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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Homo Sum, Complete, by Georg Ebers
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Homo Sum, Complete
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Last Updated: March 9,2009
+Release Date: October 17, 2006 [EBook #5499]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOMO SUM, COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+HOMO SUM, Complete
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+
+Translated by Clara Bell
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+In the course of my labors preparatory to writing a history of the
+Sinaitic peninsula, the study of the first centuries of Christianity
+for a long time claimed my attention; and in the mass of martyrology,
+of ascetic writings, and of histories of saints and monks, which it was
+necessary to work through and sift for my strictly limited object, I
+came upon a narrative (in Cotelerius Ecclesiae Grecae Monumenta) which
+seemed to me peculiar and touching notwithstanding its improbability.
+Sinai and the oasis of Pharan which lies at its foot were the scene of
+action.
+
+When, in my journey through Arabia Petraea, I saw the caves of the
+anchorites of Sinai with my own eyes and trod their soil with my own
+feet, that story recurred to my mind and did not cease to haunt me while
+I travelled on farther in the desert.
+
+A soul's problem of the most exceptional type seemed to me to be offered
+by the simple course of this little history.
+
+An anchorite, falsely accused instead of another, takes his punishment
+of expulsion on himself without exculpating himself, and his innocence
+becomes known only through the confession of the real culprit.
+
+There was a peculiar fascination in imagining what the emotions of a
+soul might be which could lead to such apathy, to such an annihilation
+of all sensibility; and while the very deeds and thoughts of the strange
+cave-dweller grew more and more vivid in my mind the figure of Paulus
+took form, as it were as an example, and soon a crowd of ideas gathered
+round it, growing at last to a distinct entity, which excited and urged
+me on till I ventured to give it artistic expression in the form of a
+narrative. I was prompted to elaborate this subject--which had long been
+shaping itself to perfect conception in my mind as ripe material for a
+romance--by my readings in Coptic monkish annals, to which I was led by
+Abel's Coptic studies; and I afterwards received a further stimulus
+from the small but weighty essay by H. Weingarten on the origin of
+monasticism, in which I still study the early centuries of Christianity,
+especially in Egypt.
+
+This is not the place in which to indicate the points on which I feel
+myself obliged to differ from Weingarten. My acute fellow-laborer at
+Breslau clears away much which does not deserve to remain, but in many
+parts of his book he seems to me to sweep with too hard a broom.
+
+Easy as it would have been to lay the date of my story in the beginning
+of the fortieth year of the fourth century instead of the thirtieth, I
+have forborne from doing so because I feel able to prove with certainty
+that at the time which I have chosen there were not only heathen
+recluses in the temples of Serapis but also Christian anchorites;
+I fully agree with him that the beginnings of organized Christian
+monasticism can in no case be dated earlier than the year 350.
+
+The Paulus of my story must not be confounded with the "first hermit,"
+Paulus of Thebes, whom Weingarten has with good reason struck out of
+the category of historical personages. He, with all the figures in
+this narrative is a purely fictitious person, the vehicle for an idea,
+neither more nor less. I selected no particular model for my hero, and
+I claim for him no attribute but that of his having been possible at the
+period; least of all did I think of Saint Anthony, who is now deprived
+even of his distinguished biographer Athanasius, and who is represented
+as a man of very sound judgment but of so scant an education that he was
+master only of Egyptian.
+
+The dogmatic controversies which were already kindled at the time of my
+story I have, on careful consideration, avoided mentioning. The dwellers
+on Sinai and in the oasis took an eager part in them at a later date.
+
+That Mount Sinai to which I desire to transport the reader must not be
+confounded with the mountain which lies at a long day's journey to the
+south of it. It is this that has borne the name, at any rate since the
+time of Justinian; the celebrated convent of the Transfiguration lies at
+its foot, and it has been commonly accepted as the Sinai of Scripture.
+In the description of my journey through Arabia Petraea I have
+endeavored to bring fresh proof of the view, first introduced by
+Lepsius, that the giant-mountain, now called Serbal, must be regarded as
+the mount on which the law was given--and was indeed so regarded before
+the time of Justinian--and not the Sinai of the monks.
+
+As regards the stone house of the Senator Petrus, with its windows
+opening on the street--contrary to eastern custom--I may remark, in
+anticipation of well founded doubts, that to this day wonderfully
+well-preserved fire-proof walls stand in the oasis of Pharan, the
+remains of a pretty large number of similar buildings.
+
+But these and such external details hold a quite secondary place in this
+study of a soul. While in my earlier romances the scholar was compelled
+to make concessions to the poet and the poet to the scholar, in this one
+I have not attempted to instruct, nor sought to clothe the outcome of my
+studies in forms of flesh and blood; I have aimed at absolutely nothing
+but to give artistic expression to the vivid realization of an idea that
+had deeply stirred my soul. The simple figures whose inmost being I have
+endeavored to reveal to the reader fill the canvas of a picture where,
+in the dark background, rolls the flowing ocean of the world's history.
+
+The Latin title was suggested to me by an often used motto which
+exactly agrees with the fundamental view to which I have been led by
+my meditations on the mind and being of man; even of those men who deem
+that they have climbed the very highest steps of that stair which leads
+into the Heavens.
+
+In the Heautontimorumenos of Terence, Chremes answers his neighbor
+Menedemus (Act I, SC. I, v. 25) "Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum
+puto," which Donner translates literally:
+
+"I am human, nothing that is human can I regard as alien to me."
+
+But Cicero and Seneca already used this line as a proverb, and in a
+sense which far transcends that which it would seem to convey in context
+with the passage whence it is taken; and as I coincide with them, I have
+transferred it to the title-page of this book with this meaning:
+
+"I am a man; and I feel that I am above all else a man."
+
+   Leipzig, November 11, 1877.
+
+                    GEORG EBERS.
+
+
+
+
+HOMO SUM
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+Rocks-naked, hard, red-brown rocks all round; not a bush, not a blade,
+not a clinging moss such as elsewhere nature has lightly flung on the
+rocky surface of the heights, as if a breath of her creative life had
+softly touched the barren stone. Nothing but smooth granite, and above
+it a sky as bare of cloud as the rocks are of shrubs and herbs.
+
+And yet in every cave of the mountain wall there moves a human life; two
+small grey birds too float softly in the pure, light air of the desert
+that glows in the noonday sun, and then they vanish behind a range of
+cliffs, which shuts in the deep gorge as though it were a wall built by
+man.
+
+There it is pleasant enough, for a spring bedews the stony soil and
+there, as wherever any moisture touches the desert, aromatic plants
+thrive, and umbrageous bushes grow. When Osiris embraced the goddess of
+the desert--so runs the Egyptian myth--he left his green wreath on her
+couch.
+
+But at the time and in the sphere where our history moves the old
+legends are no longer known or are ignored. We must carry the reader
+back to the beginning of the thirtieth year of the fourth century after
+the birth of the Saviour, and away to the mountains of Sinai on
+whose sacred ground solitary anchorites have for some few years been
+dwelling--men weary of the world, and vowed to penitence, but as yet
+without connection or rule among themselves.
+
+Near the spring in the little ravine of which we have spoken grows
+a many-branched feathery palm, but it does not shelter it from the
+piercing rays of the sun of those latitudes; it seems only to protect
+the roots of the tree itself; still the feathered boughs are strong
+enough to support a small thread-bare blue cloth, which projects like a
+penthouse, screening the face of a girl who lies dreaming, stretched at
+full-length on the glowing stones, while a few yellowish mountain-goats
+spring from stone to stone in search of pasture as gaily as though they
+found the midday heat pleasant and exhilarating. From time to time the
+girl seizes the herdsman's crook that lies beside her, and calls the
+goats with a hissing cry that is audible at a considerable distance.
+A young kid comes dancing up to her. Few beasts can give expression to
+their feelings of delight; but young goats can.
+
+The girl puts out her bare slim foot, and playfully pushes back the
+little kid who attacks her in fun, pushes it again and again each time
+it skips forward, and in so doing the shepherdess bends her toes as
+gracefully as if she wished some looker-on to admire their slender form.
+Once more the kid springs forward, and this time with its bead down. Its
+brow touches the sole of her foot, but as it rubs its little hooked nose
+tenderly against the girl's foot, she pushes it back so violently that
+the little beast starts away, and ceases its game with loud bleating.
+
+It was just as if the girl had been waiting for the right moment to hit
+the kid sharply; for the kick was a hard one-almost a cruel one. The
+blue cloth hid the face of the maiden, but her eyes must surely have
+sparkled brightly when she so roughly stopped the game. For a minute she
+remained motionless; but the cloth, which had fallen low over her
+face, waved gently to and fro, moved by her fluttering breath. She
+was listening with eager attention, with passionate expectation; her
+convulsively clenched toes betrayed her.
+
+Then a noise became audible; it came from the direction of the rough
+stair of unhewn blocks, which led from the steep wall of the ravine down
+to the spring. A shudder of terror passed through the tender, and not
+yet fully developed limbs of the shepherdess; still she did not move;
+the grey birds which were now sitting on a thorn-bush near her flew up,
+but they had merely heard a noise, and could not distinguish who it was
+that it announced.
+
+The shepherdess's ear was sharper than theirs. She heard that a man was
+approaching, and well knew that one only trod with such a step. She put
+out her hand for a stone that lay near her, and flung it into the spring
+so that the waters immediately became troubled; then she turned on her
+side, and lay as if asleep with her head on her arm. The heavy steps
+became more and more distinctly audible.
+
+A tall youth was descending the rocky stair; by his dress he was seen
+to be one of the anchorites of Sinai, for he wore nothing but a
+shirt-shaped garment of coarse linen, which he seemed to have outgrown,
+and raw leather sandals, which were tied on to his feet with fibrous
+palm-bast.
+
+No slave could be more poorly clothed by his owner and yet no one would
+have taken him for a bondman, for he walked erect and self-possessed.
+He could not be more than twenty years of age; that was evident in the
+young soft hair on his upper lip, chin, and cheeks; but in his large
+blue eyes there shone no light of youth, only discontent, and his lips
+were firmly closed as if in defiance.
+
+He now stood still, and pushed back from his forehead the superabundant
+and unkempt brown hair that flowed round his head like a lion's mane;
+then he approached the well, and as he stooped to draw the water in the
+large dried gourd-shell which he held, he observed first that the spring
+was muddy, and then perceived the goats, and at last their sleeping
+mistress.
+
+He impatiently set down the vessel and called the girl loudly, but she
+did not move till he touched her somewhat roughly with his foot. Then
+she sprang up as if stung by an asp, and two eyes as black as night
+flashed at him out of her dark young face; the delicate nostrils of her
+aquiline nose quivered, and her white teeth gleamed as she cried:
+
+"Am I a dog that you wake me in this fashion?" He colored, pointed
+sullenly to the well and said sharply: "Your cattle have troubled the
+water again; I shall have to wait here till it is clear and I can draw
+some."
+
+"The day is long," answered the shepherdess, and while she rose she
+pushed, as if by chance, another stone into the water.
+
+Her triumphant, flashing glance as she looked down into the troubled
+spring did not escape the young man, and he exclaimed angrily:
+
+"He is right! You are a venomous snake--a demon of hell."
+
+She raised herself and made a face at him, as if she wished to show him
+that she really was some horrible fiend; the unusual sharpness of her
+mobile and youthful features gave her a particular facility for doing
+so. And she fully attained her end, for he drew back with a look of
+horror, stretched out his arms to repel her, and exclaimed as he saw her
+uncontrollable laughter,
+
+"Back, demon, back! In the name of the Lord! I ask thee, who art thou?"
+
+"I am Miriam--who else should I be?" she answered haughtily.
+
+He had expected a different reply, her vivacity annoyed him, and he said
+angrily, "Whatever your name is you are a fiend, and I will ask Paulus
+to forbid you to water your beasts at our well."
+
+"You might run to your nurse, and complain of me to her if you had one,"
+she answered, pouting her lips contemptuously at him.
+
+He colored; she went on boldly, and with eager play of gesture.
+
+"You ought to be a man, for you are strong and big, but you let yourself
+be kept like a child or a miserable girl; your only business is to hunt
+for roots and berries, and fetch water in that wretched thing there.
+I have learned to do that ever since I was as big as that!" and she
+indicated a contemptibly little measure, with the outstretched pointed
+fingers of her two hands, which were not less expressively mobile than
+her features. "Phoh! you are stronger and taller than all the Amalekite
+lads down there, but you never try to measure yourself with them in
+shooting with a bow and arrows or in throwing a spear!"
+
+"If I only dared as much as I wish!" he interrupted, and flaming scarlet
+mounted to his face, "I would be a match for ten of those lean rascals."
+
+"I believe you," replied the girl, and her eager glance measured the
+youth's broad breast and muscular arms with an expression of pride. "I
+believe you, but why do you not dare? Are you the slave of that man up
+there?"
+
+"He is my father and besides--"
+
+"What besides?" she cried, waving her hand as if to wave away a bat. "If
+no bird ever flew away from the nest there would be a pretty swarm in
+it. Look at my kids there--as long as they need their mother they run
+about after her, but as soon as they can find their food alone they seek
+it wherever they can find it, and I can tell you the yearlings there
+have quite forgotten whether they sucked the yellow dam or the brown
+one. And what great things does your father do for you?"
+
+"Silence!" interrupted the youth with excited indignation. "The evil one
+speaks through thee. Get thee from me, for I dare not hear that which I
+dare not utter."
+
+"Dare, dare, dare!" she sneered. "What do you dare then? not even to
+listen!"
+
+"At any rate not to what you have to say, you goblin!" he exclaimed
+vehemently. "Your voice is hateful to me, and if I meet you again by the
+well I will drive you away with stones."
+
+While he spoke thus she stared speechless at him, the blood had left
+her lips, and she clenched her small hands. He was about to pass her
+to fetch some water, but she stepped into his path, and held him
+spell-bound with the fixed gaze of her eyes. A cold chill ran through
+him when she asked him with trembling lips and a smothered voice, "What
+harm have I done you?"
+
+"Leave me!" said he, and he raised his hand to push her away from the
+water.
+
+"You shall not touch me," she cried beside herself. "What harm have I
+done you?"
+
+"You know nothing of God," he answered, "and he who is not of God is of
+the Devil."
+
+"You do not say that of yourself," answered she, and her voice recovered
+its tone of light mockery. "What they let you believe pulls the wires of
+your tongue just as a hand pulls the strings of a puppet. Who told you
+that I was of the Devil?"
+
+"Why should I conceal it from you?" he answered proudly. "Our pious
+Paulus, warned me against you and I will thank him for it. 'The evil
+one,' he says, 'looks out of your eyes,' and he is right, a thousand
+times right. When you look at me I feel as if I could tread every thing
+that is holy under foot; only last night again I dreamed I was whirling
+in a dance with you--"
+
+At these words all gravity and spite vanished from Miriam's eyes; she
+clapped her hands and cried, "If it had only been the fact and not a
+dream! Only do not be frightened again, you fool! Do you know then what
+it is when the pipes sound, and the lutes tinkle, and our feet fly round
+in circles as if they had wings?"
+
+"The wings of Satan," Hermas interrupted sternly. "You are a demon, a
+hardened heathen."
+
+"So says our pious Paulus," laughed the girl.
+
+"So say I too," cried the young man. "Who ever saw you in the assemblies
+of the just? Do you pray? Do you ever praise the Lord and our Saviour?"
+
+"And what should I praise them for?" asked Miriam. "Because I am
+regarded as a foul fiend by the most pious among you perhaps?"
+
+"But it is because you are a sinner that Heaven denies you its
+blessing."
+
+"No--no, a thousand times no!" cried Miriam. "No god has ever troubled
+himself about me. And if I am not good, why should I be when nothing but
+evil ever has fallen to my share? Do you know who I am and how I became
+so? I was wicked, perhaps, when both my parents were slain in their
+pilgrimage hither? Why, I was then no more than six years old, and what
+is a child of that age? But still I very well remember that there were
+many camels grazing near our house, and horses too that belonged to us,
+and that on a hand that often caressed me--it was my mother's hand--a
+large jewel shone. I had a black slave too that obeyed me; when she and
+I did not agree I used to hang on to her grey woolly hair and beat her.
+Who knows what may have become of her? I did not love her, but if I had
+her now, how kind I would be to her. And now for twelve years I myself
+have eaten the bread of servitude, and have kept Senator Petrus's goats,
+and if I ventured to show myself at a festival among the free maidens,
+they would turn me out and pull the wreath out of my hair. And am I to
+be thankful? What for, I wonder? And pious? What god has taken any care
+of me? Call me an evil demon--call me so! But if Petrus and your Paulus
+there say that He who is up above us and who let me grow up to such a
+lot is good, they tell a lie. God is cruel, and it is just like Him
+to put it into your heart to throw stones and scare me away from your
+well."
+
+With these words she burst out into bitter sobs, and her features worked
+with various and passionate distortion.
+
+Hermas felt compassion for the weeping Miriam. He had met her a hundred
+times and she had shown herself now haughty, now discontented, now
+exacting and now wrathful, but never before soft or sad. To-day, for the
+first time, she had opened her heart to him; the tears which disfigured
+her countenance gave her character a value which it had never before had
+in his eyes, and when he saw her weak and unhappy he felt ashamed of his
+hardness. He went up to her kindly and said: "You need not cry; come to
+the well again always, I will not prevent you."
+
+His deep voice sounded soft and kind as he spoke, but she sobbed more
+passionately than before, almost convulsively, and she tried to speak
+but she could not. Trembling in every slender limb, shaken with grief,
+and overwhelmed with sorrow, the slight shepherdess stood before him,
+and he felt as if he must help her. His passionate pity cut him to the
+heart and fettered his by no means ready tongue.
+
+As he could find no word of comfort, he took the water-gourd in his left
+hand and laid his right, in which he had hitherto held it, gently on her
+shoulder. She started, but she let him do it; he felt her warm breath;
+he would have drawn back, but he felt as if he could not; he hardly knew
+whether she was crying or laughing while she let his hand rest on her
+black waving hair.
+
+She did not move. At last she raised her head, her eyes flashed into
+his, and at the same instant he felt two slender arms clasped round his
+neck. He felt as if a sea were roaring in his ears, and fire blazing in
+his eyes. A nameless anguish seized him; he tore himself violently free,
+and with a loud cry as if all the spirits of hell were after him he fled
+up the steps that led from the well, and heeded not that his water-jar
+was shattered into a thousand pieces against the rocky wall.
+
+She stood looking after him as if spell-bound. Then she struck her
+slender hand against her forehead, threw herself down by the spring
+again and stared into space; there she lay motionless, only her mouth
+continued to twitch.
+
+When the shadow of the palm-tree grew longer she sprang up, called
+her goats, and looked up, listening, to the rock-steps by which he had
+vanished; the twilight is short in the neighborhood of the tropics, and
+she knew that she would be overtaken by the darkness on the stony and
+fissured road down the valley if she lingered any longer. She feared
+the terrors of the night, the spirits and demons, and a thousand vague
+dangers whose nature she could not have explained even to herself; and
+yet she did not stir from the spot nor cease listening and waiting for
+his return till the sun had disappeared behind the sacred mountain, and
+the glow in the west had paled.
+
+All around was as still as death, she could hear herself breathe, and as
+the evening chill fell she shuddered with cold.
+
+She now heard a loud noise above her head. A flock of wild mountain
+goats, accustomed to come at this hour to quench their thirst at the
+spring, came nearer and nearer, but drew back as they detected the
+presence of a human being. Only the leader of the herd remained standing
+on the brink of the ravine, and she knew that he was only awaiting her
+departure to lead the others down to drink. Following a kindly impulse,
+she was on the point of leaving to make way for the animals, when she
+suddenly recollected Hermas's threat to drive her from the well, and she
+angrily picked up a stone and flung it at the buck, which started and
+hastily fled. The whole herd followed him. Miriam listened to them as
+they scampered away, and then, with her head sunk, she led her flock
+home, feeling her way in the darkness with her bare feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+High above the ravine where the spring was lay a level plateau of
+moderate extent, and behind it rose a fissured cliff of bare, red-brown
+porphyry. A vein of diorite of iron-hardness lay at its foot like a
+green ribbon, and below this there opened a small round cavern, hollowed
+and arched by the cunning hand of nature. In former times wild beasts,
+panthers or wolves, had made it their home; it now served as a dwelling
+for young Hermas and his father.
+
+Many similar caves were to be found in the holy Fountain, and other
+anchorites had taken possession of the larger ones among them.
+
+That of Stephanus was exceptionally high and deep, and yet the space was
+but small which divided the two beds of dried mountain herbs where, on
+one, slept the father, and on the other, the son.
+
+It was long past midnight, but neither the younger nor the elder
+cave-dweller seemed to be sleeping. Hermas groaned aloud and threw
+himself vehemently from one side to the other without any consideration
+for the old man who, tormented with pain and weakness, sorely needed
+sleep. Stephanus meanwhile denied himself the relief of turning over or
+of sighing, when he thought he perceived that his more vigorous son had
+found rest.
+
+"What could have robbed him of his rest, the boy who usually slept so
+soundly, and was so hard to waken?"
+
+"Whence comes it," thought Stephanus, "that the young and strong sleep
+so soundly and so much, and the old, who need rest, and even the sick,
+sleep so lightly and so little. Is it that wakefulness may prolong the
+little term of life, of which they dread the end? How is it that man
+clings so fondly to this miserable existence, and would fain slink away,
+and hide himself when the angel calls and the golden gates open before
+him! We are like Saul, the Hebrew, who hid himself when they came to
+him with the crown! My wound burns painfully; if only I had a drink of
+water. If the poor child were not so sound asleep I might ask him for
+the jar."
+
+Stephanus listened to his son and would not wake him, when he heard his
+heavy and regular breathing. He curled himself up shivering under the
+sheep-skin which covered only half his body, for the icy night wind
+now blew through the opening of the cave, which by day was as hot as an
+oven.
+
+Some long minutes wore away; at last he thought he perceived that Hermas
+had raised himself. Yes, the sleeper must have wakened, for he began to
+speak, and to call on the name of God.
+
+The old man turned to his son and began softly, "Do you hear me, my
+boy?"
+
+"I cannot sleep," answered the youth.
+
+"Then give me something to drink," asked Stephanus, "my wound burns
+intolerably."
+
+Hermas rose at once, and reached the water-jar to the sufferer.
+
+"Thanks, thanks, my child," said the old man, feeling for the neck of
+the jar. But he could not find it, and exclaimed with surprise: "How
+damp and cold it is--this is clay, and our jar was a gourd."
+
+"I have broken it," interrupted Hermas, "and Paulus lent me his."
+
+"Well, well," said Stephanus anxious for drink; he gave the jar back to
+his son, and waited till he had stretched himself again on his couch.
+Then he asked anxiously: "You were out a long time this evening, the
+gourd is broken, and you groaned in your sleep. Whom did you meet?"
+
+"A demon of hell," answered Hermas. "And now the fiend pursues me into
+our cave, and torments me in a variety of shapes."
+
+"Drive it out then and pray," said the old man gravely. "Unclean spirits
+flee at the name of God."
+
+"I have called upon Him," sighed Hermas, "but in vain; I see women with
+ruddy lips and flowing Hair, and white marble figures with rounded limbs
+and flashing eyes beckon to me again and again."
+
+"Then take the scourge," ordered the father, "and so win peace."
+
+Hermas once more obediently rose, and went out into the air with the
+scourge; the narrow limits of the cave did not admit of his swinging it
+with all the strength of his arms.
+
+Very soon Stephanus heard the whistle of the leathern thongs through the
+stillness of the night, their hard blows on the springy muscles of the
+man and his son's painful groaning.
+
+At each blow the old man shrank as if it had fallen on himself. At last
+he cried as loud as he was able "Enough--that is enough."
+
+Hermas came back into the cave, his father called him to his couch, and
+desired him to join with him in prayer.
+
+After the 'Amen' he stroked the lad's abundant hair and said, "Since
+you went to Alexandria, you have been quite another being. I would I had
+withstood bishop Agapitus, and forbidden you the journey. Soon, I know,
+my Saviour will call me to himself, and no one will keep you here; then
+the tempter will come to you, and all the splendors of the great city,
+which after all only shine like rotten wood, like shining snakes and
+poisonous purple-berries--"
+
+"I do not care for them," interrupted Hermas, "the noisy place
+bewildered and frightened me. Never, never will I tread the spot again."
+
+"So you have always said," replied Stephanus, "and yet the journey quite
+altered you. How often before that I used to think when I heard you
+laugh that the sound must surely please our Father in Heaven. And now?
+You used to be like a singing bird, and now you go about silent, you
+look sour and morose, and evil thoughts trouble your sleep."
+
+"That is my loss," answered Hermas. "Pray let go of my hand; the night
+will soon be past, and you have the whole live-long day to lecture me
+in." Stephanus sighed, and Hermas returned to his couch.
+
+Sleep avoided them both, and each knew that the other was awake, and
+would willingly have spoken to him, but dissatisfaction and defiance
+closed the son's lips, and the father was silent because he could not
+find exactly the heart-searching words that he was seeking.
+
+At last it was morning, a twilight glimmer struck through the opening of
+the cave, and it grew lighter and lighter in the gloomy vault; the boy
+awoke and rose yawning. When he saw his father lying with his eyes open,
+he asked indifferently, "Shall I stay here or go to morning worship?"
+
+"Let us pray here together," begged the father. "Who knows how long it
+may yet be granted to us to do so? I am not far from the day that no
+evening ever closes. Kneel down here, and let me kiss the image of the
+Crucified."
+
+Hermas did as his father desired him, and as they were ending their song
+of praise, a third voice joined in the 'Amen.'
+
+"Paulus!" cried the old man. "The Lord be praised! pray look to my
+wound then. The arrow head seeks to work some way out, and it burns
+fearfully."
+
+"The new comer, an anchorite, who for all clothing wore a shirt-shaped
+coat of brown undressed linen, and a sheep-skin, examined the wound
+carefully, and laid some herbs on it, murmuring meanwhile some pious
+texts.
+
+"That is much easier," sighed the old man. "The Lord has mercy on me for
+your goodness' sake."
+
+"My goodness? I am a vessel of wrath," replied Paulus, with a deep,
+rich; sonorous voice, and his peculiarly kind blue eyes were raised to
+heaven as if to attest how greatly men were deceived in him. Then he
+pushed the bushy grizzled hair, which hung in disorder over his neck and
+face, out of his eyes, and said cheerfully: "No man is more than man,
+and many men are less. In the ark there were many beasts, but only one
+Noah."
+
+"You are the Noah of our little ark," replied Stephanus.
+
+"Then this great lout here is the elephant," laughed Paulus.
+
+"You are no smaller than he," replied Stephanus.
+
+"It is a pity this stone roof is so low, else we might have measured
+ourselves," said Paulus. "Aye! if Hermas and I were as pious and pure as
+we are tall and strong, we should both have the key of paradise in our
+pockets. You were scourging yourself this night, boy; I heard the blows.
+It is well; if the sinful flesh revolts, thus we may subdue it."
+
+"He groaned heavily and could not sleep," said Stephanus.
+
+"Aye, did he indeed!" cried Paulus to the youth, and held his powerful
+arms out towards him with clenched fists; but the threatening voice was
+loud rather than terrible, and wild as the exceptionally big man looked
+in his sheepskin, there was such irresistible kindliness in his gaze
+and in his voice, that no one could have believed that his wrath was in
+earnest.
+
+"Fiends of hell had met him," said Stephanus in excuse for his son, "and
+I should not have closed an eye even without his groaning; it is the
+fifth night."
+
+"But in the sixth," said Paulus, "sleep is absolutely necessary. Put on
+your sheep-skin, Hermas; you must go down to the oasis to the Senator
+Petrus, and fetch a good sleeping-draught for our sick man from him or
+from Dame Dorothea, the deaconess. Just look! the youngster has really
+thought of his father's breakfast--one's own stomach is a good reminder.
+Only put the bread and the water down here by the couch; while you are
+gone I will fetch some fresh--now, come with me."
+
+"Wait a minute, wait," cried Stephanus. "Bring a new jar with you from
+the town, my son. You lent us yours yesterday, Paulus, and I must--"
+
+"I should soon have forgotten it," interrupted the other. "I have to
+thank the careless fellow, for I have now for the first time discovered
+the right way to drink, as long as one is well and able. I would not
+have the jar back for a measure of gold; water has no relish unless you
+drink it out of the hollow of your hand! The shard is yours. I should be
+warring against my own welfare, if I required it back. God be praised!
+the craftiest thief can now rob me of nothing save my sheepskin."
+
+Stephanus would have thanked him, but he took Hermas by the hand, and
+led him out into the open air. For some time the two men walked in
+silence over the clefts and boulders up the mountain side. When they had
+reached a plateau, which lay on the road that led from the sea over the
+mountain into the oasis, he turned to the youth, and said:
+
+"If we always considered all the results of our actions there would be
+no sins committed."
+
+Hermas looked at him enquiringly, and Paulus went on, "If it had
+occurred to you to think how sorely your poor father needed sleep, you
+would have lain still this night."
+
+"I could not," said the youth sullenly. "And you know very well that I
+scourged myself hard enough."
+
+"That was quite right, for you deserved a flogging for a misconducted
+boy."
+
+Hermas looked defiantly at his reproving friend, the flaming color
+mounted to his cheek: for he remembered the shepherdess's words that he
+might go and complain to his nurse, and he cried out angrily:
+
+"I will not let any one speak to me so; I am no longer a child."
+
+"Not even your father's?" asked Paulus, and he looked at the boy with
+such an astonished and enquiring air, that Hermas turned away his eyes
+in confusion.
+
+"It is not right at any rate to trouble the last remnant of life of that
+very man who longs to live for your sake only."
+
+"I should have been very willing to be still, for I love my father as
+well as any one else."
+
+"You do not beat him," replied Paulus, "you carry him bread and water,
+and do not drink up the wine yourself, which the Bishop sends him home
+from the Lord's supper; that is something certainly, but not enough by a
+long way."
+
+"I am no saint!"
+
+"Nor I neither," exclaimed Paulus, "I am full of sin and weakness. But
+I know what the love is which was taught us by the Saviour, and that you
+too may know. He suffered on the cross for you, and for me, and for all
+the poor and vile. Love is at once the easiest and the most difficult
+of attainments. It requires sacrifice. And you? How long is it now since
+you last showed your father a cheerful countenance?"
+
+"I cannot be a hypocrite."
+
+"Nor need you, but you must love. Certainly it is not by what his hand
+does but by what his heart cheerfully offers, and by what he forces
+himself to give up that a man proves his love."
+
+"And is it no sacrifice that I waste all my youth here?" asked the boy.
+
+Paulus stepped back from him a little way, shook his matted head, and
+said, "Is that it? You are thinking of Alexandria! Ay! no doubt life
+runs away much quicker there than on our solitary mountain. You do not
+fancy the tawny shepherd girl, but perhaps some pretty pink and white
+Greek maiden down there has looked into your eyes?"
+
+"Let me alone about the women," answered Hermas, with genuine annoyance.
+"There are other things to look at there."
+
+The youth's eyes sparkled as he spoke, and Paulus asked, not without
+interest, "Indeed?"
+
+"You know Alexandria better than I," answered Hermas evasively. "You
+were born there, and they say you had been a rich young man."
+
+"Do they say so?" said Paulus. "Perhaps they are right; but you must
+know that I am glad that nothing any longer belongs to me of all the
+vanities that I possessed, and I thank my Saviour that I can now turn
+my back on the turmoil of men. What was it that seemed to you so
+particularly tempting in all that whirl?"
+
+Hermas hesitated. He feared to speak, and yet something urged and drove
+him to say out all that was stirring his soul. If any one of all those
+grave men who despised the world and among whom he had grown up, could
+ever understand him, he knew well that it would be Paulus; Paulus whose
+rough beard he had pulled when he was little, on whose shoulders he had
+often sat, and who had proved to him a thousand times how truly he loved
+him. It is true the Alexandrian was the severest of them all, but he was
+harsh only to himself. Hermas must once for all unburden his heart, and
+with sudden decision he asked the anchorite:
+
+"Did you often visit the baths?"
+
+"Often? I only wonder that I did not melt away and fall to pieces in the
+warm water like a wheaten loaf."
+
+"Why do you laugh at that which makes men beautiful?" cried Hermas
+hastily. "Why may Christians even visit the baths in Alexandria, while
+we up here, you and my father and all anchorites, only use water to
+quench our thirst? You compel me to live like one of you, and I do not
+like being a dirty beast."
+
+"None can see us but the Most High," answered Paulus, "and for him we
+cleanse and beautify our souls."
+
+"But the Lord gave us our body too," interrupted Hermas. "It is written
+that man is the image of God. And we! I appeared to myself as repulsive
+as a hideous ape when at the great baths by the Gate of the Sun I saw
+the youths and men with beautifully arranged and scented hair and smooth
+limbs that shone with cleanliness and purification. And as they went
+past, and I looked at my mangy sheepfell, and thought of my wild mane
+and my arms and feet, which are no worse formed or weaker than theirs
+were, I turned hot and cold, and I felt as if some bitter drink were
+choking me. I should have liked to howl out with shame and envy and
+vexation. I will not be like a monster!"
+
+Hermas ground his teeth as he spoke the last words, and Paulus looked
+uneasily at him as he went on: "My body is God's as much as my soul is,
+and what is allowed to the Christians in the city--"
+
+"That we nevertheless may not do," Paulus interrupted gravely. "He who
+has once devoted himself to Heaven must detach himself wholly from the
+charm of life, and break one tie after another that binds him to the
+dust. I too once upon a time have anointed this body, and smoothed this
+rough hair, and rejoiced sincerely over my mirror; but I say to you,
+Hermas--and, by my dear Saviour, I say it only because I feel it, deep
+in my heart I feel it--to pray is better than to bathe, and I, a poor
+wretch, have been favored with hours in which my spirit has struggled
+free, and has been permitted to share as an honored guest in the festal
+joys of Heaven!"
+
+While he spoke, his wide open eyes had turned towards Heaven and had
+acquired a wondrous brightness. For a short time the two stood opposite
+each other silent and motionless; at last the anchorite pushed the hair
+from off his brow, which was now for the first time visible. It was
+well-formed, though somewhat narrow, and its clear fairness formed a
+sharp contrast to his sunburnt face.
+
+"Boy," he said with a deep breath, "you know not what joys you would
+sacrifice for the sake of worthless things. Long ere the Lord, calls
+the pious man to Heaven, the pious has brought Heaven down to earth in
+himself."
+
+Hermas well understood what the anchorite meant, for his father often
+for hours at a time gazed up into Heaven in prayer, neither seeing nor
+hearing what was going on around him, and was wont to relate to his son,
+when he awoke from his ecstatic vision, that he had seen the Lord or
+heard the angel-choir.
+
+He himself had never succeeded in bringing himself into such a state,
+although Stephanus had often compelled him to remain on his knees
+praying with him for many interminable hours. It often happened that
+the old man's feeble flame of life had threatened to become altogether
+extinct after these deeply soul-stirring exercises, and Hermas would
+gladly have forbidden him giving himself up to such hurtful emotions,
+for he loved his father; but they were looked upon as special
+manifestations of grace, and how should a son dare to express his
+aversion to such peculiarly sacred acts? But to Paulus and in his
+present mood he found courage to speak out.
+
+"I have sure hope of Paradise," he said, "but it will be first opened
+to us after death. The Christian should be patient; why can you not wait
+for Heaven till the Saviour calls you, instead of desiring to enjoy its
+pleasures here on earth? This first and that after! Why Should God
+have bestowed on us the gifts of the flesh if not that we may use them?
+Beauty and strength are not empty trifles, and none but a fool gives
+noble gifts to another, only in order to throw them away."
+
+Paulus gazed in astonishment at the youth, who up to this moment had
+always unresistingly obeyed his father and him, and he shook his head as
+he answered,
+
+"So think the children of this world who stand far from the Most High.
+In the image of God are we made no doubt, but what child would kiss the
+image of his father, when the father offers him his own living lips?"
+
+Paulus had meant to say 'mother' instead of 'father,' but he remembered
+in time that Hermas had early lost the happiness of caressing a mother,
+and he had hastily amended the phrase. He was one of those to whom it is
+so painful to hurt another, that they never touch a wounded soul unless
+to heal it, divining the seat of even the most hidden pain.
+
+He was accustomed to speak but little, but now he went on eagerly:
+
+"By so much as God is far above our miserable selves, by so much is
+the contemplation of Him worthier of the Christian than that of his own
+person. Oh! who is indeed so happy as to have wholly lost that self and
+to be perfectly absorbed in God! But it pursues us, and when the soul
+fondly thinks itself already blended in union with the Most High it
+cries out 'Here am I!' and drags our nobler part down again into the
+dust. It is bad enough that we must hinder the flight of the soul, and
+are forced to nourish and strengthen the perishable part of our being
+with bread and water and slothful sleep to the injury of the immortal
+part, however much we may fast and watch. And shall we indulge the
+flesh, to the detriment of the spirit, by granting it any of its demands
+that can easily be denied? Only he who despises and sacrifices his
+wretched self can, when he has lost his baser self by the Redeemer's
+grace, find himself again in God."
+
+Hermas had listened patiently to the anchorite, but he now shook his
+head, and said: "I cannot under stand either you or my father. So long
+as I walk on this earth, I am I and no other. After death, no doubt, but
+not till then, will a new and eternal life begin."
+
+"Not so," cried Paulus hastily, interrupting him. "That other and higher
+life of which you speak, does not begin only after death for him who
+while still living does not cease from dying, from mortifying the flesh,
+and from subduing its lusts, from casting from him the world and his
+baser self, and from seeking the Lord. It has been vouchsafed to many
+even in the midst of life to be born again to a higher existence. Look
+at me, the basest of the base. I am not two but one, and yet am I in the
+sight of the Lord as certainly another man than I was before grace found
+me, as this young shoot, which has grown from the roots of an overthrown
+palmtree is another tree than the rotten trunk. I was a heathen and
+enjoyed every pleasure of the earth to the utmost; then I became a
+Christian; the grace of the Lord fell upon me, and I was born again, and
+became a child again; but this time--the Redeemer be praised!--the child
+of the Lord. In the midst of life I died, I rose again, I found the joys
+of Heaven. I had been Menander, and like unto Saul, I became Paulus. All
+that Menander loved--baths, feasts, theatres, horses and chariots, games
+in the arena, anointed limbs, roses and garlands, purple-garments, wine
+and the love of women--lie behind me like some foul bog out of which
+a traveller has struggled with difficulty. Not a vein of the old man
+survives in the new, and a new life has begun for me, mid-way to the
+grave; nor for me only, but for all pious men. For you too the hour will
+sound, in which you will die to--"
+
+"If only I, like you, had been a Menander," cried Hermas, sharply
+interrupting the speaker: "How is it possible to cast away that which I
+never possessed? In order to die one first must live. This wretched life
+seems to me contemptible, and I am weary of running after you like a
+calf after a cow. I am free-born, and of noble race, my father himself
+has told me so, and I am certainly no feebler in body than the
+citizens' sons in the town with whom I went from the baths to the
+wrestling-school."
+
+"Did you go to the Palaestra?" asked Paulus in surprise.
+
+"To the wrestling-school of Timagetus," cried Hermas, coloring. "From
+outside the gate I watched the games of the youths as they wrestled, and
+threw heavy disks at a mark. My eyes almost sprang out of my head at
+the sight, and I could have cried out aloud with envy and vexation,
+at having to stand there in my ragged sheep-skin excluded from all
+competition. If Pachomius had not just then come up, by the Lord I must
+have sprung into the arena, and have challenged the strongest of them
+all to wrestle with me, and I could have thrown the disk much farther
+than the scented puppy who won the victory and was crowned."
+
+"You may thank, Pachomius," said Paulus laughing, "for having hindered
+you, for you would have earned nothing in the arena but mockery
+and disgrace. You are strong enough, certainly, but the art of the
+discobolus must be learned like any other. Hercules himself would be
+beaten at that game without practice, and if he did not know the right
+way to handle the disk."
+
+"It would not have been the first time I had thrown one," cried the boy.
+"See, what I can do!" With these words he stooped and raised one of the
+flat stones, which lay piled up to secure the pathway; extending his arm
+with all his strength, he flung the granite disk over the precipice away
+into the abyss.
+
+"There, you see," cried Paulus, who had watched the throw carefully and
+not without some anxious excitement. "However strong your arm may be,
+any novice could throw farther than you if only he knew the art of
+holding the discus. It is not so--not so; it must cut through the air
+like a knife with its sharp edge. Look how you hold your hand, you throw
+like a woman! The wrist straight, and now your left foot behind, and
+your knee bent! see, how clumsy you are! Here, give me the stone. You
+take the discus so, then you bend your body, and press down your knees
+like the arc of a bow, so that every sinew in your body helps to speed
+the shot when you let go. Aye--that is better, but it is not quite right
+yet. First heave the discus with your arm stretched out, then fix your
+eye on the mark; now swing it out high behind you--stop! once more! your
+arm must be more strongly strained before you throw. That might pass,
+but you ought to be able to hit the palm-tree yonder. Give me
+your discus, and that stone. There; the unequal corners hinder its
+flight--now pay attention!" Paulus spoke with growing eagerness, and now
+he grasped the flat stone, as he might have done many years since when
+no youth in Alexandria had been his match in throwing the discus.
+
+He bent his knees, stretched out his body, gave play to his wrist,
+extended his arm to the utmost and hurled the stone into space, while
+the clenched toes of his right foot deeply dinted the soil.
