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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Homo Sum, by Georg Ebers, Volume 5.
+#60 in our series by Georg Ebers
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+Title: Homo Sum, Volume 5.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5498]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 2, 2002]
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOMO SUM, BY GEORG EBERS, V5 ***
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
+
+
+
+[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
+file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
+entire meal of them.  D.W.]
+
+
+
+
+
+HOMO SUM
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Volume 5.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Common natures can only be lightly touched by the immeasurable depth of
+anguish that is experienced by a soul that despairs of itself; but the
+more heavily the blow of such suffering falls, the more surely does it
+work with purifying power on him who has to taste of that cup.
+
+Paulus thought no more of the fair, sleeping woman; tortured by acute
+remorse he lay on the hard stones, feeling that he had striven in vain.
+When he had taken Hermas' sin and punishment and disgrace upon himself,
+it had seemed to him that he was treading in the very footsteps of the
+Saviour.  And now?--He felt like one who, while running for a prize,
+stumbles over a stone and grovels in the sand when he is already close to
+the goal.
+
+"God sees the will and not the deed," he muttered to himself.  "What I
+did wrong with regard to Sirona--or what I did not do--that matters not.
+When I leaned over her, I had fallen utterly and entirely into the power
+of the evil one, and was an ally of the deadliest enemy of Him to whom I
+had dedicated my life and soul.  Of what avail was my flight from the
+world, and my useless sojourn in the desert?  He who always keeps out of
+the way of the battle can easily boast of being unconquered to the end-
+but is he therefore a hero?  The palm belongs to him who in the midst of
+the struggles and affairs of the world clings to the heavenward road, and
+never lets himself be diverted from it; but as for me who walk here
+alone, a woman and a boy cross my path, and one threatens and the other
+beckons to me, and I forget my aim and stumble into the bog of iniquity.
+And so I cannot find--no, here I cannot find what I strive after.  But
+how then--how?  Enlighten me, O Lord, and reveal to me what I must do."
+
+Thus thinking he rose, knelt down, and prayed fervently; when at last he
+came to the 'Amen,' his head was burning, and his tongue parched.
+
+The clouds had parted, though they still hung in black masses in the
+west; from time to time gleams of lightning shone luridly on the horizon
+and lighted up the jagged peak of mountain with a flare; the moon had
+risen, but its waning disk was frequently obscured by dark driving masses
+of cloud; blinding flashes, tender light, and utter darkness were
+alternating with bewildering rapidity, when Paulus at last collected
+himself, and went down to the spring to drink, and to cool his brow in
+the fresh water.  Striding from stone to stone he told himself, that ere
+he could begin a new life, he must do penance--some heavy penance; but
+what was it to be?  He was standing at the very margin of the brook,
+hemmed in by cliffs, and was bending down to it, but before he had
+moistened his lips he drew back: just because he was so thirsty he
+resolved to deny himself drink.  Hastily, almost vehemently, he turned
+his back on the spring, and after this little victory over himself, his
+storm-tossed heart seemed a little calmer.  Far, far from hence and from
+the wilderness and from the Sacred Mountain he felt impelled to fly, and
+he would gladly have fled then and there to a distance.  Whither should
+he flee?  It was all the same, for he was in search of suffering, and
+suffering, like weeds, grows on every road.  And from whom?  This
+question repeated itself again and again as if he had shouted it in the
+very home of echo, and the answer was not hard to find: "It is from
+yourself that you would flee.  It is your own inmost self that is your
+enemy; bury yourself in what desert you will, it will pursue you, and it
+would be easier for you to cut off your shadow than to leave that
+behind?"
+
+His whole consciousness was absorbed by this sense of impotency, and now,
+after the stormy excitement of the last few hours, the deepest depression
+took possession of his mind.  Exhausted, unstrung, full of loathing of
+himself and life, he sank down on a stone, and thought over the
+occurrences of the last few days with perfect impartiality.
+
+"Of all the fools that ever I met," thought he, "I have gone farthest in
+folly, and have thereby led things into a state of confusion which I
+myself could not make straight again, even if I were a sage--which I
+certainly never shall be any more than a tortoise or a phoenix.  I once
+heard tell of a hermit who, because it is written that we ought to bury
+the dead, and because he had no corpse, slew a traveller that he might
+fulfil the commandment: I have acted in exactly the same way, for, in
+order to spare another man suffering and to bear the sins of another,
+I have plunged an innocent woman into misery, and made myself indeed a
+sinner.  As soon as it is light I will go down to the oasis and confess
+to Petrus and Dorothea what I have done.  They will punish me, and I will
+honestly help them, so that nothing of the penance that they may lay upon
+me may be remitted.  The less mercy I show to myself, the more will the
+Eternal judge show to me."
+
+He rose, considered the position of the stars, and when he perceived that
+morning was not far off, he prepared to return to Sirona, who was no
+longer any more to him than an unhappy woman to whom he owed reparation
+for much evil, when a loud cry of distress in the immediate vicinity fell
+on his ear.
+
+He mechanically stooped to pick up a stone for a weapon, and listened.
+He knew every rock in the neighborhood of the spring, and when the
+strange groan again made itself heard, he knew that it came from a spot
+which he knew well and where he had often rested, because a large flat
+stone supported by a stout pillar of granite, stood up far above the
+surrounding rocks, and afforded protection from the sun, even at noonday,
+when not a hand's breath of shade was to be found elsewhere.
+
+Perhaps some wounded beast had crept under the rock for shelter from the
+rain.  Paulus went cautiously forward.  The groaning sounded louder and
+more distinct than before, and beyond a doubt it was the voice of a human
+being.
+
+The anchorite hastily threw away the stone, fell upon his knees, and soon
+found on the dry spot of ground under the stone, and in the farthermost
+nook of the retreat, a motionless human form.
+
+"It is most likely a herdsman that has been struck by lightning," thought
+he, as he felt with his hands the curly head of the sufferer, and the
+strong arms that now bung down powerless.  As he raised the injured man,
+who still uttered low moans, and supported his head on his broad breast,
+the sweet perfume of fine ointment was wafted to him from his hair, and a
+fearful suspicion dawned upon his mind.
+
+"Polykarp!"  he cried, while he clasped his hands more tightly round the
+body of the sufferer who, thus called upon, moved and muttered a few
+unintelligible words; in a low tone, but still much too clearly for
+Paulus, for he now knew for certain that be had guessed rightly.  With a
+loud cry of horror he grasped the youth's powerless form, raised him in
+his arms, and carried him like a child to the margin of the spring where
+he laid his noble burden down in the moist grass; Polykarp started and
+opened his eyes.
+
+Morning was already dawning, the light clouds on the eastern horizon were
+already edged with rosy fringes, and the coming day began to lift the
+dark veil from the forms and hues of creation.
+
+The young man recognized the anchorite, who with trembling hands was
+washing the wound at the back of his head, and his eye assumed an angry
+glare as he called up all his remaining strength and pushed his attendant
+from him.  Paulus did not withdraw, he accepted the blow from his victim
+as a gift or a greeting, thinking, "Aye, and I only wish you had a dagger
+in your hand; I would not resist you."
+
+The artist's wound was frightfully wide and deep, but the blood had
+flowed among his thick curls, and had clotted over the lacerated veins
+like a thick dressing.  The water with which Paulus now washed his head
+reopened them, and renewed the bleeding, and after the one powerful
+effort with which Polykarp pushed away his enemy, he fell back senseless
+in his arms  The wan morning-light added to the pallor of the bloodless
+countenance that lay with glazed eyes in the anchorite's lap.
+
+"He is dying!"  murmured Paulus in deadly anguish and with choking
+breath, while he looked across the valley and up to the heights, seeking
+help.  The mountain rose in front of him, its majestic mass glowing in
+the rosy dawn, while light translucent vapor floated round the peak where
+the Lord had written His laws for His chosen people, and for all peoples,
+on tables of stone; it seemed to Paulus that he saw the giant form of
+Moses far, far up on its sublimest height and that from his lips in
+brazen tones the strictest of all the commandments was thundered down
+upon him with awful wrath, "Thou shalt not kill!"
+
+Paulus clasped his hands before his face in silent despair, while his
+victim still lay in his lap.  He had closed his eyes, for he dared not
+look on the youth's pale countenance, and still less dared he look up at
+the mountain; but the brazen voice from the height did not cease, and
+sounded louder and louder; half beside himself with excitement, in his
+inward ear he heard it still, "Thou shalt not kill!"  and then again,
+"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife!"  a third time, "Thou shalt
+not commit adultery!"  and at last a fourth, "Thou shalt have none other
+gods but me!"
+
+He that sins against one of those laws is damned; and he--he had broken
+them all, broken them while striving to tread the thorny path to a life
+of blessedness.
+
+Suddenly and wildly he threw his arms up to heaven, and sighing deeply,
+gazed up at the sacred hill.
+
+What was that?  On the topmost peak of Sinai whence the Pharanite
+sentinels were accustomed to watch the distance, a handkerchief was
+waving as a signal that the enemy were approaching.
+
+He could not be mistaken, and as in the face of approaching danger he
+collected himself and recovered his powers of thought and deliberation,
+his ear distinctly caught the mighty floods of stirring sound that came
+over the mountain, from the brazen cymbals struck by the watchmen to warn
+the inhabitants of the oasis, and the anchorites.
+
+Was Hermas returned?  Had the Blemmyes outstripped him?  From what
+quarter were the marauding hosts coming on?  Could he venture to remain
+here near his victim, or was it his duty to use his powerful arms in
+defence of his helpless companions?  In agonized doubt he looked down at
+the youth's pallid features, and deep, sorrowful compassion filled his
+mind.
+
+How promising was this young tree of humanity that his rough fist had
+broken off! and these brown curls had only yesterday been stroked by a
+mother's hand.  His eyes filled with tears, and he bent as tenderly as a
+father might over the pale face, and pressed a gentle kiss on the
+bloodless lips of the senseless youth.  A thrill of joy shot through him,
+for Polykarp's lips were indeed not cold, he moved his hand, and now--the
+Lord be praised!  he actually opened his eyes.
+
+"And I am not a murderer!"  A thousand voices seem to sing with joy in
+his heart, and then he thought to himself, "First I will carry him down
+to his parents in the oasis, and then go up to the brethren."
+
+But the brazen signals rang out with renewed power, and the stillness of
+the holy wilderness was broken here by the clatter of men's voices, there
+by a blast of trumpets, and there again by stifled cries.  It was as if a
+charm had given life to the rocks and lent their voices; as if noise and
+clamor were rushing like wild torrents down every gorge and cleft of the
+mountainside.
+
+"It is too late," sighed the anchorite.  "If I only could--if I only
+knew--"
+
+"Hallo! hallo! holy Paulus!"  a shrill woman's voice which seemed to come
+from high up in the air rang out joyful and triumphant, interrupting the
+irresolute man's meditations, "Hermas is alive!  Hermas is here again!
+Only look up at the heights.  There flies the standard, for he has warned
+the sentinels.  The Blemmyes are coming on, and he sent me to seek you.
+You must come to the strong tower on the western side of the ravine.
