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diff --git a/old/ge77v10.txt b/old/ge77v10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58cdf9a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ge77v10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13720 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Arachne, by Georg Ebers, Complete +#77 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: Arachne, Complete + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5516] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 17, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARACHNE, BY EBERS, COMPLETE *** + + + +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 1. + + +Translated from the German by Mary J. Safford + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Deep silence brooded over the water and the green islands which rose like +oases from its glittering surface. The palms, silver poplars, and +sycamores on the largest one were already casting longer shadows as the +slanting rays of the sun touched their dark crowns, while its glowing +ball still poured a flood of golden radiance upon the bushes along the +shore, and the light, feathery tufts at the tops of the papyrus reeds in +the brackish water. + +More than one flock of large and small waterfowl flew past beneath the +silvery cloudlets flecking the lofty azure vault of heaven; here and +there a pelican or a pair of wild ducks plunged, with short calls which +ceased abruptly, into the lush green thicket, but their cackling and +quacking belonged to the voices of Nature, and, when heard, soon died +away in the heights of the tipper air, or in the darkness of the +underbrush that received the birds. Very few reached the little city of +Tennis, which now, during the period of inundation in the year 274 B.C., +was completely encircled by water. + +From the small island, separated from it by a channel scarcely three +arrow-shots wide, it seemed as though sleep or paralysis had fallen upon +the citizens of the busy little industrial town, for few people appeared +in the streets, and the scanty number of porters and sailors who were +working among the ships and boats in the little fleet performed their +tasks noiselessly, exhausted by the heat and labour of the day. + +Columns of light smoke rose from many of the buildings, but the sunbeams +prevented its ascent into the clear, still air, and forced it to spread +over the roofs as if it, too, needed rest. + +Silence also reigned in the little island diagonally opposite to the +harbour. The Tennites called it the Owl's Nest, and, though for no +especial reason, neither they nor the magistrates of King Ptolemy II ever +stepped upon its shores. Indeed, a short time before, the latter had +even been forbidden to concern themselves about the pursuits of its +inhabitants; since, though for centuries it had belonged to a family of +seafaring folk who were suspected of piracy, it had received, two +generations ago, from Alexander the Great himself, the right of asylum, +because its owner, in those days, had commanded a little fleet which +proved extremely useful to the conqueror of the world in the siege of +Gaza and during the expedition to Egypt. True, under the reign of +Ptolemy I, the owners of the Owl's Nest were on the point of being +deprived of this favour, because they were repeatedly accused of piracy +in distant seas; but it had not been done. Yet for the past two years an +investigation had threatened Satabus, the distinguished head of the +family, and during this period he, with his ships and his sons, had +avoided Tennis and the Egyptian coast. + +The house occupied by the islanders stood on the shore facing the little +city. It had once been a stately building, but now every part of it +seemed to be going to ruin except the central portion, which presented a +less dilapidated appearance than the sorely damaged, utterly neglected +side wings. + +The roof of the whole long structure had originally consisted of palm +branches, upon which mud and turf had been piled; but this, too, was now +in repair only on the central building. On the right and left wings the +rain which often falls in the northeastern part of the Nile Delta, near +the sea, had washed off the protecting earth, and the wind had borne it +away as dust. + +Once the house had been spacious enough to shelter a numerous family and +to store a great quantity of goods and provisions, but it was now long +since the ruinous chambers had been occupied. Smoke rose only from the +opening in the roof of the main building, but its slender column showed +from what a very scanty fire it ascended. + +The purpose which this was to serve was readily discovered, for in front +of the open door of the dwelling, that seemed far too large and on +account of the pillars at the entrance, which supported a triangular +pediment--also too stately for its sole occupant, sat an old woman, +plucking three ducks. + +In front of her a girl, paying no heed to her companion, stood leaning +against the trunk of the low, wide-branching sycamore tree near the +shore. A narrow boat, now concealed from view by the dense growth of +rushes, had brought her to the spot. + +The beautiful, motherless young creature, needing counsel, had come to +old Tabus to appeal to her art of prophecy and, if she wanted them, to +render her any little services; for the old dame on the island was +closely bound to Ledscha, the daughter of one of the principal ship- +owners in Tennis, and had once been even more closely united to the girl. + +Now, as the sun was about to set, the latter gave herself up to a wild +tumult of sweet memories, anxious fears, and yearning expectation. + +Not until a cool breath from the neighbouring sea fanned her brow did she +throw down the cord and implement with which she had been adding a few +meshes to a net, and rising, gaze sometimes across the water at a large +white house in the northern part of the city, sometimes at the little +harbour or the vessels on the horizon steering toward Tennis, among which +her keen eyes discovered a magnificent ship with bright-hued sails. + +Drawing a long breath, she enjoyed the coolness which precedes the +departure of the daystar. + +But the effect of this harbinger of night upon her surroundings was even +more powerful than upon herself, for the sun in the western horizon +scarcely began to sink slowly behind the papyrus thicket on the shore of +the straight Tanite arm of the Nile, dug by human hands, than one new and +strange phenomenon followed another. + +First a fan, composed of countless glowing rays which spread in dazzling +radiance over the west, rose from the vanishing orb and for several +minutes adorned the lofty dome of the deep-blue sky like the tail of a +gigantic peacock. Then the glitter of the shining plumes paled. The +light-giving body from which they emanated disappeared and, in its stead, +a crimson mantle, with gold-bordered, crocus-yellow edges, spread itself +over the space it had left until the gleaming tints merged into the +deeper hues of the violet. + +But the girl paid no heed to this splendid spectacle. Perhaps she +noticed how the fading light diffused a delicate rose-hued veil over the +light-blue sails, embroidered with silver vines, of the approaching state +galley, making its gilded prow glitter more brightly, and saw one fishing +boat after another move toward the harbour, but she gave the whole scene +only a few careless glances. + +Ledscha cared little for the poor fishermen of Tennis, and the glittering +state galley could scarcely bring or bear away anything of importance to +her. + +The epistrategus of the whole province was daily expected. But of what +consequence to the young girl were the changes which it was rumoured he +intended to introduce into the government of the country, concerning +which her father had expressed such bitter dissatisfaction before he set +out on his last trip to Pontus? + +A very different matter occupied her thoughts, and as, pressing her hand +upon her heart, she gazed at the little city, gleaming with crimson hues +in the reflection of the setting sun, a strange, restless stir pervaded +the former stillness of Nature. Pelicans and flamingoes, geese and +ducks, storks and herons, ibises and cranes, bitterns and lapwings, flew +in dark flocks of manifold forms from all directions. Countless +multitudes of waterfowl darkened the air as they alighted upon the +uninhabited islands, and with ear-splitting croaking and cackling, +whistling and chirping, clapping and twittering, dropped into the sedges +and bushes which concealed their nests, while in the city the doors of +the houses opened, and men, women, and children, after toiling at the +loom and in the workshop, came out to enjoy the coolness of the evening +in the open air. + +One fishing boat after another was already throwing a rope to the shore, +as the ship with the gay sails approached the little roadstead. + +How large and magnificent it was! + +None of the king's officials had ever used such a galley, not even the +epistrategus of the Delta, who last year had given the banking and the +oil trade to new lessees. Besides, the two transports that had followed +the magnificent vessel appeared to belong to it. + +Ledscha had watched the ships indifferently enough, but suddenly her +gaze--and with it the austere beauty of her face--assumed a different +expression. + +Her large black eyes dilated, and with passionate intentness she looked +from the gaily ornamented galley to the shore, which several men in Greek +costume were approaching. + +The first two had come from the large white house whose door, since +sunset, had been the principal object of her attention. + +It was Hermon, the taller one, for whom she was waiting with old Tabus. +He had promised to take her from the Owl's Nest, after nightfall, for a +lonely row upon the water. + +Now he was not coming alone, but with his fellow-artist, the sculptor +Myrtilus, the nomarch and the notary--she recognised both distinctly-- +Gorgias, the rich owner of the second largest weaving establishment in +Tennis, and several slaves. + +What did it mean? + +A sudden flush crimsoned her face, now slightly tanned, to the brow, and +her lips were compressed, giving her mouth an expression of repellent, +almost cruel harshness. + +But the tension of her charming features, whose lines, though sharp, were +delicately outlined, soon vanished. There was still plenty of time +before the darkness would permit Hermon to join her unnoticed. A +reception, from which he could not be absent, was evidently about to take +place. + +Yes, that was certainly the case; for now the magnificent galley had +approached as near the land as the shallow water permitted, and the +whistle of the rowers' flute-player, shouts of command, and the barking +of dogs could be heard. + +Then a handkerchief waved a greeting from the vessel to the men on shore, +but the hand that held it was a woman's. Ledscha would have recognised +it had the twilight been far deeper. + +The features of the new arrival could no longer be distinguished; but she +must be young. An elderly woman would not have sprung so nimbly into the +skiff that was to convey her to the land. + +The man who assisted her in doing so was the same sculptor, Hermon, for +whom she had watched with so much longing. + +Again the blood mounted into Ledscha's cheeks, and when she saw the +stranger lay her hand upon the shoulder of the Alexandrian who, only +yesterday, had assured the young girl of his love with ardent vows, and +allow him to lift her out of the boat, she buried her little white teeth +deeply in her lips. + +She had never seen Hermon in the society of a woman of his own class, +and, full of jealous displeasure; perceived with what zealous assiduity +he who bowed before no one in Tennis, paid court to the stranger no less +eagerly than did his friend Myrtilus. + +The whole scene passed like a shadow in the dusk before Ledscha's eyes, +half dimmed by uneasiness, perplexity, and suddenly inflamed jealousy. + +The Egyptian twilight is short, and when Hermon disappeared with the new- +comer it was no longer possible to recognise the man who entered the very +boat in which she was to have taken the nocturnal voyage with her lover, +and which was now rowed toward the Owl's Nest. + +Surely it would bring her a message from Hermon; and as the stranger, who +was now joined by a number of other women and two packs of barking dogs, +with their keepers, vanished in the darkness, the skiff already touched +the shore close at her side. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +In spite of the surrounding gloom, Ledscha recognised the man who left +the boat. + +The greeting he shouted told her that it was Hermon's slave, Pias, a +Biamite, whom she had met in the house of some neighbours who were his +relatives and had sharply rebuffed when he ventured to accost her more +familiarly than was seemly for one in bondage. + +True, in his childhood this man had lived near Tennis as the son of a +free papyrus raiser, but when still a lad was sold into slavery in +Alexandria with his father, who had been seized for taking part in an +insurrection against the last king. + +In the service of Areluas, his present master's uncle, who had given him +to his nephew, and as the slave of the impetuous yet anything but cruel +sculptor, Hermon, he had become accustomed to bondage, but was still far +more strongly attached to his Biamite race than to the Greek, to whom, +it is true, his master belonged, but who had robbed him and his family of +freedom. + +The man of forty did not lack mother wit, and as his hard fate rendered +him thoughtful and often led him to use figurative turns of speech, which +were by no means intended as jests, he had been called by his first +master "Bias" for the sage of Priene. + +In the house of Hermon, who associated with the best artists in +Alexandria, he had picked up all sorts of knowledge and gladly welcomed +instruction. His highest desire was to win esteem, and he often did so. + +Hermon prized the useful fellow highly. He had no secrets from him, and +was sure of his silence and good will. + +Bias had managed to lure many a young beauty in Alexandria, in whom the +sculptor had seen a desirable model, to his studio, even under the most +difficult circumstances; but he was vexed to find that his master had +cast his eye upon the daughter of one of the most distinguished families +among his own people. He knew, too, that the Biamites jealously guarded +the honour of their women, and had represented to Hermon what a dangerous +game he was playing when he began to offer vows of love to Ledscha. + +So it was an extremely welcome task to be permitted to inform her that +she was awaiting his master in vain. + +In reply to her inquiry whether it was the aristocrat who had just +arrived who kept Hermon from her, he admitted that she was right, but +added that the gods were above even kings, and his master was obliged to +yield to the Alexandrian's will. + +Ledscha laughed incredulously: "He--obey a woman!" + +"He certainly would not submit to a man," replied the slave. "Artists, +you must know, would rather oppose ten of the most powerful men than one +weak woman, if she is only beautiful. As for the daughter of Archias-- +thereby hangs a tale." + +"Archias?" interrupted the girl. "The rich Alexandrian who owns the +great weaving house?" + +"The very man." + +"So it is his daughter who is keeping Hermon? And you say he is obliged +to serve her?" + +"As men serve the Deity, to the utmost, or truth," replied the slave +importantly. "Archias, the father, it is true, imposed upon us the debt +which is most tardily paid, and which people, even in this country, call +'gratitude.' We are under obligations to the old man--there's no denying +it--and therefore also to his only child." + +"For what?" Ledscha indignantly exclaimed, and the dark eyebrows which +met above her delicate nose contracted suspiciously. "I must know!" + +"Must!" repeated the slave. "That word is a ploughshare which suits +only loose soil, and mine, now that my master is waiting for me, can not +be tilled even by the sharpest. Another time! But if, meanwhile, you +have any message for Hermon----" + +"Nothing," she replied defiantly; but Bias, in a tone of the most eager +assent, exclaimed: "One friendly word, girl. You are the fairest among +the daughters of the highest Biamite families, and probably the richest +also, and therefore a thousand times too good to yield what adorns you +to the Greek, that it may tickle the curiosity of the Alexandrian apes. +There are more than enough women in the capital to serve that purpose. +Trust the experience of a man not wholly devoid of wisdom, my girl. He +will throw you aside like an empty wine bottle when he has used you for +a model." + +"Used?" interrupted Ledscha disdainfully; but he repeated with firm +decision: "Yes, used! What could you learn of life, of art and artists, +here in the weaver's nest in the midst of the waves? I know them. A +sculptor needs beautiful women as a cobbler wants leather, and the charms +he seeks in you he does not conceal from his friend Myrtilus, at least. +They are your large almond-shaped eyes and your arms. They make him +fairly wild with delight by their curves when, in drawing water, you hold +the jug balanced on your head. Your slender arched foot, too, is a +welcome morsel to him." + +The darkness prevented Bias from seeing Ledscha's features, but it +was easy to perceive what was passing in her mind as, hoarse with +indignation, she gasped: "How can I know the object of your accusations? +but fie upon the servant who would alienate from his own kind master what +his soul desires!" + +Then Bias changed not only his tone of voice, but his language, and, +deeply offended, poured forth a torrent of wrath in the dialect of his +people: "If to guard you, and my master with you, from harm, my words had +the power to put between you and Hermon the distance which separates +yonder rising moon from Tennis, I would make them sound as loud as the +lion's roar. Yet perhaps you would not understand them, for you go +through life as though you were deaf and blind. Did you ever even ask +yourself whether the Greek is not differently constituted from the sons +of the Biamite sailors and fishermen, with whom you grew up, and to whom +he is an abomination? Yet he is no more like them than poppy juice is +like pure water. He and his companions turn life upside down. There is +no more distinction between right and wrong in Alexandria than we here in +the dark can make between blue and green. To me, the slave, who is +already growing old, Hermon is a kind master. I know without your aid +what I owe him, and serve him as loyally as any one; but where he +threatens to lead to ruin the innocent daughter of the race whose blood +flows in my veins as well as yours, and in doing so perhaps finally +destroy himself too, conscience commands me to raise my voice as loud as +the sentinel crane when danger threatens the flock. Beware, girl, I +repeat! Keep your beauty, which is now to be degraded to feast the eyes +of gaping Greeks, for the worthiest husband among our people. Though +Hermon has vowed, I know not what, your love-dallying will very soon be +over; we shall leave Tennis within the next few days. When he has gone +there will be one more deceived Biamite who will call down the curse of +the gods upon the head of a Greek. You are not the only one who will +execrate the destiny that brought us here. Others have been caught in +his net too." + +"Here?" asked Ledscha in a hollow tone; and the slave eagerly answered: +"Where else? And that you may know the truth--among those who visited +Hermon in his studio is your own young sister." + +"Our Taus? That child?" exclaimed the girl, stretching her hands +toward the slave in horror, as if to ward off some impending disaster. + +"That child, who, I think, has grown into a very charming girl--and, +before her, pretty Gula, the wife of Paseth, who, like your father, is +away on his ship." + +Here, in a tone of triumphant confidence, the answer rang from the +Biamite's lips: "There the slanderer stands revealed! Now you are +detected, now I perceive the meaning of your threat. Because, miserable +slave, you cherish the mad hope of beguiling me yourself, you do your +utmost to estrange me from your master. Gula, you say, visited Hermon in +his studio, and it may be true. But though I have been at home only a +short time, Tennis is too full of the praises of the heroic Greek who, +at the risk of his own life, rescued a child from Paseth's burning house, +for the tale not to reach my ears from ten or a dozen different quarters. +Gula is the mother of the little girl whose life was saved by Hermon's +bold deed, and perhaps the young mother only knocked at her benefactor's +door to thank him; but you, base defamer--" + +"I," Bias continued, maintaining his composure with difficulty, "I saw +Gula secretly glide into our rooms again and again to permit her child's +preserver to imitate in clay what he considered beautiful. To seek your +love, as you know, the slave forbade himself, although a man no more +loses tender desires with his freedom than the tree which is encircled by +a fence ceases to put forth buds and blossoms. Eros chooses the slave's +heart also as the target for his arrows; but his aim at yours was better +than at mine. Now I know how deeply he wounds, and so, as soon as yonder +ship in the harbour bears our visitor away again, I shall see you, +Schalit's daughter, Ledscha, standing before Hermon's modelling table and +behold him scan your beauty to determine what seems worth copying." + +The Biamite, panting for breath, had listened to the end. Then, raising +her little clinched hand menacingly, she muttered through her set teeth: +"Let him try even to touch my veil with his fingers! If I had not been +obliged to go away, this would not have happened to my Taus and luckless +Gula." + +"Scarcely," replied Bias calmly. "If the chicken runs into the water, +the hen can not save it. For the rest--I grew up as a boy in freedom +with the husband of your sister, who summoned you to her aid. His +father's brick-kiln was next to our papyrus plantation. Then we fared +like so many others--the great devour the small, the just cause is the +lost one, and the gods are like men. My father, who drew the sword +against oppression and violence, was robbed of liberty, and your brother- +in-law, in payment for his honest courage, met an early death. Is the +story which is told of you here true? I heard that soon after the poor +fellow's burial the slaves in the brick-kiln refused to obey his widow. +There were a dozen rebellious brick-moulders, and you--one can forgive +you much for it--you, the weak girl----" + +"I am not weak," interrupted Ledscha proudly. "I could have taught three +times twelve of the scoundrels who was master. Now they obey my sister, +and yet I wish I had stayed in Tennis. Our Taus," she continued in a +more gentle tone, "is still so young, and our mother died when she was a +little child; but I, fool, who should have warned her, left her alone, +and if she yielded to Hermon's temptations the fault is mine, wholly +mine." + +During this outburst the light of the fire, which old Tabus had fed with +fresh straw and dry rushes, fell upon the face of the agitated girl. It +revealed her thoughts plainly enough, and, pleased with the success of +his warning, Bias exclaimed: "And Ledscha, you, too, will not grant him +that from which you would so gladly have withheld your sister. So I will +go and tell my master that you refuse to give him another appointment." + +He had confidently expected an assent, and therefore started indignantly +at her exclamation: "I intend to do just the contrary." Yet she eagerly +added, as if in explanation: "He must give me an account of himself, no +matter where, and, since it can not be to-day, to-morrow at latest." + +The slave, disappointed and anxious, now tried to make her understand how +foolish and hard to accomplish her wish was, but she obstinately insisted +upon having her own way. + +Bias angrily turned his back upon her and, in the early light of the +moon, walked toward the shore, but she hastened after him, seized his arm +and, with imperious firmness, commanded: "You will stay! I must first +know whether Hermon really means to leave Tennis so soon." + +"That was his intention early this morning," replied the other, releasing +himself from her grasp. "What are we to do here longer, now that his +work is as good as finished?" + +"But when is he going?" she urged with increased eagerness. + +"Day after to-morrow," was the reply, "in five, or perhaps even in six +days, just as it suits him. Usually we do not even know to-day what is +to be done to-morrow. So long as the Alexandrian remains, he will +scarcely leave her, or Myrtilus either. Probably she will take both +hunting with her, for, though a kind, fair-minded woman, she loves the +chase, and as both have finished their work, they probably will not be +reluctant to go with Daphne." + +He stepped into the boat as he spoke, but Ledscha again detained him, +asking impatiently: "And 'the work,' as you call it? It was covered +with a cloth when I visited the studio, but Hermon himself termed it the +statue of a goddess. Yet what it represents--Does it look like my sister +Taus--enough like her, I mean, to be recognised?" + +A half-compassionate, half-mocking smile flitted over the Biamite's +copper-coloured visage, and in a tone of patronizing instruction assumed +by the better informed, he began: "You are thinking of the face? Why no, +child! What that requires can be found in the countenance of no Biamite, +hardly even in yours, the fairest of all." + +"And the goddess's figure?" asked Ledscha eagerly. + +"For that he first used as a model the fair-haired Heliodora, whom he +summoned from Alexandria, and as the wild cat could endure the loneliness +only a fortnight, the sisters Nico and Pagis came together. But Tennis +was too quiet for them too. The rabble can only be contented among those +of their own sort in the capital. But the great preliminary work was +already finished before we left Alexandria." + +"And Gula--my sister?" + +"They were not used for the Demeter," said the slave, smiling. "Just +think, that slender scarcely grown creature, Taus, and the matronly +patroness of marriage. And Gula? True, her little round face is fresh +and not ill-looking--but the model of a goddess requires something more. +That can only be obtained in Alexandria. What do not the women there do +for the care of the body! They learn it in the Aphrodision, as the boys +study reading and writing. But you! What do you here know even about +colouring the eyelids and the lips, curling the hair, and treating the +nails on the hands and feet? And the clothes! You let them hang just as +you put them on, and my master's work is full of folds and little lines +in the robe and the peplos--But I have staid too long already. Do you +really insist upon meeting Hermon again? + +"I will and must see him," she eagerly declared. + +"Well, then," he answered harshly. "But if you cast my warning to the +winds, pity will also fly away with it." + +"I do not need it," the girl retorted in a contemptuous tone. + +"Then let Fate take its course," said the slave, shrugging his shoulders +regretfully. "My master shall learn what you wish. I shall remain at +home until the market is empty. There are plenty of servants at your +farm. Your messenger shall bring you Hermon's answer." + +"I will come myself and wait for it under the acacia," she cried hastily, +and went toward the house, but this time it was Bias who called her back. + +Ledscha reluctantly fulfilled his wish, but she soon regretted it, for +though what he had to say was doubtless kindly meant, it contained a +fresh and severe offence: the slave represented to her the possibilitv +that, so long as the daughter of Archias remained his guest, Hermon might +rebuff her like a troublesome beggar. + +Then, as if sure of her cause, she indignantly cut short his words: "You +measure him according to your own standard, and do not know what depends +upon it for us. Remind him of the full moon on the coming night and, +though ten Alexandrians detained him, he would escape from them to hear +what I bring him." + +With these words Ledscha again turned her back upon him, but Bias, with a +low imprecation, pushed the boat from the shore and rowed toward the +city. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +When Ledscha heard the strokes of the oars she stopped again and, with +glowing cheeks, gazed after the boat and the glimmering silver furrow +which it left upon the calm surface of the moonlit water. + +Her heart was heavy. The doubts of her lover's sincerity which the slave +had awakened tortured her proud soul. + +Was Hermon really only trifling mischievously with her affection? + +Surely it was impossible. + +She would rather endure everything, everything, than this torturing +uncertainty. + +Yet she was here on the Owl's Nest to seek the aid of old Tabus's magic +arts. If any one could give her satisfaction, it was she and the demons +who obeyed her will, and the old woman was glad to oblige Ledscha; she +was bound to her by closer ties than most people in Tennis knew. + +Ledscha had no cause to be ashamed of her frequent visits to the Owl's +Nest, for old Tabus had no equal as a leech and a prophetess, and the +corsair family, of which she was the female head, stood in high repute +among the Biamites. People bore them no ill-will because they practised +piracy; many of their race pursued the same calling, and the sailors made +common cause with them. + +Ledscha's father, too, was on good terms with the pirates, and when Abus, +a handsome fellow who commanded his father's second ship and had won a +certain degree of renown by many a bold deed, sought the hand of his +oldest daughter, he did not refuse him, and only imposed the condition +that when he had gained riches enough and made Ledscha his wife, he would +cease his piratical pursuits and, in partnership with him, take goods and +slaves from Pontus to the Syrian and Egyptian harbours, and grain and +textiles from the Nile to the coasts of the Black Sea. + +Young Abus had yielded to this demand, since his grandmother on the Owl's +Nest thought it wise to delay for a time the girl's marriage to him, the +best beloved of her grandsons; she was then scarcely beyond childhood. + +Yet Ledscha had felt a strong affection for the young pirate, in whom she +saw the embodiment of heroic manhood. She accompanied him in imagination +through all his perilous expeditions; but she had been permitted to enjoy +his society only after long intervals for a few days. + +Once he remained absent longer than usual, and this very voyage was to +have been his last on a pirate craft--the peaceful seafaring life was to +begin, after his landing, with the marriage. + +Ledscha had expected her lover's return with eager longing, but week +after week elapsed, yet nothing was seen or heard of the ships owned by +the Owl's Nest family; then a rumour spread that this time the corsairs +were defeated in a battle with the Syrian war-galleys. + +The first person who received sure tidings was old Tabus. Her grandson +Hanno, who escaped with his life, at the bidding of his father Satabus, +who revered his mother, had made his way to her amid great perils to +convey the sorrowful news. Two of the best ships in the family had been +sunk, and on one the brave Abus, Ledscha's betrothed husband, who +commanded it, had lost his life; on the other the aged dame's oldest son +and three of her grandchildren. + +Tabus fell as if struck by lightning when she heard the tidings, and +since that time her tongue had lost its power of fluent speech, her ear +its sharpness; but Ledscha did not leave her side, and saved her life by +tireless, faithful nursing. + +Neither Satabus, the old woman's second son, who now commanded the little +pirate fleet, nor his sons, Hanno and Labaja, had been seen in the +neighbourhood of Tennis since the disaster, but after Tabus had recovered +sufficiently to provide for herself, Ledscha returned to Tennis to manage +her father's great household and supply the mother's place to her younger +sister, Taus. + +She had not recovered the careless cheerfulness of earlier years, but, +graver than the companions of her own age, she absented herself from the +gaieties of the Biamite maidens. Meanwhile her beauty had increased +wonderfully, and, attracting attention far and wide, drew many suitors +from neighbouring towns to Tennis. Only a few, however, had made offers +of marriage to her father; the beautiful girl's cold, repellent manner +disheartened them. She herself desired nothing better; yet it secretly +incensed her and pierced her soul with pain to see herself at twenty +unwedded, while far less attractive companions of her own age had long +been wives and mothers. + +The arduous task which she had performed a short time before for her +widowed sister had increased the seriousness of her disposition to sullen +moroseness. + +After her return home she often rowed to the Owl's Nest, for Ledscha felt +bound to old Tabus, and, so far as lay in her power, under obligation to +atone for the injury which the horror of her lover's sudden death had +inflicted upon his grandmother. + +Now she had at last been subjugated by a new passion--love for the Greek +sculptor Hermon, who did his best to win the heart of the Biamite girl, +whose austere, extremely singular beauty attracted his artist eyes. + +To-day Ledscha had come to the sorceress to learn from her what awaited +her and her love. She had landed on the island, sure of favourable +predictions, but now her hopes lay as if crushed by hailstones. + +If Bias, who was superior to an ordinary slave, was right, she was to be +degraded to a toy and useful tool by the man who had already proved his +pernicious power over other women of her race, even her own young sister, +whom she had hitherto guarded with faithful care. It had by no means +escaped her notice that the girl was concealing something from her, +though she did not perceive the true cause of the change. + +The bright moonbeams, which now wove a silvery web over every surrounding +object, seemed like a mockery of her darkened soul. + +If the demons of the heights and depths had been subject to her, as to +the aged enchantress she would have commanded them to cover the heavens +with black clouds. Now they must show her what she had to hope or to +fear. + +She shook her head slightly, as if she no longer believed in a favourable +turn of affairs, pushed the little curls which had escaped from the +wealth of her black hair back from her forehead with her slender hand, +and walked firmly to the house. + +The old dame was crouching beside the hearth in the middle room, turning +the metal spit, on which she had put the ducks, over the freshly kindled +fire. + +The smoke hurt her eyes, which were slightly inflamed, yet they seemed to +serve their purpose better than her half-dulled ear, for, after a swift +glance at Ledscha, she stammered in her faltering speech: "What has +happened? Nothing good, certainly. It is written on your face." + +The girl nodded assent, pointed with a significant gesture to her eyes +and the open air, and went down to the shore again to convince herself +that no other vessel was approaching. + +What she had to confide to Tabus was intended for her alone, and +experience taught how far spoken words could be heard at night over the +water. + +When she had returned to the hut, she bent down to the old woman's ear +and, holding her curved hand to her lips, cried, "He is not coming!" + +Tabus shrugged her shoulders, and the smile of satisfaction which flitted +over her brown, wrinkled face showed that the news was welcome. + +For her murdered grandson's sake the girl's confession that she had given +her heart to a Greek affected her painfully; but Tabus also had something +else on her mind for her beautiful darling. + +Now she only intimated by a silent nod that she understood Ledscha, and +her head remained constantly in motion as the latter continued: "True, I +shall see him again to-morrow, but when we part, it will hardly be in +love. At any rate--do you hear, grandmother?--to-morrow must decide +everything. Therefore--do you understand me?--you must question the +cords now, to-night, for to-morrow evening what they advised might be +too late." + +"Now?" repeated Tabus in surprise, letting her gaze rest inquiringly upon +the girl. Then she took the spit from the fire, exclaiming angrily: +"Directly, do you mean? As if that could be! As if the stars obeyed us +mortals like maids or men servants! The moon must be at the full to +learn the truth from the cords. Wait, child! What is life but waiting? +Only have patience, girl! True, few know how to practise this art at +your age, and it is alien to many all their lives. But the stars! From +them, the least and the greatest, man can learn to go his way patiently, +year by year. Always the same course and the same pace. No deviation +even one hair's breadth, no swifter or slower movement for the unresting +wanderers. No sudden wrath, no ardent desire, no weariness or aversion +urges or delays them. How I love and honour them! They willingly submit +to the great law until the end of all things. What they appoint for this +hour is for it alone, not for the next one. Everything in the vast +universe is connected with them. Whoever should delay their course a +moment would make the earth reel. Night would become day, the rivers +would return to their sources. People would walk on their heads instead +of their feet, joy would be transformed to sorrow and power to servitude. +Therefore, child, the full moon has a different effect from the waxing or +waning one during the other twenty-nine nights of the month. To ask of +one what belongs to another is to expect an answer from the foreigner who +does not understand your language. How young you are, child, and how +foolish! To question the cords for you in the moonlight now is to expect +to gather grapes from thorns. Take my word for that!" + +Here she interrupted the words uttered with so much difficulty, and with +her blackish-blue cotton dress wiped her perspiring face, strangely +flushed by the exertion and the firelight. + +Ledscha had listened with increasing disappointment. + +The wise old dame was doubtless right, yet before she ventured to the +sculptor's workshop the next day she must know at every cost how matters +stood, what she had to fear or to hope from him; so after a brief silence +she ventured to ask the question, "But are there only the stars and the +cords which predict what fate holds in store for one who is so nearly +allied to you?" + +"No, child, no," was the reply. "But nothing can be clone about looking +into the future now. It requires rigid fasting from early dawn, and I +ate the dates you brought me. I inhaled the odor of the roasting ducks, +too, and then--it must be done at midnight; and at midnight your people +will be anxious if you are not at home by that time, or perhaps send a +slave to seek you here at my house, and that--that must not be done--I +must prevent it." + +"So you are expecting some one," Ledscha eagerly replied. "And I know +who it is. Your son Satabus, or one of your grandsons. Else why are the +ducks cooked? And for what is the wine jar which I just took from its +hiding place?" + +A vehement gesture of denial from Tabus contradicted the girl's +conjecture; but directly after she scanned her with a keen, searching +glance, and said: "No, no. We have nothing to fear from you, surely. +Poor Abus! Through him you will always belong to us. In spite of the +Greek, ours you are and ours you will remain. The stars confirm it, and +you have always been faithful to the old woman. You are shrewd and +steadfast. You would have been the right mate for him who was also wise +and firm. Poor, dear, brave boy! But why pity him? Because the salt +waves now flow over him? Fools that we are! There is nothing better +than death, for it is peace. And almost all of them have found it. Of +nine sons and twenty grandsons, only three are left. The others are all +calm after so much conflict and danger. How long ago it is since seven +perished at once! The last three their turn will come too. How I envy +them that best of blessings, only may they not also go before me!" + +Here she lowered her voice, and in a scarcely audible whisper murmured: +"You shall know it. My son Satabus, with his brave boys Hanno and +Labaja, are coming later in the evening. About midnight--if ye protect +them, ye powers above--they will be with me. And you, child, I know your +soul to its inmost depths. Before you would betray the last of Abus's +kindred--" + +"My hand and tongue should wither!" Ledscha passionately interrupted, and +then, with zealous feminine solicitude, she asked whether the three ducks +would suffice to satisfy the hunger of these strong men. + +The old woman smiled and pointed to a pile of fresh leaves heaped one +above another, beneath which lay several fine shad. They were not to be +cooked until the expected visitors arrived, and she had plenty of bread +besides. + +In the presence of these proofs of maternal solicitude the morose, +wrinkled countenance of the old sorceress wore a kind, almost tender +expression, and the light of joyous anticipation beamed upon her young +guest from her redrimmed eyes. + +"I am to see them once more!" cried Tabus in an agitated tone. "The +last--and all three, all! If they-- But no; they will not set to work +so near Pelusium. No, no! They will not, lest they should spoil the +meeting with the old woman. Oh, they are kind; no one knows how kind my +rough Satabus can be. He would be your father now, girl, if we could +have kept our Abus--he was the best of all--longer. It is fortunate that +you are here, for they must see you, and it would have been hard for me +to fetch the other things: the salt, the Indian pepper, and the jug of +Pelusinian zythus, which Satabus is always so fond of drinking." + +Then Ledscha went into the ruinous left wing of the house, where she took +from a covered hole in the floor what the old woman had kept for the last +of her race, and she performed her task gladly and with rare skill. + +Next she prepared the fish and the pan, and while her hands were moving +busily she earnestly entreated the old woman to gratify her wish and look +into the future for her. + +Tabus, however, persisted in her refusal, until Ledscha again called her +"grandmother," and entreated her, by the heads of the three beloved ones +whom she expected, to fulfil her desire. + +Then the old dame rose, and while the girl, panting for breath, took the +roasted ducks from the spit, the former, with her own trembling hands, +drew from the little chest which she kept concealed behind a heap of dry +reeds, branches, and straw, a shining copper dish, tossed the gold coins +which had been in it back into the box, and moistened the bottom with the +blackish-red juice of the grape from the wine jar. + +After carefully making these preparations she called Ledscha and repeated +that the cords possessed the power of prophecy only on nights when the +moon was full, and that she would use another means of looking into the +future. + +Then she commanded the girl to let her hands rest now and to think of +nothing except the questions whose answer she had at heart. Lastly, she +muttered into the vessel a series of incantations, which Ledscha repeated +after her, and gazed as if spellbound at the dark liquid which covered +the bottom. + +The girl, panting for breath, watched every movement of the sorceress, +but some time elapsed ere the latter suddenly exclaimed, "There he is!" +and then, without removing her eyes from the bottom of the vessel, she +went on, with faltering accents, as though she was describing a scene +close before her eyes. "Two young men-both Greeks, if the dress does not +deceive--one is at your right hand, the other at your left. The former +is fair-haired; the glance of his eyes is deep and constant. It is he, I +think--But no! His image is fading, and you are turning your back upon +him. You do it intentionally. No, no, you two are not destined for each +other. You think of the one with the waving black hair and beard--of him +alone. He is growing more and more distinct--a handsome man, and how his +brow shines! Yet his glance--it sees more than that of many others, but, +like the rest of his nature, it lacks steadfastness." + +Here she paused, raised her shaking head, looked at Ledscha's flushed +face, and in a grave, warning tone, said: "Many signs of happiness, but +also many dark shadows and black spots. If he is the one, child, you +must be on your guard." + +"He is," murmured the girl softly, as if speaking to herself. + +But the deaf old crone had read the words from her lips, and while gazing +intently at the wine, went on impatiently: "If the picture would only +grow more distinct! As it was, so it has remained. And now! The image +of the fair man with the deep-blue eyes melts away entirely, and a gray +cloud flutters between you and the other one with the black beard. If it +would only scatter! But we shall never make any progress in this way. +Now pay attention, girl." + +The words had an imperious tone, and with outstretched head and throbbing +heart Ledscha awaited the old woman's further commands. + +They came at once and ordered her to confess, as freely and openly as +though she was talking to herself, where she had met the man whom she +loved, how he had succeeded in snaring her heart, and how he repaid her +for the passion which he had awakened. + +These commands were so confused and mingled in utterance that any one +less familiar with the speaker would scarcely have comprehended what they +required of her, but Ledscha understood and was ready to obey. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +This reserved, thoroughly self-reliant creature would never have betrayed +to any human being what moved her soul and filled it some times with +inspiring hope, sometimes with a consuming desire for vengeance; but +Ledscha did not shrink from confiding it to the demons who were to help +her to regain her composure. + +So, obeying a swift impulse, she threw herself on her knees by the old +woman's side. Then, supporting her head with her hands, she gazed at the +still glimmering fire, and, as if one memory after another received new +life from it, she began the difficult confession: + +"I returned from my sister's brick-kiln a fortnight ago," she commenced, +while the sorceress leaned her deaf ear nearer to her lips. + +"During my absence something--I know not what it was--had saddened the +cheerful spirits of my young sister Taus. At the recent festival of +Astarte she regained them, and obtained some beautiful bright flowers to +make wreaths for herself and me. So we joined the procession of the +Tennis maidens and, as the fairest, they placed us directly behind the +daughters of Hiram. + +"When we were about to go home after the sacrifice, two young Greeks +approached us and greeted Hiram's daughters and my sister also. + +"One was a quiet young man, with narrow shoulders and light, curling +hair; the other towered above him in stature. His powerful figure was +magnificently formed, and he carried his head with its splendid black +beard proudly. + +"Since the gods snatched Abus from me, though so many men had wooed me, +I had cared for no one; but the fair-haired Greek with the sparkling +light in his blue eyes and the faint flush on his cheeks pleased me, and +his name, 'Myrtilus,' fell upon my ear like music. I was glad when he +joined me and asked, as simply as though he were merely inquiring the +way, why he had never seen me, the loveliest among the beauties in the +temple, in Tennis. + +"I scarcely noticed the other. Besides, he seemed to have eyes only for +Taus and the daughters of Hiram. He played all sorts of pranks with +them, and they laughed so heartily that, fearing the strangers, of whom +there was no lack, might class them with the Hieroduli who followed the +sailors and young men in the temple grottoes, I motioned to Taus to +restrain herself. + +"Hermon--this was the name of the tall, bearded man--noticed it and +turned toward me. In doing so his eyes met mine, and it seemed as though +sweet wine flowed through my veins, for I perceived that my appearance +paralyzed his reckless tongue. Yet he did not accost me; but Myrtilus, +the fair one, entreated me not to lessen for the beautiful children the +pleasure to which we are all born. + +"I thought this remark foolish--how much sorrow and how little pleasure +I had experienced from childhood!