+
+But it fell to the ground before reaching which Paulus had indicated as
+the mark.
+
+"Wait!" cried Hermas. "Let me try now to hit the tree."
+
+His stone whistled through the air, but it did not even reach the mound,
+into which the palm-tree had struck root.
+
+Paulus shook his head disapprovingly, and in his, turn seized a flat
+stone; and now an eager contest began. At every throw Hermas' stone flew
+farther, for he copied his teacher's action and grasp with increasing
+skill, while the older man's arm began to tire. At last Hermas for the
+second time hit the palm-tree, while Paulus had failed to reach even the
+mound with his last fling.
+
+The pleasure of the contest took stronger possession of the anchorite;
+he flung his raiment from him, and seizing another stone he cried
+out--as though he were standing once more in the wrestling school among
+his old companions; all shining with their anointment.
+
+"By the silver-bowed Apollo, and the arrow-speeding Artemis, I will hit
+the palm-tree."
+
+The missile sang through the air, his body sprang back, and he stretched
+out his left arm to save his tottering balance; there was a crash, the
+tree quivered under the blow, and Hermas shouted joyfully: "Wonderful!
+wonderful! that was indeed a throw. The old Menander is not dead!
+Farewell--to-morrow we will try again."
+
+With these words Hermas quitted the anchorite, and hastened with wide
+leaps down the hill in the oasis. Paulus started at the words like a
+sleep-walker who is suddenly wakened by hearing his name called. He
+looked about him in bewilderment, as if he had to find his way in some
+strange world. Drops of sweat stood on his brow, and with sudden shame
+he snatched up his garments that were lying on the ground, and covered
+his naked limbs.
+
+For some time he stood gazing after Hermas, then he clasped his brow in
+deep anguish and large tears ran down upon his beard.
+
+"What have I said?" he muttered to himself; "That every vein of the old
+man in me was extirpated? Fool! vain madman that I am. They named me
+Paulus, and I am in truth Saul, aye, and worse than Saul!"
+
+With these words he threw himself on his knees, pressing his forehead
+against the hard rock, and began to pray. He felt as if he had been
+flung from a height on to spears and lances, as if his heart and soul
+were bleeding, and while he remained there, dissolved in grief and
+prayer, accusing and condemning himself, he felt not the burning of the
+sun as it mounted in the sky, heeded not the flight of time, nor heard
+the approach of a party of pilgrims, who, under the guidance of bishop
+Agapitus, were visiting the Holy Places. The palmers saw him at prayer,
+heard his sobs, and, marvelling at his piety, at a sign from their
+pastor they knelt down behind him.
+
+When Paulus at last arose, he perceived with surprise and alarm the
+witnesses of his devotions, and approached Agapitus to kiss his robe.
+But the bishop said: "Not so; he that is most pious is the greatest
+among us. My friends, let us bow down before this saintly man!"
+
+The pilgrims obeyed his command. Paulus hid his face in his hands and
+sobbed out: "Wretch, wretch that I am!"
+
+And the pilgrims lauded his humility, and followed their leader who left
+the spot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Hermas had hastened onwards without delay. He had already reached the
+last bend of the path he had followed down the ravine, and he saw at his
+feet the long narrow valley and the gleaming waters of the stream, which
+here fertilized the soil of the desert. He looked down on lofty palms
+and tamarisk shrubs innumerable, among which rose the houses of
+the inhabitants, surrounded by their little gardens and small
+carefully-irrigated fields; already he could hear the crowing of a cock
+and the hospitable barking of a dog, sounds which came to him like a
+welcome from the midst of that life for which he yearned, accustomed as
+he was to be surrounded day and night by the deep and lonely stillness
+of the rocky heights.
+
+He stayed his steps, and his eyes followed the thin columns of smoke,
+which floated tremulously up in the clear light of the ever mounting sun
+from the numerous hearths that lay below him.
+
+"They are cooking breakfast now," thought he, "the wives for their
+husbands, the mothers for their children, and there, where that dark
+smoke rises, very likely a splendid feast is being prepared for guests;
+but I am nowhere at home, and no one will invite me in." The contest
+with Paulus had excited and cheered him, but the sight of the city
+filled his young heart with renewed bitterness, and his lips trembled
+as he looked down on his sheepskin and his unwashed limbs. With hasty
+resolve he turned his back on the oasis and hurried up the mountain.
+By the side of the brooklet that he knew of he threw off his coarse
+garment, let the cool water flow over his body, washed himself carefully
+and with much enjoyment, stroked clown his thick hair with his fingers,
+and then hurried down again into the valley.
+
+The gorge through which he had descended debouched by a hillock that
+rose from the valley-plain; a small newly-built church leaned against
+its eastern declivity, and it was fortified on all sides by walls and
+dikes, behind which the citizens found shelter when they were threatened
+by the Saracen robbers of the oasis. This hill passed for a particularly
+sacred spot. Moses was supposed to have prayed on its summit during the
+battle with the Amalekites while his arms were held up by Aaron and Hur.
+
+But there were other notable spots in the neighborhood of the oasis.
+There farther to the north was the rock whence Moses had struck the
+water; there higher up, and more to the south-east, was the hill, where
+the Lord had spoken to the law-giver face to face, and where he had
+seen the burning bush; there again was the spring where he had met the
+daughters of Jethro, Zippora and Ledja, so called in the legend. Pious
+pilgrims came to these holy places in great numbers, and among them many
+natives of the peninsula, particularly Nabateans, who had previously
+visited the holy mountain in order to sacrifice on its summit to their
+gods, the sun, moon, and planets. At the outlet, towards the north,
+stood a castle, which ever since the Syrian Prefect, Cornelius Palma,
+had subdued Arabia Petraea in the time of Trajan, had been held by a
+Roman garrison for the protection of the blooming city of the desert
+against the incursions of the marauding Saracens and Blemmyes.
+
+But the citizens of Pharan themselves had taken measures for the
+security of their property. On the topmost cliffs of the jagged crown
+of the giant mountain--the most favorable spots for a look-out far and
+wide--they placed sentinels, who day and night scanned the distance, so
+as to give a warning-signal in case of approaching clanger. Each house
+resembled a citadel, for it was built of strong masonry, and the younger
+men were all well exercised bowmen. The more distinguished families
+dwelt near the church-hill, and there too stood the houses of the Bishop
+Agapitus, and of the city councillors of Pharan.
+
+Among these the Senator Petrus enjoyed the greatest respect, partly
+by reason of his solid abilities, and of his possessions in quarries,
+garden-ground, date palms, and cattle; partly in consequence of the rare
+qualities of his wife, the deaconess Dorothea, the granddaughter of the
+long-deceased and venerable Bishop Chaeremon, who had fled hither with
+his wife during the persecution of the Christians under Decius, and who
+had converted many of the Pharanites to the knowledge of the Redeemer.
+
+The house of Petrus was of strong and well-joined stone, and the palm
+garden adjoining was carefully tended. Twenty slaves, many camels, and
+even two horses belonged to him, and the centurion in command of the
+Imperial garrison, the Gaul Phoebicius, and his wife Sirona, lived as
+lodgers under his roof; not quite to the satisfaction of the councillor,
+for the centurion was no Christian, but a worshipper of Mithras, in
+whose mysteries the wild Gaul had risen to the grade of a 'Lion,' whence
+his people, and with them the Pharanites in general, were wont to speak
+of him as "the Lion."
+
+His predecessor had been an officer of much lower rank but a believing
+Christian, whom Petrus had himself requested to live in his house, and
+when, about a year since, the Lion Phoebicius had taken the place of the
+pious Pankratius, the senator could not refuse him the quarters, which
+had become a right.
+
+Hermas went shyly and timidly towards the court of Petrus' house, and
+his embarrassment increased when he found himself in the hall of the
+stately stone-house, which he had entered without let or hindrance, and
+did not know which way to turn. There was no one there to direct him,
+and he dared not go up the stairs which led to the upper story, although
+it seemed that Petrus must be there. Yes, there was no doubt, for he
+heard talking overhead and clearly distinguished the senator's deep
+voice. Hermas advanced, and set his foot on the first step of the
+stairs; but he had scarcely begun to go up with some decision, and
+feeling ashamed of his bashfulness, when he heard a door fly open just
+above him, and from it there poured a flood of fresh laughing children's
+voices, like a pent up stream when the miller opens the sluice gate.
+
+He glanced upwards in surprise, but there was no time for consideration,
+for the shouting troop of released little ones had already reached the
+stairs. In front of all hastened a beautiful young woman with golden
+hair; she was laughing gaily, and held a gaudily-dressed doll high above
+her head. She came backwards towards the steps, turning her fair face
+beaming with fun and delight towards the children, who, full of their
+longing, half demanding, half begging, half laughing, half crying,
+shouted in confusion, "Let us be, Sirona," "Do not take it away again,
+Sirona," "Do stay here, Sirona," again and again, "Sirona--Sirona."
+
+A lovely six year old maiden stretched up as far as she could to reach
+the round white arm that held the play-thing; with her left hand, which
+was free, she gaily pushed away three smaller children, who tried to
+cling to her knees and exclaimed, still stepping backwards, "No, no; you
+shall not have it till it has a new gown; it shall be as long and as gay
+as the Emperors's robe. Let me go, Caecilia, or you will fall down as
+naughty Nikon did the other day."
+
+By this time she had reached the steps; she turned suddenly, and with
+outstretched arms she stopped the way of the narrow stair on which
+Hermas was standing, gazing open-mouthed at the merry scene above his
+head. Just as Sirona was preparing to run down, she perceived him and
+started; but when she saw that the anchorite from pure embarrassment
+could find no words in which to answer her question as to what he
+wanted, she laughed heartily again and called out: "Come up, we shall
+not hurt you--shall we children?"
+
+Meanwhile Hermas had found courage enough to give utterance to his
+wish to speak with the senator, and the young woman, who looked with
+complacency on his strong and youthful frame, offered to conduct him to
+him.
+
+Petrus had been talking to his grown up elder sons; they were tall men,
+but their father was even taller than they, and of unusual breadth of
+shoulder.
+
+While the young men were speaking, he stroked his short grey beard and
+looked down at the ground in sombre gravity, as it might have seemed
+to the careless observer; but any one who looked closer might quickly
+perceive that not seldom a pleased smile, though not less often a
+somewhat bitter one, played upon the lips of the prudent and judicious
+man. He was one of those who can play with their children like a young
+mother, take the sorrows of another as much to heart as if they were
+their own, and yet who look so gloomy, and allow themselves to make such
+sharp speeches, that only those who are on terms of perfect confidence
+with them, cease to misunderstand them and fear them. There was
+something fretting the soul of this man, who nevertheless possessed all
+that could contribute to human happiness. His was a thankful nature,
+and yet he was conscious that he might have been destined to something
+greater than fate had permitted him to achieve or to be. He had remained
+a stone-cutter, but his sons had both completed their education in good
+schools in Alexandria. The elder, Antonius, who already had a house of
+his own and a wife and children, was an architect and artist-mechanic;
+the younger, Polykarp, was a gifted young sculptor. The noble church
+of the oasis-city had been built under the direction of the elder;
+Polykarp, who had only come home a month since, was preparing to
+establish and carry on works of great extent in his father's quarries,
+for he had received a commission to decorate the new court of
+the Sebasteion or Caesareum, as it was called--a grand pile in
+Alexandria--with twenty granite lions. More than thirty artists had
+competed with him for this work, but the prize was unanimously adjudged
+to his models by qualified judges. The architect whose function it was
+to construct the colonnades and pavement of the court was his friend,
+and had agreed to procure the blocks of granite, the flags and the
+columns which he required from Petrus' quarries, and not, as had
+formerly been the custom, from those of Syene by the first Cataract.
+
+Antonius and Polykarp were now standing with their father before a large
+table, explaining to him a plan which they had worked out together and
+traced on the thin wax surface of a wooden tablet. The young architect's
+proposal was to bridge over a deep but narrow gorge, which the beasts of
+burden were obliged to avoid by making a wide circuit, and so to make a
+new way from the quarries to the sea, which should be shorter by a third
+than the old one. The cost of this structure would soon be recouped
+by the saving in labor, and with perfect certainty, if only the
+transport-ships were laden at Clysma with a profitable return freight
+of Alexandrian manufactures, instead of returning empty as they
+had hitherto done. Petrus, who could shine as a speaker in the
+council-meetings, in private life spoke but little. At each of his son's
+new projects he raised his eyes to the speaker's face, as if to see
+whether the young man had not lost his wits, while his mouth, only half
+hidden by his grey beard, smiled approvingly.
+
+When Antonius began to unfold his plan for remedying the inconvenience
+of the ravine that impeded the way, the senator muttered, "Only get
+feathers to grow on the slaves, and turn the black ones into ravens and
+the white ones into gulls, and then they might fly across. What do not
+people learn in the metropolis!"
+
+When he heard the word 'bridge' he stared at the young artist. "The only
+question," said he, "is whether Heaven will lend us a rainbow." But when
+Polykarp proposed to get some cedar trunks from Syria through his friend
+in Alexandria, and when his elder son explained his drawings of the arch
+with which he promised to span the gorge and make it strong and safe,
+he followed their words with attention; at the same time he knit his
+eyebrows as gloomily and looked as stern as if he were listening to some
+narrative of crime. Still, he let them speak on to the end, and though
+at first he only muttered that it was mere "fancy-work" or "Aye, indeed,
+if I were the emperor;" he afterwards asked clear and precise questions,
+to which he received positive and well considered answers. Antonius
+proved by figures that the profit on the delivery of material for the
+Caesareum only would cover more than three quarters of the outlay.
+Then Polykarp began to speak and declared that the granite of the Holy
+Mountain was finer in color and in larger blocks than that from Syene.
+
+"We work cheaper here than at the Cataract," interrupted Antonius. "And
+the transport of the blocks will not come too dear when we have the
+bridge and command the road to the sea, and avail ourselves of the
+canal of Trajan, which joins the Nile to the Red Sea, and which in a few
+months will again be navigable."
+
+"And if my lions are a success," added Polykarp, "and if Zenodotus is
+satisfied with our stone and our work, it may easily happen that we
+outstrip Syene in competition, and that some of the enormous orders that
+now flow from Constantine's new residence to the quarries at Syene, may
+find their way to us."
+
+"Polykarp is not over sanguine," continued Antonius, "for the emperor is
+beautifying and adding to Byzantium with eager haste. Whoever erects a
+new house has a yearly allowance of corn, and in order to attract folks
+of our stamp--of whom he cannot get enough--he promises entire exemption
+from taxation to all sculptors, architects, and even to skilled
+laborers. If we finish the blocks and pillars here exactly to the
+designs, they will take up no superfluous room in the ships, and no one
+will be able to deliver them so cheaply as we."
+
+"No, nor so good," cried Polykarp, "for you yourself are an artist,
+father, and understand stone-work as well as any man. I never saw a
+finer or more equally colored granite than the block you picked out for
+my first lion. I am finishing it here on the spot, and I fancy it will
+make a show. Certainly it will be difficult to take a foremost place
+among the noble works of the most splendid period of art, which already
+fill the Caesareum, but I will do my best."
+
+"The Lions will be admirable," cried Antonius with a glance of pride
+at his brother. "Nothing like them has been done by any one these ten
+years, and I know the Alexandrians. If the master's work is praised that
+is made out of granite from the Holy Mountain, all the world will have
+granite from thence and from no where else. It all depends on whether
+the transport of the stone to the sea can be made less difficult and
+costly."
+
+"Let us try it then," said Petrus, who during his son's talk had walked
+up and down before them in silence. "Let us try the building of the
+bridge in the name of the Lord. We will work out the road if the
+municipality will declare themselves ready to bear half the cost; not
+otherwise, and I tell you frankly, you have both grown most able men."
+
+The younger son grasped his father's hand and pressed it with warm
+affection to his lips. Petrus hastily stroked his brown locks, then
+he offered his strong right hand to his eldest-born and said: "We must
+increase the number of our slaves. Call your mother, Polykarp." The
+youth obeyed with cheerful alacrity, and when Dame Dorothea--who was
+sitting at the loom with her daughter Marthana and some of her female
+slaves--saw him rush into the women's room with a glowing face, she rose
+with youthful briskness in spite of her stout and dignified figure, and
+called out to her son:
+
+"He has approved of your plans?"
+
+"Bridge and all, mother, everything," cried the young man. "Finer
+granite for my lions, than my father has picked out for me is nowhere
+to be found, and how glad I am for Antonius! only we must have patience
+about the roadway. He wants to speak to you at once."
+
+Dorothea signed to her son to moderate his ecstasy, for he had seized
+her hand, and was pulling her away with him, but the tears that stood
+in her kind eyes testified how deeply she sympathized in her favorite's
+excitement.
+
+"Patience, patience, I am coming directly," cried she, drawing away her
+hand in order to arrange her dress and her grey hair, which was abundant
+and carefully dressed, and formed a meet setting for her still pleasing
+and unwrinkled face.
+
+"I knew it would be so; when you have a reasonable thing to propose to
+your father, he will always listen to you and agree with you without my
+intervention; women should not mix themselves up with men's work. Youth
+draws a strong bow and often shoots beyond the mark. It would be a
+pretty thing if out of foolish affection for you I were to try to
+play the siren that should ensnare the steersman of the house--your
+father--with flattering words. You laugh at the grey-haired siren? But
+love overlooks the ravages of years and has a good memory for all that
+was once pleasing. Besides, men have not always wax in their ears when
+they should have. Come now to your father."
+
+Dorothea went out past Polykarp and her daughter. The former held his
+sister back by the hand and asked--"Was not Sirona with you?"
+
+The sculptor tried to appear quite indifferent, but he blushed as he
+spoke; Marthana observed this and replied not without a roguish glance:
+"She did show us her pretty face; but important business called her
+away."
+
+"Sirona?" asked Polykarp incredulously.
+
+"Certainly, why not!" answered Marthana laughing. "She had to sew a new
+gown for the children's doll."
+
+"Why do you mock at her kindness?" said Polykarp reproachfully.
+
+"How sensitive you are!" said Marthana softly. "Sirona is as kind and
+sweet as an angel; but you had better look at her rather less, for she
+is not one of us, and repulsive as the choleric centurion is to me--"
+
+She said no more, for Dame Dorothea, having reached the door of the
+sitting-room, looked around for her children.
+
+Petrus received his wife with no less gravity than was usual with him,
+but there was an arch sparkle in his half closed eyes as he asked: "You
+scarcely know what is going on, I suppose?"
+
+"You are madmen, who would fain take Heaven by storm," she answered
+gaily.
+
+"If the undertaking fails," said Petrus, pointing to his sons, "those
+young ones will feel the loss longer than we shall."
+
+"But it will succeed," cried Dorothea. "An old commander and young
+soldiers can win any battle." She held out her small plump hand with
+frank briskness to her husband, he clasped it cheerily and said: "I
+think I can carry the project for the road through the Senate. To build
+our bridge we must also procure helping hands, and for that we need your
+aid, Dorothea. Our slaves will not suffice."
+
+"Wait," cried the lady eagerly; she went to the window and called,
+"Jethro, Jethro!"
+
+The person thus addressed, the old house-steward, appeared, and Dorothea
+began to discuss with him as to which of the inhabitants of the oasis
+might be disposed to let them have some able-bodied men, and whether it
+might not be possible to employ one or another of the house-slaves at
+the building.
+
+All that she said was judicious and precise, and showed that she herself
+superintended her household in every detail, and was accustomed to
+command with complete freedom.
+
+"That tall Anubis then is really indispensable in the stable?" she asked
+in conclusion. The steward, who up to this moment had spoken shortly
+and intelligently, hesitated to answer; at the same time he looked up at
+Petrus, who, sunk in the contemplation of the plan, had his back to him;
+his glance, and a deprecating movement, expressed very clearly that
+he had something to tell, but feared to speak in the presence of
+his master. Dame Dorothea was quick of comprehension, and she quite
+understood Jethro's meaning; it was for that very reason that she said
+with more of surprise than displeasure: "What does the man mean with his
+winks? What I may hear, Petrus may hear too."
+
+The senator turned, and looked at the steward from head to foot with so
+dark a glance, that he drew back, and began to speak quickly. But he was
+interrupted by the children's clamors on the stairs and by Sirona, who
+brought Hermas to the senator, and said laughing: "I found this great
+fellow on the stairs, he was seeking you."
+
+Petrus looked at the youth, not very kindly, and asked: "Who are
+you? what is your business?" Hermas struggled in vain for speech; the
+presence of so many human beings, of whom three were women, filled him
+with the utmost confusion. His fingers twisted the woolly curls on his
+sheep-skin, and his lips moved but gave no sound; at last he succeeded
+in stammering out, "I am the son of old Stephanus, who was wounded in
+the last raid of the Saracens. My father has hardly slept these
+five nights, and now Paulus has sent me to you--the pious Paulus of
+Alexandria--but you know--and so I--"
+
+"I see, I see," said Petrus with encouraging kindness. "You want some
+medicine for the old man. See Dorothea, what a fine young fellow he is
+grown, this is the little man that the Antiochian took with him up the
+mountain."
+
+Hermas colored, and drew himself up; then he observed with great
+satisfaction that he was taller than the senator's sons, who were of
+about the same age as he, and for whom he had a stronger feeling,
+allied to aversion and fear, than even for their stern father. Polykarp
+measured him with a glance, and said aloud to Sirona, with whom he had
+exchanged a greeting, are off whom he had never once taken his eyes
+since she had come in: "If we could get twenty slaves with such
+shoulders as those, we should get on well. There is work to be done
+here, you big fellow--"
+
+"My name is not 'fellow,' but Hermas," said the anchorite, and the veins
+of his forehead began to swell. Polykarp felt that his father's visitor
+was something more than his poor clothing would seem to indicate
+and that he had hurt his feelings. He had certainly seen some old
+anchorites, who led a contemplative and penitential life up on the
+sacred mountain, but it had never occurred to him that a strong youth
+could be long to the brotherhood of hermits. So he said to him kindly:
+"Hermas--is that your name? We all use our hands here and labor is no
+disgrace; what is your handicraft?"
+
+This question roused the young anchorite to the highest excitement, and
+Dame Dorothea, who perceives what was passing in his mind, said with
+quick decision: "He nurses his sick father. That is what you do, my son
+is it not? Petrus will not refuse you his help."
+
+"Certainly not," the senator added, "I will accompany you by-and-bye to
+see him. You must know my children, that this youth's father was a great
+Lord, who gave up rich possessions in order to forget the world, where
+he had gone through bitter experiences, and to serve God in his own way,
+which we ought to respect though it is not our own. Sit down there, my
+son. First we must finish some important business, and then I will go
+with you."
+
+"We live high up on the mountain," stammered Hermas.
+
+"Then the air will be all the purer," replied the senator. "But
+stay--perhaps the old man is alone no? The good Paulus, you say, is with
+him? Then he is in good hands, and you may wait."
+
+For a moment Petrus stood considering, then he beckoned to his sons, and
+said, "Antonius, go at once and see about some slaves--you, Polykarp,
+find some strong beasts of burden. You are generally rather easy with
+your money, and in this case it is worth while to buy the dearest. The
+sooner you return well supplied the better. Action must not halt behind
+decision, but follow it quickly and sharply, as the sound follows the
+blow. You, Marthana, mix some of the brown fever-potion, and prepare
+some bandages; you have the key."
+
+"I will help her," cried Sirona, who was glad to prove herself useful,
+and who was sincerely sorry for the sick old hermit; besides, Hermas
+seemed to her like a discovery of her own, for whom she involuntarily
+felt more consideration since she had learned that he was the son of a
+man of rank.
+
+While the young women were busy at the medicine-cupboard, Antonius and
+Polykarp left the room.
+
+The latter had already crossed the threshold, when he turned once more,
+and cast a long look at Sirona. Then, with a hasty movement, he went on,
+closed the door, and with a heavy sigh descended the stairs.
+
+As soon as his sons were gone, Petrus turned to the steward again.
+
+"What is wrong with the slave Anubis?" he asked.
+
+"He is--wounded, hurt," answered Jethro, "and for the next few days will
+be useless. The goat-girl Miriam--the wild cat--cut his forehead with
+her reaping hook."
+
+"Why did I not hear of this sooner?" cried Dorothea reprovingly. "What
+have you done to the girl?"
+
+"We have shut her up in the hay loft," answered Jethro, "and there she
+is raging and storming."
+
+The mistress shook her head disapprovingly. "The girl will not be
+improved by that treatment," she said. "Go and bring her to me."
+
+As soon as the intendant had left the room, she exclaimed, turning to
+her husband, "One may well be perplexed about these poor creatures, when
+one sees how they behave to each other. I have seen it a thousand times!
+No judgment is so hard as that dealt by a slave to slaves!"
+
+Jethro and a woman now led Miriam into the room. The girl's hands were
+bound with thick cords, and dry grass clung to her dress and rough black
+hair. A dark fire glowed in her eyes, and the muscles of her face moved
+incessantly, as if she had St. Vitus' dance. When Dorothea looked at
+her she drew herself up defiantly, and looked around the room, as if to
+estimate the strength of her enemies.
+
+She then perceived Hermas; the blood left her lips, with a violent
+effort she tore her slender hands out of the loops that confined them,
+covering her face with them, and fled to the door. But Jethro put
+himself in her way, and seized her shoulder with a strong grasp.
+Miriam shrieked aloud, and the senator's daughter, who had set down the
+medicines she had had in her hand, and had watched the girl's movements
+with much sympathy, hastened towards her. She pushed away the old man's
+hand, and said, "Do not be frightened, Miriam. Whatever you may have
+done, my father can forgive you."
+
+Her voice had a tone of sisterly affection, and the shepherdess followed
+Marthana unresistingly to the table, on which the plans for the bridge
+were lying, and stood there by her side.
+
+For a minute all were silent; at last Dame Dorothea went up to Miriam,
+and asked, "What did they do to you, my poor child, that you could so
+forget yourself?"
+
+Miriam could not understand what was happening to her; she had been
+prepared for scoldings and blows, nay for bonds and imprisonment, and
+now these gentle words and kind looks! Her defiant spirit was quelled,
+her eyes met the friendly eyes of her mistress, and she said in a low
+voice: "he had followed me for such a long time, and wanted to ask you
+for me as his wife; but I cannot bear him--I hate him as I do all your
+slaves." At these words her eyes sparkled wildly again, and with her old
+fire she went on, "I wish I had only hit him with a stick instead of a
+sickle; but I took what first came to hand to defend myself. When a man
+touches me--I cannot bear it, it is horrible, dreadful! Yesterday I came
+home later than usual with the beasts, and by the time I had milked the
+goats, and was going to bed, every one in the house was asleep. Then
+Anubis met me, and began chattering about love; I repelled him, but he
+seized me, and held me with his hand here on my head and wanted to kiss
+me; then my blood rose, I caught hold of my reaping hook, that hung by
+my side, and it was not till I saw him roaring on the ground, that I saw
+I had done wrong. How it happened I really cannot tell--something seemed
+to rise up in me--something--I don't know what to call it. It drives me
+on as the wind drives the leaves that lie on the road, and I cannot help
+it. The best thing you can do is to let me die, for then you would be
+safe once for all from my wickedness, and all would be over and done
+with."
+
+"How can you speak so?" interrupted Marthana. "You are wild and
+ungovernable, but not wicked."
+
+"Only ask him!" cried the girl, pointing with flashing eyes to Hermas,
+who, on his part, looked down a the floor in confusion. The senator
+exchanged a hasty glance with his wife, they were accustomed to under
+stand each other without speech, and Dorothea said: "He who feels that
+he is not what he ought to be is already on the high-road to amendment.
+We let you keep the goats because you were always running after the
+flocks, and never can rest in the house. You are up on the mountain
+before morning-prayer, and never come home till after supper is over,
+and no one takes any thought for the better part of you. Half of your
+guilt recoils upon us, and we have no right to punish you. You need
+not be so astonished; every one some times does wrong. Petrus and I are
+human beings like you, neither more nor less; but we are Christians, and
+it is our duty to look after the souls which God has entrusted to our
+care, be they our children or our slaves. You must go no more up the
+mountain, but shall stay with us in the house. I shall willingly forgive
+your hasty deed if Petrus does not think it necessary to punish you."
+
+The senator gravely shook his head in sign of agreement, and Dorothea
+turned to enquire of Jethro: "Is Anubis badly wounded and does he need
+any care?'
+
+"He is lying in a fever and wanders in his talk," was the answer. "Old
+Praxinoa is cooling his wound with water."
+
+"Then Miriam can take her place and try to remedy the mischief which
+she was the cause of," said Dorothea. "Half of your guilt will be atoned
+for, girl, if Anubis recovers under your care. I will come presently
+with Marthana, and show you how to make a bandage." The shepherdess
+cast down her eyes, and passively allowed herself to be conducted to the
+wounded man.
+
+Meanwhile Marthana had prepared the brown mixture. Petrus had his staff
+and felt-hat brought to him, gave Hermas the medicine and desired him to
+follow him.
+
+Sirona looked after the couple as they went. "What a pity for such a
+fine lad!" she exclaimed. "A purple coat would suit him better than that
+wretched sheepskin."
+
+The mistress shrugged her shoulders, and signing to her daughter said:
+"Come to work, Marthana, the sun is already high. How the days fly! the
+older one grows the quicker the hours hurry away."
+
+"I must be very young then," said the centurion's wife, "for in this
+wilderness time seems to me to creep along frightfully slow. One day is
+the same as another, and I often feel as if life were standing perfectly
+still, and my heart pulses with it. What should I be without your house
+and the children?--always the same mountain, the same palm-trees, the
+same faces!--"
+
+"But the mountain is glorious, the trees are beautiful!" answered
+Dorothea. "And if we love the people with whom we are in daily
+intercourse, even here we may be contented and happy. At least we
+ourselves are, so far as the difficulties of life allow. I have often
+told you, what you want is work."
+
+"Work! but for whom?" asked Sirona. "If indeed I had children like you!
+Even in Rome I was not happy, far from it; and yet there was plenty to
+do and to think about. Here a procession, there a theatre; but here! And
+for whom should I dress even? My jewels grow dull in my chest, and the
+moths eat my best clothes. I am making doll's clothes now of my colored
+cloak for your little ones. If some demon were to transform me into a
+hedge-hog or a grey owl, it would be all the same to me."
+
+"Do not be so sinful," said Dorothea gravely, but looking with kindly
+admiration at the golden hair and lovely sweet face of the young woman.
+"It ought to be a pleasure to you to dress yourself for your husband."
+
+"For him?" said Sirona. "He never looks at me, or if he does it is only
+to abuse me. The only wonder to me is that I can still be merry at all;
+nor am I, except in your house, and not there even but when I forget him
+altogether."
+
+"I will not hear such things said--not another word," interrupted
+Dorothea severely. "Take the linen and cooling lotion, Marthana, we will
+go and bind up Anubis' wound."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Petrus went up the mountain side with Hermas. The old man followed the
+youth, who showed him the way, and as he raised his eyes from time to
+time, he glanced with admiration at his guide's broad shoulders and
+elastic limbs. The road grew broader when it reached a little mountain
+plateau, and from thence the two men walked on side by side, but for
+some time without speaking till the senator asked: "How long now has
+your father lived up on the mountain?"
+
+"Many years," answered Hermas. "But I do not know how many--and it is
+all one. No one enquires about time up here among us."
+
+The senator stood still a moment and measured his companion with a
+glance.
+
+"You have been with your father ever since he came?" he asked.
+
+"He never lets me out of his sight;" replied Hermas. "I have been only
+twice into the oasis, even to go to the church."
+
+"Then you have been to no school?"
+
+"To what school should I go! My father has taught me to read the Gospels
+and I could write, but I have nearly forgotten how. Of what use would it
+be to me? We live like praying beasts."
+
+Deep bitterness sounded in the last words, and Petrus could see into
+the troubled spirit of his companion, overflowing as it was with weary
+disgust, and he perceived how the active powers of youth revolted in
+aversion against the slothful waste of life, to which he was condemned.
+He was grieved for the boy, and he was not one of those who pass by
+those in peril without helping them. Then he thought of his own sons,
+who had grown up in the exercise and fulfilment of serious duties, and
+he owned to himself that the fine young fellow by his side was in no
+way their inferior, and needed nothing but to be guided aright. He
+thoughtfully looked first at the youth and then on the ground, and
+muttered unintelligible words into his grey beard as they walked on.
+Suddenly he drew himself up and nodded decisively; he would make an
+attempt to save Hermas, and faithful to his own nature, action trod on
+the heels of resolve. Where the little level ended the road divided,
+one path continued to lead upwards, the other deviated to the valley
+and ended at the quarries. Petrus was for taking the latter, but Hermas
+cried out, "That is not the way to our cave; you must follow me."
+
+"Follow thou me!" replied the senator, and the words were spoken with a
+tone and expression, that left no doubt in the youth's mind as to their
+double meaning. "The day is yet before us, and we will see what my
+laborers are doing. Do you know the spot where they quarry the stone?"
+
+"How should I not know it?" said Hermas, passing the senator to lead the
+way. "I know every path from our mountain to the oasis, and to the sea.
+A panther had its lair in the ravine behind your quarries."
+
+"So we have learnt," said Petrus. "The thievish beasts have slaughtered
+two young camels, and the people can neither catch them in their toils
+nor run them down with dogs."
+
+"They will leave you in peace now," said the boy laughing. "I brought
+down the male from the rock up there with an arrow, and I found the
+mother in a hollow with her young ones. I had a harder job with her;
+my knife is so bad, and the copper blade bent with the blow; I had to
+strangle the gaudy devil with my hands, and she tore my shoulder and bit
+my arm. Look! there are the scars. But thank God, my wounds heal quicker
+than my father's. Paulus says, I am like an earth-worm; when it is cut
+in two the two halves say good-bye to each other, and crawl off sound
+and gay, one way, and the other another way. The young panthers were
+so funny and helpless, I would not kill them, but I did them up in
+my sheepskin, and brought them to my father. He laughed at the little
+beggars, and then a Nabataean took them to be sold at Clysma to a
+merchant from Rome. There and at Byzantium, there is a demand for all
+kinds of living beasts of prey. I got some money for them, and for the
+skins of the old ones, and kept it to pay for my journey, when I went
+with the others to Alexandria to ask the blessing of the new Patriarch."
+
+"You went to the metropolis?" asked Petrus. "You saw the great
+structures, that secure the coast from the inroads of the sea, the tall
+Pharos with the far-shining fire, the strong bridges, the churches, the
+palaces and temples with their obelisks, pillars, and beautiful paved
+courts? Did it never enter your mind to think that it would be a proud
+thing to construct such buildings?"
+
+Hermas shook his head. "Certainly I would rather live in an airy house
+with colonnades than in our dingy cavern, but building would never be in
+my way. What a long time it takes to put one stone on another! I am not
+patient, and when I leave my father I will do something that shall win
+me fame. But there are the quarries--" Petrus did not let his companion
+finish his sentence, but interrupted him with all the warmth of youth,
+exclaiming: "And do you mean to say that fame cannot be won by the arts
+of building? Look there at the blocks and flags, here at the pillars of
+hard stone. These are all to be sent to Aila, and there my son Antonius,
+the elder of the two that you saw just now, is going to build a House of
+God, with strong walls and pillars, much larger and handsomer than our
+church in the oasis, and that is his work too. He is not much older than
+you are, and already he is famous among the people far and wide. Out
+of those red blocks down there my younger son Polykarp will hew noble
+lions, which are destined to decorate the finest building in the capital
+itself. When you and I, and all that are now living, shall have been
+long since forgotten, still it will be said these are the work of the
+Master Polykarp, the son of Petrus, the Pharanite. What he can do is
+certainly a thing peculiar to himself, no one who is not one of the
+chosen and gifted ones can say, 'I will learn to do that.' But you have
+a sound understanding, strong hands and open eyes, and who can tell what
+else there is hidden in you. If you could begin to learn soon, it would
+not yet be too late to make a worthy master of you, but of course he
+who would rise so high must not be afraid of work. Is your mind set upon
+fame? That is quite right, and I am very glad of it; but you must know
+that he who would gather that rare fruit must water it, as a noble
+heathen once said, with the sweat of his brow. Without trouble and labor
+and struggles there can be no victory, and men rarely earn fame without
+fighting for victory."
+
+The old man's vehemence was contagious; the lad's spirit was roused, and
+he exclaimed warmly: "What do you say? that I am afraid of struggles and
+trouble? I am ready to stake everything, even my life, only to win fame.
+But to measure stone, to batter defenceless blocks with a mallet and
+chisel, or to join the squares with accurate pains--that does not tempt
+me. I should like to win the wreath in the Palaestra by flinging the
+strongest to the ground, or surpass all others as a warrior in battle;
+my father was a soldier too, and he may talk as much as he will of
+'peace,' and nothing but 'peace,' all the same in his dreams he speaks
+of bloody strife and burning wounds. If you only cure him I will stay no
+longer on this lonely mountain, even if I must steal away in secret. For
+what did God give me these arms, if not to use them?"
+
+Petrus made no answer to these words, which came is a stormy flood from
+Hermas' lips, but he stroked his grey beard, and thought to himself,
+"The young of the eagle does not catch flies. I shall never win over
+this soldier's son to our peaceful handicraft, but he shall not remain
+on the mountain among these queer sluggards, for there he is being
+ruined, and yet he is not of a common sort."
+
+When he had given a few orders to the overseer of his workmen, he
+followed the young man to see his suffering father.
+
+It was now some hours since Hermas and Paulus had left the wounded
+anchorite, and he still lay alone in his cave. The sun, as it rose
+higher and higher, blazed down upon the rocks, which began to radiate
+their heat, and the hermit's dwelling was suffocatingly hot. The pain of
+the poor man's wound increased, his fever was greater, and he was very
+thirsty. There stood the jug, which Paulus had given him, but it was
+long since empty, and neither Paulus nor Hermas had come back. He
+listened anxiously to the sounds in the distance, and fancied at first
+that he heard the Alexandrian's footstep, and then that he heard loud
+words and suppressed groans coming from his cave. Stephanus tried to
+call out, but he himself could hardly hear the feeble sound, which, with
+his wounded breast and parched mouth, he succeeded in uttering. Then
+he fain would have prayed, but fearful mental anguish disturbed his
+devotion. All the horrors of desertion came upon him, and he who had
+lived a life overflowing with action and enjoyment, with disenchantment
+and satiety, who now in solitude carried on an incessant spiritual
+struggle for the highest goal--this man felt himself as disconsolate and
+lonely as a bewildered child that has lost its mother.
+
+He lay on his bed of pain softly crying, and when he observed by
+the shadow of the rock that the sun had passed its noonday height,
+indignation and bitter feeling were added to pain, thirst and weariness.
+He doubled his fists and muttered words which sounded like soldier's
+oaths, and with them the name now of Paulus, now of his son. At last
+anguish gained the upperhand of his anger, and it seemed to him, as
+though he were living over again the most miserable hour of his life, an
+hour now long since past and gone.
+
+He thought he was returning from a noisy banquet in the palace of the
+Caesars. His slaves had taken the garlands of roses and poplar leaves
+from his brow and breast, and robed him in his night-dress; now, with a
+silver lamp in his hand, he was approaching his bedroom, and he smiled,
+for his young wife was awaiting him, the mother of his Hermas. She was
+fair and he loved her well, and he had brought home witty sayings to
+repeat to her from the table of the emperor. He, if any one, had a right
+to smile. Now he was in the ante-room, in which two slave-women were
+accustomed to keep watch; he found only one, and she was sleeping
+and breathing deeply; he still smiled as he threw the light upon her
+face--how stupid she looked with her mouth open! An alabaster lamp shed
+a dim light in the bed-room, softly and still smiling he went up to
+Glycera's ivory couch, and held up his lamp, and stared at the empty and
+undisturbed bed--and the smile faded from his lips. The smile of that
+evening came back to him no more through all the long years, for Glycera
+had betrayed him, and left him--him and her child. All this had happened
+twenty years since, and to-day all that he had then felt had returned to
+him, and he saw his wife's empty couch with his "mind's eye," as plainly
+as he had then seen it, and he felt as lonely and as miserable as in
+that night. But now a shadow appeared before the opening of the cave,
+and he breathed a deep sigh as he felt himself released from the hideous
+vision, for he had recognized Paulus, who came up and knelt down beside
+him.
+
+"Water, water!" Stephanus implored in a low voice, and Paulus, who was
+cut to the heart by the moaning of the old man, which he had not heard
+till he entered the cave, seized the pitcher. He looked into it, and,
+finding it quite dry, he rushed down to the spring as if he were running
+for a wager, filled it to the brim and brought it to the lips of the
+sick man, who gulped the grateful drink down with deep draughts, and at
+last exclaimed with a sigh of relief; "That is better; why were you so
+long away? I was so thirsty!" Paulus who had fallen again on his knees
+by the old man, pressed his brow against the couch, and made no reply.
+Stephanus gazed in astonishment at his companion, but perceiving that
+he was weeping passionately he asked no further questions. Perfect
+stillness reigned in the cave for about an hour; at last Paulus raised
+his face, and said, "Forgive me Stephanus. I forgot your necessity
+in prayer and scourging, in order to recover the peace of mind I had
+trifled away--no heathen would have done such a thing!" The sick man
+stroked his friend's arm affectionately; but Paulus murmured, "Egoism,
+miserable egoism guides and governs us. Which of us ever thinks of the
+needs of others? And we--we who profess to walk in the way of the Lamb!"
