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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Serapis, by Georg Ebers, Volume 1.
+#62 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+
+*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers*****
+
+
+Title: Serapis, Volume 1.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5501]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 5, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERAPIS, BY GEORG EBERS, V1 ***
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
+
+
+
+[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
+file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
+entire meal of them.  D.W.]
+
+
+
+
+
+SERAPIS
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Volume 1.
+
+
+
+Translated from the German by Clara Bell
+
+
+
+
+SERAPIS.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The busy turmoil of the town had been hushed for some hours; the moon
+and stars were keeping silent watch over Alexandria, and many of the
+inhabitants were already in the land of dreams. It was deliciously fresh
+--a truly gracious night; but, though peace reigned in the streets and
+alleys, even now there was in this pause for rest a lack of the soothing
+calm which refreshes and renews the spirit of man. For some few weeks
+there had been an oppressive and fevered tension in the repose of night.
+Every house and shop was closed as securely as though it were done, not
+only to secure slumber against intrusion, but to protect life and
+property from the spoiler; and instead of tones of jollity and mirth the
+sleeping city echoed the heavy steps and ringing arms of soldiers.  Now
+and again, when the Roman word of command or the excited cry of some
+sleepless monk broke the silence, shops and doors were cautiously opened
+and an anxious face peered out, while belated wanderers shrunk into
+gateways or under the black shadow of a wall as the watch came past.  A
+mysterious burden weighed on the Heart of the busy city and clicked its
+pulses, as a nightmare oppresses the dreamer.
+
+On this night of the year of our Lord 391, in a narrow street leading
+from the commercial harbor known as Kibotus, an old man was slinking
+along close to the houses.  His clothes were plain but decent, and he
+walked with his head bent forward looking anxiously on all sides; when
+the patrol came by he shrank into the shadow; though he was no thief he
+had his reasons for keeping out of the way of the soldiery, for the
+inhabitants, whether natives or strangers, were forbidden to appear in
+the streets after the harbor was closed for the night.
+
+He stopped in front of a large house, whose long, windowless wall
+extended from one side street to the next, and pausing before the great
+gate, he read an inscription on which the light fell from a lamp above:
+The House of the Holy Martyr.  His widow here offers shelter to all who
+need it.  He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord."
+
+"At how much per cent I wonder?"  mattered the old man and a satirical
+smile curled his bearuless lips.  A heavy thud with the knocker rang
+through the silent street, and after a few short questions from within
+and equally curt replies from without, a small door was opened in the
+great gate.  The stranger was on the point of crossing the vestibule when
+a human creature crept up to him on all fours, and clutched his ancle
+with a strong hand, exclaiming in a hoarse voice: "As soon as the door
+is shut--an entrance fee; for the poor, you know."
+
+The old man flung a copper piece to the gatekeeper who tried it, and
+then, holding on to the rope by which he was tied to a post like a watch-
+dog, he whined out "Not a drop to wet a Christian's lips?"
+
+"It has not rained for some time," retorted the stranger, who proceeded
+to open a second door which led into a vast court-yard open to the blue
+vault of heaven.  A few torches stuck against the pillars and a small
+fire on the pavement added thin smoky, flickering light to the clear
+glory of the stars, and the whole quadrangle was full of a heavy, reeking
+atmosphere, compounded of smoke and the steam of hot food.
+
+Even in the street the wanderer had heard the dull buzz and roar which
+now met his ear as a loud medley of noises and voices, rising from
+hundreds of men who were encamped in the wide space before him--in groups
+or singly, sleeping and snoring, or quarrelling, eating, talking and
+singing as they squatted on the ground which was strewn with straw.
+
+The inn was full, and more than half of the humble guests were monks who,
+during the last two days, had flowed into the city from every Cenoby,
+Laura and hermitage in the desert, and from most of the monasteries in
+the surrounding district--the 'Nitriote Nome'.  Some of them had laid
+their heads close together for confidential whispering, others squabbled
+loudly, and a large group in the northern angle of the court had raised
+a psalm  which  mingled strangely with the "three," "four," "seven," of
+the men who were playing 'mora', and the cry of the cook inviting
+purchasers to his stall spread with meat, bread, and onions.
+
+At the end of the court furthest from the gateway there was a covered
+way, on to which a row of doors opened leading to the rooms devoted to
+families of women and children, each apartment being divided into two by
+a curtain across the middle.  The stranger made his way into one of these
+rooms, where he was warmly welcomed by a young man, who was occupied in
+cutting a Kopais reed into a mouth-piece for a double flute, and by a
+tall matronly woman.
+
+The new-comer's name was Karnis and he was the head of a family of
+wandering singers who had arrived in Alexandria only the day before from
+Rome.  His surroundings were poor and mean, for their ship had been
+attacked off the African coast by a band of pirates, and though they had
+saved their lives they had lost everything they possessed.  The young
+owner of the vessel, to whom he owed his safety, had procured him
+admission to this Xenodochium,--[a refuge or inn]--kept by his mother the
+Widow Mary; Karnis had, however, found it far from comfortable, and had
+gone forth at noon to seek other quarters.
+
+"All in vain!"  said he, as he wiped the heat drops from his forehead.
+"I have hunted Medius half the city through and found him at last at the
+house of Posidonius the Magian, whose assistant he is.  There was singing
+behind a curtain--wretched rubbish; but there were some old airs too with
+an accompaniment on the flutes, in the style of Olympus, and really not
+so bad.
+
+"Then spirits appeared.  By Sirius a queer business altogether!  Medius
+is in the midst of it all.  I arranged the chorus and sang with them a
+little.  All I got for it was a little dirty silver--there!  But as for
+a lodging--free quarters!--there are none to be found here for anything
+above an owl; and then there is the edict--that cursed edict!"
+
+During this speech the younger man had exchanged meaning glances with his
+mother.  He now interrupted Karnis, saying in a tone of encouragement:
+
+"Never mind, father; we have something good in view."
+
+"You have?"  said the old man with an incredulous shrug, while his wife
+served him with a small roast chicken, on a stool which did duty for a
+table.
+
+"Yes father, we!" the lad went on, laying aside his knife.  "You know we
+vowed an offering to Dionysus for our escape, since he himself once fell
+into the hands of pirates, so we went at once to his temple.  Mother knew
+the way; and as we--she, I mean, and Dada and myself. . ."
+
+"Heh! what is this?"  interrupted Karnis, now for the first time noticing
+the dish before him.  "A fowl--when we are so miserably poor?  A whole
+fowl, and cooked with oil?"  He spoke angrily, but his wife, laying her
+hand on his shoulder, said soothingly:
+
+"We shall soon earn it again.  Never a sesterce was won by fretting.
+Enjoy to-day's gifts and the gods will provide for to-morrow."
+
+"Indeed?" asked Karnis in an altered key.  "To be sure when a roast fowl
+flies into one's mouth instead of a pigeon ...  But you are right as
+usual, Herse, as usual, only--here am I battening like a senator while
+you--I lay a wager you have drunk nothing but milk all day and eaten
+nothing but bread and radishes.  I thought so?  Then the chicken must
+pretend to be a pheasant and you, wife, will eat this leg.  The girls are
+gone to bed?  Why here is some wine too!  Fill up your cup, boy.  A
+libation to the God!  Glory to Dionysus !"  The two men poured the
+libation on the floor and drank; then the father thrust his knife into
+the breast of the bird and began his meal with a will, while Orpheus, the
+son, went on with his story:
+
+"Well, the temple of Dionysus was not to be found, for Bishop Theophilus
+has had it destroyed; so to what divinity could we offer our wreath and
+cake?  Here in Egypt there is none but the great Mother Isis.  Her
+sanctuary is on the shore of Lake Mareotis and mother found it at once.
+There she fell into conversation with a priestess who, as soon as she
+learnt that my mother belonged to a family of musicians--though Dame
+Herse was cautious in announcing this fact--and hoped to find employment
+in Alexandria, led her away to a young lady who was closely veiled.  This
+lady," Orpheus went on--he not only played the flute but took the higher
+parts for a man's voice and could also strike the lyre--"desired us to go
+to her later at her own house, where she would speak with us.  She drove
+off in a fine carriage and we, of course followed her orders; Agne was
+with us too.  A splendid house!  I never saw anything handsomer in Rome
+or Antioch.  We were kindly received, and with the lady there were
+another very old lady and a tall grave man, a priest I should fancy or a
+philosopher, or something of that kind."
+
+"Not some Christian trap?"  asked Karnis suspiciously.  "You do not know
+this place, and since the edict. . ."
+
+"Never fear, father!  There were images of the gods in the halls and
+corridors, and in the room where we were received by Gorgo, the beautiful
+daughter of Porphyrius, there was an altar before an image of Isis, quite
+freshly anointed.--This Porphyrius is a very rich merchant; we learnt
+that afterwards, and many other things.  The philosopher asked us at once
+whether we were aware that Theodosius had lately promulgated a new edict
+forbidding young maidens to appear in public as singers or flute-
+players."
+
+"And did Agne hear that?"  said the old man in a low voice as he pointed
+to the curtain.
+
+"No, she and Dada were in the garden on to which the room opened, and
+mother explained at once that though Agne was a Christian she was a very
+good girl, and that so long as she remained in our service she was bound
+to sing with us whenever she was required.  The philosopher exclaimed at
+once: 'The very thing!' and they whispered together, and called the girls
+and desired them to show what they could do."
+
+"And how did they perform?"  asked the old man, who was growing excited.
+
+"Dada warbled like a lark, and Agne--well you know how it always is.  Her
+voice sounded lovely but it was just as usual.  You can guess how much
+there is in her and how deep her feeling is but she never quite brings
+it out.  What has she to complain of with us?  And yet whatever she sings
+has that mournful, painful ring which even you can do nothing to alter.
