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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Arachne, by Georg Ebers, Volume 7.
+#75 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+Title: Arachne, Volume 7.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5514]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 17, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARACHNE, BY GEORG EBERS, V7 ***
+
+
+
+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.]
+
+
+
+
+
+ARACHNE
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Volume 7.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Without a word of explanation, Hermon dragged his guide along in
+breathless haste.  No one stopped them.
+
+The atrium, usually swarming with guards, servants, and officials until a
+far later hour, was completely deserted when the blind man hurried
+through it with his friend.
+
+The door leading into the outer air stood open, but Hermon, leaning on
+the scholar's arm, had scarcely crossed the threshold and entered the
+little courtyard encircled with ornamental plants, which separated this
+portion of the palace from the street, when both were surrounded by a
+band of armed Macedonian soldiers, whose commander exclaimed: "In the
+name of the King!  Not a sound, if you value your lives!"
+
+Incensed, and believing that there was some mistake, Hermon announced
+himself as a sculptor and Crates as a member of the Museum, but this
+statement did not produce the slightest effect upon the warrior; nay,
+when the friends answered the officer's inquiry whether they were coming
+from Proclus's banquet in the affirmative; he curtly commanded them to be
+put in chains.
+
+To offer resistance would have been madness, for even Hermon perceived,
+by the loud clanking of weapons around them, the greatly superior power
+of the enemy, and they were acting by the orders of the King.  "To the
+prison near the place of execution!" cried the officer; and now not only
+the mythograph, but Hermon also was startled--this dungeon opened only to
+those sentenced to death.
+
+Was he to be led to the executioner's block?  A cold shudder ran through
+his frame; but the next moment he threw back his waving locks, and his
+chest heaved with a long breath.
+
+What pleasure had life to offer him, the blind man, who was already dead
+to his art?  Ought he not to greet this sudden end as a boon from the
+immortals?
+
+Did it not spare him a humiliation as great and painful as could be
+imagined?
+
+He had already taken care that the false renown should not follow him
+to the grave, and Myrtilus should have his just due, and he would do
+whatever else lay in his power to further this object.  Wherever the
+beloved dead might be, he desired to go there also.  Whatever might await
+him, he desired no better fate.  If he had passed into annihilation, he,
+Hermon, wished to follow him thither, and annihilation certainly meant
+redemption from pain and misery.  But if he were destined to meet his
+Myrtilus and his mother in the world beyond the grave, what had he not to
+tell them, how sure he was of finding a joyful reception there from both!
+The power which delivered him over to death just at that moment was not
+Nemesis--no, it was a kindly deity.
+
+Only his heart grew heavy at the thought of leaving Daphne to the
+tireless wooer Philotas or some other--everything else from which it is
+usually hard to part seemed like a burden that we gladly cast aside.
+
+"Forward!" he called blithely and boldly to the officer; while Crates,
+with loud lamentations, was protesting his innocence to the warrior who
+was putting fetters upon him.
+
+A chain was just being clasped around Hermon's wrists also when he
+suddenly started.  His keen ear could not deceive him, and yet a demon
+must be mocking him, for the voice that had called his name was the
+girl's of whom, in the presence of welcome death, he had thought with
+longing regret.
+
+Yet it was no illusion that deceived him.  Again he heard the beloved
+voice, and this time it addressed not only him, but with the utmost haste
+the commander of the soldiers.
+
+Sometimes with touching entreaty, sometimes with imperious command, she
+protested, after giving him her name, that this matter could be nothing
+but an unfortunate mistake.  Lastly, with earnest warmth, she besought
+him, before taking the prisoners away, to permit her to speak to the
+commanding general, Philippus, her father's guest, who, she was certain,
+was in the palace.  The blood of these innocent men would be on his head
+if he did not listen to her representations.
+
+"Daphne!" cried Hermon in grateful agitation; but she would not listen to
+him, and followed the soldier whom the captain detailed to guide her into
+the palace.
+
+After a few moments, which the blind artist used to inspire the
+despairing scholar with courage, the girl returned, and she did not come
+alone.  The gray-haired comrade of Alexander accompanied her, and after a
+few minutes both prisoners were released from their fetters.  Philippus
+hastily refused their thanks and, after addressing a few words to the
+officer, he changed his tone, and his deep voice sounded paternally
+cordial as he exclaimed to Daphne: "Fifteen minutes more, you dear,
+foolhardy girl, and it would have been too late.  To-morrow you shall
+confess to me who treacherously directed you to this dangerous path."
+
+Lastly, he turned to the prisoners to explain that they would be
+conducted to the adjacent barracks of the Diadochi, and spend the night
+there.
+
+Early the next morning they should be examined, and, if they could clear
+themselves from the suspicion of belonging to the ranks of the
+conspirators, released.
+
+Daphne again pleaded for the liberation of the prisoners, but Philippus
+silenced her with the grave exclamation, "The order of the King!"
+
+The old commander offered no objection to her wish to accompany Hermon to
+prison.  Daphne now slipped her arm through her cousin's, and commanded
+the steward Gras, who had brought her here, to follow them.
+
+The goal of the nocturnal walk, which was close at hand, was reached at
+the end of a few minutes, and the prisoners were delivered to the
+commander of the Diadochi.  This kindly disposed officer had served under
+Hermon's father, and when the names of the prisoners were given, and the
+officer reported to him that General Philippus recommended them to his
+care as innocent men, he had a special room opened for the sculptor and
+his fair guide, and ordered Crates to enter another.
+
+He could permit the beautiful daughter of the honoured Archias to remain
+with Hermon for half an hour, then he must beg her to allow herself to be
+escorted to her home, as the barracks were closed at that time.
+
+As soon as the captive artist was alone with the woman he loved, he
+clasped her hand, pouring forth incoherent words of the most ardent
+gratitude, and when he felt her warmly return the pressure, he could not
+restrain the desire to clasp her to his heart.  For the first time his
+lips met hers, he confessed his love, and that he had just regarded death
+as a deliverer; but his life was now gaining new charm through her
+affection.
+
+Then Daphne herself threw her arms around his neck with fervent devotion.
+
+The love that resistlessly drew his heart to her was returned with equal
+strength and ardour.  In spite of his deep mental distress, he could have
+shouted aloud in his delight and gratitude.  He might now have been
+permitted to bind forever to his life the woman who had just rescued him
+from the greatest danger, but the confession he must make to his fellow-
+artists in the palaestra the following morning still sealed his lips.
+Yet in this hour he felt that he was united to her, and ought not to
+conceal what awaited him; so, obeying a strong impulse, he exclaimed:
+"You know that I love you!  Words can not express the strength of my
+devotion, but for that very reason I must do what duty commands before I
+ask the question, 'Will you join your fate to mine?'"
+
+"I love you and have loved you always!" Daphne exclaimed tenderly.  "What
+more is needed?"
+
+But Hermon, with drooping head, murmured: "To-morrow I shall no longer
+be what I am now.  Wait until I have done what duty enjoins; when that
+is accomplished, you shall ask yourself what worth the blind artist still
+possesses who bartered spurious fame for mockery and disgrace in order
+not to become a hypocrite."
+
+Then Daphne raised her face to his, asking, "So the Demeter is the work
+of Myrtilus?"
+
+"Certainly," he answered firmly.  "It is the work of Myrtilus."
+
+"Oh, my poor, deceived love!" cried Daphne, strongly agitated, in a tone
+of the deepest sorrow.  "What a terrible ordeal again awaits you!  It
+must indeed distress me--and yet Do not misunderstand me!  It seems
+nevertheless as if I ought to rejoice, for you and your art have not
+spoken to me even a single moment from this much-lauded work."
+
+"And therefore," he interrupted with passionate delight, "therefore alone
+you withheld the enthusiastic praise with which the others intoxicated
+me?  And I, fool, blinded also in mind, could be vexed with you for it!
+But only wait, wait!  Soon-to-morrow even--there will be no one in
+Alexandria who can accuse me of deserting my own honest aspiration, and,
+if the gods will only restore my sight and the ability to use my hands as
+a sculptor, then, girl, then--"
+
+Here he was interrupted by a loud knocking at the door.
+
+The time allowed had expired.
+
+Hermon again warmly embraced Daphne, saying: "Then go!  Nothing can cloud
+what these brief moments have bestowed.  I must remain blind; but you
+have restored the lost sight to my poor darkened soul.  To-morrow I shall
+stand in the palaestra before my comrades, and explain to them what a
+malicious accident deceived me, and with me this whole great city.  Many
+will not believe me, and even your father will perhaps consider it a
+disgrace to give his arm to his scorned, calumniated nephew to guide him
+home.  Bring this before your mind, and everything else that you must
+accept with it, if you consent, when the time arrives, to become mine.
+Conceal and palliate nothing!  But should the Lady Thyone speak of the
+Eumenides who pursued me, tell her that they had probably again extended
+their arms toward me, but when I return to-morrow from the palaestra I
+shall be freed from the terrible beings."
+
+Lastly, he asked to be told quickly how she had happened to come to the
+palace at the right time at so late an hour, and Daphne informed him as
+briefly and modestly as if the hazardous venture which, in strong
+opposition to her retiring, womanly nature, she had undertaken, was a
+mere matter of course.
+
+When Thyone in her presence heard from Gras that Hermon intended to go
+to Proclus's banquet, she started up in horror, exclaiming, "Then the
+unfortunate man is lost!"