+Make haste! come at once!  Do you hear?  He told me to tell you.  But the
+man in your lap--it is--yes, it is--"
+
+"It is your master's son Polykarp," Paulus called back to her.  "He is
+hurt unto death; hurry down to the oasis, and tell the senator, tell Dame
+Dorothea--"
+
+"I have something else to do now," interrupted the shepherdess.  "Hermas
+has sent me to warn Gelasius, Psoes, and Dulas, and if I went down into
+the oasis they would lock me up, and not let me come up the mountain
+again.  What has happened to the poor fellow?  But it is all the same:
+there is something else for you to do besides grieving over a hole in
+Polykarp's head.  Go up to the tower, I tell you, and let him lie--or
+carry him up with you into your new den, and hand him over to your
+sweetheart to nurse."
+
+"Demon!"  exclaimed Paulus, taking up a stone.
+
+"Let him he!"  repeated Miriam.  "I will betray her hiding-place to
+Phoebicius, if you do not do as Dermas orders you.  Now I am off to call
+the others, and we shall meet again at the tower.  And you had better not
+linger too long with your fair companion--pious Paulus--saintly Paulus!"
+
+And laughing loudly, she sprang away from rock to rock as if borne up by
+the air.
+
+The Alexandrian looked wrathfully after her; but her advice did not seem
+to be bad, he lifted the wounded man on his shoulders, and hastily
+carried him up towards his cave; but before he could reach it he heard
+steps, and a loud agonized scream, and in a few seconds Sirona was by his
+side, crying in passionate grief, "It is he, it is he-and oh, to see him
+thus!--But he must live, for if he were dead your God of Love would be
+inexorable, pitiless, hard, cruel--it would be--"
+
+She could say no more, for tears choked her voice, and Paulus, without
+listening to her lamentation, passed quickly on in front of her, entered
+the cave and laid the unconscious man down on the couch, saying gravely
+but kindly, as Sirona threw herself on her knees and pressed the young
+man's powerless hand to her lips, "If indeed you truly love him, cease
+crying and lamenting.  He yesterday got a severe wound on his head; I
+have washed it, now do you bind it up with care, and keep it constantly
+cool with fresh water.  You know your way to the spring; when he recovers
+his senses rub his feet, and give him some bread and a few drops of the
+wine which you will find in the little cellar hard by; there is some oil
+there too, which you will need for a light.
+
+"I must go up to the brethren, and if I do not return to-morrow, give the
+poor lad over to his mother to nurse.  Only tell her this, that I,
+Paulus, gave him this wound in a moment of rage, and to forgive me if she
+can, she and Petrus.  And you too forgive me that in which I have sinned
+against you, and if I should fall in the battle which awaits us, pray
+that the Lord may not be too hard upon me in the day of judgment, for my
+sins are great and many."
+
+At this moment the sound of the trumpets sounded even into the deepest
+recess of the cave.  Sirona started.  "That is the Roman tuba," she
+exclaimed.  "I know the sound--Phoebicius is coming this way."
+
+"He is doing his duty," replied Paulus.  "And still, one thing more.  I
+saw last night a ring on your hand--an onyx."
+
+"There it lies," said Sirona; and she pointed to the farthest corner of
+the cave, where it lay on the dusty soil.
+
+"Let it remain there," Paulus begged of her;  he bent over the senseless
+man once more to kiss his forehead, raised his hand towards Sirona in
+sign of blessing, and rushed out into the open air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Two paths led over the mountain from the oasis to the sea; both followed
+deep and stony gorges, one of which was named the "short cut," because
+the traveller reached his destination more quickly by that road than by
+following the better road in the other ravine, which was practicable for
+beasts of burden.  Half-way up the height the "short cut" opened out on a
+little plateau, whose western side was shut in by a high mass of rock
+with steep and precipitous flanks.  At the top of this rock stood a tower
+built of rough blocks, in which the anchorites were wont to take refuge
+when they were threatened with a descent of their foes.
+
+The position of this castle--as the penitents proudly styled their tower
+--was well-chosen, for from its summit they commanded not only the "short
+cut" to the oasis, but also the narrow shell-strewn strip of desert which
+divided the western declivity of the Holy Mountain from the shore, the
+blue-green waters of the sea, and the distant chain of hills on the
+African coast.
+
+Whatever approached the tower, whether from afar or from the
+neighborhood, was at once espied by them, and the side of the rock which
+was turned to the roadway was so precipitous and smooth that it remained
+inaccessible even to the natives of the desert, who, with their naked
+feet and sinewy arms, could climb points which even the wild goat and the
+jackal made a circuit to avoid.  It was more accessible from the other
+side, and in order to secure that, a very strong wall had been built,
+which enclosed the level on which the castle stood in the form of a
+horseshoe, of which the ends abutted on the declivity of the short road.
+This structure was so roughly and inartistically heaped together that it
+looked as if formed by nature rather than by the hand of man.  The rough
+and unfinished appearance of this wall-like heap of stones was heightened
+by the quantity of large and small pieces of granite which were piled on
+the top of it, and which had been collected by the anchorites, in case of
+an incursion, to roll and hurl down on the invading robbers.  A cistern
+had been dug out of the rocky soil of the plateau which the wall
+enclosed, and care was taken to keep it constantly filled with water.
+
+Such precautions were absolutely necessary, for the anchorites were
+threatened with dangers from two sides.  First from the Ishmaelite hordes
+of Saracens who fell upon them from the east, and secondly from the
+Blemmyes, the wild inhabitants of the desert country which borders the
+fertile lands of Egypt and Nubia, and particularly of the barren
+highlands that part the Red Sea from the Nile valley; they crossed the
+sea in light skiffs, and then poured over the mountain like a swarm of
+locusts.
+
+The little stores and savings which the defenceless hermits treasured in
+their caves had tempted the Blemmyes again and again, in spite of the
+Roman garrison in Pharan, which usually made its appearance on the scene
+of their incursion long after they had disappeared with their scanty
+booty.  Not many months since, the raid had been effected in which old
+Stephanus had been wounded by an arrow, and there was every reason to
+hope that the wild marauders would not return very soon, for Phoebicius,
+the commander of the Roman maniple in the oasis, was swift and vigorous
+in his office, and though he had not succeeded in protecting the
+anchorites from all damage, he had followed up the Blemmyes, who fled at
+his approach, and cut them off from rejoining their boats.  A battle took
+place between the barbarians and the Romans, not far from the coast on
+the desert tract dividing the hills from the sea, which resulted in the
+total annihilation of the wild tribes and gave ground to hope that such a
+lesson might serve as a warning to the sons of the desert.  But if
+hitherto the more easily quelled promptings of covetousness had led them
+to cross the sea, they were now animated by the most sacred of all
+duties, by the law which required them to avenge the blood of their
+fathers and brothers, and they dared to plan a fresh incursion in which
+they should put forth all their resources.  They were at the same time
+obliged to exercise the greatest caution, and collected their forces of
+young men in the valleys that lay hidden in the long range of coast-
+hills.
+
+The passage of the narrow arm of the sea that parted them from Arabia
+Petraea, was to be effected in the first dark night; the sun, this
+evening, had set behind heavy storm-clouds that had discharged themselves
+in violent rain and had obscured the light of the waning moon.  So they
+drew their boats and rafts down to the sea, and, unobserved by the
+sentinels on the mountain who had taken shelter from the storm under
+their little penthouses, they would have reached the opposite shore, the
+mountain, and perhaps even the oasis, if some one had not warned the
+anchorites--and that some one was Hermas.
+
+Obedient to the commands of Paulus, the lad had appropriated three of his
+friend's gold pieces, had provided himself with a bow and arrows and some
+bread, and then, after muttering a farewell to his father who was asleep
+in his cave, he set out for Raithu.  Happy in the sense of his strength
+and manhood, proud of the task which had been set him and which he deemed
+worthy of a future soldier, and cheerfully ready to fulfil it even at the
+cost of his life, he hastened forward in the bright moonlight.  He
+quitted the path at the spot where, to render the ascent possible even to
+the vigorous desert-travellers, it took a zigzag line, and clambered from
+rock to rock, up and down in a direct line; when he came to a level spot
+he flew on as if pursuers were at his heels.  After sunrise he refreshed
+himself with a morsel of food, and then hurried on again, not heeding the
+heat of noon, nor that of the soft sand in which his foot sank as he
+followed the line of the sea-coast.
+
+Thus passionately hurrying onwards he thought neither of Sirona nor of
+his past life--only of the hills on the farther shore and of the
+Blemmyes--how he should best surprise them, and, when he had learnt their
+plans, how he might recross the sea and return to his own people.  At
+last, as he got more and more weary, as the heat of the sun grew more
+oppressive, and as the blood rushed more painfully to his heart and began
+to throb more rapidly in his temples, be lost all power of thought, and
+that which dwelt in his mind was no more than a dumb longing to reach his
+destination as soon as possible.
+
+It was the third afternoon when he saw from afar the palms of Raithu, and
+hurried on with revived strength.  Before the sun had set he had informed
+the anchorite, to whom Paulus had directed him, that the Alexandrian
+declined their call, and was minded to remain on the Holy Mountain.
+
+Then Hermas proceeded to the little harbor, to bargain with the fishermen
+of the place for the boat which he needed  While he was talking with an
+old Amalekite boatman, who, with his black-eyed sons, was arranging his
+nets, two riders came at a quick pace towards the bay in which a large
+merchant-ship lay at anchor, surrounded by little barks.  The fisherman
+pointed to it.
+
+"It is waiting for the caravan from Petra," he said.  "There, on the
+dromedary, is the emperor's great warrior who commands the Romans in
+Pharan."
+
+Hermas saw Phoebicius for the first time, and as he rode up towards him
+and the fisherman he started; if he had followed his first impulse, he
+would have turned and have taken to flight, but his clear eyes had met
+the dull and searching glance of the centurion, and, blushing at his own
+weakness, he stood still with his arms crossed, and proudly and defiantly
+awaited the Gaul who with his companion came straight up to him.
+
+Talib had previously seen the youth by his father's side; he recognized
+him and asked how long he had been there, and if he had come direct from
+the mountain.  Hermas answered him as was becoming, and understood at
+once that it was not he that the centurion was seeking.
+
+Perfectly reassured and not without curiosity he looked at the new-comer,
+and a smile curled his lips as he observed that the lean old man,
+exhausted by his long and hurried ride, could scarcely hold himself on
+his beast, and at the same time it struck him that this pitiable old man
+was the husband of the blooming and youthful Sirona.  Far from feeling
+any remorse for his intrusion into this man's house, he yielded entirely
+to the audacious humor with which his aspect filled him, and when
+Phoebicius himself asked him as to whether he had not met on his way with
+a fair-haired woman and a limping greyhound, he replied, repressing his
+laughter with difficulty:
+
+"Aye, indeed!  I did see such a woman and her dog, but I do not think it
+was lame."
+
+"Where did you see her?"  asked Phoebicius hastily.  Hermas colored, for
+he was obliged to tell an untruth, and it might be that he would do
+Sirona an injury by giving false information.  He therefore ventured to
+give no decided answer, but enquired, "Has the woman committed some crime
+that you are pursuing her?"
+
+"A great one!"  replied Talib, "she is my lord's wife, and--"
+
+What she has done wrong concerns me alone,' said Phoebicius, sharply
+interrupting his companion.  "I hope this fellow saw better than you who
+took the crying woman with a child, from Aila, for Sirona.  What is your
+name, boy?"
+
+"Hermas," answered the lad.  "And who are you, pray?"