+However, she pleased them better than Dada did, for I noticed that Gorgo
+and the gentleman glanced at each other and at her, and whispered a word
+now and then which certainly referred to Ague.  When they had sung two
+songs the young lady came towards us and praised both the girls, and
+asked whether we would undertake to learn something quite new.  I told
+her that my father was a great musician who could master the most
+difficult things at the first hearing."
+
+"The most difficult!  Hm...  that depends," said the old man.  "Did she
+show it you?"
+
+"No; it is something in the style of Linus and she sang it to us."
+
+"The daughter of the rich Porphyrius sang for your entertainment?
+Yours?"  said Karnis laughing.  "By Sirius!  The world is turning upside
+down.  Now that girls are forbidden to perform to the gentlefolks, art is
+being cultivated by the upper classes; it cannot be killed outright.  For
+the future the listeners will be paid to keep quiet and the singers pay
+for the right of torturing their ears--our ears, our luckless ears will
+be victimized."
+
+Orpheus smiled and shook his head; then, again dropping his knife, he
+went on eagerly:
+
+"But if you could only hear her!  You would give your last copper piece
+to hear her again."
+
+"Indeed!"  muttered his father.  "Well, there are very good teachers
+here.  Something by Linus did you say she sang?"
+
+"Something of that kind; a lament for the dead of very great power:
+'Return, oh! return my beloved, came back--come home!' that was the
+burthen of it.  And there was a passage which said: 'Oh that each tear
+had a voice and could join with me in calling thee!"  And how she sang
+it, father!  I do not think I ever in my life heard anything like it.
+Ask mother.  Even Dada's eyes were full of tears."
+
+"Yes, it was beautiful," the mother agreed.  "I could not help wishing
+that you were there."
+
+Karnis rose and paced the little room, waving his arms and muttering:
+
+"Ah! so that is how it is!  A friend of the Muses.  We saved the large
+lute--that is well.  My chlamys has an ugly hole in it--if the girls were
+not asleep...  but the first thing to-morrow Ague...  Tell me, is she
+handsome, tall?"
+
+Herse had been watching her excitable husband with much satisfaction and
+now answered his question: "Not a Hera--not a Muse--decidedly not.
+Hardly above the middle height, slightly made, but not small, black eyes,
+long lashes, dark straight eyebrows.  I could hardly, like Orpheus, call
+her beautiful. . ."
+
+"Oh yes, mother.--Beautiful is a great word, and one my father has taught
+me to use but rarely; but she--if she is not beautiful who is?--when she
+raised her large dark eyes and threw back her head to bring out her
+lament; tone after tone seemed to come from the bottom of her heart and
+rise to the furthest height of heaven.  Ah, if Agne could learn to sing
+like that!  'Throw your whole soul into your singing.'--You have told her
+that again and again.  Now, Gorgo can and does.  And she stood there as
+steady and as highly strung as a bow, every note came out with the ring
+of an arrow and went straight to the heart, as clear and pure as
+possible."
+
+"Be silent!" cried the old man covering his ears with his hands.
+"I shall not close an eye till daylight, and then...  Orpheus, take that
+silver--take it all, I have no more--go early to market and buy flowers--
+laurel branches, ivy, violets and roses.  But no lotuses though the
+market here is full of them; they are showy, boastful things with no
+scent, I cannot bear them.  We will go crowned to the Temple of the
+Muses."
+
+"Buy away, buy all you want!"  said Herse laughing, as she showed her
+husband some bright gold pieces.  "We got that to-day, and if all is
+well. . ."  Here she paused, pointed to the curtain, and went on again in
+a lower tone: "It all depends of course, on Agne's playing us no trick."
+
+"How so?  Why?  She is a good girl and I will. . ."
+
+"No, no," said Herse holding him back.  "She does not know yet what the
+business is.  The lady wants her. . ."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"To sing in the Temple of Isis."
+
+Karnis colored.  He was suddenly called from a lovely dream back to the
+squalid reality.  "In the Temple of Isis," he said gloomily.  "Agne?  In
+the face of all the people?  And she knows nothing about it?"
+
+"Nothing, father."
+
+"No?  Well then, if that is the case . . .  Agne, the Christian, in the
+Temple of Isis--here, here, where Bishop Theophilus is destroying all our
+sanctuaries and the monks outdo their master.  Ah, children, children,
+how pretty and round and bright a soap-bubble is, and how soon it bursts.
+Do you know at all what it is that you are planning?  If the black flies
+smell it out and it becomes known, by the great Apollo! we should have
+fared better at the hands of the pirates.  And yet, and yet.--Do you know
+at all how the girl...?"
+
+"She wept at the lady's singing," interrupted Herse eagerly, "and, silent
+as she generally is, on her way home she said: 'To sing like that!  She
+is a happy girl!'"
+
+Karnis looked up with renewed confidence.
+
+"Ah!"  he exclaimed, "that is my Agne.  Yes, yes, she truly loves her
+divine art.  She can sing, she will sing!  We will venture it, if you, I,
+all of us die for it!
+
+"Herse, Orpheus, what have we to lose?  Our gods, too, shall have their
+martyrs.  It is a poor life that has no excitement.  Our art--why,
+all I have ever had has been devoted to it.  I make no boast of having
+sacrificed everything, and if gold and lands were again to be mine I
+would become a beggar once more for the sake of art:  We have always held
+the divine Muse sacred, but who can keep up a brave heart when he sees
+her persecuted!  She may only be worshipped in darkness in these days,
+and the Queen of Gods and men shuns the light like a moth, a bat, an owl.
+If we must die let it be with and for Her!  Once more let pure and
+perfect song rejoice this old heart, and if afterwards . . .  My
+children, we have no place in this dim, colorless world.  While the Arts
+lived there was Spring on the earth.  Now they are condemned to death and
+it is Winter.  The leaves fall from all the trees, and we piping birds
+need groves to sing in.  How often already has Death laid his hand on our
+shoulder, every breath we draw is a boon of mercy--the extra length
+given in by the weaver, the hour of grace granted by the hangman to his
+victim!  Our lives are no longer our own, a borrowed purse with damaged
+copper coins.  The hard-hearted creditor has already bent his knuckles,
+and when he knocks the time is up.  Once more let us have one hour of
+pure and perfect enjoyment, and then we will pay up capital and interest
+when we must."
+
+"It cannot and will not be yet," said Herse resolutely, but she wiped her
+eyes with her band.  "If Agne sings even, so long as she does it without
+coercion and of her own free-will no Bishop can punish us."
+
+"He cannot, he dare not!"  cried  the old  man.  There are still laws and
+judges."
+
+"And Gorgo's family is influential as well as rich.  Porphyrius has power
+to protect us, and you do not yet know what a fancy he has taken to us.
+Ask mother."
+
+"It is like a story," Herse put in.  "Before we left, the old lady--she
+must be eighty or more--took me aside and asked me where we were lodging.
+I told her at the Widow Mary's and when she heard it she struck her
+crutch on the floor.  'Do you like the place?' she asked.  I told her not
+at all, and said we could not possibly stop here."
+
+"Quite right!"  cried Karnis.  "The monks in the court-yard will kill us
+as dead as rats if they hear us learning heathen hymns."
+
+"That is what I told her; but the old lady did not allow me to finish;
+she drew me close to her and whispered, 'only do as my granddaughter
+wishes and you shall be safely housed and take this for the present'--
+and she put her hand into the purse at her girdle, gave the gold into my
+hand, and added loud enough for the others to hear: 'Fifty gold pieces
+out of my own pocket if Gorgo tells me that she is satisfied with your
+performance.'"
+
+"Fifty gold pieces!"  cried Karnis clasping his hands.  "That brightens
+up the dull grey of existence.  Fifty, then, are certain.  If we sing six
+times that makes a talent--[estimated in 1880 at $1100]--and that will
+buy back our old vineyard at Leontium.  I will repair the old Odeum--they
+have made a cowhouse of it--and when we sing there the monks may come and
+listen!  You laugh?  But you are simpletons--I should like to see who
+will forbid my singing on my own land and in my own country.  A talent of
+gold!
+
+"It is quite enough to pay on account, and I will not agree to any bargain
+that will not give me the field-slaves and cattle.  Castles in the air,
+do you say?  But just listen to me:  We are sure you see of a hundred
+gold pieces at least. . ."  He had raised his voice in his eagerness and
+while he spoke the curtains had been softly opened, and the dull glimmer
+of the lamp which stood in front of Orpheus fell on a head which was
+charming in spite of its disorder.  A quantity of loose fair hair curled
+in papers stuck up all over the round head and fell over the forehead,
+the eyes were tired and still half shut, but the little mouth was wide
+awake and laughing with the frank amusement of light-hearted youth.
+
+Karnis, without noticing the listener, had gone on with his visionary
+hopes of regaining his estates by his next earnings, but at this point
+the young girl, holding the curtain in her right hand, stretched out her
+plump left arm and begged in a humble whine:
+
+"Good father Karnis, give me a little of your wealth; five poor little
+drachmae!"
+
+The old man started; but he instantly recovered himself and answered
+good-naturedly enough:
+
+"Go back to bed, you little hussy.  You ought to be asleep instead of
+listening there!"
+
+"Asleep?"  said the girl.  "While you are shouting like an orator against
+the wind!  Five drachmae, father.  I stick to that.  A new ribband for me
+will cost one, and the same for Agne, two.  Two I will spend on wine for
+us all, and that makes the five."
+
+"That makes four--you are a great arithmetician to be sure!"
+
+"Four?"  said Dada, as much amazed as though the moon had fallen.  "If
+only I had a counting-frame.  No, father, five I tell you--it is five."
+
+"No, child, four; and you shall have four," replied her father.  "Plutus
+is at the door and to-morrow morning you shall both have garlands."
+
+"Yes,  of violets, ivy and roses," added Dame Herse.  "Is Agne asleep?"
+
+"As sound as the dead.  She always sleeps soundly unless she lies wide
+awake all the night through.  But we were both so tired--and I am still.