+
+Her husband, who had long trusted even the gravest secrets to his
+discreet old wife, had informed her of the terrible office the King had
+confided to him.  All the male guests of Proclus were to be executed; the
+women--the Queen at their head--would be sent into exile.
+
+Then Daphne, on her knees, besought the matron to tell her what
+threatened Hermon, and succeeded in persuading her to speak.
+
+The terrified girl, accompanied by Gras, went first to her lover's house
+and, when she did not find him there, hastened to the King's palace.
+
+If Hermon could have seen her with her fluttering hair, dishevelled by
+the night breeze, and checks blanched by excitement and terror, if he
+had been told how she struggled with Thyone, who tried to detain her and
+lock her up before she left her father's house, he would have perceived
+with still prouder joy, had that been possible, what he possessed in the
+devoted love of this true woman.
+
+Grateful and moved by joyous hopes, he informed Daphne of the words of
+the oracle, which had imprinted themselves upon his memory.
+
+She, too, quickly retained them, and murmured softly:
+
+"Noise and dazzling radiance are hostile to the purer light, Morning and
+day will rise quietly from the starving sand."
+
+What could the verse mean except that the blind man would regain the
+power to behold the light of clay amid the sands of the silent desert?
+
+Perhaps it would be well for him to leave Alexandria now, and she
+described how much benefit she had received while hunting from the
+silence of the wilderness, when she had left the noise of the city behind
+her.  But before she had quite finished, the knocking at the door was
+repeated.
+
+The lovers took leave of each other with one last kiss, and the final
+words of the departing girl echoed consolingly in the blind man's heart,
+"The more they take from you, the more closely I will cling to you."
+
+Hermon spent the latter portion of the night rejoicing in the
+consciousness of a great happiness, yet also troubled by the difficult
+task which he could not escape.
+
+When the market place was filling, gray-haired Philippus visited him.
+
+He desired before the examination, for which every preparation had been
+made, to understand personally the relation of his dead comrade's son to
+the defeated conspiracy, and he soon perceived that Hermon's presence at
+the banquet was due solely to an unlucky accident or in consequence of
+the Queen's desire to win him over to her plot.
+
+Yet he was forced to advise the blind sculptor to leave Alexandria.  The
+suspicion that he had been associated with the conspirators was the more
+difficult to refute, because his Uncle Archias had imprudently allowed
+himself to be persuaded by Proclus and Arsinoe to lend the Queen large
+sums, which had undoubtedly been used to promote her abominable plans.
+
+Philippus also informed him that he had just come from Archias, whom he
+had earnestly urged to fly as quickly as possible from the persecution
+which was inevitable; for, secure as Hermon's uncle felt in his
+innocence, the receipts for the large sums loaned by him, which had just
+been found in Proclus's possession, would bear witness against him.  Envy
+and ill will would also have a share in this affair, and the usually
+benevolent King knew no mercy where crime against his own person was
+concerned.  So Archias intended to leave the city on one of his own ships
+that very day.  Daphne, of course, would accompany him.
+
+The prisoner listened in surprise and anxiety.
+
+His uncle driven from his secure possessions to distant lands!  Daphne
+taken from him, he knew not whither nor for how long a time, after he had
+just been assured of her great love!  He himself on the way to expose
+himself to the malice and mockery of the whole city!
+
+His heart contracted painfully, and his solicitude about his uncle's fate
+increased when Philippus informed him that the conspirators had been
+arrested at the banquet and, headed by Amyntas, the Rhodian, Chrysippus,
+and Proclus, had perished by the executioner's sword at sunrise.
+
+The Queen, Althea, and the other ladies were already on the way to
+Coptos, in Upper Egypt, whither the King had exiled them.
+
+Ptolemy had intrusted the execution of this severe punishment to
+Alexander's former comrade as the most trustworthy and discreet of his
+subjects, but rejected, with angry curtness, Philippus's attempt to
+uphold the innocence of his friend Archias.
+
+The old man's conversation with Hermon was interrupted by the
+functionaries who subjected him and Crates to the examination.
+It lasted a long time, and referred to every incident in the artist's
+life since his return to Alexandria.  The result was favourable, and
+the prisoner was dismissed from confinement with the learned companion
+of his fate.
+
+When, accompanied by Philippus, Hermon reached his house, it was so late
+that the artists' festival in honour of the sculptor Euphranor, who
+entered his seventieth year of life that day, must have already
+commenced.
+
+On the way the blind man told the general what a severe trial awaited
+him, and the latter approved his course and, on bidding him farewell,
+with sincere emotion urged Hermon to take courage.
+
+After hastily strengthening himself with a few mouthfuls of food and a
+draught of wine, his slave Patran, who understood writing, wished to put
+on the full laurel wreath; but Hermon was seized with a painful sense of
+dissatisfaction, and angrily waved it back.
+
+Without a single green leaf on his head, he walked, leaning on the
+Egyptian's arm, into the palaestra, which was diagonally opposite to
+his house.
+
+Doubtless he longed to hasten at once to Daphne, but he felt that he
+could not take leave of her until he had first cast off, as his heart and
+mind dictated, the terrible burden which oppressed his soul.  Besides, he
+knew that the object of his love would not part from him without granting
+him one last word.
+
+On the way his heart throbbed almost to bursting.
+
+Even Daphne's image, and what threatened her father, and her with him,
+receded far into the background.  He could think only of his design, and
+how he was to execute it.
+
+Yet ought he not to have the laurel wreath put on, in order, after
+removing it, to bestow it on the genius of Myrtilus?
+
+Yet no!
+
+Did he still possess the right to award this noble branch to any one?
+He was appearing before his companions only to give truth its just due.
+It was repulsive to endow this explanation of an unfortunate error with a
+captivating aspect by any theatrical adornment.  To be honest, even for
+the porter, was a simple requirement of duty, and no praiseworthy merit.
+
+The guide forced a path for him through carriages, litters, and whole
+throngs of slaves and common people, who had assembled before the
+neighbouring palaestra.
+
+The doorkeepers admitted the blind man, who was well known here, without
+delay; but he called to the slave: "Quick, Patran, and not among the
+spectators--in the centre of the arena!"
+
+The Egyptian obeyed, and his master crossed the wide space, strewn with
+sand, and approached the stage which had been erected for the festal
+performances.
+
+Even had his eyes retained the power of sight, his blood was coursing
+so wildly through his veins that he might perhaps have been unable to
+distinguish the statues around him and the thousands of spectators, who,
+crowded closely together, richly garlanded, their cheeks glowing with
+enthusiasm, surrounded the arena.
+
+"Hermon!" shouted his friend Soteles in joyful surprise in the midst
+of this painful walk.  "Hermon!"  resounded  here,  there,  and
+everywhere as, leaning on his friend's arm, he stepped upon the stage,
+and the acclamations grew louder and louder as Soteles fulfilled the
+sculptor's request and led him to the front of the platform.
+
+Obeying a sign from the director of the festival, the chorus, which had
+just sung a hymn to the Muses, was silent.
+
+Now the sculptor began to speak, and noisy applause thundered around him
+as he concluded the well-chosen words of homage with which he offered
+cordial congratulations to the estimable Euphranor, to whom the festival
+was given; but the shouts soon ceased, for the audience had heard his
+modest entreaty to be permitted to say a few words, concerning a personal
+matter, to those who were his professional colleagues, as well as to the
+others who had honoured him with their interest and, only too loudly,
+with undeserved applause.  The more closely what he had to say concerned
+himself, the briefer he would make his story.
+
+And, in fact, he did not long claim the attention of his hearers.
+Clearly and curtly he stated how it had been possible to mistake
+Mrytilus's work for his, how the Tennis goldsmith had dispelled his first
+suspicion, and how vainly he had besought the priests of Demeter to be
+permitted to feel his statue.  Then, without entering into details, he
+informed them that, through an accident, he had now reached the firm
+conviction that he had long worn wreaths which belonged to another.
+But, though the latter could not rise from the grave, he still owed it
+to truth, to whose service he had dedicated his art from the beginning,
+and to the simple honesty, dear alike to the peasant and the artist, to
+divest himself of the fame to which he was not entitled.  Even while he
+believed himself to be the creator of the Demeter, he had been seriously
+troubled by the praise of so many critics, because it had exposed him to
+the suspicion of having become faithless to his art and his nature.  In
+the name of the dead, he thanked his dear comrades for the enthusiastic
+appreciation his masterpiece had found.  Honour to Myrtilus and his art,
+but he trusted this noble festal assemblage would pardon the
+unintentional deception, and aid his prayer for recovery.  If it should
+be granted he hoped to show that Hermon had not been wholly unworthy to
+adorn himself for a short time with the wreaths of Myrtilus.
+
+When he closed, deep silence reigned for a brief interval, and one man
+looked at another irresolutely until the hero of the day, gray-haired
+Euphranor, rose and, leaning on the arm of his favourite pupil, walked
+through the centre of the arena to the stage, mounted it, embraced Hermon
+with paternal warmth, and made him happy by the words: "The deception
+that has fallen to your lot, my poor young friend, is a lamentable one;
+but honour to every one who honestly means to uphold the truth.  We will
+beseech the immortals with prayers and sacrifices to restore sight to
+your artist eyes.  If I am permitted, my dear young comrade, to see you
+continue to create, it will be a source of joy to me and all of us; yet
+the Muses, even though unasked, lead into the eternal realm of beauty the
+elect who consecrates his art to truth with the right earnestness."