+
+The Gaul's lips were parted for an angry reply, but he suppressed it and
+said, "I am the emperor's centurion, and I ask you, what did the woman
+look like whom you saw, and where did you meet her?"
+
+The soldier's fierce looks, and his captain's words showed Hermas that
+the fugitive woman had nothing good to expect if she were caught, and as
+he was not in the least inclined to assist her pursuers he hastily
+replied, giving the reins to his audacity, "I at any rate did not meet
+the person whom you seek; the woman I saw is certainly not this man's
+wife, for she might very well be his granddaughter.  She had gold hair,
+and a rosy face, and the greyhound that followed her was called Iambe."
+
+"Where did you meet her?"  shrieked the centurion.
+
+"In the fishing-village at the foot of the mountain," replied Hermas.
+"She got into a boat, and away it went!"
+
+"Towards the north?"  asked the Gaul.
+
+"I think so," replied Hermas, "but I do not know, for I was in a hurry,
+and could not look after her."
+
+"Then we will try to take her in Klysma," cried Phoebicius to the
+Amalekite.  "If only there were horses in this accursed desert!"
+
+"It is four days' journey," said Talib considering.  "And beyond Elim
+there is no water before the Wells of Moses.  Certainly if we could get
+good dromedaries--"
+
+"And if," interrupted Hermas, "it were not better that you, my lord
+centurion, should not go so far from the oasis.  For over there they say
+that the Blemmyes are gathering, and I myself am going across as a spy so
+soon as it is dark."
+
+Phoebicius looked down gloomily considering the matter.  The news had
+reached him too that the sons of the desert were preparing for a new
+incursion, and he cried to Talib angrily but decidedly, as he turned his
+back upon Hermas, "You must ride alone to Klysma, and try to capture her.
+I cannot and will not neglect my duty for the sake of the wretched
+woman."
+
+Hermas looked after him as he went away, and laughed out loud when he saw
+him disappear into his inn.  He hired a boat from the old man for his
+passage across the sea for one of the gold pieces given him by Paulus,
+and lying down on the nets he refreshed him self by a deep sleep of some
+hours' duration.  When the moon rose he was roused in obedience to his
+orders, and helped the boy who accompanied him, and who understood the
+management of the sails and rudder, to push the boat, which was laid up
+on the sand, down into the sea.  Soon he was flying over the smooth and
+glistening waters before a light wind, and he felt as fresh and strong in
+spirit as a young eagle that has just left the nest, and spreads its
+mighty wings for the first time.  He could have shouted in his new and
+delicious sense of freedom, and the boy at the stern shook his head in
+astonishment when he saw Hermas wield the oars he had entrusted to him,
+unskilfully it is true, but with mighty strokes.
+
+"The wind is in our favor," he called out to the anchorite as he hauled
+round the sail with the rope in his hand, "we shall get on without your
+working so hard.  You may save your strength."
+
+"There is plenty of it, and I need not be stingy of it," answered Hermas,
+and he bent forward for another powerful stroke.
+
+About half-way he took a rest, and admired the reflection of the moon in
+the bright mirror of the water, and he could not but think of Petrus'
+court-yard that had shone in the same silvery light when he had climbed
+up to Sirona's window.  The image of the fair, whitearmed woman recurred
+to his mind, and a melancholy longing began to creep over him.
+
+He sighed softly, again and yet again; but as his breast heaved for the
+third bitter sigh, he remembered the object of his journey and his broken
+fetters, and with eager arrogance he struck the oar flat on to the water
+so that it spurted high up, and sprinkled the boat and him with a shower
+of wet and twinkling diamond drops.  He began to work the oars again,
+reflecting as he did so, that he had something better to do than to think
+of a woman.  Indeed, he found it easy to forget Sirona completely, for in
+the next few days he went through every excitement of a warrior's life.
+
+Scarcely two hours after his start from Raithu he was standing on the
+soil of another continent, and, after finding a hiding-place for his
+boat, he slipped off among the hills to watch the movements of the
+Blemmyes.  The very first day he went up to the valley in which they were
+gathering; on the second, after being many times seen and pursued, he
+succeeded in seizing a warrior who had been sent out to reconnoitre, and
+in carrying him off with him; he bound him, and by heavy threats learned
+many things from him.
+
+The number of their collected enemies was great, but Hermas had hopes of
+outstripping them, for his prisoner revealed to him the spot where their
+boats, drawn up on shore, lay hidden under sand and stones.
+
+As soon as it was dusk, the anchorite in his boat went towards the place
+of embarkation, and when the Blemmyes, in the darkness of midnight, drew
+their first bark into the water, Hermas sailed off ahead of the enemy,
+landed in much danger below the western declivity of the mountain, and
+hastened up towards Sinai to warn the Pharanite watchmen on the beacon.
+
+He gained the top of the difficult peak before sunrise, roused the lazy
+sentinels who had left their posts, and before they were able to mount
+guard, to hoist the flags or to begin to sound the brazen cymbals, he had
+hurried on down the valley to his father's cave.
+
+Since his disappearance Miriam had incessantly hovered round Stephanus'
+dwelling, and had fetched fresh water for the old man every morning, noon
+and evening, even after a new nurse, who was clumsier and more peevish,
+had taken Paulus' place.  She lived on roots, and on the bread the sick
+man gave her, and at night she lay down to sleep in a deep dry cleft of
+the rock that she had long known well.  She quitted her hard bed before
+daybreak to refill the old man's pitcher, and to chatter to him about
+Hermas.
+
+She was a willing servant to Stephanus because as often as she went to
+him, she could hear his son's name from his lips, and he rejoiced at her
+coming because she always gave him the opportunity of talking of Hermas.
+
+For many weeks the sick man had been so accustomed to let himself be
+waited on that he accepted the shepherdess's good offices as a matter of
+course, and she never attempted to account to herself for her readiness
+to serve him.  Stephanus would have suffered in dispensing with her, and
+to her, her visits to the well and her conversations with the old man had
+become a need, nay a necessity, for she still was ignorant whether Hermas
+was yet alive, or whether Phoebicius had killed him in consequence of her
+betrayal.  Perhaps all that Stephanus told her of his son's journey of
+investigation was an invention of Paulus to spare the sick man, and
+accustom him gradually to the loss of his child; and yet she was only too
+willing to believe that Hermas still lived, and she quitted the
+neighborhood of the cave as late as possible, and filled the sick man's
+water-jar before the sun was up, only because she said to herself that
+the fugitive on his return would seek no one else so soon as his father.
+
+She had not one really quiet moment, for if a falling stone, an
+approaching footstep, or the cry of a beast broke the stillness of the
+desert she at once hid herself, and listened with a beating heart; much
+less from fear of Petrus her master, from whom she had run away, than in
+the expectation of hearing the step of the man whom she had betrayed into
+the hand of his enemy, and for whom she nevertheless painfully longed day
+and night.
+
+As often as she lingered by the spring she wetted her stubborn hair to
+smooth it, and washed her face with as much zeal as if she thought she
+should succeed in washing the dark hue out of her skin.  And all this she
+did for him, that on his return she might charm him as much as the white
+woman in the oasis, whom she hated as fiercely as she loved him
+passionately.
+
+During the heavy storm of last night a torrent from the mountain-height
+had shed itself into her retreat and had driven her out of it.  Wet
+through, shelterless, tormented by remorse, fear and longing, she had
+clambered from stone to stone, and sought refuge and peace under first
+one rock and then another; thus she had been attracted by the glimmer of
+light that shone out of the new dwelling of the pious Paulus; she had
+seen and recognized the Alexandrian, but he had not observed her as he
+cowered on the ground near his hearth deeply sunk in thought.
+
+She knew now where the excommunicated man dwelt after whom Stephanus
+often asked, and she had gathered from the old man's lamentations and
+dark hints, that Paulus too had been ensnared and brought to ruin by her
+enemy.
+
+As the morning-star began to pale Miriam went up to Stephanus' cave; her
+heart was full of tears, and yet she was unable to pour out her need and
+suffering in a soothing flood of weeping; she was wholly possessed with a
+wild desire to sink down on the earth there and die, and to be released
+by death from her relentless, driving torment.  But it was still too
+early to disturb the old man--and yet--she must hear a human voice, one
+word--even if it were a hard word--from the lips of a human being; for
+the bewildering feeling of distraction which confused her mind, and the
+misery of abandonment that crushed her heart, were all too cruelly
+painful to be borne.
+
+She was standing by the entrance to the cave when, high above her head,
+she heard the falling of stones and the cry of a human voice.  She
+started and listened with out-stretched neck and strung sinews,
+motionless.  Then she broke suddenly into a loud and piercing shout of
+joy, and flinging up her arms she flew up the mountain towards a
+traveller who came swiftly down to meet her.
+
+"Hermas! Hermas!"  she shouted, and all the sunny delight of her heart
+was reflected in her cry so clearly and purely that the sympathetic
+chords in the young man's soul echoed the sound, and he hailed her with
+joyful welcome.
+
+He had never before greeted her thus, and the tone of his voice revived
+her poor crushed heart like a restorative draught offered by a tender
+hand to the lips of the dying.  Exquisite delight, and a glow of
+gratitude such as she had never before felt flooded her soul, and as he
+was so good to her she longed to show him that she had something to offer
+in return for the gift of friendship which he offered her.  So the first
+thing she said to him was, "I have staid constantly near your father, and
+have brought him water early and late, as much as he needed."
+
+She blushed as she thus for the first time praised herself to him, but
+Hermas exclaimed, "That is a good girl! and I will not forget it.  You
+are a wild, silly thing, but I believe that you are to be relied on by
+those to whom you feel kindly."
+
+"Only try me," cried Miriam holding out her hand to him.  He took it, and
+as they went on together he said:
+
+"Do you hear the brass?  I have warned the watchmen up there; the
+Blemmyes are coming.  Is Paulus with my father?"
+
+"No, but I know where he is."
+
+"Then you must call him," said the young man.  "Him first and then
+Gelasius, and Psoes, and Dulas, and any more of the penitents that you
+can find.  They must all go to the castle by the ravine.  Now I will go
+to my father; you hurry on and show that you are to be trusted."  As he
+spoke he put his arm round her waist, but she slipped shyly away, and
+calling out, "I will take them all the message," she hurried off.
+
+In front of the cave where she had hoped to meet with Paulus she found
+Sirona; she did not stop with her, but contented herself with laughing
+wildly and calling out words of abuse.
+
+Guided by the idea that she should find the Alexandrian at the nearest
+well, she went on and called him, then hurrying on from cave to cave she
+delivered her message in Hermas' name, happy to serve him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+They were all collected behind the rough wall on the edge of the ravine-
+the strange men who had turned their back on life with all its joys and
+pails, its duties and its delights, on the community and family to which
+they belonged, and had fled to the desert, there to strive for a prize
+above and beyond this life, when they had of their own free-will
+renounced all other effort.  In the voiceless desert, far from the
+enticing echoes of the world, it might be easy to kill every sensual
+impulse, to throw off the fetters of the world, and so bring that
+humanity, which was bound to the dust through sin and the flesh, nearer
+to the pure and incorporate being of the Divinity.
+
+All these men were Christians, and, like the Saviour who had freely taken
+torments upon Himself to become the Redeemer, they too sought through the
+purifying power of suffering to free themselves from the dross of their
+impure human nature, and by severe penance to contribute their share of
+atonement for their own guilt, and for that of all their race.  No fear
+of persecution had driven them into the desert--nothing but the hope of
+gaining the hardest of victories.