+It is a comfort to yawn.  Do you see how I am sitting?"
+
+"On the clothes-chest?"  said Herse.
+
+"Yes, and the curtain is not a strong back to the seat.  Fortunately if I
+fall asleep I shall drop forwards, not backwards."
+
+"But there is a bed for each of you," said the mother, and giving the
+girl a gentle push she followed her into the sleeping-alcove.  In a few
+minutes she came out again.
+
+"That is just like Dada!"  she exclaimed.  "Little Papias had rolled off
+the chest on which he was sleeping, so the good girl had put him into her
+bed and was sitting on the chest herself, tired as she was."
+
+"She would do anything for that boy," said Karnis.  "But it is past
+midnight.  Come, Orpheus, let us make the bed!"
+
+Three long hen-coops which stood piled against the wall were laid on the
+ground and covered with mats; on these the tired men stretched their
+limbs, but they could not sleep.
+
+The little lamp was extinguished, and for an hour all was still in the
+dark room.  Then, suddenly, there was a loud commotion; some elastic
+object flew against the wall with a loud flap, and Karnis, starting up,
+called out: "Get out--monster!"
+
+"What is it?"  cried Herse who had also been startled, and the old man
+replied angrily:
+
+"Some daemon, some dog of a daemon is attacking me and giving me no
+peace.  Wait, you villain--there, perhaps that will settle you," and he
+flung his second sandal.  Then, without heeding the rustling fall of some
+object that he had hit by accident, he gasped out:
+
+"The impudent fiend will not let me be.  It knows that we need Agne's
+voice, and it keeps whispering, first in one ear and then in the other,
+that I should threaten to sell her little brother if she refuses; but I--
+I--strike a light, Orpheus!--She is a good girl and rather than do such a
+thing. . ."
+
+"The daemon has been close to me too," said the son as he blew on the
+spark he had struck.
+
+"And to me too," added Herse nervously.  "It is only natural.  There are
+no images of the gods in this Christian hovel.  Away, hateful serpent!
+We are honest folks and will not agree to any vile baseness.  Here is my
+amulet, Karnis; if the daemon comes again you must turn it round--you
+know how."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Early next morning the singers set out for the house of Porphyrius.  The
+party was not complete, however, for Dada had been forced to remain at
+home.  The shoes that the old man had flung to scare away the daemon had
+caught in the girl's dress which she had just washed, and had dragged it
+down on to the earth; she had found it in the morning full of holes burnt
+by the ashes into the damp material.  Dada had no other presentable
+garment, so, in spite of her indignant refusal and many tears, she had to
+remain indoors with Papias.  Agne's anxious offers to stay in her place
+with the little boy and to lend Dada her dress, both Karnis and his wife
+had positively refused; and Dada had lent her aid--at first silently
+though willingly and then with her usual merriment--in twining garlands
+for the others and in dressing Agne's smooth black plaits with a wreath
+of ivy and violets.
+
+The men were already washed, anointed and crowned with poplar and laurel
+when a steward arrived from Porphyrius to bid them follow him to his
+master's house.  But a small sacrifice was necessary, for the messenger
+desired them to lay aside their wreaths, which would excite ill-feeling
+among the monks, and certainly be snatched off by the Christian mob.
+Karnis when he started was greatly disappointed, and as much depressed as
+he had been triumphant and hopeful a short time before.
+
+The monks, who had gathered outside the Xenodochium, glanced with
+scowling suspicion at the party, who could not recover the good spirits
+with which they had begun the day till they were fairly out of the
+narrow, gloomy alleys, reeking with tar and salt fish, that adjoined the
+harbor, and where they had to push their way through a dense throng.  The
+steward led the van with Herse, talking freely in reply to her enquiries.
+
+His master, he said, was one of the great merchants of the city, whose
+wife had died twenty years since in giving birth to Gorgo.  His two sons
+were at present absent on their travels.  The old lady who had been so
+liberal in her treatment of the singers was Damia, the mother of
+Porphyrius.  She had a fine fortune of her own, and notwithstanding her
+great age was still respected as the soul of business in the household,
+and as a woman deeply versed in the mysterious sciences.  Mary, the pious
+Christian, who had founded the "House of the Holy Martyr," was the widow
+of Apelles, the brother of Porphyrius, but she had ceased all intercourse
+with her husband's family.  This was but natural, as she was at the head
+of the Christian women of Alexandria, while the household of Porphyrius--
+though the master himself had been baptized--was as thoroughly heathen as
+any in Alexandria.
+
+Karnis heard nothing of all this, for he came last of the party.  Orpheus
+and Agne followed next to Herse and the steward, and after them came two
+slaves, carrying the lutes and pipes.  Agne walked with downcast eyes, as
+if she desired to avoid seeing all that surrounded her, though when
+Orpheus addressed her she shyly glanced up at him and answered briefly
+and timidly.  They presently came out of an obscure alley by the canal
+connecting Kibotus with Lake Mareotis where the Nile-boats lay at anchor.
+Karnis drew a deeper breath, for here the air was clear and balmy; a
+light northerly breeze brought the refreshing fragrance of the sea, and
+the slender palm-trees that bordered the canal threw long shadows
+mingling with the massive shade of the sycamores.  The road was astir
+with busy groups, birds sang in the trees, and the old musician drank in
+the exciting and aromatic atmosphere of the Egyptian Spring with keen
+enjoyment.
+
+As they reached the middle of the steep bridge across the canal he
+involuntarily stood still, riveted by the view of the southwest.  In his
+excitement he threw up his arms, his eyes glistened with moisture and
+with the enthusiasm of youth, and, as was always the case when his
+emotions were stirred by some glorious work of God or man, an image rose
+to his mind, all unbidden--the image of his eldest son, now dead, but in
+life his closest and most sympathetic comrade.  He felt as though his
+hand could grasp the shoulder of that son, too early snatched away, whose
+gifts had far transcended those of the surviving Orpheus--as though he
+too could gaze with him on the grand scene that lay before him.
+
+On a platform of rocks and mighty masonry rose a structure of wonderful
+magnificence and beauty, so brilliantly illuminated by the morning sun
+that its noble proportions and gorgeous colors showed in dazzling
+splendor and relief.  Over the gilt dome bent the cloudless blue of the
+African sky, and the polished hemisphere shone, as radiant as the sun
+whose beams it reflected.  Sloping planes for vehicles, and flights of
+steps for pedestrians led up to the gates.  The lower part of this
+wonderful edifice--the great Temple of Serapis--was built to stand
+forever, and the pillars of the vestibule supported a roof more fitted to
+the majesty of the gods than to the insignificance of mortals; priests
+and worshippers moved here like children among the trunks of some
+gigantic forest.  Round the cornice, in hundreds of niches, and on every
+projection, all the gods of Olympus and all the heroes and sages of
+Greece seemed to have met in conclave, and stood gazing down on the world
+in gleaming brass or tinted marble.  Every portion of the building blazed
+with gold and vivid coloring; the painter's hand had added life to the
+marble groups in high relief that filled the pediments and the smaller
+figures in the long row of metopes.  All the population of a town might
+have found refuge in the vast edifice and its effect on the mind was like
+that of a harmonious symphony of adoration sung by a chorus of giants.
+
+"All hail!  Great Serapis!  I greet thee in joyful humility, thankful
+that Thou hast granted to my old eyes to see Thy glorious and eternal
+temple once again!"  murmured Karnis in devout contemplation.  Then,
+appealing to his wife and son, he pointed in silence to the building.
+Presently, however, as he watched Orpheus gazing in speechless delight at
+its magnificent proportions he could not forbear.
+
+"This," he began with fervid enthusiasm, "is the stronghold of Serapis
+the King of the Gods!  A work for all time.  Its youth has lasted five
+hundred years, its future will extend to all eternity.--Aye, so it is;
+and so long as it endures in all its glory the old gods cannot be
+deposed!"
+
+"No one will ever dare to touch a stone of it," said the steward.  "Every
+child in Alexandria knows that the world will crumble into dust and ashes
+if a finger is laid on that Temple, and the man who ventures to touch the
+sacred image. . ."
+
+"The god can protect himself!"  interrupted the singer.  "But you--you
+Christian hypocrites who pretend to hate life and love death--if you
+really long so vehemently for the end of all things, you have only to
+fall upon this glorious structure.--Do that, do that--only do that!"
+
+The old man shook his fist at the invisible foe and Herse echoed his
+words:
+
+"Aye, aye, only do that!"  Then she added more calmly: "Well, if
+everything comes to an end at once the enemies of the gods will die with
+us; and there can be nothing terrible in perishing at the same time with
+everything that is beautiful or dear to us."
+
+"Nevertheless," said the steward, "the Bishop has put out his hand to
+touch the sanctuary.  But our noble Olympius would not suffer the
+sacrilegious host to approach, and they had to retire with broken heads.
+Serapis will not be mocked; he will stand though all else perish.
+'Eternity,' the priest tells us, 'is to him but as an instant, and while
+millions of generations bloom and fade, he is still and forever the
+same!'"
+
+"Hail, all hail to the great god!" cried Orpheus with hands outstretched
+towards the temple.
+
+"Yea, hail! for everlasting glory shall be his!"  repeated his father.
+"Great is Serapis, and his house and his image shall last. . ."
+
+"Till the next full moon!" said a passer-by in a tone of sinister
+mockery, shaking his fist in the face, as it were, of the god.  Orpheus
+turned quickly to punish the prophet of evil; but he had disappeared in
+the crowd and the tide of men had borne him onwards.  "Till the next full
+moon!"  murmured Agne, who had shuddered at her companion's rapturous
+ejaculations, and she glanced uneasily at Orpheus; but by the time Herse
+addressed her a minute or two later she had controlled the expression of
+her features, and the matron's heart was gladdened by her bright smile.