+
+He sighed deeply, and leaned his head on the sick man's breast, who
+lovingly stroked his rough hair, and it was thus that the senator found
+him, when he entered the cave with Hermas.
+
+The idle way of life of the anchorites was wholly repulsive to his views
+of the task for men and for Christians, but he succored those whom he
+could, and made no enquiries about the condition of the sufferer. The
+pathetic union in which he found the two men touched his heart, and,
+turning to Paulus, he said kindly: "I can leave you in perfect comfort,
+for you seem to me to have a faithful nurse."
+
+The Alexandrian reddened; he shook his head, and replied: "I? I thought
+of no one but myself, and left him to suffer and thirst in neglect, but
+now I will not quit him--no, indeed, I will not, and by God's help and
+yours, he shall recover."
+
+Petrus gave him a friendly nod, for he did not believe in the
+anchorite's self-accusation, though he did in his good-will; and
+before he left the cave, he desired Hermas to come to him early on the
+following day to give him news of his father's state. He wished not only
+to cure Stephanus, but to continue his relations with the youth, who had
+excited his interest in the highest degree, and he had resolved to help
+him to escape from the inactive life which was weighing upon him.
+
+Paulus declined to share the simple supper that the father and son were
+eating, but expressed his intention of remaining with the sick man. He
+desired Hermas to pass the night in his dwelling, as the scanty limits
+of the cave left but narrow room for the lad.
+
+A new life had this day dawned upon the young man; all the grievances
+and desires which had filled his soul ever since his journey to
+Alexandria, crowding together in dull confusion, had taken form and
+color, and he knew now that he could not remain an anchorite, but must
+try his over abundant strength in real life.
+
+"My father," thought he, "was a warrior, and lived in a palace, before
+he retired into our dingy cave; Paulus was Menander, and to this day has
+not forgotten how to throw the discus; I am young, strong, and free-born
+as they were, and Petrus says, I might have been a fine man. I will
+not hew and chisel stones like his sons, but Caesar needs soldiers, and
+among all the Amalekites, nay among the Romans in the oasis, I saw none
+with whom I might not match myself."
+
+While thus he thought he stretched his limbs, and struck his hands on
+his broad breast, and when he was asleep, he dreamed of the wrestling
+school, and of a purple robe that Paulus held out to him, of a wreath
+of poplar leaves that rested on his scented curls, and of the beautiful
+woman who had met him on the stairs of the senator's house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Thanks to the senator's potion Stephanus soon fell asleep. Paulus sat
+near him and did not stir; he held his breath, and painfully suppressed
+even an impulse to cough, so as not to disturb the sick man's light
+slumbers.
+
+An hour after midnight the old man awoke, and after he had lain
+meditating for some time with his eyes open, he said thoughtfully: "You
+called yourself and us all egotistic, and I certainly am so. I have
+often said so to myself; not for the first time to day, but for
+weeks past, since Hermas came back from Alexandria, and seems to have
+forgotten how to laugh. He is not happy, and when I ask myself what is
+to become of him when I am dead, and if he turns from the Lord and seeks
+the pleasures of the world, my heart sickens. I meant it for the best
+when I brought him with me up to the Holy Mountain, but that was not the
+only motive--it seemed to me too hard to part altogether from the child.
+My God! the young of brutes are secure of their mother's faithful
+love, and his never asked for him when she fled from my house with her
+seducer. I thought he should at least not lose his father, and that if
+he grew up far away from the world he would be spared all the sorrow
+that it had so profusely heaped upon me, I would have brought him up
+fit for Heaven, and yet through a life devoid of suffering. And now--and
+now? If he is miserable it will be through me, and added to all my other
+troubles comes this grief."
+
+"You have sought out the way for him," interrupted Paulus, "and the rest
+will be sure to come; he loves you and will certainly not leave you so
+long as you are suffering."
+
+"Certainly not?" asked the sick man sadly. "And what weapons has he to
+fight through life with?"
+
+"You gave him the Saviour for a guide; that is enough," said Paulus
+soothingly. "There is no smooth road from earth to Heaven, and none can
+win salvation for another."
+
+Stephanus was silent for a long time, then he said: "It is not even
+allowed to a father to earn the wretched experience of life for his son,
+or to a teacher for his pupil. We may point out the goal, but the way
+thither is by a different road for each of us."
+
+"And we may thank God for that," cried Paulus. "For Hermas has been
+started on the road which you and I had first to find for ourselves."
+
+"You and I," repeated the sick man thoughtfully. "Yes, each of us has
+sought his own way, but has enquired only which was his own way, and has
+never concerned himself about that of the other. Self! self!--How many
+years we have dwelt close together, and I have never felt impelled to
+ask you what you could recall to mind about your youth, and how you were
+led to grace. I learnt by accident that you were an Alexandrian, and had
+been a heathen, and had suffered much for the faith, and with that I was
+satisfied. Indeed you do not seem very ready to speak of those long
+past days. Our neighbor should be as dear to us as our self, and who is
+nearer to me than you? Aye, self and selfishness! There are many gulfs
+on the road towards God."
+
+"I have not much to tell," said Paulus. "But a man never forgets what
+he once has been. We may cast the old man from us, and believe we have
+shaken ourselves free, when lo! it is there again and greets us as an
+old acquaintance. If a frog only once comes down from his tree he hops
+back into the pond again."
+
+"It is true, memory can never die!" cried the sick man. "I can not sleep
+any more; tell me about your early life and how you became a Christian.
+When two men have journeyed by the same road, and the moment of parting
+is at hand, they are fain to ask each other's name and where they came
+from."
+
+Paulus gazed for some time into space, and then he began: "The
+companions of my youth called me Menander, the son of Herophilus.
+Besides that, I know for certain very little of my youth, for as I have
+already told you, I have long since ceased to allow myself to think of
+the world. He who abandons a thing, but clings to the idea of the thing,
+continues--"
+
+"That sounds like Plato," said Stephanus with a smile.
+
+"All that heathen farrago comes back to me today," cried Paulus. "I
+used to know it well, and I have often thought that his face must have
+resembled that of the Saviour."
+
+"But only as a beautiful song might resemble the voice of an angel,"
+said Stephanus somewhat drily. "He who plunges into the depths of
+philosophic systems--"
+
+"That never was quite my case," said Paulus. "I did indeed go through
+the whole educational course; Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic and Music--"
+
+"And Arithmetic, Geometry, and Astronomy," added Stephanus.
+
+"Those were left to the learned many years since," continued Paulus,
+"and I was never very eager for learning. In the school of Rhetoric I
+remained far behind my fellows, and if Plato was dear to me I owe it to
+Paedonomus of Athens, a worthy man whom my father engaged to teach us."
+
+"They say he had been a great merchant," interrupted Stephanus. "Can
+it be that you were the son of that rich Herophilus, whose business in
+Antioch was conducted by the worthy Jew Urbib?"
+
+"Yes indeed," replied Paulus, looking down at the ground in some
+confusion. "Our mode of life was almost royal, and the multitude of our
+slaves quite sinful. When I look back on all the vain trifles that my
+father had to care for, I feel quite giddy. Twenty sea-going ships in
+the harbor of Eunostus, and eighty Nile-boats on Lake Mareotis belonged
+to him. His profits on the manufacture of papyrus might have maintained
+a cityfull of poor. But we needed our revenues for other things. Our
+Cyraenian horses stood in marble stalls, and the great hall, in which my
+father's friends were wont to meet, was like a temple. But you see
+how the world takes possession of us, when we begin to think about it!
+Rather let us leave the past in peace. You want me to tell you more of
+myself? Well; my childhood passed like that of a thousand other rich
+citizens' sons, only my mother, indeed, was exceptionally beautiful and
+sweet, and of angelic goodness."
+
+"Every child thinks his own mother the best of mothers," murmured the
+sick man.
+
+"Mine certainly was the best to me," cried Paulus. "And yet she was a
+heathen. When my father hurt me with severe words of blame, she always
+had a kind word and loving glance for me. There was little enough,
+indeed, to praise in me. Learning was utterly distasteful to me, and
+even if I had done better at school, it would hardy have counted for
+much to my credit, for my brother Apollonius, who was about a year
+younger than I, learned all the most difficult things as if they
+were mere child's play, and in dialectic exercises there soon was no
+rhetorician in Alexandria who could compete with him. No system was
+unknown to him, and though no one ever knew of his troubling himself
+particularly to study, he nevertheless was master of many departments of
+learning. There were but two things in which I could beat him--in music,
+and in all athletic exercises; while he was studying and disputing I was
+winning garlands in the palaestra. But at that time the best master of
+rhetoric and argument was the best man, and my father, who himself could
+shine in the senate as an ardent and elegant orator, looked upon me as a
+half idiotic ne'er-do-weel, until one clay a learned client of our
+house presented him with a pebble on which was carved an epigram to this
+effect: 'He who would see the noblest gifts of the Greek race, should
+visit the house of Herophilus, for there he might admire strength
+and vigor of body in Menander, and the same qualities of mind in
+Apollonius.' These lines, which were written in the form of a lute,
+passed from mouth to mouth, and gratified my father's ambition; from
+that time he had words of praise for me when my quadriga won the race in
+the Hippodrome, or when I came home crowned from the wrestling-ring,
+or the singing match. My whole life was spent in the baths and the
+palaestra, or in gay feasting."
+
+"I know it all," exclaimed Stephanus interrupting him, "and the memory
+of it all often disturbs me. Did you find it easy to banish these images
+from your mind?"
+
+"At first I had a hard fight," sighed Paulus. "But for some time now,
+since I have passed my fortieth year, the temptations of the world
+torment me less often. Only I must keep out of the way of the carriers
+who bring fish from the fishing towns on the sea, and from Raithu to the
+oasis."
+
+Stephanus looked enquiringly at the speaker, and Paulus went on: "Yes,
+it is very strange. I may see men or women--the sea yonder or the
+mountain here, without ever thinking of Alexandria, but only of sacred
+things; but when the savor of fish rises up to my nostrils I see the
+market and fish stalls and the oysters--"
+
+"Those of Kanopus are famous," interrupted Steplianus, "they make little
+pasties there--" Paulus passed the back of his hand over his bearded
+lips, exclaiming, "At the shop of the fat cook--Philemon--in the street
+of Herakleotis." But he broke off, and cried with an impulse of shame,
+"It were better that I should cease telling of my past life. The day
+does not dawn yet, and you must try to sleep."
+
+"I cannot sleep," sighed Stephanus; "if you love me go on with your
+story."
+
+"But do not interrupt me again then," said Paulus, and he went on:
+"With all this gay life I was not happy--by no means. When I was alone
+sometimes, and no longer sitting in the crowd of merry boon-companions
+and complaisant wenches, emptying the wine cup and crowned with poplar,
+I often felt as if I were walking on the brink of a dark abyss as if
+every thing in myself and around me were utterly hollow and empty. I
+could stand gazing for hours at the sea, and as the waves rose only to
+sink again and vanish, I often reflected that I was like them, and that
+the future of my frivolous present must be a mere empty nothing. Our
+gods were of little account with us. My mother sacrificed now in one
+temple, and now in another, according to the needs of the moment; my
+father took part in the high festivals, but he laughed at the belief of
+the multitude, and my brother talked of the 'Primaeval Unity,' and dealt
+with all sorts of demons, and magic formulas. He accepted the doctrine
+of Iamblichus, Ablavius, and the other Neoplatonic philosophers, which
+to my poor understanding seemed either superhumanly profound or else
+debasingly foolish; nevertheless my memory retains many of his sayings,
+which I have learned to understand here in my loneliness. It is vain to
+seek reason outside ourselves; the highest to which we can attain is
+for reason to behold itself in us! As often as the world sinks into
+nothingness in my soul, and I live in God only, and have Him, and
+comprehend Him, and feel Him only--then that doctrine recurs to me. How
+all these fools sought and listened everywhere for the truth which was
+being proclaimed in their very ears! There were Christians everywhere
+about me, and at that time they had no need to conceal themselves, but
+I had nothing to do with them. Twice only did they cross my path; once
+I was not a little annoyed when, on the Hippodrome, a Christian's horses
+which had been blessed by a Nazarite, beat mine; and on another occasion
+it seemed strange to me when I myself received the blessing of an old
+Christian dock-laborer, having pulled his son out of the water.
+
+"Years went on; my parents died. My mother's last glance was directed at
+me, for I had always been her favorite child. They said too that I was
+like her, I and my sister Arsinoe, who, soon after my father's death,
+married the Prefect Pompey. At the division of the property I gave up
+to my brother the manufactories and the management of the business, nay
+even the house in the city, though, as the elder brother, I had a right
+to it, and I took in exchange the land near the Kanopic gate, and filled
+the stables there with splendid horses, and the lofts with not less
+noble wine. This I needed, because I gave up the days to baths and
+contests in the arena, and the nights to feasting, sometimes at my own
+house, sometimes at a friend's, and sometimes in the taverns of Kanopus,
+where the fairest Greek girls seasoned the feasts with singing and
+dancing.
+
+"What have these details of the vainest worldly pleasure to do with my
+conversion, you will ask. But listen a while. When Saul went forth to
+seek his father's asses he found a crown.
+
+"One day we had gone out in our gilded boats, and the Lesbian girl
+Archidike had made ready a feast for us in her house, a feast such as
+could scarcely be offered even in Rome.
+
+"Since the taking of our city by Diocletian, after the insurrection of
+Achilleus, the Imperial troops who came to Alexandria behaved insolently
+enough. Between some of my friends, and certain of the young officers of
+Roman patrician families, there had been a good deal of rough banter
+for some months past, as to their horses, women--I know not what; and it
+happened that we met these very gentry at the house of Archidike.
+
+"Sharp speeches were made, which the soldiers replied to after their
+fashion, and at last they came to insulting words, and as the wine
+heated us and them, to loud threats.
+
+"The Romans left the house of entertainment before we did. Crowned with
+garlands, singing, and utterly careless, we followed soon after them,
+and had almost reached the quay, when a noisy troop rushed out of a side
+street, and fell upon us with naked weapons. The moon was high in the
+heavens, and I could recognize some of our adversaries. I threw myself
+on a tall tribune, throttled him, and, as he fell, I fell with him in
+the dust. I am but dimly conscious of what followed, for sword-strokes
+were showered upon me, and all grew black before my eyes. I only know
+what I thought then, face to face with death."
+
+"Well--?" asked Stephanus.
+
+"I thought," said Paulus reddening, "of my fighting-quails at
+Alexandria, and whether they had had any water. Then my dull heavy
+unconsciousness increased; for weeks I lay in that state, for I was
+hacked like sausage-meat; I had twelve wounds, not counting the slighter
+ones, and any one else would have died of any one of them. You have
+often wondered at my scars."
+
+"And whom did the Lord choose then to be the means of your salvation?"
+
+"When I recovered my senses," continued Paulus, "I was lying in a large,
+clean room behind a curtain of light material; I could not raise myself,
+but just as if I had been sleeping so many minutes instead of days, I
+thought again directly of my quails. In their last fight my best cock
+had severely handled handsome Nikander's, and yet he wanted to dispute
+the stakes with me, but I would assert my rights! At least the quails
+should fight again, and if Nikander should refuse I would force him to
+fight me with his fists in the Palaestra, and give him a blue reminder
+of his debt on the eye. My hands were still weak, and yet I clenched
+them as I thought of the vexatious affair. 'I will punish him,' I
+muttered to myself.
+
+"Then I heard the door of the room open, and I saw three men
+respectfully approaching a fourth. He greeted them with dignity, but yet
+with friendliness, and rolled up a scroll which he had been reading, I
+would have called out, but I could not open my parched lips, and yet I
+saw and heard all that was going on around me in the room.
+
+"It all seemed strange enough to me then; even the man's mode of
+greeting was unusual. I soon perceived that he who sat in the chair was
+a judge, and that the others had come as complainants; they were all
+three old and poor, but some good men had left them the use and interest
+of a piece of land. During seed-time one of them, a fine old man with
+long white hair, had been ill, and he had not been able to help in the
+harvest either; 'and now they want to withhold his portion of the corn,'
+thought I; but it was quite otherwise. The two men who were in health
+had taken a third part of the produce to the house of the sick man, and
+he obstinately refused to accept the corn because he had helped neither
+to sow nor to reap it, and he demanded of the judge that he should
+signify to the other two that he had no right to receive goods which he
+had not earned.
+
+"The judge had so far kept silence. But he now raised his sagacious and
+kindly face and asked the old man, 'Did you pray for your companions and
+for the increase of their labors?'
+
+"'I did,' replied the other.
+
+"'Then by your intercession you helped them,' the judge decided, 'and
+the third part of the produce is yours and you must keep it.'
+
+"The old man bowed, the three men shook hands, and in a few minutes the
+judge was alone in the room again.
+
+"I did not know what had come over me; the complaint of the men and the
+decision of the judge seemed to me senseless, and yet both the one and
+the other touched my heart. I went to sleep again, and when I awoke
+refreshed the next morning the judge came up to me and gave me medicine,
+not only for my body but also for my soul, which certainly was not less
+in need of it than my poor wounded limbs."
+
+"Who was the judge?" asked Stephanus.
+
+"Eusebius, the Presbyter of Kanopus. Some Christians had found me half
+dead on the road, and had carried me into his house, for the widow
+Theodora, his sister, was the deaconess of the town. The two had nursed
+me as if I were their dearest brother. It was not till I grew stronger
+that they showed me the cross and the crown of thorns of Him who for my
+sake also had taken upon Him such far more cruel suffering than
+mine, and they taught me to love His wounds, and to bear my own with
+submission. In the dry wood of despair soon budded green shoots of
+hope, and instead of annihilation at the end of this life they showed me
+Heaven and all its joys.
+
+"I became a new man, and before me there lay in the future an eternal
+and blessed existence; after this life I now learned to look forward
+to eternity. The gates of Heaven were wide open before me, and I was
+baptized at Kanopus.
+
+"In Alexandria they had mourned for me as dead, and my sister Arsinoe,
+as heiress to my property, had already moved into my country-house with
+her husband, the prefect. I willingly left her there, and now lived
+again in the city, in order to support the brethren, as the persecutions
+had begun again.
+
+"This was easy for me, as through my brother-in-law I could visit all
+the prisons; at last I was obliged to confess the faith, and I suffered
+much on the rack and in the porphyry quarries; but every pain was dear
+to me, for it seemed to bring me nearer to the goal of my longings, and
+if I find ought to complain of up here on the Holy Mountain, it is
+only that the Lord deems me unworthy to suffer harder things, when his
+beloved and only Son took such bitter torments on himself for me and for
+every wretched sinner."
+
+"Ah! saintly man!" murmured Stephanus, devoutly kissing Paulus'
+sheep-skin; but Paulus pulled it from him, exclaiming hastily:
+
+"Cease, pray cease--he who approaches me with honors now in this life
+throws a rock in my way to the life of the blessed. Now I will go to the
+spring and fetch you some fresh water."
+
+When Paulus returned with the water-jar he found Hermas, who had come to
+wish his father good-morning before he went down to the oasis to fetch
+some new medicine from the senator.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Sirona was sitting at the open window of her bedroom, having her hair
+arranged by a black woman that her husband had bought in Rome. She
+sighed, while the slave lightly touched the shining tresses here and
+there with perfumed oil which she had poured into the palm of her hand;
+then she firmly grasped the long thick waving mass of golden hair and
+was parting it to make a plait, when Sirona stopped her, saying, "Give
+me the mirror."
+
+For some minutes she looked with a melancholy gaze at the image in
+the polished metal, then she sighed again; she picked up the little
+greyhound that lay at her feet, and placing it in her lap, showed the
+animal its image in the mirror.
+
+"There, poor Iambe," she said, "if we two, inside these four walls, want
+to see anything like a pleasing sight we must look at ourselves."
+
+Then she went on, turning to the slave. "How the poor little beast
+trembles! I believe it longs to be back again at Arelas, and is afraid
+we shall linger too long under this burning sky. Give me my sandals."
+
+The black woman reached her mistress two little slippers with gilt
+ornaments on the slight straps, but Sirona flung her hair off her face
+with the back of her hand, exclaiming, "The old ones, not these. Wooden
+shoes even would do here."
+
+And with these words she pointed to the court-yard under the window,
+which was in fact as ill contrived, as though gilt sandals had never yet
+trodden it. It was surrounded by buildings; on one side was a wall
+with a gateway, and on the others buildings which formed a sharply bent
+horseshoe.
+
+Opposite the wing in which Sirona and her husband had found a home stood
+the much higher house of Petrus, and both had attached to them, in the
+background of the court-yard, sheds constructed of rough reddish
+brown stones, and covered with a thatch of palm-branches; in these the
+agricultural implements were stored, and the senator's slaves lived.
+In front lay a heap of black charcoal, which was made on the spot by
+burning the wood of the thorny sajala species of acacia; and there too
+lay a goodly row of well smoothed mill-stones, which were shaped in the
+quarry, and exported to Egypt. At this early hour the whole unlovely
+domain lay in deep shadow, and was crowded with fowls and pigeons.
+Sirona's window alone was touched by the morning sun. If she could have
+known what a charm the golden light shed over her figure, on her rose
+and white face, and her shining hair, she would have welcomed the
+day-star, instead of complaining that it had too early waked her from
+sleep--her best comfort in her solitude.
+
+Besides a few adjoining rooms she was mistress of a larger room, the
+dwelling room, which look out upon the street.
+
+She shaded her eyes with her hand, exclaiming, "Oh! the wearisome sun.
+It looks at us the first thing in the morning through the window; as if
+the day were not long enough. The beds must be put in the front room; I
+insist upon it."
+
+The slave shook her head, and stammered an answer, "Phoebicius will not
+have it so."
+
+Sirona's eyes flashed angrily, and her voice, which was particularly
+sweet, trembled slightly as she asked, "What is wrong with him again?"
+
+"He says," replied the slave, "that the senator's son, Polykarp, goes
+oftener past your window than altogether pleases him, and it seems to
+him, that you occupy yourself more than is necessary with his little
+brothers and sisters, and the other children up there."
+
+"Is he still in there?" asked Sirona with glowing cheeks, and she
+pointed threateningly to the dwelling-room.
+
+"The master is out," stuttered the old woman. "He went out before
+sunrise. You are not to wait for breakfast, he will not return till
+late."
+
+The Gaulish lady made no answer, but her head fell, and the deepest
+melancholy overspread her features. The greyhound seemed to feel for the
+troubles of his mistress, for he fawned upon her, as if to kiss her. The
+solitary woman pressed the little creature, which had come with her from
+her home, closely to her bosom; for an unwonted sense of wretchedness
+weighed upon her heart, and she felt as lonely, friendless, and
+abandoned, as if she were driving alone--alone--over a wide and
+shoreless sea. She shuddered, as if she were cold--for she thought of
+her husband, the man who here in the desert should have been all in all
+to her, but whose presence filled her with aversion, whose indifference
+had ceased to wound her, and whose tenderness she feared far more than
+his wild irritability--she had never loved him.
+
+She had grown up free from care among a number of brothers and sisters.
+Her father had been the chief accountant of the decurions' college in
+his native town, and he had lived opposite the circus, where, being of
+a stern temper, he had never permitted his daughters to look on at the
+games; but he could not prevent their seeing the crowd streaming into
+the amphitheatre, or hearing their shouts of delight, and their eager
+cries of approbation.
+
+Sirona thus grew up in the presence of other people's pleasure, and in
+a constantly revived and never satisfied longing to share it; she had,
+indeed, no time for unnecessary occupations, for her mother died before
+she was fully grown up, and she was compelled to take charge of the
+eight younger children. This she did in all fidelity, but in her hours
+of leisure she loved to listen to the stories told her by the wives of
+officials, who had seen, and could praise, the splendors of Rome the
+golden.
+
+She knew that she was fair, for she need only go outside the house to
+hear it said; but though she longed to see the capital, it was not for
+the sake of being admired, but because there was there so much that was
+splendid to see and to admire. So, when the Centurion Phoebicius, the
+commandant of the garrison of her native town, was transferred to Rome,
+and when he desired to take the seventeen-years-old girl with him to the
+imperial city, as his wife--she was more than forty years younger than
+he--she followed him full of hope and eager anticipation.
+
+Not long after their marriage she started for Rome by sea from Massilia,
+accompanied by an old relative; and he went by land at the head of his
+cohorts.
+
+She reached their destination long before her husband, and without
+waiting for him, but constantly in the society of her old duenna, she
+gave herself up with the freedom and eagerness of her fresh youth to the
+delights of seeing and admiring.
+
+It did not escape her, while she did so, that she attracted all eyes
+wherever she went, and however much this flattered and pleased her at
+first, it spoilt many of her pleasures, when the Romans, young and old,
+began to follow and court her. At last Phoebicius arrived, and when he
+found his house crowded with his wife's admirers he behaved to Sirona as
+though she had long since betrayed his honor.
+
+Nevertheless he dragged her from pleasure to pleasure, and from one
+spectacle to another, for it gratified him to show himself in public
+with his beautiful young wife. She certainly was not free from
+frivolity, but she had learnt early from her strict father, as being the
+guide of her younger sisters, to distinguish clearly right from wrong,
+and the pure from the unclean; and she soon discovered that the joys
+of the capital, which had seemed at first to be gay flowers with bright
+colors, and redolent with intoxicating perfume, bloomed on the surface
+of a foul bog.
+
+She at first had contemplated all that was beautiful, pleasant, and
+characteristic with delight; but her husband took pleasure only in
+things which revolted her as being common and abominable. He watched
+her every glance, and yet he pointed nothing out to her, but what was
+hurtful to the feelings of a pure woman. Pleasure became her torment,
+for the sweetest wine is repulsive when it has been tasted by impure
+lips. After every feast and spectacle he loaded her with outrageous
+reproaches, and when at last, weary of such treatment, she refused to
+quit the house, he obliged her nevertheless to accompany him as often as
+the Legate Quintillus desired it. The legate was his superior-officer,
+and he sent her every day some present or flowers.
+
+Up to this time she had borne with him, and had tried to excuse him,
+and to think herself answerable for much of what she endured. But at
+last--about ten months after her marriage--something occurred between
+her and Phoebicius--something which stood like a wall of brass between
+him and her; and as this something had led to his banishment to the
+remote oasis, and to his degradation to the rank of captain of a
+miserable maniple, instead of his obtaining his hoped for promotion, he
+began to torment her systematically while she tried to protect herself
+by icy coldness, so that at last it came to this, that the husband, for
+whom she felt nothing but contempt, had no more influence on her life,
+than some physical pain which a sick man is doomed to endure all through
+his existence.
+
+In his presence she was silent, defiant, and repellent, but as soon
+as he quitted her, her innate, warm-hearted kindliness and child-like
+merriment woke up to new life, and their fairest blossoms opened out
+in the senator's house among the little troop who amply repaid her love
+with theirs.
+
+Phoebicius belonged to the worshippers of Mithras, and he often fasted
+in his honor to the point of exhaustion, while on the other hand he
+frequently drank with his boon companions, at the feasts of the god,
+till he was in a state of insensibility.
+
+Here even, in Mount Sinai, he had prepared a grotto for the feast of
+Mithras, had gathered together a few companions in his faith, and when
+it happened that he remained out all day and all night, and came home
+paler even than usual, she well knew where he had been. Just now she
+vividly pictured to herself the person of this man with his eyes, that
+now were dull with sleep and now glowed with rage, and she asked herself
+whether it were indeed possible that of her own free will she had chosen
+to become his wife. Her bosom heaved with quicker breathing as she
+remembered the ignominy he had subjected her to in Rome, and she
+clenched her small hands. At this instant the little dog sprang from her
+lap and flew barking to the window-sill; she was easily startled,
+and she drew on her morning-gown, which had slipped from her white
+shoulders; then she fastened the straps of her sandals, and went to look
+down into the court-yard.
+
+A smile played upon her lips as she perceived young Hermas, who had
+already been for some time leaning motionless against the wall of the
+house opposite, and devouring with his gaze the figure of the beautiful
+young woman. She had a facile and volatile nature. Like the eye which
+retains no impression of the disabling darkness so soon as the rays of
+light have fallen on it, no gloom of suffering touched her so deeply
+that the lightest breath of a new pleasure could not blow her troubles
+to the winds. Many rivers are quite different in color at their source
+and at their mouth, and so it was often with her tears; she began to
+weep for sorrow, and then found it difficult to dry her eyes for sheer
+overflow of mirth. It would have been so easy for Phoebicius to make her
+lot a fair one! for she had a most susceptible heart, and was grateful
+for the smallest proofs of love, but between him and her every bond was
+broken.
+
+The form and face of Hermas took her fancy; she thought he looked of
+noble birth in spite of his poor clothing, and when she observed that
+his checks were glowing, and that the hand in which he held the medicine
+phial trembled, she understood that he was watching her, and that the
+sight of her had stirred his youthful blood. A woman--still more a woman
+who is pleased to please--forgives any sin that is committed for her
+beauty's sake, and Sirona's voice had a friendly ring in it as she bid
+Hermas good-morning and asked him how his father was, and whether the
+senator's medicine had been of service. The youth's answers were short
+and confused, but his looks betrayed that he would fain have said
+quite other things than those which his indocile tongue allowed him to
+reiterate timidly.
+
+"Dame Dorothea was telling me last evening," she said kindly, "that
+Petrus had every hope of your father's recovery, but that he is still
+very weak. Perhaps some good wine would be of service to him--not
+to-day, but to-morrow or the day after. Only come to me if you need it;
+we have some old Falerman in the loft, and white Mareotis wine, which is
+particularly good and wholesome."
+
+Hermas thanked her, and as she still urged him to apply to her in all
+confidence, he took courage and succeeded in stammering rather than
+saying,--"You are as good as you are beautiful."
+
+The words were hardly spoken when the topmost stone of an elaborately
+constructed pile near the slaves' house fell down with a loud clatter.
+Sirona started and drew back from the window, the grey-hound set up a
+loud barking, and Hermas struck his forehead with his hand as if he were
+roused from a dream.
+
+In a few instants he had knocked at the senator's door; hardly had he
+entered the house when Miriam's slight form passed across behind the
+pile of stones, and vanished swiftly and silently into the slaves'
+quarters. These were by this time deserted by their inhabitants, who
+were busy in the field, the house, or the quarries; they consisted of a
+few ill-lighted rooms with bare, unfinished walls.
+
+The shepherdess went into the smallest, where, on a bed of palm-sticks,
+lay the slave that she had wounded, and who turned over as with a hasty
+hand she promptly laid a fresh, but ill-folded bandage, all askew on the
+deep wound in his bend. As soon as this task was fulfilled she left the
+room again, placed herself behind the half open door which led into the
+court-yard, and, pressing, her brow against the stone door-post, looked
+first at the senator's house, and then at Sirona's window, while her
+breath came faster and faster.
+
+A new and violent emotion was stirring her young soul; not many minutes
+since she had squatted peacefully on the ground by the side of the
+wounded man, with her head resting on her hand, and thinking of her
+goats on the mountain. Then she had heard a slight sound in the court,
+which any one else would not have noticed; but she not only perceived
+it, but knew with perfect certainty with whom it originated. She could
+never fail to recognize Hermas' foot-step, and it had an irresistible
+effect upon her. She raised her head quickly from her hand, and her
+elbow from the knee on which it was resting, sprang to her feet, and
+went out into the yard. She was hidden by the mill-stones, but she could
+see Hermas lost in admiration. She followed the direction of his eyes
+and saw the same image which had fascinated his gaze--Sirona's lovely
+form, flooded with sunlight. She looked as if formed out of snow, and
+roses, and gold, like the angel at the sepulchre in the new picture in
+the church. Yes, just like the angel, and the thought flew through her
+mind how brown and black she was herself, and that he had called her
+a she-devil. A sense of deep pain came over her, she felt as though
+paralyzed in body and soul; but soon she shook off the spell, and her
+heart began to beat violently; she had to bite her lip hard with her
+white teeth to keep herself from crying out with rage and anguish.
+
+How she wished that she could swing herself up to the window on which
+Hermas' gaze was fixed, and clutch Sirona's golden hair and tear her
+down to the ground, and suck the very blood from her red lips like a
+vampire, till she lay at her feet as pale as the corpse of a man dead of
+thirst in the desert. Then she saw the light mantle slip from Sirona's
+shoulders, and observed Hermas start and press his hand to his heart.
+
+Then another impulse seized her. It was to call to her and warn her of
+his presence; for even women who hate each other hold out the hand
+of fellowship in the spirit, when the sanctity of woman's modesty is
+threatened with danger. She blushed for Sirona, and had actually opened
+her lips to call, when the greyhound barked and the dialogue began. Not
+a word escaped her sharp ears, and when he told Sirona that she was
+as good as she was beautiful she felt seized with giddiness; then
+the topmost stone, by which she had tried to steady herself, lost its
+balance, its fall interrupted their conversation, and Miriam returned to
+the sick man.
+
+Now she was standing at the door, waiting for Hermas. Long, long did
+she wait; at last he appeared with Dorothea, and she could see that he
+glanced up again at Sirona; but a spiteful smile passed over her lips,
+for the window was empty and the fair form that he had hoped to see
+again had vanished.
+
+Sirona was now sitting at her loom in the front room, whither she had
+been tempted by the sound of approaching hoofs. Polykarp had ridden
+by on his father's fine horse, had greeted her as he passed, and had
+dropped a rose on the roadway. Half an hour later the old black slave
+came to Sirona, who was throwing the shuttle through the warp with a
+skilful hand.
+
+"Mistress," cried the negress with a hideous grin; the lonely woman
+paused in her work, and as she looked up enquiringly the old woman gave
+her a rose. Sirona took the flower, blew away the road-side dust
+that had clung to it, rearranged the tumbled delicate petals with her
+finger-tips, and said, while she seemed to give the best part of her
+attention to this occupation, "For the future let roses be when you find
+them. You know Phoebicius, and if any one sees it, it will be talked
+about."
+
+The black woman turned away, shrugging her shoulders; but Sirona
+thought, "Polykarp is a handsome and charming man, and has finer and
+more expressive eyes than any other here, if he were not always talking
+of his plans, and drawings, and figures, and mere stupid grave things
+that I do not care for!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+The next day, after the sun had passed the meridian and it was beginning
+to grow cool, Hermas and Paulus yielded to Stephanus' wish, as he began
+to feel stronger, and carried him out into the air. The anchorites sat
+near each other on a low block of stone, which Hermas had made into a
+soft couch for his father by heaping up a high pile of fresh herbs. They
+looked after the youth, who had taken his bow and arrows, as he went
+up the mountain to hunt a wild goat; for Petrus had prescribed a
+strengthening diet for the sick man. Not a word was spoken by either of
+them till the hunter had disappeared. Then Stephanus said, "How much he
+has altered since I have been ill. It is not so very long since I last
+saw him by the broad light of day, and he seems meantime to have grown
+from a boy into a man. How self-possessed his gait is."
+
+Paulus, looking down at the ground, muttered some words of assent. He
+remembered the discus-throwing and thought to himself, "The Palaestra
+certainly sticks in his mind, and he has been bathing too; and
+yesterday, when he came up from the oasis, he strode in like a young
+athlete."
+
+That friendship only is indeed genuine when two friends, without
+speaking a word to each other, can nevertheless find happiness in being
+together. Stephanus and Paulus were silent, and yet a tacit intercourse
+subsisted between them as they sat gazing towards the west, where the
+sun was near its setting.
+
+Far below them gleamed the narrow, dark blue-green streak of the Red
+Sea, bounded by the bare mountains of the coast, which shone in a
+shimmer of golden light. Close beside them rose the toothed crown of
+the great mountain which, so soon as the day-star had sunk behind it,
+appeared edged with a riband of glowing rubies. The flaming glow flooded
+the western horizon, filmy veils of mist floated across the hilly
+coast-line, the silver clouds against the pure sky changed their hue
+to the tender blush of a newly opened rose, and the undulating shore
+floated in the translucent violet of the amethyst. There not a breath of
+air was stirring, not a sound broke the solemn stillness of the evening.
+Not till the sea was taking a darker and still darker hue, till the glow
+on the mountain peaks and in the west had begun to die away, and the
+night to spread its shades over the heights and hollows, did Stephanus
+unclasp his folded hands and softly speak his companion's name. Paulus
+started and said, speaking like a man who is aroused from a dream and
+who is suddenly conscious of having heard some one speak, "You are
+right; it is growing dark and cool and you must go back into the cave."
+
+Stephanus offered no opposition and let himself be led back to his bed;
+while Paulus was spreading the sheepskin over the sick man he sighed
+deeply.
+
+"What disturbs your soul?" asked the older man. "It is--it was--what
+good can it do me!" cried Paulus in strong excitement. "There we sat,
+witnesses of the most glorious marvels of the Most High, and I, in
+shameless idolatry, seemed to see before me the chariot of Helios with
+its glorious winged-horses, snorting fire as they went, and Helios
+himself in the guise of Hermas, with gleaming golden hair, and the
+dancing Hours, and the golden gates of the night. Accursed rabble of
+demons!--"
+
+At this point the anchorite was interrupted, for Hermas entered the
+cave, and laying a young steinbock, that he had killed, before the two
+men, exclaimed, "fine fellow, and he cost me no more than one arrow. I
+will light a fire at once and roast the best pieces. There are plenty of
+bucks still on our mountain, and I know where to find them."
+
+In about an hour, father and son were eating the pieces of meat, which
+had been cooked on a spit. Paulus declined to sup with them, for after
+he had scourged himself in despair and remorse for the throwing of the
+discus, he had vowed a strict fast.
+
+"And now," cried Hermas, when his father declared himself satisfied,
+after seeming to relish greatly the strong meat from which he had so
+long abstained, "and now the best is to come! In this flask I have some
+strengthening wine, and when it is empty it will be filled afresh."
+Stephanus took the wooden beaker that his son offered him, drank
+a little, and then said, while he smacked his tongue to relish the
+after-taste of the noble juice, "That is something choice!--Syrian wine!
+only taste it, Paulus."
+
+Paulus took the beaker in his hand, inhaled the fragrance of the golden
+fluid, and then murmured, but without putting it to his lips, "That
+is not Syrian; it is Egyptian, I know it well. I should take it to be
+Mareotic."
+
+"So Sirona called it," cried Hermas, "and you know it by the mere smell!
+She said it was particularly good for the sick."
+
+"That it is," Paulus agreed; but Stephanus asked in surprise, "Sirona?
+who is she?"
+
+The cave was but dimly lighted by the fire that had been made at the
+opening, so that the two anchorites could not perceive that Hermas
+reddened all over as he replied, "Sirona? The Gaulish woman Sirona? Do
+you not know her? She is the wife of the centurion down in the oasis."
+
+"How do you come to know her?" asked his father.
+
+"She lives in Petrus' house," replied the lad, "and as she had heard of
+your wound--"
+
+"Take her my thanks when you go there to-morrow morning," said
+Stephanus. "To her and to her husband too. Is he a Gaul?"
+
+"I believe so--nay, certainly," answered Hermas, "they call him the
+lion, and he is no doubt a Gaul?"
+
+When the lad had left the cave the old man laid himself down to rest,
+and Paulus kept watch by him on his son's bed. But Stephanus could not
+sleep, and when his friend approached him to give him some medicine, he
+said, "The wife of a Gaul has done me a kindness, and yet the wine would
+have pleased me better if it had not come from a Gaul."
+
+Paulus looked at him enquiringly, and though total darkness reigned in
+the cave, Stephanus felt his gaze and said, "I owe no man a grudge and
+I love my neighbor. Great injuries have been done me, but I have for
+given--from the bottom of my heart forgiven. Only one man lives to whom
+I wish evil, and he is a Gaul."
+
+"Forgive him too," said Paulus, "and do not let evil thoughts disturb
+your sleep."
+
+"I am not tired," said the sick man, "and if you had gone through such
+things as I have, it would trouble your rest at night too."
+
+"I know, I know," said Paulus soothingly. "It was a Gaul that persuaded
+your wretched wife into quitting your house and her child."
+
+"And I loved, oh! how I loved Glycera!" groaned the old man. "She lived
+like a princess and I fulfilled her every wish before it was uttered.
+She herself has said a hundred times that I was too kind and too
+yielding, and that there was nothing left for her to wish. Then the Gaul
+came to our house, a man as acrid as sour wine, but with a fluent tongue
+and sparkling eyes. How he entangled Glycera I know not, nor do I want
+to know; he shall atone for it in hell. For the poor lost woman I pray
+day and night. A spell was on her, and she left her heart behind in my
+house, for her child was there and she loved Hermas so fondly; indeed
+she was deeply devoted to me. Think what the spell must be that can
+annihilate a mother's love! Wretch, hapless wretch that I am! Did you
+ever love a woman, Paulus?"
+
+"You ought to be asleep," said Paulus in a warning tone. "Who ever lived
+nearly half a century without feeling love! Now I will not speak another
+word, and you must take this drink that Petrus has sent for you." The
+senator's medicine was potent, for the sick man fell asleep and did not
+wake till broad day lighted up the cave.
+
+Paulus was still sitting on his bed, and after they had prayed together,
+he gave him the jar which Hermas had filled with fresh water before
+going down to the oasis.
+
+"I feel quite strong," said the old man. "The medicine is good; I have
+slept well and dreamed sweetly; but you look pale and as if you had not
+slept."
+
+"I," said Paulus, "I lay down there on the bed. Now let me go out in the
+air for a moment." With these words he went out of the cave.