+
+All the anchorites who had been summoned to the tower were Egyptians and
+Syrians, and among the former particularly there were many who, being
+already inured to abstinence and penance in the service of the old gods
+in their own country, now as Christians had selected as the scene of
+their pious exercises the very spot where the Lord must have revealed
+Himself to his elect.
+
+At a later date not merely Sinai itself but the whole tract of Arabia
+Petraea--through which, as it was said, the Jews at their exodus under
+Moses had wandered--was peopled with ascetics of like mind, who gave to
+their settlements the names of the resting-places of the chosen people,
+as mentioned in the Scriptures; but as yet there was no connection
+between the individual penitents, no order ruled their lives; they might
+still be counted by tens, though ere long they numbered hundreds and
+thousands.
+
+The threat of danger had brought all these contemners of the world and of
+life in stormy haste to the shelter of the tower, in spite of their
+readiness to die.  Only old Kosmas, who had withdrawn to the desert with
+his wife--she had found a grave there--had remained in his cave, and had
+declared to Gelasius, who shared his cave and who had urged him to
+flight, that he was content in whatever place or whatever hour the Lord
+should call him, and that it was in God's hands to decide whether old age
+or an arrow-shot should open to him the gates of heaven.
+
+It was quite otherwise with the rest of the anchorites, who rushed
+through the narrow door of the watchtower and into its inner room till it
+was filled to overflowing, and Paulus, who in the presence of danger had
+fully recovered his equanimity, was obliged to refuse admission to a new-
+comer in order to preserve the closely packed and trembling crowd from
+injury.
+
+No murrain passes from beast to beast, no mildew from fruit to fruit with
+such rapidity as fear spreads from man to man.  Those who had been driven
+by the sharpest lashings of terror had run the fastest, and reached the
+castle first.  They had received those who followed them with lamentation
+and outcries, and it was a pitiable sight to see how the terrified crowd,
+in the midst of their loud declarations of resignation to God's guidance
+and their pious prayers, wrung their hands, and at the same time how
+painfully anxious each one was to hide the little property he had saved
+first from the disapproval of his companions, and then from the
+covetousness of the approaching enemy.
+
+With Paulus came Sergius and Jeremias to whom, on the way, he had spoken
+words of encouragement.  All three did their utmost to revive the
+confidence of the terrified men, and when the Alexandrian reminded them
+how zealously each of them only a few weeks since had helped to roll the
+blocks and stones from the wall, and down the precipice, so as to crush
+and slay the advancing enemy the feeling was strong in many of them that,
+as he had already proved himself worthy in defence, it was due to him now
+to make him their leader.
+
+The number of the men who rushed out of the tower was increasing, and
+when Hermas appeared with his father on his back and followed by Miriam,
+and when Paulus exhorted his companions to be edified by this pathetic
+picture of filial love, curiosity tempted even the last loiterers in the
+tower out into the open space.
+
+The Alexandrian sprang over the wall, went up to Stephanus, lifted him
+from the shoulders of the panting youth and, taking him on his own,
+carried him towards the tower; but the old warrior refused to enter the
+place of refuge, and begged his friend to lay him down by the wall.
+Paulus obeyed his wish and then went with Hermas to the top of the tower
+to spy the distance from thence.
+
+As soon as he had quitted him, Stephanus turned to the anchorites who
+stood near him, saying, "These stones are loose, and though my strength
+is indeed small still it is great enough to send one of them over with a
+push.  If it comes to a battle my old soldier's eyes, dim as they are
+now, may with the help of yours see many things that may be useful to you
+young ones.  Above all things, if the game is to be a hot one for the
+robbers, one must command here whom the others will obey."
+
+"It shall be you, father," interrupted Salathiel the Syrian.  "You have
+served in Caesar's army, and you proved your courage and knowledge of war
+in the last raid.  You shall command us."
+
+Stephanus sadly shook his head and replied, "My voice is become too weak
+and low since this wound in my breast and my long illness.  Not even
+those who stand nearest to me would understand me in the noise of battle.
+Let Paulus be your captain, for he is strong, cautious and brave."
+
+Many of the anchorites had long looked upon the Alexandrian as their best
+stay; for many years he had enjoyed the respect of all and on a thousand
+occasions had given proof of his strength and presence of mind, but at
+this proposal they looked at each other in surprise, doubt and
+disapproval.
+
+Stephanus saw what was passing in their minds.
+
+"It is true he has erred gravely," he said.  "And before God he is the
+least of the least among us; but in animal strength and indomitable
+courage he is superior to you all.  Which of you would be willing to take
+his place, if you reject his guidance."
+
+"Orion the Saite," cried one of the anchorites, "is tall and strong.  If
+he would--"
+
+But Orion eagerly excused himself from assuming the dangerous office, and
+when Andreas and Joseph also refused with no less decision the leadership
+that was offered them, Stephanus said:
+
+"You see there is no choice left us but to be, the Alexandrian to command
+us here so long as the robbers threaten us, and no longer.  There he
+comes--shall I ask him?"
+
+A murmur of consent, though by no means of satisfaction, answered the old
+man, and Paulus, quite carried away by his eagerness to stake his life
+and blood for the protection of the weak, and fevered with a soldier's
+ardor, accepted Stephanus' commission as a matter of course, and set to
+work like a general to organize the helpless wearers of sheepskin.
+
+Some he sent to the top of the tower to keep watch, others he charged
+with the transport of the stones; to a third party he entrusted the duty
+of hurling pieces of rock and blocks of stone down into the abyss in the
+moment of danger; he requested the weaker brethren to assemble themselves
+together, to pray for the others and to sing hymns of praise, and he
+concerted signs and passwords with all; he was now here, now there, and
+his energy and confidence infused themselves even into the faint-hearted.
+
+In the midst of these arrangements Hermas took leave of him and of his
+father, for he heard the Roman war-trumpets and the drums of the young
+manhood of Pharan, as they marched through the short cut to meet the
+enemy.  He knew where the main strength of the Blemmyes lay and
+communicated this knowledge to the Centurion Phoebicius and the captain
+of the Pharanites.  The Gaul put a few short questions to Hermas, whom he
+recognized immediately, for since he had met him at the harbor of Raithu
+he could not forget his eyes, which reminded him of those of Glycera; and
+after receiving his hasty and decided answers he issued rapid and prudent
+orders.
+
+A third of the Pharanites were to march forward against the enemy,
+drumming and trumpeting, and then retreat as far as the watch-tower as
+the enemy approached over the plain.  If the Blemmyes allowed themselves
+to be tempted thither, a second third of the warriors of the oasis, that
+could easily be in ambush in a cross-valley, were to fall on their left
+flank, while Phoebicius and his maniple--hidden behind the rock on which
+the castle stood--would suddenly rush out and so decide the battle.  The
+last third of the Pharanites had orders to destroy the ships of the
+invaders under the command of Hermas, who knew the spot where they had
+landed.
+
+In the worst case the centurion and his men could retreat into the
+castle, and there defend themselves till the warriors of the nearest
+seaports--whither messengers were already on their way--should come to
+the rescue.
+
+The Gaul's orders were immediately obeyed, and Hermas walked at the head
+of the division entrusted to him, as proud and as self-possessed as any
+of Caesar's veterans leading his legion into the field.  He carried a bow
+and arrows at his back, and in his hand a battleaxe that he had bought at
+Raithu.
+
+Miriam attempted to follow the troops he was leading, but he observed
+her, and called out, "Go up to the fort, child, to my father."  And the
+shepherdess obeyed without hesitation.
+
+The anchorites had all crowded to the edge of the precipice, they looked
+at the division of the forces, and signed and shouted down.  They had
+hoped that some part of the fighting men would be joined to them for
+their defence, but, as they soon learned, they had hoped in vain.
+Stephanus, whose feeble sight could not reach so far as the plain at the
+foot of the declivity, made Paulus report to him all that was going on
+there, and with the keen insight of a soldier he comprehended the
+centurion's plan.  The troop led by Hermas passed by below the tower, and
+the youth waved and shouted a greeting up to his father.  Stephanus,
+whose hearing remained sharper than his sight, recognized his son's voice
+and took leave of him with tender and loving words in as loud a voice as
+he could command.  Paulus collected all the overflow of the old man's
+heart in one sentence, and called out his blessings through his two hands
+as a speaking-trumpet, after his friend's son as he departed to battle.
+Hermas understood; but deeply as he was touched by this farewell he
+answered only by dumb signs.  A father can find a hundred words of
+blessing sooner than a son can find one of thanks.
+
+As the youth disappeared behind the rocks, Paulus said, "He marches on
+like an experienced soldier, and the others follow him as sheep follow a
+ram.  But hark!--Certainly--the foremost division of the Pharanites and
+the enemy have met.  The outcry comes nearer and nearer."
+
+"Then all will be well," cried Stephanus excitedly.  "If they only take
+the bait and let themselves be drawn on to the plateau I think they are
+lost.  From here we can watch the whole progress of the battle, and if
+our side are driven back it may easily happen that they will throw
+themselves into the castle.  Now not a pebble must be thrown in vain, for
+if our tower becomes the central point of the struggle the defenders will
+need stones to fling."
+
+These words were heard by several of the anchorites, and as now the war-
+cries and the noise of the fight came nearer and nearer, and one and
+another repeated to each other that their place of refuge would, become
+the centre of the combat, the frightened penitents quitted the posts
+assigned to them by Paulus, ran hither and thither in spite of the
+Alexandrian's severe prohibition, and most of them at last joined the
+company of the old and feeble, whose psalms grew more and more lamentable
+as danger pressed closer upon them.
+
+Loudest of all was the wailing of the Saite Orion who cried with uplifted
+bands, "What wilt Thou of us miserable creatures, O Lord?  When Moses
+left Thy chosen people on this very spot for only forty days, they at
+once fell away from Thee; and we, we without any leader have spent all
+our life in Thy service, and have given up all that can rejoice the
+heart, and have taken every kind of suffering upon us to please Thee!
+and now these hideous heathen are surging round us again, and will kill
+us.  Is this the reward of victory for our striving and our long
+wrestling?"
+
+The rest joined in the lamentation of the Saite, but Paulus stepped into
+their midst, blamed them for their cowardice, and with warm and urgent
+speech implored them to return to their posts so that the wall might be
+guarded at least on the eastern and more accessible side, and that the
+castle might not fall an easy prey into the hands of an enemy from whom
+no quarter was to be expected.  Some of the anchorites were already
+proceeding to obey the Alexandrian's injunction, when a fearful cry, the
+war-cry of the Blemmyes who were in pursuit of the Pharanites, rose from
+the foot of their rock of refuge.
+
+They crowded together again in terror; Salathiel the Syrian, had ventured
+to the edge of the abyss, and had looked over old Stephanus' shoulder
+down into the hollow, and when he rushed back to his companions, crying
+in terror, "Our men are flying!"
+
+Gelasius shrieked aloud, beat his breast, and tore his rough black hair,
+crying out:
+
+"O Lord God, what wilt Thou of us?  Is it vain then to strive after
+righteousness and virtue that Thou givest us over unto death, and dost
+not fight for us?  If we are overcome by the heathen, ungodliness and
+brute force will boast themselves as though they had won the victory over
+righteousness and truth!"