+Nay, many a young Alexandrian, passing the group on foot or in a
+carriage, looked at her a second time, for that smile lent a mysterious
+charm to her pale, calm face.  Nor had it faded away when they had
+crossed the bridge and were nearing the shores of the lake, for an idea
+once conceived lingered long in Agne's mind; and as she walked on in the
+bright glory of the morning's sun her mind's eye was fixed on a nocturnal
+scene--on the full moon, high in the sky--on the overthrow of the great
+idol and a glittering army among the marble ruins of the Serapeum.
+Apostles and martyrs soared around, the Saviour sat enthroned in glory
+and triumph, while angels, cradled on the clouds that were his footstool,
+were singing beatific hymns which sounded clearly in her ear above the
+many-voiced tumult of the quays.  The vision did not vanish till she was
+desired to get into the boat.
+
+Herse was a native of Alexandria and Karnis had passed some of the best
+years of his life there; but to Orpheus and Agne all was new, and even
+the girl, when once she had escaped from the crowd and noise which
+oppressed her, took an interest in the scene and asked a question now and
+then.  The younger man had not eyes enough to see all that claimed his
+attention and admiration.
+
+There were the great sluice-gates at the entrance to the canal that
+joined the lake to the sea--there, in a separate dock, lay the splendid
+imperial Nile-boats which served to keep up communication between the
+garrison of Alexandria and the military stations on the river--there,
+again, were the gaudy barges intended for the use of the 'comes', the
+prefect and other high officials--and there merchant-vessels of every
+size lay at anchor in countless number.  Long trains of many-colored
+sails swept over the rippling lake like flights of birds across a
+cornfield, and every inch of the shore was covered with stores or
+buildings.  Far away to the south long trellices of vine covered the
+slopes, broken by the silvery glaucous tones of the olive-groves, and by
+clumps of towering palms whose crowns mingled to form a lofty canopy.
+White walls, gaudily-painted temples and private villas gleamed among the
+green, and the slanting rays of the low sun, shining on the drops that
+fell from the never-resting wheels and buckets that irrigated the land,
+turned them into showers of diamonds.  These water-works, of the most
+ingenious construction, many of them invented and contrived by scientific
+engineers, were the weapons with which man had conquered the desert that
+originally surrounded this lake, forcing it into green fertility and
+productiveness of grain and fruit.  Nay, the desert had, for many
+centuries, here ceased to exist.  Dionysus the generous, and the kindly
+garden-gods had blest the toil of men, and yet, now, in many a plot--in
+all which belonged to Christian owners--their altars lay scattered and
+overthrown.
+
+During the last thirty years much indeed was changed, and nothing to the
+satisfaction of old Karnis; Herse, too, shook her head, and when the
+rowers had pulled them about half-way across, she pointed to a broad
+vacant spot on the bank where a new building was just rising above the
+soil, and said sadly to her husband:
+
+"Would you know that place again?  Where is our dear old temple gone?
+The temple of Dionysus."  Karnis started up so hastily that he almost
+upset the boat, and their conductor was obliged to insist on his keeping
+quiet; he obeyed but badly, however, for his arms were never still as he
+broke out:
+
+"And do you suppose that because we are in Egypt I can keep my living
+body as still as one of your dead mummies?  Let others keep still if they
+can!  I say it is shameful, disgraceful; a dove's gall might rise at it!
+That splendid building, the pride of the city and the delight of men's
+eyes, destroyed--swept away like dust from the road!  Do you see?  Do you
+see, I say?  Broken columns, marble capitals, here, there and everywhere
+at the bottom of the lake--here a head and there a torso!  Great and
+noble masters formed those statues by the aid of the gods, and they--
+they, small and ignoble as they are, have destroyed them by the aid of
+evil daemons.  They have annihilated and drowned works that were worthy
+to live forever!  And why?  Shall  I  tell you?  Because they shun the
+Beautiful as an owl shuns light.  Aye, they do!  There is nothing they
+hate or dread so much as beauty; wherever they find it, they deface and
+destroy it, even if it is the work of the Divinity.  I accuse them before
+the Immortals--for where is the grove even, not the work of man but the
+special work of Heaven itself?  Where is our grove, with its cool
+grottos, its primaeval trees, its shady nooks, and all the peace and
+enjoyment of which it was as full as a ripe grape is full of sweet
+juice?"
+
+"It was cut down and rooted up," replied the steward.  "The emperor gave
+the sanctuary over to Bishop Theophilus and he set to work at once to
+destroy it.  The temple was pulled down, the sacred vessels went into the
+melting-pot, and the images were mutilated and insulted before they were
+thrown into the lime-kiln.  The place they are building now is to be a
+Christian church.  Oh! to think of the airy, beautiful colonnades that
+once stood there, and then of the dingy barn that is to take their
+place!"
+
+"Why do the gods endure it?  Has Zeus lost his thunderbolts?"  cried
+Orpheus clenching his hands, and paying no heed to Agne who sat pale and
+sternly silent during this conversation.
+
+"Nay, he only sleeps, to wake with awful power," said the old man.
+"See those blocks of marble and ruins under the waves.  Swift work is
+destruction!  And men lost their wits and looked on at the crime,
+flinging the delight of the gods into the water and the kiln.  They were
+wise, very wise; fishes and flames are dumb and cannot cry to heaven.
+One barbarian, in one hour can destroy what it has taken the sublimest
+souls years, centuries, to create.  They glory in destruction and ruin
+and they can no more build up again such a temple as stood there than
+they can restore trees that have taken six hundred years to grow.  There
+--out there, Herse, in the hollow where those black fellows are stirring
+mortar--they have given them shirts too, because they are ashamed of the
+beauty of men's bodies--that is where the grotto was where we found your
+poor father."
+
+"The grotto?"  repeated his wife, looking at the spot through her tears,
+and thinking of the day when, as a girl, she had hurried to the feast of
+Dionysus and sought her father in the temple.  He had been famous as a
+gem-cutter.  In obedience to the time-honored tradition in Alexandria,
+after intoxicating himself with new wine in honor of the god, he had
+rushed out into the street to join the procession.  The next morning he
+had not returned; the afternoon passed and evening came and still he did
+not appear, so his daughter had gone in search of him.  Karnis was at
+that time a young student and, as her father's lodger, had rented the
+best room in the house.  He had met her going on her errand and had been
+very ready to help her in the search; before long they had found the old
+man in the ivy-grown grotto in the grove of Dionysus--motionless and
+cold, as if struck by lightning.  The bystanders believed that the god
+had snatched him away in his intoxicated legion.
+
+In this hour of sorrow Karnis had proved himself her friend, and a few
+months after Herse had become his wife and gone with him to Tauromenium
+in Sicily.
+
+All this rose before her mind, and even Karnis sat gazing dumbly at the
+waves; for every spot where some decisive change has occurred in our
+lives has power to revive the past when we see it again after a long
+absence.  Thus they all sat in silence till Orpheus, touching his father,
+pointed out the temple of Isis where he had met the fair Gorgo on the
+previous day.  The old man turned to look at the sanctuary which, as yet,
+remained intact.
+
+"A barbarous structure!"  he said bitterly.  "The art of the Egyptians
+has long been numbered with the dead and the tiger hungers only for the
+living!"
+
+"Nay, it is not such a bad piece of work," replied the steward, "but it
+is out of their reach; for the ground on which it stands belongs to my
+old mistress, and the law protects private property.--You must at your
+leisure inspect the ship-yard here; it is perhaps the most extensive in
+the world.  The timber that is piled there--cedar of Lebanon, oak from
+Pontus and heavy iron-wood  from  Ethiopia--is  worth  hundreds  of
+talents."
+
+"And does all that belong to your master?"
+
+"No; the owner is the grandson of a freedman, formerly in his family.
+Now they are very rich and highly respected, and Master Clemens sits in
+the Senate.  There he is--that man in a white robe."
+
+"A Christian, I  should  imagine," observed the singer.
+
+"Very true;" replied the steward.  "But what is good remains good, and he
+is a worthy and excellent man notwithstanding.  He keeps a tight hand
+over the ship-yard here and over the others too by the harbor of
+Eunostus.  Only Clemens can never let other people have their own
+opinions; in that he is just like the rest of them.  Every slave he buys
+must become a Christian and his sons are the same; even Constantine,
+though he is an officer in the imperial army and as smart and clever a
+soldier as lives.--As far as we are concerned we leave every man to his
+own beliefs.  Porphyrius makes no secret of his views and all the vessels
+we use in the corn-trade are built by Christians.--But here we are."
+
+The boat stopped at a broad flight of marble steps which led from the
+lake into the garden of Porphyrius' house.  Karnis as he walked through
+the grounds felt himself at greater ease, for here the old gods were at
+home; their statues gleamed among the dark clumps of evergreens, and were
+mirrored in the clear tanks, while delicious perfumes were wafted from
+the garlanded shrines and freshly anointed altars, to greet the
+newcomers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+The family of musicians were kindly received, but they were not
+immediately called upon to perform, for as soon as Damia heard that the
+pretty fair-haired child who had pleased her so much the day before had
+been obliged to remain at home, she had one of her granddaughter's
+dresses brought out, and requested Herse to go back to fetch her.  Some
+slaves were to accompany Herse and transfer all her little property on
+board a Nile-boat belonging to Porphyrius, which was lying at anchor just
+off the ship-yard.  In this large barge there were several cabins which
+had often accommodated guests, and which would now serve very well as a
+residence for Karnis and his party.  Indeed, it was particularly well
+suited for a family of musicians, for they could practise there
+undisturbed, and Gorgo could at any time pay them a visit.
