress the visit which +she expected of him daily. He was glad to have come to some conclusion, +at any rate provisionally, with regard to these matters, for six days had +slipped away since the works had been begun in the palace of Lochias, and +Hadrian's arrival was nearing rapidly. + +He found Sabina, as usual, on her divan, but on this occasion the Empress +was sitting upright on her cushions. She seemed quite to have got over +the fatigues of the sea-voyage, and in token that she felt better she had +applied more red to her cheeks and lips than three days ago, and because +she was to receive a visit from the sculptors, Papias and Aristeas, she +had had her hair arranged as it was worn in the statue of Venus Victrix, +with whose attributes she had, five years previously--though not, it is +true, without some resistance--been represented in marble. When a copy +of this statue had been erected in Alexandria, an evil tongue had made a +speech which was often repeated among the citizens. + +"This Aphrodite is triumphant to be sure, for all who see her make haste +to fly; she should be called Cypris the scatterer." + +Titianus was still under the excitement of the embittered squabbles and +unpleasing exhibitions of character at which he had just been present +when he entered the presence of the Empress, whom he found in a small +room with no one but the chamberlain and a few ladies-in-waiting. To the +prefect's respectful inquiries after her health, she shrugged her +shoulders and replied: + +"How should I be? If I said well it would not be true; if I said ill, I +should be surrounded with pitiful faces, which are not pleasant to look +at. After all we must endure life. Still, the innumerable doors in +these rooms will be the death of me if I am compelled to remain here +long." + +Titianus glanced at the two doors of the room in which the Empress was +sitting, and began to express his regrets at their bad condition, which +had escaped his notice; but Sabina interrupted him, saying: + +"You men never do observe what hurts us women. Our Verus is the only man +who can feel and understand--who can divine it, as I might say. There +are five and thirty doors in my rooms! I had them counted-five and +thirty! If they were not old and made of valuable wood I should really +believe they had been made as a practical joke on me." + +"Some of them might be supplemented with curtains." + +"Oh! never mind--a few miseries, more or less in any life do not matter. +Are the Alexandrians ready at last with their preparations?" + +"I am sure I hope so," said the prefect with a sigh. They are bent on +giving all that is their best; but in the endeavor to outvie each other +every one is at war with his neighbor, and I still feel the effects of +the odious wrangling which I have had to listen to for hours, and that I +have been obliged to check again and again with threats of 'I shall be +down upon you.'" + +"Indeed," said the Empress with a pinched smile, as if she had heard some +thing that pleased her. + +"Tell me something about your meeting. I am bored to death, for Verus, +Balbilla and the others have asked for leave of absence that they may go +to inspect the work doing at Lochias; I am accustomed to find that people +would rather be any where than with me. Can I wonder then that my +presence is not enough to enable a friend of my husband's to forget a +little annoyance--the impression left by some slight misunderstanding? +But my fugitives are a long time away; there must be a great deal that is +beautiful to be seen at Lochias." + +The prefect suppressed his annoyance and did not express his anxiety lest +the architect and his assistants should be disturbed, but began in the +tone of the messenger in a tragedy: + +"The first quarrel was fought over the order of the procession." + +"Sit a little farther off," said Sabina pressing her jewelled right-hand +on her ear, as if she were suffering a pain in it. The prefect colored +slightly, but he obeyed the desire of Caesar's wife and went on with his +story, pitching his voice in a somewhat lower key than before: + +"Well, it was about the procession, that the first breach of the peace +arose." + +"I have heard that once already," replied the lady, yawning. "I like +processions." + +"But," said the prefect, a man in the beginning of the sixties--and he +spoke with some irritation, "here as in Rome and every where else, where +they are not controlled by the absolute will of a single individual, +processions are the children of strife, and they bring forth strife, +even when they are planned in honor of a festival of Peace." + +"It seems to annoy you that they should be organized in honor of +Hadrian?" + +"You are in jest; it is precisely because I care particularly that they +should be carried out with all possible splendor, that I am troubling +myself about them in person, even as to details; and to my great +satisfaction I have been able even to subdue the most obstinate; +still it was scarcely my duty--" + +"I fancied that you not only served the state but were my husband's +friend." + +"I am proud to call myself so." + +"Aye--Hadrian has many, very many friends since he has worn the purple. +Have you got over your ill temper Titianus? You must have become very +touchy. Poor Julia has an irritable husband!" + +"She is less to be pitied than you think," said Titianus with dignity, +"for my official duties so entirely claim my time that she is not often +likely to know what disturbs me. If I have forgotten to dissimulate my +vexation before you, I beg you to pardon me, and to attribute it to my +zeal in securing a worthy reception for Hadrian." + +"As if I had scolded you! But to return to your wife--as I understand +she shares the fate I endure. We poor women have nothing to expect from +our husbands, but the stale leavings that remain after business has +absorbed the rest! But your story--go on with your story." + +"The worst moments I had at all were given me by the bad feeling of the +Jews towards the other citizens." + +"I hate all these infamous sects--Jews, Christians or whatever they are +called! Do they dare to grudge their money for the reception of Caesar?" + +"On the contrary Alabarchos, their wealthy chief, has offered to defray +all the cost of the Naumachia and his co-religionist Artemion." + +"Well, take their money, take their money." + +"The Greek citizens feel that they are rich enough to pay all the +expenses, which will amount to many millions of sesterces, and they wish +to exclude the Jews, if possible, from all the processions and games." + +"They are perfectly right." + +"But allow me to ask you whether it is just to prohibit half the +population of Alexandria doing honor to their Emperor!" + +"Oh! Hadrian will, with pleasure, dispense with the honor. Our +conquering heroes have thought it redounded to their glory to be called +Africanus, Germanicus and Dacianus, but Titus refused to be called +Judaicus when he had destroyed Jerusalem." + +"That was because he dreaded the remembrance of the rivers of blood which +had to be shed in order to break the fearfully obstinate resistance of +that nation. The besieged had to be conquered limb by limb, and finger +by finger, before they would make up their minds to yield." + +"Again you are speaking half poetically, or have these people elected you +as their advocate?" + +"I know them and make every effort to secure them justice, just as much +as any other citizen of this country which I govern in the name of the +Empire and of Caesar. They pay taxes as well as the rest of the +Alexandrians; nay more, for there are many wealthy men among them who +are honorably prominent in trade, in professions, learning and art, and +I therefore mete to them the same measure as to the other inhabitants of +this city. Their superstition offends me no more than that of the +Egyptians." + +"But it really is above all measure. At Aelia Capitolina which Hadrian +had decorated with several buildings, they refused to sacrifice to the +statues of Zeus and Hera. That is to say they scorn to do homage to me +and my husband!" + +"They are forbidden to worship any other divinity than their own God. +Aelia rose up on the very soil where their ruined Jerusalem had stood, +and the statues of which you speak stand in their holy places." + +"What has that to do with us?" + +"You know that even Caius--[Caligula]--could not reduce them by placing +his statue in the Holy of Holies of their temple; and Petronius, the +governor, had to confess that to subdue them meant to exterminate them." + +"Then let them meet with the fate they deserve, let them be +exterminated!" cried Sabina. + +"Exterminated?" asked the prefect. "In Alexandria they constitute +nearly half of the citizens, that is to say several hundred thousand of +obedient subjects, exterminated!" + +"So many?" asked the Empress in alarm." But that is frightful. +Omnipotent Jove! supposing that mass were to revolt against us! No one +ever told me of this danger. In Cyrenaica, and at Salamis in Cyprus, +they killed their fellow-citizens by thousands." + +"They had been provoked to extremities and they were superior to their +oppressors in force." + +"And in their own land one revolt after another is organized." + +"By reason of the sacrifices of which we were speaking." + +"Tinnius Rufus is at present the legate in Palestine. He has a horribly +shrill voice--but he looks like a man who will stand no trifling, and +will know how to quell the venomous brood." + +"Possibly" replied Titianus. "But I fear that he will never attain his +end by mere severity; and if he should he will have depopulated his +province." + +"There are already too many men in the empire." + +"But never enough good and useful citizens." + +"Outrageous contemners of the gods and useless citizens!" + +"Here in Alexandria, where many have accommodated themselves to Greek +habits of life and thought, and where all have adopted the Greek tongue, +they are undoubtedly good citizens, and wholly devoted to Caesar." + +"Do they take part in the rejoicings?" + +"Yes, as far as the Greek citizens will allow them." + +"And the arrangement of the water-fight?" + +"That will not be given over to them, but Artemion will be permitted to +supply the wild beasts for the games in the Amphitheatre." + +"And he was not avaricious about it?" + +"So far from it that you will be astonished. The man must know the +secret of Midas, of turning stones into gold." + +"And are there many like him among your Jews?" + +"A good number." + +"Then I wish that they would attempt a revolt, for if this led to the +destruction of the rich ones, their gold, at any rate, would remain." + +"Meanwhile I will try and keep them alive, as being good rate-payers." + +"And does Hadrian share your wish?" + +"Without doubt." + +"Your successor may perhaps bring him to another mind." + +"He always acts according to his own judgment, and for the present I am +in office," answered Titianus haughtily. + +"And may the God of the Jews long preserve you in it!" retorted Sabina +scornfully. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Before Titianus could open his lips to reply, the principal door of the +room was opened cautiously but widely, and the praetor Lucius Aurelius +Verus, his wife Domitia Lucilla, the young Balbilla and, last of all, +Annaeus Florus, the historian, entered. All four were in the best +spirits, and immediately after the preliminary greetings, were eager to +report what they had seen at Lochias; but Sabina waved silence with her +hand, and breathed out: + +"No, no; not at present. I feel quite exhausted. This long waiting, and +then--my smelling-bottle, Verus. Leukippe, bring me a cup of water with +some fruit-syrup--but not so sweet as usual." + +The Greek slave-girl hastened to execute this command, and the Empress, +as she waved an elegant bottle carved in onyx, under her nostrils, went +on: + +"It is a little eternity--is it not, Titianus, that we have been +discussing state affairs? You all know how frank I am and that I cannot +be silent when I meet with perverse opinions. While you have been away I +have had much to hear and to say; it would have exhausted the strength of +the strongest. I only wonder you don't find me more worn out, for what +can be more excruciating for a woman, that to be obliged to enter the +lists for manly decisiveness against a man who is defending a perfectly +antagonistic view? Give me water, Leukippe." + +While the Empress drank the syrup with tiny sips twitching her thin lips +over it, Verus went up to the prefect and asked him in an under tone: + +"You were a long while alone with Sabina, cousin?" + +Yes," replied Titianus, and he set his teeth as he spoke and clenched his +fist so hard that the praetor could not misunderstand, and replied in a +low voice: + +"She is much to be pitied, and particularly just now she has hours--" + +"What sort of hours?" asked Sabina taking the cup from her lips. + +"These," replied Verus quickly, "in which I am not obliged to occupy +myself in the senate or with the affairs of state. To whom do I owe them +but to you?" + +With these words he approached the mature beauty, and taking the goblet +out of her hand with affectionate subservience, as a son might wait on +his honored and suffering mother, he gave it to the Greek slave. The +Empress bowed her thanks again and again to the praetor with much +affability, and then said, with a slight infusion of cheerfulness +in her tones: + +"Well--and what is there to be seen at Lochias?" + +"Wonderful things," answered Balbilla readily and clasping her little +hands. + +"A swarm of bees, a colony of ants, have taken possession of the palace. +Hands black, white and brown--more than we could count, are busy there +and of all the hundreds of workmen which are astir there, not one got in +the way of another, for one little man orders and manages them all, just +as the prescient wisdom of the gods guides the stars through the +'gracious and merciful night' so that they may never push or run against +each other." + +"I must put in a word on behalf of Pontius the architect," interposed +Verus. "He is a man of at least average height." + +"Let us admit it to satisfy your sense of justice," returned Balbilla. +"Let us admit it--a man of average height, with a papyrus-roll in his +right-hand and a stylus in the left, controls them. Now, does my way of +stating it please you better?" + +"It can never displease me," answered the praetor. "Let Balbilla go on +with her story," commanded the Empress. + +"What we saw was chaos," continued the girl, "still in the confusion we +could divine the elements of an orderly creation in the future; nay, it +was even visible to the eye." + +"And not unfrequently stumbled over with the foot," laughed the praetor. +"If it had been dark, and if the laborers had been worms, we must have +trodden half of them to death--they swarmed so all over the pavement." + +"What were they doing?" + +"Every thing," answered Balbilla quickly. "Some were polishing damaged +pieces, others were laying new bits of mosaic in the empty places from +which it had formerly been removed, and skilled artists were painting +colored figures on smooth surfaces of plaster. Every pillar and every +statue was built round with a scaffolding reaching to the ceiling on +which men were climbing and crowding each other just as the sailors climb +into the enemy's ships in the Naumachia." + +The girl's pretty cheeks had flushed with her eager reminiscence of what +she had seen, and, as she spoke, moving her hands with expressive +gestures, the tall structure of curls which crowned her small head shook +from side to side. + +"Your description begins to be quite poetical," said the Empress, +interrupting her young companion. "Perhaps the Muse may even inspire you +with verse." + +"All the Pierides," said the praetor, "are represented at Lochias. We +saw eight of them, but the ninth, that patroness of the arts, who +protects the stargazer, the lofty Urania, has at present, in place of a +head--allow me to leave it to you to guess divine Sabina?" + +"Well--what?" + +"A wisp of straw." + +"Alas," sighed the Empress. "What do you say, Florus? Are there not +among your learned and verse spinning associates certain men who resemble +this Urania?" + +"At any rate," replied Florus, "we are more prudent than the goddess, for +we conceal the contents of our heads in the hard nut of the skull, and +under a more or less abundant thatch of hair. Urania displays her straw +openly." + +"That almost sounds," said Balbilla laughing and pointing to her abundant +locks, "as if I especially needed to conceal what is covered by my hair." + +"Even the Lesbian swan was called the fair-haired," replied Florus. + +"And you are our Sappho," said the praetor's wife, drawing the girl's arm +to her bosom. + +"Really! and will you not write in verse all that you have seen to-day?" +asked the Empress. + +Balbilla looked down on the ground a minute and then said brightly: "It +might inspire me, everything strange that I meet with prompts me to write +verse." + +"But follow the counsel of Apollonius the philologer," advised Florus. +"You are the Sappho of our day, and therefore you should write in the +ancient Aeolian dialect and not Attic Greek." Verus laughed, and the +Empress, who never was strongly moved to laughter, gave a short sharp +giggle, but Balbilla said eagerly: + +"Do you think that I could not acquire it and do so? To-morrow morning +I will begin to practise myself in the old Aeolian forms." + +"Let it alone," said Domitia Lucilla; "your simplest songs are always the +prettiest." + +"No one shall laugh at me!" declared Balbilla pertinaciously. "In a few +weeks I will know how to use the Aeolian dialect, for I can do anything +I am determined to do--anything, anything." + +"What a stubborn little head we have under our curls!" exclaimed the +Empress, raising a graciously threatening finger. + +"And what powers of apprehension," added Florus. + +"Her master in language and metre told me his best pupil was a woman of +noble family and a poetess besides--Balbilla in short." + +The girl colored at the words, and said with pleased excitement: + +"Are you flattering me or did Hephaestion really say that?" + +"Woe is me!" cried the praetor, "for Hephaestion was my master too, and +I am one of the masculine scholars beaten by Balbilla. But it is no news +to me, for the Alexandrian himself told me the same thing as Florus." + +"You follow Ovid and she Sappho," said Florus; "you write in Latin and +she in Greek. Do you still always carry Ovid's love-poems about with +you?" + +"Always," replied Verus, "as Alexander did his Homer." + +"And out of respect for his master your husband endeavors, by the grace +of Venus, to live like him," added Sabina, addressing herself to Domitia +Lucilla. + +The tall and handsome Roman lady only shrugged her shoulders slightly in +answer to this not very kindly-meant speech; but Verus said, while he +picked up Sabina's silken coverlet, and carefully spread it over her +knees: + +"My happiest fortune consists in this: that Venus Victrix favors me. But +we are not yet at the end of our story; our Lesbian swan met at Lochias +with another rare bird, an artist in statuary." + +"How long have the sculptors been reckoned among birds?" asked Sabina. +"At the utmost can they be compared to woodpeckers." + +"When they work in wood," laughed Verus. "Our artist, however, is an +assistant of Papias, and handles noble materials in the grand style. +On this occasion, however, he is building a statue out of a very queer +mixture of materials." + +"Verus may very well call our new acquaintance a bird," interrupted +Balbilla, "for as we approached the screen behind which he is working he +was whistling a tune with his lips, so pure and cheery, and loud, that it +rang through the empty hall above all the noise of the workmen. A +nightingale does not pipe more sweetly. We stood still to listen till +the merry fellow, who had no idea that we were by, was silent again; and +then hearing the architect's voice, he called to him over the screen. +'Now we must clap Urania's head on; I saw it clearly in my mind and would +have had it finished with a score of touches, but Papias said he had one +in the workshop. I am curious to see what sort of a sugarplum face, +turned out by the dozen, he will stick on my torso--which will please me, +at any rate, for a couple of days. Find me a good model for the bust of +the Sappho I am to restore. A thousand gadflies are buzzing in my brain +--I am so tremendously excited! What I am planning now will come to +something!'" + +Balbilla, as she spoke the last words, tried to mimic a man's deep voice, +and seeing the Empress smile she went on eagerly. + +"It all came out so fresh, from a heart full to bursting of happy +vigorous creative joy, that it quite fired me, and we all went up to the +screen and begged the sculptor to let us see his work." + +"And you found?" asked Sabina. + +"He positively refused to let us into his retreat," replied the praetor; +"but Balbilla coaxed the permission out of him, and the tall young fellow +seems to have really learnt something. The fall of the drapery that +covers the Muse's figure is perfectly thought out with reference to +possibility--rich, broadly handled, and at the same time of surprising +delicacy. Urania has drawn her mantle closely round her, as if to +protect herself from the keen night-air while gazing at the stars. When +he has finished his Muse, he is to repair some mutilated busts of women; +he was fixing the head of a finished Berenice to-day, and I proposed to +him to take Balbilla as the model for his Sappho." + +"A good idea" said the Empress. "If the bust is successful I will take +him with me to Rome." + +"I will sit to him with pleasure," said the girl. "The bright young +fellow took my fancy." + +"And Balbilla his," added the praetor's wife; he gazed at her as a +marvel, and she promised him that, with your permission, she would +place her face at his disposal for three hours to-morrow." + +"He begins with the head," interposed Verus. "What a happy man is an +artist such as he! He may turn about her head, or lay her peplum in +folds without reproof or repulse, and to-day when we had to get past bogs +of plaster, and lakes of wet paint, she scarcely picked up the hem of her +dress, and never once allowed me--who would so willingly have supported +her--to lift her over the worst places." + +Balbilla reddened and said angrily: + +"Really Verus, in good earnest, I will not allow you to speak to me in +that way, so now you know it once for all; I have so little liking for +what is not clean that I find it quite easy to avoid it without +assistance." + +"You are too severe," interrupted the Empress with a hideous smile. +"Do not you think Domitia Lucilla, that she ought to allow your husband +to be of service to her?" + +"If the Empress thinks it right and fitting," replied the lady raising +her shoulders, and with an expressive movement of her hands. Sabina +quite took her meaning, and suppressing another yawn she said angrily: + +"In these days we must be indulgent toward a husband who has chosen +Ovid's amatory poems as his faithful companion. What is the matter +Titianus?" + +While Balbilla had been relating her meeting with the sculptor Pollux, a +chamberlain had brought in to the prefect an important letter, admitting +of no delay. The state official had withdrawn to the farther side of the +room with it, had broken the strong seal and had just finished reading +it, when the Empress asked her question. + +Nothing of what went on around her escaped Sabina's little eyes, and she +had observed that while the governor was considering the document +addressed to him he had moved uneasily. It must contain something of +importance. + +"An urgent letter," replied Titianus, "calls me home. I must take my +leave, and I hope ere long to be able to communicate to you something +agreeable." + +"What does that letter contain?" + +"Important news from the provinces," said Titianus. + +"May I inquire what?" + +"I grieve to say that I must answer in the negative. The Emperor +expressly desired that this matter should be kept secret. Its settlement +demands the promptest haste, and I am therefore unfortunately obliged to +quit you immediately." + +Sabina returned the prefect's parting salutations with icy coldness and +immediately desired to be conducted to her private rooms to dress herself +for supper. + +Balbilla escorted her, and Florus betook himself to the "Olympian table," +the famous eating-house kept by Lycortas, of whom he had been told +wonders by the epicures at Rome. + +When Verus was alone with his wife he went up in a friendly manner and +said: + +"May I drive you home again?" + +Domitia Lucilla had thrown herself on a couch, and covered her face with +her hands, and she made no reply. "May I?" repeated the praetor. As +his wife persisted in her silence, he went nearer to her, laid his hand +on her slender fingers that concealed her face, and said: + +"I believe you are angry with me!" She pushed away his hand, with a +slight movement, and said: "Leave me." + +"Yes, unfortunately I must leave you. Business takes me into the city +and I will--" + +"You will let the young Alexandrians, with whom you revelled through the +night, introduce you to new fair ones--I know it." + +"There are in fact women here of incredible charm," replied Verus quite +coolly. White, brown, copper-colored, black--and all delightful in their +way. I could never be tired of admiring them." + +"And your wife?" asked Lucilla, facing him, sternly. "My wife? yes, my +fairest. Wife is a solemn title of honor and has nothing to do with the +joys of life. How could I mention your name in the same hour with those +of the poor children who help me to beguile an idle hour." + +Domitia Lucilla was used to such phrases, and yet on this occasion they +gave her a pang. But she concealed it, and crossing her arms she said +resolutely and with dignity: + +"Go your way--through life with your Ovid, and your gods of love, but do +not attempt to crush innocence under the wheels of your chariot." + +"Balbilla do you mean," asked the praetor with a loud laugh. "She knows +how to take care of herself and has too much spirit to let herself get +entangled in erotics. The little son of Venus has nothing to say to two +people who are such good friends as she and I are." + +"May I believe you?" + +"My word for it, I ask nothing of her but a kind word," cried he, frankly +offering his hand to his wife. Lucilla only touched it lightly with her +fingers and said: + +"Send me back to Rome. I have an unutterable longing to see my children, +particularly the boys." + +"It cannot be," said Verus. "Not at present; but in a few weeks, I +hope." + +"Why not sooner?" + +"Do not ask me." + +"A mother may surely wish to know why she is separated from her baby in +the cradle." + +"That cradle is at present in your mother's house, and she is taking care +of our little ones. Have patience, a little longer for that which I am +striving after, for you, and for me, and not last, for our son, is so +great, so stupendously great and difficult that it might well outweigh +years of longing." + +Verus spoke the last words in a low tone, but with a dignity which +characterized him only in decisive moments, but his wife, even before he +had done speaking, clasped his right-hand in both of hers and said in a +low frightened voice: + +"You aim at the purple?" He nodded assent. + +"That is what it means then!" + +"What?" + +"Sabina and you--" + +"Not on that account only; she is hard and sharp to others, but to me she +has shown nothing but kindness, ever since I was a boy." + +"She hates me." + +"Patience, Lucilla; patience! The day is coming when the daughter of +Nigrinus, the wife of Caesar, and the former Empress--but I will not +finish. I am, as you know, warmly attached to Sabina, and sincerely wish +the Emperor a long life." + +"And he will adopt." + +"Hush!--he is thinking of it, and his wife wishes It." + +"Is it likely to happen soon?" + +"Who can tell at this moment what Caesar may decide on in the very next +hour. But probably his decision may be made on the thirtieth of +December." + +"Your birthday." + +"He asked what day it was, and he is certainly casting my horoscope, for +the night when my mother bore me--" + +"The stars then are to seal our fate?" + +"Not they alone. Hadrian must also be inclined to read them in my +favor." + +"How can I be of use to you?" + +"Show yourself what you really are in your intercourse with the Emperor" + +"I thank you for those words--and I beg you do not provoke me any more. +If it might yet be something more than a mere post of honor to be the +wife of Verus, I would not ask for the new dignity of becoming wife to +Caesar." + +"I will not go into the town to-day; I will stay with you. Now are you +happy?" + +"Yes, yes," cried she, and she raised her arm to throw it round her +husband's neck, but he held her aside and whispered: + +"That will do. The idyllic is out of place in the race for the purple." + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Titianus had ordered his charioteer to drive at once to Lochias. The +road led past the prefect's palace, his residence on the Bruchiom, and he +paused there; for the letter which lay hidden in the folds of his toga, +contained news, which, within a few hours, might put him under the +necessity of not returning home till the following morning. Without +allowing himself to be detained by the officials, subalterns, or lictors, +who were awaiting his return to make communications, or to receive his +orders, he went straight through the ante-room and the large public rooms +for men, to find his wife in the women's apartments which looked upon the +garden. He met her at the door of her room, for she had heard his step +approaching and came out to receive him. + +"I was not mistaken," said the matron with sincere pleasure. "How +pleasant that you have been released so early to-day. I did not expect +you till supper was over." + +"I have come only to go again," replied Titianus, entering his wife's +room. "Have some bread brought to me and a cup of mixed wine; why-- +really! here stands all I want ready as if I had ordered it. You are +right, I was with Sabina a shorter time than usual; but she exerted +herself in that short time to utter as many sour words as if we had been +talking for half a day. And in five minutes I must quit you again, till +when?--the gods alone know when I shall return. It is hard even to speak +the words, but all our trouble and care, and all poor Pontius' zeal and +pains-taking labor are in vain." + +As he spoke the prefect threw himself on a couch; his wife handed him the +refreshment he had asked for, and said, as she passed her hand over his +grey hair: + +"Poor man! Has Hadrian then determined after all to inhabit the +Caesareum?" + +"No. Leave us, Syra--you shall see directly. Please read me Caesar's +letter once more. Here it is." Julia unfolded the papyrus, which was of +elegant quality, and began: + +"Hadrian to his friend Titianus, the Governor of Egypt. The deepest +secrecy--Hadrian greets Titianus, as he has so often done for years at +the beginning of disagreeable business letters, and only with half his +heart. But to-morrow he hopes to greet the dear friend of his youth, his +prudent vicegerent, not merely with his whole soul, but with hand and +tongue. And "now to be more explicit, as follows: I come to-morrow +morning, the fifteenth of December, towards evening, to Alexandria, with +none but Antinous, the slave Mastor, and my private secretary, Phlegon. +We land at Lochias, in the little harbor, and you will know my ship by a +large silver star at the prow. If night should fall before I arrive +there, three red lanterns at the end of the mast shall inform you of the +friend that is approaching. I have sent home the learned and witty men +whom you sent to meet me, in order to detain me, and gain time for the +restoration of the old nest in which I had a fancy to roost with +Minerva's birds--which have not, I hope, all been driven out of it--in +order that Sabina and her following may not lack entertainment, nor the +famous gentlemen themselves be unnecessarily disturbed in their labors. +I need them not. If perchance it was not you who sent them, I ask your +pardon. An error in this matter would certainly involve some +humiliation, for it is easier to explain what has happened than to +foresee what is to come. Or is the reverse the truth? I will indemnify +the learned men for their useless journey by disputing this question with +them and their associates in the Museum. The rapid movement to which the +philologer was prompted on my account will prolong his existence; he +bristles with learning at the tip of every hair, and he sits still more +than is good for him. + +"We shall arrive in modest disguise and will sleep at Lochias; you know +that I have rested more than once on the bare earth, and, if need be, can +sleep as well on a mat as on a couch. My pillow follows at my heels--my +big dog, which you know; and some little room, where I can meditate +undisturbed on my designs for next year, can no doubt be found. + +"I entreat you to keep my secret strictly. To none--man nor woman--and +I beseech you as urgently as friend or Caesar ever besought a favor--let +the least suspicion of my arrival be known. Nor must the smallest +preparation betray whom it is you receive. I cannot command so dear a +friend as Titianus, but I appeal to his heart to carry out my wishes. + +"I rejoice to see you again; what delight I shall find in the whirl of +confusion that I hope to find at Lochias. You shall take me to see the +artists, who are, no doubt, swarming in the old castle, as the architect +Claudius Venator from Rome, who is to assist Pontius with his advice. +But this Pontius, who carried out such fine works for Herodes Atticus, +the rich Sophist, met me at his house, and will certainly recognize me. +Tell him, therefore, what I propose doing. He is a serious and +trustworthy man, not a chatterbox or scatter-brained simpleton who loses +his head. Thus you may take him into the secret, but not till my vessel +is in sight. May all be well with you." + +"Well, what do you say to that?" asked Titianus, taking the letter from +his wife's hand. "Is it not more than vexatious--our work was going on +so splendidly." + +"But," said Julia thoughtfully and with a meaning smile. "Perhaps it +might not have been finished in time. As matters now stand it need not +be complete, and Hadrian will see the good intention all the same. I am +glad about the letter, for it takes a great responsibility off your +otherwise overloaded shoulders." + +"You always see the right side," cried the prefect. "It is well that I +came home, for I can await Caesar with a much lighter heart. Let me lock +up the letter, and then farewell. This parting is for some hours from +you, and from all peace for many days." + +Titianus gave her his hand. She held it firmly and said: + +"Before you go I must confess to you that I am very proud." + +"You have every right to be." + +"But you have not said a word to me about keeping silence." + +"Because you have kept other tests--still, to be sure, you are a woman, +and a very handsome one besides." + +"An old grandmother, with grey hair!" + +"And still more upright and more charming than a thousand of the most +admired younger beauties." + +"You are trying to convert my pride into vanity, in my old age." + +"No, no! I was only looking at you with an examining eye, as our talk +led me to do, and I remembered that Sabina had lamented that handsome +Julia was not looking well. But where is there another woman of your age +with such a carriage, such unwrinkled features, so clear a brow, such +deep kind eyes, such beautifully-polished arms--" + +"Be quiet," exclaimed his wife. "You make me blush." + +"And may I not be proud that a grandmother, who is a Roman, as my wife +is, can find it so easy to blush? You are quite different from other +women." + +"Because you are different from other men." + +"You are a flatterer; since all our children have left us, it is as if we +were newly married again." + +"Ah! the apple of discord is removed." + +"It is always over what he loves best that man is most prompt to be +jealous. But now, once more, farewell." + +Titianus kissed his wife's forehead and hurried towards the door; Julia +called him back and said: + +"One thing at any rate we can do for Caesar. I send food every day down +to the architect at Lochias, and to-day there shall be three times the +quantity." + +"Good; do so." + +"Farewell, then." + +"And we shall meet again, when it shall please the gods and the Emperor." + + ........................ + +When the prefect reached the appointed spot, no vessel with a silver star +was to be seen. + +The sun went down and no ship with three red lanterns was visible. + +The harbor-master, into whose house Titianus went, was told that he +expected a great architect from Rome, who was to assist Pontius with his +counsel in the works at Lochias, and he thought it quite intelligible +that the governor should do a strange artist the honor of coming to meet +him; for the whole city was well aware of the incredible haste and the +lavish outlay of means that were being given to the restoration of the +ancient palace of the Ptolemies as a residence for the Emperor. + +While he was waiting, Titianus remembered the young sculptor Pollux, +whose acquaintance he had made, and his mother in the pretty little gate- +house. Well disposed towards them as he felt, he sent at once to old +Doris, desiring her not to retire to rest early that evening, since he, +the prefect, would be going late to Lochias. + +"Tell her, too, as from yourself and not from me," Titianus instructed +the messenger, "that I may very likely look in upon her. She may light +up her little room and keep it in order." + +No one at Lochias had the slightest suspicion of the honor which awaited +the old palace. + +After Verus had quitted it with his wife and Balbilla, and when he had +again been at work for about an hour the sculptor Pollux came out of his +nook, stretching himself, and called out to Pontius, who was standing on +a scaffold: + +"I must either rest or begin upon something new. One cures me of fatigue +as much as the other. Do you find it so?" + +"Yes, just as you do," replied the architect, as he continued to direct +the work of the slave-masons, who were fixing a new Corinthian capital in +the place of an old one which had been broken. + +"Do not disturb yourself," Pollux cried up to him. "I only request you +to tell my master Papias when he comes here with Gabinius, the dealer in +antiquities, that he will find me at the rotunda that you inspected with +me yesterday. I am going to put the head on to the Berenice; my +apprentice must long since have completed his preparations; but the +rascal came into the world with two left-hands, and as he squints with +one eye everything that is straight looks crooked to him, and--according +to the law of optics--the oblique looks straight. At any rate, he drove +the peg which is to support the new head askew into the neck, and as no +historian has recorded that Berenice ever had her neck on one side, like +the old color-grinder there, I must see to its being straight myself. In +about half an hour, as I calculate, the worthy Queen will no longer be +one of the headless women." + +"Where did you get the new head?" asked Pontius. "From the secret +archives of my memory," replied Pollux. "Have you seen it?" + +"Yes." + +"And do you like it?" + +"Very much." + +"Then it is worthy to live," sang the sculptor, and, as he quitted the +hall, he waved his left-hand to the architect, and with his right-hand +stuck a pink, which he had picked in the morning, behind his ear. + +At the rotunda his pupil had done his business better than his master +could have expected, but Pollux was by no means satisfied with his own +arrangements. His work, like several others standing on the same side of +the platform, turned its back on the steward's balcony, and the only +reason why he had parted with the portrait of Selene's mother, of which +he was so fond, was that his playfellow might gaze at the face whenever +she chose. He found, however, to his satisfaction, that the busts were +held in their places on their tall pedestals only by their own weight, +and he then resolved to alter the historical order of the portrait-heads +by changing their places, and to let the famous Cleopatra turn her back +upon the palace, so that his favorite bust might look towards it. + +In order to carry out this purpose then and there, he called some slaves +up to help him in the alteration. This gave rise, more than once, to a +warning cry, and the loud talking and ordering on this spot, for so many +years left solitary and silent, attracted an inquirer, who, soon after +the apprentice had begun his work, had shown herself on the balcony, but +who had soon retreated after casting a glance at the dirty lad, splashed +from head to foot with plaster. This time, however, she remained to +watch, following every movement of Pollux as he directed the slaves; +though, all the time and whatever he was doing, he turned his back upon +her. + +At last the portrait-head had found its right position, shrouded still in +a cloth to preserve it from the marks of workmen's hands. With a deep +breath the artist turned full on the steward's house, and immediately a +clear merry voice called out: + +"What, tall Pollux! It really is tall Pollux; how glad I am!" + +With these words the girl on the balcony loudly clapped her hands; and as +the sculptor hailed her in return, and shouted: + +"And you are little Arsinoe, eternal gods! What the little thing has +come to!" She stood on tip-toe to seem taller, nodded at him pleasantly, +and laughed out: "I have not done growing yet; but as for you, you look +quite dignified with the beard on your chin, and your eagle's nose. +Selene did not tell me till to-day that you were living down there with +the others." + +The artist's eyes were fixed on the girl, as if spellbound. There are +poetic natures in which the imagination immediately transmutes every new +thing that strikes the eyes or the intelligence, into a romance, or +rapidly embodies it in verse; and Pollux, like many of his calling, could +never set his eyes on a fine human form and face, without instantly +associating them with his art. + +"A Galatea--a Galatea without an equal!" thought he, as he stood with his +eyes fixed on Arsinoe's face and figure. "Just as if she had this +instant risen from the sea--that form is just as fresh, and joyous, and +healthy; and her little curls wave back from her brow as if they were +still floating on the water; and now as she stoops, how full and supple +in every movement. It is like a daughter of Nereus following the line of +the as the waves as they rise into crests and dip again into watery +valleys. She is like Selene and her mother in the shape of her head and +the Greek cut of her face, but the elder sister is like the statue of +Prometheus before it had a soul, and Arsinoe is like the Master's work +after the celestial fire coursed through her veins." + +The artist had felt and thought all this out in a few seconds, but the +girl found her speechless admirer's silence too long, and exclaimed +impatiently: + +"You have not yet offered me any proper greeting. What are you doing +down there?" + +"Look here," he replied, lifting the cloth from the portrait, which was a +striking likeness. + +Arsinoe leaned far over the parapet of the balcony, shaded her eyes with +her hand and was silent for more than a minute. Then she suddenly cried +out loudly and exclaiming: + +"Mother--it is my mother!" She flew into the room behind her. + +"Now she will call her father and destroy all poor Selene's comfort," +thought Pollux, as he pushed the heavy marble bust on which his gypsum +head was fixed, into its right place. + +"Well, let him come. We are the masters here now, and Keraunus dare not +touch the Emperor's property." He crossed his arms and stood gazing at +the bust, muttering to himself: + +"Patchwork--miserable patchwork. We are cobbling up a robe for the +Emperor out of mere rags; we are upholsterers and not artists. If it +were only for Hadrian, and not for Diotima and her children, not another +finger would I stir in the place." + +The path from the steward's residence led through some passages and up a +few steps to the rotunda, on which the sculptor was standing, but in +little more than a minute from Arsinoe's disappearance from the balcony +she was by his side. With a heightened color she pushed the sculptor +away from his work and put herself in the place where he had been +standing, to be able to gaze at her leisure at the beloved features. +Then she exclaimed again: + +"It is mother--mother!" and the bright tears ran over her cheeks, without +restraint from the presence of the artist, or the laborers and slaves +whom she had flown past on her way, and who stared at her with as much +alarm as if she were possessed. + +Pollux did not disturb her. His heart was softened as he watched the +tears running down the cheeks of this light-hearted child, and he could +not help reflecting that goodness was indeed well rewarded when it could +win such tender and enduring love as was cherished for the poor dead +mother on the pedestal before him. + +After looking for some time at the sculptor's work Arsinoe grew calmer, +and turning to Pollux she asked: + +"Did you make it?" + +"Yes," he replied, looking down. + +"And entirely from memory?" + +"To be sure." + +"Do you know what?" + +"Well." + +"This shows that the Sibyl at the festival of Adonis was right when she +sang in the Jalemus that the gods did half the work of the artist." + +"Arsinoe!" cried Pollux, for her words made him feel as if a hot spring +were seething in his heart, and he gratefully seized her hand; but she +drew it away, for her sister Selene had come out on the balcony and was +calling her. + +It was for his elder playfellow and not for Arsinoe that Pollux had set +his work in this place, but, just now, her gaze fell like a disturbing +chill on his excited mood. + +"There stands your mother's portrait," he called up to the balcony in an +explanatory tone, pointing to the bust. + +"I see it," she replied coldly. "I will look at it presently more +closely. Come up Arsinoe, father wants to speak to you." + +Again Pollux stood alone. + +As Selene withdrew into the room, she gently shook her pale head, and +said to herself: + +"'It was to be for me,' Pollux said; something for me, for once--and even +this pleasure is spoilt." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The palace-steward, to whom Selene had called up his younger daughter, +had just returned from the meeting of the citizens; and his old black +slave, who always accompanied him when he went out, took the saffron- +colored pallium from his shoulders, and from his head the golden circlet, +with which he loved to crown his curled hair when he quitted the house. +Keraunus still looked heated, his eyes seemed more prominent than usual +and large drops of sweat stood upon his brow, when his daughter entered +the room where he was. He absently responded to Arsinoe's affectionate +greeting with a few unmeaning words, and before making the important +communication he had to disclose to his daughters, he walked up and down +before them for some time, puffing out his fat cheeks and crossing his +arms. Selene was alarmed, and Arsinoe had long been out of patience, +when at last he began: + +"Have you heard of the festivals which are to be held in Caesar's honor?" + +Selene nodded and her sister exclaimed: + +"Of course we have! Have you secured places for us on the seats kept for +the town council?" + +"Do not interrupt me," the steward crossly ordered his daughter. "There +is no question of staring at them. All the citizens are required to +allow their daughters to take part in the grand things that are to be +carried out, and we all were asked how many girls we had." + +"And how are we to take part in the show?" cried Arsinoe, joyfully +clapping her hands. + +"I wanted to withdraw before the summons was proclaimed, but Tryphon, the +shipwright, who has a workshop down by the King's Harbor, held me back +and called out to the assembly that his sons said that I had two pretty +young daughters. Pray how did he know that?" + +With these words the steward lifted his grey brows and his face grew red +to the roots of his hair. Selene shrugged her shoulders, but Arsinoe +said: + +"Tryphon's shipyard lies just below and we often pass it; but we do not +know him or his sons. Have you ever seen them Selene? At any rate it is +polite of him to speak of us as pretty." + +"Nobody need trouble themselves about your appearance unless they want to +ask my permission to marry you," replied the steward with a growl. + +"And what did you say to Tryphon?" asked Selene. + +"I did as I was obliged. Your father is steward of a palace which at +present belongs to Rome and the Emperor; hence I must receive Hadrian as +a guest in this, the dwelling of my fathers, and therefore I, less than +any other citizen--cannot withhold my share in the honors which the city +council has decreed shall be paid to him." + +"Then we really may," said Arsinoe, and she went up to her father to give +him a coaxing pat. But Keraunus was not in the humor to accept caresses; +he pushed her aside with an angry: "Leave me alone," and then went on: + +"If Hadrian were to ask me 'Where are your daughters on the occasion of +the festival?' and if I had to reply, 'They were not among the daughters +of the noble citizens,' it would be an insult to Caesar, to whom in fact +I feel very well disposed. All this I had to consider, and I gave your +names and promised to send you to the great Theatre to the assembly of +young girls. There you will be met by the noblest matrons and maidens of +the city, and the first painters and sculptors will decide to what part +of the performance your air and appearance are best fitted." + +"But, father," cried Selene, "we cannot show ourselves in such an +assembly in our common garments, and where are we to find the money to +buy new ones?" + +"We can quite well show ourselves by any other girls, in clean, white +woollen dresses, prettily smartened with fresh ribbons," declared +Arsinoe, interposing between her father and her sister. + +"It is not that which troubles me," replied the steward; "it is the +costumes, the costumes! It is only the daughters of the poorer citizens +who will be paid by the council, and it would be a disgrace to be +numbered among the poor--you understand me, children." + +"I will not take part in the procession," said Selene resolutely, but +Arsinoe interrupted her. + +"It is inconvenient and horrible to be poor, but it certainly is no +disgrace! The most powerful Romans of ancient times, regarded it as +honorable to die poor. Our Macedonian descent remains to us even if the +state should pay for our costumes." + +"Silence," cried the steward. "This is not the first time that I have +detected this low vein of feeling in you. Even the noble may submit to +the misfortunes entailed by poverty, but the advantages it brings with it +he can never enjoy unless he resigns himself to being so no longer." + +It had cost the steward much trouble to give due expression to this idea, +which he did not recollect to have heard from another, which seemed new +to him, and which nevertheless fully represented what he felt; and he +slowly sank, with all the signs of exhaustion, into a couch which formed +a divan round a side recess in the spacious sitting-room. + +In this room Cleopatra might have held with Antony those banquets of +which the unequalled elegance and refinement had been enhanced by every +grace of art and wit. On the very spot where Keraunus now reclined the +dining-couch of the famous lovers had probably stood; for, though the +whole hall had a carefully-laid pavement, in this recess there was a +mosaic of stones of various colors of such beauty and delicacy of finish +that Keraunus had always forbidden his children to step upon it. This, +it is true, was less out of regard for the fine work of art than because +his father had always prohibited his doing so, and his father again +before him. The picture represented the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, +and the divan only covered the outer border of the picture, which was +decorated with graceful little Cupids. + +Keraunus desired his daughter to fetch him a cup of wine, but she mixed +the juice of the grape with a judicious measure of water. After he had +half drunk the diluted contents of the goblet, with many faces of +disgust, he said: + +"Would you like to know what each of your dresses will cost if it is to +be in no respect inferior to those of the others?" + +"Well," said Arsinoe anxiously. + +"About seven hundred drachmae;--[$115 in 1880]--Philinus, the tailor, who +is working for the theatre, tells me it will be impossible to do anything +well for less." + +"And you are really thinking of such insane extravagance," cried Selene. +"We have no money, and I should like to know the man who would lend us +any more." + +The steward's younger daughter looked doubtfully at the tips of her +fingers and was silent, but her eyes swimming in tears betrayed what she +felt. Keraunus was rejoiced at the silent consent which Arsinoe seemed +to accord to his desire to let her take part in the display at whatever +cost. He forgot that he had just reproached her for her low sentiments, +and said: + +"The little one always feels what is right. As for you, Selene, I beg +you to reflect seriously that I am your father, and that I forbid you to +use this admonishing tone to me; you have accustomed yourself to it with +the children and to them you may continue to use it. Fourteen hundred +drachmae certainly, at the first thought of it, seems a very large sum, +but if the material and the trimming required are bought with judgment, +after the festival we may very likely sell it back to the man with +profit." + +"With profit!" cried Selene bitterly, "not half is to be got for old +things-not a quarter! And even if you turn me out of the house--I will +not help to drag us into deeper wretchedness; I will take no part in the +performances." + +The steward did not redden this time, he was not even violent; on the +contrary, he simply raised his head and compared his daughters as they +stood--not without an infusion of satisfaction. He was accustomed to +love his daughters in his own way, Selene as the useful one, and Arsinoe +as the beauty; and as on this occasion all he cared for was to satisfy +his vanity, and as this end could be attained through his younger +daughter alone, he said: + +"Stay with the children then, for all I care. We will excuse you on the +score of weak health, and certainly, child, you do look extremely pale. +I would far rather find the means for the little one only." + +Two sweet dimples again began to show in Arsinoe's cheeks, but Selene's +lips were as white as her bloodless cheeks as she exclaimed: + +"But, father--father! neither the baker nor the butcher has had a coin +paid him for the last two months, and you will squander seven hundred +drachmae!" + +"Squander!" cried Keraunus indignantly, but still in a tone of disgust +rather than anger. "I have already forbidden you to speak to me in that +way. The richest of our noble youths will take part in the games; +Arsinoe is handsome and perhaps one of them may choose her for his wife. +And do you call it squandering, when a father does his utmost to find a +suitable husband for his daughter. After all, what do you know of what +I may possess?" + +"We have nothing, so I cannot know of it," cried the girl beside herself. + +"Indeed!" drawled Keraunus with an embarrassed smile. "And is that +nothing which lies in the cup board there, and stands on the cornice +shelf? For your sakes I will part with these--the onyx fibula, the +rings, the golden chaplet, and the girdle of course." + +"They are of mere silver-gilt!" Selene interrupted, ruthlessly. +"All my grandfather's real gold you parted with when my mother died." + +She had to be cremated and buried as was due to our rank," answered +Keraunus; "but I will not think now of those melancholy days." + +"Nay, do think of them, father." + +"Silence! All that belongs to my own adornment of course I cannot do +without, for I must be prepared to meet Caesar in a dress befitting my +rank; but the little bronze Eros there must be worth something, +Plutarch's ivory cup, which is beautifully carved, and above all, that +picture; its former possessor was convinced that it had been painted by +Apelles himself herein Alexandria. You shall know at once what these +little things are worth, for, as the gods vouchsafed, on my way home I +met, here in the palace, Gabinius of Nicaea, the dealer in such objects. +He promised me that when he had done his business with the architect he +would come to me to inspect my treasures, and to pay money down for +anything that might suit him. If my Apelles pleases him, he will give +ten talents for that alone, and if he buys it for only the half or even +the tenth of that sum, I will make you enjoy yourself for once, Selene." + +"We will see," said the pale girl, shrugging her shoulders, and her +sister exclaimed: + +"Show him the sword too, that you always declared belonged to Caesar, and +if he gives you a good sum for it you will buy me a gold bracelet." + +"And Selene shall have one, too. But I have the very slenderest +hopes of the sword, for a connoisseur would hardly pronounce it genuine. +But I have other things, many others. Hark! that is Gabinius, no doubt. +Quick, Selene, throw the chiton round me again. My chaplet, Arsinoe. +A well-to-do man always gets a higher price than a poor one. I have +ordered the slave to await him in the ante-room; it is always done in +the best houses." + +The curiosity dealer was a small, lean man, who, by prudence and good +luck, had raised himself to be one of the most esteemed of his class and +a rich man. Having matured his knowledge by industry, and experience, he +knew better than any man how to distinguish what was good from what was +indifferent or bad, what was genuine from what was spurious. No one had +a keener eye; but he was abrupt in his dealings with those from whom he +had nothing to gain. In circumstances where there was profit in view, he +could, to be sure, be polite even to subservience and show inexhaustible +patience. He commanded himself so far as to listen with an air of +conviction to the steward as he told him in a condescending tone that he +was tired of his little possessions, that he could just as well keep them +as part with them; he merely wanted to show them to him as a connoisseur +and would only part with them if a good round sum were offered for what +was in fact idle capital. One piece after another passed through the +dealer's slender fingers, or was placed before him that be might +contemplate it; but the man spoke not, and only shook his head as he +examined every fresh object. And when Keraunus told him whence this or +that specimen of his treasures had been obtained, he only murmured-- +"Indeed" or "Really," + +"Do you think so?" After the last piece of property had passed through +his hands, the steward asked: + +"Well, what do you think of them?" + +The beginning of the sentence was spoken confidently, the end almost in +fear, for the dealer only smiled and shook his head again before he said: + +"There are some genuine little things among them, but nothing worth +speaking of. I advise you to keep them, because you have an affection +for them, while I could get very little by them." + +Keraunus avoided looking towards Selene, whose large eyes, full of dread, +had been fixed on the dealer's lips; but Arsinoe, who had followed his +movements with no less attention, was less easily discouraged, and +pointing to her father's Apelles, she said: And that picture, is that +worth nothing?" + +"It grieves me that I cannot tell so fair a damsel that it is inestimably +valuable," said the dealer, stroking his gray whiskers. "But we have +here only a very feeble copy. The original is in the Villa belonging to +Phinius on the Lake of Larius, and which he calls Cothurnus. I have no +use whatever for this piece." + +"And this carved cup?" asked Keraunus. "It came from among the +possessions of Plutarch, as I can prove, and it is said to have been the +gift of the Emperor Trajan." + +"It is the prettiest thing in your collection," replied Gabinius; "but it +is amply paid for with four hundred drachmae." + +"And this cylinder from Cyprus, with the elegant incised work?" The +steward was about to take up the polished crystal, but his hand was +trembling with agitation and pushed instead of lifting it from the table. +It rolled away on the floor and across the smooth mosaic picture as far +as the couches. Keraunus was about to stoop to pick it up, but his +daughters both held him back, and Selene cried out: + +"Father, you must not; the physician strictly forbade it." + +While the steward pushed the girls away grumbling, the dealer had gone +down on his knees to pick up the cylinder, but it seemed to cost the +slightly-built man much less effort to stoop than to get up again, for +some minutes had elapsed before he once more stood on his feet, in front +of Keraunus. His countenance had put on an expression of eager +attention, and he once more took up the painting attributed to Apelles, +sat down with it on the couch, and appeared wholly absorbed in the +contemplation of the picture, which hid his face from the bystanders. + +But his eye was not resting on the work before him, but on the marriage- +scene at his feet, in which he detected each moment some fresh and unique +beauty. As the dealer sat there for some minutes with the little picture +on his knee, the steward's face brightened, Selene drew a deep breath, +and Arsinoe went up to her father to cling to his arm and whisper in his +ear: + +"Do not let him have the Apelles cheap--remember my bracelet." + +Gabinius now rose, glanced at the various objects lying on the table and +said in a much shorter and more business-like tone than before: + +"For all these things I can give you--wait a minute--twenty-seventy-four +hundred--four hundred and fifty--I can give you six hundred and fifty +drachmae, not a sesterce more!" + +"You are joking," cried Keraunus. + +"Not a sesterce more," answered the other coldly. "I do not want to make +anything, but you as a business man will understand that I do not wish to +buy with a certain prospect of loss. As regards the Apelles--" + +"Well?" + +"It may be of some value to me, but only under certain conditions. The +case is quite different as regards buying pictures. Your two young +damsels know of course that my line of business leads me to admire and +value all that is beautiful, but still I must request you to leave me +alone with your father for a little while. I want to speak with him +about this curious painting." Keraunus signed to his daughters, who +immediately left the room. Before the door was closed upon them the +dealer called after them: + +"It is already growing dark, might I ask you to send me as bright a light +as possible by one of your slaves." + +"What about the picture?" asked Keraunus. + +"Till the light is brought let us talk of something else," said Gabinius. + +"Then take a seat on the couch," said Keraunus. "You will be doing me a +pleasure and perhaps yourself as well." + +As soon as the two men were seated on the divan, Gabinius began: + +"Those little things which we have collected with particular liking, we +do not readily part with--that I know by long experience. Many a man who +has come into some property after he has sold all his little antiquities +has offered me ten times the price I have paid him to get them back +again, generally in vain, unfortunately. Now, what is true of others is +true of you, and if you had not been in immediate need of money you would +hardly have offered me these things." + +"I must entreat you," began the steward, but the dealer interrupted him, +saying: + +"Even the richest are sometimes in want of ready money; no one knows that +better than I, for I--I must confess--have large means at my command. +Just at present it would be particularly easy for me to free you from all +embarrassment." + +"There stands my Apelles," exclaimed the steward. "It is yours if you +make a bid that suits me." + +"The light--here comes the light!" exclaimed Gabinius, taking from the +slave's hand the three-branched lamp which Selene had hastily supplied +with a fresh wick, and he placed it, while he murmured to Keraunus, "By +your leave," down on the centre of the mosaic. The steward looked at the +man on his left hand, with puzzled inquiry, but Gabinius heeded him not +but went down on his knees again, felt the mosaic over with his hand, and +devoured the picture of the marriage of Peleus with his eyes. + +"Have you lost anything?" asked Keraunus. + +"No-nothing whatever. There in the corner--now I am satisfied. Shall I +place the lamp there, on the table? So--and now to return to business." + +"I beg to do so, but I may as well begin by telling you that in my case +it is a question not of drachmae but of Attic talents."--[ The Attic +talent was worth about L200, or $1000 dollars in the 1880 exchange rate.] + +"That is a matter of course, and I will offer you five; that is to say a +sum for which you could buy a handsome roomy house." + +Once more the blood mounted to the steward's head; for a few minutes he +could not utter a word, for his heart thumped violently; but presently be +so far controlled himself as to be able to answer. This time at any +rate, he was determined to seize Fortune by the forelock and not to be +taken advantage of, so he said: + +"Five talents will not do; bid higher." + +"Then let us say six." + +"If you say double that we are agreed." + +"I cannot put it beyond ten talents; why, for that sum you might build a +small palace." + +"I stand out for twelve." + +"Well, be it so, but not a sesterce more." + +"I cannot bear to part with my splendid work of art," sighed Keraunus. +"But I will take your offer, and give you my Apelles." + +"It is not that picture I am dealing for," replied Gabinius. "It is of +trifling value, and you may continue to enjoy the possession of it. It +is another work of art in this room that I wish to have, and which has +hitherto seemed to you scarcely worth notice. I have discovered it, and +one of my rich customers has asked me to find him just such a thing." + +"I do not know what it is." + +"Does everything in this room belong to you?" + +"Whom else should it belong to?" + +"Then you may dispose of it as you please?" + +"Undoubtedly." + +"Very well, then--the twelve Attic talents which I offer you are to be +paid for the picture that is under our feet." + +"The mosaic! that? It belongs to the palace." + +"It belongs to your residence, and that, I heard you say yourself, has +been inhabited for more than a century by your forefathers. I know the +law; it pronounces that everything which has remained in undisputed +possession in one family, for a hundred years, becomes their property." + +"This mosaic belongs to the palace." + +"I assert the contrary. It is an integral portion of your family +dwelling, and you may freely dispose of it." + +"It belongs to the palace." + +"No, and again no; you are the owner. Tomorrow morning early you shall +receive twelve Attic talents in gold, and, with the help of my son, later +in the day I will take up the picture, pack it, and when it grows dark, +carry it away. Procure a carpet to cover the empty place for the +present. As to the secrecy of the transaction--I must of course insist +on it as strongly--and more so--than yourself." + +"The mosaic belongs to the palace," cried the steward, this time in a +louder voice, "Do you hear? it belongs to the palace, and whoever dares +touch it, I will break his bones." + +As he spoke Keraunus stood up, his huge chest panting, his cheeks and +forehead dyed purple, and his fist, which he held in the dealer's face, +was trembling. Gabinius drew back startled, and said: + +"Then you will not have the twelve talents!" + +"I will--I will!" gasped Keraunus, "I will show you how I beat those +who take me for a rogue. Out of my sight, villain, and let me hear not +another word about the picture, and the robbery in the dark, or I will +send the prefect's lictors after you and have you thrown into irons, you +rascally thief!" + +Gabinius hurried to the door, but he there turned round once more to the +groaning and gasping colossus, and cried out, as he stood on the +threshold: + +"Keep your rubbish! we shall have more to say to each other yet." + +When Selene and Arsinoe returned to the sitting-room they found their +father breathing hard and sitting on the couch, with his head drooping +forward. Much alarmed, they went close up to him, but he exclaimed quite +coherently: + +"Water--a drink of water!--the thief!--the scoundrel!" + +Though hardly pressed, it had not cost him a struggle or a pang to refuse +what would have placed him and his children in a position of ease; and +yet he would not have hesitated to borrow it, aye, or twice the sum, from +rich or poor, though he knew full certainly that he would never be in a +position to restore it. Nor was he even proud of what he had done; it +seemed to him quite natural in a Macedonian noble. It was to him +altogether out of the pale of possibility that he should entertain the +dealer's proposition for an instant. + +But where was he to get the money for Arsinoe's outfit? how could he +keep the promise given at the meeting? + +He lay meditating on the divan for an hour; then he took a wax tablet out +of a chest and began to write a letter on it to the prefect. He intended +to offer the precious mosaic picture which had been discovered in his +abode, to Titianus for the Emperor, but he did not bring his composition +to an end, for he became involved in high-flown phrases. At last he +doubted whether it would do at all, flung the unfinished letter back into +the chest, and disposed himself to sleep. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A well-to-do man always gets a higher price than a poor one +I must either rest or begin upon something new + + + + + + +THE EMPEROR, Part 1. + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 3. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +While anxiety and trouble were brooding over the steward's dwelling, +while dismay and disappointment were clouding the souls of its +inhabitants, the hall of the Muses was merry with feasting and laughter. + +Julia, the prefect's wife, had supplied the architect at Lochias with a +carefully-prepared meal,--sufficient to fill six hungry maws, and +Pontius' slave--who had received it on its arrival and had unpacked it +dish after dish, and set them out on the humblest possible table had then +hastened to fetch his master to inspect all these marvels of the cook's +art. The architect shook his head as he contemplated the superabundant +blessing, and muttered to himself: + +"Titianus must take me for a crocodile, or rather for two crocodiles," +and he went to the sculptor's little tabernacle, where Papias the master +was also, to invite the two men to share his supper. + +Besides them he asked two painters, and the chief mosaic worker of the +city, who all day long had been busied in restoring the old and faded +pictures on the ceilings and pavements, and under the influence of good +wine and cheerful chat they soon emptied the dishes and bowls and +trenchers. A man who for several hours has been using his hands or his +mind, or both together, waxes hungry, and all the artists whom Pontius +had brought together at Lochias had now been working for several days +almost to the verge of exhaustion. Each had done his best, in the first +place, no doubt, to give satisfaction to Pontius, whom all esteemed, and +to himself; but also in the hope of giving proof of his powers to the +Emperor and of showing him how things could be done in Alexandria. When +the dishes had been removed and the replete feasters had washed and dried +their hands, they filled their cups out of a jar of mixed wine, of which +the dimensions answered worthily to the meal they had eaten. One of the +painters then proposed that they should hold a regular drinking-bout, and +elect Papias, who was as well known as a good table orator as he was as +an artist, to be the leader of the feast. However, the master declared +that he could not accept the honor, for that it was due to the worthiest +of their company; to the man namely, who, only a few days since, had +entered this empty palace and like a second Deucalion had raised up +illustrious artists, such as he then saw around him in great numbers, and +skilled workmen by hundreds, not out of plastic stone but out of nothing. +And then--while declaring that he understood the use of the hammer and +chisel better than that of the tongue, and that he had never studied the +art of making speeches--he expressed his wish that Pontius would lead the +revel, in the most approved form. + +But he was not allowed to get to the end of this evidence of his skill, +for Euphorion the door-keeper of the palace, Euphorion the father of +Pollux, ran hastily into the hall of the Muses with a letter in his hand +which he gave to the architect. + +"To be read without an instant's delay," he added, bowing with theatrical +dignity to the assembled artists. "One of the prefect's lictors brought +this letter, which, if my wishes be granted, brings nothing that is +unwelcome. Hold your noise you little blackguards or I will be the death +of you." + +These words, which so far as the tone was concerned, formed a somewhat +inharmonious termination to a speech intended for the ears of great +artists, were addressed to his wife's four-footed Graces who had followed +him against his wish, and were leaping round the table barking for the +slender remains of the consumed food. + +Pontius was fond of animals and had made friends with the old woman's +pets, so, as he opened the prefect's letter, he said: + +"I invite the three little guests to the remains of our feast. Give them +anything that is fit for them, Euphorion, and whatever seems to you most +suitable to your own stomach you may put into it." + +While the architect first rapidly glanced through the letter and then +read it carefully, the singer had collected a variety of good morsels for +his wife's favorites on a plate, and finally carried the last remaining +pasty, with the dish on which it reposed, to the vicinity of his own +hooked nose. + +"For men or for dogs?" he asked his son, as he pointed to it with a +rigid finger. + +"For the gods!" replied Pollux. "Take it to mother; she will like to +eat ambrosia for once." + +"A jolly evening to you!" cried the singer, bowing to the artists who +were emptying their cups, and he quitted the hall with his pasty and his +dogs. Before he had fairly left the hall with his long strides, Papias, +whose speech had been interrupted, once more raised his wine-cup and +began again: + +"Our Deucalion, our more than Deucalion--" + +"Pardon me," interrupted Pontius. "If I once more stop your discourse +which began so promisingly; this letter contains important news and our +revels must be over for the night. We must postpone our symposium and +your drinking-speech." + +"It was not a drinking-speech, for if ever there was a moderate man--" +Papias began. But Pontius stopped him again, saying: + +"Titianus writes me word that he proposes coming to Lochias this evening. +He may arrive at any moment; and not alone, but with my fellow-artist, +Claudius Venator from Rome, who is to assist me with his advice." + +"I never even heard his name," said Papias, who was wont to trouble +himself as little about the persons as about the works of other artists. + +"I wonder at that," said Pontius, closing the double tablets which +announced the Emperor's advent. + +"Can he do anything?" asked Pollux. + +"More than any one of us," replied Pontius. "He is a mighty man." + +"That is splendid!" exclaimed Pollux. "I like to see great men. When +one looks me in the eye I always feel as if some of his superabundance +overflowed into me, and irresistibly I draw myself up and think how fine +it would be if one day I might reach as high as that man's chin." + +"Beware of morbid ambition," said Papias to his pupil in a warning voice. +"It is not the man who stands on tiptoe, but he who does his duty +diligently, that can attain anything great." + +"He honestly does his," said the architect rising, and he laid his hand +on the young sculptor's shoulder. "We all do; to-morrow by sunrise each +must be at his post again. For my colleague's sake it will be well that +you should all be there in good time." + +The artists rose, expressing their thanks and regrets. "You will not +escape the continuation of this evening's entertainment," cried one of +the painters, and Papias, as he parted from Pontius, said: + +"When we next meet I will show you what I understand by a drinking- +speech. It will do perhaps for your Roman guest. I am curious to hear +what he will say about our Urania. Pollux has done his share of the work +very well, and I have already devoted an hour's work to it, which has +improved it. The more humble our material, the better I shall be pleased +if the work satisfies Caesar; he himself has tried his hand at +sculpture." + +"If only Hadrian could hear that!" cried one of the painters. "He likes +to think himself a great artist--one of the foremost of our time. It is +said that he caused the life of the great architect, Apollodorus--who +carried out such noble works for Trajan--to be extinguished--and why? +because formerly that illustrious man had treated the imperial bungler as +a mere dabbler, and would not accept his plan for the temple of Venus at +Rome." + +"Mere talk!" answered Pontius to this accusation. "Apollodorus died in +prison, but his incarceration had little enough to do with the Emperor's +productions--excuse me, gentlemen, I must once more look through the +sketches and plans." + +The architect went away, but Pollux continued the conversation that had +been begun by saying: + +"Only I cannot understand how a man who practises so many arts at once +as Hadrian does, and at the same time looks after the state and its +government, who is a passionate huntsman and who dabbles in every kind +of miscellaneous learning, contrives, when he wants to practise one +particular form of art, to recall all his five senses into the nest from +which he has let them fly, here, there, and everywhere. The inside +of his head must be like that salad-bowl--which we have reduced to +emptiness--in which Papias discovered three sorts of fish, brown and +white meat, oysters and five other substances." + +"And who can deny," added Papias, "that if talent is the father, and meat +the mother of all productiveness, practice must be the artist's teacher! +Since Hadrian took to sculpture and painting it has become the universal +fashion here to practise these arts, and among the wealthier youth who +come to my workroom, many have very good abilities; but not one of them +brings anything to any good issue, because so much of their time is taken +up by the gymnasium, the bath, the quail-fights, the suppers, and I know +not what besides, so that they do nothing by way of practice." + +"True," said a painter. "Without the restraint and worry of +apprenticeship no one can ever rise to happy and independent +creativeness; and in the schools of rhetoric or in hunting or fighting no +one can study drawing. It is not till a pupil has learned to sit steady +and worry himself over his work for six hours on end that I begin to +believe he will ever do any good work. Have you any of you seen the +Emperor's work?" + +"I have," answered a mosaic worker. "Many years ago Hadrian sent a +picture to me that he had painted; I was to make a mosaic from it. +It was a fruit piece. Melons, gourds, apples, and green leaves. The +drawing was but so-so, and the color impossibly vivid, still the +composition was pleasing from its solidity and richness. And after all, +when one sees it, one cannot but feel that such superfluity is better +than meagreness and feebleness. The larger fruits, especially under the +exuberant sappy foliage, were so huge that they might have been grown in +the garden of luxury itself, still the whole had a look of reality. I +mitigated the colors somewhat in my transcript; you may still see a copy +of the picture at my house, it hangs in the studio where my men draw. +Nealkes, the rich hanging-maker, has had a tapestry woven from it which +Pontius proposes to use as a hanging for a wall of the work-room, but I +have made a fine frame on purpose for it." + +"Say rather for its designer." + +"Or yet rather," added the most loquacious of the painters, "for the +visit he may possibly pay your workshops." + +"I only wish the Emperor may come to ours too! I should like to sell him +my picture of Alexander saluted by the priests in the temple of Jupiter +Ammon." + +"I hope that when you agree about the price you will remember we are +partners," said his fellow-artist smugly. + +"I will follow your example strictly," replied the other. + +"Then you will certainly not be a loser," cried Papias, "for Eustorgius +is fully aware of the worth of his works. And if Hadrian is to order +works from every master whose art he dabbles in, he will require a fleet +on purpose to carry his purchases to Rome." + +"It is said," continued Eustorgius, laughing, "that he is a painter among +poets, a sculptor among painters, an astronomer among musicians, and a +sophist among artists--that is to say, that he pursues every art and +science with some success as his secondary occupation." + +As he spoke the last words Pontius returned to the table where the +artists were standing round the winejar; he had heard the painter's last +remark and interrupted him by saying: + +"But my friend you forget that he is a monarch among monarchs--and not +merely among those of today--in the fullest meaning of the word. Each of +us separately can produce something better and more perfect in his own +line; but how great is the man who by earnestness and skill can even +apprehend everything that the mind has ever been able to conceive of, or +the creative spirit of the artist to embody! I know him, and I know that +he loves a really thorough master, and tries to encourage him with +princely liberality. But his ears are everywhere, and he promptly +becomes the implacable enemy of those who provoke his resentment. So +bridle your restive Alexandrian tongues, and let me tell you that my +colleague from Rome is in the closest intimacy with Hadrian. He is of +the same age, resembles him greatly, and repeats to him everything that +he hears said about him. So cease talking about Caesar and pass no +severer judgments on dilettanti in the purple than on your wealthy +pupils, who paint and chisel for the mere love of it, and for whom you +find it so easy to lisp out 'charming,' or 'wonderfully pretty,' or +'remarkably nice.' Take my warning in good part, you know I mean it +well." + +He spoke the last words with a cordial, manly feeling, of which his voice +was peculiarly capable, and which was always certain to secure him the +confidence even of the recalcitrant. + +The artists exchanged greetings and hand-shakings and left the hall; a +slave carried away the wine-jar and wiped the table, on which Pontius +proceeded to lay out his sketches and plans. But he was not alone, for +Pollux was soon at his side, and with a comical expression of pathos and +laying his finger on his nose, he said: + +"I have come out of my cage to say something more to you." + +"Well?" + +"The hour is approaching when I may hope to repay the beneficent deeds, +which, at various times, you have done to my interior. My mother will +to-morrow morning, set before you that dish of cabbage. It could not be +done sooner, because the only perfect sausage-maker, the very king of his +trade, prepares these savory cylinders only once a week. A few hours ago +he completed the making of the sausages, and to-morrow morning my mother +will warm up for our breakfasts the noble mess, which she is preparing +for us this evening--for, as I have told you, it is in its warmed-up +state that it is the ideal of its kind. What will follow by way of +sweets we shall owe again to my mother's art; but the cheering and +invigorating element--I mean the wine that I drives dull care away, we +owe to my sister." + +"I will come," said Pontius, "if my guest leaves me an hour free, and I +shall enjoy the excellent dish. But what does a gay bird like you know +of dull care?" + +"The words fit into the metre," replied Pollux. "I inherit from my +father--who, when he is not gate-keeping, sings and recites-- +a troublesome tendency whenever anything incites me to drift into +rhythm." + +"But to-day you have been more silent than usual, and yet you seemed to +me to be extraordinarily content. Not your face only, but your whole +length--a good measure--from the sole of your foot to the crown of your +head was like a brimming cask of satisfaction." + +"Well, there is much that is lovely in this world!" cried Pollux, +stretching himself comfortably and lifting his arms with his hands +clasped far above his head towards heaven. + +"Has anything specially pleasant happened to you?" + +"There is no need for that! Here I live in excellent company, the work +progresses, and--well, why should I deny it? There was something +specially to mark to-day; I met an old acquaintance again." + +"An old one?" + +"I have already known her sixteen years; but when I first saw her she was +in swaddling clothes." + +"Then this venerable damsel friend is more than sixteen, perhaps +seventeen! Is Eros the friend of the happy, or does happiness only +follow in his train?" As the architect thoughtfully said these words to +himself, Pollux listened attentively to a noise outside, and said: + +"Who can be passing out there at this hour? Do you not hear the bark of +a big dog mingle with the snapping of the three Graces?" + +"It is Titianus conducting the architect from Rome," replied Pontius +excitedly. + +"I will go to meet him. But one thing more my friend, you too have an +Alexandrian tongue. Beware of laughing at the Emperor's artistic efforts +in the presence of this Roman. I repeat it: the man who is now coming is +superior to us all, and there is nothing more repellant to me than when a +small man assumes a strutting air of importance because he fancies he has +discovered in some great man a weak spot where his own little body +happens to be sound. The artist I am expecting is a grand man, but the +Emperor Hadrian is a grander. Now retire behind your screens, and +tomorrow morning I will be your guest." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Pontius threw his pallium over the chiton he commonly wore at his work +and went forward to meet the sovereign of the world, whose arrival had +been announced to him in the prefect's letter. He was perfectly calm, +and if his heart beat a little faster than usual, it was only because he +was pleased once more to meet the wonderful man whose personality had +made a deep impression on him before. + +In the happy consciousness of having done all that lay in his power and +of deserving no blame, he went through the ante-chambers and chief +entrance of the palace into the fore-court, where a crowd of slaves were +busied by torch-light in laying new marble slabs. Neither these workmen +nor their overseers had paid any heed to the barking of the dogs and the +loud talking which had for some little time been audible in the vicinity +of the gate-keeper's lodge; for a special rate of payment had been +promised to the laborers and their foremen if they should have finished a +set piece of the new pavement by a certain hour, to the satisfaction of +the architect. No one who heard the deep man's-voice ring through the +court from the doorway guessed to whom it belonged. + +The Emperor had been delayed by adverse winds and had not run into the +harbor till a little before midnight. + +Titianus, who was watching for him, he greeted as an old friend with +heartfelt warmth, and with him and Antinous he stepped into the prefect's +chariot, while Phlegon the secretary, Hermogenes his physician, and +Mastor with the luggage, among which were their campbeds, were to follow +in another vehicle. The harbor watchmen hastened to array themselves +indignantly to oppose the chariot, as it rolled noisily along the street, +and the huge dog that destroyed the peace of the night with its baying; +but as soon as they recognized Titianus they respectfully made way. The +gate-keeper and his wife, obedient to the prefect's warning, had remained +up, and as soon as the singer heard the chariot approaching which bore +the Emperor, he hastened to open the palace-gates. The broken-up +pavement and the swarms of men engaged in repairing it, obliged Titianus +and his companions to quit the chariot here and to pass close to the +little gate-house. Hadrian, whose observation nothing ever escaped which +came in his way and seemed worth noticing, stood still before Euphorion's +door and looked into the comfortable little room, with its decoration of +flowers and birds and the statue of Apollo; while dame Doris in her +newest garments, stood on the threshold to watch for the prefect. And +Titianus greeted her warmly, for he was wont whenever he came to Lochias +to exchange a few merry or wise words with her. The little dogs had +already crept into their basket, but as soon as they caught sight of a +strange dog they rushed past their mistress into the open air, and dame +Doris found herself obliged, while she returned the kindly greeting of +her patron, to shout at Euphrosyne, Thalia and Aglaia more than once by +their pretty names. + +"Splendid, splendid!" cried Hadrian, pointing into the little house. +"An idyl, a perfect idyl. Who would have expected to find such a smiling +nook of peace in the most restless and busy town in the empire." + +"I and Pontius were equally surprised at this little nest, and we +therefore left it untouched," said the prefect. + +"Intelligent people understand each other, and I owe you thanks for +preserving this little home," answered the Emperor. "What an omen, what +a favorable, in every way favorable augury, it offers me. The Graces +receive me here into these old walls, Aglaia, Thalia and Euphrosyne!" + +"Good luck to you, Master," old Doris called out to the prefect. + +"We come late," said Hadrian. + +"That does not matter," said the old woman. "Here at Lochias for the +last week we have quite forgotten to distinguish day from night, and a +blessing can never come too late." + +"I have brought with me to-day an illustrious guest," said Titianus. +"The great Roman architect Claudius Venator. He only disembarked a few +minutes since." + +"Then a draught of wine will do him good. We have in the house some good +white Mareotic from my daughter's garden by the lake. If your friend +will do us humble folks so much honor, I beg he will step into our room; +it is clean, is it not sir? and the cup I will give him to drink it out +of would not disgrace the Emperor himself. Who knows what you will find +up in the midst of all the muddle yonder?" + +"I will accept your invitation with pleasure," answered Hadrian. "I can +see by your face that you have a pleasure in entertaining us, and any one +might envy you your little house." + +"When the climbing-rose and the honey-suckle are out it is much +prettier," said Doris, as she filled the cup. "Here is some water for +mixing." + +The Emperor took the cup carved by Pollux, looked at it with admiration, +and before putting it to his lips said: + +"A masterpiece, dame; what would Caesar find to drink out of here where +the gate-keeper uses such a treasure? Who executed this admirable work, +pray?" + +"My son carved it for me in his spare time." + +"He is a highly-skilled sculptor," Titianus explained. + +When the Emperor had half emptied the cup with much satisfaction he set +it on the table, and said: + +"A very noble drink! I thank you, mother." + +"And I you, for styling me mother: there is no better title a woman can +have who has brought up good children; and I have three who need never be +ashamed to be seen." + +"I wish you all luck with them, good little mother," replied the Emperor. + +"We shall meet again, for I am going to spend some days at Lochias." + +"Now, in all this bustle?" asked Doris. + +"This great architect," said Titianus, in explanation, "is to advise and +help our Pontius." + +"He needs no help!" cried the old woman. "He is a man of the best +stamp. His foresight and energy, my son says, are incomparable. I have +seen him giving his orders myself, and I know a man when I see him!" + +"And what particularly pleased you in him?" asked Hadrian, who was much +amused with the shrewd old woman's freedom. + +"He never for a moment loses his temper in all the hurry, never speaks a +word too much or too little; he can be stern when it is necessary, but he +is kind to his inferiors. What his merits are as an artist I am not +capable of judging, but I am quite certain that he is a just and able +man." + +"I know him myself," replied Caesar, "and you describe him rightly; but +he seemed to me sterner than he has shown himself to you." + +"Being a man he must be able to be severe; but he is so only when it is. +necessary, and how kind he can be he shows himself every day. A man +grows to the mould of his own mind when he is a great deal alone; and +this I have noticed, that a man who is repellant and sharp to those +beneath him is not in himself anything really great; for it shows that he +considers it necessary to guard against the danger of being looked upon +as of no more consequence than the poorer folks he deals with. Now, a +man of real worth knows that it can be seen in his bearing, even when he +treats one of us as an equal. Pontius does so, and Titianus, and you who +are his friend, no less. It is a good thing that you should have come-- +but, as I said before, the architect up there can do very well without +you." + +"You do not seem to rate my capacity very highly, and I regret it, for +you have lived with your eyes open and have learned to judge men keenly." + +Doris looked shrewdly at the Emperor with her kindly glance, as if taking +his mental measure, and then answered confidently: + +"You--you are a great man too--it is quite possible that you might see +things that would escape Pontius. There are a few choice souls whom the +Muses particularly love and you are one of them." + +"What leads you to suppose so?" + +"I see it in your gaze--in your brow." + +"You have the gift of divination, then?" + +"No, I am not one of that sort; but I am the mother of two sons on whom +also the Immortals have bestowed the special gift, which I cannot exactly +describe. It was in them I first saw it, and wherever I have met with it +since in other men and artists--they have been the elect of their circle. +And you too--I could swear to it, that you are foremost of the men among +whom you live." + +"Do not swear lightly," laughed the Emperor. "We will meet and talk +together again little mother, and when I depart I will ask you again +whether you have not been deceived in me. Come now, Telemachus, the +dame's birds seem to delight you very much." + +These words were addressed to Antinous, who had been going from cage to +cage contemplating the feathered pets, all sleeping snugly, with much +curiosity and pleasure. + +"Is that your son?" asked Doris. + +"No, dame, he is only my pupil; but I feel as if he were my son." + +"He is a beautiful lad!" + +"Why, the old lady still looks after the young men!" + +"We do not give that up till we are a hundred or till the Parcae cut the +thread of life." + +"What a confession!" + +"Let me finish my speech.