+
+Paulus had turned from the lamenting hermits, perplexed and beside
+himself, and stood with Stephanus watching the fight.
+
+The Blemmyes had come in great numbers, and their attack, before which
+the Pharanites were to have retired as a feint, fell with such force upon
+the foremost division that they and their comrades, who had rushed to
+their aid on the plateau, were unable to resist it, and were driven back
+as far as the spot where the ravine narrowed.
+
+"Things are not as they should be," said Stephanus.  "And the cowardly
+band, like a drove of cattle," cried Paulus in a fury, "leave the walls
+unprotected, and blaspheme God instead of watching or fighting."
+
+The anchorites noticed his gestures, which were indeed those of a
+desperate man, and Sergius exclaimed: "Are we then wholly abandoned?  Why
+does not the thorn-bush light its fires, and destroy the evil-doers with
+its flames?  Why is the thunder silent, and where are the lightnings that
+played round the peak of Sinai?
+
+"Why does not darkness fall upon us to affright the heathen?  Why does not
+the earth open her mouth to swallow them up like the company of Korah?"
+
+"The Might of God," cried Dulas, "tarries too long.  The Lord must set
+our piety in a doubtful light, for He treats us as though we were
+unworthy of all care."
+
+"And that you are!"  exclaimed Paulus, who had heard the last words, and
+who was dragging rather than leading the feeble Stephanus to the
+unguarded eastern wall.  "That you are, for instead of resisting His
+enemies you blaspheme God, and disgrace yourself by your miserable
+cowardice.  Look at this sick old man who is prepared to defend you, and
+obey my orders without a murmur, or, by the holy martyrs, I will drag you
+to your posts by your hair and ears, and will--"
+
+But he ceased speaking, for his threats were interrupted by a powerful
+voice which called his name from the foot of the wall.
+
+"That is Agapitus," exclaimed Stephanus.  "Lead me to the wall, and set
+me down there."
+
+Before Paulus could accede to his friend's wish the tall form of the
+bishop was standing by his side.  Agapitus the Cappadocian had in his
+youth been a warrior; he had hardly passed the limits of middle age, and
+was a vigilant captain of his congregation.  When all the youth of Pharan
+had gone forth to meet the Blemmyes, he had no peace in the oasis, and,
+after enjoining on the presbyters and deacons that they should pray in
+the church for the fighting men with the women and the men who remained
+behind, he himself, accompanied by a guide and two acolytes, had gone up
+the mountain to witness the battle.
+
+To the other priests and his wife who sought to detain him, he had
+answered, "Where the flock is there should the shepherd be!"
+
+Unseen and unheard he had gained the castle-wall and had been a witness
+to Paulus' vehement speech.  He now stood opposite the Alexandrian with
+rolling eyes, and threateningly lifted his powerful hand as he called out
+to him:
+
+"And dare an outcast speak thus to his brethren?  Will the champion of
+Satan give orders to the soldiers of the Lord?  It would indeed be a joy
+to you if by your strong arm you could win back the good name that your
+soul, crippled by sin and guilt, has flung away.  Come on, my friends!
+the Lord is with us and will help us."
+
+Paulus had let the bishop's words pass over him in silence, and raised
+his hands like the other anchorites when Agapitus stepped into their
+midst, and uttered a short and urgent prayer.
+
+After the "Amen" the bishop pointed out, like a general, to each man,
+even to the feeble and aged, his place by the wall or behind the stones
+for throwing, and then cried out with a clear ringing voice that sounded
+above all other noise, "Show to-day that you are indeed soldiers of the
+Most High."
+
+Not one rebelled, and when man by man each had placed himself at his
+post, he went to the precipice and looked attentively down at the fight
+that was raging below.
+
+The Pharanites were now opposing the attack of the Blemmyes with success,
+for Phoebicius, rushing forward with his men from their ambush, had
+fallen upon the compact mass of the sons of the desert in flank and,
+spreading death and ruin, had divided them into two bodies.  The well-
+trained and well-armed Romans seemed to have an easy task with their
+naked opponents, who, in a hand to hand fight, could not avail themselves
+of either their arrows or their spears.  But the Blemmyes had learned to
+use their strength in frequent battles with the imperial troops, and so
+soon as they perceived that they were no match for their enemies in
+pitched battle, their leaders set up a strange shrill cry, their ranks
+dissolved, and they dispersed in all directions, like a heap of feathers
+strewn by a gust of wind.
+
+Agapitus took the hasty disappearance of the enemy for wild flight, he
+sighed deeply and thankfully and turned to go down to the field of
+battle, and to speak consolation to his wounded fellow-Christians.
+
+But in the castle itself he found opportunity for exercising his pious
+office, for before him stood the shepherdess whom he had already observed
+on his arrival and she said with much embarrassment, but clearly and
+quickly, "Old Stephanus there, my lord bishop--Hermas' father for whom I
+carry water-bids me ask you to come to him; for his wound has reopened
+and he thinks his end is near."
+
+Agapitus immediately obeyed this call; he went with hasty steps towards
+the sick man, whose wound Paulus and Orion had already bound up, and
+greeted him with a familiarity that he was far from showing to the other
+penitents.  He had long known the former name and the fate of Stephanus,
+and it was by his advice that Hermas had been obliged to join the
+deputation sent to Alexandria, for Agapitus was of opinion that no one
+ought to flee from the battle of life without having first taken some
+part in it.
+
+Stephanus put out his hand to the bishop who sat down beside him, signed
+to the bystanders to leave them alone, and listened attentively to the
+feeble words of the sufferer.  When he had ceased speaking, Agapitus
+said:
+
+"I praise the Lord with you for having permitted your lost wife to find
+the ways that lead to Him, and your son will be--as you were once--a
+valiant man of war.  Your earthly house is set in order, but are you
+prepared for the other, the everlasting mansion?"
+
+"For eighteen years I have done penance, and prayed, and borne great
+sufferings," answered the sick man.  "The world lies far behind me, and I
+hope I am walking in the path that leads to heaven."
+
+"So do I hope for you and for your soul," said the bishop.  "That which
+it is hardest to endure has fallen to your lot in this world, but have
+you striven to forgive those who did you the bitterest wrong, and can you
+pray, "Forgive us our sins as we forgive them that sin against us?'  Do
+you remember the words, 'If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly
+father will also forgive you?'"
+
+"Not only have I pardoned Glycera," answered Stephanus, "but I have taken
+her again into my heart of hearts; but the man who basely seduced her,
+the wretch, who although I had done him a thousand benefits, betrayed me,
+robbed me and dishonored me, I wish him--"
+
+"Forgive him," cried Agapitus, "as you would be forgiven."
+
+"I have striven these eighteen years to bless my enemy," replied
+Stephanus, "and I will still continue to strive--"
+
+Up to this moment the bishop had devoted his whole attention to the sick
+anchorite, but he was now called on all sides at once, and Gelasius, who
+was standing by the declivity with some other anchorites, called out to
+him, "Father--save us--the heathen there are climbing up the rocks."
+
+Agapitus signed a blessing over Stephanus and then turned away from him,
+saying earnestly once more, "Forgive, and heaven is open to you."
+
+Many wounded and dead lay on the plain, and the Pharanites were
+retreating into the ravine, for the Blemmyes had not indeed fled, but had
+only dispersed themselves, and then had climbed up the rocks which hemmed
+in the level ground and shot their arrows at their enemies from thence.
+
+"Where are the Romans?"  Agapitus eagerly enquired of Orion.
+
+"They are withdrawing into the gorge through which the road leads up
+here," answered the Saite.  "But look! only look at these heathen!  The
+Lord be merciful to us! they are climbing up the cliffs like woodpeckers
+up a tree."
+
+"The stones, fly to the stones!"  cried Agapitus with flashing eyes to
+the anchorites that stood by.  "What is going on behind the wall there?
+Do you hear?  Yes that is the Roman tuba.  Courage, brethren! the
+emperor's soldiers are guarding the weakest side of the castle.  But look
+here at the naked figures in the cleft.  Bring the blocks here; set your
+shoulders stoutly to it, Orion!  one more push, Salathiel!  There it
+goes, it crashes down if only it does not stick in the rift!  No! thank
+God, it has bounded off-that was a leap!  Well done--there were six
+enemies of the Lord destroyed at once."
+
+"I see three more yonder," cried Orion.  "Come here, Damianus, and help
+me."
+
+The man he called rushed forward with several others, and the first
+success raised the courage of the anchorites so rapidly and wonderfully
+that the bishop soon found it difficult to restrain their zeal, and to
+persuade them to be sparing with the precious missiles.
+
+While, under the direction of Agapitus stone after stone was hurled
+clattering over the steep precipice down upon the Blemmyes, Paulus sat by
+the sick man, looking at the ground.
+
+"You are not helping them?"  asked Stephanus.  "Agapitus is right,"
+replied the Alexandrian.  "I have much to expiate, and fighting brings
+enjoyment.  How great enjoyment I can understand by the torture it is to
+me to sit still.  The bishop blessed you affectionately."
+
+"I am near the goal," sighed Stephanus, "and he promises me the joys of
+heaven if I only forgive him who stole my wife from me.  He is forgiven-
+yes, all is forgiven him, and may everything that he undertakes turn to
+good; yea, and nothing turn to evil--only feel how my heart throbs, it is
+rallying its strength once more before it utterly ceases to beat.  When
+it is all over repeat to Hermas everything that I have told you, and
+bless him a thousand, thousand times in my name and his mother's; but
+never, never tell him that in an hour of weakness she ran away with that
+villain--that man, that miserable man I mean--whom I forgive.  Give
+Hermas this ring, and with it the letter that you will find under the dry
+herbs on the couch in my cave; they will secure him a reception from his
+uncle, who will also procure him a place in the army, for my brother is
+in high favor with Caesar.  Only listen how Agapitus urges on our men;
+they are fighting bravely there; that is the Roman tuba.  Attend to me--
+the maniple will occupy the castle and shoot down on the heathen from
+hence; when they come carry me into the tower.  I am weak and would fain
+collect my thoughts, and pray once more that I may find strength to
+forgive the man not with my lips only."
+
+Down there see--there come the Romans," cried Paulus interrupting him.
+"Here, up here!"  he called down to the men, "The steps are more to the
+left."
+
+"Here we are," answered a sharp voice.  "You stay there, you people, on
+that projection of rock, and keep your eye on the castle.  If any danger
+threatens call me with the trumpet.  I will climb up, and from the top of
+the tower there I can see where the dogs come from."
+
+During this speech Stephanus had looked down and listened; when a few
+minutes later the Gaul reached the wall and called out to the men inside,
+"Is there no one there who will give me a hand?"  he turned to Paulus,
+saying, "Lift me up and support me--quick!"
+
+With an agility that astonished the Alexandrian, Stephanus stood upon his
+feet, leaned over the wall towards the centurion--who had climbed as far
+as the outer foot of it, looked him in the face with eager attention,
+shuddered violently, and repressing his feelings with the utmost effort
+offered him his lean hand to help him.
+
+"Servianus!"  cried the centurion, who was greatly shocked by such a
+meeting and in such a place, and who, struggling painfully for composure,
+stared first at the old man and then at Paulus.
+
+Not one of the three succeeded in uttering a word; but Stephanus' eyes
+were fixed on the Gaul's features, and the longer he looked at him the
+hollower grew his cheeks and the paler his lips; at the same time he
+still held out his hand to the other, perhaps in token of forgiveness.