--so I only shrugged my shoulders +disdainfully. + +"Then the black-bearded man asked if, young and beautiful as I was, +I had forgotten to believe in mirth and joy. My reply was intended to +tell him that, though this was not the case, I did not belong to those +who spent their lives in loud laughing and extravagant jests. + +"The answer was aimed at the black-bearded man's reckless conduct; but +the fair-haired one parried the attack in his stead, and retorted that +I seemed to misunderstand his friend. Pleasure belonged to a festival, +as light belonged to the sun; but usually Hermon laboured earnestly, and +only a short time before he had saved the little daughter of Gula, the +sailor's wife, from a burning house. + +"The other did not let Myrtilus finish, but exclaimed that this would +only confirm my opinion of him, for this very leap into the flames had +afforded him the utmost joy. + +"The words fell from his bearded lips as if the affair was very simple, a +mere matter of course, yet I knew that the bold deed had nearly cost him +his life--I said to myself that no one but our Abus would have done it, +and then I may have looked at him more kindly, for he cried out that I, +too, understood how to smile, and would never cease doing so if I knew +how it became me. + +"As he spoke he turned away from the girls to my side, while Myrtilus +joined them. Hermon's handsome face had become grave and thoughtful, and +when our eyes met I could have wished that they would never part again. +But on account of the others I soon looked down at the ground and we +walked on in this way, side by side, for some distance; but as he did not +address a word to me, only sometimes gazed into my face as if seeking or +examining, I grew vexed and asked him why he, who had just entertained +the others gaily enough, had suddenly become so silent. + +"He shook his head and answered--every word impressed itself firmly upon +my memory: 'Because speech fails even the eloquent when confronted with a +miracle.' + +"What, except me and my beauty, could be meant by that? But he probably +perceived how strangely his words confused me, for he suddenly seized my +hand, pressing it so firmly that it hurt me, and while I tried to +withdraw it he whispered, 'How the immortals must love you, that they +lend you so large a share of their own divine beauty!'" + +"Greek honey," interposed the sorceress, "but strong enough to turn +such a poor young head. And what more happened? The demons desire to +hear all--all--down to the least detail--all!" + +"The least detail?" repeated Ledscha reluctantly, gazing into vacancy as +if seeking aid. Then, pressing her hand on her brow, she indignantly +exclaimed: "Ah, if I only knew myself how it conquered me so quickly! +If I could understand and put it into intelligible words, I should need +no stranger's counsel to regain my peace of mind. But as it is! I was +driven by my anxiety from temple to temple, and now to you and your +demons. I went from hour to hour as though in a burning fever. If I +left the house firmly resolved to bethink myself and, as I had bidden my +sister, avoid danger and the gossip of the people, my feet still led me +only where he desired to meet me. Oh, and how well he understood how to +flatter, to describe my beauty! Surely it was impossible not to believe +in it and trust its power!" + +Here she hesitated, and while gazing silently into vacancy a sunny light +flitted over her grave face, and, drawing a long breath, she began again: +"I could curse those days of weakness and ecstasy which now--at least I +hope so--are over. Yet they were wonderfuly beautiful, and never can I +forget them!" + +Here she again bowed her head silently, but the old dame nodded +encouragingly, saying eagerly; "Well, well! I understand all that, and +I shall learn what more is coming, for whatever appears in the mirror of +the wine is infallible--but it must become still more distinct. Let me-- +first conjure up the seventy-seven great and the seven hundred and +seventy-seven little demons. They will do their duty, if you open your +heart to us without reserve." + +This demand sounded urgent enough, and Ledscha pressed her head against +the old woman's shoulder as if seeking assistance, exclaiming: "I can +not--no, I can not! As if the spirits who obey you did not know already +what had happened and will happen in the future! Let them search the +depths of my soul. There they will see, with their own eyes, what I +should never, never succeed in describing. I could not tell even you, +grandmother, for who among the Biamites ever found such lofty, heart- +bewitching words as Hermon? And what looks, what language he had at +command, when he desired to put an end to my jealous complaints! Could I +still be angry with him, when he confessed that there were other beauties +here whom he admired, and then gazed deep into my eyes and said that when +I appeared they all vanished like the stars at sunrise? Then every +reproach was forgotten, and resentment was transformed into doubly ardent +longing. This, however, by no means escaped his keen glance, which +detects everything, and so he urged me with touching, ardent entreaties +to go with him to his studio, though but for one poor, brief hour." + +"And you granted his wish?" Tabus anxiously interrupted. + +"Yes," she answered frankly, "but it was the evening of the day before +yesterday--that was the only time. Secrecy--nothing, Grand mother, was +more hateful to me from childhood." + +"But he," the old woman again interrupted, "he--I know it--he praised it +to you as the noblest virtue." + +A silent nod from Ledscha confirmed this conjecture, and she added +hesitatingly: "'Only far from the haunts of men,' he said, 'when the +light had vanished, did we hear the nightingale trill in the dark +thickets. Those are his own words, and though it angers you, +Grandmother, they are true." + +"Until the secrecy is over, and the sun shines upon misery," the +sorceress answered in her faltering speech, with menacing severity. + +"And beneath the tempter's roof you enjoyed the lauded secret love until +the cock roused you?" + +"No," replied Ledscha firmly. "Did I ever tell you a lie, that you look +at me so incredulously?" + +"Incredulously?" replied the old woman in protest. "I only trembled at +the danger into which you plunged." + +"There could be no greater peril," the girl admitted. "I foresaw it +clearly enough, and yet--this is the most terrible part of it--yet my +feet moved as if obeying a will of their own, instead of mine, and when I +crossed his threshold, resistance was silenced, for I was received like a +princess. The lofty, spacious apartment was brilliantly illuminated, and +the door was garlanded with flowers. + +"It was magnificent! Then, in a manner as respectful as if welcoming an +illustrious guest, he invited me to take my place opposite to him, that +he might form a goddess after my model. This was the highest flattery of +all, and I willingly assumed the position he directed, but he looked at +me from every side, with sparkling eyes, and asked me to let down my hair +and remove the veil from the back of my head. Then--need I assure you +of it?--my blood boiled with righteous indignation; but instead of being +ashamed of the outrage, he raised his hand to my head and pulled the +veil. Resentment and wrath suddenly flamed in my soul, and before he +could detain me I had left the room. In spite of his representations and +entreaties, I did not enter it again." + +"Yet," asked the sorceress in perplexity, "you once more obeyed his +summons?" + +"Yesterday also I could not help it," Ledscha answered softly. + +"Fool!" cried Tabus indignantly, but the girl exclaimed, in a tone of +sincere shame: "You do well to call me that. Perhaps I deserve still +harsher names, for, in spite of the sternness with which I forbade him +ever to remind me of the studio by even a single word, I soon listened to +him willingly when he besought me, if I really loved him, not to refuse +what would make him happy. If I allowed him to model my figure, his +renown and greatness would be secured. And how clearly he made me +understand this! I could not help believing it, and at last promised +that, in spite of my father and the women of Tennis, I would grant all, +all, and accompany him again to the work room if he would have patience +until the night of the next day but one, when the moon would be at the +full." + +"And he?" asked Tabus anxiously. + +"He called the brief hours which I required him to wait an eternity," +replied the girl, "and they seemed no less long to me--but neither +entreaties nor urgency availed; what you predicted for me from the +cords last year strengthened my courage. I should wantonly throw away-- +I constantly reminded myself--whatever great good fortune Fate destined +for me if I yielded to my longing and took prematurely what was already +so close at hand; for--do you remember?--at that time it was promised +that on a night when the moon was at the full a new period of the utmost +happiness would begin for me. And now--unless everything deceives me-- +now it awaits me. Whether it will come with the full moon of to-morrow +night, or the next, or the following one, your spirits alone can know; +but yesterday was surely too soon to expect the new happiness." + +"And he?" asked the old dame. + +"He certainly did not make it easy for me," was the reply, "but as I +remained firm, he was obliged to yield. I granted only his earnest +desire to see me again this evening. I fancy I can still hear him +exclaim, with loving impetuosity, that he hated every day and every night +which kept him from me. And now? Now? For another's sake he lets me +wait for him in vain, and if his slave does not lie, this is only the +beginning of his infamous, treacherous game." + +She had uttered the last words in a hoarse cry, but Tabus answered +soothingly: "Hush, child, hush! The first thing is to see clearly, if I +am to interpret correctly what is shown me here. The demons are to be +fully informed they have required it. But you? Did you come to hear +whether the spirits still intend to keep the promise they made then?" + +Ledscha eagerly assented to this question, and the old woman continued +urgently: "Then tell me first what suddenly incenses you so violently +against the man whom you have so highly praised?" + +The girl related what had formerly been rumoured in Tennis, and which she +had just heard from the slave. + +He had lured other women--even her innocent young sister--to his studio. +Now he wanted to induce Ledscha to go there, not from love, but merely to +model her limbs so far as he considered them useful for his work. He was +in haste to do so because he intended to return to the capital +immediately. Whether he meant to leave her in the lurch after using her +for his selfish purposes, she also desired to learn from the sorceress. +But she would ask him that question herself to-morrow. Woe betide him if +the spirits recognised in him the deceiver she now believed him. + +Hitherto Tabus had listened quietly, but when she closed her passionate +threats with the exclamation that he also deserved punishment for +alienating Gula, the sailor's wife, from her absent husband, the +enchantress also lost her composure and cried out angrily: "If that is +true, if the Greek really committed that crime--then certainly. The +foreigners destroy, with their laughing levity, much that is good among +us. We must endure it; but whoever broke the Biamite's marriage bond, +from the earliest times, forfeited his life, and so, the gods be +thanked, it has remained. This very last year the fisherman Phabis +killed with a hammer the Alexandrian clerk who had stolen into his house, +and drowned his faithless wife. But your lover--though you should weep +for sorrow till your eyes are red--" + +"I would denounce the traitor, if he made himself worthy of death," +Ledscha passionately interrupted, with flashing eyes. "What portion of +the slave's charge is true will appear at once--and if it proves correct, +to morrow's full moon shall indeed bring me the greatest bliss; for +though, when I was younger and happier, I contradicted Abus when he +declared that one thing surpassed even the raptures of love--satisfied +vengeance--now I would agree with him." + +A loud cry of "Right! right!" from the old crone's lips expressed the +gray-haired Biamite's pleasure in this worthy daughter of her race. + +Then she again gazed at the wine in the vessel, and this time she did so +silently, as if spellbound by the mirror on its bottom. + +At last, raising her aged head, she said in a tone of the most sincere +compassion: "Poor child! Yes, you would be cruelly and shamefully +deceived. Tear your love for this man from your heart, like poisonous +hemlock. But the full moon which is to bring you great happiness is +scarcely the next, perhaps not even the one which follows it, but surely +and certainly a later one will rise, by whose light the utmost bliss +awaits you. True, I see it come from another man than the Greek." + +The girl had listened with panting breath. She believed as firmly in the +infallibility of the knowledge which the witch received from the demons +who obeyed her as she did in her own existence. + +All her happiness, all that had filled her joyous soul with freshly +awakened hopes, now lay shattered at her feet, and sobbing aloud she +threw herself down beside the old woman and buried her beautiful face in +her lap. + +Completely overwhelmed by the great misfortune which had come upon her, +without thinking of the vengeance which had just made her hold her head +so proudly erect, or the rare delight which a later full moon was to +bring, she remained motionless, while the old woman, who loved her and +who remembered an hour in the distant past when she herself had been +dissolved in tears at the prediction of another prophetess, laid her +trembling hand upon her head. + +Let the child weep her fill. + +Time, perhaps vengeance also, cured many a heartache, and when they had +accomplished this office upon the girl who had once been betrothed to her +grandson, perhaps the full moon bringing happiness, whose appearance +first the cords, then the wine mirror in the bottom of the vessel had +predicted, would come to Ledscha, and she believed she knew at whose side +the girl could regain what she had twice lost--satisfaction for the young +heart that yearned for love. + +"Only wait, wait," she cried at last, repeating the consoling words again +and again, till Ledscha raised her tear-stained face. + +Impulse urged her to kiss the sufferer, but as she bent over the mourner +the copper dish slipped from her knees and fell rattling on the floor. + +Ledscha started up in terror, and at the same moment the Alexandrian's +packs of hounds on the shore opposite to the Owl's Nest began to bark so +loudly that the deaf old woman heard the baying as if it came from a +great distance; but the girl ran out into the open air and, returning at +the end of a few minutes, called joyously to the sorceress from the +threshold, "They are coming!" + +"They, they," faltered Tabus, hurriedly pushing her disordered gray hair +under the veil on the back of her head, while exclaiming, scarcely able +to use her voice in her joyous excitement: "I knew it. He keeps his word. +My Satabus is coming. The ducks, the bread, the fish, girl! Good, loyal +heart." + +Then a wide, long shadow fell across the dimly lighted room, and from the +darkened threshold a strangely deep, gasping peal of laughter rang from a +man's broad breast. + +"Satabus! My boy!" the witch's shriek rose above the peculiar sound. + +"Mother!" answered the gray-bearded lips of the pirate. + +For one short moment he remained standing at the door with outstretched +arms. Then he took a step toward the beloved being from whom he had been +separated more than two years, and suddenly throwing himself down before +her, while his huge lower limbs covered part of the floor, he stretched +his hands toward the little crooked old woman, who had not strength to +rise from her crouching posture, and seizing her with loving impetuosity, +lifted her as if she were a child, and placing her on his knees, drew her +into a close embrace. + +Tabus willingly submitted to this act of violence, and passing her thin +left arm around her son's bull neck with her free hand, patted his +bearded cheeks, wrinkled brow, and bushy, almost white hair. + +No intelligible words passed the lips of either the mother or the son at +this meeting; nothing but a confused medley of tender and uncouth natural +sounds, which no language knows. + +Yet they understood each other, and Ledscha, who had moved silently +aside, also comprehended that these low laughs, moans, cries, and +stammers were the expressions of love of two deeply agitated hearts, +and for a moment an emotion of envy seized her. + +The gods had early bereft her of her mother, while this savage fighter +against the might of the waves, justice, law, and their pitiless, too +powerful defenders, this man, already on the verge of age, still +possessed his, and sunned his rude heart in her love. + +It was some time before the old pirate had satisfied his yearning for +affection and placed his light burden down beside the fire. + +Tabus now regained the power to utter distinct words, and, difficult as +it was for her half paralyzed tongue to speak, she poured a flood of +tender pet names and affectionate thanks upon the head of her rude son, +the last one left, who had grown gray in bloody warfare; but with the +eyes of her soul she again saw in him the little boy whom, with warm +maternal love, she had once pressed to her breast and cradled in her +arms. + +When, in his rough fashion, he warmly returned her professions of +tenderness, her eyes grew wet with tears, and at the question what he +could still find in her, a withered, good-for-nothing little creature who +just dragged along from one day to another, an object of pity to herself, +he again burst into his mighty laugh, and his deep voice shouted: "Do you +want to know that? But where would be the lime that holds us on the +ships if you were no longer here? The best capture wouldn't be worth a +drachm if we could not say, 'Hurrah! how pleased the old mother will be +when she hears it!' And when things go badly, when men have been wounded +or perished in the sea, we should despair of our lives if we did not know +that whatever troubles our hearts the old mother feels, too, and we shall +always get from her the kind words needed to press on again. And then, +when the strait is sore and life is at stake, whence would come the +courage to cast the die if we did not know that you are with us day and +night, and will send your spirits to help us if the need is great? +Hundreds of times they rushed to our aid just at the right time, and +assisted us to hew off the hand of the foe which was already choking us. +But that is only something extra, which we could do without, if +necessary. That you are here, that a man still has his dear mother, +whose heart wishes us everything good and our foes death and destruction, +whose aged eyes will weep if anything harms us, that, mother dear, that +is the main thing!" + +He bent his clumsy figure over her as he spoke, and cautiously, as if he +were afraid of doing her some injury, kissed her head with tender care. + +Then, rising, he turned to Ledscha, whom he always regarded as his dead +son's betrothed bride, and greeted her with sincere kindness. + +Her great beauty strengthened his plan of uniting her to his oldest son, +and when the latter entered the house he cast a searching glance at him. + +The result was favourable, for a smile of satisfaction flitted over his +scarred features. + +The young pirate's stately figure was not inferior in height to the old +one's, but his shoulders were narrower, his features less broad and full, +and his hair and beard had the glossy raven hue of the blackbird's +plumage. + +The young man paused on the threshold in embarrassment, and gazed at +Ledscha with pleased surprise. When he saw her last his grandmother had +not been stricken by paralysis, and the girl was the promised wife of his +older brother, to whom custom forbade him to raise his eyes. + +He had thought of her numberless times as the most desirable of women. +Now nothing prevented his wooing her, and finding her far more beautiful +than memory had showed her, strengthened his intention of winning her. + +This purpose had matured in the utmost secrecy. He had concealed it even +from his father and his brother Labaja, who was still keeping watch on +the ships, for he had a reserved disposition, and though obliged to obey +his father, wherever it was possible he pursued his own way. + +Though Satabus shared Hanno's wish, it vexed him that at this meeting, +after so long a separation, his son should neglect his beloved and +honoured mother for the sake of a beautiful girl. So, turning his back +on Ledscha, he seized the young giant's shoulder with a powerful grip to +drag him toward the old woman; but Hanno perceived his error, and now, in +brief but affectionate words, showed his grandmother that he, too, +rejoiced at seeing her again. + +The sorceress gazed at her grandson's stalwart figure with a pleasant +smile, and, after welcoming him, exclaimed to Ledscha: "It seems as if +Abus had risen from the grave." + +The girl vouchsafed her dead lover's brother a brief glance, and, while +pouring oil upon the fish in the pan, answered carelessly: "He is a +little like him." + +"Not only in person," remarked the old pirate, with fatherly pride, and +pointing to the broad scar across the young man's forehead, visible even +in the dim light, he added by way of explanation: "When we took vengeance +for Abus, he bore away that decoration of honour. The blow nearly made +him follow his brother, but the youth first sent the souls of half a +dozen enemies to greet him in the nether world." + +Then Ledscha held out her hand to Hanno, and permitted him to detain it +till an ardent glance from his black eyes met hers, and she withdrew it +blushing. As she did so she said to Tabus: "You can put them on the +fire, and there stands whatever else you need. I must go home now." + +In taking leave of the men she asked if she could hope to find them here +again the next day. "The full moon will make it damnably light," replied +the father, "but they will scarcely venture to assail the right of +asylum, and the ships anchored according to regulation at Tanis, with a +cargo of wood from Sinope. Besides, for two years people have believed +that we have abandoned these waters, and the guards think that if we +should return, the last time to choose would be these bright nights. +Still, I should not like to decide anything positively about the morrow +until news came from Labaja." + +"You will find me, whatever happens," Hanno declared after his father had +ceased speaking. Old Tabus exchanged a swift glance with her son, and +Satabus said: "He is his own master. If I am obliged to go--which may +happen--then, my girl, you must be content with the youth. Besides, you +are better suited to him than to the graybeard." + +He shook hands with Ledscha as he spoke, and Hanno accompanied her to her +boat. + +At first he was silent, but as she was stepping into the skiff he +repeated his promise of meeting her here the following night. + +"Very well," she answered quickly. "Perhaps I may have a commission to +give you." + +"I will fulfil it," he answered firmly. + +"To-morrow, then," she called, "unless something unexpected +prevents." + +But when seated on the thwart she again turned to him, and asked: "Does +it need a long time to bring your ship, with brave men on board, to this +place?" + +"We can be here in four hours, and with favourable winds still sooner," +was the reply. + +"Even if it displeases your father?" + +"Even then, and though the gods, many as there are, should forbid--if +only your gratitude will be gained." + +"It will," she answered firmly, and the water plashed lightly under the +strokes of her oars. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Cast my warning to the winds, pity will also fly away with it +Must--that word is a ploughshare which suits only loose soil +Tender and uncouth natural sounds, which no language knows +There is nothing better than death, for it is peace +Tone of patronizing instruction assumed by the better informed +Wait, child! What is life but waiting? + + + + + + +ARACHNE + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 2. + + +CHAPTER V. + +In the extreme northern portion of the little city of Tennis a large, +perfectly plain whitewashed building stood on an open, grass-grown +square. + +The side facing the north rested upon a solid substructure of hard blocks +of hewn stone washed by the waves. + +This protecting wall extended along both sides of the long, plain +edifice, and prevented the water from overflowing the open space which +belonged to it. + +Archias, the owner of the largest weaving establishment in Tennis, the +father of the Alexandrian aristocrat who had arrived the evening before, +was the owner of the house, as well as of the broad plain on which he had +had it built, with the indestructible sea wall, to serve as a storehouse +to receive the supplies of linen, flax, and wool which were manufactured +in his factories. + +It was favourably situated for this purpose, for the raw materials could +be moved from the ships which brought them to Tennis directly into the +building. But as the factories were at a considerable distance, the +transportation required much time and expense, and therefore Archias had +had a canal dug connecting the workshops with the water, and at its end +erected a new storehouse, which rendered a second transportation of the +ships' cargoes unnecessary. + +The white mansion had not yet been devoted to any other purpose when the +owner determined to offer the spacious empty rooms of the ware house to +his nephews, the sculptors Hermon and Myrtilus, for the production of two +works with whose completion he associated expectations of good fortune +both for the young artists, who were his nephews and wards, and himself. + +The very extensive building which now contained the studios and spacious +living apartments for the sculptors and their slaves would also have +afforded ample room for his daughter and her attendants, but Daphne had +learned from the reports of the artists that rats, mice, and other +disagreeable vermin shared the former storehouse with them, so she had +preferred to have tents pitched in the large open space which belonged +it. + +True, the broad field was exposed to the burning sun, and its soil was +covered only with sand and pitiably scorched turf, but three palm trees, +a few sunt acacias, two carob trees, a small clump of fig trees, and the +superb, wide-branched sycamore on the extreme outer edge had won for it +the proud name of a "garden." + +Now a great change in its favour had taken place, for Daphne's beautiful +tent, with walls and top of blue and white striped sail-cloth, and the +small adjoining tents of the same colours, gave it a brighter aspect. + +The very roomy main tent contained the splendidly furnished sitting and +dining rooms. The beds occupied by Daphne and her companion, Chrysilla, +had been placed in an adjoining one, which was nearly as large, and the +cook, with his assistants, was quartered in a third. + +The head keeper, the master of the hounds, and most of the slaves +remained in the transports which had followed the state galley. Some had +slept under the open sky beside the dog kennel hastily erected for +Daphne's pack of hounds. + +So, on the morning after the wholly unexpected arrival of the owner's +daughter, the "garden" in front of the white house, but yesterday +a desolate field, resembled an encampment, whose busy life was varied +and noisy enough. + +Slaves and freedmen had been astir before sunrise, for Daphne was up +betimes in order to begin the hunt in the early hour when the birds left +their secret nooks on the islands. + +Her cousins, the young sculptors, to please her, had gone out, too, but +the sport did not last long; for when the market place of Tennis, just +between the morning and noontide hours, was most crowded, the little +boats which the hunters had used again touched the shore. + +With them and Daphne's servants seafaring men also left the boats-- +Biamite fishermen and boatmen, who knew the breeding places and nests of +the feathered prey--and before them, barking loudly and shaking their +dripping bodies, the young huntress's brown and white spotted dogs ran +toward the tents. + +Dark-skinned slaves carried the game, which had been tied in bunches +while in the boats, to the white house, where they laid three rows of +large water fowl, upon the steps leading to the entrance. + +Daphne's arrows were supposed to have killed all these, but the master of +the hunt had taken care to place among his mistress's booty some of the +largest pelicans and vultures which had been shot by the others. + +Before retiring to her tent, she inspected the result of the shooting +expedition and was satisfied. + +She had been told of the numbers of birds in this archipelago, but the +quantity of game which had been killed far exceeded her greatest +expectations, and her pleasant blue eyes sparkled with joy as she began +to examine the birds which had been slaughtered in so short a time. + +Yet, ere she had finished the task, a slight shadow flitted over her +well-formed and attractive though not beautiful features. + +The odour emanating from so many dead fowls, on which the sun, already +high in the heavens, was shining, became disagreeable to her, and a +strong sense of discomfort, whose cause, however, she did not seek, made +her turn from them. + +The movement with which she did so was full of quiet, stately grace, and +the admiring glance with which Hermon, a tall, black-bearded young man, +watched it, showed that he knew how to value the exquisite symmetry of +her figure. + +The somewhat full outlines of her form and the self-possession of her +bearing would have led every one to think her a young matron rather than +a girl; but the two artists who accompanied her on the shooting party had +been intimate with her from childhood, and knew how much modesty and +genuine kindness of heart were united with the resolute nature of this +maiden, who numbered two and twenty years. + +Fair-haired Myrtilus seemed to pay little heed to the game which Gras, +Archias's Bithynian house steward, was counting, but black-bearded Hermon +had given it more attention, and when Daphne drew back he nodded +approvingly, and pointing to the heap of motionless inhabitants of the +air, exclaimed with sincere regret: "Fie upon us human wretches! Would +the most bloodthirsty hyena destroy such a number of living creatures in +a few hours? Other beasts of prey do not kill even one wretched sparrow +more than they need to appease their hunger. But we and you, tender- +hearted priestess of a gracious goddess--leading us friends of the Muse-- +we pursue a different course! What a mound of corpses! And what will +become of it? Perhaps a few geese and ducks will go into the kitchen; +but the rest--the red flamingoes and the brave pelicans who feed their +young with their own blood? They are only fit to throw away, for the +Biamites eat no game that is shot, and your black slaves, too, would +refuse to taste it. So we destroy hundreds of lives for pastime. Base +word! As if we had so many superfluous hours at our disposal ere we +descend into Hades. A philosopher among brutes would be entitled to cry +out, 'Shame upon you, raging monster!'" + +"Shame on you, you perpetual grumbler," interrupted Daphne in an offended +tone. "Who would ever have thought it cruel to test the steady hand and +the keen eye upon senseless animals in the joyous chase? But what shall +we call the fault-finder, who spoils his friend's innocent enjoyment of a +happy morning by his sharp reproaches?" + +Hermon shrugged his shoulders, and, in a voice which expressed far more +compassion than resentment, answered: "If this pile of dead birds pleases +you, go on with the slaughter. You can sometimes save the arrows and +catch the swarming game with your hands. If your lifeless victims yonder +were human beings, after all, they would have cause to thank you; for +what is existence?" + +"To these creatures, everything," said Myrtilus, the Alexandrian's other +cousin, beckoning to Daphne, who had summoned him to her aid by a +beseeching glance, to draw nearer. "Gladly as I would always and +everywhere uphold your cause, I can not do so this time. Only look here! +Your arrow merely broke the wing of yonder sea eagle, and he is just +recovering from the shock. What a magnificent fellow! How wrathfully +and vengefully his eyes sparkle! How fiercely he stretches his brave +head toward us in helpless fury, and--step back!--how vigorously, spite +of the pain of his poor, wounded, drooping pinion, he flaps the other, +and raises his yellow claws to punish his foes! His plumage glistens and +shines exquisitely where it lies smooth, and how savagely he puffs out +the feathers on his neck! A wonderful spectacle! The embodiment of +powerful life! And the others by his side. We transformed the poor +creatures into a motionless, miserable mass, and just now they were +cleaving the air with their strong wings, proclaiming by proud, glad +cries to their families among the reeds their approach with an abundant +store of prey. Every one was a feast to the eyes before our arrows +struck it, and now? When Hermon, with his pitying heart, condemns this +kind of hunting, he is right. It deprives free, harmless creatures of +their best possession--life--and us thereby of a pleasant sight. In +general, a bird's existence seems to me also of little value, but beauty, +to me as to you, transcends everything else. What would existence be +without it? and wherever it appears, to injure it is infamous." + +Here a slight cough interrupted the young artist, and the moist glitter +of his blue eyes also betrayed that he was suffering from an attack of +severe pain in his lungs; but Daphne nodded assent to him, and to Hermon +also, and commanded the steward Gras to take the birds out of her sight. + +"But," said the Bithynian, "our mistress will doubtless allow us at least +to take the hard lower part of the pelicans' beaks, and the wing feathers +of the flamingoes and birds of prey, to show our master on our return as +trophies." + +"Trophies?" repeated the girl scornfully. "Hermon, you are better +than I and the rest of us, and I see that you are right. Where game +flies toward us in such quantities, hunting becomes almost murder. And +successes won by so slight an exertion offer little charm. The second +expedition before sunset, Gras, shall be given up. The master of the +hounds, with his men and the dogs, will return home on the transports +this very day. I am disgusted with sport here. Birds of prey, and those +only when brought down from the air, would probably be the right game in +this place." + +"Those are the very ones to which I would grant life," said Hermon, +smiling, "because they enjoy it most." + +"Then we will at least save the sea eagle," cried Daphne, and ordered the +steward, who was already having the dead fowl carried off, to care for +the wounded bird of prey; but when the latter struck furiously with his +beak at the Biamite who attempted to remove it, Hermon again turned to +the girl, saying: "I thank you in the eagle's name for your good will, +you best of women; but I fear even the most careful nursing will not help +this wounded creature, for the higher one seeks to soar, the more surely +he goes to destruction if his power of flight is broken. Mine, too, was +seriously injured." + +"Here?" asked Daphne anxiously. "At this time, which is of such great +importance to you and your art?" + +Then she interrupted herself to ask Myrtilus's opinion, but as he had +gone away coughing, she continued, in a softer tone: "How anxious you +can make one, Hermon! Has anything really happened which clouds your +pleasure in creating, and your hope of success?" + +"Let us wait," he answered, hastily throwing back his head, with its +thick, waving raven locks. "If, in leaping over the ditch, I should fall +into the marsh, I must endure it, if thereby I can only reach the shore +where my roses bloom!" + +"Then you fear that you have failed in the Demeter?" asked Daphne. + +"Failed?" repeated the other. "That seems too strong. Only the work is +not proving as good as I originally expected. For the head we both used +a model--you will see--whose fitness could not be surpassed. But the +body! Myrtilus knows how earnestly I laboured, and, without looking to +the right or the left, devoted all my powers to the task of creation. +True, the models did not remain. But even had a magic spell doubled my +ability, the toil would still have been futile. The error is there; yet +I am repairing it. To be sure, many things must aid me in doing so, for +which I now hope; who knows whether it will not again be in vain? You +are acquainted with my past life. It has never yet granted me any great, +complete success, and if I was occasionally permitted to pluck a flower, +my hands were pricked by thorns and nettles!" + +He pursed up his lips as if to hiss the unfriendly fate, and Daphne felt +that he, whose career she had watched from childhood with the interest of +affection, and to whom, though she did not confess it even to herself, +she had clung for years with far more than sisterly love, needed a kind +word. + +Her heart ached, and it was difficult for her to assume the cheerful tone +which she desired to use; but she succeeded, and her voice sounded gay +and careless enough as she exclaimed to the by no means happy artist and +Myrtilus, who was just returning: "Give up your foolish opposition, you +obstinate men, and let me see what you have accomplished during this long +time. You promised my father that you would show your work to no one +before him, but believe my words, if he were here he would give you back +the pledge and lead me himself to the last production of your study. +Compassion would compel you disobliging fellows to yield, if you could +only imagine how curiosity tortures us women. We can conquer it where +more indifferent matters are concerned. But here!--it need not make you +vainer than you already are, but except my father, you are dearest in all +the world to me. And then, only listen! In my character as priestess of +Demeter I hereby release you from your vow, and thus from any evil +consequences of your, moreover, very trivial guilt; for a father and +daughter who live together, as I do with your uncle, are just the same as +one person. So come! Wearied as I am by the miserable hunting excursion +which caused me such vexation, in the presence of your works--rely upon +it--I shall instantly be gay again, and all my life will thank you for +your noble indulgence." + +While speaking, she walked toward the white house, beckoning to the young +men with a winning, encouraging smile. + +It seemed to produce the effect intended, for the artists looked at +each other irresolutely, and Hermon was already asking himself whether +Daphne's arguments had convinced Myrtilus also, when the latter, in great +excitement, called after her: "How gladly we would do it, but we must not +fulfil your wish, for it was no light promise--no, your father exacted an +oath. He alone can absolve us from the obligation of showing him, before +any one else, what we finish here. It is not to be submitted to the +judges until after he has seen it." + +"Listen to me!" Daphne interrupted with urgent warmth, and began to +assail the artists with fresh entreaties. + +For the second time black-bearded Hermon seemed inclined to give up his +resistance, but Myrtilus cried in zealous refusal: "For Hermon's sake, +I insist upon my denial. The judges must not talk about the work until +both tasks are completed, for then each of us will be as good as certain +of a prize. I myself believe that the one for Demeter will fall to me." + +"But Hermon will succeed better with the Arachne?" asked Daphne eagerly. + +Myrtilus warmly assented, but Hermon exclaimed: "If I could only rely +upon the good will of the judges!" + +"Why not?" the girl interrupted. "My father is just, the king is an +incorruptible connoisseur, and certainly yesterday evening you, too, +believed the others to be honest men; as for your fellow-candidate +Myrtilus, he will no more grudge a prize to you than to himself." + +"Why should he?" asked Hermon, as if he, too, was perfectly sure of his +friend. "We have shared many a bit of bread together. When we +determined upon this competition each knew the other's ability. Your +father commissioned us to create peaceful Demeter, the patroness of +agriculture, peace, marriage, and Arachne, the mortal who was the most +skilful of spinners; for he is both a grain dealer and owner of spinning +factories. The best Demeter is to be placed in the Alexandrian temple of +the goddess, to whose priestesses you belong; the less successful one in +your own house in the city, but whose Demeter is destined for the +sanctuary, I repeat, is now virtually decided. Myrtilus will add this +prize to the others, and grant me with all his heart the one for the +Arachne. The subject, at any rate, is better adapted to my art than to +his, and so I should be tolerably certain of my cause. Yet my anxiety +about the verdict of the judges remains, for surely you know how much the +majority are opposed to my tendency. I, and the few Alexandrians who, +following me, sacrifice beauty to truth, swim against the stream which +bears you, Myrtilus, and those who are on your side, smoothly along. I +know that you do it from thorough conviction, but with other acknowledged +great artists and our judges, you, too, demand beauty--always beauty. Am +I right, or wrong? Is not any one who refuses to follow in the footsteps +left by the ancients of Athens as certain of condemnation as the +convicted thief or murderer? But I will not follow the lead of the +Athenians, inimitably great though they are in their own way, because I +would fain be more than the ancients of Ilissus: a disciple and an +Alexandrian." + +"The never-ending dispute," Myrtilus answered his fellow-artist, with a +cordiality in which, nevertheless, there was a slight accent of pity. + +"Surely you know it, Daphne. To me the ideal and its embodiment within +the limits of the natural, according to the models of Phidias, +Polycletus, and Myron is the highest goal, but he and his co-workers seek +objects nearer at hand." + +"Or rather we found them," cried Hermon, interrupting his companion with +angry positiveness. "The city of Alexandria, which is growing with +unprecedented vigour, is their home. There, the place to which every +race on earth sends a representative, the pulse of the whole world is +throbbing. There, whoever does not run with the rest is run over; there, +but one thing is important--actual life. Science has undertaken to +fathom it, and the results which it gains with measures and numbers is of +a different value and more lasting than that which the idle sport of the +intellects of the older philosophers obtained. But art, her nobler +sister, must pursue the same paths. To copy life as it is, to reproduce +the real as it presents itself, not as it might or must be, is the task +which I set myself. If you would have me carve gods, whom man can not +represent to himself except in his own form, allow me also to represent +them as reality shows me mortals. I will form them after the models of +the greatest, highest, and best, and also, when the subject permits, in +powerful action in accordance with my own power, but always as real men +from head to foot. We must also cling to the old symbols which those who +order demand, because they serve as signs of recognition, and my Demeter, +too, received the bundle of wheat." + +As the excited artist uttered this challenge a defiant glance rested upon +his comrade and Daphne. But Myrtilus, with a soothing gesture of the +hand, answered: "What is the cause of this heat? I at least watch your +work with interest, and do not dispute your art so long as it does not +cross the boundaries of the beautiful, which to me are those of art." + +Here the conversation was interrupted; the steward Gras brought a letter +which a courier from Pelusium had just delivered. + +Thyone, the wife of Philippus, the commander of the strong border +fortress of Pelusium, near Tennis, had written it. She and her husband +had been intimate friends of Hermon's father, who had served under the +old general as hipparch, and through him had become well acquainted with +his wealthy brother Archias and his relatives. + +The Alexandrian merchant had informed Philippus--whom, like all the +world, he held in the highest honour as one of the former companions of +Alexander the Great--of his daughter's journey, and his wife now +announced her visit to Daphne. She expected to reach Tennis that evening +with her husband and several friends, and mentioned especially her +anticipation of meeting Hermon, the son of her beloved Erigone and her +husband's brave companion in arms. + +Daphne and Myrtilus received the announcement with pleasure; but +Hermon, who only the day before had spoken of the old couple with great +affection, seemed disturbed by the arrival of the unexpected guests. To +avoid them entirely appeared impossible even to him, but he declared in +an embarrassed tone, and without giving any reason, that he should +scarcely be able to devote the entire evening to Daphne and the +Pelusinians. + +Then he turned quickly toward the house, to which a signal from his slave +Bias summoned him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +As soon as Hermon had disappeared behind the door Daphne begged Myrtilus +to accompany her into the tent. + +After taking their seats there, the anxious exclamation escaped her lips: +"How excited he became again! The stay in Tennis does not seem to agree +with you--you are coughing, and father expected so much benefit to your +ailment from the pure moist air, and to Hermon still more from the lonely +life here in your society. But I have rarely seen him more strongly +enlisted in behalf of the tendency opposed to beauty." + +"Then your father must be satisfied with the good effect which our +residence here has exerted upon me," replied Myrtilus. "I know that he +was thinking of my illness when he proposed to us to complete his +commissions here. Hermon--the good fellow!