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diff --git a/5503.txt b/5503.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cae206 --- /dev/null +++ b/5503.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2447 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Serapis, by Georg Ebers, Volume 3. +#64 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Serapis, Volume 3. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5503] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 5, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERAPIS, BY GEORG EBERS, V3 *** + + + +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 3. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Agne's flight remained unperceived for some little time, for every member +of the merchant's household was at the moment intent on some personal +interest. When Karnis and Orpheus had set out Gorgo was left with her +grandmother and it was not till some little time after that she went out +into the colonade on the garden side of the house, whence she had a view +over the park and the shore as far as the ship-yard. There, leaning +against the shaft of a pillar, under the shade of the blossoming shrubs, +she stood gazing thoughtfully to the southward. + +She was dreaming of the past, of her childhood's joys and privations. +Fate had bereft her of a mother's love, that sun of life's spring. Below +her, in a splendid mausoleum of purple porphyry, lay the mortal remains +of the beautiful woman who had given her birth, and who had been snatched +away before she could give her infant a first caress. But all round the +solemn monument gardens bloomed in the sunshine, and on the further side +of the wall covered with creepers, was the ship-yard, the scene of +numberless delightful games. She sighed as she looked at the tall hulks, +and watched for the man who, from her earliest girlhood, had owned her +heart, whose image was inseparable from every thing of joy and beauty +that she had ever known, and every grief her young soul had suffered +under. + +Constantine, the younger son of Clemens the shipbuilder, had been her +brothers' companion and closest friend. He had proved himself their +superior in talents and gifts, and in all their games had been the +recognized leader. While still a tiny thing she would always be at their +heels, and Constantine had never failed to be patient with her, or to +help and protect her, and then came a time when the lads were all eager +to win her sympathy for their games and undertakings. When her +grandmother read in the stars that some evil influences were to cross +the path of Gorgo's planet, the girl was carefully kept in the house; +at other times she was free to go with the boys in the garden, on the +lake or to the ship-yard. There the happy playmates built houses or +boats; there, in a separate room, old Melampus modelled figure-heads for +the finished vessels, and he would supply them with clay and let them +model too. Constantine was an apt pupil, and Gorgo would sit quiet while +he took her likeness, till, out of twenty images that he had made of her, +several were really very like. Melampus declared that his young master +might be a very distinguished sculptor if only he were the son of poor +parents, and Gorgo's father appreciated his talent and was pleased when +the boy attempted to copy the beautiful busts and statues of which the +house was full; but to his parents, and especially his mother, his +artistic proclivities were an offence. He himself, indeed, never +seriously thought of devoting himself to such a heathenish occupation, +for he was deeply penetrated by the Christian sentiments of his family, +and he had even succeeded in inflaming the sons of Porphyrius, who had +been baptized at an early age, with zeal for their faith. The merchant +perceived this and submitted in silence, for the boys must be and remain +Christians in consequence of the edict referring to wills; but the +necessity for confessing a creed which was hateful to him was so painful +and repulsive to a nature which, though naturally magnanimous was not +very steadfast, that he was anxious to spare his sons the same +experience, and allowed them to accompany Constantine to church and to +wear blue--the badge of the Christians--at races and public games, with a +shrug of silent consent. + +With Gorgo it was different. She was a woman and need wear no colors; +and her enthusiasm for the old gods and Greek taste and prejudices were +the delight of her father. She was the pride of his life, and as he +heard his own convictions echoed in her childish prattle, and later in +her conversation and exquisite singing, he was grateful to his mother and +to his friend Olympius who had implanted and cherished these feelings in +his daughter. Constantine's endeavors to show her the beauty of his +creed and to win her to Christianity were entirely futile; and the older +they grew, and the less they agreed, the worse could each endure the +dissent of the other. + +An early and passionate affection attracted the young man to his charming +playfellow; the more ardently he cherished his faith the more fervently +did he desire to win her for his wife. But Olympius' fair pupil was not +easy of conquest; nay, he was not unfrequently hard beset by her +questions and arguments, and while, to her, the fight for a creed was no +more than an amusing wrestling match, in which to display her strength, +to him it was a matter in which his heart was engaged. + +Damia and Porphyrius took a vain pleasure in their eager discussions, and +clapped with delight, as though it were a game of skill, when Gorgo +laughingly checkmated her excited opponent with some unanswerable +argument. + +But there came a day when Constantine discovered that his eager defence +of that which to him was high and holy, was, to his hearers, no more than +a subject of mockery, and henceforth the lad, now fast growing to +manhood, kept away from the merchant's house. Still, Gorgo could always +win him back again, and sometimes, when they were alone together, the old +strife would be renewed, and more seriously and bitterly than of old. +But while he loved her, she also loved him, and when he had so far +mastered himself as to remain away for any length of time she wore +herself out with longing to see him. They felt that they belonged to +each other, but they also felt that an insuperable gulf yawned between +them, and that whenever they attempted to clasp hands across the abyss a +mysterious and irresistible impulse drove them to open it wider, and to +dig it deeper by fresh discussions, till at last Constantine could not +endure that she, of all people, should mock at his Holy of Holies and +drag it in the dust. + +He must go--he must leave Gorgo, quit Alexandria, cost what it might. +The travellers' tales that he had heard from the captains of trading- +vessels and ships of war who frequented his father's house had filled him +with a love of danger and enterprise, and a desire to see distant lands +and foreign peoples. His father's business, for which he was intended, +did not attract him. Away--away--he would go away; and a happy +coincidence opened a path for him. + +Porphyrius had taken him one day on some errand to Canopus; the elder man +had gone in his chariot, his two sons and Constantine escorting him on +horseback. At the city-gates they met Romanus, the general in command of +the Imperial army, with his staff of officers, and he, drawing rein by +the great merchant's carriage, had asked him, pointing to Constantine, +whether that were his son. + +"No," replied Porphyrius, "but I wish he were." At these words the ship- +master's son colored deeply, while Romanus turned his horse round, laid +his hand on the young man's arm and called out to the commander of the +cavalry of Arsinoe: "A soldier after Ares' own heart, Columella! Do not +let him slip." + +Before the clouds of dust raised by the officers' horses as they rode +off, had fairly settled, Constantine had made up his mind to be a +soldier. In his parents' house, however, this decision was seen under +various aspects. His father found little to say against it, for he had +three sons and only two shipyards, and the question seemed settled by the +fact that Constantine, with his resolute and powerful nature, was cut out +to be a soldier. His pious mother, on the other hand, appealed to the +learned works of Clemens and Tertullian, who forbid the faithful +Christian to draw the sword; and she related the legend of the holy +Maximilianus, who, being compelled, under Diocletian, to join the army, +had suffered death at the hands of the executioner rather than shed his +fellow-creatures' blood in battle. The use of weapons, she added, was +incompatible with a godly and Christian life. + +His father, however, would not listen to this reasoning; new times, he +said, were come; the greater part of the army had been baptized; the +Church prayed for, victory, and at the head of the troops stood the great +Theodosius, an exemplar of an orthodox and zealous Christian. + +Clemens was master in his own house, and Constantine joined the heavy +cavalry at Arsinoe. In the war against the Blemmyes he was so fortunate +as to merit the highest distinction; after that he was in garrison at +Arsinoe, and, as Alexandria was within easy reach of that town, he was in +frequent intercourse with his own family and that of Porphyrius. Not +quite three years previously, when a revolt had broken out in favor of +the usurper Maximus in his native town, Constantine had assisted in +suppressing it, and almost immediately afterwards he was sent to Europe +to take part in the war which Theodosius had begun, again against +Maximus. + +An unpleasant misunderstanding had embittered his parting from Gorgo; +old Damia, as she held his hand had volunteered a promise that she and +her granddaughter would from time to time slay a beast in sacrifice on +his behalf. Perhaps she had had no spiteful meaning in this, but he had +regarded it as an insult, and had turned away angry and hurt. +Gorgo, however, could not bear to let him go thus; disregarding her +grandmother's look of surprise, she had called him back, and giving him +both hands had warmly bidden him farewell. Damia had looked after him in +silence and had ever afterwards avoided mentioning his name in Gorgo's +presence. + +After the victory over Maximus, Constantine, though still very young, was +promoted to the command of the troop in the place of Columella, and he +had arrived in Alexandria the day before at the head of his 'ala +miliaria'. + + [The ala miliaria consisted of 24 'turmae' or 960 mounted troopers + under the conduct of a Prefect.] + +Gorgo had never at any time ceased to think of him, but her passion had +constantly appeared to her in the light of treason and a breach of faith +towards the gods, so, to condone the sins she committed on one side by +zeal on another, she had come forth from the privacy of her father's +house to give active support to Olympius in his struggle for the faith of +their ancestors. She had become a daily worshipper at the temple of +Isis, and the hope of hearing her sing had already mere than once filled +it to overflowing at high festivals. Then, while Olympius was defending +the sanctuary of Serapis against the attacks of the Christians, she and +her grandmother had become the leaders of a party of women who made it +their task to provide the champions of the faith with the means of +subsistence. + +All this had given purpose to her life; still, every little victory in +this contest had filled her soul with regrets and anxieties. For months +and years she had been conspicuous as the opponent of her lover's creed, +and the bright eager child had developed into a grave girl a clear-headed +and resolute woman. She was the only person in the house who dared to +contradict her grandmother, and to insist on a thing when she thought it +right. The longing of her heart she could not still, but her high spirit +found food for its needs in all that surrounded her, and, by degrees, +would no doubt have gained the mastery and have been supreme in all her +being and doing, but that music and song still fostered the softer +emotions of her strong, womanly nature. + +The news of Constantine's return had shaken her soul to the foundations. +Would it bring her the greatest happiness or only fresh anguish and +unrest? + +She saw him coming!