+
+So passed a long minute.  Then Phoebicius recollected that he had climbed
+the wall in the emperor's service, and stamping with impatience at
+himself he took the old man's hand in a hasty grasp.  But scarcely had
+Stephanus felt the touch of the Gaul's fingers when he started as struck
+by lightning, and flung himself with a hoarse cry on his enemy who was
+hanging on the edge of the wall.
+
+Paulus gazed in horror at the frightful scene, and cried aloud with
+fervent unction, "Let him go--forgive that heaven may forgive you."
+
+"Heaven! what is heaven, what is forgiveness!"  screamed the old man.
+"He shall be damned."  Before the Alexandrian could hinder him, the loose
+stone over which the enemies were wrestling in breathless combat gave
+way, and both were hurled into the abyss with the falling rock.
+
+Paulus groaned from the lowest depth of his breast and murmured while the
+tears ran down his cheeks, "He too has fought the fight, and he too has
+striven in vain."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+The fight was ended; the sun as it went to its rest behind the Holy
+Mountain had lighted many corpses of Blemmyes, and now the stars shone
+down on the oasis from the clear sky.
+
+Hymns of praise sounded out of the church, and near it, under the hill
+against which it was built, torches were blazing and threw their ruddy
+light on a row of biers, on which under green palm-branches lay the
+heroes who had fallen in the battle against the Blemmyes.  Now the hymn
+ceased, the gates of the house of God opened and Agapitus led his
+followers towards the dead.  The congregation gathered in a half-circle
+round their peaceful brethren, and heard the blessing that their pastor
+pronounced over the noble victims who had shed their blood in fighting
+the heathen.  When it was ended those who in life had been their nearest
+and dearest went up to the dead, and many tears fell into the sand from
+the eye of a mother or a wife, many a sigh went up to heaven from a
+father's breast.  Next to the bier, on which old Stephanus was resting,
+stood another and a smaller one, and between the two Hermas knelt and
+wept.  He raised his face, for a deep and kindly voice spoke his name.
+
+"Petrus," said the lad, clasping the hand that the senator held out to
+him, "I felt forced and driven out into the world, and away from my
+father--and now he is gone for ever how gladly I would have been kept by
+him."
+
+"He died a noble death, in battle for those he loved," said the senator
+consolingly,
+
+"Paulus was near him when he fell," replied Hermas.  "My father fell from
+the wall while defending the tower; but look here this girl--poor child--
+who used to keep your goats, died like a heroine.  Poor, wild Miriam, how
+kind I would be to you if only you were alive now!"
+
+Hermas as he spoke stroked the arm of the shepherdess, pressed a kiss on
+her small, cold hand, and softly folded it with the other across her
+bosom.
+
+"How did the girl get into the battle with the men?"  asked Petrus.  "But
+you can tell me that in my own house.  Come and be our guest as long as
+it pleases you, and until you go forth into the world; thanks are due to
+you from us all."
+
+Hermas blushed and modestly declined the praises which were showered on
+him on all sides as the savior of the oasis.  When the wailing women
+appeared he knelt once more at the head of his father's bier, cast a last
+loving look at Miriam's peaceful face, and then followed his host.
+
+The man and boy crossed the court together.  Hermas involuntarily glanced
+up at the window where more than once he had seen Sirona, and said, as he
+pointed to the centurion's house, "He too fell."
+
+Petrus nodded and opened the door of his house.  In the hall, which was
+lighted up, Dorothea came hastily to meet him, asking, "No news yet of
+Polykarp?"
+
+Her husband shook his head, and she added, "How indeed is it possible?
+He will write at the soonest from Klysma or perhaps even from
+Alexandria."
+
+"That is just what I think," replied Petrus, looking down to the ground.
+Then he turned to Hermas and introduced him to his wife.
+
+Dorothea received the young man with warm sympathy; she had heard that
+his father had fallen in the fight, and how nobly he too had
+distinguished himself.  Supper was ready, and Hermas was invited to share
+it.  The mistress gave her daughter a sign to make preparations for their
+guest, but Petrus detained Marthana, and said, "Hermas may fill Antonius'
+place; he has still something to do with some of the workmen.  Where are
+Jethro and the house-slaves?"
+
+"They have already eaten," said Dorothea.
+
+The husband and wife looked at each other, and Petrus said with a
+melancholy smile, "I believe they are up on the mountain."
+
+Dorothea wiped a tear from her eye as she replied, "They will meet
+Antonius there.  If only they could find Polykarp!  And yet I honestly
+say--not merely to comfort you--it is most probable that he has not met
+with any accident in the mountain gorges, but has gone to Alexandria to
+escape the memories that follow him here at every step--Was not that the
+gate?"
+
+She rose quickly and looked into the court, while Petrus, who had
+followed her, did the same, saying with a deep sigh, as he turned to
+Marthana--who, while she offered meat and bread to Hermas was watching
+her parents--" It was only the slave Anubis."
+
+For some time a painful silence reigned round the large table, to-day so
+sparely furnished with guests.
+
+At last Petrus turned to his guest and said, "You were to tell me how the
+shepherdess Miriam lost her life in the struggle.  She had run away from
+our house--"
+
+"Up the mountain," added Hermas.  "She supplied my poor father with water
+like a daughter."
+
+"You see, mother," interrupted Marthana, "she was not bad-hearted--
+I always said so."
+
+"This morning," continued Hermas, nodding in sad assent to the maiden,
+"she followed my father to the castle, and immediately after his fall,
+Paulus told me, she rushed away from it, but only to seek me and to bring
+me the sad news.  We had known each other a long time, for years she had
+watered her goats at our well, and while I was still quite a boy and she
+a little girl, she would listen for hours when I played on my willow pipe
+the songs which Paulus had taught me.  As long as I played she was
+perfectly quiet, and when I ceased she wanted to hear more and still
+more, until I had too much of it and went away.  Then she would grow
+angry, and if I would not do her will she would scold me with bad words.
+But she always came again, and as I had no other companion and she was
+the only creature who cared to listen to me, I was very well-content that
+she should prefer our well to all the others.  Then we grew order and I
+began to be afraid of her, for she would talk in such a godless way--and
+she even died a heathen.  Paulus, who once overheard us, warned me
+against her, and as I had long thrown away the pipe and hunted beasts
+with my bow and arrow whenever my father would let me, I was with her for
+shorter intervals when I went to the well to draw water, and we became
+more and more strangers; indeed, I could be quite hard to her.  Only once
+after I came back from the capital something happened--but that I need
+not tell you.  The poor child was so unhappy at being a slave and no
+doubt had first seen the light in a free-house.
+
+"She was fond of me, more than a sister is of a brother--and when my
+father was dead she felt that I ought not to learn the news from any one
+but herself.  She had seen which way I had gone with the Pharanites and
+followed me up, and she soon found me, for she had the eyes of a gazelle
+and the ears of a startled bird.  It was not this time difficult to find
+me, for when she sought me we were fighting with the Blemmyes in the
+green hollow that leads from the mountain to the sea.  They roared with
+fury like wild beasts, for before we could get to the sea the fishermen
+in the little town below had discovered their boats, which they had
+hidden under sand and stones, and had carried them off to their harbor.
+The boy from Raithu who accompanied me, had by my orders kept them in
+sight, and had led the fishermen to the hiding-place.  The watchmen whom
+they had left with the boats had fled, and had reached their companions
+who were fighting round the castle; and at least two hundred of them had
+been sent back to the shore to recover possession of the boats and to
+punish the fishermen.  This troop met us in the green valley, and there
+we fell to fighting.
+
+"The Blemmyes outnumbered us; they soon surrounded us before and behind,
+on the right side and on the left, for they jumped and climbed from rock
+to rock like mountain goats and then shot down their reed-arrows from
+above.  Three or four touched me, and one pierced my hair and remained
+hanging in it with the feather at the end of the shaft.
+
+"How the battle went elsewhere I cannot tell you, for the blood mounted
+to my head, and I was only conscious that I myself snorted and shouted
+like a madman and wrestled with the heathen now here and now there, and
+more than once lifted my axe to cleave a skull.  At the same time I saw a
+part of our men turn to fly, and I called them back with furious words;
+then they turned round and followed me again.
+
+"Once, in the midst of the struggle, I saw Miriam too, clinging pale and
+trembling to a rock and looking on at the fight.  I shouted to her to
+leave the spot, and go back to my father, but she stood still and shook
+her head with a gesture--a gesture so full of pity and anguish--I shall
+never forget it.  With hands and eyes she signed to me that my father was
+dead, and I understood; at least I understood that some dreadful
+misfortune had happened.  I had no time for reflection, for before I
+could gain any certain information by word of mouth, a captain of the
+heathen had seized me, and we came to a life and death struggle before
+Miriam's very eyes.  My opponent was strong, but I showed the girl--who
+had often taunted me for being a weakling because I obeyed my father in
+everything--that I need yield to no one.  I could not have borne to be
+vanquished before her and I flung the heathen to the ground and slew him
+with my axe.  I was only vaguely conscious of her presence, for during my
+severe struggle I could see nothing but my adversary.  But suddenly I
+heard a loud scream, and Miriam sank bleeding close before me.  While I
+was kneeling over his comrade one of the Blemmyes had crept up to me, and
+had flung his lance at me from a few paces off.  But Miriam--Miriam--"
+
+"She saved you at the cost of her own life," said Petrus completing the
+lad's sentence, for at the recollection of the occurrence his voice had
+failed and his eyes overflowed with tears.
+
+Hermas nodded assent, and then added softly: "She threw up her arms and
+called my name as the spear struck her.  The eldest son of Obedianus
+punished the heathen that had done it, and I supported her as she fell
+dying and took her curly head on my knees and spoke her name; she opened
+her eyes once more, and spoke mine softly and with indescribable
+tenderness.  I had never thought that wild Miriam could speak so sweetly,
+I was overcome with terrible grief, and kissed her eyes and her lips.
+She looked at me once more with a long, wide-open, blissful gaze, and
+then she was dead."
+
+"She was a heathen," said Dorothea, drying her eyes, "but for such a
+death the Lord will forgive her much."
+
+"I loved her dearly," said Marthana, "and will lay my sweetest flowers on
+her grave.  May I cut some sprays from your blooming myrtle for a
+wreath?"
+
+"To-morrow, to-morrow, my child," replied Dorothea.  "Now go to rest; it
+is already very late."
+
+"Only let me stay till Antonius and Jethro come back," begged the girl.
+
+"I would willingly help you to find your son," said Hermas, "and if you
+wish I will go to Raithu and Klysma, and enquire among the fishermen.
+Had the centurion--" and as he spoke the young soldier looked down in
+some embarrassment, "had the centurion found his fugitive wife of whom he
+was in pursuit with Talib, the Amalekite, before he died?"
+
+"Sirona has not yet reappeared," replied Petrus, and perhaps--but just
+now you mentioned the name of Paulus, who was so dear to you and your
+father.  Do you know that it was he who so shamelessly ruined the
+domestic peace of the centurion?"
+
+"Paulus!"  cried Hermas.  "How can you believe it?"
+
+"Phoebicius found his sheepskin in his wife's room," replied Petrus
+gravely.  "And the impudent Alexandrian recognized it as his own before
+us all and allowed the Gaul to punish him.  He committed the disgraceful
+deed the very evening that you were sent off to gain intelligence."