+
+As soon as he was out of sight of Stephanus he drew a deep breath,
+stretched his limbs, and rubbed his burning eyes; he felt as if there
+was sand gathered under their lids, for he had forbidden them to close
+for three days and nights. At the same time he was consumed by a violent
+thirst, for neither food nor drink had touched his lips for the same
+length of time. His hands were beginning to tremble, but the weakness
+and pain that he experienced filled him with silent joy, and he would
+willingly have retired into his cave and have indulged, not for the
+first time, in the ecstatic pain of hanging on the cross, and bleeding
+from five wounds, in imitation of the Saviour.
+
+But Stephanus was calling him, and without hesitation he returned to him
+and replied to his questions; indeed it was easier to him to speak than
+to listen, for in his ears there was a roaring, moaning, singing, and
+piping, and he felt as if drunk with strong wine.
+
+"If only Hermas does not forget to thank the Gaul!" exclaimed Stephanus.
+
+"Thank--aye, we should always be thankful!" replied his companion,
+closing his eyes.
+
+"I dreamed of Glycera," the old man began again. "You said yesterday
+that love had stirred your heart too, and yet you never were married.
+You are silent? Answer me something."
+
+"I--who called me?" murmured Paulus, staring at the questioner with a
+fixed gaze.
+
+Stephanus was startled to see that his companion trembled in every limb,
+he raised himself and held out to him the flask with Sirona's wine,
+which the other, incapable of controlling himself, snatched eagerly from
+his hand, and emptied with frantic thirst. The fiery liquor revived his
+failing strength, brought the color to his cheeks, and lent a strange
+lustre to his eyes. "How much good that has done me!" he cried with a
+deep sigh and pressing his hands on his breast.
+
+Stephanus was perfectly reassured and repeated his question, but he
+almost repented of his curiosity, for his friend's voice had an utterly
+strange ring in it, as he answered:
+
+"No, I was never married--never, but I have loved for all that, and
+I will tell you the story from beginning to end; but you must not
+interrupt me, no not once. I am in a strange mood--perhaps it is the
+wine. I had not drunk any for so long; I had fasted since--since but it
+does not matter. Be silent, quite silent, and let me tell my story."
+
+Paulus sat down on Hermas' bed; he threw himself far back, leaned the
+back of his head against the rocky wall of the cavern, through whose
+doorway the daylight poured, and began thus, while he gazed fixedly into
+vacancy, "What she was like?--who can, describe her? She was tall and
+large like Hera, and yet not proud, and her noble Greek face was lovely
+rather than handsome.
+
+"She could no longer have been very young, but she had eyes like those
+of a gentle child. I never knew her other than very pale; her narrow
+forehead shone like ivory under her soft brown hair; her beautiful hands
+were as white as her forehead-hands that moved as if they themselves
+were living and inspired creatures with a soul and language of their
+own. When she folded them devoutly together it seemed as if they were
+putting up a mute prayer. She was pliant in form as a young palm-tree
+when it bends, and withal she had a noble dignity, even on the occasion
+when I first saw her.
+
+"It was a hideous spot, the revolting prison-hall of Rhyakotis. She wore
+only a threadbare robe that had once been costly, and a foul old woman
+followed her about--as a greedy rat might pursue an imprisoned dove--and
+loaded her with abusive language. She answered not a word, but large
+heavy tears flowed slowly over her pale cheeks and down on to her hands,
+which she kept crossed on her bosom. Grief and anguish spoke from her
+eyes, but no vehement passion deformed the regularity of her features.
+She knew how to endure even ignominy with grace, and what words the
+raging old woman poured out upon her!
+
+"I had long since been baptized, and all the prisons were open to me,
+the rich Menander, the brother-in-law of the prefect--those prisons in
+which under Maximin so many Christians were destined to be turned from
+the true faith.
+
+"But she did not belong to us. Her eye met mine, and I signed my
+forehead with the cross, but she did not respond to the sacred sign. The
+guards led away the old woman, and she drew back into a dark corner, sat
+down, and covered her face with her hands. A wondrous sympathy for the
+hapless woman had taken possession of my soul; I felt as if she belonged
+to me, and I to her, and I believed in her, even when the turnkey had
+told me in coarse language that she had lived with a Roman at the old
+woman's, and had defrauded her of a large sum of money. The next day
+I went again to the prison, for her sake and my own; there I found her
+again in the same corner that she had shrunk into the day before; by her
+stood her prison fare untouched, a jar of water and a piece of bread.
+
+"As I went up to her, I saw how she broke a small bit off the thin cake
+for herself, and then called a little Christian boy who had come into
+the prison with his mother, and gave him the remainder. The child
+thanked her prettily, and she drew him to her, and kissed him with
+passionate tenderness, though he was sickly and ugly.
+
+"'No one who can love children so well is wholly lost,' said I to
+myself, and I offered to help her as far as lay in my power.
+
+"She looked at me not without distrust, and said that nothing had
+happened to her, but what she deserved, and she would bear it. Before I
+could enquire of her any further, we were interrupted by the Christian
+prisoners, who crowded around the worthy Ammonius, who was exhorting and
+comforting them with edifying discourse. She listened attentively to the
+old man, and on the following day I found her in conversation with the
+mother of the boy to whom she had given her bread.
+
+"One morning, I had gone there with some fruit to offer as a treat to
+the prisoners, and particularly to her. She took an apple, and said,
+rising as she spoke, 'I would now ask another favor of you. You are
+a Christian, send me a priest, that he may baptize me, if he does not
+think me unworthy, for I am burdened with sins so heavily as no other
+woman can be.' Her large, sweet, childlike eyes filled again with big
+silent tears, and I spoke to her from my heart, and showed her as well
+as I could the grace of the Redeemer. Shortly after, Ammonius secretly
+baptized her, and she begged to be given the name of Magdalen, and so it
+was, and after that she took me wholly into her confidence.
+
+"She had left her husband and her child for the sake of a diabolical
+seducer, whom she had followed to Alexandria, and who there had
+abandoned her. Alone and friendless, in want and guilt, she remained
+behind with a hard-hearted and covetous hostess, who had brought her
+before the judge, and so into prison. What an abyss of the deepest
+anguish of soul I could discover in this woman, who was worthy of a
+better lot! What is highest and best in a woman? Her love, her mother's
+heart, her honor; and Magdalen had squandered and ruined all these by
+her own guilt. The blow of overwhelming fate may be easily borne, but
+woe to him, whose life is ruined by his own sin! She was a sinner, she
+felt it with anguish of repentance, and she steadily refused my offers
+to purchase her freedom.
+
+"She was greedy of punishment, as a man in a fever is greedy of the
+bitter potion, which cools his blood. And, by the crucified Lord! I
+have found more noble humanity among sinners, than in many just men in
+priestly garb. Through the presence of Magdalen, the prison recovered
+its sanctity in my eyes. Before this I had frequently quitted it full of
+deep contempt, for among the imprisoned Christians, there were too often
+lazy vagabond's, who had loudly confessed the Saviour only to be fed
+by the gifts of the brethren; there I had seen accursed criminals,
+who hoped by a martyr's death to win back the redemption that they had
+forfeited; there I had heard the woeful cries of the faint-hearted, who
+feared death as much as they feared treason to the most High. There were
+things to be seen there that might harrow the soul, but also examples of
+the sublimest greatness. Men have I seen there, aye, and women, who
+went to their death in calm and silent bliss, and whose end was, indeed,
+noble--more noble than that of the much-lauded Codrus or Decius Mus.
+
+"Among all the prisoners there was neither man nor woman who was more
+calmly self-possessed, more devoutly resigned, than Magdalen. The words,
+'There is more joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over
+ninety and nine that need no repentance,' strengthened her greatly,
+and she repented--yea and verily, she did. And for my part, God is my
+witness that not an impulse as from man to woman drew me to her, and yet
+I could not leave her, and I passed the day by her side, and at night
+she haunted my soul, and it would have seemed to me fairer than all in
+life besides to have been allowed to die with her.
+
+"It was at the time of the fourth decree of persecution, a few months
+before the promulgation of the first edict of toleration.
+
+"He that sacrifices, it is said, shall go unpunished, and he that
+refuses, shall by some means or other be brought to it, but those
+who continue stiff-necked shall suffer death. For a long time much
+consideration had been shown to the prisoners, but now they were alarmed
+by having the edict read to them anew. Many hid themselves groaning and
+lamenting, others prayed aloud, and most awaited what might happen with
+pale lips and painful breathing.
+
+"Magdalen remained perfectly calm. The names of the Christian prisoners
+were called out, and the imperial soldiers led them all together to one
+spot. Neither my name nor hers was called, for I did not belong to the
+prisoners, and she had not been apprehended for the faith's sake. The
+officer was rolling up his list, when Magdalen rose and stepped modestly
+forward, saying with quiet dignity, 'I too am a Christian.'
+
+"If there be an angel who wears the form and features of man, his face
+must resemble hers, as she looked in that hour. The Roman, a worthy man,
+looked at her with a benevolent, but searching gaze. I do not find your
+name here,' he said aloud, shaking his head and pointing to the roll;
+and he added in a lower voice, 'Nor do I intend to find it.'
+
+"She went closer up to him, and said out loud, Grant me my place among
+the believers, and write down, that Magdalen, the Christian, refuses to
+sacrifice.'
+
+"My soul was deeply moved, and with joyful eagerness I cried out, 'Put
+down my name too, and write, that Menander, the son of Herophilus, also
+refuses.' The Roman did his duty.
+
+"Time has not blotted out from my memory a single moment of that day.
+There stood the altar, and near it the heathen priest on one side,
+and on the other the emperor's officer. We were taken up two by two;
+Magdalen and I were the last. One word now--one little word--would give
+us life and freedom, another the rack and death. Out of thirty of us
+only four had found courage to refuse to sacrifice, but the feeble
+hearted broke out into lamentations, and beat their foreheads, and
+prayed that the Lord might strengthen the courage of the others. An
+unutterably pure and lofty joy filled my soul, and I felt, as if we were
+out of the body floating on ambient clouds. Softly and calmly we refused
+to sacrifice, thanked the imperial official, who warned us kindly, and
+in the same hour and place we fell into the hands of the torturers. She
+gazed only up to heaven, and I only at her, but in the midst of the
+most frightful torments I saw before me the Saviour beckoning to me,
+surrounded by angels that soared on soft airs, whose presence filled my
+eyes with the purest light, and my ears with heavenly music. She bore
+the utmost torture without flinching, only once she called out the name
+of her son Hermas; then I turned to look at her, and saw her gazing up
+to Heaven with wide open eyes and trembling lips-living, but already
+with the Lord--on the rack, and yet in bliss. My stronger body clung to
+the earth; she found deliverance at the first blow of the torturer.
+
+"I myself closed her eyes, the sweetest eyes in which Heaven was ever
+mirrored, I drew a ring from her dear, white, blood-stained hand, and
+here under the rough sheepskin I have it yet; and I pray, I pray, I
+pray--oh! my heart! My God if it might be--if this is the end--!"
+
+Paulus put his hand to his head, and sank exhausted on the bed, in
+a deep swoon. The sick man had followed his story with breathless
+interest. Some time since he had risen from his bed, and, unobserved by
+his companion, had sunk on his knees; he now dragged himself, all hot
+and trembling, to the side of the senseless man, tore the sheep's fell
+from his breast, and with hasty movement sought the ring; he found it,
+and fixing on it passionate eyes, as though he would melt it with their
+fire, he pressed it again and again to his lips, to his heart, to his
+lips again; buried his face in his hands and wept bitterly.
+
+It was not till Hermas returned from the oasis that Stephanus thought
+of his exhausted and fainting friend, and with his son's assistance
+restored him to conscious ness. Paulus did not refuse to take some food
+and drink, and in the cool of the evening, when he was refreshed and
+invigorated, he sat again by the side of Stephanus, and understood from
+the old man that Magdalen was certainly his wife.
+
+"Now I know," said Paulus, pointing to Hermas, "how it is that from the
+first I felt such a love for the lad there."
+
+The old man softly pressed his hand, for he felt himself tied to his
+friend by a new and tender bond, and it was with silent ecstasy that he
+received the assurance that the wife he had always loved, the mother of
+his child, had died a Christian and a martyr, and had found before him
+the road to Heaven.
+
+The old man slept as peacefully as a child the following night, and
+when, next morning, messengers came from Raithu to propose to Paulus
+that he should leave the Holy Mountain, and go with them to become
+their elder and ruler, Stephanus said, "Follow this high call with all
+confidence, for you deserve it. I really no longer have need of you, for
+I shall get well now without any further nursing."
+
+But Paulus, far more disturbed than rejoiced, begged of the messengers a
+delay of seven days for reflection, and after wandering restlessly from
+one holy spot to another, at last went down into the oasis, there to
+pray in the church.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+It was a delicious refreshing evening; the full moon rose calmly in the
+dark blue vault of the night-sky, and poured a flood of light down
+on the cool earth. But its rays did not give a strong enough light
+to pierce the misty veil that hung over the giant mass of the Holy
+Mountain; the city of the oasis on the contrary was fully illuminated;
+the broad roadway of the high-street looked to the wanderer who
+descended from the height above like a shining path of white marble, and
+the freshly plastered walls of the new church gleamed as white as in
+the light of day. The shadows of the houses and palm-trees lay like dark
+strips of carpet across the road, which was nearly empty in spite of the
+evening coolness, which usually tempted the citizens out into the air.
+
+The voices of men and women sounded out through the open windows of the
+church; then the door opened and the Pharanite Christians, who had
+been partaking of the Supper--the bread and the cup passed from hand to
+hand--came out into the moonlight. The elders and deacons, the readers
+and singers, the acolytes and the assembled priesthood of the place
+followed the Bishop Agapitus, and the laymen came behind Obedianus,
+the head-man of the oasis, and the Senator Petrus; with Petrus came his
+wife, his grown up children and numerous slaves.
+
+The church was empty when the door-keeper, who was extinguishing the
+lights, observed a man in a dark corner of an antechamber through which
+a spring of water softly plashed and trickled, and which was intended
+for penitents. The man was prostrate on the ground and absorbed in
+prayer, and he did not raise himself till the porter called him, and
+threw the light of his little lamp full in his face.
+
+He began to address him with hard words, but when he recognized in the
+belated worshipper the anchorite Paulus of Alexandria he changed his
+key, and said, in a soft and almost submissive tone of entreaty, "You
+have surely prayed enough, pious man. The congregation have left the
+church, and I must close it on account of our beautiful new vessels and
+the heathen robbers. I know that the brethren of Raithu have chosen you
+to be their elder, and that his high honor was announced to you by their
+messengers, for they came to see our church too and greatly admired
+it. Are you going at once to settle with them or shall you keep the
+high-feast with us?"
+
+"That you shall hear to-morrow," answered Paulus, who had risen from his
+knees, and was leaning against a pillar of the narrow, bare, penitential
+chamber. "In this house dwells One of whom I would fain take counsel,
+and I beg of you to leave me here alone. If you will, you can lock the
+door, and fetch me out later, before you go to rest for the night."
+
+"That cannot be," said the man considering, "for my wife is ill, and my
+house is a long way from here at the end of the town by the little gate,
+and I must take the key this very evening to the Senator Petrus, because
+his son, the architect Antonius, wants to begin the building of the new
+altar the first thing to-morrow morning. The workmen are to be here by
+sunrise, and if--"
+
+"Show me the key," interrupted Paulus. "To what untold blessing may this
+little instrument close or open the issues! Do you know, man, that I
+think there is a way for us both out of the difficulty! You go to your
+sick wife, and I will take the key to the senator as soon as I have
+finished my devotions."
+
+The door-keeper considered for a few minutes, and then acceded to the
+request of the future presbyter of Raithu, while at the same time he
+begged him not to linger too late.
+
+As he went by the senator's house he smelt the savor of roast meat; he
+was a poor man and thought to himself, "They fast in there just when it
+pleases them, but as for us, we fast when it pleases us least."
+
+The good smell, which provoked this lament, rose from a roast sheep,
+which was being prepared as a feast-supper for the senator and the
+assembled members of his household; even the slaves shared in the late
+evening meal.
+
+Petrus and Dame Dorothea sat in the Greek fashion, side by side in a
+half reclining position on a simple couch, and before them stood a table
+which no one shared with them, but close to which was the seat for the
+grown up children of the house. The slaves squatted on the ground nearer
+to the door, and crowded into two circles, each surrounding a steaming
+dish, out of which they helped themselves to the brown stew of lentils
+with the palm of the hand. A round, grey-looking cake of bread lay
+near each, and was not to be broken till the steward Jethro had cut and
+apportioned the sheep. The juicy pieces of the back and thighs of the
+animal were offered to Petrus and his family to choose from, but the
+carver laid a slice for each slave on his cake--a larger for the men
+and a smaller for the women. Many looked with envy on the more succulent
+piece that had fallen to a neighbor's share, but not even those that
+had fared worst dared to complain, for a slave was allowed to speak only
+when his master addressed him, and Petrus forbid even his children to
+discuss their food whether to praise it or to find fault.
+
+In the midst of the underlings sat Miriam; she never ate much, and all
+meat was repulsive to her, so she pushed the cut from the ribs that was
+given to her over to an old garden-woman, who sat opposite, and who
+had often given her a fruit or a little honey, for Miriam loved sweet
+things. Petrus spoke not a word to-day to his slaves, and very little
+even to his family; Dorothea marked the deep lines between his grave
+eyes, not without anxiety, and noted how he pinched his lips, when,
+forgetful of the food before him, he sat lost in meditation.
+
+The meal was ended, but still he did not move, nor did he observe the
+enquiring glances which were turned on him by many eyes; no one dared to
+rise before the master gave the signal.
+
+Miriam followed all his movements with more impatience than any of the
+others who were present; she rocked restlessly backwards and forwards,
+crumbled the bread that she had left with her slender fingers, and her
+breath now came fast and faster, and now seemed to stop entirely. She
+had heard the court-yard gate open, and had recognized Hermas' step.
+
+"He wants to speak to the master, in a moment he will come in, and find
+me among these--" thought she, and she involuntarily stroked her hand
+over her rough hair to smooth it, and threw a glance at the other
+slaves, in which hatred and contempt were equally marked.
+
+But Hermas came not. Not for an instant did she think that her ear had
+deceived her--was he waiting now at the door for the conclusion of the
+meal? Was his late visit intended for the Gaulish lady, to whom she had
+seen him go yesterday again with the wine jar?
+
+Sirona's husband, Phoebicius, as Miriam well knew, was upon the
+mountain, and offering sacrifice by moonlight to Mithras with his fellow
+heathen in a cave which she had long known. She had seen the Gaul quit
+the court during the time of evening-prayer with a few soldiers, two of
+whom carried after him a huge coffer, out of which rose the handle of a
+mighty cauldron, and a skin full of water, and various vessels. She knew
+that these men would pass the whole night in the grotto of Mithras, and
+there greet "the young god"--the rising sun--with strange ceremonies;
+for the inquisitive shepherdess had more than once listened, when she
+had led her goats up the mountain before the break of day, and her
+ear had detected that the worshippers of Mithras were performing their
+nocturnal solemnities. Now it flashed across her mind, that Sirona was
+alone, and that the late visit of Hermas probably concerned her, and not
+the senator.
+
+She started, there was quite a pain in her heart, and, as usual, when
+any violent emotion agitated her mind, she involuntarily sprang to her
+feet prompted by the force of her passion, and had almost reached the
+door, when the senator's voice brought her to a pause, and recalled her
+to the consciousness of the impropriety of her behavior.
+
+The sick man still lay with his inflamed wound and fever down in the
+court, and she knew that she should escape blame if in answer to her
+master's stern questioning she said that the patient needed her, but
+she had never told a lie, and her pride forbade her even now to speak an
+untruth. The other slaves stared with astonishment, as she replied, "I
+wanted to get out; the supper is so long."
+
+Petrus glanced at the window, and perceiving how high the moon stood, he
+shook his head as if in wonder at his own conduct, then without blaming
+her he offered a thanksgiving, gave the slaves the signal to leave
+the room, and after receiving a kiss of "good-night" from each of his
+children--from among whom Polykarp, the sculptor, alone was missing--he
+withdrew to his own room. But he did not remain alone there for long:
+so soon as Dorothea had discussed the requirements of the house for
+the next day with Marthana and the steward, and had been through the
+sleeping-room of her younger children, casting a loving glance on the
+peaceful sleepers, arranging here a coverlet, and there a pillow--she
+entered her husband's room and called his name.
+
+Petrus stood still and looked round, and his grave eyes were full of
+grateful tenderness as they met those of his wife. Dorothea knew the
+soft and loving heart within the stern exterior, and nodded to him with
+sympathetic understanding: but before she could speak, he said, "Come
+in, come nearer to me; there is a heavy matter in hand, and you cannot
+escape your share of the burden."
+
+"Give me my share!" cried she eagerly. "The slim girl of former years
+has grown a broad-shouldered old woman, so that it may be easier to her
+to help her lord to bear the many burdens of life. But I am seriously
+anxious--even before we went to church something unsatisfactory had
+happened to you, and not merely in the council-meeting. There must be
+something not right with one of the children."
+
+"What eyes you have!" exclaimed Petrus.
+
+"Dim, grey eyes," said Dorothea, "and not even particularly keen. But
+when anything concerns you and the children I could see it in the dark.
+You are dissatisfied with Polykarp; yesterday, before he set out for
+Raithu, you looked at him so--so--what shall I say? I can quite imagine
+what it is all about, but I believe you are giving yourself groundless
+anxiety. He is young, and so lovely a woman as Sirona--"
+
+Up to this point Petrus had listened to his wife in silence. Now he
+clasped his hands, and interrupted her, "Things certainly are not going
+on quite right--but I ought to be used to it. What I meant to have
+confided to you in a quiet hour, you tell me as if you knew all about
+it!"
+
+"And why not?" asked Dorothea. "When you graft a scion on to a tree, and
+they have grown well together, the grafted branch feels the bite of the
+saw that divides the stock, or the blessing of the spring that feeds
+the roots, just as if the pain or the boon were its own. And you are
+the tree and I am the graft, and the magic power of marriage has made us
+one. Your pulses are my pulses, your thoughts have become mine, and so I
+always know before you tell me what it is that stirs your soul."
+
+Dorothea's kind eyes moistened as she spoke, and Petrus warmly clasped
+her hands in his as he said, "And if the gnarled old trunk bears from
+time to time some sweet fruit, he may thank the graft for it. I cannot
+believe that the anchorites up yonder are peculiarly pleasing to the
+Lord because they live in solitude. Man comes to his perfect humanity
+only through his wife and child, and he who has them not, can never
+learn the most glorious heights and the darkest depths of life and
+feeling. If a man may stake his whole existence and powers for anything,
+surely it is for his own house."
+
+"And you have honestly done so for ours!" cried Dorothea.
+
+"For ours," repeated Petrus, giving the words the strongest accent of
+his deep voice. "Two are stronger than one, and it is long since we
+ceased to say 'I' in discussing any question concerning the house or the
+children; and both have been touched by to-day's events."
+
+"The senate will not support you in constructing the road?"
+
+"No, the bishop gave the casting-vote. I need not tell you how we stand
+towards each other, and I will not blame him; for he is a just man, but
+in many things we can never meet half-way. You know that he was in
+his youth a soldier, and his very piety is rough--I might almost say
+warlike. If we had yielded to his views, and if our head man Obedianus
+had not supported me, we should not have had a single picture in the
+church, and it would have looked like a barn rather than a house of
+prayer. We never have understood each other, and since I opposed his
+wish of making Polykarp a priest, and sent the boy to learn of the
+sculptor Thalassius--for even as a child he drew better than many
+masters in these wretched days that produce no great artists--since
+then, I say, he speaks of me as if I were a heathen--"
+
+"And yet he esteems you highly, that I know," interrupted Dame Dorothea.
+
+"I fully return his good opinion," replied Petrus, "and it is no
+ordinary matter that estranges. He thinks that he only holds the true
+faith, and ought to fight for it; he calls all artistic work a heathen
+abomination; he never felt the purifying influence of the beautiful, and
+regards all pictures and statues as tending to idolatry. Still he allows
+himself to admire Polykarp's figures of angels and the Good Shepherd,
+but the lions put the old warrior in a rage. 'Accursed idols and works
+of the devil,' are what he calls them."
+
+"But there were lions even in the temple of Solomon," cried Dorothea.
+
+"I urged that, and also that in the schools of the catechists, and in
+the educational history of animals which we possess and teach from, the
+Saviour himself is compared to a lion, and that Mark, the evangelist,
+who brought the doctrine of the gospel to Alexandria, is represented
+with a lion. But he withstood me more and more violently, saying that
+Polykarp's works were to adorn no sacred place, but the Caesareum, and
+that to him is nothing but a heathen edifice, and the noble works of the
+Greeks that are preserved there he calls revolting images by which Satan
+ensnares the souls of Christian men. The other senators can understand
+his hard words, but they cannot follow mine; and so they vote with him,
+and my motion to construct the roadway was thrown over, because it did
+not become a Christian assembly to promote idolatry, and to smooth a way
+for the devil."
+
+"I can see that you must have answered them sharply!"
+
+"Indeed I believe so," answered Petrus, looking down. "Many painful
+things were no doubt said, and it was I that suffered for them.
+Agapitus, who was looking at the deacons' reports, was especially
+dissatisfied with the account that I laid before them; they blamed us
+severely because you gave away as much bread to heathen households as to
+Christians. It is no doubt true, but--"
+
+"But," cried Dorothea eagerly, "hunger is just as painful to the
+unbaptized, and their Christian neighbors do not help them, and yet they
+too are our flesh and blood. I should ill fulfil my office if I were to
+let them starve, because the highest comfort is lacking to them."
+
+"And yet," said Petrus, "the council decided that, for the future, you
+must apply at the most a fourth part of the grain allotted to their use.
+You need not fear for them; for the future some of our own produce may
+go to them out of what we have hitherto sold. You need not withdraw even
+a loaf from any one of your proteges, but certainly may now be laid by
+the plans for the road. Indeed there is no hurry for its completion, for
+Polykarp will now hardly be able to go on with his lions here among
+us. Poor fellow! with what delight he formed the clay models, and
+how wonderfully he succeeded in reproducing the air and aspect of the
+majestic beasts. It is as if he were inspired by the spirit of the old
+Athenian masters. We must now consider whether in Alexandria--"
+
+"Rather let us endeavor," interrupted Dorothea, "to induce him at once
+to put aside his models, and to execute other more pious works. Agapitus
+has keen eyes, and the heathen work is only too dear to the lad's
+heart."
+
+The senator's brow grew dark at the last words, and he said, not without
+some excitement, "Everything that the heathen do is not to be condemned.
+Polykarp must be kept busy, constantly and earnestly occupied, for he
+has set his eyes where they should not be set. Sirona is the wife of
+another, and even in sport no man should try to win his neighbor's wife.
+Do you think, the Gaulish woman is capable of forgetting her duty?"
+
+Dorothea hesitated, and after some reflection answered, "She is a
+beautiful and vain child--a perfect child; I mean in nature, and not
+in years, although she certainly might be the grandchild of her strange
+husband, for whom she feels neither love nor respect, nor, indeed,
+anything but utter aversion. I know not what, but something frightful
+must have come between them even in Rome, and I have given up all
+attempts to guide her heart back to him. In everything else she is soft
+and yielding, and often, when she is playing with the children, I
+cannot imagine where she finds her reckless gaiety. I wish she were
+a Christian, for she is very dear to me, why should I deny it? It is
+impossible to be sad when she is by, and she is devoted to me, and
+dreads my blame, and is always striving to win my approbation. Certainly
+she tries to please every one, even the children; but, so far as I can
+see, not more Polykarp than any one else, although he is such a fine
+young man. No, certainly not."
+
+"And yet the boy gazes at her," said Petrus, "and Phoebicius has noticed
+it; he met me yesterday when I came home, and, in his sour, polite
+manner, requested me to advise my son, when he wished to offer a rose,
+not to throw it into his window, as he was not fond of flowers, and
+preferred to gather them himself for his wife."
+
+The senator's wife turned pale, and then exclaimed shortly and
+positively, "We do not need a lodger, and much as I should miss his
+wife, the best plan will be for you to request him to find another
+dwelling."
+
+"Say no more, wife," Petrus said, sternly, and interrupting her with a
+wave of his hand. "Shall we make Sirona pay, for it because our son has
+committed a folly for her sake? You yourself said, that her intercourse
+with the children, and her respect for you, preserve her from evil, and
+now shall we show her the door? By no means. The Gauls may remain in my
+house so long as nothing occurs that compels me to send them out of it.
+My father was a Greek, but through my mother I have Amalekite blood in
+my veins, and I should dishonor myself, if I drove from my threshold
+any, with whom I had once broken bread under my roof. Polykarp shall be
+warned, and shall learn what he owes to us, to himself, and to the laws
+of God. I know how to value his noble gifts, and I am his friend, but
+I am also his master, and I will find means of preventing my son from
+introducing the light conduct of the capital beneath his father's roof."
+
+The last words were spoken with weight and decision, like the blows of a
+hammer, and stern resolve sparkled in the senator's eyes. Nevertheless,
+his wife went fearlessly up to him, and said, laying her hand on his
+arm, "It is, indeed, well that a man can keep his eyes set on what is
+just, when we women should follow the hasty impulse of our heart. Even
+in wrestling, men only fight with lawful and recognized means, while
+fighting women use their teeth and nails. You men understand better how
+to prevent injustice than we do, and that you have once more proved to
+me, but, in carrying justice out, you are not our superiors. The Gauls
+may remain in our house, and do you take Polykarp severely to task, but
+in the first instance as his friend. Or would it not be better if you
+left it to me? He was so happy in thinking of the competition of his
+lions, and in having to work for the great building in the capital, and
+now it is all over. I wish you had already broken that to him; but love
+stories are women's affairs, and you know how good the boy is to me. A
+mother's word sometimes has more effect than a father's blow, and it is
+in life as it is in war; the light forces of archers go first into the
+field, and the heavily armed division stays in the background to support
+them; then, if the enemy will not yield, it comes forward and decides
+the battle. First let me speak to the lad. It may be that he threw the
+rose into Sirona's window only in sport, for she plays with his brothers
+and sisters as if she herself were one of them. I will question him;
+for if it is so, it would be neither just nor prudent to blame him. Some
+caution is needed even in giving a warning; for many a one, who would
+never have thought of stealing, has become a thief through false
+suspicion. A young heart that is beginning to love, is like a wild boy
+who always would rather take the road he is warned to avoid, and when
+I was a girl, I myself first discovered how much I liked you, when the
+Senator Aman's wife--who wanted you for her own daughter--advised me to
+be on my guard with you. A man who has made such good use of his time,
+among all the temptations of the Greek Sodom, as Polykarp, and who has
+won such high praise from all his teachers and masters, cannot have been
+much injured by the light manners of the Alexandrians. It is in a man's
+early years that he takes the bent which he follows throughout his later
+life, and that he had done before he left our house. Nay--even if I did
+not know what a good fellow Polykarp is--I need only look at you to say,
+'A child that was brought up by this father, could never turn out a bad
+man.'"
+
+Petrus sadly shrugged his shoulders, as though he regarded his wife's
+flattering words as mere idle folly, and yet he smiled, as he asked,
+"Whose school of rhetoric did you go to? So be it then; speak to the
+lad when he returns from Raithu. How high the moon is already; come to
+rest--Antonius is to place the altar in the early dawn, and I wish to be
+present."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Miriam's ears had not betrayed her. While she was detained at supper,
+Hermas had opened the courtyard-gate; he came to bring the senator
+a noble young buck, that he had killed a few hours before, as a
+thank-offering for the medicine to which his father owed his recovery.
+It would no doubt have been soon enough the next morning, but he could
+find no rest up on the mountain, and did not--and indeed did not care
+to--conceal from himself the fact, that the wish to give expression to
+his gratitude attracted him down into the oasis far less than the hope
+of seeing Sirona, and of hearing a word from her lips.
+
+Since their first meeting he had seen her several times, and had even
+been into her house, when she had given him the wine for his father,
+and when he had taken back the empty flask. Once, as she was filling
+the bottle which he held, out of the large jar, her white fingers had
+touched his, and her enquiry whether he were afraid of her, or if not,
+why his hands which looked so strong should tremble so violently, dwelt
+still in his mind. The nearer he approached Petrus's house the more
+vehemently his heart beat; he stood still in front of the gate-way, to
+take breath, and to collect himself a little, for he felt that, agitated
+as he was, he would find it difficult to utter any coherent words.
+
+At last he laid his hand on the latch and entered the yard. The
+watch-dogs already knew him, and only barked once as he stepped over the
+threshold.
+
+He brought a gift in his hand, and he wanted to take nothing away, and
+yet he appeared to himself just like a thief as he looked round, first
+at the main building lighted up by the moon, and then at the Gaul's
+dwelling-house, which, veiled in darkness, stood up as a vague
+silhouette, and threw a broad dark shadow on the granite flags of the
+pavement, which was trodden to shining smoothness. There was not a soul
+to be seen, and the reek of the roast sheep told him that Petrus and his
+household were assembled at supper.
+
+"I might come inopportunely on the feasters," said he to himself, as he
+threw the buck over from his left to his right shoulder, and looked up
+at Sirona's window, which he knew only too well.
+
+It was not lighted up, but a whiter and paler something appeared within
+its dark stone frame, and this something, attracted his gaze with an
+irresistible spell; it moved, and Sirona's greyhound set up a sharp
+barking.
+
+It was she--it must be she! Her form rose before his fancy in all its
+brilliant beauty, and the idea flashed through his mind that she must
+be alone, for he had met her husband and the old slave woman among the
+worshippers of Mithras on their way to the mountain. The pious youth,
+who so lately had punished his flesh with the scourge to banish
+seductive dream-figures, had in these few days become quite another man.
+He would not leave the mountain, for his father's sake, but he was quite
+determined no longer to avoid the way of the world; nay, rather to seek
+it. He had abandoned the care of his father to the kindly Paulus, and
+had wandered about among the rocks; there he had practised throwing the
+discus, he had hunted the wild goats and beasts of prey, and from time
+to time--but always with some timidity--he had gone down into the oasis
+to wander round the senator's house, and catch a glimpse of Sirona.
+
+Now that he knew that she was alone, he was irresistibly drawn to her.
+What he desired of her, he himself could not have said; and nothing was
+clear to his mind beyond the wish to touch her fingers once more.
+
+Whether this were a sin or not, was all the same to him; the most
+harmless play was called a sin, and every thought of the world for which
+he longed, and he was fully resolved to take the sin upon himself, if
+only he might attain his end. Sin after all was nothing but a phantom
+terror with which they frighten children, and the worthy Petrus had
+assured him that he might be a man capable of great deeds. With a
+feeling that he was venturing on an unheard of act he went towards
+Sirona's window, and she at once recognized him as he stood in the
+moonlight.
+
+"Hermas!" he heard her say softly. He was seized with such violent
+terror that he stood as if spellbound, the goat slipped from his
+shoulders, and he felt as if his heart had ceased to beat. And again the
+sweet woman's voice called, "Hermas, is it you? What brings you to us at
+such a late hour?"
+
+He stammered an incoherent answer, and "I do not understand; come a
+little nearer." Involuntarily he stepped forward into the shadow of the
+house and close up to her window. She wore a white robe with wide, open
+sleeves, and her arms shone in the dim light as white as her garment.
+The greyhound barked again; she quieted it, and then asked Hermas how
+his father was, and whether he needed some more wine. He replied
+that she was very kind, angelically kind, but that the sick man was
+recovering fast, and that she had already given him far too much.
+Neither of them said anything that might not have been heard by
+everybody, and yet they whispered as if they were speaking of some
+forbidden thing.
+
+"Wait a moment," said Sirona, and she disappeared within the room, she
+soon reappeared, and said solid and sadly, "I would ask you to come into
+the house but Phoebicius has locked the door. I am quite alone, hold the
+flask so that I may fill it through the open window."
+
+With these words she leaned over with the large jar--she was strong, but
+the wine-jar seemed to her heavier than on other occasions, and she said
+with a sigh, "The amphora is too heavy for me."
+
+He reached up to help her; again his fingers met hers, and again he
+felt the ecstatic thrill which had haunted his memory day and night ever
+since he first had felt it. At this instant there was a sudden noise in
+the house opposite; the slaves were coming out from supper. Sirona knew
+what was happening; she started and cried out, pointing to the senator's
+door, "For all the gods' sake! they are coming out, and if they see you
+here I am lost!"
+
+Hermas looked hastily round the court, and listened to the increasing
+noise in the other house, then, perceiving that there was no possible
+escape from the senator's people, who were close upon him, he cried
+out to Sirona in a commanding tone, "Stand back," and flung himself up
+through the window into the Gaul's apartment. At the same moment the
+door opposite opened, and the slaves streamed out into the yard.
+
+In front of them all was Miriam, who looked all round the wide
+space-expectant; seeking something, and disappointed. He was not there,
+and yet she had heard him come in; and the gate had not opened and
+closed a second time, of that she was perfectly certain. Some of the
+slaves went to the stables, others went outside the gate into the street
+to enjoy the coolness of the evening; they sat in groups on the ground,
+looking up at the stars, chattering or singing. Only the shepherdess
+remained in the court-yard seeking him on all sides, as if she were
+hunting for some lost trinket. She searched even behind the millstones,
+and in the dark sheds in which the stone-workers' tools were kept.
+
+Then she stood still a moment and clenched her hands; with a few light
+bounds she sprang into the shadow of the Gaul's house. Just in front
+of Sirona's window lay the steinbock; she hastily touched it with her
+slender naked toes, but quickly withdrew her foot with a shudder, for
+it had touched the beast's fresh wound, wet with its blood. She rapidly
+drew the conclusion that: he had killed it, and had thrown it down
+here, and that he could not be far off. Now she knew where he was in
+hiding-and she tried to laugh, for the pain she felt seemed too acute
+and burning for tears to allay or cool it. But she did not wholly lose
+her power of reflection. "They are in the dark," thought she, "and they
+would see me, if I crept under the window to listen; and yet I must know
+what they are doing there together."
+
+She hastily turned her back on Sirona's house, slipped into the clear
+moonlight, and after standing there for a few minutes, went into
+the slaves' quarters. An instant after, she slipped out behind the
+millstones, and crept as cleverly and as silently as a snake along the
+ground under the darkened base of the centurion's house, and lay close
+under Sirona's window.
+
+Her loudly beating heart made it difficult for even her sharp ears
+to hear, but though she could not gather all that he said, she
+distinguished the sound of his voice; he was no longer in Sirona's room,
+but in the room that looked out on the street.
+
+Now she could venture to raise herself, and to look in at the open
+window; the door of communication between the two rooms was closed, but
+a streak of light showed her that in the farther room, which was the
+sitting-room, a lamp was burning.
+
+She had already put up her hand in order to hoist herself up into the
+dark room, when a gay laugh from Sirona fell upon her ear. The image of
+her enemy rose up before her mind, brilliant and flooded with light as
+on that morning, when Hermas had stood just opposite, bewildered by her
+fascination. And now--now--he was actually lying at her feet, and saying
+sweet flattering words to her, and he would speak to her of love, and
+stretch out his arm to clasp her--but she had laughed.
+
+Now she laughed again. Why was all so still again?
+
+Had she offered her rosy lips for a kiss? No doubt, no doubt. And Hermas
+did not wrench himself from her white arms, as he had torn himself from
+hers that noon by the spring-torn himself away never to return.
+
+Cold drops stood on her brow, she buried her hands in her thick, black
+hair, and a loud cry escaped her--a cry like that of a tortured animal.
+A few minutes more and she had slipped through the stable and the gate
+by which they drove the cattle in; and no longer mistress of herself,
+was flying up the mountain to the grotto of Mithras to warn Phoebicius.
+
+The anchorite Gelasius saw from afar the figure of the girl flying up
+the mountain in the moonlight, and her shadow flitting from stone to
+stone, and he threw himself on the ground, and signed a cross on his
+brow, for he thought he saw a goblin-form, one of the myriad gods of
+the heathen--an Oread pursued by a Satyr. Sirona had heard the girl's
+shriek.
+
+"What was that?" she asked the youth, who stood before her in the
+full-dress uniform of a Roman officer, as handsome as the young god of
+war, though awkward and unsoldierly in his movements.
+
+"An owl screamed--" replied Hermas. "My father must at last tell me from
+what house we are descended, and I will go to Byzantium, the new Rome,
+and say to the emperor, 'Here am I, and I will fight for you among your
+warriors.'"
+
+"I like you so!" exclaimed Sirona.
+
+"If that is the truth," cried Hermas, "prove it to me! Let me once press
+my lips to your shining gold hair. You are beautiful, as sweet as a
+flower--as gay and bright as a bird, and yet as hard as our mountain
+rock. If you do not grant me one kiss, I shall long till I am sick and
+weak before I can get away from here, and prove my strength in battle."
+
+"And if I yield," laughed Sirona, "you will be wanting another and
+another kiss, and at last not get away at all. No, no, my friend--I am
+the wiser of us two. Now go into the dark room, I will look out and see
+whether the people are gone in again, and whether you can get off unseen
+from the street window, for you have been here much too long already. Do
+you hear? I command you."
+
+Hermas obeyed with a sigh; Sirona opened the shutter and looked out. The
+slaves were coming back into the court, and she called out a friendly
+word or two, which were answered with equal friendliness, for the
+Gaulish lady, who never overlooked even the humblest, was dear to them
+all. She took in the night-air with deep-drawn breaths, and looked up
+contentedly at the moon, for she was well content with herself.