--The plume of his helmet first came in sight above +the bushes, and then his whole figure emerged from among the shrubbery. +She leaned against the pillar for support now, for her knees trembled +under her. Tall and stately, his armor blazing in the sunshine, he came +straight towards her--a man, a hero--exactly as her fancy had painted him +in many a dark and sleepless hour. As he passed her mother's tomb, she +felt as though a cold hand laid a grip on her beating heart. In a swift +flash of thought she saw her own home with its wealth and splendor, and +then the ship-builder's house-simple, chillingly bare, with its +comfortless rooms; she felt as though she must perish, nipped and +withered, in such a home. Again she thought of him standing on his +father's threshold, she fancied she could hear his bright boyish laugh +and her heart glowed once more. She forgot for the moment--clear-headed +woman though she was, and trained by her philosopher to "know herself"-- +she forgot what she had fully acknowledged only the night before: That he +would no more give up his Christ than she would her Isis, and that if +they should ever reach the dreamed-of pinnacle of joy it must be for an +instant only, followed by a weary length of misery. Yes--she forgot +everything; doubts and fears were cast aside; as his approaching +footsteps fell on her ear, she could hardly keep herself from flying, +open armed, to meet him. + +He was standing before her; she offered him her hand with frank gladness, +and, as he clasped it in his, their hearts were too full for words. +Only their eyes gave utterance to their feelings, and when he perceived +that hers were sparkling through tears, he spoke her name once, twice-- +joyfully and yet doubtfully, as if he dared not interpret her emotion as +he would. She laid her left hand lightly on his which still grasped her +right, and said with a brilliant smile: "Welcome, Constantine, welcome +home! How glad I am to see you back again!" + +"And I--and I..." he began, greatly moved. + + +"O Gorgo! Can it really be years since we parted?" + +"Yes, indeed," she said. "Anxious, busy, struggling years!" + +"But to-day we celebrate the festival of Peace," he exclaimed fervently. +"I have learnt to leave every man to go his own way so long as I am +allowed to go mine. The old strife is buried; take me as I am and I, for +my part, will think only of the noble and beautiful traits in which your +nature is so rich. The fruit of all wholesome strife must be peace; let +us pluck that fruit, Gorgo, and enjoy it together. Ah! as I stand here +and gaze out over the gardens and the lake, hearing the hammers of the +shipwrights, and rejoicing in your presence, I feel as though our +childhood might begin all over again--only better, fuller and more +beautiful!" + +"If only my brothers were here!" + +"I saw them," + +"Oh! where?" + +"At Thessalonica, well and happy--I have letters for you from them." + +"Letters!" cried Gorgo, drawing away her hand. "Well, you are a tardy +messenger! Our houses are within a stone's throw, and yet in a whole +day, from noon till noon, so old a friend could not find a few minutes +to deliver the letters entrusted to him, or to call upon such near +neighbors . . ." + +"First there were my parents," interrupted the young soldier. +"And then the tyrant military duty, which kept me on the stretch from +yesterday afternoon till an hour or two since. Romanus robbed me even of +my sleep, and kept me in attendance till the morn had set. However, +I lost but little by that, for I could not have closed my eyes till they +had beheld you! This morning again I was on duty, and rarely have I +ridden to the front with such reluctance. After that I was delayed by +various details; even on my way here--but for that I cannot be sorry for +it gave me this chance of finding you alone. All I ask now is that we +may remain so, for such a moment is not likely to be repeated.--There, +I heard a door . . ." + +"Come into the garden," cried Gorgo, signing to him to follow her. +"My heart is as full as yours. Down by the tank under the old sycamores +--we shall be quietest there." + +Under the dense shade of the centenarian trees was a rough-hewn bench +that they themselves had made years before; there Gorgo seated herself, +but her companion remained standing. + +"Yes!" he exclaimed. "Here--here you must hear me! Here where we have +been so happy together!" + +"So happy!" she echoed softly, + +"And now," he went on, "we are together once more. My heart beats +wildly, Gorgo; it is well that this breastplate holds it fast, for I feel +as though it would burst with hope and thankfulness." + +"Thankfulness?" said Gorgo, looking down. + +"Yes, thankfulness--sheer, fervent passionate gratitude! What you have +given me, what an inestimable boon, you yourself hardly know; but no +emperor could reward love and fidelity more lavishly than you have done-- +you, the care and the consolation, the pain and the joy of my life! My +mother told me--it was the first thing she thought of--how you shed tears +of grief on her bosom when the false report of my death reached home. +Those tears fell as morning dew on the drooping hopes in my heart, they +were a welcome such as few travellers find on their return home. I am no +orator, and if I were, how could speech in any way express my feelings? +But you know them--you understand what it is, after so many years . . ." + +"I know," she said looking up into his eyes, and allowing him to seize +her hand as he dropped on the bench by her side. "If I did not I could +not bear this--and I freely confess that I shed many more tears over you +than you could imagine. You love me, Constantine . . ." + +He threw his arm round her; but she disengaged herself, exclaiming: + +"Nay--I implore you, not so--not yet, till I have told you what troubles +me, what keeps me from throwing myself wholly, freely into the arms of +happiness. I know what you will ask--what you have a right to ask; but +before you speak, Constantine, remember once more all that has so often +saddened our life, even as children, that has torn us asunder like a +whirlwind although, ever since we can remember, our hearts have flowed +towards each other. But I need not remind you of what binds us--that we +both know well, only too well..." + +"Nay," he replied boldly: "That we are only beginning to know in all its +fullness and rapture. The other thing the whirlwind of which you speak, +has indeed tossed and tormented me, more than it has you perhaps; but +since I have known that you could shed tears for me and love me I have +had no more anxieties; I know for certain that all must come right! You +love me as I am, Gorgo. I am no dreamer nor poet; but I can look forward +to finding life lovely and noble if shared with you, so long as one--only +one thing is sure. I ask you plainly and truly: Is your heart as full of +love for me as mine is for you? When I was away did you think of me +every day, every night, as I thought of you, day and night without fail?" + +Gorgo's head sank and blushes dyed her cheeks as she replied: "I love +you, and I have never even thought of any one else. My thoughts and +yearnings followed you all the while you were away... and yet... oh, +Constantine! That one thing . . ." + +"It cannot part us," said the young man passionately, "since we have +love--the mighty and gracious power which conquers all things! When love +beckon: the whirlwind dies away like the breath from a child's lips; it +can bridge over any abyss; it created the world and preserves the +existence of humanity, it can remove mountains--and these are the most +beautiful words of the greatest of the apostles: 'It is long suffering +and kind, it believes all things, hopes all things' and it knows no end. +It remains with us till death and will teach us to find that peace whose +bulwark and adornment, whose child and parent it is!" + +Gorgo had looked lovingly at him while he spoke, and he, pressing her +hand to his lips went on with ardent feeling: + +"Yes, you shall be mine--I dare, and I will go to ask you of your father. +There are some words spoken in one's life which can never be forgotten. +Once your father said that he wished that I was his son. On the march, +in camp, in battle, wherever I have wandered, those words have been in my +mind; for me they could have but one meaning: I would be his son--I shall +be his son when Gorgo is my wife!--And now the time has come . . ." + +"Not yet, not to-day," she interrupted eagerly. "My hopes are the same +as yours. I believe with you that our love can bring all that is +sweetest into our lives. What you believe I must believe, and I will +never urge upon you the things that I regard as holiest. I can give up +much, bear much, and it will all seem easy for your sake. We can agree, +and settle what shall be conceded to your Christ and what to our gods-- +but not to-day; not even to-morrow. For the present let me first carry +out the task I have undertaken--when that is done and past, then... You +have my heart, my love; but if I were to prove a deserter from the cause +to-day or to-morrow it would give others--Olympius--a right to point at +me with scorn." + +"What is it then that you have undertaken?" asked Constantine with grave +anxiety. + +"To crown and close my past life. Before I can say: I am yours, wholly +yours . . ." + +"Are you not mine now, to-day, at once?" he urged. + +"To day-no," she replied firmly. "The great cause still has a claim upon +me; the cause which I must renounce for your sake. But the woman who +gives only one person reason to despise her signs the death-warrant of +her own dignity. I will carry out what I have undertaken... Do not ask +me what it is; it would grieve you to know.--The day after tomorrow, when +the feast of Isis is over . . ." + +"Gorgo, Gorgo!" shouted Damia's shrill voice, interrupting the young +girl in her speech, and half a dozen slave-women came rushing out in +search of her. + +They rose, and as they went towards the house Constantine said very +earnestly: + +"I will not insist; but trust my experience: When we have to give +something up sooner or later, if the wrench is a painful one, the sooner +and the more definitely it is done the better. Nothing is gained by +postponement and the pain is only prolonged. Hesitation and delay, +Gorgo, are a barrier built up by your own hand between us and our +happiness. You always had abundance of determination; be brave then, +now, and cut short at once a state of things that cannot last." + +"Well, well," she said hurriedly. "But you must not, you will not +require me to do anything that is beyond my strength, or that would +involve breaking my word. To-morrow is not, and cannot be yours; it must +be a day of leave-taking and parting. After that I am yours, I cannot +live without you. I want you and nothing else. Your happiness shall be +mine; only, do not make it too hard to me to part from all that has been +dear to me from my infancy. Shut your eyes to tomorrow's proceedings, +and then--oh! if only we were sure of the right path, if only we could +tread it together! We know each other so perfectly, and I know, I feel, +that it will perhaps be a comfort to our hearts to be patient with each +other over matters which our judgment fails to comprehend or even to +approve. I might be so unutterably happy; but my heart trembles within +me, and I am not, I dare not be quite glad yet." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The young soldier was heartily welcomed by his friends of the merchant's +family; but old Damia was a little uneasy at the attitude which he and +Gorgo had taken up after their first greeting. He was agitated and +grave, she was eager and excited, with an air of determined enterprise. + +Was Eros at the bottom of it all? Were the young people going to carry +out the jest of their childhood in sober earnest? The young officer was +handsome and attractive enough, and her granddaughter after all was but a +woman. + +So far as Constantine was concerned the old lady had no personal +objection to him; nay, she appreciated his steady, grave manliness and, +for his own sake, was very glad to see him once more; but to contemplate +the ship-builder's son--the grandson of a freedman--a Christian and +devoted to the Emperor, even though he were a prefect or of even higher +grade--as a possible suitor for her Gorgo, the beautiful heiress of the +greater part of her wealth--the centre of attraction to all the gilded +youth of Alexandria--this was too much for her philosophy; and, as she +had never in her life restrained the expression of her sentiments, though +she gave him a friendly hand and the usual greeting, she very soon showed +him, by her irony and impertinence, that she was as hostile to his creed +as ever. + +She put her word in on every subject, and when, presently, Demetrius-- +who, after Dada's rebuff, had come on to see his uncle--began speaking of +the horses he had been breeding for Marcus, and Constantine enquired +whether any Arabs from his stables were to be purchased in the town, +Damia broke out: + +"You out-do your crucified God in most things I observe! He could ride +on an ass, and a stout Egyptian nag is not good enough for you." + +However, the young officer was not to be provoked; and though he was very +well able to hold his own in a strife of words, he kept himself under +control and pretended to see nothing in the old woman's taunts but +harmless jesting. + +Gorgo triumphed in his temperate demeanor, and thanked him with grateful +glances and a silent grasp of the hand when opportunity offered. + +Demetrius, who had also known Constantine as a boy, and who, through +Porphyrius, had sold him his first charger, met him very warmly and told +him with a laugh that he had seen him before that day, that he had +evidently learnt something on his travels, that he had tracked the +prettiest head of game in all the city; and he slapped him on the +shoulder and gave him what he meant to be a very knowing glance. +Constantine could not think where Demetrius had seen him or what he +meant; while Gorgo supposed that he alluded to her, and thought him +perfectly odious. + +Porphyrius pelted the prefect with questions which Constantine was very +ready to answer, till they were interrupted by some commotion in the +garden. On looking out they saw a strange and unpleasing procession, +headed by Herse who was scolding, thumping and dragging Dada's Egyptian +slave, while her husband followed, imploring her to moderate her fury. +Behind them came Orpheus, now and then throwing out a persuasive word to +soothe the indignant matron. This party soon came up with the others, +and Herse, unasked, poured out an explanation of her wrath. + +She had had but a brief interview with Mary, Marcus' mother, for she had +positively opposed the Christian lady's suggestion that Karnis and his +family would do well to quit Alexandria as soon as possible, accepting an +indemnification from Mary herself. To the widow's threats of seeking the +intervention of the law, she had retorted that they were not public +singers but free citizens who performed for their own enjoyment; to the +anxious mother's complaints that Dada was doing all she could to attract +Marcus, she had answered promptly and to the point that her niece's good +name would certainly out-weigh anything that could be said against a +young man to whom so much license was allowed in Alexandria. She would +find some means of protecting her own sister's child. Mary had replied +that Herse would do well to remember that she--Mary--had means at her +command of bringing justice down on those who should attempt to entrap +a Christian youth, and tempt him into the path of sin. + +This had closed the interview. Herse had found her husband and son +waiting for her at the door of Mary's house and had at once returned with +them to the ship. There an unpleasant surprise awaited them; they had +found no one on board but the Egyptian slave, who told them that Dada had +sent her on shore to procure her some sandals; on her return the girl had +vanished. The woman at the same time declared that she had seen Agne and +her brother leave the garden and make