+
+"And Phoebicius flogged him?"  cried Hermas beside himself.  "And the
+poor fellow bore this disgrace and your blame, and all--all for my sake.
+Now I understand what he meant!  I met him after the battle and he told
+me that my father was dead.  When he parted from me, he said he was of
+all sinners the greatest, and that I should hear it said down in the
+oasis.  But I know better; he is great-hearted and good, and I will not
+bear that he should be disgraced and slandered for my sake."  Hermas had
+sprung up with these words, and as he met the astonished gaze of his
+hosts, he tried to collect himself, and said:
+
+"Paulus never even saw Sirona, and I repeat it, if there is a man who may
+boast of being good and pure and quite without sin, it is he.  For me,
+and to save me from punishment and my father from sorrow, he owned a sin
+that he never committed.  Such a deed is just like him--the brave--
+faithful friend!  But such shameful suspicion and disgrace shall not
+weigh upon him a moment longer!"
+
+"You are speaking to an older man," said Petrus angrily interrupting the
+youth's vehement speech.  "Your friend acknowledged with his own lips--"
+
+"Then he told a lie out of pure goodness," Hermas insisted.  "The
+sheepskin that the Gaul found was mine.  I had gone to Sirona, while her
+husband was sacrificing to Mithras, to fetch some wine for my father, and
+she allowed me to try on the centurion's armor; when he unexpectedly
+returned I leaped out into the street and forgot that luckless sheepskin.
+Paulus met me as I fled, and said he would set it all right, and sent me
+away--to take my place and save my father a great trouble.  Look at me as
+severely as you will, Dorothea, but it was only in thoughtless folly that
+I slipped into the Gaul's house that evening, and by the memory of my
+father--of whom heaven has this day bereft me--I swear that Sirona only
+amused herself with me as with a boy, a child, and even refused to let me
+kiss her beautiful golden hair.  As surely as I hope to become a warrior,
+and as surely as my father's spirit hears what I say, the guilt that
+Paulus took upon himself was never committed at all, and when you
+condemned Sirona you did an injustice, for she never broke her faith to
+her husband for me, nor still less for Paulus."
+
+Petrus and Dorothea exchanged a meaning glance, and Dorothea said:
+
+"Why have we to learn all this from the lips of a stranger?  It sounds
+very extraordinary, and yet how simple!  Aye, husband, it would have
+become us better to guess something of this than to doubt Sirona.  From
+the first it certainly seemed to me impossible that that handsome woman,
+for whom quite different people had troubled themselves should err for
+this queer beggar--"
+
+"What cruel injustice has fallen on the poor man!"  cried Petrus.  "If he
+had boasted of some noble deed, we should indeed have been less ready to
+give him credence."
+
+"We are suffering heavy punishment," sighed Dorothea, "and my heart is
+bleeding.  Why did you not come to us, Hermas, if you wanted wine?  How
+much suffering would have been spared if you had!"
+
+The lad looked down, and was silent; but soon he recollected himself, and
+said eagerly:
+
+"Let me go and seek the hapless Paulus; I return you thanks for your
+kindness but I cannot bear to stay here any longer.  I must go back to
+the mountain."
+
+The senator and his wife did not detain him, and when the court-yard gate
+had closed upon him a great stillness reigned in Petrus' sitting-room.
+Dorothea leaned far back in her seat and sat looking in her lap while the
+tears rolled over her cheeks; Marthana held her hand and stroked it, and
+the senator stepped to the window and sighed deeply as he looked down
+into the dark court.  Sorrow lay on all their hearts like a heavy leaden
+burden.  All was still in the spacious room, only now and then a loud,
+long-drawn cry of the wailing women rang through the quiet night and
+reached them through the open window; it was a heavy hour, rich in vain,
+but silent self-accusation, in anxiety, and short prayers; poor in hope
+or consolation.
+
+Presently Petrus heaved a deep sigh, and Dorothea rose to go up to him
+and to say to him some sincere word of affection; but just then the dogs
+in the yard barked, and the agonized father said softly--in deep
+dejection, and prepared for the worst:
+
+"Most likely it is they."
+
+The deaconess pressed his hand in hers, but drew back when a light tap
+was heard at the court-yard gate.  "It is not Jethro and Antonius."  said
+Petrus, "they have a key."
+
+Marthana had gone up to him, and she clung to him as he leaned far out of
+the window and called to whoever it was that had tapped:
+
+"Who is that knocking?"
+
+The dogs barked so loud that neither the senator nor the women were able
+to hear the answer which seemed to be returned.
+
+"Listen to Argus," said Dorothea, "he never howls like that, but when you
+come home or one of us, or when he is pleased."
+
+Petrus laid his finger on his lips and sounded a clear, shrill whistle,
+and as the dogs, obedient to this signal, were silent, he once more
+called out, "Whoever you may be, say plainly who you are, that I may open
+the gate."
+
+They were kept waiting some few minutes for the answer, and the senator
+was on the point of repeating his enquiry, when a gentle voice timidly
+came from the gate to the window, saying, "It is I, Petrus, the fugitive
+Sirona."  Hardly had the words tremulously pierced the silence, when
+Marthana broke from her father, whose hand was resting on her shoulder,
+and flew out of the door, down the steps and out to the gate.
+
+"Sirona; poor, dear Sirona," cried the girl as she pushed back the bolt;
+as soon as she had opened the door and Sirona had entered the court, she
+threw herself on her neck, and kissed and stroked her as if she were her
+long lost sister found again; then, without allowing her to speak, she
+seized her hand and drew her--in spite of the slight resistance she
+offered--with many affectionate exclamations up the steps and into the
+sitting-room.  Petrus and Dorothea met her on the threshold, and the
+latter pressed her to her heart, kissed her forehead and said, "Poor
+woman; we know now that we have done you an injustice, and will try to
+make it good."  The senator too went up to her, took her hand and added
+his greetings to those of his wife, for he knew not whether she had as
+yet heard of her husband's end.
+
+Sirona could not find a word in reply.  She had expected to be expelled
+as a castaway when she came down the mountain, losing her way in the
+darkness.  Her sandals were cut by the sharp rocks, and hung in strips to
+her bleeding feet, her beautiful hair was tumbled by the night-wind, and
+her white robe looked like a ragged beggar's garment, for she had torn it
+to make bandages for Polykarp's wound.
+
+Some hours had already passed since she had left her patient--her heart
+full of dread for him and of anxiety as to the hard reception she might
+meet with from his parents.
+
+How her hand shook with fear of Petrus and Dorothea as she raised the
+brazen knocker of the senator's door, and now--a father, a mother, a
+sister opened their arms to her, and an affectionate home smiled upon
+her.  Her heart and soul overflowed with boundless emotion and unlimited
+thankfulness, and weeping loudly, she pressed her clasped hands to her
+breast.
+
+But she spared only a few moments for the enjoyment of these feelings of
+delight, for there was no happiness for her without Polykarp, and it was
+for his sake that she had undertaken this perilous night-journey.
+Marthana had tenderly approached her, but she gently put her aside,
+saying, "Not just now, dear girl.  I have already wasted an hour, for I
+lost my way in the ravines.  Get ready Petrus to come back to the
+mountain with me at once, for--but do not be startled Dorothea, Paulus
+says that the worst danger is over, and if Polykarp--"
+
+"For God's sake, do you know where he is?"  cried Dorothea, and her
+cheeks crimsoned while Petrus turned pale, and, interrupting her, asked
+in breathless anxiety, "Where is Polykarp, and what has happened to him?"
+
+"Prepare yourself to hear bad news," said Sirona, looking at the pair
+with mournful anxiety as if to crave their pardon for the evil tidings
+she was obliged to bring.  "Polykarp had a fall on a sharp stone and so
+wounded his head.  Paulus brought him to me this morning before he set
+out against the Blemmyes, that I might nurse him.  I have incessantly
+cooled his wound, and towards mid-day he opened his eyes and knew me
+again, and said you would be anxious about him.  After sundown he went to
+sleep, but he is not wholly free from fever, and as soon as Paulus came
+in I set out to quiet your anxiety and to entreat you to give me a
+cooling potion, that I may return to him with it at once."  The deepest
+sorrow sounded in Sirona's accents as she told her story, and tears had
+started to her eyes as she related to the parents what had befallen their
+son.  Petrus and Dorothea listened as to a singer, who, dressed indeed in
+robes of mourning, nevertheless sings a lay of return and hope to a harp
+wreathed with flowers.
+
+Quick, quick, Marthana," cried Dorothea eagerly and with sparkling eyes,
+before Sirona had ended.  "Quick, the basket with the bandages.  I will
+mix the fever-draught myself."  Petrus went up to the Gaulish woman.
+
+"It is really no worse than you represent?"  he asked in a low voice.
+"He is alive? and Paulus--"
+
+"Paulus says," interrupted Sirona, "that with good nursing the sick man
+will be well in a few weeks."
+
+"And you can lead me to him?"
+
+"Oh, alas! alas!"  Sirona cried, striking her hand against her forehead.
+"I shall never succeed in finding my way back, for I noticed no way-
+marks!  But stay--Before us a penitent from Memphis, who has been dead a
+few weeks--"
+
+"Old Serapion?"  asked Petrus.
+
+"That was his name," exclaimed Sirona.  "Do you know his cave?"
+
+"How should I?"  replied Petrus.  "But perhaps Agapitus--"
+
+"The spring where I got the water to cool Polykarp's wound, Paulus calls
+the partridge's-spring."
+
+"The partridge's-spring," repeated the senator, "I know that."  With a
+deep sigh he took his staff, and called to Dorothea, "Do you prepare the
+draught, the bandages, torches, and your good litter, while I knock at
+our neighbor Magadon's door, and ask him to lend us slaves."
+
+"Let me go with you," said Marthana.  "No, no; you stay here with your
+mother."
+
+"And do you think that I can wait here?"  asked Dorothea.  "I am going
+with you."
+
+"There is much here for you to do," replied Petrus evasively, "and we
+must climb the hill quickly."
+
+"I should certainly delay you," sighed the mother, "but take the girl
+with you; she has a light and lucky hand."
+
+"If you think it best," said the senator, and he left the room.
+
+While the mother and daughter prepared everything for the night-
+expedition, and came and went, they found time to put many questions and
+say many affectionate words to Sirona.  Marthana, even without
+interrupting her work, set food and drink for the weary woman on the
+table by which she had sunk on a seat; but she hardly moistened her lips.
+
+When the young girl showed her the basket that she had filled with
+medicine and linen bandages, with wine and pure water, Sirona said, "Now
+lend me a pair of your strongest sandals, for mine are all torn, and I
+cannot follow the men without shoes, for the stones are sharp, and cut
+into the flesh."
+
+Marthana now perceived for the first time the blood on her friend's feet,
+she quickly took the lamp from the table and placed it on the pavement,
+exclaiming, as she knelt down in front of Sirona and took her slender
+white feet in her hand to look at the wounds on the soles, "Good heavens!
+here are three deep cuts!"
+
+In a moment she had a basin at hand, and was carefully bathing the wounds
+in Sirona's feet; while she was wrapping the injured foot in strips of
+linen Dorothea came up to them.
+
+"I would," she said, "that Polykarp were only here now, this roll would
+suffice to bind you both."  A faint flush overspread Sirona's cheeks, but
+Dorothea was suddenly conscious of what she had said, and Marthana gently
+pressed her friend's hand.