+
+When Hermas had swung himself up into her room, she had started back in
+alarm; he had seized her hand and pressed his burning lips to her arm,
+and she let him do it, for she was overcome with strange bewilderment.
+
+Then she heard Dame Dorothea calling out, "Directly, directly, I will
+only say good night first to the children." These simple words,
+uttered in Dorothea's voice, had a magical effect on the warm-hearted
+woman--badly used and suspected as she was, and yet so well formed for
+happiness, love and peace. When her husband had locked her in, taking
+even her slave with him, at first she had raved, wept, meditated revenge
+and flight, and at last, quite broken down, had seated herself by
+the window in silent thought of her beautiful home, her brothers and
+sisters, and the dark olive groves of Arelas.
+
+Then Hermas appeared. It had not escaped her that the young anchorite
+passionately admired her, and she was not displeased, for she liked him,
+and the confusion with which he had been overcome at the sight of her
+flattered her and seemed to her doubly precious because she knew that
+the hermit in his sheepskin, on whom she had bestowed a gift of wine,
+was in fact a young man of distinguished rank. And how truly to be
+pitied was the poor boy, who had had his youth spoilt by a stern father.
+A woman easily bestows some tender feeling on the man that she pities;
+perhaps because she is grateful to him for the pleasure of feeling
+herself the stronger, and because through him and his suffering she
+finds gratification for the noblest happiness of a woman's heart--that
+of giving tender and helpful care; women's hands are softer than ours.
+In men's hearts love is commonly extinguished when pity begins,
+while admiration acts like sunshine on the budding plant of a woman's
+inclination, and pity is the glory which radiates from her heart.
+
+Neither admiration nor pity, however, would have been needed to induce
+Sirona to call Hermas to her window; she felt so unhappy and lonely,
+that any one must have seemed welcome from whom she might look for a
+friendly and encouraging word to revive her deeply wounded self-respect.
+And there came the young anchorite, who forgot himself and everything
+else in her presence, whose looks, whose movement, whose very silence
+even seemed to do homage to her. And then his bold spring into her room,
+and his eager wooing--"This is love," said she to herself. Her cheeks
+glowed, and when Hermas clasped her hand, and pressed her arm to his
+lips, she could not repulse him, till Dorothea's voice reminded her of
+the worthy lady and of the children, and through them of her own far-off
+sisters.
+
+The thought of these pure beings flowed over her troubled spirit like a
+purifying stream, and the question passed through her mind, "What should
+I be without these good folks over there, and is this great love-sick
+boy, who stood before Polykarp just lately looking like a school-boy,
+is he so worthy that I should for his sake give up the right of looking
+them boldly in the face?" And she pushed Hermas roughly away, just as he
+was venturing for the first time to apply his lips to her perfumed gold
+hair, and desired him to be less forward, and to release her hand.
+
+She spoke in a low voice, but with such decision, that the lad, who was
+accustomed to the habit of obedience, unresistingly allowed her to push
+him into the sitting-room. There was a lamp burning on the table, and
+on a bench by the wall of the room, which was lined with colored stucco,
+lay the helmet, the centurion's staff, and the other portions of the
+armor which Phoebicius had taken off before setting out for the feast of
+Mithras, in order to assume the vestments of one of the initiated of the
+grade of "Lion."
+
+The lamp-light revealed Sirona's figure, and as she stood before him in
+all her beauty with glowing cheeks, the lad's heart began to beat high,
+and with increased boldness he opened his arms, and endeavored to draw
+her to him; but Sirona avoided him and went behind the table, and,
+leaning her hands on its polished surface while it protected her like a
+shield, she lectured him in wise and almost motherly words against his
+rash, intemperate, and unbecoming behavior.
+
+Any one who was learned in the heart of woman might have smiled at such
+words from such lips and in such an hour; but Hermas blushed and cast
+down his eyes, and knew not what to answer. A great change had come
+over the Gaulish lady; she felt a great pride in her virtue, and in the
+victory she had won over herself, and while she sunned herself in the
+splendor of her own merits, she wished that Hermas too should feel and
+recognize them. She began to expatiate on all that she had to forego and
+to endure in the oasis, and she discoursed of virtue and the duties of a
+wife, and of the wickedness and audacity of men.
+
+Hermas, she said, was no better than the rest, and because she had shown
+herself somewhat kind to him, he fancied already that he had a claim on
+her liking; but he was greatly mistaken, and if only the courtyard had
+been empty, she would long ago have shown him the door.
+
+The young hermit was soon only half listening to all she said, for his
+attention had been riveted by the armor which lay before him, and which
+gave a new direction to his excited feelings. He involuntarily put
+out his hand towards the gleaming helmet, and interrupted the pretty
+preacher with the question, "May I try it on?"
+
+Sirona laughed out loud and exclaimed, much amused and altogether
+diverted from her train of thought, "To be sure. You ought to be a
+soldier. How well it suits you! Take off your nasty sheepskin, and let
+us see how the anchorite looks as a centurion."
+
+Hermas needed no second telling; he decked himself in the Gaul's armor
+with Sirona's help. We human beings must indeed be in a deplorable
+plight; otherwise how is it that from our earliest years we find such
+delight in disguising ourselves; that is to say, in sacrificing our
+own identity to the tastes of another whose aspect we borrow. The child
+shares this inexplicable pleasure with the sage, and the stern man who
+should condemn it would not therefore be the wiser, for he who wholly
+abjures folly is a fool all the more certainly the less he fancies
+himself one. Even dressing others has a peculiar charm, especially for
+women; it is often a question which has the greater pleasure, the maid
+who dresses her mistress or the lady who wears the costly garment.
+
+Sirona was devoted to every sort of masquerading. If it had been needful
+to seek a reason why the senator's children and grandchildren were so
+fond of her, by no means last or least would have been the fact that
+she would willingly and cheerfully allow herself to be tricked out in
+colored kerchiefs, ribands, and flowers, and on her part could contrive
+the most fantastic costumes for them. So soon as she saw Hermas with
+the helmet on, the fancy seized her to carry through the travesty he
+had begun. She eagerly and in perfect innocence pulled the coat of armor
+straight, helped him to buckle the breastplate and to fasten on the
+sword, and as she performed the task, at which Hermas proved himself
+unskilful enough, her gay and pleasant laugh rang out again and again.
+When he sought to seize her hand, as he not seldom did, she hit him
+sharply on the fingers, and scolded him.
+
+Hermas' embarrassment thawed before this pleasant sport, and soon he
+began to tell her how hateful the lonely life on the mountain was to
+him. He told her that Petrus himself had advised him to try his strength
+out in the world, and he confided to her that if his father got well,
+he meant to be a soldier, and do great deeds. She quite agreed with him,
+praised and encouraged him, then she criticised his slovenly deportment,
+showed him with comical gravity how a warrior ought to stand and walk,
+called herself his drill-master, and was delighted at the zeal with
+which he strove to imitate her.
+
+In such play the hours passed quickly. Hermas was proud of himself in
+his soldierly garb, and was happy in her presence and in the hope of
+future triumphs; and Sirona was gay, as she had usually been only when
+playing with the children, so that even Miriam's wild cry, which the
+youth explained to be the scream of an owl, only for a moment reminded
+her of the danger in which she was placing herself. Petrus' slaves had
+long gone to rest before she began to weary of amusing herself with
+Hermas, and desired him to lay aside her husband's equipment, and to
+leave her. Hermas obeyed while she warily opened the shutters, and
+turning to him, said, "You cannot venture through the court-yard; you
+must go through this window into the open street. But there is some one
+coming down the road; let him pass first, it will not be long to wait,
+for he is walking quickly."
+
+She carefully drew the shutters to, and laughed to see how clumsily
+Hermas set to work to unbuckle the greaves; but the gay laugh died
+upon her lips when the gate flew open, the greyhound and the senator's
+watch-dogs barked loudly, and she recognized her husband's voice as he
+ordered the dogs to be quiet.
+
+"Fly-fly-for the gods' sake!" she cried in a trembling voice. With that
+ready presence of mind with which destiny arms the weakest woman in
+great and sudden danger, she extinguished the lamp, flung open the
+shutter, and pushed Hermas to the window. The boy did not stay to bid
+her farewell, but swung himself with a strong leap down into the
+road, and, followed by the barking of the dogs, which roused all the
+neighboring households, he flew up the street to the little church.
+
+He had not got more than half-way when he saw a man coming towards him;
+he sprang into the shadow of a house, but the belated walker accelerated
+his steps, and came straight up to him. He set off running again, but
+the other pursued him, and kept close at his heels till he had passed
+all the houses and began to go up the mountain-path. Hermas felt that he
+was outstripping his pursuer, and was making ready for a spring over a
+block of stone that encumbered the path, when he heard his name called
+behind him, and he stood still, for he recognized the voice of the man
+from whom he was flying as that of his good friend Paulus.
+
+"You indeed," said the Alexandrian, panting for breath. "Yes, you are
+swifter than I. Years hang lead on our heels, but do you know what it
+is that lends them the swiftest wings? You have just learned it! It is a
+bad conscience; and pretty things will be told about you; the dogs have
+barked it all out loud enough to the night."
+
+"And so they may!" replied Hermas defiantly, and trying in vain to free
+himself from the strong grasp of the anchorite who held him firmly. "I
+have done nothing wrong."
+
+"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife!" interrupted Paulus in a tone
+of stern severity. "You have been with the centurion's pretty wife, and
+were taken by surprise. Where is your sheepskin?"
+
+Hermas started, felt on his shoulder, and exclaimed, striking his fist
+against his forehead, "Merciful Heaven!--I have left it there! The
+raging Gaul will find it."
+
+"He did not actually see you there?" asked Paulus eagerly.
+
+"No, certainly not," groaned Hermas, "but the skin--"
+
+"Well, well," muttered Paulus. "Your sin is none the less, but something
+may be done in that case. Only think if it came to your father's ears;
+it might cost him his life."
+
+"And that poor Sirona!" sighed Hermas.
+
+"Leave me to settle that," exclaimed Paulus. "I will make everything
+straight with her. There, take sheepskin. You will not? Well, to be
+sure, the man who does not fear to commit adultery would make nothing
+of becoming his father's murderer.--There, that is the way! fasten it
+together over your shoulders; you will need it, for you must quit this
+spot, and not for to-day and to-morrow only. You wanted to go out into
+the world, and now you will have the opportunity of showing whether you
+really are capable of walking on your own feet. First go to Raithu and
+greet the pious Nikon in my name, and tell him that I remain here on
+the mountain, for after long praying in the church I have found myself
+unworthy of the office of elder which they offered me. Then get yourself
+carried by some ship's captain across the Red Sea, and wander up and
+down the Egyptian coast. The hordes of the Blemmyes have lately shown
+themselves there; keep your eye on them, and when the wild bands
+are plotting some fresh outbreak you can warn the watch on the
+mountain-peaks; how to cross the sea and so outstrip them, it will
+be your business to find out. Do you feel bold enough and capable of
+accomplishing this task? Yes? So I expected! Now may the Lord guide you.
+I will take care of your father, and his blessing and your mother's will
+rest upon you if you sincerely repent, and if you now do your duty."
+
+"You shall learn that I am a man," cried Hermas with sparkling eyes. "My
+bow and arrows are lying in your cave, I will fetch them and then--aye!
+you shall see whether you sent the right man on the errand. Greet my
+father, and once more give me your hand."
+
+Paulus grasped the boy's right hand, drew him to him, and kissed his
+forehead with fatherly tenderness. Then he said, "In my cave, under the
+green stone, you will find six gold-pieces; take three of them with you
+on your journey. You will probably need them at any rate to pay your
+passage. Now be off, and get to Raithu in good time."
+
+Hermas hurried up the mountain, his head full of the important task that
+had been laid upon him; dazzling visions of the great deeds he was
+to accomplish eclipsed the image of the fair Sirona, and he was so
+accustomed to believe in the superior insight and kindness of Paulus
+that he feared no longer for Sirona now that his friend had made her
+affair his own.
+
+The Alexandrian looked after him, and breathed a short prayer for him;
+then he went down again into the valley.
+
+It was long past midnight, and the moon was sinking; it grew cooler and
+cooler, and since he had given his sheepskin to Hermas he had nothing
+on, but his thread-bare coat. Nevertheless he went slowly onwards,
+stopping every now and then, moving his arms, and speaking incoherent
+words in a low tone to himself.
+
+He thought of Hermas and Sirona, of his own youth, and of how in
+Alexandria he himself had tapped at the shutters of the dark-haired Aso,
+and the fair Simaitha.
+
+"A child--a mere boy," he murmured. "Who would have thought it? The
+Gaulish woman no doubt may be handsome, and as for him, it is a fact,
+that as he threw the discus I was myself surprised at his noble figure.
+And his eyes--aye, he has Magdalen's eyes! If the Gaul had found him
+with his wife, and had run his sword through his heart, he would have
+gone unpunished by the earthly judge--however, his father is spared this
+sorrow. In this desert the old man thought that his darling could not be
+touched by the world and its pleasures. And now? These brambles I once
+thought lay dried up on the earth, and could never get up to the top of
+the palm-tree where the dates ripen, but a bird flew by, and picked up
+the berries, and carried them into its nest at the highest point of the
+tree.
+
+"Who can point out the road that another will take, and say to-day,
+'To-morrow I shall find him thus and not otherwise.'
+
+"We fools flee into the desert in order to forget the world, and the
+world pursues us and clings to our skirts. Where are the shears that are
+keen enough to cut the shadow from beneath our feet? What is the prayer
+that can effectually release us--born of the flesh--from the burden of
+the flesh? My Redeemer, Thou Only One, who knowest it, teach it to me,
+the basest of the base."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+Within a few minutes after Hermas had flung himself out of window into
+the roadway, Phoebicius walked into his sleeping-room. Sirona had had
+time to throw herself on to her couch; she was terribly frightened, and
+had turned her face to the wall. Did he actually know that some one
+had been with her? And who could have betrayed her, and have called him
+home? Or could he have come home by accident sooner than usual?
+
+It was dark in the room, and he could not see her face, and yet she kept
+her eyes shut as if asleep, for every fraction of a minute in which she
+could still escape seeing him in his fury seemed a reprieve; and yet her
+heart beat so violently that it seemed to her that he must hear it, when
+he approached the bed with a soft step that was peculiar to him.
+She heard him walk up and down, and at last go into the kitchen that
+adjoined the sleeping-room. In a few moments she perceived through her
+half-closed eyes, that he, had brought in a light; he had lighted a lamp
+at the hearth, and now searched both the rooms.
+
+As yet he had not spoken to her, nor opened his lips to utter a word.
+
+Now he was in the sitting-room, and now--involuntarily she drew herself
+into a heap, and pulled the coverlet over her head--now he laughed
+aloud, so loud and scornfully, that she felt her hands and feet turn
+cold, and a rushing crimson mist floated before her eyes. Then the light
+came back into the bed-room, and came nearer and nearer. She felt her
+head pushed by his hard hand, and with a feeble scream she flung off the
+coverlet and sat up.
+
+Still he did not speak a word, but what she saw was quite enough to
+smother the last spark of her courage and hope, for her husband's eyes
+showed only the whites, his sallow features were ashy-pale, and on his
+brow the branded mark of Mithras stood out more clearly than ever. In
+his right hand he held the lamp, in his left Hermas' sheepskin.
+
+As his haggard eye met hers he held the anchorite's matted garment so
+close to her face, that it touched her. Then he threw it violently on
+the floor, and asked in a low, husky voice, "What is that?"
+
+She was silent. He went up to the little table near her bed; on it stood
+her night-draught in a pretty colored glass, that Polykarp had brought
+her from Alexandria as a token, and with the back of his hand he swept
+it from the table, so that it fell on the dais, and flew with a crash
+into a thousand fragments. She screamed, the greyhound sprang up and
+barked at the Gaul. He seized the little beast's collar, and flung it
+so violently across the room, that it uttered a pitiful cry of pain. The
+dog had belonged to Sirona since she was quite a girl, it had come
+with her to Rome, and from thence to the oasis; it clung to her with
+affection, and she to it, for Iambe liked no one to caress and stroke
+her so much as her mistress. She was so much alone, and the greyhound
+was always with her, and not only entertained her by such tricks as any
+other dog might have learned, but was to her a beloved, dumb, but by no
+means deaf, companion from her early home, who would prick its ears when
+she spoke the name of her dear little sisters in distant Arelas, from
+whom she had not heard for years; or it would look sadly in her face,
+and kiss her white hands, when longing forced tears into her eyes.
+
+In her solitary, idle, childless existence Iambe was much, very much,
+to her, and now as she saw her faithful companion and friend creep
+ill-treated and whining up to her bed--as the supple animal tried
+in vain to spring up and take refuge in her lap, and held out to his
+mistress his trembling, perhaps broken, little paw, fear vanished from
+the miserable young woman's heart--she sprang from her couch, took the
+little dog in her arms, and exclaimed with a glance, which flashed with
+anything rather than fear or repentance: "You do not touch the poor
+little beast again, if you take my advice."
+
+"I will drown it to-morrow morning," replied Phoebicius with perfect
+indifference, but with an evil smile on his flaccid lips. "So many
+two-legged lovers make themselves free to my house, that I do not see
+why I should share your affections with a quadruped into the bargain.
+How came this sheepskin here?" Sirona vouchsafed no answer to this
+last question, but she exclaimed in great excitement, "By God--by your
+God--by the mighty Rock, and by all the gods! if you do the little beast
+a harm, it will be the last day I stop in your house."
+
+"Hear her!" said the centurion, "and where do you propose to travel to?
+The desert is wide and there is room and to spare to starve in it, and
+for your bones to bleach there. How grieved your lovers would be--for
+their sakes I will take care before drowning the dog to lock in its
+mistress."
+
+"Only try to touch me," screamed Sirona beside herself, and springing
+to the window. "If you lay a finger on me, I will call for help, and
+Dorothea and her husband will protect me against you."
+
+"Hardly," answered Phoebicius drily. "It would suit you no doubt to find
+yourself under the same roof as that great boy who brings you colored
+glass, and throws roses into your window, and perhaps has strewed the
+road with them by which he found his way to you to-day. But there are
+nevertheless laws which protect the Roman citizen from criminals and
+impudent seducers. You were always a great deal too much in the house
+over there, and you have exchanged your games with the little screaming
+beggars for one with the grownup child, the rose-thrower-the fop, who,
+for your sake, and not to be recognized, covers up his purple coat with
+a sheepskin! Do you think, you can teach me anything about lovesick
+night-wanderers and women?
+
+"I see through it all! Not one step do you set henceforth across Petrus'
+threshold. There is the open window--scream--scream as loud as you will,
+and let all the people know of your disgrace. I have the greatest mind
+to carry this sheepskin to the judge, the first thing in the morning.
+I shall go now, and set the room behind the kitchen in order for you;
+there is no window there through which men in sheepskin can get in to
+my house. You shall live there till you are tamed, and kiss my feet, and
+confess what has been going on here to-night. I shall learn nothing from
+the senator's slaves, that I very well know; for you have turned all
+their heads too--they grin with delight when they see you. All friends
+are made welcome by you, even when they wear nothing but sheepskin. But
+they may do what they please--I have the right keeper for you in my
+own hand. I am going at once--you may scream if you like, but I should
+myself prefer that you should keep quiet. As to the dog, we have not yet
+heard the last of the matter; for the present I will keep him here. If
+you are quiet and come to your senses, he may live for aught I care;
+but if you are refractory, a rope and a stone can soon be found, and the
+stream runs close below. You know I never jest--least of all just now."
+
+Sirona's whole frame was in the most violent agitation. Her breath came
+quickly, her limbs trembled, but she could not find words to answer him.
+
+Phoebicius saw what was passing in her mind, and he went on, "You may
+snort proudly now; but an hour will come when you will crawl up to me
+like your lame dog, and pray for mercy. I have another idea--you will
+want a couch in the dark room, and it must be soft, or I shall be
+blamed; I will spread out the sheepskin for you. You see I know how to
+value your adorer's offerings."
+
+The Gaul laughed loud, seized the hermit's garment, and went with
+the lamp into the dark room behind the kitchen, in which vessels and
+utensils of various sorts were kept. These he set on one side to turn
+it into a sleeping-room for his wife, of whose guilt he was fully
+convinced.
+
+Who the man was for whose sake she had dishonored him, he knew not, for
+Miriam had said nothing more than, "Go home, your wife is laughing with
+her lover."
+
+While her husband was still threatening and storming, Sirona had said to
+herself, that she would rather die than live any longer with this man.
+That she herself was not free from fault never occurred to her mind. He
+who is punished more severely than he deserves, easily overlooks his own
+fault in his feeling of the judge's injustice.
+
+Phoebicius was right; neither Petrus nor Dorothea had it in their power
+to protect her against him, a Roman citizen. If she could not contrive
+to help her self she was a prisoner, and without air, light, and freedom
+she could not live. During his last speech her resolution had been
+quickly matured, and hardly had he turned his back and crossed the
+threshold, than she hurried up to her bed, wrapped the trembling
+greyhound in the coverlet, took it in her arms like a child, and ran
+into the sitting-room with her light burden; the shutters were still
+open of the window through which Hermas had fled into the open. With the
+help of a stool she took the same way, let herself slip down from the
+sill into the street, and hastened on without aim or goal--inspired only
+by the wish to escape durance in the dark room, and to burst every bond
+that tied her to her hated mate--up the church-hill and along the road
+which lead over the mountain to the sea.
+
+Phoebicius gave her a long start, for after having arranged her prison
+he remained some time in the little room behind the kitchen, not in
+order to give her time, collect his thoughts or to reflect on his future
+action, but simply because he felt utterly exhausted.
+
+The centurion was nearly sixty years of age, and his frame, originally a
+powerful one, was now broken by every sort of dissipation, and could no
+longer resist the effects of the strain and excitement of this night.
+
+The lean, wiry, and very active man did not usually fall into these
+fits of total enervation excepting in the daytime, for after sundown
+a wonderful change would come over the gray-headed veteran, who
+nevertheless still displayed much youthful energy in the exercise of his
+official duties. At night his drooping eyelids, that almost veiled his
+eyes, opened more wildly, his flaccid hanging under-lip closed firmly,
+his long neck and narrow elongated head were held erect, and when, at a
+later hour, he went out to drinking-bouts or to the service in honor
+of Mithras, he might often still be taken for a fine, indomitable young
+man.
+
+But when he was drunk he was no longer gay, but wild, braggart, and
+noisy. It frequently happened that before he left the carouse, while he
+was still in the midst of his boon-companions, the syncope would come
+upon him which had so often alarmed Sirona, and from which he could
+never feel perfectly safe even when he was on duty at the head of his
+soldiers.
+
+The vehement big man in such moments offered a terrible image of
+helpless impotence; the paleness of death would overspread his features,
+his back was as if it were broken, and he lost his control over every
+limb. His eyes only continued to move, and now and then a shudder shook
+his frame. His people said that when he was in this condition, the
+centurion's ghastly demon had entered into him, and he himself believed
+in this evil spirit, and dreaded it; nay, he had attempted to be
+released through heathen spells, and even through Christian exorcisms.
+Now he sat in the dark room on the sheepfell, which in scorn of his wife
+he had spread on a hard wooden bench. His hands and feet turned cold,
+his eyes glowed, and the power to move even a finger had wholly deserted
+him; only his lips twitched, and his inward eye, looking back on the
+past with preternaturally sharpened vision, saw, far away and beyond,
+the last frightful hour.
+
+"If," thought he, "after my mad run down to the oasis, which few younger
+men could have vied with, I had given the reins to my fury instead of
+restraining it, the demon would not have mastered me so easily. How that
+devil Miriam's eyes flashed as she told me that a man was betraying me.
+She certainly must have seen the wearer of the sheepskin, but I lost
+sight of her before I reached the oasis; I fancy she turned and went up
+the mountain. What indeed might not Sirona have done to her? That woman
+snares all hearts with her eyes as a bird-catcher snares birds with his
+flute. How the fine gentlemen ran after her in Rome! Did she dishonor me
+there, I wonder? She dismissed the Legate Quintillus, who was so
+anxious to please me--I may thank that fool of a woman that he became my
+enemy--but he was older even than I, and she likes young men best. She
+is like all the rest of them, and I of all men might have known it. It
+is the way of the world: to-day one gives a blow and to-morrow takes
+one."
+
+A sad smile passed over his lips, then his features settled into a stern
+gravity, for various unwelcome images rose clearly before his mind, and
+would not be got rid of.
+
+His conscience stood in inverse relation to the vigor of his body. When
+he was well, his too darkly stained past life troubled him little;
+but when he was unmanned by weakness, he was incapable of fighting the
+ghastly demon that forced upon his memory in painful vividness those
+very deeds which he would most willingly have forgotten. In such hours
+he must need remember his friend, his benefactor, and superior officer,
+the Tribune Servianus, whose fair young wife he had tempted with a
+thousand arts to forsake her husband and child, and fly with him into
+the wide world; and at this moment a bewildering illusion made him fancy
+that he was the Tribune Servianus, and yet at the same time himself.
+Every hour of pain, and the whole bitter anguish that his betrayed
+benefactor had suffered through his act when he had seduced Glycera, he
+himself now seemed to realize, and at the same time the enemy that had
+betrayed him, Servianus, was none other than himself, Phoebicius, the
+Gaul. He tried to protect himself and meditated revenge against the
+seducer, and still he could not altogether lose the sense of his own
+identity.
+
+This whirl of mad imagining, which he vainly endeavored to make clear
+to himself, threatened to distract his reason, and he groaned aloud; the
+sound of his own voice brought him back to actuality.
+
+He was Phoebicius again and not another, that he knew now, and yet he
+could not completely bring himself to comprehend the situation. The
+image of the lovely Glycera, who had followed him to Alexandria, and
+whom he had there abandoned, when he had squandered his last piece of
+money and her last costly jewels in the Greek city, no longer appeared
+to him alone, but always side by side with his wife Sirona.
+
+Glycera had been a melancholy sweetheart, who had wept much, and laughed
+little after running away from her husband; he fancied he could hear
+her speaking soft words of reproach, while Sirona defied him with loud
+threats, and dared to nod and signal to the senator's son Polykarp.
+
+The weary dreamer angrily shook himself, collected his thoughts, doubled
+his fist, and lifted it angrily; this movement was the first sign of
+returning physical energy; he stretched his limbs like a man awaking
+from sleep, rubbed his eyes, pressed his hands to his temples; by
+degrees full consciousness returned to him, and with it the recollection
+of all that had occurred in the last hour or two.
+
+He hastily left the dark room, refreshed himself in the kitchen with a
+gulp of wine, and went up to the open window to gaze at the stars.
+
+It was long past midnight; he was reminded of his companions now
+sacrificing on the mountain, and addressed a long prayer "to the crown,"
+"the invincible sun-god," "the great light," "the god begotten of the
+rock," and to many other names of Mithras; for since he had belonged to
+the mystics of this divinity, he had become a zealous devotee, and could
+fast too with extraordinary constancy. He had already passed through
+several of the eighty trials, to which a man had to subject himself
+before he could attain to the highest grades of the initiated, and the
+weakness which had just now overpowered him, had attacked him for the
+first time, after he had for a whole week lain for hours in the snow,
+besides fasting severely, in order to attain the grade of "lion."
+
+Sirona's rigorous mind was revolted by all these practices, and the
+decision with which she had always refused to take any part in them,
+had widened the breach which, without that, parted her from her husband.
+Phoebicius was, in his fashion, very much in earnest with all these
+things; for they alone saved him in some measure from himself, from dark
+memories, and from the fear of meeting the reward of his evil deeds in
+a future life, while Sirona found her best comfort in the remembrance of
+her early life, and so gathered courage to endure the miserable present
+cheerfully, and to hold fast to hope for better times.
+
+Phoebicius ended his prayer to-day--a prayer for strength to break
+his wife's strong spirit, for a successful issue to his revenge on her
+seducer--ended it without haste, and with careful observance of all the
+prescribed forms. Then he took two strong ropes from the wall, pulled
+himself up, straight and proud, as if he were about to exhort his
+soldiers to courage before a battle, cleared his throat like an orator
+in the Forum before he begins his discourse, and entered the bedroom
+with a dignified demeanor. Not the smallest suspicion of the possibility
+of her escape troubled his sense of security, when, not finding Sirona
+in the sleeping-room, he went into the sitting-room to carry out the
+meditated punishment. Here again--no one.
+
+He paused in astonishment; but the thought that she could have fled
+appeared to him so insane, that he immediately and decisively dismissed
+it. No doubt she feared his wrath, and was hidden under her bed or
+behind the curtain which covered his clothes. "The dog," thought he, "is
+still cowering by her--" and he began to make a noise, half whistling
+and half hissing, which Iambe could not bear, and which always provoked
+her to bark angrily--but in vain. All was still in the vacant room,
+still as death. He was now seriously anxious; at first deliberately, and
+then with rapid haste, he threw the light under every vessel, into
+every corner, behind every cloth, and rummaged in places that not even
+a child--nay hardly a frightened bird could have availed itself of for
+concealment. At last his right hand fairly dropped the ropes, and his
+left, in which he held the lamp, began to tremble. He found the shutters
+of the sleeping-room open; where Sirona had been sitting on the seat
+looking at the moon, before Hermas had come upon the scene. "Then she is
+not here!" he muttered, and setting the lamp on the little table, from
+which he had just now flung Polykarp's glass, he tore open the door, and
+hurried into the courtyard. That she could have swung herself out into
+the road, and have set out in the night for the open desert, had not yet
+entered into his mind. He shook the door that closed in the homestead,
+and found it locked; the watch-dogs roused themselves, and gave tongue,
+when Phoebicius turned to Petrus' house, and began to knock at the door
+with the brazen knocker, at first softly and then with growing anger; he
+considered it as certain that his wife had sought and found protection
+under the senator's roof. He could have shouted with rage and anguish,
+and yet he hardly thought of his wife and the danger of losing her,
+but only of Polykarp and the disgrace he had wrought upon him, and the
+reparation he would exact from him, and his parents, who had dared to
+tamper with his household rights--his, the imperial centurion's.
+
+What was Sirona to him? In the flush of an hour of excitement he had
+linked her destiny to his.
+
+At Arelas, about two years since, one of his comrades had joined their
+circle of boon-companions, and had related that he had been the witness
+of a remarkable scene. A number of young fellows had surrounded a boy
+and had unmercifully beaten him--he himself knew not wherefore. The
+little one had defended himself bravely, but was at last overcome by
+numbers. "Then suddenly," continued the soldier, "the door of a house
+near the circus opened, and a young girl with long golden hair flew out,
+and drove the boys to flight, and released the victim, her brother, from
+his tormentors. She looked like a lioness," cried the narrator, "Sirona
+she is called, and of all the pretty girls of Arelas, she is beyond
+a doubt the prettiest." This opinion was confirmed on all sides, and
+Phoebicius, who at that time had just been admitted to the grade of
+"lion" among the worshippers of Mithras, and liked very well to hear
+himself called "the lion," exclaimed, "I have long been seeking a
+lioness, and here it seems to me that I have found one. Phoebicius and
+Sirona--the two names sound very finely together."
+
+On the following day he asked Sirona of her father for his wife, and
+as he had to set out for Rome in a few days the wedding was promptly
+celebrated. She had never before quitted Arelas, and knew not what she
+was giving up, when she took leave of her father's house perhaps for
+ever. In Rome Phoebicius and his young wife met again; there many
+admired the beautiful woman, and made every effort to obtain her favor,
+but to him she was only a lightly won, and therefore a lightly valued,
+possession; nay, ere long no more than a burden, ornamental no doubt
+but troublesome to guard. When presently his handsome wife attracted
+the notice of the legate, he endeavored to gain profit and advancement
+through her, but Sirona had rebuffed Quintillus with such insulting
+disrespect, that his superior officer became the centurion's enemy, and
+contrived to procure his removal to the oasis, which was tantamount to
+banishment.
+
+From that time he had regarded her too as his enemy, and firmly believed
+that she designedly showed herself most friendly to those who seemed
+most obnoxious to him, and among these he reckoned Polykarp.
+
+Once more the knocker sounded on the senator's door; it opened, and
+Petrus himself stood before the raging Gaul, a lamp in his hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+The unfortunate Paulus sat on a stone bench in front of the senator's
+door, and shivered; for, as dawn approached, the night-air grew cooler,
+and he was accustomed to the warmth of the sheepskin, which he had now
+given to Hermas. In his hand he held the key of the church, which he had
+promised the door-keeper to deliver to Petrus; but all was so still in
+the senator's house, that he shrank from rousing the sleepers.
+
+"What a strange night this has been!" he muttered to himself, as he drew
+his short and tattered tunic closer together. "Even if it were warmer,
+and if, instead of this threadbare rag, I had a sack of feathers to wrap
+myself in, still I should feel a cold shiver if the spirits of hell that
+wander about here were to meet me again. Now I have actually seen one
+with my own eyes. Demons in women's form rush up the mountain out of the
+oasis to tempt and torture us in our sleep. What could it have been that
+the goblin in a white robe and with flowing hair held in its arms?
+Very likely the stone with which the incubus loads our breast when he
+torments us. The other one seemed to fly, but I did not see its wings.
+That side-building must be where the Gaul lives with his ungodly wife,
+who has ensnared my poor Hermas. I wonder whether she is really so
+beautiful! But what can a youth who has grown up among rocks and caves
+know of the charms of women. He would, of course, think the first who
+looked kindly at him the most enchanting of her sex. Besides she is
+fair, and therefore a rare bird among the sunburnt bipeds of the desert.
+The centurion surely cannot have found the sheepskin or all would not
+be so still here; once since I have been here an ass has brayed, once a
+camel has groaned, and now already the first cock is crowing; but not
+a sound have I heard from human lips, not even a snore from the stout
+senator or his buxom wife Dorothea, and it would be strange indeed if
+they did not both snore."
+
+He rose, went up to the window of Phoebicius dwelling, and listened at
+the half open shutters, but all was still.
+
+An hour ago Miriam had been listening under Sirona's room; after
+betraying her to Phoebicius she had followed him at a distance, and had
+slipped back into the court-yard through the stables; she felt that she
+must learn what was happening within, and what fate had befallen Hermas
+and Sirona at the hands of the infuriated Gaul. She was prepared for
+anything, and the thought that the centurion might have killed them both
+with the sword filled her with bitter-sweet satisfaction. Then, seeing
+the light through the crack between the partly open wooden shutters, she
+softly pushed them farther apart, and, resting her bare feet against the
+wall, she raised herself to look in.
+
+She saw Sirona sitting up upon her couch, and opposite to her the Gaul
+with pale distorted features; at his feet lay the sheepskin; in his
+right hand he held the lamp, and its light fell on the paved floor in
+front of the bed, and was reflected in a large dark red pool.
+
+"That is blood," thought she, and she shuddered and closed her eyes.
+
+When she reopened them she saw Sirona's face with crimson cheeks, turned
+towards her husband; she was unhurt--but Hermas?
+
+"'That is his blood!" she thought with anguish, and a voice seemed to
+scream in her very heart, "I, his murderess, have shed it."
+
+Her hands lost their hold of the shutters, her feet touched the pavement
+of the yard, and, driven by her bitter anguish of soul, she fled out by
+the way she had come--out into the open and up to the mountain. She
+felt that rather would she defy the prowling panthers, the night-chill,
+hunger and thirst, than appear again before Dame Dorothea, the senator,
+and Marthana, with this guilt on her soul; and the flying Miriam was one
+of the goblin forms that had terrified Paulus.
+
+The patient anchorite sat down again on the stone seat. "The frost
+is really cruel," thought he, "and a very good thing is such a woolly
+sheepskin; but the Saviour endured far other sufferings than these, and
+for what did I quit the world but to imitate Him, and to endure to the
+end here that I may win the joys of the other world. There, where angels
+soar, man will need no wretched ram's fell, and this time certainly
+selfishness has been far from me, for I really and truly suffer for
+another--I am freezing for Hermas, and to spare the old man pain. I
+would it were even colder! Nay, I will never, absolutely never again lay
+a sheepskin over my shoulders."
+
+Paulus nodded his head as if to signify assent to his own resolve;
+but presently he looked graver, for again it seemed to him that he was
+walking in a wrong path.
+
+"Aye! Man achieves a handful of good, and forthwith his heart swells
+with a camel-load of pride. What though my teeth are chattering, I am
+none the less a most miserable creature. How it tickled my vanity, in
+spite of all my meditations and scruples, when they came from Raithu and
+offered me the office of elder; I felt more triumphant the first time
+I won with the quadriga, but I was scarcely more puffed up with pride
+then, than I was yesterday. How many who think to follow the Lord
+strive only to be exalted as He is; they keep well out of the way of His
+abasement. Thou, O Thou Most High, art my witness that I earnestly seek
+it, but so soon as the thorns tear my flesh the drops of blood turn to
+roses, and if I put them aside, others come and still fling garlands in
+my way. I verily believe that it is as hard here on earth to find pain
+without pleasure, as pleasure without pain."
+
+While thus he meditated his teeth chattered with cold, but suddenly
+his reflections were interrupted, for the dogs set up a loud barking.
+Phoebicius was knocking at the senator's door.
+
+Paulus rose at once, and approached the gate-way. He could hear
+every word that was spoken in the court-yard; the deep voice was the
+senator's, the high sharp tones must be the centurion's.
+
+Phoebicius was demanding his wife back from Petrus, as she had hidden in
+his house, while Petrus positively declared that Sirona had not crossed
+his threshold since the morning of the previous day.
+
+In spite of the vehement and indignant tones in which his lodger spoke,
+the senator remained perfectly calm, and presently went away to ask his
+wife whether she by chance, while he was asleep, had opened the house to
+the missing woman. Paulus heard the soldier's steps as he paced up and
+down the court-yard, but they soon ceased, for Dame Dorothea appeared
+at the door with her husband, and on her part emphatically declared that
+she knew nothing of Sirona.
+
+"Your son Polykarp then," interrupted Phoebicius, "will be better
+informed of her whereabouts."
+
+"My son has been since yesterday at Raithu on business," said Petrus
+resolutely but evasively; "we expect him home to-day only."
+
+"It would seem that he has been quick, and has returned much sooner,"
+retorted Phoebicius. "Our preparations for sacrificing on the mountain
+were no secret, and the absence of the master of the house is the
+opportunity for thieves to break in--above all, for lovers who throw
+roses into their ladies' windows. You Christians boast that you regard
+the marriage tie as sacred, but it seems to me that you apply the rule
+only to your fellow-believers. Your sons may make free to take their
+pleasure among the wives of the heathen; it only remains to be proved
+whether the heathen husbands will be trifled with or not. So far as I am
+concerned, I am inclined for anything rather than jesting. I would have
+you to understand that I will never let Caesar's uniform, which I wear,
+be stained by disgrace, and that I am minded to search your house, and
+if I find my undutiful wife and your son within its walls, I will carry
+them and you before the judge, and sue for my rights."
+
+"You will seek in vain," replied Petrus, commanding himself with
+difficulty. "My word is yea or nay, and I repeat once more no, we
+harbor neither her nor him. As for Dorothea and myself--neither of us
+is inclined to interfere in your concerns, but neither will we permit
+another--be he whom he may--to interfere in ours. This threshold shall
+never be crossed by any but those to whom I grant permission, or by the
+emperor's judge, to whom I must yield. You, I forbid to enter. Sirona is
+not here, and you would do better to seek her elsewhere than to fritter
+away your time here."
+
+"I do not require your advice!" cried the centurion wrathfully.
+
+"And I," retorted Petrus, "do not feel myself called upon to arrange
+your matrimonial difficulties. Besides you can get back Sirona without
+our help, for it is always more difficult to keep a wife safe in the
+house, than to fetch her back when she has run away."
+
+"You shall learn whom you have to deal with!" threatened the centurion,
+and he threw a glance round at the slaves, who had collected in the
+court, and who had been joined by the senator's eldest son. "I shall
+call my people together at once, and if you have the seducer among you
+we will intercept his escape."
+
+"Only wait an hour," said Dorothea, now taking up the word, while she
+gently touched her husband's hand, for his self-control was almost
+exhausted, "I and you will see Polykarp ride home on his father's horse.
+Is it only from the roses that my son threw into your wife's window,
+that you suppose him to be her seducer--she plays so kindly with all
+his brothers and sisters--or are there other reasons, which move you to
+insult and hurt us with so heavy an accusation?"
+
+Often when wrathful men threaten to meet with an explosion, like black
+thunder-clouds, a word from the mouth of a sensible woman gives them
+pause, and restrains them like a breath of soft wind.
+
+Phoebicius had no mind to listen to any speech from Polykarp's mother,
+but her question suggested to him for the first time a rapid retrospect
+of all that had occurred, and he could not conceal from himself that his
+suspicions rested on weak grounds. And at the same time he now said to
+himself, that if indeed Sirona had fled into the desert instead of to
+the senator's house he was wasting time, and letting the start, which
+she had already gained, increase in a fatal degree.
+
+But few seconds were needed for these reflections, and as he was
+accustomed when need arose to control himself, he said:
+
+"We must see--some means must be found--" and then without any greeting
+to his host, he slowly returned to his own house. But he had not reached
+the door, when he heard hoofs on the road, and Petrus called after him,
+"Grant us a few minutes longer, for here comes Polykarp, and he can
+justify himself to you in his own person."
+
+The centurion paused, the senator signed to old Jethro to open the gate;
+a man was heard to spring from his saddle, but it was an Amalekite--and
+not Polykarp--who came into the court.