+
+The embrace with which the venerable hero of the festival seemed to
+absolve Hermon was greeted with loud applause; but the kind words which
+Euphranor, in the weak voice of age, had addressed to the blind man had
+been unintelligible to the large circle of guests.
+
+When he again descended to the arena new plaudits rose; but soon hisses
+and other signs of disapproval blended with them, which increased in
+strength and number when a well known critic, who had written a learned
+treatise concerning the relation of the Demeter to Hermon's earlier
+works, expressed his annoyance in a loud whistle.  The dissatisfied and
+disappointed spectators now vied with one another to silence those who
+were cheering by a hideous uproar while the latter expressed more and
+more loud the sincere esteem with which they were inspired by the
+confession of the artist who, though cruelly prevented from winning fresh
+fame, cast aside the wreath which a dead man had, as were, proffered from
+his tomb.
+
+Probably every man thought that, in the same situation, he would have
+done the same yet not only justice--nay, compassion--dictated showing the
+blind artist that they believed in and would sustain him.  The ill-
+disposed insisted that Hermon had only done what duty commanded the
+meanest man, and the fact that he had deceived all Alexandria still
+remained.  Not a few joined this party, for larger possession excite
+envy perhaps even more frequently than greater fame.
+
+Soon the approving and opposing voices mingled in an actual conflict.
+But before the famous sculptor Chares, the great and venerable artist
+Nicias, and several younger friends of Hermon quelled this unpleasant
+disturbance of the beautiful festival, the blind man, leaning on the arm
+of his fellow-artist Soteles, had left the palaestra.
+
+At the exit he, parted from his friend, who had been made happy by the
+ability to absolve his more distinguished leader from the reproach of
+having become faithless to their common purpose, and who intended to
+intercede further in his behalf in the palaestra.
+
+Hermon no longer needed him; for, besides his slave Patran, he found the
+steward Gras, who, by his master's order, guided the blind man to
+Archias's closed harmamaxa, which was waiting outside the building.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+The sculptor's head was burning feverishly when he entered the vehicle.
+He had never imagined that the consequences of his explanation would be
+so terrible.  During the drive--by no means a long one--to the great
+harbour, he strove to collect his thoughts.  Groaning aloud, he covered
+his ears with his hands to shut out the shouts and hisses from the
+palaestra, which in reality were no longer audible.
+
+True, he would not need to expose himself to this uproar a second time,
+yet if he remained in Alexandria the witticisms, mockery, and jibes of
+the whole city, though in a gentler form, would echo hundreds of times
+around him.
+
+He must leave the city.  He would have preferred to go on board the
+staunch Tacheia and be borne far away with his uncle and Daphne, but he
+was obliged to deny himself the fulfilment of this desire.  He must now
+think solely of regaining his sight.
+
+Obedient to the oracle, he would go to the desert where from the
+"starving sand" the radiant daylight was to rise anew for him.
+
+There he would, at any rate, be permitted to recover the clearness of
+perception and feeling which he had lost in the delirium of the dissolute
+life of pleasure that he had led in the past.  Pythagoras had already
+forbidden the folly of spoiling the present by remorse; and he, too, did
+not do this.  It would have been repugnant to his genuinely Greek nature.
+Instead of looking backward with peevish regret, his purpose was to look
+with blithe confidence toward the future, and to do his best to render it
+better and more fruitful than the months of revel which lay behind him.
+
+He could no longer imagine a life worth living without Daphne, and the
+thought that if his uncle were robbed of his wealth he would become her
+support cheered his heart.  If the oracle did not fulfil its promise, he
+would again appeal to medical skill, and submit even to the most severe
+suffering which might be imposed upon him.
+
+The drive to the great harbour was soon over, but the boat which lay
+waiting for him had a considerable distance to traverse, for the Tacheia
+was no longer at the landing place, but was tacking outside the Pharos,
+in order, if the warrant of arrest were issued, not to be stopped at the
+channel dominated by the lighthouse.  He found the slender trireme
+pervaded by a restless stir.  His uncle had long been expecting him with
+burning impatience.
+
+He knew, through Philippus, what duty still detained the deceived artist,
+but he learned, at the same time, that his own imprisonment had been
+determined, and it would be advisable for him to leave the city behind
+him as quickly as possible.  Yet neither Daphne nor he was willing to
+depart without saying farewell to Hermon.
+
+But the danger was increasing every moment, and, warm as was the parting,
+the last clasp of the hand and kiss swiftly followed the first words of
+greeting.
+
+So the blind artist learned only that Archias was going to the island of
+Lesbos, his mother's home, and that he had promised his daughter to give
+Hermon time to recover his sight.  The property bequeathed to him by
+Myrtilus had been placed by the merchant in the royal bank, and he had
+also protected himself against any chance of poverty.  Hermon was to send
+news of his health to Lesbos from time to time if a safe opportunity
+offered and, when Daphne knew where he was to be found, she could let him
+have tidings.  Of course, for the present great caution must be exercised
+in order not to betray the abode of the fugitives.
+
+Hermon, too, ought to evade the pursuit of the incensed King as quickly
+as possible.
+
+Not only Daphne's eyes, but her father's also, overflowed with tears at
+this parting, and Hermon perceived more plainly than ever that he was as
+dear to his uncle as though he were his own son.
+
+The low words which the artist exchanged with the woman whose love, even
+during the period of separation, would shed light and warmth upon his
+darkened life, were deeply impressed upon the souls of both.
+
+For the present, faithful Gras was to remain in charge of his master's
+house in Alexandria.  Leaning on his arm, the blind man left the Tacheia,
+which, as soon as both had entered the boat, was urged forward by
+powerful strokes of the oars.
+
+The Bithynian informed Hermon that kerchiefs were waving him a farewell
+from the trireme, that the sails had been unfurled, and the wind was
+driving the swift vessel before it like a swallow.
+
+At the Pharos Gras reported that a royal galley was just passing them,
+undoubtedly in pursuit of the Tacheia; but the latter was the swiftest of
+all the Greek vessels, and they need not fear that she would be overtaken
+by the war ship.
+
+With a sore heart and the desolate feeling of being now utterly alone,
+Hermon again landed and ordered that his uncle's harmamaxa should convey
+him to the necropolis.  He desired to seek peace at his mother's grave,
+and to take leave of these beloved tombs.
+
+Guided by the steward, he left them cheered and with fresh confidence in
+the future, and the faithful servant's account of the energy with which
+Daphne had aided the preparations for departure benefited him like a
+refreshing bath.
+
+When he was again at home, one visitor after another was announced, who
+came there from the festival in the palaestra, and, in spite of his great
+reluctance to receive them, he denied no one admittance, but listened
+even to the ill-disposed and spiteful.
+
+In the battle which he had commenced he must not shrink from wounds, and
+he was struck by many a poisoned shaft.  But, to make amends, a clear
+understanding was effected between him and those whom he esteemed.
+
+The last caller left him just before midnight.
+
+Hermon now made many preparations for departure.
+
+He intended to go into the desert with very little luggage, as the oracle
+seemed to direct.  How long a time his absence would extend could not be
+estimated, and the many poor people whom he had fed and supported must
+not suffer through his departure.  The arrangements required to effect
+this he dictated to the slave, who understood writing.  He had gained in
+him an extremely capable servant, and Patran expressed his readiness to
+follow him into the desert; but the wry face which, sure that the blind
+man could not see him, he made while saying so, seemed to prove the
+contrary.
+
+Weary, and yet too excited to find sleep, Hermon at last went to rest.
+
+If his Myrtilus had been with him now, what would he not have had to say
+to express his gratitude, to explain!  How overjoyed he would have been
+at the fulfilment of his wish to see him united to Daphne, at least in
+heart; with what fiery ardour he would have upbraided those who believed
+him capable of having appropriated what belonged to another!
+
+But Myrtilus was no more, and who could tell whether his body had not
+remained unburied, and his soul was therefore condemned to be borne
+restlessly between heaven and earth, like a leaf driven by the wind?
+Yet, if the earth covered him, where was the spot on which sacrifices
+could be offered to his soul, his tombstone could be anointed, and he
+himself remembered?
+
+Then a doubt which had never before entered his mind suddenly took
+possession of Hermon.
+
+Since for so many months he had firmly believed his friend's work to be
+his own, he might also have fallen into another delusion, and Myrtilus
+might still dwell among the living.
+
+At this thought the blind man, with a swift movement, sat erect upon his
+couch; it seemed as if a bright light blazed before his eyes in the dark
+room.
+
+The reasons which had led the authorities to pronounce Myrtilus dead
+rendered his early end probable, it is true, yet by no means proved it
+absolutely.  He must hold fast to that.
+
+He who, ever since he returned to Alexandria from Tennis, had squandered
+precious time as if possessed by evil demons, would now make a better use
+of it.  Besides, he longed to leave the capital.  What!  Suppose he
+should now, even though it were necessary to delay obeying the oracle's
+command, search, traverse, sail through the world in pursuit of Myrtilus,
+even, if it must be, to the uttermost Thule?
+
+But he fell back upon the couch as quickly as he had started up.