--We never cease to take pleasure in seeing a +handsome young fellow, but so long as we are young we ask ourselves what +he may have in store for us, and as we grow old we are perfectly +satisfied to be able to show him kindness. Listen young master. You +will always find me here if you want anything in which I can serve you. +I am like a snail and very rarely leave my shell." + +"Till our next meeting," cried Hadrian, and he and his companions went +out into the court. + +There the difficulty was to find a footing on the disjointed pavement. +Titianus went on in front of the Emperor and Antinous, and so but few +words of friendly pleasure could be exchanged by the monarch and his +vicegerent on the occasion of their meeting again. Hadrian stepped +cautiously forward, his face wearing meanwhile a satisfied smile. The +verdict passed by the simple shrewd woman of the people had given him far +greater pleasure than the turgid verse in which Mesomedes and his +compeers were wont to sing his praises, or the flattering speeches with +which he was loaded by the sophists and rhetoricians. + +The old woman had taken him for no more than an artist; she could not +know who he was, and yet she had recognized--or had Titianus been +indiscreet? Did she know or suspect whom she was talking to? Hadrian's +deeply suspicious nature was more and more roused; he began to fancy that +the gate-keeper's wife had learnt her speech by heart, and that her +welcome had been preconcerted; he suddenly paused and desired the prefect +to wait for him, and Antinous to remain behind with the clog. He turned +round, retraced his steps to the gatehouse and slipped close up to it in +a very unprincely way. He stood still by the door of the little house +which was still open, and listened to the conversation between Doris and +her husband. + +"A fine tall man," said Euphorion, "he is a little like the Emperor." + +"Not a bit," replied Doris. "Only think of the full-length statue of +Hadrian in the garden of the Paneum; it has a dissatisfied satirical +expression, and the architect has a grave brow, it is true, but pure +friendly kindness lights up his features. It is only the beard that +reminds you of the one when you look at the other. Hadrian might be very +glad if he were like the prefect's guest." + +"Yes, he is handsomer--how shall I say it--more like the gods than that +cold marble figure," Euphorion declared. "A grand noble, he is no doubt, +but still an artist too; I wonder whether he could be induced by Pontius +or Papias or Aristeas or one of the great painters to take the part of +Calchas the soothsayer in our group at the festival? He would perform it +in quite another way than that dry stick Philemon the ivory carver. Hand +me my lute; I have already forgotten again the beginning of the last +verse. Oh! my wretched memory! Thank you." + +Euphorion loudly struck the strings and sang in a voice that was still +tolerably sweet and very well trained: + +"'Sabina hail! Oh Sabina!--Hail; victorious hail to the conquering +goddess Sabina!' If only Pollux were here he would remind me of the +right words. 'Hail; victorious hail, to the thousand-fold Sabina!'--That +is nonsense. 'Hail, hail! divine hail to thee O all-conquering Sabina.' +No it was not that either. If a crocodile would only swallow this Sabina +I would give him that hot cake in yonder dish with pleasure, for his +pudding. But stay--I have it. 'Hail, a thousand-fold hail to the +conquering goddess Sabina!'" + +Hadrian had heard all he wanted; while Euphorion went on repeating his +line a score or more of times to impress it on his recalcitrant memory. +Caesar turned his back on the gate-house, and while he and his companions +picked their way not without difficulty through the workmen who squatted +here and there and everywhere on the ground, he clapped Titianus more +than once on his shoulder, and after he had been received and welcomed by +Pontius, he exclaimed: + +"I bless my decision to come here now! I have had a good evening, a +quite delightful evening." + +The Emperor had not felt so cheerful and free from care for years as on +this occasion, and when in spite of the late hour he found the workmen +still busy everywhere, and saw all that had already been restored in the +old palace and what was being done for its renovation, the restless man +could not resist expressing his satisfaction, and exclaimed to Antinous: + +"Here we may see that even in our sordid times miracles may be wrought by +good-will, industry, and skill. Explain to me my good Pontius how you +were able to construct that enormous scaffold." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +More pleasant hours were to follow on the amusing arrival of the Emperor +at his half-finished residence at Lochias that night. Pontius proposed +to him to inspect several well-preserved rooms, which had in the first +instance been reserved for the gentlemen of his suite; and one of these +with an open outlook on the harbor, the town, and the island of +Antirrhodus he suggested should be provisionally furnished for the +Emperor's reception. Thanks to the architect's foresight, to Mastor's +practised hand, and to the numbers of men employed in the palace who were +accustomed to all kinds of service--provision was soon made for the +night, for Hadrian and his companions. The comfortable couch which the +prefect had sent to Lochias for Pontius was carried into the Emperor's +sleeping-room, and the camp-beds for Antinous and the suite were soon set +up in the other rooms. Tables, pillows, and various household vessels +which had already been sent in from the manufactories of Alexandria, and +which stood packed in bales and cases in the large central court of the +palace were soon taken out, and so far as they were applicable for use +were carried into the hastily-arranged rooms. Even before Hadrian, under +the prefect's guidance, had reached the last room in which restorations +were being carried out, Pontius was ready with his arrangements, and +could assure the Emperor that to-night he would find a good bed and very +tolerable quarters, and that by to-morrow he should have a really +elegantly-furnished room. + +"Charming, quite delightful," cried the Emperor, as he entered his room. +"One might fancy you had some industrious demons at your command. Pour +some water over my hands, Mastor, and then to supper! I am as hungry as +a beggar's clog." + +"I think we shall find all you need," replied Titianus, while Hadrian +washed his hands and his bearded face. + +"Have you eaten all that I sent down to Lochias to-day, my dear Pontius?" + +"Alas! we have," sighed Pontius. + +"But I gave orders that a supper for five should be sent." + +"It sufficed for six hungry artists," answered the architect, "if only I +could have guessed for whom the food was intended! And now what is to be +done? There are wine and bread still in the hall of the Muses, +meanwhile" + +"That must satisfy us," said the Emperor, as he wiped his face. "In the +Dacian war, in Numidia, and often when out hunting, I have been glad if +only one or the other was to be obtained." + +Antinous, who was very hungry and tired, made a melancholy face at these +words of his master, and Hadrian perceiving it, added with a smile: + +"But youth needs something more to live upon than bread and wine. You +pointed out to me just now the residence of the palace-steward. Might we +not find there a morsel of meat or cheese, or something of the kind?" + +"Hardly," replied Pontius. "For the man stuffs his fat stomach and his +eight children with bread and porridge. But an attempt will at any rate +be worth making." + +"Then send to him; but conduct us at once to the hall where the Muses +have preserved some bread and wine for me and these good fellows, though +they do not always provide them for their disciples." + +Pontius at once conducted the Emperor into the hall. On the way thither, +Hadrian asked: + +"Is the steward so miserably paid that he is forced to content himself +with such meagre fare?" + +"He has a residence rent free, and two hundred drachmae a month." + +"That is not so very little. What is the man's name, and of what kith +and kin is he?" + +"He is called Keraunus, and is of ancient Macedonian descent. His +ancestors from time immemorial have held the office he now fills, and he +even supposes himself to be related to the extinct royal dynasty through +the mistress of some one of the Lagides. Keraunus sits in the town +council and never stirs out in the streets without his slave, who is one +of the sort which the merchants in the slave market throw into the +bargain with the buyer. He is as fat as a stuffed pig, dresses like a +senator, loves antiquities and curiosities, for which he will let himself +be cheated of his last coin, and bears his poverty with more of pride +than of dignity; and still he is an honorable man, and can be made +useful, if he is taken on the right side." + +"Altogether a queer fellow. And you say he is fat, is he jolly?" + +"As far from it as possible." + +"Ah, people who are fat and cross are my aversion. What is this by way +of an erection?" + +"Behind that screen works Papias' best scholar. His name is Pollux, and +he is the son of the couple who keep the gate-house. You will be pleased +with him." + +"Call him here," said the Emperor. + +But before the architect could comply with his desire the sculptor's head +had appeared above the screen. The young man had heard the approaching +voices and steps; he greeted the prefect respectfully from his elevated +position, and after satisfying his curiosity was about to spring down +from the stool on which he had climbed when Pontius called to him that +Claudius Venator, the architect from Rome, wished to make his +acquaintance. + +"That is very kind in him, and still more kind in you," Pollux answered +from above, "since it is only from you that he can know that I exist +beneath the moon, and use the hammer and chisel. Allow me to descend +from my four-legged cothurnus, for at present you are forced to look up +to me, and from all I have heard of your talents from Pontius, nothing +can be more absolutely the reverse of what it ought to be." + +"Nay, stop where you are," answered Hadrian. "We, as fellow-artists, may +waive ceremony.--What are you doing in there?" + +"I will push the screen back in a moment and show you our Urania. It is +very good for an artist to hear the opinion of a man who thoroughly +understands the thing." + +"Presently, friend-presently; first let me enjoy a scrap of bread, for +the severity of my hunger might very possibly influence my judgment." + +As he was speaking the architect offered the Emperor a salver with bread, +salt, and a cup of wine, which his own slave had carried to him. When +Pollux observed this modest meal, he called out: + +"That is prisoners' fare, Pontius; have we nothing better in the house +than that?" + +"Possibly you yourself assisted in demolishing the dainty dishes I had +sent down for the architect," cried Titianus, pretending to threaten him. + +"You are defacing a fair memory," sighed the sculptor, with mock +melancholy. "But, by Hercules, I did my fair share of the work of +destruction. If only now--but stay! I have an idea worthy of Aristotle +himself! that breakfast, to which I invited you to-morrow morning, most +noble Pontius, is all ready at my mother's, and can be warmed up in a few +minutes. Do not be alarmed, worthy sir, but the dish in question is +cabbage with sausages--a mess which, like the soul of an Egyptian, +possesses at the instant of resurrection, nobler qualities than when it +first sees the light." + +"Excellent," cried Hadrian. "Cabbage and sausages!" He wiped his full +lips with his hand, smiling with gratification, and he broke into a +hearty laugh of amusement as he heard a loud "Ah!" of satisfaction from +Antinous, who drew nearer to the canvas screen. "There is another whose +mouth waters and whose imagination revels in a happy future," said the +Emperor to the prefect, pointing to his favorite. + +But he had misinterpreted the lad's exclamation, for it was the mere name +of the dish--which his mother had often set on the table of his humble +home in Bithynia--which reminded him of his native country and his +childhood, and transplanted him in thought back into their midst. It was +a swift leap at his heart, and not merely the pleasant watering of his +gums, that had forced the "Ah" to his lips. Still, he was glad to see +his native dish again, and would not have exchanged it against the +richest banquet. Pollux had meanwhile come out of his nook, and said: + +"In a quarter of an hour I shall set before you the breakfast which has +been turned into a supper. Mitigate your worst hunger with some bread +and salt, and then my mother's cabbage-stew will not only satisfy you, +but will be enjoyed with calm appreciation." + +"Greet dame Doris from me," Hadrian called after the sculptor; and when +Pollux had quitted the hall he turned to Titianus and Pontius and said: + +"What a splendid young fellow. I am curious to see what he can do as an +artist." + +"Then follow me," replied Pontius, leading the way. + +"What do you say to this Urania? Papias made the head of the Muse, but +the figure and the drapery Pollux formed with his own hand in a few +days." + +The imperial artist stood in front of the statue, with his arms crossed, +and remained there for some time in silence. Then he nodded his bearded +head approvingly, and said gravely: + +"A well-considered work, and carried out with remarkable freedom; this +mantle drawn over the bosom would not disgrace a Phidias. All is broad, +characteristic and true. Did the young artist work from the model here +at Lochias?" + +"I have seen no model, and I believe that he evolved the whole figure out +of his head," replied Pontius. + +"Impossible, perfectly impossible," cried the Emperor, in the tone of a +man who knows well what he is talking about. "Such lines, such forms not +Praxiteles himself could have invented. He must have seen them, have +formed them as he stood face to face with the living copy. We will ask +him. What is to be made out of that newly-set-up mass of clay?" + +"Possibly the bust of some princess of the house of the Lagides. +To-morrow you shall see a head of Berenice by our young friend, which +seems to me to be one of the best things ever done in Alexandria." + +"And is the lad a proficient in magic?" asked Hadrian. "It seems to me +simply impossible that he should have completed this statue and a woman's +bust in these few days." + +Pontius explained to the Emperor that Pollux had mounted the head on a +bust already to hand, and as he answered his questions without reserve, +he revealed to him what stupendous exertions of the arts had been called +into requisition to give the dilapidated palace a suitable and, in its +kind, even brilliant appearance. He frankly confessed that here he was +working only for effect, and talked to Hadrian exactly as he would have +discussed the same subject with any other fellow-artist. + +While the Emperor and the architect were thus eagerly conversing, and the +prefect was hearing from Phlegon, the secretary, all the experience of +their journey, Pollux reappeared in the hall of the Muses accompanied by +his father. The singer carried before him a steaming mess, fresh cakes +of bread, and the pasty which a few hours previously he had carried home +to his wife from the architect's table. Pollux held to his breast a +tolerably large two-handled jar full of Mareotic wine, which he had +hastily wreathed with branches of ivy. + +A few minutes later the Emperor was reclining on a mattress that had been +laid for him, and was making his way valiantly through the savory mess. +He was in the happiest humor; he called Antinous and his secretary, +heaped abundant portions with his own hand on their plates, which he bade +them hold out to him, declaring as he did so that it was to prevent their +fishing the best of the sausages out of the cabbage for themselves. He +also spoke highly of the Mareotic wine. When they came to opening the +pasty the expression of his face changed; he frowned and asked the +prefect in a suspicious tone, severely and sternly: + +"How came these people by such a pasty as this?" + +"Where did you get it from?" asked the prefect of the singer. + +"From the banquet which the architect gave to the artists here," answered +Euphorion. "The bones were given to the Graces and this dish, which had +not been touched, to me and my wife. She devoted it with pleasure to +Pontius' guest." + +Titianus laughed and exclaimed: + +"This then accounts for the total disappearance of the handsome supper +which we sent down to the architect. This pasty-allow me to look at it-- +this pasty was prepared by a recipe obtained from Verus. He invited us +to breakfast yesterday and instructed my cook how to prepare it." + +"No Platonist ever propagated his master's doctrines with greater zeal +than Verus does the merits of this dish," said the Emperor, who had +recovered his good humor as soon as he perceived that no artful +preparation for his arrival was to be suspected in this matter. "What +follies that spoilt child of fortune can commit! Does he still insist +on cooking with his own hands?" + +"No, not quite that," replied the prefect. "But he had a couch placed +for him in the kitchen on which he stretched himself at full length and +told my cook exactly how to prepare the pasty, of which you are--I should +say, of which the Emperor is particularly fond. It consists of pheasant, +ham, cow's udder and a baked crust." + +"I am quite of Hadrian's opinion," laughed the Emperor; doing all justice +to the excellent pie. "You entertain me splendidly my friend, and I am +very much your debtor. What did you say your name is young man?" + +"Pollux." + +"Your Urania, Pollux, is a fine piece of work, and Pontius says you +executed the drapery without a model. I said, and I repeat, that it is +simply impossible." + +"You judge rightly, a young girl stood for it." + +The Emperor glanced at the architect, as much as to say, I knew it! + +Pontius asked in astonishment: + +"When? I have never seen a female form within these walls." + +"Recently." + +"But I have never quitted Lochias for a minute. I have never gone to +rest before midnight, and have been on my legs again long before +sunrise." + +"But still there were several hours between your going to sleep, and +waking up again," replied Pollux. "Ah, youth--youth!" exclaimed the +Emperor, and a satirical smile played upon his lips. + +"Part Damon and Phyllis by iron doors, and they will find their way to +each other through the key-hole." + +Euphorion looked seriously at his son, the architect shook his head and +refrained from further questions, but Hadrian rose from his couch, +dismissed Antinous and his secretary to bed, requested Titianus to go +home and to give his wife his kindly greetings, and then desired Pollux +to conduct him within this screen, since he himself was not tired and was +accustomed to do with only a few hours sleep. + +The young sculptor was strongly attracted by this commanding personage. +It had not escaped him that the gray-bearded stranger greatly resembled +the Emperor; but Pontius had prepared him for the likeness, and in fact +there was much in the eyes and mouth of the Roman architect that he had +never traced in any portrait of Hadrian 'Imperator.' And as they stood +before his scarcely-finished statue his respect increased for the new +visitor to Lochias; for, with earnest frankness, he pointed out to him +certain faults, and while praising the merits of the rapidly-executed +figure he explained in a few brief and pithy phrases his own conception +of the ideal Urania. Then shortly but clearly, he stated his views as to +how the plastic artist must deal with the problems of his art. + +The young man's heart beat faster, and more than once he turned hot and +cold by turns as he heard things uttered by the bearded lips of this +imposing man, in a rich voice and in lucid phrases, which he had often +divined or vaguely felt, but for which, while learning, observing, and +working, he had never sought expression in words. And how kindly the +great master took up his timid observations, how convincingly he answered +them. Such a man as this he had never met, never had he bowed with such +full consent before the superiority and sovereign power of another mind. + +The second hour after midnight had begun, when Hadrian, standing before +the rough-cast clay bust, asked Pollux: + +"What is this to be?" + +"A portrait of a girl." + +"Probably of the complaisant model who ventures into Lochias at night?" + +"No; a lady of rank will sit to me." + +"An Alexandrian?" + +"Oh, no. A beauty in the train of the Empress." + +"What is her name? I know all the Roman ladies." + +"Balbilla." + +"Balbilla? There are many of that name. What is she like, the lady you +mean?" asked Hadrian, with a cunning glance of amusement. + +"That is easier to ask than to answer," replied the artist, who, seeing +his gray-bearded companion smile, recovered his gay vivacity, "But stay-- +you have seen a peacock spread its tail--now only imagine that every eye +in the train of Hera's bird was a graceful round curl, and that in the +middle of the circle there was a charming, intelligent girl's face, with +a merry little nose, and a rather too high forehead, and you will have +the portrait of the young damsel who has graciously permitted me to model +from her person." + +Hadrian laughed heartily, threw off his cloak, and exclaimed: + +"Stand aside--I know your maiden--and if I mean a different one you shall +tell me." + +While he was still speaking he had plunged his powerful hands into the +yielding clay, and kneading and pinching like a practised modeller, +wiping off and pressing on, he formed a woman's face with a towering +structure of curls, which resembled Balbilla, but which reproduced every +conspicuous peculiarity with such whimsical exaggeration that Pollux +could not contain his delight. When at last Hadrian stepped back from +the happy caricature and called upon him to say whether that were not +indeed the Roman lady, Pollux exclaimed: + +"It is as surely she, as you are not merely a great architect, but an +admirable sculptor. The thing is coarse, but unmistakably +characteristic." + +The Emperor himself seemed to enjoy his artistic joke hugely, for he +looked at it, and laughed again and again. Pontius, however, seemed to +view it differently; he had listened with eager sympathy to the +conversation between Hadrian and the sculptor, and had watched the former +as he began his work; but as it went on he turned away, for he hated that +distortion of fine forms, which he often found that the Egyptians took a +special delight in. It was positively painful to him to see a graceful, +highly-gifted and defenceless creature, to whom, too, he felt himself +bound by ties of gratitude, mocked at in this way by such a man as +Hadrian. He had only to-day met Balbilla for the first time, but he had +heard from Titianus that she was staying at the Caesareum with the +Empress, and the prefect had also told him that she was the granddaughter +of that same governor, Claudius Balbillus, who had granted freedom to his +own grandfather, a learned Greek slave. + +He had met her with grateful sympathy and devotion; her bright and lively +nature had delighted him, and at each thoughtless word she uttered he +would have liked to give her some warning sign, as though she were near +to him through some tie of blood, or some old established friendship that +might warrant his right to do so. The defiant, half gallant way in which +Verus, the dissipated lady-killer, had spoken to her had enraged him and +filled him with anxiety, and long after the illustrious visitors had left +Lochias he had thought of her again and again, and had resolved, if it +were possible, to keep a watchful eye on the descendant of the benefactor +of his family. He felt it as a sacred duty to shelter and protect her, +seeming to him as she did, an airy, pretty, defenceless song-bird. + +The Emperor's caricature had the same effect on his feelings as though +some one had insulted and scorned, before his eyes, something that ought +to be regarded as sacred. And there stood the monarch, a man no longer +young, gazing at his performance and never weary of the amusement it +afforded him. It pained Pontius keenly, for like all noble natures, he +could not bear to discover anything mean or vulgar in a man to whom he +had always looked up as to a strong exceptional character. As an artist +Hadrian ought not to have vilified beauty, as a man he ought not to have +insulted unprotected innocence. + +In the soul of the architect, who had hitherto been one of the Emperor's +warmest admirers, a slight aversion began to dawn, and he was glad, when, +at last, Hadrian decided to withdraw to rest. + +The Emperor found in his room every requisite he was accustomed to use, +and while his slave undressed him, lighted his night-lamp and adjusted +his pillows, he said: + +"This is the best evening I have enjoyed for years. Is Antinous +comfortably in bed?" + +"As much so as in Rome." + +"And the big dog?" + +"I will lay his rug in the passage at your door." + +"Has he had any food?" + +"Bones, bread and water." + +"I hope you have had something to eat this evening." + +"I was not hungry, and there was plenty of bread and wine." + +"To-morrow we shall be better supplied. Now, good-night. Weigh your +words for fear you should betray me. A few days here undisturbed would +be delightful!" + +With these words the Emperor turned over on his couch and was soon +asleep. + +Mastor, too, lay down to rest after he had spread a rug for the dog in +the corridor outside the Emperor's sleeping-room. His head rested on a +curved shield of stout cowhide under which lay his short sword; the bed +was but a hard one, but Mastor had for years been used to rest on nothing +better, and still had enjoyed the dreamless slumbers of a child; but to- +night sleep avoided him, and from time to time he pressed his hand on his +wearily open eyes to wipe away the salt dew which rose to them again and +again. For a long time he had restrained these tears bravely enough, for +the Emperor liked to see none but cheerful faces among his servants; nay, +he had once said that it was in consequence of his bright eyes that he +had entrusted to him the care of his person. Poor, cheerful Mastor! +He was nothing but a slave, still he had a heart which lay open to joy +and suffering, to pleasure and trouble, to hatred and to love. + +In his childhood his native village had fallen into the hands of the foes +of his race. He and his brother had been carried away as slaves, first +into Asia Minor, and then as they were both particularly pretty fair- +haired boys, to Rome. There they had been bought for the Emperor; Mastor +had been chosen to wait on Hadrian's person, his brother had been put to +work in the gardens. Nothing was lacking to either except his liberty; +nothing tormented them but their longing for their native home, and even +this altogether faded away after he had married the pretty little +daughter of a superintendent of the gardens, a slave like himself. +She was a lively little woman with sparkling eyes, whom no one could +pass by without noticing. + +The slave's duties left him but little time to enjoy the society of his +pretty partner and of the two children she bore him, but the +consciousness of possessing them made him happy when he followed his +master to the chase, or in the journeys through the empire. Now, for +seven months he had heard nothing of his family; but a short letter had +reached him at Pelusium, which had been sent with the despatches for the +Emperor from Ostia to Egypt. He could not read, and in consequence of +the Emperor's rapid travelling, it was not till he reached Lochias, that +he was put in possession of its contents. + +Before going to rest Antinous had read him the letter, which had been +written for his brother by a public scribe, and its contents were enough +to wreck the heart even of a slave. His pretty little wife had fled from +her home and from the Emperor's service to follow a Greek ship's captain +across the world; his eldest child, a boy, the darling of his heart, was +dead; and his fair-haired tender little Tullia, with her pearly teeth, +her round little arms, and her pretty tiny fingers that had often tried +to pull his close-cropped hair, and had fondly stroked and patted it, had +been carried off to the miserable refuge, under whose squalid roof the +children of deceased slaves were reared. Only two hours since, and in +fancy he had possessed a home, and a group of human beings, whom he could +love. Now, this was all over and with however hard a hand the deepest +woes might fall on him, he might not sob or groan aloud, or even roll +from side to side as again and again he was violently prompted to do, +for his lord slept lightly and the least noise might wake him. At +sunrise he must appear before the Emperor as cheerful as usual, and yet +he felt as if he must himself perish miserably as his happiness had done. +His heart was bursting with anguish, still he neither groaned nor +stirred. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +The night had been almost as sleepless to Keraunus' daughter Selene as +it had been to the hapless slave. Her father's vain wish to let Arsinoe +take a part with the daughters of the wealthier citizens had filled the +girl's heart with fresh terrors. It was the final blow which would +demolish the structure of their social existence, standing as it did on +quaking ground, and which must fling her family and herself into disgrace +and want. When their last treasure of any value was sold, and the +creditors could no longer be put off, particularly during the Emperor's +presence in the city, when they should try to sell up all her father's +little property, or to carry him off to a debtor's prison, was it not +then as good as certain that some one else would be appointed to fill his +place, and that she and the other children would fall into misery? And +there lay Arsinoe by her side, and slept with as calm and deep a breath +as blind Helios and the other little ones. + +Before going to bed she had tried with all the fervency and eloquence of +which she was mistress, to persuade, entreat, and implore the heedless +girl to refuse as positively as she herself had refused to take any part +in the processions; but Arsinoe had at first repulsed her crossly, and +finally had defiantly declared that means might yet very likely be found, +and that what her father permitted, Selene had no right to interfere in, +still less to forbid. And when afterwards she saw Arsinoe sleeping so +calmly by her side, she felt as if she would like to shake her; but she +was so accustomed to bear all the troubles of the family alone, and to be +unkindly repelled by her sister whenever she attempted to admonish her, +that she forbore. + +Arsinoe had a good and tender heart, but she was young, pretty, and vain. +With affectionate persuasion she might be won over to anything, but +Selene, when ever she remonstrated with her, made her feel her +superiority over herself, acquired from her care of the family and her +maternal character. Thus, not a day passed without some quarrelling and +tears between these two sisters who were so dissimilar, and yet, both so +well disposed. Arsinoe was always the first to offer her hand for a +reconciliation, but Selene would rarely have a kinder answer ready to her +affectionate advances than, "Let be," or "Oh yes, I know!" and their +outward intercourse bore an aspect of coolness, which was easily worked +up to an outbreak of hostile speeches. Hundreds of times they would go +to bed without wishing each other 'good-night,' and still more often +would they avoid any morning greeting when they first met in the day. + +Arsinoe liked talking, but in Selene's presence she was taciturn; there +were few things in which Selene took pleasure, while her sister delighted +in every thing which can charm youth. It was the steward's eldest +daughter who attended to the daily needs of the children, their food and +clothes; it was the second who superintended their games, and their +dolls. The eldest watched and taught them with anxious care, detecting +in every little fault the germ of some evil tendency in the future, while +the other enticed them into follies, it is true, but opened their minds +to joyous impressions, and attained more by kisses and kind words than +Selene could by fault-finding. The children would call Selene when they +wanted her, but would fly to Arsinoe as soon as they saw her. Their +hearts were hers, and Selene felt this bitterly; it seemed to her to be +unjust, for she saw clearly that her sister could reap, from mere +frivolous play in her idle hours, a sweeter reward than she could earn by +the anxiety, trouble and exhausting toil, in which she often spent her +nights. + +But children are not unjust in this way. It is true that they keep an +account in their heart and not in their head. Those who give them the +warmth of affection they pay back most honestly. + +On this particular night it was not, it is certain, with very sisterly +feelings that Selene looked at the sleeping Arsinoe, and the words on the +girl's lips as she had dropped asleep, had sounded very unkind; but, +nevertheless, they felt warmly towards each other, and any one who should +have attempted to say a word against the one in the presence of the other +would soon have found out how close a bond held together these two +hearts, dissimilar as they were. But no girl of nineteen can pass a +night altogether without sleeping, however sadly she may turn and turn +over and over again in her bed. So slumber overmastered Selene every now +and then for a quarter of an hour, and each time she dreamed of her +sister. + +Once she saw Arsinoe dressed out like a queen, followed by beggar +children and pelted with bad words--then she saw her on the rotunda below +the balcony romping with Pollux, and in their bold sport they broke her +mother's bust. At last she dreamed that she herself was playing--as in +the days of her childhood--in the gate-keeper's garden with the sculptor. +They were making cakes of sand together, and Arsinoe jumped on the cakes +as soon as they were made, and trod them all into dust. + +The pretty pale girl had for a long time ceased to know the refreshing, +dreamless, sound sleep of youth, for the sweetest slumbers are more apt +to seek out those who by day have some rest, than those who are worn out +by fatigue, and evening after evening Selene was one of these. Every +night she had dreams, but tonight they were almost exclusively sad in +character, and so terrifying that she woke herself repeatedly with her +own groaning, or disturbed Arsinoe's peaceful sleep by loud cries. + +These cries did not disturb her father, he--to-night, as every night--had +begun to snore soon after he had gone to rest, never to cease till it was +time to rise again. + +Selene was always busy in the house before any one, even before the +slaves; and the approach of day this time seemed to the sleepless girl a +real release. When she rose it was still perfectly dark, but she knew +that the rising of the December sun could not be long to wait for. + +Without paying any heed to the sleepers, or making any special effort to +tread noiselessly, or to do what she had to do without disturbing them, +she lighted her little lamp, at the night-lamp, washed herself, arranged +her hair, and then knocked at the doors of the old slaves. + +As soon as they had yawned out "directly," or a sleepy "very well," she +went into her father's room and took his jug to fetch him fresh water in +it. The best well in the palace was on a small terrace on the west side; +it was supplied by the city aqueducts, and was constructed of five marble +monsters, bearing up on twisted fishtails a huge shell, in which sat a +bearded river-god. Their horse-shaped heads poured water into a vast +basin, which, in the lapse of centuries, had grown full of a green and +filmy vegetation. + +In order to reach this fountain, Selene had to go along the corridor +where lay the rooms occupied by the Emperor and his followers. She only +knew that an architect from Rome had taken up his quarters at Lochias, +for, some time after midnight, she had been to get out meat and salt for +him, but in what rooms the strangers had been lodged no one had told her. +But this morning as she followed the path she was accustomed to tread day +by day at the same hour, she felt an anxious shiver. She felt as if +everything were not quite the same as usual, and just as she had set her +foot on the cop step of the flight leading to the corridor, she raised +her lamp to discover whence came the sound she thought she could hear, +she perceived in the gloom a fearful something. which as she approached +it resembled a dog, and which was larger--much larger--than a dog should +be. + +Her blood ran cold with terror; for a few moments she stood as if +spellbound, and was only conscious that the growling and snarling that +she heard meant mischief and threatening to herself. At last she found +strength to turn to fly, but at the same instant a loud and furious bark +echoed behind her and she heard the monster's quick leaps as he flew +after her along the stone pavement. + +She felt a violent shock, the pitcher flew out of her hand and was +shattered into a thousand fragments, and she sank to the ground under the +weight of a warm, rough, heavy mass. Her loud cries of alarm resounded +from the hard bare walls, and roused the sleepers and brought them to her +side. + +"See what it is," cried Hadrian to his slave, who had immediately sprung +up and seized his shield and sword. + +"The dog has attacked a woman who wanted to come this way," replied +Mastor. + +"Hold him off, but do not beat him," the Emperor shouted after him. +"Argus has only done his duty." The slave hastened down the passage as +fast as possible, loudly calling the dog by his name. But another had +been beforehand and had dragged him off his victim, and this was +Antinous, whose room was close to the scene of action, and who, as soon +as he had heard the dog's bark and Selene's scream, had hurried to hold +back the brute which was really dangerous when on guard and in the dark. + +When Mastor appeared the lad had just succeeded in dragging the dog away +from Selene, who was lying on the stairs leading to the corridor. Before +Antinous could reach her Argus was standing over her gnashing his teeth +and growling. Argus, who was quickly quieted by his friends' tone of +kindly admonition, stood aside silent and with his head down while +Antinous knelt by the senseless girl on whom the pale light of early dawn +fell through--wide window. The boy looked with alarm on her pale face, +lifted her helpless arm, and sought on her light-colored dress for any +trace of blood that might have been drawn, but in vain. After he had +assured himself that she still breathed, and that her lips moved, he +called to Mastor: + +"Argus seems only to have pulled her down, not to have wounded her; she +has lost consciousness however. Go quickly into my room and bring me the +blue phial out of my medicine-case and a cup of water." + +The slave whistled to the hound and obeyed the order as quickly as +possible. + +Meanwhile Antinous remained on his knees by the senseless girl, and +ventured to raise her head with its long soft weight of hair. How +beautiful were those marble-white, and nobly-cut features! How touching +did the silent accent of pain that lay on her lips seem to him, and how +happy was the spoilt darling of the Emperor, who was loved by all who saw +him, to be able to be tender and helpful, unasked! + +"Wake up, oh! wake up!" he cried to Selene--and when still she did not +move, he repeated more urgently and tenderly, "Pray, pray wake up." + +But she did not hear him, and remained motionless even when, with a +slight blush, he drew over her shoulder her peplum, which the dog had +torn away. Now Mastor returned with the water and the blue phial, and +gave them to the Bithynian. While Antinous laid the girl's head in his +lap, the slave was hurrying away, saying: "Caesar called me." + +The lad moistened Selene's forehead with the reviving fluid, made her +inhale the strong essence which the phial contained, and cried again loud +and earnestly, "Wake, wake."--And presently her lips parted, showing her +small, white teeth, and then she slowly raised the lids which had veiled +her eyes. With a deep sigh of relief he set the cup and the phial on the +ground so as to support her when she slowly began to raise herself; but, +scarcely had he turned his face towards her, when she sprang up suddenly +and violently, and flinging both her arms round his neck, cried out: + +"Save me, Pollux, save me! The monster is devouring me." Antinous much +startled, seized the girl's arms to release himself from their embrace, +but, she had already freed him and sunk back on to the ground. The next +moment she was shivering violently as if from an attack of fever; again +she threw up her hands, pressed them to her temples, and gazed with +terror and bewilderment into the face that bent above her. + +"What is it? Who are you?" she asked, in a low voice. + +He rose quickly, and while he supported her as she attempted to rise and +stand upon her feet, he said: + +"The gods be praised that you are still alive. Our big hound threw you +down-and he has terrible teeth." Selene was now standing up, and face to +face with the boy at whose last words she shuddered again. + +"Do, you feel any pain?" asked Antinous, anxiously. + +"Yes," she said, dully. + +"Did he bite you?" + +"I think not--pick up that pin, it has fallen out of my dress." + +The Bithynian obeyed her behest, and while the girl re-fastened her +peplum over her shoulders she asked him again: + +"Who are you? How came the dog in our palace?" + +"He belongs--he belongs to us. We arrived late last night, and Pontius +put us--" + +"Then you are with the architect from Rome?" + +"Yes, but who are you?" + +"Selene is my name, I am the daughter of the palace-steward." + +"And who is Pollux, whom you were calling to help you when you recovered +your senses?" + +"What does that matter to you?" + +Antinous colored, and answered in confusion: + +"I was startled when you suddenly roused up, with his name so loudly on +your lips, when I brought you back to life with water and this essence." + +"Well, I was roused--and now I can walk again. People who bring furious +dogs into a strange place, should know how to take better care of them. +Tie the dog up safely, for the children--my little brothers and sisters-- +come this way when they want to go out. Thank you for your help--and my +pitcher?" + +As she spoke she looked down on the remains of the pretty jar, which was +one her mother had particularly valued. When she saw the fragments lying +on the ground, she gave a deep sob, but she shed no tears. Then she +exclaimed angrily: "It is infamous!" + +With these words she turned her back on Antinous and returned to her +father's room, using her left foot, however, with caution, for it was +very painful. + +The young Bithynian gazed in silence at Selene's tall, slight form, he +felt prompted to follow her, to say to her how very sorry he was for the +mischance that had befallen her, and that the hound belonged not to him +but to another man; but he dared not. Long after she had disappeared +from sight he stood on the same spot. At last he collected his senses, +and slowly went back to his room, where he sat on his couch with his eyes +fixed dreamily on the ground, till the Emperor's call roused him from his +reverie. + +Selene had hardly vouchsafed Antinous a glance. She was in pain not +merely in her left foot, but also in the back of her head where she found +there was a deep cut; but her thick hair had staunched the blood that +flowed from the wound. She felt very tired, and the loss of her pretty +jug, which must also be replaced by another, vexed her far more than the +beauty of the favorite had charmed her. + +She slowly and wearily entered the sitting-room, where her father was by +this time waiting for her and his water. He was accustomed to have it +regularly at the same hour, and as Selene was absent longer than usual, +he could think of no better way of filling up the time than by grumbling +and scolding to himself; when, at last, his daughter appeared on the +threshold, he at once perceived that she had no jug, and said crossly: + +"And am I to have no water to-day?" + +Selene shook her head, sank into a seat, and began to cry softly. + +"What is the matter?" asked her father. + +"The pitcher is broken," she said sadly. + +You should take better care of such expensive things," scolded her +father. "You are always complaining of want of money, and at the same +time you break half our belongings." + +"I was thrown down," answered Selene, drying her eyes. + +"Thrown down! by whom?" asked the steward, slowly rising. + +"By the architect's big dog--the architect who came last night from Rome, +and to whom we gave that meat and salt in the middle of the night. He +slept here, at Lochias." + +"And he set his clog on my child!" shouted Keraunus, with an angry glare. + +"The hound was alone in the passage when I went there." + +"Did it bite you?" + +"No, but it pulled me down, and stood over me, and gnashed its teeth--oh! +it was horrible." + +"The cursed, vagabond scoundrel!" growled the steward, "I will teach him +how to behave in a strange house!" + +"Let him be," said Selene, as she saw her father about to don the saffron +cloak. + +"What is done cannot be undone, and if quarrels and dissentions come of +it, it will make you ill." + +"Vagabonds! impudent rascals! who fill my palace with quarrelsome curs," +muttered Keraunus without listening to his daughter, and as he settled +the folds of his pallium he growled "Arsinoe! why is it that girl never +hears me." + +When she appeared he desired her to heat the irons to curl his hair. + +"They are ready by the fire," answered Arsinoe. "Come into the kitchen +with me." + +Keraunus followed her, and had his locks curled and scented, while his +younger children stood round him waiting for the porridge which Selene +usually prepared for them at this hour. + +Keraunus responded to their morning greetings with nods as friendly as +Arsinoe's tongs, which held his head tightly by the hair, would allow. +It was only the blind Helios, a pretty boy of six, that he drew to his +side and gave a kiss on his cheek. He loved this child, who, though +deprived of the noblest of the senses, was always merry and contented, +with peculiar tenderness. Once he even laughed aloud when the child +clung to his sister, as she brandished the tongs, and said: + +"Father, do you know why I am sorry I cannot see?" + +"Well?" said his father. + +"Because I should so like to see you for once with the beautiful curls +which Arsinoe makes with the irons." But the steward's mirth was checked +when his daughter, pausing in her labors, said half in jest, but half in +earnest: + +"Have you thought any more about the Emperor's arrival, father? +I smarten and dress you so fine every day--but to-day you ought to think +of dressing me." + +"We will see about it," said Keraunus evasively. "Do you know," said +Arsinoe, after a short pause, as she twisted the last lock in the +freshly-heated tongs, "I thought it all over last night again. If we +cannot succeed any way in scraping together the money for my dress, we +can still--" + +"Well?" + +"Even Selene can say nothing against it." + +"Against what?" + +"But, you will be angry!" + +"Speak out." + +"You pay taxes like the rest of the citizens." + +"What has that to do with it?" + +"Well then, we are justified in expecting something from the city," + +"What for?" + +"To pay for my dress for the festival which is got up for the Emperor, +not by an individual, but by the citizens as a body. We could not accept +alone, but it is folly to refuse what a rich municipality offers. That +is neither more nor less than making them a present." + +"You be silent," cried Keraunus, really furious, and trying in vain to +remember the argument with which, only yesterday, he had refused the same +suggestion. "Be silent, and wait till I begin to talk about such +matters." + +Arsinoe flung the tongs on the hearth with so much annoyance that they +fell on the stone with a loud clatter; but her father quitted the kitchen +and returned to the sitting-room. There he found Selene lying on a +couch, and the old slave-woman, who had tied a wet handkerchief round +the girl's head, pressing another to her bare left foot. + +"Wounded!" cried Keraunus, and his eyes rolled slowly from right to left +and from left to right. + +"Look at the swelling!" cried the old woman in broken Greek, raising +Selene's snow-white foot in her black hands for her father to see. +"Thousands of fine ladies have hands that are not so small. Poor, poor +little foot," and as she spoke the old woman pressed it to her lips. + +Selene pushed her aside, and said, turning to her father: + +"The cut on my head is nothing to speak of, but the muscles and veins +here at the ancle are swelled and my leg hurts me rather when I tread. +When the dog threw me down I must have hit it against the stone step." + +"It is outrageous!" cried Keraunus, the blood again mounting to his +head, "only wait and I will show them what I think of their goings on." + +"No, no," entreated Selene, "only beg them politely to shut up the +dog, or to chain it, so that it may not hurt the children." + +Her voice trembled with anxiety as she spoke the words, for the dread, +which, she knew not why, had so long been tormenting her lest her father +should lose his place, seemed to affect her more than ever to-day. + +"What! civil words after what has now happened?" cried Keraunus +indignantly, and as if something quite unheard of had been suggested to +him. + +"Nay, nay, say what you mean," shrieked the old woman. "If such a thing +had occurred to your father he would have fallen on the strange builder +with a good thrashing." + +"And his son Keraunus will not let him off," declared the steward, +quitting the room without heeding Selene's entreaty not to let himself be +provoked. + +In the ante-chamber he found his old slave whom he ordered to take a +stick and go before him to announce him to Pontius' guest, the architect, +who was lodging in the rooms in the wing near the fountain. This was the +elegant thing to do, and by this means the black slave would meet the big +dog before his master who held him and all dogs in the utmost abhorrence. +As he approached his destination he found himself quite in the humor to +speak his mind to the stranger who had come here with a ferocious hound +to tear the members of his family. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Hadrian had slept most comfortably; only a few hours it is true, but they +had sufficed to refresh his spirit. He was now in his sitting-room and +had gone to the window, which took up more than half the extent of the +long west wall of the room, and opened on the sea. The wide opening, +which extended downwards to within a few spans of the floor, was finished +at either side by a tall pillar of fine reddish-brown porphyry, flecked +with white, and crowned with gilt Corinthian capitals. + +Against one of these the Emperor was leaning stroking the blood-hound, +whose prompt and vigorous watchfulness had pleased him greatly. What did +he care for the terrors the dog might have caused a mere girl? + +By the other pillar stood Antinous; he had placed his right foot on the +low window-sill, and with his chin resting on his hand and his elbow on +his knee, his figure was well within the room. + +"This, Pontius, is really a first-rate man," said Hadrian, pointing to a +tapestry hanging across the narrow end of the room. "This hanging was +copied from a fruit-piece that I painted some time since, and had +executed here in mosaic. Yesterday this room was not even intended for +my use, thus the hanging must have been put up between our arrival and +this morning. And how many other beautiful things I see around me! The +whole place looks habitable, and the eye finds an abundance of objects on +which it can rest with pleasure." + +"Have you examined that magnificent cushion?" asked Antinous; "and the +bronze figures, there in the corner, look to me far from bad." + +"They are admirable works," said Hadrian. "Still, I would do without +them with pleasure rather than miss this window. Which is the bluer, the +sky or the sea? And what a delicious spring breeze fans us here, in the +middle of December. Which are the more delightful to contemplate, the +innumerable ships in the harbor, which communicate between this flowery +land and other countries, and bless it with wealth, or the buildings +which attract the eye in whichever direction it turns. It is difficult +to know whether most to admire their stately dimensions or the beauty of +their forms." + +"And what is that long, huge dyke, which connects the island with the +mainland? Only look! There is a huge trireme passing under one of the +wide arches, on which it is supported--and there comes another." + +"That is the great viaduct, called by the Alexandrians the Heptastadion, +because it is said to be seven stadia in length; and in the upper portion +it carries a stone water-course--as an elder tree has in it a vein of +pith-which supplies water to the island of Pharos." + +"What a pity it is," said Antinous, "that we cannot overlook from here +the whole of the structure with the men and the vehicles that swarm upon +it like busy ants. That little island and the narrow tongue of land that +runs out into the harbor with the tall slender building at the end of it, +half hide it." + +"But they serve to vary the picture," replied the Emperor. "Cleopatra +often dwelt in the little castle on the island with its harbor, and in +that tall tower on the northern side of the peninsula, round which, just +now, the blue waves are playing, while the gulls and pigeons fly happily +over it--there Antony retreated after the fight of Actium." + +"To forget his disgrace!" exclaimed Antinous. + +"He named it his Timonareum, because he hoped there to remain unmolested +by other human beings, like the wise misanthrope of Athens. How would it +be if I called Lochias my Timonareum?" + +"No man need try to hide fame and greatness." + +"Who told you that it was shame that led Antony to hide himself in that +place?" asked the imperial sophist; "he proved often enough, at the head +of his cavalry, that he was a brave soldier; and though at Actium, when +all was still going well, he let his ship be turned, it was out of no +fear of swords and spears, but because Fate compelled him to subjugate +his strong will to the wishes of a woman with whose destiny his was +linked." + +"Then do you excuse his conduct?" + +"I only seek to account for it, and never, for a moment, could allow +myself to believe that shame ever prompted a single act in Antony. I-- +do you suppose I could ever blush? Nay, we cease to feel shame when we +have lived to feel such profound contempt for the world." + +"But why then should Marc Antony have shut himself up, in yonder sea- +washed prison?" + +"Because, to every true man, who has dissipated whole years of his life +with women, jesters and flatterers, a moment comes of satiety and +loathing. In such an hour he feels that of all the men under the lights +of heaven, he, himself, is the only one with whom it is worth his while +to commune. After Actium, this was what Antony felt, and he quitted the +society of men in order to find himself for once in good company." + +"It is that, no doubt, which drives you now and again into solitude." + +"No doubt-but you are always allowed to follow me." + +"Then you regard me as better than others," exclaimed Antinous joyfully. + +"As more beautiful at any rate," replied Hadrian kindly. "Ask me some +more questions." + +But Antinous needed a few minutes pause before he could comply with this +desire. At last he recollected himself and proceeded to inquire why most +of the vessels were moored in the harbor beyond the Heptastadion, known +as Eunostus. The entrance there was less dangerous than that between the +Pharos and the point of Lochias which led into the eastern landing- +places. And then Hadrian could give him information as to every building +in the city about which his companion evinced any curiosity. But when +the Emperor had pointed out the Soma, under which rested the remains of +Alexander the Great, he became thoughtful, and said, as if to himself: + +"The Great--We may well envy the young Macedonian; not the mere name of +Great, for many of small worth have had it bestowed on them, but because +he really earned it!" + +There was not a question put by the handsome Bithynian that Hadrian could +not answer; Antinous followed all his explanations with growing +astonishment, exclaiming at last: + +"How perfectly well you know this place--and yet you never were here +before." + +"It is one of the greatest pleasures of travelling," replied Hadrian, +"that on our journeys we come to know many things in their actuality of +which we have formed an idea from books and narratives. This requires us +to compare the reality with the pictures in our own minds, seen with the +inward eye, before we saw the reality. It is to me a far smaller +pleasure to be surprised by something new and unexpected than to make +myself more closely acquainted with something I know already sufficiently +to deem it worthy to be known better. Do you understand what I mean?" + +"To be sure I do. We hear of a thing, and when we afterwards see it we +ask ourselves whether we have conceived of it rightly. But I always +picture people or places which I hear much praised, as much more +beautiful than I ever find the reality." + +"The balance of difference, which is to the disadvantage of reality," +answered Hadrian, "stands not so much to its discredit, as to the credit +of the eager and beautifying power of your youthful imagination. I--I--" +and the Emperor stroked his beard and gazed out into the distance. "I +learn by experience that the older I grow, the more often I find it +possible so to imagine men, places, and things that I have not seen as +that when I meet them in real life for the first time, I feel justified +in fancying that I have known them long since, visited them, and beheld +them with my bodily eyes. Here, for instance, I feel as if I saw nothing +new, but only gazed once more at what has long been familiar. But that +is no wonder, for I know my Strabo, and have heard and read a hundred +accounts of this city. Still there are many things which are quite +strange to me, and yet as they come before me make me feel as if I had +seen or known them long ago." + +"I have felt something like that," said Antinous. "Can our souls have +ever lived in other bodies, and sometimes recall the impressions made in +that former existence? + +"Favorinus once told me that some great philosopher, Plato, I think, +asserts that before we are born our souls are wafted about in the +firmament that they may contemplate the earth on which they are destined +subsequently to dwell. Favorinus says too--" + +"Favorinus!" cried Hadrian, evasively. "That graceful elocutionist +has plenty of skill in giving new and captivating forms to the thoughts +of the great philosophers; but he has not been able to surprise the +secret of his own soul--besides, he talks too much, and he cannot +dispense with the excitement of life." + +"Still you have recognized the phenomenon, but you disapprove of +Favorinus' explanation of it?" + +"Yes, for I have met men and things as old acquaintances which never saw +the light till long after I was born. Possibly my own interpretation may +not adapt itself to the consciousness of all--but in myself, I know for +certain, there dwells a mysterious something which stirs and works in me +independently of myself, which enters into me, and takes its departure at +its will. Call it as you will, my Daimon, or even my Genius--the name +matters not. Nor will this 'something' always come at my bidding, while +it often possesses me when I least expect it. In those moments when it +stirs within me, I am master of much which is peculiar to the experience +and potentiality of that hour. What is known to that Daimon always +appears to me the very same when I actually meet it. Thus Alexandria is +not unknown to me, because my Genius has seen it in his flights. It has +learnt and done much, both in me and for me; a hundred times, face to +face with my own finished works I have asked myself: 'Is it possible +that you--Hadrian--your mother's son-can have achieved this? What then +is the mysterious power that aided you to do it?' Now I also recognize +it, and can see it work in others. The man in whom it dwells soon excels +his fellows, and it is most manifest in artists. Or is it that mere +common men become great artists simply because the Genius selects them as +his temple to dwell in? Do you follow me, boy?" + +"Not altogether," replied Antinous, and his large eyes which had sparkled +brightly so long as he gazed with the Emperor on the city, were now cast +down and fixed wearily on the ground. "Do not be angry with me, my Lord, +but I shall never understand such things as these, for there is no man +with whom your Genius, as you term it, has less concern than with me. +Thoughts of my own have I none, and it is difficult to me to follow the +thoughts of others; indeed I should like to know how I am ever to do +anything right. When I want to work, to work something out, no Daimon +helps my soul; no--it feels quite helpless, and drifts into dreaminess. +And if I ever do complete anything, I am obliged to own to myself that I +certainly might have been able to do it better." + +"Self-knowledge," laughed Hadrian, "is the climax of wisdom. A man has +done something if he has only added a 'thing of beauty' to the joys of a +friend's imagination; what others do by hard work you do by mere +existence. Be quiet, Argus!" For, while he was speaking, the hound had +risen, and had gone snarling to the door. In spite of his master's +orders he broke into a loud bark when he heard a steady knock at the +door. Hadrian looked round in bewilderment, and asked: "Where is +Mastor?" + +Antinous shouted the slave's name into the Emperor's bedroom, which was +next to the living-room, but in vain. "He generally is always at hand, +and as brisk as a lark, but to-day he looked as if in a dream, and while +he was dressing me he first let my shoe fall out of his hand and then my +brooch." + +"I read him yesterday a letter from Rome. His young wife has gone away +with a ship's captain." + +"We may wish him joy of being free again." + +"It does not seem to afford him any satisfaction." + +"Oh! a handsome lad like my body-slave can find as many substitutes as he +likes." + +"But he has not done so. For the present he is still smarting under his +loss." + +"How wise! There, some one is knocking again. Just see who ventures-- +but to be sure any one has a right to knock, for at Lochias I am not the +Emperor, but a simple private gentleman. Lie down Argus, are you crazy, +old fellow? Why the dog maintains my dignity better than I do, and he +does not seem altogether to like the architect's part I am playing." + +Antinous had already raised his hand to lift the handle, when the door +was gently opened from outside, and the steward's slave stood on the +threshold. The old negro presented a lamentable spectacle. The +Emperor's dignified and awe-compelling figure, and his favorite's rich +garments made him feel embarrassed, and the hound's threatening growl +filled him with such terror that he huddled his lean negro-legs together, +and, as far as its length would allow, tried to cover them for protection +with his threadbare tunic. + +Hadrian gazed in astonishment at this image of fear, and then asked: + +"Well! what do you want, fellow?" + +The slave attempted to advance a step or two, but at a loud command from +Hadrian he stood still, and as he looked down at his flat feet, he +ruefully scratched his short-cropped grey hair, some of which had fallen +off and left a bald patch. + +"Well," repeated Hadrian, in a tone which was anything rather than +encouraging, as he relaxed his hold on the hound's collar in a somewhat +suspicious manner. The slave's bent knees began to quake, and holding +out his broad palm to the grey-bearded gentleman, who seemed to him +hardly less alarming than the dog, he began to stammer out in fearfully- +mutilated Greek the speech which his master had repeated to him several +times, and which set forth that he had come "into the presence of the +architect, Claudius Venator, of Rome, to announce the visit of his +master, a member of the town-council, a Macedonian, and a Roman citizen, +Keraunus, the son of Ptolemy, steward of the once royal but now imperial +palace at Lochias." + +Hadrian unrelentingly allowed the poor wretch to finish his speech, +rubbing his hands with amusement, while the sweat of anguish stood on the +old slave's face, and to prolong the delightful joke, he took good care +not to help the miserable old man when his unaccustomed tongue came to +some insuperable difficulty. When, at length, the negro had finished the +pompous announcement, Hadrian said, kindly: + +"Tell your master he may come in." + +Scarcely had the slave left the room, when the sovereign, turning to his +favorite, exclaimed: + +"This is a delicious joke! What will the Jupiter be like, when the eagle +is such a bird as this!" + +Keraunus was not long to wait for. While pacing up and down the passage +outside the Emperor's room, his bad humor had risen considerably, for he +took it as a slight on the part of the architect, that he should allow +him--whose birth and dignities he would have learnt from his slave--to +wait several minutes, each of which seemed to him a quarter of an hour. +His expectation too, that the Roman would come to conduct him in person +into his apartment was by no means fulfilled, for the slave's message was +briefly--"He may come in." + +"Did he say may? Did he not say "please to come in, or have the goodness +to come in?" asked the steward. + +"He may come in--was what he said," replied the slave. + +Keraunus grunted out, "Well!" set his gold circlet straight on his head +which he held very upright, crossed his arms over his broad chest with a +sigh, and ordered the black man: + +"Open the door." + +The steward crossed the threshold with much dignity: then, not to commit +any breach of courtesy, he bowed low, and was about to begin to utter his +reprimand in cutting terms, when a glance at the Emperor and at the +splendid decoration which the room had undergone since the day previous, +not to mention the very unpleasant growling of the big dog, prompted him +to strike a milder string. His slave had followed him and had sought a +safe corner near the door, between the wall of the room and a couch, but +he himself, conquering his alarm at the dog, went forward some distance +into the room. The Emperor had seated himself on the window-sill; he +pressed his foot lightly on the head of the dog, and gazed at Keraunus as +at some remarkable curiosity. His eye thus met that of the steward and +made him clearly understand that he had to do with a greater personage +than he had expected. There was something imposing in the person of the +man who sat before him; for this very reason, however, his pride stood on +tiptoe, and he asked in a tone of swaggering dignity, though not so +sharply and abruptly as he had intended. + +"Am I standing before the new visitor to Lochias, the architect Claudius +Venator of Rome?" + +"You are--standing--" replied the Emperor, with a roguish side glance at +Antinous. + +"You have met with a friendly reception to this palace. Like my fathers, +who have enjoyed the stewardship of it for centuries, I know how to +exercise the sacred duties of hospitality." + +"I am surprised to hear of the high antiquity of your family and bow to +your pious sentiments," answered Hadrian, in the same tone as the +steward. "What farther may I learn from you?" + +"I did not come here to relate history," said Keraunus, whose gall rose +as he thought he detected a mocking smile on the stranger's lips. "I did +not come here to tell stories, but to complain that you, as a warmly- +welcomed guest, show so little anxiety to protect your host from injury." + +"How is that?" asked Hadrian, rising from his seat and signing to +Antinous to hold back the hound, which manifested a peculiar aversion to +the steward. It no doubt detected that he had come to show no special +friendliness to his owner. + +"Is that dangerous dog, gnashing its teeth there, your property?" asked +Keraunus. + +"Yes." + +This morning it threw down my daughter and smashed a costly pitcher, +which she is fond of carrying to fetch water in the dawn." + +"I heard of that misadventure," said Hadrian, "and I would give much if I +could undo it. The vessel shall be amply made good to you." + +"I beg you not to add insult to the injury, we have suffered by your +fault. A father whose daughter has been knocked down and hurt--" + +"Then, Argus actually bit her?" cried Antinous, horrified. + +"No," Keraunus replied. "But as she fell her head and foot have been +injured, and she is suffering much pain." + +"That is very sad," said Hadrian, "and as I am not ignorant of the +healing art, I will gladly try to help the poor girl." + +"I pay a professional leech, who attends me and mine," replied the +steward, in a repellant tone, "and I came hither to request--or, to be +frank with you--to require--" + +"What?" + +"First, that my pardon shall be asked." + +"That, the artist, Claudius Venator, is always ready to do when any one +has suffered damage by his fault. What has happened--I repeat it-- +grieves me sincerely, and I beg you tell the maiden to whom the accident +happened, that her pain is mine. What more do you desire?" + +The steward's features had calmed down at these last words, and he +answered with less excitement than before: + +"I must request you to chain up your dog, or to shut it up, or in some +way to keep it from mischief." + +"That is pretty strong!" cried the Emperor. + +"It is only a reasonable demand, and I must stand by it," replied +Keraunus decidedly. "Neither I--nor my children's lives are safe, so +long as this wild beast is prowling about at pleasure." + +Hadrian had, ere now, erected monuments to deceased favorites, both dogs +and horses, and his faithful Argus was no less dear to him, than other +four-footed companions have been to other childless men; hence the queer +fat man's demand seemed to him so audacious and monstrous, that he +indignantly exclaimed: + +"Folly!--the dog shall be watched, but nothing farther." + +"You will chain him up," replied Keraunus, with an angry, glare, "or +someone will be found who will make him harmless forever." + +"That will be an evil attempt for the cowardly murderer!" cried Hadrian. +"Eh! Argus, what do you think?" + +At these words the dog drew himself up, and would have sprung at the +steward's throat if his master and Antinous had not held him back. + +Keraunus felt that the dog had threatened him, but at this instant he +would have let himself be torn by him without wincing, so completely was +he overmastered by the fury born of his injured pride. + +"And am I--I too, to be hunted down by a dog, in this house?" he cried +defiantly, setting his left fist on his hip. "Every thing has its +limits, and so has my patience with a guest who, in spite of his ripe age +forgets due consideration. I will inform the prefect Titianus of your +proceedings here, and when the Emperor arrives he shall know--" + +"What?" laughed Hadrian. + +"The way you behave to me." + +"Till then the dog shall stay where it is, and really under due +restraint. But I can tell you man, that Hadrian is as much a friend of +dogs as I am--and fonder of me than even of dogs." + +"We will see," growled Keraunus, "I or the dog!" + +"I am afraid it will be the dog then." + +"And Rome will see a fresh revolt," cried Keraunus, rolling his eyes. +"You took Egypt from the Ptolemies." + +"And with very good reason--besides that is a stale old story." + +"Justice is never stale, like a bad debt." + +"At any rate it perishes with persons it concerns; there have been no +Lagides left here--how many years?" + +"So you believe, because it suits your ends to believe it," replied the +steward. "In the man who stands before you flows the blood of the +Macedonian rulers of this country. My eldest son bears the name of +Ptolemaeus Helios--that borne by the last of the Lagides, who perished as +you pretend." + +"Dear, good, blind Helios!" interrupted the black slave; for he was +accustomed to avail himself of the hapless child's name as a protection, +when Keraunus was in a doubtful humor. + +"Then the last descendant of the Ptolemies is blind!" laughed the +Emperor. "Rome may ignore his claims. But I will inform the Emperor how +dangerous a pretender this roof yet harbors." + +"Denounce me, accuse me, calumniate me!" cried the steward, +contemptuously. "But I will not let myself be trodden on. Patience-- +patience! you will live to know me yet." + +"And you, the blood-hound," replied Hadrian, "if you do not this instant +quit the room with your mouthing crow--" + +Keraunus signed to his slave and without greeting his foe in any way, +turned his back upon him. He paused for a moment at the door of the room +and cried out to Hadrian: + +"Rely upon this, I shall complain to the Council and write to Caesar how +you presume to behave to a Macedonian citizen." + +As soon as the steward had quitted the room, Hadrian freed the dog, which +flew raging at the door which was closed between him and the object of +his aversion. Hadrian ordered him to be quiet, and then turning to his +companion, he exclaimed: + +"A perfect monster of a man! to the last degree ridiculous, and at the +same time repulsive. How his rage seethed in him, and yet could not +break out fairly and thoroughly. I am always on my guard with such +obstinate fools. Pay attention to my Argus, and remember, we are in +Egypt, the land of poison, as Homer long since said. Mastor must keep +his eyes open--Here he is at last." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Have lived to feel such profound contempt for the world +In order to find himself for once in good company--(Solitude) +Never speaks a word too much or too little +They keep an account in their heart and not in their head + + + + + + +THE EMPEROR, Part 1. + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 4. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +After the Emperor's body-slave had started up to go to the aid of Selene, +who was attacked by his sovereign's dog, something had happened to him +which he could not forget; he had received an impression which he could +not wipe out, and words and tones had stirred his mind and soul which +incessantly echoed in them, so that it was in a preoccupied and half- +dreamy way that he had done his master those little services which he was +accustomed to perform every morning, briskly and with complete attention. + +Summer and winter Mastor was accustomed to leave his master's bedroom +before sunrise to prepare everything that Hadrian could need when he rose +from his slumbers. There was the gold plating to clean on the narrow +greaves and the leather straps which belonged to his master's military +boots, his clothes to air and to perfume with the slight, hardly +perceptible scent that he liked, but the preparations for Hadrian's bath +were what took up most of his time. At Lochias there were not as yet-- +as there were in the imperial palace at Rome--properly-filled baths; +still his servant knew that here, as there, his master would use a due +abundance of water. He had been told that if he required anything for +his master he was to apply to Pontius. Him he found, without seeking +him, outside the room meant for Hadrian's sitting-room, to which, while +the Emperor still slept, he was endeavoring, with the help of his +assistants, to give a comfortable and pleasing aspect. The architect +referred the slave to the workmen who were busy laying the pavement in +the forecourt of the palace; these men would carry in for him as much +water as ever he could need. The body-servant's position relieved him of +such humble duties, still, when on the chase, when travelling, or as need +arose, he was accustomed to perform them unasked, and very willingly. + +The sun had not yet risen when he went out into the court, a number of +slaves were lying on their mats asleep, others had camped round a fire +and were waiting for their early broth, which was being stirred with +wooden sticks by an old man and a boy. Mastor would not disturb either +group; he went up to a party of workmen, who seemed to be talking +together, and yet remained attentive to the speech of an old man who was +evidently telling them a story. + +The poor fellow's heart was heavy and his mind was little bent on tales +and amusements. All life was embittered. The services required of him +usually seemed to him of paramount importance, beyond everything else; +but to-day it was different. He had an obscure feeling as though fate +herself had released him from all his duties, as if misfortune had cut +the bonds which bound him to his service to the Emperor, and had made him +an isolated and lonely being. It even came into his head whether he +should not take in his hand all the gold pieces given him sometimes by +Hadrian, or which the wealthy folks who wished to be the foremost of +those introduced into the Emperor's presence, after waiting in the +antechamber, had flung to him or slipped into his hand--make his escape +and carouse away all that he possessed in the taverns of the great city, +in wine and the gay company of women. It was all the same to him what +might happen to him. + +If he were caught he would probably be flogged to death; but he had had +kicks and blows in plenty before he had got into the Emperor's service, +nay; when he was brought to Rome he had once even been hunted with dogs. +If he lost his life, after all what would it matter? He would have done +with it then, once for all, and the future offered him no prospect but +perpetual fatigue in the service of a restless master, anxiety and +contempt. He was a thoroughly good-hearted being who could not bear to +hurt any one, and who found it equally hard to disturb a fellow-man in +his pleasures or amusement. He felt particularly disinclined to do so +just now, for a wounded soul is keenly alive to the moods and feelings of +others; so, as he approached the group of workmen, from among whom he +proposed to choose his water-carrier, he determined that he would not +interrupt the story-teller, on whose lips the gaze of his audience was +riveted with interest. + +The glare of the blaze under the soup-kettle fell full on the speaker's +face. He was an old laborer, but his long hair proclaimed him a freeman. +His abundant white beard induced Mastor to suppose that he must be a Jew +or a Phoenician, but there was nothing remarkable in the old man, who was +dressed in a poor and scanty tunic, excepting his peculiarly brilliant +eyes, which were immovably fixed on the heavens, and the oblique position +in which he held his head, supporting it on the left side with his raised +hands. + +"And now," said the speaker, dropping his arms, "let us go back to our +labors, my brethren. 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,' it +is written. It is often hard to us old men to heave stones and bend our +stiff backs for so long together, but we are nearer than you younger ones +to the happy future. Life is not easy to all of us, but it is we who +labor and are heavy laden--we above all others--that the Lord has bidden +to be his guests, and not last among us the slaves." + +"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh +you," interrupted one of the younger men repeating the words of Christ. + +"Yea, thus saith the Saviour," said the old man approvingly, "and he +surely then was thinking of us. I said just now our load is not light, +but how much heavier was the burden he took upon him of his own free will +to release us from woe. Every one must work, nay even Caesar himself, +but he who could dwell in the glory of his Father let himself be mocked +and scorned and spit in the face, let the crown of thorns be pressed on +his suffering head, bore his heavy cross, sinking under its weight, and +endured a death of torment, and all for our sakes, without a murmur. But +he suffered not in vain, for God accepted the sacrifice of his Son, and +did his will and said, 'All that believe on Him should not perish, but +have everlasting life.' And though a new and weary day is now beginning, +and though it should be followed by a thousand wearier still, though +death is the end of life--still we believe in our Redeemer, we have God's +word bidding us out of sorrows and sufferings into his Heaven, promising +us for a brief time of misery in this world, endless ages of joy.--Now go +to work. Our sturdy friend Krates will work for you dear Knakias until +your finger is healed. When the bread is distributed remember, each of +you, the children of our poor deceased brother Philammon. You, poor +Gibbus, will find your labors bitter to-day. This man's master, my dear +brethren, sold both his daughters yesterday to a dealer from Smyrna; but +if you never see them again in Egypt, or in any other country, my friend, +you will meet them in the home of your Heavenly Father--of that you may +rest assured. Our life on earth is but a pilgrimage, and Heaven is the +goal, and the Guide who teaches us never to miss the way, is our Saviour. +Weariness and toil, sorrow and suffering are easy to bear, to him who +knows that when the solemn hour is near, the King of Kings shall throw +open his dwelling-place, and invite him to enter as a favored guest to +inhabit there, where all we have loved have found joy and rest." + +"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh +you," said a man's loud voice again from the circle that sat round the +old man. The old man stood up, signed to a boy who distributed the bread +in equal shares to the workmen, and took up a jar with handles, out of +which he filled a large wooden cup with wine. + +Not a word of this discourse had escaped Mastor, and the often repeated +verse, "Come unto me all ye that labor," dwelt in his mind like the +invitation of a hospitable friend bidding him to happy days of freedom +and enjoyment. A distant gleam shone through the weight of his troubles, +seeming to promise the dawn of a new day, and he reverently went up to +the old man, in the first place to ask him if he was the overseer of the +workmen who stood round him. + +"I am," replied the old man, and as soon as he learnt what Mastor +required as a commission from the controlling architect, he pointed out +some young slaves who quickly brought the water that he needed. + +Pontius met the Emperor's servant and his water-carriers and remarked, +loudly enough for Mastor to understand him, to Pollux who was with him: + +"The architect's servant is getting Christians to wait upon his master +to-day. They are regular and sober workmen who do their duty silently +and well." + +While Mastor was giving his master towels, and helping to dry and dress +him, he was far less attentive than usual, for he could not get the words +he had heard from the overseer's lips out of his mind. He had not +understood them all, but he had fully comprehended that there was a kind +and loving God who had suffered in his own person the utmost torments, +who was especially gracious to the poor, the miserable, and the bondsman, +and who promised to refresh them and comfort them, and to re-unite them +to those who had once been dear to them. "Come unto me," sounded again +and again in his ears, and struck so warmly to his heart that he could +not help thinking first of his mother, who, so many a time, when he was a +child, had called to him only to clasp him in her arms as he ran towards +her, and to press him to her heart. Just so had he often called his poor +little dead son, and the feeling that there could be any one who might +still call to him--the forsaken lonely man--with loving words to release +him from his griefs, to reunite him to his mother, his father, and all +the dear ones left behind in his lost and distant home, took half the +bitterness from his pain. + +He was accustomed to listen to all that was said in the Emperor's +presence, and year by year he had learnt to understand more of what he +heard. He had often heard the Christians discussed, and usually as +deluded but dangerous fools. Many of his fellow-slaves, too, he had +heard called Christian idiots, but still not unfrequently very reasonable +men, and sometimes even Hadrian himself, had taken the part of the +Christians. + +This was the first time that Mastor had heard from their own lips what +they believed and hoped, and now, while fulfilling his duties he could +hardly bear the delay before he could once more seek out the old +pavement-worker, to enquire of him, and to have the hopes confirmed which +his words had aroused in his soul. + +No sooner had Hadrian and Antinous gone into the living-room than Mastor +had hastened off across the court to find the Christians. There he tried +to open a conversation with the overseer concerning his faith, but the +old man answered that there was a season for everything; just now he +could not interrupt the work, but that he might come again after sundown, +and that he then would tell him of Him who had promised to refresh the +sorrow-laden. + +Mastor thought no more of making his escape. When he appeared again in +his master's presence there was such a sunny light in his blue eyes that +Hadrian left the angry words he had prepared for him unspoken, and cried +to Antinous, laughing and pointing to the slave: + +"I really believe the rascal has consoled himself already, and found a +new mate. Let us, too, follow the precept of Horace, so far as we may, +and enjoy the present day. The poet may let the future go as it will, +but I cannot, for, unfortunately, I am the Emperor." + +"And Rome may thank the gods that you are," replied Antinous. + +"What happy phrases the boy hits upon sometimes," said Hadrian with a +laugh, and he stroked the lad's brown curls. "Now till noon I must work +with Phlegon and Titianus, whom I am expecting, and then perhaps we may +find something to laugh at. Ask the tall sculptor there behind the +screens, at what hour Balbilla is to sit to him for her bust. We must +also inspect the architect's work, and that of the Alexandrian artists by +daylight; that, their zeal has well deserved." + +Hadrian retired to the room where his private secretary had ready for him +the despatches and papers for Rome and the provinces, which the Emperor +was required to read and to sign. Antinous remained alone in the +sitting-room, and for an hour he continued to gaze at the ships which +came to anchor in the harbor, or sailed out of the roads, and amused +himself with watching the swift boats which swarmed round the larger +vessels, like wasps round ripe fruit. He listened to the songs of the +sailors, and the music of the flute-players, to the measured beat of the +oars, which came up from the triremes in the private harbor of the +Emperor as they went out to sea. Even the pure blue of the sky and the +warmth of the delicious morning were a pleasure to him, and he asked +himself whether the smell of tar, which pervaded the seaport, were +agreeable or not. + +Presently as the sun mounted in the sky, its bright sphere dazzled him; +he left the window with a yawn, stretched himself on a couch, and stared +absently up at the ceiling of the room without thinking of the subject +which the faded picture on it was intended to represent. + +Idleness had long since grown to be the occupation of his life; but +accustomed to it as he was, he was sometimes conscious of its dark +attendant shadow ennui--as of a disagreeable and intrusive interruption +to the enjoyment of life. Generally in such lonely hours of idle reverie +his thoughts reverted to his belongings in Bithynia, of whom he never +dared to speak before the Emperor, or perhaps of the hunting excursions +he had made with Hadrian, of the slaughtered game, of the fish he--an +experienced angler--had caught, or such like. What the future might +bring him troubled him not, for to the love of creativeness, to ambition +--to all, in short, that bore any resemblance to a passionate excitement +his soul had, so far, remained a stranger. The admiration which was +universally excited by his beauty gave him no pleasure, and many a time +he felt as though it was not worth while to stir a limb or draw a breath. +Almost everything he saw was indifferent to him excepting a kind word +from the lips of the Emperor, whom he regarded as great above all other +men, whom he feared as Destiny incarnate, and to whom he felt himself +bound as intimately as the flower to the tree, the blossom that must die +when the stem is broken, on which it flaunts as an ornament and a grace. + +But, to-day, as he flung himself on the divan his visions took a new +direction. He could not help thinking of the pale girl whom he had saved +from the jaws of the blood-hound--of the white cold hand which for an +instant had clung to his neck--of the cold words with which she had +afterwards repelled him. + +Antinous began to long violently to see Selene. That same Antinous, to +whom in all the cities he had visited with the Emperor, and in Rome +particularly, the noble fair ones had sent branches of flowers and tender +letters, and who nevertheless, since the day when he left his home, had +never felt for any woman or girl half so tender a sentiment, as for the +hunter the Emperor had given him, or for the big dog. This girl stood +before his memory like breathing marble. Perchance the man might be +doomed to death who should rest on her cold breast, but such a death must +be full of ecstasy, and it seemed to him that it would be far more +blissful to die with the blood frozen in his veins, than of the too rapid +throbbing of his heart. + +"Selene," he murmured, now and again, with soft hesitation; a strange +unrest foreign to his calm nature seemed to propagate itself through all +his limbs, and he who commonly would be stretched on a couch for hours +without stirring, lost in dreams, now sprang up and paced the room, +sighing deeply, and with long strides. + +It was a passionate longing for Selene that drove him up and down, and +his wish to see her again crystallized into resolve, and prompted him to +contrive the ways and means of meeting her once more before the Emperor's +return. + +Simply to invade her father's lodging without farther ceremony, seemed to +him out of the question, and yet he was certain of finding her there, +since her injured foot would of course keep her at home. Should he once +more go to the steward with a request for bread and salt? But he dared +not ask anything of Keraunus in Hadrian's name after the scene which had +so recently taken place. Should he go there to carry her a new pitcher +in the place of the broken one? But that would only freshly enrage the +arrogant official. + +Should he--should he--should he not? But no, it was quite impossible-- +still, that no doubt--that was the right idea. In his medicine-chest +there were a few extracts which had been given to him by the Emperor; he +would offer her one of these to dilute with water and apply to her +bruised foot. And this act of sympathy could not displease even his +master, who liked to prove his healing art on the sick or suffering. He +at once called Mastor, and desired him to take charge of the hound which +had followed his steps as he paced the room, then he went into his +sleeping-room, took out a phial of a most costly essence, which Hadrian +had given him on his last birthday, and which had formerly belonged to +Trajan's wife, Kotina, and then proceeded to the steward's rooms. On the +steps where he had found Selene, he found the black slave with some +children. The old man had sat down them and got no farther for fear of +the Roman's dog. Antinous went up to him and begged him to guide him to +his master's quarters, and the negro immediately showed him the way, +opened the door of the antechamber, and pointing to the living-room said: + +"There--but Keraunus is absent." + +Without troubling himself any further about Antinous the slave went back +to the children, but the Bithyman stood irresolute, with his flask in his +hand, for besides Selene's voice he heard that of another girl and the +deeper tones of a man. He was still hesitating when Arsinoe's loud +exclamation of "Who's there?" obliged him to advance. + +In the sitting-room Selene was standing dressed in a long light-colored +robe with a veil over her head, as if prepared to go out, but Arsinoe was +perched on the edge of a table, in such a way as that the tips of her +toes only touched the ground, and on the table lay a quantity of old- +fashioned things. Before her stood a Phoenician, of middle age, holding +in his hand a finely-carved cup; apparently he was in treaty for it with +the young girl. + +Keraunus had been again to-day to a dealer in curiosities, but he had not +found him at home, so he had left word at his shop that Hiram might call +upon him in his rooms at Lochias, where he could show him several +valuable rarities. The Phoenician had arrived before the return of the +steward himself, who had been detained at a meeting of the town council, +and Arsinoe was displaying her father's treasures, whose beauties she was +extolling with much eloquence. Hiram unfortunately offered a no higher +price than Gabinius, whom the steward had sent off so indignantly the +previous evening. + +Selene had been convinced from the first of the bootlessness of the +attempt, and was now anxious to bring the transaction to a speedy +conclusion, as the hour was approaching when she and Arsinoe had to go to +the papyrus factory. To her sister's refusal to accompany her, and to +the old slave-woman's entreaty that she would rest her foot, at any rate +for to-day, she had responded only with a resolute, "I am going." + +The appearance of the youth on the scene occasioned the girls some +embarrassment. Selene recognized him at once, Arsinoe thought him +handsome but awkward, while the curiosity-dealer gazed at him in perfect +admiration, and was the first to offer him a greeting. Antinous returned +it, bowed to the sisters, and then said turning to Selene: + +"We heard that your head was cut, and your foot hurt, and as we were +guilty of your mishap, we venture to offer you this phial which contains +a good remedy for such injuries." + +"Thank you," replied the girl. "But I feel already so well that I shall +try to go out." + +"That you certainly ought not to do," said Antinous, beseechingly. + +"I must," replied Selene, gravely. + +"Then, at any rate, take the phial to use for a lotion when you return. +Ten drops in such a cup as that, full of water." + +"I can try it when I come in." + +"Do so, and you will see how healing it is. You are not vexed with us +any longer?" + +"No." + +"I am glad of that!" cried the boy, fixing his large dreamy eyes on +Selene with silent passion. This gaze displeased her, and she said more +coldly than before to the Bithyman. + +"To whom shall I give the phial when I have used the stuff in it?" + +"Keep it, pray keep it," begged Antinous. "It is pretty, and will be +twice as precious in my eyes when it belongs to you." + +"It is pretty-but I do not wish for presents." + +"Then destroy it when you have done with it. You have not forgiven us +our dog's bad behavior, and we are sincerely sorry that our dog--" + +"I am not vexed with you. Arsinoe pour the medicine into a saucer." + +The steward's younger daughter immediately obeyed, and noticing as she +did so, how pretty the phial was, sparkling with various colors, she said +frankly enough: + +"If my sister will not have it, give it to me. How can you make such a +pother about nothing, Selene?" + +"Take it," said Antinous, looking anxiously at the ground, for it had now +just occurred to him how highly the Emperor had valued this little +bottle, and that he might possibly ask him some time what had become of +it. Selene shrugged her shoulders, and drawing her veil round her head, +she exclaimed, with a glance of annoyance at her sister: + +"It is high time!" + +"I am not going to-day," replied Arsinoe, defiantly, "and it is folly for +you to walk a quarter of a mile with your swollen foot." + +"It would be wiser to take some care of it," observed the dealer, +politely, and Antinous anxiously added: + +"If you increase your own suffering you will add to our self-reproach." + +"I must go," Selene repeated resolutely," and you with me, sister." + +It was not out of mere wilfulness that she spoke, it was bitter +necessity, that forced her to utter the words. To-day, at any rate, she +must not miss going to the papyrus factory, for the week's wages for her +work and Arsinoe's were to be paid. Besides, the next day, and for four +days after, the workshops and counting-house would be closed, for the +Emperor had announced to the wealthy proprietor his intention of visiting +them, and in his honor various dilapidations in the old rooms were to be +repaired, and various decorations added to the bare-looking building. +Hence, to remain away from the works to-day meant, not merely the loss of +a week's pay, but the sacrifice of twelve days, since it had been +announced to the work-people, that as a token of rejoicing, and in honor +of the imperial visit, full pay would be given for the unemployed days; +and Selene needed money to maintain the family, and must therefore +persist in her intention. + +When she saw that Arsinoe showed no sign of accompanying her, she once +more asked with stern determination: + +"Are you coming?