for the high-road. + +So far as the Christian girl was concerned Herse declared there would be +no difficulty; but Dada, her own niece, had always clung to them +faithfully, and though Alexandria was full of sorcerers and Magians they +could hardly succeed in making away with a fullgrown, rational, and +healthy girl. In her inexperience she had, no doubt, gone at the bidding +of some perfidious wretch, and the Egyptian witch, the brown slave had, +of course, had a finger in the trick. She would accuse no one, but she +knew some people who would be only too glad if Dada and that baby-faced +young Christian got into trouble and disgrace together. She delivered +herself of this long story with tears of rage and regret, angrily +refusing to admit any qualifying parentheses from her husband, to whose +natural delicacy her rough and vociferous complaints were offensive in +the presence of the high-bred ladies of the house. Old Damia, however, +had listened attentively to her indignant torrent of words, and had only +shrugged her shoulders with a scornful smile at the implied accusation of +herself. + +Porphyrius, to whom the whole business was simply revolting, questioned +Herse closely and when the facts were clearly established, and it also +was plainly proved that Agne had escaped from the garden, he desired the +slave-woman to tell her story of all that had occurred during the absence +of Karnis, promising her half a dozen stripes from the cane on the soles +of her feet for every false word she might utter. The threat was enough +to raise a howl from the Egyptian; but this Porphyries soon put a stop +to, and Sachepris, with perfect veracity, told her tale of all that had +happened till Herse's return to the vessel. The beginning of the +narrative was of no special interest, but when she was pressed to go +faster to the point she went on to say: + +"And then--then my lord Constantine came to us on the ship, and the +pretty mistress laughed with him and asked him to take off his helmet, +because the pretty mistress wanted to see the cut, the great sword-cut +above his eyes, and my lord Constantine took it off." + +"It is a lie!" exclaimed Gorgo. + +"No, no; it is true. Sachepris does not want her feet flayed, mistress," +cried the slave. "Ask my lord Constantine himself." + +"Yes, I went on board," said Constantine. "Just as I was crossing the +ship-yard a young girl dropped her fan into the lake. I fished it out at +her request, and carried it back to her." + +"Yes, that was it," cried Sachepris. "And the pretty mistress +laughed with my lord Constantine--is it not true?--and she took his +helmet out of his hand and weighed it in hers . . ." + +"And you could stop on your way here to trifle with that child?" cried +Gorgo wrathfully. "Pah! what men will do!" + +These words portended rage and intense disgust to Constantine. "Gorgo!" +he cried with a reproachful accent, but she could not control her +indignation and went on more vehemently than ever: + +"You stopped--with that little hussy--on your way to me--stopped to +trifle and flirt with her! Shame! Yes, I say shame! Men are thought +lucky in being light-hearted, but, for my part, may the gods preserve me +from such luck! Trifling, whispering, caressing--a tender squeeze of the +hand--solemnly, passionately earnest!--And what next? Who dares warrant +that it will not all be repeated before the shadows are an ell long on +the shore!" + +She laughed, a sharp, bitter laugh; but it was a short one. She ceased +and turned pale, for her lover's face had undergone a change that +terrified her. The scar on his forehead was purple, and his voice was +strange, harsh and hoarse as he leaned forward to bring his face on a +level with hers, and said: + +"Even if you had seen me with your own eyes you ought not to have +believed them! And if you dare to say that you do believe it, I can say +Shame! as well as you. My life may be at stake but I say: Shame!" + +As he spoke he clutched the back of a chair with convulsive fury and +stood facing the girl like an avenging god of war, his eyes flashing to +meet hers. This was too much for old Damia; she could contain herself no +longer, and striking her crutch on the floor she broke out: + +"What next shall we hear! You threaten and storm at the daughter of this +house as if she were a soldier in your camp! Listen to me, my fine +gentleman, and mind what I say: In the house of a free Alexandrian +citizen no one has any right to give his orders--be he Caesar, Consul or +Comes; he has only to observe the laws of good manners." Then turning to +Gorgo she shook her head with pathetic emphasis; "This, my love, is the +consequence of too much familiar condescension. Come, an end of this! +Greeting and parting often go hand in hand." + +The prefect turned on his heel and went towards the steps leading to the +garden; but Gorgo flew after him and seized his hand, calling out to the +old woman: + +"No, no, grandmother; he is in the right, I am certain he is in the +right. Stop, Constantine--wait, stay, and forgive my folly! If you +love me, mother, say no more--he will explain it all presently." + +The soldier heaved a sigh of relief and assented in silence, while the +slave went on with her story: "And when my lord Constantine was gone, my +lord Demetrius came and he--but what should poor Sachepris say--ask my +lord Demetrius himself to tell you." + +"That is soon done," replied Demetrius, who had failed to understand a +great deal of all that had been going forward. My brother Marcus is over +head and ears in love with the little puss--she is a pretty creature--and +to save that simple soul from mischief I thought I would take the +business on my own shoulders which are broader and stronger than his. +I went boldly to work and offered the girl--more shame for me, I must +say--the treasures of Midas; however, offering is one thing and accepting +is another, and the child snapped me up and sent me to the right about-- +by Castor and Pollux! packed me off with my tail between my legs! My +only comfort was that Constantine had just quitted the pretty little +hussy. By the side of the god of war, thought I, a country Pan makes but +a poor figure; but this Ares was dismissed by Venus, and so, if only to +keep up my self-respect, I was forced to conclude that the girl, with all +her pertness, was of a better sort than we had supposed. My presents, +which would have tempted any other girl in Alexandria to follow a cripple +to Hades, she took as an insult; she positively cried with indignation, +and I really respect pretty little Dada!" + +"She is my very own sister's child," Herse threw in, honestly angered by +the cheap estimation in which every one seemed to hold her adopted child. +"My own sister's," she insisted, with an emphasis which seemed to imply +that she had a whole family of half-sisters. "Though we now earn our +bread as singers, we have seen better days; and in these hard times +Croesus to-day may be Irus to-morrow. As for us, Karnis did not +dissipate his money in riotous living. It was foolish perhaps but it +was splendid--I believe we should do the same again; he spent all his +inheritance in trying to reinstate Art. However, what is the use of +looking after money when it is gone! If you can win it, or keep it you +will be held of some account, but if you are poor the dogs will snap at +you!--The girl, Dada--we have taken as much care of her as if she were +our own, and divided our last mouthful with her before now. Karnis used +to tease her about training her voice--and now, when she could really do +something to satisfy even good judges--now, when she might have helped us +to earn a living-now. . ." + +The good woman broke down and burst into tears, while Karnis tried to +soothe and comfort her. + +"We shall get on without them somehow," he said. "'Nil desperandum' says +Horace the Roman. And after all they are not lizards that can hide in +the cracks of the walls; I know every corner of Alexandria and I will go +and hunt them up at once." + +"And I will help you, my friend," said Demetrius, "We will go to the +Hippodrome--the gentry you will meet with there are capital blood-hounds +after such game as the daughter of your 'own sister,' my good woman. As +to the black-haired Christian girl--I have seen her many a time on board +ship. . ." + +"Oh! she will take refuge with some fellow-Christians," remarked +Porphyrius. "Olympius told me all about her. I know plenty of the same +sort in the Church. They fling away life and happiness as if they were +apple-peelings to snatch at something which they believe to constitute +salvation. It is folly, madness! pure unmitigated madness! To have sung +in the temple of the she-devil Isis with Gorgo and the other worshippers +would have cost her her seat in Paradise. That, as I believe, is the +cause of her flight." + +"That and nothing else!" cried Karnis. "How vexed the noble Olympius +will be. Indeed, Apollo be my witness! I have not been so disturbed +about anything for many a day. Do you happen to recollect," he went on, +turning to Demetrius, "our conversation on board ship about a dirge for +Pytho? Well, we had transposed the lament of Isis into the Lydian mode, +and when this young lady's wonderful voice gave it out, in harmony with +Agne's and with Orpheus' flute, it was quite exquisite! My old heart +floated on wings as I listened! And only the day after to-morrow the +whole crowd of worshippers in the temple of Isis were to enjoy that +treat!--It would have roused them to unheard-of enthusiasm. Yesterday +the girl was in it, heart and soul; nay, only this morning she and the +noble Gorgo sang it through from beginning to end. One more rehearsal +to-morrow, and then the two voices would have given such a performance as +perhaps was never before heard within the temple walls." + +Constantine had listened to this rhapsody with growing agitation; he was +standing close to Gorgo, and while the rest of the party held anxious +consultation as to what could be done to follow up and capture the +fugitives, he asked Gorgo in a low voice, but with gloomy looks: + +"You intended to sing in the temple of Isis? Before the crowd, and with +a girl of this stamp?" + +"Yes," she said firmly. + +"And you knew yesterday that I had come home?" She nodded. + +"And yet, this morning even, while you were actually expecting me, you +could practise the hymn with such a creature?" + +"Agne is not such another as the girl who played tricks with your +helmet," replied Gorgo, and the black arches of her eyebrows knit into +something very like a scowl. "I told you just now that I was not yours +today, nor to-morrow. We still serve different gods." + +"Indeed we do!" he exclaimed, so vehemently that the others looked +round, and old Damia again began to fidget in her chair. + +Then with a strong effort he recovered himself and, after standing for +some minutes gazing in silence at the ground, he said in a low tone: + +"I have borne enough for to-day. Gorgo, pause, reflect. God preserve me +from despair!" + +He bowed, hastily explained that his duties called him away, and left the +spot. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +The amateurs of horse-racing who assembled in the Hippodrome could afford +no clue to Dada's hiding-place, because she had not, in fact, run away +with any gay young gallant. Within a few minutes of her sending +Sachepris to fetch her a pair of shoes, Medius had hailed her from the +shore; he wanted to speak with Karnis, and having come on an ass it was +not in vain that the incensed damsel entreated him to take her with him. +He had in fact only come to try to persuade Karnis and his wife to spare +Dada for a few performances, such as he had described, in the house of +Posidonius. His hopes of success had been but slender; and now the whole +thing had settled itself, and Dada's wish that her people should not, for +a while, know where to find her was most opportune for his plans. + +In the days when Karnis was the manager of the theatre at Tauromenium +Medius had led the chorus, and had received much kindness at the hands of +the girl's uncle. All this, he thought, he could now repay, for +certainly his old patron was poor enough, and he intended honestly to +share with his former benefactor the profits he expected to realize with +so fair a prodigy as Dada. No harm could come to the girl, and gold-- +said he to himself--glitters as brightly and is just as serviceable, even +when it has been earned for us against our will. + +Medius, being a cautious man, made the girl bring her new dress away with +her, and the girdle and jewels belonging to it, and his neat hands packed +everything into the smallest compass. He filled up the basket which he +took for the purpose with sweetmeats, oranges and pomegranates "for the +children at home," and easily consoled Dada for the loss of her shoes. +He would lead the ass and she should ride. She covered her face with a +veil, and her little feet could be hidden under her dress. When they +reached his house he would at once have "a sweet little pair of sandals" +made for her by the shoemaker who worked for the wife of the Comes and +the daughters of the Alabarch--[The chief of the Jewish colony in +Alexandria.]--These preparations and the start only took a few minutes; +and their rapid search and broken conversation caused so much absurd +confusion that Dada had quite recovered her spirits and laughed merrily +as she tripped bare-foot across the strand. She sprang gaily on to the +little donkey and as they made their way along the road, the basket +containing her small wardrobe placed in front of her on the ass's +shoulders, she remarked that she should be mistaken for the young wife of +a shabby old husband, returning from market with a load of provisions. + +She was delighted to think of what Herse's face would be when, on her +return home, she should discover that the prisoner could make her escape +even without shoes. + +"Let her have a good hunt for me!" she cried quite enchanted. "Why +should I always be supposed to be ready for folly and wickedness! But +one thing I warn you: If I am not comfortable and happy with you, and if +I do not like the parts you want me to fill, we part as quickly as we +have come together.