+
+"Blind! blind!" he groaned in dull despair.  How could he, who was not
+able even to see his hand before his eyes, succeed in finding his friend?
+
+And yet, yet----
+
+Had his mind been darkened with his eyes, that this thought came to him
+now for the first time, that he had not sent messengers to all quarters
+of the globe to find some trace of the assailants and, with them, of the
+lost man?
+
+Perhaps it was Ledscha who had him in her power, and, while he
+was pondering and forming plans for the best way of conducting
+investigations, the dimmed image of the Biamite again returned distinctly
+to his mind, and with it that of Arachne and the spider, into which the
+goddess transformed the weaver.
+
+Half overcome by sleep, he saw himself, staff in hand, led by Daphne,
+cross green meadows and deserts, valleys and mountains, to seek his
+friend; yet whenever he fancied he caught sight of him, and Ledscha with
+him, in the distance, the spider descended from above and, with magical
+speed, wove a net which concealed both from his gaze.
+
+Groaning and deeply disturbed, half awake, he struggled onward, always
+toward one goal, to find his Myrtilus again, when suddenly the sound of
+the knocker on the entrance door and the barking of Lycas, his Arabian
+greyhound, shook the house.
+
+Recalled to waking life, he started up and listened.
+
+Had the men who were to arrest him or inquisitive visitors not allowed
+themselves to be deterred even by the late hour?
+
+He listened angrily as the old porter sternly accosted the late guest;
+but, directly after, the gray-haired native of the region near the First
+Cataract burst into the strange Nubian oaths which he lavished liberally
+whenever anything stirred his aged soul.
+
+The dog, which Hermon had owned only a few months, continued to bark; but
+above his hostile baying the blind man thought he recognised a name at
+whose sound the blood surged hotly into his cheeks.  Yet he could
+scarcely have heard aright!
+
+Still he sprang from the couch, groped his way to the door, opened it,
+and entered the impluvium that adjoined his bedroom.  The cool night air
+blew upon him from the open ceiling.  A strong draught showed that the
+door leading from the atrium was being opened, and now a shout, half
+choked by weeping, greeted him: "Hermon!  My clear, my poor beloved
+master!"
+
+"Bias,  faithful Bias!" fell  from the blind man's lips, and when he felt
+the returned slave sink down before him, cover his hand with kisses and
+wet it with tears, he raised him in his strong arms, clasped him in a
+warm embrace, kissed his checks, and gasped, "And Myrtilus, my Myrtilus,
+is he alive?"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes," sobbed Bias.  "But you, my lord-blind, blind!  Can it be
+true?"
+
+When Hermon released him to inquire again about his friend, Bias
+stammered: "He isn't faring so badly; but you, you, bereft of light and
+also of the joy of seeing your faithful Bias again!  And the immortals
+prolong one's years to experience such evils!  Two griefs always belong
+to one joy, like two horses to a chariot."
+
+"My wise Bias!  Just as you were of old!" cried Hermon in joyful
+excitement.
+
+Then he quieted the hound and ordered one of the attendants, who came
+hurrying in, to bring out whatever dainty viands the house contained and
+a jar of the best Byblus wine from the cellar.
+
+Meanwhile he did not cease his inquiries about his friend's health, and
+ordered a goblet to be brought him also, that he might pledge the slave
+and give brief answers to his sympathizing questions about the cause of
+the blindness, the noble Archias, the gracious young mistress Daphne, the
+famous Philippus and his wife, the companion Chrysilla, and the steward
+Gras.  Amid all this he resolved to free the faithful fellow and, while
+Bias was eating, he could not refrain from telling him that he had found
+a mistress for him, that Daphne was the wife whom he had chosen, but the
+wedding was still a long way off.
+
+He controlled his impatience to learn the particulars concerning his
+friend's fate until Bias had partially satisfied his hunger.
+
+A short time ago Hermon would have declared it impossible that he could
+ever become so happy during this period of conflict and separation from
+the object of his love.
+
+The thought of his lost inheritance doubtless flitted through his mind,
+but it seemed merely like worthless dust, and the certainty that Myrtilus
+still walked among the living filled him with unclouded happiness.  Even
+though he could no longer see him, he might expect to hear his beloved
+voice again.  Oh, what delight that he was permitted to have his friend
+once more, as well as Daphne, that he could meet him so freely and
+joyously and keep the laurel, which had rested with such leaden weight
+upon his head, for Myrtilus, and for him alone!
+
+But where was he?
+
+What was the name of the miracle which had saved him, and yet kept him
+away from his embrace so long?
+
+How had Myrtilus and Bias escaped the flames and death on that night of
+horror?
+
+A flood of questions assailed the slave before he could begin a
+connected account, and Hermon constantly interrupted it to ask for
+details concerning his friend and his health at each period and on
+every occasion.
+
+Much surprised by his discreet manner, the artist listened to the
+bondman's narrative; for though Bias had formerly allowed himself to
+indulge in various little familiarities toward his master, he refrained
+from them entirely in this story, and the blind man's misfortune invested
+him in his eyes with a peculiar sacredness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+He had arrived wounded on the pirate ship with his master's friend, the
+returned bondman began.  When he had regained consciousness, he met
+Ledscha on board the Hydra, as the wife of the pirate Hanno.  She had
+nursed Myrtilus with tireless solicitude, and also often cared for his,
+Bias's, wounds.  After the recovery of the prisoners, she became their
+protectress, and placed Bias in the service of the Greek artist.
+
+They, the Gaul Lutarius, and one of the sculptor's slaves, were the only
+ones who had been brought on board the Hydra alive from the attack in
+Tennis, but the latter soon succumbed to his wounds.
+
+Hermon owed it solely to the bridge-builder that he had escaped from
+the vengeance of his Biamite foe, for the tall Gaul, whose thick beard
+resembled Hermon's in length and blackness, was mistaken by Hanno for the
+person whom Ledscha had directed him to deliver alive into her power.
+
+The pirate had surrendered the wrong captive to the woman he loved and,
+as Bias declared, to his serious disadvantage; for, though Hanno and the
+Biamite girl were husband and wife, no one could help perceiving the cold
+dislike with which Ledscha rebuffed the giant who read her every wish in
+her eyes.  Finally, the captain of the pirate ship, a silent man by
+nature, often did not open his lips for days except to give orders to the
+crew.  Frequently he even refused to be relieved from duty, and remained
+all night at the helm.
+
+Only when, at his own risk, or with the vessels of his father and
+brother, he attacked merchant ships or defended himself against a war
+galley, did he wake to vigorous life and rush with gallant recklessness
+into battle.
+
+A single man on the Hydra was little inferior to him in strength and
+daring--the Gaul Lutarius.  He had been enrolled among the pirates, and
+when Hanno was wounded in an engagement with a Syrian war galley, was
+elected his representative.  During this time Ledscha faithfully
+performed her duty as her young husband's nurse, but afterward treated
+him as coldly as before.
+
+Yet she devoted herself eagerly to the ship and the crew, and the fierce,
+lawless fellows cheerfully submitted to the sensible arrangements of
+their captain's beautiful, energetic wife.  At this period Bias had often
+met Ledscha engaged in secret conversation with the Gaul, yet if any
+tender emotion really attracted her toward any one other than her
+husband, Myrtilus would have been suspected rather than the black-bearded
+bridge-builder; for she not only showed the sculptor the kindest
+consideration, but often entered into conversation with him, and even
+persuaded him, when the sea was calm, or the Hydra lay at anchor in one
+of the hidden bays known to the pirates, to practise his art, and at last
+to make a bust of her.  She had succeeded in getting him clay, wax, and
+tools for the purpose.  After asking which goddess had ill-treated the
+weaver Arachne, she commanded him to make a head of Athene, adorned with
+the helmet, modelled from her own.  During this time she frequently
+inquired whether her features really were not beautiful enough to be
+copied for the countenance of a goddess, and when he eagerly assured her
+of the fact, made him swear that he was not deceiving her with flattery.
+
+Neither Bias nor Myrtilus had ever been allowed to remain on shore; but,
+on the whole, the slave protested, Myrtilus's health, thanks to the pure
+sea air on the Hydra, had improved, in spite of the longing which often
+assailed him, and the great excitements to which he was sometimes
+exposed.
+
+There had been anxious hours when Hanno's father and brothers visited
+the Hydra to induce her captain to make money out of the captive
+sculptor, and either sell him at a high price or extort a large ransom
+from him; but Bias had overheard how resolutely Ledscha opposed these
+proposals, and represented to old Satabus of what priceless importance
+Myrtilus might become to them if either should be captured and
+imprisoned.
+
+The greatest excitements, of course, had been connected with the battles
+of the pirates.  Myrtilus, who, in spite of his feeble health, by no
+means lacked courage, found it especially hard to bear that during the
+conflicts he was locked up with Bias, but even Ledscha could neither
+prevent nor restrict these measures.
+
+Bias could not tell what seas the Hydra had sailed, nor at what--usually
+desolate-shores she had touched.  He only knew that she had gone to
+Sinope in Pontus, passed through the Propontis, and then sought booty
+near the coasts of Asia Minor.  Ledscha had refused to answer every
+question that referred to these things.
+
+Latterly, the young wife had become very grave, and apparently completely
+severed her relations with her husband; but she also studiously avoided
+the Gaul and, if they talked to each other at all, it was in hurried
+whispers.