--Yes, or no." + +"No," cried Arsinoe, defiantly, and sitting farther on the table. + +"Then I am to go alone?" + +"You are to stay here." + +Selene went close up to her sister and looked at her enquiringly and +reproachfully; but Arsinoe adhered to her refusal. She pouted like a +sulky child, and slapping the hand on which she was leaning three times +on the table, she repeated, "No--no--no." + +Selene called to the old slave-woman, and desired her to remain in the +sitting-room till her father should return, greeted the dealer politely, +and Antinous with a careless nod, and then left the room. The lad had +followed her, and they both met the children. Selene pulled their +dresses straight, and strictly enjoined them not to go near the corridor +on account of the strange dog. Antinous stroked the blind boy's pretty +curly head, and then, as Selene was about to descend the stairs, he asked +her: + +"May I help you?" + +"Yes," said the girl, for at the very first step an acute pain in the +ancle checked her, and she put out her arm to the young man that he might +support her elbow on his hand. But her answer would assuredly have been +"no," if she had had the smallest feeling of liking for the Emperor's +favorite; but she bore the image of another in her heart, and did not +even perceive that Antinous was beautiful. The Bithynian's heart, on the +other hand, had never beaten so violently as during the brief moments +when he was permitted to hold Selene's arm. He felt intoxicated, while +he was alive to the fact that during the descent of the few steps she was +suffering great pain. + +"Stay at home, and spare yourself!" he begged her once more in a +trembling voice. + +"You worry me!" she said, in a tone of vexation. "I must go, and it is +not far." + +"May I accompany you?" + +She laughed aloud and answered somewhat scornfully: + +"Certainly not. Only conduct me through the corridor that the dog may +not attack me again, then go where you will--but not with me." + +He obeyed when at the end of the passage where it opened into a large +hall, he bid her farewell, and she thanked him with a few friendly words. + +There were two ways out from her father's rooms into the road, one led +through the rotunda where the Ptolemaic Queens were placed, and across +several terraces up and down steps through the forecourt; the other, on a +level all the way, through the rooms and halls of the palace. She was +forced to choose the latter, for it would have been impossible for her +with her aching foot to clamber up a number of steps without help and +down them again, but she came to this conclusion much against her will, +for she knew what numbers of men were engaged in the works of +restoration; and to get through them safely it struck her that she might +ask her old playfellow to escort her through the crowd of workmen and +rough slaves as far as his parent's gatehouse. But she did not easily +decide on this course, for, since the afternoon when Pollux had shown her +mother's bust to Arsinoe before showing it to her, she had felt a grudge +towards the sculptor, who so lately before had touched and opened her +weary and loveless soul; and this sore feeling had not diminished, but +had rather increased with time. At every hour of the day, and whatever +she was occupied in, she could not help repeating to herself, that she +had every reason to be vexed with him. + +She had stood to him a second time as a model for his work, had spoken to +him many times, and when last they parted had promised to allow him this +very evening to study once more the folds of her mantle. With what +pleasure she had looked forward to each meeting with Pollux, how truly +lovable she had thought him on every fresh occasion; how frankly he too, +expressed his pleasure as often as they met! They had talked of all +sorts of things, even of love, and how eager he had been when he told her +that the only thing she needed to make her happy was a good husband who +would succor and comfort her as she deserved, and as he spoke he had +looked at his own strong hands while she had turned red, and had thought +to herself that if he liked it she would willingly make the experiment of +enjoying life heartily by his side. + +It seemed to her as though they belonged to each other, as if she had +been born for him alone, and he for her. Why then yesterday had he shown +Arsinoe her mother's bust before her? + +Well, now she would ask him plainly whether he had placed it on the +rotunda for her or for her sister, and let him see she was not pleased. +She must tell him, too, that she could not stand as his model that +evening; if only on account of her foot that would be impossible. + +With increasing pain and effort she crossed the threshold of the hall of +the Muses, and went up to the screen behind which her friend was +concealed. He was not alone, for she heard voices within--and it was not +a man but a woman who was with him; she could hear her clear laugh at +some distance. When she came close up to the screen to call Pollux, the +woman, who was certainly sitting to him as a model, spoke louder than +before, and called out merrily: + +"But this is delicious! I am to let you fulfil the office of my maid, +what audacity these artists have!" + +"Say yes," begged the artist, in the gay and cordial tone which more than +once had helped to ensnare Selene's heart. "You are beautiful, Balbilla, +but if you would allow me, you might be far handsomer than you are even." + +And again there was a merry laugh behind the screen. The pleasant voice +must have hurt poor Selene acutely for she drew up her shoulders, and her +fair features were stamped with an expression of keen suffering, and she +pressed both hands over her heart as she went on past the screen and her +handsome flirting playfellow, limping across the courtyard and into the +road. + +What tortured the poor child so cruelly? The poverty of her house, and +her bodily pain, which increased at every step, or her numbed and sore +heart, betrayed of her newly-blossoming, last, and fairest hope? + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Usually when Selene went out walking, many people looked at her with +admiration, but to-day a couple of street-boys composed her escort. They +ran after her calling out impudently, 'dot, and go one,' and tried +ruthlessly to snatch at the loosely-tied sandal on her injured foot, +which tapped the pavement at every step. While Selene was thus making +her way with cruel pain, satisfaction and happiness had visited Arsinoe; +for hardly had Selene and Antinous quitted her father's apartments, when +Hiram begged her to show him the little bottle which the handsome youth +had just given her. The dealer turned it over and over in the sunlight, +tested its ring, tried to scratch it with the stone in his ring, and then +muttered, "Vasa Murrhma." + +The words did not escape the girl's sharp ears, and she had heard her +father say that the costliest of all the ornamental vessels with which +the wealthy Romans were wont to decorate their reception-rooms, were +those called Vasa Murrhina; so she explained to him at once, that she +knew what high prices were paid for such vases, and that she had no mind +to sell it cheaply. He began to bid, she laughingly demanded ten times +the price, and after a long battle between the dealer and the owner, +fought now half in jest, and now in grave earnest, the Phoenician said: + +"Two thousand drachmae; not a sesterce more." That is not enough by a +long way, but then it is yours." + +"I would hardly have given half to a less fair customer." + +"And I only let you have it because you are such a polite man." + +"I will send you the money before sundown." + +At these words the girl, who had been radiant with surprise and delight, +and who would have liked to throw her arms round the bald-headed +merchant's neck, or round that of her old slave, who was even less +attractive, or for that matter, would have embraced the world--the +triumphant girl became thoughtful; her father would certainly come home +ere long, and she could not conceal from herself that he would disapprove +of the whole proceeding, and would probably send the phial back to the +young man, and the money to the dealer. She herself would never have +asked the stranger for the bottle if she had had the slightest suspicion +of its value; but now it certainly belonged to her, and if she had given +it back again she would have given no one any pleasure; on the contrary, +she would have offended the stranger, and probably have lost the greatest +pleasure that she had ever enjoyed. + +What was to be done now? She was still perched on the table; she had +taken her left foot in her right hand, and sitting in this quaint +position, she looked down on the ground as gravely as if she were trying +to find an idea, or a way out of the difficulty, in the pattern on the +floor. + +The dealer for a moment amused himself in studying her bewilderment, +which he thought charming--only wishing that his son, a young painter, +were standing in his place. At last he broke the silence however, +saying: + +"Your father, perhaps, will not agree to our bargain; and yet it is for +him you want the money?" + +"Who says so?" + +"Would he have offered me his own treasures if he had not wanted money?" + +"It is only--I can--only--" stammered Arsinoe, who was unaccustomed to +falsehood--I would merely not confess to him--" + +"I myself saw how innocently you came by the phial," said the dealer, +"and Keraunus never need know anything about such a trifle. Fancy +yourself, that you have broken it, and that the pieces are lying at the +bottom of the sea. Which of all these things does your father value +least?" + +"This old sword of Antony," answered the child, her face brightening once +more. "He says it is much too long, and too slender to be what it +pretends to be. For my part I do not believe that it is a sword at all, +but a roasting-spit." + +"I shall apply it to that very purpose to-morrow morning in my kitchen," +said the dealer, "but I offer you two thousand drachmae for it, and will +take it with me and send you the amount in a few hours. Will that do?" + +Arsinoe dropped her foot, glided from the table, and instead of +answering, clapped her hands with glee. + +"Only tell him," continued Hiram, "that I am able just now to pay so much +for this kind of thing, because Caesar is certain to look about him for +the things that belonged to Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, Octavianus, +Augustus, and other great Romans who have lived in Egypt. The old woman +there may bring the spit after me. My slave is waiting outside, and can +hide it under his chiton as far as my kitchen door, for if he carried it +openly the connoisseurs passing by might covet the priceless treasure, +and we must protect ourselves from the evil eye." + +The dealer laughed, took the little bottle into his own keeping, gave the +sword to the old woman, and then took a friendly leave of the young girl. + +As soon as Arsinoe was alone, she flew into the bedroom to put on her +sandals, threw her veil over her head, and hastened to the papyrus +manufactory. Selene must know of the unexpected good fortune that had +befallen her, and all of them, and then she would have the poor girl +carried home in a litter, for there were always plenty for hire on the +quay. + +Things did not always go smoothly--very often very unsmoothly and +stormily between the sisters, but still anything of importance that +happened to Arsinoe, whether it were good or evil, she must at once tell +Selene. + +Ye gods! what happiness! She could take her place among the daughters of +the great citizens in the processions, no less richly apparelled than +they, and still there would remain a nice little sum for her father and +sister; and the work in the factory, the nasty dirty work, which she +hated and loathed, would be at an end, it was to be hoped, for ever. + +The old slave was still sitting on the steps with the children; Arsinoe +tossed them up one after the other, and whispered in each child's ear: + +"Cakes this evening!" and she kissed the blind child's eyes, and said: + +"You may come with me, dear little man. I will find a litter for Selene +and put you in, and you will be carried home like a little prince." + +The little blind boy threw his arms up with delight, exclaiming: +"Through the air, and without falling." While she was still holding him +in her arms, her father came up the steps that led from the rotunda to +the passage, his face streaming with heat and excitement; and after +wiping his brow and panting to regain his breath, he said: + +"Hiram, the curiosity-dealer, met me just outside, with the sword that +belonged to Antony; and you sold it to him for two thousand drachmae! +you little fool!" + +"But, father, you would have given the old spit for a pasty and a draught +of wine," laughed Arsinoe. + +"I?" cried Keraunus. "I would have had three times the sum for that +venerable relic, for which Caesar will give its weight in silver; +however, sold is sold. And yet-and yet, the thought that I no longer +possess the sword of Antony, will give me many sleepless nights." + +"If this evening we set you down to a good dish of meat, sleep will soon +follow," answered Arsinoe, and she took the handkerchief out of her +father's hand, and coaxingly wiped his temples, going on vivaciously: +"We are quite rich folks, father, and will show the other citizens' +daughters what we can do." + +"Now you shall both take part in the festival," said Keraunus, decidedly. +"Caesar shall see that I shun no sacrifice in his honor, and if he +notices you, and I bring my complaint against that insolent architect +before him--" + +"You must let that pass," begged Arsinoe, "if only poor Selene's foot is +well by that time." + +"Where is she?" + +"Gone out." + +"Then her foot cannot be so very bad. She will soon come in, it is to be +hoped." + +"Probably--I mean to fetch her with a litter." + +"A litter?" said Keraunus, in surprise. + +"The two thousand drachmae have turned the girl's head." + +"Only on account of her foot. It was hurting her so much when she went +out." + +"Then why did she not stay at home? As usual she has wasted an hour to +save a sesterce, and you, neither of you have any time to spare." + +"I will go after her at once." + +"No--no, you at any rate, must remain here, for in two hours the matrons +and maidens are to meet at the theatre." + +"In two hours! but mighty Serapis, what are we to put on?" + +"It is your business to see to that," replied Keraunus, "I myself will +have the litter you spoke of, and be carried down to Tryphon, the ship- +builder. Is there any money left in Selene's box?" + +Arsinoe went into her sleeping-room, and said, as she returned: + +"This is all--six pieces of two drachmae." + +"Four will be enough for me," replied the steward, but after a moment's +reflection he took the whole half-dozen. + +"What do you want with the ship-builder?" asked Arsinoe. + +"In the Council," replied Keraunus, "I was worried again about you girls. +I said one of my daughters was ill, and the other must attend upon her; +but this would not do, and I was asked to send the one who was well. +Then I explained that you had no mother, that we lived a retired life for +each other, and that I could not bear the idea of sending my daughter +alone, and without any protectress to the meeting. So then Tryphon said +that it would give his wife pleasure to take you to the theatre with her +own daughter. This I half accepted, but I declared at once that you +would not go, if your elder sister were not better. I could not give +any positive consent--you know why." + +"Oh, blessings on Antony and his noble spit!" cried Arsinoe. "Now +everything is settled, and you can tell the ship-builder we shall go. +Our white dresses are still quite good, but a few ells of new light blue +ribbon for my hair, and of red for Selene's, you must buy on the way, at +Abibaal, the Phoenician's." + +"Very good." + +"I will see at once to both the dresses--but, to be sure, when are we to +be ready?" + +"In two hours." + +"Then, do you know what, dear old father?" + +"Well?" + +"Our old woman is half blind, and does everything wrong. Do let me go +down to dame Doris at the gate-house, and ask her to help me. She is so +clever and kind, and no one irons so well as she does." + +"Silence!" cried the steward, angrily, interrupting his daughter. +"Those people shall never again cross my threshold." + +"But look at my hair; only look at the state it is in," cried Arsinoe, +excitedly, and thrusting her fingers into her thick tresses which she +pulled into disorder. "To do that up again, plait it with new ribbons, +iron our dresses, and sew on the brooches--why the Empress' ladies-maid +could not do all that in two hours." + +"Doris shall never cross this threshold," repeated Keraunus, for all his +answer. + +"Then tell the tailor Hippias to send me an assistant; but that will cost +money." + +"We have it, and can pay," replied Keraunus, proudly, and in order not +to forget his commissions he muttered to himself while he went to get a +litter: + +"Hippias the tailor, blue ribbon, red ribbon, and Tryphon the ship- +builder." + +The tailor's nimble apprentice helped Arsinoe to arrange her dress and +Selene's, and was never weary of praising the sheen and silkiness of +Arsinoe's hair, while she twisted it with ribbons, built it up and +twisted it at the back so gracefully with a comb, that it fell in a thick +mass of artfully-curled locks down her neck and back. When Keraunus came +back, he gazed with justifiable pride at his beautiful child; he was +immensely pleased, and even chuckled softly to himself as he laid out the +gold pieces which were brought to him by the curiosity-dealer's servant, +and set them in a row and counted them. While he was thus occupied, +Arsinoe went up to him and asked laughing: "Hiram has not cheated me +then?" Keraunus desired her not to disturb him, and added: + +"Think of that sword, the weapon of the great Antony, perhaps the very +one with which he pierced his own breast.--Where can Selene be?" + +An hour, an hour and a half had slipped by, and when the fourth half- +hour was well begun, and still his eldest daughter did not return, the +steward announced that they must set out, for that it would not do to +keep the ship-builder's wife waiting. It was a sincere grief to Arsinoe +to be obliged to go without Selene. She had made her sister's dress look +as nice as her own, and had laid it carefully on the divan near the +mosaic pavement. She had taken a great deal of trouble. Never before +had she been out in the streets alone, and it seemed impossible to enjoy +anything without the companionship and supervision of her absent sister. +But her father's assertion, that Selene would have a place gladly found +for her, even later, among the maidens, reassured the girl who was +overflowing with joyful expectation. + +Finally she perfumed herself a little with the fragrant extract which +Keraunus was accustomed to use before going to the council, and begged +her father to order the old slave-woman to go and buy the promised cakes +for the little ones during her absence. The children had all gathered +round her, admiring her with loud ohs! and ahs! as if she were some +wondrous incarnation, not to be too nearly approached, and on no account +to be touched. The elaborate dressing of her hair would not allow of her +stooping over them as usual. She could only stroke little Helios' curls, +saying: "Tomorrow you shall have a ride in the air, and perhaps Selene +will tell you a pretty story by-and-bye." + +Her heart beat faster than usual as she stepped into the litter, which +was waiting for her just in front of the gate-house. Old Doris looked at +her from a distance with pleasure, and while Keraunus stepped out into +the street to call a litter for himself, the old woman hastily cut the +two finest roses from her bush, and pressing her fingers to her lips with +a sly smile, put them into the girl's hand. + +Arsinoe felt as if it were in a dream that she went to the ship-builder's +house, and from thence to the theatre, and on her way she fully +understood, for the first time, that alarm and delight may find room side +by side in a girl's mind, and that one by no means hinders the existence +of the other. + +Fear and expectation so completely overmastered her, that she neither saw +nor heard what was going on around her; only once she noticed a young man +with a garland on his head, who, as he passed her, arm in arm with +another, called out to her gaily: "Long live beauty!" + +From that moment she kept her eyes fixed on her lap and on the roses dame +Doris had given her. The flowers reminded her of the kind old woman's +son, and she wondered whether tall Pollux had perhaps seen her in her +finery. That, she would have liked very much; and after all, it was not +at all impossible, for, of course, since Pollux had been working at +Lochias he must often have gone to his parents. Perhaps even he had +himself picked the roses for her, but had not dared to give them to her +as her father was so near. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +But the young sculptor had not been at the gatehouse when Arsinoe went +by. He had thought of her often enough since meeting her again by the +bust of her mother; but on this particular afternoon his time and +thoughts were fully claimed by another fair damsel. Balbilla had arrived +at Lochias about noon, accompanied, as was fitting, by the worthy +Claudia, the not wealthy widow of a senator, who for many years had +filled the place of lady-in-attendance and protecting companion to the +rich fatherless and motherless girl. At Rome, she conducted Balbilla's +household affairs with as much sense and skill as satisfaction in the +task. Still she was not perfectly content with her lot, for her ward's +love of travelling, often compelled her to leave the metropolis, and in +her estimation, there was no place but Rome where life was worth living. +A visit to Baiae for bathing, or in the winter months a flight to the +Ligurian coast, to escape the cold of January and February--these she +could endure; for she was certain there to find, if not Rome, at any rate +Romans; but Balbilla's wish to venture in a tossing ship, to visit the +torrid shores of Africa, which she pictured to herself as a burning oven, +she had opposed to the utmost. At last, however, she was obliged to put +a good face on the matter, for the Empress herself expressed so decidedly +her wish to take Balbilla with her to the Nile, that any resistance would +have been unduteous. Still; in her secret heart, she could not but +confess to herself that her high-spirited and wilful foster-child--for +so she loved to call Balbilla--would undoubtedly have carried out her +purpose without the Empress' intervention. + +Balbilla had come to the palace, as the reader knows, to sit for her +bust. + +When Selene was passing by the screen which concealed her playfellow and +his work from her gaze, the worthy matron had fallen gently asleep on a +couch, and the sculptor was exerting all his zeal to convince the noble +damsel that the size to which her hair was dressed was an exaggeration, +and that the super-incumbence of such a mass must disfigure the effect of +the delicate features of her face. He implored her to remember in how +simple a style the great Athenian masters, at the best period of the +plastic arts, had taught their beautiful models to dress their hair, and +requested her to do her own hair in that manner next day, and to come to +him before she allowed her maid to put a single lock through the curling- +tongs; for to-day, as he said, the pretty little ringlets would fly back +into shape, like the spring of a fibula when the pin was bent back. +Balbilla contradicted him with gay vivacity, protested against his desire +to play the part of lady's maid, and defended her style of hair-dressing +on the score of fashion. + +"But the fashion is ugly, monstrous, a pain to one's eyes!" cried +Pollux. "Some vain Roman lady must have invented it, not to make herself +beautiful, but to be conspicuous." + +"I hate the idea of being conspicuous by my appearance," answered +Balbilla. "It is precisely by following the fashion, however conspicuous +it may be, that we are less remarkable than when we carefully dress far +more simply and plainly--in short, differently to what it prescribes. +Which do you regard as the vainer, the fashionably-dressed young +gentleman on the Canopic way, or the cynical philosopher with his unkempt +hair, his carefully-ragged cloak over his shoulders, and a heavy cudgel +in his dirty hands?" + +"The latter, certainly," replied Pollux. "Still he is sinning against +the laws of beauty which I desire to win you over to, and which will +survive every whim of fashion, as certainly as Homer's Iliad will survive +the ballad of a street-singer, who celebrates the last murder that +excited the mob of this town.--Am I the first artist who has attempted to +represent your face?" + +"No," said Balbilla, with a laugh. "Five Roman artists have already +experimented on my head." + +"And did any one of their busts satisfy you?" + +"Not one seemed to me better than utterly bad." + +"And your pretty face is to be handed down to posterity in five-fold +deformity?" + +"Ah! no--I had them all destroyed." + +"That was very good of them!" cried Pollux, eagerly. Then turning with a +very simple gesture to the bust before him he said: "Hapless clay, if +the lovely lady whom thou art destined to resemble will not sacrifice +the chaos of her curls, thy fate will undoubtedly be that of thy +predecessors." + +The sleeping matron was roused by this speech. "You were speaking," she +said, "of the broken busts of Balbilla?" + +"Yes," replied the poetess. + +"And perhaps this one may follow them," sighed Claudia. "Do you know +what lies before you in that case?" + +"No, what?" + +"This young lady knows something of your art." + +"I learnt to knead clay a little of Aristaeus," interrupted Balbilla. + +"Aha! because Caesar set the fashion, and in Rome it would have been +conspicuous not to dabble in sculpture." + +"Perhaps." + +"And she tried to improve in every bust all that particularly displeased +her," continued Claudia. + +"I only began the work for the slaves to finish," Balbilla threw in, +interrupting her companion. "Indeed, my people became quite expert in +the work of destruction." + +"Then my work may, at any rate, hope for a short agony and speedy death," +sighed Pollux. "And it is true--all that lives comes into the world with +its end already preordained." + +"Would an early demise of your work pain you much? "asked Balbilla. + +"Yes, if I thought it successful; not if I felt it to be a failure." + +"Any one who keeps a bad bust," said Balbilla, "must feel fearful lest an +undeservedly bad reputation is handed down to future generations." + +"Certainly! but how then can you find courage to expose yourself for the +sixth time to a form of calumny that it is difficult to counteract?" + +"Because I can have anything destroyed that I choose," laughed the spoilt +girl. "Otherwise sitting still is not much to my taste." + +"That is very true," sighed Claudia. "But from you I expect something +strikingly good." + +"Thank you," said Pollux, "and I will take the utmost pains to complete +something that may correspond to my own expectations of what a marble +portrait ought to be, that deserves to be preserved to posterity." + +"And those expectations require--?" + +Pollux considered for a moment, and then he replied: + +"I have not always the right words at my command, for all that I feel as +an artist. A plastic presentiment, to satisfy its creator, must fulfil +two conditions; first it must record for posterity in forms of eternal +resemblance all that lay in the nature of the person it represents; +secondly, it must also show to posterity what the art of the time when it +was executed, was capable of." + +"That is a matter of course--but you are forgetting your own share." + +"My own fame you mean?" + +"Certainly." + +"I work for Papias and serve my art, and that is enough; meanwhile Fame +does not trouble herself about me, nor do I trouble myself about her." + +"Still, you will put your name on my bust?" + +"Why not?" + +"You are as prudent as Cicero." + +"Cicero?" + +"Perhaps you would hardly know old Tullius' wise remark that the +philosophers who wrote of the vanity of writers put their names to their +books all the same." + +"Oh! I have no contempt for laurels, but I will not run after a thing +which could have no value for me, unless it came unsought, and because it +was my due." + +"Well and good; but your first condition could only be fulfilled in its +widest sense if you could succeed in making yourself acquainted with my +thoughts and feelings, with the whole of my inmost mind." + +"I see you and talk to you," replied Pollux. Claudia laughed aloud, and +said: + +"If instead of two sittings of two hours you were to talk to her for +twice as many years you would always find something new in her. Not a +week passes in which Rome does not find in her something to talk about. +That restless brain is never quiet, but her heart is as good as gold, and +always and everywhere the same." + +"And did you suppose that that was new to me?" asked Pollux. "I can see +the restless spirit of my model in her brow and in her mouth, and her +nature is revealed in her eyes." + +"And in my snub-nose?" asked Balbilla. + +"It bears witness to your wonderful and whimsical notions, which astonish +Rome so much." + +"Perhaps you are one more that works for the hammer of the slaves," +laughed Balbilla. + +"And even if it were so," said Pollux, "I should always retain the memory +of this delightful hour." Pontius the architect here interrupted the +sculptor, begging Balbilla to excuse him for disturbing the sitting; +Pollux must immediately attend to some business of importance, but in ten +minutes he would return to his work. No sooner were the two ladies +alone, than Balbilla rose and looked inquisitively round and about the +sculptor's enclosed work-room; but her companion said: + +"A very polite young man, this Pollux, but rather too much at his ease, +and too enthusiastic." + +"An artist," replied Balbilla, and she proceeded to turn over every +picture and tablet with the sculptor's studies in drawing, raised the +cloth from the wax model of the Urania, tried the clang of the lute which +hung against one of the canvas walls, was here, there, and everywhere, +and at last stood still in front of a large clay model, placed in a +corner of the studio, and closely wrapped in cloths. + +"What may that be?" asked Claudia. + +"No doubt a half-finished new model." + +Balbilla felt the object in front of her with the tips of her fingers, +and said: "It seems to me to be a head. Something remarkable at any +rate. In these close covered dishes we sometimes find the best meat. +Let its unveil this shrouded portrait." + +"Who knows what it may be?" said Claudia, as she loosened a twist in the +cloths which enveloped the bust. There are often very remarkable things +to be seen in such workshops. + +"Hey, what, it is only a woman's head! I can feel it," cried Balbilla. + +"But you can never tell," the older lady went on, untying a knot. +"These artists are such unfettered, unaccountable beings." + +"Do you lift the top, I will pull here," and a moment later the young +Roman stood face to face with the caricature which Hadrian had moulded on +the previous evening, in all its grimacing ugliness. She recognized +herself in it at once, and at the first moment, laughed loudly, but the +longer she looked at the disfigured likeness, the more vexed, annoyed and +angry she became. She knew her own face, feature for feature, all that +was pretty in it, and all that was plain, but this likeness ignored +everything in her face that was not unpleasing, and this it emphasized +ruthlessly, and exaggerated with a refinement of spitefulness. The head +was hideous, horrible, and yet it was hers. As she studied it in +profile, she remembered what Pollux had declared he could read in her +features, and deep indignation rose up in her soul. + +Her great inexhaustible riches, which allowed her the reckless +gratification of every whim, and secured consideration, even for her +follies, had not availed to preserve her from many disappointments which +other girls, in more modest circumstances, would have been spared. Her +kind heart and open hand had often been abused, even by artists, and it +was self-evident to her, that the man who could make this caricature, who +had so enjoyed exaggerating all that was unlovely in her face, had wished +to exercise his art on her features, not for her own sake, but for that +of the high price she might be inclined to pay for a flattering likeness. +She had found much to please her in the young sculptor's fresh and happy +artist nature, in his frank demeanor and his honest way of speech. She +felt convinced that Pollux, more readily than anybody else, would +understand what it was that lent a charm to her face, which was in no way +strictly beautiful, a charm which could not be disputed in spite of the +coarse caricature which stood before her. + +She felt herself the richer by a painful experience, indignant, and +offended. Accustomed as she was to give prompt utterance even to her +displeasure, she exclaimed hotly, and with tears in her eyes: + +"It is shameful, it is base. Give me my wraps Claudia. I will not stay +an instant longer to be the butt of this man's coarse and spiteful +jesting." + +"It is unworthy," cried the matron, "so to insult a person of your +position. It is to be hoped our litters are waiting outside." + +Pontius had overheard Balbilla's last words. He had come into the work- +place without Pollux, who was still speaking to the prefect, and he said +gravely as he approached Balbilla: + +"You have every reason to be angry, noble lady. This thing is an insult +in clay, malicious, and at the same time coarse in every detail; but it +was not Pollux who did it, and it is not right to condemn without a +trial." + +"You take your friend's part!" exclaimed Balbilla. "I would not tell a +lie for my own brother." + +"You know how to give your words the aspect of an honorable meaning in +serious matters, as he does in jest." + +"You are angry and unaccustomed to bridle your tongue," replied the +architect. "Pollux, I repeat it, did not perpetrate the caricature, but +a sculptor from Rome." + +"Which of them? I know them all." + +"I may not name him." + +"There--you see.--Come away Claudia." + +"Stay," said Pontius, decisively. "If you were any one but yourself, I +would let you go at once in your anger, and with the double charge on +your conscience of doing an injustice to two well-meaning men. But as +you are the granddaughter of Claudius Balbillus, I feel it to be due to +myself to say, that if Pollux had really made this monstrous bust he +would not be in this palace now, for I should have turned him out and +thrown the horrid object after him. You look surprised--you do not know +who I am that can address you so." + +"Yes, yes," cried Balbilla, much mollified, for she felt assured that the +man who stood before her, as unflinching as if he were cast in bronze, +and with an earnest frown, was speaking the truth, and that he must have +some right to speak to her with such unwonted decision. "Yes indeed, you +are the principal architect of the city; Titianus, from whom we have +heard of you, has told us great things of you; but how am I to account +for your special interest in me?" + +"It is my duty to serve you--if necessary, even with my life." + +"You," said Balbilla, puzzled. "But I never saw you till yesterday." + +"And yet you may freely dispose of all that I have and am, for my +grandfather was your grandfather's slave." + +"I did not know"--said Balbilla, with increasing confusion. + +"Is it possible that your noble grandfather's instructor, the venerable +Sophinus, is altogether forgotten. Sophinus, whom your grandfather +freed, and who continued to teach your father also." + +"Certainly not--of course not," cried Balbilla. "He must have been a +splendid man, and very learned besides." + +"He was my father's father," said Pontius. + +"Then you belong to our family," exclaimed Balbilla, offering him a +friendly hand. + +"I thank you for those words," answered Pontius. "Now, once more, Pollux +had nothing to do with that image." + +"Take my cloak, Claudia," said the girl. "I will sit again to the young +man." + +"Not to-day--it would spoil his work," replied Pontius. "I beg of you to +go, and let the annoyance you so vehemently expressed die out some where +else. The young sculptor must not know that you have seen this +caricature, it would occasion him much embarrassment. But if you can +return to-morrow in a calmer and more happy humor, with your lively +spirit tuned to a softer key, then Pollux will be able to make a likeness +which may satisfy the granddaughter of Claudius Balbillus." + +"And, let us hope, the grandson of his learned teacher also," answered +Balbilla, with a kindly farewell greeting, as she went with her companion +towards the door of the hall of the Muses, where her slaves were waiting. +Pontius escorted her so far in silence, then he returned to the work- +place, and safely wrapped the caricature up again in its cloths. + +As he went out into the hall again, Pollux hurried up to meet him, +exclaiming: + +"The Roman architect wants to speak to you, he is a grand man!" + +"Balbilla was called away, and bid me greet you," replied Pontius. "Take +that thing away for fear she should see it. It is coarse and hideous." + +A few moments later he stood in the presence of the Emperor, who +expressed the wish to play the part of listener while Balbilla was +sitting. When the architect, after begging him not to let Pollux know of +the incident, told him of what had occurred in the screened-off studio, +and how angry the young Roman lady had been at the caricature, which was +certainly very offensive, Hadrian rubbed his hands and laughed aloud with +delight. Pontius ground his teeth, and then said very earnestly: + +"Balbilla seems to me a merry-hearted girl, but of a noble nature. I see +no reason to laugh at her." Hadrian looked keenly into the daring +architect's eyes, laid his hand on his shoulder, and replied with a +certain threatening accent in his deep voice: + +"It would be an evil moment for you, or for any one, who should do so in +my presence. But age may venture to play with edged tools, which +children may not even touch." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Selene entered the gate-way in the endlessly-long walk of sun-dried +bricks which enclosed the wide space where stood the court-yards, water- +tanks and huts, belonging to the great papyrus manufactory of Plutarch, +where she and her sister were accustomed to work. She could generally +reach it in a quarter of an hour, but to-day it had taken more than four +times as long and she herself did not know how she had managed to hold +herself up, and to walk-limp-stumble along, in spite of the acute pain +she was suffering. She would willingly have clung to every passer-by, +have held on to every slow passing vehicle, to every beast of burden that +overtook her--but man and beast mercilessly went on their way, without +paying any heed to her. She got many a push from those who were hurrying +by and who scarcely turned round to look at her, when from time to time +she stopped to sink for a moment on to the nearest door-step, or some low +cornice or bale of goods; to dry her eyes, or press her hand to her foot, +which was now swollen to a great size, hoping, as she did so, to be able +to forget, under the sense of a new form of pain, the other unceasing and +unendurable torment, at least for a few minutes. + +The street boys who had run after her, and laughed at her, ceased +pursuing her when they found that she constantly stopped to rest. A +woman with a child in her arms once asked her, as she stopped to rest a +minute on a threshold, whether she wanted anything, but walked on when +Selene shook her head and made no other answer. + +Once she thought she must give up altogether, when suddenly the street +was filled with jeering boys and inquisitive men and women--for Verus, +the superb Verus, came by in his chariot, and what a chariot! The +Alexandrian populace were accustomed to see much that was strange in the +busy streets of their crowded city; but this vehicle attracted every eye, +and excited astonishment, admiration and mirth, wherever it appeared, and +not unfrequently the bitterest ridicule. The handsome Roman stood in the +middle of his gilt chariot, and himself drove the four white horses, +harnessed abreast; on his head he wore a wreath, and across his breast, +from one shoulder, a garland of roses. On the foot-board of the quadriga +sat two children, dressed as Cupids; their little legs dangled in the +air, and they each held, attached by a long gilt wire, a white dove which +fluttered in front of Verus. + +The dense and hurrying crowd, crushed Selene remorselessly against the +wall; instead of looking at the wonderful sight she covered her face with +her hands to hide the distortion of pain in her features; still she just +saw the splendid chariot, the gold harness on the horses, and the figure +of the insolent owner glide past her, as if in a dream that was blurred +by pain, and the sight infused into her soul, that was already harassed +by pain and anxiety, a feeling of bitter aversion, and the envious +thought that the mere trappings of the horses of this extravagant +prodigal would suffice to keep her and her family above misery for a +whole year. + +By the time the chariot had turned the next corner, and the crowd had +followed it, she had almost fallen to the ground. She could not take +another step, and looked round for a litter, but, while generally there +was no lack of them, in this spot, to-day there was not one to be seen. +The factory was only a few hundred steps farther, but in her fancy they +seemed like so many stadia. Presently some of the workmen and women from +the factory came by, laughing and showing each other their wages, so the +payment must be now going on. A glance at the sun showed her how long +she had already been on her way, and remind her of the purpose of her +walk. + +With the exertion of all her strength, she dragged herself a few steps +farther; then, just as her courage was again beginning to fail, a little +girl came running towards her who was accustomed to wait upon the workers +at the table where Selene and Arsinoe were employed, and who held in her +hand a pitcher. She called the dusky little Egyptian, and said: + +"Hathor, pray come back to the factory with me. I cannot walk any +farther, my foot is so dreadfully painful; but if I lean a little on your +shoulder, I shall get on better." + +"I cannot," said the child. "If I make haste home I shall have some +dates," and she ran on. + +Selene looked after her, and an inward voice, against which she had had +to rebel before to-day, asked her why she of all people must be a +sufferer for others, when they thought only of themselves, and with a +heavy sigh, she made a fresh attempt to proceed on her way. + +When she had gone a few steps, neither seeing not hearing anything that +passed her, a girl came up to her, and asked her timidly, but kindly, +what was the matter. It was a leaf-joiner who sat opposite to her at the +works, a poor, deformed creature, who, nevertheless, plied her nimble +fingers contentedly and silently, and who at first had taught Selene and +Arsinoe many useful tricks of working. The girl offered her crooked +shoulder unasked as a support to Selene, and measured her step; to those +of the sufferer with as much nicety as if she felt everything that Selene +herself did; thus, without speaking, they reached the door of the +factory; there, in the first court-yard the little hunchback made Selene +sit down on one of the bundles of papyrus-stems which lay all about the +place, by the side of the tanks in which the plants were dipped to +freshen them, and arranged in order, built up into high heaps, according +to the localities whence they were brought. After a short rest, they +went on through the hall in which the triangular green stems were sorted, +according to the quality of the white pith they contained. The next +rooms, in which men stripped the green sheath from the pith, and the long +galleries where the more skilled hands split the pith with sharp knives +into long moist strips about a finger wide, and of different degrees of +fineness, seemed to Selene to grow longer the farther she went, and to be +absolutely interminable. + +Generally the pith-splitters sat here in long rows, each at his own +little table, on each side of a gangway left for the slaves, who carried +the prepared material to the drying-house; but, to-day, most of them had +left their places and stood chatting together and packing up their wooden +clips, knives, and sharpening-stones. Half way down this room Selene's +hand fell from her companion's shoulder, she turned giddy, and said in a +low tone: + +"I can go no farther--" + +The little hunchback held her up as well as she could, and though she +herself was far from strong, she succeeded in dragging, rather than +carrying, Selene to an empty couch and in laying her upon it. A few +workmen gathered around the senseless girl, and brought some water, then +when she opened her eyes again, and they found that she belonged to the +rooms where the prepared papyrus-leaves were gummed together, some of +them offered to carry her thither, and before Selene could consent they +had taken up the bench and lifted it with its light burden. Her damaged +foot hung down, and gave the poor girl such pain that she cried out, and +tried to raise the injured limb and hold her ankle in her band; her +comrade helped by taking the poor little foot in her own hand, and +supporting it with tender and cautious care. + +As she thus went by, carried, as it were, in triumph by the men, and +borne high in the air, everyone turned to look at her, and the suffering +girl felt this rather as if she were some criminal being carried through +the streets to exhibit her disgrace to the citizens. But when she found +herself in the large rooms where, in one place men, and in another the +most skilled of the women and girls were employed in laying the narrow +strips of papyrus crosswise over each other, and gumming them together, +she had recovered strength enough to pull her veil over her face which +she held down. Arsinoe, and she herself, in order to remain unrecognized +had always been accustomed to walk through these rooms closely veiled, +and not to lay their wraps aside till they reached the little room where +they sat with about twenty other women to glue the sheets together. + +Every one looked at her with curious enquiry. Her foot certainly hurt +her, the cut in her head was burning, and she felt altogether intensely +miserable; still there was room and to spare in her soul for the false +pride that she inherited from her father, and for the humiliating +consciousness that she was regarded by these people as one of themselves. + +In the room in which she worked, none but free women were employed, but +more than a thousand slaves worked in the factory and she would as soon +have eaten with beasts without plate or spoon, as have shared a meal with +them. At one time, when every thing in their house seemed going to ruin, +it was her own father who had suggested the papyrus factory to her +attention, by telling her, with indignation, that the daughter of an +impoverished citizen had degraded herself and her whole class by devoting +herself to working in the papyrus factory to earn money. She was pretty +well paid, to be sure, and in answer to Selene's enquiry, he had stated +the amount she earned and mentioned the name of the rich manufacturer to +whom she had sold her social standing for gold. + +Soon after this Selene had gone alone to the factory, had discussed all +that was necessary with the manager, and had then begun, with Arsinoe, to +work regularly in the factory where they now for two years had spent some +hours of every day in gumming the papyrus-leaves together. + +How many a time at the beginning of a new week, or when under the +influence of a special fit of aversion to her work, had Arsinoe refused +to go with her ever again to the factory; how much persuasive eloquence +had she expended, how many new ribbons had she bought, how often had she +consented to allow her to go to some spectacle, which consumed half a +week's wages, to induce Arsinoe to persist in her work, or to avert the +fulfilment of her threat to tell her father, whither her daily walk--as +she called it--tended. + +When Selene, who had been carried as far as the door of her own work- +room, was sitting once more in her usual place in front of the long table +on which she worked, and where hundreds of prepared papyrus strips were +to be joined together, she felt scarcely able to raise the veil from her +face. She drew the uppermost sheets towards her, dipped the brush in the +gum-jar, and began to touch the margin of the leaf with it--but in the +very act, her strength forsook her, the brush fell from her fingers, she +dropped her hands on the table and her face in her hands, and began to +cry softly. + +While she sat thus, her tears slowly flowing, her shoulders heaving, and +her whole body shaken with shuddering sobs, a woman who sat opposite to +her, beckoned to the deformed girl, and after whispering to her a few +words grasped her hand firmly and warmly and looked straight into her +eyes with her own, which though lustreless were clear and steady; then +the little hunchback silently took Arsinoe's vacant place by Selene, and +pushed the smaller half of the papyrus leaves over to the woman, and both +set diligently to work on the gumming. + +They had been thus occupied for some time when Selene at last raised her +head and was about to take up her brush again. She looked round for it +and perceived her companion, whom she had not even thanked for her +helpfulness, busily at work in Arsinoe's seat. She looked at her +neighbor with eyes still full of tears, and as the girl, who was wholly +absorbed in her task, did not notice her gaze, Selene said in a tone of +surprise rather than kindliness. + +"This is my sister's place; you may sit here to-day, but when the factory +opens again she must sit by me again." + +"I know, I know," said the workwoman shyly. "I am only finishing your +sheets because I have no more of my own to do, and I can see how badly +your foot is hurting you." + +The whole transaction was so strange and novel to Selene that she did not +even understand her neighbor's meaning, and she only said, with a shrug: + +"You may earn all you can, for aught I can do; I cannot do anything to- +day." + +Her deformed companion colored and looked up doubtfully at her opposite +neighbor, who at once laid aside her brush and said, turning to Selene: + +"That is not what Mary means, my child. She is doing one-half of your +day's task and I am doing the other, so that your suffering foot may not +deprive you of your day's pay." + +"Do I look so very poor then?" exclaimed Keraunus' daughter, and a faint +crimson tinged her pale cheeks. + +"By no means, my child," replied the woman. "You and your sister are +evidently of good family--but pray let us have the pleasure of being of +some help to you. + +"I do not know--" Selene stammered. + +"If you saw that it hurt me to stoop when the wind blows the strips of +papyrus on to the floor, would you not willingly pick them up for me?" +continued the woman. "What we are doing for you is neither less nor yet +much more than that. In a few minutes we shall have finished and then we +can follow the others, for every one else has left. I am the overseer of +the room, as you know, and must in any case remain here till the last +work-woman has gone." + +Selene felt full well that she ought to be grateful for the kindness +shown her by these two women, and yet she had a sense of having a deed of +almsgiving forced upon her acceptance, and she answered quickly, still +with the blood mounting to her cheeks. "I am very grateful for your good +intentions, of course, very grateful; but here each one must work for +herself, and it would ill-become me to allow you to give me the money you +have earned." + +The girl spoke these words with a decisiveness which was not free from +arrogance, but this did not disturb the woman's gentle equanimity--"widow +Hannah," as she was called by the workwoman--and fixing the calm gaze of +her large eyes on Selene, she answered kindly: + +"We have been very happy to work for you, dear daughter, and a divine +Sage has said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Do you +understand all that that means? In our case it is as much as to say that +it makes kind-hearted folks much happier to do others a pleasure than to +receive good gifts. You said just now that you were grateful; do you +want now to spoil our pleasure?" + +"I do not quite understand--" answered Selene. "No?" interrupted widow +Hannah. "Then only try for once to do some one a pleasure with sincere +and heartfelt love, and you will see how much good it does one, how it +opens the heart and turns every trouble to a pleasure. Is it not true +Mary, we shall he sincerely obliged to Selene if only she will not spoil +the pleasure we have had in working for her?" + +"I have been so glad to do it," said the deformed girl, "and there--now +I have finished." + +"And I too," said the widow, pressing the last leaf on to its fellow with +a cloth, and then adding her pile of finished sheets to Mary's. + +"Thank you very much," murmured Selene, with downcast eyes, and rising +from her seat, but she tried to support herself on her lame foot and this +caused her such pain, that with a low cry, she sank back on the stool. +The widow hastened to her side, knelt clown by her, took the injured foot +with tender care in her delicate and slender hands, examined it +attentively, felt it gently, and then exclaimed with horror: + +"Good Lord! and did you walk through the streets with a foot in this +state?" and looking up at Selene she said affectionately. "Poor child, +poor child! it must have hurt you! Why the swelling has risen above your +sandal-straps. It is frightful! and yet--do you live far from this?" + +"I can get home in half an hour." + +"Impossible! First let me see on my tablets how much the paymaster owes +you that I may go and fetch it, and then we will soon see what can be +done with you. Meanwhile you sit still daughter dear, and you Mary rest +her foot on a stool and undo the straps very gently from her ankle. Do +not be afraid my child, she has soft, careful hands." As she spoke she +rose and kissed Selene on her forehead and eyes, and Selene clung to her +and could only say with swimming eyes, and a voice trembling with +feeling: + +"Dame Hannah, dear widow Hannah." + +As the warm sunshine of an October clay reminds the traveller of the +summer that is over, so the widow's words and ways brought back to Selene +the long lost love and care of her good mother; and something soothing +mingled in the bitterness of the pain she was suffering. She looked +gratefully at the kind woman and obediently sat still; it was such a +comfort once more to obey an order, and to obey willingly--to feel +herself a child again and to be grateful for loving care. + +Hannah went away, and Mary knelt down in front of Selene to loosen and +remove the straps which were half buried in the swelled muscles. She did +it with the greatest caution, but her fingers had hardly touched her, +when Selene shrank back with a groan, and before she could undo the +sandal, the patient had fainted away. Mary fetched some water and bathed +her brow, and the burning wound in her head, and by the time Selene had +once more opened her eyes, dame Hannah had returned. When the widow +stroked her thick soft hair, Selene looked up with a smile and asked: +"Have I been to sleep?" + +"You shut your eyes my child," replied the widow. "Here are your wages +and your sister's, for twelve days; do not move, I will put it in your +little bag. Mary has not succeeded in loosening your sandal, but the +physician who is paid to attend on the factory people will be here +directly, and will order what is proper for your poor foot. The manager +is having a litter fetched for you.--Where do you live?" + +"We?" cried Selene, alarmed. "No, no, I must go home." + +"But my child you cannot walk farther than the court-yard even if we both +help you." + +"Then let me get a litter out in the street. My father--no one must +know--I cannot." + +Hannah signed to Mary to leave them, and when she had shut the door on +the deformed girl, she brought a stool, sat down opposite to Selene, laid +a hand on the knee that was not hurt, and said: + +"Now, dear girl, we are alone. I am no chatterbox, and will certainly +not betray your confidence. Tell me quietly who you belong to. Tell me +--you believe that I mean well by you?" + +"Yes," replied Selene, looking the widow full in the face-- +a regularly-cut face, set in abundant smooth brown hair, and with the +stamp of genuine and heart-felt goodness. "Yes--you remind me of my +mother." + +"Well, I might be your mother." + +"I am nineteen years old already." + +"Already," replied Hannah, with a smile. "Why my life has been twice as +long as yours. I had a child, too, a boy; and he was taken from me when +he was quite little. He would be a year older than you now, my child-- +is your mother still alive?" + +"No," said Selene, with her old dry manner, that had become a habit. +"The gods have taken her from us. She would have been, like you, not +quite forty now, and she was as pretty and as kind as you are. When she +died she left seven children besides me, all little, and one of them +blind. I am the eldest, and do what I can for them, that they may not be +starved." + +"God will help you in the loving task." + +"The gods!" exclaimed Selene, bitterly. "They let them grow up, the rest +I have to see to--oh! my foot, my foot!" + +"Yes, we will think of that before anything else. Your father is alive?" + +"Yes." + +"And he is not to know that you work here?" + +Selene shook her head. + +"He is in moderate circumstances, but of good family?" + +"Yes." + +"Here, I think, is the doctor. Well? May I know your father's name? +I must if I am to get you safe home." + +"I am the daughter of Keraunus, the steward of the palace, and we have +rooms there, at Lochias," Selene answered, with rapid decision, but in a +low whisper, so that the physician, who just then opened the room door, +might not hear her. "No one, and least of all, my father, must know that +I work here." + +The widow made a sign to her to be easy, greeted the grey-haired leech +who came in with his assistant; and then, while the old man examined the +injured limb, and cut the straps with a sharp pair of scissors, she +bathed the girl's face and cut head with a wet handkerchief, supported +the poor child in her arms, and, when the pain seemed too much for her, +kissed her pale cheeks. + +Many sighs from the bottom of her heart, and many shrill little cries +betrayed how intense was the pain Selene was enduring. When at length, +her delicate and graceful foot-distorted just now by the extensive +swelling,--was freed from the bands and straps, and the ankle had been +felt and pressed in every direction by the leech, he exclaimed, turning +to the assistant who stood ready to lend a helping hand: + +"Look here, Hippolytus, the girl came along the streets with her ankle +in this state. If any one else had told me of such a thing, I should +have desired him to keep his lies to himself. The fibula is broken at +the joint, and with this injured limb the child has walked farther than +I could trust myself at all--without my litter. By Sirius! child, if +you are not crippled for life it will be a miracle." + +Selene had listened with closed eyes, and exhausted almost to +unconsciousness; but at his last words she slightly shrugged her +shoulders with a faint smile of scorn on her lips. + +"You think nothing of being lame!" said the old man, who let no gesture +of his patient escape him. "That, of course, is your affair, but it is +mine to see that you do not become a cripple in my hands. The +opportunity for working a miracle is not given to one of us every day, +and happily for me, you yourself bring a powerful coadjutor to help me. +I do not mean a lover or anything of that kind, though you are much too +pretty, but your lovely, vigorous, healthy youth. The hole in your head +is hotter than it need be--keep it properly cool with fresh water. Where +do you live, child?" + +"Almost half an hour from here," said Hannah, answering for Selene. + +"She cannot be taken so far as that, even in a litter, at present," said +the old man. + +"I must go home!" cried Selene, resolutely, and trying to sit up. + +"Nonsense," exclaimed the physician. "I must forbid your moving at all. +Be still, and be patient and obedient, or your foolish joke will come to +a bad end; fever has already set in, and it will increase by the evening. +It has nothing much to do with the leg, but all the more with the +inflamed scalp-wound. Do you think," he added, turning to the widow, +"that perhaps a bed could be made here on which she might lie, and remain +here till the factory reopens?" + +"I would rather die," shrieked Selene, trying to draw away her foot from +the leech. + +"Be still--be still, my dear child," said the good woman, soothingly. +"I know where I can take you. My house is in a garden belonging to +Paulina, the widow of Pudeus, near this and close to the sea; it is not +above a thousand paces off, and there you will have a soft couch and +tender care. A good litter is waiting, and I should think--" + +"Even that is a good distance," said the old man. "However, she cannot +possibly be better cared for than by you, dame Hannah. Let us try it +then, and I will accompany you to lash those accursed bearers' skins if +they do not keep in step." + +Selene made no attempt to resist these orders, and willingly drank a +potion which the old man gave her; but she cried to herself as she was +lifted into the litter and her foot was carefully propped on pillows. In +the street, which they soon reached through a side door, she again almost +lost consciousness, and half awake but half as in a dream, she heard the +leech's voice as he cautioned the bearers to walk carefully, and saw the +people, and vehicles, and horsemen pass her on their way. Then she saw +that she was being carried through a large garden, and at last she dimly +perceived that she was being laid on a bed. From that moment every thing +was merged in a dream, though the frequent convulsions of pain that +passed over her features and now and then a rapid movement of her hand to +the cut in her head, showed that she was not altogether oblivious to the +reality of her sufferings. + +Dame Hannah sat by the bed, and carried out the physician's instructions +with exactness; he himself did not leave his patient till he was +perfectly satisfied with her bed and her position. Mary stayed with the +widow helping her to wet handkerchiefs and to make bandages out of old +linen. + +When Selene began to breathe more calmly Hannah beckoned her assistant to +come close to her and asked in a low voice. + +"Can you stay here till early to-morrow, we must take it in turns to +watch her, most likely for several nights--how hot this wound on her head +is!" + +"Yes, I can stay, only I must tell my mother that she may not be +frightened." + +"Quite right, and then you may undertake another commission for I cannot +leave the poor child just now." + +"Her people will be anxious about her." + +"That is just where you must go; but no one besides us two must know who +she is. Ask for Selene's sister and tell her what has happened; if you +see her father tell him that I am taking care of his daughter, and that +the physician strictly forbids her moving or being moved. But he must +not know that Selene is one of us workers, so do not say a word about the +factory before him. If you find neither Arsinoe nor her father at home, +tell any one that opens the door to you that I have taken the sick child +in, and did it gladly. But about the workshop, do your hear, not a word. +One thing more, the poor girl would never have come down to the factory +in spite of such pain, unless her family had been very much in need of +her wages; so just give these drachmae to some one and say, as is +perfectly true, that we found them about her person." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Enjoy the present day +Idleness had long since grown to be the occupation of his life +It was such a comfort once more to obey an order +Philosophers who wrote of the vanity of writers + + + + + + +THE EMPEROR, Part 1. + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 5. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Plutarch was one of the richest citizens of Alexandria, and the owner of +the papyrus manufactory where Selene and Arsinoe worked; and he had of +his own free will offered to provide for the "suitable" entertainment of +the wives and daughters of his fellow-citizens, who were, this very day, +to assemble in one of the smaller theatres of the city. Every one that +knew him, knew too that "suitable" with him meant as much as to say +imperial splendor. + +The ship-builder's daughter had prepared Arsinoe for grand doings, +but by the time she had reached the entrance only of the theatre her +expectations were exceeded, for as soon as she gave her father's name and +her own, a boy, who looked out from an arbor of flowers gave her a +magnificent bunch of flowers, and another, who sat perched on a dolphin, +handed her, as a ticket of admission, a finely-cut ornament of ivory +mounted in gold, with a pin, by which the invited owner was intended to +fix it like a brooch in her peplum; and at each entrance to the theatre, +the ladies, as they came in, had a similar present made them. + +The passage leading to the auditorium was full of perfume, and Arsinoe, +who had already visited this theatre two or three times, hardly +recognized it, it was so gaily decorated with colored scarfs. And who +had ever seen ladies and young girls filling the best places instead of +men, as was the case to-day? Indeed the citizens' daughters were in +general not permitted to see a theatrical performance at all, unless on +very special and exceptional occasions. She looked up with a smile at +the empty topmost rows of the cheapest seats of the semicircular +auditorium, as one looks at an old playfellow one had outgrown by a head, +for it was there--when she had occasionally been permitted to dip into +their scanty common purse--that she had almost fainted many a time, with +pleasure, fear, or sympathy, though the draught so high up and under the +open heaven which was the only roof, was incessantly blowing; and in +summer the discomforts were even greater from the awning which shaded the +amphitheatre on the sunny side. The wide breadths of canvas were managed +by means of stout ropes, and when these were pulled through the rings +they rode in, they made a screech which compelled the bearer to stop his +ears; and often it was necessary to duck his head not to be hit by the +heavy ropes or by the awning itself. But Arsinoe only remembered these +things to-day as a butterfly sporting in the sun may remember the hideous +pupa-case that it has burst and left behind it. + +Radiant with happy excitement, she was led to her seat with her young +companion, the black-haired daughter of the shipwright. She perceived +indeed that numerous eyes turned upon her, but that only added to her +pleasure, for she knew that she could well bear looking at, and there +could be no greater pleasure, as she thought, than to give pleasure to a +multitude. + +To-day at any rate! For those who were looking at her were the chief +citizens of Alexandria; they stood on the stage, and among them stood +kind tall Pollux, waving his hand to her. She could not keep her feet +quiet, but she did contrive to keep her arms still by crossing them in +front of her, so that they might not betray how excited she was. + +This distribution of parts had already begun, for, by waiting for Selene, +she had come in almost half an hour too late. As soon as she saw that +the eyes that had been attracted to herself as she entered the theatre +had turned to other objects she herself looked round her. She was +sitting on a bench at the lowest and narrowest end of one of the wedge- +shaped sections of seats, which grew wider at the upper end, and which +were divided from each other by gangways for those who came and went, +thus forming the semicircular area of the auditorium. + +Here she was surrounded only by young girls and women who were to have a +part or place in the performances. The places for these interested +persons were divided from the stage by a space for the orchestra, whence +the stage was easily reached by steps up which the chorus were wont to +mount to it. + +Behind Arsinoe, in the larger circular rows, sat the parents and husbands +of the performers, among whom Keraunus, in his saffron robe, had taken a +place, besides a considerable number of sight-loving matrons and older +citizens who had accepted Plutarch's invitation. + +Among the young women and girls Arsinoe saw several whose beauty struck +her, but she admired them ungrudgingly, and it never came into her head +to compare herself with them, for she knew very accurately that she was +pretty, and that even here she had nothing to conceal, and this was +enough for her. + +The many-voiced hum which incessantly buzzed in her ears, and the perfume +which rose from the attar in the orchestra had something intoxicating in +them. Her gaze round the assembled multitude could not disturb any one, +and her companion had found some friends with whom she was chattering and +laughing. Other ladies and young girls sat staring silently in front of +them, or studying the appearance of the rest of the audience, male and +female; while others again concentrated their whole attention on the +stage. Arsinoe soon followed this example, nor was this solely on +account of Pollux who, by the prefect's orders, had been enlisted among +the artists to whom the arrangement of the display was entrusted, in +spite of the objections of his master Papias. More than once before had +she seen the afternoon sun shine as brightly into the theatre as it did +to-day, and the blue sky overarching it without a cloud, but with what +different feelings did she now direct her gaze to the raised level behind +the orchestra. The background, it is true, was the same as usual, the +pillared front of a palace built entirely of colored marbles, and +ornamented with gold; but on this occasion fresh garlands of fragrant +flowers hung gracefully between the pilasters and across from column to +column. Several artists, the first of the city, with tablets and styla +in their hands were moving about among fifty girls and ladies, and +Plutarch himself, and the gentlemen with him, composed, as it were a +grand chorus which sometimes divided, and sometimes stood all together. + +On the right side of the stage were three purple-covered couches. On one +of them sat Titianus, the prefect, who, like the artists, used his +pencil; with him was his wife Julia. On another reclined Verus, at full +length, and as usual, crowned with roses; the third was for Plutarch, but +was unoccupied. The praetor did not hesitate to interrupt any speaker, +as though he were the host of the entertainment, and many of his remarks +were followed by loud applause, or approving laughter. + +The face and figure of the wealthy Plutarch, which could never be +forgotten, were not altogether strange to Arsinoe, for, a few days +previously he had shown himself for the first time in many years in his +papyrus factory, with an architect to settle with him how the courts and +rooms could best be cleaned and decorated for the reception of the +Emperor; and on this occasion he had gone into the room where she worked +and had pinched her cheek with a few roguish and flattering words. + +There he was, walking across the stage. He was an old man, said to be +about seventy years of age, his legs were half-paralyzed, and they +nevertheless moved with a series of incessant and rapid but unvoluntary +jerks under his heavy bowed body, and he was supported on either hand by +a tall young fellow. His nobly-formed head, must have been in his youth, +of extraordinary beauty. Now his head was covered by a wig of long brown +hair, his eyebrows and lashes were darkly dyed, his cheeks daubed with +red and white paint, which gave his countenance a fixed expression, as if +he had been stricken in the very act of smiling. On his curls he wore a +wreath of rare flowers in long racemes. An abundance of red and white +roses stuck out from the front folds of his ample toga, and were held in +their place by gold brooches, sparkling with precious stones of large +size. The hems of his mantle were all edged with rose-buds, and each was +fastened in with an emerald that shone like some bright insect. The +young men who supported him seemed like a portion of himself; he took no +more heed of them than if they had been crutches, and they needed not +command to tell them where he wished to go, where to stand still, and +where to rest. + +At a distance his face was like that of a youth, but seen close it looked +like a painted plaster mask, with regular features and large movable +eyes. + +Favorinus, the sophist, had said of him that one might cry over his +handsome locomotive corpse, if one were not obliged to laugh at it, and +it was said that he had himself declared that he would force his +faithless youth to remain with him. The Alexandrians called him the +Adonis with six legs, on account of the lads who supported him, and +without whom no one ever saw him and who always accompanied him when he +went out. The first time he heard this nickname he remarked: "They had +better have called me sixhanded;" and in fact he had a thoroughly good +heart, he was liberal and benevolent, took fatherly care of his work- +people, treated his slaves well, enriched those whom he set free, and +from time to time distributed large sums among the people in money and +in grain. + +Arsinoe looked compassionately on the poor old man who could not buy back +his youth with all his money and all his art. + +In the supercilious man who at once came up to Plutarch she recognized +the art-dealer Gabinius to whom her father had shown the door, on account +of the mosaic picture in their sitting-room, but their conversation was +interrupted, for the distribution of the women's part for the group of +Alexander's entry into Babylon, was now about to take place; about fifty +girls and young women were sent away from the stage and went down into +the orchestra. The Exegetes, the highest official in the town, now came +forward and took a new list out of the hand of Papias the sculptor. +After rapidly casting an eye on this, he handed it to a herald who +followed him, who proclaimed to all the assembly: + +"In the name of the most noble Exegetes I request your attention, all you +ladies here assembled, the wives and daughters of Macedonians and of +Roman citizens. We now come to a distribution of the characters in our +representation of the life and history of the great Macedonian, of the +'Marriage of Alexander and Roxana,' and I hereby request those among you +to come upon the stage whom our artists have selected to take part in +this scene in the procession." After this exordium he shouted in a deep +and resonant voice a long list of names, and while this was going on +every other sound was hushed in the wide amphitheatre. + +Even on the stage all was still; only Verus whispered a few remarks to +Titianus, and the curiosity-dealer spoke into Plutarch's ear, long +sentences with the stringent emphasis which was peculiar to him; and the +old man answered sometimes with an assenting nod, and sometimes with a +deprecatory motion of his hands. + +Arsinoe listened with suspended breath to the herald's proclamation; she +started and colored all over, with her eyes fixed on the bunch of flowers +in her hand, when she heard from the stage loudly uttered and plain to be +heard by all present: + +"Arsinoe, the second daughter of Keraunus, the Macedonian and a Roman +citizen." + +The ship-builder's daughter had already been called before her, and had +immediately left her seat, but Arsinoe waited modestly till some older +ladies rose. She then joined them and went among the last members of the +little procession which went down to the orchestra and from thence up the +steps for the chorus, on to the stage. + +There the ladies and young girls were placed in two ranks, and looked at +with amiable consideration by the artists. Arsinoe was not long in +perceiving that these gentlemen looked at her longer and more often than +at the others; and then, after the masters of the festival had gone aside +in groups to discuss the matter they looked at her constantly and were +talking, she felt sure, about her. Nor did it escape her that she had +become the centre of many glances from the lookers-on who were sitting in +the theatre, and it occurred to her that on several sides people were +pointing at her with their fingers. She did not know which way she +should look and began to feel bashful; still she was pleased at being +remarked by so many people, and as she stood looking at the ground out of +sheer embarrassment to hide the delight she felt, Verus, who had gone up +to the group of artists, called out, putting his hand on the prefect's +arm. + +"Charming-charming! a Roxana that might have sprung straight out of the +picture." + +Arsinoe heard these words, and guessing that they referred to her she +became more confused than ever, while her awkward smile gradually changed +to an expression of joyful but anxious expectation of a delight which was +almost painful in its magnitude. + +Now one of the artists pronounced her name, and as she ventured to raise +her eyes to see if it were not Pollux who had spoken, she observed the +wealthy Plutarch who, with his two living crutches and Gabinius, the lean +curiosity-dealer, was inspecting the ranks of her companions. Presently +he had come quite close to her, and as he was helped towards her with +tottering steps, he dug the dealer in the ribs and said, kissing the back +of his hand, and winking his great eyes: "I know--I know! It is not +easily forgotten. Ivory and red coral!" + +Arsinoe started, the blood left her cheeks, and all satisfaction fled +from her heart when the old man came to a stand-still in front of her, +and said kindly: + +"Ah! ah! a bud out of the papyrus factory among all these proud roses and +lilies. Ah! ah! out of my work-rooms to join my assembly! Never mind- +never mind, beauty is everywhere welcome. I do not ask how you got here. +I am only glad that you are here." + +Arsinoe covered part of her face with her hand, but he tapped her white +arm three times with his middle finger, and then tottered on laughing to +himself. The dealer had caught Plutarch's words, and asked him, when +they had gone a few steps from Arsinoe, with eager indignation: + +"Did I hear you rightly? a work-woman in your factory, and here among our +daughters?" + +"So it is--two busy hands among so many idle ones," said the old man, +gaily. + +"Then she must have forced her way in, and must be turned out." + +"Certainly she shall not--Why, she is charming." + +"It is revolting! here, in this assembly!" + +"Revolting?" interrupted Plutarch. "Oh dear, no! we must not be too +particular. And how are we to obtain mere children from you antiquity- +mongers?" Then he added pleasantly: + +"This lovely creature must I should think, delight your fine sense of +beauty; or are you afraid that she may seem better suited to the part of +Roxana than your own charming daughter? Only listen to the men up there! +Let us see what is going on." + +These words referred to a loud discussion which had arisen close by the +couches of the prefect and Verus, the praetor. They, and with them most +of the painters and sculptors present, were of opinion that Arsinoe would +be a wonderfully effective Roxana; they maintained that her face and +figure answered perfectly to those of the Bactrian princes as they were +represented by Action, whose picture was, to a certain extent, to serve +as the basis of the living group. Only Papias and two of his fellow- +artists, declared against this choice, and eagerly asserted that among +all the damsels present one, and one alone, was worthy to appear before +the Emperor as Alexander's bride, and that one was Praxilla, the daughter +of Gabinius. All three were in close business relations with the father +of the young girl, who was tall, and slim, and certainly very lovely, and +they wanted to do a pleasure to the rich and knowing purchaser. Their +zeal even assumed a tone of vehemence, when the dealer, following in the +wake of Plutarch, joined the group of disputants, and they were certain +of being heard by him. + +"And who is this girl yonder?" asked Papias, pointing to Arsinoe, +as the two came up. "Nothing can be said against her beauty, but she is +dressed less than simply, and wears no kind of ornament worth speaking +of--it is a thousand to one against her parents being in a position to +provide her with such a rich dress, and such costly jewels as Roxana +certainly ought to display when about to be married to Alexander. The +Asiatic princess must appear in silk, gold and precious stones. Now my +friend here will be able so to dress his Praxilla that the splendor of +her attire might have astonished the great Macedonian himself, but who is +the father of that pretty child who is satisfied with the blue ribbon in +her hair, her two roses, and her little white frock?" + +"Your reflections are just, Papias," interrupted the dealer, with dry +incisiveness. "The girl you are speaking of is quite out of the +question. I do not say so for my daughter's sake, but because everything +in bad taste is odious to me; it is hardly conceivable how such a young +thing could have had the audacity to force herself in here. A pretty +face, to be sure, opens locks and bars. She is--do not be too much +startled--she is nothing more than a work-girl in the papyrus factory of +our excellent host, Plutarch." + +"That is not the truth," Pollux interrupted, indignantly, as he heard +this assertion. + +"Moderate your tongue, young man," replied the dealer. "I can call you +to witness, noble Plutarch." + +"Let her be whom she may," answered the old man, with annoyance. "She is +very one of my workwomen, but even if she had come straight here from the +gumming-table with such a face and such a figure, she is perfectly in +place here and everywhere. That is my opinion." + +"Bravo! my fine friend!" cried Verus, nodding to the old man. "Caesar +will be far better pleased with such a paragon of charmers as that sweet +creature, than with all your old writs of citizenship and heavy purses." + +"That is true," the prefect said, confirming this statement. "And I dare +swear she is a free maiden, and not a slave. But you stood up for her +friend Pollux--what do you know about her?" + +"That she is the daughter of Keraunus, the palace-steward, and that I +have known her from her childhood," answered the youthful artist +emphatically. "He is a Roman citizen, and of an old Macedonian house as +well." + +"Perhaps even of royal descent," added Titianus, laughing. + +"I know the man," answered the dealer hastily. "He is an impecunious +insolent old fool." + +"I should think," interrupted Verus with lofty composure, but rather as +being bored, than as reproving the irritated speaker, "it seems to me +that this is hardly the place to conduct a discussion as to the nature +and disposition of the fathers of all those ladies and young girls." + +"But he is poor," cried the dealer angrily. "A few days since he offered +to sell me his few miserable curiosities, but really I could not--" + +"We are sorry for your sake if the transaction was unsuccessful," Verus +again interposed, this time with excessive politeness. "Now, first let +us decide on the persons and afterwards on the costumes. The father of +the girl is a Roman citizen then?" + +"A member of the council, and in his way a man of position," replied +Titianus. + +"And I," added his wife Julia, "have taken a great fancy to the sweet +little maid, and if the principal part is given to her, and her noble +father is without adequate means, as you assert my friend, I will +undertake to provide for her costume. Caesar will be charmed with +such a Roxana." + +The dealer's clients were silent, he himself was trembling with +disappointment and vexation, and his fury rose to the utmost when +Plutarch, whom till then he thought he had won over to his daughter's +side, tried to bow his bent old body before dame Julia, and said with a +graceful gesture of regret: + +"My old eyes have deceived me again on this occasion. The little girl +is very like one of my workwomen; very like--but I see now that there is +a certain something which the other lacks. I have done her an injustice +and remain her debtor. Permit, me, noble lady to add the ornaments to +the dress you provide for our Roxana. I may be lucky enough to find +something pretty for her. A sweet child! I shall go at once and beg her +forgiveness and tell her what we propose. May I do so noble Julia? Have +I your permission gentlemen?" + +In a very few minutes it was known all over the stage, and soon after all +through the amphitheatre, that Arsinoe, the daughter of Keraunus, had +been selected to represent the character of Roxana. + +"But who was Keraunus?" + +"How was it that the children of the most illustrious and wealthy +citizens had been overlooked in assigning this most prominent part?" + +"This was just what might be expected when every thing was left to those +reckless artists!" + +"And where was a poor little girl like that to find the talents which it +would cost to procure the costume of an Asiatic princess, Alexander's +bride?" + +"Plutarch, and the prefect's wife had undertaken that." + +"A mere beggar." + +"How well the family jewels would have suited our daughters!" + +"Do we want to show Caesar nothing but a few silly pretty faces?--and not +something of our wealth and taste?" + +"Supposing Hadrian asks who this Roxana is, and had to be told that a +collection had to be made to get her a proper costume." + +"Such things never could happen anywhere but in Alexandria." + +"Every one wants to know whether she worked in Plutarch's factory. They +say it is not true--but the painted old villain still loves a pretty +face. He smuggled her in, you may be sure; where there is smoke there is +fire, and it is beyond a doubt that she gets money from the old man." + +"What for?" + +"Ah! you had better enquire of a priest of Aphrodite. It is nothing to +laugh at, it is scandalous, audacious!" + +Thus and on this wise ran the comments with which the announcement of +Arsinoe's preferment to the part of Roxana was received, and hatred and +bitter animosity had grown up in the souls of the dealer and his +daughter. Praxilla was selected as a companion to Alexander's bride, and +she yielded without objecting, but on her way homewards she nodded assent +when her father said: + +"Let things go on now as they may, but a few hours before the performance +begins, I will send them word that you are ill." + +The selection of Arsinoe had however, on the other hand, given pleasure +as well as pain. Up in the middle places in the amphitheatre sat +Keraunus, his legs far apart, his face glowing, panting and choking with +sheer delight, and too haughty to draw in his feet even when the brother +of the archidikastes tried to squeeze by his bulky person which filled +two seats at once. Arsinoe, whose sharp ears had not failed to catch the +dealer's remonstrances, and the words in which brave Pollux had taken her +part, had, at first, felt dying of shame and terror, but now she felt as +though she could fly on the wings of her delight. She had never been so +happy in her life, and when she got out with her father, in the first +dark street she threw her arms round his neck, kissed both his cheeks, +and then told him how kind the lady Julia, the prefect's wife had been to +her, and that she had undertaken, with the warmest friendliness, to have +her costly dress made for her. + +Keraunus had no objection to offer, and, strange to say, he did not +consider it beneath his dignity to allow Arsinoe to be supplied with +jewels by the wealthy manufacturer. + +"People have seen," he said, pathetically, "that we need not shrink from +doing as much as other citizens do, but to dress a Roxana as befits a +bride would cost millions, and I am very willing to confess to my friends +that I have not millions. Where the costume comes from is all the same, +be that as it may you will still stand the first of all the maidens in +the city, and I am pleased with you for that, my child. To-morrow will +be the last meeting, and then perhaps Selene too, may have a prominent +part given to her. Happily we are able to dress her as befits. When +will the prefect's wife fetch you?" + +"To-morrow about noon." + +"Then early to-morrow buy a nice new dress." + +"Will there not be enough for a new bracelet too?" asked Arsinoe, +coaxingly. "This one of mine is too narrow and trumpery." + +"You shall have one, for you have deserved it," replied Keraunus, with +dignity. "But you must have patience till the day after to-morrow; +to-morrow the goldsmiths will be closed on account of the festival." + +Arsinoe had never seen her father so cheerful and talkative as he was +to-day, and yet the walk from the theatre to Lochias was not a very short +one, and it was long past the early hour at which he was accustomed to +retire to bed. + +By the time the father and daughter reached the palace it was already +tolerably late, for, after Arsinoe had quitted the stage, suitable +representatives of parts had been selected for three other scenes from +the life of Alexander, by the light of torches, lamps and tapers; and +before the assemblage broke up, Plutarch's guests were entertained with +wine, fruit, syrups, sweet cakes, oyster pasties, and other delicacies. +The steward had fallen with good will on the noble drink and excellent +food, and when he was replete, he was wont to be in a better humor, and +after a modicum of wine, in a more cheerful mood than usual. Just now he +was content and kind, for although he had done all that lay in his power, +the entertainment had not lasted long enough, for him to arrive at a +state of intoxication which could make him surly, or to overload his +digestion. Towards the end of their walk, he turned thoughtful and said: + +"To-morrow the council does not sit on account of the festival, and that +is well; all the world will congratulate me, question me, and notice me, +and the gilding on my circlet is quite shabby; and in some places the +silver shines through. Your outfit will now cost nothing, and it is +quite necessary that before the next meeting I should go to a goldsmith +and exchange that wretched thing for one of real gold. A man should show +what he is." + +He spoke the words pompously, and Arsinoe eagerly acquiesced, and only +begged him, as they went in at the open door, to leave enough for +Selene's costume; he laughed quietly to himself, and said: + +"We need no longer be so very cautious. I should like to know who the +Alexander will be who will be the first to ask for my Roxana as his wife. +Rich old Plutarch's only son already has a seat in the council, and has +not yet taken a wife. He is no longer very young, but he is a fine man +still." + +The radiant father's dream of the future was interrupted by Doris, who +came out of the gate-house and called him by his name. Keraunus stood +still. When the old woman went on: + +"I must speak with you." + +He answered, repellently: "But I shall not listen to you--neither now nor +at any time." + +"It was certainly not for my pleasure," retorted Doris, "that I called to +you; I have only to tell you that you will not find your daughter Selene +at home." + +"What do you say?" cried Keraunus. + +"I say that the poor girl with her damaged foot could at last walk no +farther, and that she had to be carried into a strange house where she is +being taken care of." + +"Selene!" cried Arsinoe, falling from all her clouds of happiness, +startled and grieved--"do you know where she is?" + +Before Doris could reply, Keraunus stormed out: + +"It is all the fault of the Roman architect and his raging beast of a +dog. Very good! very good! now Caesar will certainly help me to my +rights. He will give a lesson to those who throw Roxana's sister into a +sick-bed, and hinder her from taking any part in the processions. Very +good! very good indeed!" + +"It is sad enough to cry over!" said the gatekeeper's wife, indignantly. +"Is this the thanks she gets for all her care of her little brothers and +sisters! Only to think that a father can speak so, when his best child +is lying with a broken leg, helpless among strangers!" + +"With a broken leg," whimpered Arsinoe. + +"Broken!" repeated Keraunus slowly, and now sincerely anxious. "Where +can I find her?" + +"At dame Hannah's little house at the bottom of the garden belonging to +the widow of Pudeus." + +"Why did they not bring her here?" + +"Because the physician forbade it. She is in a fever, but she is well +cared for. Hannah is one of the Christians. I cannot bear the people, +but they know how to nurse the sick better than any one." + +"With Christians! my child is with Christians!" shrieked Keraunus, +beside himself. "At once Arsinoe, at once come with me; Selene shall not +stay a moment longer among that accursed rabble. Eternal gods! besides +all our other troubles this disgrace too!" + +"Nay, it is not so bad as that," said Doris soothingly. "There are very +estimable folks even among the Christians. At any rate they are +certainly honorable, for the poor hunch-backed creature who first brought +the bad news gave me this little bag of money which dame Hannah had found +in Selene's pocket." + +Keraunus took his daughter's hard-won wages as contemptuously as though +he was quite accustomed to gold, and thought nothing of more wretched +silver; but Arsinoe began to cry at the sight of the drachmae, for she +knew it was for the sake of that money that Selene had left her home, and +could divine what frightful pain she must have suffered on the way. + +"Honorable this, and honorable that!" cried Keraunus, as he tied up his +money-bag. "I know well enough how shameless are the goings on in +assemblies of that stamp; kissing and hugging slaves! quite the right +sort of thing for my daughter! Come Arsinoe, let us find a litter at +once!" + +"No, no!" exclaimed Doris eagerly. "For the present you must leave her +in peace. I should be glad to conceal it from you as a father--but the +physician declared it might cost her her life if she were not left just +now in perfect quiet. No one goes to any kind of assembly with a burning +wound in the head, a high fever and a broken leg.