--Why are you taking me through all these dirty +alleys? I want to ride through the main streets and see what is going +on." But Medius would not agree to this, for in the great arteries of +the town there were excitement and tumult, and they might think +themselves fortunate if they reached his house unmolested. + +He lived in a little square, between the Greek quarter and Rhacotis where +the Egyptians lived, and his house, which was exactly opposite the church +of St. Marcus, accommodated Medius himself, his wife, his widowed +daughter and her five children, besides being crammed from top to bottom +with all sorts of strange properties, standing or hanging in every +available space. Dada's curiosity had no rest, and by the time she had +spent a few hours in the house her host's pretty little grandchildren +were clinging to her with devoted affection. + +Agne had not been so fortunate as to find a refuge so easily. With no +escort, unveiled, and left entirely to her own guidance, leading the +little boy, she hurried forward, not knowing whither. All she thought +was to get away--far away from these men who were trying to imperil her +immortal soul. + +She knew that Karnis had actually bought her, and that she was, +therefore, his property and chattel. Even Christian doctrine taught her +that the slave must obey his master; but she could not feel like a slave, +and if indeed she were one her owner might destroy and kill her body, but +not her soul. The law, however, was on the side of Karnis, and it +allowed him to pursue her and cast her into prison. This idea haunted +her, and for fear of being caught she avoided all the chief thoroughfares +and kept close to the houses as she stole through the side streets and +alleys. Once, in Antioch, she had seen a runaway slave, who, having +succeeded in reaching a statue of the Emperor and laying his hand on it, +was by that act safe from his pursuers. There must surely be such a +statue somewhere in Alexandria--but where? A woman, of whom she +enquired, directed her down a wider street that would take her into the +Canopic Way. If she crossed that and went down the first turning to the +left she would reach a large open square in the Bruchium, and there, in +front of the Prefect's residence and by the side of the Bishop's house, +stood the new statue of Theodosius. + +This information, and the mention of the Bishop, gave a new course to her +proceedings. It was wrong to defy and desert her master, but to obey him +would be deadly sin. Which must she choose and which avoid? Only one +person could advise in such a case--only one could relieve her mind of +its difficulties and terrors: The Shepherd of souls in the city--the +Bishop himself. She too was a lamb of his flock; to him and to no one +else could she turn. + +This thought fell on her heart like a ray of light dispersing the clouds +of uncertainty and alarm. With a deep breath of relief she took the +child in her arms and told him--for he was whimpering to know where she +was taking him, and why he might not go back to Dada--that they were +going to see a good, kind man who would tell them the way home to their +father and mother. Papias, however, still wailed to go to Dada and not +to the man. + +Half insisting and half coaxing him with promises, she dragged him along +as far as the main street. This was full of an excited throng; soldiers +on foot and on horseback were doing what they could to keep the peace, +and the bustle amused the little boy's curiosity so that he soon forgot +his homesickness. When, at length, Ague found the street that led to the +Prefect's house she was fairly carried along by the surging, rushing mob. +To turn was quite impossible; the utmost she could do was to keep her +wits about her, and concentrate her strength so as not to be parted from +the child. Pushed, pulled, squeezed, scolded, and abused by other women +for her folly in bringing a child out into such a crowd, she at last +found herself in the great square. A hideous hubbub of coarse, loud +voices pierced her unaccustomed ears; she could have sunk on the earth +and cried; but she kept up her courage and collected all her energies, +for she saw in the distance a large gilt cross over a lofty doorway. It +was like a greeting and welcome home. Under its protection she would +certainly, find rest, consolation and safety. + +But how was she to reach it? The space before her was packed with men as +a quiver is packed with arrows; there was not room for a pin between. +The only chance of getting forward was by forcing her way, and nine- +tenths of the crowd were men--angry and storming men, whose wild and +strange demeanor filled her with terror and disgust. Most of them were +monks who had flocked in at the Bishop's appeal from the monasteries of +the desert, or from the Lauras and hermitages of Kolzum by the Red Sea, +or even from Tabenna in Upper Egypt, and whose hoarse voices rent the air +with vehement cries of: "Down with the idols! Down with Serapis! Death +to the heathen!" + +This army of the Saviour whose very essence was gentleness and whose +spirit was love, seemed indeed to have deserted from his standard of +light and grace to the blood-stained banner of murderous hatred. Their +matted locks and beards fringed savage faces with glowing eyes; their +haggard or paunchy nakedness was scarcely covered by undressed hides of +sheep and goats; their parched skins were scarred and striped by the use +of the scourges that hung at their girdles. One--a "crown bearer"--had +a face streaming with blood, from the crown of thorns which he had vowed +to wear day and night in memory and imitation of the Redeemer's +sufferings, and which on this great occasion he pressed hard into the +flesh with ostentatious martyrdom. One, who, in his monastery, had +earned the name of the "oil-jar," supported himself on his neighbors' +arms, for his emaciated legs could hardly carry his dropsical carcass +which, for the last ten years, he had fed exclusively on gourds, snails, +locusts and Nile water. Another was chained inseparably to a comrade, +and the couple dwelt together in a cave in the limestone hills near +Lycopolis. These two had vowed never to let each other sleep, that so +their time for repentance might be doubled, and their bliss in the next +world enhanced in proportion to their mortifications in this. + +One and all, they were allies in a great fight, and the same hopes, +ideas, and wishes fired them all. The Abominable Thing--which imperilled +hundreds of thousands of souls, which invited Satan to assert his +dominion in this world--should fall this day and be annihilated forever! +To them the whole heathen world was the "great whore;" and though the +gems she wore were beautiful to see and rejoiced the mind and heart of +fools, they must be snatched from her painted brow; they would scourge +her from off the face of the redeemed earth and destroy the seducer of +souls forever. "Down with the idols! Down with Serapis! Down with the +heathen!" Their shouts thundered and bellowed all about Agne; but, just +as the uproar and crush were at the worst, a tall and majestic figure +appeared on a balcony above the cross and extended his hand in calm and +dignified benediction towards the seething mass of humanity. As he +raised it all present, including Ague, bowed and bent the knee. + +Agne felt, knew, that this stately man was the Bishop whom she sought, +but she did not point him out to her little brother, for his aspect was +that of some proud sovereign rather than of "the good, kind man" of whom +she had dreamed. She could never dare to force her way into the presence +of this great lord! How should the ruler over a million souls find time +or patience for her and her trivial griefs? + +However, there must be within his dwelling sundry presbyters and deacons, +and she would address herself to one of them, as soon as the crowd had +dispersed enough for her to make her way to the door beneath the cross. +Twenty times at least did she renew her efforts, but she made very small +progress; most of the monks, as she tried to squeeze past them, roughly +pushed her back; one, on whose arm she ventured to lay her hand, begging +him to make way for her, broke out into shrieks as though a serpent had +stung him, and when the crush brought her into contact with the crown- +bearer he thrust her away exclaiming: + +"Away woman! Do not touch me, spawn of Satan tool of the evil one! or I +will tread you under foot!" + +Retreat had been as impossible as progress, and long hours went by which +to her seemed like days; still she felt no fatigue, only alarm and +disgust, and, more than anything else, an ardent desire to reach the +Bishop's palace and take counsel of a priest. It was long past noon when +a diversion took place which served at any rate to interest and amuse the +crying child. + +On the platform above the doorway Cynegius came forth--Cynegius, the +Emperor's delegate; a stout man of middle height, with a shrewd round +head and a lawyer's face. State dignitaries, Consuls and Prefects had, +at this date, ceased to wear the costume that had marked the patricians +of old Rome--a woollen toga that fell in broad and dignified folds from +the shoulders; a long, close-fitting robe had taken its place, of purple +silk brocade with gold flowers. On the envoy's shoulder blazed the badge +of the highest officials, a cruciform ornament of a peculiarly thick and +costly tissue. He greeted the crowd with a condescending bow, a herald +blew three blasts on the tuba, and then Cynegius, with a wave of his hand +introduced his private secretary who stood by his side, and who at once +opened a roll he held and shouted at the top of a ringing voice: + +"Silence in Caesar's name!" + +The trumpet then sounded for the fourth time, and silence so complete +fell on the crowded square that the horses of the mounted guard in front +of the Prefect's house could be heard snorting and champing. + +"In Caesar's name," repeated the official, who had been selected for the +duty of reading the Imperial message. Cynegius himself bent his head, +again waved his hand towards his secretary, and then towards the statues +of the Emperor and Empress which, mounted on gilt standards, were +displayed to the populace on each side of the balcony; then the reading +began: + +"Theodosius Caesar greets the inhabitants of the great and noble city of +Alexandria, by Cynegius, his faithful ambassador and servant. He knows +that its true and honest citizens confess the Holy Faith in all piety and +steadfastness, as delivered to believers in the beginning by Peter, the +prince of the Apostles; he knows that they hold the true Christian faith, +and abide by the doctrine delivered by the Holy Ghost to the Fathers of +the Church in council at Nicaea. + +"Theodosius Caesar who, in all humility and pride, claims to be the sword +and shield, the champion and the rampart of the one true faith, +congratulates his subjects of the great and noble city of Alexandria +inasmuch as that most of them have turned from the devilish heresy of +Arius, and have confessed the true Nicaean creed; and he announces to +them, by his faithful and noble servant Cynegius, that this faith and no +other shall be recognized in Alexandria, as throughout his dominions. + +"In Egypt, as in all his lands and provinces, every doctrine opposed to +this precious creed shall be persecuted, and all who confess, preach or +diffuse any other doctrine shall be considered heretics and treated as +such." + +The secretary paused, for loud and repeated shouts of joy broke from the +multitude. Not a dissentient word was heard-indeed, the man who should +have dared to utter one would certainly not have escaped unpunished. It +was not till the herald had several times blown a warning blast that the +reader could proceed, as follows: + +"It has come to the ears of your Caesar, to the deep grieving of his +Christian soul, that the ancient idolatry, which so long smote mankind +with blindness and kept them wandering far from the gates of Paradise, +still, through the power of the devil, has some temples and altars in +your great and noble city. But because it is grievous to the Christian +and clement heart of the Emperor to avenge the persecutions and death +which so many holy martyrs have endured at the hands of the bloodthirsty +and cruel heathen on their posterity, or on the miscreant and-- +misbelieving enemies of our holy faith--and because the Lord hath said +'vengeance is mine'--Theodosius Caesar only decrees that the temples of +the heathen idols in this great and noble city of Alexandria shall be +closed, their images destroyed and their altars overthrown. Whosoever +shall defile himself with blood, or slay an innocent beast for sacrifice, +or enter a heathen temple, or perform any religious ceremony therein, or +worship any image of a god made by hands-nay, or pray in any temple in +the country or in the city, shall be at once required to pay a fine of +fifteen pounds of gold; and whosoever shall know of such a crime being +committed without giving information of it, shall be fined to the same +amount."--[Codex Theodosianus XVI, 10, 10.] + +The last words were spoken to the winds, for a shout of triumph, louder +and wilder than had ever before been heard even on this favorite meeting- +place of the populace, rent the very skies. Nor did it cease, nor yield +to any trumpet-blast, but rolled on in spreading waves down every street +and alley; it reached the ships in the port, and rang through the halls +of the rich and the hovels of the poor; it even found a dull echo in the +light-house at the point of Pharos, where the watchman was trimming the +lamp for the night; and in an incredibly short time all Alexandria knew +that Caesar had dealt a death-blow to the worship of the heathen gods. + +The great and fateful rumor was heard, too, in the Museum and the +Serapeum; once more the youth who had grown up in the high schools of the +city, studying the wisdom of the heathen, gathered together; men who had +refined and purified their intellect at the spring of Greek philosophy +and fired their spirit with enthusiasm for all that was good and lovely +in the teaching of ancient Greece--these obeyed the summons of their +master, Olympius, or flew to arms under the leadership of Orestes, the +Governor, for the High-Priest himself had to see to the defences of the +Serapeum.