+
+"What news do you bring?" asked the senator, turning half to the
+messenger and half to the centurion. "My lord Polykarp, your son,"
+replied the Amalekite--a dark brown man of ripe years with supple limbs,
+and a sharp tongue--"sends his greetings to you and to the mistress, and
+would have you to know that before mid-day he will arrive at home with
+eight workmen, whom he has engaged in Raithu. Dame Dorothea must be good
+enough to make ready for them all and to prepare a meal."
+
+"When did you part from my son?" inquired Petrus.
+
+"Two hours before sundown."
+
+Petrus heaved a sigh of relief, for he had not till now been perfectly
+convinced of his son's innocence; but, far from triumphing or making
+Phoebicius feel the injustice he had done him, he said kindly--for he
+felt some sympathy with the Gaul in his misfortune:
+
+"I wish the messenger could also give some news of your wife's retreat;
+she found it hard to accommodate herself to the dull life here in the
+oasis, perhaps she has only disappeared in order to seek a town which
+may offer more variety to such a beautiful young creature than this
+quiet spot in the desert."
+
+Phoebicius waved his hand with a negative movement, implying that he
+knew better, and said, "I will show you what your nice night-bird left
+in my nest. It may be that you can tell me to whom it belongs."
+
+Just as he hastily stepped across the court-yard to his own dwelling
+Paulus entered by the now open gate; he greeted the senator and his
+family, and offered Petrus the key of the church.
+
+The sun meanwhile had risen, and the Alexandrian blushed to show himself
+in Dame Dorothea's presence in his short and ragged under-garment, which
+was quite inefficient to cover the still athletic mould of his limbs.
+Petrus had heard nothing but good of Paulus, and yet he measured him
+now with no friendly eye, for all that wore the aspect of extravagance
+repelled his temperate and methodical nature. Paulus was made conscious
+of what was passing in the senator's mind when, without vouchsafing
+a single word, he took the key from his hand. It was not a matter of
+indifference to him, that this man should think ill of him, and he said,
+with some embarrassment:
+
+"We do not usually go among people without a sheepskin, but I have lost
+mine."
+
+Hardly had he uttered the words, when Phoebicius came back with Hermas'
+sheepskin in his hand, and cried out to Petrus:
+
+"This I found on my return home, in our sleeping-room."
+
+"And when have you ever seen Polykarp in such a mantle?" asked Dorothea.
+
+"When the gods visit the daughters of men," replied the centurion, "they
+have always made choice of strange disguises. Why should not a perfumed
+Alexandrian gentleman transform himself for once into one of those rough
+fools on the mountain? However, even old Homer sometimes nodded--and I
+confess that I was in error with regard to your son. I meant no offence,
+senator! You have lived here longer than I; who can have made me a
+present of this skin, which still seems to be pretty new--horns and
+all."
+
+Petrus examined and felt the skin, "This is an anchorite's garment," he
+said; "the penitents on the mountain are all accustomed to wear such."
+
+"It is one of those rascals then that has found his way into my house!"
+exclaimed the centurion. "I bear Caesar's commission, and I am to
+exterminate ill vagabonds that trouble the dwellers in the oasis, or
+travellers in the desert. Thus run the orders which I brought with me
+from Rome. I will drive the low fellows together like deer for hunting,
+for they are all rogues and villains, and I shall know how to torture
+them until I find the right one."
+
+"The emperor will ill-requite you for that," replied Petrus. "They are
+pious Christians, and you know that Constantine himself--"
+
+"Constantine!" exclaimed the centurion scornfully. "Perhaps he will let
+himself be baptized, for water can hurt no one, and he cannot, like the
+great Diocletian, exterminate the masses who run after the crucified
+miracle-monger, without depopulating the country. Look at these coins;
+here is the image of Caesar, and what is this on the other side? Is this
+your Nazarene, or is it the old god, the immortal and invincible sun?
+And is that man one of your creed, who in Constantinople adores Tyche
+and the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux? The water he is baptized with to-day
+he will wipe away to-morrow, and the old gods will be his defenders, if
+in more peaceful times he maintains them against your superstitions."
+
+"But it will be a good while till then," said Perrus coolly. "For the
+present, at least, Constantine is the protector of the Christians. I
+advise you to put your affair into the hands of Bishop Agapitus."
+
+"That he may serve me up a dish of your doctrine, which is bad even for
+women," said the centurion laughing; "and that I may kiss my enemies'
+feet? They are a vile rabble up there, I repeat it, and they shall be
+treated as such till I have found my man. I shall begin the hunt this
+very day."
+
+"And this very day you may end it, for the sheepskin is mine."
+
+It was Paulus who spoke these words in a loud and decided tone; all eyes
+were at once turned on him and on the centurion.
+
+Petrus and the slaves had frequently seen the anchorite, but never
+without a sheepskin similar to that which Phoebicius held in his hand.
+The anchorite's self-accusation must have appeared incredible, and
+indeed scarcely possible, to all who knew Paulus and Sirona; and
+nevertheless no one, not even the senator, doubted it for an instant.
+Dame Dorothea only shook her head incredulously, and though she could
+find no explanation for the occurrence, she still could not but say to
+herself, that this man did not look like a lover, and that Sirona would
+hardly have forgotten her duty for his sake. She could not indeed bring
+herself to believe in Sirona's guilt at all, for she was heartily well
+disposed towards her; besides--though it, no doubt, was not right--her
+motherly vanity inclined her to believe that if the handsome young
+woman had indeed sinned, she would have preferred her fine tall
+Polykarp--whose roses and flaming glances she blamed in all
+sincerity--to this shaggy, wild-looking graybeard.
+
+Quite otherwise thought the centurion. He was quite ready to believe
+in the anchorite's confession, for the more unworthy the man for whom
+Sirona had broken faith, the greater seemed her guilt, and the more
+unpardonable her levity; and to his man's vanity it seemed to him
+easier--particularly in the presence of such witnesses as Petrus and
+Dorothea--to bear the fact that his wife should have sought variety
+and pleasure at any cost, even at that of devoting herself to a ragged
+beggar, than that she should have given her affections to a younger,
+handsomer, and worthier man than himself. He had sinned much against
+her, but all that lay like feathers on his side of the scales, while
+that which she had done weighed down hers like a load of lead. He began
+to feel like a man who, in wading through a bog, has gained firm ground
+with one foot, and all these feelings gave him energy to walk up to the
+anchorite with a self-control, of which he was not generally master,
+excepting when on duty at the head of his soldiers.
+
+He approached the Alexandrian with an assumption of dignity and a
+demeanor which testified to his formerly having taken part in the
+representations of tragedies in the theatres of great cities. Paulus,
+on his part, did not retreat by a single step, but looked at him with
+a smile that alarmed Petrus and the rest of the bystanders. The law put
+the anchorite absolutely into the power of the outraged husband, but
+Phoebicius did not seem disposed to avail himself of his rights, and
+nothing but contempt and loathing were perceptible in his tone, as he
+said:
+
+"A man who takes hold of a mangy dog in order to punish him, only
+dirties his hand. The woman who betrayed me for your sake, and you--you
+dirty beggar--are worthy of each other. I could crush you like a fly
+that can be destroyed by a blow of my hand if I chose, but my sword
+is Caesar's, and shall never be soiled by such foul blood as yours;
+however, the beast shall not have cast off his skin for nothing, it is
+thick, and so you have only spared me the trouble of tearing it off you
+before giving you your due. You shall find no lack of blows. Confess
+where your sweetheart has fled to and they shall be few, but if you are
+slow to answer they will be many. Lend me that thing there, fellow!"
+
+With these words he took a whip of hippopotamus hide out of a
+camel-driver's band, went close up to the Alexandrian, and asked: "Where
+is Sirona?"
+
+"Nay, you may beat me," said Paulus. "However hard your whip may fall on
+me, it cannot be heavy enough for my sins; but as to where your wife is
+hiding, that I really cannot tell you--not even if you were to tear my
+limbs with pincers instead of stroking me with that wretched thing."
+
+There was something so genuinely honest in Paulus' voice and tone, that
+the centurion was inclined to believe him; but it was not his way to
+let a threatened punishment fail of execution, and this strange beggar
+should learn by experience that when his hand intended to hit hard, it
+was far from "stroking." And Paulus did experience it, without uttering
+a cry, and without stirring from the spot where he stood.
+
+When at last Phoebicius dropped his weary arm and breathlessly repeated
+his question, the ill-used man replied, "I told you before I do not
+know, and therefore I cannot reveal it."
+
+Up to this moment Petrus, though he had felt strongly impelled to rush
+to the rescue of his severely handled fellow-believer, had nevertheless
+allowed the injured husband to have his way, for he seemed disposed
+to act with unusual mildness, and the Alexandrian to be worthy of all
+punishment; but at this point Dorothea's request would not have been
+needed to prompt him to interfere.
+
+He went up to the centurion, and said to him in an undertone, "You have
+given the evil-doer his due, and if you desire that he should undergo
+a severer punishment than you can inflict, carry the matter--I say once
+more--before the bishop. You will gain nothing more here. Take my word
+for it, I know the man and his fellow-men; he actually knows nothing
+of where your wife is hiding, and you are only wasting the time and
+strength which you would do better to save, in order to search for
+Sirona. I fancy she will have tried to reach the sea, and to get to
+Egypt or possibly to Alexandria; and there--you know what the Greek city
+is--she will fall into utter ruin."
+
+"And so," laughed the Gaul, "find what she seeks--variety, and every
+kind of pleasure. For a young thing like that, who loves amusement,
+there is no pleasant occupation but vice. But I will spoil her game; you
+are right, it is not well to give her too long a start. If she has found
+the road to the sea, she may already--Hey, here Talib!" He beckoned to
+Polykarp's Amalekite messenger. "You have just come from Raithu; did you
+meet a flying woman on the way, with yellow hair and a white face?"
+
+The Amalekite, a free man with sharp eyes, who was highly esteemed in
+the senator's house, and even by Phoebicius himself, as a trustworthy
+and steady man, had expected this question, and eagerly replied:
+
+"At two stadia beyond el Heswe I met a large caravan from Petra, which
+rested yesterday in the oasis here; a woman, such as you describe, was
+running with it. When I heard what had happened here I wanted to speak,
+but who listens to a cricket while it thunders?"
+
+"Had she a lame greyhound with her?" asked Phoebicius, full of
+expectation.
+
+"She carried something in her arms," answered the Amalekite. "In the
+moonlight I took it for a baby. My brother, who was escorting the
+caravan, told me the lady was no doubt running away, for she had
+paid the charge for the escort not in ready money, but with a gold
+signet-ring."
+
+The Gaul remembered a certain gold ring with a finely carved onyx, which
+long years ago he had taken from Glycera's finger, for she had another
+one like it, and which he had given to Sirona on the day of their
+marriage.
+
+"It is strange!" thought he, "what we give to women to bind them to us
+they use as weapons to turn against us, be it to please some other
+man, or to smooth the path by which they escape from us. It was with a
+bracelet of Glycera's that I paid the captain of the ship that brought
+us to Alexandria; but the soft-hearted fool, whose dove flew after me,
+and I are men of a different stamp; I will follow my flown bird, and
+catch it again." He spoke the last words aloud, and then desired one of
+the senator's slaves to give his mule a good feed and drink, for his own
+groom, and the superior decurion who during his absence must take his
+place, were also worshippers of Mithras, and had not yet returned from
+the mountain.
+
+Phoebicius did not doubt that the woman who had joined the
+caravan--which he himself had seen yesterday--was his fugitive wife, and
+he knew that his delay might have reduced his earnest wish to overtake
+her and punish her to the remotest probability; but he was a Roman
+soldier, and would rather have laid violent hands on himself than have
+left his post without a deputy. When at last his fellow-worshippers came
+from their sacrifice and worship of the rising sun, his preparations for
+his long journey were completed.
+
+Phoebicius carefully impressed on the decurion all he had to do during
+his absence, and how he was to conduct himself; then he delivered the
+key of his house into Petrus' keeping as well as the black slave-woman,
+who wept loudly and passionately over the flight of her mistress; he
+requested the senator to bring the anchorite's misdeed to the knowledge
+of the bishop, and then, guided by the Amalekite Talib, who rode before
+him on his dromedary, he trotted hastily away in pursuit of the caravan,
+so as to reach the sea, if possible, before its embarkation.
+
+As the hoofs of the mule sounded fainter and fainter in the distance,
+Paulus also quitted the senator's courtyard; Dorothea pointed after him
+as he walked towards the mountain. "In truth, husband," said she, "this
+has been a strange morning; everything that has occurred looks as clear
+as day, and yet I cannot understand it all. My heart aches when I think
+what may happen to the wretched Sirona if her enraged husband overtakes
+her. It seems to me that there are two sorts of marriage; one was
+instituted by the most loving of the angels, nay, by the All-merciful
+Himself, but the other it is not to be thought of! How can those two
+live together for the future? And that under our roof! Their closed
+house looks to me as though ruined and burnt-out, and we have already
+seen the nettles spring up which grow everywhere among the ruins of
+human dwellings."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+The path of every star is fixed and limited, every plant bears flowers
+and fruit which in form and color exactly resemble their kind, and in
+all the fundamental characteristics of their qualities and dispositions,
+of their instinctive bent and external impulse, all animals of the same
+species resemble each other; thus, the hunter who knows the red-deer in
+his father's forest, may know in every forest on earth how the stag will
+behave in any given case. The better a genus is fitted for variability
+in the conformation of its individuals, the higher is the rank it
+is entitled to hold in the graduated series of creatures capable of
+development; and it is precisely that wonderful many-sidedness of his
+inner life, and of its outward manifestation, which assigns to man his
+superiority over all other animated beings.
+
+Some few of our qualities and activities can be fitly symbolized in
+allegorical fashion by animals; thus, courage finds an emblem in the
+lion, gentleness in the dove, but the perfect human form has satisfied
+a thousand generations, and will satisfy a thousand more, when we desire
+to reduce the divinity to a sensible image, for, in truth, our heart
+is as surely capable of comprehending "God in us,"--that is in our
+feelings--as our intellect is capable of comprehending His outward
+manifestation in the universe.
+
+Every characteristic of every finite being is to be found again in man,
+and no characteristic that we can attribute to the Most High is foreign
+to our own soul, which, in like manner, is infinite and immeasurable,
+for it can extend its investigating feelers to the very utmost boundary
+of space and time. Hence, the roads which are open to the soul, are
+numberless as those of the divinity. Often they seem strange, but the
+initiated very well know that these roads are in accordance to fixed
+laws, and that even the most exceptional emotions of the soul may be
+traced back to causes which were capable of giving rise to them and to
+no others.
+
+Blows hurt, disgrace is a burden, and unjust punishment embitters the
+heart, but Paulus' soul had sought and found a way to which these simple
+propositions did not apply.
+
+He had been ill-used and contemned, and, though perfectly innocent, ere
+he left the oasis he was condemned to the severest penance. As soon as
+the bishop had heard from Petrus of all that had happened in his
+house, he had sent for Paulus, and as he could answer nothing to the
+accusation, he had expelled him from his flock--to which the anchorites
+belonged--forbidden him to visit the church on week-days, and declared
+that this his sentence should be publicly proclaimed before the
+assembled congregation of the believers.
+
+And how did this affect Paulus as he climbed the mountain, lonely and
+proscribed?
+
+A fisherman from the little seaport of Pharan, who met him half-way and
+exchanged a greeting with him, thought to himself as he looked after
+him, "The great graybeard looks as happy as if he had found a treasure."
+Then he walked on into the valley with his scaly wares, reminded, as he
+went, of his son's expression of face when his wife bore him his first
+little one.
+
+Near the watch-tower at the edge of the defile, a party of anchorites
+were piling some stones together. They had already heard of the bishop's
+sentence on Paulus, the sinner, and they gave him no greeting. He
+observed it and was silent, but when they could no longer see him
+he laughed to himself and muttered, while he rubbed a weal that the
+centurion's whip had left upon his back, "If they think that a Gaul's
+cudgel has a pleasant flavor they are mistaken, however I would not
+exchange it for a skin of Anthyllan wine; and if they could only know
+that at least one of the stripes which torments me is due to each one of
+themselves, they would be surprised! But away with pride! How they spat
+on Thee, Jesus my Lord, and who am I, and how mildly have they dealt
+with me, when I for once have taken on my back another's stripes. Not a
+drop of blood was drawn! I wish the old man had hit harder!"
+
+He walked cheerfully forward, and his mind recurred to the centurion's
+speech that he could if he list, "tread him down like a worm," and he
+laughed again softly, for he was quite aware that he was ten times
+as strong as Phoebicius, and formerly he had overthrown the braggart
+Arkesilaos of Kyrene and his cousin, the tall Xenophanes, both at once
+in the sand of the Palaestra. Then he thought of Hermas, of his sweet
+dead mother, and of his father, and--which was the most comforting
+thought of all--of how he had spared the old man this bitter sorrow.
+
+On his path there grew a little plant with a reddish blossom. In years
+he had never looked at a flower or, at any rate, had never wished to
+possess one; to-day he stooped down over the blossom that graced the
+rock, meaning to pluck it. But he did not carry out his intention, for
+before he had laid his hand upon it, he reflected:
+
+"To whom could I offer it? And perhaps the flowers themselves rejoice in
+the light, and in the silent life that is in their roots. How tightly it
+clings to the rock. Farther away from the road flowers of even greater
+beauty blow, seen by no mortal eye; they deck themselves in beauty for
+no one but for their Creator, and because they rejoice in themselves. I
+too will withdraw from the highways of mankind; let them accuse me! So
+long as I live at peace with myself and my God I ask nothing of any one.
+He that abases himself--aye, he that abases himself!--My hour too shall
+come, and above and beyond this life I shall see them all once more;
+Petrus and Dorothea, Agapitus and the brethren who now refuse to receive
+me, and then, when my Saviour himself beckons me to Him, they will see
+me as I am, and hasten to me and greet me with double kindness."
+
+He looked up, proud and rejoicing as he thought thus, and painted to
+himself the joys of Paradise, to which this day he had earned an assured
+claim. He never took longer and swifter steps than when his mind was
+occupied with such meditations, and when he reached Stephanus' cave
+he thought the way from the oasis to the heights had been shorter than
+usual.
+
+He found the sick man in great anxiety, for he had waited until now for
+his son in vain, and feared that Hermas had met with some accident--or
+had abandoned him, and fled out into the world. Paulus soothed him with
+gentle words, and told him of the errand on which he had sent the lad to
+the farther coast of the sea.
+
+We are never better disposed to be satisfied with even bad news than
+when we have expected it to be much worse; so Stephanus listened to his
+friend's explanation quite calmly, and with signs of approval. He could
+no longer conceal from himself that Hermas was not ripe for the life of
+an anchorite, and since he had learned that his unhappy wife--whom he
+had so long given up for lost--had died a Christian, he found that he
+could reconcile his thoughts to relinquishing the boy to the world.
+He had devoted himself and his son to a life of penance, hoping and
+striving that so Glycera's soul might be snatched from damnation, and
+now he knew that she herself had earned her title to Heaven.
+
+"When will he come home again?" he asked Paulus.
+
+"In five or six days," was the answer. "Ali, the fisherman--out of whose
+foot I took a thorn some time since--informed me secretly, as I was
+going to church yesterday, that the Blemmyes are gathering behind the
+sulphur-mountains; when they have withdrawn, it will be high time to
+send Hermas to Alexandria. My brother is still alive, and for my sake he
+will receive him as a blood-relation, for he too has been baptized."
+
+"He may attend the school of catechumens in the metropolis, and if
+he--if he--"
+
+"That we shall see," interrupted Paulus. "For the present it comes to
+this, we must let him go from hence, and leave him to seek out his own
+way. You fancy that there may be in heaven a place of glory for such
+as have never been overcome, and you would fain have seen Hermas among
+them. It reminds me of the physician of Corinth, who boasted that he was
+cleverer than any of his colleagues, for that not one of his patients
+had ever died. And the man was right, for neither man nor beast had ever
+trusted to his healing arts. Let Hermas try his young strength, and even
+if he be no priest, but a valiant warrior like his forefathers, even so
+he may honestly serve God. But it will be a long time before all this
+comes to pass. So long as he is away I will attend on you--you still
+have some water in your jar?"
+
+"It has twice been filled for me," said the old man. "The brown
+shepherdess, who so often waters her goats at our spring, came to me
+the first thing in the morning and again about two hours ago; she asked
+after Hermas, and then offered of her own accord to fetch water for me
+so long as he was away. She is as timid as a bird, and flew off as soon
+as she had set down the jug."
+
+"She belongs to Petrus and cannot leave her goats for long," said
+Paulus. "Now I will go and find you some herbs for a relish; there will
+be no more wine in the first place. Look me in the face--for how great
+a sinner now do you take me? Think the very worst of me, and yet perhaps
+you will hear worse said of me. But here come two men. Stay! one is
+Hilarion, one of the bishop's acolytes, and the other is Pachomius the
+Memphite, who lately came to the mountain. They are coming up here, and
+the Egyptian is carrying a small jar. I would it might hold some more
+wine to keep up your strength."
+
+The two friends had not long to remain in ignorance of their visitor's
+purpose. So soon as they reached Stephanus' cave, both turned their
+backs on Paulus with conspicuously marked intention; nay the acolyte
+signed his brow with the cross, as if he thought it necessary to protect
+himself against evil influences.
+
+The Alexandrian understood; he drew back and was silent, while Hilarion
+explained to the sick man that Paulus was guilty of grave sins, and
+that, until he had done full penance, he must remain excluded as a
+rotten sheep from the bishop's flock, as well as interdicted from
+waiting on a pious Christian.
+
+"We know from Petrus," the speaker went on, "that your son, father, has
+been sent across the sea, and as you still need waiting on, Agapitus
+sends you by me his blessing and this strengthening wine; this youth
+too will stay by you, and provide you with all necessaries until Hermas
+comes home."
+
+With these words he gave the wine-jar to the old man, who looked in
+astonishment from him to Paulus, who felt indeed cut to the heart when
+the bishop's messenger turned to him for an instant, and with the cry,
+"Get thee out from among us!" disappeared. How many kindly ties, how
+many services willingly rendered and affectionately accepted were swept
+away by these words--but Paulus obeyed at once. He went up to his sick
+friend, their eyes met and each could see that the eyes of the other
+were dimmed with tears.
+
+"Paulus!" cried the old man, stretching out both his hands to his
+departing friend, whom he felt he could forgive whatever his guilt; but
+the Alexandrian did not take them, but turned away, and, without looking
+back, hastily went up the mountain to a pathless spot, and then on
+towards the valley--onwards and still onwards, till he was brought to a
+pause by the steep declivity of the hollow way which led southwards from
+the mountains into the oasis.
+
+The sun stood high and it was burning hot. Streaming with sweat and
+panting for breath he leaned against the glowing porphyry wall behind
+him, hid his face in his hands and strove to collect himself, to think,
+to pray--for a long time in vain; for instead of joy in the suffering
+which he had taken upon himself, the grief of isolation weighed upon his
+heart, and the lamentable cry of the old man had left a warning echo
+in his soul, and roused doubts of the righteousness of a deed, by which
+even the best and purest had been deceived, and led into injustice
+towards him. His heart was breaking with anguish and grief, but when
+at last he returned to the consciousness of his sufferings physical and
+mental, he began to recover his courage, and even smiled as he murmured
+to himself:
+
+"It is well, it is well--the more I suffer the more surely shall I find
+grace. And besides, if the old man had seen Hermas go through what I
+have experienced it would undoubtedly have killed him. Certainly I wish
+it could have been done without--without--aye, it is even so--without
+deceit; even when I was a heathen I was truthful and held a lie, whether
+in myself or in another, in as deep horror as father Abraham held
+murder, and yet when the Lord required him, he led his son Isaac to the
+slaughter. And Moses when he beat the overseer--and Elias, and Deborah,
+and Judith. I have taken upon myself no less than they, but my lie will
+surely be forgiven me, if it is not reckoned against them that they shed
+blood."
+
+These and such reflections restored Paulus to equanimity and to
+satisfaction with his conduct, and he began to consider, whether he
+should return to his old cave and the neighborhood of Stephanus, or seek
+for a new abode. He decided on the latter course; but first he must find
+fresh water and some sort of nourishment; for his mouth and tongue were
+quite parched.
+
+Lower down in the valley sprang a brooklet of which he knew, and hard
+by it grew various herbs and roots, with which he had often allayed his
+hunger. He followed the declivity to its base, then turning to the left,
+he crossed a small table land, which was easily accessible from the
+gorge, but which on the side of the oasis formed a perpendicular cliff
+many fathoms deep. Between it and the main mass of the mountain rose
+numerous single peaks, like a camp of granite tents, or a wildly tossing
+sea suddenly turned to stone; behind these blocks ran the streamlet,
+which he found after a short search.
+
+Perfectly refreshed, and with renewed resolve to bear the worst with
+patience, he returned to the plateau, and from the edge of the precipice
+he gazed down into the desert gorge that stretched away far below
+his feet, and in whose deepest and remotest hollow the palmgroves and
+tamarisk-thickets of the oasis showed as a sharply defined mass of
+green, like a luxuriant wreath flung upon a bier. The whitewashed roofs
+of the little town of Pharan shone brightly among the branches and
+clumps of verdure, and above them all rose the new church, which he was
+now forbidden to enter. For a moment the thought was keenly painful that
+he was excluded from the devotions of the community, from the Lord's
+supper and from congregational prayer, but then he asked, was not every
+block of stone on the mountain an altar--was not the blue sky above a
+thousand times wider, and more splendid than the mightiest dome raised
+by the hand of man, not even excepting the vaulted roof of the Serapeum
+at Alexandria, and he remembered the "Amen" of the stones, that had
+rung out after the preaching of the blind man. By this time he had quite
+recovered himself, and he went towards the cliff in order to find
+a cavern that he knew of, and that was empty--for its gray-headed
+inhabitant had died some weeks since. "Verily," thought he, "it seems to
+me that I am by no means weighed down by the burden of my disgrace, but,
+on the contrary, lifted up. Here at least I need not cast down my eyes,
+for I am alone with my God, and in his presence I feel I need not be
+ashamed."
+
+Thus meditating, he pressed on through a narrow space, which divided two
+huge masses of porphyry, but suddenly he stood still, for he heard the
+barking of a dog in his immediate neighborhood, and a few minutes after
+a greyhound rushed towards him--now indignantly flying at him, and
+now timidly retreating--while it carefully held up one leg, which was
+wrapped in a many-colored bandage.
+
+Paulus recollected the enquiry which Phoebicius lead addressed to the
+Amalekite as to a greyhound, and he immediately guessed that the Gaul's
+runaway wife must be not far off. His heart beat more quickly, and
+although he did not immediately know how he should meet the disloyal
+wife, he felt himself impelled to go to seek her. Without delay he
+followed the way by which the dog had come, and soon caught sight of a
+light garment, which vanished behind the nearest rock, and then behind a
+farther, and yet a farther one.
+
+At last he came up with the fleeing woman. She was standing at the very
+edge of a precipice, that rose high and sheer above the abyss--a strange
+and fearful sight; her long golden hair had got tangled, and waved over
+her bosom and shoulders, half plaited, half undone. Only one foot was
+firm on the ground; the other-with its thin sandal all torn by the sharp
+stones--was stretched out over the abyss, ready for the next fatal step.
+At the next instant she might disappear over the cliff, for though with
+her right hand she held on to a point of rock, Paulus could see that the
+boulder had no connection with the rock on which she stood, and rocked
+too and fro.
+
+She hung over the edge of the chasm like a sleepwalker, or a possessed
+creature pursued by demons, and at the same time her eyes glistened with
+such wild madness, and she drew her breath with such feverish rapidity
+that Paulus, who had come close up to her, involuntarily drew back. He
+saw that her lips moved, and though he could not understand what she
+said, he felt that her voiceless utterance was to warn him back.
+
+What should he do? If he hurried forward to save her by a hasty grip,
+and if this manoeuvre failed, she would fling herself irredeemably into
+the abyss: if he left her to herself, the stone to which she clung would
+get looser and looser, and as soon as it fell she would certainly
+fall too. He had once heard it said, that sleep-walkers always threw
+themselves down when they heard their names spoken; this statement now
+recurred to his mind, and he forbore from calling out to her.
+
+Once more the unhappy woman waved him off; his very heart stopped
+beating, for her movements were wild and vehement, and he could see that
+the stone which she was holding on by shifted its place. He understood
+nothing of all the words which she tried to say--for her voice, which
+only yesterday had been so sweet, to-day was inaudibly hoarse--except
+the one name "Phoebicius," and he felt no doubt that she clung to the
+stone over the abyss, so that, like the mountain-goat when it sees
+itself surprised by the hunter, she might fling herself into the depth
+below rather than be taken by her pursuer. Paulus saw in her neither her
+guilt nor her beauty, but only a child of man trembling on the brink
+of a fearful danger whom he must save from death at any cost; and the
+thought that he was at any rate not a spy sent in pursuit of her by
+her husband, suggested to him the first words which he found courage to
+address to the desperate woman. They were simple words enough, but they
+were spoken in a tone which fully expressed the childlike amiability of
+his warm heart, and the Alexandrian, who had been brought up in the most
+approved school of the city of orators, involuntarily uttered his words
+in the admirably rich and soft chest voice, which he so well knew how to
+use.
+
+"Be thankful," said he, "poor dear woman--I have found you in a
+fortunate hour. I am Paulus, Hermas' best friend, and I would willingly
+serve you in your sore need. No danger is now threatening you, for
+Phoebicius is seeking you on a wrong road; you may trust me. Look at
+me! I do not look as if I could betray a poor erring woman. But you are
+standing on a spot, where I would rather see my enemy than you; lay your
+hand confidently in mine--it is no longer white and slender, but it is
+strong and honest--grant me this request and you will never rue it! See,
+place your foot here, and take care how you leave go of the rock there.
+You know not how suspiciously it shook its head over your strange
+confidence in it. Take care! there--your support has rolled over into
+the abyss! how it crashes and splits. It has reached the bottom, smashed
+into a thousand pieces, and I am thankful that you preferred to follow
+me rather than that false support." While Paulus was speaking he had
+gone up to Sirona, as a girl whose bird has escaped from its cage, and
+who creeps up to it with timid care in the hope of recapturing it; he
+offered her his hand, and as soon as he felt hers in his grasp, he had
+carefully rescued her from her fearful position, and had led her down
+to a secure footing on the plateau. So long as she followed him
+unresistingly he led her on towards the mountain--without aim or fixed
+destination--but away, away from the abyss.
+
+She paused by a square block of diorite, and Paulus, who had not failed
+to observe how heavy her steps were, desired her to sit down; he pushed
+up a flag of stone, which he propped with smaller ones, so that Sirona
+might not lack a support for her weary back. When he had accomplished
+this, Sirona leaned back against the stone, and something of dawning
+satisfaction was audible in the soft sigh, which was the first sound
+that had escaped her tightly closed lips since her rescue. Paulus smiled
+at her encouragingly, and said, "Now rest a little, I see what you want;
+one cannot defy the heat of the sun for a whole day with impunity."
+
+Sirona nodded, pointed to her mouth, and implored wearily and very
+softly for "water, a little water." Paulus struck his hand against
+his forehead, and cried eagerly, "Directly--I will bring you a fresh
+draught. In a few minutes I will be back again."
+
+Sirona looked after him as he hastened away. Her gaze became more and
+more staring and glazed, and she felt as if the rock, on which she was
+sitting, were changing into the ship which had brought her from Massilia
+to Ostia. Every heaving motion of the vessel, which had made her so
+giddy as it danced over the shifting waves, she now distinctly felt
+again, and at last it seemed as if a whirlpool had seized the ship,
+and was whirling it round faster and faster in a circle. She closed her
+eyes, felt vaguely and in vain in the air for some holdfast, her head
+fell powerless on one side, and before her cheek sank upon her shoulder
+she uttered one feeble cry of distress, for she felt as if all her limbs
+were dropping from her body, as leaves in autumn fall from the boughs,
+and she fell back unconscious on the stony couch which Paulus had
+constructed for her.
+
+It was the first swoon that Sirona, with her sound physical and mental
+powers, had ever experienced; but the strongest of her sex would have
+been overcome by the excitement, the efforts, the privations, and the
+sufferings which had that day befallen the unfortunate fair one.
+
+At first she had fled without any plan out into the night and up the
+mountain; the moon lighted her on her way, and for fully an hour she
+continued her upward road without any rest. Then she heard the voices of
+travellers who were coming towards her, and she left the beaten road and
+tried to get away from them, for she feared that her greyhound, which
+she still carried' on her arm, would betray her by barking, or if they
+heard it whining, and saw it limp. At last she had sunk down on a stone,
+and had reflected on all the events of the last few hours, and on what
+she had to do next. She could look back dreamily on the past, and build
+castles in the air in a blue-skyed future-this was easy enough; but she
+did not find it easy to reflect with due deliberation, and to think in
+earnest. Only one thing was perfectly clear to her: she would rather
+starve and die of thirst, and shame, and misery-nay, she would rather
+be the instrument of her own death, than return to her husband. She
+knew that she must in the first instance expect ill-usage, scorn, and
+imprisonment in a dark room at the Gaul's hands; but all that seemed to
+her far more endurable than the tenderness with which he from time
+to time approached her. When she thought of that, she shuddered and
+clenched her white teeth, and doubled her fists so tightly that her
+nails cut the flesh. But what was she to do? If Hermas were to meet her?
+And yet what help could she look for from him, for what was he but a
+mere lad, and the thought of linking her life to his, if only for a day,
+appeared to her foolish and ridiculous.
+
+Certainly she felt no inclination to repent or to blame herself; still
+it had been a great folly on her part to call him into the house for the
+sake of amusing herself with him.
+
+Then she recollected the severe punishment she had once suffered,
+because, when she was still quite little, and without meaning any harm,
+she had taken her father's water-clock to pieces, and had spoiled it.
+
+She felt that she was very superior to Hermas, and her position was now
+too grave a one for her to feel inclined to play any more. She thought
+indeed of Petrus and Dorothea, but she could only reach them by going
+back to the oasis, and then she feared to be discovered by Phoebicius.
+
+If Polykarp now could only meet her on his way back from Raithu; but the
+road she had just quitted did not lead from thence, but to the gate-way
+that lay more to the southwards.
+
+The senator's son loved her--of that she was sure, for no one else
+had ever looked into her eyes with such deep delight, or such tender
+affection; and he was no inexperienced boy, but a right earnest man,
+whose busy and useful life now appeared to her in a quite different
+light to that in which she had seen it formerly. How willingly now would
+she have allowed herself to be supported and guided by Polykarp! But how
+could she reach him? No--even from him there was nothing to be expected;
+she must rely upon her own strength, and she decided that so soon as the
+morning should blush, and the sun begin to mount in the cloudless sky,
+she would keep herself concealed during the day, among the mountains,
+and then as evening came on, she would go down to the sea, and endeavor
+to get on board a vessel to Klysma and thence reach Alexandria. She wore
+a ring with a finely cut onyx on her finger, elegant ear-rings in her
+ears, and on her left arm a bracelet. These jewels were of virgin gold,
+and besides these she had with her a few silver coins and one large gold
+piece, that her father had given her as token out of his small store,
+when she had quitted him for Rome, and that she had hitherto preserved
+as carefully as if it were a talisman.
+
+She pressed the token, which was sewn into a little bag, to her lips,
+and thought of her paternal home, and her brothers and sisters.
+
+Meanwhile the sun mounted higher and higher: she wandered from rock to
+rock in search of a shady spot and a spring of water, but none was to be
+found, and she was tormented with violent thirst and aching hunger.
+By mid-day the strips of shade too had vanished, where she had found
+shelter from the rays of the sun, which now beat down unmercifully on
+her un protected head. Her forehead and neck began to tingle violently,
+and she fled before the burning beams like a soldier before the shafts
+of his pursuer. Behind the rocks which hemmed in the plateau on which
+Paulus met her, at last, when she was quite exhausted, she found a shady
+resting-place. The greyhound lay panting in her lap, and held up its
+broken paw, which she had carefully bound up in the morning when she had
+first sat down to rest, with a strip of stuff that she had torn with the
+help of her teeth from her under-garment. She now bound it up afresh,
+and nursed the little creature, caressing it like an infant. The dog was
+as wretched and suffering as herself, and besides it was the only being
+that, in spite of her helplessness, she could cherish and be dear to.
+But ere long she lost the power even to speak caressing words or to stir
+a hand to stroke the dog. It slipped off her lap and limped away, while
+she sat staring blankly before her, and at last forgot her sufferings
+in an uneasy slumber, till she was roused by Iambe's barking and the
+Alexandrian's footstep. Almost half-dead, her mouth parched and brain
+on fire, while her thoughts whirled in confusion, she believed that
+Phoebicius had found her track, and was come to seize her. She had
+already noted the deep precipice to the edge of which she now fled,
+fully resolved to fling herself over into the depths below, rather than
+to surrender herself prisoner.
+
+Paulus had rescued her from the fall, but now--as he came up to her with
+two pieces of stone which were slightly hollowed, so that he had been
+able to bring some fresh water in them, and which he held level with
+great difficulty, walking with the greatest care--he thought that
+inexorable death had only too soon returned to claim the victim he had
+snatched from him, for Sirona's head hung down upon her breast, her
+face was sunk towards her lap, and at the back of her head, where her
+abundant hair parted into two flowing tresses, Paulus observed on the
+snowy neck of the insensible woman a red spot which the sun must have
+burnt there.
+
+His whole soul was full of compassion for the young, fair, and unhappy
+creature, and, while he took hold of her chin, which had sunk on her
+bosom, lifted her white face, and moistened her forehead and lips with
+water, he softly prayed for her salvation.
+
+The shallow cavity of the stones only offered room for a very small
+quantity of the refreshing moisture, and so he was obliged to return
+several times to the spring. While he was away the dog remained by his
+mistress, and would now lick her hand, now put his sharp little nose
+close up to her mouth, and examine her with an anxious expression, as if
+to ascertain her state of health.
+
+When Paulus had gone the first time to fetch some water for Sirona
+he had found the dog by the side of the spring, and he could not help
+thinking, "The unreasoning brute has found the water without a guide
+while his mistress is dying of thirst. Which is the wiser--the man or
+the brute?" The little dog on his part strove to merit the anchorite's
+good feelings towards him, for, though at first he had barked at him,
+he now was very friendly to him, and looked him in the face from time to
+time as though to ask, "Do you think she will recover?"
+
+Paulus was fond of animals, and understood the little dog's language.
+When Sirona's lips began to move and to recover their rosy color, he
+stroked Iambe's smooth sharp head, and said, as he held a leaf that he
+had curled up to hold some water to Sirona's lips, "Look, little fellow,
+how she begins to enjoy it! A little more of this, and again a little
+more. She smacks her lips as if I were giving her sweet Falernian. I
+will go and fill the stone again; you stop here with her, I shall be
+back again directly, but before I return she will have opened her eyes;
+you are pleasanter to look upon than a shaggy old graybeard, and she
+will be better pleased to see you than me when she awakes." Paulus'
+prognosis was justified, for when he returned to Sirona with a fresh
+supply of water she was sitting upright; she rubbed her open eyes,
+stretched her limbs, clasped the greyhound in both arms, and burst into
+a violent flood of tears.
+
+The Alexandrian stood aside motionless, so as not to disturb her,
+thinking to himself:
+
+"These tears will wash away a large part of her suffering from her
+soul."
+
+When at last she was calmer, and began to dry her eyes, he went up to
+her, offered her the stone cup of water, and spoke to her kindly. She
+drank with eager satisfaction, and ate the last bit of bread that he
+could find in the pocket of his garment, soaking it in the water. She
+thanked him with the childlike sweetness that was peculiar to her, and
+then tried to rise, and willingly allowed him to support her. She was
+still very weary, and her head ached, but she could stand and walk.
+
+As soon as Paulus had satisfied himself that she had no symptoms Of
+fever, he said, "Now, for to-day, you want nothing more but a warm mess
+of food, and a bed sheltered from the night-chill; I will provide both.
+You sit down here; the rocks are already throwing long shadows, and
+before the sun disappears behind the mountain I will return. While I am
+away, your four-footed companion here will while away the time."
+
+He hastened down to the spring with quick steps; close to it was the
+abandoned cave which he had counted on inhabiting instead of his former
+dwelling. He found it after a short search, and in it, to his great joy,
+a well preserved bed of dried plants, which he soon shook up and relaid,
+a hearth, and wood proper for producing fire by friction, a water-jar,
+and in a cellar-like hole, whose opening was covered with stones and so
+concealed from any but a practised eye, there were some cakes of hard
+bread, and several pots. In one of these were some good dates, in
+another gleamed some white meal, a third was half full of sesame-oil,
+and a fourth held some salt.
+
+"How lucky it is," muttered the anchorite, as he quitted the cave, "that
+the old anchorite was such a glutton."
+
+By the time he returned to Sirona, the sun was going down.
+
+There was something in the nature and demeanor of Paulus, which made all
+distrust of him impossible, and Sirona was ready to follow him, but she
+felt so weak that she could scarcely support herself on her feet.
+
+"I feel," she said, "as if I were a little child, and must begin again
+to learn to walk."
+
+"Then let me be your nurse. I knew a Spartan dame once, who had a beard
+almost as rough as mine. Lean confidently on me, and before we go down
+the slope, we will go up and down the level here two or three times."
+She took his arm, and he led her slowly up and down.