--Poor dear child!" + +Keraunus stood silent in grave consternation, while Arsinoe exclaimed +through her tears: + +"But I must go to her, I must see her Doris." + +"That I cannot blame you for, my pretty one," said the old woman. I have +already been to the house of the Christians, but they would not let me in +to see the patient. With you it is rather different as you are her +sister." + +"Come father," begged Arsinoe, "first let us see to the children, and +then you shall come with me to see Selene. Oh! why did I not go with +her. Oh! if she should die." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Keraunus and his daughter reached their rooms less quickly than usual, +for the steward dreaded a fresh attack from the blood-hound, which, +to-night however, was sharing Antinous' room. They found the old +slavewoman up, and in great excitement, for she loved Selene, she was +frightened at her absence, and in the children's sleeping-room all was +not as it should be. + +Arsinoe went without delay to see the little ones, but the black woman +remained with her master, and told him with many tears, while he +exchanged his saffron-colored pallium for an old cloak, that the joy of +her heart, little blind Helios had been ill, and could not sleep, even +after she had given him some of the drops which Keraunus himself was +accustomed to take. + +"Idiotic animal!" exclaimed Keraunus, "to give my medicine to the +child," and he kicked off his new shoes to replace them with shabbier +ones. "If you were younger I would have you flogged." + +"But you did say the drops were good," stammered the old woman. + +"For me," shouted the steward, and without fastening his shoe-straps +round his ankles, so that they flapped and pattered on the ground, he +hurried off into the children's room. There sat his darling blind child, +his 'neir' as he liked to call him, with his pretty, fair, curly head +resting on Arsinoe's breast. The child recognized his step, and began +his little lament: + +"Selene was away, and I was frightened, and I feel so sick, so sick." + +The steward laid his hand on the child's forehead, and feeling how hot it +was he began to walk restlessly up and down by the little bed. + +"That is just how it always happens," he said. "When one misfortune +comes another always follows. Look at him Arsinoe. Do you remember how +the fever took poor Berenice? Sickness, uneasiness, and a burning head. +--"Have you any pain in your head my boy?" + +"No," answered Helios, "but I feel so sick." + +The steward opened the child's little shirt to see if he had any spots on +his breast, but Arsinoe said, as she bent over him: + +"It is nothing much, he has only overloaded his stomach. The stupid old +woman gives him every thing he asks for, and she let him have half of the +currant cake, which we sent her to fetch before we went out." + +"But his head is burning," repeated Keraunus. + +"He will be quite well again by to-morrow morning," replied Arsinoe. +"Our poor Selene needs us far snore than he does. Come father. The old +woman can stay with him." + +"I want Selene to come," whimpered the child. "Pray, pray, do not leave +me alone again." + +"Your old father will stay with you my pet," said Keraunus tenderly, for +it cut him to the soul to see this child suffer. "You none of you know +what this boy is to us all." + +"He will soon go to sleep," Arsinoe asserted. "Do let us go, or it will +be too late." + +"And leave the old woman to commit some other stupid blunder?" cried +Keraunus. "It is my duty to stay with the poor little boy. You can +go to your sister and take the old woman with you." + +"Very good, and to-morrow early I will come back." + +"To-morrow morning?" said Keraunus surprised. "No, no, that will not +do. Doris said just now that Selene will be well nursed by the +Christians. Only see how she is, give her my love, and then come back." + +"But father--" + +"Besides you must remember that the prefect's wife expects you to-morrow +at noon to choose the stuff for your dress, and you must not look as if +you had been sitting up all night." + +"I will rest a little while in the morning." + +"In the morning? And how about curling my hair? And your new frock? +And poor little Helios?--No child, you are only just to see Selene and +then come back again. Early in the morning too the holiday will have +begun, and you know what goes on then; the old woman would be of no use +to you in the throng. Go and see how Selene is, you are not to stay." + +"I will see--" + +"Not a word about seeing--you come home again. I desire it; in two hours +you are to be in bed." + +Arsinoe shrugged her shoulders, and two minutes after she was standing +with the old slave-woman in front of the gate-house. + +A broad beam of light still fell through the half-open door of the bowery +little room, so Euphorion and Doris had not retired to rest and could at +once open the palace-gate for her. The Graces set up a bark as Arsinoe +crossed the threshold of her old friends' house, but they did not leave +their cushion for they soon recognized her. + +It was several years since Arsinoe, in obedience to her father's strict +prohibition had set foot in the snug the house, and her heart was deeply +touched as she saw again all the surroundings she had loved as a child, +and had not forgotten as she grew into girlhood. There were the birds, +the little dogs, and the lutes on the wall near the Apollo. On worthy +dame Doris' table there had always been something to eat, and there, now, +good a lovely, golden-brown cake, by the side of the wine-jar. How often +as a child had she sneaked in to beg a sweet morsel, how often to see +whether tall Pollux were not there, Pollux, whose bold devices and +original suggestions, gave his work and his play alike, the stamp of +genius, and lent them a peculiar charm. And there sat her saucy +playfellow in person, his legs stretched at full length in front of him, +and talking, eagerly. Arsinoe heard him relating the end of the history +of her being chosen for Roxana, and caught her own name, graced with such +epithets as brought the blushes to her cheeks, and gave her double +pleasure because he could not guess that she could overhear them. From a +boy he had grown to a man, and a fine man, and a great artist--but he was +still the old kind and audacious Pollux. + +The sudden leap with which he sprang from his seat to welcome her, the +frank laughter with which he several times interrupted her speech, the +childlike loving way in which he held his arm round his little mother +while he greeted her, and asked why she was going out so late, the +winning, touching tone of his voice as he expressed his regret at +Selene's mishaps--all went home to Arsinoe as a thing known and loved, +of which she had long been deprived, and she clung to the two strong +hands he held out to her. If at that moment he had taken her up, and +clasped her to his heart before the very eyes of Eupliorion and his +mother she really would have been incapable of resisting him. + +It was with a heavy heart that Arsinoe had gone into dame Doris, but in +the gate-keeper's house there reigned an atmosphere in which care and +anxiety could not breathe, and the light-hearted girl's vision of her +sister as tormented with pain and threatened with danger was changed in +a wonderfully short time to that of a sufferer comfortably in bed, with +only a severely-injured foot. In the place of consuming anxiety she felt +only hearty sympathy, and this sounded in her voice as she begged the +singer Euphorion to open the gate for her, because she wanted to go out +with her slave-woman to ascertain how Selene was. + +Doris soothed her, repeating her assurance that the patient would be +nursed with the utmost care in dame Hannah's hands; still, she thought +her wish to see her sister very justifiable, and eagerly seconded Pollux +when he entreated Arsinoe to accept his escort; for the festival would be +beginning soon after midnight, the streets would be full of rough and +impudent people, and a bunch of feathers would be about as much use +against the drunken slaves as her black scarecrow, who had been falling +into decrepitude even before she had done the stupidest deed of her life +and roused the steward's anger against herself. + +So they went along the dark streets which grew full of people the farther +they went, side by side in silence. Presently Pollux said: + +"Put your arm through mine; you ought to feel that I am protecting you, +and I--I should like to feel at every step that I have found you once +more, and am allowed to be near you--so sweet a creature." + +The words did not sound impertinent, on the contrary, they sounded very +much in earnest, and the sculptor's deep voice trembled with emotion as +he spoke them with deep tenderness. They knocked at the door of the +girl's heart with the urgent hand of love; she unhesitatingly put her +hand through his arm and answered softly: + +"You will take care of me now." + +"Yes," said he, and he took her little hand, which rested on his right +arm, in his left hand. She did not draw it away, and after they had gone +on thus for a few paces he sighed and said: + +"Do you know how I feel?" + +"Well!" + +"Nay, I myself cannot put it into words. Rather as if I had triumphed in +the Olympian games, or as if Caesar had invested me with the purple!--But +who cares for the wealth or the purple! You are hanging on my arm, and I +have hold of your hand; compared with this, all is as nought. If it were +not for the people about I--I do not know what I could do." + +She looked up at him with happy content, but he lifted her hand to his +lips and pressed it to them long and fervently. Then he let it go again +and said, with a sigh that came up from the bottom of his heart: + +"Oh Arsinoe, my sweet Arsinoe, how I love you!" + +As the words came softly yet hotly from his lips the girl clasped his arm +closely to her bosom, leaned her head on his shoulder, looked up at him +with a wide-eyed, tender gaze, and said softly: + +"Oh Pollux, I am so happy, the world is so good!" + +"Nay, I could hate it!" cried the sculptor. "To hear this--and to have +an old mother wide awake at home, and to be obliged to walk steadily on +in a street crowded with men--it is unendurable! I shall not hold out +much longer--sweetest of girls--here it is quiet and dark." + +Yes, in a little nook made by two contiguous houses, and into which +Pollux drew Arsinoe, it was pitch dark, as he hastily pressed his first +kiss on her innocent lips; but in their hearts it was light-radiant +sunshine. + +She had thrown her arms round his neck and would willingly have clung to +him till day should end; but they heard the approach of a noisy +procession of slaves. These unfortunate creatures began soon after +midnight singing and shouting so as to avail themselves to the extremist +limit of the holiday, which released them for a short time from their +tasks and duties; Pollux knew well how unbounded the license of their +pleasures could be, and as he walked on with Arsinoe he enjoined her to +keep with him as close as possible to the houses. + +"How jolly they are!" he said pointing to the merry-makers. "Their +masters will wait on themselves a little to-day, and the best day in the +year is just beginning for them, but for us the best day in all our +lives." + +"Yes, yes," cried Arsinoe, and she clasped his strong arm with both her +hands. + +Then they both laughed merrily, for Pollux had noticed that the old +slave-woman had gone on past them with her head sunk on her breast, and +was following another pair. + +"I will call her," Arsinoe said. + +"No, no, let her be," said the artist. "The couple in front certainly +require her protection more than we do." + +"But how could she possibly mistake that little man for you?" laughed +Arsinoe. + +"I wish I were a little smaller," replied Pollux with a sigh. "Only +picture to yourself the vast amount of burning love and tormenting +longing that can be contained in so large a body as mine!" She slapped +him on the arm, and to punish her he hastily pressed his lips on her +forehead. + +"Don't--think of the people," she said reprovingly, but he gaily +answered: + +"It is not a misfortune to be envied." + +Here the streets came to an end, and they found themselves in front of +the garden belonging to Pudeus' widow; Pollux knew it, for Paulina who +owned it was the sister of Pontius, the architect, who himself owned a +magnificent house in the city. But could it be possible? Had invisible +hands brought them here already? The gate of the enclosure was locked. +Pollux roused a porter, told him what he wanted, and was conducted by him +with Arsinoe to apart of the grounds where a bright light shone out from +dame Hannah's little abode, for he had had instructions to admit the sick +girl's friends even during the night. + +A crescent moon lighted the paths, which were strewed with shells; the +shrubs and trees in the garden threw sharply-defined shadows on their +gleaming whiteness, the sea sparkled brightly, and as soon as the porter +had left the happy young pair together, and they found themselves in a +shadowy alley, Pollux said, opening his arms to the girl: + +"Now--one more kiss, just for a remembrance, while I wait." + +"Not now," begged Arsinoe. + +"I am no longer happy since we came in here. I cannot help thinking of +poor Selene." + +"I have not a word to say against that," replied Pollux submissively. +"Then when waiting is over may I have my reward?" + +"No, no, now, at once," cried Arsinoe throwing herself on his breast, and +then she hurried towards the house. + +He followed her, and when she paused in front of a brightly-lighted +window on the ground floor, he stopped also. They both looked in on a +lofty and spacious room, kept in the most perfect order and cleanliness; +it had one door only opening on the roofless forecourt of the house; the +walls of the room were plainly painted of a light green color, and the +only ornament it contained was one piece of carved work over the door. + +On the farther side stood the bed on which Selene was lying; a few paces +from it sat the deformed girl asleep, while dame Hannah softly went up to +the patient with a wet compress in her hand which she carefully laid on +her head. + +Pollux touched Arsinoe and whispered to her: + +"Your sister lies there in her sleep like an Ariadne deserted by +Dionysus. How wretched she will feel when she comes to herself." + +"She looks to me less pale than usual." + +"Look now, how she bends her arm, and what a lovely attitude as she puts +her hand to her head!" + +"Go--" said Arsinoe. "You ought not to be spying here." + +"Directly, directly--but if you were lying there no power should stir me +from the spot. How carefully Hannah lifts the wet wrapper from her poor +broken ankle. You could not touch your eye more gently than the good +woman handles Selene's foot." + +"Go back, she is looking straight this way." + +"What a wonderful face! It would do for a Penelope, but there is +something singular in her eyes. Now if I had to make another star-gazing +Urania, or a Sappho full of the deity, and with eyes fixed on the heavens +in poetic rapture, that is what I would put into her! She is no longer +young, but how pure her face is! It is like a sky when the wind has +swept it clear of clouds." + +"Seriously you must go now," said Arsinoe drawing away her hand, which he +had again taken. Pollux saw that his praise of another woman's beauty +annoyed her, and he said soothingly: + +"Be easy child. You have not your match here in Alexandria, no, nor so +far as Greek is spoken. A perfectly clear sky is certainly not the most +beautiful to my taste. Pure light, and pure blue, give no satisfaction +to the artist, it is only behind a few moving clouds, lighted up by +changing gleams of gold and silver, that the firmament has any true +charm, and though your face too is like heaven to me it does not lack +sweet movement, never twice alike. Now this matron--" + +"Only look," interrupted Arsinoe, "how tenderly dame Hannah bends over +Selene, and now she is gently kissing her brow. No mother could tend her +own daughter more lovingly. I have known her for a long time; she is +good, very good; it is hardly credible for she is a Christian." + +"The cross up there over the door," said Pollux "is the token by which +these extraordinary people recognize each other." + +"And what is signified by the dove and fish and anchor round it?" asked +Arsinoe. + +"They are emblems of the mysteries of the Christians," replied Pollux. +"I do not understand them; the things are wretchedly painted; the +adherents of the crucified God contemn all art, and particularly my +branch of it, for they hate all images of the gods." + +"And yet among such blasphemers we find such good men; I will go in at +once; Hannah is wetting another handkerchief." + +"And how unwearied and kind she looks as she does it; still there is +something strange, deserted, and graceless in this large bare room. I +should not like to live there." + +"Have you noticed the faint scent of lavender that comes through the +window?" + +"Long since--there your sister is moving and has opened her eyes--now she +has shut them again." + +"Go back into the garden and wait till I come," Arsinoe commanded him +decidedly. "I will only see how Selene is going on; I will not stop long +for my father wishes me to return soon, and no one can nurse her better +than Hannah!" + +The girl drew her hand out of her lover's and knocked at the door of the +little house; it was opened and the widow herself led Arsinoe to the +bedside of her sister. Pollux at first sat a while on a bench in the +garden, but soon sprang up and paced with long steps the path he had +previously trodden with Arsinoe. A stone table across the path, brought +him to a stand-still, and he took a fancy for leaping it. The third time +he came up to it he sprang over it with a long jump. But no sooner had +he done the frolicsome deed than he paused, shook his head at himself and +muttered to himself: "Like a boy!"--He felt indeed like a happy child. +But as he waited he became calmer and graver. He acknowledged to +himself, with sincere thankfulness, that he had now found the ideal +woman, of whom he had dreamed in his hours of best inspiration, and that +she was his, wholly and alone. And after all, what was he? A poor +rascal who had many mouths to fill, and was no more than two fingers of +his master's hand. This must be altered. He would not reduce his +sister's comforts in any way but he must break with Papias, and stand +henceforth on his own feet. His courage mounted fast, and when at last, +Arsinoe returned from her sister, he had resolved that he must first +finish Balbilla's bust with all diligence in his own workshop, and that +then he would model his beloved; these two female heads he could not fail +in. Caesar must see them, they must be exhibited, and already in his +mind's eye, he saw himself refusing order after order, and accepting only +the most splendid where all were good. + +Arsinoe went home comforted. Selene's sufferings were certainly less +than she had pictured them; she did not wish to be nursed by any one +besides dame Hannah. She might perhaps have a little fever, but any +one who was capable of discussing every little question of house-keeping, +and all that related to the children could not be--as Arsinoe thought +while she walked back through the garden, leaning on the artist's arm-- +really and properly ill. + +"It must revive and delight her to have Roxana for a sister!" cried +Pollux; but his pretty companion shook her head and said: "She is always +so odd; what most delights me is averse to her." + +"Well Selene is of course the moon, and you are the sun." + +"And what are you?" asked Arsinoe. + +"I am tall Pollux, and to-night I feel as if I might some day be great +Pollux." + +"If you succeed I shall grow with you." + +"That will be your right, since it is only through you that I can ever +succeed in that which I propose to do. + +"And how should a simple little thing, such as I am, be able to help an +artist?" + +"By living, and by loving him," cried the sculptor, lifting her up in his +arms before she could prevent him. + +Outside the garden-gate the old slave-woman was sitting asleep. She had +learnt from the porter that her young mistress had been admitted with her +companion, but she herself had been forbidden to enter the grounds. A +curbstone had served her for a seat, and as she waited her eyes had +closed, in spite of the increasing noise in the street. Arsinoe did not +waken her, but asked Pollux, with a roguish laugh: + +"We shall find our way alone, shall we not?" + +"If Eros does not lead us astray," answered the artist. And so, as they +went on their way, they jested and exchanged little tender speeches. + +The nearer they got to Lochias and to the main lines of traffic which +intersected at right angles the Canopic way--the widest and longest road +in the city--the fuller was the stream of people that flowed onwards in +the direction in which they were going; but this circumstance favored +them, for those who wish to be unobserved, when they cannot be absolutely +alone, have only to mix with the crowd. As they were borne towards the +focus and centre of the festive doings, they clung closely together, she +to him, and he to her, so that they might not be torn apart by any of the +rushing and tumultuous processions of excited Thracian women who, +faithful to their native usages, came storming by with a young bull, on +this particular night of the year, that following the shortest day. They +had hardly gone a hundred paces beyond the Moon-street when they heard +proceeding from it a wild roving song of tipsy jollity, and loud above it +the sound of drums and pipes, cymbals and noisy shouting, and at the same +time in the King's street, a road which crossed the Bruchiom and opened +on Lochias, a merry troup came towards them. + +At their head, among other acquaintances, came Teuker, the gem-cutter, +the younger brother of Pollux. Crowned with ivy, and flourishing a +thyrsus he came dancing on, and behind him, leaping and shouting, a train +of men and women, all excited to the verge of folly, singing, hollooing, +and dancing. + +Garlands of vine, ivy and asphodel fluttered from a hundred heads; +poplar, lotus, and laurel wreaths overhung their heated brows; panther- +skins, deer and goatskins hung from their bare shoulders and waved in the +wind as their bearers hurried onwards. This procession had been first +formed by some artists and rich youths returning with some women from a +banquet, with a band of music; every one who met this festal party had +joined it or had been forced to enlist with it. Respectable citizens and +their wives, laborers, maid-servants, slaves, soldiers and sailors, +officers, women flute-players, artisans, ship-captains, the whole chorus +of a theatre invited by a friend of art, excited women who dragged with +them a goat that was to be slaughtered to Dionysus--none had been able to +resist the temptation to join the procession. It turned down the Moon- +street, keeping to the middle of the road which was planted with elms, +and had on each side of it a raised foot-way, which at this time of night +no one used. How clear was the sound of the double-pipes, how bravely +the girls hit the calf-skin of the tambourines with their soft fists, how +saucily the wind tossed and tangled the dishevelled hair of the riotous +women and played with the smoke of the torches which were wielded in the +air by audacious youths, disguised as Pan or as Satyrs, and shouting as +they went. + +Here a girl, holding her tambourine high in the air, rattled the little +bells on its hoop, as she flew along, as violently as though she wanted +to shake the hollow metal balls out of their frame, and send them +whistling through the air on their own account-there, side by side with +his comrades, who were excited almost to madness, a handsome lad came +skipping along in elaborately graceful leaps, but carrying over his arm, +with comic care, a long bull's-tail that he had tied on, and blowing +alternately up and down the short scale from the shortest to the longest +of the reeds composing his panpipes. Through the noisy crowd as they +rushed by, sounded, now and again, a loud roar, that might as easily have +been caused by pain as joy; but it was each time hastily drowned in mad +laughter, extravagant singing and jubilant music. + +Old and young, great and small, all in short that came near this rabble +train, were carried off with irresistible force to follow it with shouts +of triumph. Even Pollux and Arsinoe had for some time ceased to walk +soberly side by side, but moved their feet, laughingly in time to the +merry measure. + +"How nice it sounds," cried the artist. "I could dance and be merry too +Arsinoe, dance and make merry with you like a madman!" + +Before she could find time to say 'yes' or 'no,' he shouted a loud "To, +To, Dionysus," and flung her up in the air. She too was caught by the +spirit of the thing, and waving her hand above her head she joined in his +shout of triumph, and let him drag her along to a corner of the Moon- +street where a seller of garlands offered her wares for sale. There she +let him wreathe her with ivy, she stuck a laurel wreath on his head, +twisted a streamer of ivy round his neck and breast, and laughed loudly +as she flung a large silver coin into the flower-woman's lap and clung +tightly to his arm. It was all done in swift haste without reflection, +as if in a fit of intoxication, and with trembling hands. + +The procession was drawing to an end. Six women and girls in wreaths +closed it, walking arm in arm with loud singing. Pollux drew his +sweetheart behind this jovial crew, threw his arm around Arsinoe once +more, while she put hers round him, and then both of them stepped out in +a brisk dance-step flinging their arms left free, throwing back their +heads, shouting and singing loudly, and forgetting all that surrounded +them; they felt as though they were bound to each other by a glory of +sunbeams, while some god lifted them above the earth and bore them up +through a realm of delight and joy beyond the myriad stars and through +the translucent ether; thus they let themselves be led away through the +Moon-street into the Canopic way and so back to the sea, and as far as +the temple of Dionysus. + +There they paused breathless and it suddenly struck them that he was +Pollux and she Arsinoe, and that she must get back again to her father +and the children. + +"Come home," she said softly, and as she spoke she dropped her arm and +began to gather up her loosened hair. + +"Yes, yes," he said as if in a dream. He released her, struck his hand +against his brow, and turning to the open cella of the temple he said: + +"Long have I known that thou art mighty O Dionysus, and that thou O +Aphrodite art lovely, and that thou art sweet O Eros! but how +inestimable your gifts, that I have learnt to-day for the first time." + +"We were indeed full of the deity," said Arsinoe. "But here comes +another procession and I must go home." + +"Then let us go by the Little Harbor," answered Pollux. + +"Yes--I must pick the leaves out of my hair and no one will see us +there." + +"I will help you--" + +"No, you are not to touch me," said Arsinoe decidedly. She grasped her +abundant soft and shiny hair, and cleared it of the leaves that had got +entangled in it, as tiny beetles do in a double flower. Finally she hid +her hair under her veil, which had slipped off her head long since, but, +almost by a miracle, had caught and remained hanging on the brooch of her +peplum. Pollux stood looking at her, and overmastered by the passion +that possessed him, he exclaimed: + +"Eternal gods! how I love you! Till now my soul has been like a careless +child, to-day it is grown to heroic stature.--Wait--only wait, it will +soon learn to use its weapons." + +"And I will help it in the fight," she said happily, as she put her hand +through his arm again, and they hurried back to the old palace, dancing +rather than walking. + +The late December sun was already giving warning of his approaching +rising by cold yellowish-grey streaks in the sky as Pollux and his +companion entered the gate, which had long since been opened for the +workmen. In the hall of the Muses they took a first farewell, in the +passage leading to the steward's room, a second--sad and yet most happy; +but this was but a short one for the gleam of a lamp made them start +apart, and Arsinoe instantly fled. + +The disturber was Antinous who was waiting here for the Emperor who was +still gazing at the stars from the watch-tower Pontius had erected for +him. As she vanished he turned to Pollux and said gaily: + +"I need your forgiveness for I have disturbed you in an interview with +your sweetheart." + +"She will be my wife," said the sculptor proudly. + +"So much the better!" replied the favorite, and he drew a deep breath, +as though the artist's words had relieved his mind of a burden. + +"Ah! so much the better. Can you tell me where to find the fair +Arsinoe's sister?" + +"To be sure," replied the artist, and he felt pleased that the young +Bithynian should cling to his arm. Within the next hour, Pollux, from +whose lips there flowed a stream of eager and enthusiastic words, like +water from a spring, had completely won the heart of the Emperor's +favorite. + +The girl found both her father and Helios, who no longer looked like a +sick patient--fast asleep. The old slave-woman came in a few minutes +after her, and when at last, after unbinding her hair, Arsinoe threw +herself on her bed she fell asleep instantly, and in her dreams found +herself once more by the side of her Pollux, while they both were flying +to the sound of drums, flutes, and cymbals high above the dusty ways of +earth, like leaves swept on by the wind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +The steward awoke soon after sunrise. He had slept no less soundly, it +is true, in his arm-chair than in his bed, but he did not feel refreshed, +and his limbs ached. + +In the living-room everything was in the same disorder as on the previous +evening, and this annoyed him, for he was accustomed to find his room in +order when he entered it in the morning. On the table, surrounded by +flies, stood the remains of the children's supper, and among the bread +crusts and plates lay his own ornaments and his daughter's! Wherever he +turned he saw articles of dress and other things out of their place. The +old slave-woman came in yawning, her woolly grey hair hung in disorder +about her face, and her eyes seemed fixed, her feet carried her +unsteadily here and there. + +"You are drunk," cried Keraunus; nor was he mistaken, for when the old +woman had waked up, sitting by the house of Pudeus, and had learned from +the gate keeper that Arsinoe had quitted the garden, she had gone into a +tavern with other slave-women. When her master seized her arm and shook +her, she exclaimed with a stupid grin on her wet lips: + +"It is the feast-day. Every one is free, to-day is the feast." + +"Roman nonsense!" interrupted the steward. "is my breakfast ready?" + +While the old woman stood muttering some inaudible words, the slave came +into the room and said: + +"To-day is a general holiday, may I go out too?" + +"Oh that would suit me admirably!" cried the steward. + +"This monster drunk, Selene sick, and you running about the streets." + +"But no one stops at home to-day," replied the slave timidly. + +"Be off then!" cried Keraunus. "Walk about from now till midnight! Do +as you please, only do not expect me to keep you any longer. You are +still fit to turn the hand-mill, and I dare say I can find a fool to give +me a few drachmae for you." + +"No, no, do not sell me," groaned the old man, raising his hands in +entreaty; Keraunus however would not hear him, but went on angrily: + +"A dog at least remains faithful to his master, but you slaves eat him +out of house and home, and when he most needs you, you want to run about +the streets." + +"But I will stay," howled the old man. + +"Nay, do as you please. You have long been like a lame horse which makes +its rider a butt for the laughter of children. When, you go out with me +everyone looks round as if I had a stain on my pallium. And then the +mangy dog wants to keep holiday, and stick himself up among the +citizens!" + +"I will stay here, only do not sell me!" whimpered the miserable old +man, and he tried to take his master's hand; but the steward shoved him +off, and desired him to go into the kitchen and light a fire, and throw +some water on the old woman's head to sober her. The slave pushed his +companion out of the room, while Keraunus went into his daughter's +bedroom to rouse her. + +There was no light in Arsinoe's room but that which could creep in +through a narrow opening just below the ceiling; the slanting rays fell +directly on the bed up to which Keraunus went. There lay his daughter n +sound sleep; her pretty head rested on her uplifted right arm, her +unbound brown hair flowed like a stream over her soft round shoulders and +over the edge of the little bed. He had never seen the child look so +pretty, and the sight of her really touched his heart, for Arsinoe +reminded him of his lost wife, and it was not vain pride merely, but a +movement of true paternal love, which involuntarily transformed his +earnest wish that the gods night leave him this child and let her be +happy, into an unspoken but fervent prayer. + +He was not accustomed to waking his daughter who was always up and busy +before he was, and he could hardly bear to disturb his darling's sweet +sleep; but it had to be done, so he called Arsinoe by her name, shook her +arm and said, as at last she sat up and looked at him enquiringly: + +"It is I, get up, remember what has to be done today." + +"Yes--yes," she said yawning, "but it is so early yet!" + +"Early," said Keraunus, smiling. "My stomach says the contrary. The sun +is already high, and I have not yet had my porridge." + +"Make the old woman cook it." + +"No, no, my child--you must get up. Have you forgotten whom you are to +represent? And my hair is to be curled, and the prefect's wife, and then +your dress." + +"Very well--go; I do not care the least bit about Roxana and all the +dressing-up." + +"Because you are not yet quite awake," laughed the steward. "How did +this ivy-leaf get into your hair?" Arsinoe colored, put her hand to the +spot indicated by her father, and said reluctantly: + +"Out of some bough or another, but now go that I may get up." + +"In a minute--tell me how did you find Selene?" + +"Not so very bad--but I will tell you all about that afterwards. Now I +want to be alone." + +When, half an hour later, Arsinoe brought her father his porridge he +gazed at the child in astonishment. Some extraordinary change seemed to +have come over his daughter. Something shone in her eyes that he had +never observed before, and that gave her childlike features an importance +and significance that almost startled him. While she was making the +porridge, Keraunus, with the slave's help, had taken the children +up and dressed them; now they were all sitting at breakfast; Helios among +them fresh and blooming. Now, while Arsinoe told her father all about +Selene, and the nursing she was having at dame Hannah's hands, Keraunus +kept his eyes fixed on her, and when she noticed this and asked +impatiently what there was peculiar in her appearance to-day, he shook +his head and answered: + +"What strange things are girls! A great honor has been done you. You +are to represent the bride of Alexander, and pride and delight have +changed you wonder fully in a single night--but I think to your +disadvantage." + +"Folly," said Arsinoe reddening, and stretching herself with fatigue she +threw herself back on a couch. She did not feel weary exactly, for the +lassitude she felt in every limb had a peculiar pleasure in it. She felt +as if she had come out of a hot bath, and since her father had roused her +she seemed to hear, again and again, the sound of the inspiriting music +which she had followed arm in arm with Pollux. Now and again she smiled, +now and again she gazed straight before her, and at the same time she +said to herself that if at this very moment her lover were to ask her, +she would not lack strength to fling herself at once, with him, once more +into the mad whirl. Yes--she felt perfectly fresh! only her eyes burned +a little; and if Keraunus fancied he saw anything new in his daughter it +must be the glowing light which now lurked in them along with the playful +sparkle he had always seen there. + +When breakfast was over the slave took the children out, and Arsinoe had +begun to curl her father's hair, when Keraunus put on his most dignified +attitude and said ponderously. + +"My child." + +The girl dropped the heated tongs and calmly asked. "Well"--fully +prepared to hear one of the wonderful propositions which Selene was wont +to oppose. + +"Listen to me attentively." + +Now, what Keraunus was about to say had only occurred to him an hour +since when he had spoiled his slave's desire to go out; but as he said it +he pressed his hand to his forehead assuming the expression of a +meditative philosopher. + +"For a long time I have been considering a very important matter. Now I +have come to a decision and I will confide it to you. We must buy a new +manslave." + +"But father!" cried Arsinoe, "think what it will cost you. If we have +another man to feed--" + +"There is no question of that," replied Keraunus. "I will exchange the +old one for a younger one that I need not be ashamed to be seen with. +Yesterday I told you that henceforth we shall attract greater attention +than hitherto, and really if we appear with that black scarecrow at our +heels in the streets or elsewhere--" + +"Certainly we cannot make much show Sebek," interrupted Arsinoe, "but we +can leave him at home for the future." + +"Child, child!" exclaimed Keraunus reproachfully, "will you never +remember who and what we are. How would it beseem us to appear in the +streets without a slave?" + +The girl shrugged her shoulders, and put it to her father that Sebek was +an old piece of family property, that the little ones were fond of him +because he cared for them like a nurse, that a new slave would cost a +great deal and would only be driven by force to many services which the +old one was always ready and willing to fulfil. + +But Arsinoe preached to deaf ears. Selene was not there; secure from her +reproaches and as anxious as a spoiled boy for the thing that was denied +him, Keraunus adhered to his determination to exchange the faithful old +fellow for a new and more showy slave. Not for a moment did he think of +the miserable fate that threatened the decrepit creature, who had grown +old in his house, if he were to sell him; but he still had a feeling that +it was not quite right to spend the last money that had chanced to come +into the house, on a thing that really and truly was not in any way +necessary. The more justifiable Arsinoe's doubts seemed to be and the +more loudly did an inward voice warn him not to offer this fresh +sacrifice to his vain-gloriousness, the more firmly and desperately did +he defend his wish to do so; and as he fought for the thing he desired, +it acquired in his eyes a semblance of necessity and a number of reasons +suggested themselves which made it appear both justifiable and easy of +attainment. + +There was money in hand; after Arsinoe's being chosen for the part of +Roxana he might expect to be able to borrow more; it was his duty to +appear with due dignity that he might not scare off the illustrious son- +in-law of whom he dreamed, and in the extremity of need he could still +fall back on his collection of rarities. The only thing was to find the +right purchaser; for, if the sword of Antony had brought him so much, +what would not some amateur give him for the other, far more valuable, +objects. + +Arsinoe turned red and white as her father referred again and again to +the bargain she had made; but she dared not confess the truth, and she +rued her falsehood all the more bitterly the more clearly she saw with +her own sound sense, that the Honor which had fallen upon her yesterday, +threatened to develop all her father's weaknesses in an absolutely fatal +manner. + +To-day she would have been amply satisfied with pleasing Pollux, and she +would, without a regret have transferred to another her part with all the +applause and admiration it would procure her, and which, only yesterday, +had seemed to her so inestimably precious. This she said; but Keraunus +would not take the assertion in earnest, laughed in her face, went off +into mysterious allusions to the wealth which could not fail to come into +the house and--since an obscure consciousness told him that it would be +becoming him to prove that it was not solely personal vanity and self- +esteem that influenced all his proceedings--he explained that he had made +up his mind to a great sacrifice and would be content on the coming +occasion to wear his gilt fillet and not buy a pure gold one. By this +act of self-denial he fancied he had acquired a full right to devote a +very pretty little sum to the acquisition of a fine-looking slave. +Arsinoe's entreaties were unheeded, and when she began to cry with grief +at the prospect of losing her old house-mate he forbid her crossly to +shed a tear for such a cause, for it was very childish, and he would not +be pleased to conduct her with red eyes to meet the prefect's wife. + +During the course of this argument his hair had got itself duly curled, +and he now desired Arsinoe to arrange her own hair nicely and then to +accompany him. + +They would buy a new dress and peplum, go to see Selene, and then be +carried to the prefect's. + +Only yesterday he had thought it too bold a step to use a litter, and +to-day he was already considering the propriety of hiring a chariot. + +No sooner was he alone than a new idea occurred to him. The insolent +architect should be taught that he was not the man to be insulted and +injured with impunity. So he cut a clean strip of papyrus off a letter +that lay in his chest, and wrote upon it the following words: + +"Keraunus, the Macedonian, to Claudius Venator, the architect, of Rome:" + +"My eldest daughter, Selene, is by your fault, so severely hurt that +she is in great danger, is kept to her bed and suffers frightful pain. +My other children are no longer safe in their father's house, and I +therefore require you, once more, to chain up your dog. If you refuse +to accede to this reasonable demand I will lay the matter before Caesar. +I can tell you that circumstances have occurred which will determine +Hadrian to punish any insolent person who may choose to neglect the +respect due to me and to my daughters." + +When Keraunus had closed this letter with his seal he called the slave +and said coldly: + +"Take this to the Roman architect, and then fetch two litters; make +haste, and while we are out take good care of the children. To-morrow or +next day you will be sold. To whom? That must depend on how you behave +during the last hours that you belong to us." The negro gave a loud cry +of grief that came from the depth of his heart, and flung himself on the +ground at the steward's feet. His cry did indeed pierce his master's +soul--but Keraunus had made up his mind not to let himself be moved nor +to yield. But the negro clung more closely to his knees, and when the +children, attracted to the spot by their poor old friend's lamentation, +cried loudly in unison, and little Helios began to pat and stroke the +little remains of the negro's woolly hair, the vain man felt uneasy about +the heart, and to protect himself against his own weakness he cried out +loudly and violently: + +"Now, away with you, and do as you are ordered or I will find the whip." + +With these words he tore himself loose from the miserable--old man who +left the room with his head hanging down, and who soon was standing at +the door of the Emperor's rooms with the letter in his hand. Hadrian's +appearance and manner had filled him with terror and respect, and he +dared not knock at the door. After he had waited for some time, still +with tears in his eyes, Mastor came into the passage with the remains of +his master's breakfast. The negro called to him and held out the +steward's letter, stammering out lamentably: + +"From Keraunus, for you master." + +"Lay it here on the tray," said the Sarmatian. "But what has happened to +you, my old friend? you are wailing most pitifully and look miserable. +Have you been beaten?" + +The negro shook his head and answered, whimpering: "Keraunus is going to +sell me." + +"There are better masters than he." + +"But Sebek is old, Sebek is weak--he can no longer lift and pull, and +with hard work he will certainly die." + +"Has life been so easy and comfortable then at the steward's?" + +"Very little wine, very little meat, very much hunger," said the old man. + +"Then you must be glad to leave him." + +"No, no," groaned Sebek. + +"You foolish old owl," said Mastor. "Why do you care then for that +grumpy niggard?" + +The negro did not answer for some time, then his lean breast heaved and +fell, and, as if the dam were broken through that had choked his +utterance, he burst out with a mixture of loud sobs: + +"The children, the little ones, our little ones. They are so sweet; and +our little blind Helios stroked my hair because I was to go away, here-- +just here he stroked it"--and he put his hand on a perfectly bald place +--"and now Sebek must go and never see them all again, just as if they +were all dead." + +And the words rolled out and with difficulty, as if carried on in the +flood of his tears. They went to Mastor's heart, rousing the memory of +his own lost children and a strong desire to comfort his unhappy comrade. + +"Poor fellow!" he said, compassionately. "Aye, the children! they are +so small, and the door into one's heart is so narrow--and they dance in +at it a thousand times better and more easily than grown-up folks. +I, too, have lost dear children, and they were my own, too. I can teach +any one what is meant by sorrow--but I know too now where comfort is to +be found." With these words Mastor held the tray he was carrying on his +hip with his right hand, while he put the left on the negro's shoulder +and whispered to him: + +"Have you ever heard of the Christians?" + +Sebek nodded eagerly as if Mastor were speaking of a matter of which he +had heard great things and expected much, and Mastor went on in a low +voice "Come early to-morrow before sunrise to the pavement-workers in the +'court, and there you will hear of One who comforts the weary and heavy- +laden." + +The Emperor's servant once more took his tray in both hands and hurried +away, but a faint gleam of hope had lighted up in the old slave's eyes. +He expected no happiness, but perhaps there might be some way of bearing +the sorrows of life more easily. + +Mastor as soon he had given his tray to the kitchen slaves--who were now +busy again in the palace at Lochias--returned to his lord and gave him +the steward's letter. It was an ill-chosen hour for Keraunus, for the +Emperor was in a gloomy mood. He had sat up till morning, had rested +scarcely three hours, and now, with knitted brows, was comparing the +results of his night's observation of the starry sky with certain +astronomical tables which lay spread out before him. Over this work he +frequently shook his head which was covered with crisp waves of hair; +nay--he once flung the pencil, with which he was working his +calculations, down on the table, leaned back in his seat and covered his +eyes with both hands. Then again he began to write fresh numbers, but +his new results seemed to be no more satisfactory than the former one. + +The steward's letter had been for a long time lying before him when at +last it again caught his attention as he put out his hand for another +document. Needing some change of ideas he tore it open, read it and +flung it from him with annoyance. At any other time he would have +expressed some sympathy with the suffering girl, have laughed at the +ridiculous man, and have thought out some trick to tease or to terrify; +but just now the steward's threats made him angry and increased his +dislike for him. + +Tired of the silence around him he called to Antinous, who sat gazing +dreamily down on the harbor; the youth immediately approached his master. +Hadrian looked at him and said, shaking his head: + +"Why you too look as if some danger were threatening you. Is the sky +altogether overcast?" + +"No my lord, it is blue over the sea, but towards the south the black +clouds are gathering." + +"Towards the south?" said Hadrian thoughtfully. "Any thing serious can +hardly threaten us from that quarter.--But it comes, it is near, it is +upon us before we suspect it." + +"You sat up too long, and that has put you out of tune." + +"Out of tune?" muttered Hadrian to himself. "And what is tune? That +subtle harmony or discord is a condition which masters all the emotions +of the soul at once; and not without reason--to-day my heart is paralyzed +with anxiety." + +"Then you have seen evil signs in the heavens?" + +"Direful signs!" + +"You wise men believe in the stars," replied Antinous. "No doubt you are +right, but my weak head cannot understand what their regular courses have +to do with my inconstant wanderings." + +"Grow gray," replied the Emperor, "learn to comprehend the universe with +your intellect, and not till then speak of these things for not till then +will you discern that every atom of things created, and the greatest as +well as the least, is in the closest bonds with every other; that all +work together, and each depends on all. All that is or ever will be in +nature, all that we men feel, think or do, all is dependent on eternal +and immutable causes; and these causes have each their Daimon who +interposes between us and the divinity and is symbolized in golden +characters on the vault of heaven. The letters are the stars, whose +orbits are as unchanging and everlasting as are the first causes of all +that exists or happens." + +"And are you quite sure that you never read wrongly in this great +record?" asked Antinous. + +"Even I may err," replied Hadrian. "But this time I have not deceived +myself. A heavy misfortune threatens me. It is a strange, terrible and +extraordinary coincidence!" + +"What?" + +"From that accursed Antioch--whence nothing good has ever come to me-- +I have received the saying of an oracle which foretells that, that--why +should I hide it from you--in the middle of the year now about to begin +some dreadful misfortune shall fall upon me, as lightning strikes the +traveller to the earth; and tonight--look here. Here is the house of +Death, here are the planets--but what do you know of such things? Last +night--the night in which once before such terrors were wrought, the +stars confirmed the fatal oracle with as much naked plainness, as much +unmistakable certainty as if they had tongues to shout the evil forecast +in my ear. It is hard to walk on with such a goal in prospect. What may +not the new year bring in its course?" + +Hadrian sighed deeply, but Antinous went close up to him, fell on his +knees before him and asked in a tone of childlike humility: + +"May I, a poor foolish lad, teach a great and wise man how to enrich his +life with six happy months?" The Emperor smiled, as though he knew what +was coming, but his favorite felt encouraged to proceed. + +"Leave the future to the future," he said. "What must come will come, +for the gods themselves have no power against Fate. When evil is +approaching it casts its black shadow before it; you fix your gaze on it +and let it darken the light of day. I saunter dreamily on my way and +never see misfortune till it runs up against me and falls upon me +unawares--" + +"And so you are spared many a gloomy day," interrupted Hadrian. + +"That is just what I would have said." + +"And your advice is excellent, for you and for every other loiterer +through the gay fair-time of an idle life," replied the Emperor, "but +the man whose task it is to bear millions in safety and over abysses, +must watch the signs around him, look out far and near, and never dare +close his eyes, even when such terrors loom as it was my fate to see +during the past night." + +As he spoke, Phlegon, the Emperor's private secretary, came in with +letters just received from Rome, and approached his master. He bowed +low, and taking up Hadrian's last words he said: + +"The stars disquiet you, Caesar?" + +"Well, they warn me to be on my guard," replied Hadrian. + +"Let us hope that they be," cried the Greek, with cheerful vivacity. +"Cicero was not altogether wrong when he doubted the arts of Astrology." + +"He was a mere talker!" said the Emperor, with a frown. + +"But," asked Phlegon, "would it not be fair that if the horoscopes cast +for Cneius or Caius, let us say, were alike, to expect that Cneius or +Caius must have the same temperament and the same destiny through life +if they had happened to be born in the same hour?" + +"Always the old commonplaces, the old silly objections!" interrupted +Hadrian, vexed to the verge of rage. "Speak when you are spoken to, and +do not trouble yourself about things you do not understand and which do +not concern you. Is there anything of importance among these papers?" + +Antinous gazed at his sovereign in astonishment; why should Phlegon's +objections make him so furious when he had answered his so kindly? + +Hadrian paid no farther heed to him, but read the despatches one after +another, hastily but attentively, wrote brief notes on the margins, +signed a decree with a firm hand, and, when his work was finished desired +the Greek to leave him. Hardly was he alone with Antinous when the loud +cries and jovial shouting of a large multitude came to their ears through +the open window. + +"What does this mean?" he asked Mastor, and as soon as he had been +informed that the workmen and slaves had just been let out to give +themselves up to the pleasures of their holiday, he muttered to himself: + +"These creatures can riot, shout, dress themselves with garlands, forget +themselves in a debauch--and I, I whom all envy--I spoil my brief span of +life with vain labors, let myself be tormented with consuming cares--I--" +here he broke off and cried in quite an altered tone: + +"Ha! ha! Antinous, you are wiser than I. Let us leave the future to the +future. The feast-day is ours too; let us take advantage of this day of +freedom. We too will throw ourselves into the holiday whirlpool +disguised, I as a satyr, and you as a young faun or something of the +kind; we will drain cups, wander round the city and enjoy all that is +enjoyable." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Antinous, joyfully clapping his hands. + +"Evoe Bacche!" cried Hadrian, tossing up his cup that stood on his table. +"You are free till this evening, Mastor, and you my boy, go and talk to +Pollux, the sculptor. He shall be our guide and he will provide us with +wreaths and some mad disguise. I must see drunken men, I must laugh with +the jolliest before I am Caesar again. Make haste, my friend, or new +cares will come to spoil my holiday mood." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +Antinous and Mastor at once quitted the Emperor's room; in the corridor +the lad beckoned the slave to him and said in a low voice: + +"You can hold your tongue I know, will you do me a favor?" + +"Three sooner than one," replied the Sarmatian. + +"You are free to-day--are you going into the city?" + +"I think so." + +"You are not known here, but that does not matter. Take these gold +pieces and in the flower-market buy with one of them the most beautiful +bunch of flowers you can find, with another you may make merry, and +out of the remainder spend a drachma in hiring an ass. The driver will +conduct you to the garden of Pudeus' widow where stands the house of dame +Hannah; you remember the name?" + +"Dame Hannah and the widow of Pudeus." + +"And at the little house, not the big one, leave the flowers for the sick +Selene." + +"The daughter of the fat steward, who was attacked by our big dog?" +asked Mastor, curiously. + +"She or another," said Antinous, impatiently, "and when they ask you who +sent the flowers, say 'the friend at Lochias,' nothing more. You +understand." + +The slave nodded and said to himself: "What! you too-oh! these women." + +Antinous signed to him to be silent, impressed on him in a few hasty +words that he was to be discreet and to pick out the very choicest +flowers, and then betook himself into the hall of the Muses to seek +Pollux. From him he had learnt where to find the suffering Selene, of +whom he could not help thinking incessantly and wherever he might be. He +did not find the sculptor in his screened-off nook; prompted by a wish to +speak to his mother, Pollux had gone down to the gatehouse where he was +now standing before her and frankly narrating, with many eager gestures +of his long arms, all that had occurred on the previous night. His story +flowed on like a song of triumph, and when he described how the holiday +procession had carried away Arsinoe and himself, the old woman jumped up +from her chair and clapping her fat little hands, she exclaimed: + +"Ah! that is pleasure, that is happiness! I remember flying along with +your father in just the same way thirty years ago." + +"And since thirty years," Pollux interposed. "I can still remember very +well how at one of the great Dionysiac festivals, fired by the power of +the god, you rushed through the streets with a deer-skin over your +shoulders." + +"That was delightful--lovely!" cried Doris with sparkling eyes. "But +thirty years since it was all different, very different. I have told you +before now how I went with our maid-servant into the Canopic way to the +house of my aunt Archidike to look on at the great procession. I had not +far to go for we lived near the Theatre, my father was stage-manager and +yours was one of the chief singers in the chorus. We hurried along, but +all sorts of people stopped us, and drunken men wanted to joke with me." + +"Ah, you were as sweet as a rose-bud then," her son interrupted. + +"As a rose-bud, yes, but not like your lovely rose," said the old woman. +"At any rate I looked nice enough for the men in disguise--fauns and +satyrs and were the cynic hypocrites in their ragged cloaks, to think it +worth while to look at me and to take a rap on the knuckles when they +tried to put an arm round me or to steal a kiss, I did not care for the +handsomest of them, for Euphorion had done for me with his fiery glances +--not with words for I was very strictly kept and he had never been able +to get a chance to speak to me. At the corner of the Canopic way and the +Market street we could get no farther, for the crowd had blocked the way +and were howling and storming as they stared at a party of Klodones and +other Maenads, who in their sacred fury were tearing a goat to pieces +with their teeth. I shuddered at the spectacle, but I must need stare +with the rest and shout and halloo as they did. My maid, who I held on +to tightly, was seized with the frenzy and dragged me into the middle of +the circle close up to the bleeding sacrifice. Two of the possessed +women sprang upon us, and I felt one clasping me tightly and trying to +throw me down. It was a horrible moment but I defended myself bravely +and had succeeded in keeping on my feet when your father sprang forward, +set me free and led me away. What happened after I could not tell you +now; it was one of those wild happy dreams in which you must hold your +heart with both hands for fear it should crack with joy, or fly out and +away up to the sky and in the very eye of the sun. Late in the evening +I got home and a week after I was Euphorion's wife." + +"We have exactly followed your example," said Pollux, "and if Arsinoe +grows to be like my dear old woman I shall be quite satisfied." + +"Happy and contented," replied Doris. "Keep you health, snap your +fingers at care and sorrow, do your duty on work-days and drink till you +are jolly in honor of the god on holidays, and then all will be well. +Those who do all they are able and enjoy as much as they can get, make +good use of their lives and need feel no remorse in their last hours. +What is past is done for, and when Atropos cuts our thread some one else +will stand in our place and joys will begin all over again. May the gods +bless you!" + +"You are right," said Pollux embracing his mother, and two together can +turn the work out of hand more lightly and enjoy the pleasures of +existence better than each alone--can they not?" + +"I am sure of it; and you have chosen the right mate," cried the old +woman. "You are a sculptor and used to simple things; you need no +riches, only a sweet face which may every day rejoice your heart, and +that you have found." + +"There is nowhere a sweeter or a lovelier," said Pollux. + +"No, that there is not," continued Doris. "First I cast my eyes on +Selene. She need not be ashamed to show herself either, and she is a +pattern for girls; but then as Arsinoe grew older, whenever she passed +this way I thought to myself: 'that girl is growing up for my boy,' and +now that you have won her I feel as if I were once more as young as your +sweetheart herself. My old heart beats as happily as if the little Loves +were touching it with their wings and rosy fingers. If my feet had not +grown so heavy with constantly standing over the hearth and at washing-- +really and truly I could take Euphorion by the arm and dance through the +streets with him to-day." + +"Where is father?" + +"Out singing." + +"In the morning! where?" + +"There is some sect that are celebrating their mysteries. They pay well +and he had to sing dismal hymns for them behind a curtain; the wildest +stuff, in which he does not follow a word, and that I do not understand +a half of." + +"It is a pity for I wanted to speak to him." + +"He will not be back till late." + +"There is plenty of time." + +"So much the better, otherwise I might have told him what you had to +say." + +"Your advice is as good as his. I think of giving up working under +Papias and standing on my own feet." + +"You are quite right; the Roman architect told me yesterday that a great +future was open to you." + +"There are only my poor sister and the children to be considered. If, +during the first few months I should find myself falling short--" + +"We will manage to pull through. It is high time that you yourself +should reap from what you sow." + +"So it seems to me, for my own sake and Arsinoe's; if only Keraunus--" + +"Aye--there will be a battle to fight with him." + +"A hard one, a hard one," sighed Pollux. + +"The thought of the old man troubles my happiness." + +"Folly!" cried Doris. "Avoid all useless anxiety. It is almost as +injurious as remorse gnawing at your heart. Take a workshop of your own, +do some great work in a joyful spirit, something to astonish the world, +and I will wager anything that the old fool of a steward will only be +vexed to think that he destroyed the first work of the celebrated Pollux, +instead of treasuring it in his cabinet of curiosities. Just imagine +that no such person exists in the world and enjoy your happiness." + +"I will stick to that." + +"One thing more my lad: take good care of Arsinoe. She is young and +inexperienced and you must not persuade her to do anything you would +advise her not to do if she were betrothed to your brother instead of to +yourself." + +Doris had not done speaking when Antinous came into the gate-house and +delivered the commands of the architect Claudius Venator, to escort him +through the city. Pollux hesitated with his answer, for he had still +much to do in the palace, and he hoped to see Arsinoe again in the course +of the day. After such a morning what could noon and evening be to him +without her? Dame Doris noticed his indecision and cried: + +"Yes, go; the festival is for pleasure, besides, the architect can +perhaps advise you on many points, and recommend you to his friends." + +"Your mother is right," said Antinous. "Claudius Venator can be very +touchy, but he can also be grateful, and I wish you sincerely well--" + +"Good then, I will come," Pollux interposed while the Bithynian was still +speaking, for he felt himself strongly attracted by Hadrian's imposing +personality and considered that under the circumstances, it might be very +desirable to revel with him for a while. + +"I will come, but first I must let Pontius know that I am going to fly +from the heat of the fray for a few hours to-day." + +"Leave that to Venator," replied the favorite, "and you must find some +amusing disguise and procure masks for him and for me and, if you like, +for yourself too. He wants to join the revel as a satyr and I in some +other disguise." + +"Good," replied the sculptor. "I will go at once and order what is +requisite. A quantity of dresses for the Dionysiac processions are lying +in our workshop and in half an hour I will be back with the things." + +"But pray make haste," Antinous begged him. "My master cannot bear to be +kept waiting, and besides--one thing--" + +At these words Antinous had grown embarrassed and had gone quite close up +to the artist. He laid his hand on his shoulder and said in a low voice +but impressively: + +"Venator stands very near to Caesar. Beware of saying anything before +him that is not in Hadrian's favor." + +"Is your master Caesar's spy?" asked Pollux, looking suspiciously at +Antinous. "Pontius has already, given me a similar warning, and if that +is the case--" + +"No, no," interrupted the lad hastily. + +"Anything but that; but the two have no secrets from each other and +Venator talks a good deal--cannot hold his tongue--" + +"I thank you and will be on my guard." + +"Aye do so--I mean it honestly." The Bithynian held out his hand to the +artist with an expression of warm regard on his handsome features and +with an indescribably graceful gesture. Pollux took it heartily, but +dame Doris, whose old eyes had been fixed as if spellbound on Antinous, +seized her son's arm and quite excited by the sight of his beauty cried +out: + +"Oh! what a splendid creature! moulded by the gods! sacred to the gods! +Pollux, boy! you might almost think one of the immortals had come down to +earth." + +"Look at my old woman!" exclaimed Pollux laughing, "but in truth friend, +she has good reasons for her ecstasies, I could follow her example." + +"Hold him fast, hold him fast!" cried Doris. "If he only will let you +take his likeness you can show the world a thing worth seeing." + +"Will you?" interrupted Pollux turning to Hadrian's favorite. + +"I have never yet been able to keep still for any artist," said Antinous. +"But I will do any thing you wish to please you. It only vexes me that +you too should join in the chorus with the rest of the world. Farewell +for the present, I must go back to my master." + +As soon as the youth had left the house Doris exclaimed: + +"Whether a work of art is good for any thing or not I can only guess at, +but as to what is beautiful that I know as well as any other woman in +Alexandria. If that boy will stand as your model you will produce +something that will delight men and turn the heads of the women, and you +will be sought after even in a workshop of your own. Eternal gods! such +beauty as that is sublime. Why are there no means of preserving such a +face and such a form from old age and wrinkles?" + +"I know the means, mother," said Pollux, as he went to the door. "It is +called Art: to her it is given to bestow eternal youth on this mortal +Adonis." + +The old woman glanced at her son with pardonable pride, and confirmed his +words by an assenting nod. While she fed her birds, with many coaxing +words, and made one which was a special favorite pick crumbs from her +lips, the young sculptor was hurrying through the streets with long +steps. + +He was greeted as he went with many a cross word, and many exclamations +rose from the crowd he left behind him, for he pushed his way by the +weight of his tall person and his powerful arms, and saw and heard, as he +went, little enough of what was going around him. He thought of Arsinoe, +and between whiles of Antinous and of the attitude in which he best might +represent him--whether as hero or god. + +In the flower-market, near the Gymnasium, he was for a moment roused from +his reverie by a picture which struck him as being unusual and which +riveted his gaze, as did every thing exceptional that came under his +eyes. On a very small dark-colored donkey sat a tall, well-dressed +slave, who held in his right hand a nosegay of extraordinary size and +beauty. By his side walked a smartly dressed-up man with a splendid +wreath, and a comic mask over his face followed by two garden-gods of +gigantic stature, and four graceful boys. In the slave, Pollux at once +recognized the servant of Claudius Venator, and he fancied he must have +seen the masked gentlemen too before now, but he could not remember +where, and did not trouble himself to retrace him in his mind. At any +rate, the rider of the donkey had just heard something he did not like, +for he was looking anxiously at his bunch of flowers. + +After Pollux had hurried past this strange party his thoughts reverted to +other, and to him far nearer and dearer subjects. But Mastor's anxious +looks were not without a cause, for the gentleman who was talking to him +was no less a person than Verus, the praetor, who was called by the +Alexandrians the sham Eros. He had seen the Emperor's body-slave a +hundred times about his person; he therefore recognized him at once, and +his presence here in Alexandria led him directly to the simple and +correct inference that his master too must be in the city. The praetor's +curiosity was roused, and he at once proceeded to ply the poor fellow +with bewildering cross-questions. When the donkey-rider shortly and +sharply refused to answer, Verus thought it well to reveal himself to +him, and the slave lost his confident demeanor when he recognized the +grand gentleman, the Emperor's particular friend. + +He lost himself in contradictory statements, and although he did not +directly admit it, he left his interrogator in the certainty that Hadrian +was in Alexandria. + +It was perfectly evident that the beautiful nosegay, which had attracted +the praetor's attention to Mastor could not belong to himself. What +could be its destination? Verus recommenced his questioning, but the +Sarmatian would betray nothing, till Verus tapped him lightly first on +one cheek and then on the other, and said gaily: + +"Mastor, my worthy friend Mastor, listen to me. I will make you certain +proposals, and you shall nod your head, towards that of the estimable +beast with two pairs of legs on which you are mounted, as soon as one of +them takes your fancy." + +"Let me go on my way," the slave implored, with growing anxiety. + +"Go, by all means, but I go with you," retorted Verus, "until I have hit +on the thing that suits you. A great many plans dwell in my head, as you +will see. First I must ask you, shall I go to your master and tell him +that you have betrayed his presence in Alexandria?" + +"Sir, you will never do that!" cried Mastor. + +"To proceed then. Shall I and my following hang on to your skirts and +stay with you till nightfall, when you and your steed must return home? +You decline--with thanks! and very wisely, for the execution of this +project would be equally unpleasant to you and to me, and would probably +get you punished. Whisper to me then, softly, in my ear, where your +master is lodging, and from whom and to whom you are carrying those +flowers; as soon as you have agreed to that proposal I will let you go on +alone, and will show you that I care no more for my gold pieces here, in +Alexandria, than I do in Italy." + +"Not gold--certainly I will not take gold!" cried Mastor. + +"You are an honest fellow," replied Verus in an altered tone, "and you +know of me that I treat my servants well and would rather be kind to +folks than hard upon them. So satisfy my curiosity without any fear, and +I will promise you in return, that not a soul, your master least of all, +shall ever know from me what you tell me." Mastor hesitated a little, +but as he could not but own to himself that he would be obliged at last +to yield to the stronger will of this imperious man, and as moreover he +knew that the haughty and extravagant praetor was in fact one of the +kindest of masters, he sighed deeply and whispered: + +"You will not be the ruin of a poor wretch like me, that I know, so I +will tell you, we are living at Lochias." + +"There," exclaimed Verus clapping his hands. "And now as to the +flowers?" + +"Mere trifling." + +"Is Hadrian then in a merry mood?" + +"Till to-day he was very gay--but since last night--" + +"Well?" + +"You know yourself what he is when he has seen lead signs in the sky." + +"Bad signs," said Verus gravely. + +"And yet he sends flowers?" + +"Not he, can you not guess?" + +"Antinous?" + +Mastor nodded assent. + +"Only think," laughed Verus. "Then he too is beginning to think it +better worth while to admire than to be admired. And who is the fair one +who has succeeded in waking up his slumbering heart?" + +"Nay--I promised him not to chatter." + +"And I promise you the same. My powers of reserve are far greater than +my curiosity even." + +"Be content, I beseech you with what you already know." + +"But to know half is less endurable than to know nothing." + +"Nay--I cannot tell you." + +"Then am I to begin with fresh suggestions, and all over again?" + +"Oh! my lord. I beg you, entreat you--" + +"Out with the word, and I go on my way, but if you persist in refusing--" + +"Really and truly it only concerns a white-faced girl whom you would not +even look at." + +"A girl-indeed!" + +"Our big dog threw the poor thing down." + +"In the street?" + +"No, at Lochias. Her father is Keraunus the palace-steward." + +"And her name is Arsinoe?" asked Verus with undisguised concern, for he +had a pleasant recollection of the beautiful child who had been selected +to fill the part of Roxana. + +"No, her name is Selene, Arsinoe indeed is her younger sister." + +"Then you bring these flowers from Lochias?" + +"She went out, and she could not get back home again, she is now lying in +the house of a stranger." + +"Where?" + +"That must be quite indifferent to you--" + +"By no means, quite the contrary. I beg you to tell me the whole truth." + +"Eternal gods! what can you care about the poor sick creature?" + +"Nothing whatever; but I must know whither you are riding." + +"Down by the sea. I do not know the house, but the donkey driver--" + +"Is it far from here?" + +"About half an hour yet," said the lad. + +"A good way then," replied Verus. "And Hadrian is particularly anxious +to remain unknown." + +"Certainly." + +"And you his body-servant, who are known to numbers of others here from +Rome, like myself, you propose to ride half a mile through the streets +where every creature that can stand or walk is swarming, with a large +nosegay in your hand which attracts every body's attention. Oh Mastor +that is not wise!" + +The slave started, and seeing at once that Verus was right, he asked in +alarm: + +"What then can I do?" + +Get off your donkey," said the praetor. "Disguise yourself and make +merry to your heart's content with these gold pieces." + +"And the flowers?" + +"I will see to that." + +"You will? I may trust you; and never betray to Antinous what you +compelled me to do?" + +"Positively not." + +"There--there are the flowers, but I cannot take the gold." + +"Then I shall fling it among the crowd. Buy yourself a garland, a mask +and some wine, as much as you can carry. Where is the girl to be found?" + +"At dame Hannah's. She lives in a little house in a garden belonging to +the widow of Pudeus. And whoever gives it to her is to say that it is +sent by the friend at Lochias." + +"Good. Now go, and take care that no one recognizes you. Your secret is +mine, and the friend at Lochias shall be duly mentioned." + +Mastor disappeared in the crowd. Verus put the nosegay into the hands of +one of the garden-gods that followed in his train, sprang laughing on to +the ass, and desired the driver to show him the way. At the corner of +the next street, he met two litters, carried with difficulty through the +crowd by their bearers. In the first sat Keraunus, whose saffron-colored +cloak was conspicuous from afar, as fat as Silenus the companion of +Dionysus, but looking very sullen. In the second sat Arsinoe, looking +gaily about her, and so fresh and pretty that the Roman's easily-stirred +pulses beat more rapidly. + +Without reflecting, he took the flowers from the hand of the garden-god-- +the flowers intended for Selene--laid them on the girl's litter, and +said: + +"Alexander greets Roxana, the fairest of the fair." Arsinoe colored, +and Verus, after watching her for some time as she was carried onwards, +desired one of his boys to follow her litter, and to join him again in +the flower-market, where he would wait, to inform him whither she had +gone. + +The messenger hurried off, and Verus, turning his ass's head soon reached +a semicircular pillared hall on the shady side of a large open space, +under which the better sort of gardeners and flower dealers of the city +exposed their gay and fragrant wares to be sold by pretty girls. To-day +every stall had been particularly well supplied, but the demand for +wreaths and flowers had steadily increased from an early hour, and +although Verus had all that he could find of fresh flowers arranged and +tied together, still the nosegay, though much larger, was not half so +beautiful as that intended for Selene, and for which he substituted it. + +Now this annoyed the Roman. His sense of justice prompted him to make +good the loss he had inflicted on the sick girl. Gay ribbons were wound +round the stalks of the flowers, and the long ends floated in the air, so +Verus took a brooch from his dress and stuck it into the bow which +ornamented the stem of the nosegay; then he was satisfied, and as he +looked at the stone set in a gold border--an onyx on which was engraved +Eros sharpening his arrows--he pictured to himself the pleasure, the +delight of the girl that the handsome Bithynian loved, as she received +the beautiful gift. + +His slaves, natives of Britain, who were dressed as garden-gods, were +charged with the commission to proceed to dame Hannah's under the +guidance of the donkey-driver to deliver the nosegay to Selene from +'the friend at Lochias,' and then to wait for him outside the house of +Titianus, the prefect; for thither, as he had ascertained from his swift- +footed messenger, had Keraunus and his daughter been carried. + +Verus needed a longer time than the boy, to make his way through the +crowd. At the door of the prefect's residence he laid aside his mask, +and in an anteroom where the steward was sitting on a couch waiting for +his daughter, he arranged his hair and the folds of his toga, and was +then conducted to the lady Julia with whom he hoped, once more, to see +the charming Arsinoe. + +But in the reception-room, instead of Arsinoe he found his own wife and +the poetess Balbilla and her companion. He greeted the ladies gaily, +amiably and gracefully, as usual, and then, as he looked enquiringly +round the large room without concealing his disappointment, Balbilla came +up to him and asked him in a low voice: + +"Can you be honest, Verus?" + +"When circumstances allow it, yes." + +"And will they allow it here?" + +"I should suppose so." + +"Then answer me truly. Did you come here for Julia's sake, or did you +come--" + +"Well?" + +"Or did you expect to find the fair Roxana with the prefect's wife?" + +"Roxana?" asked Verus, with a cunning smile. "Roxana! Why she was the +wife of Alexander the Great, and is long since dead, but I care only for +the living, and when I left the merry tumult in the streets it was simply +and solely--" + +"You excite my curiosity." + +"Because my prophetic heart promised me, fairest Balbilla, that I should +find you here." + +And that you call honest!" cried the poetess, hitting the praetor a blow +with the stick of the ostrich-feather fan she held in her hand. "Only +listen, Lucilla, your husband declares he came here for my sake." The +praetor looked reproachfully at the speaker, but she whispered: + +"Due punishment for a dishonest man." Then, raising her voice, she said: + +"Do you know, Lucilla, that if I remain unmarried, your husband is not +wholly innocent in the matter." + +"Alas! yes, I was born too late for you," interrupted Verus, who knew +very well what the poetess was about to say. + +"Nay--no misunderstanding!" cried Balbilla. "For how can a woman +venture upon wedlock when she cannot but fear the possibility of getting +such a husband as Verus." + +"And what man," retorted the praetor, "would ever be so bold as to court +Balbilla, could he hear how cruelly she judges an innocent admirer of +beauty?" + +"A husband ought not to admire beauty--only the one beauty who is his +wife." + +"Ah Vestal maiden," laughed Verus. "I am meanwhile punishing you by +withholding from you a great secret which interests us all. No, no, I am +not going to tell--but I beg you my lady wife to take her to task, and +teach her to exercise some indulgence so that her future husband may not +have too hard a time of it." + +"No woman can learn to be indulgent," replied Lucilla. "Still we +practise indulgence when we have no alternative, and the criminal +requires us to make allowance for him in this thing or the other." + +Verus made his wife a bow and pressed his lips on her arm, then he asked. +"And where is dame Julia?" + +"She is saving the sheep from the wolf," replied Balbilla. + +"Which means--?" + +"That as soon as you were announced she carried off little Roxana to a +place of safety." + +"No, no," interrupted Lucilla. "The tailor was waiting in an inner room +to arrange the charming child's costume. Only look at the lovely nosegay +she brought to Julia. And do you deny my right to share your secret?" + +"How could I?" replied Verus. + +"He is very much in need of your making allowances!" laughed Balbilla, +while the praetor went up to, his wife and told her in a whisper what he +had learnt from Mastor. Lucilla clasped her hands in astonishment, and +Verus cried to the poetess: + +"Now you see what a satisfaction your cruel tongue has deprived you of?" + +"How can you be so revengeful most estimable Verus," said the lady +coaxingly. "I am dying of curiosity." + +"Live but a few days longer fair Balbilla, for my sake," replied the +Roman, "and the cause of your early death will be removed." + +"Only wait, I will be revenged!" cried the girl threatening him with her +finger, but Lucilla led her away saying: + +"Come now, it is time we should give Julia the benefit of our advice." + +"Do so," said Verus. "Otherwise I am afraid my visit to-day would seem +opportune to no one.--Greet Julia from me." + +As he went away he cast a glance at the nosegay which Arsinoe had given +away as soon as she had received it from him, and he sighed: "As we grow +old we have to learn wisdom." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Avoid all useless anxiety +To know half is less endurable than to know nothing +Who do all they are able and enjoy as much as they can get + + + + + + +THE EMPEROR, Part 2. + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 6. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Dame Hannah had watched by Selene till sunrise and indefatigably cooled +both her injured foot and the wound in her head. The old physician was +not dissatisfied with the condition of his patient, but ordered the widow +to lie down for a time and to leave the care of her for a few hours to +her young friend. When Mary was alone with the sick girl and had laid +the fresh cold handkerchief in its place, Selene turned her face towards +her and said: + +"Then you were at Lochias yesterday. Tell me how you found them all +there. Who guided you to our lodgings and did you see my little brother +and sisters?" + +"You are not yet quite free of fever, and I do not know how much I ought +to talk to you--but I would with all my heart." + +The words were spoken kindly and there was a deep loving light in the +eyes of the deformed girl as she said them. Selene excited not merely +her sympathy and pity, but her admiration too, for she was so beautiful, +so totally different from herself, and in every little service she +rendered her, she felt like some despised beggar whom a prince might have +permitted to wait upon him. Her hump had never seemed to her so bent, +nor her brown skin so ugly at any other time as it did to-day, when side +by side with this symmetrical and delicate girlish form, rounded to such +tender contours. + +But Mary felt not the smallest movement of envy. She only felt happy to +help Selene, to serve her, to be allowed to gaze at her although she was +a heathen. During the night too, she had prayed fervently that the Lord +might graciously draw to himself this lovely, gentle creature, that He +might permit her to recover, and fill her soul with the same love for the +Saviour that gave joy to her own. More than once she had longed to kiss +her, but she dared not, for it seemed to her as though the sick girl were +made of finer stuff than she herself. + +Selene felt tired, very tired, and as the pain diminished, a comfortable +sense stole over her of peace and respite in the silent and loving +homeliness of her surroundings; a feeling that was new and very soothing, +though it was interrupted, now and again, by her anxiety for those at +home. Dame Hannah's presence did her good, for she fancied she +recognized in her voice something that had been peculiar to her mother's, +when she had played with her and pressed her with special affection to +her heart. + +In the papyrus factory, at the gumming-table, the sight of the little +hunchback had disgusted Selene, but here she observed what good eyes she +had, and how kind a voice, and the care with which Mary lifted the +compress from her foot--as softly, as if in her own hands she felt the +pain that Selene was suffering--and then laid another on the broken +ankle, aroused her gratitude. Her sister Arsinoe was a vain and thorough +Alexandrian girl, and she had nicknamed the poor thing after the ugliest +of the Hellenes who had besieged Troy. "Dame Thersites," and Selene +herself had often repeated it. Now she forgot the insulting name +altogether, and met the objections of her nurse by saying: + +"The fever cannot be much now; if you tell me something I shall not think +so constantly of this atrocious pain. I am longing to be at home. Did +you see the children?" + +"No, Selene. I went no farther than the entrance of your dwelling, and +the kind gate-keeper's wife told me at once that I should find neither +your father nor your sister, and that your slave-woman was gone out to +buy cakes for the children." + +"To buy them!" exclaimed Selene in astonishment. "The old woman told me +too that the way to your apartments led through several rooms in which +slaves were at work, and that her son, who happened to be with her, +should accompany me, and so he did, but the door was locked, and he told +me I might entrust his mother with my commission. I did so, for she +looked as if she were both judicious and kind." + +"That she is." + +"And she is very fond of you, for when I told her of your sufferings the +bright tears rolled down her cheeks, and she praised you as warmly, and +was as much troubled as if you had been her own daughter." + +"You said nothing about our working in the factory?" asked Selene +anxiously. + +"Certainly not, you had desired me not to mention it. I was to say +everything that was kind to you from the old lady." + +For several minutes the two girls were silent, then Selene asked: + +"Did the gate-keeper's son who accompanied you also hear of the disaster +that had befallen me? + +"Yes, on the way to your rooms he was full of fun and jokes, but when I +told him that you had gone out with your damaged foot and now could not +get home again, and were being treated by the leech, he was very angry +and used blasphemous language." + +"Can you remember what he said?" + +"Not perfectly, but one thing I still recollect. He accused his gods of +having created a beautiful work only to spoil it, nay he abused them" +Mary looked down as she spoke, as if she were repeating something ill to +tell, but Selene colored slightly with pleasure, and exclaimed eagerly, +as if to outdo the sculptor in abuse: + +"He is quite right, the powers above act in such a way--" + +"That is not right," said the deformed girl reprovingly. + +"What?" asked the patient. "Here you live quietly to yourselves in +perfect peace and love. Many a word that I heard dame Hannah say has +stuck in my mind, and I can see for myself that you act as kindly as you +speak. The gods no doubt are good to you!" + +"God is for each and all." + +"What!" exclaimed Selene with flashing eyes. "For those whose every +pleasure they destroy? For the home of eight children whom they rob of +their mother? For the poor whom they daily threaten to deprive of their +bread-winner?" + +"For them too, there is a merciful God," interrupted dame Hannah who had +just come into the room. "I will lead you to the loving Father in Heaven +who cares for us all as if we were His children; but not now--you must +rest and neither talk nor hear of anything that can excite your fevered +blood. Now I will rearrange the pillow under your head. Mary will wet a +fresh compress and then you must try to sleep." + +"I cannot," replied Selene, while Hannah shook her pillows and arranged +them carefully. "Tell me about your God who loves us." + +"By-and-bye, dear child. Seek Him and you will find Him, for of all His +children He loves them best who suffer." + +"Those who suffer?" asked Selene, in surprise. "What has a God in his +Olympian joys to do with those who suffer?" + +"Be quiet, child," interrupted Hannah, patting the sick girl with a +soothing hand, "you soon will learn how God takes care of you and that +Another loves you." + +"Another," muttered Selene, and her cheeks turned crimson. + +She thought at once of Pollux, and asked herself why the story of her +sufferings should have moved him so deeply if he were not in love with +her. Then she began to seek some colorable ground for what she had heard +as she went past the screen behind which he had been working. He had +never told her plainly that he loved her. Why should he, an artist and a +bright, high spirited young fellow, not be allowed to jest with a pretty +girl, even if his heart belonged to another. No, she was not indifferent +to him: that she had felt that night when she had stood as his model, and +now--as she thought--I could guess, nay, feel sure of, from Mary's story. + +The longer she thought of him, the more she began to long to see him whom +she had loved so dearly even as a child. Her heart had never yet beat +for any other man, but since she had met Pollux again in the hall of the +Muses, his image had filled her whole soul, and what she now felt must be +love--could be nothing else. Half awake, but half asleep, she pictured +him to herself, entering this quiet room, sitting down by the head of her +couch, and looking with his kind eyes into hers. Ah! and how could she +help it--she sat up and opened her arms to him. + +"Be still, my child, he still," said Hannah. "It is not good for you to +move about so much." + +Selene opened her eyes, but only to close them again and to dream for +some time longer till she was startled from her rest by loud voices in +the garden. Hannah left the room, and her voice presently mingled with +those of the other persons outside, and when she returned her cheeks were +flushed and she could not find fitting words in which to tell her patient +what she had to say. + +"A very big man, in the most outrageous dress," she said at last, "wanted +to be let in; when the gatekeeper refused, he forced his way in. He +asked for you." + +"For me," said Selene, blushing. + +"Yes, my child, he brought a large and beautiful nosegay of flowers, and +said 'your friend at Lochias sends you his greeting.'" + +"My friend at Lochias?" murmured thoughtfully Selene to herself. Then +her eyes sparkled with gladness, and she asked quickly: + +You said the man who brought the flowers was very tall." + +"He was." + +"Oh please, dame Hannah, let me see the flowers?" cried Selene, trying +to raise herself. + +"Have you a lover, child?" asked the widow. + +"A lover?