--Olympius had weapons ready in abundance, and the youths +rapidly collected round the standards he had prepared, and rushed into +the square before the Prefect's house to drive away the monks and to +insist that Cynegius should return forthwith to Rome with the Emperor's +edict. + +Young and noble lads were they who marched forth to the struggle, +equipped like the Helleman soldiers of the palmy days of Athens; and as +they went they sang a battle-song of Callinus which some one--who, no one +could tell--had slightly altered for the occasion: + + "Come, rouse ye Greeks; what, sleeping still! + Is courage dead, is shame unknown? + Start up, rush forth with zealous will, + And smite the mocking Christians down!" + +Everything that opposed their progress was overthrown. Two maniples +of foot-soldiers who held the high-road across the Bruchium attempted +to turn them, but the advance of the inflamed young warriors was +irresistible and they reached the street of the Caesareum and the square +in front of the Prefect's residence. Here they paused to sing the last +lines of their battlesong: + + "Fate seeks the coward out at home, + He dies unwept, unknown to fame, + While by the hero's honored tomb + Our grandsons' grandsons sliall proclaim: + 'In the great conflict's fiercest hour + He stood unmoved, our shield and tower.'" + +It was here, at the wide opening into the square, that the collision took +place: on one side the handsome youths, crowned with garlands, with their +noble Greek type of heads, thoughtful brows, perfumed curls, and anointed +limbs exercised in the gymnasium--on the other the sinister fanatics in +sheep-skin, ascetic visionaries grown grey in fasting, scourging, and +self-denial. + +The monks now prepared to meet the onset of the young enthusiasts who +were fighting for freedom of thought and enquiry, for Art and Beauty. +Each side was defending what it felt to be the highest Good, each was +equally in earnest as to its convictions, both fought for something +dearer and more precious than this earthly span of existence. But the +philosophers' party had swords; the monks' sole weapon was the scourge, +and they were accustomed to ply that, not on each other but on their own +rebellious flesh. A wild and disorderly struggle began with swingeing +blows on both sides; prayers and psalms mingling with the battle-song of +the heathen. Here a monk fell wounded, there one lay dead, there again +lay a fine and delicate-looking youth, felled by the heavy fist of a +recluse. A hermit wrestled hand to hand with a young philosopher who, +only yesterday had delivered his first lecture on the Neo-Platonism of +Plotinus to an interested audience. + +And in the midst of this mad struggle stood Agne with her little brother, +who clung closely to her skirts and was too terrified to shed a tear or +utter a cry. The girl was resolutely calm, but she was too utterly +terror-stricken even to pray. Fear, absorbing fear had stunned her +thoughts; it overmastered her like some acute physical pain which began +in her heart and penetrated every fibre of her frame. + +Even while the Imperial message was being read she had been too +frightened to take it all in; and now she simply shut her eyes tight and +hardly understood what was going on around her, till a new and different +noise sounded close in her ears: the clatter of hoofs, blare of trumpets +and shouts and screams. At last the tumult died away and, when she +ventured to open her eyes and look about her, the place all round her was +as clear as though it had been swept by invisible hands; here and there +lay a dead body and there still was a dense crowd in the street leading +to the Caesareum, but even that was dispersing and retreating before the +advance of a mounted force. + +She breathed freely once more, and released the child's head from the +skirt of her dress in which he had wrapped and buried it. The end of her +alarms was not yet come, however, for a troop of the young heathen came +flying across the square in wild retreat before a division of the heavy +cavalry, which had intervened to part the combatants. + +The fugitives came straight towards her; again she closed her eyes +tightly, expecting every instant to find herself under the horses' feet. +Then one of the runaways knocked down Papias, and she could bear no more; +her senses deserted her, her knees failed under her, she lost +consciousness, and with a dull groan she fell on the dusty pavement. +Close to her, as she lay, rushed the pursued and the pursuers--and at +last, how long after she knew not, when she recovered her senses she felt +as if she were floating in the air, and presently perceived that a +soldier had her in his arms and was carrying her like a child. + +Fresh alarms and fresh shame overwhelmed the poor girl; she tried to free +herself and found him quite ready to set her down. When she was once +more on her feet and felt that she could stand she glanced wildly round +her with sudden recollection, and then uttered a hoarse cry, for her +mouth and tongue were parched: + +"Christ Jesus! Where is my brother?" She pushed back her hair with a +desperate gesture, pressing her hands to her temples and peering all +round her with a look of fevered misery. + +She was still in the square and close to the door of the Prefect's house; +a man on horseback, in all probability her preserver's servant, was +following them, leading his master's horse. On the pavement lay wounded +men groaning with pain; the street of the Caesareum was lined with a +double row of footsoldiers of Papias no sign! + +Again she called him, and with such deep anguish in her voice, which was +harsh and shrill with terror, that the young officer looked at her with +extreme compassion. + +"Papias, Papias--my little brother! O God my Saviour!--where, where is +the child?" + +"We will have him sought for," said the soldier whose voice was gentle +and kind. "You are too young and pretty--what brought you into this +crowd and amid such an uproar?" + +She colored deeply and looking down answered low and hurriedly: "I was +going to see the Bishop." + +"You chose an evil hour," replied Constantine, for it was he who had +found her lying on the pavement and who had thought it only an act of +mercy not to trust so young and fair a girl to the protection of his +followers. "You may thank God that you have got off so cheaply. Now, I +must return to my men. You know where the Bishop lives? Yes, here. And +with regard to your little brother.... Stay; do you live in Alexandria?" +"No, my lord." + +"But you have some relation or friend whom you lodge with?" + +"No, my lord. I am... I have... I told you, I only want to see my lord +the Bishop." + +"Very strange! Well, take care of yourself. My time is not my own; but +by-and-bye, in a very short time, I will speak to the city watchmen; how +old is the boy?" + +"Nearly six." + +"And with black hair like yours?" + +"No, my lord--fair hair," and as she spoke the tears started to her eyes. +"He has light curly hair and a sweet, pretty little face." + +The prefect smiled and nodded. "And if they find him," he went on, +"Papias, you say, is his name where is he to be taken?" + +"I do not know, my lord, for--and yet! Oh! my head aches, I cannot +think--if only I knew... If they find him he must come here--here to my +lord the Bishop." + +"To Theophilus?" said Constantine in surprise. "Yes, yes--to him," she +said hastily. "Or--stay--to the gate-keeper at the Bishop's palace." + +"Well, that is less aristocratic, but perhaps it is more to the purpose," +said the officer; and with a sign to his servant, he twisted his hand in +his horse's mane, leaped into the saddle, waved her a farewell, and +rejoined his men without paying any heed to her thanks. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +There was much bustle and stir in the hall of the Episcopal palace. +Priests and monks were crowding in and out; widows, who, as deaconesses, +were entrusted with the care of the sick, were waiting, bandages in hand, +and discussing their work and cases, while acolytes lifted the wounded on +to the litters to carry them to the hospitals. + +The deacon Eusebius, whom we have met as the spiritual adviser of Marcus, +was superintending the good work, and he took particular care that as +much attention should be shown to the wounded heathen as to the +Christians. + +In front of the building veterans of the twenty-first legion paced up and +down in the place of the ordinary gate-keepers, who were sufficient +protection in times of peace. + +Agne looked in vain for any but soldiers, but at last she slipped in +unobserved among the men and women who were tending the wounded. She was +terribly thirsty, and seeing one of the widows mixing some wine and water +and offer it to one of the wounded men who pushed it away, she took +courage and begged the deaconess to give her a drink. The woman handed +her the cup at once, asking to whom she belonged that she was here. + +"I want to see my lord, the Bishop," replied Agne, but then correcting +herself, she added hastily: "If I could see the Bishop's gate-keeper, I +might speak to him." + +"There he is," said the deaconess, pointing to an enormously tall man +standing in the darkest and remotest corner of the hall. The darkness +reminded her for the first time that it was now evening. Night was +drawing on, and then where could she take refuge and find shelter? She +shuddered and simply saying: "Thank you," she went to the man who had +been pointed out to her and begged that if her little brother should be +found and brought to him, he would take charge of him. + +"To be sure," said the big man good-naturedly. "He can be taken to the +orphanage of the 'Good Samaritan' if they bring him here, and you can +enquire for him there." + +She then made so bold as to ask if she could see a priest; but for this +she was directed to go to the church, as all those who were immediately +attached to the Bishop were to-day fully occupied, and had no time for +trifles. Agne, however, persisted in her request till the man lost +patience altogether and told her to be off at once; but at this instant +three ecclesiastics came in at the door by which her friend was on guard, +and Agne, collecting all her courage, went up to one of them, a priest of +advanced age, and besought him urgently: + +"Oh! reverend Father, I beg of you to hear me. I must speak to a priest, +and that man drives me away and says you none of you have time to attend +to me!" + +"Did he say that!" asked the priest, and he turned angrily on the +culprit saying: "The Church and her ministers never lack time to attend +to the needs of any faithful soul--I will follow you, brothers.--Now, my +child, what is it that you need?" + +"It lies so heavily on my soul," replied Agne, raising her eyes and hands +in humble supplication. "I love my Saviour, but I cannot always do +exactly as I should wish, and I do not know how I ought to act so as not +to fall into sin." + +"Come with me," said the priest, and leading the way across a small +garden, he took her into a wide open court and from thence in at a side +door and up a flight of stairs which led to the upper floor. As she +followed him her heart beat high with painful and yet hopeful excitement. +She kept her hands tightly clasped and tried to pray, but she could +hardly control her thoughts of her brother and of all she wanted to say +to the presbyter. + +They presently entered a lofty room where the window-shutters were +closed, and where a number of lamps, already lighted, were hanging over +the cushioned divans on which sat rows of busy scribes of all ages. + +"Here we are," said the priest kindly, as he seated himself in an easy- +cliair at some little distance from the writers. "Now, tell me fully +what troubles you; but as briefly as you can, for I am sparing you these +minutes from important business." + +"My lord," she began, "my parents were freeborn, natives of Augusta +Trevirorum. My father was a collector of tribute in the Emperor's +service . . ." + +"Very good--but has this anything to do with the matter?" + +"Yes, yes, it has. My father and mother were good Christians and in the +riots at Antioch--you remember, my lord, three years ago--they were +killed and I and my brother--Papias is his name . . ." + +"Yes, yes--go on." + +"We were sold. My master paid for us--I saw the money; but he did not +treat us as slaves. But now he wants me--he, Sir, is wholly devoted to +the heathen gods-and he wants me . . ." + +"To serve his idols?" + +"Yes, reverend Father, and so we ran away." + +"Quite right, my child." + +"But the scriptures say that the slave shall obey his master?" + +"True; but higher than the master in the flesh is the Father in Heaven, +and it is better a thousand times to sin against man than against God." + +This conversation had been carried on in an undertone on account of the +scribes occupied at the desks; but the priest raised his voice with his +last words, and he must have been heard in the adjoining room, for a +heavy curtain of plain cloth was opened, and an unusually deep and +powerful voice exclaimed: + +"Back again already, Irenaeus! That is well; I want to speak with you." + +"Immediately, my lord--I am at your service in a moment.