+
+So events went on until something occurred which was to affect the lives
+of the prisoners deeply.  It must have been just beyond the outlet from
+the Hellespont into the AEgean Sea; for, in order to pass through the
+narrow straits leading thither from Pontus, the Hydra had been most
+skilfully given the appearance of a peaceful merchant vessel.
+
+The slave's soul must have been greatly agitated by this experience, for
+while, hitherto, whenever he was interrupted by Hermon he had retained
+his composure, and could not refrain from occasionally connecting a
+practical application with his report, now, mastered by the power of the
+remembrance, he uttered what he wished to tell his master in an oppressed
+tone, while bright drops of perspiration bedewed the speaker's brow.
+
+A large merchant ship had approached them, and three men came on board
+the Hydra--old Satabus, his son Labaja, and a gray-haired, bearded
+seafarer of tall stature and dignified bearing, Schalit, Ledscha's
+father.
+
+The meeting between the Biamite ship-owner and his child, after so long a
+separation, was a singular one; for the young wife held out her hand to
+her father timidly, with downcast eyes, and he refused to take it.
+Directly after, however, as if constrained by an irresistible impulse,
+he drew his unruly daughter toward him and kissed her brow and cheeks.
+
+Roast meat and the best wine had been served in the large ship's cabin;
+but though Myrtilus and Bias had been locked up as if a bloody battle was
+expected, the loud, angry uproar of men's deep voices reached them, and
+Ledscha's shrill tones shrieking in passionate wrath blended in the
+strife.  Furniture must have been upset and dishes broken, yet the giants
+who were disputing here did not come to blows.
+
+At last the savage turmoil subsided.
+
+When Bias and his master were again released, Ledscha was standing, in
+the dusk of evening, at the foot of the mainmast, pressing her brow
+against the wood as if she needed some support to save herself from
+falling.
+
+She checked Myrtilus's words with an imperious "Let me alone!"  The next
+day she had paced restlessly up and down the deck like a caged beast of
+prey, and would permit no one to speak to her.
+
+At noon Hanno was about to get into a boat to go to her father's ship,
+and she insisted upon accompanying him.  But this time the corsair seemed
+completely transformed, and with the pitiless sternness, which he so well
+knew how to use in issuing commands, ordered her to remain on the Hydra.
+
+She, however, by no means obeyed her husband's mandate without
+resistance, and, at the recollection of the conflict which now occurred
+between the pair, in which she raged like a tigress, the narrator's
+cheeks crimsoned.
+
+The quarrel was ended by the powerful seaman's taking in his arms his
+lithe, slender wife, who resisted him with all her strength and had
+already touched the side of the boat with her foot, and putting her down
+on the deck of his ship.
+
+Then Hanno leaped back into the skiff, while Ledscha, groaning with rage,
+retired to the cabin.
+
+An hour after she again appeared on deck, called Myrtilus and Bias and,
+showing them her eyes, reddened by tears, told them, as if in apology for
+her weakness, that she had not been permitted to bid her father farewell.
+Then, pallid as a corpse, she had turned the conversation upon Hermon,
+and informed Myrtilus that an Alexandrian pilot had told her father that
+he was blind, and her brother-in-law Labaja had heard the same thing.
+While saying this, her lips curled scornfully, but when she saw how
+deeply their friend's misfortune moved her two prisoners, she waved her
+hand, declaring that he did not need their sympathy; the pilot had
+reported that he was living in magnificence and pleasure, and the people
+in the capital honoured and praised him as if he were a god.
+
+Thereupon she had laughed shrilly and reviled so bitterly the
+contemptible blind Fortune that remains most loyal to those who deserve
+to perish in the deepest misery, that Bias avoided repeating her words
+to his master.
+
+The news of Myrtilus's legacy had not reached her ears, and Bias, too,
+had just heard of it for the first time.
+
+Ledscha's object had been to relieve her troubled soul by attacks upon
+the man whom she hated, but she suddenly turned to the master and servant
+to ask if they desired to obtain their liberty.
+
+Oh, how quickly a hopeful "Yes" reached the ears of the gloomy woman!
+how ready both were to swear, by a solemn oath, to fulfil the conditions
+the Biamite desired to impose!
+
+As soon as opportunity offered, both were to leave the Hydra with one
+other person who, like Bias and herself, understood how to mange a boat.
+
+The favourable moment soon came.  One moonless night, when the steering
+of the Hydra was intrusted to the Gaul, Ledscha waked the two prisoners
+and, with the Gaul Lutarius, Myrtilus, and the slave, entered the boat,
+which conveyed them to the shore without accident or interruption.
+
+Bias knew the name of the place where it had anchored, it is true, but
+the oath which Ledscha had made him swear there was so terrible that he
+would not have broken it at any cost.
+
+This oath required the slave, who, three days after their landing, was
+sent to Alexandria by the first ship that sailed for that port, to
+maintain the most absolute secrecy concerning Myrtilus's hiding place
+until he was authorized to speak.  Bias was to go to Alexandria without
+delay, and there obtain from Archias, who managed Myrtilus's property,
+the sums which Ledscha intended to use in the following manner: Two attic
+talents Bias was to bring back.  These were for the Gaul, probably in
+payment for his assistance.  Two more were to be taken by the slave to
+the Temple of Nemesis.  Lastly, Bias was to deliver five talents to old
+Tabus, who kept the treasure of the pirate family on the Owl's Nest, and
+tell her that Ledscha, in this money, sent back the bridal dowry which
+Hanno had paid her father for his daughter.  With this she released
+herself from the husband who inspired her with feelings very unlike love.
+
+Hermon asked to have this commission repeated, and received the
+directions Myrtilus had given to the slave.  The blind man's hope that
+they must also include greetings and news from his friend's hand was
+destroyed by Bias, whom Myrtilus, in the leisure hours on the Hydra, had
+taught to read.  This was not so difficult a task for the slave, who
+longed for knowledge, and had already tried it before.  But with writing,
+on the other hand, he could make no headway.  He was too old, and his
+hand had become too clumsy to acquire this difficult art.
+
+In reply to Hermon's anxious question whether his friend needed anything
+in his present abode, the slave reported that he was at liberty to move
+about at will, and was not even obliged to share Ledscha's lodgings.  He
+lacked nothing, for the Biamite, besides some gold, had left with him
+also gems and pearls of such great value that they would suffice to
+support him several years.  As for himself, she had supplied him more
+than abundantly with money for travelling expenses.
+
+Myrtilus was awaiting his return in a city prospering under a rich and
+wise regent, and sent whole cargoes of affectionate remembrances.  The
+sculptor, too, was firmly resolved to keep the oath imposed upon him.
+
+As soon as he, Bias, had performed the commission intrusted to him, he
+and Myrtilus would be released from their vow, and Hermon would learn his
+friend's residence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+No morning brightened Hermon's night of darkness.
+
+When the returned slave had finished his report, the sun was already
+shining into his master's room.
+
+Without lying down again, the latter went at once to the Tennis notary,
+who had moved to Alexandria two months before, and with his assistance
+raised the money which his friend needed.
+
+Worthy Melampus had received the news that Myrtilus was still alive in a
+very singular manner.  Even now he could grasp only one thing at a time,
+and he loved Hermon with sincere devotion.  Therefore the lawyer who had
+so zealously striven to expedite the blind man's entering into possession
+of his friend's inheritance would very willingly have permitted Myrtilus
+--doubtless an invalid--to continue to rest quietly among the dead.  Yet
+his kind heart rejoiced at the deliverance of the famous young artist,
+and so during Hermon's story he had passed from sincere regret to loud
+expressions of joyous sympathy.
+
+Lastly, he had placed his whole property at the disposal of Hermon, who
+had paid him liberally for his work, to provide for the blind sculptor's
+future.  This generous offer had been declined; but he now assisted
+Hermon to prepare the emancipation papers for his faithful Bias, and
+found a ship that was bound to Tanis.  Toward evening he accompanied
+Hermon to the harbour and, after a cordial farewell from his helpful
+friend, the artist, with the new "freedman" Bias and the slave clerk
+Patran, went on board the vessel, now ready to sail.
+
+The voyage was one of the speediest, yet the end came too soon for both
+master and servant--Hermon had not yet heard enough of the friend beyond
+his reach, and Bias was far from having related everything he desired to
+tell about Myrtilus and Ledscha; yet he was now permitted to express
+every opinion that entered his mind, and this had occupied a great deal
+of time.
+
+Bias also sought to know much more about Hermon's past and future than he
+had yet learned, not merely from curiosity, but because he foresaw that
+Myrtilus would not cease to question him about his blind friend.
+
+The misfortune must have produced a deep and lasting effect upon the
+artist's joyous nature, for his whole bearing was pervaded by such
+earnestness and dignity that years, instead of months, seemed to have
+elapsed since their separation.
+
+It was characteristic of Daphne that her lover's blindness did not
+alienate her from him; yet why had not the girl, who still desired to
+become his wife, been able to wed the helpless man who had lost his
+sight?  If the father did not wish to be separated from his daughter,
+surely he could live with the young couple.  A home was quickly made
+everywhere for the rich, and, if Archias was tired of his house in
+Alexandria, as Hermon had intimated, there was room enough in the world
+for a new one.