--no, but there is a young man with whom we always used to play +when we were quite little--an artist, a kind, good man--and the nosegay +must be from him." + +Hannah looked with sympathy at the girl, and signing to Mary she said: + +"The nosegay is a very large one. You may see it, but it must not remain +in the room; the smell of so many flowers might do you harm." + +Mary rose from her seat at the head of the bed, and whispered to the sick +girl: + +"Is that the tall gate-keeper's son?" Selene nodded, smiling, and as the +women went away she changed her position from lying on one side, +stretched herself out on her back, pressed her hand to her heart, and +looked upwards with a deep sigh. There was a singing in her ears, and +flashes of colored light seemed to dance before her closed eyes. She +drew her breath with difficulty, but still it seemed as though the air +she drew in was full of the perfume of flowers. + +Hannah and Mary carried in the enormous bunch of flowers. Selene's eyes +shone more brightly, and she clasped her hands in admiration. Then she +made them show her the lovely, richly-tinted and fragrant gift, first on +one side and then on the other, buried her face in the flowers, and +secretly kissed the delicate petals of a lovely, half-opened rose-bud. +She felt as if intoxicated, and the bright tears flowed in slow +succession down her cheeks. Mary was the first to detect the brooch +stuck into the ribbons that tied the stems of the flowers. She +unfastened it and showed it to Selene, who hastily took it out of her +hand. Blushing deeper and deeper, she fixed her eyes on the intaglio +carved on the stone of the love god sharpening his arrows. She felt her +pain no more pain, she felt quite well, and at the same time glad, proud, +too happy. Dame Hannah noted her excitement with much anxiety; she +nodded to Mary and said: + +"Now my daughter, this must do; we will place the flowers outside the +window so that you may see them." + +"Already," said Selene, in a regretful tone, and she broke off a few +violets and roses from the crowded mass. When she was alone again, she +laid the flowers down and once more tenderly contemplated the figures on +the handsome gem. It had no doubt been engraved by Teuker, the brother +of Pollux. How fine the carving was, how significant the choice of the +subject represented! Only the heavy gold setting disturbed the poor +child, who for so many years had had to stint and contrive with her +money. She said to herself that it was wrong of the young fellow, who, +besides being poor, had to support his sister, to rush into such an +outlay for her. But his gift gave her none the less pleasure, out of her +own possessions nothing would have seemed too precious to give him. She +would teach him to be saving by-and-bye. + +The women presently returned after they had with much trouble set up the +nosegay outside the window, and they renewed the wet handkerchief without +speaking. She did not in the least want to talk, she was listening with +so much pleasure to the fair promises which her fancy was making, and +wherever she turned her eyes they fell on something she could love, The +flowers on her bed, the brooch in her hand, the nosegay outside the +window, and never dreaming that another--not the man she loved--could +have sent it to her, another for whom she cared even less than for the +Christians who walked up and down in Paulina's garden, under her window. +There she lay, full of sweet contentment and secure of a love that had +never been hers--of possessing the heart of a man who never once thought +of her, but who, only a few hours since, had rushed off with her sister, +intoxicated with joy and delight. Poor Selene! + +And her next dreams were of untroubled happiness, but the minutes flew +after each other, each bringing her nearer to waking--and what a waking! + +Her father had not come, as he had intended, to see her before going to +the prefect's house with Arsinoe. His desire to conduct his daughter to +Julia in a dress worthy of her prospects had detained him a long time, +and even then he had not succeeded in his object. All the weavers, and +the shops were closed, for every workman, whether slave or free, was +taking part in the festivities, and when the hour fixed by the prefect +drew near, his daughter was still sitting in her litter, in her simple +white dress and her modest peplum, bound with blue ribbon, which looked +even more insignificant by day than in the evening. + +The nosegay which had been given to Arsinoe by Verus gave her much +pleasure, for a girl is always pleased with beautiful flowers--nay, they +have something in common. As she and her father approached the prefect's +house Arsinoe grew frightened, and her father could not conceal his +vexation at being obliged to take her to the lady Julia in so modest a +garb. Nor was his gloomy humor at all enlivened when he was left to wait +in the anteroom while Julia and the wife of Verus, aided by Balbilla +chose for his daughter the finest colored and costliest stuffs of the +softest wool, silk, and delicate bombyx tissue. This sort of occupation +has this peculiarity, that the longer time it takes the more assistance +is needed, and the steward had to submit to wait fully two hours in the +prefect's anteroom, which gradually grew fuller and fuller of clients and +visitors. At last Arsinoe came back all glowing and full of the +beautiful things that were to be prepared for her. + +Her father rose slowly from his easy seat, and as she hastened towards +him the door opened, and through it came Plutarch, freshly wreathed, +freshly decked with flowers which were fastened to the breast-folds of +his gallium, and lifted into the room by his two human crutches. Every +one rose as he came in, and when Keraunus saw that the chief lawyer of +the city, a man of ancient family, bowed before him, he did likewise. +Plutarch's eyesight was stronger than his legs were, and where a pretty +woman was to be seen, it was always very keen. He perceived Arsinoe as +soon as he had crossed the threshold and waved both hands towards her, as +if she were an old and favorite acquaintance. + +The sweet child had quite bewitched him; in his younger days he would +have given anything and everything to win her favor; now he was satisfied +to make his favor pleasing to her; he touched her playfully two or three +times on the arm and said gaily: + +"Well pretty Roxana, has dame Julia done well with the dresses?" + +"Oh! they have chosen such pretty, such really lovely things!" exclaimed +the girl." + +"Have they?" said Plutarch, to conceal by speech the fact that he was +meditating on some subject; "Have they? and why should they not?" + +Arsinoe's washed dress had caught the old man's eye, and remembering that +Gabinius the curiosity-dealer had that very morning been to him to +enquire whether Arsinoe were not in fact one of his work-girls, and to +repeat his statement that her father was a beggarly toady, full of +haughty airs, whose curiosities, of which he contemptuously mentioned a +few, were worth nothing, Plutarch was hastily asking himself how he could +best defend his pretty protege against the envious tongues of her rivals; +for many spiteful speeches of theirs had already come to his ears. + +"Whatever the noble Julia undertakes is always admirably done," he said +aloud, and he added in a whisper: "The day after to-morrow when the +goldsmiths have opened their workshops again, I will see what I can find +for you. I am falling in a heap, hold me up higher Antaeus and Atlas. +So.--Yes, my child you look even better from up here than from a lower +level. Is the stout man standing behind you your father?" + +"Yes." + +"Have you no mother?" + +"She is dead." + +"Oh!" said Plutarch in a tone of regret. Then turning to the steward he +said: + +"Accept my congratulations on having such a daughter Keraunus. I hear +too that you have to supply a mother's place to her." + +"Alas sir! she is very like my poor wife, since her death I live a +joyless life." + +"But I hear that you take pleasure in collecting rare and beautiful +objects. This is a taste we have in common. Are you inclined to part +with the cup that belonged to my namesake Plutarch? It must be a fine +piece of work from what Gabinius tells me." + +"That it is," replied the steward proudly. "It was a gift to the +philosopher from Trajan; beautifully carved in ivory. I cannot bear to +part with such a gem but," and as he spoke he lowered his voice. "I am +under obligations to you, you have taken charge of my daughter's outfit +and to offer you some return I will--" + +"That is quite out of the question," interrupted Plutarch, who knew men, +and who saw from the steward's pompous pretentiousness that the dealer +had done him no injustice in describing him as overbearing. "You are +doing me an honor by allowing me to contribute what I can towards +decorating our Roxana. I beg you to send me the cup, and whatever price +you put upon it, I, of course, shall pay, that is quite understood." + +Keraunus had a brief internal conflict with himself. If he had not so +sorely needed money, if he had not so keenly desired to see a young and +comely slave walking behind him, he would have adhered to his purpose of +presenting the cup to Plutarch; as it was he cleared his throat, looked +at the ground, and said with an embarrassed manner and without a trace of +his former confidence: + +"I remain your debtor, and it seems you do not wish this business to be +mixed up with other matters. Well then, I had two thousand drachmae for +a sword that belonged to Antony." + +"Then certainly," interrupted Plutarch, "the cup, the gift of Trajan, +must be worth double, particularly to me who am related to the +illustrious owner. May I offer you four thousand drachmae for your +precious possession?" + +"I am anxious to oblige you, and so I say yes," replied the steward with +much dignity, and he squeezed Arsinoe's little finger, for she was +standing close to him. Her hand had for some time been touching his in +token of warning that he should adhere to his first intention of making +the cup a present to Plutarch. + +As the pair, so unlike each other, quitted the anteroom, Plutarch looked +after them with a meaning smile and thought to himself: "That is well +done. How little pleasure I generally have from my riches! How often +when I see a sturdy porter I would willingly change places with him! +But to-day I am glad to have as much money as I could wish. Sweet child! +She must have a new dress of course for the sake of appearance, but +really her beauty did not suffer from the washed-out rag of a dress. +And she belongs to me, for I have seen her at the factory among the +workwomen, of that I am certain." + +Keraunus had gone out with his daughter and once outside the prefect's +house, he could not help chuckling aloud, while he patted his daughter on +the shoulder, and whispered to her: + +"I told you so child! we shall be rich yet, we shall rise in life again +and need not be behind the other citizens in any thing." + +"Yes, father, but it is just because you believe that, that you ought to +have given the cup to the old man." + +"No," replied Keraunus, "business is business, but by and bye I will +repay him tenfold for all he does for you now, by giving him my painting +by Apelles. And Julia shall have the pair of sandal-straps set with cut- +gems that came off a sandal of Cleopatra's." + +Arsinoe looked down, for she knew what these treasures were worth, and +said: + +"We can consider all that later." + +Then she and her father got into the litters that had been waiting for +them, and without which Keraunus thought he could no longer exist, and +they were carried to the garden of Pudeus' widow. + +Their visit came to interrupt Selene's blissful dreams. Keraunus +behaved with icy coldness to dame Hannah, for it afforded him a certain +satisfaction to make a display of contempt for every thing Christian. +When he expressed his regret that Selene should have been obliged to +remain in her house, the widow replied: + +"She is better here than in the street, at any rate." And when Keraunus +went on to say that he would take nothing as a gift and would pay her for +her care of his daughter, Hannah answered: + +"We are happy to do all we can for your child, and Another will reward +us." + +"That I certainly forbid," exclaimed the steward wrathfully. + +"We do not understand each other," said the Christian pleasantly. "I do +not allude to any mortal being, and the reward we work for is not gold +and possessions, but the happy consciousness of having mitigated the +sufferings of a fellow-creature." + +Keraunus shrugged his shoulders, and after desiring Selene to ask the +physician when she might be taken home, he went away. + +"I will not leave you here an instant longer than is necessary," he said +as urgently as though she were in some infected house; he kissed her +forehead, bowed to Hannah as loftily as though he had just bestowed an +alms upon her, and departed, without listening to Selene's assurances +that she was extremely happy and comfortable with the widow. + +The ground had long burnt under his feet, and the money in his pocket, +he was now possessed of ample means to acquire a good new slave, perhaps, +if he threw old Sebek into the bargain, they might even suffice to +procure him a handsome Greek, who might teach the children to read and +write. He could direct his first attention to the external appearance of +the new member of his household, if he were a scholar as well, he would +feel justified in the high price he expected to be obliged to pay for +him. + +As Keraunus approached the slave-market he said, not without some +conscious emotion at his own paternal devotion: + +"All for the credit of the house, all, and only, for the children." + +Arsinoe carried out her intention of staying with Selene; her father was +to fetch her on his way home. After he was gone, Hannah and Mary left +the two sisters together, for they supposed that they must wish to +discuss a variety of things without the presence of strangers. + +As soon as the girls were alone Arsinoe began: "Your cheeks are rosy, +Selene, and you look cheerful--ah! and I, I am so happy--so happy!" + +"Because you are to fill the part of Roxana?" + +"That is very nice too, and who would have thought only yesterday morning +that we should be so rich today. We hardly know what to do with all the +money." + +"We?" + +"Yes, for father has sold two objects out of his collection for six +thousand drachmae." + +"Oh!" cried Selene clasping her hands, "then we can pay our most +pressing debts." + +"To be sure, but that is not nearly all." + +"No?" + +"Where shall I begin? Ah! Selene, my heart is so full. I am tired, and +yet I could dance and sing and shout all day and all the night through +till to-morrow. When I think how happy I am, my head turns, and I feel +as if I must use all my self-control to keep myself from turning giddy. +You do not know yet how you feel when the arrow of Eros has pierced you. +Ah! I love Pollux so much, and he loves me too." + +At these words all the color fled from Selene's cheeks, and her pale lips +brought out the words: + +"Pollux? The son of Euphorion, Pollux the sculptor?" + +"Yes, our dear, kind, tall Pollux!" cried Arsinoe. "Now prick up your +ears, and you shall hear how it all came to pass. Last night on our way +to see you he confessed how much he loved me, and now you must advise me +how to win over my father to our side, and very soon too. By-and-bye he +will of course say yes, for Pollux can do anything he wants, and some day +he will be a great man, as great as Papias, and Aristaeus, and Kealkes +all put together. His youthful trick with that silly caricature--but how +pale you are, Selene!" + +"It is nothing--nothing at all--a pain--go on," said Selene. + +"Dame Hannah begged me not to let you talk much." + +"Only tell me everything; I will be quiet." + +"Well, you have seen the lovely head of mother that he made," Arsinoe +went on. "Standing by that we saw each other and talked for the first +time after long years, and I felt directly that there was not a dearer +man than he in the whole world, wide as it is. And he fell in love too +with a stupid little thing like me. Yesterday evening he came here with +me; and then as I went home, taking his arm in the dark through the +streets, then--Oh, Selene, it was splendid, delightful! You cannot +imagine!--Does your foot hurt you very much, poor dear? Your eyes are +full of tears." + +"Go on, tell me all, go on." + +And Arsinoe did as she was desired, sparing the poor girl nothing that +could widen and deepen the wound in her soul. Full of rapturous memories +she described the place in the streets where Pollux had first kissed her. +The shrubs in the garden where she had flung herself into his arms, her +blissful walk in the moonlight, and all the crowd assembled for the +festival, and finally how, possessed by the god, they had together joined +the procession, and danced through the streets. She described, with +tears in her eyes, how painful their parting had been, and laughed again, +as she told how an ivy leaf in her hair had nearly betrayed everything to +her father. So she talked and talked, and there was something that +intoxicated her in her own words. + +How they were affecting Selene she did not observe. How could she know +that it was her narrative and no other suffering which made her sister's +lips quiver so sorrowfully? Then, when she went on to speak of the +splendid garments which Julia was having made for her, the suffering girl +listened with only half an ear, but her attention revived when she heard +how much old Plutarch had offered for the ivory cup, and that her father +proposed to exchange their old slave for a more active one. + +"Our good black mouse-catching old stork looks shabby enough it is true," +said Arsinoe, "still I am very sorry he should go away. If you had been +at home, perhaps father would have waited to consider." + +Selene laughed drily, and her lips curled scornfully as she said: + +"That is the way! go on! two days before you are turned out of house and +home you ride in a chariot and pair!" + +"You always see the worst side," said Arsinoe with annoyance. "I tell +you it will all turn out far better and nicer and more happily than we +expect. As soon as we are a little richer we will buy back the old man, +and keep him and feed him till he dies." + +Selene shrugged her shoulders, and her sister jumped up from her seat +with her eyes full of tears. She had been so happy in telling how happy +she was that she firmly believed that her story must bring brightness +into the gloom of the sick girl's soul, like sunshine after a dark night; +and Selene had nothing to give her but scornful words and looks. If a +friend refuses to share in joys it is hardly less wounding than if he +were to abandon us in trouble. + +"How you always contrive to embitter my happiness!" cried Arsinoe. "I +know very well that nothing that I can do can ever be right in your eyes; +still, we are sisters, and you need not set your teeth and grudge your +words, and shrug your shoulders when I tell you of things which, even a +stranger, if I were to confide them to her, would rejoice over with me. +You are so cold and heartless! I dare say you will betray me to my +father--" + +But Arsinoe did not finish her sentence, for Selene looked up at her with +a mixture of suffering and alarm, and said: + +"I cannot be glad--I am in too much pain." As she spoke the tears ran +down her cheeks and as soon as Arsinoe saw them she felt a return of pity +for the sick girl, bent over and kissed her cheeks once, twice, thrice; +but Selene pushed her aside and murmured piteously: + +"Leave me--pray leave me; go away, I can bear it no longer." She turned +her face to the wall, sobbing aloud. Arsinoe attempted once more to show +her some marks of affection, but her sister pushed her away still more +decidedly, crying out loudly, as if in desperation: "I shall die if you +do not leave me alone." + +And the happier girl, whose best offerings were thus disdained by her +only female friend, went weeping away to await her father's return +outside the door of the widow's house. + +When Hannah went to lay fresh handkerchiefs on Selene's wounds she saw +that she had been crying, but she did not enquire into the reason of her +tears. Towards evening the widow explained to her patient that she must +leave her alone for half an hour, for that she and Mary were going out to +pray to their God with their brethren and sisters, and they would pray +for her also. + +"Leave me, only leave me," said Selene, "as it is, so it is--there are no +gods." + +"Gods?" replied Hannah. "No. But there is one good and loving Father +in Heaven, and you soon shall learn to know him." + +"I know him, well!" muttered the sick girl with keen irony. + +No sooner was she alone than she sat up in bed, and flung the flowers, +which had been lying on it, far from her across the room, twisted the pin +of the brooch till it was broken, and did not stir a finger to save the +gold setting and engraved stone when they fell between the bed and wall +of the room. Then she lay staring at the ceiling, and did not stir +again. It was now quite dark. The lilies and honeysuckle in the great +nosegay outside the window began to smell more strongly, and their +perfume forced itself inexorably on her senses, rendered painfully acute +by fever. She perceived it at every breath she drew, and not for a +minute would it let her forget her wrecked happiness, and the +wretchedness of her heart, till the heavy sweetness of the flowers became +more unendurable than the most pungent odor, and she drew the coverlet +over her head to escape this new torment; but she soon cast it off again, +for she thought she should be suffocated under it. An intolerable +restlessness took possession of her, while the pain in her injured foot +throbbed madly, the cut in her head seemed to burn, and her temples beat +with an agonizing headache that contracted the muscles of her eyes. +Every nerve in her body, every thought of her brain was a separate +torture, and at the same time she felt herself without a stay, without +protection, and wholly abandoned to some cruel influence, which tossed +and tore her soul as the storm tosses the crowns of the palm-trees. + +Without tears, incapable of lying still and yet punished for the +slightest movement by some fresh pain, racked in every joint, not strong +enough in her bewilderment to carry through a single connected thought, +and yet firmly convinced that the perfume she was forced to inhale at +every breath was poisoning her--destroying her--driving her mad--she +lifted her damaged foot out of bed, dragged the other after it, and sat +up on her couch regardless of the pain she felt, and the warnings of the +physician. Her long hair fell dishevelled over her face, her arms, and +her hands, in which she held her aching head; and in this new attitude +the excitement of her brain and heart took fresh development. + +She sat gazing at the floor with a freezing gaze, and bitter enmity +towards her sister, hatred towards Pollux, contempt for her father's +miserable weakness, and her own utter blindness, rang wild changes in her +soul. Outside all lay in peaceful calm, and from the house in which +Paulina lived the evening breeze now and again bore the pure tones of a +pious hymn upon her ear. Selene never heeded it, but as the same air +wafted the scent of the flowers in her face even stronger than before, +she clutched her hair in her fingers and pulled it so violently that she +actually groaned with the pain she gave herself. + +The question as to whether her hair was less abundant and beautiful than +her sister's suddenly occurred to her, and like a flash in the darkness +the wish shot through her soul that she could fling Arsinoe to the ground +by the hair, with the hand which was now hurting herself. + +That perfume! that horrible perfume! + +She could bear it no longer. She stood up on her uninjured foot, and +with very short steps she dragged herself half crying to the window, and +flung the nosegay with the great jar of burnt clay down on to the ground. +The vessel was broken.--It had cost poor Hannah many hardly-saved pieces +not long since. Selene stood on one foot, leaning, to recover herself, +against the right-hand post of the window-opening, and there she could +hear more distinctly than from her couch, the voice of the waves as they +broke on the stone quay just behind dame Hannah's little house. The +child of the Lochias was familiar with their tones, but the clashing and +gurgling of the cool, moist element against the stones had never affected +her before as they did now. Her fevered blood was on fire, her foot was +burning, her head was hot, and hatred seemed to consume her soul as in a +slow fire; she felt as if every wave that broke upon the seawall was +calling out to her: "I am cool, I am moist, I can extinguish the flame +that is consuming you. I can refresh and revive you." + +What had the world to offer her but new torment and new misery? But the +sea--the blue dark sea was wide, and cold, and deep, and its waves +promised her in insidious tones to relieve her at once of the rage of her +fever, and of the burden of her life. Selene did not pause, did not +reflect; she remembered neither the children whom she had so long cared +for as a mother, nor her father, whose comfort and support she was--vague +voices in her brain seemed to be whispering to her that the world was +evil and cruel, and the abode of all the torment and care that gnawed at +her heart. She felt as if she bad been plunged to the temples in a pool +of fire, and, like some poor wretch whose garments have been caught by +the flames, she had an instinct to fly to the water, at the bottom of +which she might hope to find the fulfilment of her utmost longing, sweet +cold death, in which all is forgotten. + +Groaning and tottering she pushed her way through the door into the +garden and hobbled down to the sea, grasping her temples in her hands. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +The Alexandrians were a stiff-necked generation. Only some phenomenal +sight far transcending their every-day experience could avail to make +them turn their heads to stare at it, but just now there was something to +look at, at every moment and in every street of the city. To-day too +each one thought only of himself and of his own pleasure. Some +particularly pretty, tall, or well-dressed figure would give rise to a +smile or an exclamation of approval, but before one sight had been +thoroughly enjoyed the inquisitive eye was seeking a fresh one. + +Thus it happened that no one paid any special attention to Hadrian and +his companions who allowed themselves to be unresistingly carried along +the streets by the current of the crowd; and yet each one of them was, in +his way, a remarkable object. Hadrian was dressed as Silenus, Pollux as +a faun. Both wore masks and the disguise of the younger man was as well +suited to his pliant and vigorous figure as that of the elder to his +powerful stately person. Antinous followed his master, dressed as Eros. +He wore a crimson mantle and was crowned with roses, while the silver +quiver on his shoulder and the bow in his hand clearly symbolized the god +he was intended to represent. He too wore a mask, but his figure +attracted many gazers, and many a greeting of "Long live the god of love" +or "Be gracious to me oh! son of Aphrodite" was spoken as he passed. + +Pollux had obtained all the things requisite for these disguises from the +store of drapery belonging to his master. Papias had been out, but the +young man did not deem it necessary to ask his consent, for he and the +other assistants had often used the things for similar purposes with his +full permission. Only as he took the quiver intended for Antinous, +Pollux hesitated a little for it was of solid silver and had been given +to his master by the wife of a wealthy cone-dealer, whom he had +represented in marble as Artemis equipped for the chase. + +"The Roman's handsome companion," thought the young artist as he placed +the costly object in with the others in a basket, which a squinting +apprentice was to carry behind him--"The Roman's handsome companion must +be made a splendid Eros--and before sunrise the useless thing will be +hanging on its hook again." + +Indeed Pollux had not much time to admire the splendid appearance of the +god of love he had so richly adorned, for the Roman architect was +possessed by such thirst for knowledge and such inexhaustible curiosity +as to the minutest details that even Pollux who was born in Alexandria, +and had grown up there with his eyes very wide open, was often unable to +answer his indefatigable questioning. + +The grey-bearded master wanted to see every thing and to be informed on +every subject. Not content with making acquaintance with the main +streets and squares the public sites and buildings, he peeped into the +handsomest of the private houses and asked the names, rank and fortunes +of the owners. The decided way in which he told Pollux the way he wished +to be conducted proved to the artist that he was thoroughly familiar with +the plan of the city. And when the sagacious and enlightened man +expressed his approval, nay his admiration of the broad clean streets of +the town, the handsome open places, and particularly handsome buildings +which abounded on all sides, the young Alexandrian who was proud of his +city was delighted. + +First Hadrian made him lead him along the seashore by the Bruchiom to the +temple of Poseidon, where he performed some devotions, then he looked +into the garden of the palace and the courts of the adjoining museum. +The Caesareum with its Egyptian gateway excited his admiration no less +than the theatre, surrounded with pillared arcades in stories, and +decorated with numerous statues. From thence deviating to the left they +once more approached the sea to visit the great Emporium, to see the +forest of masts of Eunostus, and the finely-constructed quays. They left +the viaduct known as the Heptastadion to their right and the harbor of +Kibotus, swarming with small merchant craft, did not detain them long. + +Here they turned backs on the sea following a street which led inland +through the quarter called Khakotis inhabited only by native Egyptians, +and here the Roman found much to see that was noteworthy. First he and +his companions met a procession of the priests who serve the gods of the +Nile valley, carrying reliquaries and sacred vessels, with images of the +gods and sacred animals, and tending towards the Serapeum which towered +high above the streets in the vicinity. Hadrian did not visit the +temple, but he inspected the chariots which carried people along an +inclined road which led up the hill on which was the sanctuary, and +watched devotees on foot who mounted by an endless flight of steps +constructed on purpose; these grew wider towards the top, terminating in +a platform where four mighty pillars bore up a boldly-curved cupola. +Nothing looked down upon the temple-building which with its halls, +galleries and rooms rose behind this huge canopy. + +The priests with their white robes, the meagre, half-naked Egyptians +with their pleated aprons and headcloths, the images of beasts and the +wonderfully-painted houses in this quarter of the city, particularly +attracted Hadrian's attention and made him ask many questions, not all of +which could Pollux answer. + +Their walk which now took them farther and farther from the sea extended +to the extreme south of the town and the shores of lake Mareotis. Nile +boats and vessels of every form and size lay at anchor in this deep and +sheltered inland sea; here the sculptor pointed out to Hadrian the canal +through which goods were conveyed to the marine fleet which had been +brought down the river to Alexandria. And he pointed out to the Roman +the handsome country-houses and well-tended vineyards on the shores of +the lake. + +"The bodies in this city ought to thrive," said Hadrian meditatively. +"For here are two stomachs and two mouths by which they absorb +nourishment; the sea, I mean, and this lake." + +"And the harbors in each," added Pollux. + +"Just so; but now it is time we should turn about," replied Hadrian, and +the party soon took a road leading eastward; they walked without pause +through the quiet streets inhabited by the Christians, and finally +through the Jews' quarter. In the heart of this quarter many houses were +shut up, and there were no signs to be seen of the gay doings which +crowded on the sense and fancy in the heathen part of the town, for the +stricter among the Hebrews held sternly aloof, from the holiday +festivities in which most of their nation and creed who dwelt among the +Greeks, took part. + +For a third time Hadrian and his companions crossed the Canopic way which +formed the main artery of the city and divided it into the northern and +southern halves, for he wished to look down from the hill of the Paneum +on the combined effect as a whole of all that he had seen in detail. The +carefully-kept gardens which surrounded this elevation swarmed with men, +and the spiral path which led to the top was crowded with women and +children, who came here to see the most splendid spectacle of the whole +day, which closed with performances in all the theatres in the town. +Before the Emperor and his escort could reach the Paneum itself the crowd +suddenly packed more closely and began exclaiming among themselves, "Here +they come!" "They are early to-day!" "Here they are!" + +Lictors with their fasces over their shoulders were clearing the broad +roadway, which led from the prefect's on the Bruchiom to the Paneum, with +their staves and paying no heed to the mocking and witty speeches +addressed to them by the mob wherever they appeared. One woman, as +she was driven back by a Roman guardian of the peace, cried scornfully, +"Give me your rods for my children and do not use them on unoffending +citizens." + +"There is an axe hidden among the faggots," added an Egyptian letter- +writer in a warning voice. + +"Bring it here," cried a butcher. "I can use it to slaughter my beasts." +The Romans as they heard these bandied words felt the blood mounting to +their faces, but the prefect, who knew his Alexandrians well, had +counselled them to be deaf; to see everything but to hear nothing. Now +there appeared a cohort of the Twelfth Legion, who were quartered in +garrison in Egypt, in their richest arms and holiday uniforms. Behind +them came two files of particularly tall lictors wearing wreaths, and +they were followed by several hundred wild beasts, leopards and panthers, +giraffes, gazelles, antelopes, and deer, all led by dark-colored +Egyptians. Then came a richly-dressed and much be-wreathed Dionysian +chorus with the sound of tambourines and lyres, double flutes and +triangles, and finally, drawn by ten elephants and twenty white horses, +a large ship, resting on wheels and gilt from stem to stern, representing +the vessel in which the Tyrrhenian pirates were said to have carried off +the young Dionysus when they had seen the black-haired hero on the shore +in his purple garments. But the miscreants--so the myth went on to say-- +were not allowed long to rejoice in their violence, for hardly had the +ship reached the open sea when the fetters dropped from the god, vines +entwined the sails in sudden luxuriance, tendrils encumbered the oars and +rudder, heavy grapes clustered round the ropes, and ivy clung to the mast +and shrouded the seats and sides of the vessel. Dionysus is equally +powerful on sea and on land; in the pirates' ship he assumed the form of +a lion, and the pirates, filled with terror, flung themselves into the +sea, and in the form of dolphins followed their lost bark. + +All this Titianus had caused to be represented just as the Homeric hymns +described it, out of slight materials, but richly and elegantly +decorated, in order to provide a feast for the eyes of the Alexandrians, +with the intention of riding in it himself, with his wife and the most +illustrious of the Romans who formed the Empress' suite, to enjoy all the +Holiday doings in the chief streets of the city. Young and old, great +and small, men and women, Greeks, Romans, Jews, Egyptians, foreigners +dark and fair, with smooth hair or crisp wool, crowded with equal +eagerness to the edge of the roadway to see the gorgeous boat. + +Hadrian, far more anxious to see the show than his younger but less +excitable favorite, pushed into the front rank, and as Antinous was +trying to follow him, a Greek boy, whom he had shoved aside, snatched his +mask from his face, threw himself on the ground, and slipped nimbly off +with his booty. When Hadrian looked round for the Bithyman, the ship-in +which the prefect was standing between the images of the Emperor and +Empress, while Julia, Balbilla, and her companion, and other Roman lords +and ladies were sitting in it--had come quite near to them. His sharp +eye had recognized them all, and fearing that the lad's uncovered face +would betray them he cried out: + +"Turn round and get into the crowd again." The favorite immediately +obeyed, and only too glad to escape from the crowd, which was a thing he +detested, he sat down on a bench close to the Paneum, and looked dreamily +at the ground while he thought of Selene and the nosegay he had sent her, +neither seeing nor hearing anything of what was going on around him. + +When the gaudy ship left the gardens of the Paneum and turned into the +Canopic way, the crowd pursued it in a dense mass, hallooing and +shouting. Like a torrent suddenly swelled by a storm it rushed on, +surging and growing at each moment, and carrying with it even those who +tried to resist its force. Thus even Hadrian and Pollux were forced to +follow in its wake, and it was not till they found themselves in the +broad Canopic way that they were able to come to a stand-still. The +broad roadway of this famous street was bordered on each side by a long +vista of colonnade, and it extended from one end of the city to the +other. There were hundreds of the Corinthian columns which supported the +roof that covered the footway, and near to one of these the Emperor and +Pollux succeeded at last in effecting a halt and taking breath. + +Hadrian's first thought was for his favorite, and being averse to +venturing himself once more to mix with the crowd, he begged the sculptor +to go and seek him and conduct him safely. + +"Will you wait for me here?" asked Pollux. + +"I have known a pleasanter halting place," sighed the Emperor. + +"So have I," answered the artist. "But that tall door there, wreathed +round with boughs of poplar and ivy, leads into a cook-shop where the +gods themselves might be content to find themselves." + +"Then I will wait there." + +"But I warn you to eat as much as you can, for the Olympian table' as +kept by Lykortas, the Corinthian, is the dearest eating-house in the +whole city. None but the richest are his guests." + +"Very good," laughed Hadrian. "Only find my assistant a new mask and +bring him back to me. It will not ruin me quite, even if I pay for a +supper for all three of us, and on a holiday one expects to spend +something." + +"I hope you may not live to repent," retorted Pollux. "But a long fellow +like me is a good trencherman, and can do his part with the wine-jar." + +"Only show me what you can do," cried Hadrian after him as Pollux hurried +off. "I owe you a supper at any rate, for that cabbage stew of your +mother's." + +While Pollux went to seek the Bithyman in the vicinity of the Paneum, the +Emperor entered the eating house, which the skill of the cook had made +the most frequented and fashionable in Alexandria. The place in which +most of the customers of the house dined, consisted of a large open hall, +surrounded by arcades which were roofed in on three of its sides and +closed by a wall on its fourth; in these arcades stood couches, on which +the guests reclined singly, or in couples, or in larger groups, and +ordered the dishes and liquors which the serving slaves, pretty boys with +curling hair and hand some dresses, placed before them on low tables. +Here all was noise and bustle; at one table an epicure devoted himself +silently to the enjoyment of some carefully-prepared delicacy, at another +a large circle of men seemed to be talking more eagerly than they either +eat or drank, and from several of the smaller rooms behind the wall at +the back of the hall came sounds of music and song, and the bold laughter +of men and women. + +The Emperor asked for a private room, but they were all occupied, and he +was requested to wait a little while, for that one of the adjoining. +rooms would very soon be vacant. He had taken off his mask, and though +he was not particularly afraid of being recognized in his disguise he +chose a couch that was screened by a broad pillar in one of the arcades +at the inner side of the court, and which, now that evening was beginning +to fall was already in obscurity. There he ordered, first some wine and +then some oysters to begin, with; while he was eating these he called one +of the superintendents and discussed with him the details of the supper +he wished presently to be served to himself and his two guests. During +this conversation the bustling host came to make his bow to his new +customer, and seeing that he had to do with a man fully conversant with +all the pleasures of the table, he remained to attend on him, and entered +with special zeal into Hadrian's various requirements. + +There was, too, plenty to be seen in the court, which roused the +curiosity of the most inquisitive and enquiring man of his time. In the +large space enclosed by the arcades, and under the eyes of the guests, on +gridirons and hearths, over spits and in ovens the various dishes were +prepared which were served up by the slaves. The cooks prepared their +savory messes on large, clean tables, and the scene of their labors, +which, though enclosed by cords was open to public gaze was surrounded by +a small market, where however only the choicest of wares were displayed. + +Here in tempting array was every variety of vegetable reared on Greek or +Egyptian soil; here speckless fruits of every size and hue were set out, +and there ready baked, shining, golden-brown pasties were displayed. +Those containing meat, fish or the mussels of Canopus were prepared in +Alexandria itself, but others containing fruit or the leaves of flowers +were brought from Arsinoe on the shores of Lake Moeris, for in that +neighborhood the cultivation of fruit and horticulture generally were +pursued with the greatest success. Meat of all sorts lay or hung in +suitable places; there were juicy hams from Cyrene, Italian sausages and +uncooked joints of various slaughtered beasts. By them lay or hung game +and poultry in select abundance, and a large part of the court was taken +up by a tank in which the choicest of the scaly tribes of the Nile, and +of the lakes of Northern Egypt, were swimming about as well as the +Muraena and other fish of Italian breed. Alexandrian crabs and the +mussels, oysters, and cray-fish of Canopus and Klysma were kept alive in +buckets or jars. The smoked meats of Mendes and the neighborhood of Lake +Moeris hung on metal pegs, and in a covered but well-aired room, +sheltered from the sun lay freshly-imported fish from the Mediterranean +and Red Sea. Every guest at the 'Olympian table' was allowed here to +select the meat, fruit, asparagus, fish, or pasty which he desired to +have cooked for him. The host, Lykortas, pointed out to Hadrian an old +gentleman who was busy in the court that was so prettily decorated with +still-life, engaged in choosing the raw materials of a banquet he wished +to give some friends in the evening of this very day. + +"It is all very nice and extremely good," said Hadrian, "but the gnats +and flies which are attracted by all those good things are unendurable, +and the strong smell of food spoils my appetite." + +"It is better in the side-rooms," said the host. "In the one kept for +you the company is now preparing to depart. In behind here the sophists +Demetrius and Pancrates are entertaining a few great men from Rome, +rhetoricians or philosophers or something of the kind. Now they are +bringing in the fine lamps and they have been sitting and talking at that +table ever since breakfast. There come the guests out of the side room. +Will you take it?" + +"Yes," said Hadrian. "And when a tall young man comes to ask for the +architect Claudius Venato, from Rome, bring him in to me." + +"An architect then, and not a sophist or a rhetorician," said mine host, +looking keenly at the Emperor. + +"Silenus,--a philosopher!" + +"Oh the two vociferous friends there go about even on other days naked +and with ragged cloaks thrown over their lean shoulders. To-day they are +feeding at the expense of rich Josephus." + +"Josephus! he must be a Jew and yet he is making a large hole in the +ham." + +"There would be more swine in Cyrene if there were no Jews; they are +Greeks like ourselves, and eat everything that is good." + +Hadrian went into the vacant room, lay down on a couch that stood by the +wall, and urged the slaves who were busied in removing the dishes and +vessels used by his predecessors, and which were swarming with flies. As +soon as he was alone he listened to the conversation which was being +carried on between Favorinus, Florus, and their Greek guests. He knew +the two first very well, and not a word of what they were saying escaped +his keen ear. + +Favorinus was praising the Alexandrians in a loud voice, but in flowing +and elegantly-accented Greek. He was a native of Arelas--[Arles]--in +Gaul, but no Hellene of them all could pour forth a purer flow of the +language of Demosthenes than he. The self-reliant, keen, and vivacious +natives of the African metropolis were far more to his taste than the +Athenians; these dwelt only in, and for, the past; the Alexandrians +rejoiced in the present. Here an independent spirit still survived, +while on the shores of the Ilissus there were none but servile souls who +made a merchandise of learning, as the Alexandrians did of the products +of Africa and the treasures of India. Once when he had fallen into +disgrace with Hadrian, the Athenians had thrown down his statue, and the +favor or disfavor of the powerful weighed with him more than intellectual +greatness, valuable labors, and true merit. + +Florus agreed with Favorinus on the whole, and declared that Rome must be +freed from the intellectual influence of Athens; but Favorinus did not +admit this; he opined that it was very difficult for any one who had left +youth behind him, to learn anything new, thus referring, with light +irony, to the famous work in which Florus had attempted to divide the +history of Rome into four periods, corresponding to the ages of man, but +had left out old age, and had treated only of childhood, youth, and +manhood. Favorinus reproached him with overestimating the versatility of +the Roman genius, like his friend Fronto, and underrating the Hellenic +intellect. + +Florus answered the Gaulish orator in a deep voice, and with such a grand +flow of words, that the listening Emperor would have enjoyed expressing +his approbation, and could not help considering the question as to how +many cups of wine his usually placid fellow-countryman might have taken +since breakfast to be so excited. When Floras tried to prove that under +Hadrian's rule Rome had risen to the highest stage of its manhood, his +friend, Demetrius, of Alexandria, interrupted him, and begged him to tell +him something about the Emperor's person. Florus willingly acceded to +this request, and sketched a brilliant picture of the administrative +talent, the learning, and the capability of the Emperor. + +"There is only one thing," he cried eagerly, "that I cannot approve of; +he is too little at Rome, which is now the core and centre of the world. +He must need see every thing for himself, and he is always wandering +restlessly through the provinces. I should not care to change with him!" + +"You have expressed the same ideas in verse," said Favorinus. + +"Oh! a jest at supper-time. So long as I am in Alexandria and waiting +on Caesar I can make myself very comfortable every day at the 'Olympian +table' of this admirable cook." + +"But how runs your poem?" asked Pancrates. + +"I have forgotten it, and it deserved no better fate," replied Florus. + +"But I," laughed the Gaul, "I remember the beginning. The first lines, +I think, ran thus: + + "'Let others envy Caesar's lot; + To wander through Britannia's dales + And be snowed up in Scythian vales + Is Caesar's taste--I'd rather not?'" + +As he heard these words Hadrian struck his fist into the palm of his left +hand, and while the feasters were hazarding guesses as to why he was so +long in coming to Alexandria, he took out the folding tablet he was in +the habit of carrying in his money-bag, and hastily wrote the following +lines on the wax face of it: + + 'Let others envy Florus' lot; + To wander through the shops for drink, + Or, into foolish dreaming sink + In a cook-shop, where sticky flies + Buzz round him till he shuts his eyes + Is Florus' taste--I'd rather not?' + + [From verses by Hadrian and Florus, preserved in Spartianus.] + +Hardly had he ended the lines, muttering them to himself with much relish +as he wrote, when the waiter showed in Pollux. The sculptor had failed +to find Antinous, and suggested that the young man had probably gone +home; he also begged that he might not be detained long at supper, for +he had met his master Papias, who had been extremely annoyed by his long +absence. Hadrian was no longer satisfied with the artist's society, for +the conversation in the next room was to him far more attractive than +that of the worthy young fellow. He himself was anxious to quit the meal +soon, for he felt restless and uneasy. Antinous could no doubt easily +find his way to Lochias, but recollections of the evil omens he had +observed in the heavens last night flitted across his soul like bats +through a festal hall, marring the pleasure on which he again tried to +concentrate it, in order to enjoy his hours of liberty. + +Even Pollux was not so light-hearted as before. His long walk had made +him hungry, and he addressed himself so vigorously to the excellent +dishes which rapidly followed each other by his entertainer's orders, +and emptied the cup with such unfailing diligence, that the Emperor was +astonished: but the more he had to think about, the less did he talk. + +Pollux, to be sure, had had his answer ready for his master, and without +considering how easy it would have been to part from him in kindness, he +had shortly and roundly quitted his service. Now indeed he stood on his +own feet, and he was longing to tell Arsinoe and his parents of what he +had done. + +During the course of the meal his mother's advice recurred to his mind: +to do his best to win the favor and good will of the architect whose +guest he was; but he set it aside, for he was accustomed to owe all he +gained to his own exertions, and though he still keenly felt in Hadrian +the superiority of a powerful mind, their expedition through the city had +not brought him any nearer to the Roman. Some insurmountable barrier +stood fixed between himself and this restless, inquisitive man, who +required so many answers that no one else had time to ask a question, and +who when he was silent looked so absorbed and unapproachable that no one +would have ventured to disturb him. The bold young artist had, however, +tried now and again to break through the fence, but each time, he had at +once been seized with a feeling, of which he could not rid himself, that +he had done something awkward and unbecoming. He felt in his intercourse +with the architect as a noble dog might feel that sported with a lion, +and such sport could come to no good. Thus, for various reasons, host +and guest were well content when the last dish was removed. Before +Pollux left the room the Emperor gave him the tablets with the verses and +begged him, with a meaning smile, to desire the gate-keeper at the +Caesareum to give them to Annaeus Florus the Roman. He once more +urgently charged the sculptor to look about for his young friend and, +if he should find him at Lochias, to tell him that he, Claudius Venator, +would return home ere long. Then the artist went his way. + +Hadrian still sat a long time listening to the talk close by; but after +waiting for above an hour to hear some fresh mention made of himself, he +paid his reckoning and went out into the Canopic way, now brilliantly +lighted. There he mingled with the revellers, and walked slowly onward, +seeking suspiciously and anxiously for his vanished favorite. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Antinous, searching for his master, had wandered about in the crowd. +Whenever he saw any figures of exceptional stature he followed them, but +each time only to discover that he had entered on a false track. Long +and persistent effort was not in his nature, so as soon as he began to +get tired, he gave up the search and sat down again on a stone bench in +the garden of the Paneum. + +Two cynic philosophers, with unkempt hair, tangled beards, and ragged +cloaks flung over their shivering bodies, sat down by him and fell into +loud and contemptuous abuse of the deference shown, 'in these days,' to +external things and vulgar joys, and of the wretched sensualists who +regarded pleasure and splendor, rather than virtue, as the aim and end of +existence. In order to be heard by the by-standers they spoke in loud +tones, and the elder of the two, flourished his knotted stick as +viciously, as though he had to defend himself against an attack. +Antinous felt much disgusted by the hideous appearance, the coarse +manners, and shrill voices of these persons, and when he rose--as the +cynics' diatribe seemed especially directed against him--they scoffed +at him as he went, mocking at his costume and his oiled and perfumed +hair. The Bithynian made no reply to this abuse. It was odious to him, +but he thought it might perhaps have amused Caesar. + +He wandered on without thinking; the street in which he presently found +himself must no doubt lead to the sea, and if he could once find himself +on the shore he could not fail to make his way to Lochias. By the time +it was growing dark he was once more standing outside the little gate- +house, and there he learnt from Doris that the Roman and her son had not +yet returned. + +What was he to do alone in the vast empty palace? Were not the very +slaves free to-day? Why should not he too for once enjoy life +independently and in his own way? Full of the pleasant sense of being +his own master and at liberty to walk in a road of his own choosing, he +went onwards, and when he presently passed by the stall of a flower- +seller, he began once more to think eagerly of Selene and the nosegay, +which must long since have reached her hands. + +He had heard from Pollux in the morning that the steward's daughter was +being tended by Christians in a little house not far from the sea-shore; +indeed the sculptor himself had been quite excited as he told Antinous +that he himself had peeped into the lighted room and had seen her. 'A +glorious creature' he had called her, and had said that she had never +looked more beautiful than in a recumbent attitude on her bed. + +Antinous recalled all this and determined to venture on an attempt to see +again the maiden whose image filled his heart and brain. + +It was now dark and the same light which had allowed of the sculptor's +seeing Selene's features might this evening reveal them to him also. +Full of passion and excitement, he got into the first litter he met with. +The swarthy bearers were far too slow for his longing, and more than once +he flung to them as much money as they were wont to earn in a week, to +urge them to a brisker pace. At last he reached his destination; but +seeing that several men and women robed in white, were going into the +garden, he desired the bearers to carry him farther. Close to a dark +narrow lane which bounded the widow's garden-plot on the east and led +directly to the sea, he desired them to stop, got out of the litter and +bid the slaves wait for him. At the garden door he still found two men +dressed in white, and one of the cynic philosophers who had sat by him on +the bench near the Paneum. He paced impatiently up and clown, waiting +till these people should have disappeared, and thus passing again and +again under the light of the torches that were stuck up by the gate. + +The dry cynic's prominent eyes were everywhere at once, and as soon as he +perceived the peripatetic Bithynian he flung up his arm, exclaiming, as +he pointed to him with a long, lean, stiff forefinger--half to the +Christians with whom he had been talking and half to the lad himself: + +"What does he want. That fop! that over-dressed minion! I know the +fellow; with his smooth face and the silver quiver on his shoulder he +believes he is Eros in person. Be off with you, you house-rat. The +women and girls in here know how to protect themselves against the sort +who parade the streets in rose-colored draperies. Take yourself off, or +you will make acquaintance with the noble Paulina's slaves and clogs. +Hi! gate-keeper, here! keep an eye on this fellow." + +Antinous made no answer, but slowly went back to his litter. + +"To-morrow perhaps, if I cannot manage it tonight," he thought to himself +as be went; and he never thought of any other means of attaining his end, +much as he longed for it. A hindrance that came in his way ceased to be +a hindrance as soon as he had left it behind him, and after this +reflection he acted on this occasion as on many former ones. The litter +was no longer standing where he had left it; the bearers had carried it +into the lane leading to the sea, for the only little abode which stood +on the eastern side of it belonged to a fisherman whose wife sold thin +potations of Pelusium beer. + +Antinous went down the green alley overarched with boughs of fig, to call +the negroes who were sitting in the dull light of a smoky oil-lamp. Here +it was dark, but at the end of the alley the sea shone and sparkled in +the moonlight; the splashing of the waves tempted him onwards and he +loitered clown to the stone-bound shore. There he spied a boat dancing +on the water between two piles and it came into his head that it might be +possible to see the house where Selene was sleeping, from the sea. + +He undid the rope which secured the boat without any difficulty; he +seated himself in it, laid aside the quiver and bow, pushed off with one +of the oars that lay at the bottom of the boat and pulled with steady +strokes towards the long path of light where the moon touched the crest +of each dancing wavelet with unresting tremulous flecks of silver. + +There lay the widow's garden. In that small white house must the fair +pale Selene be sleeping, but though he rowed hither and thither, +backwards and forwards, he could not succeed in discovering the window of +which Pollux had spoken. Might it not be possible to find a spot where +he could disembark and then make his way into the garden? He could see +two little boats, but they lay in a narrow walled canal and this was +closed by an iron railing. Beyond, was a, terrace projecting into the +sea, and surrounded by an elegant balustrade of little columns, but it +rose straight out of the sea on smooth high walls. But there--what was +that gleaming under the two palm-trees which, springing from the same +root, had grown together tall and slender--was not that a flight of +marble steps leading down to the sea? + +Antinous dipped his right oar in the waves with a practised hand to alter +the head of the boat and was in the act of pulling his hand up to make +his stroke against the pressure of the waves--but he did not complete the +movement, nay he counteracted the stroke by a dexterous reverse action; a +strange vision arrested his attention. On the terrace, which lay full in +the bright moonlight, there appeared a white-robed figure with long +floating hair. + +How strangely it moved! It went now to one side and now to the other, +then again it stood still and clasped its head in its hands. Antinous +shuddered, he could not help thinking of the Daimons of which Hadrian so +often spoke. They were said to be of half-divine and half-human nature, +and sometimes appeared in the guise of mortals. + +Or was Selene dead and was the white figure her wandering shade? +Antinous clutched the handles of the oars, now merely floating on the +water, and bending forward gazed fixedly and with bated breath at the +mysterious being which had now reached the balustrade of the terrace, +now--he saw quite plainly--covered its face with both hands, leaned far +over the parapet, and now as a star falls through the sky on a clear +night, as a fruit drops from the tree in autumn, the white form of the +girl dropped from the terrace. A loud cry of anguish broke the silence +of the night which veiled the world, and almost at the same instant the +water splashed and gurgled up, and the moonbeams, cold and bright as +ever, were mirrored in the thousand drops that flew up from its surface. + +Was this Antinous, the indolent dreamer, who so promptly plunged his oars +in the water, pulled a powerful stroke, and then, when in a few seconds +after her fall, the form of the drowning girl came to the surface again +quite close to the boat, flung aside the oar that was in his way? +Leaning far over the edge of the boat he seized the floating garment of +the drowning creature--it was a woman, no Daimon nor shade--and drew her +towards him. He succeeded in raising her high out of the waves, but when +he tried to pull her fairly out of her watery bed, the weight, all on one +side of the boat, was too great; it turned over and Antinous was in the +sea. + +The Bithyman was a good swimmer. Before the white form could sink a +second time he had caught at it once more with his right hand and taking +care that her head should not again touch the surface of the water, he +swam with his left arm and legs towards the spot where he remembered he +had seen the flight of steps. As soon as his feet felt the ground he +lifted the girl in both arms and a groan of relief broke from his lips as +he saw the marble steps close below him. He went up them without +hesitation, and then, with a swift elastic step, carried his dripping and +senseless burden to the terrace where he had observed that there were +benches. The wide floor of the sea-terrace, paved with smooth flags of +marble, was brightly lighted by the broad moonshine, and the whiteness of +the stone reflected and seemed to increase the light. There stood the +benches which Antinous had seen from afar. + +He laid his burden on the first he came to, and a thrill of thankful joy +warmed his shivering body when the rescued woman uttered a low cry of +pain which told him that he had not toiled in vain. He gently slipped +his arm between the hard elbow of the marble seat and her head, to give +it a somewhat softer resting-place. Her abundant hair fell in clammy +tresses, covering her face like a thick but fine veil; he parted it to +the right and left and then--then he sank on his knees by her side as if +a sudden bolt had fallen from the blue sky above them; for the features +were hers, Selene's, and the pale girl before whom he was kneeling was +she herself, the woman he loved. + +Almost beside himself and trembling in every limb, he drew her closer to +him and put his ear against her mouth to listen whether he had not +deceived himself, whether she had not indeed fallen a victim to the waves +or whether some warm breath were passing the portals of her lips. + +Yes she breathed! she was alive! Full of thankful ecstasy he pressed +his cheek to hers. Oh! how cold she was, icy, cold as death! + +The torch of life was flickering, but he would not--could not--must not +let it die out: and with all the care, rapidity and decision of the most +capable man, he once more raised her, lifted her in both arms as if she +were a child, and carried her straight to the house whose white walls he +could see gleaming among the shrubs behind the terrace. The little lamp +was still burning in dame Hannah's room, which Selene had so lately +quitted; in front of the window through which the dim light came to +mingle with the moonbeams, lay the flowers whose perfume had so troubled +the suffering girl, and with them Hannah's clay jar, all still strewn on +the ground. + +Was this nosegay his gift? Very likely. + +But the lamp-lighted room into which he now looked could be none other +than the sick-room, which he recognized from the sculptor's account. The +housedoor was open and even that of the room in which he had seen the bed +was unfastened; he pushed it open with his foot, entered the room, and +laid Selene on the vacant couch. + +There she lay as if dead; and as he looked at her immovable features, +hallowed to solemnity by sorrow and suffering, his heart was touched with +an ineffable solicitude, sympathy and pity; and, as a brother might bend +over a sleeping sister, he bent over Selene and kissed her forehead. She +moved, opened her eyes, gazed into his face--but her glance was so full +of horror, so vague, glassy and bewildered, that he drew back with a +shudder, and with hands uplifted could only stammer out: "Oh! Selene, +Selene! do you not know me?" and as he spoke he looked anxiously in the +face of the rescued girl; but she seemed not to hear him and nothing +moved but her eyes which slowly followed his every movement. + +"Selene!" he cried again, and seizing her inanimate hand which hung down, +he pressed it passionately to his lips. + +Then she gave a loud cry, a violent shiver shook her in every limb, she +turned aside with sighs and groans, and at the same instant the door was +opened, the little deformed girl entered the room and gave a shrill +scream of terror as she saw Antinous standing by the side of her friend. + +The lad himself started and, like a thief who has been caught in the act, +he fled out into the night, through the garden, and as far as the gate +which led into the street without being stopped by any one. Here the +gate-keeper met him, but he threw him aside with a powerful fling, and +while the old man--who had grown gray in his office--caught hold of his +wet chiton he tore the door open and ran on, dragging his pursuer with +him for some paces. Then he flew down the street with long steps as if +he were racing in the Gymnasium, and soon he felt that his pursuer, in +whose hand he had left a piece of his garment, had given up the chase. + +The gate-keeper's outcry had mingled with the pious hymns of the +assembled Christians in Paulina's villa, and some of them had hurried out +to help capture the disturber of the peace. But the young Bithynian was +swifter than they and might consider himself perfectly safe when once he +had succeeded in mixing with a festal procession. Half-willingly and +half-perforce, he followed the drunken throng which was making its way +from the heart of the city towards the lake, where, on a lonely spot on +the shore to the east of Nikropolis, they were to celebrate certain +nocturnal mysteries. The goal of the singing, shouting, howling mob with +whom Antinous was carried along, was between Alexandria and Canopus and +far enough from Lochias; thus it fell out that it was long past midnight +when Hadrian's favorite, dirty, out of breath, and his clothes torn, at +last appeared in the presence of his master. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Hadrian had expected Antinous many hours since, and the impatience and +vexation which had been long seething in him were reflected plainly +enough in his sternly-bent brow and the threatening fire of his eye. + +"Where have you been?" he imperiously asked. + +"I could not find you, so I took a boat and went out on the lake." + +"That is false." + +Antinous did not answer, but merely shrugged his shoulders. + +"Alone?" asked the Emperor more gently. "Alone." + +"And for what purpose?" + +"I was gazing at the stars." + +"You!" + +"And may I not, for once, tread in your footsteps?" + +"Why not indeed? The lights of heaven shine for the foolish as well as +for the wise. Even asses must be born under a good or an evil star. One +donkey serves a hungry grammarian and feeds on used-up papyrus, while +another enters the service of Caesar and is fattened up, and finds time +to go star-gazing at night. What a state you are in." + +"The boat upset and I fell into the water." Hadrian was startled, and +observing his favorite's tangled hair in which the night wind had dried +the salt water, and his torn chiton, he anxiously exclaimed: + +"Go this instant and let Mastor dry you and anoint you. He too came back +with a bruised hand and red eyes. Everything is upside clown this +accursed evening. You look like a slave that has been hunted by clogs. +Drink a few cups of wine and then lie down." + +"I obey your orders, great Caesar." + +"So formal? The donkey simile vexed you." + +"You used always to have a kind word for me." + +"Yes, yes, and I shall have them again, I shall have them again. Only +not to-night--go to bed." + +Antinous left him, but the Emperor paced his room, up and down with long +steps, his arms crossed over his breast and his eyes fixed on the ground. +His superstitious soul had been deeply disturbed by a series of evil +signs which he had not only seen the previous night in the sky, but had +also met on his way to Lochias, and which seemed to be beginning to be +fulfilled already. + +He had left the eating house in an evil humor, the bad omens made him +anxious, and though on his arrival at home he had done one or two things +which he already regretted, this had certainly not been due to any +adverse Daimons but to the brooding gloom of his clouded mind. Eternal +circumstances, it is true, had led to his being witness to an attack made +by the mob on the house of a wealthy Israelite, and it was attributable +to a vexatious accident that at this juncture, he should have met Verus, +who had observed and recognized him. Yes, the Spirits of evil were +abroad this day, but his subsequent experiences and deeds upon reaching +Lochias, would certainly not have taken place on any more fortunate day, +or, to be more exact, if he had been in a calmer frame of mind; he +himself alone was in fault, he alone, and no spiteful accident, nor +malicious and tricky Daimon. Hadrian, to be sure, attributed to these +sprites all that he had done, and so considered it irremediable; an +excellent way, no doubt, of exonerating oneself from a burdensome duty, +or from repairing some injustice, but conscience is a register in which a +mysterious hand inexorably enters every one of our deeds, and in which +all that we do is ruthlessly called by its true name. We often succeed, +it is true, in effacing the record for a longer or a shorter period, but +often, again, the letters on the page shine with an uncanny light, and +force the inward eye to see them and to heed them. + +On this particular night Hadrian felt himself compelled to read the +catalogue of his actions and among them he found many a sanguinary crime, +many a petty action unworthy of a far meaner soul than he; still the +record commemorated many duties strictly fulfilled, much honest work, an +unceasing struggle towards high aims, and an unwearied effort to feel his +way intellectually, to the most remote and exalted limits possible to the +human mind and comprehension. + +In this hour Hadrian thought of none but his evil deeds, and vowed to the +gods--whom he mocked at with his philosophical friends, and to whom he +nevertheless addressed himself whenever he felt the insufficiency of his +own strength and means--to build a temple here, to offer a sacrifice +there, in order to expiate old crimes and divert their malice. He felt +like a great man must who is threatened with the disfavor of his +superiors, and who hopes to propitiate them with gifts. The haughty +Roman quailed at the thought of unknown dangers, but he was far from +feeling the wholesome pangs of repentance. + +Hardly an hour since he had forgotten himself and had disgracefully +abused his power over a weaker creature, and now he was vexed at having +behaved so and not otherwise; but it never entered his head to humiliate +his pride or, by offering some compensation to the offended party, +tacitly to confess the injustice he had committed. Often he deeply felt +his human weakness, but he was quite capable of believing in the +sacredness of his imperial person, and this he always found most easy +when he had trodden under foot some one who had been rash enough to +insult him, or not to acknowledge his superiority. And was it not on the +contemners of the gods that their heaviest punishments fell? + +To-day the terrestrial Jupiter had again crushed into the earth with his +thunderbolts, an overbold mortal, and this time the son of the worthy +gate-keeper was his victim. The sculptor certainly had been so unlucky +as to touch Hadrian in his most sensitive spot, but a cordially +benevolent feeling is not easily converted into a relentless opposition +if we are not ourselves--as was the case with the Emperor--accustomed to +jump from one mood to the other, are not conscious--as he was--of having +it in our power directly to express our good-will or our aversion in +action. + +The sculptor's capacities had commanded the Emperor's esteem, his +fresh and independent nature had at first suited and attracted him, +but even during the walk together through the streets, the young man's +uncompromising manner of treating him as an equal had become unpleasing +to him. In his workshop he saw in Pollux only the artist, and delighted +in his original and dashing powers; but out of it, and among men of a +commoner stamp, from whom he was accustomed to meet with deference, the +young man's speech and demeanor seemed unbecoming, bold, and hard to be +endured. In the eating-house the huge eater and drinker, who laughingly +pressed him to do his part, so as not to make a present to the landlord, +had filled Hadrian with repulsion. And after this, when Hadrian had +returned to Lochias, out of humor and rendered apprehensive by evil +omens, and even then had not found his favorite, he impatiently paced up +and down the hall of the Muses and would not deign to offer a greeting to +the sculptor, who was noisily occupied behind his screens. + +Pollux had passed quite as bad an evening as the Emperor. When, in his +desire to see Arsinoe once more, he penetrated to the door of the +steward's apartment, Keraunus had stopped his way, and sent him about his +business with insulting words. In the hall of the Muses he had met his +master, and had had a quarrel with him, for Papias, to whom he repeated +his notice to quit, had grown angry, and had desired him then and there +to sort out his own tools, and to return those that belonged to him, his +master, and for the future to keep himself as far as possible from +Papias' house, and from the works in progress at Locluas. On this, hard +words had passed on both sides, and when Papias had left the palace and +Pollux went to seek Pontius the architect, in order to discuss his future +plans with him, he learnt that he too had quitted Lochias a short time +before, and would not return till the following morning. + +After brief reflection he determined to obey the orders of Papias and +to pack his own tools together. Without paying any heed to Hadrian's +presence he began to toss some of the hammers, chisels, and wooden +modelling tools into one box, and others into another, doing it as +recklessly as though he were minded to punish the unconscious tools as +adverse creatures who had turned against him. + +At last his eye fell on Hadrian's bust of Balbilla. The hideous +caricature at which he had laughed only yesterday, made him angry now, +and after gazing at it thoughtfully for a few minutes his blood boiled up +furiously, he hastily pulled a lath out of the partition and struck at +the monstrosity with such fury that the dry clay flew in pieces, and the +fragments were strewed far and wide about the workshop. The wild noise +behind the sculptor's screen made the Emperor pause in his walk to see +what the artist was doing; he looked on at the work of destruction, +unobserved by Pollux, and as he looked the blood mounted to his head; he +knit his brows in anger, a blue vein in his forehead swelled and stood +out, and ominous lines appeared above his brow. The great master of +state-craft could more easily have borne to hear himself condemned as a +ruler than to see his work of art despised. A man who is sure of having +done some thing great can smile at blame, but he, who is not confident in +himself has reason to dread it, and is easily drawn into hating the +critic who utters it. Hadrian was trembling with fury, he doubled his +first as he lifted it in Pollux's face, and going close up to him asked +in a threatening tone: + +"What do you mean by that?" + +The sculptor glanced round at the Emperor and answered, raising his stick +for another blow: + +"I am demolishing this caricature for it enrages me." + +"Come here," shouted Hadrian, and clutching the girdle which confined the +artist's chiton, in his strong sinewy hand, he dragged the startled +sculptor in front of his Urania wrenched the lath out of his hand, struck +the bust of the scarcely-finished statue off the body, exclaiming as he +did so, in a voice that mimicked Pollux: + +"I am demolishing this bungler's work for it enrages me!" + +The artist's arms fell by his side; astonished and infuriated he stared +at the destroyer of his handiwork, and cried out: + +"Madman! this is enough. One blow more and you will feel the weight of +my fists." + +Hadrian laughed aloud, a cold hard laugh, flung the lath at Pollux's feet +and said: + +"Judgment against judgment--it is only fair." + +"Fair?" shrieked Pollux, beside himself. + +"Your wretched rubbish, which my squinting apprentice could have done as +well as you, and this figure born in a moment of inspiration! Shame upon +you! Once more, if you touch the Urania again I warn you, you shall +learn--" + +"Well, what?" + +"That in Alexandria grey hairs are only respected so long as they deserve +it." + +Hadrian folded his arms, stepped quite close up to Pollux, and said: + +"Gently, fellow, if you value your life." + +Pollux stepped back before the imposing personage that stood before him, +and, as it were scales, fell from his eyes. The marble statue of the +Emperor in the Caesareum represented the sovereign in this same attitude. +The architect, Claudius Venator, was none other than Hadrian. + +The young artist turned pale and said with bowed head, and in low voice +as he turned to go: + +"Right is always on the side of the strongest. Let me go. I am nothing +but a poor artist--you are some thing very different. I know you now; +you are Caesar." + +"I am Caesar," snarled Hadrian, "and if you think more of yourself as an +artist than of me, I will show you which of us two is the sparrow, and +which the eagle." + +"You have the power to destroy, and I only desire--" + +"The only person here who has a right to desire is myself," cried the +Emperor, "and I desire that you shall never enter this palace again, nor +ever come within sight of me so long as I remain here. What to do with +your kith and kin I will consider. Not another word! Away with you, I +say, and thank the gods that I judge the misdeed of a miserable boy more +mercifully than you dared to do in judging the work of a greater man than +yourself, though you knew that he had done it in an idle hour with a few +hasty touches. Be off, fellow; my slaves will finish destroying your +image there, for it deserves no better fate, and because--what was it you +said just now? I remember--and because it enrages me." + +A bitter laugh rang after the lad as he quitted the hall. At the +entrance, which was perfectly dark, he found his master, Papias, who had +not missed a word of what had passed between him and the Emperor. As +Pollux went into his mother's house he cried out: + +"Oh mother, mother, what a morning, and what an evening. Happiness is +only the threshold to misery." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Happiness is only the threshold to misery +When a friend refuses to share in joys + + + + + +THE EMPEROR, Part 2. + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 7. + + +CHAPTER V. + +While Pollux and his mother, who was much grieved, waited for Euphorion's +return, and while Papias was ingratiating himself with the Emperor by +pretending still to believe that Hadrian was nothing more than Claudius +Venator, the architect, Aurelius Verus, nicknamed by the Alexandrians, +"the sham Eros" had lived through strange experiences. + +In the afternoon he had visited the Empress, in the hope of persuading +her to look on at the gay doings of the people, even if incognito; but +Sabina was out of spirits, declared herself unwell, and was quite sure +that the noise of the rabble would be the death of her. Having, as she +said, so vivacious a reporter as Verus, she might spare herself from +exposing her own person to the dust and smell of the town, and the uproar +of men. As soon as Lucilla begged her husband to remember his rank and +not to mingle with the excited multitude, at any rate after dark, the +Empress strictly enjoined him to see with his own eyes everything that +could be worth notice in the festival, and more particularly to give +attention to everything that was peculiar to Alexandria and not to be +seen in Rome. + +After sunset Verus had first gone to visit the veterans of the Twelfth +Legion who had been in the field with him against the Numidians, and to +whom he gave a dinner at an eating-house, as being his old fellow- +soldiers. For above an hour he sat drinking with the brave old fellows; +then, quitting them, he went to look at the Canopic way by night, as it +was but a few paces thither from the scene of his hospitality. It was +brilliantly lighted with tapers, torches, and lamps, and the large houses +behind the colonnades were gaudy with rich hangings; only the handsomest +and stateliest of them all had no kind of decoration. This was the abode +of the Jew Apollodorus. + +In former years the finest hangings had decorated his windows, which had +been as gay with flowers and lamps as those of the other Israelites who +dwelt in the Canopic way, and who were wont to keep the festival in +common with their heathen fellow-citizens as jovially as though they were +no less zealous to do homage to Dionysus. Apollodorus had his own +reasons for keeping aloof on this occasion from all that was connected +with the holiday doings of the heathen. Without dreaming that his +withdrawal could involve him in any danger, he was quietly sitting in his +house, which was so splendidly furnished as to seem fitted for some +princely Greek rather than for a Hebrew. This was especially the case +with the men's living-room, in which Apollodorus sat, for the pictures on +the walls and pavement of this beautiful hall--of which the roof, which +was half open, was supported on columns of the finest porphyry-- +represented the loves of Eros and Psyche; while between the pillars stood +busts of the greatest heathen philosophers, and in the background a fine +statue of Plato was conspicuous. Among all the Greeks and Romans there +was the portrait of only one Jew, and this was that of Philo, whose +intellectual and delicate features greatly resembled those of the most +illustrious of his Greek companions. + +In this splendid room, lighted by silver lamps, there was no lack of easy +couches, and on one of these Apollodorus was reclining; a fine-looking +man of fifty, with his mild but shrewd eyes fixed on a tall and aged +fellow-Israelite who was pacing up and down in front of him and talking +eagerly; the old man's hands too were never still, now he used them in +eager gesture, and again stroked his long white beard. On an easy seat +opposite to the master of the house sat a lean young man with pale and +very regular finely-cut features, black hair and a black beard; he sat +with his dark glowing eyes fixed on the ground, tracing lines and circles +on the pavement with the stick he held in his hand, while the excited old +man, his uncle, urgently addressed Apollodorus in a vehement but fluent +torrent of words. Apollodorus, however, shook his head from time to time +at his speech and frequently met him with a brief contradiction. + +It was easy to see that what he was listening to touched him painfully, +and that the two diametrically different men were fighting a battle which +could never lead to any satisfactory issue. For, though they both used +the Greek tongue and confessed the same religion, all they felt and +thought was grounded on views, as widely dissimilar as though the two men +had been born in different spheres. When two opponents of such different +calibre meet, there is a great clatter of arms but no bloody wounds are +dealt and neither rout nor victory can result. + +It was on account of this old man and his nephew that Apollodorus had +forborne to-day to decorate his house, for the Rabbi Gamaliel, who had +arrived only the day before from Palestine, and had been welcomed by his +Alexandrian relatives, condemned every form of communion with the +gentiles, and would undoubtedly have quitted the residence of his host if +he had ventured to adorn it in honor of the feast-day of the false gods. +Gamaliel's nephew, Rabbi Ben Jochai, enjoyed a reputation little inferior +to that of his father, Ben Akiba. The elder was the greatest sage and +expounder of the law--the son the most illustrious astronomer and the +most skilled interpreter of the mystical significance of the position of +the heavenly bodies, among the Hebrews. + +It redounded greatly to the honor of Apollodorus that he should be +privileged to shelter under his roof the sage Gamaliel and the famous son +of so great a father, and in his hours of leisure he loved to occupy +himself with learned subjects, so he had done his utmost to make their +stay in his house in every way agreeable to them. He had bought, on +purpose for them, a kitchen slave, himself a strict Jew and familiar with +the requirements of the Levitical law as to food, who during their stay +was to preside over the mysteries of the hearth, instead of the Greek +cook who usually served him, so that none but clean meat should be +prepared according to the Jewish ritual. He had forbidden his grown-up +sons to invite any of their Greek friends into the house during the visit +of the illustrious couple or to discuss the festival; they were also +enjoined to avoid using the names of the gods of the heathen in their +conversation--but he himself was the first to sin against this +prohibition. + +He, like all the Hebrews of good position in Alexandria, had acquired +Greek culture, felt and thought in Greek modes, and had remained a Jew +only in name; for though they still believed in the one God of their +fathers instead of in a crowd of Olympian deities, the One whom they +worshipped was no longer the almighty and jealous God of their nation, +but the all-pervading plasmic and life-giving Spirit with whom the Greeks +had become familiar through Plato. + +Every hour that they had spent in each other's company had widened +the gulf between Apollodorus and Gamaliel, and the relations of the +Alexandrian to the sage had become almost intolerable, when he learnt +that the old man--who was related to himself--had come to Egypt with his +nephew, in order to demand the daughter of Apollodorus in marriage. But +the fair Ismene was not in the least disposed to listen to this grave and +bigoted suitor. The home of her people was to her a barbarous land, the +young astronomer filled her with alarm, and besides all this her heart +was already engaged; she had given it to the son of Alabarchos, who was +the Superior of all the Israelites in Egypt, and this young man possessed +the finest horse in the whole city, with which he had won several races +in the Hippodrome, and he also had distinguished her above all the +maidens. To him, if to any one, would she give her hand, and she had +explained herself to this effect to her father when he informed her of +Ben Jochai's suit, and Apollodorus, who had lost his wife several years +before, had neither the wish nor the power to put any pressure on his +pretty darling. + +To be sure the temporizing nature of the man rendered it very difficult +to him to give a decided no to his venerable old friend; but it had to be +done sooner or later, and the present evening seemed to him an +appropriate moment for this unpleasant task. + +He was alone with his guests. His daughter had gone to the house of a +friend to look on at the gay doings in the street, his three sons were +out, all the slaves had leave to enjoy their holiday till midnight; +nothing was likely to disturb them, and so, after many warm expressions +of his deep respect, he found courage to confess to them that he could +not support Ben Jochai's pretensions. His child, he said, clung too +fondly to Alexandria to wish to quit it, and his learned young friend +would be but ill suited with a wife who was accustomed to freer manners +and habits, and could hardly feel herself at ease in a home where the +laws of her fathers were strictly observed, and in which therefore no +kind of freedom of life would be tolerated. + +Gamaliel let the Alexandrian speak to the end, but then, as his nephew +was beginning to argue against their host's hesitancy, the old man +abruptly interrupted him. Drawing up his figure, which was a little +bent, to its full height, and passing his hand among the blue veins and +fine wrinkles that marked his high forehead, he began: + +Our house was decimated in our wars against the Romans, and among the +daughters of our race Ben Akiba found not one in Palestine who seemed to +him worthy to marry his son. But the report of the good fortune of the +Alexandrian branch of our family had reached Judea, and Ben Akiba thought +that he would do like our father Abraham, and he sent me, his Eliezer, +into a strange land to win the daughter of a kinsman to wife for his +Isaac. Now, who and what the young man is, and the esteem in which he +and his father are held by men--" + +"I know well," interrupted Apollodorus, "and my house has never been so +highly honored as in your visit." + +"And notwithstanding," continued the Rabbi, "we must return home as we +came; and indeed this will not only suit you best, but us too, and my +brother, whose ambassador I am, for after what I have learnt from you +within this last hour we must in any case withdraw our suit. Do not +interrupt me! Your Ismene scorns to veil her face, and no doubt it is +a very pretty one to look upon--you have trained her mind like that of +a man, and so she seeks to go her own way. That may be all very well for +a Greek woman, but in the house of Ben Akiba the woman must obey her +husband's will, as the ship obeys the helm, and have no will of her own; +her husband's will always coincides with what the law commands, which you +yourself learnt to obey." + +"We recognize its excellence," replied Apolloderus, but even if all the +laws which Moses received on Sinai were binding on all mortals alike, the +various ordinances which were wisely laid down for the regulation of the +social life of our fathers, are not universally applicable for the +children of our day. And least of all can we observe them here, where, +though true to our ancient faith, we live as Greeks among Greeks." + +"That I perceive," retorted Gamaliel, "for even the language--that +clothing of our thoughts--the language of our fathers and of the +scriptures, you have abandoned for another, sacrificed to another." + +"You and your nephew also speak Greek." + +"We do it here, because the heathen, because you and yours, no longer +understand the tongue of Moses and the prophets." + +"But wherever the Great Alexander bore his arms Greek is spoken; and +does not the Greek version of the scriptures, translated by the seventy +interpreters under the direct guidance of our God, exactly reproduce the +Hebrew text?" + +"And would you exchange the stone engraved by Bryasis that you wear on +your finger, and showed me yesterday with so much pride, for a wax +impression of the gem?" + +"The language of Plato is not an inferior thing; it is as noble as the +costliest sapphire." + +"But ours came to us from the lips of the Most High. What would you +think of a child that, disdaining the tongue Of its father listened only +to that of its neighbors and made use of an interpreter to be able to +understand its parents' commands?" + +"You are speaking of parents who have long since left their native land. +The ancestor need not be indignant with his descendants when they use the +language of their new home, so long as they continue to act in accordance +with his spirit." + +"We must live not merely in accordance with the spirit, but by the words +of the Most High, for not a syllable proceeds from His lips in vain. The +more exalted the spirit of a discourse is, the more important is every +word and syllable. One single letter often changes the meaning of whole +sentences.