+
+When the bandage was securely fixed, Sirona attempted to walk, but she
+succeeded so badly that Petrus, who now came back with his friend Magadon
+and his sons, and several slaves, found it necessary to strictly forbid
+her to accompany them.  He felt sure of finding his son without her, for
+one of Magadon's people had often carried bread and oil to old Serapion
+and knew his cave.
+
+Before the senator and his daughter left the room he whispered a few
+words to his wife, and together they went up to Sirona.
+
+"Do you know," he asked, "what has happened to your husband?"
+
+"Sirona nodded.  "I heard it from Paulus," she answered.  "Now I am quite
+alone in the world."
+
+"Not so," replied Petrus.  "You will find shelter and love under our roof
+as if it were your father's, so long as it suits you to stay with us.
+You need not thank us--we are deeply in your debt.  Farewell till we meet
+again wife.  I would Polykarp were safe here, and that you had seen his
+wound.  Come, Marthana, the minutes are precious."
+
+When Dorothea and Sirona were alone, the deaconess said, "Now I will go
+and make up a bed for you, for you must be very tired."
+
+"No, no!"  begged Sirona.  "I will wait and watch with you, for I
+certainly could not sleep till I know how it is with him."  She spoke so
+warmly and eagerly that the deaconess gratefully offered her hand to her
+young friend.  Then she said, "I will leave you alone for a few minutes,
+for my heart is so full of anxiety that I must needs go and pray for help
+for him, and for courage and strength for myself."
+
+"Take me with you," entreated Sirona in a low tone.  "In my need I opened
+my heart to your good and loving God, and I will never more pray to any
+other.  The mere thought of Him strengthened and comforted me, and now,
+if ever, in this hour I need His merciful support."
+
+"My child, my daughter!"  cried the deaconess, deeply moved; she bent
+over Sirona, kissed her forehead and her lips, and led her by the hand
+into her quiet sleeping-room.
+
+"This is the place where I most love to pray," she said, "although there
+is here no image and no altar.  My God is everywhere present and in every
+place I can find Him."
+
+The two women knelt down side by side, and both besought the same God for
+the same mercies--not for themselves, but for another; and both in their
+sorrow could give thanks--Sirona, because in Dorothea she had found a
+mother, and Dorothea, because in Sirona she had found a dear and loving
+daughter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+Paulus was sitting in front of the cave that had sheltered Polykarp and
+Sirona, and he watched the torches whose light lessened as the bearers
+went farther and farther towards the valley.  They lighted the way for
+the wounded sculptor, who was being borne home to the oasis, lying in his
+mother's easy litter, and accompanied by his father and his sister.
+
+"Yet an hour," thought the anchorite, "and the mother will have her son
+again, yet a week and Polykarp will rise from his bed, yet a year and he
+will remember nothing of yesterday but a scar--and perhaps a kiss that he
+pressed on the Gaulish woman's rosy lips.  I shall find it harder to
+forget.  The ladder which for so many years I had labored to construct,
+on which I thought to scale heaven, and which looked to me so lofty and
+so safe, there it lies broken to pieces, and the hand that struck it down
+was my own weakness.  It would almost seem as if this weakness of mine
+had more power than what we call moral strength for that which it took
+the one years to build up, was wrecked by the other in a' moment.  In
+weakness only am I a giant."
+
+Paulus shivered at these words, for he was cold.  Early in that morning
+when he had taken upon himself Hermas' guilt he had abjured wearing his
+sheepskin; now his body, accustomed to the warm wrap, suffered severely,
+and his blood coursed with fevered haste through his veins since the
+efforts, night-watches, and excitement of the last few days.  He drew his
+little coat close around him with a shiver and muttered, "I feel like a
+sheep that has been shorn in midwinter, and my head burns as if I were a
+baker and had to draw the bread out of the oven; a child might knock me
+down, and my eyes are heavy.  I have not even the energy to collect my
+thoughts for a prayer, of which I am in such sore need.  My goal is
+undoubtedly the right one, but so soon as I seem to be nearing it, my
+weakness snatches it from me, as the wind swept back the fruit-laden
+boughs which Tantalus, parched with thirst, tried to grasp.  I fled from
+the world to this mountain, and the world has pursued me and has flung
+its snares round my feet.  I must seek a lonelier waste in which I may
+be alone--quite alone with my God and myself.  There, perhaps I may find
+the way I seek, if indeed the fact that the creature that I call "I," in
+which the whole world with all its agitations in little finds room--and
+which will accompany me even there--does not once again frustrate all my
+labor.  He who takes his Self with him into the desert, is not alone."
+
+Paulus sighed deeply and then pursued his reflections: "How puffed up
+with pride I was after I had tasted the Gaul's rods in place of Hermas,
+and then I was like a drunken man who falls down stairs step by step.
+And poor Stephanus too had a fall when he was so near the goal!  He
+failed in strength to forgive, and the senator who has just now left me,
+and whose innocent son I had so badly hurt, when we parted forgivingly
+gave me his hand.  I could see that he did forgive me with all his heart,
+and this Petrus stands in the midst of life, and is busy early and late
+with mere worldly affairs."
+
+For a time he looked thoughtfully before him, and then he went on in his
+soliloquy, "What was the story that old Serapion used to tell?  In the
+Thebaid there dwelt a penitent who thought he led a perfectly saintly
+life and far transcended all his companions in stern virtue.  Once he
+dreamed that there was in Alexandria a man even more perfect than
+himself; Phabis was his name, and he was a shoemaker, dwelling in the
+White road near the harbor of Kibotos.  The anchorite at once went to the
+capital and found the shoemaker, and when he asked him, 'How do you serve
+the Lord?  How do you conduct your life?'  Phabis looked at him in
+astonishment.  'I?  well, my Saviour!  I work early and late, and provide
+for my family, and pray morning and evening in few words for the whole
+city.'  Petrus, it seems to me, is such an one as Phabis; but many roads
+lead to God, and we--and I--"
+
+Again a cold shiver interrupted his meditation, and as morning approached
+the cold was so keen that he endeavored to light a fire.  While he was
+painfully blowing the charcoal Hermas came up to him.
+
+He had learned from Polykarp's escort where Paulus was to be found, and
+as he stood opposite his friend he grasped his hand, stroked his rough
+hair and thanked him with deep and tender emotion for the great sacrifice
+he had made for him when he had taken upon himself the dishonoring
+punishment of his fault.
+
+Paulus declined all pity or thanks, and spoke to Hermas of his father and
+of his future, until it was light, and the young man prepared to go down
+to the oasis to pay the last honors to the dead.  To his entreaty that he
+would accompany him, Paulus only answered:
+
+"No--no; not now, not now; for if I were to mix with men now I should fly
+asunder like a rotten wineskin full of fermenting wine; a swarm of bees
+is buzzing in my head, and an ant-hill is growing in my bosom.  Go now
+and leave me alone."
+
+After the funeral ceremony Hermas took an affectionate leave of Agapitus,
+Petrus, and Dorothea, and then returned to the Alexandrian, with whom he
+went to the cave where he had so long lived with his dead father.
+
+There Paulus delivered to him his father's letter to his uncle, and spoke
+to him more lovingly than he had ever done before.  At night they both
+lay down on their beds, but neither of them found rest or sleep.
+
+From time to time Paulus murmured in a low voice, but in tones of keen
+anguish, "In vain--all in vain--" and again, "I seek, I seek--but who can
+show me the way?"
+
+They both rose before daybreak; Hermas went once more down to the well,
+knelt down near it, and felt as though he were bidding farewell to his
+father and Miriam.
+
+Memories of every kind rose up in his soul, and so mighty is the
+glorifying power of love that the miserable, brown-skinned shepherdess
+Miriam seemed to him a thousand-fold more beautiful than that splendid
+woman who filled the soul of a great artist with delight.
+
+Shortly after sunrise Paulus conducted him to the fishing-port, and to
+the Israelite friend who managed the business of his father's house; he
+caused him to be bountifully supplied with gold and accompanied him to
+the ship laden with charcoal, that was to convey hire to Klysma.
+
+The parting was very painful to him, and when Hermas saw his eyes full of
+tears and felt his hands tremble, he said, "Do not be troubled about me,
+Paulus; we shall meet again, and I will never forget you and my father."
+
+"And your mother," added the anchorite.  "I shall miss you sorely, but
+trouble is the very thing I look for.  He who succeeds in making the
+sorrows of the whole world his own--he whose soul is touched by a sorrow
+at every breath he draws--he indeed must long for the call of the
+Redeemer."
+
+Hermas fell weeping on his neck and started to feel how burning the
+anchorite's lips were as he pressed them to his forehead.
+
+At last the sailors drew in the ropes; Paulus turned once more to the
+youth.  "You are going your own way now," he said.  "Do not forget the
+Holy Mountain, and hear this:  Of all sins three are most deadly: To
+serve false gods, to covet your neighbor's wife, and to raise your hands
+to kill; keep yourself from them.  And of all virtues two are the least
+conspicuous, and at the same time the greatest: Truthfulness and
+humility; practise these.  Of all consolations these two are the best:
+The consciousness of wishing the right however much we may err and
+stumble through human weakness, and prayer."
+
+Once more he embraced the departing youth, then he went across the sand
+of the shore back to the mountain without looking round.
+
+Hermas looked after him for a long time greatly distressed, for his
+strong friend tottered like a drunken man, and often pressed his hand to
+his head which was no doubt as burning as his lips.
+
+The young warrior never again saw the Holy Mountain or Paulus, but after
+he himself had won fame and distinction in the army he met again with
+Petrus' son, Polykarp, whom the emperor had sent for to Byzantium with
+great honor, and in whose house the Gaulish woman Sirona presided as a
+true and loving wife and mother.
+
+After his parting from Hermas, Paulus disappeared.  The other anchorites
+long sought him in vain, as well as bishop Agapitus, who had learned from
+Petrus that the Alexandrian had been punished and expelled in innocence,
+and who desired to offer him pardon and consolation in his own person.
+At last, ten days after, Orion the Saite found him in a remote cave.  The
+angel of death had called him only a few hours before while in the act of
+prayer, for he was scarcely cold.  He was kneeling with his forehead
+against the rocky wall and his emaciated hands were closely clasped over
+Magdalena's ring.  When his companions had laid him on his bier his
+noble, gentle features wore a pure and transfiguring smile.
+
+The news of his death flew with wonderful rapidity through the oasis and
+the fishing-town, and far and wide to the caves of the anchorites, and
+even to the huts of the Amalekite shepherds.  The procession that
+followed him to his last resting-place stretched to an invisible
+distance; in front of all walked Agapitus with the elders and deacons,
+and behind them Petrus with his wife and family, to which Sirona now
+belonged.  Polykarp, who was now recovering, laid a palm-branch in token
+of reconcilement on his grave, which was visited as a sacred spot by the
+many whose needs he had alleviated in secret, and before long by all the
+penitents from far and wide.
+
+Petrus erected a monument over his grave, on which Polykarp incised the
+words which Paulus' trembling fingers had traced just before his death
+with a piece of charcoal on the wall of his cave:
+
+"Pray for me, a miserable man--for I was a man."
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+He out of the battle can easily boast of being unconquered
+Pray for me, a miserable man--for I was a man
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOMO SUM, BY GEORG EBERS, V5 ***
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