--Now, my child," +he added, rising, "you know what your duty is. And if your master looks +you up and insists on your assisting at the sacrifice or what ever it may +be, you will find shelter with us. My name is Irenaeus." + +Here he was again interrupted, for the curtain was lifted once more and a +man came out of the inner room whom no one could forget after having once +met him. It was the Bishop whom Agne had seen on the balcony; she +recognized him at once, and dropped on her knees to kiss the hem of his +robe in all humility. Theophilus accepted the homage as a matter of +course, hastily glancing at the child with his large keen eyes; Agne not +daring to raise hers, for there was certainly something strangely +impressive in his aspect. Then, with a wave of his long thin hand to +indicate Agne, he asked: + +"What does this girl want?" + +"A freeborn girl--parents Christian--comes from Antioch. . ." replied +Irenaeus. "Sold to a heathen master--commanded to serve idols--has run +away and now has doubts. . ." + +"You have told her to which Lord her service is due?" interrupted the +Bishop. Then, turning to Agne, he said: "And why did you come here +instead of going to the deacon of your own church?" + +"We have only been here a few days," replied the girl timidly, as she +ventured to raise her eyes to the handsome face of this princely prelate, +whose fine, pale features looked as if they had been carved out of +marble. + +"Then go to partake of the sacred Eucharist in the basilica of Mary," +replied the Bishop. "It is just now the hour--but no, stop. You are a +stranger here you say; you have run away from your master--and you are +young, very young and very... It is dark too. Where are you intending +to sleep?" + +"I do not know," said Agne, and her eyes filled with tears. + +"That is what I call courage!" murmured Theophilus to the priest, and +then he added to Agne: "Well, thanks to the saints, we have asylums for +such as you, here in the city. That scribe will give you a document +which will secure your admission to one. So you come from Antioch? Then +there is the refuge of Seleucus of Antioch. To what parish--[Parochia in +Latin]--did your parents belong?" + +"To that of John the Baptist?" + +"Where Damascius was the preacher?" + +"Yes, holy Father. He was the shepherd of our souls." + +"What! Damascius the Arian?" cried the Bishop. He drew his fine and +stately figure up to its most commanding height and closed his thin lips +in august contempt, while Irenaeus, clasping his hands in horror, asked +her: + +"And you--do you, too, confess the heresy of Arius?" + +"My parents were Arians," replied Agne in much surprise. "They taught me +to worship the godlike Saviour." + +"Enough!" exclaimed the Bishop severely. "Come Irenaeus." + +He nodded to the priest to follow him, opened the curtain and went in +first with supreme dignity. + +Agne stood as if a thunderbolt had fallen, pale, trembling and desperate. +Then was she not a Christian? Was it a sin in a child to accept the +creed of her parents? And were those who, after charitably extending a +saving hand, had so promptly withdrawn it--were they Christians in the +full meaning of the All-merciful Redeemer? + +Agonizing doubts of everything that she had hitherto deemed sacred and +inviolable fell upon her soul; doubts of everything in heaven and earth, +and not merely of Christ and of his godlike, or divine goodness--for what +difference was there to her apprehension in the meaning of the two words +which set man to hunt and persecute man? In the distress and hopeless +dilemma in which she found herself, she shed no tears; she simply stood +rooted to the spot where she had heard the Bishop's verdict. + +Presently her attention was roused by the shrill voice of an old writer +who called out to one of the younger assistants. + +"That girl disturbs me, Petubastis; show her out." Petubastis, a pretty +Egyptian lad, was more than glad of an interruption to his work which +somehow seemed endless to-day; he put aside his implements, stroked back +the black hair that had fallen over his face, and removing the reed-pen +from behind his ear, stuck in a sprig of dark blue larkspur. Then he +tripped to the door, opened it, looked at the girl with the cool +impudence of a connoisseur in beauty, bowed slightly, and pointing the +way out said with airified politeness: + +"Allow me!" + +Agne at once obeyed and with a drooping head left the room; but the young +Egyptian stole out after her, and as soon as the door was shut he seized +her hand and said in a whisper: "If you can wait half an hour at the +bottom of the stairs, pretty one, I will take you somewhere where you +will enjoy yourself." + +She had stopped to listen, and looked enquiringly into his face, for she +had no suspicion of his meaning; the young fellow, encouraged by this, +laid his hand on her shoulder and would have drawn her towards him but +that she, thrusting him from her as if he were some horrible animal, flew +down the steps as fast as her feet could carry her, and through the +courtyard back into the great entrance-hall. + +Here all was, by this time, dark and still; only a few lamps lighted the +pillared space and the flare of a torch fell upon the benches placed +there for the accommodation of priests, laymen and supplicants generally. + +Utterly worn out--whether by terror or disappointment or by hunger and +fatigue she scarcely knew--she sank on a seat and buried her face in her +hands. + +During her absence the wounded had been conveyed to the sick-houses; one +only was left whom they had not been able to move. He was lying on a +mattress between two of the columns at some little distance from Agne, +and the light of a lamp, standing on a medicine-chest, fell on his +handsome but bloodless features. A deaconess was kneeling at his head +and gazed in silence in the face of the dead, while old Eusebius crouched +prostrate by his side, resting his cheek on the breast of the man whose +eyes were sealed in eternal sleep. Two sounds only broke the profound +silence of the deserted hall: an occasional faint sob from the old man +and the steady step of the soldiers on guard in front of the Bishop's +palace. The widow, kneeling with clasped hands, never took her eyes off +the face of the youth, nor moved for fear of disturbing the deacon who, +as she knew, was praying--praying for the salvation of the heathen soul +snatched away before it could repent. Many minutes passed before the old +man rose, dried his moist eyes, pressed his lips to the cold hand of the +dead and said sadly: + +"So young--so handsome--a masterpiece of the Creator's hand!... Only +to-day as gay as a lark, the pride and joy of his mother-and now! How +many hopes, how much triumph and happiness are extinct with that life. +O Lord my Saviour, Thou hast said that not only those who call Thee Lord, +Lord, shall find grace with our Father in Heaven, and that Thou hast shed +Thy blood for the salvation even of the heathen--save, redeem this one! +Thou that are the Good Shepherd, have mercy on this wandering sheep!" + +Stirred to the bottom of his soul the old man threw up his arms and gazed +upwards rapt in ecstasy. But presently, with an effort, he said to the +deaconess: + +"You know, Sister, that this lad was the only son of Berenice, the widow +of Asclepiodorus, the rich shipowner. Poor, bereaved mother! Only +yesterday he was driving his guadriga out of the gate on the road to +Marea, and now--here! Go and tell her of this terrible occurrence. I +would go myself but that, as I am a priest, it might he painful to her to +learn of his tragic end from one of the very men against whom the poor +darkened youth had drawn the sword. So do you go, Sister, and treat the +poor soul very tenderly; and if you find it suitable show her very gently +that there is One who has balm for every wound, and that we--we and all +who believe in Him--lose what is dear to us only to find it again. Tell +her of hope: Hope is everything. They say that green is the color of +hope, for it is the spring-tide of the heart. There may be a Spring for +her yet." + +The deaconess rose, pressed a kiss on the eyes of the dead youth, +promised Eusebius that she would do her best and went away. He, too, +was about to leave when he heard a sound of low sobbing from one of the +benches. He stood still to listen, shook his old head, and muttering to +himself: + +"Great God--merciful and kind.... Thou alone canst know wherefore Thou +hast set the rose-garland of life with so many sharp thorns," he went up +to Agne who rose at his approach. + +"Why, my child," he said kindly, "what are you weeping for? Have you, +too, lost some dear one killed in the fray?" + +"No, no," she hastily replied with a gesture of terror at the thought. + +"What then do you want here at so late an hour?" + +"Nothing--nothing," she said. "That is all over! Good God, how long I +must have been sitting here--I--I know I must go; yes, I know it." + +"And are you alone-no one with you?" + +She shook her head sadly. The old man looked at her narrowly. + +"Then I will take you safe home," he said. "You see I am an old man and +a priest. Where do you live, my child?" + +"I? I. . ." stammered Agne, and a torrent of scalding tears fell down +her cheeks. "My God! my God! where, where am I to go?" + +"You have no home, no one belonging to you?" asked the old man. "Come, +child, pluck up your courage and tell me truly what it is that troubles +you; perhaps I may be able to help you." + +"You?" she said with bitter melancholy. "Are not you one of the +Bishop's priests?" + +"I am a deacon, and Theophilus is the head of my church; but for that +very reason . . ." + +"No," said Agne sharply, "I will deceive no one. My parents were Arians, +and as my beliefs are the same as theirs the Bishop has driven me away as +an outcast, finally and without pity." + +"Indeed," said Eusebius. "Did the Bishop do that? Well, as the head of +a large community of Christians he, of course, is bound to look at things +in their widest aspect; small things, small people can be nothing to him. +I, on the contrary, am myself but a small personage, and I care for small +things. You know, child, that the Lord has said 'that in his Father's +kingdom there are many mansions,' and that in which Arius dwells is not +mine; but it is in the Father's kingdom nevertheless. It cannot be so +much amiss after all that you should cling to the creed of your parents. +What is your name?" + +"Agne." + +"Agne, or the lamb. A pretty, good name! It is a name I love, as I, +too, am a shepherd, though but a very humble one, so trust yourself to +me, little lamb. Tell me, why are you crying? And whom do you seek +here? And how is it that you do not know where to find a home?" + +Eusebius spoke with such homely kindness, and his voice was so full of +fatherly sympathy that hope revived in Agne's breast, and she told him +with frank confidence all he wanted to know. + +The old man listened with many a "Hum" and "Ha"--then he bid her +accompany him to his own house, where his wife would find a corner that +she might fill. + +She gladly agreed, and thanked him eagerly when he also told the +doorkeeper to bring Papias after them if he should be found. Relieved of +the worst of her griefs, Agne followed her new friend through the streets +and lanes, till they paused at the gate of a small garden and he said: +"Here we are. What we have we give gladly, but it is little, very +little. Indeed, who can bear to live in luxury when so many are +perishing in want and misery?" + +As they went across the plot, between the little flower-beds, the deacon +pointed to a tree and said with some pride: "Last year that tree bore me +three hundred and seven peaches, and it is still healthy and productive." + +A hospitable light twinkled in the little house at the end of the garden, +and as they entered a queer-looking dog came out to meet his master, +barking his welcome. He jumped with considerable agility on his fore- +legs, but his hind legs were paralyzed and his body sloped away and stuck +up in the air as though it were attached to an invisible board. + +"This is my good friend Lazarus," said the old man cheerfully. +"I found the poor beggar in the road one day, and as he was one of God's +creatures, although he is a cripple, I comfort myself with the verse from +the Psalms: 'The Lord has no joy in the strength of a horse, neither +taketh he pleasure in any man's legs.'" + +He was so evidently content and merry that Agne could not help laughing +too, and when, in a few minutes, the deacon's wife gave her a warm and +motherly reception she would have been happier than she had been for a +long time past, if only her little brother had not been a weight on her +mind and if she had not longed so sadly to have him safe by her side. +But even that anxiety presently found relief, for she was so weary and +exhausted that, after eating a few mouthfuls, she was thankful to lie +down in the clean bed that Elizabeth had prepared for her, and she +instantly fell asleep. She was in the old deacon's bed, and he made +ready to pass the night on the couch in his little sitting-room. + +As soon as the old couple were alone Eusebius told his wife how and where +he had met the girl and ended by saying: + +"It is a puzzling question as to these Arians and other Christian +heretics. I cannot be hard on them so long as they cling faithfully to +the One Lord who is necessary to all. If we are in the right--and I +firmly believe that we are--and the Son is of one substance of the +Father, he is without spot or blemish; and what can be more divine than +to overlook the error of another if it concerns ourselves, or what more +meanly human than to take such an error amiss and indulge in a cruel or +sanguinary revenge on the erring soul? Do not misunderstand me. +I, unfortunately--or rather, I say, thank God!--I have done nothing great +here on earth, and have never risen to be anything more than a deacon. +But if a boy comes up to me and mistakes me for an acolyte or something +of that kind, is that a reason why I should flout or punish him? Not a +bit of it. + +"And to my belief our Saviour is too purely divine to hate those who +regard Him as only 'God-like.' He is Love. And when Arius goes to +Heaven and sees Jesus Christ in all His divine glory, and falls down +before Him in an ecstasy of joy and repentance, the worst the Lord will +do to him will be to take him by the ear and say: 'Thou fool! Now thou +seest what I really am; but thine errors be forgiven!'" + +Elizabeth nodded assent. "Amen," she said, "so be it.--And so, no doubt, +it will be. Did the Lord cast out the woman taken in adultery? Did he +not give us the parable of the Samaritan?--Poor little girl! We have +often wished for a daughter and now we have found one; a pretty creature +she is too. God grants us all our wishes! But you must be tired, old +man; go to rest now." + +"Directly, directly," said Eusebius; but then, striking his forehead with +his hand, he went on in much annoyance: "And with all this tumult and +worry I had quite forgotten the most important thing of all: Marcus! He +is like a possessed creature, and if I do not make a successful appeal to +his conscience before he sleeps this night mischief will come of it. +Yes, I am very tired; but duty before rest. It is of no use to +contradict me, Mother. Get me my cloak; I must go to the lad." And a +few minutes later the old man was making his way to the house in the +Canopic street. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Dread and anxiety had taken possession of the merchant's household after +Constantine had left them. Messengers came hurrying in, one after +another, to request the presence of Olympius. A heathen secretary of +Evagrius the Governor, had revealed what was astir, and the philosopher +had at once prepared to return to the Serapeum. Porphyrius himself +ordered his closed harmamaxa to be brought out, and undertook to fetch +weapons and standards to the temple from a storehouse where they were +laid by. This building stood on a plot of ground belonging to him in +Rhacotis, behind a timber-yard which was accessible from the streets in +front and behind, but sheltered from the public gaze by sheds and wood- +stacks. + +The old aqueduct, which supplied the courts of sacrifice and the +Subterranean crypts of the temple where the mysteries of Serapis were +celebrated, passed close by the back-wall of this warehouse. Since the +destruction of the watercourse, under the Emperor Julian, the underground +conduit had been dry and empty, and a man by slightly stooping could +readily pass through it unseen into the Serapeum. This mysterious +passage had lately been secretly cleared out, and it was now to be used +for the transport of the arms to the temple precincts. + +Damia had been present at the brief but vehement interview between her +son and Olympius, and had thrown in a word now and again: "It is serious, +very serious!" or, "Fight it out--no quarter!" + +The parting was evidently a very painful one to Olympius; when the +merchant held out both his hands the older man clasped them in his and +held them to his breast, saying: "Thanks, my friend; thanks for all you +have done. We have lived--and if now we perish it is for the future +happiness of our grandchildren. What would life be to you and me if it +were marred by scourgings and questionings?--The omens read ill, and if I +am not completely deceived we are at the beginning of the end. What lies +beyond...! we as philosophers must meet it calmly. The supreme Mind +that governs us has planned the universe so well, that it is not likely +that those things of which we now have no knowledge should not also be +ordered for the best. The pinions of my soul beat indeed more freely and +lightly as I foresee the moment when it shall be released from the burden +of this flesh!" + +The High-Priest raised his arms as though indeed he were prepared to soar +and uttered a fervent and inspired prayer in which he rehearsed to the +gods all that he and his had done in their honor and vowed to offer them +fresh sacrifices. His expressions were so lofty, and his flow of +language so beautiful and free, that Porphyrius did not dare to interrupt +him, though this long delay on the part of the leader of the cause made +him intolerably anxious. When the old man--who was as emotional as a +boy--ceased speaking, his white beard was wet with tears, and seeing that +even Damia's and Gorgo's eyes were moist, he was preparing to address +them again; but Porphyrius interposed. He gave him time only to press +his lips to Datnia's hand and to bid Gorgo farewell. + +"You were born into stirring times," he said to her, "but under a good +sign. Two worlds are in collision; which shall survive?--For you, my +darling, I have but one wish: May you be happy!" + +He left the room and the merchant paced up and down lost in gloomy +thoughts. Presently, as he caught his mother's eye fixed uneasily upon +him, he murmured, less to her than to himself: "If he can think thus of +what the end will be, who can still dare to hope?" Damia drew herself up +in her chair. + +"I," she exclaimed passionately, "I--I dare, and I do hope and trust in +the future. Is everything to perish which our forefathers planned and +founded? Is this dismal superstition to overwhelm and bury the world and +all that is bright and beautiful, as the lava stream rolled over the +cities of Vesuvius? No, a thousand times no! Our retrograde and +cowardly generation, which has lost all heart to enjoy life in sheer +dread of future annihilation, may perhaps be doomed by the gods, as was +that of Deucalion's day. Well--if so, what must be must! But such a +world as they dream of never can, never will last. Let them succeed in +their monstrous scheme! if the Temple of temples, the House of Serapis, +were to be in ashes and the image of the mighty god to be dashed to +pieces, what then... I say what then? Then indeed everything will be at +an end--we, everybody; but they too, they, too, will perish." + +She clenched her fist with hatred and revenge and went on: "I know what I +know--there are legible and infallible signs, and it is given to me to +interpret them, and I tell you: It is true, unerringly true, as every +Alexandrian child has learnt from its nurse: When Serapis falls the earth +will collapse like a dry puff-ball under a horse's hoof. A hundred +oracles have announced it, it is written in the prophecies of the +heavenly bodies, and in the scroll of Fate. Let them be! Let it come! +The end is sweet to those who, in the hour of death, can see the enemy +thrust the sword into his own breast." + +The old woman sank back panting and gasping for breath, but Gorgo +hastened to support her in her arms and she soon recovered. Hardly had +she opened her eyes again than, seeing her son still in the room, she +went on angrily: + +"You--here still? Do you think there is any time to spare? They will be +waiting, waiting for you! You have the key and they need weapons." + +"I know what I am about," replied Porphyrius calmly. "All in good time. +I shall be on the spot long before the youngsters have assembled. Cyrus +will bring me the pass-words and signs; I shall send off the messengers, +and then I shall still be in time for action." + +"Messengers! To whom?" + +"To Barkas. He is at the head of more than a thousand Libyan peasants +and slaves. I shall send one, too, to Pachomius to bid him win us over +adherents among the Biamite fishermen and the population of the eastern +Delta." + +"Right, right--I know. Twenty talents--Pachomius is poor--twenty talents +shall be his, out of my private coffer, if only they are here in time." + +"I would give ten, thirty times as much if they were only here now!" +cried the merchant, giving way for the first time to the expression of +his real feelings. "When I began life my father taught me the new +superstitions. Its chains still hang about me; but in this fateful hour +I feel more strongly than ever, and I mean to show, that I am faithful to +the old gods. We will not be wanting; but alas! there is no escape for +us now if the Imperial party are staunch. If they fall upon us before +Barkas can join us, all is lost; if, on the contrary, Barkas comes at +once and in time, there is still some hope; all may yet be well. What +can a party of monks do? And as yet only our Constantine's heavy cavalry +have come to the assistance of the two legions of the garrison." + +"Our Constantine!" shrieked Damia. "Whose? I ask you, whose? We have +nothing to do with that miserable Christian!" + +But Gorgo turned upon her at once: + +"Indeed, grandmother," she exclaimed, quivering with rage, "but we have! +He is a soldier and must do his duty; but he is fondly attached to us." + +"Us, us?" retorted the old woman with a laugh. "Has he sworn love to +you, let me ask? Has he? and you-do you believe him, simple fool? I +know him, I know him! Why, for a scrap of bread and a drop of wine from +the hand of his priest he would see you and all of us plunged into +misery! But see, here are the messengers." + +Porphyrius gave his instructions to the young men who now entered the +hall, hurried them off, clasped Gorgo in a tender embrace and then bent +over his mother to kiss her--a thing he had not done for many a day. +Old Damia laid aside her stick, and taking her son's face in both her +withered hands, muttered a few words which were half a fond appeal and +half a magical formula, and then the women were alone. For a long while +both were silent. The old woman sat sunk in her arm-chair while Gorgo +stood with her back against the pedestal of a bust of Plato, gazing +meditatively at the ground. At last it was Damia who spoke, asking to be +carried into the women's rooms. + +Gorgo, however, stopped her with a gesture, went close to her and said: +"No, wait a minute, mother; first you must hear what I have to say." + +"What you have to say?" asked her grandmother, shrugging her shoulders. + +"Yes. I have never deceived you; but one thing I have hitherto concealed +from you because I was never till this morning sure of it myself--now I +am. Now I know that I love him." + +"The Christian?" said the old woman, pushing aside a shade that screened +her eyes. + +"Yes, Constantine; I will not hear you abuse him." Damia laughed +sharply, and said in a tone of supreme scorn: + +"You will not? Then you had better stop your ears, my dear, for as long +as my tongue can wag. . . ." + +"Hush, grandmother, say no more," said the girl resolutely. "Do not +provoke me with more than I can bear. Eros has pierced me later than he +does most girls and has done it but once, but how deeply you can never +know. If you speak ill of him you only aggravate the wound and you would +not be so cruel! Do not--I entreat you; drop the subject or else. . ." + +"Or else?" + +"Or else I must die, mother--and you know you love me." + +Her tone was soft but firm; her words referred to the future, but that +future was as clear to Gorgo's view as if it were past. Damia gave a +hasty, sidelong glance at her grandchild, and a cold chill ran through +her; the--girl stood and spoke with an air of inspiration--she was full +of the divinity as Damia thought, and the old woman herself felt as +though she were in a temple and in the immediate presence of the +Immortals. + +Gorgo waited for a reply, but in vain; and as her grandmother remained +silent she went back to her place by the pedestal. At last Damia raised +her wrinkled face, looked straight in the girl's eyes and asked: + +"And what is to be the end of it?" + +"Aye--what?" said Gorgo gloomily and she shook her head. "I ask myself +and can find no answer, for his image is ever present to me and yet walls +and mountains stand between us. That face, that image--I might perhaps +force myself to shatter it; but nothing shall ever induce me to let it be +defiled or disgraced! Nothing!" + +The old woman sank into brooding thought once more; mechanically she +repeated Gorgo's last word, and at intervals that gradually became longer +she murmured, at last scarcely audibly: "Nothing--nothing!" + +She had lost all sense of time and of her immediate surroundings, and +long-forgotten sorrows crowded on her memory: The dreadful day when a +young freedman--a gifted astronomer and philosopher who had been +appointed her tutor, and whom she had loved with all the passion of a +vehement nature--had been kicked out of her father's house by slaves, for +daring to aspire to her hand. She had given him up--she had been forced +to do so; and after she was the wife of another and he had risen to fame, +she had never given him any token that she had not forgotten him. Two +thirds of a century lay between that happy and terrible time, and the +present. He had been dead many a long year, and still she remembered +him, and was thinking of him even now. A singular effort of fancy showed +her herself, as she had then been, and Gorgo--whom she saw not with her +bodily eyes, though the girl was standing in front of her--two young +creatures side by side. The two were but one in her vision; the same +anguish that embittered one life now threatened the other. But after all +she, Damia, had dragged this grief after her through the weary decades, +like the iron ball at the end of a chain which keeps the galley-slave to +his place at the oar, and from which he can no more escape than from a +ponderous and ever-present shadow; and Gorgo's sorrow could not at any +rate be for long, since the end of all things was at hand--it was coming +slowly but with inevitable certainty, nearer and nearer every hour. + +When had a troop of enthusiastic students and hastily-collected peasant- +soldiers ever been able to snake an effectual stand against the hosts of +Rome? Damia, who only a few minutes since had spoken with such +determined encouragement to her son, had terrible visions of the Imperial +legions putting Olympius to rout, with the Libyans under Barkas and the +Biamite rabble under Pachomius; storming the Serapeum and reducing it to +ruin: Firebrands flying through its sacred halls, the roof giving way, +the vaults falling in; the sublime image of the god--the magnificent work +of Bryaxis--battered by a hail of stones, and sinking to mingle with the +reeking dust. Then a cry rose up from all nature, as though every star +in heaven, every wave of ocean, every leaf of the forest, every blade in +the meadow, every rock on the shore and every grain of sand in the +measureless desert had found a voice; and this universal wail of "Woe, +woe!" was drowned by rolling thunder such as the ear of man had never +heard, and no mortal creature could hear and live. The heavens opened, +and out of the black gulf of death-bearing clouds poured streams of fire; +consuming flaines rose to meet it from the riven womb of earth, rushing +up to lick the sky. What had been air turned to fire and ashes, the +silver and gold stars fell crashing fronn the firmament, and the heavens +themselves bowed and collapsed, burying the ruined earth. Ashes, ashes, +fine grey dusty ashes pervaded space, till presently a hurricane rose and +swept away the chaos of gloom, and vast nothingness yawned before her: a +bottomless abyss--an insatiable throat, swallowing down with greedy +thirst all that was left; till where the world had been, with gods and +men and all their works, there was only nothingness; hideous, inscrutable +and unfathomable. And in it, above it, around it--for what are the +dimensions of nothingness?