--could never have been +induced to leave his Alexandria, had not the hope of thereby doing me a +kindness induced him to follow me. I will add it to the many for which +I am already indebted to his friendship. As for art, he will go his own +way, and any opposition would be futile. A goddess--he perceives it +himself--was certainly the most unfortunate subject possible for his--" + +"Is his Demeter a complete failure?" asked Daphne anxiously. + +"Certainly not," replied Myrtilus eagerly. + +"The head is even one of his very best. Only the figure awakens grave +doubts. In the effort to be faithful to reality, the fear of making +concessions to beauty, he lapsed into ungraceful angularity and a +sturdiness which, in my opinion, would be unpleasing even in a mortal +woman. The excess of unbridled power again makes it self visible in the +wonderfully gifted man. Many things reached him too late, and others too +soon." + +Daphne eagerly asked what he meant by these words, and Myrtilus replied: +"Surely you know how he became a sculptor. Your father had intended him +to be his successor in business, but Hermon felt the vocation to become +an artist--probably first in my studio--awake with intense force. While +I early placed myself under the instruction of the great Bryaxis, he was +being trained for a merchant's life. When he was to guide the reed in +the countinghouse, he sketched; when he was sent to the harbour to direct +the loading of the ships, he became absorbed in gazing at the statues +placed there. In the warehouse he secretly modelled, instead of +attending to the bales of goods. You are certainly aware what a sad +breach occurred then, and how long Hermon was restrained before he +succeeded in turning his back upon trade." + +"My father meant so kindly toward him," Daphne protested. "He was +appointed guardian to you both. You are rich, and therefore he aided in +every possible way your taste for art; but Hermon did not inherit from +his parents a single drachm, and so my father saw the most serious +struggles awaiting him if he devoted himself to sculpture. And, besides, +he had destined his nephew to become his successor, the head of one of +the largest commercial houses in the city." + +"And in doing so," Myrtilus responded, "he believed he had made the best +provision for his happiness. But there is something peculiar in art. +I know from your father himself how kind his intentions were when he +withdrew his assistance from Hermon, and when he had escaped to the +island of Rhodes, left him to make his own way during the first period of +apprenticeship through which he passed there. Necessity, he thought, +would bring him back to where he had a life free from anxiety awaiting +him. But the result was different. Far be it from me to blame the +admirable Archias, yet had he permitted his ward to follow his true +vocation earlier, it would have been better for him." + +"Then you think that he began to study too late?" asked Daphne eagerly. + +"Not too late," was the reply, "but with his passionate struggle to +advance, an earlier commencement would have been more favourable. While +the companions of his own age were already doing independent work, he was +still a student, and so it happened that he began for himself too soon." + +"Yet," Daphne answered, "can you deny that, directly after Hermon +produced his first work which made his talent undeniable, my father again +treated him like his own son?" + +"On the contrary," replied Myrtilus, "I remember only too well how +Archias at that time, probably not entirely without your intercession, +fairly showered gold upon his nephew, but unfortunately this abundance +was by no means to his advantage." + +"What do you mean?" asked Daphne. "Were not you, at that very time, +in full possession of the great wealth inherited from your father and +mother, and yet did you not work far beyond your strength? Bryaxis--I +heard him--was full of your praises, and yet entreated my father to use +all his influence, as guardian, to warn you against overwork." + +"My kind master!" cried Myrtilus, deeply moved. "He was as anxious +about me as a father." + +"Because he perceived that you were destined for great achievements." + +"And because it did not escape his penetration how much I needed care. +My lungs, Daphne, my lungs--surely you know how the malicious disease +became fatal to my clear mother, and to my brother and sister also. All +three sank prematurely into the grave, and for years the shades of my +parents have been beckoning to me too. When the cough shakes my chest, +I see Charon raise his oar and invite me also to enter his sable boat." + +"But you just assured me that you were doing well," observed the girl. +"The cough alone makes me a little anxious. If you could only see for +yourself what a beautiful colour the pure air has given your cheeks!" + +"This flush," replied Myrtilus gravely, "is the sunset of life's closing +day, not the dawn of approaching convalescence. But let us drop the +subject. I allude to these sorrowful things only to prevent your praises +of me at Hermon's expense. True, even while a student I possessed wealth +far beyond my needs, but the early deaths of my brother and sister had +taught me even then to be economical of the brief span of life allotted +to me. Hermon, on the contrary, was overflowing with manly vigour, and +the strongest among the Ephebi in the wrestling school. After three +nights' revel he would not even feel weary, and how difficult the women +made it for the handsome, black-bearded fellow to commence his work +early! Did you ever ask yourself why young steeds are not broken in +flowery meadows, but upon sand? Nothing which attracts their attention +and awakens their desires must surround them; but your father's gold +led Hermon, ere the season of apprenticeship was over, into the most +luxuriant clover fields. Honour and respect the handsome, hot-blooded +youth that, nevertheless, he allowed himself to be diverted from work +only a short time and soon resumed it with ardent zeal, at first in +superabundance, and then amid fresh need and privation." + +"O Myrtilus," the girl interrupted, "how terribly I suffered in those +days! For the first time the gods made me experience that there are +black clouds, as well as bright sunshine, in the human soul. For weeks +an impassable gulf separated me from my father, with whom I had always +had one heart and soul. But I never saw him as he was then. The first +prize had been awarded to you for your Aphrodite, radiant in marvellous +beauty, and your brow had also been already crowned for your statue of +Alexander, when Hermon stepped forward with his works. They were at the +same time the first which were to show what he believed to be the true +mission of art--a hideous hawker, hide in hand, praising his wares with +open mouth, and the struggling Maenads. Surely you know the horrible +women who throw one another on the ground, tearing and rending with +bestial fury. The spectacle of these fruits of the industry of one dear +to me grieved me also, and I could not understand how you and the others +saw anything to admire in them. And my father! At the sight of these +things the colour faded from his cheeks and lips, and, as if by virtue +of his guardianship he had a right to direct Hermon in the paths of art +also, he forbade his ward to waste any more time in such horrible +scarecrows, and awaken loathing and wrath instead of gratification, +exultation, and joy. You know the consequences, but you do not know how +my heart ached when Hermon, frantic with wounded pride and indignation, +turned his back upon my father and severed every tie that united him to +us. In spite of his deep vexation and the unbridled violence with which +the nephew had allowed himself to address his uncle, my father did not +dream of withholding his assistance from him. But Hermon no longer came +to our house, and when I sent for him to bring him to reason, he +positively declared that he would not accept another obolus from my +father--he would rather starve than permit any one to dictate to him in +the choice of his subjects. Liberty was worth more than his uncle's +gold. Yet my father sent him his annual allowance." + +"But he refused it," added Myrtilus. "I remember that day well, how I +tried to persuade him, and, when he persisted in his intention, besought +him to accept from my abundance what he needed. But this, too, he +resolutely refused, though at that time I was already so deeply in his +debt that I could not repay him at all with paltry money." + +"You are thinking of the devotion with which he nursed you when you were +so ill?" asked Daphne. + +"Certainly; yet not of that alone," was the reply. "You do not know how +he stood by me in the worst days. Who was it that after my first great +successes, when base envy clouded many an hour of my life, rejoiced with +me as though he himself had won the laurel? It was he, the ambitious +artist, though recognition held even farther aloof from his creations +than success. And when, just at that time, the insidious disease +attacked me more cruelly than ever, he devoted himself to me like a +loving brother. While formerly, in the overflowing joy of existence, +he had revelled all day and caroused all night, how often he paused in +the rush of gaiety to exchange the festal hall for a place beside my +couch, frequently remaining there until Eos dyed the east, that he might +hold my fevered hand and support my shaken frame! Frequently too, when +already garlanded for some gay banquet, he took the flowers from his head +and devoted the night to his friend, that he might not leave him to the +attendance of the slaves. It is owing to him, and the care and skill of +the great leech Erasistratus, that I am still standing before you alive +and can praise what my Hermon was and proved himself to me in those days. +Yet I must also accuse him of a wrong; to this hour I bear him a grudge +for having, in those sorrowful hours, refused to share my property with +me fraternally. What manly pride would have cheerfully permitted him to +accept was opposed by the defiant desire to show me, your father, you, +the whole world, that he would depend upon himself, and needed assistance +neither from human beings nor even the gods. In the same way, while +working, he obstinately rejected my counsel and my help, though the Muse +grants me some things which he unfortunately lacks. Great as his talent +is, firmly as I believe that he will yet succeed some day in creating +something grand, nay, perhaps something mighty, the unbelieving disciple +of Straton lacks the power of comprehending the august dignity, the +superhuman majesty of the divine nature, and he does not succeed in +representing the bewitching charm of woman, because he hates it as the +bull hates a red rag. Only once hitherto has he been successful, and +that was with your bust." + +Daphne's cheeks suddenly flamed with a burning flush, and feeling it she +raised her feather fan to her eyes, and with forced indifference +murmured: "We were good friends from our earliest childhood. And, +besides, how small is the charm with which the artist who chooses me for +a model has to deal!" + +"It is rather an unusually fascinating one," Myrtilus asserted +resolutely. "I have no idea of flattering you, and you are certainly +aware that I do not number you among the beauties of Alexandria. But +instead of the delicate, symmetrical features which artists need, the +gods bestowed upon you a face which wins all hearts, even those of women, +because it is a mirror of genuine, helpful, womanly kindness, a sincere +disposition, and a healthy, receptive mind. To reproduce such a face, +not exactly beautiful, and yet bewitching, is the hardest possible task, +and Hermon, I repeat it, has succeeded. You are the only one of your +noble sex who inspires the motherless man with respect, and for whom he +feels more than a fleeting fancy. What does he not owe you? After the +bridge which united him to his uncle and paternal friend had been so +suddenly broken, it was you who rebuilt it. Now, I think, it is stronger +than ever. I could not imagine anything that would induce him to give +you up; and all honour to your father, who, instead of bearing the +insubordinate fellow a grudge, only drew him more warmly to his heart, +and gave us two commissions which will permit each to do his best. If I +see clearly, the daughter of Archias is closely connected with this +admirable deed." + +"Of course," replied Daphne, "my father discussed his intention with me, +but the thought was entirely his own. True, Hermon's Street-Boy eating +Figs was not exactly according to his taste, but it pleased him better +than his former works, and I agree with Euphranor, it is remarkably true +to nature. My father perceived this too. Besides, he is a merchant who +sets a high value upon what he has earned, and Hermon's refusal of his +gold startled him. Then the good man also saw how nobly, in spite of his +wild life, his obstinacy, and the work so unpleasing to him, his nephew +always showed the noble impulses inherited from his brave father, and +thus Hermon gained the day." + +"But what would have become of him last year, after the mortifying +rejection of his model of The Happy Return Home for the harbour of +Eunostus," asked Myrtilus, "if you and your encouragement had not +cheered him?" + +"That verdict, too, was abominable!" exclaimed Daphne indignantly. "The +mother opening her arms to the returning son was unlovely, it is true, +and did not please me either; but the youth with the travelling hat and +staff is magnificent in his vigour and natural action." + +"That opinion, as you know, is mine also," replied Myrtilus. "In the +mother the expression was intended to take the place of beauty. For the +returning son, as well as for the fig-eater, he found a suitable model. +True, the best was at his disposal for his Demeter." + +Here he hesitated; but Daphne so urgently asked to know what he, who had +already denied her admission to the studios, was now again withholding +from her, that, smiling indulgently, he added: "Then I must probably +consent to tell in advance the secret with which you were to be +surprised. Before him, as well as before me, hovered--since you wish to +know it--in Alexandria, when we first began to model the head of the +goddess, a certain charming face which is as dear to one as to the +other." + +Daphne, joyously excited, held out her hand to the artist, exclaiming: +"Oh, how kind that is! Yet how was it possible, since I posed neither to +him nor to you?" + +"Hermon had finished your bust only a short time before, and you +permitted me to use your head for my statue of the goddess of Peace, +which went down with the ship on the voyage to Ostia. This was at the +disposal of us both in three or four reproductions, and, besides, it +hovered before our mental vision clearly enough. When the time to show +you our work arrives, you will be surprised to discover how differently +two persons see and copy the same object." + +"Now that I know so much, and have a certain share in your works, I +insist upon seeing them!" cried Daphne with far greater impetuosity than +usual. "Tell Hermon so, and remind him that I shall at any rate expect +him to meet the Pelusinian guests at the banquet. Threaten him seriously +with my grave displeasure if he persists in leaving it speedily." + +"I will not fail to do my part," replied Myrtilus; "but as to your wish +to see the two Demeters--" + +"That will come to pass," interrupted Daphne, "as soon as we three are +together again like a clover leaf." She returned the sculptor's farewell +greeting as she spoke, but before he reached the entrance to the tent she +again detained him with the exclamation: "Only this one thing more: Does +Hermon deceive himself when he hopes so confidently for success with the +weaver, Arachne?" + +"Hardly--if the model whom he desires does not fail him." + +"Is she beautiful, and did he find her here in Tennis?" asked Daphne, +trying to assume an indifferent manner; but Myrtilus was not deceived, +and answered gaily: "That's the way people question children to find out +things. Farewell until the banquet, fair curiosity!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +The slave Bias had not gone to the hunting party with his master. He had +never been fit for such expeditions, since the Egyptian guard who took +him to the slave market for sale crippled the arch-traitor's son's left +leg by a blow, but he was all the more useful in the house, and even the +keenest eye could scarcely now perceive the injury which lessened his +commercial value. + +He had prepared everything his master would need to shoot the birds very +early in the morning, and after helping the men push the boats into the +water, he, too, remained out of doors. + +The old Nubian doorkeeper's little badger dog ran to meet him, as usual, +barking loudly, and startled a flock of sparrows, which flew up directly +in front of Bias and fluttered to and fro in confusion. + +The slave regarded this as an infallible omen, and when Stephanion, +Daphne's maid, who had grown gray in the household of Archias, and though +a freed woman still worked in the old way, came out of the tent, he +called to her the gay Greek greeting, "Rejoice!" pointed to the sparrows, +and eagerly continued: "How one flies above another! how they flutter and +chirp and twitter! It will be a busy day." + +Stephanion thought this interpretation of the ordinary action of the +birds very consistent with Bias's wisdom, which was highly esteemed in +the household of Archias, and it also just suited her inclination to chat +with him for a while, especially as she had brought a great deal of news +from Alexandria. + +By way of introduction she mentioned the marriages and deaths in their +circle of acquaintances, bond and free, and then confided to the slave +what had induced her mistress to remain so long absent from her father, +whom she usually left alone for only a few hours at the utmost. + +Archias himself had sent her here, after young Philotas, who was now +apparently wooing her with better success than other suitors, had spoken +of the enormous booty which one of his friends had brought from a +shooting expedition at Tennis, and Daphne had expressed a wish to empty +her quiver there too. + +True, Philotas himself had been eager to guide the hunting party, but +Daphne declined his escort because--so the maid asserted--she cared far +more about meeting her cousins, the sculptors, than for the chase. Her +mistress had frankly told her so, but her father was delighted to hear +her express a wish, because for several months she had been so quiet and +listless that she, Stephanion, had become anxious about her. Meanwhile, +Daphne had tried honestly to conceal her feelings from the old man, +but such games of hide and seek were useless against the master's keen +penetration. He spared no pains in the preparations for the journey, +and the girl now seemed already transformed. This was caused solely by +meeting her cousins again; but if any one should ask her whether Daphne +preferred Myrtilus or Hermon, she could not give a positive answer. + +"Cautious inquiry saves recantation," replied Bias importantly. "Yet you +may believe my experience, it is Myrtilus. Fame inspires love, and what +the world will not grant my master, in spite of his great talent, it +conceded to the other long ago. And, besides, we are not starving; but +Myrtilus is as rich as King Croesus of Sardis. Not that Daphne, who is +stifling in gold herself, would care about that, but whoever knows life +knows--where doves are, doves will fly." + +Stephanion, however, was of a different opinion, not only because Daphne +talked far more about the black-bearded cousin than the fair one, but +because she knew the girl, and was seldom mistaken in such matters. She +would not deny that Daphne was also fond of Myrtilus. Yet probably +neither of the artists, but Philotas, would lead home the bride, for he +was related to the royal family--a fine, handsome man; and, besides, her +father preferred him to the other suitors who hovered around her as flies +buzzed about honey. Of course, matters would be more favourable to +Philotas in any other household. Who else in Alexandria would consult +the daughter long, when he was choosing her future husband? But Archias +was a white raven among fathers, and would never force his only child to +do anything. + +Marrying and loving, however, were two different affairs. If Eros had +the final decision, her choice might perhaps fall on one of the artists. + +Here she was interrupted by the slave's indignant exclamation: "What +contradictions! 'Woman's hair is long, but her wit is short,' says the +proverb. 'Waiting is the merchant's wisdom,' I have heard your master +say more than once, and to obey the words of shrewd people is the best +plan for those who are not so wise. Meanwhile, I am of the opinion that +curiosity alone brought Daphne--who, after all, is only a woman--to this +place. She wants to see the statues of Demeter which her father ordered +from us." + +"And the Arachne?" asked the maid. This was an opportune question to the +slave--how often he had heard the artists utter the word "Arachne!"--and +his pride of education had suffered from the consciousness that he knew +nothing about her except the name, which in Greek meant "the spider." + +Some special story must surely be associated with this Arachne, for which +his master desired to use his young countrywoman, Ledscha, as a model, +and whose statues Archias intended to place in his house in Alexandria +and in the great weaving establishment at Tennis beside the statue of +Demeter. + +Stephanion, a Greek woman who grew up in a Macedonian household, must +know something about her. + +So he cautiously turned the conversation to the spinner Arachne, and when +Stephanion entered into it, admitted that he, too, was curious to learn +in what way the sculptors would represent her. + +"Yes," replied the maid, "my mistress has more than once racked her +brains over that, and Archias too. Perhaps they will carve her as a girl +at work in the house of her father Idmon, the purple dyer of Colophon." + +"Never," replied Bias in a tone of dissent. "Just imagine how the loom +would look wrought in gold and ivory!" + +"I thought so too," said Stephanion, in apology for the foolish idea." +Daphne thinks that the two will model her in different ways: Myrtilus, +as mistress in the weaving room, showing with proud delight a piece just +completed to the nymphs from the Pactolus and other rivers, who sought +her at Colophon to admire her work; but Hermon, after she aroused the +wrath of Athene because she dared to weave into the hangings the love +adventures of the gods with mortal women." + +"Father Zeus as a swan toying with Leda," replied Bias as confidently as +if Arachne's works were before his eyes, "and in the form of a bull +bearing away Europa, the chaste Artemis bending over the sleeping +Endymion." + +"How that pleases you men!" interrupted the maid, striking him lightly on +the arm with the duster which she had brought from the tent. "But ought +the virgin Athene to be blamed because she punished the weaver who, with +all her skill, was only a mortal woman, for thus exposing her divine +kindred?" + +"Certainly not," replied Bias, and Stephanion went on eagerly: "And when +the great Athene, who invented weaving and protects weavers, condescended +to compete with Arachne, and was excelled by her, surely her gall must +have overflowed. Whoever is just will scarcely blame her for striking +the audacious conqueror on the brow with the weaver's shuttle." + +"It is that very thing," replied Bias modestly, "which to a short-sighted +fool like myself--may the great goddess not bear me a grudge for it!-- +never seemed just in her. Even the mortal who succumbs in a fair fight +ought not to be enraged against the victor. At least, so I was taught. +But what, I ask myself, when I think of the stones which were flung at +Hermon's struggling Maenads, could be less suited for imitation than two +women, one of whom strikes the other?" + +"The woman who in her desperation at that blow desires to hang herself, +must produce a still more horrible impression," replied Stephanion. +"Probably she will be represented as Athene releases her from the noose +rather than when, as a punishment for her insolence, she transforms +Arachne into a spider." + +"That she might be permitted, in the form of an insect, to make artistic +webs until the end of her life," the slave, now sufficiently well +informed, added importantly. "Since that transformation, as you know, +the spider has been called by the Greeks Arachne. Perhaps--I always +thought so--Hermon will represent her twisting the rope with which she is +to kill herself. You have seen many of our works, and know that we love +the terrible." + +"Oh, let me go into your studio!" the maid now entreated no less urgently +than her mistress had done a short time before, but her wish, too, +remained ungratified. + +"The sculptors," Bias truthfully asserted, "always kept their +workrooms carefully locked." They were as inaccessible as the strongest +fortress, and it was wise, less on account of curious spectators, from +whom there was nothing to fear, than of the thievish propensities of the +people. The statues, by Archias's orders, were to be executed in +chryselephantine work, and the gold and ivory which this required might +only too easily awaken the vice of cupidity in the honest and frugal +Biamites. So nothing could be done about it, not to mention the fact +that he was forbidden, on pain of being sold to work in a stone quarry, +to open the studio to any one without his master's consent. + +So the maid, too, was obliged to submit, and the sacrifice was rendered +easier for her because, just at that moment, a young female slave called +her back to the tent where Chrysilla, Daphne's companion, a matron who +belonged to a distinguished Greek family, needed her services. + +Bias, rejoicing that he had at last learned, without exposing his own +ignorance, the story of the much-discussed Arachne, returned to the +house, where he remained until Daphne came back from shooting with her +companions. While the latter were talking about the birds they had +killed, Bias went out of doors; but he was forced to give up his desire +to listen to a conversation which was exactly suited to arrest his +attention, for after the first few sentences he perceived behind the +thorny acacias in the "garden" his countrywoman Ledscha. + +So she was keeping her promise. He recognised her plainly, in spite of +the veil which covered the back of her head and the lower portion of her +face. Her black eyes were visible, and what a sinister light shone in +them as she fixed them sometimes on Daphne, sometimes on Hermon, who +stood talking together by the steps! + +The evening before Bias had caught a glimpse of this passionate +creature's agitated soul. If anything happened here that incensed or +wounded her she would be capable of committing some unprecedented act +before the very master's honoured guest. + +To prevent this was a duty to the master whom he loved, and against whom +he had only warned Ledscha because he was reluctant to see a free maiden +of his own race placed on a level with the venal Alexandrian models, but +still more because any serious love affair between Hermon and the Biamite +might bring disastrous consequences upon both, and therefore also on +himself. He knew that the free men of his little nation would not suffer +an insult offered by a Greek to a virgin daughter of their lineage to +pass unavenged. + +True, in his bondage he had by no means remained free from all the bad +qualities of slaves, but he was faithfully devoted to his master, who had +imposed upon him a great debt of gratitude; for though, during the trying +period of variance with his rich and generous uncle, Hermon had often +been offered so large a sum for him that it would have relieved the +artist from want, he could not be induced to yield his "wise and faithful +Bias" to another. The slave had sworn to himself that he would never +forget this, and he kept his oath. + +Freedmen and slaves were moving to and fro in the large open square +before him, amid the barking of the dogs and the shouts of the male and +female venders of fruit, vegetables, and fish, who hoped to dispose of +their wares in the kitchen tent of the wealthy strangers. + +The single veiled woman attracted no attention here, but Bias kept his +gaze fixed steadily upon her, and as she curved her little slender hand +above her brow to shade her watchful eyes from the dazzling sunlight, and +set her beautifully arched foot on a stone near one of the trees in order +to gain a better view, he thought of the story of the weaver which he had +just heard. + +Though the stillness of the hot noontide was interrupted by many sounds, +it exerted a bewitching influence over him. + +Ledscha seemed like the embodiment of some great danger, and when she +lowered one arm and raised the other to protect herself again from the +radiance of the noonday sun, he started; for through the brain of the +usually fearless man darted the thought that now the nimble spiderlegs +were moving to draw him toward her, entwine him, and suck his heart's +blood. + +The illusion lasted only a few brief moments, but when it vanished and +the girl had regained the figure of an unusually slender, veiled Biamite +woman, he shook his head with a sigh of relief, for never had such a +vision appeared to him in broad noonday and while awake, and it must have +been sent to warn him and his master against this uncanny maiden. + +It positively announced some approaching misfortune which proceeded from +this beautiful creature. + +The Biamite now advanced hesitatingly toward Hermon and Daphne, who were +still a considerable distance from her. But Bias had also quitted his +post of observation, and after she had taken a few steps forward, barred +her way. + +With a curt "Come," he took her hand, whispering, "Hermon is joyously +expecting your visit." + +Ledscha's veil concealed her mouth, but the expression of her eyes made +him think that it curled scornfully. + +Yet she silently followed him. + +At first he led her by the hand, but on the way he saw at the edge of her +upper veil the thick, dark eyebrows which met each other, and her fingers +seemed to him so strangely cold and tapering that a shudder ran through +his frame and he released them. + +Ledscha scarcely seemed to notice it, and, with bowed head, walked beside +him through the side entrance to the door of Hermon's studio. + +It was a disappointment to her to find it locked, but Bias did not heed +her angry complaint, and led her into the artist's sitting room, +requesting her to wait for his master there. + +Then he hurried to the steps, and by a significant sign informed the +sculptor that something important required his attention. + +Hermon understood him, and Bias soon had an opportunity to tell the +artist who it was that desired to speak to him and where he had taken +Ledscha. He also made him aware that he feared some evil from her, and +that, in an alarming vision, she had appeared to him as a hideous spider. + +Hermon laughed softly. "As a spider? The omen is appropriate. We will +make her a woman spider--an Arachne that is worth looking at. But this +strange beauty is one of the most obstinate of her sex, and if I let her +carry out her bold visit in broad daylight she will get the better of me +completely. The blood must first be washed from my hands here. The +wounded sea eagle tore the skin with its claw, and I concealed the +scratch from Daphne. A strip of linen to bandage it! Meanwhile, let the +impatient intruder learn that her sign is not enough to open every door." + +Then he entered his sitting room, greeted Ledscha curtly, invited her to +go into the studio, unlocked it, and left her there alone while he went +to his chamber with the slave and had the slight wound bandaged +comfortably. + +While Bias was helping his master he repeated with sincere anxiety his +warning against the dangerous beauty whose eyebrows, which had grown +together, proved that she was possessed by the demons of the nether +world. + +"Yet they increase the austere beauty of her face," assented the artist. +"I should not want to omit them in modelling Arachne while the goddess is +transforming her into a spider! What a subject! A bolder one was +scarcely ever attempted and, like you, I already see before me the coming +spider." + +Then, without the slightest haste, he exchanged the huntsman's chiton for +the white chlamys, which was extremely becoming to his long, waving +beard, and at last, exclaiming gaily, "If I stay any longer, she will +transform herself into empty air instead of the spider," he went to her. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +While waiting in the studio Ledscha had used the time to satisfy her +curiosity. + +What was there not to be seen! + +On pedestals and upon the boards of the floor, on boxes, racks, and along +the wall, stood, lay, or hung the greatest variety of articles: plaster +casts of human limbs and parts of the bodies of animals, male and female, +of clay and wax, withered garlands, all sorts of sculptor's tools, a +ladder, vases, cups and jars for wine and water, a frame over which linen +and soft woollen materials were spread, a lute and a zither, several +seats, an armchair, and in one corner a small table with three +dilapidated book rolls, writing tablets, metal styluses, and reed pens. + +All these articles were arranged haphazard, and showed that Bias +possessed more wisdom than care in the use of duster and broom. + +It would have been difficult to count the number of things brought +together here, but the unusually long, wide room was by no means crowded. + +Ledscha cast a wondering glance sometimes at one object, sometimes at +another, but without understanding its meaning or its use. + +The huge figure on the pedestal in the middle of the studio, upon which +the full glare of light fell through the open windows, was certainly the +statue of the goddess on which Hermon was working; but a large gray cloth +concealed it from her gaze. + +How tall it was! + +When she looked at it more closely she felt small and oppressed by +comparison. + +A passionate longing urged her to remove the cloth, but the boldness of +the act restrained her. After she had taken another survey of the +spacious apartment, which she was visiting for the first time by +daylight, the torturing feeling of being neglected gained possession of +her. + +She clinched her white teeth more firmly, and when there was a noise at +the door that died away again without bringing the man she expected, she +went up to the statue which she had already walked past quietly several +times and, obeying an impatient impulse, freed it from its covering. + +The goddess, now illumined by the sunlight, shone before her in gleaming +yellow gold and snowy ivory. + +She had never seen such a statue, and drew back dazzled. + +What a master was the man who had deceived her trusting heart! + +He had created a Demeter; the wheat in her hand showed it. + +How beautiful this work was--and how valuable! It produced a powerful +impression upon her mind, wholly unaccustomed to the estimate of such +things. + +The goddess before her was the very one whose statue stood in the temple +of Demeter, and to whom she also sacrificed, with the Greeks in Tennis, +when danger threatened the harvest. Involuntarily she removed the lower +veil from her face and raised her hand in prayer. + +Meanwhile she gazed into the pallid face, carved from ivory, of the +immortal dispenser of blessings, and suddenly the blood crimsoned her +cheeks, the nostrils of her delicate, slightly arched nose rose and fell +more swiftly, for the countenance of the goddess--she was not mistaken-- +was that of the Alexandrian whom she had just watched so intently, and +for whose sake Hermon had left her in the lurch the evening before. + +Now, too, she remembered for what purpose the sculptor was said to have +lured Gula, the sailor's wife, and her own young sister Taus, to his +studio, and in increasing excitement she drew the cloth also from the +bust beside the Demeter. + +Again the Alexandrian's face--the likeness was even more unmistakable +than in the goddess. + +The Greek girl alone occupied his thoughts. Hermon had disdained to +model the Biamite's head. + +What could the others, or she herself, be to him, since he loved the rich +foreigner in the tent outside, and her alone? How firmly her image must +have been impressed upon his soul, that he could reproduce the features +of the absent one with such lifelike fidelity! + +Yet with what bold assurance he had protested that his heart belonged +solely to her. But she thought that she now perceived his purpose. If +the slave was right, it was done that she might permit him to model what +he admired in her figure, only not the head and face, whose beauty, +nevertheless, he praised so extravagantly. + +Had he attracted Gula and her sister with similar sweet flatteries? Had +the promise to bestow their charms upon a goddess been made to them also? + +The swift throbbing of her indignant heart made it impossible for her to +think calmly, but its vehement pulsation reminded her of the object of +her presence here. + +She had come to obtain a clear understanding between him and herself. + +She stood here as a judge. + +She must know whether she had been betrayed or deceived. + +He should confess what his intentions toward her were. The next moments +must decide the fate of her life, and she added, drawing a long breath, +perhaps of his also. + +Suddenly Ledscha started. She had not heard Hermon enter the studio, and +was now startled by his greeting. + +It was not positively unkind, but certainly not a lover's. + +Perhaps the words might have been warmer, but for his annoyance at the +insolent boldness with which she had removed the coverings from his +works. He restrained himself from openly blaming her, it is true, but he +exclaimed, with a tinge of gay sarcasm: "You seem to feel very much at +home here already, fairest of the fair. Or was it the goddess herself +who removed the curtain from her image in order to show herself to her +successor upon this pedestal?" + +But the question was to remain unanswered, for under the spell of the +resentment which filled her heart, and in the effort not to lose sight of +the object that brought her here, Ledscha had only half understood its +meaning, and pointing her slender forefinger at the face of his completed +work, she demanded to know whom she recognised in this statue. + +"The goddess Demeter," he answered quietly; "but if it pleases you +better, as you seem to be on the right track, also the daughter of +Archias." + +Then, angered by the wrathful glance she cast at him, he added more +sternly: "She is kind-hearted, free from disagreeable whims and the +disposition to torture others who are kindly disposed toward her. +So I adorned the goddess with her pleasant features." + +"Mine, you mean to say," Ledscha answered bitterly, "would be less +suitable for this purpose. Yet they, too, can wear a different +expression from the present one. You, I think, have learned this. +Only I shall never acquire the art of dissimulation, not even in your +society." + +"You seem to be angry on account of my absence yesterday evening? +"Hermon asked in an altered tone, clasping her hand; but Ledscha snatched +it from him, exclaiming: "The model of the Demeter, the daughter of the +wealthy Archias, detained you, you were going to tell me, and you think +that ought to satisfy the barbarian maiden." + +"Folly!" he answered angrily. "I owe a debt of gratitude to her father, +who was my guardian, and custom commands you also to honour a guest. But +your obstinacy and jealousy are unbearable. What great thing is it that +I ask of your love? A little patience. Practise it. Then your turn +will come too." + +"Of course, the second and third will follow the first," she answered +bitterly. "After Gula, the sailor's wife, you lured my innocent young +sister, Taus, to this apartment; or am I mistaken in the order, and was +Gula the second?" + +"So that's it!" cried Hermon, who was surprised rather than alarmed by +this betrayal of his secret. "If you want confirmation of the fact, very +well--both were here." + +"Because you deluded them with false vows of love." + +"By no means. My heart has nothing what ever to do with these visits. +Gula came to thank me because I rendered her a service--you know it-- +which to every mother seems greater than it is." + +"But you certainly did not underestimate it," Ledscha impetuously +interrupted, "for you demanded her honour in return." + +"Guard your tongue!" the artist burst forth angrily. "The woman visited +me unasked, and I let her leave me as faithful or as unfaithful to her +husband as she came. If I used her as a model--" + +"Gula, whom the sculptor transforms into a goddess," Ledscha interrupted, +with a sneering laugh. + +"Into a fish-seller, if you wish to know it," cried Hermon indignantly. +"I saw in the market a young woman selling shad. I took the subject, and +found in Gula a suitable model. Unfortunately, she ventured here far too +seldom. But I can finish it with the help of the sketch--it stands in +yonder cupboard." + +"A fish-seller," Ledscha repeated contemptuously. "And for what did my +Taus, poor lovely child, seem desirable?" + +"Over opposite," Hermon answered quickly, as if he wished to get rid of +a troublesome duty, pointing through the window out of doors, "the free +maidens, during the hot days, took off their sandals and waded through +the water. There I saw your sister's feet. They were the prettiest of +all, and Gula brought the young girl to me. I had commenced in +Alexandria a figure of a girl holding her foot in her hand to take out a +thorn, so I used your sister's for it." + +"And when my turn comes?" Ledscha demanded. + +"Then," he replied, freshly captivated by the magic of her beauty, in a +kinder, almost tender tone, "then I will make of you, in gold and ivory, +you wonderfully lovely creature, the counterpart of this goddess." + +"And you will need a long time for it?" + +"The oftener you come the faster the work will advance." + +"And the more surely the Biamite women will point their fingers at me." + +"Yet you ventured here to-day, unasked, in the broad light of noon." + +"Because I wish to remind you myself that I shall expect you this +evening. Yesterday you did not appear; but to-day-I am right, am I not? +--to-day you will come." + +"With the greatest delight, if it is possible," he answered eagerly. + +A warmer glance from her dark eyes rested upon him. The blood seethed in +his veins, and as he extended both hands to her and ardently uttered her +name, she rushed forward, clinging to him with passionate devotion, as if +seeking assistance, but when his lips touched hers she shrank back and +loosed her soft arms from his neck. + +"What does this mean?" asked the sculptor in surprise, trying to draw her +toward him again; but Ledscha would not permit it, pleading in a softer +tone than before: "Not now; but--am I not right, dearest--I may expect +you this evening? Just this once let the daughter of Archias yield to +me, who loves you better. We shall have a full moon to-night, and you +have heard what was predicted to me--to-night the highest bliss which the +gods can bestow upon a mortal awaits me." + +And me also," cried Hermon, "if you will permit me to share it with you." + +"Then I will expect you on the Pelican Island--just when the full moon is +over the lofty poplars there. You will come? Not to the Owl's Nest: to +the Pelican Island. And though your love is far less, far cooler than +mine, yet you will not defraud me of the best happiness of my life?" + +"How could I?" he asked, as if he felt wounded by such distrust. +"What detains me must be something absolutely unavoidable." + +Ledscha's eyebrows contracted sharply, and in a choked voice she +exclaimed: "Nothing must detain you--nothing, whatever it may be! +Though death should threaten, you will be with me just at midnight." + +"I will, if it is possible," he protested, painfully touched by the +vehemence of her urging. "What can be more welcome to me also than to +spend happy hours with you in the silence of a moonlight night? Besides, +my stay in Tennis will not be long." + +"You are going?" she asked in a hollow tone. + +"In three or four days," he answered carelessly; "then Myrtilus and +I will be expected in Alexandria. But gently--gently--how pale you are, +girl! Yes, the parting! But in six weeks at latest I shall be here +again; then real life will first begin, and Eros will make the roses +bloom for us." + +Ledscha nodded silently, and gazing into his face with a searching look +asked, "And how long will this season of blossoming last?" + +"Several months, girl; three, if not six." + +"And then?" + +"Who looks so far into the future?" + +She lowered her glance, and, as if yielding to the inevitable, answered: +"What a fool I was! Who knows what the morrow may bring? Are we even +sure whether, six months hence, we shall not hate, instead of loving, +each other?" + +She passed her hand across her brow as she spoke, exclaiming: "You said +just now that only the present belonged to man. Then let us enjoy it as +though every moment might be the last. By the light of the full moon +to-night, the happiness which has been predicted to me must begin. After +it, the orb between the horns of Astarte will become smaller; but when it +fulls and wanes again, if you keep your promise and return, then, though +they may curse and condemn me, I will come to your studio and grant what +you ask. But which of the goddesses do you intend to model from me as a +companion statue to the Demeter?" + +"This time it can not be one of the immortelles," he answered +hesitatingly, "but a famous woman, an artist who succeeded in +a competition in vanquishing even the august Athene." + +"So it is no goddess?" Ledscha asked in a disappointed tone. + +"No, child, but the most skilful woman who ever plied the weaver's +shuttle." + +"And her name?" + +"Arachne." + +The young girl started, exclaiming contemptuously: "Arachne? That is-- +that is what you Greeks call the most repulsive of creatures--the +spider." + +"The most skilful of all creatures, that taught man the noble art of +weaving," he eagerly retorted. + +Here he was interrupted; his friend Myrtilus put his fair head into the +room, exclaiming: "Pardon me if I interrupt you--but we shall not see +each other again for some time. I have important business in the city, +and may be detained a long while. Yet before I go I must perform the +commission Daphne gave me for you. She sends word that she shall expect +you without fail at the banquet for the Pelusinian guests. Your absence, +do you hear?--pardon the interruption, fairest Ledscha--your absence +would seriously anger her." + +"Then I shall be prepared for considerable trouble in appeasing her," +replied Hermon, glancing significantly at the young girl. + +Myrtilus crossed the threshold, turned to the Biamite, and said in his +quiet, cheerful manner: "Where beautiful gifts are to be brought to Eros, +it beseems the friend to strew with flowers the path of the one who is +offering the sacrifices; and you, if everything does not deceive me, +would fain choose to-night to serve him with the utmost devotion. +Therefore, I shall need forgiveness from you and the god, if I beseech +you to defer the offering, were it only until to-morrow." + +Ledscha silently shrugged her shoulders and made no answer to the +inquiring glance with which Hermon sought hers, but Myrtilus changed his +tone and addressed a grave warning to his friend to consider well that it +would be an insult to the manes of his dead parents if he should avoid +the old couple from Pelusium, who had been their best friends and had +taken the journey hither for his sake. + +Hermon looked after him in painful perplexity, but the Biamite also +approached the threshold, and holding her head haughtily erect, said +coldly: "The choice is difficult for you, as I see. Then recall to your +memory again what this night of the full moon means--you are well aware +of it--to me. If, nevertheless, you still decide in favour of the +banquet with your friends, I can not help it; but I must now know: +Shall this night belong to me, or to the daughter of Archias?" + +"Is it impossible to talk with you, unlucky girl, as one would with other +sensible people?" Hermon burst forth wrathfully. "Everything is carried +to extremes; you condemn a brief necessary delay as breach of faith and +base treachery. This behaviour is unbearable." + +"Then you will not come?" she asked apathetically, laying her hand upon +the door; but Hermon cried out in a tone half beseeching, half imperious: +"You must not go so! If you insist upon it, surely I will come. There +is no room in your obstinate soul for kind indulgence. No one, by the +dog, ever accused me of being specially skilled in this smooth art; yet +there may be duties and circumstances--" + +Here Ledscha gently opened the door; but, seized with a fear of losing +this rare creature, whose singular beauty attracted him powerfully, even +now, this peerless model for a work on which he placed the highest hopes, +he strode swiftly to her side, and drawing her back from the threshold, +exclaimed: "Difficult as it is for me on this special day, I will come, +only you must not demand what is impossible. The right course often lies +midway. Half the night must belong to the banquet with my old friends +and Daphne; the second half--" + +"To the barbarian, you think--the spider," she gasped hoarsely. "But my +welfare as well as yours depends on the decision. Stay here, or come to +the island--you have your choice." + +Wrenching herself from his hold as she spoke, she slipped through the +doorway and left the room. + +Hermon, with a muttered oath, stood still, shrugging his shoulders +angrily. + +He could do nothing but yield to this obstinate creature's will. + +In the atrium Ledscha met the slave Bias, and returned his greeting only +by a wave of the hand; but before opening the side door which was to lead +her into the open air, she paused, and asked bluntly in the language of +their people: "Was Arachne--I don't mean the spider, but the weaver whom +the Greeks call by that name--a woman like the rest of us? Yet it is +said that she remained victor in a contest with the goddess Athene." + +"That is perfectly true," answered Bias, "but she had to atone cruelly +for this triumph; the goddess struck her on the forehead with the +weaver's shuttle, and when, in her shame and rage, she tried to hang +herself, she was transformed into the spider." + +Ledscha stood still, and, while drawing the veil over her pallid face, +asked with quivering lips, "And is there no other Arachne?" + +"Not among mortals," was the reply, "but even here in this house there +are more than enough of the disagreeable, creeping creatures which bear +the same name." + +Ledscha now went clown the steps which led to the lawn, and Bias saw that +she stumbled on the last one and would have fallen had not her lithe body +regained its balance in time. + +"A bad omen!" thought the slave. "If I had the power to build a wall +between my master and the spider yonder, it should be higher than the +lighthouse of Sostratus. To heed omens guides one safely through life. +I know what I know, and will keep my eyes open, for my master too." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Hermon had intended to add a few more touches to his Demeter, but he +could not do it. Ledscha, her demand, and the resentment with which she +had left him, were not to be driven from his mind. + +There was no doubt that he must seek her if he was not to lose her, +yet he reproached himself for having acted like a thoughtless fool when +he proposed to divide the night between her and Daphne. + +There was something offensive in the proposal to so proud a creature. +He ought to have promised positively to come, and then left the banquet +somewhat earlier. It would have been easy to apologize for his late +arrival, and Ledscha would have had no cause to be angry with him. + +Now she had, and her resentment awakened in him--though he certainly did +not lack manly courage--an uncomfortable feeling closely allied to +anxiety. + +Angered by his own conduct, he asked himself whether he loved the +barbarian, and could find no satisfactory answer. + +At their first meeting he had felt that she was far superior to the other +Biamite maidens, not only in beauty but in everything else. The very +acerbity of her nature had seemed charming. To win this wonderful, +pliant creature, slender as a cypress, whose independence merged into +fierce obstinacy, had appeared to him worth any sacrifice; and having +perceived in her an admirable model for his Arachne, he had also +determined to brave the dangers which might easily arise for the Greek +from a love affair with a Biamite girl, whose family was free and +distinguished. + +It had been easier for him to win her heart than he expected; yet at none +of the meetings which she granted him had he rejoiced in the secret bond +between them. + +Hitherto her austere reserve had been invincible, and during the greater +part of their interviews he had been compelled to exert all his influence +to soothe, appease her, and atone for imprudent acts which he had +committed. + +True, she, too, had often allowed herself to display passionate +tenderness, but always only to torture him with reproaches and demands +inspired by her jealousy, suspicion, and wounded pride. + +Yet her beauty, and the strong power of resistance which she offered to +his wooing, exerted so bewitching a thrall over him that he had been led +into conceding far too much, and making vows which he could not and did +not desire to fulfil. + +Love had usually been to him a richly flowing well-spring of gay delight, +but this bond had plunged him from one vexation into another, one anxiety +to another, and now that he had almost reached the goal of his wishes, +he could not help fearing that he had transformed Ledscha's love to hate. + +Daphne was dear to him. He esteemed her highly, and owed her a great +debt of gratitude. Yet in this hour he anathematized her unexpected +journey to Tennis; for without it he would have obtained from Ledscha +that very day what he desired, and could have returned to Alexandria with +the certainty of finding her ready later to pose as the model for his +Arachne. + +Never could he find anywhere a more fitting one. + +He had devoted himself with passionate love to his art, and even his +enemies numbered him among its most promising disciples. Yet hither to +he had not succeeded in obtaining a great and undisputed success. On the +other hand, he had experienced what were termed failures in abundant +measure. + +The art to which he had gained entrance by so severe a struggle, and on +whose soil he had laboured diligently enough, proved, so far as outward +recognition was concerned, cruel to the enthusiastic disciple. Yet even +now he would not have abandoned it at any price; the joy of creation +compensated him richly for suffering and disappointment. Confidence in +his own powers and the final triumph of his conviction had deserted him +only occasionally, and for a few brief hours. + +He was born for conflicts. What ill-success, what antagonism and +difficulties he had encountered! Some day the laurel which had so long +adorned the brow of Myrtilus must also grow green for him and the great +talent whose possession he felt. With the Arachne--he was sure of this +--he would compel even his opponents to accord him the recognition for +which hitherto he had striven in vain. + +While pacing restlessly up and down the spacious apartment, stopping from +time to time before his work to fix his eyes angrily upon it, he thought +of his friend's Demeter, whose head also had Daphne's features, who also +bore in her hand a bundle of wheat, and even in attitude did not differ +very widely from his own. And yet--eternal gods!