+
+It vividly recalled a picture of the days of his youth, and he
+remembered a day when his sister, who was recovering from a severe
+attack of fever, was first allowed to go out into the open air. She had
+gone out, clinging to his arm into the peristyle of his father's house;
+as he walked backward and forwards with poor, weary, abandoned Sirona,
+his neglected figure seemed by degrees to assume the noble aspect of a
+high-born Greek; and instead of the rough, rocky soil, he felt as if
+he were treading the beautiful mosaic pavement of his father's court.
+Paulus was Menander again, and if there was little in the presence of
+the recluse, which could recall his identity with the old man he had
+trodden down, the despised anchorite felt, while the expelled and sinful
+woman leaned on his arm, the same proud sense of succoring a woman, as
+when he was the most distinguished youth of a metropolis, and when he
+had led forward the master's much courted daughter in the midst of a
+shouting troop of slaves.
+
+Sirona had to remind Paulus that night was coming on, and was startled,
+when the hermit removed her hand from his arm with ungentle haste, and
+called to her to follow him with a roughness that was quite new to him.
+She obeyed, and wherever it was necessary to climb over the rocks, he
+supported and lifted her, but he only spoke when she addressed him.
+
+When they had reached their destination, he showed her the bed, and
+begged her to keep awake, till he should have prepared a dish of warm
+food for her, and he shortly brought her a simple supper, and wished her
+a good night's rest, after she had taken it.
+
+Sirona shared the bread and the salted meal-porridge with her dog,
+and then lay down on the couch, where she sank at once into a deep,
+dreamless sleep, while Paulus passed the night sitting by the hearth.
+
+He strove to banish sleep by constant prayer, but fatigue frequently
+overcame him, and he could not help thinking of the Gaulish lady, and of
+the many things, which if only he were still the rich Menander, he would
+procure in Alexandria for her and for her comfort. Not one prayer could
+he bring to its due conclusion, for either his eyes closed before he
+came to the "Amen," or else worldly images crowded round him, and
+forced him to begin his devotions again from the beginning, when he
+had succeeded in recollecting himself. In this half-somnolent state he
+obtained not one moment of inward collectedness, of quiet reflection;
+not even when he gazed up at the starry heavens, or looked down on the
+oasis, veiled in night, where many others like himself were deserted by
+sleep. Which of the citizens could it be that was watching by that light
+which he saw glimmering down there in unwonted brightness?--till he
+himself, overpowered by fatigue, fell asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+The light in the town, which had attracted Paulus, was in Petrus'
+house, and burnt in Polykarp's room, which formed the whole of a small
+upper-story, which the senator had constructed for his son over the
+northern portion of the spacious flat roof of the main building. The
+young man had arrived about noon with the slaves he had just procured,
+had learned all that had happened in his absence, and had silently
+withdrawn into his own room after supper was ended. Here he still
+lingered over his work.
+
+A bed, a table on and under which lay a multitude of wax-tablets,
+papyrus-rolls, metal-points, and writing-reeds, with a small bench, on
+which stood a water-jar and basin, composed the furniture of this room;
+on its whitewashed walls hung several admirable carvings in relief, and
+figures of men and animals stood near them in long rows. In one corner,
+near a stone water-jar, lay a large, damp, shining mass of clay.
+
+Three lamps fastened to stands abundantly lighted this work-room, but
+chiefly a figure standing on a high trestle, which Polykarp's fingers
+were industriously moulding.
+
+Phoebicius had called the young sculptor a fop, and not altogether
+unjustly, for he loved to be well dressed and was choice as to the cut
+and color of his simple garments, and he rarely neglected to arrange his
+abundant hair with care, and to anoint it well; and yet it was almost
+indifferent to him, whether his appearance pleased other people or no,
+but he knew nothing nobler than the human form, and an instinct, which
+he did not attempt to check, impelled him to keep his own person as nice
+as he liked to see that of his neighbor.
+
+Now at this hour of the night, he wore only a shirt of white woollen
+stuff, with a deep red border. His locks, usually so well-kept, seemed
+to stand out from his head separately, and instead of smoothing and
+confining them, he added to their wild disorder, for, as he worked, he
+frequently passed his hand through them with a hasty movement. A bat,
+attracted by the bright light, flew in at the open window--which was
+screened only at the bottom by a dark curtain--and fluttered round the
+ceiling; but he did not observe it, for his work absorbed his whole soul
+and mind. In this eager and passionate occupation, in which every nerve
+and vein in his being seemed to bear a part, no cry for help would have
+struck his ear--even a flame breaking out close to him would not have
+caught his eye. His cheeks glowed, a fine dew of glistening sweat
+covered his brow, and his very gaze seemed to become more and more
+firmly riveted to the sculpture as it took form under his hand. Now
+and again he stepped back from it, and leaned backwards from his hips,
+raising his hands to the level of his temples, as if to narrow the field
+of vision; then he went up to the model, and clutched the plastic mass
+of clay, as though it were the flesh of his enemy.
+
+He was now at work on the flowing hair of the figure before him, which
+had already taken the outline of a female head, and he flung the bits of
+clay, which he removed from the back of it, to the ground, as violently
+as though he were casting them at an antagonist at his feet. Again his
+finger-tips and modelling-tool were busy with the mouth, nose, cheeks,
+and eyes, and his own eyes took a softer expression, which gradually
+grew to be a gaze of ecstatic delight, as the features he was moulding
+began to agree more and more with the image, which at this time excluded
+every other from his imagination.
+
+At last, with glowing cheeks, he had finished rounding the soft form of
+the shoulders, and drew back once more to contemplate the effect of the
+completed work; a cold shiver seized him, and he felt himself impelled
+to lift it up, and dash it to the ground with all his force. But he soon
+mastered this stormy excitement, he pushed his hand through his hair
+again and again, and posted himself, with a melancholy smile and with
+folded hands, in front of his creation; sunk deeper and deeper in his
+contemplation of it, he did not observe that the door behind him was
+opened, although the flame of his lamps flickered in the draught, and
+that his mother had entered the work-room, and by no means endeavored
+to approach him unheard, or to surprise him. In her anxiety for her
+darling, who had gone through so many bitter experiences during the
+past day, she had not been able to sleep. Polykarp's room lay above her
+bedroom, and when his steps over head betrayed that, though it was now
+near morning, he had not yet gone to rest, she had risen from her
+bed without waking Petrus, who seemed to be sleeping. She obeyed her
+motherly impulse to encourage Polykarp with some loving words, and
+climbing up the narrow stair that led to the roof, she went into his
+room. Surprised, irresolute, and speechless she stood for some time
+behind the young man, and looked at the strongly illuminated and
+beautiful features of the newly-formed bust, which was only too like its
+well-known prototype. At last she laid her hand on her son's shoulder,
+and spoke his name. Polykarp stepped back, and looked at his mother
+in bewilderment, like a man roused from sleep; but she interrupted the
+stammering speech with which he tried to greet her, by saying, gravely
+and not without severity, as she pointed to the statue, "What does this
+mean?"
+
+"What should it mean, mother?" answered Polykarp in a low tone, and
+shaking his head sadly. "Ask me no more at present, for if you gave me
+no rest, and even if I tried to explain to you how to-day--this very
+day--I have felt impelled and driven to make this woman's image, still
+you could not understand me--no, nor any one else."
+
+"God forbid that I should ever understand it!" cried Dorothea. "'Thou
+shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife,' was the commandment of the Lord on
+this mountain. And you? You think I could not understand you? Who
+should understand you then, if not your mother? This I certainly do not
+comprehend, that a son of Petrus and of mine should have thrown all the
+teaching and the example of his parents so utterly to the wind. But what
+you are aiming at with this statue, it seems to me is not hard to guess.
+As the forbidden-fruit hangs too high for you, you degrade your art, and
+make to yourself an image that resembles her according to your taste.
+Simply and plainly it comes to this; as you can no longer see the Gaul's
+wife in her own person, and yet cannot exist without the sweet presence
+of the fair one, you make a portrait of clay to make love to, and you
+will carry on idolatry before it, as once the Jews did before the golden
+calf and the brazen serpent."
+
+Polykarp submitted to his mother's angry blame in silence, but in
+painful emotion. Dorothea had never before spoken to him thus, and to
+hear such words from the very lips which were used to address him with
+such heart-felt tenderness, gave him unspeakable pain. Hitherto she
+had always been inclined to make excuses for his weaknesses and little
+faults, nay, the zeal with which she had observed and pointed out his
+merits and performances before strangers as well as before their own
+family, had often seemed to him embarrassing. And now? She had indeed
+reason to blame him, for Sirona was the wife of another, she had never
+even noticed his admiration, and now, they all said, had committed a
+crime for the sake of a stranger. It must seem both a mad and a sinful
+thing in the eyes of men that he of all others should sacrifice the best
+he had--his Art--and how little could Dorothea, who usually endeavored
+to understand him, comprehend the overpowering impulse which had driven
+him to his task.
+
+He loved and honored his mother with his whole heart, and feeling that
+she was doing herself an injustice by her false and low estimate of
+his proceedings, he interrupted her eager discourse, raising his hands
+imploringly to her.
+
+"No, mother, no!" he exclaimed. "As truly as God is my helper, it is not
+so. It is true that I have moulded this head, but not to keep it, and
+commit the sin of worshipping it, but rather to free myself from the
+image that stands before my mind's eye by day and by night, in the city
+and in the desert, whose beauty distracts my mind when I think, and my
+devotions when I try to pray. To whom is it given to read the soul of
+man? And is not Sirona's form and face the loveliest image of the
+Most High? So to represent it, that the whole charm that her presence
+exercises over me might also be felt by every beholder, is a task that I
+have set myself ever since her arrival in our house. I had to go back
+to the capital, and the work I longed to achieve took a clearer form; at
+every hour I discovered something to change and to improve in the pose
+of the head, the glance of the eye or the expression of the mouth.
+But still I lacked courage to put the work in hand, for it seemed too
+audacious to attempt to give reality to the glorious image in my soul,
+by the aid of gray clay and pale cold marble; to reproduce it so that
+the perfect work should delight the eye of sense, no less than the image
+enshrined in my breast delights my inward eye. At the same time I was
+not idle, I gained the prize for the model of the lions, and if I have
+succeeded with the Good Shepherd blessing the flock, which is for the
+sarcophagus of Comes, and if the master could praise the expression
+of devoted tenderness in the look of the Redeemer, I know--nay, do not
+interrupt me, mother, for what I felt was a pure emotion and no sin--I
+know that it was because I was myself so full of love, that I was
+enabled to inspire the very stone with love. At last I had no peace, and
+even without my father's orders I must have returned home; then I saw
+her again, and found her even more lovely than the image which reigned
+in my soul. I heard her voice, and her silvery bell-like laughter--and
+then--and then--. You know very well what I learned yesterday. The
+unworthy wife of an unworthy husband, the woman Sirona, is gone from
+me for ever, and I was striving to drive her image from my soul, to
+annihilate it and dissipate it--but in vain! and by degrees a wonderful
+stress of creative power came upon me. I hastily placed the lamps, took
+the clay in my hand, and feature by feature I brought forth with bitter
+joy the image that is deeply graven in my heart, believing that thus I
+might be released from the spell. There is the fruit which was ripened
+in my heart, but there, where it so long has dwelt, I feel a dismal
+void, and if the husk which so long tenderly enfolded this image were to
+wither and fall asunder, I should not wonder at it.--To that thing there
+clings the best part of my life."
+
+"Enough!" exclaimed Dorothea, interrupting her son who stood before her
+in great agitation and with trembling lips. "God forbid that that mask
+there should destroy your life and soul. I suffer nothing impure within
+my house, and you should not in your heart. That which is evil can never
+more be fair, and however lovely the face there may look to you, it
+looks quite as repulsive to me when I reflect that it probably smiled
+still more fascinatingly on some strolling beggar. If the Gaul brings
+her back I will turn her out of my house, and I will destroy her image
+with my own hands if you do not break it in pieces on the spot."
+
+Dorothea's eyes were swimming in tears as she spoke these words. She
+had felt with pride and emotion during her son's speech how noble and
+high-minded he was, and the idea that this rare and precious treasure
+should be spoilt or perhaps altogether ruined for the sake of a lost
+woman, drove her to desperation, and filled her motherly heart with
+indignation.
+
+Firmly resolved to carry out her threat she stepped towards the figure,
+but Polykarp placed himself in her way, raising his arm imploringly to
+defend it, and saying, "Not to-day--not yet, mother! I will cover it
+up, and will not look at it again till to-morrow, but once--only once--I
+must see it again by sunlight."
+
+"So that to-morrow the old madness may revive in you!" cried Dorothea.
+"Move out of my way or take the hammer yourself."
+
+"You order it, and you are my mother," said Polykarp.
+
+He slowly went up to the chest in which his tools and instruments lay,
+and bitter tears ran down his cheeks, as he took his heaviest hammer in
+his hand.
+
+When the sky has shown for many days in summer-blue, and then suddenly
+the clouds gather for a storm, when the first silent but fearful flash
+with it noisy but harmless associate the thunder-clap has terrified the
+world, a second and third thunder-bolt immediately follow. Since the
+stormy night of yesterday had broken in on the peaceful, industrious,
+and monotonous life by the senator's hearth, many things had happened
+that had filled him and his wife with fresh anxiety.
+
+In other houses it was nothing remarkable that a slave should run away,
+but in the senator's it was more than twenty years since such a thing
+had occurred, and yesterday the goat-herd Miriam had disappeared. This
+was vexatious, but the silent sorrow of his son Polykarp was a greater
+anxiety to Petrus. It did not please him that the youth, who was usually
+so vehement, should submit unresistingly and almost indifferently to the
+Bishop Agapitus, who prohibited his completing his lions. His son's sad
+gaze, his crushed and broken aspect were still in his mind when at last
+he went to rest for the night; it was already late, but sleep avoided
+him even as it had avoided Dorothea. While the mother was thinking of
+her son's sinful love and the bleeding wound in his young and betrayed
+heart, the father grieved for Polykarp's baffled hopes of exercising his
+art on a great work and recalled the saddest, bitterest day of his own
+youth; for he too had served his apprenticeship under a sculptor in
+Alexandria, had looked up to the works of the heathen as noble models,
+and striven to form himself upon them. He had already been permitted by
+his master to execute designs of his own, and out of the abundance of
+subjects which offered themselves, he had chosen to model an Ariadne,
+waiting and longing for the return of Thescus, as a symbolic image of
+his own soul awaiting its salvation. How this work had filled his mind!
+how delightful had the hours of labor seemed to him!--when, suddenly,
+his stern father had come to the city, had seen his work before it was
+quite finished, and instead of praising it had scorned it; had abused
+it as a heathen idol, and had commanded Petrus to return home with him
+immediately, and to remain there, for that his son should be a pious
+Christian, and a good stone-mason withal--not half a heathen, and a
+maker of false gods.
+
+Petrus had much loved his art, but he offered no resistance to his
+father's orders; he followed him back to the oasis, there to superintend
+the work of the slaves who hewed the stone, to measure granite-blocks
+for sarcophagi and pillars, and to direct the cutting of them. His
+father was a man of steel, and he himself a lad of iron, and when he
+saw himself compelled to yield to his father and to leave his master's
+workshop, to abandon his cherished and unfinished work and to become an
+artizan and mail of business, he swore never again to take a piece of
+clay in his hand, or to wield a chisel. And he kept his word even after
+his fathers death; but his creative instincts and love of art continued
+to live and work in him, and were transmitted to his two sons.
+
+Antonius was a highly gifted artist, and if Polykarp's master was not
+mistaken, and if he himself were not misled by fatherly affection, his
+second son was on the high road to the very first rank in art--to a
+position reached only by elect spirits.
+
+Petrus knew the models for the Good Shepherd and for the lions, and
+declared to himself that these last were unsurpassable in truth, power,
+and majesty. How eagerly must the young artist long to execute them in
+hard stone, and to see them placed in the honored, though indeed pagan,
+spot, which was intended for them. And now the bishop forbade him the
+work, and the poor fellow might well be feeling just as he himself
+had felt thirty years ago, when he had been commanded to abandon the
+immature first-fruits of his labor.
+
+Was the bishop indeed right? This and many other questions agitated the
+sleepless father, and as soon as he heard that his wife had risen from
+her bed to go to her son, whose footsteps he too could hear overhead, he
+got up and followed her.
+
+He found the door of the work-room open, and, himself unseen and
+unheard, he was witness to his wife's vehement speech, and to the lad's
+justification, while Polykarp's work stood in the full light of the
+lamps, exactly in front of him.
+
+His gaze was spell-bound to the mass of clay; he looked and looked, and
+was not weary of looking, and his soul swelled with the same awe-struck
+sense of devout admiration that it had experienced, when for the first
+time, in his early youth, he saw with his own eyes the works of the
+great old Athenian masters in the Caesareum.
+
+And this head was his son's work!
+
+He stood there greatly overcome, his hands clasped together, holding
+his breath till his mouth was dry, and swallowing his tears to keep them
+from falling. At the same time he listened with anxious attention, so as
+not to lose one word of Polykarp's.
+
+"Aye, thus and thus only are great works of art begotten," said he to
+himself, "and if the Lord had bestowed on me such gifts as on this lad,
+no father, nay, no god, should have compelled me to leave my Ariadne
+unfinished. The attitude of the body was not bad I should say--but the
+head, the face--Aye, the man who can mould such a likeness as that has
+his hand and eye guided by the holy spirits of art. He who has done that
+head will be praised in the latter days together with the great Athenian
+masters--and he-yes, he, merciful Heaven! he is my own beloved son!"
+
+A blessed sense of rejoicing, such as he had not felt since his early
+youth, filled his heart, and Dorothea's ardor seemed to him half pitiful
+and half amusing.
+
+It was not till his duteous son took the hammer in his hand, that he
+stepped between his wife and the bust, saying kindly:
+
+"There will be time enough to-morrow to destroy the work. Forget the
+model, my son, now that you have taken advantage of it so successfully.
+I know of a better mistress for you--Art--to whom belongs everything
+of beauty that the Most High has created--In Art in all its breadth and
+fulness, not fettered and narrowed by any Agapitus."
+
+Polykarp flung himself into his father's arms, and the stern man, hardly
+master of his emotions, kissed the boy's forehead, his eyes, and his
+cheeks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+At noon of the following day the senator went to the women's room, and
+while he was still on the threshold, he asked his wife--who was busy at
+the loom:
+
+"Where is Polykarp? I did not find him with Antonius, who is working at
+the placing of the altar, and I thought I might find him here."
+
+"After going to the church," said Dorothea, "he went up the mountain. Go
+down to the workshops, Marthana, and see if your brother has come back."
+
+Her daughter obeyed quickly and gladly, for her brother was to her the
+dearest, and seemed to her to be the best, of men. As soon as the pair
+were alone together Petrus said, while he held out his hand to his wife
+with genial affection, "Well, mother--shake hands." Dorothea paused for
+an instant, looking him in the face, as if to ask him, "Does your pride
+at last allow you to cease doing me an injustice?" It was a reproach,
+but in truth not a severe one, or her lips would hardly have trembled so
+tenderly, as she said.
+
+"You cannot be angry with me any longer, and it is well that all should
+once more be as it ought."
+
+All certainly had not been "as it ought," for since the husband and wife
+had met in Polykarp's work-room, they had behaved to each other as if
+they were strangers. In their bedroom, on the way to church, and
+at breakfast, they had spoken to each no more than was absolutely
+necessary, or than was requisite in order to conceal their difference
+from the servants and children. Up to this time, an understanding had
+always subsisted between them that had never taken form in words, and
+yet that had scarcely in a single case been infringed, that neither
+should ever praise one of their children for anything that the other
+thought blameworthy, and vice versa.
+
+But in this night, her husband had followed up her severest condemnation
+by passionately embracing the wrong-doer. Never had she been so stern in
+any circumstances, while on the other hand her husband, so long as she
+could remember, had never been so softhearted and tender to his son, and
+yet she had controlled herself so far, as not to contradict Petrus in
+Polykarp's presence, and to leave the work-room in silence with her
+husband.
+
+"When we are once alone together in the bedroom," thought she, "I will
+represent to him his error as I ought, and he will have to answer for
+himself."
+
+But she did not carry out this purpose, for she felt that something must
+be passing in her husband's mind that she did not understand; otherwise
+how could his grave eyes shine so mildly and kindly, and his stern lips
+smile so affectionately after all that had occurred when he, lamp in
+hand, had mounted the narrow stair.
+
+He had often told her that she could read his soul like an open book,
+but she did not conceal from herself that there were certain sides of
+that complex structure whose meaning she was incapable of comprehending.
+And strange to say, she ever and again came upon these incomprehensible
+phases of his soul, when the images of the gods, and the idolatrous
+temples of the heathen, or when their sons' enterprises and work were
+the matters in hand. And yet Petrus was the son of a pious Christian;
+but his grandfather had been a Greek heathen, and hence perhaps a
+certain something wrought in his blood which tormented her, because
+she could not reconcile it with Agapitus' doctrine, but which she
+nevertheless dared not attempt to oppose because her taciturn husband
+never spoke out with so much cheerfulness and frankness as when he
+might talk of these things with his sons and their friends, who often
+accompanied them to the oasis. Certainly, it could be nothing sinful
+that at this particular moment seemed to light up her husband's face,
+and restore his youth.
+
+"They just are men," said she to herself, "and in many things they
+have the advantage of us women. The old man looks as he did on his
+wedding-day! Polykarp is the very image of him, as every one says, and
+now, looking at the father, and recalling to my mind how the boy looked
+when he told me how he could not refrain from making Sirona's portrait,
+I must say that I never saw such a likeness in the whole course of my
+life."
+
+He bid her a friendly good night, and extinguished the lamp. She would
+willingly have said a loving word to him, for his contented expression
+touched and comforted her, but that would just then have been too much
+after what she had gone through in her son's workroom. In former
+years it had happened pretty often that, when one of them had caused
+dissatisfaction to the other, and there had been some quarrel between
+them, they had gone to rest unreconciled, but the older they grew the
+more rarely did this occur, and it was now a long time since any shadow
+had fallen on the perfect serenity of their married life.
+
+Three years ago, on the occasion of the marriage of their eldest son,
+they had been standing together, looking up at the starry sky,
+when Petrus had come close up to her, and had said, "How calmly and
+peacefully the wanderers up there follow their roads without jostling or
+touching one another! As I walked home alone from the quarries by their
+friendly light, I thought of many things. Perhaps there was once a time
+when the stars rushed wildly about in confusion, crossing each other's
+path, while many a star flew in pieces at the impact. Then the Lord
+created man, and love came into the world and filled the heavens and the
+earth, and he commanded the stars to be our light by night; then each
+began to respect the path of the other, and the stars more rarely came
+into collision till even the smallest and swiftest kept to its own path
+and its own period, and the shining host above grew to be as harmonious
+as it is numberless. Love and a common purpose worked this marvel, for
+he who loves another, will do him no injury, and he who is bound to
+perfect a work with the help of another, will not hinder nor delay him.
+We two have long since found the right road, and if at any time one of
+us is inclined to cross the path of the other, we are held back by love
+and by our common duty, namely to shed a pure light on the path of our
+children."
+
+Dorothea had never forgotten these words, and they came into her mind
+now again when Petrus held out his hand to her so warmly; as she laid
+hers in it, she said:
+
+"For the sake of dear peace, well and good--but one thing I cannot leave
+unsaid. Soft-hearted weakness is not usually your defect, but you will
+utterly spoil Polykarp."
+
+"Leave him, let us leave him as he is," cried Petrus, kissing his wife's
+brow. "It is strange how we have exchanged parts! Yesterday you were
+exhorting me to mildness towards the lad, and to-day--"
+
+"To-day I am severer than you," interrupted Dorothea. "Who, indeed,
+could guess that an old graybeard would derogate from the duties of his
+office as father and as judge for the sake of a woman's smiling face in
+clay--as Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage?"
+
+"And to whom would it occur," asked Petrus, taking up his wife's tone,
+"that so tender a mother as you would condemn her favorite son, because
+he labored to earn peace for his soul by a deed--by a work for which his
+master might envy him?"
+
+"I have indeed observed," interrupted Dorothea, "that Sirona's image
+has bewitched you, and you speak as if the boy had achieved some great
+miracle. I do not know much about modelling and sculpture, and I will
+not contradict you, but if the fair-haired creature's face were less
+pretty, and if Polykarp had not executed any thing remarkable, would it
+have made the smallest difference in what he has done and felt wrong?
+Certainly not. But that is just like men, they care only for success."
+
+"And with perfect justice," answered Petrus, "if the success is
+attained, not in mere child's play, but by a severe struggle. 'To him,
+that hath, shall more be given,' says the scripture, and he who has
+a soul more richly graced than others have--he who is helped by good
+spirits--he shall be forgiven many things that even a mild judge would
+be unwilling to pardon in a man of poor gifts, who torments and exerts
+himself and yet brings nothing to perfection. Be kind to the boy again.
+Do you know what prospect lies before you through him? You yourself in
+your life have done much good, and spoken much wisdom, and I, and the
+children, and the people in this place, will never forget it all. But
+I can promise you the gratitude of the best and noblest who now live
+or who will live in centuries to come--for that you are the mother of
+Polykarp!"
+
+"And people say," cried Dorothea, "that every mother has four eyes for
+her children's merits. If that is true, then fathers no doubt have ten,
+and you as many as Argus, of whom the heathen legend speaks--But there
+comes Polykarp."
+
+Petrus went forward to meet his son, and gave him his hand, but in quite
+a different manner to what he had formerly shown; at least it seemed to
+Dorothea that her husband received the youth, no longer as his father
+and master, but as a friend greets a friend who is his equal in
+privileges and judgment. When Polykarp turned to greet her also she
+colored all over, for the thought flashed through her mind that her son,
+when he thought of the past night, must regard her as unjust or foolish;
+but she soon recovered her own calm equanimity, for Polykarp was the
+same as ever, and she read in his eyes that he felt towards her the same
+as yesterday and as ever.
+
+"Love," thought she, "is not extinguished by injustice, as fire is by
+water. It blazes up brighter or less bright, no doubt, according to the
+way the wind blows, but it cannot be wholly smothered--least of all by
+death."
+
+Polykarp had been up the mountain, and Dorothea was quite satisfied
+when he related what had led him thither. He had long since planned the
+execution of a statue of Moses, and when his father had left him, he
+could not get the tall and dignified figure of the old man out of his
+mind. He felt that he had found the right model for his work. He must,
+he would forget--and he knew, that he could only succeed if he found
+a task which might promise to give some new occupation to his bereaved
+soul. Still, he had seen the form of the mighty man of God which he
+proposed to model, only in vague outline before his mind's eye, and he
+had been prompted to go to a spot whither many pilgrims resorted, and
+which was known as the Place of Communion, because it was there that the
+Lord had spoken to Moses. There Polykarp had spent some time, for there,
+if anywhere--there, where the Law-giver himself had stood, must he find
+right inspiration.
+
+"And you have accomplished your end?" asked his father.
+
+Polykarp shook his head.
+
+"If you go often enough to the sacred spot, it will come to you," said
+Dorothea. "The beginning is always the chief difficulty; only begin at
+once to model your father's head."
+
+"I have already begun it," replied Polykarp, "but I am still tired from
+last night."
+
+"You look pale, and have dark lines under your eyes," said Dorothea
+anxiously. "Go up stairs and he down to rest. I will follow you and
+bring you a beaker of old wine."
+
+"That will not hurt him," said Petrus, thinking as he spoke--"A draught
+of Lethe would serve him even better."
+
+When, an hour later, the senator sought his son in his work-room, he
+found him sleeping, and the wine stood untouched on the table. Petrus
+softly laid his hand on his son's forehead and found it cool and free
+from fever. Then he went quietly up to the portrait of Sirona, raised
+the cloth with which it was covered, and stood before it a long time
+sunk in thought. At last he drew back, covered it up again, and examined
+the models which stood on a shelf fastened to the wall.
+
+A small female figure particularly fixed his attention, and he was
+taking it admiringly in his band when Polykarp awoke.
+
+"That is the image of the goddess of fate--that is a Tyche," said
+Petrus.
+
+"Do not be angry with me, father," entreated Polykarp. "You know, the
+figure of a Tyche is to stand in the hand of the statue of the Caesar
+that is intended for the new city of Constantine, and so I have tried to
+represent the goddess. The drapery and pose of the arms, I think, have
+succeeded, but I failed in the head." Petrus, who had listened to
+him with attention, glanced involuntarily at the head of Sirona, and
+Polykarp followed his eyes surprised and almost startled.
+
+The father and son had understood each other, and Polykarp said, "I had
+already thought of that."
+
+Then he sighed bitterly, and said to himself, "Yes and verily, she is
+the goddess of my fate." But he dared not utter this aloud.
+
+But Petrus had heard him sigh, and said, "Let that pass. This head
+smiles with sweet fascination, and the countenance of the goddess that
+rules the actions even of the immortals, should be stern and grave."
+
+Polykarp could contain himself no longer.
+
+"Yes, father," he exclaimed. "Fate is terrible--and yet I will represent
+the goddess with a smiling mouth, for that which is most terrible in her
+is, that she rules not by stern laws, but smiles while she makes us her
+sport."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+It was a splendid morning; not a cloud dimmed the sky which spread
+high above desert, mountain, and oasis, like an arched tent of uniform
+deep-blue silk. How delicious it is to breathe the pure, light, aromatic
+air on the heights, before the rays of the sun acquire their mid-day
+power, and the shadows of the heated porphyry cliffs, growing shorter
+and shorter, at last wholly disappear!
+
+With what delight did Sirona inhale this pure atmosphere, when after
+a long night--the fourth that she had passed in the anchorite's dismal
+cave-she stepped out into the air. Paulus sat by the hearth, and was so
+busily engaged with some carving, that he did not observe her approach.
+
+"Kind good man!" thought Sirona, as she perceived a steaming pot on the
+fire, and the palm-branches which the Alexandrian had fastened up by the
+entrance to the cave, to screen her from the mounting sun. She knew
+the way without a guide to the spring from which Paulus had brought her
+water at their first meeting, and she now slipped away, and went down
+to it with a pretty little pitcher of burnt clay in her hand. Paulus did
+indeed see her, but he made as though he neither, saw nor heard, for
+he knew she was going there to wash herself, and to dress and smarten
+herself as well as might be--for was she not a woman! When she returned,
+she looked not less fresh and charming than on that morning when she had
+been seen and watched by Hermas. True, her heart was sore, true, she was
+perplexed and miserable, but sleep and rest had long since effaced from
+her healthy, youthful, and elastic frame all traces left by that fearful
+day of flight; and fate, which often means best by us when it shows us a
+hostile face, had sent her a minor anxiety to divert her from her graver
+cares.
+
+Her greyhound was very ill, and it seemed that in the ill-treatment
+it had experienced, not only its leg had been broken, but that it had
+suffered some internal injury. The brisk, lively little creature fell
+down powerless when ever it tried to stand, and when she took it up to
+nurse it comfortably in her lap, it whined pitifully, and looked up at
+her sorrowfully, and as if complaining to her. It would take neither
+food nor drink; its cool little nose was hot; and when she left the
+cave, Iambe lay panting on the fine woollen coverlet which Paulus had
+spread upon the bed, unable even to look after her.
+
+Before taking the dog the water she had fetched in the graceful
+jar--which was another gift from her hospitable friend--she went up to
+Paulus and greeted him kindly. He looked up from his work, thanked her,
+and a few minutes later, when she came out of the cave again, asked her,
+"How is the poor little creature?"
+
+Sirona shrugged her shoulders, and said sadly, "She has drunk nothing,
+and does not even know me, and pants as rapidly as last evening--if I
+were to lose the poor little beast!--"
+
+She could say no more for emotion, but Paulus shook his head.
+
+"It is sinful," he said, "to grieve so for a beast devoid of reason."
+
+"Iambe is not devoid of reason," replied Sirona. "And even if she were,
+what have I left if she dies? She grew up in my father's house, where
+all loved me; I had her first when she was only a few days old, and I
+brought her up on milk on a little bit of sponge. Many a time, when I
+heard the little thing whining for food, have I got out of bed at night
+with bare feet; and so she came to cling to me like a child, and could
+not do without me. No one can know how another feels about such things.
+My father used to tell us of a spider that beautified the life of a
+prisoner, and what is a dirty dumb creature like that to my clever,
+graceful little dog! I have lost my home, and here every one believes
+the worst of me, although I have done no one any harm, and no one, no
+one loves me but Iambe."
+
+"But I know of one who loves every one with a divine and equal love,"
+interrupted Paulus.
+
+"I do not care for such a one," answered Sirona. "Iambe follows no one
+but me; what good can a love do me that I must share with all the
+world! But you mean the crucified God of the Christians? He is good and
+pitiful, so says Dame Dorothea; but he is dead--I cannot see him, nor
+hear him, and, certainly, I cannot long for one who only shows me grace.
+I want one to whom I can count for something, and to whose life and
+happiness I am indispensable."
+
+A scarcely perceptible shudder thrilled through the Alexandrian as she
+spoke these words, and he thought, as he glanced at her face and figure
+with a mingled expression of regret and admiration, "Satan, before he
+fell, was the fairest among the pure spirits, and he still has power
+over this woman. She is still far from being ripe for salvation, and yet
+she has a gentle heart, and even if she has erred, she is not lost."
+
+Sirona's eyes had met his, and she said with a sigh, "You look at me so
+compassionately--if only Iambe were well, and if I succeeded in reaching
+Alexandria, my destiny would perhaps take a turn for the better."
+
+Paulus had risen while she spoke, and had taken the pot from the hearth;
+he now offered it to his guest, saying:
+
+"For the present we will trust to this broth to compensate to you for
+the delights of the capital; I am glad that you relish it. But tell me
+now, have you seriously considered what danger may threaten a beautiful,
+young, and unprotected woman in the wicked city of the Greeks? Would it
+not be better that you should submit to the consequences of your guilt,
+and return to Phoebicius, to whom unfortunately you belong?"
+
+Sirona, at these words, had set down the vessel out of which she was
+eating, and rising in passionate haste, she exclaimed:
+
+"That shall never, never be!--And when I was sitting up there half-dead,
+and took your step for that of Phoebicius, the gods showed me a way to
+escape from him, and from you or anyone who would drag me back to him.
+When I fled to the edge of the abyss, I was raving and crazed, but what
+I then would have done in my madness, I would do now in cold blood--as
+surely as I hope to see my own people in Arelas once more! What was I
+once, and to what have I come through Phoebicius! Life was to me a sunny
+garden with golden trellises and shady trees and waters as bright as
+crystal, with rosy flowers and singing birds; and he, he has darkened
+its light, and fouled its springs, and broken down its flowers. All now
+seems dumb and colorless, and if the abyss is my grave, no one will miss
+me nor mourn for me."
+
+"Poor woman!" said Paulus. "Your husband then showed you very little
+love."
+
+"Love," laughed Sirona, "Phoebicius and love! Only yesterday I told you,
+how cruelly he used to torture me after his feasts, when he was drunk
+or when he recovered from one of his swoons. But one thing he did to me,
+one thing which broke the last thread of a tie between us. No one yet
+has ever heard a word of it from me; not even Dorothea, who often blamed
+me when I let slip a hard word against my husband. It was well for her
+to talk--if I had found a husband like Petrus I might perhaps have been
+like Dorothea. It is a marvel, which I myself do not understand, that
+I did not grow wicked with such a man, a man who--why should I conceal
+it--who, when we were at Rome, because he was in debt, and because he
+hoped to get promotion through his legate Quintillus, sold me--me--to
+him. He himself brought the old man--who had often followed me
+about--into his house, but our hostess, a good woman, had overheard the
+matter, and betrayed it all to me. It is so base, so vile--it seems to
+blacken my soul only to think of it! The legate got little enough in
+return for his sesterces, but Phoebicius did not restore his wages of
+sin, and his rage against me knew no bounds when he was transferred to
+the oasis at the instigation of his betrayed chief. Now you know all,
+and never advise me again to return to that man to whom my misfortune
+has bound me.
+
+"Only listen how the poor little beast in there is whining. It wants to
+come to me, and has not the strength to move."
+
+Paulus looked after her sympathetically as she disappeared under the
+opening in the rock, and he awaited her return with folded arms. He
+could not see into the cave, for the space in which the bed stood was
+closed at the end by the narrow passage which formed the entrance, and
+which joined it at an angle as the handle of a scythe joins the blade.
+She remained a long time, and he could hear now and then a tender word
+with which she tried to comfort the suffering creature. Suddenly he
+was startled by a loud and bitter cry from Sirona; no doubt, the poor
+woman's affectionate little companion was dead, and in the dim twilight
+of the cave she had seen its dulled eye, and felt the stiffness of death
+overspreading and paralyzing its slender limbs. He dared not go into
+the cavern, but he felt his eyes fill with tears, and he would willingly
+have spoken some word of consolation to her.
+
+At last she came out, her eyes red with weeping. Paulus had guessed
+rightly for she held the body of little Iambe in her arms.
+
+"How sorry I am," said Paulus, "the poor little creature was so pretty."
+
+Sirona nodded, sat down, and unfastened the prettily embroidered band
+from the dog's neck, saying half to herself, and half to Paulus, "My
+little Agnes worked this collar. I myself had taught her to sew, and
+this was the first piece of work that was all her own." She held the
+collar up to the anchorite. "This clasp is of real silver," she went on,
+"and my father himself gave it to me. He was fond of the poor little dog
+too. Now it will never leap and spring again, poor thing."
+
+She looked sadly down at the dead dog. Then she collected herself, and
+said hurriedly, "Now I will go away from here. Nothing--nothing keeps
+me any longer in this wilderness, for the senator's house, where I have
+spent many happy hours, and where everyone was fond of me, is closed
+against me, and must ever be so long as he lives there. If you have not
+been kind to me only to do me harm in the end, let me go today, and help
+me to reach Alexandria."
+
+"Not to-day, in any case not to-day," replied Paulus. "First I must find
+out when a vessel sails for Klysma or for Berenike, and then I have many
+other things to see to for you. You owe me an answer to my question,
+as to what you expect to do and to find in Alexandria. Poor child--the
+younger and the fairer you are--"
+
+"I know all you would say to me," interrupted Sirona. "Wherever I have
+been, I have attracted the eyes of men, and when I have read in their
+looks that I pleased them, it has greatly pleased me--why should I deny
+it? Many a one has spoken fair words to me or given me flowers, and sent
+old women to my house to win me for them, but even if one has happened
+to please me better than another, still I have never found it hard to
+send them home again as was fitting."
+
+"Till Hermas laid his love at your feet," said Paulus. "He is a bold
+lad--"
+
+"A pretty, inexperienced boy," said Sirona, "neither more nor less. It
+was a heedless thing, no doubt, to admit him to my rooms, but no vestal
+need be ashamed to own to such favor as I showed him. I am innocent,
+and I will remain so that I may stand in my father's presence without
+a blush when I have earned money enough in the capital for the long
+journey."
+
+Paulus looked in her face astonished and almost horrified.
+
+Then he had in fact taken on himself guilt which did not exist, and
+perhaps the senator would have been slower to condemn Sirona, if it had
+not been for his falsely acknowledging it. He stood before her, feeling
+like a child that would fain put together some object of artistic
+workmanship, and who has broken it to pieces for want of skill. At the
+same time he could not doubt a word that she said, for the voice within
+him had long since plainly told him that this woman was no common
+criminal.
+
+For some time he was at a loss for words; at last he said timidly:
+
+"What do you purpose doing in Alexandria?"
+
+"Polykarp says, that all good work finds a purchaser there," she
+answered. "And I can weave particularly well, and embroider with
+gold-thread. Perhaps I may find shelter under some roof where there are
+children, and I would willingly attend to them during the day. In my
+free time and at night I could work at my frame, and when I have scraped
+enough together I shall soon find a ship that will carry me to Gaul, to
+my own people. Do you not see that I cannot go back to Phoebicius, and
+can you help me?"
+
+"Most willingly, and better perhaps than you fancy," said Paulus. "I
+cannot explain this to you just now; but you need not request me, but
+may rather feel that you have a good right to demand of me that I should
+rescue you."
+
+She looked at him in surprised enquiry, and he continued:
+
+"First let me carry away the little dog, and bury it down there. I will
+put a stone over the grave, that you may know where it lies. It must
+be so, the body cannot be here any longer. Take the thing, which lies
+there. I had tried before to cut it out for you, for you complained
+yesterday that your hair was all in a tangle because you had not a comb,
+so I tried to carve you one out of bone. There were none at the shop
+in the oasis, and I am myself only a wild creature of the wilderness, a
+sorry, foolish animal, and do not use one.
+
+"Was that a stone that fell? Aye, certainly, I hear a man's step; go
+quickly into the cave and do not stir till I call you."
+
+Sirona withdrew into her rock-dwelling, and Paulus took the body of
+the dog in his arms to conceal it from the man who was approaching.
+He looked round, undecided, and seeking a hiding-place for it, but two
+sharp eyes had already detected him and his small burden from the height
+above him; before he had found a suitable place, stones were rolling and
+crashing down from the cliff to the right of the cavern, and at the same
+time a man came springing down with rash boldness from rock to rock, and
+without heeding the warning voice of the anchorite, flung himself down
+the slope, straight in front of him, exclaiming, while he struggled for
+breath and his face was hot with hatred and excitement:
+
+"That--I know it well-that is Sirona's greyhound--where is its mistress?
+Tell me this instant, where is Sirona--I must and will know."
+
+Paulus had frequently seen, from the penitent's room in the church, the
+senator and his family in their places near the altar, and he was much
+astonished to recognize in the daring leaper, who rushed upon him like
+a mad man with dishevelled hair and fiery eyes, Polykarp, Petrus' second
+son.