--What a noise the people outside are making! The wild tumult +penetrates even into this room which is so far from the street, and your +sons take delight in the disorders of the heathen! You do not even +withhold them by force from adding to the number of those mad devotees of +pleasure!" + +"I was young once myself, and I think it no sin to share in the universal +rejoicing." + +"Say rather the disgraceful idolatry of the worshippers of Dionysus. It +is in name alone that you and your children belong to the elect people of +God, in your hearts you are heathens!" + +"No, Father," exclaimed Apollodorus eagerly. "The reverse is the case. +In our hearts we are Jews but we wear the garments of Greeks." + +"Why your name is Apollodorus--the gift of Apollo." + +"A name chosen only to distinguish me from others. Who would ever +enquire into the meaning of a name if it sounds well." + +"You, everybody who is not devoid of sense," cried the Rabbi. "You think +to yourself 'need Zenodotus or Hermogenes, some Greek you meet at the +bath or else where, know at once that the wealthy personage, with whom +he discussed the latest interpretation of the Hellenic myths, is a Jew?' +And how charming is the man who asks you whether you are not an Athenian, +for your Greek has such a pure Attic accent! And what we ourselves like, +we favor in our children, so we choose names for them too which flatter +our own vanity." + +"By Heracles!" + +A faint mocking smile crossed Gamaliel's lips and interrupting the +Alexandrian he said: + +"Is there any particularly worthy man among our Alexandrian fellow- +believers whose name is Heracles?" + +"No one" cried the Alexandrian "ever thinks of the son of Alcmene when he +asseverates--it only means 'really,--truly--'" + +"To be sure you are not fastidiously accurate in the choice of your words +and names, and where there is so much to be seen and enjoyed as there is +here one's thoughts are not always connected. That is intelligible-- +quite, peculiarly intelligible! And in this city folks are so polite +that they are fain to wrap truth in some graceful disguise. May I, a +barbarian from Judea, be allowed to set it before you, bare of clothing, +naked and unadorned." + +"Speak, I beg you, speak." + +"You are Jews; but you had rather not be Jews, and you endure your origin +as an inevitable evil. It is only when you feel the mighty hand of the +Most High that you recognize it and claim your right to be one of His +chosen people. In the smooth current of daily life you proudly number +yourselves with his enemies. Do not interrupt me, and answer honestly +what I shall ask you. In what hour of your life did you feel yourself +that you owed the deepest gratitude to the God of your fathers?" + +"Why should I deny it?--In the hour when my lost wife presented me with +my first-born son." + +"And you called him?" + +"You know his name is Benjamin." + +"Like the favorite son of our forefather Jacob, for in the hour when you +thus named him you were honestly yourself, you felt thankful that it had +been vouchsafed to you to add another link to the chain of your race--you +were a Jew--you were confident in our God--in your own God. The birth of +your second son touched your soul less deeply and you gave him the name +of Theophilus, and when your third male child was born you had altogether +ceased to remember the God of your fathers, for he is named after one of +the heathen gods, Hephaestion. To put it shortly: You are Jews when the +Lord is most gracious to you, or threatens to try you most severely but +you are heathen whenever your way does not lead you over the high hills +or through the dark abysses of life. I cannot change your hearts--but +the wife of my brother's son, the daughter of Ben Akiba, must be a +daughter of our people, morning, noon, and night. I seek a Rebecca for +my daughter and not an Ismene." + +"I did not ask you here," retorted Apollodorus. "But if you quit us +to-morrow, you as will be followed by our reverent regard. Think no +worse of us because we adapt ourselves, more, perhaps, than is fitting, +to the ways and ideas of the people among whom we have grown up, and in +whose midst we have been prosperous, and whose interests are ours. We +know how high our faith is beyond theirs. In our hearts we still are +Jews; but are we not bound to try to open and to cultivate and to elevate +our spirits, which God certainly made of stuff no coarser than that of +other nations, whenever and wherever we may? And in what school may our +minds be trained better or on sounder principles than in ours--I mean +that of the Greek sages? The knowledge of the Most High--" + +"That knowledge," cried the old man, gesticulating vehemently with his +arms. "The knowledge of God Most High and all that the most refined +philosophy can prove, all the sublimest and purest of the thinkers of +whom you speak can only apprehend by the gravest meditation and heart- +searching--all this I say has been bestowed as a free gift of God on +every child of our people. The treasures which your sages painfully seek +out we already possess in our scriptures, our law and our moral +ordinances. We are the chosen people, the first-born of the Lord, and +when Messiah shall rise up in our midst--" + +"Then," interrupted Apollodorus, "that shall be fulfilled which, like +Philo, I hope for, we shall be the priests and prophets for all nations. +Then we shall in truth be a race of priests whose vocation it shall be to +call down the blessing of the Most High on all mankind." + +"For us--for us alone shall the messenger of God appear, to make us the +kings, and not the slaves of the nations." + +Apollodorus looked with surprise into the face of the excited old man, +and asked with an incredulous smile: "The crucified Nazarene was a false +Messiah; but when will the true Messiah appear?" + +"When will He appear?" cried the Rabbi. "When? Can I tell when? Only +one thing I do know; the serpent is already sharpening its fangs to sting +the heel of Him who shall tread upon it. Have you heard the name of Bar +Kochba?" + +"Uncle," said Ben Jochai, interrupting the old Rabbi's speech, and rising +from his seat: "Say nothing you might regret." + +"Nay, nay," answered Gamaliel earnestly. "Our friends here prefer the +human above the divine, but they are not traitors." Then turning again +to Apollodorus he continued: + +"The oppressors in Israel have set up idols in our holy places, and +strive again to force the people to bow down to them; but rather shall +our back be broken than we will bend the knee or submit!" + +"You are meditating another revolt?" asked the Alexandrian anxiously. + +"Answer me--have you heard the name of Bar Kochba?" + +"Yes, as that of the foolhardy leader of an armed troup." + +"He is a hero--perhaps the Redeemer." + +"And it was for him that you charged me to load my next corn vessel to +Joppa with swords, shields and lance-heads?" + +"And are none but the Romans to be permitted to use iron?" + +"Nay--but I should hesitate to supply a friend with arms if he proposed +to use them against an irresistible antagonist, who will inevitably +annihilate him!" + +"The Lord of Hosts is stronger than a thousand legions!" + +"Be cautious uncle," said Ben Jochai again in a warning voice. + +Gamaliel turned wrathfully upon his nephew, but before he could retort on +the young man's protest, he started in alarm, for a wild howling and the +resounding clatter of violent blows on the brazen door of the house rang +through the hall and shook its walls of marble. + +"They are attacking my house," shouted Apollodorus. + +"This is the gratitude of those for whom you have broken faith with the +God of your fathers," said the old man gloomily. Then throwing up his +hands and eyes he cried aloud: "Hear me Adonai! My years are many and I +am ripe for the grave; but spare these, have mercy upon them." + +Ben Jochai followed his uncle's example and raised his arms in +supplication, while his black eyes sparkled with a lowering glow in his +pale face. + +But their prayers were brief, for the tumult came nearer and nearer; +Apollodorus wrung his hands, and struck his fist against his forehead; +his movements were violent--spasmodic. Terror had entirely robbed him of +the elegant, measured demeanor which be had acquired among his Greek +fellow-citizens, and mingling heathen oaths and adjurations with appeals +to the God of his fathers, he flew first one way and then another. He +searched for the key of the subterranean rooms of the house, but he could +not find it, for it was in the charge of his steward, who, with all the +other servants, was taking his pleasure in the streets, or over a +brimming cup in some tavern. + +Now the newly-purchased kitchen-slave--the Jew to whom the keeping of the +Dionysian feast was an abomination--rushed into the room shrieking out, +as he plucked at his hair and beard: + +"The Philistines are upon us! save us Rabbi, great Rabbi! Cry for us +to the Lord, oh! man of God! They are coming with staves and spears and +they will tread us down as grass and burn us in this house like the +locusts cast into the oven." + +In deadly terror he threw himself at Gamaliel's feet and clasped them in +his hands, but Apollodorus exclaimed: "Follow me, follow me up on to the +roof." + +"No, no," howled the slave, "Amalek is making ready the firebrand to +fling among our tents. The heathen leap and rage, the flames they are +flinging will consume us. Rabbi, Rabbi, call upon the Hosts of the Lord! +God of the just! The gate has given way. Lord! Lord! Lord!" + +The terrified wretch's teeth chattered and he covered his eyes with his +hands, groaning and howling. + +Ben Jochai had remained perfectly calm, but he was quivering with rage. +His prayer was ended, and turning to Gamaliel he said in deep tones: + +"I knew that this would happen, I warned you. Our evil star rose when we +set forth on our wanderings. + +"Now we must abide patiently what the Lord hath determined. He will be +our Avenger." + +"Vengeance is His!" echoed the old man, and he covered his head with his +white mantle. + +"In the sleeping-room--follow me! we can hide under the beds!" shrieked +Apollodorus; he kicked away the slave who was embracing the Rabbi's feet, +and seized the old man by the shoulder to drag him away with him. But it +was too late, for the door of the antechamber had burst open and they +could hear the clatter of weapons. "Lost, lost, all is lost!" cried +Apollodorus. + +"Adonai! help us Adonai!" murmured the old man and he clung more closely +to his nephew, who overtopped him by a head and who held him clasped in +his right arm as if to protect him. + +The danger which threatened Apollodorus and his guests was indeed +imminent, and it had been provoked solely by the indignation of the +excited mob at seeing the wealthy Israelite's house unadorned for the +feast. + +A thousand times had it occurred that a single word had proved sufficient +to inflame the hot blood of the Alexandrians to prompt them to break the +laws and seize the sword. Bloody frays between the heathen inhabitants +and the Jews, who were equally numerous in the city, were quite the order +of the day, and one party was as often to blame as the other for +disturbing the peace and having recourse to the sword. Since the +Israelites had risen in several provinces--particularly in Cyrenaica and +Cyprus--and had fallen with cruel fury on their fellow-inhabitants who +were their oppressors, the suspicion and aversion of the Alexandrians of +other beliefs had grown more intense than in former times. Besides this, +the prosperous circumstances of many Jews, and the enormous riches of a +few, had filled the less wealthy heathen with envy and roused the wish to +snatch the possessions of those who, it cannot be denied, had not +unfrequently treated their gods with open contumely. + +It happened that just within a few days the disputes regarding the +festival that was to be held in honor of the Imperial visit had added +bitterness to the old grudge, and thus it came to pass that Apollodorus' +unlighted house in the Canopic way had excited the populace to attack +this palatial residence. And here again one single speech had sufficed +to excite their fury. + +In the first instance Melampus, the tanner, a drunken swaggerer, who had +failed in business, had marched up the street at the head of a tipsy +crew, and pointing with his thyrsus to the dark, undecorated house, had +shouted: + +"Look at that dismal barrack! All that the Jew used to spend on +decorating the street, he is saving up now in his money chest!" +The words were like a spark among tinder and others followed. + +"The niggard is robbing our father Dionysus," cried a second citizen, +and a third, flourishing his torch on high, croaked out: + +"Let us get at the drachmae he grudges the god; we can find a use for +them." Graukus, the sausage maker, snatched from his neighbor's hand the +bunch of tow soaked in pitch, and bellowed out, "I advise that we should +burn the house over their heads!" + +"Stay, stay," cried a cobbler who worked for Apollodorus' slaves, as he +placed himself in the butcher's way. "Perhaps they are mourning for some +one in there. The Jew has always decorated his house on former +occasions." + +"Not they," replied a flute-player in a loud hoarse voice. "We met +the old miser's son on the Bruchiom with some riotous comrades and +misconducted hussies, with his purple mantle fluttering far behind him." + +"Let us see which is reddest, the Tyrian stuff or the blaze we shall +make if we set the old wretch's house on fire," shouted a hungry-looking +tailor, looking round to see the effects of his wit. + +"Ay! let us try!" rose from one man, and then, from a number of others: + +"Let us get into the house!" + +"The mean churl shall remember this day!" + +"Fetch him out!" + +"Drag him into the street!" + +Such shouts as these rose here and there from the crowd, which grew +denser every instant as it was increased by fresh tributaries attracted +by the riot. + +"Drag him out!" again shrieked an Egyptian slavedriver, and a woman +shrieked an echo of his words. She snatched the deer-skin from her +shoulders, flourished it round and round in the air above her tangled +black hair, and bellowed furiously: + +"Tear him in pieces!" + +"In pieces, with your teeth!" roared a drunken Maenad who, like most of +the mob that had collected, knew nothing whatever of the popular grudge +against Apollodorus and his house. + +But words had already begun to be followed by deeds. Feet, fists, and +cudgels stamped, drubbed, and thumped against the firmly-bolted brazen +door of the darkened house, and a ship's boy of fourteen sprang on the +shoulders of a tall black slave and tried to climb the roof of the +colonnade, and to fling the torch which the sausage-maker handed up to +him into the open forecourt of the imperilled house. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The clatter of arms which Apollodorus and his guests had heard proceeded +not from the Jew's besiegers, but from some Roman soldiers who brought +safety to the besieged. + +It was Verus, who as he was returning from the supper he had given his +veterans, with an officer of the Twelfth Legion and his British slaves, +had crossed the Canopic way and had been impeded in his progress by the +increasing crowd which stood before Apollodorus' house. The praetor had +met the Jew at the prefect's house, and knew him for one of the richest +and shrewdest men in Alexandria. This attack on his property roused his +ire; still he would certainly not have remained an idle spectator even if +the house in danger, instead of belonging to a man of mark, had been that +of one of the poorest and meanest, even among the Christians. Any +lawless act, any breach of constituted order was odious and intolerable +to the Roman; he would not have been the man he was if he had looked on +passively at an attack by the mob, in times of peace, on the life and +property of a quiet and estimable citizen. This licentious man of +pleasure, devoted to every enervating enjoyment, in battle, or whenever +the need arose, was as prudent as he was brave. + +He now first ascertained what purpose the excited crowd had in view, and +at once considered the ways and means of frustrating their project. They +had already begun to batter the Jew's door, and already several lads were +standing on the roof of the arcades with burning torches in their hands. + +Whatever he did must be done on the instant, and happily Verus had the +gift of thinking and acting promptly. In a few decisive words he begged +his companion, Lucius Albinus, to hurry back to his old soldiers and +bring them to the rescue; then he desired his slaves to force a way for +him with their powerful arms up to the door of the house. This feat was +accomplished in no time, but how great was his astonishment when he found +the Emperor standing there. + +Hadrian stood in the midst of the crowd, and at the instant when Verus +appeared on the scene had wrenched the torch out of the hand of the +infuriated tailor. At the same time, in a thundering voice, he commanded +the Alexandrians--who were not accustomed to the imperial tone--to desist +from their mad project. Whistling, grunting, and words of scorn +overpowered the mandate of the sovereign, and when Verus and his slaves +had reached the spot where he stood, a few drunken Egyptians had gone up +to him and were about to lay hands on the unwelcome counsellor. The +praetor stood in their way. He first whispered to Hadrian that Jupiter +ought to be ruling the world, and might well leave it to smaller folks to +rescue a houseful of Jews; and that in a few seconds the soldiers would +arrive. Then he shouted to him in a loud voice: + +"Away from this Sophist! Your place is in the Museum, or in the temple +of Serapis with your books, and not among the misguided and ignorant. +Am I right Macedonian citizens, or am I wrong?" A murmur of assent was +heard which became a roar of laughter when Verus, after Hadrian had got +away, went on: + +"He has a beard like Caesar, and so he behaves as if he wore the purple! +You did well to let him escape, his wife and children are waiting for him +over their porridge." + +Verus had often been implicated in wild adventure among the populace and +knew how to deal with them; if he now could only detain them till the +advent of the soldiers he might consider the game as won. Hadrian could +be a hero when it suited him; but here where no laurels were to be won, +he left to Verus the task of quieting the crowd. + +As soon as he was fairly gone Verus desired his slaves to lift him on +their shoulders; his handsome good-natured face looked down upon the +crowd from high above them. He was immediately recognized, and many +voices called out: + +"The crazy Roman! the praetor! the sham Eros!" + +"I am he, Macedonian citizens, yes, I am he," answered Verus in a clear +voice. "And I will tell you a story." + +"Listen, Listen." + +"No let us get into the Jew's house." + +"Presently--listen a minute to what the sham Eros says." + +"I will knock your teeth down your throat boy, if you don't hold your +tongue." + +All the crowd were shouting in wild confusion. + +Curiosity, on the one hand, to hear the noble gentleman's speech, and +the somewhat superficial fury of the mob contended together for a few +minutes; at last curiosity seemed to be gaining the day, the tumult +subsided, and the praetor began: + +"Once upon a time there was a child who had given to him ten little sheep +made of cotton, little foolish toys such as the old women sell in the +market place." + +"Get into the Jew's house, we don't want to hear children's stories--" + +"Be quiet there!" + +"Hush now listen; from the sheep he will go on to the wolves." + +"Not wolves--it will be a she-wolf!" some one shouted in the throng. + +"Do not mention the horrid things!" laughed Verus but listen to me.-- +Well, the child set his little sheep up in a row each one close to the +next. He was a weaver's son. Are there any weavers here? You? and +you--ah, and you out there. If I were not my father's son I should like +to be the son of an Alexandrian weaver. You need not laugh!--Well, about +the sheep. All the little things were beautifully white but one which +had nasty black spots, and the little boy could not bear that one. He +went to the hearth, pulled out a burning stick and wanted to burn the +little ugly sheep so as only to have pretty white ones. The lambkin +caught fire and just as the flame had begun to burn the wooden skeleton +of the toy a draught from the window blew the flame towards the other +little sheep and in a minute they were all burned to ashes. Then +thought the little boy, 'If only I had let the ugly sheep alone! What +can I play with now?' and he began to cry. But this was not all, for +while the little rascal was drying his eyes, the flame spread and burnt +up the loom, the wool, the flax, the woven pieces, the whole house--the +town in which he was born, and even, I believe, the boy himself!--Now +worthy friends and Macedonian citizens, reflect a moment. Any man among +you who is possessed of any property may read the moral of my fable." + +"Put out the torches!" cried the wife of a charcoal dealer. + +"He is right; for by reason of the Jew, we are putting the whole town in +danger!" cried the cobbler. + +"The mad fools have already thrown in some brands!" + +"If you fellows up there fling any more I will break your ankles for +you," shouted a flax-dealer. + +"Don't try any burning," the tailor commanded, "force open the door and +have out the Jew." These words raised a storm of applause and the mob +pressed forward to the Jew's abode. No one listened to Verus any more, +and he slipped down from his slave's shoulders, placed himself in front +of the door and called out: + +"In the name of Caesar and the law I command you to leave this house +unharmed." + +The Roman's warning was evidently quite in earnest, and the false Eros +looked as if at this moment it would be ill-advised to try jesting with +him. But in the universal uproar only a few had heard his words, and the +hot-blooded tailor was so rash as to lay his hand on the praetor's girdle +in order to drag him away from the door with the help of his comrades. +But he paid dearly for his temerity for the praetor's fist fell so +heavily on his forehead that he dropped as if struck by lightning. One +of the Britons knocked down the sausage-maker and a hideous hand to hand +fight would have been the upshot if help had not come to the hardly-beset +Romans from two quarters at once. The veterans supported by a number of +lictors were the first to appear, and soon after them came Benjamin, the +Jew's eldest son, who was passing down the great thoroughfare with his +boon-companions and saw the danger that was threatening his father's +house. + +The soldiers parted the throng as the wind chases the clouds, and the +young Israelite pressed forward with his heavy thyrsus fought and pushed +his way so valiantly and resolutely through the panic-stricken mob, that +he reached the door of his father's house but a few moments later than +the soldiers. The lictors battered at the door and as no one opened it, +they forced it with the help of the soldiers in order to set a guard in +the beleaguered house, and protect it against the raging mob. + +Verus and the officer entered the Jew's dwelling with the armed men, and +behind them came Benjamin and his friends--young Greeks with whom he was +in the habit of consorting daily, in the bath or the gymnasium. +Apollodorus and his guests expressed their gratitude to Verus, and when +the old Jewish house-keeper, who had seen and heard from a hiding-place +under the roof all that had taken place outside her master's house, came +into the men's hall and gave a full report of the uproar from beginning +to end, the praetor was overwhelmed with thanks; and the old woman +embroidered her narrative with the most glowing colors. While this was +going on Apollodorus' pretty daughter, Ismene, came in, and after falling +on her father's neck and weeping with agitation the house keeper took her +hand and led her to Verus, saying: + +"This noble lord--may the blessing of the Most High be on him--staked his +life to save us. This beautiful robe he let be rent for our sakes, and +every daughter of Israel should fervently kiss this torn chiton, which in +the eyes of God is more precious than the richest robe--as I do." + +And the old woman pressed the praetor's dress to her lips, and tried to +make Ismene do the same; but the praetor would not permit this. + +"How can I allow my garment," he exclaimed, laughing, "to enjoy a favor +of which I should deem myself worthy--to be touched by such lips." + +"Kiss him, kiss him!" cried the old woman, and the praetor took the head +of the blushing girl in his hands, and pressing his lips to her forehead +with a by no means paternal air, he said gaily: + +"Now I am richly rewarded for all I have been so happy as to do for you, +Apollodorus." + +"And we," exclaimed Gamaliel. "We--myself and my brother's first-born +son-leave it in the hands of God Most High to reward you for what you +have done for us." + +"Who are you?" asked Verus, who was filled with admiration for the +prophet-like aspect of the venerable old man and the pale intellectual +head of his nephew. + +Apollodorus took upon himself to explain to him how far the Rabbi +transcended all his fellow Hebrews in knowledge of the law and the +interpretation of the Kabbala, the oral and mystical traditions of +their people, and how that Simeon Ben Jochai was superior to all the +astrologers of his time. He spoke of the young man's much admired work +on the subject called Sohar, nor did he omit to mention that Gamaliel's +nephew was able to foretell the positions of the stars even on future +nights. + +Verus listened to Apollodorus with increasing attention, and fixed a keen +gaze on the young man, who interrupted his host's eager encomium with +many modest deprecations. The praetor had recollected the near approach +of his birthday, and also that the position of stars in the night +preceding it, would certainly be observed by Hadrian. What the Emperor +might learn from them would seal his fate for life. Was that momentous +night destined to bring him nearer to the highest goal of his ambition or +to debar him from it? + +When Apollodorus ceased speaking, Verus offered Simeon Ben Jochai his +hand, saying: + +"I am rejoiced to have met a man of your learning and distinction. What +would I not give to possess your knowledge for a few hours!" + +"My knowledge is yours," replied the astrologer. "Command my services, +my labors, my time--ask me as many questions as you will. We are so +deeply indebted to you--" + +"You have no reason to regard me as your creditor," interrupted the +praetor, "you do not even owe me thanks. I only made your acquaintance +after I had rescued you, and I opposed the mob, not for the sake of any +particular man, but for that of law and order." + +"You were benevolent enough to protect us," cried Ben Jochai, "so do not +be so stern as to disdain our gratitude." + +"It does me honor, my learned friend; by all the gods it does me honor," +replied Verus. "And in fact it is possible, it might very will be--Will +you do me the favor to come with me to that bust of Hipparchus? By the +aid of that science which owes so much to him you may be able to render +me an important service." + +When the two men were standing apart from the others, in front of the +white marble portrait of the great astronomer, Verus asked: + +"Do you know by what method Caesar is wont to presage the fates of men +from the stars?" + +"Perfectly." + +"From whom?" + +"From Aquila, my father's disciple." + +"Can you calculate what he will learn from the stars in the night +preceding the thirtieth of December, as to the destinies of a man who +was born in that night, and whose horoscope I possess?" + +"I can only answer a conditional yes to that question." + +"What should prevent your answering positively?" + +"Unforeseen appearances in the heavens." + +Are such signs common?" + +"No, they are rare, on the contrary." + +"But perhaps my fortune is not a common one-and I beg of you to calculate +on Hadrian's method what the heavens will predict on that night for the +man whose horoscope my slave shall deliver to you early to-morrow +morning." + +"I will do so with pleasure." + +"When can you have finished this work?" + +"In four days at latest, perhaps even sooner." + +"Capital! But one thing more. Do you regard me as a man, I mean, as a +true man?" + +"If you were not, would you have given me such reason to be grateful to +you?" + +"Well then, conceal nothing from me, not even the worst horrors, things +that might poison another man's life, and crush his spirit. Whatever you +read in the celestial record, small or great, good or evil. I require +you to tell me all." + +"I will conceal nothing, absolutely nothing." + +The praetor offered Ben Jochai his right hand, and warmly pressed the +Jew's slender, well-shaped fingers. Before he went away he settled with +him how he should inform him when he had finished his labors. + +The Alexandrian with his guests and children accompanied the praetor to +the door. Only Ben Jamin was absent; he was sitting with his companions +in his father's dining-room, and rewarding them for the assistance they +had given him with right good wine. Gamaliel heard them shouting and +singing, and pointing to the room he shrugged his shoulders, saying, as +he turned to his host: + +"They are returning thanks to the God of our fathers in the Alexandrian +fashion." + +And peace was broken no more in the Jew's house but by the firm tramp of +lictors and soldiers who kept watch over it, under arms. + +In a side street the praetor met the tailor he had knocked down, the +sausage-maker, and other ringleaders of the attack on the Israelite's +house. They were being led away prisoners before the night magistrates. +Verus would have set them at liberty with all his heart, but he knew that +the Emperor would enquire next morning what had been done to the rioters, +and so he forbore. At any other time he would certainly have sent them +home unpunished, but just now he was dominated by a wish that was more +dominant than his good nature or his facile impulses. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +When he reached the Caesareum the high-chamberlain was waiting to conduct +him to Sabina who desired to speak with him notwithstanding the lateness +of the hour, and when Verus entered the presence of his patroness, he +found her in the greatest excitement. She was not reclining as usual on +her pillows but was pacing her room with strides of very unfeminine +length. + +"It is well that you have come!" she exclaimed to the praetor. +"Lentulus insists that he has seen Mastor the slave, and Balbilla +declares--but it is impossible!" + +"You think that Caesar is here?" asked Verus. + +"Did they tell you so too?" + +"No. I do not linger to talk when you require my presence and there is +something important to be told just now then--but you must not be +alarmed." + +"No useless speeches!" + +"Just now I met, in his own person--" + +"Who?" + +"Hadrian." + +"You are not mistaken, you are sure you saw him?" + +"With these eyes." + +"Abominable, unworthy, disgraceful!" cried Sabina, so loudly and +violently that she was startled at the shrill tones of her own voice. +Her tall thin figure quivered with excitement, and to any one else she +would have appeared in the highest degree graceless, unwomanly, and +repulsive: but Verus had been accustomed from his childhood to see her +with kinder eyes than other men, and it grieved him. + +There are women who remind us of fading flowers, extinguished lights or +vanishing shades, and they are not the least attractive of their sex: but +the large-boned, stiff and meagre Sabina had none of the yielding and +tender grace of these gentle creatures. Her feeble health, which was +very evident, became her particularly ill when, as at this moment, the +harsh acrimony of her embittered soul came to light with hideous +plainness. + +She was deeply indignant at the affront her husband had put upon her. +Not content with having a separate house established for her he kept +aloof in Alexandria without informing her of his arrival. Her hands +trembled with rage, and stammering rather than speaking she desired the +praetor to order a composing draught for her. When Verus returned she +was lying on her cushions, with her face turned to the wall, and said +lamentably: + +"I am freezing; spread that coverlet over me. I am a miserable, ill-used +creature." + +"You are sensitive and take things too hardly," the praetor ventured to +remonstrate. + +She started up angrily, cut off his speech, and put him through as keen +a cross-examination as if he were an accused person and she his judge. +Ere long she had learnt that Verus also had encountered Mastor, that her +husband was residing at Lochias, that he had taken part in the festival +in disguise, and had exposed himself to grave danger outside the house of +Apollodorus. She also made him tell her how the Israelite had been +rescued, and whom her friend had met in his house, and she blamed Verus +with bitter words for the heedless and foolhardy recklessness with which +he had risked his life for a miserable Jew, forgetting the high destinies +that lay before him. The praetor had not interrupted her, but now bowing +over her, he kissed her hand and said: + +"Your kind heart foresees for me things that I dare not hope for. +Something is glimmering on the horizon of my fortune. Is it the dying +glow of my failing fortunes, is it the pale dawn of a coming and more +glorious day? Who can tell? I await with patience whatever may be +impending--an early day must decide." + +"That will bring certainty, and put an end to this suspense," murmured +Sabina. + +"Now rest and try to sleep," said Verus with a tender fervency, that was +peculiar to his tones. "It is past midnight and the physician has often +forbidden you to sit up late. Farewell, dream sweetly, and always be the +same to me as a man, that you were to me in my childhood and youth." + +Sabina withdrew the hand he had taken, saying: + +"But you must not leave me. I want you. I cannot exist without your +presence." + +"Till to-morrow--always--forever I will stay with you whenever you need +me." + +The Empress gave him her hand again, and sighed softly as he again bowed +over it, and pressed it long to his lips. + +"You are my friend, Verus, truly my friend; yes, I am sure of it," she +said at last, breaking the silence. + +"Oh Sabina, my Mother!" he answered tenderly. "You spoiled me with +kindness even when I was a boy, and what can I do to thank you for all +this?" + +"Be always the same to me that you are to-day. Will you always--for all +time be the same, whatever your fortunes may be?" + +"In joy and in adversity always the same; always your friend, always +ready to give my life for you." + +"In spite of my husband, always, even when you think you no longer need +my favor!" + +"Always, for without you I should be nothing--utterly miserable." + +The Empress heaved a deep sigh and sat bolt upright on her couch. She +had formed a great resolve, and she said slowly, emphasizing every word: + +"If nothing utterly unforeseen occurs in the heavens on your birth-night, +you shall be our son, and so Hadrian's successor and heir. I swear it." + +There was something solemn in her voice, and her small eyes were wide +open. + +"Sabina, Mother, guardian spirit of my life!" cried Verus, and he fell on +his knees by her couch. She looked in his handsome face with deep +emotion, laid her hands on his temples, and pressed her lips on his dark +curls. + +A moist brilliancy sparkled in those eyes, unapt to tears, and in a soft +and appealing tone that no one had ever before heard in her voice she +said: + +"Even at the summit of fortune, after your adoption, even in the purple +all will be the same between us two. Will it? Tell me, will it?" + +"Always, always!" cried Verus. "And if our hopes are fulfilled--" + +"Then, then," interrupted Sabina and she shivered as she spoke. "Then, +still you will be to me the same that you are now; but to be sure, to be +sure--the temples of the gods would be empty if mortals had nothing left +to wish for." + +"Ah! no. Then they would bring thank-offerings to the divinity," cried +Verus, and he looked up at the Empress; but she turned away from his +smiling glance and exclaimed in a tone of reproof and alarm: + +"No playing with words, no empty speeches or rash jesting! in the name of +all the gods, not at this time! For this hour, this night is among its +fellows what a hallowed temple is among other buildings--what the fervent +sun is among the other lights of heaven. You know not how I feel, nay, +I hardly know myself. Not now, not now, one lightly-spoken word!" + +Verus gazed at Sabina with growing astonishment. She had always been +kinder to him than to any one else in the world and he felt bound to her +by all the ties of gratitude and the sweet memories of childhood. Even +as a boy, out of all his playfellows he was the only one who, far from +fearing her had clung to her. But to-night! who had ever seen Sabina in +such a mood? Was this the harsh bitter woman whose heart seemed filled +with gall, whose tongue cut like a dagger every one against whom she used +it? Was this Sabina who no doubt was kindly disposed towards him but who +loved no one else, not even herself? Did he see rightly, or was he under +some delusion? Tears, genuine, honest, unaffected tears filled her eyes +as she went on: + +"Here I he, a poor sickly woman, sensitive in body and in soul as if I +were covered with wounds. Every movement, and even the gaze and the +voice of most of my fellow-creatures is a pain to me. I am old, much +older than you think and so wretched, so wretched, none of you can +imagine how wretched. I was never happy as a child, never as a girl, and +as a wife--merciful gods!--every kind word that Hadrian has ever +vouchsafed me I have paid for with a thousand humiliations." + +"He always treats you with the utmost esteem," interrupted Verus. + +"Before you, before the world! But what do I care for esteem! I may +demand the respect, the adoration of millions and it will be mine. Love, +love, a little unselfish love is what I ask--and if only I were sure, if +only I dared to hope that you give me such love, I would thank you with +all that I have, then this hour would be hallowed to me above all +others." + +"How can you doubt me Mother? My dearly beloved Mother!" + +"That is comfort, that is happiness!" answered Sabina. "Your voice is +never too loud for me, and I believe you, I dare trust you. This hour +makes you my son, makes me your mother." + +Tender emotion, the emotion that softens the heart, thrilled through +Sabina's dried-up nature and sparkled in her eyes. She felt like a young +wife of whom a child is born, and the voice of her heart sings to her in +soothing tones: "It lives, it is mine, I am the providence of a living +soul, I am a mother." + +She gazed blissfully into Verus' eyes and exclaimed, "Give me your hand +my son, help me up, for I will be here no longer. What good spirits I +feel in! Yes, this is the joy that is allotted to other women before +their hair is grey! But child--dear and only child--you must love me +really as a mother. I am too old for tender trifling, and yet I could +not bear it if you gave me nothing but a child's reverence. No, no, you +must be my friend whose heart warns him of my wishes, who can laugh with +me to-day, and weep with me to-morrow--and who shows that he is happier +when his eye meets mine. You are now my son; and soon you shall have the +name of son; that is happiness enough for one evening. Not another word +--this hour is like the finished masterpiece of some great painter; every +touch that could be added might spoil it. You may kiss my forehead, I +will kiss yours; now I will go to rest, and to-morrow when I wake I shall +say to myself that I possess something worth living for--a child, a son." + +When the Empress was alone she raised her hand in prayer but she could +find no words of thanksgiving. One hour of pure happiness she had indeed +enjoyed, but how many days, months, years of joylessness and suffering +lay behind her! Gratitude knocked at the door of her heart but it was +instantly met by bitter defiance; what was one hour of happiness in the +balance against a ruined lifetime? + +Foolish woman! she had never sown the seeds of love, and now she blamed +the gods for niggardliness and cruelty in denying her a harvest of love. +And now, on what soil had the seed of maternal tenderness fallen? + +Verus it is true had left her content and full of hope--Sabina's altered +demeanor, it is true, had touched his heart--he purposed to cling to her +faithfully even after his formal adoption; but the light in his eye was +not that of a proud and happy son, on the contrary it sparkled like that +of a warrior who hopes to gain the victory. + +Notwithstanding the late hour, his wife had not yet gone to bed. She had +heard that he had been summoned to the Empress on his return home, and +awaited him not without anxiety, for she was not accustomed to anything +pleasant from Sabina. Her husband's hasty step echoed loudly from the +stone walls of the sleeping palace. She heard it at some distance, and +went to the door of her room to meet him. Radiant, excited, and with +flushed cheeks, he held out both his hands to her. She looked so fair in +her white night-wrapper of fine white material, and his heart was so full +that he clasped her in his arms as fondly as when she was his bride; and +she loved him even now no less than she had done then, and felt for the +hundredth time with grateful joy that the faithless scapegrace had once +more returned to her unchangeable and faithful heart, like a sailor who, +after wandering through many lands seeks his native port. + +"Lucilla," he cried, disengaging her arms from round his neck. +"Oh, Lucilla! what an evening this has been! I always judged Sabina +differently from you, and have felt with gratitude that she really cared +for me. Now all is clear between her and me! She called me her son. +I called her mother. I owe it to her, and the purple--the purple is +ours! You are the wife of Verus Caesar; you are certain of it if no +signs and omens come to frighten Hadrian." + +In a few eager words, which betrayed not merely the triumph of a lucky +gambler, but also true emotion and gratitude, he related all that had +passed in Sabina's room. His frank and confident contentment silenced +her doubts, her dread of the stupendous fate which, beckoning her, yet +threatening her, drew visibly nearer and nearer. In her mind's eye she +saw the husband she loved, she saw her son, seated on the throne of the +Caesars, and she herself crowned with the radiant diadem of the woman +whom she hated with all the force of her soul. Her husband's kindly +feeling towards the Empress and the faithful allegiance which had tied +him to her from his boyhood did not disquiet her; but a wife allows the +husband of her choice every happiness, every gift excepting only the love +of another woman, and will forgive her hatred and abuse rather than such +love. + +Lucilla was greatly excited, and a thought, that for years had been +locked in the inmost shrine of her heart, to-day proved too strong for +her powers of reticence. Hadrian was supposed to have murdered her +father, but no one could positively assert it, though either he or +another man had certainly slain the noble Nigrinus. At this moment the +old suspicion stirred her soul with revived force, and lifting her right +hand, as if in attestation, she exclaimed: + +"Oh, Fate, Fate! that my husband should be heir of the man who murdered +my father!" + +"Lucilla," interrupted Verus, "it is unjust even to think of such +horrors, and to speak of them is madness. Do not utter it a second time, +least of all to-day. What may have occurred formerly must not spoil the +present and the future which belong to us and to our children." + +"Nigrinus was the grandfather of those children," cried the Roman mother +with flashing eyes. + +"That is to say that you harbor in your soul the wish to avenge your +father's death on Caesar." + +"I am the daughter of the butchered man." + +"But you do not know the murderer, and the purple must outweigh the life +of one man, for it is often bought with many thousand lives. And then, +Lucilla, as you know, I love happy faces, and Revenge has a sinister +brow. Let us be happy, oh wife of Caesar! Tomorrow I shall have much to +tell you, now I must go to a splendid banquet which the son of Plutarch +is giving in my honor. I cannot stay with you--truly I cannot, I have +been expected long since. And when we are in Rome never let me find you +telling the children those old dismal stories--I will not have it." + +As Verus, preceded by his slaves bearing torches, made his way through +the garden of the Caesareum he saw a light in the rooms of Balbilla, the +poetess, and he called up merrily: + +"Good-night, fair Muse!" + +"Good-night, sham Eros!" she retorted. + +You are decking yourself in borrowed feathers, Poetess," replied he, +laughing. "It is not you but the ill-mannered Alexandrians who invented +that name!" + +"Oh! and other and better ones," cried she. "What I have heard and seen +to-day passes all belief!" + +"And you will celebrate it in your poems?" + +"Only some of it, and that in a satire which I propose to aim at you." + +"I tremble!" + +"With delight, it is to be hoped; my poem will embalm your memory for +posterity." + +"That is true, and the more spiteful your verses, the more certainly will +future generations believe that Verus was the Phaon of Balbilla's Sappho, +and that love scorned filled the fair singer with bitterness." + +"I thank you for the caution. To-day at any rate you are safe from my +verse, for I am tired to death." + +"Did you venture into the streets?" + +"It was quite safe, for I had a trustworthy escort." + +"May I be allowed to ask who?" + +"Why not? It was Pontius the architect who was with me." + +"He knows the town well." + +"And in his care I would trust myself to descend, like Orpheus, into +Hades." + +"Happy Pontius!" + +"Most happy Verus!" + +"What am I to understand by those words, charming Balbilla?" + +"The poor architect is able to please by being a good guide, while to you +belongs the whole heart of Lucilla, your sweet wife." + +"And she has the whole of mine so far as it is not full of Balbilla. +Good-night, saucy Muse; sleep well." + +"Sleep ill, you incorrigible tormentor!" cried the girl, drawing the +curtain across her window. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +The sleepless wretch on whom some trouble has fallen, so long as night +surrounds him, sees his future life as a boundless sea in which he is +sailing round and round like a shipwrecked man, but when the darkness +yields, the new and helpful day shows him a boat for escape close at +hand, and friendly shores in the distance. + +The unfortunate Pollux also awoke towards morning with sighs many and +deep; for it seemed to him that last evening he had ruined his whole +future prospects. The workshop of his former master was henceforth +closed to him, and he no longer possessed even all the tools requisite +for the exercise of his art. + +Only yesterday he had hoped with happy confidence to establish himself +on a footing of his own, to-day this seemed impossible, for the most +indispensable means were lacking to him. As he felt his little money- +bag, which he was wont to place under his pillow, he could not forbear +smiling in spite of all his troubles, for his fingers sank into the +flaccid leather, and found only two coins, one of which he knew alas! +was of copper, and the dried merry-thought bone of a fowl, which he had +saved to give to his little nieces. + +Where was he to find the money he was accustomed to give his sister on +the first day of every month? Papias was on friendly terms with all the +sculptors of the city, and it was only to be expected that he would warn +them against him, and do his best to make it difficult to him to find a +new place as assistant. His old master had also been witness of +Hadrian's anger against him, and was quite the man to take every +advantage of what he had overheard. It is never a recommendation for +any one that he is an object of dislike to the powerful, and least of all +does it help him with those who look for the favor and gifts of the great +men of the world. When Hadrian should think proper to throw off his +disguise, it might easily occur to him to let Pollux feel the effects of +his power. Would it not be wise in him to quit Alexandria and seek work +or daily bread in some other Greek city? + +But for Arsinoe's sake he could not turn his back on his native place. +He loved her with all the passion of his artist's soul, and his youthful +courage would certainly not have been so quickly and utterly crushed if +he could have deluded himself as to the fact that his hopes of possessing +her had been driven into the remote background by the events of the +preceding evening. How could he dare to drag her into his uncertain and +compromised position? And what reception could he hope for from her +father if he should now attempt to demand her for his wife. As these +thoughts overpowered his mind he suddenly felt as if his eyes were +smarting with sand that had blown into them, and he could not help +springing out of bed; be paced his little room with long steps, and he +held his forehead pressed against the wall. + +The dawn of a new day appeared as a welcome comfort, and by the time he +had eaten the morning porridge which his mother set before him--and her +eyes were red with weeping--the idea struck him that he would go to +Pontius, the architect. That was the lifeboat he espied. + +Doris shared her son's breakfast but, contrary to her usual custom, she +spoke very little, only she frequently passed her hand over her son's +curly hair. Euphorion strode up and down the room, rummaging his brain +for ideas for an ode in which he might address the Emperor and implore +forgiveness for his son. Soon after breakfast Pollux went up to the +rotunda where the Queens' busts stood, hoping to see Arsinoe again, and +a loud snatch of song soon brought her out on to the balcony. They +exchanged greetings, and Pollux signed to her to come down to him. She +would have obeyed him more than gladly, but her father had also heard the +sculptor's voice and drove her back into the room. Still the mere sight +of his beloved fair one had done the artist good. Hardly had he got back +to his father's little house when Antinous came sauntering in--he +represented in the artist's mind the hospitable shores on which he might +gaze. Hope revived his soul, and Hope is the sun before which despair +flies as the shades of night flee at the rising of the day-star. + +His artistic faculties were once more roused into play, and found a field +for their freest exercise when Antinous told him that he was at his +disposal till mid-day, since his master--or rather Caesar as he was now +permitted to name him--was engaged in business. The prefect Titianus had +come to him with a whole heap of papers, to work with him and his private +secretary. Pollux at once led the favorite into a side room of the +little house, with a northern aspect; here on a table lay the wax and the +smaller implements which belonged to himself and which he had brought +home last evening. His heart ached, and his nerves were in a painful +state of tension as he began his work. All sorts of anxious thoughts +disturbed his spirit, and yet he knew that if he put his whole soul into +it he could do something good. Now, if ever, he must put forth his best +powers, and he dreaded failure as an utter catastrophe, for on the face +of the whole earth there was no second model to compare with this that +stood before him. + +But he did not take long to collect himself for the Bithynian's beauty +filled him with profound feeling and it was with a sort of pious +exaltation that he grasped the plastic material and moulded it into a +form resembling his sitter. For a whole hour not a word passed between +them, but Pollux often sighed deeply and now then a groan of painful +anxiety escaped him. + +Antinous broke the silence to ask Pollux about Selene. His heart was +full of her, and there was no other man who knew her, and whom he could +venture to entrust with his secret. Indeed it was only to speak to her +that he had come to the artist so early. While Pollux modelled and +scraped Antinous told him of all that had happened the previous night. +He lamented having lost the silver quiver when he was upset into the +water and regretted that the rose-colored chiton should afterwards have +suffered a reduction in length at the hands of his pursuer. An +exclamation of surprise, a word of sympathy, a short pause in the +movement of his hand and tool, were all the demonstration on the artist's +part, to which the story of Selene's adventure and the loss of his +master's costly property gave rise; his whole attention was absorbed in +his occupation. The farther his work progressed the higher rose his +admiration for his model. He felt as if intoxicated with noble wine as +he worked to reproduce this incarnation of the ideal of umblemished +youthful and manly beauty. The passion of artistic procreation fired his +blood, and threw every thing else--even the history of Selene's fall into +the sea, and her subsequent rescue--into the region of commonplace. +Still he had not been inattentive, and what he heard must have had some +effect in his mind; for long after Antinous had ended his narrative, he +said in a low voice and as if speaking to the bust, which was already +assuming definite form: + +"It is a wonderful thing!" and again a little later; "There was always +something grand in that unhappy creature." + +He had worked without interruption for nearly four hours, when standing +back from the table, he looked anxiously, first at his work and then at +Antinous, and then asked him: + +"How will that do?" + +The Bithynian gave eager expression to his approbation, and Pollux had, +in fact, done wonders in the short time. The wax began to display in a +much reduced scale the whole figure of the beautiful youth and in the +very same attitude which the young Dionysus carried off by the pirates, +had assumed the day before. The incomparable modelling of the favorite's +limbs and form was soft but not effeminate; and, as Pollux had said to +himself the day before, no artist in his happiest mood, could conceive +the Nysaean god as different from this. + +While the sculptor in order to assure himself of the accuracy of his work +was measuring his model's limbs with wooden compasses and lengths of +tape, the sound of chariot-wheels was heard at the gate of the palace, +and soon after the yelping of the Graces. Doris called to the dogs to be +quiet and another high-pitched woman's voice mingled with hers. Antinous +listened and what he heard seemed to be somewhat out of the common for he +suddenly quitted the position in which the sculptor had placed him only a +few minutes before, ran to the window and called to Pollux in a subdued +voice: + +"It is true! I am not mistaken! There is Hadrian's wife Sabina talking +out there to your mother." + +He had heard rightly; the Empress had come to Lochias to seek out her +husband. She had got out of the chariot at the gate of the old palace +for the paving of the court-yard would not be completed before that +evening. + +Dogs, of which her husband was so fond, she detested; the shrewd beasts +returned her aversion, so dame Doris found it more difficult than usual +to succeed in reducing her disobedient pets to silence when they flew +viciously at the stranger. Sabina terrified, vehemently desired the old +woman to release her from their persecution, while the chamberlain who +had come with her and on whom she was leaning kicked out at the +irrepressible little wretches and so increased their spite. At last the +Graces withdrew into the house. Dame Doris drew a deep breath and turned +to the Empress. + +She did not suspect who the stranger was for she had never seen Sabina +and had formed quite a different idea of her. + +"Pardon me good lady," she said in her frank confiding manner. "The +little rascals mean no harm and never bite even a beggar, but they never +could endure old women. Whom do you seek here mother?" + +"That you shall soon know," replied Sabina sharply, "what a state of +things, Lentulus, your architect Pontius' work has brought about. And +what must the inside be like if this but is left standing to disgrace the +entrance of the palace! It must go with its inhabitants. Desire that +woman to conduct us to the Roman lord who dwells here." + +The chamberlain obeyed and Doris began to suspect who was standing before +her, and she said as she smoothed down her dress and bowed low: + +"What great honor befalls us illustrious lady; perhaps you are even the +Emperor's wife? If that be the case--" + +Sabina made an impatient sign to the chamberlain who interrupted the old +woman exclaiming: + +"Be silent and show us the way." + +Doris was not feeling particularly strong that day, and her eyes already +red with weeping about her son again filled with tears. No one had ever +spoken so to her before, and yet, for her son's sake she would not repay +sharp words in the same coin, though she had plenty at her command. + +She tottered on in front of Sabina, and conducted her to the hall of the +Muses. There Pontius relieved her of the duty, and the respect he paid +to the stranger made her sure that in fact she was none other than the +Empress in person. + +"An odious woman!" said Sabina, as she went on pointing to Doris, whom +her words could not escape. This was too much for the old woman; past +all self-control she flung herself on to a seat that was standing by, +covered her face with her hands and began crying bitterly. She felt as +if the very ground were snatched from under her feet. + +Her son was in disgrace with Caesar, and she and her house were +threatened by the most powerful woman in the world. She pictured herself +as already turned into the streets with Euphorion and her dogs, and asked +herself what was to become of them all when they had lost their place and +the roof that covered them. Her husband's memory grew daily weaker, soon +his voice even might fail; and how greatly had her own strength failed +during the last few years, how small were the savings that were hidden in +their chest. The bright, genial old woman felt quite broken down. What +hurt her was, not merely the pressing need that threatened her, but the +disgrace too which would fall upon her, the dislike she had incurred-- +she who had been liked by every one from her youth up--and the painful +feeling of having been treated with scorn and contempt in the presence of +others by the powerful lady whose favor she had hoped to win. + +At Sabina's advent all good spirits had fled from Lochias, so at least +Doris felt, but she was not one of those who succumb helplessly to a +hostile force. For a few minutes she abandoned herself to her sorrows +and sobbed like a child. Now she dried her eyes, and her eased heart +felt the beneficial relief of tears; by degrees she could compose herself +and think calmly. + +"After all," said she to herself, "none but Caesar can command here, and +it is said that he gets on but badly with his spiteful wife, and cares +very little what she wishes. Hadrian let Pollux feel his power, but he +has always been friendly to me. My dogs and birds amused him, and did he +not even do me the honor to relish a dish out of my kitchen? No, no, if +only I can succeed in speaking with him alone all may yet be well," and +thus thinking she rose from her seat. + +As she was about to quit the anteroom the art dealer, Gabinius, of +Nicaea, came in, to whom Keraunus had refused to sell the mosaic in the +palace, and whose daughter had been deprived by Arsinoe of the part of +Roxana. Pontius had desired him to come to the palace and he had made +his appearance at once, for, since the evening before, a rumor had been +afloat that the Emperor was staying in Alexandria, and was inhabiting the +palace at Loehias. Whence it was derived, or on what facts it was +supported no one could say; but there it was, passing from mouth to mouth +in every circle and acquiring certainty every hour. Of all that grows on +earth nothing grows so quickly as Rumor, and yet it is a miserable +foundling that never knows its own parents. + +The dealer pushed on into the palace with a glance of astonishment at the +old woman, while Doris debated whether see should seek Hadrian then and +there, or return to her little gate-House, and wait till he should at +some time be going out of the palace and passing by her dwelling. Before +she could come to any decision Pontius appeared on the scene; he had +always been very kind to her, and she therefore ventured to address him +and tell him what had occurred between her son and the Emperor. This was +no novelty to the architect; he advised her to have patience till Hadrian +should have cooled, and he promised her that later he would do every +thing in his power for Pollux, whom be loved and esteemed. On this very +day he was obliged by Caesar's command to start on a journey and for a +long absence; his destination was Pelusium, where he was to erect a +monument to the great Pompey on the spot where he had been murdered. +Hadrian, as he passed the old ruined monument on his way from Mount +Kasius to Egypt, had determined to replace it by a new one, and had +entrusted the work to Pontius whose labors at Lochias were now nearly +ended. All that might yet be lacking to the fitting of the restored +palace Hadrian himself wished to select and procure. and in this +occupation so agreeable to his tastes, Gabinius, the curiosity-dealer, +was to lend him a helping hand. + +While Doris was still speaking with Pontius, Hadrian and his wife came +towards the anteroom. Hardly had the architect recognized the tones of +Sabina's voice, than he hastily said in a low voice: + +"Till by-and-bye this must do, dame. Stand aside; Caesar and the Empress +are coming." + +And he hastened away. Doris slipped into the doorway of a side room, +which was closed only by a heavy curtain, for at that moment she would as +soon have met a raging wild beast as the haughty lady from whom she had +nothing to expect but insult and unkindness. Hadrian's interview with +his wife had lasted barely a quarter of an hour, and it must have been +anything rather than amiable, for his face was scarlet, while Sabina's +lips were perfectly white, and her painted cheeks twitched with a +restless movement. Doris was too much excited and terrified to listen to +the royal couple, still she overheard these words uttered by the Emperor +in a tone of the utmost decision. + +"In small matters and where it is fitting I let you have your way; more +important things I shall this time, as always, decide by my own judgment +--my own exclusively." + +These words were fraught with the fate of the gatehouse and its +inhabitants, for the removal of the "hideous hut" at the entrance of the +palace was one of the "small matters" of which Hadrian spoke. Sabina had +required this concession, since it could not be pleasant to any one +visiting Lochias to be received on the threshold by an old Megaera of +evil omen, and to be fallen upon by infuriated dogs. But Doris so little +divined the import of Hadrian's words that she rejoiced at them, for they +told her how little he was disposed to yield to his wife in important +things, and how could she suspect that her fate and that of her house +should not be included among important matters, nay the most important? + +Sabina had quitted the anteroom leaning on her chamberlain and Hadrian +was standing there alone with his slave Mastor. The old woman would not +be likely to have another such favorable opportunity of supplicating the +all-powerful man who stood before her, without the hindrance of +witnesses, to exercise his magnaminity and clemency towards her son. His +back turned to her; if she could have seen the threatening scowl with +which he stood gazing on the ground she would surely have remembered the +architect's warning and have postponed her address till a future day. + +How often do we spoil our best chances by following an urgent instinct to +arrive at certainty as early as possible, and by not being strong enough +to postpone opening our business till a favorable moment offers. +Uncertainty in the present often seems less endurable than adverse fate +in the future. + +Doris stepped out of the side door. Mastor, who knew his master well, +and whose friendly impulse was to spare the old woman any humiliation, +made eager signs to warn her to withdraw and not to disturb Hadrian at +that moment; but she was so wholly possessed by her anxiety and wishes +that she did not observe them. As the Emperor turned to leave the room +she gathered courage, stood in the doorway through which he must pass, +and tried to fall on her knees before him. This was a difficult effort +to her old joints and Doris was forced to clutch at the door-post in +order not to lose her balance. + +Hadrian at once recognized the suppliant, but to-day he found no kind +word for her, and the glance he cast down at her was anything rather than +gracious. How had he ever been able to find amusement even in this +woeful old body? Alas! poor Doris was quite a different creature in her +little house, among her flowers, dogs and birds to what she seemed here +in the spacious hall of a magnificent palace. This wide and gorgeous +frame but ill-suited so modest a figure. Thousands of good people who in +the midst of their everyday surroundings command our esteem and attract +our regard give rise to very different feelings when they are taken out +of the circle to which they belong. + +Doris had never worn so unpleasing an aspect to Hadrian as at this +instant, in this decisive moment of her life. She had followed the +Empress straight from the kitchen-hearth just as she was after passing a +sleepless night and full of her many anxieties, she had scarcely set her +grey hair in order, and her kind bright eyes, usually the best feature of +her face, were red with many tears. The neat brisk little mother looked +to-day anything rather than smart and bright; in the Emperor's eyes she +was in no way distinguished from any other old woman, and he regarded all +old women as of evil omen, if he met them as he went out of any place he +was in. + +"Oh, Caesar, Great Caesar!" cried Doris throwing up her hands which +still bore many traces of her labors over the hearth. "My son, my +unfortunate Pollux!" + +"Out of my way!" said Hadrian sternly. + +"He is an artist, a good artist, who already excels many a master, and if +the gods--" + +"Out of the way, I told you. I do not want to hear anything about the +insolent fellow," said Hadrian angrily. + +"But Great Caesar, he is my son, and a mother, as you know--" + +"Mastor," interrupted the monarch, "carry away this old woman and make +way for me." + +"Oh! my lord, my lord!" wailed the agonized woman while the slave +pulled her up, not without difficulty. "Oh! my lord, how can you find it +in your heart to be so cruel? And am I no longer old Doris whom you have +even joked with, and whose food you have eaten?" + +These words recalled to the Emperor's fancy the moment of his arrival at +Lochias; he felt that he was somewhat in the old woman's debt, and being +wont to pay with royal liberality he broke in with: + +"You shall be paid for your excellent dish a sum with which you can +purchase a new house, for the future your maintenance too shall be +provided for, but in three hours you must have quitted Lochias." + +The Emperor spoke rapidly as though desirous of bringing a disagreeable +business to a prompt termination, and he stalked past Doris who was now +standing on her feet and leaning as if stunned against the doorpost. +Indeed if Hadrian had not left her there and had he been in the mood to +hear her farther, she was not now in a fit state to answer him another +word. + +The Emperor received the honors due to Zeus and his fiat had ruined the +happiness of a contented home as completely as the thunderbolt wielded by +the Father of the gods could have done. + +But this time Doris had no tears. The frightful shock that had fallen in +her soul was perceptible also to her body; her knees shook, and being +quite incapable just then of going home at once, she sunk upon a seat and +stared hopelessly before her while she reflected what next, and what more +would come upon her. + +Meanwhile the Emperor was standing in a room just behind the antechamber +that had only been finished a few hours since. He began to regret his +hardness upon the old woman--for had she not, without knowing who he was, +been most friendly to him and to his favorite. "Where is Antinous?" he +asked Mastor. + +"He went out to the gate-house." + +"What is he doing there?" + +"I believe he meant--there, perhaps he--" + +"The truth, fellow!" + +"He is with Pollux the sculptor." + +"Has he been there long?" + +"I do not exactly know." + +"How long, I ask you?" + +"He went after you had shut yourself in with Titianus." + +"Three hours--three whole hours has he been with that braggart, whom I +ordered off the premises!" Hadrian's eye sparkled wrathfully as he +spoke. His annoyance at the absence of his favorite, whose society he +permitted no one to enjoy but himself, and least of all Pollux, smothered +every kind feeling in his mind, and in a tone of anger bordering on fury +he commanded Mastor to go and fetch Antinous, and then to have the gate- +house utterly cleared out. + +"Take a dozen slaves to help you," he cried. "For aught I care the +people may carry all their rubbish into a new house, but I will never +set eyes again on that howling old woman, nor her imbecile husband. As +for the sculptor I will make him feel that Caesar has a heavy foot and +can unexpectedly crush a snake that creeps across his path." + +Mastor went sadly away and Hadrian returned to his work-room, and there +called out to his secretary Phlegon: + +"Write that a new gate-keeper is to be found for this palace. Euphorion, +the old one, is to have his pay continued to him, and half a talent is to +be paid to him at the prefect's office. Good--Let the man have at once +whatever is necessary; in an hour neither he nor his are to be found in +Lochias. Henceforth no one is to mention them to me again, nor to bring +me any petition from them. Their whole race may join the rest of the +dead." + +Phlegon bowed and said: + +"Gabinius, the curiosity-dealer, waits outside." + +"He comes at an appropriate moment," cried the Emperor. "After all these +vexations it will do me good to hear about beautiful things." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Aye, truly! Sabina's advent had chased all good spirits from the palace +at Lochias. + +The Emperor's commands had come upon the peaceful little house as a +whirlwind comes on a heap of leaves. The inhabitants were not even +allowed time fully to realize their misfortune, for instead of bewailing +themselves all they could do was to act with circumspection. The tables, +seats, cushions, beds and lutes, the baskets, plants, and bird-cages, the +kitchen utensils and the trunks with their clothes were all piled in +confusion in the courtyard, and Doris was employing the slaves appointed +by Mastor in the task of emptying the house, as briskly and carefully as +though it was nothing more than a move from one house to another. A ray +of the sunny brightness of her nature once more sparkled in her eyes +since she had been able to say to herself that all that happened to her +and hers was one of the things inevitable, and that it was more to the +purpose to think of the future than of the past. The old woman was quite +herself again over the work, and as she looked at Euphorion, who sat +quite crushed on his couch with his eyes fixed on the ground, she cried +out to him: + +"After bad times, come good ones! only let us keep from making ourselves +miserable. We have done nothing wrong, and so long as we do not think +ourselves wretched, we are not so. Only, hold up your head! + +"Up, old man, up! Go at once to Diotima and tell her that we beg her to +give us hospitality for a few days, and house-room for our chattels." + +"And if Caesar does not keep his word?" asked Euphorion gloomily. +"What sort of a life shall we live then?" + +"A bad one-a dog's life; and for that very reason it is wiser to enjoy +now what we still possess. A cup of wine, Pollux, for me and your +father. But there must be no water in it to-day." + +"I cannot drink," sighed Euphorion. + +"Then I will drink your share and my own too." Nay-nay, mother," +remonstrated Pollux. + +"Well put some water in, lad, just a little water, only do not make such +a pitiful face. Is that the way a young fellow should look who has his +art, and plenty of strength in his hands, and the sweetest of sweethearts +in his heart?" + +"It is certainly not for myself, mother," retorted the sculptor, "that I +am anxious. But how am I ever to get into the palace again to see +Arsinoe, and how am I to deal with that ferocious old Keraunus?" + +"Leave that question for time to answer," replied Doris. + +"Time may give a good answer, but it may also give a bad one." + +"And the best she only gives to those who wait for her in the antechamber +of Patience." + +"A bad place for me, and for those like me," sighed Pollux. + +"You have only to sit still and go on knocking at the doors," replied +Doris, "and before you can look round you Time will call out, 'come in.' +Now show the men how they are to treat the statue of Apollo, and be my +own happy, bright boy once more." + +Pollux did as she desired, thinking as he went: "She speaks wisely--she +is not leaving Arsinoe behind. If only I had been able to arrange with +Antinous at least, where I should find him again; but at Caesar's orders +the young fellow was like one stunned, and he tottered as he went, as if +he were going to execution." + +Dame Doris had not been betrayed by her happy confidence, for Phlegon the +secretary came to inform her of the Emperor's purpose to give her husband +half a talent, and to continue to pay him in the future his little +salary. + +"You see," cried the old woman, "the sun of better days is already +rising. Half a talent! Why poverty has nothing to do with such rich +folks as we are! What do you think--would it not be right to pour out +half a cup of wine to the gods, and allow ourselves the other half?" + +Doris was as gay as if she were going to a wedding, and her cheerfulness +communicated itself to her son, who saw himself relieved of part of the +anxiety that weighed upon him with regard to his parents and sister. His +drooping courage, and spirit for life, only needed a few drops of kindly +dew to revive it, and he once more began to think of his art. Before +anything else he would try to complete his successfully-sketched bust of +Antinous. + +While he was gone back into the house to preserve his work from injury +and was giving the slaves, whom he had desired to follow him, +instructions as to how it should be carried so as not to damage it, his +master Papias came into the palace-court. He had come to put the last +touches to the works he had begun, and proposed to make a fresh attempt +to win the favor of the man whom he now knew to be the Emperor. Papias +was somewhat uneasy for he was alarmed at the thought that Pollux might +now betray how small a share his master had in his last works--which had +brought him higher praise than all he had done previously. It might even +have been wise on his part to pocket his pride and to induce his former +scholar, by lavish promises, to return to his workshop; but the evening +before he had been betrayed into speaking before the Emperor with so much +indignation at the young artist's evil disposition, of his delight at +being rid of him, that, on Hadrian's account, he must give up that idea. +Nothing was now to be done, but to procure the removal of Pollux from +Alexandria, or to render him in some way incapable of damaging him, and +this he might perhaps be able to do by the instrumentality of the +wrathful Emperor. + +It even came into his mind to hire some Egyptian rascal to have him +assassinated; but he was a citizen of peaceful habits, to whom a breach +of the law was an abomination and he cast the thought from him as too +horrible and base. He was not over-nice in his choice of means, he knew +men, was very capable of finding his way up the backstairs, and did not +hesitate when need arose to calumniate others boldly, and thus he had +before now won the day in many a battle against his fellow-artists of +distinction. His hope of succeeding in the tripping of a scholar of no +great repute, and of rendering him harmless so long as the Emperor should +remain in Alexandria, was certainly not an over-bold one. He hated the +gate-keeper's son far less than he feared him, and he did not conceal +from himself that if his attack on Pollux should fail and the young +fellow should succeed in proving independently of what he was capable he +could do nothing to prevent his loudly proclaiming all that he had done +in these last years for his master. + +His attention was caught by the slaves in Euphorion's little house, +who were carrying the household chattels of the evicted family into the +street. He had soon learnt what was going forward, and highly pleased at +the ill-will manifested by Hadrian towards the parents of his foe, he +stood looking on, and after brief reflection desired a negro to call +Pollux to speak to him. + +The master and scholar exchanged greetings with a show of haughty +coolness and Papias said: + +"You forgot to bring back the things which yesterday, without asking my +leave, you took out of my wardrobe. I must have them back to-day." + +"I did not take them for myself, but for the grand lord in there, and his +companion. If any thing is missing apply to him. It grieves me that I +should have taken your silver quiver among them, for the Roman's +companion has lost it. As soon as I have done here, I will take home all +of your things that I can recover, and bring away my own. A good many +things belonging to me are still lying in your workshop." + +"Good," replied Papias. "I will expect you an hour before sunset, and +then we will settle every thing," and without any farewell he turned his +back on his pupil and went into the palace. + +Pollux had told him that some of the properties, which he had taken +without asking permission, had been lost-among them an object of +considerable value--and this perhaps would give him a hold over him by +which to prevent his injuring him. He remained in the palace scarcely +half an hour and then, while Pollux was still engaged in escorting his +mother and their household goods to his sister's house, he went to visit +the night magistrate, who presided over the safety of Alexandria. +Papias was on intimate terms with this important official, for he had +constructed for him a sarcophagus for his deceased wife, an altar with +panels in relief for his men's apartment, and other works, at moderate +prices, and he could count on his readiness to serve him. When he +quitted him he carried in his hand an order of arrest against his +assistant Pollux, who had attacked his property and abstracted a quiver +of massive silver. The magistrate had also promised him to send two of +his guards who would carry the offender off to prison. + +Papias went home with a much lighter heart. His pupil, after he had +accomplished the easy transfer of his parents, had returned to the +palace, and there, to his delight, came across Mastor, who soon fetched +him the garments and masks that he had lent the day before to Hadrian and +Antinous. The Sarmatian at the same time told him, with tears in his +eyes, a sad, very sad story, which stirred the young sculptor's soul +deeply, and which would have prompted him to penetrate into the palace at +once, and at any risk, if he had not seen the necessity of being with +Papias at the appointed hour, which was drawing near, to answer for the +valuable property that was missing. Thinking of nothing, wishing nothing +so much as to be back as promptly as possible at Lochias, where he was +much needed, and where his heart longed to be, he took the bundle out of +the slave's hand and hurried away. Papias had sent all his assistants +and even his slaves off the premises; he received the breathless Pollux +quite alone, and took from him, with icy calmness, the things which had +been borrowed from his property-room, asking for them one by one. + +"I have already told you," cried Pollux, "that it is not I, but the +illustrious Roman--you know as well as I do, who he is--who is answerable +for the silver quiver and the torn chiton." And he began to tell him how +Antinous had commanded him, in the name of his master, to find masks and +disguises for them both. But Papias cut off his speech at the very +beginning, and vehemently demanded the restoration of his quiver and bow, +of which Pollux could not work out the value in two years. The young man +whose heart and thoughts were at Lochias and who, at any cost, did not +want to be detained longer than was necessary, begged his master, with +all possible politeness, to let him go now, and to settle the matter with +him to-morrow after he had discussed it with the Roman, from whom he +might certainly demand any compensation he chose. But when Papias +interrupted him again and again, and obstinately insisted on the +immediate restoration of his property, the artist whose blood was easily +heated, grew angry and replied to the attacks and questions of the older +man with vehement response. + +One angry word led to another, and at last Papias hinted of persons who +took possession of other person's silver goods, and when Pollux retorted +that he knew of some who could put forward the works of others as their +own, the master struck his fist upon the table, and going towards the +door he cried out, as soon as he was at a safe distance from the furious +lad's powerful fists: + +"Thief! I will show you how fellows like you are dealt with in +Alexandria." + +Pollux turned white with rage, and rushed upon Papias, who fled, and +before Pollux could reach him he had taken refuge behind the two guards +sent by the magistrate, and who were waiting in the antechamber. + +"Seize the thief!" he cried. "Hold the villain who stole my silver +quiver and now raises his hand against his master. Bind him, fetter him, +carry him off to prison." + +Pollux did not know what had come upon him; he stood like a bear that has +been surrounded by hunters; doubtful but at bay. Should he fling himself +upon his pursuers and fell them to the earth? should he passively await +impending fate? + +He knew every stone in his master's house; the anteroom in which he +stood, and indeed the whole building was on the ground floor. In the +minute while the guards were approaching and his master was giving the +order to the lictor, his eye fell on a window which looked out upon the +street, and possessed only by the single thought of defending his liberty +and returning quickly to Arsinoe he leaped out of the opening which +promised safety and into the street below. + +"Thief--stop thief!" he heard as he flew on with long strides; and like +the pelting of rain driven by all the four winds came from all sides the +senseless, odious, horrible cry: "Stop thief!--stop thief!" it seemed to +deprive him of his senses. + +But the passionate cry of his heart: "To Lochias, to Arsinoe! keep free, +save your liberty if only to be of use at Lochias!" drowned the shouts +of his pursuers and urged him through the streets that led to the old +palace, + +On he went faster and farther, each step a leap; the briny breeze from +the sea already fanned his glowing cheeks and the narrow empty street +yonder he well knew led to the quay by the King's harbor, where he could +hide from his pursuers among the tall piles of wood. He was just turning +the corner into the alley when an Egyptian ox-driver threw his goad +between his legs; he stumbled, fell to the ground, and instantly felt +that a dog which had rushed upon him was tearing the chiton he wore, +while he was seized by a number of men. An hour later and he found +himself in prison, bitten, beaten, and bound among a crew of malefactors +and real thieves. + +Night had fallen. His parents were waiting for him and he came not; and +in Lochias which he had not been able to reach there were misery and +trouble enough, and the only person in the world who could carry comfort +to Arsinoe in her despair was absent and nowhere to be found. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Dried merry-thought bone of a fowl +More to the purpose to think of the future than of the past +So long as we do not think ourselves wretched, we are not so +Temples would be empty if mortals had nothing left to wish for + + + + + + +THE EMPEROR, Part 2. + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 8. + + +CHAPTER X. + +The story told by Mastor which had so greatly agitated Pollux and had +prompted him to his mad flight was the history of events which had taken +place in the steward's rooms during the hours when the young artist was +helping his parents to transfer their household belongings into his +sister's tiny dwelling. Keraunus was certainly not one of the most +cheerful of men, but on the morning when Sabina came to the palace and +the gate-keeper was driven from his home, he had worn the aspect of a +thoroughly-contented man. + +Since visiting Selene the day before he had given himself no farther +concern about her. She was not dangerously ill and was exceptionally +well taken care of, and the children did not seem to miss her. Indeed, +he himself did not want her back to-day. He avoided confessing this to +himself it is true, still he felt lighter and freer in the absence of his +grave monitor than he had been for a long time. It would be delightful, +he thought, to go on living in this careless manner, alone with Arsinoe +and the children, and now and again he rubbed his hands and grinned +complacently. When the old slave-woman brought a large dish full of +cakes which he had desired her to buy, and set it down by the side of the +children's porridge, he chuckled so heartily that his fat person shook +and swayed; and he had very good reason to be happy in his way, for +Plutarch quite early in the morning, had sent a heavy purse of gold +pieces for his ivory cup, and a magnificent bunch of roses to Arsinoe; +he might give his children a treat, buy himself a solid gold fillet, and +dress Arsinoe as finely as though she were the prefect's favorite +daughter. + +His vanity was gratified in every particular. + +And what a splendid fellow was the slave who now--with a superbly +reverential bow-presented him with a roast chicken and who was to walk +behind him in the afternoon to the council-chamber. The tall Thessalian +who marched after the Archidikastes to the Hall of justice, carrying his +papers, was hardly grander than his "body-servant." He had bought him +yesterday at quite a low price. The well-grown Samian was scarcely +thirty years old; he could read and write and was in a position therefore +to instruct the children in these arts; nay, he could even play the lute. +His past, to be sure, was not a spotless record, and it was for that +reason that he had been sold so cheaply. He had stolen things on several +occasions; but the brands and scars which he bore upon his person were +hidden by his new chiton and Keraunus felt in himself the power to cure +him of his evil propensities. + +After desiring Arsinoe to let nothing he about of any value, for their +new house-mate seemed not to be perfectly honest, he answered his +daughter's scruples by saying: + +"It would be better, no doubt, that he should be as honest as the old +skeleton I gave in exchange for him, but I reflect that even if my body- +servant should make away with some of the few drachmae we carry about +with us, I need not repent of having bought him, since I got him for many +thousand drachmae less than he is worth, on account of his thefts, while +a teacher for the children would have cost more than he can steal from us +at the worst. I will lock up the gold in the chest with my documents. +It is strong and could only be opened with a crow-bar. Besides the +fellow will have left off stealing at any rate at first, for his late +master was none of the mildest and had cured him of his pilfering I +should think, once for all. It is lucky that in selling such rascals we +should be compelled to state what their faults are; if the seller fails +to do so compensation maybe claimed from him by the next owner for what +he may lose. Lykophron certainly concealed nothing, and setting aside +his thieving propensities the Samian is said to be in every respect a +capital fellow." + +But father," replied Arsinoe, her anxiety once more urging her to speak, +"it is a bad thing to have a dishonest man in the house." + +"You know nothing about it child!" answered Keraunus. "To us to live +and to be honest are the same thing, but a slave!--King Antiochus is said +to have declared that the man who wishes to be well served must employ +none but rascals." + +When Arsinoe had been tempted out on to the balcony by her lover's snatch +of song and had been driven in again by her father, the steward had not +reproved her in any way unkindly, but had stroked her cheeks and said +with a smile: "I rather fancy that lad of the gatekeeper's--whom I once +turned out of doors has had his eye on you since you were chosen for +Roxana. Poor wretch! But we have very different suitors in view for you +my little girl. How would it be, think you, if rich Plutarch had sent +you those roses, not on his own behalf but as a greeting on the part of +his son? I know that he is very desirous of marrying him but the +fastidious man has never yet thought any Alexandrian girl good enough for +him." + +"I do not know him, and he does not think of a poor thing like me," said +Arsinoe. + +"Do you think not?" asked Keraunus smiling. "We are of as good family, +nay of a better than Plutarch, and the fairest is a match for the +wealthiest. What would you say child to a long flowing purple robe and a +chariot with white horses, and runners in front?" + +At breakfast Keraunus drank two cups of strong wine, in which he allowed +Arsinoe to mix only a few drops of water. While his daughter was curling +his hair a swallow flew into the room; this was a good omen and raised +the steward's spirits. Dressed in his best and with a well-filled purse, +he was on the point of starting for the council-chamber with his new +slave when Sophilus the tailor and his girl-assistant were shown into the +living-room. The man begged to be allowed to try the dress, ordered for +Roxana by the prefect's wife, on the steward's daughter. Keraunus +received him with much condescension and allowed him to bring in the +slave who followed him with a large parcel of dresses,--and Arsinoe, who +was with the children, was called. + +Arsinoe was embarrassed and anxious and would far rather have yielded her +part to another; still, she was curious about the new dresses. The +tailor begged her to allow her maid to dress her; his assistant would +help her because the dresses which were only slightly stitched together +for trying on, were cut, not in the Greek but in the Oriental fashion. + +"Your waiting woman," he added turning to Arsinoe, "will be able to learn +to-day the way to dress you on the great occasion." + +"My daughter's maid," said Keraunus, winking slily at Arsinoe, "is not in +the house." + +"Oh, I require no help," cried the tailor's girl. "I am handy too at +dressing hair, and I am most glad to help such a fair Roxana." + +"And it is a real pleasure to work for her," added Sophilus. "Other +young ladies are beautified by what they wear, but your daughter adds +beauty to all she wears." + +"You are most polite," said Keraunus, as Arsinoe and her handmaid left +the room. + +"We learn a great deal by our intercourse with people of rank," replied +the tailor. "The illustrious ladies who honor me with their custom like +not only to see but to hear what is pleasing. Unfortunately there are +among them some whom the gods have graced with but few charms, and they, +strangely enough, crave the most flattering speeches. But the poor +always value it more than the rich when benevolence is shown them." + +"Well said," cried Keraunus. "I myself am but indifferently well off for +a man of family, and am glad to live within my moderate means--so that my +daughter--" + +"The lady Julia has chosen the costliest stuffs for her; as is fitting-- +as the occasion demands," said the tailor. "Quite right, at the same +time--" + +"Well, my lord?" + +"The grand occasion will be over and my daughter, now that she is grown +up, ought to be seen at home and in the street in suitable and handsome, +though not costly, clothes. + +"I said just now, true beauty needs no gaudy raiment." + +"Would you be disposed now, to work for me at a moderate price?" + +"With pleasure; nay, I shall be indebted to her, for all the world will +admire Roxana and inquire who may be her tailor." + +"You are a very reasonable and right-minded man. What now would you +charge for a dress for her?" + +"That we can discuss later." + +"No, no, I beg you sincerely--" + +"First let me consider what you want. Simple dresses are more difficult, +far more difficult to make, and yet become a handsome woman better than +rich and gaudy robes. But can any man make a woman understand it? I +could tell you a tale of their folly! Why many a woman who rides by in +her chariot wears dresses and gems to conceal not merely her own limbs, +but the poverty-stricken condition of her house." + +Thus, and in this wise did Keraunus and the tailor converse, while the +assistant plaited up Arsinoe's hair with strings of false pearls that she +had brought with tier, and fitted and pinned on her the costly white and +blue silk robes of an Asiatic princess. At first Arsinoe was very still +and timid. She no longer cared to dress for any one but Pollux; but the +garments prepared for her were wonderfully pretty--and how well the +fitter knew how to give effect to her natural advantages. While the +neat-handed woman worked busily and carefully many merry jests passed +between them--many sincere and hearty words of admiration--and before +long Arsinoe had become quite excited and took pleased interest in the +needle-woman's labors. + +Every bough that is freshly decked by spring seems to feel gladness, and +the simple child who was to-day so splendidly dressed was captivated by +pleasure in her own beauty, and its costly adornment which delighted her +beyond measure. Arsinoe now clapped her hands with delight, now had the +mirror handed to her, and now, with all the frankness of a child, +expressed her satisfaction not only with the costly clothes she wore, +but with her own surprisingly grand appearance in them. + +The dress-maker was enchanted with her, proud and delighted, and could +not resist the impulse to give a kiss to the charming girl's white, +beautifully round throat. + +"If only Pollux could see me so!" thought Arsinoe. "After the +performance perhaps I might show myself in my dress to Selene, and then +she would forgive my taking part in the show. It is really a pleasure to +look so nice!" + +The children all stood round her while she was being dressed, and shouted +with admiration each time some new detail of the princess's attire was +added. Helios begged to be allowed to feel her dress, and after +satisfying herself that his little hands were clean she stroked them over +the glistening white silk. + +She had now advanced so far that her father and the tailor could be +called in. She felt remarkably content and happy. Drawn up to her +tallest, like a real king's daughter, and yet with a heart beating as +anxiously as that of any girl would who is on the point of displaying her +beauty--hitherto protected and hidden in her parents' home--to the +thousand eyes of the gaping multitude, she went towards the sitting-room; +but she drew back her hand she had put forth to raise the latch, for she +heard the voices of several men who must just now have joined her father. + +"Wait a little while, there are visitors," she cried to the seamstress +who had followed her, and she put her ear to the door to listen. At +first she could not make out anything that was going on, but the end of +the strange conversation that was being carried on within was so +hideously intelligible that she could never forget it so long as she +lived. + +Her father had ordered two new dresses for her, beating down the price +with the promise of prompt payment, when Mastor came into the steward's +room and informed Keraunus that his master and Gabinius, the curiosity- +dealer from Nicaea, wished to speak with him. + +"Your master," said Keraunus haughtily, "may come in; I think that he +regrets the injury he has done me; but Gabinius shall never cross this +threshold again, for he is a scoundrel." + +"It would be as well that you should desire that man to leave you for the +present," said the slave, pointing to the tailor. + +"Whoever comes to visit me," said the steward loftily, "must be satisfied +to meet any one whom I permit to enter my house." + +"Nay, nay," said the slave urgently, "my master is a greater man than you +think. Beg this man to leave the room." + +"I know, I know very well," said Keraunus with a smile. "Your master is +an acquaintance of Caesar's. But we shall see, after the performance +that is about to take place, which of us two Caesar will decide for. +This tailor has business here and will stay at my pleasure. Sit in the +corner there, my friend." + +"A tailor!" cried Mastor, horrified. "I tell you he must go." + +"He must!" asked Keraunus wrathfully. "A slave dares to give orders in +my house? We will see." + +"I am going," interrupted the artisan who understood the case. "No +unpleasantness shall arise here on my account, I will return in a quarter +of an hour." + +"You will stay," commanded Keraunus. "This insolent Roman seems to think +that Lochias belongs to him; but I will show him who is master here." + +But Mastor paid no heed to these words spoken in a high pitch; he took +the tailor's hand and led him out, whispering to him: + +"Come with me if you wish to escape an evil hour." + +The two men went off and Keraunus did not detain the artisan, for it +occurred to his mind that his presence did him small credit. He purposed +to show himself in all his dignity to the overbearing architect, but he +also remembered that it was not advisable to provoke unnecessarily the +mysterious bearded stranger, with the big clog. Much excited, and not +altogether free from anxiety, he paced up and down his room. To give +himself courage he hastily filled a cup from the wine-jar that stood on +the breakfast table, emptied it, refilled it and drank it off a second +time without adding any water, and then stood with his arms folded and a +strong color in his face awaiting his enemy's visit. + +The Emperor walked in with Gabinius. Keraunus expected some greeting, +but Hadrian spoke not a word, cast a glance at him of the utmost contempt +and passed by him without taking any more notice of him than if he had +been a pillar or a piece of furniture. The blood mounted to the +steward's head and heated his eyes and for fully a minute he strove in +vain to find words to give utterance to his rage. Gabinius paid no more +heed to Keraunus than the Roman had done. He walked on ahead and paused +in front of the mosaic for which he had offered so high a price, and over +which a few days since he had been so sharply dealt with by the steward. + +"I would beg you," he said, "to look at this masterpiece." + +The Emperor looked at the ground, but hardly had he begun to study the +picture, of which he quite understood and appreciated the beauty, when +just behind him he heard in a hoarse voice these words uttered with +difficulty: + +"In Alexandria--it is the custom, to greet--to say something--to the +people you visit." Hadrian half turned his head towards the speaker and +said indifferently but with strong and insulting contempt: + +"In Rome too it is the custom to greet honest people." Then looking down +again at the mosaic he said, "Exquisite, exquisite an inestimable and +precious work." At Hadrian's words Keraunus' eyes almost started out of +his head. His face was crimson and his lips pale; he went close up to +him and as soon as he had found breath to speak he said: + +"What have you--what are your words intended to convey?" + +Hadrian turned suddenly and full upon the steward; in his eyes sparkled +that annihilating fire which few could endure to gaze on and his deep +voice rolled sullenly through the room as he said to the miserable man: + +"My words are intended to convey that you have been an unfaithful +steward, that I know what you would rather I should not know, that I have +learned how you deal with the property entrusted to you, that you--" + +"That I?"