--how thoroughly +dissimilar the two were! + +In the figure created by Myrtilus, supernatural dignity blended with the +utmost womanly charm; in his, a pleasing head rested upon a body in whose +formation he had used various models without striving to accomplish +anything except to depart as far as possible from established custom, +with which he was at variance. + +Yet had he not found himself, nevertheless, compelled to follow the old +rules? One arm was raised, the other hung down; the right foot was put +forward, the left one back. + +Exactly the same as in Myrtilus's statue, and thousands of other figures +of Demeter! + +If he could have used the hammer and chisel, the thing might have become +more powerful; but how many things he had had to consider in employing +the accursed gold and ivory upon which Archias obstinately insisted! + +This hammering, chipping, and filing told unfavourably upon his power and +his aspiration toward grandeur. + +This time the battle seemed to be lost. + +It was fortunate that the conqueror was no other than Myrtilus. Often as +he had gone astray in his young life, many as were the errors he had +committed, not even the faintest shadow of an envious feeling concerning +his friend's more successful work had ever stained his soul. + +True, the fact that fate, in addition to such abundant gifts of mind and +spirit, had also endowed the latter with great worldly possessions, while +he, but for the generosity of his uncle Archias, must have starved, had +often led Hermon to inveigh angrily against the injustice of the gods. +Yet he did not grudge Myrtilus the wealth without which he could not +imagine him, and which his invalid friend needed to continue successfully +the struggle against the insidious disease inherited with the gold. And +his sufferings! Hermon could not have endured keener pain had they been +his own. He must even rejoice over the poor dear fellow's victory; for +if he, Hermon, succeeded with his Arachne as he hoped, it would make +Myrtilus--he could swear to it--happier than his own triumph. + +After these reflections, which again reminded him of the second +appointment and of Ledscha, the sculptor turned away from his work and +went to the window to look across at Pelican Island, where she must not +await him in vain. + +The boat which was to convey him over to it lay ready in the little +flotilla, where a magnificently equipped galley had just been moored to +the shore, undoubtedly the one that had brought the guests from Pelusium +hither. The best thing he could do was to greet them at once, share the +banquet with them, and, before the dessert was served, seek the beautiful +woman whom his absence threatened to make his foe. And she was certainly +justified in resenting it if, with cruel lack of consideration, he paid +no heed to what had been prophesied for her on this night of the full +moon. + +For the first time compassion mingled with his feelings for Ledscha. +If to avoid the fleeting censure of aristocratic friends he left in the +lurch the simple barbarian maiden who loved him with ardent passion, +it was no evidence of resolute strength of soul, but of pitiful, +reprehensible weakness. No, no! He must take the nocturnal voyage in +order not to grieve Ledscha. + +Soon after the girl's abrupt departure he dressed himself in festal +garments for the banquet. It would flatter Ledscha also if he went to +her in this attire and, with his figure drawn up to its full height, he +walked toward the door to go to the Alexandrian's tent. + +But what did this mean? Myrtilus was standing before his Demeter, +scanning it intently with his keen artist eyes. Hermon had not noticed +his entrance, and did not disturb him now, but fixed his gaze upon his +mobile features in intense expectation. + +There were few of his fellow-artists whose opinion he valued as highly as +that of this darling of the Muse. + +At a slight shake of the head, which Hermon interpreted as disapproval, +he clinched his teeth; but soon his lips relaxed and his breast heaved +with a sigh of relief, for the sunny glance that Myrtilus bent upon the +face of the goddess seemed to show Hermon that it aroused his approval, +and, as if relieved from an oppressive nightmare, he approached his +friend. + +The latter turned toward him, exclaiming: Daphne! As in the case of +yonder bust, you have succeeded most perfectly with this dear face-- +only--" + +"Only," Hermon repeated slowly; "I am familiar with that evil word. +Doubts knock at the door with it. Out with them honestly. I gave up my +last hope of the prize yesterday while looking at your Demeter. Besides, +careful scrutiny has just destroyed the last gleam of satisfaction with +my own work. But if you like the head, what seem to you the greatest +defects in the figure?" + +"It has nothing to do with defects, which, with your rare ability, can +scarcely exist," replied the other, the faint pink flush in his beardless +cheeks deepening to a more vivid hue. "It refers rather to the +expression which you have given the divinity in yonder statue." Here +Myrtilus hesitated, and, turning so that he stood face to face with +Hermon, asked frankly, "Did you ever seek the goddess and, when you found +her, did you feel any supernatural power and beauty?" + +"What a question!" exclaimed Hermon in astonishment. "A pupil of Straton, +and go in search of beings and powers whose existence he denies! What my +mother instilled into my heart I lost with my childhood, and you address +your question only to the artist who holds his own ground, not to the +boy. The power that calls creation to life, and maintains it, has for me +long had nothing in common with those beings like mortals whom the +multitude designates by the name of divinities." + +"I think differently," replied Myrtilus. "While I numbered myself +among the Epicureans, whose doctrine still possesses the greatest charm +for me, I nevertheless shared the master's opinion that it is insulting +the gods to suppose that they will disturb their blissful repose for the +sake of us insignificant mortals. Now my mind and my experience rebel +against holding to this view, yet I believe with Epicurus, and with you, +that the eternal laws of Nature bow to neither divine nor human will." + +"And yet," said Hermon, "you expect me to trouble myself about those who +are as powerless as myself!" + +"I only wished that you might do so," answered Myrtilus; "for they are +not powerless to those who from the first assumed that they can do +nothing in opposition to those changeless laws. The state, too, rules +according to them, and the wise king who refrains from interfering with +them in the smallest trifle can therefore wield the sceptre with mighty +power. So, in my opinion, it is perfectly allowable to expect aid from +the gods. But we will let that pass. A healthy man, full of exuberant +vigour like yourself, rarely learns early what they can bestow in +suffering and misfortune; yet where the great majority believe in them, +he, too, will be unable to help forming some idea of them; nay, even you +and I have experienced it. By a thousand phenomena they force themselves +into the world which surrounds us and our emotional life. Epicurus, who +denied their power, saw in them at least immortal beings who possess in +stainless perfection everything which in mortals is disfigured by errors, +weaknesses, and afflictions. To him they are the intensified, reflected +image of our own nature, and I think we can do nothing wiser than to +cling to that, because it shows us to what heights of beauty and power, +intellect, goodness, and purity we may attain. To completely deny their +existence would hardly be possible even for you, because their persons +have found a place in your imagination. Since this is the case, it can +only benefit you to recognise in them magnificent models, by whose means +we artists, if we imitate, perfect, and model them, will create works far +more sublime and beautiful than anything visible to our senses which we +meet here beneath the sun." + +"It is this very superiority in sublimity and beauty which I, and those +who pursue the same path with me, oppose," replied Hermon. "Nature is +sufficient for us. To take anything from her, mutilates; to add +anything, disfigures her." + +"But not," replied Myrtilus firmly, "when it is done only in a special +sense, and within the limits of Nature, to which the gods also belong. +The final task of art, fiercely as you and your few followers contend +against it, lies in the disentanglement, enhancing, and ennobling of +Nature. You, too, ought not to overlook it when you undertake to model +a Demeter; for she is a goddess, no mortal like yourself. The rest or +I ought rather to say the alteration which converts the mortal woman into +the immortal one, the goddess--I miss, and with special regret, because +you do not even deem it worth consideration." + +"That I shall never do," retorted Hermon irritably, "so long as it is a +changing chimera which presents itself differently to every mind." + +"Yet, should it really be a chimera, it is at any rate a sublime one," +Myrtilus protested, "and whoever among us artists wanders through Nature +with open eyes and heart, and then examines his own soul, will find it +worth while to attempt to give his ideal form." + +"Whatever stirs my breast during such walks, unless it is some +unusual human being, I leave to the poet," replied Hermon. "I should be +satisfied with the Demeter yonder, and you, too, probably, if--entirely +apart from that--I had only succeeded fully and entirely in making her an +individual--that is, a clearly outlined, distinct personality. This, you +have often told me, is just wherein I am usually most successful. But here, +I admit, I am baffled. Demeter hovered before me as a kindly dispenser of +good gifts, a faithful, loving wife. Daphne's head expresses this; but +in modelling the body I lost sight of the whole creation. While, for +instance, in my fig-eater, every toe, every scrap of the tattered +garments, belongs to the street urchin whom I wished to represent, +in the goddess everything came by chance as the model suggested it, +and you know that I used several. Had the Demeter from head to foot +resembled Daphne, who has so much in common with our goddess, the statue +would have been harmonious, complete, and you would perhaps have been +the first to acknowledge it." + +"By no means," Myrtilus eagerly interrupted. "What our statues of the +gods are we two know best: a wooden block, covered with gold and sheets +of ivory. But to tens of thousands the statue of the divinity must be +much more. When they raise their hearts, eyes, hands to it in prayer, +they must be possessed by the idea of the deity which animated us while +creating it, and with which we, as it were, permeated it. If it shows +them only a woman endowed with praiseworthy qualities--" + +"Then," interrupted Hermon, "the worshipper should thank the sculptor; +for is it not more profitable to him to be encouraged by the statue to +emulate the human virtues whose successful embodiment it shows him than +to strive for the aid of the botchwork of human hands, which possesses +as much or as little power as the wood, gold, and ivory that compose it? +If the worshipper does not appeal to the statue, but to the goddess, +I fear it will be no less futile. So I shall consider it no blemish if +you see in my Demeter a mortal woman, and no goddess; nay, it reconciles +me in some degree to her weaknesses, to which I by no means close my +eyes. I, too--I confess it--often feel a great desire to give the power +of imagination greater play, and I know the divinities in whom I have +lost faith as well as any one; for I, too, was once a child, and few have +ever prayed to them more fervently, but with the increasing impulse +toward liberty came the perception: There are no gods, and whoever bows +to the power of the immortals makes himself a slave. So what I banished +from life I will also remove from art, and model nothing which might not +meet me to-day or to-morrow." + +"Then, as an honest man, abstain altogether from making statues of the +gods," interrupted his friend. + +"That was my intention long ago, as you are aware," the other answered. + +"You could not commit a worse robbery upon yourself," cried Myrtilus. +"I know you; nay, perhaps I see farther into your soul than you yourself. +By ingenious fetters you force the mighty winged intellect to content +itself within the narrow world of reality. But the time when you will +yourself rend the bonds and find the divinity you have lost, will come, +and then, with your mighty power once more free, you will outstrip most +of us, and me also if I live to see it." + +Then he pressed his hand upon his rattling chest and walked slowly to the +couch; but Hermon followed, helped him to lie down, and with affectionate +solicitude arranged his pillows. + +"It is nothing," Myrtilus said soothingly, after a few minutes' silence. +"My undermined strength has been heavily taxed to-day. The Olympians +know how calmly I await death. It ends all things. Nothing will be left +of me except the ashes, to which you will reduce my body, and what you +call 'possession.' But even this can no longer belong to me after death, +because I shall then be no more, and the idea of possession requires a +possessor. My estate, too, is now disposed of. I have just been to the +notary, and sixteen witnesses--neither more nor less--have signed my will +according to the custom of this ceremonious country. There, now, if you +please, go before me, and let me stay here alone a little while. +Remember me to Daphne and the Pelusinians. I will join you in an hour." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Cautious inquiry saves recantation +Nature is sufficient for us +There are no gods, and whoever bows makes himself a slave +Waiting is the merchant's wisdom +Woman's hair is long, but her wit is short + + + + + + +ARACHNE + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 3. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +"When the moon is over Pelican Island." How often Ledscha had repeated +this sentence to herself while Hermon was detained by Daphne and her +Pelusinian guests! + +When she entered the boat after nightfall she exclaimed hopefully, sure +of her cause, "When the moon is over Pelican Island he will come." + +Her goal was quickly reached in the skiff; the place selected for the +nocturnal meeting was a familiar one to her. + +The pirates had remained absent from it quite two years. Formerly they +had often visited the spot to conceal their arms and booty on the densely +wooded island. The large papyrus thicket on the shore also hid boats +from spying eyes, and near the spot where Ledscha landed was a grassy +seat which looked like an ordinary resting place, but beneath it the +corsairs had built a long, walled passage, that led to the other side of +the island, and had enabled many a fugitive to vanish from the sight of +pursuers, as though the earth had swallowed them. + +"When the moon is over the island," Ledscha repeated after she had waited +more than an hour. + +The time had not yet come; the expanse of water lay before her +motionless, in hue a dull, leaden gray, and only the dimly illumined air +and a glimmering radiance along the edges of the waves that washed the +island showed that the moon was already brightening the night. + +When its full orb floated above the island Hermon, too, would appear, and +the happiness which had been predicted to Ledscha would begin. + +Happiness? + +A bitter smile hovered around her delicately cut lips as she repeated the +word. + +Hitherto no feeling was more distant from her; for when love and longing +began to stir in her heart, it seemed as though a hideous spider was +weaving its web about her, and vague fears, painful memories, and in +their train fierce hate would force glad expectation into the shadow. + +Yet she yearned with passionate fervour to see Hermon again, and when he +was once there all must be well between them. The prediction of old +Tabus, who ruled as mistress over so many demons, could not deceive. + +After Ledscha had so lately reminded the lover who so vehemently roused +her jealous wrath what this night of the full moon meant to her, she +could rely upon his appearance in spite of everything. + +Various matters undoubtedly held him firmly enough in Tennis--she +admitted this to herself after she grew calmer--but he had promised to +come; he would surely enter the boat, and she--she would submit to share +the night with the Hellene. + +Her whole being longed for the bliss awaiting her, and it could come from +no one save the man whose lips would seek hers when the moon rose over +the Pelican Island. + +How tardily and sluggishly the cow-headed goddess who bore the silver orb +between her horns rose to-night! how slowly the time passed, yet she did +not move forward more certainly that the man whom Ledscha expected must +arrive. + +Of the possibility of his non-appearance she would not think; but when +the fear that she was perhaps looking for him in vain assailed her, the +blood crimsoned her face as if she felt the shame of a humiliating +insult. Yet why should she make the period of waiting more torturing +than it was already? + +Surely he must come! + +Sometimes she rested on the grassy seat and gazed across the dull gray +surface of the water into the distance; sometimes she walked to and fro, +stopping at every turn to look across at Tennis and the bright torches +and lights which surrounded the Alexandrian's tent. + +So one quarter of an hour after another passed away. + +A light breeze rose, and gradually the tops of the rushes began to shine, +and the leafage before, beside, and above her to glitter in the silvery +light. + +The water was no longer calm, but furrowed by countless little ripples, +on whose crests the rays from above played, sparkling and flashing +restlessly. A web of shimmering silvery radiance covered the edges of +every island, and suddenly the brilliant full moon was reflected in +argent lustre like a magnificent quivering column upon the surface of the +water, now rippled by the evening breeze. + +The time during which Ledscha could repeat "When the moon is over Pelican +Island" was past; already its course had led it beyond. + +The island lay behind it, and it continued its pilgrimage before the +young girl's eyes. + +The glittering column of light upon the water proved that she was not +mistaken; the time which she had appointed for Hermon had already +expired. + +The moon in calm majesty sailed farther and farther onward in its course, +and with it minute after minute elapsed, until they became a half hour, +then a whole one. + +"How long is it since the moon was over Pelican Island?" was the question +which now pressed itself upon her again and again, and to which she found +an answer at every glance upward, for she had learned to estimate time by +the position of the stars. + +Rarely was the silence of the night interrupted by the call of a human +being or the barking of a dog from the city, or even the hooting of an +owl at a still greater distance; but the farther the moon moved on above +her the fiercer grew the uproar in Ledscha's proud, cruelly wronged soul. +She felt offended, scorned, insulted, and at the same time defrauded of +the happiness which this night of the full moon contained for her. Or +had the demons who promised happiness meant something else in their +prediction than Hermon's love? Was she to owe the bliss they had +foretold to hate and pitiless retribution? + +When the midnight hour had nearly arrived she prepared to depart, but +after she had already set her foot on the edge of the boat she returned +to the grassy seat. She would wait a little longer yet. Then there +would be nothing which could give Hermon a right to consideration; then +she might let loose upon him the avenging powers at her command. + +Ledscha again gazed over the calm landscape, but in the wild tumult of +her heart she no longer distinguished the details upon which her eyes +rested. Doubtless she saw the light mists hovering like ghosts, or the +restless shades of the unburied dead, over the shining expanse before +her, and the filmy vapours that veiled the brightness of the stars, but +she had ceased to question the heavenly bodies about the time. + +What did she care for the progress of the hours, since the constellation +of Charles's Wain showed her that it was past midnight? + +The moon no longer stood forth in sharp outlines against the deep azure +of the vaulted sky, but, robbed of its radiance, floated in a circle of +dimly illumined mists. + +Not only the feelings which stirred Ledscha's soul, but the scene around +her, had gained a totally different aspect. + +Since every hope of the happiness awaiting her was destroyed, she no +longer sought to palliate the wrongs Hermon had inflicted upon her. +While dwelling on them, she by no means forgot the trivial purpose for +which the artist intended to use her charms; and when she again gazed up +at the slightly-clouded sky, the shrouded moon no longer reminded her of +the silver orb between the horns of Astarte. + +She did not ask herself how the transformation had occurred, but in its +place, high above her head, hung a huge gray spider. Its gigantic limbs +extended over the whole firmament, and seemed striving to clutch and +stifle the world beneath. The enormous monster was weaving its gray net +over Tennis, and all the islands in the water, the Pelican Island, and +she herself upon the seat of turf, and held them all prisoned in it. + +It was a horrible vision, fraught with terrors which, even when she shut +her eyes in order to escape it, showed very little change. + +Assailed by anxious fears, Ledscha started up, and a few seconds later +was urging her boat with steady strokes toward the Owl's Nest. + +Even now lights were still shining from the Alexandrian's tent through +the sultry, veiled night. + +There seemed to be no waking life on the pirates' island. Even old Tabus +had probably put out the fire and gone to sleep, for deathlike silence +and deep darkness surrounded it. + +Had Hanno, who agreed to meet her here after midnight, also failed to +come? Had the pirate learned, like the Greek, to break his promise? + +Only half conscious what she was doing, she left the boat; but her +slender foot had scarcely touched the land when a tall figure emerged +from the thicket near the shore and approached her through the darkness. + +"Hanno!" she exclaimed, as if relieved from a burden, and the young +pirate repeated "Hanno" as if the name was the watchword of the night. + +Her own name, uttered in a tone of intense yearning, followed. Not +another syllable accompanied it, but the expression with which it fell +upon her ear revealed so plainly what the young pirate felt for and +expected from her that, in spite of the darkness which concealed her, +she felt her face flush. + +Then he tried to clasp her hand, and she dared not withdraw it from the +man whom she had chosen for her tool. So she unresistingly permitted him +to hold her right hand while he whispered his desire to take the place of +the fallen Abus and make her his wife. + +Ledscha, in hurried, embarrassed tones, answered that she appreciated the +honour of his suit, but before she gave full consent she must discuss an +important matter with him. + +Then Hanno begged her to go out on the water. + +His father and his brother Labaja were sitting in the house by the fire +with his grandmother. They had learned, in following the trade of +piracy, to hide the glimmer of lights. The old people had approved his +choice, but the conversation in the dwelling would soon be over, and then +the opportunity of seeing each other alone would be at an end. + +Without uttering a word in reply, Ledscha stepped back into the boat, but +Hanno plied the oars with the utmost caution and guided the skiff without +the slightest sound away from the island to an open part of the water far +distant from any shore. + +Here he took in the oars and asked her to speak. They had no cause to +fear being overheard, for the surrounding mists merely subdued the light +of the full moon, and no other boat could have approached them +unobserved. + +The few night birds, sweeping swiftly on their strong pinions from one +island to another, flew past them like flitting shadows. One hawk only, +in search of nocturnal booty, circled around the motionless skiff, and +sometimes, with expanded wings, swooped down close to the couple who were +talking together so eagerly; but both spoke so low that it would have +been impossible, even for the bird's keen hearing, to follow the course +of their consultation. Merely a few louder words and exclamations +reached the height where it hovered. + +The young pirate himself was obliged to listen with the most strained +attention while Ledscha, in low whispers, accused the Greek sculptor of +having basely wronged and deceived her; but the curse with which Hanno +received this acknowledgment reached even the bird circling around the +boat, and it seemed as if it wished to express its approval to the +corsair, for this time its fierce croak, as it suddenly swooped down to +the surface of the water behind the boat, sounded shrilly through the +silent night. But it soon soared again, and now Ledscha's declaration +that she would become Hanno's bride only on condition that he would aid +her to punish the Hellenic traitor also reached him. + +Then came the words "valuable booty," "slight risk," "thanks and reward." + +The girl's whispered allusion to two colossal statues made of pure gold +and genuine ivory was followed by a laugh of disagreeable meaning from +the pirate. + +At last he raised his deep voice to ask whether Ledscha, if the venture +in which he would willingly risk his life were successful, would +accompany him on board the Hydra, the good ship whose command his father +intrusted to him. The firm "Yes" with which she answered, and her +indignant exclamation as she repulsed Hanno's premature attempt at +tenderness, might have been heard by the hawk even at a greater distance. + +Then the pirate's promised bride lowered her voice again, and did not +raise her tones until she saw in imagination the fulfilment of the +judgment which she was calling down upon the man who had torn her heart +with such pitiless cruelty. + +Was this the happiness predicted for her on the night of the full moon? +It might be, and, radiant with secret joy, her eyes sparkling and her +bosom heaving as if her foot was already on the breast of the fallen foe, +she assured Hanno that the gold and the ivory should belong to him, and +to him alone; but not until he had delivered the base traitor to her +alive, and left his punishment in her hands, would she be ready to go +with him wherever he wished--not until then, and not one moment earlier. + +The pirate, with a proud "I'll capture him!" consented to this condition; +but Ledscha, in hurried words, now described how she had planned the +attack, while the corsair, at her bidding, plied the oars so as to bring +the boat nearer to the scene of the assault. + +The vulture followed the skiff; but when it stopped opposite to the large +white building, one side of which was washed by the waves, Ledscha +pointed to the windows of Hermon's studio, exclaiming hoarsely to the +young pirate: "You will seize him there--the Greek with the long, soft +black beard, and the slender figure, I mean. Then you will bind and gag +him, but, you hear, without killing him, for I can only inflict what he +deserves upon the living man. I am not bargaining for a dead one." + +Just at that instant the bird of prey, with a shrill, greedy cry, as if +it were invited to a delicious banquet, flew far away into the distance +and did not return. It flew toward the left; the girl noticed it, and +her heavy black eyebrows, which already met, contracted still more. The +direction taken by the bird, which soon vanished in the darkness of the +night, indicated approaching misfortune; but she was here only to sow +destruction, and the more terrible growth it attained the better! + +With an acuteness which aroused the admiration of the young corsair, who +was trained to similar plots, she explained hers. + +That they must wait until after the departure of the Alexandrian with her +numerous train, and for the first dark night, was a matter of course. + +One signal was to notify Hanno to hold himself in readiness, another to +inform him that every one in the white house had gone to rest, and that +Hermon was there too. The pirates were to enter the black-bearded +Greek's studio. While some were shattering his statues to carry away in +sacks the gold and ivory which they contained, others were to force their +way into Myrtilus's workroom, which was on the opposite side of the +house. There they would find the second statue; but this they must +spare, because, on account of the great fame of its creator, it was more +valuable than the other. The fair-haired artist was ill, and it would be +no difficult matter to take him alive, even if he should put himself on +the defensive. Hermon, on the contrary, was a strong fellow, and to bind +him without injuring him severely would require both strength and skill. +Yet it must be done, for only in case Hanno succeeded in delivering both +sculptors to her alive would she consider herself--she could not repeat +it often enough--bound to fulfil what she had promised him. + +With the exception of the two artists, only Myrtilus's servant, the old +doorkeeper, and Bias, Hermon's slave, remained during the night in the +house which was to be attacked, and Hanno would undertake the assault +with twenty-five sturdy fellows whom he commanded on the Hydra if his +brother Labaja consented to share in the assault, this force could be +considerably increased. + +To take the old corsair into their confidence now would not be advisable, +for, on account of his mother's near presence, he would scarcely consent +to enter into the peril. Should the venture fail, everything would be +over; but if it succeeded, the old man could only praise the courage and +skill with which it had been executed. + +Nothing was to be feared from the coast guard, for since Abus's death the +authorities believed that piracy had vanished from these waters, and the +ships commanded by Satabus and his sons had been admitted from Pontus +into the Tanite arm of the Nile as trading vessels. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +While Hanno was discussing these considerations, he rowed the boat past +the landing place from which the "garden" with the Alexandrian's tent +could be seen. + +The third hour after midnight had begun. Smoking flames were still +rising from the pitch pans and blazing torches, and long rows of lanterns +also illumined the broad space. + +It was as light as day in the vicinity of the tent, and Biamite huntsmen +and traders were moving to and fro among the slaves and attendants as +though it was market time. + +"Your father, too," Hanno remarked in his awkward fashion, "will scarcely +make life hard for us. We shall probably find him in Pontus. He is +getting a cargo of wood for Egypt there. We have had dealings with him +a long time. He thought highly of Abus, and I, too, have already been +useful to him. There were handsome young fellows on the Pontine coast, +and we captured them. At the peril of our lives we took them to the +mart. He may even risk it in Alexandria. So the old man makes over to +him a large number of these youths, and often a girl into the bargain, +and he does it far too cheaply. One might envy him the profit--if it +were not your father! When you are once my wife, I'll make a special +contract with him about the slaves. And, besides, since the last great +capture, in which the old man allowed me a share of my own, I, too, need +not complain of poverty. I shall be ready for the dowry. Do you want to +know what you are worth to me?" + +But Ledscha's attention was attracted by other things, and even after +Hanno, with proud conceit, repeated his momentous question, he waited in +vain for a reply. + +Then he perceived that the girl was gazing at the brilliantly lighted +square as if spellbound, and now he himself saw before the tent a shed +with a canopied roof, and beneath it cushioned couches, on which several +Greeks--men and women--were half sitting, half lying, watching with eager +attention the spectacle which a slender young Hellenic woman was +presenting to them. + +The tall man with the magnificent black beard, who seemed fairly +devouring her with his eyes, must be the sculptor whom Ledscha commanded +him to capture. + +To the rude pirate the Greek girl, who in a light, half-transparent +bombyx robe, was exhibiting herself to the eyes of the men upon a +pedestal draped with cloths, seemed bold and shameless. + +Behind her stood two female attendants, holding soft white garments +ready, and a handsome Pontine boy with black, waving locks, who gazed up +at her waiting for her signs. + +"Nearer," Ledscha ordered the pirate in a stifled voice, and he rowed the +boat noiselessly under the shadow of a willow on the bank. But the skiff +had scarcely been brought to a stop there when an elderly matron, who +shared the couch of an old Macedonian man of a distinguished, soldierly +appearance, called the name "Niobe." + +The Hellene on the pedestal took a cloth from the hand of one of the +female attendants, and beckoned to the boy, who obediently drew through +his girdle the short blue chiton which hung only to his knees, and sprang +upon the platform. + +There the Greek girl manipulated in some way the red tresses piled high +upon her head, and confined above the brow by a costly gold diadem, flung +the white linen fabric which the young slave handed to her over her head, +wound her arm around the shoulders of the ravenlocked boy, and drew him +toward her with passionate tenderness. At the same time she raised the +end of the linen drapery with her left hand, spreading it over him like a +protecting canopy. + +The mobile features which had just smiled so radiantly expressed mortal +terror, and the pirate, to whom even the name "Niobe" was unfamiliar, +looked around him for the terrible danger threatening the innocent child, +from which the woman on the pedestal was protecting it with loving +devotion. + +The mortal terror of a mother robbed by a higher power of her child could +scarcely be more vividly depicted, and yet haughty defiance hovered +around her slightly pouting lips; the uplifted hands seemed not only +anxiously to defend, but also to defy an invisible foe with powerless +anger. + +The pirate's eyes rested on this spectacle as if spellbound, and the man +who in Pontus had dragged hundreds of young creatures--boys and girls-- +on his ship to sell them into slavery, never thinking of the tears which +he thereby caused in huts and mansions, clinched his rough hand to attack +the base wretch who was robbing the poor mother of her lovely darling. + +But just as Hanno was rising to look around him for the invisible +evildoer, the loud shouts of many voices startled him. He glanced toward +the pedestal; but now, instead of the hapless mother, he found there the +bold woman whom he had previously seen, as radiant as if some great piece +of good fortune had befallen her, bowing and waving her hand to the other +Greeks, who were thanking her with loud applause. + +The sorely threatened boy, bowing merrily, sprang to the ground; but +Hanno put his hand on Ledscha's arm, and in great perplexity whispered, +"What did that mean?" + +"Hush!" said the girl softly, stretching her slender neck toward the +illuminated square, for the performer had remained standing upon the +pedestal, and Chrysilla, Daphne's companion, sat erect on her couch, +exclaiming, "If it is agreeable to you, beautiful Althea, show us Nike +crowning the victor." + +Even the Biamite's keen ear could not catch the reply and the purport of +the rapid conversation which followed; but she guessed the point in +question when the young men who were present rose hastily, rushed toward +the pedestal, loosed the wreaths from their heads, and offered them to +the Greek girl whom Chrysilla had just called "beautiful Althea." + +Four Hellenic officers in the strong military force under Philippus, the +commandant of the "Key of Egypt," as Pelusium was justly called, had +accompanied the old Macedonian general to visit his friend Archias's +daughter at Tennis; but Althea rejected their garlands with an +explanation which seemed to satisfy them. + +Ledscha could not hear what she said, but when only Hermon and Myrtilus +still stood with their wreaths of flowers opposite the "beautiful +Althea," and she glanced hesitatingly from one to the other, as if she +found the choice difficult, and then drew from her finger a sparkling +ring, the Biamite detected the swift look of understanding which Hermon +exchanged with her. + +The girl's heart began to throb faster, and, with the keen premonition of +a jealous soul, she recognised in Althea her rival and foe. + +Now there was no doubt of it; now, as the actress, skilled in every wile, +hid the hand holding the ring, as well as the other empty one, behind her +back, she would know how to manage so that she could use the garland +which Hermon handed her. + +Ledscha's foreboding was instantly fulfilled, for when Althea held out +her little tightly clinched fist to the artists and asked Myrtilus to +choose, the hand to which he pointed and she then opened was empty, and +she took from the other the ring, which she displayed with well-feigned +regret to the spectators. + +Then Hermon knelt before her, and, as he offered Althea his wreath, his +dark eyes gazed so ardently into the blue ones of the red-haired Greek- +like Queen Arsinoe, she was of Thracian descent--that Ledscha was now +positively certain she knew for whose sake her lover had so basely +betrayed her. + +How she hated this bold woman! + +Yet she was forced to keep quiet, and pressed her lips tightly together +as Althea seized the white sheet and with marvellous celerity wound it +about her until it fell in exquisite folds like a long robe. + +Surprise, curiosity, and a pleasant sense of satisfaction in seeing what +seemed to her a shameless display withdrawn from her lover's eyes, +rendered it easier for Ledscha to maintain her composure; yet she felt +the blood throbbing in her temples as Hermon remained kneeling before the +Hellene, gazing intently into her expressive face. + +Was it not too narrow wholly to please the man who had known how to +praise her own beauty so passionately? Did not the outlines of Althea's +figure, which the bombyx robe only partially concealed, lack roundness +even more than her own? + +And yet! As soon as Althea had transformed the sheet into a robe, and +held the wreath above him, Hermon's gaze rested on hers as though +enraptured, while from her bright blue eyes a flood of ardent admiration +poured upon the man for whom she held the victor's wreath. + +This was done with the upper portion of her body bending very far +forward. The slender figure was poised on one foot; the other, covered +to the ankle with the long robe, hovered in the air. Had not the wings +which, as Nike, belonged to her been lacking, every one would have been +convinced that she was flying--that she had just descended from the +heights of Olympus to crown the kneeling victor. Not only her hand, her +gaze and her every feature awarded the prize to the man at her feet. + +There was no doubt that, if Nike herself came to the earth to make the +best man happy with the noblest of crowns, the spectacle would be a +similar one. + +And Hermon! No garlanded victor could look up to the gracious divinity +more joyously, more completely enthralled by grateful rapture. + +The applause which now rang out more and more loudly was certainly not +undeserved, but it pierced Ledscha's soul like a mockery, like the +bitterest scorn. + +Hanno, on the contrary, seemed to consider the scene scarcely worth +looking at. Something more powerful was required to stir him. He was +particularly averse to all exhibitions. The utmost which his relatives +could induce the quiet, reserved man to do when they ventured into the +great seaports was to attend the animal fights and the games of the +athletes. He felt thoroughly happy only when at sea, on board of his +good ship. His best pleasure was to gaze up at the stars on calm nights, +guide the helm, and meanwhile dream--of late most gladly of making the +beautiful girl who had seemed to him worthy of his brave brother Abus, +his own wife. + +In the secluded monotony of his life as a scar over memory had exalted +Ledscha into the most desirable of all women, and the slaughtered Abus +into the greatest of heroes. + +To win the love of this much-praised maiden seemed to Hanno peerless +happiness, and the young corsair felt that he was worthy of it; for +on the high seas, when a superior foe was to be opposed by force and +stratagem, when a ship was to be boarded and death spread over her deck, +he had proved himself a man of unflinching courage. + +His suit had progressed more easily than he expected. His father would +rejoice, and his heart exulted at the thought of encountering a serious +peril for the girl he loved. His whole existence was a venture of life, +and, had he had ten to lose, they would not have been too dear a price to +him to win Ledscha. + +While Althea, as the goddess of Victory, held the wreath aloft, and loud +applause hailed her, Hanno was thinking of the treasures which he had +garnered since his father had allowed him a share of the booty, and of +the future. + +When he had accumulated ten talents of gold he would give up piracy, like +Abus, and carry on his own ships wood and slaves from Pontus to Egypt, +and textiles from Tennis, arms and other manufactured articles from +Alexandria to the Pontine cities. In this way Ledscha's father had +become a rich man, and he would also, not for his own sake--he needed +little--but to make life sweet for his wife, surround her with splendour +and luxury, and adorn her beautiful person with costly jewels. Many a +stolen ornament was already lying in the safe hiding place that even his +brother Labaja did not know. + +At last the shouts died away, and as the stopping of the clattering wheel +wakes the miller, so the stillness on the shore roused Hanno from his +dream. + +What was it that Ledscha saw there so fascinating that she did not even +hear his low call? His father and Labaja had undoubtedly left his +grandmother's house long ago, and were looking for him in vain. + +Yes, he was right; the old pirate's shrill whistle reached his ear from +the Owl's Nest, and he was accustomed to obedience. + +So, lightly touching Ledscha on the shoulder, he whispered that he must +return to the island at once. His father would be rejoiced if she went +with him. + +"To-morrow," she answered in a tone of resolute denial. Then, reminding +him once more of the meaning of the signals she had promised to give, she +waved her hand to him, sprang swiftly past him to the prow of the boat, +caught an overhanging bough of the willow on the shore, and, as she had +learned during the games of her childhood, swung herself as lightly as a +bird into the thicket at the water's edge, which concealed her from every +eye. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Without even vouchsafing Hanno another glance, Ledscha glided forward in +the shadow of the bushes to the great sycamore, whose thick, broad top on +the side toward the tents was striped with light from the flood of +radiance streaming from them. On the opposite side the leafage vanished +in the darkness of the night, but Myrtilus had had a bench placed there, +that he might rest in the shade, and from this spot the girl could obtain +the best view of what she desired to see. + +How gay and animated it was under the awning! + +A throng of companions had arrived with the Pelusinians, and some also +had probably been on the ship which--she knew it from Bias--had come to +Tennis directly from Alexandria that afternoon. The galley was said to +belong to Philotas, an aristocratic relative of King Ptolemy. If she was +not mistaken, he was the stately young Greek who was just picking up the +ostrich-feather fan that had slipped from Daphne's lap. + +The performance was over. + +Young slaves in gay garments, and nimble female servants with glittering +gold circlets round their upper arms and on their ankles, were passing +from couch to couch, and from one guest to another, offering +refreshments. Hermon had risen from his knees, and the wreath of bright +flowers again adorned his black curls. He held himself as proudly erect +as if the goddess of Victory herself had crowned him, while Althea was +reaping applause and thanks. Ledscha gazed past her and the others to +watch every movement of the sculptor. + +It was scarcely the daughter of Archias who had detained Hermon, for he +made only a brief answer--Ledscha could not hear what it was--when she +accosted him pleasantly, to devote himself to Althea, and--this could +be perceived even at a distance--thank her with ardent devotion. + +And now--now he even raised the hem of her peplos to his lips. + +A scornful smile hovered around Ledscha's mouth; but Daphne's guests also +noticed this mark of homage--an unusual one in their circle--and young +Philotas, who had followed Daphne from Alexandria, cast a significant +glance at a man with a smooth, thin, birdlike face, whose hair was +already turning gray. His name was Proclus, and, as grammateus of the +Dionysian games and high priest of Apollo, he was one of the most +influential men in Alexandria, especially as he was one of the favoured +courtiers of Queen Arsinoe. + +He had gone by her command to the Syrian court, had enjoyed on his +return, at Pelusium, with his travelling companion Althea, the +hospitality of Philippus, and accompanied the venerable officer to Tennis +in order to win him over to certain plans. In spite of his advanced age, +he still strove to gain the favour of fair women, and the sculptor's +excessive ardour had displeased him. + +So he let his somewhat mocking glance wander from Althea to Hermon, and +called to the latter: "My congratulations, young master; but I need +scarcely remind you that Nike suffers no one--not even goodness and grace +personified--to take from her hand what it is her sole duty to bestow." + +While speaking he adjusted the laurel on his own thin hair; but Thyone, +the wife of Philippus, answered eagerly: "If I were a young man like +Hermon, instead of an old woman, noble Proclus, I think the wreath which +Beauty bestows would render me scarcely less happy than stern Nike's +crown of victory." + +While making this pleasant reply the matron's wrinkled face wore an +expression of such cordial kindness, and her deep voice was so winning in +its melody, that Hermon forced himself to heed the glance of urgent +warning Daphne cast at him, and leave the sharp retort that hovered on +his lips unuttered. Turning half to the grammateus, half to the matron, +he merely said, in a cold, self-conscious tone, that Thyone was right. +In this gay circle, the wreath of bright flowers proffered by the hands +of a beautiful woman was the dearest of all gifts, and he would know how +to value it. + +"Until other more precious ones cast it into oblivion," observed Althea. +"Let me see, Hermon: ivy and roses. The former is lasting, but the +roses--" She shook her finger in roguish menace at the sculptor as she +spoke. + +"The roses," Proclus broke in again, "are of course the most welcome to +our young friend from such a hand; yet these flowers of the goddess of +Beauty have little in common with his art, which is hostile to beauty. +Still, I do not know what wreath will be offered to the new tendency with +which he surprised us." + +At this Hermon raised his head higher, and answered sharply: "Doubtless +there must have been few of them, since you, who are so often among the +judges, do not know them. At any rate, those which justice bestows have +hitherto been lacking." + +"I should deplore that," replied Proclus, stroking his sharp chin with +his thumb and forefinger; "but I fear that our beautiful Nike also cared +little for this lofty virtue of the judge in the last coronation. +However, her immortal model lacks it often enough." + +"Because she is a woman," said one of the young officers, laughing; and +another added gaily: "That very thing may be acceptable to us soldiers. +For my part, I think everything about the goddess of Victory is beautiful +and just, that she may remain graciously disposed toward us. Nay, I +accuse the noble Althea of withholding from Nike, in her personation, her +special ornament--her swift, powerful wings." + +"She gave those to Eros, to speed his flight," laughed Proclus, +casting a meaning look at Althea and Hermon. + +No one failed to notice that this jest alluded to the love which seemed +to have been awakened in the sculptor as quickly as in the personator of +the goddess of Victory, and, while it excited the merriment of the +others, the blood mounted into Hermon's cheeks; but Myrtilus perceived +what was passing in the mind of his irritable friend, and, as the +grammateus praised Nike because in this coronation she had omitted the +laurel, the fair-haired Greek interrupted him with the exclamation: + +"Quite right, noble Proclus, the grave laurel does not suit our gay +pastime; but roses belong to the artist everywhere, and are always +welcome to him. The more, the better!" + +"Then we will wait till the laurel is distributed in some other place," +replied the grammateus; and Myrtilus quickly added, "I will answer for it +that Hermon does not leave it empty-handed." + +"No one will greet the work which brings your friend the wreath of +victory with warmer joy," Proclus protested. "But, if I am correctly +informed, yonder house hides completed treasures whose inspection would +give the fitting consecration to this happy meeting. Do you know what +an exquisite effect gold and ivory statues produce in a full glow of +lamplight? I first learned it a short time ago at the court of King +Antiochus. There is no lack of lights here. What do you say, gentlemen? +Will you not have the studios lighted till the rooms are as bright as +day, and add a noble enjoyment of art to the pleasures of this wonderful +night?" + +But Hermon and Myrtilus opposed this proposal with equal decision. + +Their refusal awakened keen regret, and the old commandant of Pelusium +would not willingly yield to it. + +Angrily shaking his large head, around which, in spite of his advanced +age, thick snowwhite locks floated like a lion's mane, he exclaimed, +"Must we then really return to our Pelusium, where Ares restricts the +native rights of the Muses, without having admired the noble works which +arose in such mysterious secrecy here, where Arachne rules and swings the +weaver's shuttle?" + +"But my two cruel cousins have closed their doors even upon me, who came +here for the sake of their works," Daphne interrupted, "and, as rather +Zeus is threatening a storm--just see what black clouds are rising!