+
+The anchorite found it difficult to preserve his calm, and composed
+demeanor, for since he had been aware that he had accused Sirona falsely
+of a heavy sin, while at the same time he had equally falsely confessed
+himself the partner of her misdeed, he felt an anxiety that amounted to
+anguish, and a leaden oppression checked the rapidity of his thoughts.
+He at first stammered out a few unintelligible words, but his opponent
+was in fearful earnest with his question; he seized the collar of the
+anchorite's coarse garment with terrible violence, and cried in a husky
+voice, "Where did you find the dog? Where is--?"
+
+But suddenly he left go his hold of the Alexandrian, looked at him from
+head to foot, and said softly and slowly:
+
+"Can it be possible? Are you Paulus, the Alexandrian?"
+
+The anchorite nodded assent. Polykarp laughed loud and bitterly, pressed
+his hand to his forehead, and exclaimed in a tone of the deepest disgust
+and contempt:
+
+"And is it so, indeed! and such a repulsive ape too! But I will not
+believe that she even held out a hand to you, for the mere sight of you
+makes me dirty." Paulus felt his heart beating like a hammer within his
+breast; and there was a singing and roaring in his ears. When once more
+Polykarp threatened him with his fist he involuntarily took the posture
+of an athlete in a wrestling match, he stretched out his arms to try
+to get a good hold of his adversary, and said in a hollow, deep tone of
+angry warning, "Stand back, or something will happen to you that will
+not be good for your bones."
+
+The speaker was indeed Paulus--and yet--not Paulus; it was Menander, the
+pride of the Palaestra, who had never let pass a word of his comrades
+that did not altogether please him. And yet yesterday in the oasis he
+had quietly submitted to far worse insults than Polykarp had offered
+him, and had accepted them with contented cheerfulness. Whence then
+to-day this wild sensitiveness and eager desire to fight?
+
+When, two days since, he had gone to his old cave to fetch the last of
+his hidden gold pieces, he had wished to greet old Stephanus, but the
+Egyptian attendant had scared him off like an evil spirit with angry
+curses, and had thrown stones after him. In the oasis he had attempted
+to enter the church in spite of the bishop's prohibition, there to put
+up a prayer; for he thought that the antechamber, where the spring was
+and in which penitents were wont to tarry, would certainly not be closed
+even to him; but the acolytes had driven him away with abusive words,
+and the door-keeper, who a short time since had trusted him with the
+key, spit in his face, and yet he had not found it difficult to turn his
+back on his persecutors without anger or complaint.
+
+At the counter of the dealer of whom he had bought the woollen coverlet,
+the little jug, and many other things for Sirona, a priest had passed
+by, had pointed to his money, and had said, "Satan takes care of his
+own."
+
+Paulus had answered him nothing, had returned to his charge with an
+uplifted and grateful heart, and had heartily rejoiced once more in the
+exalted and encouraging consciousness that he was enduring disgrace and
+suffering for another in humble imitation of Christ. What was it then
+that made him so acutely sensitive with regard to Polykarp, and once
+more snapped those threads, which long years of self-denial had twined
+into fetters for his impatient spirit? Was it that to the man, who
+mortified his flesh in order to free his soul from its bonds it seemed
+a lighter matter to be contemned as a sinner, hated of God, than to
+let his person and his manly dignity be treated with contempt? Was he
+thinking of the fair listener in the cave, who was a witness to his
+humiliation? Had his wrath blazed up because he saw in Polykarp, not so
+much an exasperated fellow-believer, as merely a man who with bold scorn
+had put himself in the path of another man?
+
+The lad and the gray-bearded athlete stood face to face like mortal
+enemies ready for the fight, and Polykarp did not waver, although he,
+like most Christian youths, had been forbidden to take part in the
+wrestling-games in the Palaestra, and though he knew that he had to deal
+with a strong and practised antagonist.
+
+He himself was indeed no weakling, and his stormy indignation added to
+his desire to measure himself against the hated seducer.
+
+"Come on--come on!" he cried; his eyes flashing, and leaning forward
+with his neck out-stretched and ready on his part for the struggle.
+"Grip hold! you were a gladiator, or something of the kind, before you
+put on that filthy dress that you might break into houses at night, and
+go unpunished. Make this sacred spot an arena, and if you succeed in
+making an end of me I will thank you, for what made life worth having to
+me, you have already ruined whether or no. Only come on. Or perhaps
+you think it easier to ruin the life of a woman than to measure your
+strength against her defender? Clutch hold, I say, clutch hold, or--"
+
+"Or you will fall upon me," said Paulus, whose arms had dropped by his
+side during the youth's address. He spoke in a quite altered tone of
+indifference. "Throw yourself upon me, and do with me what you will; I
+will not prevent you. Here I shall stand, and I will not fight, for
+you have so far hit the truth--this holy place is not an arena. But
+the Gaulish lady belongs neither to you nor to me, and who gives you a
+claim--?"
+
+"Who gives me a right over her?" interrupted Polykarp, stepping close up
+to his questioner with sparkling eyes. "He who permits the worshipper
+to speak of his God. Sirona is mine, as the sun and moon and stars are
+mine, because they shed a beautiful light on my murky path. My life is
+mine--and she was the life of my life, and therefore I say boldly, and
+would say, if there were twenty such as Phoebicius here, she belongs
+to me. And because I regarded her as my own, and so regard her still, I
+hate you and fling my scorn in your teeth--you are like a hungry sheep
+that has got into the gardener's flower-bed, and stolen from the stem
+the wonderful, lovely flower that he has nurtured with care, and that
+only blooms once in a hundred years--like a cat that has sneaked into
+some marble hall, and that to satisfy its greed has strangled some rare
+and splendid bird that a traveller has brought from a distant land. But
+you! you hypocritical robber, who disregard your own body with beastly
+pride, and sacrifice it to low brutality--what should you know of the
+magic charm of beauty--that daughter of heaven, that can touch even
+thoughtless children, and before which the gods themselves do homage!
+I have a right to Sirona; for hide her where you will--or even if the
+centurion were to find her, and to fetter her to himself with chains and
+rivets of brass--still that which makes her the noblest work of the Most
+High--the image of her beauty--lives in no one, in no one as it lives in
+me. This hand has never even touched your victim--and yet God has given
+Sirona to no man as he has given her wholly to me, for to no man can
+she be what she is to me, and no man can love her as I do! She has the
+nature of an angel, and the heart of a child; she is without spot, and
+as pure as the diamond, or the swan's breast, or the morning-dew in the
+bosom of a rose. And though she had let you into her house a thousand
+times, and though my father even, and my own mother, and every one,
+every one pointed at her and condemned her, I would never cease to
+believe in her purity. It is you who have brought her to shame; it is
+you--"
+
+"I kept silence while all condemned her," said Paulus with warmth, "for
+I believed that she was guilty, just as you believe that I am, just as
+every one that is bound by no ties of love is more ready to believe evil
+than good, Now I know, aye, know for certain, that we did the poor woman
+an injustice. If the splendor of the lovely dream, that you call Sirona,
+has been clouded by my fault--"
+
+"Clouded? And by you?" laughed Polykarp. "Can the toad that plunges into
+the sea, cloud its shining blue, can the black bat that flits across the
+night, cloud the pure light of the full-moon?"
+
+An emotion of rage again shot through the anchorite's heart, but he was
+by this time on his guard against himself, and he only said bitterly,
+and with hardly-won composure:
+
+"And how was it then with the flower, and with the bird, that were
+destroyed by beasts without understanding? I fancy you meant no absent
+third person by that beast, and yet now you declare that it is not
+within my power even to throw a shadow over your day-star! You see
+you contradict yourself in your anger, and the son of a wise man, who
+himself has not long since left the school of rhetoric, should try to
+avoid that. You might regard me with less hostility, for I will not
+offend you; nay, I will repay your evil words with good--perhaps the
+very best indeed that you ever heard in your life. Sirona is a worthy
+and innocent woman, and at the time when Phoebicius came out to seek
+her, I had never even set eyes upon her nor had my ears ever heard a
+word pass her lips."
+
+At these words Polykarp's threatening manner changed, and feeling at
+once incapable of understanding the matter, and anxious to believe, he
+eagerly exclaimed:
+
+"But yet the sheepskin was yours, and you let yourself be thrashed by
+Phoebicius without defending yourself."
+
+"So filthy an ape," said Paulus, imitating Polykarp's voice, "needs
+many blows, and that day I could not venture to defend myself
+because--because--But that is no concern of yours. You must subdue your
+curiosity for a few days longer, and then it may easily happen that the
+man whose very aspect makes you feel dirty--the bat, the toad--"
+
+"Let that pass now," cried Polykarp. "Perhaps the excitement which the
+sight of you stirred up in my bruised and wounded heart, led me to use
+unseemly language. Now, indeed, I see that your matted hair sits round
+a well featured countenance. Forgive my violent and unjust attack. I was
+beside myself, and I opened my whole soul to you, and now that you know
+how it is with me, once more I ask you, where is Sirona?"
+
+Polykarp looked Paulus in the face with anxious and urgent entreaty,
+pointing to the dog as much as to say, "You must know, for here is the
+evidence."
+
+The Alexandrian hesitated to answer; he glanced by chance at the
+entrance of the cave, and seeing the gleam of Sirona's white robe behind
+the palm-branches, he said to himself that if Polykarp lingered much
+longer, he could not fail to discover her--a consummation to be avoided.
+
+There were many reasons which might have made him resolve to stand in
+the way of a meeting between the lady and the young man, but not one of
+them occurred to him, and though he did not even dream that a feeling
+akin to jealousy had begun to influence him, still he was conscious that
+it was his lively repugnance to seeing the two sink into each other's
+arms before his very eyes, that prompted him to turn shortly round, to
+take up the body of the little dog, and to say to the enquirer:
+
+"It is true, I do know where she is hiding, and when the time comes you
+shall know it too. Now I must bury the animal, and if you will you can
+help me."
+
+Without waiting for any objection on Polykarp's part, he hurried from
+stone to stone up to the plateau on the precipitous edge of which he had
+first seen Sirona. The younger man followed him breathlessly, and only
+joined him when he had already begun to dig out the earth with his
+hands at the foot of a cliff. Polykarp was now standing close to the
+anchorite, and repeated his question with vehement eagerness, but Paulus
+did not look up from his work, and only said, digging faster and faster:
+
+"Come to this place again to-morrow, and then it may perhaps be possible
+that I should tell you."
+
+"You think to put me off with that," cried the lad. "Then you are
+mistaken in me, and if you cheat me with your honest-sounding words, I
+will--"
+
+But he did not end his threat, for a clear longing cry distinctly broke
+the silence of the deserted mountain: "Polykarp--Polykarp." It sounded
+nearer and nearer, and the words had a magic effect on him for whose ear
+they were intended.
+
+With his head erect and trembling in every limb, the young man listened
+eagerly. Then he cried out, "It is her voice! I am coming, Sirona, I
+am coming." And without paying any heed to the anchorite, he was on the
+point of hurrying off to meet her. But Paulus placed himself close in
+front of him, and said sternly: "You stay here."
+
+"Out of my way," shouted Polykarp beside himself. "She is calling to me
+out of the hole where you are keeping her--you slanderer--you cowardly
+liar! Out of the way I say! You will not? Then defend yourself, you
+hideous toad, or I will tread you down, if my foot does not fear to be
+soiled with your poison."
+
+Up to this moment Paulus had stood before the young man with out-spread
+arms, motionless, but immovable as an oak-tree; now Polykarp first hit
+him. This blow shattered the anchorite's patience, and, no longer master
+of himself, he exclaimed, "You shall answer to me for this!" and before
+a third and fourth call had come from Sirona's lips, he had grasped the
+artist's slender body, and with a mighty swing he flung him backwards
+over his own broad and powerful shoulders on to the stony ground.
+
+After this mad act he stood over his victim with out-stretched legs,
+folded arms, and rolling eyes, as if rooted to the earth. He waited till
+Polykarp had picked himself up, and, without looking round, but pressing
+his hands to the back of his head, had tottered away like a drunken man.
+
+Paulus looked after him till he disappeared over the cliff at the edge
+of the level ground; but he did not see how Polykarp fell senseless to
+the ground with a stifled cry, not far from the very spring whence his
+enemy had fetched the water to refresh Sirona's parched lips.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+"She will attract the attention of Damianus or Salathiel or one of the
+others up there," thought Paulus as he heard Sirona's call once more,
+and, following her voice, he went hastily and excitedly down the
+mountainside.
+
+"We shall have peace for to-day at any rate from that audacious fellow,"
+muttered he to himself, "and perhaps to-morrow too, for his blue bruises
+will be a greeting from me. But how difficult it is to forget what we
+have once known! The grip, with which I flung him, I learned--how long
+ago?--from the chief-gymnast at Delphi. My marrow is not yet quite dried
+up, and that I will prove to the boy with these fists, if he comes back
+with three or four of the same mettle."
+
+But Paulus had not long to indulge in such wild thoughts, for on the
+way to the cave he met Sirona. "Where is Polykarp?" she called out from
+afar.
+
+"I have sent him home," he answered. "And he obeyed you?" she asked
+again.
+
+"I gave him striking reasons for doing so," he replied quickly.
+
+"But he will return?"
+
+"He has learned enough up here for to-day. We have now to think of your
+journey to Alexandria."
+
+"But it seems to me," replied Sirona, blushing, "that I am safely hidden
+in your cave, and just now you yourself said--"
+
+"I warned you against the dangers of the expedition," interrupted
+Paulus. "But since that it has occurred to me that I know of a shelter,
+and of a safe protector for you. There, we are at home again. Now go
+into the cave, for very probably some one may have heard you calling,
+and if other anchorites were to discover you here, they would compel me
+to take you back to your husband."
+
+"I will go directly," sighed Sirona, "but first explain to me--for
+I heard all that you said to each other--" and she colored, "how it
+happened that Phoebicius took Hermas' sheepskin for yours, and why you
+let him beat you without giving any explanation."
+
+"Because my back is even broader than that great fellow's," replied the
+Alexandrian quickly. "I will tell you all about it in some quiet hour,
+perhaps on our journey to Klysma. Now go into the cave, or you may spoil
+everything. I know too what you lack most since you heard the fair words
+of the senator's son."
+
+"Well--what?" asked Sirona.
+
+"A mirror!" laughed Paulus.
+
+"How much you are mistaken!" said Sirona; and she thought to herself,
+"The woman that Polykarp looks at as he does at me, does not need a
+mirror."
+
+An old Jewish merchant lived in the fishing-town on the western
+declivity of the mountain; he shipped the charcoal for Egypt, which was
+made in the valleys of the peninsula by burning the sajal acacia, and he
+had formerly supplied fuel for the drying-room of the papyrus-factory of
+Paulus' father. He now had a business connection with his brother, and
+Paulus himself had had dealings with him. He was prudent and wealthy,
+and whenever he met the anchorite, he blamed him for his flight from
+the world, and implored him to put his hospitality to the test, and to
+command his resources and means as if they were his own.
+
+This man was now to find a boat, and to provide the means of flight for
+Sirona. The longer Paulus thought it over, the more indispensable it
+seemed to him that he should himself accompany the Gaulish lady to
+Alexandria, and in his own person find her a safe shelter. He knew that
+he was free to dispose of his brother's enormous fortune-half of which
+in fact was his--as though it were all his own, and he began to rejoice
+in his possessions for the first time for many years. Soon he was
+occupied in thinking of the furnishing of the house, which he intended
+to assign to the fair Sirona. At first he thought of a simple citizen's
+dwelling, but by degrees he began to picture the house intended for
+her as fitted with shining gold, white and colored marble, many-colored
+Syrian carpets, nay even with vain works of the heathen, with statues,
+and a luxurious bath. In increasing unrest he wandered from rock to
+rock, and many times as he went up and down he paused in front of the
+cave where Sirona was. Once he saw her light robe, and its conspicuous
+gleam led him to the reflection, that it would be imprudent to conduct
+her to the humble fishing-village in that dress. If he meant to conceal
+her traces from the search of Phoebicius and Polykarp, he must first
+provide her with a simple dress, and a veil that should hide her shining
+hair and fair face, which even in the capital could find no match.
+
+The Amalekite, from whom he had twice bought some goat's-milk for her,
+lived in a but which Paulus could easily reach. He still possessed a few
+drachmas, and with these he could purchase what he needed from the wife
+and daughter of the goatherd. Although the sky was now covered with mist
+and a hot sweltering south-wind had risen, he prepared to start at once.
+The sun was no longer visible though its scorching heat could be felt,
+but Paulus paid no heed to this sign of an approaching storm.
+
+Hastily, and with so little attention that he confused one object with
+another in the little store-cellar, he laid some bread, a knife, and
+some dates in front of the entrance to the cave, called out to his guest
+that he should soon return, and hurried at a rapid pace up the mountain.
+
+Sirona answered him with a gentle word of farewell, and did not even
+look round after him, for she was glad to be alone, and so soon as the
+sound of his step had died away she gave herself up once more to the
+overwhelming torrent of new and deep feelings which had flooded her soul
+ever since she had heard Polykarp's ardent hymn of love.
+
+Paulus, in the last few hours, was Menander again, but the lonely woman
+in the cavern--the cause of this transformation--the wife of Phoebicius,
+had undergone an even greater change than he. She was still Sirona, and
+yet not Sirona.
+
+When the anchorite had commanded her to retire into the cave she had
+obeyed him willingly, nay, she would have withdrawn even without his
+desire, and have sought for solitude; for she felt that something
+mighty, hitherto unknown to her, and incomprehensible even to herself,
+was passing in her soul, and that a nameless but potent something
+had grown up in her heart, had struggled free, and had found life
+and motion; a something that was strange, and yet precious to her,
+frightening, and yet sweet, a pain, and yet unspeakably delightful. An
+emotion such as she had never before known had mastered her, and she
+felt, since hearing Polykarp's speech, as if a new and purer blood was
+flowing rapidly through her veins. Every nerve quivered like the leaves
+of the poplars in her former home when the wind blows down to meet the
+Rhone, and she found it difficult to follow what Paulus said, and still
+more so to find the right answer to his questions.
+
+As soon as she was alone she sat down on her bed, rested her elbows on
+her knees, and her head in her hand, and the growing and surging flood
+of her passion broke out in an abundant stream of warm tears.
+
+She had never wept so before; no anguish, no bitterness was infused into
+the sweet refreshing dew of those tears. Fair flowers of never dreamed
+of splendor and beauty blossomed in the heart of the weeping woman, and
+when at length her tears ceased, there was a great silence, but also a
+great glory within her and around her. She was like a man who has grown
+up in an under-ground-room, where no light of day can ever shine, and
+who at last is allowed to look at the blue heavens, at the splendor of
+the sun, at the myriad flowers and leaves in the green woods, and on the
+meadows.
+
+She was wretched, and yet a happy woman.
+
+"That is love!" were the words that her heart sang in triumph, and as
+her memory looked back on the admirers who had approached her in Arelas
+when she was still little more than a child, and afterwards in Rome,
+with tender words and looks, they all appeared like phantom forms
+carrying feeble tapers, whose light paled pitifully, for Polykarp had
+now come on the scene, bearing the very sun itself in his hands.
+
+"They--and he," she murmured to herself, and she beheld as it were a
+balance, and on one of the scales lay the homage which in her vain fancy
+she had so coveted. It was of no more weight than chaff, and its whole
+mass was like a heap of straw, which flew up as soon as Polykarp laid
+his love--a hundredweight of pure gold, in the other scale.
+
+"And if all the nations and kings of the earth brought their treasures
+together," thought she, "and laid them at my feet, they could not make
+me as rich as he has made me, and if all the stars were fused into
+one, the vast globe of light which they would form could not shine so
+brightly as the joy that fills my soul. Come now what may, I will never
+complain after that hour of delight."
+
+Then she thought over each of her former meetings with Polykarp, and
+remembered that he had never spoken to her of love. What must it not
+have cost him to control himself thus; and a great triumphant joy filled
+her heart at the thought that she was pure, and not unworthy of him, and
+an unutterable sense of gratitude rose up in her soul. The love she bore
+this man seemed to take wings, and it spread itself over the common life
+and aspect of the world, and rose to a spirit of devotion. With a deep
+sigh she raised her eyes and hands to heaven, and in her longing to
+prove her love to every living being, nay to every created thing, her
+spirit sought the mighty and beneficent Power to whom she owed such
+exalted happiness.
+
+In her youth her father had kept her very strictly, but still he
+had allowed her to go through the streets of the town with her young
+companions, wreathed with flowers, and all dressed in their best, in the
+procession of maidens at the feast of Venus of Arelas, to whom all the
+women of her native town were wont to turn with prayers and sacrifices
+when their hearts were touched by love.
+
+Now she tried to pray to Venus, but again and again the wanton jests of
+the men who were used to accompany the maidens came into her mind,
+and memories of how she herself had eagerly listened for the only too
+frequent cries of admiration, and had enticed the silent with a glance,
+or thanked the more clamorous with a smile. To-day certainly she had
+no mind for such sport, and she recollected the stern words which had
+fallen from Dorothea's lips on the worship of Venus, when she had once
+told her how well the natives of Arelas knew how to keep their feasts.
+
+And Polykarp, whose heart was nevertheless so full of love, he no doubt
+thought like his mother, and she pictured him as she had frequently seen
+him following his parents by the side of his sister Marthana--often hand
+in hand with her--as they went to church. The senator's son had
+always had a kindly glance for her, excepting when he was one of this
+procession to the temple of the God of whom they said that He was love
+itself, and whose votaries indeed were not poor in love; for in Petrus'
+house, if anywhere, all hearts were united by a tender affection. It
+then occurred to her that Paulus had just now advised her to turn to
+the crucified God of the Christians, who was full of an equal and divine
+love to all men. To him Polykarp also prayed--was praying perhaps this
+very hour; and if she now did the same her prayers would ascend together
+with his, and so she might be in some sort one with that beloved friend,
+from whom everything else conspired to part her.
+
+She knelt down and folded her hands, as she had so often seen Christians
+do, and she reflected on the torments that the poor Man, who hung with
+pierced hands on the cross, had so meekly endured, though He suffered
+innocently; she felt the deepest pity for Him, and softly said to
+herself, as she raised her eyes to the low roof of her cave-dwelling:
+
+"Thou poor good Son of God, Thou knowest what it is when all men condemn
+us unjustly, and surely, Thou canst understand when I say to Thee how
+sore my poor heart is! And they say too, that of all hearts Thine is the
+most loving, and so thou wilt know how it is that, in spite of all my
+misery, it still seems to me that I am a happy woman. The very breath
+of a God must be rapture, and that Thou too must have learned when they
+tortured and mocked Thee, for Thou halt suffered out of love. They
+say, that Thou wast wholly pure and perfectly sinless. Now I--I have
+committed many follies, but not a sin--a real sin--no, indeed, I have
+not; and Thou must know it, for Thou art a God, and knowest the past,
+and canst read hearts. And, indeed, I also would fain remain innocent,
+and yet how can that be when I cannot help being devoted to Polykarp,
+and yet I am another man's wife. But am I indeed the true and lawful
+wife of that horrible wretch who sold me to another? He is as far
+from my heart--as far as if I had never seen him with these eyes. And
+yet--believe me--I wish him no ill, and I will be quite content, if only
+I need never go back to him.
+
+"When I was a child, I was afraid of frogs; my brothers and sisters knew
+it, and once my brother Licinius laid a large one, that he had caught,
+on my bare neck. I started, and shuddered, and screamed out loud, for it
+was so hideously cold and damp--I cannot express it. And that is exactly
+how I have always felt since those days in Rome whenever Phoebicius
+touched me, and yet I dared not scream when he did.
+
+"But Polykarp! oh! would that he were here, and might only grasp my
+hand. He said I was his own, and yet I have never encouraged him. But
+now! if a danger threatened him or a sorrow, and if by any means I could
+save him from it, indeed--indeed--though I never could bear pain well,
+and am afraid of death, I would let them nail me to a cross for him, as
+Thou wast crucified for us all.
+
+"But then he must know that I had died for him, and if he looked into my
+dying eyes with his strange, deep gaze, I would tell him that it is to
+him that I owe a love so great that it is a thing altogether different
+and higher than any love I have ever before seen. And a feeling that is
+so far above all measure of what ordinary mortals experience, it seems
+to me, must be divine. Can such love be wrong? I know not; but Thou
+knowest, and Thou, whom they name the Good Shepherd, lead Thou us--each
+apart from the other, if it be best so for him--but yet, if it be
+possible, unite us once more, if it be only for one single hour. If only
+he could know that I am not wicked, and that poor Sirona would willingly
+belong to him, and to no other, then I would be ready to die. O Thou
+good, kind Shepherd, take me too into Thy flock, and guide me."
+
+Thus prayed Sirona, and before her fancy there floated the image of a
+lovely and loving youthful form; she had seen the original in the model
+for Polykarp's noble work, and she had not forgotten the exquisite
+details of the face. It seemed to her as well known and familiar as if
+she had known--what in fact she could not even guess--that she herself
+had had some share in the success of the work.
+
+The love which unites two hearts is like the ocean of Homer which
+encircles both halves of the earth. It flows and rolls on. Where shall
+we seek its source--here or there--who can tell?
+
+It was Dame Dorothea who in her motherly pride had led the Gaulish lady
+into her son's workshop. Sirona thought of her and her husband and her
+house, where over the door a motto was carved in the stone which she had
+seen every morning from her sleeping-room. She could not read Greek, but
+Polykarp's sister, Marthana, had more than once told her what it
+meant. "Commit thy way to the Lord, and put thy trust in Him," ran the
+inscription, and she repeated it to herself again and again, and then
+drew fancy-pictures of the future in smiling day-dreams, which by
+degrees assumed sharper outlines and brighter colors.
+
+She saw herself united to Polykarp, and as the daughter of Petrus and
+Dorothea, at home in the senator's house; she had a right now to the
+children who loved her, and who were so dear to her; she helped the
+deaconess in all her labors, and won praise, and looks of approval. She
+had learned to use her hands in her father's house and now she could
+show what she could do; Polykarp even gazed at her with surprise and
+admiration, and said that she was as clever as she was beautiful,
+and promised to become a second Dorothea. She went with him into his
+workshop, and there arranged all the things that lay about in confusion,
+and dusted it, while he followed her every movement with his gaze, and
+at last stood before her, his arms wide--wide open to clasp her.
+
+She started, and pressed her hands over her eyes, and flung herself
+loving and beloved on his breast, and would have thrown her arms round
+his neck, while her hot tears flowed--but the sweet vision was suddenly
+shattered, for a swift flash of light pierced the gloom of the cavern,
+and immediately after she heard the heavy roll of the thunder-clap,
+dulled by the rocky walls of her dwelling.
+
+Completely recalled to actuality she listened for a moment, and then
+stepped to the entrance of the cave. It was already dusk, and heavy
+rain-drops were falling from the dark clouds which seemed to shroud the
+mountain peaks in a vast veil of black crape. Paulus was nowhere to be
+seen, but there stood the food he had prepared for her. She had eaten
+nothing since her breakfast, and she now tried to drink the milk, but it
+had curdled and was not fit to use; a small bit of bread and a few dates
+quite satisfied her.
+
+As the lightning and thunder began to follow each other more and more
+quickly, and the darkness fast grew deeper, a great fear fell upon her;
+she pushed the food on one side, and looked up to the mountain where
+the peaks were now wholly veiled in night, now seemed afloat in a sea of
+flame, and more distinctly visible than by daylight. Again and again a
+forked flash like a saw-blade of fire cut through the black curtain of
+cloud with terrific swiftness, again and again the thunder sounded
+like a blast of trumpets through the silent wilderness, and multiplied
+itself, clattering, growling, roaring, and echoing from rock to rock.
+Light and sound at last seemed to be hurled from Heaven together, and
+the very rock in which her cave was formed quaked.
+
+Crushed and trembling she drew back into the inmost depth of her rocky
+chamber, starting at each flash that illumined the darkness.
+
+At length they occurred at longer intervals, the thunder lost its
+appalling fury, and as the wind drove the storm farther and farther to
+the southwards, at last it wholly died away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+It was quite dark in Sirona's cavern, fearfully dark, and the blacker
+grew the night which shrouded her, the more her terror increased. From
+time to time she shut her eyes as tightly as she could, for she fancied
+she could see a crimson glare, and she longed for light in that hour
+as a drowning man longs for the shore. Dark forebodings of every kind
+oppressed her soul.
+
+What if Paulus had abandoned her, and had left her to her fate? Or if
+Polykarp should have been searching for her on the mountain in this
+storm, and in the darkness should have fallen into some abyss, or have
+been struck by the lightning? Suppose the mass of rock that overhung the
+entrance to the cave should have been loosened in the storm, and should
+fall, and bar her exit to the open air? Then she would be buried alive,
+and she must perish alone, without seeing him whom she loved once more,
+or telling him that she had not been unworthy of his trust in her.
+
+Cruelly tormented by such thoughts as these, she dragged herself up and
+felt her way out into the air and wind, for she could no longer hold out
+in the gloomy solitude and fearful darkness. She had hardly reached the
+mouth of the cave, when she heard steps approaching her lurking place,
+and again she shrank back. Who was it that could venture in this
+pitch-dark night to climb from rock to rock? Was it Paulus returning?
+Was it he--was it Polykarp seeking her? She felt intoxicated; she
+pressed her hands to her heart, and longed to cry out, but she dared
+not, and her tongue refused its office. She listened with the tension of
+terror to the sound of the steps which came straight towards her nearer
+and nearer, then the wanderer perceived the faint gleam of her white
+dress, and called out to her. It was Paulus.
+
+She drew a deep breath of relief when she recognized his voice, and
+answered his call.
+
+"In such weather as this," said the anchorite, "it is better to be
+within than without, it seems to me, for it is not particularly pleasant
+out here, so far as I have found."
+
+"But it has been frightful here inside the cave too," Sirona answered,
+"I have been so dreadfully frightened, I was so lonely in the horrible
+darkness. If only I had had my little dog with me, it would at least
+have been a living being."
+
+"I have made haste as well as I could," interrupted Paulus. "The paths
+are not so smooth here as the Kanopic road in Alexandria, and as I have
+not three necks like Cerberus, who lies at the feet of Serapis, it would
+have been wiser of me to return to you a little more leisurely. The
+storm-bird has swallowed up all the stars as if they were flies, and
+the poor old mountain is so grieved at it, that streams of tears are
+everywhere flowing over his stony cheeks. It is wet even here. Now go
+back into the cave, and let me lay this that I have got here for you in
+my arms, in the dry passage. I bring you good news; to-morrow evening,
+when it is growing dusk, we start. I have found out a vessel which
+will convey us to Klysma, and from thence I myself will conduct you to
+Alexandria. In the sheepskin here you will find the dress and veil of
+an Amalekite woman, and if your traces are to be kept hidden from
+Phoebicius, you must accommodate yourself to this disguise; for if the
+people down there were to see you as I saw you to-day, they would think
+that Aphrodite herself had risen from the sea, and the report of the
+fair-haired beauty that had appeared among them would soon spread even
+to the oasis."
+
+"But it seems to me that I am well hidden here," replied Sirona. "I am
+afraid of a sea-voyage, and even if we succeeded in reaching Alexandria
+without impediment, still I do not know--"
+
+"It shall be my business to provide for you there." Paulus interrupted
+with a decision that was almost boastful, and that somewhat disturbed
+Sirona. "You know the fable of the ass in the lion's skin, but there are
+lions who wear the skin of an ass on their shoulders--or of a sheep,
+it comes to the same thing. Yesterday you were speaking of the splendid
+palaces of the citizens, and lauding the happiness of their owners. You
+shall dwell in one of those marble houses, and rule it as its mistress,
+and it shall be my care to procure you slaves, and litter-bearers, and
+a carriage with four mules. Do not doubt my word, for I am promising
+nothing that I cannot perform. The rain is ceasing, and I will try to
+light a fire. You want nothing more to eat? Well then, I will wish you
+good-night. The rest will all do to-morrow."
+
+Sirona had listened in astonishment to the anchorite's promises.
+
+How often had she envied those who possessed all that her strange
+protector now promised her--and now it had not the smallest charm for
+her; and, fully determined in any case not to follow Paulus, whom she
+began to distrust, she replied, as she coldly returned his greeting,
+"There are many hours yet before tomorrow evening in which we can
+discuss everything."
+
+While Paulus was with great difficulty rekindling the fire, she was once
+more alone, and again she began to be alarmed in the dark cavern.
+
+She called the Alexandrian. "The darkness terrifies me so," she said.
+"You still had some oil in the jug this morning; perhaps you may be able
+to contrive a little lamp for me; it is so fearful to stay here in the
+dark."
+
+Paulus at once took a shard, tore a strip from his tattered coat,
+twisted it together, and laid it for a wick in the greasy fluid, lighted
+it at the slowly reviving fire, and putting this more than simple light
+in Sirona's hand, he said, "It will serve its purpose; in Alexandria I
+will see that you have lamps which give more light, and which are made
+by a better artist."
+
+Sirona placed the lamp in a hollow in the rocky wall at the head of her
+bed, and then lay down to rest. Light scares away wild beasts and fear
+too from the resting-place of man, and it kept terrifying thoughts far
+away from the Gaulish woman.
+
+She contemplated her situation clearly and calmly, and quite decided
+that she would neither quit the cave, nor entrust herself to the
+anchorite, till she had once more seen and spoken to Polykarp. He no
+doubt knew where to seek her, and certainly, she thought, he would by
+this time have returned, if the storm and the starless night had not
+rendered it an impossibility to come up the mountain from the oasis.
+
+"To-morrow I shall see him again, and then I will open my heart to him,
+and he shall read my soul like a book, and on every page, and in every
+line he will find his own name. And I will tell him too that I have
+prayed to his 'Good Shepherd,' and how much good it has done me, and
+that I will be a Christian like his sister Marthana and his mother.
+Dorothea will be glad indeed when she hears it, and she at any rate
+cannot have thought that I was wicked, for she always loved me, and the
+children--the children--"
+
+The bright crowd of merry faces came smiling in upon her fancy, and her
+thoughts passed insensibly into dreams; kindly sleep touched her heart
+with its gentle hand, and its breath swept every shadow of trouble from
+her soul. She slept, smiling and untroubled as a child whose eyes some
+guardian angel softly kisses, while her strange protector now turned the
+flickering wood on the damp hearth and with a reddening face blew up the
+dying charcoal-fire, and again walked restlessly up and down, and paused
+each time he passed the entrance to the cave, to throw a longing glance
+at the light which shone out from Sirona's sleeping-room.
+
+Since the moment when he had flung Polykarp to the ground, Paulus had
+not succeeded in recovering his self-command; not for a moment had he
+regretted the deed, for the reflection had never occurred to him, that
+a fall on the stony soil of the Sacred Mountain, which was as hard as
+iron, must hurt more than a fall on the' sand of the arena.
+
+"The impudent fellow," thought he, "richly deserved what he got. Who
+gave him a better right over Sirona than he, Paulus himself, had--he who
+had saved her life, and had taken it upon himself to protect her?" Her
+great beauty had charmed him from the first moment of their meeting, but
+no impure thought stirred his heart as he gazed at her with delight, and
+listened with emotion to her childlike talk. It was the hot torrent of
+Polykarp's words that had first thrown the spark into his soul, which
+jealousy and the dread of having to abandon Sirona to another, had soon
+fanned into a consuming flame. He would not give up this woman, he would
+continue to care for her every need, she should owe everything to him,
+and to him only. And so, without reserve, he devoted himself body and
+soul to the preparations for her flight. The hot breath of the storm,
+the thunder and lightning, torrents of rain, and blackness of night
+could not delay him, while he leaped from rock to rock, feeling his
+way-soaked through, weary and in peril; he thought only of her, and of
+how he could most safely carry her to Alexandria, and then surround
+her with all that could charm a woman's taste. Nothing--nothing did he
+desire for himself, and all that he dreamed of and planned turned only
+and exclusively on the pleasure which he might afford her. When he had
+prepared and lighted the lamp for her he saw her again, and was startled
+at the beauty of the face that the trembling flame revealed. He could
+observe her a few seconds only, and then she had vanished, and he must
+remain alone in the darkness and the rain. He walked restlessly up and
+down, and an agonizing longing once more to see her face lighted up
+by the pale flame, and the white arm that she had held out to take the
+lamp, grew more and more strong in him and accelerated the pulses of
+his throbbing heart. As often as he passed the cave, and observed the
+glimmer of light that came from her room, he felt prompted and urged to
+slip in, and to gaze on her once more. He never once thought of prayer
+and scourging, his old means of grace, he sought rather for a reason
+that might serve him as an excuse if he went in, and it struck him that
+it was cold, and that a sheepskin was lying in the cavern. He would
+fetch it, in spite of his vow never to wear a sheepskin again; and
+supposing he were thus enabled to see her, what next?
+
+When he had Stepped across the threshold, an inward voice warned him
+to return, and told him that he must be treading the path of
+unrighteousness, for that he was stealing in on tiptoe like a thief; but
+the excuse was ready at once. "That is for fear of waking her, if she is
+asleep."
+
+And now all further reflection was silenced for he had already reached
+the spot where, at the end of the rocky passage, the cave widened into
+her sleeping-room; there she lay on her hard couch, sunk in slumber and
+enchantingly fair.
+
+A deep gloom reigned around, and the feeble light of the little lamp
+lighted up only a small portion of the dismal chamber but the head,
+throat, and arms that it illuminated seemed to shine with a light of
+their own that enhanced and consecrated the light of the feeble flame.
+Paulus fell breathless on his knees, and fixed his eyes with growing
+eagerness on the graceful form of the sleeper.
+
+Sirona was dreaming; her head, veiled in her golden hair, rested on a
+high pillow of herbs, and her delicately rosy face was turned up to the
+vault of the cave; her half-closed lips moved gently, and now she moved
+her bent arm and her white hand, on which the light of the lamp fell,
+and which rested half on her forehead and half on her shining hair.
+
+"Is she saying anything?" asked Paulus of himself, and he pressed his
+brow against a projection of the rock as tightly as if he would stem
+the rapid rush of his blood that it might not overwhelm his bewildered
+brain.
+
+Again she moved her lips. Had she indeed spoken? Had she perhaps called
+him?
+
+That could not be, for she still slept; but he wished to believe it--and
+he would believe it, and he stole nearer to her and nearer, and bent
+over her, and listened--while his own strength failed him even to draw a
+breath--listened to the soft regular breathing that heaved her bosom. No
+longer master of himself he touched her white arm with his bearded lips
+and she drew it back in her sleep, then his gaze fell on her parted lips
+and the pearly teeth that shone between them, and a mad longing to kiss
+them came irresistibly over him. He bent trembling over her, and was
+on the point of gratifying his impulse when, as if startled by a sudden
+apparition, he drew back, and raised his eyes from the rosy lips to the
+hand that rested on the sleeper's brow.
+
+The lamplight played on a golden ring on Sirona's finger, and shone
+brightly on an onyx on which was engraved an image of Tyche, the
+tutelary goddess of Antioch, with a sphere upon her head, and bearing
+Amalthea's horn in her hand.
+
+A new and strange emotion took possession of the anchorite at the sight
+of this stone. With trembling hands he felt in the breast of his torn
+garment, and presently drew forth a small iron crucifix and the ring
+that he had taken from the cold hand of Hermas' mother. In the golden
+circlet was set an onyx, on which precisely the same device was visible
+as that on Sirona's hand. The string with its precious jewel fell from
+his grasp, he clutched his matted hair with both hands, groaned deeply,
+and repeated again and again, as though to crave forgiveness, the name
+of "Magdalen."
+
+Then he called Sirona in a loud voice, and as she awoke excessively
+startled, he asked her in urgent tones: "Who gave you that ring?"
+
+"It was a present from Phoebicius," replied she. "He said he had had it
+given to him many years since in Antioch, and that it had been engraved
+by a great artist. But I do not want it any more, and if you like to
+have it you may."
+
+"Throw it away!" exclaimed Paulus, "it will bring you nothing but
+misfortune." Then he collected himself, went out into the air with his
+head sunk on his breast, and there, throwing himself down on the wet
+stones by the hearth, he cried out:
+
+"Magdalen! dearest and purest! You, when you ceased to be Glycera,
+became a saintly martyr, and found the road to heaven; I too had my day
+of Damascus--of revelation and conversion--and I dared to call myself by
+the name of Paulus--and now--now?"
+
+Plunged in despair he beat his forehead, groaning out, "All, all in
+vain!"
+
+
+
+
+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 he 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, he 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:
+
+     Action trod on the heels of resolve
+     Can such love be wrong?
+     He who wholly abjures folly is a fool
+     He out of the battle can easily boast of being unconquered
+     Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto
+     I am human, nothing that is human can I regard as alien to me
+     Love is at once the easiest and the most difficult
+     Love overlooks the ravages of years and has a good memory
+     No judgment is so hard as that dealt by a slave to slaves
+     No man is more than man, and many men are less
+     Overlooks his own fault in his feeling of the judge's injustice
+     Pray for me, a miserable man--for I was a man
+     Sky as bare of cloud as the rocks are of shrubs and herbs
+     Sleep avoided them both, and each knew that the other was awake
+     Some caution is needed even in giving a warning
+     The older one grows the quicker the hours hurry away
+     To pray is better than to bathe
+     Wakefulness may prolong the little term of life
+     Who can point out the road that another will take
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Homo Sum, Complete, by Georg Ebers
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