+
+Herse went back to the Xenodochium with a lighter heart; her son also
+returned to the city to replace a number of necessaries that had been
+lost on board ship, and Karnis, rejoicing to be out of the monk-haunted
+asylum had remained in the men's room in the house of his new patron,
+enjoying the good things which abounded there.  He felt as though he was
+here once more at home after years of exile.  Here dwelt the spirit of
+his fathers; here he found men who enjoyed life after his own fashion,
+who could share his enthusiasms and his hatreds.  He drank noble liquor
+out of an elegantly carved onyx cup, all that he heard soothed his ears,
+and all that he said met with entire sympathy.  The future prospects of
+his family, till now so uncertain, were hardly inferior to those which
+his vivid imagination had painted the night before.  And even if Fortune
+should again desert him, the hours of present enjoyment should be written
+down to the profit side of life, and remain a permanent gain at any rate
+in memory.
+
+The venerable Damia, her son Porphyrius, and the fair Gorgo were in fact
+a trio such as are rarely met with.  The master of the house, more
+cautious than the women, was inclined to think that his mother and
+daughter had been somewhat overhasty and imprudent in their advances and
+he had at first received Karnis with considerable reserve; but after a
+short interview he had convinced himself that the musician was a man of
+unusual culture and superior stamp.  The old lady had, from the first,
+been predisposed in his favor, for she had read in the stars last night
+that the day was to bring her a fortunate meeting.  Her wish was law, and
+Karnis could not help smiling when she addressed her son, whose hair had
+long been grey and who looked fully competent to manage his own
+household, as "my child," not hesitating to scold and reprove him.  Her
+cathedra was a high arm-chair which she never quitted but to be carried
+to her observatory on the roof of the house, where she kept her
+astrological tablets and manuscripts.  The only weakness about her was in
+her feet; but strong, and willing arms were always at her disposal to
+carry her about--to table, into her sleeping-room, and during the daytime
+out to sunny spots in the garden.  She was never so happy as when Helios
+warmed her back with his rays, for her old blood needed it after the long
+night-watches that she still would keep in her observatory.  Even during
+the hottest noon she would sit in the sun, with a large green umbrella to
+shade her keen eyes, and those who desired to speak with her might find
+shade as best they could.  As she stood, much bent, but propped on her
+ivory crutches, eagerly following every word of a conversation, she
+looked as though she were prepared at any moment to spring into the
+middle of it and interrupt the speaker.  She always said exactly what she
+meant without reserve or ruth; and throughout her long life, as the
+mistress of great wealth, she had always been allowed to have her own
+way.  She asserted her rights even over her son, though he was the centre
+of a web whose threads reached to the furthest circumference of the known
+world.  The peasants who tilled the earth by the Upper and Lower Nile,
+the shepherds who kept their flocks in the Arabian desert, in Syria, or
+on the Silphium meads of Cyrenaica, the wood-cutters of Lebanon and
+Pontus, the mountaineers of Hispania and Sardinia, the brokers,
+merchants, and skippers of every port on the Mediterranean, were bound by
+these threads to the villa on the shore of Mareotis, and felt the tie
+when the master there--docile as a boy to his mother's will--tightened or
+released his hold.
+
+His possessions, even in his youth, had been so vast that their increment
+could bring no added enjoyment to him or his family, and yet their
+increase had become his life's task.  He strove for a higher sum to
+figure on the annual balance sheet, as eagerly as an athlete strives for
+a prize; and his mother not only inspected the account, but watched every
+important undertaking with keen interest.  When her son and his
+colleagues doubted over some decision it was she who gave the casting
+vote; but though her advice in most cases proved sound and profitable,
+she herself ascribed this less to her own acumen and knowledge of the
+world than to the hints she obtained from the stars and from magical
+calculations.  Her son did not follow her in these speculations, but he
+rarely disputed the conclusions that she drew from her astrological
+studies.  While she was turning night into day he was glad to entertain a
+few learned friends, for all the hours of leisure that he could snatch
+from his pursuit of fortune, he devoted to philosophy, and the most
+distinguished thinkers of Alexandria were happy to be received at the
+hospitable table of so rich a patron.  He was charmed to be called
+"Callias,"
+
+     [The noble Athenian family of Callias was famed for its wealth and
+     splendor.]
+
+and the heathen teachers at the schools of the Museum and Serapeum
+regarded him as a faithful ally.  It was known that he had been baptized,
+but he never liked to hear the fact mentioned.  He won all hearts by his
+perfect modesty, but even more perhaps by a certain air of suffering and
+melancholy which protected the wealthy merchant against the envy of
+detractors.
+
+In the course of her conversation with Karnis the old lady enquired
+particularly as to the antecedent history of Agne, for if there had been
+a stain on her character, or if she were by birth a slave, Gorgo could
+not of course be seen with her in public, and in that case Karnis would
+have to teach the lament of Isis to some freeborn singer.  Karnis in
+reply could only shrug his shoulders, and beg the ladies and Porphyrius
+to judge for themselves when he should have related the young girl's
+story.
+
+Three years since, he said, he had been staying at Antioch at the time of
+a violent outbreak against the levying of certain taxes.  There had been
+much bloodshed, and he and his family had got out of the city as quickly
+as they could.  It was growing dusk when they turned into a wayside inn,
+where they found Agne and her little brother captives to a soldier.
+During the night the girl had crept up to the little boy's bed, and to
+comfort and lull him had begun to sing him a simple song.  The singer's
+voice was so pure and pathetic that it had touched both him and his wife
+and they had at once purchased the girl and her brother for a small sum.
+He had simply paid what the soldier asked, not regarding the children in
+the light of slaves; nor had he had any description of them written out,
+though it was, no doubt, in his power to treat them as slaves and to sell
+them again, since the sale had taken place before witnesses who might
+still be found.  He had afterwards learnt from the girl that her parents
+were Christians and had settled in Antioch only a few years previously;
+but she had no friends nor relatives there.  Her father, being a tax-
+collector in the service of the Emperor, had moved about a great deal,
+but she remembered his having spoken of Augusta Treviroruin in Belgica
+prima, as his native place.--[Now Trier or Treves, on the Moselle.]
+
+Agne had witnessed the attack on her father's house by the angry mob who
+had killed her parents, their two slaves, and her elder brother.  Her
+father must certainly have been an official of some rank, and probably,
+as it would seem, a Roman citizen, in which case--as Porphyrius agreed--
+both the young girl and her little brother could legally claim their
+freedom.  The insurgents who had dragged the two children out into the
+street had been driven off by the troops, and it was from them that
+Karnis had rescued them.  "And I have never regretted it," added the old
+musician, "for Agne is a sweet, gentle soul.  Of her voice I need say
+nothing, since you yourselves heard it yesterday."
+
+"And were quite delighted with it!"  cried Gorgo.  "If flowers could sing
+it would be like that!"
+
+"Well, well," said Karnis.  "She has a lovely voice--but she wants wings.
+Something--what, I know not, keeps the violet rooted to the soil."
+
+"Christian scruples," said the merchant, and Damia added:
+
+"Let Eros touch her--that will loosen her tongue."
+
+"Eros, always Eros!"  repeated Gorgo shrugging her shoulders.  "Nay, love
+means suffering--those who love drag a chain with them.  To do the best
+of which he is capable man needs only to be free, true, and in health."
+
+"That is a great deal, fair mistress," replied Karnis eagerly.  "With
+these three gifts the best work is done.  But as to Agne--what can be
+further from freedom than a girl bound to service? her body, to be sure
+is healthy, but her spirit suffers; she can get no peace for dread of the
+Christian's terrors: Sin, Repentance, and Hell. . . ."
+
+"Oh, we know how their life is ruined!" interrupted the old lady.
+"Was it Agne who introduced you to Mary's Asylum?"
+
+"No, noble lady."
+
+"But how then--that  prudent  saint  generally selects her guests, and
+those that are not baptized . . ."
+
+"She certainly sheltered heathens on this occasion."
+
+"I am much surprised.  Tell me how it happened."
+
+"We were at Rome," began Karnis, "and my patron there persuaded Marcus,
+Mary's son, to take us on board his ship at Ostia.  We dropped anchor at
+Cyrene, where the young master wanted to pick up his brother and bring
+him also to Alexandria."
+
+"Then is Demetrius here?"  asked Porphyrius.
+
+"Yes, sir.  He came on board at Cyrene.  Hardly had we got fairly to sea
+again when we saw two pirate ships.  Our trireme was at once turned
+round, but in our hurry to regain the harbor we stuck fast on a sand
+bank; the boats were at once put out to save the passengers and Cynegius,
+the consul. . ."
+
+"Cynegius--on his way here!"  exclaimed Porphyrius, much excited.
+
+"He landed yesterday with us in the harbor of Eunostus.  The secretaries
+and officers of his suite filled one boat and Marcus and his brother were
+getting into the other with their men.  We, and others of the free
+passengers, should have been left behind if Dada . . ."
+
+"That pretty little blonde?"  asked Damia.
+
+"The very same.  Marcus had taken a great fancy to her prattle and her
+songs during the voyage--no nightingale can sing more clearly--and when
+she begged and prayed him he gave way at once, and said: he would take
+her in his boat.  But the brave child declared that she would jump into
+the sea before she would leave without us."
+
+"Well done!"  cried the old lady, and Porphyrius added:
+
+"That speaks well for her and for you."
+
+"So after all Marcus found room for us in the boat--for all of us, and we
+got safely to land.  A few days after we all came on in a troop-ship:
+Cynegius, the two brothers and the rest, all safe and sound; and, as we
+had lost everything we possessed, Marcus gave us a certificate which
+procured our admission into his mother's Xenodochium.  And then the gods
+brought me and mine under the notice of your noble daughter."
+
+"Then Cynegius is here, positively here?"  asked Porphyrius once more.
+Karnis assured him that he was, and the merchant, turning to his mother,
+went on:
+
+"And Olympius has not yet come home.  It is always the same thing; he is
+as rash as a boy.  If they should take him!  The roads are swarming with
+monks.  There is something astir.  Bring out the chariot, Syrus, at once;
+and tell Atlas to be ready to accompany me.  Cynegius here!--Ha, ha!