--we +ought not to urge our artists further; a solemn oath forbids them to show +their creations now to any one." + +This earnest assurance silenced the curious, and, while the conversation +took another turn, the gray-haired general's wife drew Myrtilus aside. + +Hermon's parents had been intimate friends of her own, as well as of her +husband's, and with the interest of sincere affection she desired to know +whether the young sculptor could really hope for the success of which +Myrtilus had just spoken. + +It was years since she had visited Alexandria, but what she heard of +Hermon's artistic work from many guests, and now again through Proclus, +filled her with anxiety. + +He had succeeded, it was said, in attracting attention, and his great +talent was beyond question; but in this age, to which beauty was as much +one of the necessities of life as bread and wine, and which could not +separate it from art, he ventured to deny it recognition. He headed a +current in art which was striving to destroy what had been proved and +acknowledged, yet, though his creations were undeniably powerful, and +even showed many other admirable qualities, instead of pleasing, +satisfying, and ennobling, they repelled. + +These opinions had troubled the matron, who understood men, and was the +more disposed to credit them the more distinctly she perceived traces of +discontent and instability in Hermon's manner during the present meeting. + +So it afforded her special pleasure to learn from Myrtilus his firm +conviction that, in Arachne, Hermon would produce a masterpiece which +could scarcely be excelled. + +During this conversation Althea had come to Thyone's side, and, as Hermon +had already spoken to her of the Arachne, she eagerly expressed her +belief that this work seemed as if it were specially created for him. + +The Greek matron leaned back comfortably upon her cushions, her wrinkled, +owl-like face assumed a cheerful expression, and, with the easy +confidence conferred by aristocratic birth, a distinguished social +position, and a light heart, she exclaimed: "Lucifer is probably already +behind yonder clouds, preparing to announce day, and this exquisite +banquet ought to have a close worthy of it. What do you say, you wonder- +working darling of the Muses"--she held out her hand to Althea as she +spoke--" to showing us and the two competing artists yonder the model of +the Arachne they are to represent in gold and ivory?" + +Althea fixed her eyes upon the ground, and, after a short period of +reflection, answered hesitatingly: "The task which you set before me is +certainly no easy one, but I shall rely upon your indulgence." + +"She will!" cried the matron to the others. + +Then, clapping her hands, she continued gaily, in the tone of the +director of an entertainment issuing invitations to a performance: "Your +attention is requested! In this city of weavers the noble Thracian, +Althea, will depict before you all the weaver of weavers, Arachne, in +person." + +"Take heed and follow my advice to sharpen your eyes," added Philotas, +who, conscious of his inferiority in intellect and talents to the men and +women assembled here, took advantage of this opportunity to assert +himself in a manner suited to his aristocratic birth. "This artistic yet +hapless Arachne, if any one, teaches the lesson how the lofty Olympians +punish those who venture to place themselves on the same level; so let +artists beware. We stepchildren of the Muse can lull ourselves +comfortably in the assurance of not giving the jealous gods the slightest +cause for the doom which overtook the pitiable weaver." + +Not a word of this declaration of the Macedonian aristocrat escaped the +listening Ledscha. Scales seemed to fall from her eves. Hermon had won +her love in order to use her for the model of his statue of Arachne, and, +now that he had met Althea, who perhaps suited his purpose even better, +he no longer needed the barbarian. He had cast her aside like a tight +shoe as soon as he found a more acceptable one in this female juggler. + +The girl had already asked herself, with a slight thrill of horror, +whether she had not prematurely called down so terrible a punishment +upon her lover; now she rejoiced in her swift action. If anything else +remained for her to do, it was to make the vengeance with which she +intended to requite him still more severe. + +There he stood beside the woman she hated. Could he bestow even one poor +thought upon the Biamite girl and the wrong he had inflicted? + +Oh, no! His heart was filled to overflowing by the Greek--every look +revealed it. + +What was the shameless creature probably whispering to him now? + +Perhaps a meeting was just being granted. The rapture which had been +predicted to her for this moonlight night, and of which Hermon had robbed +her, was mirrored in his features. He could think of everything except +her and her poor, crushed heart. + +But Ledscha was mistaken. Althea had asked the sculptor whether he still +regretted having been detained by her before midnight, and he had +confessed that his remaining at the banquet had been connected with a +great sacrifice--nay, with an offence which weighed heavily on his mind. +Yet he was grateful to the favour of the gods that had guided his +decision, for Althea had it in her power to compensate him richly for +what he had lost. + +A glance full of promise flashed upon him from her eloquent eyes, and, +turning toward the pedestal at the same instant, she asked softly, "Is +the compensation I must and will bestow connected with the Arachne?" + +An eager "Yes" confirmed this question, and a swift movement of her +expressive lips showed him that his boldest anticipations were to be +surpassed. + +How gladly he would have detained her longer!--but she was already the +object of all eyes, and his, too, followed her in expectant suspense as +she gave an order to the female attendant and then stood thoughtfully for +some time before the platform. + +When she at last ascended it, the spectators supposed that she would +again use a cloth; but, instead of asking anything more from the +assistants, she cast aside even the peplos that covered her shoulders. + +Now, almost lean in her slenderness, she stood with downcast eyes; but +suddenly she loosed the double chain, adorned with flashing gems, from +her neck, the circlets from her upper arms and wrists, and, lastly, even +the diadem, a gift bestowed by her relative, Queen Arsinoe, from her +narrow brow. + +The female slaves received them, and then with swift movements Althea +divided her thick long tresses of red hair into narrower strands, which +she flung over her back, bosom, and shoulders. + +Next, as if delirious, she threw her head so far on one side that it +almost touched her left shoulder, and stared wildly upward toward the +right, at the same time raising her bare arms so high that they extended +far above her head. + +It was again her purpose to present the appearance of defending herself +against a viewless power, yet she was wholly unlike the Niobe whom she +had formerly personated, for not only anguish, horror, and defiance, but +deep despair and inexpressible astonishment were portrayed by her +features, which obediently expressed the slightest emotion. + +Something unprecedented, incomprehensible even to herself, was occurring, +and to Ledscha, who watched her with an expectation as passionate as if +her own weal and woe depended upon Althea's every movement, it seemed as +if an unintelligible marvel was happening before her eyes, and a still +greater one was impending; for was the woman up there really a woman like +herself and the others whose eyes were now fixed upon the hated actress +no less intently than her own? + +Did her keen senses deceive her, or was not what was occurring actually +a mysterious transformation? + +As Althea stood there, her delicate arms seemed to have lengthened and +lost even their slight roundness, her figure to have become even more +slender and incorporeal, and how strangely her thin fingers spread apart! +How stiffly the strands of the parted, wholly uncurled locks stood out in +the air! + +Did it not seem as if they were to help her move? + +The black shadow which Althea's figure and limbs cast upon the surface of +the brightly lighted pedestal-no, it was no deception, it not only +resembled the spinner among insects, it presented the exact picture of a +spider. + +The Greek's slender body had contracted, her delicate arms and narrow +braids of hair changed into spider legs, and the many-jointed hands were +already grasping for their prey like a spider, or preparing to wind the +murderous threads around another living creature. + +"Arachne, the spider!" fell almost inaudibly from her quivering lips, +and, overpowered by torturing fear, she was already turning away from the +frightful image, when the storm of applause which burst from the +Alexandrian guests soothed her excited imagination. + +Instead of the spider, a slender, lank woman, with long, outstretched +bare arms, and fingers spread wide apart, fluttering hair, and wandering +eyes again stood before Ledscha. + +But no peace was yet granted to her throbbing heart, for while Althea, +with perspiring brow and quivering lips, descended from the pedestal, and +was received with loud demonstrations of astonishment and delight, the +glare of a flash of lightning burst through the clouds, and a loud peal +of thunder shook the night air and reverberated a long time over the +water. + +At the same instant a loud cry rang from beneath the canopy. + +Thyone, the wife of Alexander the Great's comrade, though absolutely +fearless in the presence of human foes, dreaded the thunder by which Zeus +announced his anger. Seized with sudden terror, she commanded a slave to +obtain a black lamb for a sacrifice, and earnestly entreated her husband +and her other companions to go on board the ship with her and seek +shelter in its safe, rain-proof cabin, for already heavy drops were +beginning to fall upon the tensely drawn awning. + +"Nemesis!" exclaimed the grammateus. + +"Nemesis!" whispered young Philotas to Daphne in a confidential murmur, +throwing his own costly purple cloak around her to shield her from the +rain. "Nowhere that we mortals overstep the bounds allotted to us do we +await her in vain." + +Then bending down to her again, he added, by way of explanation: "The +winged daughter of Night would prove herself negligent if she allowed me +to enjoy wholly without drawback the overwhelming happiness of being with +you once more." + +"Nemesis!" remarked Thoas, an aristocratic young hipparch of the guards +of the Diadochi, who had studied in Athens and belonged to the +Peripatetics there. "The master sees in the figure of this goddess the +indignation which the good fortune of the base or the unworthy use of +good fortune inspires in us. She keeps the happy mean between envy and +malicious satisfaction." The young soldier looked around him, expecting +applause, but no one was listening; the tempest was spreading terror +among most of the freedmen and slaves. + +Philotas and Myrtilus were following Daphne and her companion Chrysilla +as they hurried into the tent. The deep, commanding tones of old +Philippus vainly shouted the name of Althea, whom, as he had bestowed his +hospitality upon her in Pelusium, he regarded as his charge, while at +intervals he reprimanded the black slaves who were to carry his wife to +the ship, but at another heavy peal of thunder set down the litter to +throw themselves on their knees and beseech the angry god for mercy. + +Gras, the steward whom Archias had given to his daughter, a Bithynian who +had attached himself to one school of philosophy after an other, and +thereby ceased to believe in the power of the Olympians, lost his quiet +composure in this confusion, and even his usual good nature deserted him. +With harsh words, and no less harsh blows, he rushed upon the servants, +who, instead of carrying the costly household utensils and embroidered +cushions into the tent, drew out their amulets and idols to confide their +own imperilled lives to the protection of higher powers. + +Meanwhile the gusts of wind which accompanied the outbreak of the storm +extinguished the lamps and pitch-pans. The awning was torn from the +posts, and amid the wild confusion rang the commandant of Pelusium's +shouts for Althea and the screams of two Egyptian slave women, who, with +their foreheads pressed to the ground, were praying, while the angry Gras +was trying, by kicks and blows, to compel them to rise and go to work. + +The officers were holding a whispered consultation whether they should +accept the invitation of Proclus and spend the short remnant of the night +on his galley over the wine, or first, according to the counsel of their +pious commandant, wait in the neighbouring temple of Zeus until the storm +was over. + +The tempest had completely scattered Daphne's guests. Even Ledscha +glanced very rarely toward the tents. She had thrown her self on the +ground under the sycamore to beseech the angry deity for mercy, but, +deeply as fear moved her agitated soul, she could not pray, but listened +anxiously whenever an unexpected noise came from the meeting place of the +Greeks. + +Then the tones of a familiar voice reached her. It was Hermon's, and the +person to whom he was speaking could be no one but the uncanny spider- +woman, Althea. + +They were coming to have a secret conversation under the shade of the +dense foliage of the sycamore. That was easily perceived, and in an +instant Ledscha's fear yielded to a different feeling. + +Holding her breath, she nestled close to the trunk of the ancient tree to +listen, and the first word she heard was the name "Nemesis," which had +just reached her from the tent. + +She knew its meaning, for Tennis also had a little temple dedicated to +the terrible goddess, which was visited by the Egyptians and Biamites as +well as the Greeks. + +A triumphant smile flitted over her unveiled features, for there was no +other divinity on whose aid she could more confidently rely. She could +unchain the vengeance which threatened Hermon with a far more terrible +danger than the thunder clouds above, under the protection--nay, as it +were at the behest of Nemesis. + +To-morrow she would be the first to anoint her altar. + +Now she rejoiced that her wealthy father imposed no restriction upon her +in the management of household affairs, for she need spare no expense in +choosing the animal she intended to offer as a sacrifice. + +This reflection flashed through her mind with the speed of lightning +while she was listening to Althea's conversation with the sculptor. + +"The question here can be no clever play upon the name and the nature of +the daughter of Erebus and Night," said the Thracian gravely. "I will +remind you that there is another Nemesis besides the just being who +drives from his stolen ease the unworthy mortal who suns himself in good +fortune. The Nemesis whom I will recall to-day, while angry Zeus is +hurling his thunderbolts, is the other, who chastises sacrilege--Ate, the +swiftest and most terrible of the Erinyes. I will invoke her wrath upon +you in this hour if you do not confess the truth to me fully and +entirely." + +"Ask," Hermon interrupted in a hollow tone. "Only, you strange woman--" + +"Only," she hastily broke in, "whatever the answer may be, I must pose +to you as the model for your Arachne--and perhaps it may come to that-- +but first I must know, briefly and quickly, for they will be looking for +me immediately. Do you love Daphne?" + +"No," he answered positively. "True, she has been dear to me from +childhood--" + +"And," Althea added, completing the sentence, "you owe her father a debt +of gratitude. But that is not new to me; I know also how little reason +you gave her for loving you. Yet her heart belongs neither to Philotas, +the great lord with the little brain, nor to the famous sculptor +Myrtilus, whose body is really too delicate to bear all the laurels +with which he is overloaded, but to you, and you alone--I know it." + +Hermon tried to contradict her, but Althea, without allowing him to +speak, went on hurriedly: "No matter! I wished to know whether you loved +her. True, according to appearances, your heart does not glow for her, +and hitherto you have disdained to transform by her aid, at a single +stroke, the poverty which ill suits you into wealth. But it was not +merely to speak of the daughter of Archias that I accompanied you into +this tempest, from which I would fain escape as quickly as possible. So +speak quickly. I am to serve you in your art, and yet, if I understood +you correctly, you have already found here another excellent model." + +"A native of the country," answered Hermon in an embarrassed tone. + +"And for my sake you allowed her to wait for you in vain?" + +"It is as you say." + +"And you had promised to seek her?" + +"Certainly; but before the appointed hour came I met you. You rose +before me like a new sun, shedding a new light that was full of promise. +Everything else sank into darkness, and, if you will fulfil the hope +which you awakened in this heart--" + +Just at that moment another flash of lightning blazed, and, while the +thunder still shook the air, Althea continued his interrupted +protestation: "Then you will give yourself to me, body and soul--but +Zeus, who hears oaths, is reminding us of his presence--and what will +await you if the Biamite whom you betrayed invokes the wrath of Nemesis +against you?" + +"The Nemesis of the barbarians!" he retorted contemptuously. "She only +placed herself at the service of my art reluctantly; but you, Althea, if +you will loan yourself to me as a model, I shall succeed in doing my very +best; for you have just permitted me to behold a miracle, Arachne +herself, whom you became, you enchantress. It was real, actual life, and +that--that is the highest goal." + +"The highest?" she asked hesitatingly. "You will have to represent +the female form, and beauty, Hermon, beauty?" + +"Will be there, allied with truth," flamed Hermon, "if you, you peerless, +more than beautiful creature, keep your word to me. But you will! Let +me be sure of it. Is a little love also blended with the wish to serve +the artist?" + +"A little love?" she repeated scornfully. + +"This matter concerns love complete and full--or none. We will see each +other again to-morrow. Then show me what the model Althea is worth to +you." + +With these words she vanished in the darkness, while the call of her name +again rang from the tents. + +"Althea!" he cried in a tone of mournful reproach as he perceived her +disappearance, hurrying after her; but the dense gloom soon forced him to +give up the pursuit. + +Ledscha, too, left her place beneath the sycamore. + +She had seen and heard enough. + +Duty now commanded her to execute vengeance, and the bold Hanno was ready +to risk his life for her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +The following day the sun shone radiantly, with scorching brilliancy, +upon Tennis and the archipelago, which at this season of the year +surrounded the little city of weavers. + +Young Philotas, without going to rest, had set out at dawn in pursuit of +game, accompanied by a numerous hunting party, to which several of the +Pelusinian officers belonged. He, too, had brought home a great quantity +of booty, with which he had expected to awaken Daphne's admiration, and +to lay as a token of homage at her feet. He had intended to lead before +her garlanded slaves bearing, tied by ropes, bunches of slaughtered wild +fowl, but his reception was very different from what he had anticipated. + +Instead of praising his exploit, he had been indignantly requested to +remove the poor, easily killed victims from her presence; and, wounded +and disappointed, he had retired to his magnificent Nile boat, where, +spent by his sleepless night, he slumbered so soundly on his soft +cushions that he did not appear at the breakfast which the gray-haired +commander of Pelusium had invited him to attend on his galley. + +While the others were still feasting there, Daphne was enjoying an hour +alone with her companion Chrysilla. + +She had remained absent from Philippus's banquet, and her pale cheeks +showed the ill effects produced by the excitement of the previous night. + +A little before noon Hermon came to see her. He, too, had not gone to +the Pelusinian's breakfast. + +After Althea had left him the evening before he went directly back to the +white house, and, instead of going to rest, devoted himself to Myrtilus; +for the difficulty of breathing, which during his industrious life in +quiet seclusion had not troubled him for several months, attacked him +with twofold violence after the gaiety of the previous night. Hermon had +not left him an instant until day brought the sufferer relief, and he no +longer needed the supporting hand of his kind nurse. + +While Hermon, in his own sleeping room, ordered Bias to anoint his hair +and beard and put on festal garments, the slave told him certain things +that destroyed the last remnant of composure in his easily agitated soul. + +With the firm resolution to keep the appointment on Pelican Island, +Hermon had gone at sunset, in response to the Alexandrian's invitation, +to attend her banquet, and by no means unwillingly, for his parents' old +friends were dear to him, and he knew by experience the beneficial +influence Daphne's sunny, warmhearted nature exerted upon him. + +Yet this time he did not find what he expected. + +In the first place, he had been obliged to witness how earnestly Philotas +was pressing his suit, and perceived that her companion Chrysilla was +most eagerly assisting him. As she saw in the young aristocrat a +suitable husband for the daughter of Archias, and it was her duty to +assign the guests their seats at the banquet, she had given the cushion +beside Daphne to Philotas, and also willingly fulfilled Althea's desire +to have Hermon for her neighbour. + +When Chrysilla presented the black-bearded artist to the Thracian, she +would have sworn that Althea found an old acquaintance in the sculptor; +but Hermon treated the far-famed relative of Queen Arsinoe as coldly and +distantly as if he now saw her for the first time, and with little +pleasure. + +In truth, he was glad to avoid women of Althea's stamp. For some time +he had preferred to associate with the common people, among whom he found +his best subjects, and kept far aloof from the court circles to which +Althea belonged, and which, thanks to his birth and his ability as an +artist, would easily have been accessible to him also. + +The over-refined women who gave themselves airs of avoiding everything +which imposes a restraint upon Nature, and therefore, in their +transparent robes, treated with contempt all that modest Macedonian dames +deemed worthy of a genuine woman's consideration, were repulsive to him-- +perhaps because they formed so rude a contrast to his noble dead mother +and to Daphne. + +Although he had been very frequently in feminine society, Althea's manner +at first caused him a certain degree of embarrassment; for, in spite of +the fact that he believed he met her here for the first time, there was +something familiar about her, especially in the tone of her voice, and he +fancied that her first words were associated with some former ones. + +Yet no! If he had ever met her, he would surely have remembered her red- +gold hair and the other peculiarities of a personality which was +remarkable in every respect. + +It soon proved that they were total strangers, and he wished matters to +remain so. + +He was glad that she attracted him so little, for at least she would +scarcely make the early departure to the Biamite, which he considered his +duty, a difficult task. + +True, he admired from the first the rare milk-white line of her delicate +skin, which was wholly free from rouge--his artist eye perceived that and +the wonderfully beautiful shape of her hands and feet. The pose of the +head on the neck, too, as she turned toward him seemed remarkably fine. +This slender, pliant woman would have been an admirable model! + +Again and again she reminded him of a gay Lesbian with whom he had +caroused for a night during the last Dionysia in Alexandria, yet, on +closer inspection, the two were as different as possible. + +The former had been as free and reckless in her conduct as Althea was +reserved. The hair and eyebrows of the Lesbian, instead of reddish gold, +were the deepest black, and her complexion--he remembered it perfectly-- +was much darker. The resemblance probably consisted merely in the shape +of the somewhat too narrow face, with its absolutely straight nose, and a +chin which was rather too small, as well as in the sound of the high +voice. + +Not a serious word had reached his ears from the wanton lips of the +Lesbian, while Althea at once desired information concerning his art, +and showed that she was thoroughly familiar with the works and the +aspirations of the Alexandrian sculptors. Although aware that Hermon had +begun his career as an artist, and was the leader of a new tendency, she +pretended to belong to the old school, and thereby irritated him to +contradiction and the explanation of his efforts, which were rooted in +the demands of the present day and the life of the flourishing capital. + +The Thracian listened to the description of the new art struggling to +present truth, as if these things were welcome surprises, grand +revelations, for which she had waited with eager longing. True, she +opposed every statement hostile to the old beliefs; but her extremely +expressive features soon betrayed to him that he was stirring her to +reflect, shaking her opinions, and winning her to his side. + +Already, for the sake of the good cause, he devoted himself with the +utmost zeal to the task of convincing Althea; she, however, did not +make it an easy one, but presented clever arguments against his +assertions. + +Whenever he or she, by way of example, mentioned any well-known work +of art, she imitated, as if involuntarily, its pose and action with +surprising fidelity, frequently also in admirable caricature, whose +effect was extremely comical. What a woman! + +She was familiar with whatever Grecian art had created, and the animated +conversation became a bewitching spectacle. When the grammateus Proclus, +who as Althea's travelling companion had a certain claim upon her +attention, mingled for a while in the discussion and attracted Althea's +notice, Hermon felt injured, and answered his sensible remarks with such +rudeness that the elder man, whose social position was so much higher, +angrily turned his back upon him. + +Althea had imposed a certain degree of restraint upon herself while +talking to the grammateus, but during the further conversation with +Hermon she confessed that she was decidedly of his opinion, and added to +the old reasons for the deposition of beauty and ideality in favour of +truth and reality new ones which surprised the sculptor. When she at +last offered him her hand for a firm alliance, his brain was fevered, +and it seemed a great honour when she asked eagerly what would occupy him +in the immediate future. + +Passionate sympathy echoed in every word, was expressed in every feature, +and she listened as if a great happiness was in store for herself when he +disclosed the hopes which he based upon the statue of Arachne. + +True, as time passed he had spoken more than once of the necessity of +retiring, and before midnight really tried to depart; but he had fallen +under Althea's thrall, and, in reply to her inquiry what must shorten +these exquisite hours, had informed her, in significant words, what drew +him away, and that his delay threatened him with the loss of a model such +as the favour of fate rarely bestowed upon an artist. + +Now the Thracian for the first time permitted her eyes to make frank +confessions. She also bent forward with a natural movement to examine +the artistic work on a silver vase, and as while doing so her peplos fell +over his hand, she pressed it tenderly. + +He gazed ardently up at her; but she whispered softly: "Stay! You will +gain through me something better than awaits you there, and not only for +to-day and to-morrow. We shall meet again in Alexandria, and to serve +your art there shall be a beloved duty." + +His power of resistance was broken; yet he beckoned to his slave Bias, +who was busied with the mixing jars, and ordered him to seek Ledscha and +tell her not to wait longer; urgent duties detained him. + +While he was giving this direction, Althea had become engaged in the gay +conversation of the others, and, as Thyone called Hermon, and he was also +obliged to speak to Daphne, he could not again obtain an opportunity for +private talk with the wonderful woman who held out far grander prospects +for his art than the refractory, rude Biamite maiden. + +Soon Althea's performance seemed to prove how fortunate a choice he had +made. Her Arachne appeared like a revelation to him. If she kept her +promise, and he succeeded in modelling her in the pose assumed while +imagining the process of transformation, and presented her idea to the +spectators, the great success which hitherto--because he had not yielded +to demands which were opposed to his convictions--he had vainly expected, +could no longer escape him. The Alexandrian fellow-artists who belonged +to his party would gratefully welcome this special work; for what grew +out of it would have nothing in common with the fascination of superhuman +beauty, by which the older artists ensnared the hearts and minds of the +multitude. He would create a genuine woman, who would not lack defects, +yet who, though she inspired neither gratification nor rapture, would +touch, perhaps even thrill, the heart by absolute truth. + +While Althea was standing on the pedestal, she had not only represented +the transformation into the spider, but experienced it, and the features +of the spectators revealed that they believed they were witnessing the +sinister event. His aim was now to awaken the same feeling in the +beholders of his Arachne. Nothing, nothing at all must be changed in the +figure of the model, in which many might miss the roundness and plumpness +so pleasing to the eye. Althea's very defects would perfect the figure +of the restless, wretched weaver whom Athene transformed into the spider. + +While devoting himself to nursing his friend, he had thought far less of +the new love-happiness which, in spite of her swift flight, was probably +awaiting him through Althea than of the work which was to fill his +existence in the immediate future. + +His healthy body, steeled in the palaestra, felt no fatigue after the +sleepless night passed amid so many powerful excitements when he retired +to his chamber and committed himself to the hands of his slave. + +It had not been possible to hear his report before, but when he at last +received it Hermon was to learn something extremely unpleasant, and not +only because no word of apology or even explanation of his absence had +reached Ledscha. + +Bias was little to blame for this neglect, for, in the first place, he +had found no boat to reach the Pelican Island, because half Tennis was on +the road to Tanis, where, on the night of the full moon, the brilliant +festivals of the full eye of Horns and the great Astarte were celebrated +by the mixed population of this place. When a boat which belonged to +Daphne's galley was finally given to him, the Biamite girl was no longer +at the place appointed for the meeting. + +Hoping to find her on the Owl's Nest with old Tabus, he then landed +there, but had been so uncivilly rebuffed on the shore by a rough fellow +that he might be glad to have escaped with sound limbs. Lastly, he stole +to Ledscha's home, and, knowing that her father was absent, had ventured +as far as the open courtyard in the centre of the stately dwelling. The +dogs knew him, and as a light was shining from one of the rooms that +opened upon the courtyard, he peeped in and saw Taus, Ledscha's younger +sister. She was kneeling before the statue of a god at the back of the +room, weeping, while the old housekeeper had fallen asleep with the +distaff in her lap. + +He called cautiously to the pretty child. She was awaiting the return of +her sister, who, she supposed, was still detained on the Owl's Nest by +old Tabus's predictions; she had sorrowful tidings for her. + +The husband of her friend Gula had returned on his ship and learned that +his wife had gone to the Greek's studio. He had raged like a madman, and +turned the unfortunate woman pitilessly out of doors after sunset. Her +own parents had only been induced to receive her with great difficulty. +Paseth, the jealous husband, had spared her life and refrained from going +at once to kill the artist solely because Hermon had saved his little +daughter at his own peril from the burning house. + +"Now," said Ledscha's pretty little sister, "it would also be known that +she had gone with Gula to his master, who was certainly a handsome man, +but for whom, now that young Smethis was wooing her, she cared no more +than she did for her runaway cat. All Tennis would point at her, and she +dared not even think what her father would do when he came home." + +These communications had increased Hermon's anxiety. + +He was a brave man, and did not fear the vengeance of the enraged +husband, against whom he was conscious of no guilt except having +persuaded his wife to commit an imprudence. What troubled him was only +the consciousness that he had given her and innocent little Taus every +reason to curse their meeting. + +The ardent warmth with which Gula blessed him as the preserver of her +child had given him infinite pleasure. Now it seemed as if he had been +guilty of an act of baseness by inducing her to render a service which +was by no means free from danger, as though he wished to be paid for a +good deed. + +Besides, the slave had represented the possible consequences of his +imprudence in the most gloomy light, and, with the assurance of knowing +the disposition of his fellow-countrymen, urged his master to leave +Tennis at once; the other Biamite men, who would bear anything rather +than the interference of a Greek in their married lives, might force +Gula's husband to take vengeance on him. + +He said nothing about anxiety concerning his own safety, but he had good +reason to fear being regarded as a go-between and called to account for +it. + +But his warnings and entreaties seemed to find deaf ears in Hermon. +True, he intended to leave Tennis as soon as possible, for what advantage +could he now find here? First, however, he must attend to the packing of +the statues, and then try to appease Ledscha, and make Gula's husband +understand that he was casting off his pretty wife unjustly. + +He would not think of making a hasty departure, he told the slave, +especially as he was to meet Althea, Queen Arsinoe's art-appreciating +relative, in whom he had gained a friend, later in Alexandria. + +Then Bias informed him of a discovery to which one of the Thracian's +slave women had helped him, and what he carelessly told his master drove +the blood from his cheeks, and, though his voice was almost stifled by +surprise and shame, made him assail him with questions. + +What great thing had he revealed? There had been reckless gaiety at +every festival of Dionysus since he had been in the artist's service, +and the slaves had indulged in the festal mirth no less freely than the +masters. To intoxicate themselves with wine, the gift of the god to whom +they were paying homage, was not only permitted, but commanded, and the +juice of the grape proved its all-equalizing power. + +There had been no lack of pretty companions even for him, the bondman, +and the most beautiful of all had made eyes at his master, the tall, +slender man with the splendid black beard. + +The reckless Lesbian who had favoured Hermon at the last Dionysia had +played pranks with him madly enough, but then had suddenly vanished. By +his master's orders Bias had tried to find her again, but, in spite of +honest search, in vain. + +Just now he had met, as Althea's maid, the little Syrian Margula, who had +been in her company, and raced along in the procession of bacchanals in +his, Bias's, arms. True, she could not be persuaded to make a frank +confession, but he, Bias, would let his right hand wither if Hermon's +companion at the Dionysia was any other than Althea. His master would +own that he was right if he imagined her with black hair instead of red. +Plenty of people in Alexandria practised the art of dyeing, and it was +well known that Queen Arsinoe herself willingly mingled in the throng at +the Dionysia with a handsome Ephebi, who did not suspect the identity of +his companion. + +This was the information which had so deeply agitated Hermon, and then +led him, after pacing to and fro a short time, to go first to Myrtilus +and then to Daphne. + +He had found his friend sleeping, and though every fibre of his being +urged him to speak to him, he forced himself to leave the sufferer +undisturbed. + +Yet so torturing a sense of dissatisfaction with himself, so keen a +resentment against his own adverse destiny had awaked within him, that he +could no longer endure to remain in the presence of his work, with which +he was more and more dissatisfied. + +Away from the studio! + +There was a gay party on board the galley of his parents' old friends. +Wine should bring him forgetfulness, too, bless him again with the sense +of joyous existence which he knew so well, and which he now seemed on the +point of losing. + +When he had once talked and drunk himself into the right mood, life would +wear a less gloomy face. + +No! It should once more be a gay and reckless one. + +And Althea? + +He would meet her, with whom he had once caroused and revelled madly +enough in the intoxication of the last Dionysia, and, instead of allowing +himself to be fooled any longer and continuing to bow respectfully before +her, would assert all the rights she had formerly so liberally granted. + +He would enjoy to-day, forget to-morrow, and be gay with the gay. + +Eager for new pleasure, he drew a long breath as he went out into the +open air, pressed his hands upon his broad chest, and with his eyes fixed +upon the commandant of Pelusium's galley, bedecked with flags, walked +swiftly toward the landing place. + +Suddenly from the deck, shaded by an awning, the loud laugh of a woman's +shrill voice reached his ear, blended with the deeper tones of the +grammateus, whose attacks on the previous night Hermon had not forgotten. + +He stopped as if the laugh had pierced him to the heart. Proclus +appeared to be on the most familiar terms with Althea, and to meet him +with the Thracian now seemed impossible. He longed for mirth and +pleasure, but was unwilling to share it with these two. As he dared not +disturb Myrtilus, there was only one place where he could find what he +needed, and this was--he had said so to himself when he turned his back +on his sleeping friend--in Daphne's society. + +Only yesterday he would have sought her without a second thought, but +to-day Althea's declaration that he was the only man whom the daughter +of Archias loved stood between him and his friend. + +He knew that from childhood she had watched his every step with sisterly +affection. A hundred times she had proved her loyalty; yet, dear as she +was to him, willingly as he would have risked his life to save her from a +danger, it had never entered his mind to give the tie that united them +the name of love. + +An older relative of both in Alexandria had once advised him, when he was +complaining of his poverty, to seek her hand, but his pride of manhood +rebelled against having the wealth which fate denied flung into his lap +by a woman. When she looked at him with her honest eyes, he could never +have brought himself to feign anything, least of all a passion of which, +tenderly attached to her though he had been for years, hitherto he had +known nothing. + +"Do you love her?" Hermon asked himself as he walked toward Daphne's +tent, and the anticipated "No" had pressed itself upon him far less +quickly than he expected. + +One thing was undeniably certain: whoever won her for a wife--even +though she were the poorest of the poor--must be numbered among the most +enviable of men. And should he not recognise in his aversion to every +one of her suitors, and now to the aristocratic young Philotas, a feeling +which resembled jealousy? + +No! He did not and would not love Daphne. If she were really his, and +whatever concerned him had become hers, with whom could he have sought +in hours like these soothing, kind, and sensible counsel, comfort that +calmed the heart, and the refreshing dew which his fading courage and +faltering creative power required? + +The bare thought of touching clay and wax with his fingers, or taking +hammer, chisel, and file in his hands, was now repulsive; and when, just +outside of the tent, a Biamite woman who was bringing fish to the cook +reminded him of Ledscha, and that he had lost in her the right model for +his Arachne, he scarcely regretted it. + + + + + + +ARACHNE + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 4. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Outside the door of the tent Hermon was trying to banish Althea's image +from his mind. How foolishly he had overestimated last night the value +of this miserable actress, who as a woman had lost all charm for him-- +even as a model for his Arachne! + +He would rather have appeared before his pure friend with unsightly +stains on his robe than while mastered by yearning for the Thracian. + +The first glance at Daphne's beloved face, the first words of her +greeting, taught him that he should find with her everything for which +he longed. + +In simple, truthful words she reproached him for having neglected her +to the verge of incivility the evening before, but there was no trace of +bitterness or resentment in the accusation, and she gave Hermon little +time for apology, but quickly gladdened him with words of forgiveness. + +In the opinion of her companion Chrysilla, Daphne ought to have kept the +capricious artist waiting much longer for pardon. True, the cautious +woman took no part in the conversation afterward, but she kept her charge +in sight while she was skilfully knotting the fringe into a cloth which +she had woven herself. On account of her favourite Philotas, it was well +for Daphne to be aware that she was watched. + +Chrysilla was acquainted with life, and knew that Eros never mingles more +arbitrarily in the intercourse of a young couple than when, after a long +separation, there is anything whatever to forgive. + +Besides, many words which the two exchanged escaped her hearing, for they +talked in low tones, and it was hot in the tent. Often the fatigue she +felt after the sleepless night bowed her head, still comely with its +unwrinkled face, though she was no longer young; then she quickly raised +it again. + +Neither Daphne nor Hermon noticed her. The former at once perceived that +something was weighing on the sculptor's mind, but he did not need any +long inquiry. He had come to confide his troubles to her, and she kindly +lightened the task for him by asking why he had not gone to breakfast +with the Pelusinians. + +"Because I am not fit for gay company today," was the reply. + +"Again dissatisfied with Fate?" + +"True, it has given me small cause for contentment of late." + +"Put in place of Fate the far-seeing care of the gods, and you will +accept what befalls you less unkindly." + +"Let us stick to us mortals, I entreat you." + +"Very well, then. Your Demeter does not fully satisfy you." + +A discontented shrug of the shoulders was the reply. + +"Then work with twofold zeal upon the Arachne." + +"Although one model I hoped to obtain forsook me, and my soul is +estranged from the other." + +"Althea?" she asked eagerly, and he nodded assent. + +Daphne clapped her hands joyfully, exclaiming so loudly that Chrysilla's +head sprang up with a jerk. "It could not help being so! O Hermon! how +anxious I have been! Now, I thought, when this horrible woman +represented the transformation into the spider with such repulsive +accuracy, Hermon will believe that this is the true, and therefore the +right, ideal; nay, I was deceived myself while gazing. But, eternal +gods! as soon as I imagined this Arachne in marble or chryselephantine +work, what a painful feeling overpowered me!" + +"Of course!" he replied in an irritated tone. "The thirst for beauty, to +which you all succumb, would not have much satisfaction to expect from +this work." + +"No, no, no!" Daphne interrupted in a louder tone than usual, and with +the earnest desire to convince him. "Precisely because I transported +myself into your tendency, your aspirations, I recognised the danger. +O Hermon! what produced so sinister an effect by the wavering light of +the lamps and torches, while the thunderstorm was rising--the strands of +hair, the outspread fingers, the bewildered, staring blue eyes--do you +not feel yourself how artificial, how unnatural it all was? This +transformation was only a clever trick of acting, nothing more. Before a +quiet spectator, in the pure, truthful light of Apollo, the foe of all +deception, what would this Arachne probably become? Even now--I have +already said so--when I imagine her executed in marble or in gold and +ivory! Beauty? Who would expect to find in the active, constantly +toiling weaver, the mortal daughter of an industrious dyer in purple, the +calm, refreshing charm of divine women? I at least am neither foolish +nor unjust enough to do so. The degree of beauty Althea possesses would +entirely satisfy me for the Arachne. But when I imagine a plastic work +faithful to the model of yesterday evening--though I have seen a great +deal with my own eyes, and am always ready to defer to riper judgment-- +I would think, while looking at it: This statue came to the artist from +the stage, but never from Nature. Such would be my view, and I am not +one of the initiated. But the adepts! The King, with his thorough +connoisseurship and fine taste, my father, and the other famous judges, +how much more keenly they would perceive and define it!" + +Here she hesitated, for the blood had left Hermon's cheeks, and she saw +with surprise the deep impression which the candid expression of her +opinion had produced upon the artist, usually so independent and disposed +to contradiction. Her judgment had undoubtedly disturbed, nay, perhaps +convinced him; but at the same time his features revealed such deep +depression that, far from rejoicing in so rare a success, she patted his +arm like an affectionate sister, saying: "You have not yet found time to +realize calmly what yesterday dazzled us all--and you," she added in a +lower tone, "the most strongly." + +"But now," he murmured sadly, half to himself, half to, her, "my vision +is doubly clear. Close before the success of which I dreamed failure and +bitter disappointment." + +"If this 'doubly' refers to your completed work, and also to the +Arachne," cried Daphne in the affectionate desire to soothe him, +"a pleasant surprise will perhaps soon await you, for Myrtilus judges +your Demeter much more favourably than you yourself do, and he also +betrayed to me whom it resembles." + +She blushed slightly as she spoke, and, as her companion's gloomy face +brightened for a short time, went on eagerly: "And now for the Arachne. +You will and must succeed in what you so ardently strive to accomplish, +a subject so exactly adapted to your magnificent virile genius and so +strangely suited to the course which your art has once entered upon. +And you can not fail to secure the right model. You had not found it in +Althea, no, certainly not! O Hermon! if I could only make you see clearly +how ill suited she, in whom everything is false, is to you--your art, +your only too powerful strength, your aspiration after truth--" + +"You hate her," he broke in here in a repellent tone; but Daphne dropped +her quiet composure, and her gray eyes, usually so gentle, flashed +fiercely as she exclaimed: "Yes, and again yes! From my inmost soul I +do, and I rejoice in it. I have long disliked her, but since yesterday I +abhor her like the spider which she can simulate, like snakes and toads, +falsehood and vice." + +Hermon had never seen his uncle's peaceful daughter in this mood. The +emotions that rendered this kindly soul so unlike itself could only be +the one powerful couple, love and jealousy; and while gazing intently at +her face, which in this moment seemed to him as beautiful as Dallas +Athene armed for battle, he listened breathlessly as she continued: +"Already the murderous spider had half entangled you in her net. She +drew you out into the tempest--our steward Gras saw it--in order, while +Zeus was raging, to deliver you to the wrath of the other gods also and +the contempt of all good men; for whoever yields himself to her she +destroys, sucks the marrow from his bones like the greedy harpies, and +all that is noble from his soul." + +"Why, Daphne," interrupted Chrysilla, raising herself from her cushions +in alarm, "must I remind you of the moderation which distinguishes the +Greeks from the barbarians, and especially the Hellenic woman--" + +Here Daphne indignantly broke in: "Whoever practises moderation in the +conflict against vice has already gone halfway over to evil. She utterly +ruined--how long ago is it?