--cried the steward trembling with rage and stepping close up to +the Emperor. + +"That you," shouted Hadrian in his face, "tried to sell this picture to +this man; in short that you are a simpleton and a scoundrel into the +bargain." + +"I--I," gasped Keraunus slapping his hand on his fat chest. "I--a--a-- +but you shall repent of these words." + +Hadrian laughed coldly and scornfully, but Keraunus sprang on Gabinius +with a wonderful agility for his size, clutched him by the collar of his +chiton and shook the feeble little man as if he were a sapling, shrieking +meanwhile: + +"I will choke you with your own lies--serpent, mean viper!" + +"Madman!" cried Hadrian "leave hold of the Ligurian or by Sirius you +shall repent it." + +"Repent it?" gasped the steward. "It will be your turn to repent when +Caesar comes. Then will come a day of reckoning with false witnesses, +shameless calumniators who disturb peaceful households, while credulous +idiots--" + +"Man, man," interrupted Hadrian, not loudly but sternly and ominously, +"you know not to whom you speak." + +"Oh I know you--I know you only too well. But I--I--shall I tell you who +I am?" + +"You--you are a blockhead," replied the monarch shrugging his shoulders +contemptuously. Then he added calmly, with dignity--almost with +indifference: + +"I am Caesar." + +At these words the steward's hand dropped from the chiton of the half- +throttled dealer. Speechless and with a glassy stare he gazed in +Hadrian's face for a few seconds. Then he suddenly started, staggered +backwards, uttered a loud choking, gurgling, nameless cry, and fell back +on the floor like a mass of rock shaken from its foundations by an +earthquake. The room shook again with his fall. + +Hadrian was startled and when he saw him lying motionless at his feet he +bent over him--less from pity than from a wish to see what was the matter +with him; for he had also dabbled in medicine. Just as he was lifting +the fallen man's hand to feel his pulse Arsinoe rushed into the room. +She had heard the last words of the antagonists with breathless anxiety +and her father's fall and now threw herself on her knees by the side of +the unhappy man, just opposite to Hadrian, and as his distorted and grey- +white face told her what had occurred she broke out in a passionate cry +of anguish. Her brothers and sisters followed at her heels, and when +they saw their favorite sister bewailing herself they followed her +example without knowing at first what Arsinoe was crying for, but soon +with terror and horror at their father lying there stiff and disfigured. +The Emperor, who had never had either son or daughter of his own, found +nothing so intolerable as the presence of crying children. However he +endured the wailing and whimpering that surrounded him till he had +ascertained the condition of the man lying on the ground before him. + +"He is dead," he said in a few minutes. "Cover his face, Master." + +Arsinoe and the children broke out afresh, and Hadrian glanced down at +them with annoyance. When his eye fell on Arsinoe, whose costly robe, +merely pinned and slightly stitched together had come undone with the +vehemence of her movements and were hanging as flapping rags in tumbled +disorder, he was disgusted with the gaudy fluttering trumpery which +contrasted so painfully with the grief of the wearer, and turning his +back on the fair girl he quitted the chamber of misery. + +Gabinius followed him with a hideous smirk. He had directed the +Emperor's attention to the mosaic pavement in the steward's room, and had +shamelessly accused Keraunus of having offered to sell him a work that +belonged to the palace, contrasting his conduct with his own rectitude. +Now the calumniated man was dead, and the truth could never come to +light; this was necessarily a satisfaction to the miserable man, but he +derived even greater pleasure from the reflection that Arsinoe could not +now fill the part of Roxana, and that consequently there was once more a +possibility that it might devolve on his daughter. + +Hadrian walked on in front of him, silent and thoughtful. Gabinius +followed him into his writing-room, and there said with fulsome +smoothness: + +"Ah, great Caesar, thus do the gods punish with a heavy hand the crimes +of the guilty." + +Hadrian did not interrupt him, but he looked him keenly and enquiringly +in the face, and then said, gravely, but coolly: + +"It seems to me, man, that I should do well to break off my connection +with you, and to give some other dealer the commissions which I proposed +to entrust to you." + +"Caesar!" stammered Gabinius, "I really do not know--" + +"But I do know," interrupted the Emperor. "You have attempted to mislead +me, and throw your own guilt on the shoulders of another." + +"I--great Caesar? I have attempted--" began the Ligurian, while his +pinched features turned an ashy grey. "You accused the steward of a +dishonorable trick," replied Hadrian. "But I know men well, and I know +that no thief ever yet died of being called a scoundrel. It is only +undeserved disgrace that can cost a man's life." + +"Keraunus was full-blooded, and the shock when he learnt that you were +Caesar--" + +"That shock accelerated the end no doubt," interrupted the monarch, "but +the mosaic in the steward's room is worth a million of sesterces, and now +I have seen enough to be quite sure that you are not the man to save your +money when a work like that mosaic is offered you for sale--be the +circumstances what they may. If I see the case rightly, it was Keraunus +who refused your demand that he should resign to you the treasure in his +charge. Certainly, that was the case exactly! Now, leave me. I wish to +be alone." + +Gabinius retired with many bows, walking backwards to the door, and then +turned his back on the palace of Lochias muttering many impotent curses +as he went. + +The steward's new 'body-servant,' the old black woman, Mastor, the tailor +and his slave, helped Arsinoe to carry her father's lifeless body and lay +it on a couch, and the slave closed his eyes. He was dead--so each told +the despairing girl, but she would not, could not believe it. As soon as +she was alone with the old negress and the dead, she lifted up his heavy, +clumsy arm, and as soon as she let go her hold it fell by his side like +lead. She lifted the cloth from the dead man's face, but she flung it +over him again at once, for death had drawn his features. Then she +kissed his cold hand and brought the children in and made them do the +same, and said sobbing: + +"We have no father now; we shall never, never see him again." + +The little blind boy felt the dead body with his hands, and asked his +sister: + +"Will he not wake again to-morrow morning and make you curl his hair, and +take me up on his knee?" + +"Never, never; he is gone, gone for ever." + +As she spoke Mastor entered the room, sent by his master. Yesterday had +he not heard from the overseer of the pavement-workers the comforting +tidings that after our grief and suffering here on earth there would be +another, beautiful, blissful and eternal life? He went kindly up to +Arsinoe and said: + +"No, no, my children; when we are dead we become beautiful angels with +colored wings, and all who have loved each other here on earth will meet +again in the presence of the good God." + +Arsinoe looked at the slave with disapproval. + +"What is the use," she asked, "of cheating the children with silly tales? +Their father is gone, quite gone, but we will never, never forget him." + +"Are there any angels with red wings?" asked the youngest little girl. + +"Oh! I want to be an angel!" cried Helios, clapping his hands. "And +can the angels see?" + +"Yes, dear little man," replied Mastor, "and their eyes are wonderfully +bright, and all they look upon is beautiful." + +"Tell them no more Christian nonsense," begged Arsinoe. "Ah! children, +when we shall have burned our father's body there will be nothing left of +him but a few grey ashes." + +But the slave took the little blind boy on his knees and whispered to +him: + +"Only believe what I tell you--you will see him again in Heaven." + +Then he set him down again, gave Arsinoe a little bag of gold pieces in +Caesar's name, and begged her--for so his master desired--to find a new +abode and, after the deceased was burned on the morrow, to quit Lochias +with the children. When Mastor was gone Arsinoe opened the chest, in +which lay her father's papyri and the money that Plutarch had paid for +the ivory cup, put in the heavy purse sent by the Emperor, comforting +herself while her tears flowed, with the reflection that she and the +children were provided at any rate against immediate want. + +But where was she to go with the little ones? Where could she hope to +find a refuge at once? What was to become of them when all they now +possessed was spent. The gods be thanked! she was not forlorn; she +still had friends. She could find protection and love with Pollux and +look to dame Doris for motherly counsel. + +She quickly dried her eyes and changed the remains of her splendor for +the dark dress in which she was accustomed to work at the papyrus +factory; then, as soon as she had taken the pearls out of her hair, she +went down to the little gate-house. + +She was only a few steps from the door--but why did not the Graces come +springing out to meet her? Why did she see no birds, no flowers in the +window? Was she deceived, was she dreaming or was she tricked by some +evil spirit? The door of the dear home-like little dwelling was wide +open and the sitting-room was absolutely empty, not a chattel was left +behind, forgotten--not a leaf from a plant was lying on the ground; for +dame Doris, in her tidy fashion, had swept out the few rooms where she +had grown grey in peace and contentment as carefully as though she were +to come into them again to-morrow. + +What had happened here? Where were her friends gone? A great terror +came over her, all the misery of desolation fell upon her, and as she +sank upon the stone bench outside the gate-house to wait for the +inhabitants who must presently return, the tears again flowed from her +eyes and fell in heavy drops on her hands as they lay in her lap. + +She was still sitting there, thinking with a throbbing heart of Pollux +and of the happy morning of this now dying day, when a troup of Moorish +slaves came towards the deserted house. The head mason who led them +desired her to rise from the bench, and in answer to her questions, told +her that the little building was to be pulled down, and that the couple +who had inhabited it were evicted from their post, turned out of doors +and had gone elsewhere with all their belongings. But where Doris and +her son had taken themselves no one knew. Arsinoe as she heard these +tidings felt like a sailor whose vessel has grounded on a rocky shore, +and who realizes with horror that every plank and beam be neath him +quivers and gapes. As usual, when she felt too weak to help herself +unaided, her first thought was of Selene, and she decided to hasten off +to her and to ask her what she could do, what was to become of her and +the children. + +It was already growing dark. With a swift step, and drying her eyes from +time to time on her peplum as she went, she returned to her own room to +fetch a veil, without which she dared not venture so late into the +streets. On the steps--where the dog had thrown down Selene--she met a +man hurrying past her; in the dim light she fancied he bore some +resemblance to the slave that her father had bought the day before; but +she paid no particular heed, for her mind was full of so many other +things. In the kitchen sat the old negress in front of a lamp and the +children squatted round her; by the hearth sat the baker and the butcher, +to whom her father owed considerable sums and who had come to claim their +dues, for ill news has swifter wings than good tidings, and they had +already heard of the steward's death. Arsinoe took the lamp, begged the +men to wait, went into the sitting-room, passing, not without a shudder, +the body of the man who a few hours since had stroked her cheeks and +looked lovingly into her eyes. + +How glad she felt to be able to pay her dead father's debts and save the +honor of his name! She confidently drew the key out of her pocket and +went up to the chest. What was this? She knew, quite positively, that +she had locked it before going out and yet it was now standing wide open; +the lid, thrown back, hung askew by one hinge; the other was broken. A +dread, a hideous suspicion, froze her blood; the lamp trembled in her +hand as she leaned over the chest which ought to have contained every +thing she possessed. There lay the old documents, carefully rolled +together, side by side, but the two bags with Plutarch's money and the +Emperor's, had vanished. She took out one roll after another; then she +tossed them all out on to the floor till the bottom of the chest was +bare--but the gold was really gone, nowhere to be found. + +The new slave had forced open the lid of the chest and stolen the whole +possessions of the orphans of the man who, to gratify his own vanity, had +brought him into the house. + +Arsinoe screamed aloud, called in her creditors, explained to them all +that had occurred and implored them to pursue the thief; and when they +only listened to her with an incredulous shrug, she swore that she was +speaking the truth, and promised that whether the slave were caught or +not she would pay them with the price of her own and her father's +personal ornaments. She knew the name of the dealer of whom her father +had bought the slave and told it to the unsatisfied dealers, who at last +left her to follow up the thief as promptly as possible. + +Once more Arsinoe was alone. Tearless, but shivering and scarcely +mistress of herself from misery and agitation, she took out her veil, +flung it over her head, and hurried through the court and along the +streets to her sister. + +Verily, since Sabina's visit to the palace all good spirits had deserted +it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +In a perfectly dark spot by the wall of the widow's garden, stood the +cynic philosopher who had met Antinous with so little courtesy, defending +himself eagerly, but in low tones against the rebukes of another man, +who, dressed, like himself in a ragged cloak and bearing a beggar's +wallet, appeared to be one of the same kidney. + +"Do not deny," said the latter, "that you cling much to the Christians." + +"But hear me out," urged the other. + +"I need hear nothing, for I have seen you for the tenth time sneaking in +to one of their meetings." + +"And do I deny it? Do I not honestly confess that I seek truth wherever +I may, where I see even a gleam of hope of finding it?" + +"Like the Egyptian who wanted to catch the miraculous fish, and at last +flung his hook into the sand." + +"The man acted very wisely." + +"What now!" + +"A marvel is not to be found just where everything else is. In hunting +for truth you must not be afraid of a bog." + +"And the Christian doctrine seems to be very much such a muddy thicket." + +"Call it so for aught I care." + +"Then beware lest you find yourself sticking in the morass." + +"I will take care of myself." + +"You said just now that there were decent folks among them." + +"A few no doubt. But the others! eternal gods! mere slaves, beggars, +ruined handicraftstmen, common people, untaught and unphilosophical +brains, and women, for the most part." + +"Avoid them then." + +"You ought to be the last to give me that advice." + +"What do you mean?" + +The other went close up to him and asked him in a whisper: + +"Why, where do you suppose I get the money with which I pay for our food +and lodging?" + +"So long as you do not steal it, it is all the same to me." + +"If I had no more, you would ask the question fast enough." + +"Certainly not, we strive after virtue and ought to do everything to +render ourselves independent of nature and her cravings. But to be sure +she often asserts her rights--to return then: where do you get the +money?" + +"Why, it burns in the purses of the people in there. It is their duty to +give to the poor, and to tell the truth, their pleasure also; and so week +by week they give me a few drachmae for my suffering brother." + +"Bah! you are the only son of your father, and he is dead." + +"'All men are brethren' say the Christians, consequently I may call you +mine without lying." + +"Join them then for aught I care," laughed the other. "How would it be +if I followed you among the Christians? Perhaps they would give me +weekly money too, for my suffering brother, and then we could have double +meals." + +The cynics laughed loudly and parted; one went back into the city, the +other into the garden belonging to the Christian widow. + +Arsinoe had entered here before the dishonest philosopher and had gone +straight to Hannah's house without being detained by the gate-keeper. As +she got nearer to her destination, she tried more and more earnestly to +devise some way in which she might inform her sister of all the dreadful +things that had happened, and which she must learn sooner or later, +without giving her too great a shock. Her dread was not much less than +her grief. As she reflected on the last few days and on all that had +occurred, it almost seemed as though she herself had been the cause of +the misfortunes of her family. + +On the way to see Selene she could shed no tears, but she could not help +softly moaning to herself now and then. A woman, who for some distance +had kept pace with her, thought she must be suffering some severe bodily +pain, and when the girl passed her, she looked after her with sincere +compassion, the wailing of the desolate young creature had sounded so +piteous. + +True, midway, Arsinoe had suddenly stopped and had thought that instead +of going to Selene for advice, she would turn round and seek Pollux and +ask him to help her. The thought of her lover forced its way through all +her sorrow and anxiety, through the reproaches she heaped upon herself +and the vague plans floating in the air which her brain--unaccustomed to +any serious thought, vainly tried to sketch for the future. He was kind, +and would certainly be ready to help her; but maidenly modesty held her +back from seeking him at so late an hour; besides, how could she discover +him or his parents? + +The place where her sister was she was now familiar with, and no one +could judge of their position better or give sounder counsel than prudent +Selene. So she had not turned round, but had hurried on to reach her +destination as soon as possible; and now she was standing before the +little house in the garden. Before opening the door she once more +considered in what way she could prepare Selene and tell her terrible +news, and, as all that happened stood vividly before her mind's eye, she +began to weep once more. + +In front of her, and following her, men and veiled women, singly or in +couples or in larger groups, passed into Paulina's garden. They came +from workshops and writing-rooms, from humble houses in narrow lanes, and +from the handsomest and largest in the main street. Each and all, from +the wealthy merchant down to the slave who could not call the coarse +tunic or scanty apron that he wore, his own, walked gravely and with a +certain dignified reserve. All who met within that gate greeted each +other as friends; the master gave a brotherly kiss to the servant, the +slave to his owner; for the congregation to which they all belonged was +as one body, animated and dwelt in by Christ, so that each member was +esteemed as equal to the others however different their gifts of body or +mind might be, or the worldly possessions with which they were endowed. +Before God and his Saviour the rich ship-owner or the grey-haired sage +stood no higher than the defenceless widow and the ignorant slave +crippled with blows. Still, the members of the community submitted to +those more implicitly than to these, for the special talents which graced +certain superior Christians were gifts of grace from the Lord, readily +acknowledged as such and, so far as they concerned the inner man, deemed +worthy of honor. + +On Sunday, the day of the Resurrection of the Lord, all Christians, +without exception, visited their place of assembly for divine worship. +To-day, being the middle of the week, all who could or chose came to the +love-feast at Paulina's suburban house. She herself dwelt in the city +and she had placed the banqueting hall of her villa, which would hold +more than a hundred souls, at the disposal of her fellow Christians in +that quarter of the town. The regular service was held in the morning, +but after the day's labor was ended the Christians met at one table to +have an evening meal in common, or--on other occasions to partake of the +sacramental supper. After sunset the elders, deacons, and deaconesses-- +most of whom, so long as it was light, had secular work to attend to--met +to take counsel together. + +Paulina, the widow of Pudeus and sister of Pontius the architect, was a +woman of considerable property and at the same time a prudent steward, +who did not consider herself justified in seriously impairing her son's +inheritance. This son was residing at Smyrna as a partner in an uncle's +business, and always avoided Alexandria, as he did not like his mother's +intercourse with the Christians. Paulina took the most anxious care not +to make any inroads on the capital intended for him, and never allowed +her hospitality to her fellow-believers to cost her any more than it did +the other wealthy members of the circle that met at her house. There +the rich brought more than they needed for themselves and the poor were +always welcome; not feeling themselves oppressed by the benevolence they +profited by, for they were often told that their entertainer was not a +mortal, but the Saviour, who invited each one who followed him faithfully +to be his guest. + +The hour was approaching which would summon dame Hannah to join the +assembly of her fellow Christians. She could not fail to appear, for she +was one of the deaconesses entrusted with the distribution of alms and +the care of the sick. She noiselessly made her preparations for going, +carefully setting the lamp behind the water-pitcher so that it should not +dazzle Selene, and she desired Mary to be exact in administering the +medicine to her patient. She knew that the girl had yesterday attempted +to make away with herself, and guessed the cause; but she asked no +questions and disturbed the poor child, who slept a good deal or lay +dreaming with open eyes, as little as possible. The old physician +wondered at her sound constitution, for since her plunge into the water +the fever had left her and even the injured foot was not much the worse. +Hannah might now hope the best for Selene if no unforeseen contingency +checked her recovery. To prevent this the unfortunate girl was never to +be left alone, and Mary had gladly agreed with her friend to fill her +place whenever she was obliged to leave the house. + +The meeting of the elders and guardians had already begun when Hannah +took her tablets in her hand, on which was noted the distribution she had +made of the money entrusted to her during the last week. She greeted the +sick girl and Mary with a kindly look and whispered to the deformed girl: + +"I will think of thee in my prayers thou faithful soul. There is some +food in the little cupboard--not much, for we must be sparing, the last +medicine was so dear." + +In the little anteroom a lamp was burning which Mary had lighted as it +began to grow dark, and the widow paused for a moment, considering +whether she should not extinguish it to save the oil. She had taken up +the tongs that hung by it, and was about to put it out, when she heard a +gentle tap at the house-door. Before she could enquire who it was that +asked admission at so late an hour, the door was opened and Arsinoe +entered the little hall. Her eyes were still full of tears and she had +great difficulty in finding words to return Hannah's greeting. + +"Why what ails you my child?" asked the Christian anxiously when by the +dim light, she saw how tearful and sad the girl looked. Arsinoe was long +before she could answer. At last she collected herself sufficiently to +sob out amid her tears: + +"Oh dame Hannah! It is all over with us--my father, our poor father--" + +The widow guessed at the blow that bad fallen on the sisters and full of +anxiety on Selene's account she interrupted the weeping child saying: + +"Hush, hush my child-Selene must not hear you. Come out with me and then +you can tell me all." Once outside the door Hannah put her arm round +Arsinoe drew her towards her, kissed her forehead, and said: + +"Now speak and tell me every thing; think that I am your mother or your +sister. Poor Selene is still too weak to advise or help you. Take +courage. What happened to your poor father?" + +"Struck by apoplexy, dead--dead!" wept the girl. Poor, dear little +orphan," said the widow in a husky voice and she clasped Arsinoe closely +in her arms. For some time she allowed the girl to weep silently on her +bosom; then she spoke: + +"Give me your hand my daughter and tell me how it has all happened so +suddenly. Your father was quite well yesterday and now? Yes my girl +life is a grave matter, you have to learn it while you are still young. +I know you have six little brothers and sisters and perhaps you may soon +lack even the necessaries of life. But that is no disgrace; I am +certainly even poorer than you and yet, by God's help, I hope to be able +to advise you and perhaps even to assist you. Every thing that I can +possibly do shall be done, but first I must know how matters stand with +you and what you need." + +There was so much kindness and consolation in the Christian's tones, so +much to revive hope that Arsinoe willingly complied with her demand and +began her story. + +At first, to be sure, her pride shunned confessing how poor, how +absolutely destitute they were; but Hannah's questions soon brought the +truth to light; and when Arsinoe perceived that the widow understood the +misfortunes of their house in their fullest extent, and that it would be +unavailing to conceal how matters stood with her and the children, she +yielded to the growing impulse to relieve her soul by pouring out her +griefs and described frankly and without reserve the whole position of +the family, to the good woman who listened with attention and sympathy. +The widow asked about each child separately, and ended by enquiring who, +in Arsinoe's absence, was left in charge of the little ones; and when she +heard that the old slave-woman to whose care the children were entrusted, +was infirm and half-blind, she shook her head thoughtfully. + +"Here help is needed and at once," she said decidedly. "You must go back +to the little ones presently. Your sister must not at present hear of +your father's death; when your future lot is to some extent secure we +will tell her by degrees all that has occurred. Now come with me, it is +by the Lord's guidance that you came here at the right moment." + +Hannah conducted Arsinoe to Paulina's villa, first into a small room at +the side of the entrance hall, where the deaconesses took off their veils +and their warm wraps in winter evenings. There the girl could be alone, +and safe from inquisitive questionings which could not fail to be painful +to her. Hannah desired her to await her return, and then joined her +colleagues. + +In order to do so she had to pass through the room where the elders and +deacons were sitting in council. The bishop, who presided over the +assembly, sat on a raised seat at the head of an oblong table, and on his +right hand and his left sat a number of elderly men, some of whom seemed +to be of Jewish or Egyptian extraction but most of them were Greeks. In +these the lofty intellectual brow was conspicuous, in those a bright, +ecstatic expression particularly in the eyes. Hannah went past the +assembly with a reverential greeting into the adjoining room in which the +deaconesses sat waiting, for women were not admitted to join or hear +the deliberations of the elders. The bishop, a fine old man with a full +white beard; raised his kindly eyes as the door closed upon Hannah, fixed +them for a few moments on the tips of his fingers that he had raised and +then addressed the presbyter who had presented for baptism several +candidates who had been grounded during the past year in the Christian +faith and doctrine, as follows: + +"Most of the catechumens you have presented to me cling faithfully no +doubt to the Redeemer. They believe in Him and love Him. But have they +attained to that sanctification, that new birth in Christ, which alone +can justify us in admitting them through baptism among the lambs of our +Good Shepherd? Let us beware of the tainted sheep which may infect the +whole flock. Verily, in these latter years there has been no lack of +them, and they have been received among us and have brought the name of +Christian into evil repute. Shall I give you an example? There was an +Egyptian in Rhakotis; few seemed to strive so fervently as he for the +remission of his sins. He could fast for many days, and yet no sooner +was he baptized than he broke into a goldsmith's shop. He was condemned +to death, and before his end he sent for me and confessed to me that in +former years he had soiled his soul with many robberies and murders. He +had hoped to win forgiveness of his sins by the act of baptism, the mere +washing in water, not by repentance and a new birth to a pure and holy +life; and he had gone on boldly in new sin because he confidently hoped +that he might again count on the unwearying mercy of the Saviour. Others +again, who had been brought up in the practice of the ablutions which +have to be performed by those who are initiated into the deeper secrets +of the heathen mysteries, regarded baptism as an act of purification, a +mystical process of happy augury, or at the best a figurative +purification of the soul, and crowded to receive it. Here, in +Alexandria, the number of these deluded ones is especially great; for +where could any superstition find a more favorable soil than in this seat +of philosophical half-culture, or over-culture; of the worship of +Serapis, of astrology, of societies of Mystics, of visionaries and +exorcisers, and of incredulity--the twin-sister of credulity. Be +cautious then to hold back from baptism all those who regard it as a +preserving charm or an act of good omen--remembering that the same water +which, sprinkled on sanctified hearts, leads them to holy living, brings +death to the unclean soul. It is your turn to speak, Irenaeus." + +"I only have to say," began the young Christian thus designated, "that I +have recently met among the catechumens with some who have attached +themselves to us from the basest motives. I mean the idlers who are glad +to receive our alms. Have you noticed here a cynic philosopher whose +starving brother we maintain? Our deacon Clemens has just ascertained +that he is the only son of his father--" + +"We will investigate this matter more closely when we discuss the +distribution of alms," replied the bishop. "Here we have petitions from +several women who desire to have their children baptized; this question +we cannot decide here; it must be referred to the next Synod. So far as +I am concerned, I should be inclined not to reject the prayer of the +mothers. Wherein does the utmost aim of the Christian life consist? It +seems to me in being perfectly conformable to the example of the Saviour. +And was not he a Man among men, a Youth among the young, a Child among +children? Did not His existence lend sanctity to every age, and +especially childhood? He commanded that little children should be +brought to Him, and He promised them the Kingdom of Heaven. Wherefore +then should we exclude them and deny them baptism?" + +"I cannot share your views," replied a presbyter with a high forehead and +sunken eyes. "We ought no doubt to follow the Saviour, but those who +tread in His steps should do so of their own free choice, out of love for +Him, and after He has sanctified their souls. What is the sense of a new +birth in a life that has scarcely begun. + +"Your discourse," replied the bishop, "only confirms my opinion that +this question is one for a higher assembly. We will now close our +discussion of that point, and go on to the care of the poor. Call in the +women, my good Justinius." + +The deaconesses came into the room and took seats at the lower end of the +table, Paulina, the widow of Pudeus, taking her place opposite the bishop +in the middle of the other women. She had learnt from Selene's kind +nurse in what pressing difficulties the children of the deceased steward +now found themselves, and that Hannah had promised to assist them. + +The deacons first gave their reports of what their works had been among +the poor; after them the women were allowed to speak. Paulina, a tall, +slight woman with black hair faintly streaked with gray, drew from her +dress, which was perfectly plain, but made of particularly soft, fine +white woollen stuff--a tablet that she placed before her, and slowly +raising her eyes and looking at the assembly she said: + +"Dame Hannah has a melancholy story to tell you, for which I crave your +sympathy. Will you be so good as to allow her to speak?" + +Paulina seemed to feel that she was the hostess to her brethren. She +looked ill and suffering; a line of pain had settled about her lips, and +there were always dark shades under her eyes; still, there was something +firm and decisive in her voice, and her glance was anything rather than +soft and winning. After her commanding tones Hannah's tale sounded as +soft as a song. She described the different natures of the two sisters +as lovingly as though they were her own daughters, each in her own way +seemed to her so worthy of compassion, and she spoke with pathetic lament +of the unprotected, helpless orphans abandoned to misery, and among them +a pretty little blind boy. And she ended her speech by saying: + +"The steward's second daughter--she is sixteen and so beautiful that she +must be exposed to every temptation--has now the whole charge of the +nourishment and care of her six young brothers and sisters. Ought we to +withhold from them a protecting hand? No, so surely as we love the +Saviour we ought not. You agree with me? Well then, do not let us delay +our help. The second daughter of the deceased Keraunus is here, in this +house; to-morrow early the children must all quit the palace, and now, +while I am speaking, are at home alone and but ill tended." + +The Christian woman's good words fell on kindly soil, and the presbyters +and deacons determined to recommend the congregation who should assemble +at the love-feast to give their assistance to the steward's children. + +The elders had still much to discuss, so Hannah and Paulina were charged +with the task of appealing to the hearts of the well-to-do members of the +congregation to provide for the orphans. The poor widow first conducted +her wealthy friend and hostess to the little room where Arsinoe was +waiting with growing impatience. She looked paler than usual but, in +spite of her tear-reddened eyes which she kept fixed on the ground, she +was so lovely, so touchingly lovely, that the mere sight of her moved +Paulina's heart. She had once had two children, an only daughter besides +her son. The girl bad died in the spring-time of her maidenhood, and +Paulina thought of her at every hour of her life. It was for her sake +that she had been baptized and devoted her existence to a series of +painful sacrifices. She strove with all her might to be a good +Christian--for surely she, the self-denying woman who had taken up the +cross of her own free will, the suffering creature who loved stillness +and who had made her country-house, which she visited daily, a scene of +unrest, could not fail to win Heaven, and there she hoped to meet her +innocent child. + +Arsinoe reminded her of her Helena, who certainly had been far less fair +than the steward's lovely daughter, but whose image had assumed new and +glorified forms in the mother's faithful heart. Since her son had left +home for a foreign country she had often asked herself whether she might +not find some young creature to take into her home, to attach to herself, +to bring up as a Christian, and to bring as an offering to her Saviour's +feet. + +Her daughter had died a heathen, and nothing troubled Paulina so deeply +as that her soul was lost, and that her own struggling and striving for +grace could not lead her to the goal beyond the grave. No sacrifice +seemed too great to purchase her child's beatitude, and now, standing +before Arsinoe and looking at her with deep emotion and admiration, she +was seized with an idea which swiftly ripened to resolve. She would win +this sweet soul for the Redeemer, and implore Him with ceaseless prayers +to save her hapless child as a reward for the work of grace in Arsinoe's +soul; and she felt as if she had signed the compact with the Redeemer, +when, fully determined on this course, she went up to the girl and asked +her: + +"You are quite forlorn, quite without relations?" Arsinoe bowed her head +in assent, and Paulina went on: + +"And do you bear your loss with resignation?" + +"What is resignation?" asked the girl modestly. Hannah laid her hand on +the widow's arm and whispered: + +"She is a heathen." + +"I know it," said Paulina shortly, and then went on kindly but +positively: + +"You and yours have lost both parents and a home by your father's death. +You shall find a new home in my house, with me; I ask nothing of you in +return but your love." + +Arsinoe looked at the haughty lady in astonishment. She could not yet +feel any impulse of affection towards her, and she did not as yet +understand that what was required of her was the one gift which the best +will, the most loving heart in the world, could not offer at a command. +Paulina did not wait for her reply, but signed to Hannah to follow her to +join the congregation now assembled at the evening meal. + +A quarter of an hour later the two women returned. The steward's orphans +were provided for. Two or three Christian families were ready and +willing to take in some of them, and many a kindly house-mother had +begged to have the blind child; but in vain, for Hannah had claimed the +right to bring up the hapless little boy in her own house, at any rate +for the present. She knew how Selene clung to him, and hoped by his +presence to be able to work powerfully on the crushed and chilled heart +of the poor girl. + +Arsinoe did not contravene the arrangements of the two women. She +thanked them, indeed, for she felt that she once more stood on firm +ground, but she also was immediately aware that it would be strewn with +sharp stones. The thought of parting from her little brothers and +sisters was terrible and cruel, and never left her mind for an instant, +while, accompanied by Hannah in person, she made her way back to Lochias. + +The next morning her kind friend appeared again and led her and the +little troup to Paulina's town-house. The steward's creditors divided +his little possessions; nothing but the chest of papyri followed the girl +to her new home. The hour in which the fondly-linked circle of children +was riven asunder, when one child was taken here and another there, was +the bitterest which Arsinoe had ever experienced or ever could experience +through all the after years of her life. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A lovely garden adjoined the Caesareum, the palace in which Sabina was +residing. Balbilla was fond of lingering there, and as the morning of +the twenty-ninth of December was particularly brilliant--the sky and its +infinite mirror the sea, gleaming in indescribably deep blue, while the +fragrance of a flowering shrub was wafted in at her window like an +invitation to quit the house she had sought a certain bench which, though +placed in a sunny spot, was slightly shaded by an acacia. This seat was +screened from the more public paths by bushes; the promenaders who did +not seek Balbilla could not observe her here, but she could command a +view, through a gap in the foliage, of the path, which was strewn with +small shells. + +To-day, however, the young poetess was far from feeling any curiosity; +instead of gazing at the shrubbery enlivened by birds, at the clear +atmosphere or the sparkling sea, her eyes were fixed on a yellow roll of +papyrus and she was impressing very dry details on her retentive memory. + +She had determined to keep her word to learn to speak, write, and compose +verses in the Aeolian dialect of the Greek tongue. She had chosen for +her teacher Apollonius, the great grammarian, who was apt to call his +scholars "the dullards;" and the work which was the present object of her +studies was derived from the famous library of the Serapeum, which far +exceeded in completeness that of the Museum since the siege of Julius +Caesar in the Bruchiom, when the great Museum library was burnt. + +Any one observing Balbilla at her occupation could hardly have believed +that she was studying. There was no fixed effort in her eyes or on her +brow; still, she read line for line, not skipping a single word; only she +did it not like a man who climbs a mountain with sweat on his brow, but +like a lounger who walks in the main street of some great city, and is +charmed at every new and strange thing that meets his eye. Each time she +came upon some form of structure in the book she was reading that had +been hitherto unknown to her, she was so delighted that she clapped her +hands and laughed out softly. Her learned master had never before met +with so cheerful a student, and it annoyed him, for to him science was a +serious matter while she seemed to make a joke of it, as she did of every +thing, and so desecrated it in his eyes. After she had been sitting an +hour on the bench, studying in her own way, she rolled up the book and +stood up to refresh herself a little. Feeling sure that no one could see +her, she stretched herself in all her limbs and then stepped up to the +gap in the shrubbery in order to see who a man in boots might be who was +pacing up and down in the broad path beyond. + +It was the praetor--and yet it was not! Verus, under this aspect at any +rate, she had never seen till now. Where was the smile that was wont to +twinkle in his merry eye like the sparkle of a diamond and to play +saucily about his lips--where the unwrinkled serenity of his brow and the +defiantly audacious demeanor of his whole handsome person? He was slowly +striding up and down with a gloomy fire in his eye, a deeply-lined brow, +and his head sunk on his breast: and yet it was not bowed with sorrow. +If so, could he have snapped his fingers in the air as he did just as he +passed in front of Balbilla, as much as to say: "Come what may! to-day I +live and laugh the future in the face!" + +But this vestige of his old reckless audacity did not last longer than +the time it took to part his fingers again, and the next time Verus +passed Balbilla he looked, if possible, more gloomy than before. +Something very unpleasant must have arisen to spoil the good humor of her +friend's husband; and the poetess was sincerely sorry; for, though she +herself had daily to suffer under the praetor's impertinence, she always +forgave it for the sake of the graceful form in which he knew how to +clothe his incivilities. + +Balbilla longed to see Verus content once more, and she therefore came +forth from her hiding place. As soon as he saw her he altered the +expression of his features and cried out as brightly as ever: + +"Welcome, fairest of the fair!" + +She made believe not to recognize him, but, as she passed him and bowed +her curly head, she said gravely and in deep tones: + +"Good day to you, Timon." + +"Timon?" he asked, taking her hand. + +"Ah! is it you, Verus?" she answered, as though surprised. "I thought +the Athenian misanthrope had quitted Hades and come to take the air in +this garden." + +"You thought rightly," replied the praetor. "But when Orpheus sings the +trees dance, the Muse can turn dull, motionless stones into a Bacchante, +and when Balbilla appears Timon is at once transformed into the happy +Verus." + +"The miracle does not astonish me," laughed the girl. "But is it +permitted to ask what dark spirit so effectually produced the contrary +result, and made a Timon of the fair Lucilla's happy husband?" + +"I ought rather to beware of letting you see the monster, or our joyous +muse Balbilla might easily become the sinister Hecate. But the malicious +sprite is close at hand, for he is hidden in this little roll." + +"A document from Caesar?" + +"Oh! no, only a letter from a Jew." + +"Possibly the father of some fair daughter!" + +"Wrongly guessed--as wrong as possible!" + +"You excite my curiosity." + +"Mine has already been satisfied by this roll. Horace is wise when he +says that man should never trouble himself about the future." + +"An oracle!" + +"Something of the kind." + +"And can that darken this lovely morning to you? Did you ever see me +melancholy? Yet my future is threatened by a prophecy--such a hideous +prophecy." + +"The fate of men is different to the destiny of women." + +"Would you like to hear what was prophesied of me?" + +"What a question!" + +"Listen then; the saying I will repeat to you came to me from no less an +oracle than the Delphic Pythia: + + "'That which thou boldest most precious and dear + Shall be torn from thy keeping, + And from the heights of Olympus, + Down shalt thou fall in the dust.'" + +"Is that all?" + +"Nay--two consolatory lines follow." + +"And they are--?" + + "Still the contemplative eye + Discerns under mutable sand drifts + Stable foundations of stone, + Marble and natural rock." + +"And you are inclined to complain of this oracle?" + +"Is it so pleasant to have to wade through dust? We have enough of that +intolerable nuisance here in Egypt--or am I to be delighted at the +prospect of hurting my feet on hard stones?" + +"And what do the interpreters say?" + +"Only silly nonsense." + +"You have never found the right one; but I--I see the meaning of the +oracle." + +"You?" + +"Ay, I! The stern Balbilla will at last descend from the lofty Olympus +of her high-anti-mightiness and no longer disdain that immutable +foundation-rock, the adoration of her faithful Verus." + +"That foundation--that rock!" laughed the girl. "I should think it as +well advised to try to walk on the surface of the sea out there as on +that rock!" + +"Only try." + +"It is not necessary; Lucilla has made the experiment for me. Your +interpretation is wrong; Caesar gave me a far better one." + +"What was that?" + +"That I should give up writing poetry and devote myself to strict +scientific studies. He advised me to try astronomy." + +"Astronomy," repeated Verus, growing graver. Farewell, fair one; I +must go to Caesar!" + +"We were with him yesterday at Lochias. How everything is changed there! +The pretty little gate house is gone, there is nothing more to be seen of +all the cheerful bustle of builders and artists, and what were gay +workshops are turned into dull, commonplace halls. The screens in the +hall of the Muses had to go a week ago, and with them the young scatter- +brain who set himself against my curls with so much energy that I was on +the point of sacrificing them--" + +"Without them you would no longer be Balbilla," cried Verus eagerly. +"The artist condemns all that is not permanently beautiful, but we are +glad to see any thing that is graceful, and can find pleasure in it with +the other children of the time. The sculptor may dress his goddesses +after the fashion of graver days and the laws of his art, but mortal +women--if he is wise--after the fashion of the day. However, I am +heartily sorry for that clever, genial young fellow. He has offended +Caesar and was turned out of the palace, and now he is nowhere to be +found." + +"Oh!" cried Balbilla, full of regret, "poor man--and such a fine fellow! +And my bust? we must seek him out. If the opportunity offers I will +entreat Caesar--" + +"Hadrian will hear nothing about him. Pollux has offended him deeply." + +"From whom do you know that?" + +"From Antinous." + +"We saw him, too, only yesterday," cried Balbilla, eagerly. + +"If ever a man was permitted to wear the form of a god among mortals, it +is he." + +"Romantic creature!" + +"I know no one who could look upon him with indifference. He is a +beautiful dreamer, and the trace of suffering which we observed yesterday +in his countenance is probably nothing more than the outward expression +of that obscure regret, felt by all that is perfect, for the joy of +development and conscious ripening into an incarnation of the ideal in +its own kind, of which he is an instance in himself." + +The poetess spoke the last words in a rapt tone, as if the form of a god +was then and there before her eyes. Verus had listened to her with a +smile, but now he interrupted her, and, holding up a warning finger, he +said: + +"Poetess, philosopher, and sweetest maiden, beware of descending from +your Olympus for the sake of this boy! When imagination and dreaminess +meet half-way they make a pair which float in the clouds and never even +suspect the existence of that firmer ground of which your oracle speaks." + +"Nonsense," said Balbilla crossly. "Before we can fall in love with a +statue, Prometheus must animate it with a soul and fire from heaven." + +"But often," retorted the praetor, "Eros proves to be a substitute for +that unhappy friend of the gods." + +"The true or the sham Eros," asked Balbilla testily. + +"Certainly not the sham Eros," replied Verus. "On this occasion he +merely plays the part of a kindly monitor, taking the place of Pontius, +the architect, of whom your worthy matron-companion is so much afraid. +During the tumult of the Dionysiac festival you are reported to have +carried on as grave a discussion as any two gray-bearded philosophers +walking in the Stoa among attentive students." + +"With intelligent men, no doubt, we talk with intelligence!" + +"Aye, and with stupid ones gayly. How much reason have I to be thankful +that I am one of the stupid ones. Farewell, till we meet again, fair +Balbilla," and the praetor hurried off. + +Outside the Caesareum he got into his chariot and set out for Lochias. +The charioteer held the reins, while he himself gazed at the roll in his +hand which contained the result of the calculations of the astrologer, +Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai; and this was certainly likely enough to disturb +the cheerfulness of the most reckless of men. + +When, during the night which preceded the praetor's birthday, the Emperor +should study the heavens with special reference to the position of the +stars at his birth, he would find that, as far as till the end of the +second hour after midnight all the favorable planets promised Verus a +happy lot, success and distinction. But, with the commencement of the +third hour--so said Ben Jochai--misfortune and death would take +possession of his house of destiny; in the fourth hour his star would +vanish, and anything further that might declare itself in the sky during +that night would have nothing more to do with him, or his destiny. The +Emperor's star would triumph over his. Verus could make out but little +of the signs and calculations in the tables annexed by the Jew, but that +little confirmed what was told in the written statement. + +The praetor's horses carried him swiftly along while he reflected on what +remained for him to do under these unfavorable circumstances, in order +not to be forced to give up entirely the highest goal of his ambition. +If the Rabbi's observations were accurate--and of this Verus did not for +a moment doubt--all his hopes of adoption were at an end in spite of +Sabina's support. How should Hadrian choose for his son and successor a +man who was destined to die before him? How could he, Verus, expect that +Caesar should ally his fortunate star with the fatal star of another +doomed to die? + +These reflections did nothing to help him, and yet he could not escape +from them, till suddenly his charioteer pulled up the horses abruptly by +the side of the footway to make room for a delegation of Egyptian priests +who were going in procession to Lochias. The powerful hand with which +his servant had promptly controlled the fiery spirit of the animals +excited his approbation, and seemed to inspire him to put a clog boldly +on the wheels of speeding fate. When they were no longer detained by the +Egyptian delegates he desired the charioteer to drive slowly, for he +wished to gain time for consideration. + +"Until the third hour after midnight," said he to himself. "all is to go +well; it is not till the fourth hour that signs are to appear in the sky +which are of evil augury for me. Of course the sheep will play round the +dead lion, and the ass will even spurn him with his hoof so long as he is +merely sick. In the short space of time between the third and fourth +hours all the signs of evil are crowded together. They must be visible; +but"--and this "but" brought sudden illumination to the praetor's mind, +"why should Caesar see them?" + +The anxious aspirant's heart beat faster, his brain worked more actively, +and he desired the driver to make a short circuit, for he wanted to gain +yet more time for the ideas that were germinating in his mind to grow and +ripen. + +Verus was no schemer; he walked in at the front door with a free and +careless step, and scorned to climb the backstairs. Only for the +greatest object and aim of his life was he prepared to sacrifice his +inclinations, his comfort and his pride, and to make unhesitating use of +every means at hand. For the sake of that he had already done many +things which he regretted, and the man who steals one sheep out of the +flock is followed by others without intending it. The first degrading +action that a man commits is sure to be followed by a second and a third. +What Verus was now projecting he regarded as being a simple act of self- +defence; and after all, it consisted merely in detaining Hadrian for an +hour, interrupting him in an idle occupation--the observation of the +stars. + +There were two men who might be helpful to him in this matter--Antinous +and the slave Mastor. He first thought of Mastor; but the Sarmatian was +faithfully devoted to his master and could not be bribed. And besides!-- +No! it really was too far beneath him to make common cause with a slave. +But he could count even less on support from Antinous. Sabina hated her +husband's favorite, and for her sake Verus had never met the young +Bithynian on particularly friendly terms. He fancied, too, that he had +observed that the quiet, dreamy lad kept out of his way. It was only by +intimidation, probably, that the favorite could be induced to do him a +service. + +At any rate, the first thing to be done was to visit Lochias and there to +keep a lookout with his eyes wide open. If the Emperor were in a happy +frame of mind he might, perhaps, be induced to appear during the latter +part of the night at the banquet which Verus was giving on the eve of his +birthday, and at which all that was beautiful to the eye and ear was to +be seen and heard; or a thousand favoring and helpful accidents might +occur--and at any rate the Rabbi's forecast furnished him good fortune +for the next few years. + +As he dismounted from his chariot in the newly-paved forecourt and was +conducted to the Emperor's anteroom he looked as bright and free from +care as if the future lay before him sunny and cloudless. + +Hadrian now occupied the restored palace, not as an architect from Rome +but as sovereign of the world; he had shown himself to the Alexandrians +and had been received with rejoicings and an unheard-of display in his +honor. The satisfaction caused by the imperial visit was everywhere +conspicuous and often found expression in exaggerated terms; indeed the +council had passed a resolution to the effect that the month of December, +being that in which the city had had the honor of welcoming the +'Imperator,' should henceforth be called: + +"Hadrianus." The Emperor had to receive one deputation after another and +to hold audience after audience, and on the following morning the +dramatic representations were to begin, the processions and games which +promised to last through many days, or--as Hadrian himself expressed it-- +to rob him of at least a hundred good hours. Notwithstanding, the +monarch found time to settle all the affairs of the state, and at night +to question the stars as to the fate which awaited him and his dominions +during all the seasons of the new year now so close at hand. + +The aspect of the palace at Lochias was entirely changed. In the place +of the gay little gate-house stood a large tent of gorgeous purple stuff, +in which the Emperor's body-guard was quartered, and opposite to it +another was pitched for lictors and messengers. The stables were full of +horses. Hadrian's own horse, Borysthenes, which had had too long a rest, +pawed and stamped impatiently in a separate stall, and close at hand the +Emperor's retrievers, boar-hounds and harriers were housed in hastily- +contrived yards and kennels. + +In the wide space of the first court soldiers were encamped, and close +under the walls squatted men and women--Egyptians, Greeks and Hebrews-- +who desired to offer petitions to the sovereign. Chariots drove in and +out, litters came and went, chamberlains and other officials hurried +hither and thither. The anterooms were crowded with men of the upper +classes of the citizens who hoped to be granted audience by the Emperor +at the proper hour. Slaves, who offered refreshments to those who waited +or stood idly looking on, were to be seen in every room, and official +persons, with rolls of manuscript under their arms, bustled into the +inner rooms or out of the palace to carry into effect the orders of their +superior. + +The hall of the Muses had been turned into a grand banqueting-hall. +Papias, who was now on his way to Italy by the Emperor's command, had +restored the damaged shoulder of the Urania. Couches and divans stood +between the statues, and under a canopy at the upper end of the vast room +stood a throne on which Hadrian sat when he held audience. On these +occasions he always appeared in the purple, but in his writing-room, +which he had not changed for another, he laid aside the imperial mantle +and was no more splendid in his garb than the architect Claudius Venator +had been. + +In the rooms that had belonged to the deceased Keraunus now dwelt an +Egyptian without wife or children--a stern and prudent man who had done +good service as house-steward to the prefect Titianus, and the living- +room of the evicted family now looked dreary and uninhabited. The mosaic +pavement which had indirectly caused the death of Keraunus, was now on +its way to Rome, and the new steward had not thought it worth while to +fill up the empty, dusty, broken-up place which had been left in the +floor of his room by the removal of the work of art, nor even to cover it +over with mats. Not a single cheerful note was audible in the abandoned +dwelling but the twitter of the birds which still came morning and +evening to perch on the balcony, for Arsinoe and the children had never +neglected to strew the parapet with crumbs for them at the end of each +meal. + +All that was gracious, all that was attractive in the old palace had +vanished at Sabina's visit, and even Hadrian himself was a different man +to what he had been a few days previously. The dignity with which he +appeared in public was truly imperial and unapproachable, and even when +he sat with his intimates in his favorite room he was grave, gloomy and +taciturn. The oracle, the stars, and other signs announced some terrible +catastrophe for the coming year with a certainty that he could not evade; +and the few careless days that he had been permitted to enjoy at Lochias +had ended with unsatisfactory occurrences. + +His wife, whose bitter nature struck him in all its repellent harshness +here in Alexandria--where everything assumed sharper outlines and more +accentuated movement than in Rome--had demanded of him boldly that he +should no longer defer the adoption of the praetor. + +He was anxious and unsatisfied; the infinite void in his heart yawned +before him whenever he looked into his soul, and at every glance at the +future of his external life a long course of petty trifles started up +before him which could not fail to stand in the way of his unwearying +impulse to work. Even the vegetative existence of his handsome favorite +Antinous, untroubled as it was by the sorrows or the joys of life, had +undergone a change. The youth was often moody, restless and sad. Some +foreign influences seemed to have affected him, for he was no longer +content to hang about his person like a shadow; no, he yearned for +liberty, had stolen into the city several times, seeking there the +pleasures of his age which formerly he had avoided. + +Nay, a change had even come over his cheerful and willing slave Mastor. +Only his hound remained always the same in unaltered fidelity. + +And he himself? He was the same to-day as ten years since: different +every day and at every hour of the day. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +When Verus entered the palace Hadrian had returned thither but a few +minutes previously from the city. The praetor was conducted through the +reception-rooms to the private apartments, and here he had not long to +wait, for Hadrian wished to speak with him immediately. He found the +sovereign so thoroughly out of tune that he could not think of inviting +him to his banquet. The Emperor restlessly paced the room while Verus +answered his questions as to the latest proceedings of the Senate in +Rome, but he several times interrupted his walk and gazed into the +adjoining room. + +Just as the praetor had concluded his report Argus set up a howl of +delight and Antinous came into the room. Verus at once withdrew into +the window and pretended to be absorbed in looking out on the harbor. + +"Where have you been?" asked the Emperor, disregarding the praetor's +presence. + +"Into the city a little way," was the Bithynian's answer. + +"But you know I cannot bear to miss you when I come home." + +"I thought you would have been longer absent." + +"For the future arrange so that I may be able to find you at whatever +time I may seek you. Tell me, you do not like to see me vexed and +worried?" + +"No, my lord," said the lad and he raised a supplicating hand and looked +beseechingly at his master. + +"Then let it pass. But now for something else; how did this little phial +come into the hands of the dealer Hiram?" As he spoke the Emperor took +from his table the little bottle of Vasa Murrhina which the lad had given +to Arsinoe and which she had sold to the Phoenician, and held it up +before the favorite's eyes. Antinous turned pale, and stammered in great +confusion. "It is incomprehensible--I cannot in the least recollect--" + +"Then I will assist your memory," said the Emperor decidedly. "The +Phoenician appears to me to be an honester man than that rogue Gabinius. +In his collection, which I have just been to see, I found this gem, that +Plotina--do you hear me, boy--that Trajan's wife Plotina, my heart's +friend, never to be forgotten, gave me years ago. It was one of my +dearest possessions and yet I thought it not too precious to give to +you on your last birthday." + +"Oh, my lord, my dear lord!" cried Antinous in a low tone and again +lifting his eyes and hands in entreaty. + +"Now, I ask you," continued Hadrian, gravely, and without allowing +himself to yield to the lad's beseeching looks, "how could this object +have passed into the possession of one of the daughters of the wretched +palace-steward Keraunus from whom Hiram confessed that he had bought it?" + +Antinous vainly strove for utterance; Hadrian however came to his aid by +asking him more angrily than before: + +"Did the girl steal it from you? Out with the truth!" + +"No, no," replied the Bithynian quickly and decidedly. "Certainly not. +I remember--wait a minute--yes, that was it.--You know it contained +excellent balsam, and when the big dog threw down Selene--the steward's +daughter is called Selene--threw her down the steps so that she lay hurt +on the stones I fetched the phial and gave her the balsam." + +"With the bottle that held it?" asked the Emperor looking at Antinous. + +"Yes, my lord--I had no other." + +"And she kept it and sold it at once." + +"You know, of course, her father--" + +"A gang of thieves!" snarled Hadrian. + +"Do you know what has become of the girl?" + +"Yes my lord," said Antinous trembling with alarm. "I will have her +taken by the lictors," asserted the infuriated sovereign. + +"No," said the lad positively. "No, you positively must not do that." + +"No--? we shall see!" + +"No, positively not, for at the same time you must know that Keraunus' +daughter Selene--" + +"Well?" + +"She flung herself into the water in despair; yes, into the water, at +night--into the sea." + +"Oh!" said Hadrian more gently, "that certainly alters the case. The +lictors would find it difficult to apprehend a shade and the girl has +suffered the worst punishment of all.--But you? what shall I say to your +perfidy? You knew the value of the gem. You knew how highly I valued +it, and could part with it to such hands?" + +"It contained the salve," stammered the boy. "How could I think--?" + +The Emperor interrupted the boy, striking his forehead with his hand as +he spoke: + +"Aye, think--we have known unfortunately too long that thinking is not +your strong point. This little bottle has cost me a pretty sum; still, +as it once belonged to you I give it back to you again; I only require +you to take better care of it this time. I shall ask for it again before +long! But in the name of all the gods, boy, what is the matter? Am I so +alarming that a simple question from me is enough to drive all the blood +out of your cheeks? Really and truly, if I had not had the thing from +Plotina I should have left it in the Phoenician's hands and not have made +all this coil about it." + +Antinous went quickly up to the Emperor to kiss his hand, but Hadrian +pressed his lips to his brow with fatherly affection. + +"Simpleton," he said, "if you want me to be pleased with you, you must be +again just what you were before we came to Alexandria. Leave it to +others to do things to vex me. You are created by the gods to delight +me." + +During Hadrian's last words a chamberlain had entered the room to inform +the Emperor that the deputation of the Egyptian priesthood had arrived to +do homage to him. He immediately assumed the purple mantle and proceeded +to the hall of the Muses where, surrounded by his court, he received the +high-priests and spiritual fathers of the different temples of the Nile +Valley, to be hailed by them as the Son of Sun-god, and to assure them +and the religion they cherished his gracious countenance. He vouchsafed +his consent to their prayer that he would add sanctity and happiness to +the temples of the immortals which they served by gracing them with his +presence, but set aside for the moment the question as to which town +might be permitted to have the care of the recently-discovered Apis. + +This audience took up several hours. Verus shirked the duty of attending +it with Titianus and the other dignitaries of the court, and remained +sitting motionless by the window; it was not till Hadrian was gone from +the room that he came forward into it again. He was quite alone, for +Antinous had left the room with the Emperor. The praetor's remaining +behind had not escaped the lad's notice, but he sought to avoid him, for +the domineering, mocking spirit of Verus repelled him. Besides this the +terror which he had gone through, as well as the consciousness that he +had been guilty of a lie and had daringly deceived his kind master, +had upset a soul hitherto untainted by any subterfuge and had +thrown him off his balance. He longed to be alone, for it would have +been keenly painful to him at this moment to discuss indifferent +subjects, or to be forced to affect an easy demeanor. He sat in his +little room, before a table, with his face buried in his hands that +rested on it. + +Verus did not immediately follow him, for he understood what was passing +in his mind and knew that here he could not escape him. In a few minutes +all was still alike in the large room and in the small one. Then the +praetor heard the door between the smaller room and the corridor hastily +opened and immediately the Bithynian's exclamation: + +"At last, Mastor--have you seen Selene?" + +With two long, noiseless steps Verus went close to the door leading into +the adjoining room, and listened for the slave's answer, though a less +sharp ear than that of the praetor might have heard every syllable. + +"How should I have seen her?" asked the Sarmatian sharply. "She is still +suffering and in bed. I gave your flowers to the deformed girl who takes +care of her; but I will not do it again, you may rely upon it, not if you +coax even more fondly than you did yesterday and promise me all Caesar's +treasure into the bargain! And what can you want with that wretched, +pale-faced, innocent creature? I am but a poor slave, but I can tell you +this--" + +Here the Sarmatian broke off abruptly, and Verus rightly guessed that +Antinous had remembered his presence in the Emperor's room and had signed +to the slave to be silent. + +But the listener had learnt enough. The favorite had told his master a +lie, and the suicide of the steward's daughter was a pure romance. Who +would have believed that the silent, dreamy lad had so much presence of +mind, and such cunning powers of invention? The praetor's handsome face +was radiant with satisfaction as he made these reflections, for now he +had the Bithynian under his thumb, and now he knew how to accomplish all +he wished. Antinous himself had indicated the right course when he had +hastened to the Emperor with a gush of tenderness, in which the warmth +was certainly not affected, to kiss his hand. + +The favorite loved his master, and Verus could ground his demands on this +love without exposing himself, or having to dread the Emperor's avenging +hand in case of betrayal. He knocked at the door of the adjoining room +with a firm hand, and then went confidently and composedly up to the +Bithyman, told him that he had an important matter to discuss with him, +begged him to return with him into the Emperor's room and then said, as +soon as they were alone together: + +"I am so unfortunate as not to be able to number you among my particular +friends; but one strong sentiment we have in common. We both love +Caesar." + +"I love him, certainly," replied the lad. + +"Well then, you must have it at heart to spare him all great sorrow, and +to prevent grave apprehensions from paralyzing the pinions of his free +and noble soul." + +"No doubt." + +"I knew I should find a colleague in you. See this roll. It contains +the calculations and diagrams of the greatest astrologer of our time, and +from these it is to be discovered that this night, from the end of the +second hour of the morning till the beginning of the fourth, the stars +will announce fearful disasters to our Sovereign. Do you understand?" + +"Alas! perfectly." + +"After that the indications of evil disappear. Now if we could only +succeed in preventing Hadrian observing the heavens merely during the +third hour after midnight we should preserve him from trouble and +anxiety, which will torment and spoil his life. Who knows whether the +stars may not be? But even if they tell the truth, misfortune, when it +does come, always comes much too soon. Do you agree with me?" + +"Your suggestion sounds a very sensible one--still I think--" + +"It is both sensible and wise," said the praetor, shortly and decidedly, +interrupting the boy. "And it must be your part to hinder Hadrian from +marking the course of the stars from the end of the second to the +beginning of the fourth hour after midnight." + +"My part?" cried Antinous, startled. + +"Yours--for you are the only person who can accomplish it." + +"I?" repeated the Bithynian, greatly perturbed. "I--disturb Caesar in +his observations!" + +"It is your duty." + +"But he never allows any one to disturb him at his studies, and if I were +to attempt it he would be very angry and send me off in no time. No, no, +what you ask is impossible." + +"It is not only possible but imperatively necessary." + +"That it certainly cannot be," replied Antinous, clasping his forehead +in his hand. "Only listen! Hadrian has known for several days past that +some great misfortune threatens him. I heard it from his own lips. If +you know him at all you must know that he gazes at the stars not merely +to rejoice in future happiness, but also to fortify himself against the +disasters which threaten him or the state. What would crush a weaker man +only serves to arm his bold spirit. He can bear all that may befall, and +it would be a crime to deceive him." + +"To cloud his heart and mind would be a greater," retorted Verus. +"Devise some means of taking him away from his star-gazing for only an +hour." + +"I dare not, and even if I wished it, it could not be done. Do you +suppose he follows me whenever I call?" + +"But you know him; invent something which will be sure to make him come +down from his watchtower." + +"I cannot invent or think of any thing." + +"Nothing?" asked Verus, going close tip to the Bithynian. "You just now +gave striking proof to the contrary." + +Antinous turned pale and the praetor went on: + +"When you wanted to rescue the fair Selene from the lictors your swift +invention threw her into the sea!" + +"She did throw herself in, as truly as that the gods--" + +"Stay, stay," cried the praetor. "No perjury, at least! Selene is +living, you send her flowers, and if I should think proper to conduct +Hadrian to the house of Paulina--" + +"Oh!" cried Antinous lamentably enough, and grasping the Roman's hand. +"You will not--you can not. Oh Verus! you will not do that." + +"Simpleton," laughed the praetor, slapping the alarmed youth lightly on +the shoulder. "What good could it do me to ruin you? I have only one +thing at heart just now, and that is to save Caesar from care and +anxiety. Keep him occupied only during the third hour after midnight and +you may count on my friendship; but if out of fear or ill-will you refuse +me your assistance you do not deserve your sovereign's favor and then you +will compel me--" + +"No more, no more!" cried Antinous interrupting his tormentor in despair. + +"Then you promise me to carry out my wish?" + +"Yes, by Hercules! Yes, what you require shall be done. But eternal +gods! how am I to get Caesar--" + +"That, my young friend, I leave with perfect confidence to you and your +shrewdness." + +"I am not shrewd--I can devise nothing," groaned the lad. + +"What you could do out of terror of your master you can do still better +for love of him," retorted the praetor. "The problem is an easy one; and +if after all you should not succeed I shall feel it no less than my duty +to explain to Hadrian how well Antinous can take care of his own +interests and how badly of his master's peace of mind. Till to-morrow, +my handsome friend--and if for the future you have flowers to send, my +slaves are quite at your service." + +With these words the praetor left the room, but Antinous stood like one +crushed, pressing his brow against the cold porphyry pillar by the +window. What Verus required of him did not seem to have any harm in it, +and yet it was not right. It was treason to his noble master, whom he +loved with tender devotion as a father, a wise, kind friend, and +preceptor, and whom he reverenced and feared as though he were a god. +To plot to hide impending trouble from him, as if he were not a man but a +feeble weakling, was absurd and contemptible, and must introduce an error +of unknown importance and extent into his sovereign's far-seeing +predeterminations. Many other reasons against the praetor's demands +crowded on him, and as each occurred to his mind he cursed his tardy +spirit which never let him see or think the right thing till it was too +late. His first deceit had already involved him in a second. + +He hated himself; he hit his forehead with his fists and sobbed aloud +bitterly again and again, though he shed no tears. Still, in the midst +of his self-accusation, the flattering voice made itself heard in his +soul: "It is only to preserve your master from sorrow, and it is nothing +wrong that you are asked to do." And each time that his inward ear heard +these words he began to puzzle his brain to discover in what way it might +be possible for him to tempt the Emperor, at the hour named, down from +his watch-tower in the palace. But he could hit on no practicable plan. + +"It cannot be done, no--it cannot be done!" he muttered to himself and +then he asked himself if it were not even his duty to defy the praetor +and to confess to Hadrian that he had deceived him in the morning. If +only it had not been for the little bottle! Could he ever confess that +he had heedlessly parted with this gift of all others from his master? +No, it was too hard, it might cost him his sovereign's affection for +ever. And if he contented himself with a half-truth and confessed, +merely to anticipate the praetor's accusation, that Selene was still +living, then he would involve the daughters of the hapless Keraunus in +persecution and disgrace Selene whom he loved with all the devotion of a +first passion, which was enhanced and increased by the hindrances that +had come in its way. It was impossible to confess his guilt-quite +impossible. The longer he thought, tormenting himself to find some way +out of it all, the more confused he became, and the more impotent his +efforts at resistance. The praetor had entangled him with thongs and +meshes, and at every struggle to escape they only seemed knotted more +closely round him. + +His head began to ache sadly; and what an endless time Caesar was absent! +He dreaded his return, and yet he longed for it. When at last Hadrian +came in and signed to Master to relieve him of his imperial robes, +Antinous slipped behind him, and silently and carefully fulfilled the +slave's office. He felt uneasy and worried, and yet he forced himself to +appear in good spirits during supper when he had to sit opposite the +Emperor. + +When, shortly before midnight, Hadrian rose from the table to go up to +the watch-tower on the northern side of the palace, Antinous begged to be +allowed to carry his instruments for him, and the Emperor, stroking his +hair, said kindly: + +"You are my dear and faithful companion. Youth has a right to go astray +now and then so long as it does not entirely forget the path in which it +ought to tread." + +Antinous was deeply touched by these words, and he secretly pressed to +his lips a fold of the Emperor's toga as he walked in front. It was as +though he wanted to make amends in advance for the crime he had not yet +committed. + +Wrapped in his cloak he kept the Emperor silent company during his +studies, till the close of the first hour after midnight. The sharp, +north wind which blew through the darkness did his aching head good, and +still he racked his wits for some pretext to attract Hadrian from his +labors, but in vain. His tormented brain was like a dried-up well; +bucket after bucket did he send down, but not one brought up the +refreshing draught he needed. Nothing--nothing could he think of that +could conduce to his end. Once he plucked up courage and said +imploringly as he went close up to the Emperor: "Go down earlier to-night +my lord; you really do not allow yourself enough rest and will injure +your health." + +Hadrian let him speak, and answered kindly: + +"I sleep in the morning. If you are tired, go to bed now." + +But Antinous remained, gazing, like his master, at the stars. He knew +very few of the brilliant bodies by their names, but some of them were +very dear to him, particularly the Pleiades which his father had pointed +out to him and which reminded him of his home. There he had been so +quiet and happy, and how wildly his anxious heart was throbbing now! + +"Go to bed, the second hour is beginning," said Hadrian. + +"Already!" said the boy; and as he reflected how soon that must be done +which Verus had required of him, and then looked up again at the heavens, +it seemed to him as though all the stars in the blue vault over his head +had glided from their places and were dancing in wild and whirling +confusion between the sky and the sea. He closed his eyes in his +bewilderment; then, bidding his master good-night he lighted a torch and +by its flaring and doubtful light descended from the tower. + +Pontius had erected this slight structure expressly for Hadrian's nightly +observations. It was built of timber and Nile-mud and stood up as a tall +turret on the secure foundation of an ancient watch-tower built of hewn +stone, which, standing among the low buildings that served as storehouses +for the palace, commanded a free outlook over all the quarters of the +sky. Hadrian, who liked to be alone and undisturbed when observing the +heavens, had preferred this erection--even after he had made himself +known to the Alexandrians--to the great observatory of the Serapeum, from +which a still broader horizon was visible. + +After Antinous had got out of the smaller and newer tower into the larger +and older one he sat down on one of the lowest steps to collect his +thoughts and to quiet his loudly-beating heart. His vain cogitations +began all over again. Time slipped on-between the present moment and the +deed to be done there were but a certain number of minutes. He told +himself so, and his weary brain stirred more actively, suggesting to him +to feign illness and bring the Emperor to his bedside. But Hadrian was +physician enough to see that he was well, and even if he should allow +himself to be deceived, he, Antinous, was a deceiver. This thought +filled him with horror of himself and with dread for the future, and yet +it was the only plan that gave any hope of success. And even when he +sprang to his feet and walked hastily up and down among the out-houses +he could hit upon no other scheme. And how fast the minutes flew! The +third hour after midnight must be quite close at hand, and he had +scarcely left himself time to rush back into the palace, throw himself on +his couch, and call Mastor. Quite bewildered with agitation and +tottering like a drunken man he hastened back into the old tower where he +had left his torch leaning against the wall and looked up the stone +stairs; it suddenly flashed through his mind that he might go up again +to fling himself down them. What did he care for his miserable life. + +His fall, his cry, would bring the Emperor down from his observatory and +he knew that he would not leave his bleeding favorite uncared for and +untended he could count upon that. And if then Hadrian watched by his +bed it would be that, perhaps, of a dying man, but not of a deceiver. +Fully determined on extreme measures, he tightened the girdle which held +his chiton above his hips and once more went out into the night to judge +by the stars what hour it was. He saw the slender sickle of the waning +moon-the same moon which at the full had been mirrored in the sea when he +had gone into the water to save Selene. The image of the pale girl rose +before him, tangibly distinct. He felt as if he held her once more in +his arms--saw her once more lying on her bed-could once more press his +lips to her cold brow. Then the vision vanished; instead he was +possessed by a wild desire to see her, and he said to himself that he +could not die without having seen her once more. + +He looked about him in indecision. Before him lay one of the largest of +the storehouses that surrounded the tower. With his torch in one hand he +went in at the open door. In the large shed lay the chests and cases, +the hemp, linseed, straw and matting that had been used in packing the +vessels and works of art with which the palace had been newly furnished. +This he knew; and now, looking up at the stars once more and seeing that +the second hour after midnight had almost run to an end, a fearful +thought flashed through his mind, and without daring to consider, he +flung the torch into the open shed, crammed to the roof with inflammable +materials, and stood motionless, with his arms crossed, to watch through +the door of the shed the rapidly spreading flame, the soaring smoke, the +struggle and mingling of the noiseless wreaths of black vapor from the +various combustibles with the ruddy light, the victory of the fire and +the leaping flames as they flew upward. + +The roof, thatched with palm-leaves and reeds, had begun to crackle when +Antinous rushed into the tower only a few paces off crying: "Fire--fire!" +and up the stairs which led to the observatory of the imperial stargazer. + + + + + +THE EMPEROR, Part 2. + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 9. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +The entertainment which Verus was giving on the eve of his birthday +seemed to be far from drawing to an end, even at the beginning of the +third hour of the morning. Besides the illustrious and learned Romans +who had accompanied the Emperor to Alexandria, the most famous and +distinguished Alexandrians had also been invited by the praetor. The +splendid banquet had long been ended, but jar after jar of mixed wine was +still being filled and emptied. Verus himself had been unanimously +chosen as the king and leader of the feast. Crowned with a rich garland, +he reclined on a couch strewn with rose-leaves, an invention of his own, +and formed of four cushions piled one on another. A curtain of +transparent gauze screened him from flies and gnats, and a tightly-woven +mat of lilies and other flowers covered his feet and exhaled sweet odors +for him and for the pretty singer who sat by his side. + +Pretty boys dressed as little cupids watched every sign of the 'sham +Eros.' + +How indolently he lay on the deep, soft cushions! And yet his eyes were +every where, and though he had not failed to give due consideration to +the preparations for his feast, he devoted all the powers of his mind to +the present management of it. As at the entertainments which Hadrian was +accustomed to give in Rome, first of all short selections from new essays +or poems were recited by their authors, then a gay comedy was performed; +then Glycera, the most famous singer in the city, had sung a dithyramb to +her harp, in a voice as sweet as a bell, and Alexander, a skilled +performer on the trigonon, had executed a piece. Finally a troop of +female dancers had rushed into the room and swayed and balanced +themselves to the music of the double-flute and tambourine. + +Each fresh amusement had been more loudly applauded than the last. With +every jar of wine a new torrent of merriment went up through the opening +in the roof, by which the scent of the flowers and of the perfume burnt +on beautiful little altars found an exit into the open air. The wine +offered in libations to the gods already lay in broad pools upon the hard +pavement of the hall, the music and singing were drowned in shouts the +feast had become an orgy. + +Verus was inciting the more quiet or slothful of his guests to a freer +enjoyment and encouraging the noisiest in their extravagant recklessness +to still more unbridled license. At the same time he bowed to each one +who drank to his health, entertained the singer who sat by his side, +flung a sparkling jest into one and another silent group, and proved to +the learned men who reclined on their couches near to his that whenever +it was possible he took an interest in their discussions. Alexandria, +the focus of all the learning of the East and the West, had seen other +festivals than this riotous banquet. Indeed, even here a vein of grave +and wise discourse flavored the meal of the circle that belonged to the +Museum; but the senseless revelry of Rome had found its way into the +houses of the rich, and even the noblest achievements of the human mind +had been made, unawares, subservient to mere enjoyment. A man was a +philosopher only that he might be prompt to discuss and always ready to +take his share in the talk; and at a banquet a well-told anecdote was +more heartily welcome than some profound idea that gave rise to a +reflection or provoked a subtle discussion. + +What a noise, what a clatter was storming in the hall by the second hour +after midnight! How the lungs of the feasters were choked with +overpowering perfumes! What repulsive exhibitions met the eye! How +shamelessly was all decency trodden under foot! The poisonous breath of +unchecked license had blasted the noble moderation of the vapor of wine +which floated round this chaos of riotous topers slowly rose the pale +image of Satiety watching for victims on the morrow. + +The circle of couches on which lay Florus, Favorinus and their +Alexandrian friends stood like an island in the midst of the surging sea +of the orgy. Even here the cup had been bravely passed round, and Florus +was beginning to speak somewhat indistinctly, but conversation had +hitherto had the upper hand. + +Two days before, the Emperor had visited the Museum and had carried on +learned discussions with the most prominent of the sages and professors +there, in the presence of their assembled disciples. At last a formal +disputation had arisen, and the dialectic keenness and precision with +which Hadrian, in the purest Attic Greek, had succeeded in driving his +opponents into a corner had excited the greatest admiration. The +Sovereign had quitted the famous institution with a promise to reopen the +contest at an early date. The philosophers, Pancrates and Dionysius and +Apollonius, who took no wine at all, were giving a detailed account of +the different phases of this remarkable disputation and praising the +admirable memory and the ready tongue of the great monarch. + +"And you did not even see him at his best," exclaimed Favorinus, the +Gaul, the sophist and rhetorician. "He has received an unfavorable +oracle and the stars seem to confirm the prophecy. This puts him out +of tune. Between ourselves let me tell you I know a few who are his +superiors in dialectic, but in his happiest moments he is irresistible- +irresistible. Since we made up our quarrel he is like a brother to me. +I will defend him against all comers, for, as I say, Hadrian is my +brother." + +The Gaul had poured out this speech in a defiant tone and with flashing +eyes. He grew pale in his cups, touchy, boastful and very talkative. + +"No doubt you are right," replied Apollonius, "but it seemed to us that +he was bitter in discussion. His eyes are gloomy rather than gay." + +"He is my brother," repeated Favorinus, "and as for his eyes, I have seen +them flash--by Hercules! like the radiant sun, or merry twinkling stars! +And his mouth! I know him well! He is my brother, and I will wager that +while he condescended--it is too comical--condescended to dispute with +you--with you, there was a sly smile at each corner of his mouth--so-- +look now--like this he smiled." + +"I repeat, he seemed to us gloomy rather than gay," retorted Apollonius, +with annoyance; and Pancrates added: + +"If he does really know how to jest he certainly did not prove it to us." + +"Not out of ill-will," laughed the Gaul, "you do not know him, but I--I +am his friend and may follow wherever--he goes. Now only wait and I will +tell you a few stories about him. If I chose I could describe his whole +soul to you as if it lay there on the surface of the wine in my cup. +Once in Rome he went to inspect the newly-decorated baths of Agrippa, and +in the undressing-room he saw an old man, a veteran who had fought with +him somewhere or other. My memory is greatly admired, but his is in no +respect inferior. Scaurus was the old man's name--yes--yes, Scaurus. +He did not observe Caesar at first, for after his bath his wounds were +burning and he was rubbing his back against the rough stone of a pillar. +Hadrian however called to him: 'Why are you scratching yourself, my +friend?' and Scaurus, not at once recognizing Caesar's voice, answered +without turning round: 'Because I have no slave to do it for me.' You +should have heard Caesar laugh! Liberal as he is sometimes--I say +sometimes--he gave Scaurus a handsome sum of money and two sturdy slaves. +The story soon got abroad, and when Caesar, who--as you believe--cannot +jest, a short time after again visited the bath, two old soldiers at once +placed themselves in his way, scrubbed their backs against the wall like +Scaurus, and called out to him 'Great Caesar, we have no slaves.'