+I thank the gods!"
+
+The last exclamation was addressed to a man who at this instant came into
+the room, muffled up to the eyes.  He threw off the hood of his cloak and
+the wrapper that went round his throat, concealing his long white beard,
+and as he did so he exclaimed with a gasp for breath:
+
+"Here I am once more!--Cynegius is here and matters look serious my
+friend."
+
+"You have been to the Museum?"
+
+"Without any obstruction.  I found them all assembled.  Brave lads.  They
+are all for us and the gods.  There are plenty of weapons.  The Jews--
+[At that time about two-fifths of the whole population.]--are not
+stirring, Onias thinks he may vouch for that; and we must surely be a
+match for the monks and the imperial cohorts."
+
+"If the gods only stand by us to-day and tomorrow," replied Porphyrius
+doubtfully.
+
+"For ever, if only the country people do their duty!"  cried the other.
+"But who is this stranger?"
+
+"The chief of the singers who were here yesterday," replied Gorgo.
+
+"Karnis, the son of Hiero of Tauromenium," said the musician, bowing to
+the stranger, whose stately figure and handsome, thoughtful head struck
+him with admiration.
+
+"Karnis of Tauromenium!" exclaimed the newcomer with glad surprise.
+"By Hercules! a strange meeting.  Your hand, your hand, old man.  How
+many years is it since we last emptied a wine-jar together at the house
+of old Hippias?  Seven lustres have turned our hair grey, but we still
+can stand upright.  Well, Karnis son of Hiero--and who am I?"
+
+"Olympius--the great Olympius!"  cried Karnis, eagerly grasping the
+offered hand.  "May all the gods bless this happy day!"
+
+"All the gods?"  repeated the philosopher.  "Is that what you say?  Then
+you have not crawled under the yoke of the cross?"
+
+"The world can rejoice only under the auspices of the gods!"  cried
+Karnis excitedly.
+
+"And it shall rejoice still, we will  save it  from gloom!"  added the
+other with a flash of vehemence.
+
+"The times are fateful.  We must fight; and no longer over trifles; we
+cannot now break each other's heads over a quibble, or believe that the
+whole world hangs on the question whether the instant of death is the
+last minute of this life or the first of the next.  No--what now remains
+to be decided is whether the old gods shall be victorious, whether we
+shall continue to live free and happy under the rule of the Immortals,
+or whether we shall bow under the dismal doctrine of the carpenter's
+crucified son; we must fight for the highest hopes and aims of humanity."
+
+"I know," interrupted Karnis, "you have already done battle valiantly for
+great Serapis.  They wanted to lay hands on his sanctuary but you and
+your disciples put them to rout.  The rest got off scot-free .  .  ."
+
+"But they have taught me the value of my head," said Olympius laughing.
+"Evagrius prices it at three talents.  Why, you might buy a house with
+the money and a modest man could live upon the interest.  This worthy man
+keeps me concealed here.  We must talk over a few things, Porphyrius; and
+you, Gorgo, do not forget the solemn festival of Isis.  Now that Cynegius
+is here it must be made as splendid as possible, and he must tell the
+Emperor, who has sent him, what temper we Alexandrians are in.  But where
+is the dark maiden I saw yesterday?"
+
+"In the garden," replied Gorgo.
+
+"She is to sing at the foot of the bier!" cried Olympius.  "That must not
+be altered."
+
+"If I can persuade her--she is a Christian," said Karnis doubtfully.
+
+"She must," said the philosopher positively.  "It will be a bad lookout
+indeed for the logic and rhetoric of Alexandria if an old professor and
+disputant cannot succeed in turning a young girl's resolutions upside
+down.  Leave that to me.  I shall find time for a chat with you by and
+bye, friend Karnis.  How in the world does it happen that you, who so
+often have helped us with your father's coin, have come down to be the
+chief of a band of travelling musicians?  You will have much to tell me,
+my good friend; but even such important matters must give way to those
+that are more pressing.  One word with you, Porphyrius."
+
+Agne had been all this time awaiting Herse's return in the colonnade that
+ran along the garden-front of the house.  She was glad to be alone, and
+it was very comfortable to rest on the soft cushions under the gilt-
+coffered ceiling of the arcade.  At each end stood large shrubs covered
+with bunches of violet-blue flowers and the spreading branches cast a
+pleasant shade on the couch where she sat; the beautiful flowers, which
+were strange to her, were delightfully fragrant, and from time to time
+she helped herself to the refreshments which Gorgo herself had brought
+out to her.  All she saw, heard, and felt, was soothing to her mind;
+never had she seen or tasted juicier peaches, richer bunches of grapes,
+fresher almonds or more tempting cakes; on the shrubs in the garden and
+on the grass-plots between the paths there was not a dead leaf, not a dry
+stem, not the tiniest weed.  The buds were swelling on the tall trees,
+shrubs without end were covered with blossoms--white, blue,  yellow, and
+red--while, among the smooth, shining leaves of the orange and lemon
+trees, gleamed the swelling fruit.  On a round tank close at hand some
+black swans were noiselessly tracing evanescent circles and uttering
+their strange lament.  The song of birds mingled with the plash of
+fountains, and even the marble statues, for all that they were dumb,
+seemed to be enjoying the sweet morning air and the stir and voice of
+nature.
+
+Yes, she could be happy here; as she peeled a peach and slowly swallowed
+the soft fragrant mouthfuls, she laughed to remember the hard ship's-
+biscuit, of the two previous days' fare.  And it was Gorgo's privilege to
+revel in these good things day after day, year after year.  It was like
+living in Eden, in the perpetual spring of man's first blissful home on
+earth.  There could be no suffering here; who could cry here, who could
+be sorrowful, who could die? . . .  Here a new train of thought forced
+itself upon her.  She was still so young, and yet she was as familiar
+with the idea of death as she was with life; for whenever she had
+happened to tell any minister of her creed that she was an orphan and a
+slave, and deeply sad and sorrowful, the joys of eternity in Paradise had
+always been described to her for her consolation, and it was in hopes of
+Heaven that her visionary nature found such a modicum of comfort as might
+suffice to keep the young artist-soul from despair.  And now it struck
+her that it must be hard, very hard to die, in the midst of all this
+splendor.  Living here must be a foretaste of the joys of Paradise--
+and in the next world, among the angels of Heaven, in the presence of the
+Saviour--would it not be a thousand times more beautiful even than this?
+She shuddered, for, sojourning here, she was no longer to be counted as
+one of the poor and humble sufferers to whom Christ had promised the
+Kingdom of Heaven--here she was one of the rich, who had nothing
+to hope for after death.
+
+She pushed the peaches away with a feeling of oppression, and closed
+her eyes that she might no longer see all these perishable splendors
+and sinful works of the heathen, which pandered only to the senses.
+She longed to remain miserable and poor on earth, that she might rejoin
+her parents and dwell with them eternally.
+
+To her it was not a belief but a certainty that her father and mother
+were dwelling in Heaven, and she had often felt moved to pray that she
+might die and be reunited to them; but she must not die yet, for her
+little brother still needed her care.  The kind souls whom she served
+let him lack for nothing, it is true, that could conduce to his bodily
+welfare; still, she could not appear before her parents without the
+little one in her hand, and he would be lost eternally if his soul fell
+into the power of the enemies of her faith.  Her heart ached when she
+reflected that Karnis, who was certainly not one of the reprobate and
+whom she affectionately revered as a master in the art she loved--that
+Herse, and the light-hearted Dada, and Orpheus even, must all be doomed
+to perish eternally; and to save Orpheus she would willingly have
+forfeited half the joys of Paradise.  She saw that he was no less an
+idolater than his parents; and yet, day by day, she prayed that his soul
+might be saved, and she never ceased to hope for a miracle--that he too
+might see a vision, like Paul, and confess the Saviour.  She was so happy
+when she was with him, and never happier than when it was her fortune to
+sing with him, or to his admirable accompaniment on the lute.  When she
+could succeed in forgetting herself completely, and in giving utterance
+by her lovely voice to all that was highest and best in her soul, he,
+whose ear was no less sensitive and appreciative than his father's, would
+frankly express his approval, and in these moments life was indeed fair
+and precious.
+
+Music was the bond between her and Orpheus, and when her soul was stirred
+she could feel and express herself in music.  Song was the language of
+her heart, and she had learnt by experience that it was a language which
+even the heathen could both use and understand.  The Eternal Father
+himself must find joy in such a voice as Gorgo's.  She was a heathen, and
+yet she had thrown into her song all that Agne herself could feel when
+she lifted up her heart in passionate prayer.  The Christian--so she had
+often been taught--must have no part with the idolaters; but it was God
+himself who had cast her on the hands of Karnis, and the Church commanded
+that servants should obey their masters.  Singing seemed to her to be a
+language in itself, bestowed by God on all living creatures, even on the
+birds, wherein to speak to Him; so she allowed herself to look forward
+with pleasure to an opportunity of mingling her own voice with that of
+the heathen lady.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Not long after Porphyrius and the philosopher had retired to a private
+room Herse returned with Dada.  Gorgo's blue spangled dress, which Damia
+had sent her, suited the girl to perfection; but she was quite out of
+breath, and her hair was in disorder.  Herse, too, looked agitated, her
+face was red and she dragged little Papias, whose hand she held, rather
+roughly at her heels.
+
+Dada was evidently abashed; less by reason of the splendor that
+surrounded her than because her foster-mother had strictly enjoined her
+to be very quiet and mannerly in the presence of their patrons.  She felt
+shy and strange as she made her low courtesy to the old lady; but Damia
+seemed to be pleased with the timid grace of her demeanor, for she
+offered her her hand--an honor she usually conferred only on her
+intimates, bid her stoop, and gave her a kiss, saying kindly: "You are a
+good brave girl.  Fidelity to your friends is pleasing in the sight of
+the gods, and finds its reward even among men."