--the unfortunate Menander, my poor Ismene's +young husband. You know them both, Hermon. Here, of course, you +scarcely heard how she lured him from his wife and the lovely little girl +who bears my name. She tempted the poor fellow to her ship, only to cast +him off at the end of a month for another. Now he is at home again, but +he thinks Ismene is the statue from the Temple of Isis, which has gained +life and speech; for he has lost his mind, and when I saw him I felt as +if I should die of horror and pity. Now she is coming home with Proclus, +and, as the way led through Pelusium, she attached herself to our friends +and forces herself in here with them. What does she care about her +elderly travelling companion? But you--yes, you, Hermon--are the next +person whom she means to capture. Just now, when my eyes closed But no! +It is not only in my dreams; the hideous gray threads which proceed from +this greedy spider are continually floating before me and dim the light." +Here she paused, for the maid Stephanion announced the coming of +visitors, and at the same time loud voices were heard outside, and the +merry party who had been attending the breakfast given by the commandant +of Pelusium entered the tent. + +Althea was among the guests, but she took little notice of Hermon. + +Proclus, her associate in Queen Arsinoe's favour, was again asserting his +rights as her travelling companion, and she showed him plainly that the +attention which he paid her was acceptable. + +Meanwhile her eager, bright blue eyes were roving everywhere, and nothing +that was passing around her escaped her notice. + +As she greeted Daphne she perceived that her cheeks had flushed during +her conversation with Hermon. + +How reserved and embarrassed the sculptor's manner was now to his uncle's +daughter, whom only yesterday he had treated with as much freedom as +though she were his sister! What a bungler in dissimulation! how short- +sighted was this big, strong man and remarkable artist! He had carried +her, Althea, in his arms like a child for a whole quarter of an hour at +the festival of Dionysus, and, in spite of the sculptor's keen eye, he +did not recognise her again! + +What would not dyes and a change of manner accomplish! + +Or had the memory of those mad hours revived and caused his +embarrassment? If he should know that her companion, the Milesian Nanno, +whom he had feasted with her on oyster pasties at Canopus after she had +given the slip to her handsome young companion was Queen Arsinoe! +Perhaps she would inform him of it some day if he recognised her. + +Yet that could scarcely have happened. He had only been told what she +betrayed to him yesterday, and was now neglecting her for Daphne's sake. +That was undoubtedly the way the matter stood. How the girl's cheeks +were glowing when she entered! + +The obstacle that stood between her and Hermon was the daughter of +Archias, and she, fool that she was, had attracted Hermon's attention to +her. + +No matter! + +He would want her for the Arachne, and she needed only to stretch out her +hand to draw him to her again if she found no better amusement in +Alexandria. Now she would awaken his fears that the best of models would +recall her favour. Besides, it would not do to resume the pleasant game +with him under the eyes of Philippus and his wife, who was a follower of +the manners of old times. The right course now was to keep him until +later. + +Standing at Proclus's side, she took part gaily in the general +conversation; but when Myrtilus and Philemon had joined the others, and +Daphne had consented to go with Philippus and Thyone that evening, in +order, after offering sacrifice together to Selene, to sail for Pelusium, +Althea requested the grammateus to take her, into the open air. + +Before leaving the tent, however, she dropped her ostrich-feather +fan as she passed Hermon, and, when he picked it up, whispered with a +significant glance at Daphne, "I see that what was learned of her heart +is turned to account promptly enough." + +Then, laughing gaily, she continued loudly enough to be heard by her +companion also: "Yesterday our young artist maintained that the Muse +shunned abundance; but the works of his wealthy friend Myrtilus +contradicted him, and he changed his view with the speed of lightning." + +"Would that this swift alteration had concerned the direction of his +art," replied Proclus in a tone audible to her alone. + +Both left the tent as he spoke, and Hermon uttered a sigh of relief +as he looked after them. She attributed the basest motives to him, +and Daphne's opinion of her was scarcely too severe. + +He no longer needed to fear her power of attraction, though, now that he +had seen her again, he better understood the spell which she had exerted +over him. Every movement of her lithe figure had an exquisite grace, +whose charm was soothing to the artist's eye. Only there was something +piercing in her gaze when it did not woo love, and, while making the base +charge, her extremely thin lips had showed her sharp teeth in a manner +that reminded him of the way the she-wolf among the King's wild beasts in +the Paneum gardens raised her lips when any one went near her cage. + +Daphne was right. Ledscha would have been infinitely better as a model +for the Arachne. Everything in this proud creature was genuine and +original, which was certainly not the case with Althea. Besides, stern +austerity was as much a part of the Biamite as her hair and her hands, +yet what ardent passion he had seen glow in her eyes! The model so long +sought in vain he had found in Ledscha, who in so many respects resembled +Arachne. Fool that he was to have yielded to a swift and false +ebullition of feeling! + +Since Myrtilus was again near him Hermon had devoted himself with fresh +eagerness to his artistic task, while a voice within cried more and more +loudly that the success of his new work depended entirely upon Ledscha. +He must try to regain her as a model for the Arachne! But while +pondering over the "how," he felt a rare sense of pleasure when Daphne +spoke to him or her glance met his. + +At first he had devoted himself eagerly to his father's old friends, +and especially to Thyone, and had not found it quite easy to remain firm +when, in her frank, kindly, cordial manner, she tried to persuade him to +accompany her and the others to Pelusium. Yet he had succeeded in +refusing the worthy couple's invitation. But when he saw Philotas, whose +resemblance to the King, his cousin, had just been mentioned by one of +the officers, become more and more eager in his attentions to Daphne, +and heard him also invited by Philippus to share the nocturnal voyage, +he felt disturbed, and could not conceal from himself that the uneasiness +which constantly obtained a greater mastery over him arose from the fear +of losing his friend to the young aristocrat. + +This was jealousy, and where it flamed so hotly love could scarcely be +absent. Yet, had the shaft of Eros really struck him, how was it +possible that the longing to win Ledscha back stirred so strongly +within him that he finally reached a resolution concerning her? + +As soon as the guests left Tennis he would approach the Biamite again. +He had already whispered this intention to Myrtilus, when he heard +Daphne's companion say to Thyone, "Philotas will accompany us, and on +this voyage they will plight their troth if Aphrodite's powerful son +accepts my sacrifice." + +He involuntarily looked at the pair who were intended for each other, +and saw Daphne lower her eyes, blushing, at a whisper from the young +Macedonian. + +His blood also crimsoned his cheeks, and when, soon after, he asked his +friend whether she cared for his companionship, and Daphne assented in +the most eager way, he said that he would share the voyage to Pelusium. +Daphne's eyes had never yet beamed upon him so gladly and graciously. +Althea was right. She must love him, and it seemed as if this conviction +awoke a new star of happiness in his troubled soul. + +If Philotas imagined that he could pluck the daughter of Archias like a +ripe fruit from a tree, he would find himself mistaken. + +Hermon did not yet exactly understand himself, only he felt certain that +it would be impossible to surrender Daphne to another, and that for her +sake he would give up twenty Ledschas, though he cherished infinitely +great expectations from the Biamite for his art, which hitherto had been +more to him than all else. + +Everything that he still had to do in Tennis he could intrust to his +conscientious Bias, to Myrtilus, and his slaves. + +If he returned to the city of weavers, he would earnestly endeavour to +palliate the offence which he had inflicted on Ledscha, and, if possible, +obtain her forgiveness. Only one thing detained him--anxiety about his +friend, who positively refused to share the night voyage. + +He had promised his uncle Archias to care for him like a brother, and +his own kind heart bade him stay with Myrtilus, and not leave him to the +nursing of his very skilful but utterly unreliable body-servant, after +the last night had proved to what severe attacks of his disease he was +still liable. + +Myrtilus, however, earnestly entreated him not to deprive himself on his +account of a pleasure which he would gladly have shared. There was +plenty of time to pack the statues. As for himself, nothing would do him +more good just now than complete rest in his beloved solitude, which, as +Hermon knew, was more welcome to him than the gayest society. Nothing +was to be feared for him now. The thunderstorm had purified the air, +and another one was not to be expected soon in this dry region. He had +always been well here in sunny weather. Storms, which were especially +harmful to him, never came at this season of the year. + +Myrtilus secretly thought that Hermon's departure would be desirable, +because the slave Bias had confided to him what dangers threatened his +friend from the incensed Biamite husbands. + +Finally, Myrtilus turned to the others and begged them not to let Hermon +leave Pelusium quickly. + +When, at parting, he was alone with him, he embraced him and said more +tenderly than usual: "You know how easy it will be for me to depart from +life; but it would be easier still if I could leave you behind without +anxiety, and that would happen if the hymeneal hymns at your marriage +to Daphne preceded the dirges which will soon resound above my coffin. +Yesterday I first became sure that she loves you, and, much good as you +have in your nature, you owe the best to her." + +Hermon clasped him in his arms with passionate affection, and after +confessing that he, too, felt drawn with the utmost power toward Daphne, +and urging him to anticipate complete recovery instead of an early death, +he held out his hand to his friend; but Myrtilus clasped it a long time +in his own, saying earnestly: "Only this one frank warning: An Arachne +like the model which Althea presented yesterday evening would deal the +past of your art a blow in the face. No one at Rhodes--and this is just +what I prize in you--hated imitation more, yet what would using the +Arachne on the pedestal for a model be except showing the world not how +Hermon, but how Althea imagines the hapless transformed mortal? Even if +Ledscha withdraws from you, hold fast to her image. It will live on in +your soul. Recall it there, free it from whatever is superfluous, supply +whatever it lacks, animate it with the idea of the tireless artist, the +mocking, defiant mortal woman who ended her life as the weaver of weavers +in the insect world, as you have so often vividly described her to me. +Then, my dear fellow, you will remain loyal to yourself, and therefore +also to the higher truth, toward which every one of us who labours +earnestly strives, and, myself included, there is no one who wields +hammer and chisel in Greece who could contest the prize with you." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +When the sun was approaching the western horizon the travellers started. + +Light mists veiled the radiant right eye of the goddess of heaven. The +blood of the contending spirits of light and darkness, which usually dyed +the west of Egypt crimson at the departure of the great sun god, to-day +vanished from sight. + +The sultry air was damp and oppressive, and experienced old Philippus, +who had commanded a fleet of considerable size under the first Ptolemies, +agreed with the captain of the vessel, who pointed to several small dark +clouds under the silvery stratus, and expressed the fear that Selene +would hardly illumine the ship's course during the coming night. + +But before the departure the travellers had offered sacrifices to the +foam-born Cyprian Aphrodite and the Dioscuri, the protectors of mariners, +and the conversation took the gayest turn. + +In the harbour of the neighbouring seaport Tanis they went aboard of the +commandant's state galley, one of the largest and finest in the royal +fleet, where a banquet awaited them. + +Cushions were arranged on the high poop, and the sea was as smooth as the +silver dishes in which viands were offered to the guests. + +True, not a breath stirred the still, sultry air, but the three long +double ranks of rowers in the hold of the ship provided for her swift +progress, and if no contrary wind sprang up she would run into the +harbour of Pelusium before the last goblet was emptied. + +Soon after the departure it seemed as if the captain of the little vessel +had erred in his prediction, for the moon burst victoriously through the +black clouds, only its shining orb was surrounded by a dull, glimmering +halo. + +Doubtless many a guest longed for a cool breeze, but when the mixed wine +had moistened the parched tongues the talk gained fresh animation. + +Every one did his or her part, for the point in question was to induce +Philippus and his wife to visit Alexandria again and spend some time +there as beloved guests with Daphne in her father's house or in the +palace of Philotas, who jestingly, yet with many reasons, contested the +honour with the absent Archias. + +The old warrior had remained away from the capital for several years; +he alone knew why. Now the act which had incensed him and the offence +inflicted upon him were forgotten, and, having passed seventy four years, +he intended to ask the commander in chief once more for the retirement +from the army which the monarch had several times refused, in order, as +a free man, to seek again the city which in his present position he had +so long avoided. + +Thyone, it is true, thought that her husband's youthful vigour rendered +this step premature, but the visit to Alexandria harmonized with her own +wishes. + +Proclus eagerly sided with her. "To him," said the man of manifold +knowledge, who as high priest of Apollo was fond of speaking in an +instructive tone, "experience showed that men like Philippus, who solely +on account of the number of their years withdrew their services from the +state, felt unhappy, and, like the unused ploughshare, became prematurely +rusty. What they lacked, and what Philippus would also miss, was not +merely the occupation, which might easily be supplied by another, but +still more the habit of command. One who had had thousands subject to +his will was readily overcome by the feeling that he was going down hill, +when only a few dozen of his own slaves and his wife obeyed him." + +This word aroused the mirth of old Philippus, who praised all the good +qualities of Macedonian wives except that of obedience, while Thyone +protested that during her more than forty years of married life her +husband had become so much accustomed to her complete submission than he +no longer noticed it. If Philippus should command her to-morrow to leave +their comfortable palace in Pelusium to accompany him to Alexandria, +where they possessed no home of their own, he would see how willingly she +obeyed him. + +While speaking, her bright, clear eyes, which seemed to float in the deep +hollows sunk by age, sparkled so merrily in her wrinkled face that +Philippus shook his finger gaily at her and showed plainly how much +pleasure the jest of the old companion of his wanderings gave him. + +Yet he insisted upon his purpose of not entering Alexandria again until +he had resigned his office, and to do this at present was impossible, +since he was bound just now, as if with chains, to the important frontier +fortress. Besides, there had probably been little change in the capital +since the death of his beloved old companion in arms and master, the late +King. + +This assertion evoked a storm of contradiction, and even the younger +officers, who usually imposed severe restraint upon themselves in the +general's presence, raised their voices to prove that they, too, had +looked around the flourishing capital with open eyes. + +Yet it was not six decades since Philippus, then a lad of seventeen, had +been present at its foundation. + +His father, who had commanded as hipparch a division of cavalry in the +army of Alexander the Great, had sent for the sturdy youth just at that +time to come to Egypt, that he might enter the army. The conqueror of +the world had himself assigned him, as a young Macedonian of good family, +to the corps of the Hetairoi; and how the vigorous old man's eyes +sparkled as, with youthful enthusiasm, he spoke of the divine vanquisher +of the world who had at that time condescended to address him, gazed at +him keenly yet encouragingly with his all-discerning but kindly blue +eyes, and extended his hand to him! + +"That," he cried, "made this rough right hand precious to me. Often +when, in Asia, in scorching India, and later here also, wounded or +exhausted, it was ready to refuse its service, a spirit voice within +cried, 'Do not forget that he touched it'; and then, as if I had drunk +the noble wine of Byblus, a fiery stream flowed from my heart into the +paralyzed hand, and, as though animated with new life, I used it again +and kept it worthy of his touch. To have seen a darling of the gods like +him, young men, makes us greater. It teaches us how even we human beings +are permitted to resemble the immortals. Now he is transported among the +gods, and the Olympians received him, if any one, gladly. Whoever shared +the deeds of such a hero takes a small portion of his renown with him +through life and into the grave, and whom he touched, as befell me, feels +himself consecrated, and whatever is petty and base flows away from him +like water from the anointed body of the wrestler. Therefore I consider +myself fortunate above thousands of others, and if there is anything +which still tempts me to go to Alexandria, it is the desire to touch his +dead body once more. To do that before I die is my most ardent desire." + +"Then gratify it!" cried Thyone with urgent impatience; but Proclus +turned to the matron, and, after exchanging a hasty glance with Althea, +said: "You probably know, my venerable friend, that Queen Arsinoe, who +most deeply honours your illustrious husband, had already arranged to +have him summoned to the capital as priest of Alexander. True, in this +position he would have had the burden of disposing of all the revenues +from the temples throughout Egypt; but, on the other hand, he would +always have his master's mortal remains near and be permitted to be their +guardian. What influences baffled the Queen's wish certainly have not +remained hidden from you here." + +"You are mistaken," replied Philippus gravely. "Not the least whisper of +this matter reached my ears, and it is fortunate." + +"Impossible!" Althea eagerly interrupted; "nothing else was talked of for +weeks in the royal palace. Queen Arsinoe--you might be jealous, Lady +Thyone--has been fairly in love with your hero ever since her last stay +in your house on her way home from Thrace, and she has not yet given up +her desire to see him in the capital as priest of Alexander. It seems to +her just and fair that the old companion of the greatest of the great +should have the highest place, next to her husband's, in the city whose +foundation he witnessed. Arsinoe speaks of you also with all the +affection natural to her feeling heart." + +"This is as flattering as it is surprising," replied Thyone. "The +attention we showed her in Pelusium was nothing more than we owed to the +wife of the sovereign. But the court is not the principal attraction +that draws me to the capital. It would make Philippus happy--you have +just heard him say so--to remember his old master beside the tomb of +Alexander." + +"And," added Daphne, "how amazed you will be when you see the present +form of the 'Soma', in which rests the golden coffin with the body of the +divine hero whom the fortunate Philippus aided to conquer the world!" + +"You are jesting," interrupted the old warrior. "I aided him only as the +drops in the stream help to turn the wheel of the mill. As to his body, +true, I marched at the head of the procession which bore it to Memphis +and thence to Alexandria. In the Soma I was permitted to think of him +with devout reverence, and meantime I felt as if I had again seen him +with these eyes--exactly as he looked in the Egyptian fishing village of +Rhacotis, which he transformed into your magnificent Alexandria. What a +youth he was! Even what would have been a defect in others became a +beauty in him. The powerful neck which supported his divine head was a +little crooked; but what grace it lent him when he turned kindly to any +one! One scarcely noticed it, and yet it was like the bend of a +petitioner, and gave the wish which he expressed resistless power. When +he stood erect, the sharpest eye could not detect it. Would that he +could appear before me thus once more! Besides, the buildings which +surrounded the golden coffin were nearly completed at the time of our +departure." + +"But the statues, reliefs, and mosaic work were lacking," said Hermon. +"They were executed by Lysippus, Euphranor, and others of our greatest +artists; the paintings by Apelles himself, Antiphilus, and Nicias. Only +those who had won renown were permitted to take part in this work, and +the Ares rushing to battle, created by our Myrtilus, can be seen among +the others. The tomb of Alexander was not entirely completed until three +years ago." + +"At the same time as the Paneum," added Philotas, completing the +sentence; and Althea, waving her beaker toward the old hero, remarked: +"When you have your quarters in the royal palace with your crowned +admirer, Arsinoe--which, I hope, will be very soon--I will be your +guide." + +"That office is already bestowed on me by the Lady Thyone," Daphne +quietly replied. + +"And you think that, in this case, obedience is the husband's duty?" +cried the other, with a sneering laugh. + +"It would only be the confirmation of a wise choice," replied Philippus, +who disliked the Thracian's fawning manner. + +Thyone, too, did not favour her, and had glanced indignantly at her when +Althea made her rude remark. Now she turned to Daphne, and her plain +face regained its pleasant expression as she exclaimed: "We really +promised your father to let him show us the way, child; but, +unfortunately, we are not yet in Alexandria and the Paneum." + +"But you would set out to-morrow," Hermon protested, "if we could succeed +in fitly describing what now awaits you there. There is only one +Alexandria, and no city in the world can offer a more beautiful scene +than is visible from the mountain in the Paneum gardens." + +"Certainly not," protested the young hipparch, who had studied in Athens. +"I stood on the Acropolis; I was permitted to visit Rhodes and Miletus--" + +"And you saw nothing more beautiful there," cried Proclus. "The +aristocratic Roman envoys, who left us a short time ago, admitted the +same thing. They are just men, for the view from the Capitol of their +growing city is also to be seen. When the King's command led me to the +Tiber, many things surprised me; but, as a whole, how shall I compare the +two cities? The older Rome, with her admirable military power: a +barbarian who is just beginning to cultivate more refined manners-- +Alexandria: a rich, aristocratic Hellene who, like you, my young friend, +completed her education in Ilissus, and unites to the elegant taste and +intellect of the Athenian the mysterious thoughtfulness of the Egyptian, +the tireless industry of the Jew, and the many-sided wisdom and brilliant +magnificence of the other Oriental countries." + +"But who disdains to dazzle the eyes with Asiatic splendour," interrupted +Philotas. + +"And yet what do we not hear about the unprecedented luxury in the royal +palace!" growled the gray-haired warrior. + +"Parsimony--the gods be praised!--no one need expect from our royal +pair," Althea broke in; "but King Ptolemy uses his paternal wealth for +very different purposes than glittering gems and golden chambers. If you +disdain my guidance, honoured hero, at least accept that of some genuine +Alexandrian. Then you will understand Proclus's apt simile. You ought +to begin with the royal palaces in the Brucheium." + +"No, no-with the harbour of Eunostus!" interrupted the grammateus. + +"With the Soma!" cried the young hipparch, while Daphne wished to have +the tour begin in the Paneum gardens. + +"They were already laid out when we left Alexandria," said Thyone. + +"And they have grown marvellously, as if creative Nature had doubled her +powers in their behalf," Hermon added eagerly. "But man has also wrought +amazing miracles here. Industrious hands reared an actual mountain. A +winding path leads to the top, and when you stand upon the summit and +look northward you at first feel like the sailor who steps on shore and +hears the people speak a language which is new to him. It seems like a +jumble of meaningless sounds until he learns, not only to understand the +words, but also to distinguish the sentences. Temples and palaces, +statues and columns appear everywhere in motley confusion. Each one, if +you separate it from the whole and give it a careful examination, is +worthy of inspection, nay, of admiration. Here are light, graceful +creations of Hellenic, yonder heavy, sombre ones of Egyptian art, and in +the background the exquisite azure of the eternal sea, which the +marvellous structure of the heptastadium unites to the land; while on the +island of Pharos the lighthouse of Sostratus towers aloft almost to the +sky, and with a flood of light points out the way to mariners who +approach the great harbour at night. Countless vessels are also at +anchor in the Eunostus. The riches of the whole earth flow into both +havens. And the life and movement there and in the inland harbour on +Lake Mareotis, where the Nile boats land! From early until late, what a +busy throng, what an abundance of wares--and how many of the most +valuable goods are made in our own city! for whatever useful, fine, and +costly articles industrial art produces are manufactured here. The roof +has not yet been put on many a factory in which busy workers are already +making beautiful things. Here the weaver's shuttle flies, yonder gold is +spun around slender threads of sheep guts, elsewhere costly materials are +embroidered by women's nimble fingers with the prepared gold thread. +There glass is blown, or weapons and iron utensils are forged. Finely +polished knives split the pith of the papyrus, and long rows of workmen +and workwomen gum the strips together. No hand, no head is permitted to +rest. In the Museum the brains of the great thinkers and investigators +are toiling. Here, too, reality asserts its rights. The time for +chimeras and wretched polemics is over. Now it is observing, fathoming, +turning to account, nothing more!" + +"Gently, my young friend," Proclus interrupted the artist. "I know that +you, too, sat at the feet of some of the philosophers in the Museum, and +still uphold the teachings of Straton, which your fellow-pupil, King +Ptolemy, outgrew long ago. Yet he, also, recognised in philosophy, first +of all, the bond which unites the widely sundered acquisitions of the +intellect, the vital breath which pervades them, the touchstone which +proves each true or false. If the praise of Alexandria is to be sung, +we must not forget the library to which the most precious treasures of +knowledge of the East and West are flowing, and which feeds those who +thirst for knowledge with the intellectual gains of former ages and other +nations. Honour, too, to our King, and, that I may be just, to his +illustrious wife; for wherever in the Grecian world a friend of the Muses +appears, whether he is investigator, poet, architect, sculptor, artist, +actor, or singer, he is drawn to Alexandria, and, that he may not be +idle, work is provided. Palaces spring from the earth quickly enough." + +"Yet not like mushrooms," Hermon interrupted, "but as the noblest, most +carefully executed creations of art-sculpture and painting provide for +their decoration both without and within." + +"And," Proclus went on, "abodes are erected for the gods as well as for +men, both Egyptian and Hellenic divinities, each in their own style, and +so beautiful that it must be a pleasure for them to dwell under the new +roof." + +"Go to the gardens of the Paneum, friends!" cried young Philotas; and +Hermon, nodding to Thyone, added gaily: "Then you must climb the mountain +and keep your eyes open while you are ascending the winding path. You +will find enough to do to look at all the new sights. You will stand +there with dry feet, but your soul will bathe in eternal, imperishable, +divine beauty." + +"The foe of beauty!" exclaimed Proclus, pointing to the sculptor with a +scornful glance; but Daphne, full of joyous emotion, whispered to Hermon +as he approached her: "Eternal, divine beauty! To hear it thus praised +by you makes me happy." + +"Yes," cried the artist, "what else should I call what has so often +filled me with the deepest rapture? The Greek language has no more +fitting expression for the grand and lofty things that hovered before me, +and which I called by that chameleon of a word. Yet I have a different +meaning from what appears before you at its sound. Were I to call it +truth, you would scarcely understand me, but when I conjure before my +soul the image of Alexandria, with all that springs from it, all that is +moving, creating, and thriving with such marvellous freedom, naturalness, +and variety within it, it is not alone the beauty that pleases the eye +which delights me; I value more the sound natural growth, the genuine, +abundant life. To truth, Daphne, as I mean it." + +He raised his goblet as he spoke and drank to her. + +She willingly pledged him, but, after removing her lips from the cup, she +eagerly exclaimed: "Show it to us, with the mind which animates it, in +perfect form, and I should not know wherein it was to be distinguished +from the beauty which hitherto has been our highest goal." + +Here the helmsman's loud shout, "The light of Pelusium!" interrupted the +conversation. The bright glare from the lighthouse of this city was +really piercing the misty night air, which for some time had again +concealed the moon. + +There was no further connected conversation, for the sea was now rising +and falling in broad, leaden, almost imperceptible waves. The comfort of +most of Philippus's guests was destroyed, and the ladies uttered a sigh +of relief when they had descended from the lofty galley and the boats +that conveyed them ashore, and their feet once more pressed the solid +land. The party of travellers went to the commandant's magnificent +palace to rest, and Hermon also retired to his room, but sleep fled +from his couch. + +No one on earth was nearer to his heart and mind than Daphne, and it +often seemed as if her kind, loyal, yet firm look was resting upon him; +but the memory of Ledscha also constantly forced itself upon his mind and +stirred his blood. When he thought of the menacing fire of her dark +eyes, she seemed to him as terrible as one of the unlovely creatures +born of Night, the Erinyes, Apate, and Eris. + +Then he could not help recalling their meetings in the grove of Astarte, +her self-forgetting, passionate tenderness, and the wonderfully delicate +beauty of her foreign type. True, she had never laughed in his presence; +but what a peculiar charm there was in her smile! Had he really lost her +entirely and forever? Would it not yet be possible to obtain her +forgiveness and persuade her to pose as the model of his Arachne? + +During the voyage to Pelusium he had caught Althea's eye again and again, +and rejected as an insult her demand to give her his whole love. The +success of the Arachne depended upon Ledscha, and on her alone. He had +nothing good to expect from the Demeter, and during the nocturnal +meditation, which shows everything in the darkest colours, his best plan +seemed to be to destroy the unsuccessful statue and not exhibit it for +the verdict of the judges. + +But if he went to work again in Tennis to model the Arachne, did not love +for Daphne forbid him to sue afresh for Ledscha's favour? + +What a terrible conflict of feelings! + +But perhaps all this might gain a more satisfactory aspect by daylight. +Now he felt as though he had entangled himself in a snare. Besides, +other thoughts drove sleep from his couch. + +The window spaces were closed by wooden shutters, and whenever they +moved with a low creaking or louder banging Hermon started and forgot +everything else in anxiety about his invalid friend, whose suffering +every strong wind brought on again, and often seriously increased. + +Three times he sprang up from the soft wool, covered with linen sheets, +and looked out to convince himself that no storm had risen. But, though +masses of black clouds concealed the moon and stars, and the sea beat +heavily against the solid walls of the harbour, as yet only a sultry +breeze of no great strength blew on his head as he thrust it into the +night air. + +This weather could scarcely be dangerous to Myrtilus, yet when the +morning relieved him from the torturing anxiety which he had found under +his host's roof instead of rest and sleep, gray and black clouds were +sweeping as swiftly over the port and the ramparts beside him as if they +were already driven by a tempest, and warm raindrops besprinkled his +face. + +He went, full of anxiety, to take his bath, and, while committing the +care of the adornment of his outer man to one of the household slaves, +he determined that unless--as often happened in this country--the sun +gained the victory over the clouds, he would return to Tennis and join +Myrtilus. + +In the hall of the men he met the rest of the old hero's guests. + +They received him pleasantly enough, Althea alone barely noticed his +greeting; she seemed to suspect in what way he thought of her. + +Thyone and Daphne extended their hands to him all the more cordially. + +Philippus did not appear until after breakfast. He had been detained by +important despatches from Alexandria, and by questions and communications +from Proclus. The latter desired to ascertain whether the influential +warrior who commanded the most important fortress in the country could be +persuaded to join a conspiracy formed by Arsinoe against her royal +husband, but he seemed to have left Philippus with very faint hopes. + +Subordinate officers and messengers also frequently claimed the +commandant's attention. When the market place was filling, however, +the sturdy old soldier kindly fulfilled his duties as host by offering +to show his guests the sights of the fortified seaport. + +Hermon also accompanied him at Daphne's side, but he made it easy for +Philotas to engross her attention; for, though the immense thickness of +the walls and the arrangement of the wooden towers which, crowned with +battlements, rose at long intervals, seemed to him also well worth +seeing, he gave them only partial attention. + +While Philippus was showing the guests how safely the archers and +slingers could be concealed behind the walls and battlements and +discharge their missiles, and explaining the purpose of the great +catapults on the outermost dike washed by the sea, the artist was +listening to the ever-increasing roar of the waves which poured into the +harbour from the open sea, to their loud dashing against the strong mole, +to the shrill scream of the sea gulls, the flapping of the sails, which +were being taken in everywhere--in short, to all the sounds occasioned by +the rising violence of the wind. + +There were not a few war ships in the port and among them perfect giants +of amazing size and unusual construction, but Hermon had already seen +many similar ones. + +When, shortly after noon, the sun for a few brief moments pierced with +scorching rays the dark curtain that shrouded it from sight, and then +suddenly dense masses of clouds, driven from the sea by the tempest, +covered the day star, his eyes and cars were engrossed entirely by the +uproar of the elements. + +The air darkened as if night was falling at this noontide hour, and with +savage fury the foaming mountain waves rushed like mad wild beasts in +fierce assault upon the mole, the walls, and the dikes of the fortified +port. + +"Home!" cried Thyone, and again entered the litter which she had left to +inspect the new catapults. + +Althea, trembling, drew her peplos together as the storm swept her light +figure before it, and, shrieking, struggled against the black slaves who +tried to lift her upon the war elephant which had borne her here. + +Philotas gave his arm to Daphne. Hermon had ceased to notice her; he had +just gone to his gray-haired host with the entreaty that he would give +him a ship for the voyage to Tennis, where Myrtilus would need his +assistance. + +"It is impossible in such weather," was the reply. + +"Then I will ride!" cried Hermon resolutely, and Philippus scanned the +son of his old friend and companion in arms with an expression of quiet +satisfaction in his eyes, still sparkling brightly, and answered quickly, +"You shall have two horses, my boy, and a guide who knows the road +besides." + +Then, turning swiftly to one of the officers who accompanied him, he +ordered him to provide what was necessary. + +When, soon after, in the impluvium, the tempest tore the velarium that +covered the open space from its rings, and the ladies endeavoured to +detain Hermon, Philippus silenced them with the remark: + +"A disagreeable ride is before him, but what urges him on is pleasing to +the gods. I have just ventured to send out a carrier dove," he added, +turning to the artist, "to inform Myrtilus that he may expect you before +sunset. The storm comes from the cast, otherwise it would hardly reach +the goal. Put even if it should be lost, what does it matter?" + +Thyone nodded to her old husband with a look of pleasure, and her eyes +shone through tears at Hermon as she clasped his hand and, remembering +her friend, his mother, exclaimed: "Go, then, you true son of your +father, and tell your friend that we will offer sacrifices for his +welfare." + +"A lean chicken to Aesculapius," whispered the grammateus to Althea. +"She holds on to the oboli." + +"Which, at any rate, would be hard enough to dispose of in this wretched +place unless one were a dealer in weapons or a thirsty sailor," sighed +the Thracian. "As soon as the sky and sea are blue again, chains could +not keep me here. And the cooing around this insipid rich beauty into +the bargain!" + +This remark referred to Philotas, who was just offering Daphne a +magnificent bunch of roses, which a mounted messenger had brought to him +from Alexandria. + +The girl received it with a grateful glance, but she instantly separated +one of the most beautiful blossoms from its companions and handed it to +Hermon, saying, "For our suffering friend, with my affectionate +remembrances." + +The artist pressed her dear hand with a tender look of love, intended to +express how difficult it was for him to leave her, and when, just at that +moment, a slave announced that the horses were waiting, Thyone whispered: +"Have no anxiety, my son! Your ride away from her through the tempest +will bring you a better reward than his slave's swift horse will bear the +giver of the roses." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Hermon, with the rose for his friend fastened in the breast folds of his +chiton, mounted his horse gratefully, and his companion, a sinewy, +bronzed Midianite, who was also to attend to the opening of the fortress +gates, did the same. + +Before reaching the open country the sculptor had to ride through the +whole city, with which he was entirely unfamiliar. Fiercely as the storm +was sweeping down the streets and squares, and often as the horseman was +forced to hold on to his travelling hat and draw his chlamys closer +around him, he felt the anxieties which had made his night sleepless +and saddened his day suddenly leave him as if by a miracle. Was it the +consciousness of having acted rightly? was it the friendly farewell which +Daphne had given him, and the hope Thyone had aroused, or the expectation +of seeing Ledscha once more, and at least regaining her good will, that +had restored his lost light-heartedness? He did not know himself, nor +did he desire to know. + +While formerly he had merely glanced carelessly about him in Pelusium, +and only half listened to the explanations given by the veteran's deep +voice, now whatever he saw appeared in clear outlines and awakened his +interest, in spite of the annoyances caused by the storm. + +Had he not known that he was in Pelusium, it would have been difficult +for him to determine whether the city he was crossing was an Egyptian, a +Hellenic, or a Syrian one; for here rose an ancient temple of the time of +the Pharaohs, with obelisks and colossal statues before the lofty pylons, +yonder the sanctuary of Poseidon, surrounded by stately rows of Doric +columns, and farther on the smaller temple dedicated to the Dioscuri, and +the circular Grecian building that belonged to Aphrodite. + +In another spot, still close to the harbour, he saw the large buildings +consecrated to the worship of the Syrian Baal and Astarte. + +Here he was obliged to wait awhile, for the tempest had excited the war +elephants which were returning from their exercising ground, and their +black keepers only succeeded with the utmost difficulty in restraining +them. Shrieking with fear, the few persons who were in the street +besides the soldiers, that were everywhere present, scattered before the +huge, terrified animals. + +The costume and appearance of the citizens, too, gave no clew to the +country to which the place belonged; there were as many Egyptians among +them as Greeks, Syrians, and negroes. Asiatics appeared in the majority +only in the market place, where the dealers were just leaving their +stands to secure their goods from the storm. In front of the big +building where the famous Pelusinian xythus beer was brewed, the drink +was being carried away in jugs and wineskins, in ox-carts and on donkeys. +Here, too, men were loading camels, which were rarely seen in Egypt, and +had been introduced there only a short time before. + +How forcibly all these things riveted Hermon's attention, now that no one +was at hand to explain them and no delay was permitted! He scarcely had +time for recollection and expectation. + +Finally, the last gate was unlocked, and the ramparts and moats lay +behind him. + +Thus far the wind had kept back the rain, and only scattered drops lashed +the riders' faces; but as soon as they entered the open country, it +seemed as though the pent-up floods burst the barriers which retained +them above, and a torrent of water such as only those dry regions know +rushed, not in straight or slanting lines, but in thick streams, whirled +by the hurricane, upon the marshy land which stretched from Pelusium to +Tennis, and on the horsemen. + +The road led along a dike raised above fields which, at this season of +the year, were under water, and Hermon's companion knew it well. + +For a time both riders allowed themselves to be drenched in silence. +The water ran down upon them from their broad-brimmed hats, and their +dripping horses trotted with drooping heads and steaming flanks one +behind the other until, at the very brick-kiln where Ledscha had recalled +her widowed sister's unruly slaves to obedience, the guide stopped with +an oath, and pointed to the water which had risen to the top of the dam, +and in some places concealed the road from their eyes. + +Now it was no longer possible to trot, for the guide was obliged to seek +the traces of the dike with great caution. Meanwhile the force of the +pouring rain by no means lessened--nay, it even seemed to increase--and +the horses were already wading in water up to their fetlocks. + +But if the votive stones, the little altars and statues of the gods, the +bushes and single trees along the sides of the dike road were overflowed +while the travellers were in the region of the marsh, they would be +obliged to interrupt their journey, for the danger of sinking into the +morass with their horses would then threaten them. + +Even at the brick-kiln travellers, soldiers, and trains of merchandise +had stopped to wait for the end of the cloud-burst. + +In front of the farmhouse, too, which Hermon and his companion next +reached, they saw dozens of people seeking shelter, and the Midianite +urged his master to join them for a short time at least. The wisest +course here was probably to yield, and Hermon was already turning his +horse's head toward the house when a Greek messenger dashed past the +beckoning refuge and also by him. + +"Do you dare to ride farther?" the artist shouted in a tone of warning +inquiry to the man on the dripping bay, and the latter, without pausing, +answered: "Duty! On business for the King!" + +Then Hermon turned his steed back toward the road, beat the water from +his soaked beard with the edge of his hand, and with a curt "Forward!" +announced his decision to his companion. Duty summoned him also, and +what another risked for the King he would not fail to do for his friend. + +The Midianite, shaking his head, rode angrily after him; but, though the +violence of the rain was lessening, the wind began to blow with redoubled +force, beating and lashing the boundless expanse of the quickly formed +lake with such savage fury that it rolled in surges like the sea, and +sweeping over it dense clouds of foam like the sand waves tossed by the +desert tempests. + +Sometimes moaning, sometimes whistling, the gusts of the hurricane drove +the water and the travellers before it, while the rain poured from the +sky to the earth, and wherever it struck splashed upward, making little +whirlpools and swiftly breaking bubbles. + +What might not Myrtilus suffer in this storm! This thought strengthened +Hermon's courage to twice ride past other farmhouses which offered +shelter. At the third the horse refused to wade farther in such a +tempest, so there was nothing to be done except spring off and lead it to +the higher ground which the water had not yet reached. + +The interior of the peasant hut was filled with people who had sought +shelter there, and the stifling atmosphere which the artist felt at the +door induced him to remain outside. + +He had stood there dripping barely fifteen minutes when loud shouts and +yells were heard on the road from Pelusium by which he had come, and upon +the flooded dike appeared a body of men rushing forward with marvellous +speed. + +The nearer they came the fiercer and more bewildering sounded the loud, +shrill medley of their frantic cries, mingled with hoarse laughter, and +the spectacle presented to the eyes was no less rough and bold. + +The majority seemed to be powerful men. Their complexions were as light +as the Macedonians; their fair, red, and brown locks were thick, unkempt, +and bristling. Most of the reckless, defiantly bold faces were smooth- +shaven, with only a mustache on the upper lip, and sometimes a short +imperial. All carried weapons, and a fleece covered the shoulders of +many, while chains, ornamented with the teeth of animals, hung on their +white muscular chests. + +"Galatians," Hermon heard one man near him call to another. "They came +to the fortress as auxiliary troops. Philippus forbade them to plunder +on pain of death, and showed them--the gods be thanked!