--'Then +scratch each other,' cried he, and left the soldiers to rub themselves." + +"Capital!" laughed Dionysius. +"Now one more true story," interrupted the loquacious Gaul. "Once upon +a time a man with white hair begged of him. The wretch was a low fellow, +a parasite who wandered round from one man's table to another, feeding +himself out of other folks' wallets and dishes. Caesar knew his man and +warned him off. Then the creature had his hair dyed that he might not be +recognized, and tried his luck a second time with the Emperor. But +Hadrian has good eyes; he pointed to the door, saying, with the gravest +face: 'I have just lately refused to give your father anything.' And a +hundred such jokes pass from mouth to mouth in Rome, and if you like I +can give you a dozen of the best." + +"Tell us, go on, out with your stories. They are all old friends!" +stammered Florus. "But while Favorinus chatters we can drink." + +The Gaul cast a contemptuous glance at the Roman, and answered promptly: + +"My stories are too good for a drunken man." + +Florus paused to think of an answer, but before he could find one, the +praetor's body-slave rushed into the hall crying out: "The palace at +Lochias is on fire." + +Verus kicked the mat of lilies off his feet on to the floor, tore down +the net that screened him in, and shouted to the breathless runner. + +"My chariot-quick, my chariot! To our next merry meeting another evening +my friends, with many thanks for the honor you have done me. I must be +off to Lochias." + +Verus flew out of the hall, without throwing on his cloak and hot as he +was, into the cold night, and at the same time most of his guests had +started up to hurry into the open air, to see the fire and to hear the +latest news; but only very few went to the scene of the conflagration to +help the citizens to extinguish it, and many heavily intoxicated drinkers +remained lying on the couches. + +As Favorinus and the Alexandrians raised themselves on their pillows +Florus cried: + +"No god shall make me stir from this place, not if the whole house is +burnt down and Alexandria and Rome, and for aught I care every nest and +nook on the face of the earth. It may all burn together. The Roman +Empire can never be greater or more splendid than under Caesar! It may +burn down like a heap of straw, it is all the same to me--I shall lie +here and drink." + +The turmoil and confusion on the scene of the interrupted feast seemed +inextricable, while Verus hurried off to Sabina to inform her of what had +occurred. But Balbilla had been the first to discover the fire and quite +at the beginning, for after sitting industriously at her studies, and +before going to bed, she had looked out toward the sea. She had instantly +run out, cried "Fire!" and was now seeking for a chamberlain to awake +Sabina. + +The whole of Lochias flared and shone in a purple and golden glow. It +formed the nucleus of a wide spreading radiance of tender red of which +the extent and intensity alternately grew and diminished. Verus met +the poetess at the door that led from the garden into the Empress' +apartments. He omitted on this occasion to offer his customary greeting, +but hastily asked her: + +"Has Sabina been told?" + +"I think not yet." + +"Then have her called. Greet her from me--I must go to Lochias" + +"We will follow you." + +"No, stay here; you will be in the way there." + +"I do not take much room and I shall go. What a magnificent spectacle." + +"Eternal gods! the flames are breaking out too below the palace, by the +King's harbor. Where can the chariots be?" + +"Take me with you." + +"No you must wake the Empress." + +"And Lucilla?" + +"You women must stay where you are." + +"For my part I certainly will not. Caesar will be in no danger?" + +"Hardly--the old stones cannot burn." + +"Only look! how splendid! the sky is one crimson tent. I entreat you, +Verus, let me go with you." + +"No, no, pretty one. Men are wanted down there." + +"How unkind you are." + +"At last! here are the chariots! You women stay here; do you understand +me?" + +"I will not take any orders; I shall go to Lochias." + +"To see Antinous in the flames! such a sight is not to be seen every +day, to be sure!" cried Verus, ironically, as he sprang into his +chariot, and took the reins into his own hand. + +Balbilla stamped with rage. + +She went to Sabina's rooms fully resolved to go to the scene of the fire. +The Empress would not let herself be seen by any one, not even by +Balbilla, till she was completely dressed. A waiting-woman told Balbilla +that Sabina would get up certainly, but that for the sake of her health +she could not venture out in the night-air. + +The poetess then sought Lucilla and begged her to accompany her to +Lochias; she was perfectly willing and ready, but when she heard that her +husband had wished that the women should remain at the Caesareum she +declared that she owed him obedience and tried to keep back her friend. +But the perverse curly-haired girl was fully determined, precisely +because Verus had forbidden her--and forbidden her with mocking words, to +carry out her purpose. After a short altercation with Lucilla she left +her, sought her companion Claudia, told her what she intended doing, +dismissed that lady's remonstrance with a very positive command, gave +orders herself to the house-steward to have horses put to a chariot and +reached the imperilled palace an hour and a half after Verus. + +An endless, many-headed crowd of people besieged the narrow end of +Lochias on the landward side and the harbor wharves below, where some +stores and shipyards were in flames. Boats innumerable were crowded +round the little peninsula. An attempt was being made, with much +shouting, and by the combined exertions of an immense number of men, to +get the larger ships afloat which lay at anchor close to the quay of the +King's harbor and to place them in security. Every thing far and wide +was lighted up as brightly as by day, but with a ruddier and more +restless light. The north-east breeze fanned the fire, aggravating the +labors of the men who were endeavoring to extinguish it and snatching +flakes of flame off every burning mass. Each blazing storehouse was a +gigantic torch throwing a broad glare into the darkness of the night. +The white marble of the tallest beacon tower in the world, on the island +of Pharos, reflected a rosy hue, but its far gleaming light shone pale +and colorless. The dark hulls of the larger ships and the flotilla of +boats in the background were afloat in a fiery sea, and the still water +under the shore mirrored the illumination in which the whole of Lochias +was wrapped. + +Balbilla could not tire of admiring this varying scene, in which the most +gorgeous hues vied with each other and the intensest light contrasted +with the deepest shadows. And she had ample time to dwell on the +marvellous picture before her eyes, for her chariot could only proceed +slowly, and at a point where the street led up from the King's harbor to +the palace, lictors stood in her way and declared positively that any +farther advance was out of the question. The horses, much scared by the +glare of the fire and the crowd that pressed round them, could hardly be +controlled, first rearing and then kicking at the front board of the +chariot. The charioteer declared he could no longer be answerable. The +people who had hurried to the rescue now began to abuse the women, who +ought to have staid at home at the loom rather than come stopping the way +for useful citizens. + +"There is time enough to go out driving by daylight!" cried one man; and +another: "If a spark falls in those curls another conflagration will +break out." + +The position of the ladies was becoming every instant more unendurable +and Balbilla desired the charioteer to turn round; but in the swarming +mass of men that filled the street this was easier said than done. One +of the horses broke the strap which fastened the yoke that rested on his +withers to the pole, started aside and forced back the crowd which now +began to scold and scream loudly. Balbilla wanted to spring out of the +chariot, but Claudia clung tightly to her and conjured her not to leave +her in the lurch in the midst of the danger. The spoilt patrician's +daughter was not timid, but on this occasion she would have given much +not to have followed Verus. At first she thought, "A delightful +adventure! still, it will not be perfect till it is over." But presently +her bold experiment lost every trace of charm, and repentance that she +had ever undertaken it filled her mind. She was far nearer weeping than +laughing already, when a man's deep voice said behind her, in tones of +commanding decision: + +"Make way there for the pumps; push aside whatever stops the way." + +These terrible words reduced Claudia to sinking on to her knees, but +Balbilla's quelled courage found fresh wings as she heard them, for she +had recognized the voice of Pontius. Now he was close behind the +chariot, high on a horse. He then was the man on horseback whom she had +seen dashing from the sea-shore up to the higher storehouses that were +burning, down to the lake, and hither and thither. + +She turned full upon him and called him by his name. He recognized her, +tried to pull up his horse as it was dashing forward, and smilingly shook +his head at her, as much as to say: "She is a giddy creature and deserves +a good scolding; but who could be angry with her?" And then he gave his +orders to his subordinates just as if she had been a mere chattel, a bale +of goods or something of the kind, and not an heiress of distinction. + +"Take out the horses," he cried to the municipal guards; "we can use them +for carrying water."--"Help the ladies out of the chariot."--"Take them +between you Nonnus and Lucanus."--"Now, stow the chariot in there among +the bushes."--"Make way there in front, make way for our pumps." And +each of these orders was obeyed as promptly as if it was the word of +command given by a general to his well-drilled soldiers. + +After the pumps had been fairly started Pontius rode close up to Balbilla +and said: + +"Caesar is safe and sound. You no doubt wished to see the progress of +the fire from a spot near it, and in fact the colors down there are +magnificent. I have not time to escort you back to the Caesareum; but +follow me. You will be safe in the harbor-guard's stone house, and from +the roof you can command a view of Lochias and the whole peninsula. You +will have a rare feast for the eye, noble Balbilla; but I beg you not to +forget at the same time how many days of honest labor, what rich +possessions, how many treasures earned by bitter hardship are being +destroyed at this moment. What may delight you will cost bitter tears to +many others, and so let us both hope that this splendid spectacle may now +have reached its climax, and soon may come to an end." + +"I hope so--I hope it with all my heart!" cried the girl. + +"I was sure you would. As soon as possible I will come to look after +you. You Nonnus and Lucanus, conduct these noble ladies to the harbor- +guard's house. + +"Tell him they are intimate friends of the Empress. Only keep the pumps +going! Till we meet again Balbilla!" and with these words the architect +gave his horse the bridle and made his way through the crowd. + +A quarter of an hour later Balbilla was standing on the roof of the +little stone guard-house. Claudia was utterly exhausted and incapable of +speech. She sat in the dark little parlor below on a rough-hewn wooden +bench. But the young Roman now gazed at the fire with different eyes +than before. Pontius had made her feel a foe to the flames which only a +short time before had filled her with delight as they soared up to the +sky, wild and fierce. They still flared up violently, as though they had +to climb above the roof; but soon they seemed to be quelled and +exhausted, to find it more and more difficult to rise above the black +smoke which welled up from the burning mass. Balbilla had looked out for +the architect and had soon discovered him, for the man on horseback +towered above the crowd. He halted now by one and now by another burning +storehouse. Once she lost sight of him for a whole hour, for he had gone +to Lochias. Then again he reappeared, and wherever he stayed for a +while, the raging element abated its fury. + +Without her having perceived it, the wind had changed and the air had +become still and much warmer. This circumstance favored the efforts of +the citizens trying to extinguish the fire, but Balbilla ascribed it to +the foresight of her clever friend when the flames subsided in souse +places and in others were altogether extinguished. Once she saw that he +had a building completely torn down which divided a burning granary from +some other storehouses that had been spared, and she understood the +object of this order; it cut off the progress of the flames. Another +time she saw him high on the top of a rise in the ground. Close before +him in a sheet of flame was a magazine in which were kept tow and casks +of resin and pitch. He turned his face full towards it and gave his +orders, now on this side, now on that. His figure and that of his horse, +which reared uneasily beneath him, were flooded in a crimson glow--a +splendid picture! She trembled for him, she gazed in admiration at this +calm, resolute, energetic man, and when a blazing beam fell close in +front of him and after his frightened horse had danced round and round +with him, he forced it to submit to his guidance, the praetor's +insinuation recurred to her mind, that she clung to her determination +to go to Lochias because she hoped to enjoy the spectacle of Antinous in +the flames. Here, before her, was a nobler display, and yet her lively +imagination which often, sometimes indeed against her will, gave shape to +her formless thoughts--called up the image of the beautiful youth +surrounded by the glowing glory which still painted the horizon. + +Hour after hour slipped by; the efforts of the thousands who endeavored +to extinguish the blaze were crowned by increasing success; one burning +mass after another was quenched, if not extinguished, and instead of +flames smoke, mingled with sparks, rose from Lochias blacker and blacker- +and still Pontius came not to look after her. She could not see any +stars for the sky was overcast with clouds, but the beginning of a new +day could not be far distant. She was shivering with cold, and her +friend's long absence began to annoy her. When, presently, it began to +rain in large drops, she went down the ladder that led from the roof and +sat down by the fire in the little room where her companion had gone fast +asleep. + +She had been sitting quite half an hour and gazing dreamily into the +warming glow, when she heard the sound of hoofs and Pontius appeared. +His face was begrimed, and his voice hoarse with shouting commands for +hours. As soon as she saw him Balbilla forgot her vexation, greeted him +warmly, and told him how she had watched his every movement; but the +eager girl, so readily fired to enthusiasm, could only with the greatest +difficulty bring out a few words to express the admiration that his mode +of proceeding had so deeply excited in her mind. + +She heard him say that his mouth was quite parched and his throat was +longing for a draught of some drink, and she--who usually had every pin +she needed handed to her by a slave, and on whom fate had bestowed no +living creature whom she could find a pleasure in serving--she, with her +own hand dipped a cup of water out of the large clay jar that stood in a +corner of the room and offered it to him with a request that he would +drink it. He eagerly swallowed the refreshing fluid, and when the little +cup was empty Balbilla took it from his hand, refilled it, and gave it +him again. + +Claudia, who woke up when the architect came in, looked on at her foster- +child's unheard-of proceedings with astonishment, shaking her head. When +Pontius had drained the third cupful that Balbilla fetched for him he +exclaimed, drawing a deep breath: + +"That was a drink--I never tasted a better in the whole course of my +life." + +"Muddy water out of a nasty earthen pitcher!" answered the girl. + +"And it tasted better than wine from Byblos out of a golden goblet." + +"You had honestly earned the refreshment, and thirst gives flavor to the +humblest liquor." + +"You forget the hand that gave it me," replied the architect warmly. + +Balbilla colored and looked at the floor in confusion, but presently +raised her face and said, as gayly and carelessly as ever: + +"So that you have been deliciously refreshed; and now that is done you +will go home and the poor thirsty soul will once more become the great +architect. But before that happens, pray inform us what god it was that +brought you hither from Pelusium in the very nick of time when the fire +broke out, and how matters look now in the palace at Lochias?" + +"My time is short," replied Pontius, and he then rapidly told her that, +after he had finished his work at Pelusium, he had returned to Alexandria +with the imperial post. As he got out of the chariot at the post-house +he observed the reflection of fire over the sea and was immediately after +told by a slave that it was the palace that was burning. There were +horses in plenty at the post-house; he had chosen a strong one and had +got to the spot before the crowd had collected. How the fire had +originated, so far remained undiscovered. "Caesar," he said, "was in the +act of observing the heavens when a flame broke out in a store-shed close +to the tower. Antinous was the first to detect it, cried 'Fire,' and +warned his master. I found Hadrian in the greatest agitation; he charged +me to superintend the work of rescuing all that could be saved. At +Lochias. Verus helped me greatly and indeed with so much boldness and +judgment that I owe very much to him. Caesar himself kept his favorite +within the palace, for the poor fellow burned both his hands." + +"Oh!" cried Balbilla with eager regret. "How did that happen?" + +"When Hadrian and Antinous first came down from the tower they brought +with them as many of the instruments and manuscripts as they could carry. +When they were at the bottom Caesar observed that a tablet with important +calculations had been left lying up above and expressed his regret. +Meanwhile the fire had already caught the slightly-built turret and it +seemed impossible to get into it again. But the dreamy Bithynian can +wake out of his slumbers it would seem, and while Caesar was anxiously +watching the burning bundles of flax which the wind kept blowing across +to the harbor the rash boy rushed into the burning building, flung the +tablet down from the top of the tower and then hurried down the stairs. +His bold action would indeed have cost the poor fellow his life if the +slave Mastor; who meanwhile had hurried to the spot, had not dragged him +down the stone stair of the old tower on which the new one stood and +carried him into the open air. He was half suffocated at the top of them +and had dropped down senseless." + +"But he is alive, the splendid boy, the image of the gods! and he is out +of danger?" cried Balbilla, with much anxiety. + +"He is quite well; only his hands, as I said, are somewhat burnt, and his +hair is singed, but that will grow again." + +"His soft, lovely curls!" cried Balbilla. "Let us go home, Claudia. +The gardener shall cut a magnificent bunch of roses, and we will send it +to Antinous to please him." + +"Flowers to a man who does not care about them?" asked Pontius, gravely. + +"With what else can women reward men's virtues or do honor to their +beauty?" asked Balbilla. + +"Our own conscience is the reward of our honest actions, or the laurel +wreath from the hand of some famous man." + +"And beauty?" + +"That of women claims and wins admiration, love too perhaps and flowers- +that of men may rejoice the eye, but to do it Honor is a task granted to +no mortal woman." + +"To whom, then, if I may ask the question?" + +"To Art, which makes it immortal." + +"But the roses may bring some comfort and pleasure to the suffering +youth." + +"Then send them-but to the sick boy, and not to the handsome man," +retorted Pontius. + +Balbilla was silent, and she and her companion followed the architect to +the harbor. There he parted from them, putting them into a boat which +took them back to the Caesareum through one of the arch-gates under the +Heptastadium. + +As they were rowed along the younger Roman lady said to the elder: + +"Pontius has quite spoilt my fun about the roses. The sick boy is the +handsome Antinous all the same, and if anybody could think--well, I shall +do just as I please; still it will be best not to cut the nosegay." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +The town was out of danger; the fire was extinct. Pontius had taken no +rest till noonday. Three horses had he tired out and replaced by fresh +ones, but his sinewy frame and healthy courage had till now defied every +strain. As soon as he could consider his task at an end he went off to +his own house, and he needed rest; but in the hall of his residence he +already found a number of persons waiting, and who were likely to stand +between him and the enjoyment of it. + +A man who lives in the midst of important undertakings cannot, with +impunity, leave his work to take care of itself for several days. All +the claims upon him become pent up, and when he returns home they deluge +him like water when the sluice-gates are suddenly opened behind which it +has been dammed up. + +At least twenty persons, who had heard of the architect's return, were +waiting for him in his outer hall, and crowded upon him as soon as he +appeared. Among them he saw several who had come on important business, +but he felt that he had reached the farthest limit of his strength, and +he was determined to secure a little rest at any cost. The grave man's +natural consideration, usually so conspicuous, could not hold out against +the demands made on his endurance, and he angrily and peevishly pointed +to his begrimed face as he made his way through the people waiting for +him. + +"To-morrow, to-morrow," he cried; "nay, if necessary, to-day, after +sunset. But now I need rest. Rest! Rest! Why, you yourselves can see +the state I am in." + +All--even the master-masons and purveyors who had come on urgent affairs, +drew back; only one elderly man, his sister Paulina's house-steward, +caught hold of his chiton, stained as it was with smoke and scorched in +many places, and said quickly and in a low tone: + +"My mistress greets you; she has things to speak of to you which will +bear no delay; I am not to leave you till you have promised to go to see +her to-day. Our chariot waits for you at the garden-door." + +"Send it home," said Pontius, not even civilly; "Paulina must wait a few +hours." + +"But my orders are to take you with me at once." + +"But in this state--so--I cannot go with you," cried the architect with +vehemence. "Have you no sort of consideration? And yet--who can tell-- +well, tell her I will be with her in two hours." + +When Pontius had fairly escaped the throng he took a bath; then he had +some food brought to him, but even while he ate and drank, he was not +unoccupied, for he read the letters which awaited him, and examined some +drawings which his assistants had prepared during his absence. + +"Give yourself an hour's respite," said the old housekeeper, who had been +his nurse and who loved him as her own son. + +"I must go to my sister," he answered with a shrug. "We know her of +old," said the old woman. "For nothing, and less than nothing, she has +sent for you be fore now; and you absolutely need rest. There--are your +cushions right--so? And let me ask you, has the humblest stone-carrier +so hard a life as you have? Even at meals you never have an hour of +peace and comfort. Your poor head is never quiet; the nights are turned +into day; something to do, always something to do. If one only knew who +it is all for?" + +"Aye--who for, indeed?" sighed Pontius, pushing his arm under his head, +between it and the pillow. "But, you see, little mother, work must +follow rest as surely as day follows night or summer follows winter. The +man who has something he loves in the House--a wife and merry children, +it may be, for aught I care--who sweeten his hours of rest and make them +the best of all the day, he, I say is wise when he tries to prolong them; +but his case is not mine--" + +"But why is it not yours, my son Pontius?" + +"Let me finish my speech. I, as you know full well, do not care for +gossip in the bath nor for reclining long over a banquet. In the pauses +of my work I am alone, with myself and with you, my very worthy Leukippe. +So the hours of rest are not for me the fairest scenes, but empty waits +between the acts of the drama of life; and no reasonable man can find +fault with me for trying to abridge them by useful occupation." + +"And what is the upshot of this sensible talk? Simply this: you must get +married." + +Pontius sighed, but Leukippe added eagerly: + +"You have not far to look! The most respectable fathers and mothers are +running after you and would bring their prettiest daughters into your +door." + +"A daughter whom I do not know, and who might perhaps spoil the pauses +between the acts, which at present I can at any rate turn to some +account." + +"They say," the old woman went on, "that marriage is a cast of the dice. +One throws a high number, another a low one; one wins a wife who is a +match for the busy bee, another gets a tiresome gnat. No doubt there is +some truth in it; but I have grown grey with my eyes open and I have +often seen it happen, that how the marriage turned out depended on the +husband. A man like you makes a bee out of a gnat--a bee that brings +honey to the hive. Of course a man must choose carefully." + +"How, pray?" + +"First see the parents and then the child. A girl who has grown up +surrounded by good habits, in the house of a sensible father and a +virtuous mother--" + +"And where in this city am I to find such a miracle? Nay, nay, Leukippe, +for the present all shall be left to my old woman. We both do our duty, +we are satisfied with each other and--" + +"And time is flying," said the housekeeper, interrupting her master in +his speech. "You are nearly thirty-five years of age, and the girls--" + +"Let them be! let them be! They will find other men! Now send Cyrus +with my shoes and cloak, and have my litter got ready, for Paulina has +been kept waiting long enough." + +The way from the architect's house to his sister's was long, and on his +way he found ample time for reflection on various matters besides +Leukippe's advice to marry. Still, it was a woman's face and form that +possessed him heart and soul; at first, however, he did not feel inclined +to feast his fancy on Balbilla's image, lovely as it appeared to him; on +the contrary, with self-inflicted severity he sought everything in her +which could be thought to be opposed to the highest standard of feminine +perfections. Nor did he find it difficult to detect many defects and +deficiencies in the Roman damsel; still he was forced to admit that they +were quite inseparable from her character, and that she would no longer +be what she was, if she were wholly free from them. Each of her little +weaknesses presently began to appear as an additional charm to the stern +man who had himself been brought up in the doctrine of the Stoics. + +He had learnt by experience that sorrow must cast its shadow over the +existence of every human being; but still, the man to whom it should be +vouchsafed to walk through life hand-in-hand with this radiant child of +fortune could, as it seemed to him, have nothing to look forward to but +pure sunshine. During his journey to Pelusium and his stay there he had +often thought of her, and each time that her image had appeared to his +inward eye he had felt as though daylight had shone in his soul. To have +met her he regarded as the greatest joy of his life, but he dared not +aspire to claim her as his own. + +He did not undervalue himself and knew that he might well be proud of the +position he had won by his own industry and talents; and still she was +the grandchild of the man who had had the right to sell his grandfather +for mere coin, and was so high-born, rich and distinguished that he would +have thought it hardly more audacious to ask the Emperor what he would +take for the purple than to woo her. But to shelter her, to warn her, to +allow his soul to be refreshed by the sight of her and by her talk--this +he felt was permissible, this happiness no one could deprive him of. And +this she would grant him--she esteemed him and would give him the right +to protect her, this he felt, with thankfulness and joy. He would, then +and there, have gone through the exertions of the last few hours all over +again if he could have been certain that he should once more be refreshed +with the draught of water from her hand. Only to think of her and of her +sweetness seemed greater happiness than the possession of any other +woman. + +As he got out of his litter at the door of his sister's town-house he +shook his head, smiling at himself; for he confessed to himself that the +whole of the long distance he had hardly thought of anything but +Balbilla. + +Paulina's house had but few windows opening upon the street and these +belonged to the strangers' rooms, and yet his arrival had been observed. +A window at the side of the house, all grown round with creepers, framed +in a sweet girlish head which looked down from it inquisitively on the +bustle in the street. Pontius did not notice it, but Arsinoe--for it was +her pretty face that looked out--at once recognized the architect whom +she had seen at Lochias and of whom Pollux had spoken as his friend and +patron. + +She had now, for a week, been living with the rich widow; she wanted for +nothing, and yet her soul longed with all its might to be out in the +city, and to inquire for Pollux and his parents, of whom she had heard +nothing since the day of her father's death. Her lover was no doubt +seeking her with anxiety and sorrow; but how was he to find her? + +Three days after her arrival she had discovered the little window from +which she had a view of the street. There was plenty to be seen, for it +led to the Hippodrome and was never empty of foot-passengers and chariots +that were proceeding thither or to Necropolis. No doubt it was a +pleasure to her to watch the fine horses and garlanded youths and men who +passed by Paulina's house; but it was not merely to amuse herself that +she went to the bowery little opening; no, she hoped, on the contrary, +that she might once see her Pollux, his father, his mother, his bother +Teuker or some one else they knew pass by her new home. Then she might +perhaps succeed in calling them, in asking what had become of her +friends, and +in begging them to let her lover know where to seek her. + +Her adoptive mother had twice found her at the window and had forbidden +her, not unkindly but very positively, to look out into the street. +Arsinoe had followed her unresistingly into the interior of the house, +but as soon as she knew that Paulina was out or engaged, she slipped back +to the window again and looked out for him, who must at every hour of the +day be thinking of her. And she was not happy amid her new and wealthy +surroundings. At first she had found it very pleasant to stretch her +limbs on Paulina's soft cushions, not to stir a finger to help herself, +to eat the best of food and to have neither to attend to the children nor +to labor in the horrible papyrus-factory; but by the third day she pined +for liberty--and still more for the children, for Selene and Pollux. +Once she went out driving with Paulina in a covered carriage for the +first time in her life. As the horses started she had enjoyed the rapid +movement and had leaned out at one side to see the houses and men flying +past her; but Paulina had regarded this as not correct--as she did so +many other things that she herself thought right and permissible--had +desired her to draw in her head, and had told her that a well-conducted +girl must sit with her eyes in her lap when out driving. + +Paulina was kind, never was irritable, had her dressed and waited upon +like her own daughter, kissed her in the morning and when she bid her +good-night; and yet Arsinoe had never once thought of Paulina's demand +that she should love her. The proud woman, who was so cool in all the +friendly relations of life, and who, as she felt was always watching her, +was to her only a stranger who had her in her power. The fairest +sentiments of her soul she must always keep locked up from her. + +Once, when Paulina, with tears in her eyes had spoken to her of her lost +daughter, Arsinoe had been softened and following the impulse of her +heart, had confided to her that she loved Pollux the sculptor and hoped +to be his wife. + +"You love a maker of images!" Paulina had exclaimed, with as much horror +as if she had seen a toad; then she had paced uneasily up and down and +had added with her usual calm decision: + +"No, no, my child! you will forget all this as soon as possible; I know +of a nobler Bridegroom for you; when once you have learned to know Him +you will never long for any other. Have you seen one single image in +this house?" + +"No," replied Arsinoe, "but so far as regards Pollux--" + +"Listen to me" said the widow, "have I not told you of our loving Father +in Heaven? Have I not told you that the gods of the heathen are unreal +beings which the vain imaginings of fools have endowed with all the +weaknesses and crimes of humanity? Can you not understand how silly it +is to pray to stones? What power can reside in these frail figures of +brass or marble? + +"Idols we call them. He who carves them, serves them and offers sacrifice +to them; aye and a great sacrifice, for he devotes his best powers, to +their service. Do you understand me?" + +"No--Art is certainly a lofty thing, and Pollux is a good man, full of +the divinity as he works." + +"Wait a while, only wait--you will soon learn to understand," Paulina had +answered, drawing Arsinoe towards her, and had added, at first speaking +gently but then more sternly: "Now go to bed and pray to your gracious +Father in Heaven that he may enlighten your heart. You must forget the +carved image-maker, and I forbid you ever to speak in my presence again +of such a man." + +Arsinoe had grown up a heathen, she clung with affection to the gods of +her fathers and hoped for happier days after the first bitterness of the +loss of her father and the separation from her brothers and sisters was +past. She was little disposed to sacrifice her young love and all her +earthly happiness for spiritual advantages of which she scarcely +comprehended the value. Her father had always spoken of the Christians +with hatred and contempt. She now saw that they could be kind and +helpful, and the doctrine that there was a loving God in Heaven who cared +for all men as his children appealed to her soul; but that we ought to +forgive our enemies, to remember our sins, and to repent of them, and to +regard all the pleasure and amusement which the gay city of Alexandria +could offer as base and worthless--this was absurd and foolish. + +And what great sins had she committed? Could a loving God require of her +that she should mar all her best days because as a child she had pilfered +a cake or broken a pitcher; or, as she grew older had sometimes been +obstinate or disobedient? Surely not. And then was an artist, a kind +faithful soul like her tall Pollux, to be odious in the eyes of God the +Father of all, because he was able to make such wonderful things as that +head of her mother, for instance? If this really was so she would +rather, a thousand times rather, lift her hands in prayer to the smiling +Aphrodite, roguish Eros, beautiful Apollo, and all the nine Muses who +protected her Pollux, than to Him. + +An obscure aversion rose up in her soul against the stern woman who could +not understand her, and of whose teaching and admonitions she scarcely +took in half; and she rejected many a word of the widow's which might +otherwise easily have found room in her heart, only because it was spoken +by the cold-mannered woman who at every hour seemed to try to lay some +fresh restraint upon her. + +Paulina had never yet taken her with her to of the Christian assemblies +in her suburban villa; wished first to prepare her and to open her soul +to salvation. In this task no teacher of the congregation should assist +her. She, and she alone, should win to the Redeemer the soul of this +fair creature that had walked so resolutely in the ways of the heathen; +this was required of her as the condition of the covenant that she felt +she had made with Him, it was with the price of this labor that she hoped +to purchase her own child's eternal happiness. Day after day she had +Arsinoe into her own room, that was decked with flowers and with +Christian symbols, and devoted several hours to her instruction. But her +disciple proved less impressionable and less attentive every day; while +Paulina was speaking Arsinoe was thinking of Pollux, of the children, of +the festival prepared for the Emperor or of the beautiful dress she was +to have worn as Roxana. She wondered what young girl would fill her +place, and how she could ever hope to see her lover again. And it was +the same during Paulina's prayers as during her instruction, prayers that +often lasted more than hour, and which she had to attend, on her knees on +Wednesday and Friday, and with hands uplifted on all the other days of +the week. + +When her adoptive mother had discovered how often she looked out into the +street she thought she had found out the reason of her pupil's distracted +attention and only waited the return of her brother, the architect, in +order to have the window blocked up. + +As Pontius entered the lofty hall of his sister's house, Arsinoe came to +meet him. Her cheeks were flushed, she had hurried to fly down as fast +as possible from her window to the ground floor, in order to speak to the +architect before he went into the inner rooms or had talked with his +sister, and she looked lovelier than ever. Pontius gazed at her with +delight. He knew that he had seen this sweet face before, but he could +not at once remember where; for a face we have met with only incidentally +is not easily recognized when we find it again where we do not expect it. + +Arsinoe did not give him time to speak to her, for she went straight up +to him, greeted him, and asked timidly: + +"You do not remember who I am?" + +"Yes, yes," said the architect, "and yet--for the moment--" + +"I am the daughter of Keraunus, the palace-steward at Lochias, but you +know of course" + +"To be sure, to be sure! Arsinoe is your name; I was asking to-day after +your father and heard to my great regret--" + +"He is dead." + +"Poor child! How everything has changed in the old palace since I went +away. The gate-house is swept away, there is a new steward and there- +but, tell me how came you here?" + +"My father left us nothing and Christians took its in. There were eight +of us." + +"And my sister shelters you all?" + +"No, no; one has been taken into one house and others into others. We +shall never be together again." And as she spoke the tears ran down +Arsinoe's cheeks; but she promptly recovered herself, and before Pontius +could express his sympathy she went on: + +"I want to ask of you a favor; let me speak before any one disturbs us." + +"Speak, my child." + +"You know Pollux--the sculptor Pollux?" + +"Certainly." + +And you were always kindly disposed toward him?" + +"He is a good man and an excellent artist." + +"Aye that he is, and besides all that--may I tell you something and will +you stand by me?" + +"Gladly, so far as lies in my power." + +Arsinoe looked down at the ground in charming and blushing confusion and +said in a low tone: + +"We love each other--I am to be his wife." + +"Accept my best wishes." + +"Ah, if only we had got as far as that! But since my father's death we +have not seen each other. I do not know where he and his parents are, +and how are they ever to find me here?" + +"Write to him." + +"I cannot write well, and even if I could my messenger--" + +"Has my sister had any search made for him?" + +"No--oh, no. I may not even let his name pass my lips. She wants to +give me to some one else; she says that making statues is hateful to the +God of the Christians." + +"Does she? And you want me to seek your lover?" + +"Yes, yes, my dear lord! and if you find him tell him I shall be alone +to-morrow early, and again towards evening, every day indeed, for then +your sister goes to serve her God in her country house." + +"So you want to make me a lover's go-between. You could not find a more +inexperienced one." + +"Ah! noble Pontius, if you have a heart--" + +"Let me speak to the end, child! I will seek your lover, and if I find +him he shall know where you are, but I cannot and will not invite him to +an assignation here behind my sister's back. He shall come openly to +Paulina and prefer his suit. If she refuses her consent I will try to +take the matter in hand with Paulina. Are you satisfied with this?" + +"I must need be. And tell me, you will let me know when you have found +out where he and his parents have gone?" + +"That I promise you. And now tell the one thing. Are you happy in this +house?" + +Arsinoe looked down in some embarrassment, then she hastily shook her +head in vehement negation and hurried away. Pontius looked after her +with compassion and sympathy. + +"Poor, pretty little creature!" he murmured to himself, and went on to +his sister's room. + +The house-steward had announced his visit, and Paulina met him on the +threshold. In his sister's sitting-room the architect found Eumenes, +the bishop, a dignified old man with clear, kind eyes. + +"Your name is in everybody's mouth to-day," said Paulina, after the usual +greetings. They say you did wonders last night." + +"I got home very tired," said Pontius, "but as you so pressingly desired +to speak to me, I shortened my hours of rest." + +"How sorry I am!" exclaimed the widow. + +The bishop perceived that the brother and sister had business to discuss +together, and asked whether he were not interrupting it. + +"On the contrary," cried Paulina. "The subject under discussion is my +newly-adopted daughter who, unhappily, has her head full of silly and +useless things. She tells me she has seen you at Lochias, Pontius." + +"Yes, I know the pretty child." + +"Yes, she is lovely to look upon," said the widow. "But her heart and +mind have been left wholly untrained, and in her the doctrine falls upon +stony ground, for she avails herself of every unoccupied moment to stare +at the horsemen and chariots that pass on the way to the Hippodrome. By +this inquisitive gaping she fills her head with a thousand useless and +distracting fancies; I am not always at home, and so it will be best to +have the pernicious window walled up." + +"And did you send for me only to have that done?" cried Pontius, much +annoyed. "Your house-slaves, I should think, might have been equal to +that without my assistance." + +"Perhaps, but then the wall would have to be freshly whitewashed--I know +how obliging you always are." Thank you very much. To-morrow I will +send you two regular workmen." + +"Nay, to-day, at once if possible." + +"Are you in such pressing haste to spoil the poor child's amusement? And +besides I cannot but think that it is not to stare at the horsemen and +chariots that she looks out, but to see her worthy lover." + +"So much the worse. I was telling you, Eumenes, that a sculptor wants to +marry her." + +"She is a heathen," replied the bishop. + +"But on the road to salvation," answered Paulina. "But we will speak of +that presently. There is still something else to discuss, Pontius. The +hall of my country villa must be enlarged." + +"Then send me the plans." + +"They are in the book-room of my late husband." The architect left his +sister to go into the library, which he knew well. + +As soon as the bishop was left alone with Paulina, he shook his head and +said: + +"If I judge rightly, my dear sister, you are going the wrong way to work +in leading this child intrusted to your care. Not all are called, and +rebellious hearts must be led along the path of salvation with a gentle +hand, not dragged and driven. Why do you cut off this girl, who still +stands with both feet in the world, from all that can give her pleasure? +Allow the young creature to enjoy every permitted pleasure which can add +to the joys of life in youth. Do not hurt Arsinoe needlessly, do not let +her feel the hand that guides her. First teach her to love you from her +heart, and when she knows nothing dearer than you, a request from you +will be worth more than bolts or walled-up windows." + +"At first I wished nothing more than that she should love me," +interrupted Paulina. + +"But have you proved her? Do you see in her the spark which may be +fanned to a flame? Have you detected in her the germ which may possibly +grow to a strong desire for salvation and to devotion to the Redeemer?" + +"That germ exists in every heart-these are your own words." + +"But in many of the heathen it is deeply buried in sand and stories; and +do you feel yourself equal to clearing them away without injury to the +seed or to the soil in which it lies?" + +"I do, and I will win Arsinoe to Jesus Christ," said Paulina firmly. + +Pontius interrupted the conversation; he remained with his sister some +time longer discussing with her and with Eumenes the new building to be +done at her country house; then he and the bishop left at the same time +and Pontius proceeded to the scene of the fire by the harbor and in the +old palace. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Pontius did not find the Emperor at Lochias, for Hadrian had moved at +mid-day to the Caesareum. The strong smell of burning in every room in +the palace had sickened him and he had begun to regard the restored +building as a doomed scene of disaster. The architect was waited for +with much anxiety, for the rooms originally furnished for the Emperor in +the Caesareum had been despoiled and disarranged to decorate the rooms at +Lochias, and Pontius was wanted to superintend their immediate +rehabilitation. A chariot was waiting for him and there was no lack of +slaves, so he began this fresh task at once and devoted himself to it +till late at night. It was in vain this time that his anteroom was +filled with people waiting for his return. + +Hadrian had retired to some rooms which formed part of his wife's +apartments. He was in a grave mood, and when the prefect Titianus was +announced he kept him waiting till, with his own hand, he had laid a +fresh dressing on his favorite's burns. + +"Go now, my lord," begged the Bithynian, when the Emperor had finished +his task with all the skill of a surgeon: "Titianus has been walking up +and down in there for the last quarter of an hour." + +"And so he may," said the monarch. "And if the whole world is shrieking +for me it must wait till these faithful hands have had their due. Yes, +my boy! we will wander on through life together, inseparable comrades. +Others indeed do the same, and each one who goes through life side by +side with a companion sharing all he enjoys or suffers, comes to think at +last that he knows him as he knows himself; still the inmost core of his +friend's nature remains concealed from him. Then, some day Fate lets a +storm come raging down upon their; the last veil is torn, under the +wanderer's eyes, from the very heart of his companion, and at last he +really sees him as he is, like a kernel stripped of its shell, a bare and +naked body. Last night such a blast swept over us and let me see the +heart of my Antinous, as plainly as this hand I hold before my eyes. +Yes, yes, yes! for the man who will risk his young and happy existence +for a thing his friend holds precious would sacrifice ten lives if he had +them, for his friend's person. Never, my friend, shall that night be +forgotten. It gives you the right to do much that might pain me, and has +graven your name on my heart, the foremost among those to whom I am +indebted for any benefit.--They are but few." + +Hadrian held out his hand to Antinous as he spoke. The boy, who had kept +his eyes fixed on the ground in much confusion, raised it to his lips and +pressed it against them in violent agitation. Then he raised his large +eyes to the Emperor's and said: + +"You must not speak to me so kindly, for I do not deserve such goodness. +What is my life after all? I would let it go, as a child leaves go of a +beetle it has caught, to spare you one single anxious day." + +"I know it," answered Hadrian firmly, and he went to the prefect in the +adjoining room. + +Titianus had come in obedience to Hadrian's orders; the matter to be +settled was what indemnification was to be paid to the city and to the +individual owners of the storehouses that had been destroyed, for Hadrian +had caused a decree to be proclaimed that no one should suffer any loss +through a misfortune sent by the gods and which had originated in his +residence. The prefect had already instituted the necessary inquiries +and the private secretaries, Phlegon, Heliodorus and Celer, were now +charged with the duty of addressing documents to the injured parties in +which they were invited, in the name of Caesar, to declare the truth as +to the amount of the loss they had suffered. Titianus also brought the +information that the Greeks and Jews had determined to express their +thankfulness for Caesar's preservation by great thank-offerings. + +And the Christians," asked Hadrian. + +"They abominate the sacrifice of animals, but they will unite in a common +act of thanksgiving." + +"Their gratitude will not cost them much," said Hadrian. + +"Their bishop, Eumenes, brought me a sum of money for which a hundred +oxen might be bought, to distribute among the poor. He said the God of +the Christians is a spirit and requires none but spiritual sacrifices; +that the best offering a man can bring him is a prayer prompted by the +spirit and proceeding from a loving heart." + +"That sounds very well for us," said Hadrian. "But it will not do for +the people. Philosophical doctrines do not tend to piety; the populace +need visible gods and tangible sacrifices. Are the Christians here good +citizens and devoted to the welfare of the state?" + +"We need no courts of justice for them." + +"Then take their money and distribute it among the needy; but I must +forbid their meeting for a general thanksgiving; they may raise their +hands to their great spirit in my behalf, in private. Their doctrine +must not be brought into publicity; it is not devoid of a delusive charm +and it is indispensable to the safety of the state that the mob should +remain faithful to the old gods and sacrifices." + +"As you command, Caesar." + +"You know the account given of the Christians by Pliny and Trajan?" + +"And Trajan's answer." + +"Well then let us leave them to follow their own devices in private after +their own fashion; only they must not commit any breach of the laws of +the state nor force themselves into publicity. As soon as they show any +disposition to refuse to the old gods the respect that is due to them, or +to raise a finger against them, severity must be exercised and every +excess must be punished by death." + +During this conversation Verus had entered the room; he was following the +Emperor everywhere to-day for he hoped to hear him say a word as to his +observation of the heavens, and yet he did not dare to ask him what he +had discovered from them. + +When he saw that Hadrian was occupied he made a chamberlain conduct him +to Antinous. The favorite turned pale as he saw the praetor, still he +retained enough presence of mind to wish him all happiness on his +birthday. It did not escape Verus that his presence had startled the +lad; he therefore plied him at first with indifferent questions, +introduced pleasing anecdotes into his conversation and then, when +he had gained his purpose, he added carelessly: + +"I must thank you in the name of the state and of every friend of +Caesar's. You carried out your undertaking well to the end, though by +somewhat overpowering means." + +"I entreat you say no more," interrupted Antinous eagerly, and looking +anxiously at the door of the next room. + +"Oh! I would have sacrificed all Alexandria to preserve Caesar's mind +from gloom and care. Besides we have both paid dearly for our good +intentions and for those wretched sheds." + +"Pray talk of something else." + +"You sit there with your hands bound up and your hair singed, and I feel +very unwell." + +"Hadrian said you had helped valiantly in the rescue." + +"I was sorry for the poor rats whose gathered store of provisions the +flames were so rapidly devouring, and all hot as I was from my supper, I +flung myself in among the men who were extinguishing the fire. My first +reward was a bath of cold, icy-cold sea-water, which was poured over my +head out of a full skin. All doctrines of ethics are in disgrace with +me, and I have long considered all the dramatic poets, in whose pieces +virtue is rewarded and crime punished, as a pack of fools; for my +pleasantest hours are all due to my worst deeds; and sheer annoyance and +misery, to my best. No hyena can laugh more hoarsely that I now speak; +some portion of me inside here, seems to have been turned into a hedgehog +whose spines prick and hurt me, and all this because I allowed myself to +be led away into doing things which the moralists laud as virtuous." + +"You cough, and you do not look well. He down awhile." + +"On my birthday? No, my young friend. And now let me just ask you +before I go: Can you tell me what Hadrian read in the stars?" + +"No." + +"Not even if I put my Perseus at your orders for every thing you may +require of him? The man knows Alexandria and is as dumb as a fish." + +"Not even then, for what I do not know I cannot tell. We are both of us +ill, and I tell you once more you will be wise to take care of yourself." +Verus left the room, and Antinous watched him go with much relief. + +The praetor's visit had filled him with disquietude, and had added to the +dislike he felt for him. He knew that he had been used to base ends by +Verus, for Hadrian had told him so much as that he had gone up to the +observatory not to question the stars for himself but to cast the +praetor's horoscope, and that he had informed Verus of his intention. + +There was no excuse, no forgiveness possible for the deed he had done; to +please that dissolute coxcomb, that mocking hypocrite, he had become a +traitor to his master and an incendiary, and must endure to be +overwhelmed with praises and thanks by the greatest and most keen-sighted +of men. He hated, he abhorred himself, and asked himself why the fire +which had blazed around him had been satisfied only to inflict slight +injuries on his hands and hair. When Hadrian returned to him he asked +his permission to go to bed. The Emperor gladly granted it, ordered +Mastor to watch by his side, and then agreed to his wife's request that +he would visit her. + +Sabina had not been to the scene of the fire, but she had sent a +messenger every hour to inquire as to the progress of the conflagration +and the well-being of her husband. When he had first arrived at the +Caesareum she had met and welcomed him and then had retired to her own +apartments. + +It wanted only two hours of midnight when Hadrian entered her room; he +found her reclining on a couch without the jewels she usually wore in the +daytime but dressed as for a banquet. + +"You wished to speak with me?" said the Emperor. "Yes, and this day-- +so full of remarkable events as it has been--has also a remarkable close +since I have not wished in vain." + +"You so rarely give me the opportunity of gratifying a wish." + +"And do you complain of that?" + +"I might--for instead of wishing you are wont to demand." + +"Let us cease this strife of idle words." + +"Willingly. With what object did you send for me?" + +"Verus is to-day keeping his birthday." + +"And you would like to know what the stars promise him?" + +"Rather how the signs in the heavens have disposed you towards him." + +"I had but little time to consider what I saw. But at any rate the stars +promise him a brilliant future." + +A gleam of joy shone in Sabina's eyes, but she forced herself to keep +calm and asked, indifferently: + +"You admit that, and yet you can come to no decision?" + +"Then you want to hear the decisive word spoken at once, to-day?" + +"You know that without my answering you." + +"Well, then, his star outshines mine and compels me to be on my guard +against him." + +"How mean! You are afraid of the praetor?" + +"No, but of his fortune which is bound up with you?" + +"When he is our son his greatness will be ours." + +"By no means, since if I make him what you wish him to be, he will +certainly try to make our greatness his. Destiny--" + +"You said it favored him; but unfortunately I must dispute the +statement." + +"You? Do you try too, to read the stars?" + +"No, I leave that to men. Have you heard of Ammonius, the astrologer?" + +"Yes. A very learned man who observes from the tower of the Serapeum, +and who, like many of his fellows in this city has made use of his art +to accumulate a large fortune." + +"No less a man than the astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus referred me to +him." + +"The best of recommendation." + +"Well, then, I commissioned Ammonius to cast the horoscope for Verus +during the past night and he brought it to me with an explanatory key. +Here it is." + +The Emperor hastily seized the tablet which Sabina held out to him, and +as he attentively examined the forecasts, arranged in order according to +the hours, he said: + +"Quite right. That of course did not escape me! Well done, exactly the +same as my own observations--but here--stay--here comes the third hour, +at the beginning of which I was interrupted. Eternal gods! what have we +here?" + +The Emperor held the wax tablet prepared by Aminonius at arm's length +from his eyes and never parted his lips again till he had come to the end +of the last hour of the night. Then he dropped the hand that held the +horoscope, saying with a shudder: + +"A hideous destiny. Horace was right in saying the highest towers fall +with the greatest crash." + +"The tower of which you speak," said Sabina, "is that darling of fortune +of whom you are afraid. Vouchsafe then to Verus a brief space of +happiness before the horrible end you foresee for him." + +While she spoke Hadrian sat with his eyes thoughtfully fixed on the +ground, and then, standing in front of his wife, he replied: + +"If no sinister catastrophe falls upon this man, the stars and the fate +of men have no more to do with one another than the sea with the heart of +the desert, than the throb of men's pulses with the pebbles in the brook. +If Ammonius has erred ten times over still more than ten signs remain on +this tablet, hostile and fatal to the praetor. I grieve for Verus--but +the state suffers with the sovereign's misfortunes.--This man can never +be my successor." + +"No?" asked Sabina rising from her couch. "No? Not when you have seen +that your own star outlives his? Not though a glance at this tablet +shows you that when he is nothing but ashes the world will still continue +long to obey your nod?" + +"Compose yourself and give me time.--Yes, I still say not even so." + +"Not even so," repeated Sabina sullenly. Then, collecting herself, she +asked in a tone of vehement entreaty: + +"Not even so--not even if I lift my hands to you in supplication and cry +in your face that you and Fate have grudged me the blessing, the +happiness, the crown and aim of a woman's life, and I must and I will +attain it; I must and I will once, if only for a short time, hear myself +called by some dear lips by the name which gives the veriest beggar-woman +with her infant in her arms preeminence above the Empress who has never +stood by a child's cradle. I must and I will, before I die, be a mother, +be called mother and be able to say, 'my child, my son--our son.'" And as +she spoke she sobbed aloud and covered her face with her hands. + +The Emperor drew back a step from his wife. A miracle had been wrought +before his eyes. Sabina--in whose eyes no tear had ever been seen-- +Sabina was weeping, Sabina had a heart like other women. Greatly +astonished and deeply moved he saw her turn from him, utterly shaken by +the agitation of her feelings, and sink on her knees by the side of the +couch she had quitted to hide her face in the cushions. He stood +motionless by her side, but presently going nearer to her: + +"Stand up, Sabina," he said. "Your desire is a just one. You shall have +the son for whom your soul longs." + +The Empress rose and a grateful look in her eyes, swimming in tears, met +his glance. Sabina could smile too, she could look sweet! It had taken +a lifetime, it had needed such a moment as this to reveal it to Hadrian. + +He silently drew a seat towards her and sat down by her side; for some +time he sat with her hand clasped in his, in silence. Then he let it go +and said kindly: + +"And will Verus fulfil all you expect of a son?" She nodded assent. + +"What makes you so confident of that?" asked the Emperor. "He is a +Roman and not lacking in brilliant and estimable gifts. A man who shows +such mettle alike in the field and in the council-chamber and yet can +play the part of Eros with such success will also know how to wear the +purple without disgracing it. But he has his mother's light blood, and +his heart flutters hither and thither." + +"Let him be as he is. We understand each other and he is the only man on +whose disposition I can build, on whose fidelity I can count as securely +as if he were my favorite son." + +"And on what facts is this confidence based?" + +"You will understand me, for you are not blind to the signs which Fate +vouchsafes to us. Have you time to listen to a short story?" + +"The night is yet young." + +"Then I will tell you. Forgive me if I begin with things that seem dead +and gone; but they are not, for they live and work in me to this hour. I +know that you yourself did not choose me for your wife. Plotina chose me +for you--she loved you, whether your regard for her was for the beautiful +woman or for the wife of Caesar to whom everything belonged that you had +to look for--how should I know?" + +"It was Plotina, the woman, that I honored and loved--" + +"In choosing me she chose you a wife who was tall and so fitted to wear +the purple, but who was never beautiful. She knew me well and she knew +that I was less apt than any other woman to win hearts; in my parents' +house no child ever enjoyed so slender a share of the gifts of love, and +none can know better than you that my husband did not spoil me with +tenderness." + +"I could repent of it at this moment." + +"It would be too late now. But I will not be bitter--no, indeed I will +not. And yet if you are to understand me I must own that so long as I +was young I longed bitterly for the love which no one offered me." + +"And you yourself have never loved?" + +"No--but it pained me that I could not. In Plotina's apartments I often +saw the children of her relations, and many a time I tried to attract +them to me, but while they would play confidently with other women they +seemed to shun me. Soon I even grew cross to them--only our Verus, the +little son of Celonius Commodus, would give me frank answers when I spoke +to him, and would bring me his broken toys that I might mend their +injuries. And so I got to love the child." + +"He was a wonderfully sweet, attractive boy." + +"He was indeed. One day we women were all sitting together in Caesar's +garden. Verus came running out with a particularly fine apple that +Trajan himself had given him. The rosy-cheeked fruit was admired by +every one. Then Plotina, in fun took the apple out of the boy's hand and +asked him if he would not give his apple to her. He looked at her with +wide-open puzzled eyes, shook his curly head, ran up to me and gave me-- +yes, me, and no one else--the fruit, throwing his arms round my neck and +saying, 'Sabina you shall have it.'" + +"The judgment of Paris." + +"Nay, do not jest now. This action of an unselfish child gave me courage +to endure the troubles of life. I knew now that there was one creature +that loved me, and that one repaid all that I felt for him, all that I +was never weary of doing for him with affectionate liking. He is the +only being, of whom I know, that will weep when I die. Give him the +right to call me his mother and make him our son." + +"He is our son," said Hadrian, with dignified gravity, and held out his +hand to Sabina. She tried to lift it to her lips but he drew it away and +went on: + +"Inform him that we accept him as our son. His wife is the daughter of +Nigrinus--who had to go, as I desired to stay and stand firm. You do not +love Lucilla, but we must both admire her for I do not know another woman +in Rome whose virtue a man might vouch for. Besides, I owe her a father, +and am glad to have such a daughter; thus we shall be blessed with +children. Whether I shall appoint Verus my successor and proclaim to the +world who shall be its future ruler I cannot now decide; for that I need +a calmer hour. Till to-morrow, Sabina. This day began with a +misfortune; may the deed with which we have combined to end it prosper +and bring us happiness." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +There are often fine warm days in February, but those who fancy the +spring has come find themselves deceived. The bitter, hard Sabina could +at times let soft and tender emotions get the mastery over her, but as +soon as the longing of her languishing soul for maternal happiness was +gratified, she closed her heart again and extinguished the fire that had +warmed it. Every one who approached her, even her husband, felt himself +chilled and repelled again by her manner. + +Verus was ill. The first symptoms of a liver complaint which his +physicians had warned him might ensue, if he, an European, persisted in +his dissipated life at Alexandria as if it were Rome, now began to +occasion him many uneasy hours, and this, the first physical pain that +fate had ever inflicted on him, he bore with the utmost impatience. +Even the great news which Sabina brought him, realizing his boldest +aspirations, had no power to reconcile him to the new sensation of being +ill. He learnt, at the same time, that Hadrian's alarm at the +transcendent brightness of his star had nearly cost him his adoption, +and as he firmly believed that he had brought on his sufferings by his +efforts to extinguish the fire that Antinous had kindled, he bitterly +rued his treacherous interference with the Emperor's calculations. Men +are always ready to cast any burden, and especially that of a fault they +have committed, on to the shoulders of another; and so the suffering +praetor cursed Antinous and the learning of Simeon Ben Jochai, because, +if it had not been for them the mischievous folly which had spoilt his +pleasure in life would never have been committed. + +Hadrian had requested the Alexandrians to postpone the theatrical +displays and processions that they had prepared for him, as his +observations as to the course of destiny during the coming year were not +yet complete. Every evening he ascended the lofty observatory of the +Serapeum and gazed from thence at the stars. His labors ended on the +tenth of January; on the eleventh the festivities began. They lasted +through many days, and by the desire of the praetor the pretty daughter +of Apollodorus the Jew was chosen to represent Roxana. Everything that +the Alexandrians had prepared to do honor to their sovereign was +magnificent and costly. So many ships had never before been engaged in +any Naumachia as were destroyed here in the sham sea-fight, no greater +number of wild beasts had ever been seen together on any occasion even in +the Roman Circus; and how bloody were the fights of the gladiators, in +which black and white combatants afforded a varied excitement for both +heart and senses. In the processions, the different elements which were +supplied by the great central metropolis of Egyptian, Greek and Oriental +culture afforded such a variety of food for the eye that, in spite of +their interminable length, the effect was less fatiguing than the Romans +had feared. The performances of the tragedies and comedies were equally +rich in startling effects; conflagrations and floods were introduced and +gave the Alexandrian actors the opportunity of displaying their talents +with such brilliant success that Hadrian and his companions were forced +to acknowledge that even in Rome and Athens they had never witnessed any +representations equally perfect. + +A piece by the Jewish author Ezekiel who, under the Ptolemies, wrote +dramas in the Greek language of which the subject was taken from the +history of his own people, particularly claimed the Emperor's attention. + +Titianus during all this festive season was unluckily suffering from an +attack of old-standing breathlessness, and he also had his hands full; +at the same time he did his best in helping Pontius in seeking out the +sculptor Pollux. Both men did their utmost, but though they soon were +able to find Euphorion and dame Doris, every trace of their son had +vanished. Papias, the former employer of the man who had disappeared, +was no longer in the city, having been sent by Hadrian to Italy to +execute centaurs and other figures to decorate his villa at Tibur. His +wife who remained at home, declared that she knew nothing of Pollux but +that he had abruptly quitted her husband's service. The unfortunate +man's fellow-workmen could give no news of him whatever, for not one of +them had been present when he was seized; Papias had had foresight enough +to have the man he dreaded placed in security without the presence of any +witnesses. Neither the prefect nor the architect thought of seeking the +worthy fellow in prison, and even if they had done so they would hardly +have found him, for Pollux was not kept in durance in Alexandria itself. +The prisons of the city had overflowed after the night of the holiday and +he had been transferred to Canopus and there detained and brought up for +trial. + +Pollux had unhesitatingly owned to having taken the silver quiver and to +having been very angry at his master's accusation. Thus he produced from +the first an unfavorable impression on the judge, who esteemed Papias as +a wealthy man, universally respected. The accused had hardly been +allowed to speak at all and judgment was immediately pronounced against +him, on the strength of his master's accusation and his own admissions. +It would have been sheer waste of time to listen to the romances with +which this audacious rascal--who forgot all the respect he owed to his +teacher and benefactor--wanted to cram the judges. Two years of +reflection, the protectors of the law deemed, might suffice to teach this +dangerous fellow to respect the property of others and to keep him from +outbreaks against those to whom he owed gratitude and reverence. + +Pollux, safe in the prison at Canopus, cursed his destiny and indulged in +vain hopes of the assistance of his friends. These were at last weary of +the vain search and only asked about him occasionally. He at first was +so insubordinate under restraint that he was put under close ward from +which he was not released until, instead of raging with fury he dreamed +away his days in sullen brooding. The gaoler knew men well, and he +thought he could safely predict that at the end of his two years' +imprisonment this young thief would quit his cell a harmless imbecile. + +Titianus, Pontius, Balbilla and even Antinous had all attempted to speak +of him to the Emperor, but each was sharply repulsed and taught that +Hadrian was little inclined to pardon a wound to his artist's vanity. +But the sovereign also proved that he had a good memory for benefits he +had received, for once, when a dish was set before him consisting of +cabbage and small sausages he smiled, and taking out his purse filled +with gold pieces, he ordered a chamberlain to take it in his name to +Doris, the wife of the evicted gate-keeper. The old couple now resided +in a little house of their own in the neighborhood of their widowed +daughter Diotima. Hunger and external misery came not nigh them, still +they had experienced a great change. Poor Doris' eyes were now red and +bloodshot, for they were accustomed to many tears, which were seldom far +off and overflowed whenever a word, an object, a thought reminded her of +Pollux, her darling, her pride and her hope; and there were few half- +hours in the day when she did not think of him. + +Soon after the steward's death she had sought out Selene, but dame Hannah +could not and would not conduct her to see the sick girl, for she learnt +from Mary that she was the mother of her patient's faithless lover; and +on a second visit Selene was so shy, so timid and so strange in her +demeanor, that the old woman was forced to conclude that her visit was an +unpleasant intrusion. + +And from Arsinoe, whose residence she discovered from the deaconess, she +met with even a worse reception. She had herself announced as the mother +of Pollux the sculptor and was abruptly refused admission, with the +information that Arsinoe was not to be spoken with by her and that her +visits were, once for all, prohibited. After the architect Pontius had +been to seek her out and had encouraged her to make another attempt to +see and speak to Arsinoe, who clung faithfully to Pollux, Paulina herself +had received her and sent her away with such repellent words that she +went home to her husband deeply insulted and distressed to tears. Nor +had she resisted Euphorion's decision when he prohibited her ever again +crossing the Christian's threshold. + +The Emperor's donation had been most welcome and timely to the poor old +couple, for Euphorion had completely lost the softness of his voice as +well as his memory through the agitations and troubles of the last few +months; he had been dismissed from the chorus of the theatre and could +only find employment and very small pay of a few drachmae, in the +mysteries of certain petty sectarians or in singing at weddings or in +hymns of lamentation. At the same time the old folks had to maintain +their daughter whom Pollux could no longer provide for, and the birds, +the Graces and the cat all must eat. That it would be possible to get +rid of them was an idea which never occurred to either Euphorion or +Doris. + +By day the old folks had ceased to laugh; but at night they still had +many cheerful hours, for then Hope would beguile them with bright +pictures of the future, and tell them all sorts of possible and +impossible romances which filled their souls with fresh courage. How +often they would see Pollux returning from the distant city whither he +had probably fled-from Rome, or even from Athens--crowned with laurels +and rich in treasure. The Emperor, who still so kindly remembered them, +could not always be angry with him; perhaps he might some day send a +messenger to seek Pollux and to make up to him by large commissions for +all he had made him suffer. That her darling was alive she was sure; in +that she could not be mistaken, often as Euphorion tried to persuade her +that he must be dead. The singer could tell many tales of luckless men +who had been murdered and never seen or heard of again; but she was not +to be convinced, she persisted in hope, and lived wholly in the purpose +of sending her younger son, Teuker, on his travels to seek his lost +brother as soon as his apprenticeship was over, which would be in a few +months. + +Antinous, whose burnt hands had soon got well under the Emperor's care, +and who had never felt a liking and friendship for any other young man +but Pollux, lamented the artist's disappearance and wished much to seek +out dame Doris; but he found it harder than ever to leave his master, and +was so eager always to be at hand that Hadrian often laughingly +reproached him with making his slaves' duties too light. + +When at last he really was master of an hour to himself he postponed his +intention of seeing his friend's parents; for with him there was always a +wide world between the purpose and the deed which he never could +overleap, if not urged by some strong impulse; and his most pressing +instincts prompted him, when the Emperor was disputing in the Museum or +receiving instructions from the chiefs of the different religious +communities as to the doctrines they severally professed, to visit the +suburban villa where, when February had already begun, Selene was still +living. He had often succeeded in stealing into Paulina's garden, but he +could not at first realize his hope of being observed by Selene of +obtaining speech with her. Whenever he went near Hannah's little house, +Mary, the deformed girl, would come in his way, tell him how her friend +was, and beg or desire him to go away. She was always with the sick +girl, for now her mother was nursed by her sister, and dame Hannah had +obtained permission for her to work at home in gumming the papyrus-strips +together. + +The widow herself was obliged to be at her post in the factory, for her +duties as overseer made her presence indispensable in the work-room. + +Thus it came to pass that it was always by Mary and never by Hannah that +Antinous was received and dismissed. A certain understanding had arisen +between the beautiful youth and the deformed girl. When Antinous +appeared and she called out to him: "What, again already!" he would +grasp her hand and implore her only once to grant his wish; but she was +always firm, only she never sent him away sternly but with smiles and +friendly admonitions. When he brought rare and lovely flowers in his +pallium and entreated her to give them to Selene in the name of her +friend at Lochias, she would take them and promise to place them in her +room; but she always said it would do neither him nor her any good at all +that Selene should know from whom they came. After such repulses he well +knew how to flatter and coax her with appealing words, but he had never +dared to defy her or to gain his end by force. When the flowers were +placed in the room Mary looked at them much oftener than Selene did, and +when Antinous had been long absent the deformed girl longed to see him +again, and would pace restlessly up and down between the garden gate and +her friend's little house. She, like him, dreamed of an angel, and the +angel of whom she dreamed was exactly like himself. In all her prayers +she included the name of the handsome heathen and a soft tenderness in +which a gentle pity was often infused, a grief for his unredeemed soul, +was inseparable from all her thoughts of him. + +Hannah was informed by her of each of the young man's visits, and as +often as Mary mentioned Antinous the deaconess seemed anxious and desired +her to threaten to call the gate-keeper to him. The widow knew full well +who her patient's indefatigable admirer was, for she had once heard him +speaking to Mastor, and she had asked the slave, who availed himself of +every spare moment to attend the services of the Christians, who the lad +was. All Alexandria, nay all the Empire, knew the name of the most +beautiful youth of his time, the spoilt favorite of Caesar. Even Hannah +had heard of him and knew that poets sang his praises and heathen women +were eager to obtain a glance from his eyes. She knew how devoid of all +morality were the lives of the nobles at Rome, and Antinous appeared to +her as a splendid falcon that wheels above a dove to swoop down upon it +at a favorable moment and to tear it in its beak and talons. Hannah also +knew that Selene was acquainted with Antinous, that it was he who had +formerly rescued her from the big dog and afterward saved her from the +water; but that Selene, who was now recovering, did not know who her +preserver had been on this second occasion was clear from all that she +said. + +Towards the end of February Antinous had come on three days in +succession, and Hannah now took the step of begging the bishop, Eumenes, +to give the gate keeper strict injunctions to look out for the young man +and to forbid his entering the garden, even with force if it should prove +necessary. + +But "love laughs at locksmiths" and finds its way through locked doors, +and Antinous succeeded all the same in finding his way into Paulina's +garden. On one of these occasions he was so happy to surprise Selene, +as, supported on a stick and accompanied by a fair-haired boy and dame +Hannah herself, she hobbled up and down. + +Antinous had learnt to regard everything crippled or defective with +aversion, as a monstrous failure of nature's plastic harmony, but to pity +it tenderly; but now he felt quite differently. Mary with her humpback +had at first horrified him; now he was always glad to see her though she +always crossed his wishes; and poor lame Selene, who had been mocked at +by the street boys as she limped along, seemed to him more adorable than +ever. How lovely were her face and form, how peculiar her way of +walking--she did not limp--no, she swayed along the garden. Thus, as he +said to himself afterwards, the Nereids are borne along on the undulating +waves. Love is easily satisfied, nor is this strange, for it raises all +that comes within its embrace to a loftier level of existence. In the +light of love weakness is a virtue and want an additional charm. + +But the Bithynian's visits were not the widow's only cares; though she +bore the others, it is true, not anxiously but with pleasure. Her +household had increased by two living souls, and her income was very +small. That her patient might not want, she had to work with her own +hands while she superintended the girls in the factory, and to carry home +with her in the evening papyrus-leaves, not only for Mary, but for +herself too, and to glue them together during the long hours of the +night. As soon as Selene's condition improved, she too helped willingly +and diligently, but for many weeks the convalescent had to give up every +kind of employment. + +Mary often looked at Hannah in silent trouble, for she looked very pale. +After she had, on one occasion fallen in a fainting fit, the deformed +girl had gathered courage and had represented to her that though she +ought indeed to put out at interest the talent intrusted to her by the +Lord, she ought not to spend it recklessly. She was giving herself no +rest, working day and night; visiting the poor and sick in her hours of +recreation just as she used, and if she did not give herself more rest +would soon need nursing instead of nursing others. + +"At any rate," urged Mary, "give yourself a little indispensable sleep at +night." + +"We must live," replied Hannah, "and I dare not borrow, for I may never +be able to repay." + +"Then beg Paulina to remit your house-rent; she will do so gladly." + +"No," said Hannah, decidedly. "The rent of this little house goes to +benefit my poor people, and you know how badly they want it. What we +give we lend to the Lord, and he taxes no man above his ability." + +Selene was now well, but the physician had said that no human skill could +ever cure her of her lameness. She had become Hannah's daughter, and +blind Helios the son of the house. + +Arsinoe was only allowed to see her sister rarely and always accompanied +by her protectress, and she and Selene never were able to have any +unchecked and open conversation. The steward's eldest daughter was now +contented and cheerful, while the younger was not only saddened by the +disappearance of her lover, but also, from being unhappy in her new home, +she had become fractious and easily moved to shed tears. All was well +with the younger orphans; they were often taken to see Selene, and spoke +with affection of their new parents. + +As she got well her help diminished the strain on her two friends, and in +the beginning of March a call came to the widow which, if she followed +it, must give their simple existence a new aspect. + +In Upper Egypt certain Christian fraternities had been established, and +one of these had addressed a prayer to the great mother-community at +Alexandria, that it would send to them a presbyter, a deacon and a +deaconess capable of organizing and guiding the believers and catechumens +in the province of Hermopolis where they were already numbered by +thousands. The life of the community and the care of the poor, and sick +in the outlying districts required organization by experienced hands, and +Hannah had been asked whether she could make up her mind to leave the +metropolis and carry on the work of benevolence at Besa in an extended +sphere. + +She would there have a pleasant house, a palm-garden, and gifts from the +congregation which would secure not merely her own maintenance, but that +of her adopted children. + +Hannah was bound to Alexandria by many ties; in the first place she clung +to the poor and sick, many of whom had grown very dear to her, and how +many girls who had gone astray had she rescued from evil in the factory +alone! She begged for a short time for reflection, and this was granted +to her. By the fifteenth of March she was to decide, but by the fifth +she had already made up her mind, for while Hannah was in the papyrus- +factory Antinous had succeeded in getting into Paulina's garden shortly +before sunset and in stealing close up to Hannah's house. Mary again +observed him as he approached and signed to him to go, in her usual +pleasant way; but the Bithynian was more excited than usual; he seized +her hand and clasped her with urgent warmth as he implored her to be +merciful. She endeavored at once to free herself, but he would not let +her go, but cried in coaxing tones: + +"I must see her and speak to her to-day, dear, good Mary, only this +once!" And before she could prevent it he had kissed her forehead and +had flown into the house to Selene. The little hunchback did not know +what had happened to her; confused and almost paralyzed by conflicting +feelings she stood shame-faced, gazing at the ground. She felt that +something quite extraordinary had happened to her, but this wonderful +something radiated a dazzling splendor, and since this had risen for her, +for poor Mary, a feeling of pride quite new to her mingled with the shame +and indignation that filled her soul. She needed a few minutes to +collect herself and to recover a sense of her duty, and those few minutes +were made good use of by Antinous. + +He flew with long steps into the room in which, on that never-to-be- +forgotten night, he had laid Selene on the couch, and even at the +threshold he called her by her name. She started and laid aside the book +out of which she was reading to her blind brother. He called a second +time, beseechingly. Selene recognized him and asked calmly: + +"Do you want me, or dame Hannah?" + +"You, you!" he cried passionately. "Oh Selene, I pulled you out of the +water, and since that night I have never ceased to think of you and I +must die for love of you. Have your thoughts never, never met mine on +the way to you? Are you still and always as cold, as passive as you were +then when you belonged half to life and half to death? For months have I +prowled round this house as the shade of a dead man haunts the spot where +he had left all that was dear to him on earth, and I have never been able +to tell you what I feel for you?" As he spoke the lad fell on the ground +before her and tried to clasp her knees; but she said reproachfully: + +"What does all this mean? Stand up and compose yourself." + +"Oh! let me, let me--" he besought her. "Do not be so cold and so hard; +have pity on me and do not reject me!" + +"Stand up," repeated the girl. "I will certainly not reproach you--I owe +you thanks on the contrary." + +"Not thanks, but love--a little love is all I ask." + +"I try to love all men," replied the girl, "and so I love you because you +have shown me very much kindness." + +"Selene, Selene!" he exclaimed in joyful triumph. He threw himself +again at her feet and passionately seized her right hand; but hardly had +he taken it in his own when Mary, scarlet with agitation, rushed into the +room. In a husky voice, full of hatred and fury, she commanded him to +leave the house at once, and when he attempted again to besiege her ear +with entreaties she cried out: + +"If you do not obey I will call the men in to help us, who are out there +attending to the flowers. I ask you, will you obey or will you not?" + +"Why are you so cruel, Mary?" asked the blind boy. "This man is good +and kind and tells Selene he loves her." + +Antinous pointed to the child with an imploring gesture but Mary was +already by the window and was raising her hand to her mouth to make her +call heard. + +"Don't, don't," cried Antinous. "I am going at once." + +And he went slowly and silently towards the door, still gazing at Selene +with passionate ardor; then he quitted the room groaning with shame and +disappointment, though still with a look of radiant pride as though he +had achieved some great deed. In the garden he was met by Hannah, who +immediately hastened with accelerated steps to her own house where she +found Mary sobbing violently and dissolved in tears. + +The widow was soon informed of all that had occurred in her absence, and +an hour later she had announced to the bishop that she would accept the +call to Besa and was ready to start for Upper Egypt. + +"With your foster-children?" asked Eumenes. + +"Yes. It was indeed Selene's most earnest wish to be baptized by you, +but as a year of probation is required--" + +"I will perform the rite to-morrow morning." + +"To-morrow, Father?" + +"Yes, Sister, in all confidence. She buried the old man in the waves of +the sea, and before we were her teachers she had gone through the school +and discipline of life. While she was yet a heathen she had taken up her +cross and proved herself as faithful as though she were a child of the +Lord. All that was lacking to her--Faith, Love and Hope--she has found +under your roof. I thank thee for this soul thou hast found Sister, in +the name of the Lord." + +"Not I, not I," said the widow. "Her heart was frozen, but it is not I +but the innocent faith of the blind child that has melted it." + +"She owes her salvation to him and to you," replied the bishop, "and they +both shall be baptized together. We will give the lovely boy the name of +the fairest of the disciples, and call him John. Selene for the future, +if she herself likes it, shall be known as Martha." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +If one only knew who it is all for +Love laughs at locksmiths +Wide world between the purpose and the deed + + + + + + +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 FOR THE EMPEROR, COMPLETE: + +A well-to-do man always gets a higher price than a poor one +Avoid all useless anxiety +Dried merry-thought bone of a fowl +Enjoy the present day +Facts are differently reflected in different minds +Feeling themselves oppressed by the benevolence +Happiness is only the threshold to misery +Have not yet learned not to be astonished +Have lived to feel such profound contempt for the world +I must either rest or begin upon something new +Idleness had long since grown to be the occupation of his life +If one only knew who it is all for +Ill-judgment to pronounce a thing impossible +In order to find himself for once in good company--(Solitude) +Incomprehensible set no limits to his thirst for knowledge +It was such a comfort once more to obey an order +Love laughs at locksmiths +More to the purpose to think of the future than of the past +Never speaks a word too much or too little +Philosophers who wrote of the vanity of writers +So long as we do not think ourselves wretched, we are not so +Temples would be empty if mortals had nothing left to wish for +They keep an account in their heart and not in their head +To know half is less endurable than to know nothing +When a friend refuses to share in joys +Who do all they are able and enjoy as much as they can get +Wide world between the purpose and the deed +Years are the foe of beauty +You must admire it, every connoisseur must +Youth has a right to go astray now and then + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMPEROR, BY EBERS, COMPLETE *** + +**********This file should be named ge55v10.txt or ge55v10.zip *********** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, ge55v11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ge55v10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +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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