+
+Dada, obeying a happy impulse, threw herself on her knees before the old
+woman, kissed her hands, and then, sitting on her heels, nestled at her
+feet.
+
+Gorgo, however, noticing Herse's agitation, asked what had happened to
+them.  Some monks, Herse explained, had followed them on the road hither,
+had snatched Dada's lyre from the slave who was carrying it and pulled
+the wreath out of her hair.  Damia was furious as she heard it, and
+trembled with rage as she railed at the wild hordes who disgraced and
+desecrated Alexandria, the sacred home of the Muses; then she began to
+speak once more of the young captain, Mary's son, to whom the troupe of
+singers owed their lives.
+
+"Marcus," said she, "is said to be a paragon of chastity.  He races in
+the hippodrome with all the gallants of the town and yet--if it is true
+it is a miracle--he shuns women as though he were a priest already.  His
+mother is very anxious that he should become one; but he, by the grace of
+Aphrodite, is the son of my handsome Appelles, who, if he had gazed into
+those blue eyes all the way from Rome to Alexandria, would have
+surrendered at mercy; but then he would also have conquered them--as
+surely as I hope to live till autumn.  You need not blush so, child.
+After all, Marcus is a man like other men.  Keep your eyes open, Dame
+Herse!"
+
+"Never fear!"  cried Herse.  "And I have need to keep them open I am
+sorry to say.  The young captain, who on board ship was so bashful and
+retiring, as soon as he was on land altered his time.  While we were away
+this morning he crept into his own mother's inn like a ferret, opened the
+door of our room with the keys of which he has the command--it is
+shameful!--and proposed to the girl to fly, to leave us--she is the
+daughter of a dear sister of mine--and go with him; who but he knows
+where!"
+
+Damia struck the floor with her crutch and, interrupting the indignant
+matron with a spiteful laugh, exclaimed:
+
+"Ha, ha!  The saintly Mary's most saintly son!  Such wonders do not
+happen every day!  Here, Dada--here; take this ring, it has been worn by
+a woman who once was young and who has had many lovers.  Close--come
+close, my sweet child."
+
+Dada looked up at the old lady with puzzled eyes; Damia bent her head
+close to the girl's, and whispered, softly but vehemently in her ear:
+
+"Only turn that milksop's head, make him so madly and desperately in love
+with you that he does not know which way to turn for delicious torment.
+You can do it I know, and if you do--well, I make no promises; but on the
+day when all Alexandria is talking of that woman's son as wandering out,
+night after night, to watch under the window of the fair Dada, the
+heathen singer--when he drives you out in the face of day and in his own
+chariot, down the Canopic Way and past his mother's door--then child,
+ask, claim whatever you will, and old Damia will not refuse it."
+
+Then raising her head she added to the others:
+
+"In the afternoon, my friends, you can take possession of your new
+quarters.  Go with them, Dada.  By-and-bye we will find you a pretty room
+in the tower.  Come and see me very often, sweet one, and tell me all
+your prettiest tales.  When I am not too busy I shall always be glad to
+see you, for you and I have a secret you know."
+
+The girl stood up, looking uneasily at the old woman; Damia nodded
+knowingly, as much as to say that they quite understood each other and
+again offered her hand to Dada; but Dada could not kiss it; she turned
+and followed the others more gravely than usual.
+
+Gorgo guessed what the old lady would be at with Dada; as soon as the
+party of singers had taken leave she went up to her grandmother and said
+reproachfully:
+
+"That little fair thing will find no difficulty in making a fool of
+Marcus; for my part I hardly know him, but why should he pay for his
+mother's sins against you?  How can he help. . ."
+
+"He cannot help it," interrupted Damia with decisive abruptness.  "He can
+do nothing to save his mother, any more than you can help being a child
+of twenty and bound to hold your tongue till your opinion is asked."
+
+                    ...........................
+
+The family of musicians had all met on board the barge which was lying at
+anchor in the lake, off the ship-yard.  Orpheus had just been an eye-
+witness of the disturbance which prevailed throughout the city, and the
+wild howls and cries that were audible in the distance confirmed his
+report; but the waters of the lake were an unruffled mirror of blue, the
+slaves in the ship-yard were at work as usual, and the cooing turtle-
+doves flew from palm to palm.
+
+No signs of troubled times were to be seen in the floating home of the
+wanderers.  The steward had provided for everything.  There were rooms
+and beds to spare in the vessel; the large deck-cabin was a comfortable
+sitting-room, and from the little galley at the prow came a savory smell
+of cooking and a cheerful clang of pots and pans.
+
+"This is living!"  exclaimed Karnis, stretching himself comfortably on a
+divan.  "This abode seems made on purpose for our noble selves!  Sit
+down, mother, make yourself at home.  Here we are people of consequence,
+and if it were only to make things pleasant for the slaves we must behave
+as though we had never known people who take their meals squatted round
+an earthen bowl, and clawing out the broken meat.  Enjoy the gifts of the
+present--who knows how long this golden hour may last!  Ah, wife, it
+reminds us of former times!  It would be very pleasant to be like this,
+side by side, and help ourselves from a table all our own to dainty
+dishes which we had not assisted in cooking.  For you, old woman, have
+done everything with your own hands for so long, that you deserve to have
+some one to wait on you for once."
+
+A little table was placed by each divan and covered with appetizing food;
+the steward mixed some fine wine of the country with fresh, clear water,
+Orpheus offered the libation, and Karnis spiced the meal with jests and
+tales of his youth, of which he had been reminded by his meeting with his
+old friend and comrade Olympius.
+
+Dada interrupted him frequently, laughing more loudly and recklessly than
+usual; she was in a fever of excitement and Herse did not fail to remark
+it.  The good woman was somewhat uneasy.  The very fact that her husband
+always gave himself up heart and soul to the influences of the hour--
+though she was glad that he should enjoy this good fortune to the utmost-
+-made her look beyond the present into the future.  She had seen with her
+own eyes the tumult that was rife in Alexandria, and felt that they had
+arrived at an inauspicious moment.  If it should come to a struggle
+between the Christians and the Heathen, Karnis, finding that his old
+friend Olympius was the head of his party, would infallibly seize the
+sword, and if, then, the victory remained with the Christians no mercy
+would be shown to those who had fought for the old gods.  Gorgo's wish
+that Agne should sing in the temple of Isis was another source of
+anxiety; for if it came to that they might, only too probably, be accused
+of perverting a Christian to heathen worship, and be condemned to a
+severe penalty.  All this had worn a very different aspect yesterday when
+she had thought of Alexandria as the gay home of her youth; but now she
+saw what a change had taken place in these thirty years.  The Church had
+risen on the ruins of the Temple, and monks had forced the sacrificing
+priests into the background.
+
+Karnis and his troupe were musicians of no ordinary stamp; still the law
+concerning singing-girls might place him in peril, especially now that--
+to make matters worse--a young Christian was paying court to his pretty
+niece.  What catastrophes might not be called down on his hapless head if
+so influential a woman as Marcus' mother Mary should come to know of her
+son's backsliding!  Herse had long perceived how attractive that little
+simpleton was to all men--old and young--and when one of the lovers, of
+whom she had no lack, happened to take her fancy she was apt to forget
+herself and play a too audacious game; but as soon as she found she had
+gone too far and somewhat committed herself she would draw back and meet
+him, if she could not avoid him, with repellent and even unmannerly
+coldness.  Again and again had Herse scolded and warned her, but Dada
+always answered her reproofs by saying that she could not make herself
+different from what she was, and Herse had never been able to remain
+stern and severe in the face of the foolish excuses that Dada put forward
+so convincingly.
+
+To-day the good woman could not quite make up her mind whether it would
+be wiser to warn Dada against Marcus and desire her to repel any advances
+he might attempt to make, or to let bygones be bygones.  She knew full
+well how a trifling incident gains importance when undue emphasis is laid
+on it; she therefore had merely asked the girl what secret she could have
+with old Damia and had accepted some evasive subterfuge in reply, while,
+at the same time, she guessed the truth and was quite determined not to
+remit her watchfulness.  For a time, at any rate, she thought she would
+let matters go their own way, and never mention the young fellow's name;
+but her husband spoilt this plan, for with the eager jollity of a man
+very much at his ease after a good dinner he called upon Dada to tell
+their the whole history of the young Christian's invasion in the morning.
+Dada at first was reticent, but the old man's communicative humor proved
+infectious and she presently told her story:
+
+"I was sitting alone with the poor little boy, like--well I do not know
+what like--you must find a comparison for yourselves.  I was comforting
+myself with the reflection that the key was on the inside and the door
+locked, for I was getting frightened as the monks began to sing in the
+yard below, one part going off to the left, as it were, and the other
+part to the right.  Did you ever see two drunken men walking arm in arm,
+and lurching first to one side and then to the other?  You may laugh,
+but by the nine Muses it was just like that.  Then Papias grew tired and
+cross and kept asking where Agne was, till at last he began to cry.  When
+I asked him what he was crying for, he said he had forgotten, I really am
+patient--you must all allow that--I did not do anything to him, but, just
+to give him something to play with, I took out the key, for there was
+nothing else at hand that he could not break, and gave it to him and told
+him to play a tune on it.  This delighted him, and he really did it quite
+prettily.  Then I looked over my burnt dress and was horrified to see how
+large the holes were, and it struck me that I might turn it, because when
+you turn a thing the spots, you know, do not show."
+
+"You have invented that this very minute," cried Orpheus laughing.
+"We know you.  If you can only turn the laugh against yourself. . ."
+
+"No, really," cried Dada, "the idea flew through my head like a bird
+through a room; but I remembered at once that a hole burnt through shows
+on both sides, so I threw the dress aside as past mending and sat down on
+the low stool to peep through the wicket by the door out at the yard; the
+singing had stopped and the silence frightened me almost as much.  Papias
+had stopped his piping too, and was sitting in the corner where Orpheus
+sat to write his letter to Tauromenium."