--there reigned the incomprehensible Unity of +the Primal One, in calm and pitiless self-concentration, beyond--the +Real, nay even beyond the Conceivable--for conception implies plurality +--the Supreme One of the Neo-Platonists to whose school she belonged. + +The old woman's blood ran cold and hot as she pictured the scene; but she +believed in it, and chose to believe in it; "Nothing, nothing. . ." +which she had begun by muttering, insensibly changed to "Nothingness, +nothingness!" and at last she spoke it aloud. + +Gorgo stood spellbound as she gazed at her grandmother. What had come +over her? What was the meaning of this glaring eye, this gasping breath, +this awful expression in her face, this convulsive action of her hands? +Was she mad? And what did she mean by "Nothingness, nothingness. . ." +repeated in a sort of hollow cry? + +Terrified beyond bearing she laid her hand on Dalnia's shoulder, saying: +"Mother, mother! wake up! What do you mean by saying 'nothingness, +nothingness' in that dreadful way?" + +Dainia collected her scattered wits, shivered with cold and then said, +dully at first, but with a growing cheerfulness that made Gorgo's blood +run cold: "Did I say 'nothingness'? Did I speak of the great void, my +child? You are quick of hearing. Nothingness--well, you have learnt to +think; are you capable of defining the meaning of the word--a monster +that has neither head nor tail, neither front nor back--can you, I say, +define the idea of nothingness?" + +"What do you mean, mother?" said Gorgo with growing alarm. + +"No, she does not know, she does not understand," muttered the old woman +with a dreary smile. "And yet Melampus told me, only yesterday, that +you understood his lesson on conic sections better than many men. Aye, +aye, child; I, too, learnt mathematics once, and I still go through +various calculations every night in my observatory; but to this day I +find it difficult to conceive of a mathematical point. It is nothing and +yet it is something. But the great final nothingness!--And that even is +nonsense, for it can be neither great nor small, and come neither sooner +nor later. Is it not so, my sweet? Think of nothing--who cannot do +that; but it is very hard to imagine nothingness. We can neither of us +achieve that. Not even the One has a place in it. But what is the use +of racking our brains? Only wait till to-morrow or the day after; +something will happen then which will reduce our own precious persons and +this beautiful world to that nothingness which to-day is inconceivable. +It is coming; I can hear from afar the brazen tramp of the airy and +incorporeal monster. A queer sort of giant--smaller than the +mathematical point of which we were speaking, and yet vast beyond all +measurement. Aye, aye; our intelligence, polyp-like, has long arms and +can apprehend vast size and wide extent; but it can no more conceive of +nothingness than it can of infinite space or time. + +"I was dreaming that this monstrous Nought had come to his kingdom and +was opening a yawning mouth and toothless jaws to swallow its all down +into the throat that it has not got--you, and me, and your young officer, +with this splendid, recreant city and the sky and the earth. Wait, only +wait! The glorious image of Serapis still stands radiant, but the cross +casts an ominous shadow that has already darkened the light over half the +earth! Our gods are an abomination to Caesar, and Cynegius only carries +out his wishes. . ." + +Here Damia was interrupted by the steward, who rushed breathless into the +room, exclaiming: + +"Lost! All is lost! An edict of Theodosius commands that every temple +of the gods shall be closed, and the heavy cavalry have dispersed our +force." + +"Ah ha!" croaked the old woman in shrill accents. "You see, you see! +There it is: the beginning of the end! Yes--your cavalry are a powerful +force. They are digging a grave--wide and deep, with room in it for +many: for you, for me, and for themselves, too, and for their Prefect. +--Call Argus, man, and carry me into the Gynaeconitis--[The women's +apartment]--and there tell us what has happened." In the women's room +the steward told all he knew, and a sad tale it was; one thing, however, +gave him some comfort: Olympius was at the Serapeunt and had begun to +fortify the temple, and garrison it with a strong force of adherents. + +Damia had definitively given up all hope, and hardly heeded this part of +his story, while on Gorgo's mind it had a startling effect. She loved +Constantine with all the fervor of a first, and only, and long-suppressed +passion; she had repented long since of her little fit of suspicion, and +it would have cost her no perceptible effort to humble her pride, to fly +to him and pray for forgiveness. But she could not--dared not--now, when +everything was at stake, renounce her fidelity to the gods for whose sake +she had let him leave her in anger, and to whom she must cling, cost what +it might; that would be a base desertion. If Olympius were to triumph in +the struggle she might go to her lover and say: "Do you remain a +Christian, and leave me the creed of my childhood, or else open my heart +to yours." But, as matters now stood, her first duty was to quell her +passion and retrain faithful to the end, even though the cause were lost. +She was Greek to the backbone; she knew it and felt it, and yet her eye +had sparkled with pride as she heard the steward's tale, and she seemed +to see Constantine at the head of his horsemen, rushing upon the heathen +and driving them to the four winds like a flock of sheep. Her heart beat +high for the foe rather than for her hapless friends--these were but +bruised reeds--those were the incarnation of victorious strength. + +These divided feelings worried and vexed her; but her grandmother had +suggested a way of reconciling them. Where he commanded victory +followed, and if the Christians should succeed in destroying the image of +Serapis the joints of the world would crack and the earth would crumble +away. She herself was familiar with the traditions and the oracles which +with one consent foretold this doom; she had learnt them as an infant +from her nurse, from the slave-women at the loom, from learned men and +astute philosophers--and to her the horrible prophecy meant a solution of +every contradiction and the bitter-sweet hope of perishing with the man +she loved. + +As it grew dark another person appeared: the Moschosphragist--[The +examiner of sacrificed animals]--from the temple of Serapis, who, every +day, examined the entrails of a slaughtered beast for Damia; to-day the +augury had been so bad that he was almost afraid of revealing it. But +the old woman, sure of it beforehand, took his soothsaying quite calmly, +and only desired to be carried up to her observatory that she might watch +the risings of the stars. + +Gorgo remained alone below. From the adjoining workrooms came the +monotonous rattle of the loom at which, as usual, a number of slaves were +working. + +Suddenly the clatter ceased. Damia had sent a slave-girl down to say +that they might leave off work and rest till next day if they chose. She +had ordered that wine should be distributed to them in the great hall, as +freely as at the great festival of Dionysus. + +All was silent in the Gynaeconitis. The garlands of flowers, which Gorgo +herself had helped some damsels of her acquaintance to twine for the +temple of Isis, lay in a heap-the steward had told her that the venerable +sanctuary was to be closed and surrounded by soldiers. This then put an +end to the festival; and she could have been heartily glad, for it +relieved her of the necessity of defying Constantine; still, it was +with tender melancholy that she thought of the gentle goddess in whose +sanctuary she had so often found comfort and support. She could +remember, as a tiny child, gathering the first flowers in her little +garden, and sticking them in the ground near the tank from which water +was fetched for libations in the temple; with the pocketmoney given her +by her elders, she had bought perfumes to pour on the altars of the +divinity; and often when her heart was heavy she had found relief in +prayer before the marble statue of the goddess. How splendid had the +festivals of Isis been, how gladly and rapturously had she sung in their +honor! Almost everything that had lent poetry and dignity to her +childhood had been bound up with Isis and her sanctuary--and now it was +closed and the image of the divine mother was perhaps lying in fragments +in the dirt! + +Gorgo knew all the lofty ideals which lay at the foundation of the +worship of this goddess; but it was not to them that she had turned for +help, but to the image in whose mystical strength she trusted. And what +had already been done to Isis and her temple might soon be done to +Serapis and to his house. + +She could not bear the thought, for she had been accustomed to regard +the Serapeum as the very heart of the universe--the centre and fulcrum +on which the balance of the earth depended; to her, Serapis himself was +inseparable from his temple and its atmosphere of magical and mystical +power. Every prophecy, every Sibylline text, every oracle must be +false if the overthrow of that image could remain unpunished--if the +destruction of the universe failed to follow, as surely as a, flood +ensues from a breach in a dyke. How indeed could it be otherwise, +according to the explanation which her teacher had given her of the Neo- +Platonic conception of the nature of the god? + +It was not Serapis but the great and unapproachable One--supreme above +comprehension and sublime beyond conception, for whose majesty every name +was too mean, the fount and crown of Good and Beauty, in whole all that +exists ever has been and ever shall be. He it was who, like a brimful +vessel, overflowed with the quintessence of what we call divine; and from +this effluence emanated the divine Mind, the pure intelligence which is +to the One what light is to the sun. This Mind with its vitality--a life +not of time but of eternity--could stir or remain passive as it listed; +it included a Plurality, while the One was Unity, and forever +indivisible. The concept of each living creature proceeded from the +second: The eternal Mind; and this vivifying and energizing intelligence +comprehended the prototypes of every living being, hence, also, of the +immortal gods--not themselves but their idea or image. And just as the +eternal Mind proceeded from the One, so, in the third place, did the Soul +of the universe proceed from the second; that Soul whose twofold nature +on one side touched the supreme Mind, and, on the other, the baser world +of matter. This was the immortal Aphrodite, cradled in bliss in the pure +radiance of the ideal world and yet unable to free herself from the gross +clay of matter fouled by sensuality and the vehicle of sin. + +The head of Serapis was the eternal Mind; in his broad breast slept the +Soul of the Universe, and the prototypes of all created things; the world +of matter was the footstool under his feet. All the subordinate forces +obeyed him, the mighty first Cause, whose head towered up to the realm of +the incoinprellensible and inconceivable One. He was the sum total of +the universe, the epitome of things created; and at the same time he was +the power which gave them life and intelligence and preserved them from +perishing by perpetual procreation. It was his might that kept the +multiform structure of the material and psychical world in perennial +harmony. All that lived--Nature and its Soul as much as Man and his +Soul--were inseparably dependent on him. If he--if Serapis were to fall, +the order of the universe must be destroyed; and with him: The Synthesis +of the Universe--the Universe itself must cease to exist. + +But what would survive would not be the nothingness--the void of which +her grandmother had spoken; it would be the One--the cold, ineffable, +incomprehensible One! This world would perish with Serapis; but perhaps +it might please that One to call another world into being out of his +overflowing essence, peopled by other and different beings. + +Gorgo was startled out of these meditations by a wild tumult which came +up from the slaves' hall some distance off and reached her ears in the +women's sitting-room. Could her grandmother have opened the wine stores +all too freely; were the miserable wretches already drunk? + +No, the noise was not that of a troop of slaves who have forgotten +themselves, and given the rein to their wild revelry under the influence +of Dionysus! She listened and could distinctly hear lamentable howls and +wild cries of grief. Something frightful must have happened! Had +some evil befallen her father? Greatly alarmed she flew across the +courtyard to the slaves' quarters and found the whole establishment, +black and white alike, in a state of frenzy. The women were rushing +about with their hair unbound over their faces, beating their breasts and +wailing, the men squatted in silence with their wine-cups before them +untouched, softly sobbing and whining. + +What had come upon them--what blow had fallen on the house? + +Gorgo called her old nurse and learnt from her that the Moschosphragist +had just told them that the troops had been placed all round the Serapeum +and that the Emperor had commanded the Prefect of the East to lay violent +hands on the temple of the King of gods. Today or to-morrow the crime +was to be perpetrated. They had been warned to pray and repent of their +sins, for at the moment when the holiest sanctuary on earth should fall +the whole world would crumble into nothingness. The entrails of the +beast sacrificed by Damia had been black as though scorched, and a +terrific groan had been heard from the god himself in the great shrine; +the pillars of the great hypostyle had trembled and the three heads of +Cerberus, lying at the feet of Serapis; had opened their jaws. + +Gorgo listened in silence to the old woman's story; and all she said in +reply was: "Let them wail." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Pretended to see nothing in the old woman's taunts +Very hard to imagine nothingness + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERAPIS, BY GEORG EBERS, V3 *** + +******** This file should be named 5503.txt or 5503.zip ******** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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