+
+But that was the way with things here below!  Man was the cause of man's
+misfortune!  Daphne and Hermon remained the same; but Archias from an
+affectionate father had become transformed into an entirely different
+person.  If the former had been allowed to follow their inclinations,
+they would now be united and happy, while, because a third person so
+willed, they must go their way solitary and wretched.
+
+He expressed this view to his master, and insisted upon his opinion until
+Hermon confided to him what had driven Archias from Alexandria.
+
+Patran, Bias's successor, was by no means satisfactory to him.  Had
+Hermon retained his sight, he certainly would not have purchased him, in
+spite of his skill as a scribe, for the Egyptian had a "bad face."
+
+Oh, if only he could have been permitted to stay with his benefactor
+instead of this sullen man!  How carefully he would have removed the
+stones from his darkened pathway!
+
+During the voyage he was obliged to undergo severe struggles to keep the
+oath of secrecy imposed upon him; but perjury threatened him with the
+most horrible tortures, not to mention the sorceress Tabus, whom he was
+to meet.
+
+So Myrtilus's abode remained unknown to Hermon.
+
+Bias approved his master's intention of going into the desert.  He had
+often seen the oracle of Amon tested, and he himself had experienced the
+healthfulness of the desert air.  Besides, it made him proud to see that
+Hermon was disposed to follow his suggestion of pitching his tent in a
+spot which he designated.  This was at the end of the arm of the sea at
+Clysma.  Several trees grew there beside small springs, and a peaceful
+family of Amalekites raised vegetables in their little garden, situated
+on higher ground, watered by the desert wells.
+
+When a boy, before the doom of slavery had been pronounced upon him and
+his father, his mother, by the priest's advice, took him there to recover
+from the severe attack of fever which he could not shake off amid the
+damp papyrus plantations surrounding his parents' house.  In the dry,
+pure air of the desert he recovered, and he would guide Hermon there
+before returning to Myrtilus.
+
+From Tanis they reached Tennis in a few hours, and found shelter in the
+home of the superintendent of Archias's weaving establishments, whose
+hospitality Myrtilus and Hermon had enjoyed before their installation in
+the white house, now burned to the ground.  The Alexandrian bills of
+exchange were paid in gold by the lessee of the royal bank, who was a
+good friend of Hermon.  Toward evening, both rowed to the Owl's Nest,
+taking the five talents with which the runaway wife intended to purchase
+freedom from her husband.
+
+As the men approached the central door of the pirates' house, a middy-
+aged Biamite woman appeared and rudely ordered them to leave the island.
+Tabus was weak, and refused to see visitors.  But she was mistaken; for
+when Bias, in the dialect of his tribe, shouted loudly that messengers
+from the wife of her grandson Hanno had arrived, there was a movement at
+the back of the room, and broken sentences, gasped with difficulty,
+expressed the old dame's wish to receive the strangers.
+
+On a sheep's-wool couch, over which was spread a wolfskin, the last gift
+of her son Satabus, lay the sorceress, who raised herself as Hermon
+passed through the door.
+
+After his greeting, she pointed to her deaf ear and begged him to speak
+louder.  At the same time she gazed into his eyes with a keen,
+penetrating glance, and interrupted him by the question: "The Greek
+sculptor whose studio was burned over his head?  And blind?  Blind
+still?"
+
+"In both eyes," Bias answered for his master.
+
+"And you, fellow?" the old dame asked; then, recollecting herself,
+stopped the reply on the servant's lips with the hasty remark: "You are
+the blackbeard's slave--a Biamite?  Oh, I remember perfectly!  You
+disappeared with the burning house."
+
+Then she gazed intently and thoughtfully from one to the other, and at
+last, pointing to Bias, muttered in a whisper: "You alone come from Hanno
+and Ledscha, and were with them on the Hydra?  Very well.  What news have
+you for the old woman from the young couple?"
+
+The freedman began to relate what brought him to the Owl's Nest, and the
+gray-haired crone listened eagerly until he said that Ledscha lived
+unhappily with her husband, and therefore had left him.  She sent back to
+her, as the head of Hanno's family, the bridal dowry with which Hanno had
+bought her from her father as his wife.
+
+Then Tabus struggled into a little more erect posture, and asked: "What
+does this mean?  Five talents--and gold, not silver talents?  And she
+sends the money to me?  To me?  And she ran away from her husband?  But
+no--no!  Once more--you are a Biamite--repeat it in our own language--and
+loudly.  This ear is the better one."
+
+Bias obeyed, and the old dame listened to the end without interrupting
+him: then raising her brown right hand, covered with a network of blue-
+black veins, she clinched it into a fist, which she shook far more
+violently than Bias would have believed possible in her weak condition.
+At the same time she pressed her lips so tightly together that her
+toothless mouth deepened into a hole, and her dim eyes shone with a keen,
+menacing light.  For some time she found no reply, though strange,
+rattling, gasping sounds escaped her heaving breast.
+
+At last she succeeded in uttering words, and shrieked shrilly: "This--
+this--away with the golden trash!  With the bridal dowry of the family
+rejected, and once more free, the base fool thinks she would be like the
+captive fox that gnawed the rope!  Oh, this age, these people!  And this,
+this is the haughty, strong Ledscha, the daughter of the Biamites, who--
+there stands the blind girl--deceiver!--who so admirably avenged
+herself?"
+
+Here her voice failed, and Hermon began to speak to assure her that she
+understood Ledscha's wish aright.  Then he asked her for a token by which
+she acknowledged the receipt of the gold, which he handed her in a stout
+linen bag.
+
+But his purpose was not fulfilled, for suddenly, flaming with passionate
+wrath, she thrust the purse aside, groaning: "Not an obol of the accursed
+destruction of souls shall come back to Hanno, nor even into the family
+store.  Until his heart and hers stop beating, the most indissoluble.
+bond will unite both.  She desires to ransom herself from a lawful
+marriage concluded by her father, as if she were a captive of war;
+perhaps she even wants to follow another.  Hanno, brave lad, was ready
+to go to death for her sake, and she rewards him by bringing shame on his
+head and disgrace on us all.  Oh, these times, this world!  Everything
+that is inviolable and holy trampled in the dust!  But they are not all
+so!  In spite of Grecian infidelity, marriage is still honoured among our
+people.  But she who mocks what is sacred, and tramples holy customs
+under foot, shall be accursed, execrated, given over to want, hunger,
+disease, death!"
+
+With rattling breath and closed eyes she leaned farther back against the
+cushions that supported her; but Bias, in their common language, tried to
+soothe her, and informed her that, though Ledscha had probably run away
+from her husband, she had by no means renounced her vengeance.  He was
+bringing two talents with him to place in the Temple of Nemesis.
+
+"Of  Nemesis?" repeated  the  old  dame.  Then she tried to raise herself
+and, as she constantly sank back again, Bias aided her.  But she had
+scarcely recovered her sitting posture when she gasped to the freedman:
+"Nemesis, who helped, and is to continue to help her to destroy her foe?
+Well, well!  Five talents--a great sum, a great sum!  But the more the
+better!  To Nemesis with them, to Ate and the Erinyes!  The talons of the
+avenging goddess shall tear the beautiful face, the heart, and the liver
+of the accursed one!  A twofold malediction on her who has wronged the
+son of my Satabus!"
+
+While speaking, her head nodded swiftly up and down, and when at last she
+bowed it wearily, her visitors heard her murmur the names of Satabus and
+Hanno, sometimes tenderly, sometimes mournfully.
+
+Finally she asked whether any one else was concerned in Ledscha's flight;
+and when she learned that a Gallic bridge-builder accompanied the
+fugitive wife, she again started up as if frantic, exclaiming: "Yes, to
+Nemesis with the gold!  We neither need nor want it, and Satabus, my son,
+he will bless me for renunciation--"
+
+Here exhaustion again silenced her.  She gazed mutely and thoughtfully
+into vacancy, until at last, turning to Bias, she began more calmly: "You
+will see her again, man, and must tell her what the clan of Tabus bought
+with her talents.  Take her my curse, and let her know that her friends
+would be my foes, and her foes should find in Tabus a benefactress!"
+
+Then, deeply buried in thought, she again fixed her eyes on the floor;
+but at last she called to Hermon, saying: "You, blind Greek--am I not
+right?--the torch was thrust into your face, and you lost the sight of
+both eyes?"
+
+The artist assented to this question; but she bade him sit down before
+her, and when he bent his face near her she raised one lid after the
+other with trembling fingers, yet lightly and skilfully, gazed long and
+intently into his eyes, and murmured: "Like black Psoti and lawless
+Simeon, and they are both cured."
+
+"Can you restore me?" Hermon now asked in great excitement.  "Answer me
+honestly, you experienced woman!  Give me back my sight, and demand
+whatever gold and valuables I still possess--"
+
+"Keep them," Tabus contemptuously interrupted.  "Not for gold or goods
+will I restore you the best gift man can lose.  I will cure you because
+you are the person to whom the infamous wretch most ardently wished the
+sorest trouble.  When she hoped to destroy you, she perceived in this
+deed the happiness which had been promised to her on a night when the
+full moon was shining.  To-day--this very night--the disk between
+Astarte's horns rounds again, and presently--wait a little while!--
+presently you shall have what the light restores you--" Then she called
+the Biamite woman, ordered her to bring the medicine chest, and took from
+it one vessel after another.  The box she was seeking was among the last
+and, while handing it to Bias, she muttered: "Oh, yes, certainly--it does
+one good to destroy a foe, but no less to make her foe happy!"