--that he was in +earnest. Otherwise it would soon look here as though the plagues of +locusts, flood, and fire had visited us at once. Red-haired men are not +the only sons of Typhon!" + +And Hermon thought that he had indeed never seen any human beings equally +fierce, bold to the verge of reckless madness, as these Gallic warriors. +The tempest which swept them forward, and the water through which they +waded, only seemed to increase their enjoyment, for sheer delight rang in +their exulting shouts and yells. + +Oh, yes! To march amid this uproar of the elements was a pleasure to the +healthy men. It afforded them the rarest, most enlivening delight. For +a long time nothing had so strongly reminded them of the roaring of the +wind and the rushing of the rain in their northern home. It seemed a +delicious relief, after the heat and dryness of the south, which they had +endured with groans. + +When they perceived the eyes fixed upon them they swung their weapons, +arched their breasts with conscious vanity, distorted their faces into +terrible threatening grimaces, or raised bugle horns to their lips, drew +from them shrill, ear-piercing notes and gloated, with childish delight, +in the terror of the gaping crowd, on whom the restraint of authority +sternly forbade them to show their mettle. + +Lust of rapine and greed for booty glittered in many a fiery, longing +look, but their leaders kept them in check with the sword. So they +rushed on without stopping, like a thunderstorm pregnant with destruction +which the wind drives over a terrified village. + +Hermon also had to take the road they followed, and, after giving the +Gauls a long start, he set out again. + +But though he succeeded in passing the marshy region without injury, +there had been delay after delay; here the horses had left the flooded +dike road and floundered up to their knees in the morass, there trees +from the roadside, uprooted by the storm, barred the way. + +As night closed in the rain ceased and the wind began to subside, but +dark clouds covered the sky, and the horsemen were still an hour's ride +from the place where the road ended at the little harbour from which +travellers entered the boat which conveyed them to Tennis. + +The way no longer led through the marsh, but through tilled lands, and +crossed the ditches which irrigated the fields on wooden bridges. + +On their account, in the dense darkness which prevailed, caution was +necessary, and this the guide certainly did not lack. He rode at a slow +walk in front of the artist, and had just pointed out to him the light at +the landing place of the boat which went to Tennis, when Hermon was +suddenly startled by a loud cry, followed by clattering and splashing. + +With swift presence of mind he sprang from his horse and found his +conjecture verified. The bridge had broken down, and horse and rider had +fallen into the broad canal. + +"The Galatians!" reached Hermon from the dark depths, and the exclamation +relieved him concerning the fate of the Midianite. + +The latter soon struggled up to the road uninjured. The bridge must have +given way under the feet of the savage horde, unless the Gallic monsters, +with brutal malice, had intentionally shattered it. + +The first supposition, however, seemed to be the correct one, for as +Hermon approached the canal he heard moans of pain. One of the Gauls +had apparently met with an accident in the fall of the bridge and been +deserted by his comrades. With the skill acquired in the wrestling +school, Hermon descended into the canal to look for the wounded man, +while his guide undertook to get the horses ashore. + +The deep darkness considerably increased the difficulty of carrying out +his purpose, but the young Greek went up to his neck in the water he +could not become wetter than he was already. So he remained in the ditch +until he found the injured man whose groans of suffering pierced his +compassionate heart. + +He was obliged to release the luckless Gaul from the broken timbers of +the bridge, and, when Hermon had dragged him out on the opposite bank of +the canal, he made no answer to any question. A falling beam had +probably struck him senseless. + +His hair, which Hermon's groping fingers informed him was thick and +rough, seemed to denote a Gaul, but a full, long beard was very rarely +seen in this nation, and the wounded man wore one. Nor could anything be +discovered from the ornaments or weapons of this fierce barbarian. + +But to whatever people he might belong, he certainly was not a Greek. +The thoroughly un-Hellenic wrapping up of the legs proved that. + +No matter! Hermon at any rate was dealing with some one who was severely +injured, and the self-sacrificing pity with which even suffering animals +inspired him, and which in his boyhood had drawn upon him the jeers of +the companions of his own age, did not abandon him now. + +Reluctantly obeying his command, the Midianite helped him bandage the +sufferer's head, in which a wound could be felt, as well as it could +be done in the darkness, and lift him on the artist's horse. During this +time fresh groans issued from the bearded lips of the injured warrior, +and Hermon walked by his side, guarding the senseless man from the danger +of falling from the back of the horse as it slowly followed the +Midianite's. + +This tiresome walk, however, did not last long; the landing place was +reached sooner than Hermon expected, and the ferryboat bore the +travellers and the horses to Tennis. + +By the flickering light of the captain's lantern it was ascertained that +the wounded man, in spite of his long dark beard, was probably a Gaul. +The stupor was to be attributed to the fall of a beam on his head, and +the shock, rather than to the wound. The great loss of blood sustained +by the young and powerful soldier had probably caused the duration of the +swoon. + +During the attempts at resuscitation a sailor boy offered his assistance. +He carefully held the lantern, and, as its flickering light fell for +brief moments upon the artist's face, the lad of thirteen or fourteen +asked if he was Hermon of Alexandria. + +A curt "If you will permit," answered the question, considered by the +Hellenes an unseemly one, especially from such a youth; but the sculptor +paid no further attention to him, for, while devoting himself honestly to +the wounded man, his anxiety about his invalid friend increased, and +Ledscha's image also rose again before him. + +At last the ferryboat touched the land, and when Hermon looked around for +the lad he had already leaped ashore, and was just vanishing in the +darkness. + +It was probably within an hour of midnight. + +The gale was still blowing fiercely over the water, driving the black +clouds across the dark sky, sometimes with long-drawn, wailing sounds, +sometimes with sharp, whistling ones. The rain had wholly ceased, and +seemed to have exhausted itself here in the afternoon. + +As Archias's white house was a considerable distance from the landing +place of the ferryboat, Hermon had the wounded warrior carried to it by +Biamite sailors, and again mounted his horse to ride to Myrtilus at as +swift a trot as the soaked, wretched, but familiar road would permit. + +Considerable time had been spent in obtaining a litter for the Gaul, yet +Hermon was surprised to meet the lad who had questioned him so boldly on +the ferryboat coming, not from the landing place, but running toward it +again from the city, and then saw him follow the shore, carrying a +blazing torch, which he waved saucily. The wind blew aside the flame and +smoke which came from the burning pitch, but it shone brightly through +the gloom and permitted the boy to be distinctly seen. Whence had the +nimble fellow come so quickly? How had he succeeded, in this fierce +gale, in kindling the torch so soon into a powerful flame? Was it not +foolish to let a child amuse itself in the middle of the night with so +dangerous a toy? + +Hermon hastily thought over these questions, but the supposition that the +light of the torch might be intended for a signal did not occur to him. + +Besides, the boy and the light in his hand occupied his mind only a short +time. He had better things to think of. With what longing Myrtilus must +now be expecting his arrival! But the Gaul needed his aid no less +urgently than his friend. Accurately as he knew what remedies relieved +Myrtilus in severe attacks of illness, he could scarcely dispense with an +assistant or a leech for the other, and the idea swiftly flashed upon him +that the wounded man would afford him an opportunity of seeing Ledscha +again. + +She had told him more than once about the healing art possessed by old +Tabus on the Owl's Nest. Suppose he should now seek the angry girl to +entreat her to speak to the aged miracle-worker in behalf of the sorely +wounded young foreigner? + +Here he interrupted himself; something new claimed his attention. + +A dim light glimmered through the intense darkness from a bit of rising +ground by the wayside. It came from the Temple of Nemesis--a pretty +little structure belonging to the time of Alexander the Great, which he +had often examined with pleasure. Several steps led to the anteroom, +supported by Ionic columns, which adjoined the naos. + +Two lamps were burning at the side of the door leading into the little +open cella, and at the back of the consecrated place the statue of the +winged goddess was visible in the light of a small altar fire. + +In her right hand she held the bridle and scourge, and at her feet stood +the wheel, whose turning indicates the influence exerted by her power +upon the destiny of mortals. With stern severity that boded evil, she +gazed down upon her left forearm, bent at the elbow, which corresponds +with the ell, the just measure. + +Hermon certainly now, if ever, lacked both time and inclination to +examine again this modest work of an ordinary artist, yet he quickly +stopped his weary horse; for in the little pronaos directly in front of +the cella door stood a slender figure clad in a long floating dark robe, +extending its hands through the cella door toward the statue in fervent +prayer. She was pressing her brow against the left post of the door, but +at her feet, on the right side, cowered another figure, which could +scarcely be recognised as a human being. + +This, too, was a woman. + +Deeply absorbed in her own thoughts, she was also extending her arms +toward the statue of Nemesis. + +Hermon knew them both. + +At first he fancied that his excited imagination was showing him a +threatening illusion. But no! + +The erect figure was Ledscha, the crouching one Gula, the sailor's wife +whose child he had rescued from the flames, and who had recently been +cast out by her husband. + +"Ledscha!" escaped his lips in a muttered tone, and he involuntarily +extended his hands toward her as she was doing toward the goddess. + +But she did not seem to hear him, and the other woman also retained the +same attitude, as if hewn from stone. + +Then he called the supplicant's name loud tone, and the next instant +still more loudly; and now she turned, and, in the faint light of the +little lamp, showed the marvellously noble outlines of her profile. He +called again, and this time Ledscha heard anguished yearning in his deep +tones; but they seemed to have lost their influence over her, for her +large dark eyes gazed at him so repellently and sternly that a cold +tremor ran down his spine. + +Swinging himself from his horse, he ascended the steps of the temple, and +in the most tender tones at his command exclaimed: "Ledscha! Severely as +I have offended you, Ledscha--oh, do not say no! Will you hear me?" + +"No!" she answered firmly, and, before he could speak, continued: "This +place is ill chosen for another meeting! Your presence is hateful to me! +Do not disturb me a moment longer!" + +"As you command," he began hesitatingly; but she swiftly interrupted with +the question, "Do you come from Pelusium, and are you going directly +home?" + +"I did not heed the storm on account of Myrtilus's illness," he answered +quietly, "and if you demand it, I will return home at once; but first let +me make one more entreaty, which will be pleasing also to the gods." + +"Get your response from yonder deity! "she impatiently interrupted, +pointing with a grand, queenly gesture, which at any other time would +have delighted his artist eye, to the statue of Nemesis in the cella. + +Meanwhile Gula had also turned her face toward Hermon, and he now +addressed her, saying with a faint tone of reproach: "And did hatred lead +you also, Gula, to this sanctuary at midnight to implore the goddess to +destroy me in her wrath?" + +The young mother rose and pointed to Ledscha, exclaiming, "She desires +it." + +"And I?" he asked gently. "Have I really done you so much evil?" + +She raised her hand to her brow as if bewildered; her glance fell on the +artist's troubled face, and lingered there for a short time. Then her +eyes wandered to Ledscha, and from her to the goddess, and finally back +again to the sculptor. Meanwhile Hermon saw how her young figure was +trembling, and, before he had time to address a soothing-word to her, she +sobbed aloud, crying out to Ledscha: "You are not a mother! My child, he +rescued it from the flames. I will not, and I can not--I will no longer +pray for his misfortune!" + +She drew her veil over her pretty, tear-stained face as she spoke, and +darted lightly down the temple steps close beside him to seek shelter in +her parents' house, which had been unwillingly opened to the cast-off +wife, but now afforded her a home rich in affection. + +Immeasurably bitter scorn was depicted in Ledscha's features as she gazed +after Gula. She did not appear to notice Hermon, and when at last he +appealed to her and briefly urged her to ask the old enchantress on the +Owl's Nest for a remedy for the wounded Gaul, she again leaned against +the post of the cella door, extended both arms with passionate fervour +toward the goddess, and remained standing there motionless, deaf to his +petition. + +His blood seethed in his veins, and he was tempted to go nearer and force +her to hear him; but before he had ascended the first of the flight of +steps leading to the pronaos, he heard the footsteps of the men who were +bearing the wounded warrior after him. + +They must not see him here with one of their countrywomen at this hour, +and manly pride forbade him to address her again as a supplicant. + +So he went back to the road, mounted his horse, and rode on without +vouchsafing a word of farewell to the woman who was invoking destruction +upon his head. As he did so his eyes again rested on the stern face of +Nemesis, and the wheel whose turning determined the destiny of men at her +feet. + +Assailed by horrible fears, and overpowered by presentiments of evil, he +pursued his way through the darkness. + +Perhaps Myrtilus had succumbed to the terrible attack which must have +visited him in such a storm, and life without his friend would be bereft +of half its charm. Orphaned, poor, a struggler who had gained no +complete victory, it had been rich only in disappointments to him, in +spite of his conviction that he was a genuine artist, and was fighting +for a good cause. Now he knew that he had also lost the woman by whose +assistance he was certain of a great success in his own much-disputed +course, and Ledscha, if any one, was right in expecting a favourable +hearing from the goddess who punished injustice. + +He did not think of Daphne again until he was approaching the place where +her tents had stood, and the remembrance of her fell like a ray of light +into his darkened soul. + +Yet on that spot had also been erected the wooden platform from which +Althea had showed him the transformation into the spider, and the +recollection of the foolish error into which the Thracian had drawn him +disagreeably clouded the pleasant thought of Daphne. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Complete darkness enfolded the white house. Hermon saw only two windows +lighted, the ones in his friend's studio, which looked out into the open +square, while his own faced the water. + +What did this mean? + +It must be nearly midnight, and he could no longer expect Myrtilus to be +still at work. He had supposed that he should find him in his chamber, +supported by his slaves, struggling for breath. What was the meaning of +the light in the workrooms now? + +Where was his usually efficient Bias? He never went to rest when his +master was to return home, yet the carrier dove must have announced his +coming! + +But Hermon had also enjoined the care of Myrtilus upon the slave, and he +was undoubtedly beside the sufferer's couch, supporting him in the same +way that he had often seen his master. + +He was now riding across the open space, and he heard the men who carried +the Gaul talking close behind him. + +Was the wounded barbarian the sole acquisition of this journey? + +The beat of his horse's hoofs and the voices of the Biamites echoed +distinctly enough amid the stillness of the night, which was interrupted +only by the roaring of the wind. And this disturbance of the deep +silence around had entered the lighted windows before him, for a figure +appeared at one of them, and--could he believe his own eyes?--Myrtilus +looked down into the square, and a joyous welcome rang from his lips as +loudly as in his days of health. + +The darkness of the night suddenly seemed to Hermon to be illumined. A +leap to the ground, two bounds up the steps leading to the house, an +eager rush through the corridor that separated him from the room in which +Myrtilus was, the bursting instead of opening of the door, and, as if +frantic with happy surprise, he impetuously embraced his friend, who, +burin and file in hand, was just approaching the threshold, and kissed +his brow and cheeks in the pure joy of his heart. + +Then what questions, answers, tidings! In spite of the torrents of rain +and the gale, the invalid's health had been excellent. The solitude had +done him good. He knew nothing about the carrier dove. The hurricane +had probably "blown it away," as the breeders of the swift messengers +said. + +Question and reply now followed one another in rapid succession, and both +were soon acquainted with everything worth knowing; nay, Hermon had even +delivered Daphne's rose to his friend, and informed him what had befallen +the Gaul who was being brought into the house. + +Bias and the other slaves had quickly appeared, and Hermon soon rendered +the wounded man the help he needed in an airy chamber in the second story +of the house, which, owing to the heat that prevailed in summer so close +under the roof, the slaves had never occupied. + +Bias assisted his master with equal readiness and skill, and at last the +Gaul opened his eyes and, in the language of his country, asked a few +brief questions which were incomprehensible to the others. Then, +groaning, he again closed his lids. + +Hitherto Hermon had not even allowed himself time to look around his +friend's studio and examine what he had created during his absence. But, +after perceiving that his kind act had not been in vain, and consuming +with a vigorous appetite the food and wine which Bias set before him, he +obliged Myrtilus--for another day was coming--to go to rest, that the +storm might not still prove hurtful to him. + +Yet he held his friend's hand in a firm clasp for a long time, and, when +the latter at last prepared to go, he pressed it so closely that it +actually hurt Myrtilus. But he understood his meaning, and, with a +loving glance that sank deep into Hermon's heart, called a last good +night. + +After two sleepless nights and the fatiguing ride which he had just +taken, the sculptor felt weary enough; but when he laid his hand on the +Gaul's brow and breast, and felt their burning heat, he refused Bias's +voluntary offer to watch the sufferer in his place. + +If to amuse or forget himself he had caroused far more nights in +succession in Alexandria, why should he not keep awake when the object in +question was to wrest a young life from the grasp of death? This man and +his life were now his highest goal, and he had never yet repented his +foolish eccentricity of imposing discomforts upon himself to help the +suffering. + +Bias, on his part, was very willing to go to rest. He had plenty of +cause for weariness; Myrtilus's unscrupulous body-servant had stolen +off with the other slaves the night before, and did not return, with +staggering gait, until the next morning, but, in order to keep his +promise to his master, he had scarcely closed his eyes, that he might be +at hand if Myrtilus should need assistance. + +So Bias fell asleep quickly enough in his little room in the lower story, +while his master, by the exertion of all his strength of will, watched +beside the couch of the Gaul. + +Yet, after the first quarter of an hour, his head, no matter how he +struggled to prevent it, drooped again and again upon his breast. But +just as slumber was completely overpowering him his patient made him +start up, for he had left his bed, and when Hermon, fully roused, looked +for him, was standing in the middle of the room, gazing about him. + +The artist thought that fever had driven the wounded warrior from his +couch, as it formerly did his fellow-pupil Lycon, whom, in the delirium +of typhus, he could keep in bed only by force. So he led the Gaul +carefully back to the couch he had deserted, and, after moistening the +bandage with healing balm from Myrtilus's medicine chest, ordered him to +keep quiet. + +The barbarian yielded as obediently as a child, but at first remained in +a sitting posture and asked, in scarcely intelligible broken Greek, how +he came to this place. + +After Hermon had satisfied his curiosity, he also put a few questions, +and learned that his charge not only wore a mustache, like his fellow +countrymen, but also a full beard, because the latter was the badge of +the bridge builders, to which class he belonged. While examining the one +crossing the canal, it had fallen in upon him. + +He closed his eyes as he spoke, and Hermon wondered if it was not time +for him to lie down also; but the wounded man's brow was still burning, +and the Gallic words which he constantly muttered were probably about the +phantoms of fever, which Hermon recognised from Lycon's illness. + +So he resolved to wait and continue to devote the night, which he had +already intended to give him, to the sufferer. From the chair at the +foot of the bed he looked directly into his face. The soft light of the +lamp, which with two others hung from a tall, heavy bronze stand in the +shape of an anchor, which Bias had brought, shone brightly enough to +allow him to perceive how powerful was the man whose life he had saved. +His own face was scarcely lighter in hue than the barbarian's, and how +sharp was the contrast between his long, thick black beard and his white +face and bare arched chest! + +Hermon had noticed this same contrast in his own person. Otherwise the +Gaul did not resemble him in a single feature, and he might even have +refused to compare his soft, wavy beard with the harsh, almost bristly +one of the barbarian. And what a defiant, almost evil expression his +countenance wore when--perhaps because his wound ached--he closed his +lips more firmly! The children who so willingly let him, Hermon, take +them in his arms would certainly have been afraid of this savage-looking +fellow. + +Yet in build, and at any rate in height and breadth of shoulders, there +was some resemblance between him and the Gaul. + +As a bridge builder, the injured man belonged, in a certain sense, to the +ranks of the artists, and this increased Hermon's interest in his +patient, who was now probably out of the most serious danger. + +True, the Greek still cast many a searching glance at the barbarian, but +his eyes closed more and more frequently, and at last the idea took +possession of him that he himself was the wounded man on the couch, and +some one else, who again was himself, was caring for him. + +He vainly strove to understand the impossibility of this division of his +own being, but the more eagerly he did so the greater became his +bewilderment. + +Suddenly the scene changed; Ledscha had appeared. + +Bending over him, she lavished words of love; but when, in passionate +excitement, he sprang from the couch to draw her toward him, she changed +into the Nemesis to whose statue she had just prayed. + +He stood still as if petrified, and the goddess, too, did not stir. Only +the wheel which had rested at her feet began to move, and rolled, with a +thundering din, sometimes around him, sometimes around the people who, as +if they had sprung from the ground, formed a jeering company of +spectators, and clapped their hands, laughed, and shouted whenever +it rolled toward him and he sprang back in fear. + +Meanwhile the wheel constantly grew larger, and seemed to become heavier, +for the wooden beams over which it rolled splintered, crashing like thin +laths, and the spectators' shouts of applause sounded ruder and fiercer. + +Then mortal terror suddenly seized him, and while he shouted for help to +Myrtilus, Daphne, and her father Archias, his slave Bias, the old comrade +of Alexander, Philippus, and his wife, he awoke, bathed in perspiration, +and looked about him. + +But he must still be under the spell of the horrible dream, for the +rattling and clattering around him continued, and the bed where the +wounded Gaul had lain was empty. + +Hermon involuntarily dipped his hand into the water which stood ready to +wet the bandages, and sprinkled his own face with it; but if he had ever +beheld life with waking eyes, he was doing so now. Yet the barbarian had +vanished, and the noise in the house still continued. + +Was it possible that rats and mice--? No! That was the shriek of a +terrified human being--that a cry for help! This sound was the imperious +command of a rough man's voice, that--no, he was not mistaken--that was +his own name, and it came from the lips of his Myrtilus, anxiously, +urgently calling for assistance. + +Then he suddenly realized that the white house had been attacked, that +his friend must be rescued from robbers or the fury of a mob of Biamites, +and, like the bent wood of a projectile when released from the noose +which holds it to the ground, the virile energy that characterized him +sprang upward with mighty power. The swift glance that swept the room +was sent to discover a weapon, and before it completed the circuit Hermon +had already grasped the bronze anchor with the long rod twined with +leaves and the teeth turned downward. Only one of the three little +vessels filled with oil that hung from it was burning. Before swinging +the heavy standard aloft, he freed it from the lamps, which struck the +floor with a clanging noise. + +The man to whom he dealt a blow with this ponderous implement would +forget to rise. Then, as if running for a prize in the gymnasium, he +rushed through the darkness to the staircase, and with breathless haste +groped his way down the narrow, ladderlike steps. He felt himself an +avenging, punishing power, like the Nemesis who had pursued him in his +dreams. He must wrest the friend who was to him the most beloved of +mortals from the rioters. To defeat them himself seemed a small matter. +His shout--"I am coming, Myrtilus! Snuphis, Bias, Dorcas, Syrus! here, +follow me!" was to summon the old Egyptian doorkeeper and the slaves, and +inform his friend of the approach of a deliverer. + +The loudest uproar echoed from his own studio. Its door stood wide open, +and black smoke, mingled with the deep red and yellow flames of burning +pitch, poured from it toward him. + +"Myrtilus!" he shouted at the top of his voice as he leaped across the +threshold into the tumult which filled the spacious apartment, at the +same time clashing the heavy iron anchor down upon the head of the broad- +shouldered, half-naked fellow who was raising a clumsy lance against him. + +The pirate fell as though struck by lightning, and he again shouted +"Myrtilus!" into the big room, so familiar to him, where the conflict was +raging chaotically amid a savage clamour, and the smoke did not allow him +to distinguish a single individual. + +For the second time he swung the terrible weapon, and it struck to the +floor the monster with a blackened face who had rushed toward him, but at +the same time the anchor broke in two. + +Only a short metal rod remained in his hand, and, while he raised his +arm, determined to crush the temples of the giant carrying a torch who +sprang forward to meet him, it suddenly seemed as if a vulture with +glowing plumage and burning beak was attacking his face, and the terrible +bird of prey was striking its hard, sharp, red-hot talons more and more +furiously into his lips, cheeks, and eyes. + +At first a glare as bright as sunshine had flashed before his gaze; then, +where he had just seen figures and things half veiled by the smoke, he +beheld only a scarlet surface, which changed to a violet, and finally a +black spot, followed by a violet-blue one, while the vulture continued +to rend his face with beak and talons. + +Then the name "Myrtilus!" once more escaped his lips; this time, however, +it did not sound like the encouraging shout of an avenging hero, but the +cry for aid of one succumbing to defeat, and it was soon followed by a +succession of frantic outbursts of suffering, terror, and despair. + +But now sharp whistles from the water shrilly pierced the air and +penetrated into the darkened room, and, while the tumult around Hermon +gradually died away, he strove, tortured by burning pain, to grope his +way toward the door; but here his foot struck against a human body, there +against something hard, whose form he could not distinguish, and finally +a large object which felt cool, and could be nothing but his Demeter. + +But she seemed doomed to destruction, for the smoke was increasing every +moment, and constantly made his open wounds smart more fiercely. + +Suddenly a cooler air fanned his burning face, and at the same time he +heard hurrying steps approach and the mingled cries of human voices. + +Again he began to shout the names of his friends, the slaves, and the +porter; but no answer came from any of them, though hasty questions in +the Greek language fell upon his ear. + +The strategist, with his officers, the nomarch of the district with his +subordinates, and many citizens of Tennis had arrived. Hermon knew most +of them by their voices, but their figures were not visible. The red, +violet, and black cloud before him was all he could see. + +Yet, although the pain continued to torture him, and a voice in his soul +told him that he was blinded, he did not allow the government officials +who eagerly surrounded him to speak, only pointed hastily to his eyes, +and then bade them enter Myrtilus's studio. The Egyptian Chello, the +Tennis goldsmith, who had assisted the artists in the preparation of the +noble metal, and one of the police officers who had been summoned to rid +the old house of the rats and mice which infested it, both knew the way. + +They must first try to save Myrtilus's work and, when that was +accomplished, preserve his also from destruction by the flames. + +Leaning on the goldsmith's arm, Hermon went to his friend's studio; but +before they reached it smoke and flames poured out so densely that it was +impossible even to gain the door. + +"Destroyed--a prey to the flames!" he groaned. "And he--he--he--" + +Then like a madman he asked if no one had seen Myrtilus, and where he +was; but in vain, always in vain. + +At last the goldsmith who was leading him asked him to move aside, for +all who had flocked to the white house when it was seized by the flames +had joined in the effort to save the statue of Demeter, which they had +found unharmed in his studio. + +Seventeen men, by the exertion of all their strength, were dragging the +heavy statue from the house, which was almost on the point of falling in, +into the square. Several others were bearing corpses into the open air- +the old porter Snuphis and Myrtilus's body servant. Some motionless +forms they were obliged to leave behind. Both the bodies had deep +wounds. There was no trace of Myrtilus and Bias. + +Outside the storm had subsided, and a cool breeze blew refreshingly into +Hermon's face. As he walked arm in arm with the notary Melampus, who had +invited him to his house, and heard some one at his side exclaim, "How +lavishly Eos is scattering her roses to-day!" he involuntarily lifted the +cloth with which he had covered his smarting face to enjoy the beautiful +flush of dawn, but again beheld nothing save a black and violet-blue +surface. + +Then drawing his hand from his guide's arm, he pressed it upon his poor, +sightless, burning eyes, and in helpless rage, like a beast of prey which +feels the teeth of the hunter's iron trap rend his flesh, groaned +fiercely, "Blind! blind!" and again, and yet again, "Blind!" + +While the morning star was still paling, the lad who after Hermon's +landing had raced along the shore with the burning torch glided into the +little pronaos of the Temple of Nemesis. + +Ledscha was still standing by the doorpost of the cella with uplifted +hand, so deeply absorbed in fervent prayer that she did not perceive the +approach of the messenger until he called her. + +"Succeeded?" she asked in a muffled tone, interrupting his hasty +greeting. + +"You must give the goddess what you vowed," was the reply. "Hanno sends +you the message. And also, 'You must come with me in the boat quickly-at +once!'" + +"Where?" the girl demanded. + +"Not on board the Hydra yet," replied the boy hurriedly. "First only to +the old man on the Megara. The dowry is ready for your father. But +there is not a moment to lose." + +"Well, well!" she gasped hoarsely. "But, first, shall I find the man +with the black beard on board of one of the ships?" + +"Certainly!" answered the lad proudly, grasping her arm to hurry her; +but she shook him off violently, turned toward the cella again, and once +more lifted her hands and eyes to the statue of Nemesis. + +Then she took up the bundle she had hidden behind a pillar, drew from it +a handful of gold coins, which she flung into the box intended for +offerings, and followed the boy. + +"Alive?" she asked as she descended the steps; but the lad understood the +meaning of the question, and exclaimed: "Yes, indeed! Hanno says the +wounds are not at all dangerous." + +"And the other?" + +"Not a scratch. On the Hydra, with two severely wounded slaves. The +porter and the others were killed." + +"And the statues?" + +"They-such things can't be accomplished without some little blunder- +Labaja thinks so, too." + +"Did they escape you?" + +"Only one. I myself helped to smash the other, which stood in the +workroom that looks out upon the water. The gold and ivory are on the +ship. We had horrible work with the statue which stood in the room whose +windows faced the square. They dragged the great monster carefully into +the studio that fronts upon the water. But probably it is still standing +there, if the thing is not already--just see how the flames are whirling +upward!--if it is not already burned with the house." + +"What a misfortune!" Ledscha reproachfully exclaimed. + +"It could not be helped," the boy protested. "People from Tennis +suddenly rushed in. The first--a big, furious fellow-killed our Loule +and the fierce Judas. Now he has to pay for it. Little Chareb threw the +black powder into his eyes, while Hanno himself thrust the torch in his +face." + +"And Bias, the blackbeard's slave?" + +"I don't know. Oh, yes! Wounded, I believe, on board the ship." + +Meanwhile the lad, a precocious fourteen-year-old cabin-boy from the +Hydra, pointed to the boat which lay ready, and took Ledscha's bundle in +his hand; but she sprang into the light skiff before him and ordered it +to be rowed to the Owl's Nest, where she must bid Mother Tabus good-bye. +The cabin-boy, however, declared positively that the command could not be +obeyed now, and at his signal two black sailors urged it with swift oar +strokes toward the northwest, to Satabus's ship. Hanno wished to receive +his bride as a wife from his father's hand. + +Ledscha had not insisted upon the fulfilment of her desire, but as the +boat passed the Pelican Island her gaze rested on the lustreless waning +disk of the moon. She thought of the torturing night, during which she +had vainly waited here for Hermon, and a triumphant smile hovered around +her lips; but soon the heavy eyebrows of the girl who was thus leaving +her home contracted in a frown--she again fancied she saw, where the moon +was just fading, the body of a gigantic, hideous spider. She banished +the illusion by speaking to the boy--spiders in the morning mean +misfortune. + +The early dawn, which was now crimsoning the east, reminded her of the +blood which, as an avenger, she must yet shed. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARK: + +Camels, which were rarely seen in Egypt + + + + + + +ARACHNE + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 5. + + +CHAPTER I. + +While the market place in Tennis was filling, Archias's white house had +become a heap of smouldering ruins. Hundreds of men and women were +standing around the scene of the conflagration, but no one saw the statue +of Demeter, which had been removed from Hermon's studio just in time. +The nomarch had had it locked up in the neighbouring temple of the +goddess. + +It was rumoured that the divinity had saved her own statue by a miracle; +Pamaut, the police officer, said that he had seen her himself as, +surrounded by a brilliant light, she soared upward on the smoke that +poured from the burning house. The strategist and the nomarch used every +means in their power to capture the robbers, but without the least +success. + +As it had become known that Paseth, Gula's husband, had cast off his wife +because she had gone to Hermon's studio, the magistrates believed that +the attack had been made by the Biamites; yet Paseth was absent from the +city during the assault, and the innocence of the others could also be +proved. + +Since, for two entire years, piracy had entirely ceased in this +neighbourhood, no one thought of corsairs, and the bodies of the +incendiaries having been consumed by the flames with the white house, +it could not be ascertained to what class the marauders belonged. + +The blinded sculptor could only testify that one of the robbers was a +negro, or at any rate had had his face blackened, and that the size of +another had appeared to him almost superhuman. This circumstance gave +rise to the fable that, during the terrible storm of the previous clay, +Hades had opened and spirits of darkness had rushed into the studio of +the Greek betrayer. + +The strategist, it is true, did not believe such tales, but the +superstition of the Biamites, who, moreover, aided the Greeks reluctantly +to punish a crime which threatened to involve their own countrymen, put +obstacles in the way of his measures. + +Not until he heard of Ledscha's disappearance, and was informed by the +priest of Nemesis of the handsome sum which had been found in the +offering box of the temple shortly after the attack, did he arrive at a +conjecture not very far from the real state of affairs; only it was still +incomprehensible to him what body of men could have placed themselves at +the disposal of a girl's vengeful plan. + +On the second day after the fire, the epistrategus of the whole Delta, +who had accidentally come to the border fortress, arrived at Tennis on +the galley of the commandant of Pelusium, and with him Proclus, the +grammateus of the Dionysian artists, the Lady Thyone, Daphne, and her +companion Chrysilla. + +The old hero Philippus was detained in the fortress by the preparations +for war. + +Althea had returned to Alexandria, and Philotas, who disliked her, had +gone there himself, as Chrysilla intimated to him that he could hope for +no success in his suit to her ward so long as Daphne had to devote +herself to the care of the blinded Hermon. + +The epistrategus proceeded with great caution, but his efforts also +remained futile. He ordered a report to be made of all the vessels which +had entered the harbours and bays of the northeastern Delta, but those +commanded by Satabus and his sons gave no cause for investigation; they +had come into the Tanite arm of the Nile as lumber ships from Pontus, and +had discharged beams and planks for the account of a well-known +commercial house in Sinope. + +Yet the official ordered the Owl's Nest to be searched. In doing this he +made himself guilty of an act of violence, as the island's right of +asylum still existed, and this incensed the irritable and refractory +Biamites the more violently, the deeper was the reverent awe with which +the nation regarded Tabus, who, according to their belief, was over a +hundred years old. The Biamites honoured her not only as an enchantress +and a leech, but as the ancestress of a race of mighty men. By molesting +this aged woman, and interfering with an ancient privilege, the +epistrategus lost the aid of the hostile fishermen, sailors, and weavers. +Any information from their ranks to him was regarded as treachery; and, +besides, his stay in Tennis could be but brief, as the King, on account +of the impending war, had summoned him back to the capital. + +On the third day after his arrival he left Tennis and sailed from Tanis +for Alexandria. He had had little time to attend to Thyone and her +guests. + +Proclus, too, could not devote himself to them until after the departure +of the epistrategus, since he had gone immediately to Tanis, where, as +head of the Dionysian artists of all Egypt, he had been occupied in +attending to the affairs of the newly established theatre. + +On his return to Tennis he had instantly requested to be conducted to the +Temple of Demeter, to inspect the blinded Hermon's rescued work. + +He had entered the cella of the sanctuary with the expectation of finding +a peculiar, probably a powerful work, but one repugnant to his taste, and +left it fairly overpowered by the beauty of this noble work of art. + +What he had formerly seen of Hermon's productions had prejudiced him +against the artist, whose talent was great, but who, instead of +dedicating it to the service of the beautiful and the sublime, chose +subjects which, to Proclus, did not seem worthy of artistic treatment, +or, when they were, sedulously deprived them of that by which, in his +eyes, they gained genuine value. In Hermon's Olympian Banquet he--who +also held the office of a high priest of Apollo in Alexandria--had even +seen an insult to the dignity of the deity. In the Street Boy Eating +Figs, the connoisseur's eye had recognised a peculiar masterpiece, but he +had been repelled by this also; for, instead of a handsome boy, it +represented a starving, emaciated vagabond. + +True to life as this figure might be, it seemed to him reprehensible, for +it had already induced others to choose similar vulgar subjects. + +When recently at Althea's performance he had met Hermon and saw how +quickly his beautiful travelling companion allowed herself to be induced +to bestow the wreath on the handsome, black-bearded fellow, it vexed him, +and he had therefore treated him with distant coldness, and allowed him +to perceive the disapproval which the direction taken by his art had +awakened in his mind. + +In the presence of Hermon's Demeter, the opinion of the experienced man +and intelligent connoisseur had suddenly changed. + +The creator of this work was not only one of the foremost artists of his +day, nay, he had also been permitted to fathom the nature of the deity +and to bestow upon it a perfect form. + +This Demeter was the most successful personification of the divine +goodness which rewards the sowing of seed with the harvest. When Hermon +created it, Daphne's image had hovered before his mind, even if he had +not been permitted to use her as a model, and of all the maidens whom he +knew there was scarcely one better suited to serve as the type for the +Demeter. + +So what he had seen in Pelusium, and learned from women, was true. The +heart and mind of the artist who had created this work were not filled +with the image of Althea--who during the journey had bestowed many a mark +of favour upon the aging man, and with whom he was obliged to work hand +in hand for Queen Arsinoe's plans--but the daughter of Archias, and this +circumstance also aided in producing his change of view. + +Hermon's blindness, it was to be hoped, would be cured. + +Duty, and perhaps also interest, commanded him to show him frankly how +highly he estimated his art and his last work. + +After the arrival of Thyone and Daphne, Hermon had consented to accompany +them on board the Proserpina, their spacious galley. True, he had +yielded reluctantly to this arrangement of his parents' old friend, and +neither she nor Daphne had hitherto succeeded in soothing the fierce +resentment against fate which filled his soul after the loss of his sight +and his dearest friend. As yet every attempt to induce him to bear his +terrible misfortune with even a certain degree of composure had failed. + +The Tennis leech, trained by the Egyptian priests at Sais in the art of +healing, who was attached as a pastophorus to the Temple of Isis, in the +city of weavers, had covered the artist's scorched face with bandages, +and earnestly adjured him never in his absence to raise them, and to keep +every ray of light from his blinded eyes. But the agitation which had +mastered Hermon's whole being was so great that, in spite of the woman's +protestations, he lifted the covering again and again to see whether he +could not perceive once more at least a glimmer of the sunlight whose +warming power he felt. The thought of living in darkness until the end +of his life seemed unendurable, especially as now all the horrors which, +hitherto, had only visited him in times of trial during the night +assailed him with never-ceasing cruelty. + +The image of the spider often forced itself upon him, and he fancied that +the busy insect was spreading its quickly made web over his blinded eyes, +which he was not to touch, yet over which he passed his hand to free them +from the repulsive veil. + +The myth related that because Athene's blow had struck the ambitious +weaver Arachne, she had resolved, before the goddess transformed her into +a spider, to put an end to her disgrace. + +How infinitely harder was the one dealt to him! How much better reason +he had to use the privilege in which man possesses an advantage over the +immortals, of putting himself to death with his own hand when he deems +the fitting time has come! What should he, the artist, to whom his eyes +brought whatever made life valuable, do longer in this hideous black +night, brightened by no sunbeam? + +He was often overwhelmed, too, by the remembrance of the terrible end +of the friend in whom he saw the only person who might have given him +consolation in this distress, and the painful thought of his poverty. + +He was supported solely by what his art brought and his wealthy uncle +allowed him. The Demeter which Archias had ordered had been partially +paid for in advance, and he had intended to use the gold--a considerable +sum--to pay debts in Alexandria. But it was consumed with the rest of +his property--tools, clothing, mementoes of his dead parents, and a few +books which contained his favourite poems and the writings of his master, +Straton. + +These precious rolls had aided him to maintain the proud conviction of +owing everything which he attained or possessed solely to himself. It +had again become perfectly clear to him that the destiny of earth-born +mortals was not directed by the gods whom men had invented after their +own likeness, in order to find causes for the effects which they +perceived, but by deaf and blind chance. Else how could even worse +misfortune, according to the opinion of most people, have befallen the +pure, guiltless Myrtilus, who so deeply revered the Olympians and +understood how to honour them so magnificently by his art, than himself, +the despiser of the gods? + +But was the death for which he longed a misfortune? + +Was the Nemesis who had so swiftly and fully granted the fervent prayer +of an ill-used girl also only an image conjured up by the power of human +imagination? + +It was scarcely possible! + +Yet if there was one goddess, did not that admit the probability of the +existence of all the others? + +He shuddered at the idea; for if the immortals thought, felt, acted, how +terribly his already cruel fate would still develop! He had denied and +insulted almost all the Olympians, and not even stirred a finger to the +praise and honour of a single one. + +What marvel if they should choose him for the target of their resentment +and revenge? + +He had just believed that the heaviest misfortune which can befall a man +and an artist had already stricken him. Now he felt that this, too, had +been an error; for, like a physical pain, he realized the collapse of the +proud delusion of being independent of every power except himself, freely +and arbitrarily controlling his own destiny, owing no gratitude except to +his own might, and being compelled to yield to nothing save the +enigmatical, pitiless power of eternal laws or their co-operation, so +incomprehensible to the human intellect, called "chance," which took no +heed of merit or unworthiness. + +Must he, who had learned to silence and to starve every covetous desire, +in order to require no gifts from his own uncle and his wealthy kinsman +and friend, and be able to continue to hold his head high, as the most +independent of the independent, now, in addition to all his other woe, be +forced to believe in powers that exercised an influence over his every +act? Must he recognise praying to them and thanking them as the demand +of justice, of duty, and wisdom? Was this possible either? + +And, believing himself alone, since he could not see Thyone and Daphne, +who were close by him, he struck his scorched brow with his clinched +fist, because he felt like a free man who suddenly realizes that a rope +which he can not break is bound around his hands and feet, and a giant +pulls and loosens it at his pleasure. + +Yet no! Better die than become for gods and men a puppet that obeys +every jerk of visible and invisible hands. + +Starting up in violent excitement, he tore the bandage from his face and +eyes, declaring, as Thyone seriously reprimanded him, that he would go +away, no matter where, and earn his daily bread at the handmill, like the +blind Ethiopian slave whom he had seen in the cabinetmaker's house at +Tennis. + +Then Daphne spoke to him tenderly, but her soothing voice caused him +keener pain than his old friend's stern one. + +To sit still longer seemed unendurable, and, with the intention of +regaining his lost composure by pacing to and fro, he began to walk; +but at the first free step he struck against the little table in front of +Thyone's couch, and as it upset and the vessels containing water fell +with it, clinking and breaking, he stopped and, as if utterly crushed, +groped his way back, with both arms outstretched, to the armchair he had +quitted. + +If he could only have seen Daphne press her handkerchief first to her +eyes, from which tears were streaming, and then to her lips, that he +might not hear her sobs, if he could have perceived how Thyone's wrinkled +old face contracted as if she were swallowing a colocynth apple, while at +the same time she patted his strong shoulder briskly, exclaiming with +forced cheerfulness: "Go on, my boy! The steed rears when the hornet +stings! Try again, if it only soothes you! We will take everything out +of your way. You need not mind the water-jars. The potter will make new +ones!" + +Then Hermon threw back his burning head, rested it against the back of +the chair, and did not stir until the bandage was renewed. + +How comfortable it felt! + +He knew, too, that he owed it to Daphne; the matron's fingers could not +be so slender and delicate, and he would have been more than glad to +raise them to his lips and thank her; but he denied himself the pleasure. + +If she really did love him, the bond between them must now be severed; +for, even if her goodness of heart extended far enough to induce her to +unite her blooming young existence to his crippled one, how could he have +accepted the sacrifice without humiliating himself? Whether such a +marriage would have made her happy or miserable he did not ask, but he +was all the more keenly aware that if, in this condition, he became her +husband, he would be the recipient of alms, and he would far rather, he +mentally repeated, share the fate of the negro at the handmill. + +The expression of his features revealed the current of his thoughts to +Daphne, and, much as she wished to speak to him, she forced herself to +remain silent, that the tones of her voice might not betray how deeply +she was suffering with him; but he himself now longed for a kind word +from her lips, and he had just asked if she was still there when Thyone +announced a visit from the grammateus Proclus. + +He had recently felt that this man was unfriendly to him, and again his +anger burst forth. To be exposed in the midst of his misery to the scorn +of a despiser of his art was too much for his exhausted patience. + +But here he was interrupted by Proclus himself, who had entered the +darkened cabin where the blind man remained very soon after Thyone. + +Hermon's last words had betrayed to the experienced courtier how well +he remembered his unkind remarks, so he deferred the expression of his +approval, and began by delivering the farewell message of the +epistrategus, who had been summoned away so quickly. + +He stated that his investigations had discovered nothing of importance, +except, perhaps, the confirmation of the sorrowful apprehension that the +admirable Myrtilus had been killed by the marauders. A carved stone had +been found under the ashes, and Chello, the Tennis goldsmith, said he had +had in his own workshop the gem set in the hapless artist's shoulder +clasp, and supplied it with a new pin. + +While speaking, he took Hermon's hand and gave him the stone, but the +artist instantly used his finger tips to feel it. + +Perhaps it really did belong to the clasp Myrtilus wore, for, although +still unpractised in groping, he recognised that a human head was carved +in relief upon the stone, and Mrytilus's had been adorned with the +likeness of the Epicurean. + +The damaged little work of art, in the opinion of Proclus and Daphne, +appeared to represent this philosopher, and at the thought that his +friend had fallen a victim to the flames Hermon bowed his head and +exerted all his strength of will in order not to betray by violent sobs +how deeply this idea pierced his heart. + +Thyone, shrugging her shoulders mournfully, pointed to the suffering +artist. Proclus nodded significantly, and, moving nearer to Hermon, +informed him that he had sought out his Demeter and found the statue +uninjured. He was well aware that it would be presumptuous to offer +consolation in so heavy an affliction, and after the loss of his dearest +friend, yet perhaps Hermon would be glad to hear his assurance that he, +whose judgment was certainly not unpractised, numbered his work among the +most perfect which the sculptor's art had created in recent years. + +"I myself best know the value of this Demeter," the sculptor broke in +harshly. "Your praise is the bit of honey which is put into the mouth of +the hurt child." + +"No, my friend," Proclus protested with grave decision. "I should +express no less warmly the ardent admiration with which this noble figure +of the goddess fills me if you were well and still possessed your sight. +You were right just now when you alluded to my aversion, or, let us say, +lack of appreciation of the individuality of your art; but this noble +work changes everything, and nothing affords me more pleasure than that I +am to be the first to assure you how magnificently you have succeeded in +this statue." + +"The first!" Hermon again interrupted harshly. "But the second and +third will be lacking in Alexandria. What a pleasure it is to pour the +gifts of sympathy upon one to whom we wish ill! But, however successful +my Demeter may be, you would have awarded the prize twice over to the one +by Myrtilus." + +"Wrong, my young friend!" the statesman protested with honest zeal. +"All honour to the great dead, whose end was so lamentable; but in this +contest--let me swear it by the goddess herself!