+
+"I know," said Orpheus, "the inkstand was there, that the steward of the
+inn had lent us the day before."
+
+"Just so; and when mother came in, there he was, dipping his finger in
+the ink, and painting his white dress--you can study the pattern at your
+leisure.--But no not interrupt me.--Well, I was looking into the court-
+yard; it was quite empty; all the monks were gone.  Suddenly a tall young
+man in a white dress with a beautiful sky-blue border appeared through
+the great gate.  The gate-keeper crawled after him very humbly as far as
+his rope would allow and even the steward spoke to him with both hands
+pressed to his breast as if he had a faithful heart on the right side as
+well as the one on the left.  This young man--it was our kind friend
+Marcus, of course--crossed the court, taking a zigzag at first, as a
+snipe flies, and then came towards our door.  The steward and the gate-
+keeper had both vanished.--Do you remember the young Goths whom their
+father took to bathe in the Tiber last winter, when it was so cold?  And
+how they first stood on the brink and dipped their toes in, and then ran
+away and when they came back again just wetted their heads and chests?
+But they had to jump in at last when their father shouted some barbaric
+words to them--I can see them now.  Well, Marcus was exactly like those
+boys; but at last he suddenly walked straight up to our door and
+knocked."
+
+"He remembered your pretty face no doubt," laughed Karnis.
+
+"May be.  However, I did not stir.  I kept as still as a mouse, sitting
+on my stool and watching him through the key-hole, till presently he
+called out: 'Is no one there?'  Then I forgot and answered: 'They are all
+out!'  Of course I had betrayed myself--but it is impossible to think of
+everything at once.  Oh! yes--you may laugh.  And he smiled too--he is a
+very handsome fellow--and desired me most pressingly to open the door as
+he had something of the greatest importance to say to me.  I said he
+could talk very well through the gap at the top; that Pyramus and Thisbe
+had even kissed through a chink in a wall.  But he would not see the
+joke; he got graver and more earnest, and insisted, saying that our fate,
+his and mine, hung on that hour, and that not a soul must overhear what
+he had to say.  The top of the door was too high to whisper through, so
+there was nothing for it but to ask Papias for the key; however, he did
+not know where he had put it.  I afterwards thought of asking him what he
+had done with his flute and he fetched it then at once.--In short, the
+key was nowhere to be found.  I told Marcus this and he wrung his hands
+with vexation; but in a few minutes the inn-steward, who must have been
+hiding to listen behind a pillar, suddenly appeared as if he had dropped
+from the skies, took a key out of his girdle, threw the door wide open,
+and vanished as if the earth had swallowed him.
+
+"There we stood, Marcus and I, face to face.  He was quite agitated; I
+really believe the poor fellow was trembling, and I did not feel very
+confident; however, I asked him what it was that he wanted.  Then he
+recovered himself a little: 'I wished,'--he began; so I went on: 'Thou
+wishedst,'--and it might have gone on to the end: 'he wished, we wished'
+---and so forth, like the children at school at Rome, when we were
+learning Greek; but, Papias came to the rescue, for he ran up to Marcus
+and asked him to toss him up high, as he used to do on board ship.
+Marcus did as he was asked, and then he suddenly broke out into such a
+torrent of words that I was quite terrified.  First he said so many fine
+things that I quite expected a declaration of love, and was trying to
+make up my mind whether I would laugh him out of it or throw myself into
+his arms--for he really is a dear, good, handsome fellow--and if you
+would like to know the truth I should have been very willing to oblige
+him--to a certain extent.  But he asked me nothing, and from talking of
+me--listen to this Father Karnis--and saying that the great Father in
+Heaven had granted me every good gift, he went on to speak of you as a
+wicked, perverse and reprobate old heathen."
+
+"I will teach him!"  exclaimed Karnis shaking his fist.
+
+"Nay, but listen," Dada went on.  "He praised you and mother for a great
+many things; but do you know what he says is wrong?  He says you will
+imperil my psyche--my soul, my immortal soul.  As if I had ever heard of
+any Psyche but the Psyche whom Eros loved!"
+
+"That is quite another thing," said Karnis very seriously.  "In many
+songs, you know, I have tried to make you uplift your soul to a higher
+flight.  You have learnt to sing, and there is no better school for a
+woman's soul than music and singing.  If that conceited simpleton--why,
+he is young enough to be my grandson--if he talks any such nonsense to
+you again you may tell him from me . . ."
+
+"You will tell him nothing," cried Herse, "for we can have nothing
+whatever to do with the Christian.  You are my own sister's child and I
+desire and order you--do you hear--to keep out of his way, if he ever
+tries to come near you again . . ."
+
+"Who is likely to find us here?"  said Dada.  "Besides, he has no such
+ideas and motives as you suppose.  It is what he calls my soul that he
+cares for and not myself; and he wanted to take me away, not to his own
+house, but to some man who would be the physician of my soul, he said.
+I am generally ready enough to laugh, but what he said was so impressive
+and solemn, and so wonderfully earnest and startling that I could not
+jest over it.  At last I was more angry at his daring to speak to me in
+such a way than any of you ever thought I could be, and that drove him
+half mad.  You came in, mother, just as the gentleman had fallen on his
+knees to implore me to leave you."
+
+"And I gave him my mind on the subject," retorted Herse with grim
+satisfaction.  "I let him know what I thought of him.  He may talk about
+the soul--what he is after is the girl.  I know these Christians and I
+know what the upshot will be.  He will take advantage of the edict to
+gain his ends, and then you will be separated from us and shut up in a
+reformatory or a refuge or a cloister or whatever they call their dismal
+prisons, and will learn more about your soul than you will care to know.
+It will be all over then with singing, and laughter, and amusement.  Now
+you know the truth, and if you are wise you will keep out of his way till
+we leave Alexandria; and that will be as soon as possible, if you listen
+to reason, Karnis."
+
+She spoke with such earnest conviction that Dada remained silent with
+downcast eyes, and Karnis sat up to think the matter over.
+
+However, there was no time now for further reflection; the steward came
+in and desired that he, with his son and Agne should go at once to Gorgo
+to practise the lament of Isis.
+
+This command did not include Herse and Dada, who remained on the barge.
+Herse having plenty to occupy her in the lower rooms, Dada went on deck
+and watched the others on their way to the house; then she sat looking at
+the shipwrights at their work and tossed fruit and sweetmeats, the
+remains of their dessert, for the children to catch who were playing on
+the shore.  Meanwhile she thought over Marcus' startling speech, Damia's
+injunctions and Herse's warnings.
+
+At first it seemed to her that Herse might be right, but by degrees she
+fell back into her old conviction that the young Christian could mean no
+harm by her; and she felt as sure that he would find her out wherever she
+might hide herself, as that it was her pretty and much-admired little
+person that he sought to win, and not her soul--for what could such an
+airy nothing as a soul profit a lover?  How rapturously he had described
+her charms, how candidly he had owned that her image was always before
+him even in his dreams, that he could not and would not give her up--nay,
+that he was ready to lay down his life to save her soul.  Only a man in
+love could speak like this and a man so desperately in love can achieve
+whatever he will.  On her way from the Xenodochium to the house of
+Porphyrius she had passed him in his chariot, and had admired the
+splendid horses which he turned and guided with perfect skill and grace.
+He was scarcely three years older than herself; he was eighteen--but in
+spite of his youth and simplicity he was not unmanly; and there was
+something in him--something that compelled her to be constantly thinking
+of him and asking herself what that something was.  Old Damia's
+instructions troubled her; they took much of the charm from her dream
+of being loved by Marcus, clasped in his arms, and driven through the
+city in his chariot.
+
+It was impossible--yes, quite impossible, she was sure--that they should
+have parted forever; as she sat, thinking still of him and glancing from
+time to time at the toiling carpenters, a boat pulled up at the landing
+close to the barge out of which jumped an officer of the imperial guard.
+Such a handsome man! with such a noble, powerful, sunburnt face, a
+lightly waving black beard, and hair that fell from under his gold
+helmet!  The short-sword at his side showed him to be a tribune or
+prefect of cavalry, and what gallant deeds must not this brilliant and
+glittering young warrior have performed to have risen to such high rank
+while still so young!  He stood on the shore, looking all round, his eyes
+met hers and she felt herself color; he seemed surprised to see her there
+and greeted her respectfully with a military salute; then he went on
+towards the unfinished hulk of a large ship whose bare curved ribs one
+or two foremen were busily measuring with tape and rule.
+
+An elderly man of dignified aspect was standing close by, who, as Dada
+had already discovered, was the head of the ship-yard, and the warrior
+hastened towards him.  She heard him say: "Father," and in the next
+instant she saw the old man open his arms and the officer rush to
+embrace him.
+
+Dada never took her eyes off the couple who walked on, arm in arm and
+talking eagerly, till they disappeared into a large house on the further
+side of the dockyard.
+
+"What a handsome man!"  Dada repeated to herself, but while she waited to
+see him return she gazed across the lake by which Marcus might find his
+way to her.  And as she lingered, idly dreaming, she involuntarily
+compared the two men.  There were fine soldiers in plenty in Rome, and
+the ship-builder's son was in no particular superior to a hundred others;
+but such a man as Marcus she had never before seen--there could hardly
+be such another in the world.  The young guard was one fine tree among a
+grove of fine trees; but Marcus had something peculiar to himself, that
+distinguished him from the crowd, and which made him exceptionally
+attractive and lovable.  His image at length so completely filled her
+mind that she forgot the handsome officer, and the shipmaster and every
+one else.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Christian hypocrites who pretend to hate life and love death
+He may talk about the soul--what he is after is the girl
+Love means suffering--those who love drag a chain with them
+To her it was not a belief but a certainty
+Trifling incident gains importance when undue emphasis is laid
+
+
+
+
+
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