+
+Turning to the freedman, she went on in a louder tone: "You, slave, shall
+inform Hanno's wife that old Tabus gave the sculptor, whose blindness
+she caused, the remedy which restored the sight of black Psoti, whom she
+knew."  Here she paused, gazed upward, and murmured almost
+unintelligibly: "Satabus, Hanno!  If this is the last act of the old
+mother, it will give ye pleasure."
+
+Then she told Hermon to kneel again, and ordered the slave to hold the
+lamp which her nurse Tasia had just lighted at the hearth fire.
+
+"The last," she said, looking into the box, "but it will be enough.  The
+odour of the herb in the salve is as strong as if it had been prepared
+yesterday."
+
+She laid the first bandage on Hermon's eyes with her own weak fingers,
+at the same time muttering an incantation; but it did not seem to satisfy
+her.  Great excitement had taken possession of her, and as the silver
+light of the full moon shone into her room she waved her hands before the
+artist's eyes and fixed her gaze upon the threshold illumined by the
+moonbeams, ejaculating sentences incomprehensible to the blind man.  Bias
+supported her, for she had risen to her full height, and he felt how she
+tottered and trembled.
+
+Yet her strength held out to whisper to Hermon: "Nearer, still nearer!
+By the light of the august one whose rays greet us, let it be said: You
+will see again.  Await your recovery patiently in a quiet place in the
+pure air, not in the city.  Refrain from everything with which the Greeks
+intoxicate themselves.  Shun wine, and whatever heats the blood.
+Recovery is coming; I see it drawing near.  You will see again as surely
+as I now curse the woman who abandoned the husband to whom she vowed
+fidelity.  She rejoiced over your blindness, and she will gnash her teeth
+with rage and grief when she hears that it was Tabus who brought light
+into the darkness that surrounds you."
+
+With these words she pushed off the freedman's supporting arms and sank
+back upon the couch.
+
+Again Hermon tried to thank her; but she would not permit it, and said in
+an almost inaudible tone: "I really did not give the salve to do you
+good--the last act of all--"
+
+Finally she murmured a few words of direction for its use, and added that
+he must keep the sunlight from his blind eyes by bandages and shades, as
+if it were a cruel foe.
+
+When she paused, and Bias asked her another question, she pointed to the
+door, exclaiming as loudly as her weakness permitted, "Go, I tell you,
+go!"
+
+Hermon obeyed and left her, accompanied by the freedman, who carried the
+box of salve so full of precious promise.
+
+The next morning Bias delivered to the astonished priest of Nemesis the
+large gifts intended for the avenging goddess.
+
+Before Hermon entered the boat with him and his Egyptian slave, the
+freedman told his master that Gula was again living in perfect harmony
+with the husband who had cast her off, and Taus, Ledscha's younger
+sister, was the wife of the young Biamite who, she had feared, would
+give up his wooing on account of her visit to Hermon's studio.
+
+After a long voyage through the canal which had been dug a short time
+before, connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, the three men
+reached Clysma.  Opposite to it, on the eastern shore of the narrow
+northern point of the Erythraean sea--[Red Sea]--lay the goal of their
+journey, and thither Bias led his blind master, followed by the slave,
+on shore.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+It was long since Hermon had felt so free and light-hearted as during
+this voyage.
+
+He firmly believed in his recovery.
+
+A few days before he had escaped death in the royal palace as if by a
+miracle, and he owed his deliverance to the woman he loved.
+
+In the Temple of Nemesis at Tennis the conviction that the goddess had
+ceased to persecute him took possession of his mind.
+
+True, his blind eyes had been unable to see her menacing statue, but not
+even the slightest thrill of horror had seized him in its presence.  In
+Alexandria, after his departure from Proclus's banquet, she had desisted
+from pursuing him.  Else how would she have permitted him to escape
+uninjured when he was already standing upon the verge of an abyss, and a
+wave of her hand would have sufficed to hurl him into the death-dealing
+gulf?
+
+But his swift confession, and the transformation which followed it, had
+reconciled him not only with her, but also with the other gods; for they
+appeared to him in forms as radiant and friendly as in the days of his
+boyhood, when, while Bias took the helm on the long voyage through the
+canal and the Bitter Lakes, he recalled the visible world to his memory
+and, from the rising sun, Phoebus Apollo, the lord of light and purity,
+gazed at him from his golden chariot, drawn by four horses, and
+Aphrodite, the embodiment of all beauty, rose before him from the snowy
+foam of the azure waves.  Demeter, in the form of Daphne, appeared,
+dispensing prosperity, above the swaying golden waves of the ripening
+grain fields and bestowing peace beside the domestic hearth.  The whole
+world once more seemed peopled with deities, and he felt their rule in
+his own breast.
+
+The place of which Bias had told him was situated on a lofty portion of
+the shore.  Beside the springs which there gushed from the soil of the
+desert grew green palm trees and thorny acacias.  Farther on flourished
+the fragrant betharan.  About a thousand paces from this spot the
+faithful freedman pitched the little tent obtained in Tennis under the
+shade of several tall palm trees and a sejal acacia.
+
+Not far from the springs lived the same family of Amalekites whom Bias
+had known from boyhood.  They raised a few vegetables in little beds, and
+the men acted as guards to the caravans which came from Egypt through the
+peninsula of Sinai to Petrea and Hebron.  The daughter of the aged sheik
+whose men accompanied the trains of goods, a pleasant, middle-aged woman,
+recognised the Biamite, who when a boy had recovered under her mother's
+nursing, and promised Bias to honour his blind master as a valued guest
+of the tribe.
+
+Not until after he had done everything in his power to render life in the
+wilderness endurable, and had placed a fresh bandage over his eyes, would
+Bias leave his master.
+
+The freedman entered the boat weeping, and Hermon, deeply agitated,
+turned his face toward him.
+
+When he was left alone with his Egyptian slave, with whom he rarely
+exchanged a word, he fancied that, amid the murmur of the waves washing
+the strand at his feet, blended the sounds of the street which led past
+his house in Alexandria, and with them all sorts of disagreeable memories
+crowded upon him; but soon he no longer heard them, and the next night
+brought refreshing sleep.
+
+Even on the second day he felt that the profound silence which surrounded
+him was a benefit.  The stillness affected him like something physical.
+
+The life was certainly monotonous, and at first there were hours when the
+course of the new existence, so devoid of any change, op pressed him, but
+he experienced no tedium.  His mental life was too rich, and the
+unburdening of his anxious soul too great a relief for that.
+
+He had shunned serious thought since he left the philosopher's school;
+but here it soon afforded him the highest pleasure, for never had his
+mind moved so freely, so undisturbed by any limit or obstacle.
+
+He did not need to search for what he hoped to find in the wilderness.
+His whole past life passed before him as if by its own volition.  All
+that he had ever experienced, learned, thought, felt, rose before his
+mind with wonderful distinctness, and when he overlooked all his mental
+possessions, as if from a high watch-tower in the bright sunshine, he
+began to consider how he had used the details and how he could continue
+to do so.
+
+Whatever he had seen incorrectly forced itself resistlessly upon him,
+yet here also the Greek nature, deeply implanted in his soul, guarded
+him, and it was easy for him to avoid self-torturing remorse.  He only
+desired to utilize for improvement what he recognised as false.
+
+When in this delicious silence he listened to the contradictory demands
+of his intellect and his senses, it often seemed as though he was present
+at a discussion between two guests who were exchanging their opinions
+concerning the subject that occupied his mind.
+
+Here he first learned to deepen sound intellectual power and listen to
+the demands of the heart, or to repulse and condemn them.
+
+Ah, yes, he was still blind; but never had he observed and recognised
+human life and its stage, down to the minutest detail, which his eyes
+refused to show him, so keenly as during these clays.  The phenomena
+which had attracted or repelled his vision here appeared nearer and more
+distinctly.
+
+What he called "reality" and believed he understood thoroughly and
+estimated correctly, now disclosed many a secret which had previously
+remained concealed.
+
+How defective his visual perception had been!  how necessary it now
+seemed to subject his judgment to a new test!  Doubtless a wealth of
+artistic subjects had come to him from the world of reality which he had
+placed far above everything else, but a greater and nobler one from the
+sphere which he had shunned as unfruitful and corrupting.
+
+As if by magic, the world of ideality opened before him in this exquisite
+silence.  He again found in his own soul the joyous creative forces of
+Nature, and the surrounding stillness increased tenfold his capacity of
+perceiving it; nay, he felt as if creative energy dwelt in solitude
+itself.
+
+His mind had always turned toward greatness.  The desire to impress his
+works with the stamp of his own overflowing power had carried him far
+beyond moderation in modelling his struggling Maenads.
+
+Now, when he sought for subjects, beside the smaller and more simple ones
+appeared mighty and manifold ones, often of superhuman grandeur.
+
+Oh, if a higher power would at some future day permit him to model with
+his strong hands this battle of the Amazons, this Phoebus Apollo, radiant
+in beauty and the glow of victory, conquering the dragons of darkness!
+
+Arachne, too, returned to his mind, and also Demeter.  But she did not
+hover before him as the peaceful dispenser of blessings, the preserver of
+peace, but as the maternal earth goddess, robbed of her daughter
+Proserpina.  How varied in meaning was this myth!--and he strove to
+follow it in every direction.
+
+Nothing more could come to the blind artist from Nature by the aid of his
+physical vision.  The realm of reality was closed to him; but he had
+found the key to that of the ideal, and what he found in it proved to be
+no less true than the objects the other had offered.
+
+How rich in forms was the new world which forced itself unbidden on his
+imagination!  He who, a short time before, had believed whatever could
+not be touched by the hands was useless for his art, now had the choice
+among a hundred subjects, full of glowing life, which were attainable by
+no organ of the senses.  He need fear to undertake none, if only it was
+worthy of representation; for he was sure of his ability, and difficulty
+did not alarm him, but promised to lend creating for the first time its
+true charm.
+
+And, besides, without the interest of animated conversation, without
+festal scenes where, with garlanded head and intoxicating pleasure
+soaring upward from the dust of earth, existence had seemed to him
+shallow and not worth the trouble it imposed upon mortals, solitude now
+offered him hours as happy as he had ever experienced while revelling
+with gay companions.
+
+At first many things had disturbed them, especially the dissatisfied,
+almost gloomy disposition of his Egyptian slave, who, born in the city
+and accustomed to its life, found it unbearable to stay in the desert
+with the strange blind master, who lived like a porter, and ordered him
+to prepare his wretched fare with the hands skilled in the use of the
+pen.
+
+But this living disturber of the peace was not to annoy the recluse long.
+Scarcely a fortnight after Bias's departure, the slave Patran, who had
+cost so extravagant a sum, vanished one morning with the sculptor's money
+and silver cup.
+
+This rascally trick of a servant whom he had treated with almost
+brotherly kindness wounded Hermon, but he soon regarded the morose
+fellow's disappearance as a benefit.
+
+When for the first time he drank water from an earthen jug, instead of a
+silver goblet, he thought of Diogenes, who cast his cup aside when he saw
+a boy raise water to his lips in his hand, yet with whom the great
+Macedonian conqueror of the world would have changed places "if he had
+not been Alexander."
+
+The active, merry son of Bias's Amalekite friend gladly rendered him the
+help and guidance for which he had been reluctant to ask his ill-tempered
+slave, and he soon became accustomed to the simple fare of the nomads.
+Bread and milk, fruits and vegetables from his neighbour's little garden,
+satisfied him, and when the wine he had drunk was used, he contented
+himself, obedient to old Tabus's advice, with pure water.
+
+As he still had several gold coins on his person, and wore two costly
+rings on his finger, he doubtless thought of sending to Clysma for meat,
+poultry, and wine, but he had refrained from doing so through the advice
+of the Amalekite woman, who anointed his eyes with Tabus's salve and
+protected them by a shade of fresh leaves from the dazzling rays of the
+desert sun.  She, like the sorceress on the Owl's Nest, warned him
+against all viands that inflamed the blood, and he willingly allowed her
+to take away what she and her gray-haired father, the experienced head of
+the tribe, pronounced detrimental to his recovery.
+
+At first the "beggar's fare" seemed repulsive, but he soon felt that it
+was benefiting him after the riotous life of the last few months.
+
+One day, when the Amalekite took off his bandage, he thought he saw a
+faint glimmer of light, and how his heart exulted at this faint foretaste
+of the pleasure of sight!
+
+In an instant hope sprang up with fresh power in his excitable soul,
+and his lost cheerfulness returned to him like a butterfly to the newly
+opened flower.  The image of his beloved Daphne rose before him in sunny
+radiance, and he saw himself in his studio in the service of his art.
+
+He had always been fond of children, and the little ones in the Amalekite
+family quickly discovered this, and crowded around their blind friend,
+who played all sorts of games with them, and in spite of the bandaged
+eyes, over which spread a broad shade of green leaves, could make
+whistles with his skilful artist hands from the reeds and willow branches
+they brought.
+
+He saw before him the object to which his heart still clung as distinctly
+as if he need only stretch out his hand to draw it nearer, and perhaps--
+surely and certainly, the Amalekite said--the time would come when he
+would behold it also with his bodily eyes.
+
+If the longing should be fulfilled!  If his eyes were again permitted to
+convey to him what formerly filled his soul with delight!  Yes, beauty--
+was entitled to a higher place than truth, and if it again unfolded
+itself to his gaze, how gladly and gratefully he would pay homage to it
+with his art!
+
+The hope that he might enjoy it once more now grew stronger, for the
+glimmer of light became brighter, and one day, when his skilful nurse
+again took the bandage from his milk-white pupils, he saw something long
+appear, as if through, a mist.  It was only the thorny acacia tree at his
+tent; but the sight of the most beautiful of beautiful things never
+filled him with more joyful gratitude.
+
+Then he ordered the less valuable of his two rings to be sold to offer a
+sacrifice to health-bestowing Isis, who had a little temple in Clysma.
+
+How fervently he now prayed also to the great Apollo, the foe of darkness
+and the lord of everything light and pure!  How yearningly he besought
+Aphrodite to bless him again with the enjoyment of eternal beauty, and
+Eros to heal the wound which his arrow had inflicted upon his heart and
+Daphne's, and bring them together after so much distress and need!
+
+When, after the lapse of another week, the bandage was again removed, his
+inmost soul rejoiced, for his eyes showed him the rippling emerald-green
+surface of the Red Sea, and the outlines of the palms, the tents, the
+Amalekite woman, her boy, and her two long-eared goats.
+
+How ardently he thanked the gracious deities who, in spite of Straton's
+precepts, were no mere figments of human imagination and, as if he had
+become a child again, poured forth his overflowing heart with mute
+gratitude to his mother's soul!
+
+The artist nature, yearning to create, began to stir within more
+ceaselessly than ever before.  Already he saw clay and wax assuming forms
+beneath his skilful hands; already he imagined himself, with fresh power
+and delight, cutting majestic figures from blocks of marble, or, by
+hammering, carving, and filing, shaping them from gold and ivory.
+
+And he would not take what he intended to create solely from the world of
+reality perceptible to the senses.  Oh, no!  He desired to show through
+his art the loftiest of ideals.  How could he still shrink from using the
+liberty which he had formerly rejected, the liberty of drawing from his
+own inner consciousness what he needed in order to bestow upon the ideal
+images he longed to create the grandeur, strength, and sublimity in which
+he beheld them rise before his purified soul!
+
+Yet, with all this, he must remain faithful to truth, copy from Nature
+what he desired to represent.  Every finger, every lock of hair, must
+correspond with reality to the minutest detail, and yet the whole must be
+pervaded and penetrated, as the blood flows through the body, by the
+thought that filled his mind and soul.
+
+A reflected image of the ideal and of his own mood, faithful to truth,
+free, and yet obedient to the demands of moderation--in this sentence
+Hermon summed up the result of his solitary meditations upon art and
+works of art.  Since he had found the gods again, he perceived that the
+Muse had confided to him a sacerdotal office.  He intended to perform its
+duties, and not only attract and please the beholder's eyes through his
+works, but elevate his heart and mind, as beauty, truth, grandeur, and
+eternity uplifted his own soul.  He recognised in the tireless creative
+power which keeps Nature ever new, fresh, and bewitching, the presence of
+the same deity whose rule manifested itself in the life of his own soul.
+
+So long as he denied its existence, he had recognised no being more
+powerful than himself; now that he again felt insignificant beside it,
+he knew himself to be stronger than ever before, that the greatest of all
+powers had become his ally.  Now it was difficult for him to understand
+how he could have turned away from the deity.  As an artist he, too, was
+a creator, and, while he believed those who considered the universe had
+come into existence of itself, instead of having been created, he had
+robbed himself of the most sublime model.  Besides, the greatest charm of
+his noble profession was lost to him.  Now he knew it, and was striving
+toward the goal attainable by the artist alone among mortals--to hold
+intercourse with the deity, and by creations full of its essence elevate
+the world to its grandeur and beauty.
+
+One day, at the end of the second month of his stay in the desert,
+when the Amalekite woman removed the bandage, her boy, whose form he
+distinguished as if through a veil, suddenly exclaimed: "The white cover
+on your eyes is melting!  They are beginning to sparkle a little, and
+soon they will be perfectly well, and you can carve the lion's head on my
+cane."
+
+Perhaps the artist might really have succeeded in doing so, but he
+forbade himself the attempt.
+
+He thought that the time for departure had now arrived, and an
+irresistible longing urged him back to the world and Daphne.
+
+But he could not resist the entreaties of the old sheik and his daughter
+not to risk what he had gained, so he continued to use the shade of
+leaves, and allowed himself to be persuaded to defer his departure until
+the dimness which still prevented his seeing anything distinctly passed
+away.
+
+True, the beautiful peace which he had enjoyed of late was over and,
+besides, anxiety for the dear ones in distant lands was constantly
+increasing.  He had had no news of them for a long time, and when he
+imagined what fate might have overtaken Archias, and his daughter with
+him, if he had been carried back to the enraged King in Alexandria, a
+terrible dread took possession of him, which scattered even joy in his
+wonderful recovery to the four winds, and finally led him to the
+resolution to return to the world at any risk and devote himself to
+those whose fate was nearer to his heart than his own weal and woe.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Forbidden the folly of spoiling the present by remorse
+Two griefs always belong to one joy
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARACHNE, BY GEORG EBERS, V7 ***
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