--you would have remained +victor; for, at the utmost, nothing can rank with the incomparable save +a work of equal merit, and--I know life and art--two artists rarely or +never succeed in producing anything so perfect as this masterpiece at the +same time and in the same place." + +"Enough!" gasped Hermon, hoarse with excitement; but Proclus, with +increasing animation, continued: "Brief as is our acquaintance, you have +probably perceived that I do not belong to the class of flatterers, and +in Alexandria it has hardly remained unknown to you that the younger +artists number me, to whom the office of judge so often falls, among the +sterner critics. Only because I desire their best good do I frankly +point out their errors. The multitude provides the praise. It will soon +flow upon you also in torrents, I can see its approach, and as this +blindness, if the august Aesculapius and healing Isis aid, will pass away +like a dreary winter night, it would seem to me criminal to deceive you +about your own ability and success. I already behold you creating other +works to the delight of gods and men; but this Demeter extorts boundless, +enthusiastic appreciation; both as a whole, and in detail, it is +faultless and worthy of the most ardent praise. Oh, how long it is, +my dear, unfortunate friend, since I could congratulate any other +Alexandrian with such joyful confidence upon the most magnificent +success! Every word--you may believe it!--which comes to you in +commendation of this last work from lips unused to eulogy is sincerely +meant, and as I utter it to you I shall repeat it in the presence of the +King, Archias, and the other judges." + +Daphne, with hurried breath, deeply flushed cheeks, and sparkling eyes, +had fairly hung upon the lips of the clever connoisseur. She knew +Proclus, and his dreaded, absolutely inconsiderate acuteness, and was +aware that this praise expressed his deepest conviction. Had he been +dissatisfied with the statue of Demeter, or even merely superficially +touched by its beauty, he might have shrunk from wounding the unfortunate +artist by censure, and remained silent; but only something grand, +consummate, could lead him to such warmth of recognition. + +She now felt it a misfortune that she and Thyone had hitherto been +prevented, by anxiety for their patient, from admiring his work. Had it +still been light, she would have gone to the temple of Demeter at once; +but the sun had just set, and Proclus was obliged to beg her to have +patience. + +As the cases were standing finished at the cabinetmaker's, the statue had +been packed immediately, under his own direction, and carried on board +his ship, which would convey it with him to the capital the next day. + +While this arrangement called forth loud expressions of regret from +Daphne and the vivacious matron, Hermon assented to it, for it would at +least secure the ladies, until their arrival in Alexandria, from a +painful disappointment. + +"Rather," Proclus protested with firm dissent, "it will rob you for some +time of a great pleasure, and you, noble daughter of Archias, probably of +the deepest emotion of gratitude with which the favour of the immortals +has hitherto rendered you happy; yet the master who created this genuine +goddess owes the best part of it to your own face." + +"He told me himself that he thought of me while at work," Daphne +admitted, and a flood of the warmest love reached Hermon's ears in her +agitated tones, while, greatly perplexed, he wondered with increasing +anxiety whether the stern critic Proclus had really been serious in the +extravagant eulogium, so alien to his reputation in the city. + +Myrtilus, too, had admired the head of his Demeter, and--this he himself +might admit--he had succeeded in it, and yet ought not the figure, with +its too pronounced inclination forward, which, it is true, corresponded +with Daphne's usual bearing, and the somewhat angular bend of the arms, +have induced this keen-sighted connoisseur to moderate the exalted strain +of his praise? Or was the whole really so admirable that it would have +seemed petty to find fault with the less successful details? At any +rate, Proclus's eulogy ought to give him twofold pleasure, because his +art had formerly repelled him, and Hermon tried to let it produce this +effect upon him. But it would not do; he was continually overpowered by +the feeling that under the enthusiastic homage of the intriguing Queen +Arsinoe's favourite lurked a sting which he should some day feel. Or +could Proclus have been persuaded by Thyone and Daphne to help them +reconcile the hapless blind man to his hard fate? + +Hermon's every movement betrayed the great anxiety which filled his mind, +and it by no means escaped Proclus's attention, but he attributed it to +the blinded sculptor's anguish in being prevented, after so great a +success, from pursuing his art further. + +Sincerely touched, he laid his slender hand on the sufferer's muscular +arm, saying: "A more severe trial than yours, my young friend, can +scarcely be imposed upon the artist who has just attained the highest +goal, but three things warrant you to hope for recovery--your vigorous +youth, the skill of our Alexandrian leeches, and the favour of the +immortal gods. You shrug your shoulders? Yet I insist that you have won +this favour by your Demeter. True, you owe it less to yourself than to +yonder maiden. What pleasure it affords one whom, like myself, taste and +office bind to the arts, to perceive such a revolution in an artist's +course of creation, and trace it to its source! I indulged myself in it +and, if you will listen, I should like to show you the result." + +"Speak," replied Hermon dully, bowing his head as if submitting to the +inevitable, while Proclus began: + +"Hitherto your art imitated, not without success, what your eyes showed +you, and if this was filled with the warm breath of life, your work +succeeded. All respect to your Boy Eating Figs, in whose presence you +would feel the pleasure he himself enjoyed while consuming the sweet +fruit. Here, among the works of Egyptian antiquity, there is imminent +danger of falling under the tyranny of the canon of proportions which can +be expressed in figures, or merely even the demands of the style hallowed +by thousands of years, but in a subject like the 'Fig-eater' such a +reproach is not to be feared. He speaks his own intelligible language, +and whoever reproduces it without turning to the right or left has won, +for he has created a work whose value every true friend of art, no matter +to what school he belongs, prizes highly. + +"To me personally such works of living reality are cordially welcome. +Yet art neither can nor will be satisfied with snatches of what is +close at hand; but you are late-born, sons of a time when the two great +tendencies of art have nearly reached the limits of what is attainable +to them. You were everywhere confronted with completed work, and you +are right when you refuse to sink to mere imitators of earlier works, +and therefore return to Nature, with which we Hellenes, and perhaps the +Egyptians also, began. The latter forgot her; the former--we Greeks-- +continued to cling to her closely." + +"Some few," Hermon eagerly interrupted the other, "still think it worth +the trouble to take from her what she alone can bestow. They save +themselves the toilsome search for the model which others so successfully +used before them, and bronze and marble still keep wonderfully well. +Bring out the old masterpieces. Take the head from this one, the arm +from that, etc. The pupil impresses the proportions on his mind. Only +so far as the longing for the beautiful permits do even the better ones +remain faithful to Nature, not a finger's breadth more." + +"Quite right," the other went on calmly. "But your objection only +brings one nearer the goal. How many who care only for applause content +themselves to-day, unfortunately, with Nature at second hand! Without +returning to her eternally fresh, inexhaustible spring, they draw from +the conveniently accessible wells which the great ancients dug for them." + +"I know these many," Hermon wrathfully exclaimed. "They are the brothers +of the Homeric poets, who take verses from the Iliad and Odyssey to piece +out from them their own pitiful poems." + +"Excellent, my son!" exclaimed Thyone, laughing, and Daphne remarked that +the poet Cleon had surprised her father with such a poem a few weeks +before. It was a marvellous bit of botchwork, and yet there was a +certain meaning in the production, compiled solely from Homeric verses. + +"Diomed's Hecuba," observed Proclus, "and the Aphrodite by Hippias, which +were executed in marble, originated in the same way, and deserve no +better fate, although they please the great multitude. But, praised be +my lord, Apollo, our age can also boast of other artists. Filled with +the spirit of the god, they are able to model truthfully and faithfully +even the forms of the immortals invisible to the physical eye. They +stand before the spectator as if borrowed from Nature, for their creators +have filled them with their own healthy vigour. Our poor Myrtilus +belonged to this class and, after your Demeter, the world will include +you in it also." + +"And yet," answered Hermon in a tone of dissent, "I remained faithful to +myself, and put nothing, nothing at all of my own personality, into the +forms borrowed from Nature." + +"What need of that was there?" asked Proclus with a subtle smile. "Your +model spared you the task. And this at last brings me to the goal I +desired to reach. As the great Athenians created types for eternity, so +also does Nature at times in a happy hour, for her own pleasure, and such +a model you found in our Daphne.-No contradiction, my dear young lady! +The outlines of the figure--By the dog! Hermon might possibly have +found forms no less beautiful in the Aphrosion, but how charming and +lifelike is the somewhat unusual yet graceful pose of yours! And then +the heart, the soul! In your companionship our artist had nothing to do +except lovingly to share your feelings in order to have at his disposal +everything which renders so dear to us all the giver of bread, the +preserver of peace, the protector of marriage, the creator and supporter +of the law of moderation in Nature, as well as in human existence. Where +would all these traits be found more perfectly united in a single human +being than in your person, Daphne, your quiet, kindly rule?" + +"Oh, stop!" the girl entreated. "I am only too well aware--" + +"That you also are not free from human frailties," Proclus continued, +undismayed. "We will take them, great or small as they may be, into the +bargain. The secret ones do not concern the sculptor, who does not or +will not see them. What he perceives in you, what you enable him to +recognise through every feature of your sweet, tranquillizing face, is +enough for the genuine artist to imagine the goddess; for the distinction +between the mortal and the immortal is only the degree of perfection, and +the human intellect and artist soul can find nothing more perfect in the +whole domain of Demeter's jurisdiction than is presented to them in your +nature. Our friend yonder seized it, and his magnificent work of art +proves how nearly it approaches the purest and loftiest conception we +form of the goddess whom he had to represent. It is not that he deified +you, Daphne; he merely bestowed on the divinity forms which he recognised +in you." + +Just at that moment, obeying an uncontrollable impulse, Hermon pulled the +bandage from his eyes to see once more the woman to whom this warm homage +was paid. + +Was the experienced connoisseur of art and the artist soul in the right? + +He had told himself the same thing when he selected Daphne for a model, +and her head reproduced what Proclus praised as the common possession of +Daphne and Demeter. Truthful Myrtilus had also seen it. Perhaps his +work had really been so marvellously successful because, while he was +engaged upon it, his friend had constantly stood before his mind in all +the charm of her inexhaustible goodness. + +Animated by the ardent desire to gaze once more at the beloved face, to +which he now owed also this unexpectedly great success, he turned toward +the spot whence her voice had reached him; but a wall of violet mist, +dotted with black specks, was all that his blinded eyes showed him, and +with a low groan he drew the linen cloth over the burns. + +This time Proclus also perceived what was passing in the poor artist's +mind, and when he took leave of him it was with the resolve to do his +utmost to brighten with the stars of recognition and renown the dark +night of suffering which enshrouded this highly gifted sculptor, whose +unexpectedly great modesty had prepossessed him still more in his favour. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +After the grammateus had retired, Daphne insisted upon leaving Tennis the +next day. + +The desire to see Hermon's masterpiece drew her back to Alexandria even +more strongly than the knowledge of being missed by her father. + +Only the separation from Thyone rendered the departure difficult, for the +motherless girl had found in her something for which she had long +yearned, and most sorely missed in her companion Chrysilla, who from +expediency approved of everything she did or said. + +The matron, too, had become warmly attached to Daphne, and would gladly +have done all that lay in her power to lighten Hermon's sad fate, yet she +persisted in her determination to return speedily to her old husband in +Pelusium. + +But she did not fully realize how difficult this departure would be for +her until the blind man, after a long silence, asked whether it was +night, if the stars were in the sky, and if she really intended to leave +him. + +Then burning sympathy filled her compassionate soul, and she could no +longer restrain her tears. Daphne, too, covered her face, and imposed +the strongest restraint upon herself that she might not sob aloud. + +So it seemed a boon to both when Hermon expressed the desire to spend +part of the night on deck. + +This desire contained a summons to action, and to be able to bestir +themselves in useful service appeared like a favour to Thyone and Daphne. + +Without calling upon a slave, a female servant, or even Chrysilla for the +smallest office, the two prepared a couch on deck for the blind man, and, +leaning on the girl's stronger arm, he went up into the open air. + +There he stretched both arms heavenward, inhaled deep breaths of the cool +night breeze, and thirstily emptied the goblet of wine which Daphne mixed +and gave him with her own hand. + +Then, with a sigh of relief, he said: "Everything has not grown black +yet. A delightful feeling of pleasure takes possession even of the blind +man when the open air refreshes him and the wine warms his blood in the +sunshine of your kindness." + +"And much better things are still in prospect," Daphne assured him. +"Just think what rapture it will be when you are permitted to see the +light again after so long a period of darkness!" + +"When--" repeated Hermon, his head drooping as he spoke. + +"It must, it must be so!" rang with confident assurance from Thyone's +lips. + +"And then," added Daphne, gazing sometimes upward to the firmament strewn +with shining stars, sometimes across the broad, rippling expanse of the +water, in which the reflection of the heavenly bodies shimmered in +glittering, silvery radiance, "yes, Hermon, who would not be glad to +exchange with you then? You may shake your head, but I would take your +place quickly and with joyous courage. There is a proof of the existence +of the gods, which so exactly suits the hour when you will again see, +enjoy, admire what this dreary darkness now hides from you. It was a +philosopher who used it; I no longer know which one. How often I have +thought of it since this cruel misfortune befell you! And now--" + +"Go on," Hermon interrupted with a smile of superiority. "You are +thinking of Aristotle's man who grew up in a dark cave. The conditions +which must precede the devout astonishment of the liberated youth when he +first emerged into the light and the verdant world would certainly exist +in me." + +"Oh, not in that way," pleaded the wounded girl; and Thyone exclaimed: +"What is the story of the man you mention? We don't talk about Aristotle +and such subjects in Pelusium." + +"Perhaps they are only too much discussed in Alexandria," said the blind +artist. "The Stagirite, as you have just heard, seeks to prove the +existence of the gods by the man of whom I spoke." + +"No, he does prove it," protested Daphne. "Just listen, Mother Thyone. +A little boy grows up from earliest childhood into a youth in a dark +cave. Then suddenly its doors are opened to him. For the first time he +sees the sun, moon, and stars, flowers and trees, perhaps even a +beautiful human face. But at the moment when all these things rush upon +him like so many incomprehensible marvels, must he not ask himself who +created all this magnificence? And the answer which comes to him--" + +"There is only one," cried the matron; "the omnipotent gods. Do you +shrug your shoulders at that, son of the pious Erigone? Why, of course! +The child who still feels the blows probably rebels against his earthly +father. But if I see aright, the resentment will not last when you, like +the man, go out of the cave and your darkness also passes away. Then the +power from which you turned defiantly will force itself upon you, and you +will raise your hands in grateful prayer to the rescuing divinity. As to +us women, we need not be drawn out of a cave to recognise it. A mother +who reared three stalwart sons--I will say nothing of the daughters--can +not live without them. Why are they so necessary to her? Because we +love our children twice as much as ourselves, and the danger which +threatens them alarms the poor mother's heart thrice as much as her own. +Then it needs the helping powers. Even though they often refuse their +aid, we may still be grateful for the expectation of relief. I have +poured forth many prayers for the three, I assure you, and after doing so +with my whole soul, then, my son, no matter how wildly the storm had +raged within my breast, calmness returned, and Hope again took her place +at the helm. In the school of the denier of the gods, you forgot the +immortals above and depended on yourself alone. Now you need a guide, +or even two or three of them, in order to find the way. If your mother +were still alive, you would run back to her to hide your face in her lap. +But she is dead, and if I were as proud as you, before clasping the +sustaining hand of another mortal I would first try whether one would not +be voluntarily extended from among the Olympians. If I were you, I would +begin with Demeter, whom you honoured by so marvellous a work." + +Hermon waved his hand as if brushing away a troublesome fly, exclaiming +impatiently: "The gods, always the gods! I know by my own mother, +Thyone, what you women are, though I was only seven years old when I +was bereft of her by the same powers that you call good and wise, and who +have also robbed me of my eyesight, my friend, and all else that was +dear. I thank you for your kind intention, and you, too, Daphne, for +recalling the beautiful allegory. How often we have argued over its +meaning! If we continued the discussion, perhaps it might pleasantly +shorten the next few hours, which I dread as I do my whole future +existence, but I should be obliged in the outset to yield the victory to +you. The great Herophilus is right when he transfers the seat of thought +from the heart to the head. What a wild tumult is raging here behind my +brow, and how one voice drowns another! The medley baffles description. +I could more easily count with my blind eyes the cells in a honeycomb +than refute with my bewildered brain even one shrewd objection. It seems +to me that we need our eyes to understand things. We certainly do to +taste. Whatever I eat and drink--langustae and melons, light Mareotic +wine and the dark liquor of Byblus my tongue can scarcely distinguish it. +The leech assures me that this will pass away, but until the chaos within +merges into endurable order there is nothing better for me than solitude +and rest, rest, rest." + +"We will not deny them to you," replied Thyone, glancing significantly at +Daphne. "Proclus's enthusiastic judgment was sincerely meant. Begin by +rejoicing over it in the inmost depths of your heart, and vividly +imagining what a wealth of exquisite joys will be yours through your last +masterpiece." + +"Willingly, if I can," replied the blind man, gratefully extending his +hand. "If I could only escape the doubt whether the most cruel tyrant +could devise anything baser than to rob the artist, the very person to +whom it is everything, of his sight." + +"Yes, it is terrible," Daphne assented. "Yet it seems to me that a +richer compensation for the lost gift is at the disposal of you artists +than of us other mortals, for you understand how to look with the eyes of +the soul. With them you retain what you have seen, and illumine it with +a special radiance. Homer was blind, and for that very reason, I think, +the world and life became clear and transfigured for him though a veil +concealed both from his physical vision." + +"The poet!" Hermon exclaimed. "He draws from his own soul what sight, +and sight alone, brings to us sculptors. And, besides, his spirit +remained free from the horrible darkness that assailed mine. Joy itself, +Daphne, has lost its illuminating power within. What, girl, what is to +become of the heart in which even hope was destroyed?" + +"Defend it manfully and keep up your courage," she answered softly; but +he pressed her hand firmly, and, in order not to betray how self- +compassion was melting his own soul, burst forth impetuously: "Say +rather: Crush the wish whose fulfilment is self-humiliation! I will go +back to Alexandria. Even the blind and crippled can find ways to earn +their bread there. Now grant me rest, and leave me alone!" + +Thyone drew the girl away with her into the ship's cabin. + +A short time after, the steward Gras went to Hermon to entreat him to +yield to Thyone's entreaties and leave the deck. + +The leech had directed the sufferer to protect himself from draughts and +dampness, and the cool night mists were rising more and more densely from +the water. + +Hermon doubtless felt them, but the thought of returning to the close +cabin was unendurable. He fancied that his torturing thoughts would +stifle him in the gloom where even fresh air was denied him. + +He allowed the careful Bithynian to throw a coverlet over him and draw +the hood of his cloak over his head, but his entreaties and warnings were +futile. + +The steward's watchful nursing reminded Hermon of his own solicitude for +his friend and of his faithful slave Bias, both of whom he had lost. +Then he remembered the eulogy of the grammateus, and it brought up the +question whether Myrtilus would have agreed with him. Like Proclus, his +keen-sighted and honest friend had called Daphne the best model for the +kindly goddess. He, too, had given to his statue the features of the +daughter of Archias, and admitted that he had been less successful. But +the figure! Perhaps he, Hermon, in his perpetual dissatisfaction with +himself had condemned his own work too severely, but that it lacked the +proper harmony had escaped neither Myrtilus nor himself. Now he recalled +the whole creation to his remembrance, and its weaknesses forced +themselves upon him so strongly and objectionably that the extravagant +praise of the stern critic awakened fresh doubts in his mind. + +Yet a man like the grammateus, who on the morrow or the day following it +would be obliged to repeat his opinion before the King and the judges, +certainly would not have allowed himself to be carried away by mere +compassion to so great a falsification of his judgment. + +Or was he himself sharing the experience of many a fellow-artist? How +often the creator deceived himself concerning the value of his own work! +He had expected the greatest success from his Polyphemus hurling the rock +at Odysseus escaping in the boat, and a gigantic smith had posed for a +model. Yet the judges had condemned it in the severest manner as a work +far exceeding the bounds of moderation, and arousing positive dislike. +The clay figure had not been executed in stone or metal, and crumbled +away. The opposite would probably now happen with the Demeter. Her +bending attitude had seemed to him daring, nay, hazardous; but the acute +critic Proclus had perceived that it was in accord with one of Daphne's +habits, and therefore numbered it among the excellences of the statue. + +If the judges who awarded the prize agreed with the verdict of the +grammateus, he must accustom himself to value his own work higher, +perhaps even above that of Myrtilus. + +But was this possible? + +He saw his friend's Demeter as though it was standing before him, and +again he recognised in it the noblest masterpiece its maker had ever +created. What praise this marvellous work would have deserved if his own +really merited such high encomiums! + +Suddenly an idea came to him, which at first he rejected as +inconceivable; but it would not allow itself to be thrust aside, and its +consideration made his breath fail. + +What if his own Demeter had been destroyed and Myrtilus's statue saved? +If the latter was falsely believed to be his work, then Proclus's +judgment was explained--then--then--- + +Seized by a torturing anguish, he groaned aloud, and the steward Gras +inquired what he wanted. + +Hermon hastily grasped the Bithynian's arm, and asked what he knew about +the rescue of his statue. + +The answer was by no means satisfying. Gras had only heard that, after +being found uninjured in his studio, it had been dragged with great +exertion into the open air. The goldsmith Chello had directed the work. + +Hermon remembered all this himself, yet, with an imperious curtness in +marked contrast to his usual pleasant manner to this worthy servant, he +hoarsely commanded him to bring Chello to him early the next morning, and +then again relapsed into his solitary meditations. + +If the terrible conjecture which had just entered his mind should be +confirmed, no course remained save to extinguish the only new light which +now illumined the darkness of his night, or to become a cheat. + +Yet his resolution was instantly formed. If the goldsmith corroborated +his fear, he would publicly attribute the rescued work to the man who +created it. And he persisted in this intention, indignantly silencing +the secret voice which strove to shake it. It temptingly urged that +Myrtilus, so rich in successes, needed no new garland. His lost sight +would permit him, Hermon, from reaping fresh laurels, and his friend +would so gladly bestow this one upon him. But he angrily closed his ears +to these enticements, and felt it a humiliation that they dared to +approach him. + +With proud self-reliance he threw back his head, saying to himself that, +though Myrtilus should permit him ten times over to deck him self with +his feathers, he would reject them. He would remain himself, and was +conscious of possessing powers which perhaps surpassed his friend's. +He was as well qualified to create a genuine work of art as the best +sculptor, only hitherto the Muse had denied him success in awakening +pleasure, and blindness would put an end to creating anything of his own. + +The more vividly he recalled to memory his own work and his friend's, +the more probable appeared his disquieting supposition. + +He also saw Myrtilus's figure before him, and in imagination heard his +friend again promise that, with the Arachne, he would wrest the prize +even from him. + +During the terrible events of the last hours he had thought but seldom +and briefly of the weaver, whom it had seemed a rare piece of good +fortune to be permitted to represent. Now the remembrance of her took +possession of his soul with fresh power. + +The image of Arachne illumined by the lamplight, which Althea had showed +him, appeared like worthless jugglery, and he soon drove it back into the +darkness which surrounded him. Ledscha's figure, however, rose before +him all the more radiantly. The desire to possess her had flown to the +four winds; but he thought he had never before beheld anything more +peculiar, more powerful, or better worth modelling than the Biamite +girl as he saw her in the Temple of Nemesis, with uplifted hand, invoking +the vengeance of the goddess upon him, and there--he discovered it now-- +Daphne was not at all mistaken. Images never presented themselves as +distinctly to those who could see as to the blind man in his darkness. +If he was ever permitted to receive his sight, what a statue of the +avenging goddess he could create from this greatest event in the history +of his vision! + +After this work--of that he was sure--he would no longer need the +borrowed fame which, moreover, he rejected with honest indignation. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +It must be late, for Hermon felt the cool breeze, which in this region +rose between midnight and sunrise, on his burned face and, shivering, +drew his mantle closer round him. + +Yet it seemed impossible to return to the cabin; the memory of Ledscha +imploring vengeance, and the stern image of the avenging goddess in the +cella of the little Temple of Nemesis, completely mastered him. In the +close cabin these terrible visions, united with the fear of having reaped +undeserved praise, would have crouched upon his breast like harpies and +stifled or driven him mad. After what had happened, to number the swift +granting of the insulted Biamite's prayer among the freaks of chance was +probably a more arbitrary and foolish proceeding than, with so many +others, to recognise the incomprehensible power of Nemesis. Ledscha had +loosed it against him and his health, perhaps even his life, and he +imagined that she was standing before him with the bridle and wheel, +threatening him afresh. + +Shivering, as if chilled to the bone, overwhelmed by intense horror, +he turned his blinded eyes upward to the blackness above and raised his +hand, for the first time since he had joined the pupils of Straton in the +Museum, to pray. He besought Nemesis to be content, and not add to +blindness new tortures to augment the terrible ones which rent his soul, +and he did so with all the ardour of his passionate nature. + +The steward Gras had received orders to wake the Lady Thyone if anything +unusual happened to the blind man, and when he heard the unfortunate +artist groan so pitifully that it would have moved a stone, and saw him +raise his hand despairingly to his head, he thought it was time to utter +words of consolation, and a short time after the anxious matron followed +him. + +Her low exclamation startled Hermon. To be disturbed in the first +prayer after so long a time, in the midst of the cries of distress of a +despairing soul, is scarcely endurable, and the blind man imposed little +restraint upon himself when his old friend asked what had occurred, and +urged him not to expose himself longer to the damp night air. + +At first he resolutely resisted, declaring that he should lose his senses +alone in the close cabin. + +Then, in her cordial, simple way, she offered to bear him company in the +cabin. She could not sleep longer, at any rate; she must leave him early +in the morning, and they still had many things to confide to each other. + +Touched by so much kindness, he yielded and, leaning on the Bithynian's +arm, followed her, not into his little cabin, but into the captain's +spacious sitting room. + +Only a single lamp dimly lighted the wainscoting, composed of ebony, +ivory, and tortoise shell, the gay rug carpet, and the giraffe and +panther skins hung on the walls and doors and flung on the couches and +the floor. + +Thyone needed no brilliant illumination for this conversation, and the +blinded man was ordered to avoid it. + +The matron was glad to be permitted to communicate to Hermon so speedily +all that filled her own heart. + +While he remained on deck, she had gone to Daphne's cabin. + +She had already retired, and when Thyone went to the side of the couch +she found the girl, with her cheeks wet with tears, still weeping, and +easily succeeded in leading the motherless maiden to make a frank +confession. + +Both cousins had been dear to her from childhood; but while Myrtilus, +though often impeded by his pitiable sufferings, had reached by a smooth +pathway the highest recognition, Hermon's impetuous toiling and striving +had constantly compelled her to watch his course with anxious solicitude +and, often unobserved, extend a helping hand. + +Sympathy, disapproval, and fear, which, however, was always blended with +admiration of his transcendent powers, had merged into love. Though he +had disdained to return it, it had nevertheless been perfectly evident +that he needed her, and valued her and her opinion. Often as their views +differed, the obstinate boy and youth had never allowed any one except +herself a strong influence over his acts and conduct. But, far as he +seemed to wander from the paths which she believed the right ones, she +had always held fast to the conviction that he was a man of noble nature, +and an artist who, if he only once fixed his eyes upon the true goal, +would far surpass by his mighty power the other Alexandrian sculptors, +whatever names they bore, and perhaps even Myrtilus. + +To the great vexation of her father who, after her mother's death, in an +hour when his heart was softened, had promised that he would never impose +any constraint upon her in the choice of a husband, she had hitherto +rejected every suitor. She had showed even the distinguished Philotas in +Pelusium, without the least reserve, that he was seeking her in vain; for +just at that time she thought she had perceived that Hermon returned her +love, and after his abrupt departure it had become perfectly evident that +the happiness of her life depended upon him. + +The terrible misfortune which had now befallen him had only bound her +more firmly to the man she loved. She felt that she belonged to him +indissolubly, and the leech's positive assurance that his blindness was +incurable had only increased the magic of the thought of being and +affording tenfold more to the man bereft of sight than when, possessing +his vision, the world, life, and art belonged to him. To be able to +lavish everything upon the most beloved of mortals, and do whatever her +warm, ever-helpful heart prompted, seemed to her a special favour of the +gods in whom she believed. + +That it was Demeter, to the ranks of whose priestesses she belonged, who +was so closely associated with his blinding, also seemed to her no mere +work of chance. The goddess on whom Hermon had bestowed the features of +her own face had deprived him of sight to confer upon her the happiness +of brightening and beautifying the darkness of his life. + +If she saw aright, and it was only the fear of obtaining, with herself, +her wealth, that still kept him from her, the path which would finally +unite them must be found at last. She hoped to conquer also her father's +reluctance to give his only child in marriage to a blind man, especially +as Hermon's last work promised to give him the right to rank with the +best artists of his age. + +The matron had listened to this confession with an agitated heart. +She had transported herself in imagination into the soul of the girl's +mother, and brought before her mind what objections the dead woman would +have made to her daughter's union with a man deprived of sight; but +Daphne had firmly insisted upon her wish, and supported it by many a +sensible and surprising answer. She was beyond childhood, and her three- +and-twenty years enabled her to realize the consequences which so unusual +a marriage threatened to entail. + +As for Thyone herself, she was always disposed to look on the bright +side, and the thought that this vigorous young man, this artist crowned +with the highest success, must remain in darkness to the end of his life, +was utterly incompatible with her belief in the goodness of the gods. +But if Hermon was cured, a rare wealth of the greatest happiness awaited +him in the union with Daphne. + +The mood in which she found the blind man had wounded and troubled her. +Now she renewed the bandage, saying: "How gladly I would continue to use +my old hands for you, but this will be the last time in a long while that +I am permitted to do this for the son of my Erigone; I must leave you +to-morrow." + +Hermon clasped her hand closely, exclaiming with affectionate warmth: +"You must not go, Thyone! Stay here, even if it is only a few days +longer." + +What pleasure these words gave her, and how gladly she would have +fulfilled his wish! But it could not be, and he did not venture to +detain her by fresh entreaties after she had described how her aged +husband was suffering from her absence. + +"I often ask myself what he still finds in me," she said. "True, so long +a period of wedded life is a firm tie. If I am gone and he does not find +me when he returns home from inspections, he wanders about as if lost, +and does not even relish his food, though the same cook has prepared it +for years. And he, who forgets nothing and knows by name a large number +of the many thousand men he commands, would very probably, when I am +away, join the troops with only sandals on his feet. To miss my ugly old +face really can not be so difficult! When he wooed me, of course I +looked very different. And so--he confessed it himself--so he always +sees me, and most plainly when I am absent from his sight. But that, +Hermon, will be your good fortune also. All you now know as young and +beautiful will continue so to you as long as this sorrowful blindness +lasts, and on that very account you must not remain alone, my boy--that +is, if your heart has already decided in favour of any one--and that is +the case, unless these old eyes deceive me." + +"Daphne," he answered dejectedly, "why should I deny that she is dear to +me? And yet, how dare the blind man take upon himself the sin of binding +her young life--" + +"Stop! stop!" Thyone interrupted with eager warmth. "She loves you, and +to be everything to you is the greatest happiness she can imagine." + +"Until repentance awakes, and it is too late," he answered gravely. +"But even were her love strong enough to share her husband's misfortune +patiently--nay, perhaps with joyous courage--it would still be +contemptible baseness were I to profit by that love and seek her hand." + +"Hermon!" the matron now exclaimed reproachfully; but he repeated with +strong emphasis: "Yes, it would be baseness so great that even her most +ardent love could not save me from the reproach of having committed it. +I will not speak of her father, to whom I am so greatly indebted. It may +be that it might satisfy Daphne, full of kindness as she is, to devote +herself, body and soul, to the service of her helpless companion. But I? +Far from thinking constantly, like her, solely of others and their +welfare, I should only too often, selfish as I now am, be mindful of +myself. But when I realize who I am, I see before me a blind man who is +poorer than a beggar, because the scorching flames melted even the gold +which was to help him pay his debts." + +"Folly!" cried the matron. "For what did Archias gather his boundless +treasures? And when his daughter is once yours--" + +"Then," Hermon went on bitterly, "the blinded artist's poverty will be +over. That is your opinion, and the majority of people will share it. +But I have my peculiarities, and the thought of being rescued from hunger +and thirst by the woman I love, and who ought to see in me the man from +whom she receives the best gifts--to be dependent on her as the recipient +of her alms--seems to me worse than if I were once more to lose my sight. +I could not endure it at all! Every mouthful would choke me. Just +because she is so dear to me, I can not seek her hand; for, in return for +her great self-sacrificing love, I could give her nothing save the keen +discontent which seizes the proud soul that is forced constantly to +accept benefits, as surely as the ringing sound follows the blow upon +the brass. My whole future life would become a chain of humiliations, +and do you know whither this unfortunate marriage would lead? My teacher +Straton once said that a man learns to hate no one more easily than the +person from whom he receives benefits which it is out of his power to +repay. That is wise, and before I will see my great love for Daphne +transformed to hate, I will again try the starving which, while I was a +sculptor at Rhodes, I learned tolerably well." + +"But would not a great love," asked Thyone, "suffice to repay tenfold the +perishable gifts that can be bought with gold and silver?" + +"No, and again no!" Hermon answered in an agitated tone. "Something else +would blend with the love I brought to the marriage, something that must +destroy all the compensation it might offer; for I see myself becoming a +resentful misanthrope if I am compelled to relinquish the pleasure of +creating and, condemned to dull inaction, can do nothing except allow +myself to be tended, drink, eat, and sleep. The gloomy mood of her +unfortunate husband would sadden Daphne's existence even more than my +own; for, Thyone, though I should strive with all my strength to bear +patiently, with her dear aid, the burden imposed upon me, and move on +through the darkness with joyous courage, like many another blind man, +I could not succeed." + +"You are a man," the matron exclaimed indignantly, "and what thousands +have done before you--" + +"There," he loudly protested, "I should surely fail; for, you dear +woman, who mean so kindly by me, my fate is worse than theirs. Do you +know what just forced from my lips the exclamation of pain which alarmed +you? I, the only child of the devout Erigone, for whose sake you are so +well disposed toward me, am doomed to misfortune as surely as the victim +dragged to the altar is certain of death. Of all the goddesses, there is +only one in whose power I believe, and to whom I just raised my hands in +prayer. It is the terrible one to whom I was delivered by hate and the +deceived love which is now dragging me by the hair, and will rob and +torture me till I despair of life. I mean the gray daughter of Night, +whom no one escapes, dread Nemesis." + +Thyone sank down into the chair by the blind artist's side, asking +softly, "And what gave you into her avenging hands, hapless boy?" + +"My own abominable folly," he answered mournfully and, with the feeling +that it would relieve his heart to pour out to this true friend what he +would usually have confided only to his Myrtilus, he hurriedly related +how he had recognised in Ledscha the best model for his Arachne, how he +had sought her love, and then, detained by Althea, left her in the lurch +and most deeply offended and insulted her. Lastly, he gave a brief but +vivid description of his meeting with the vengeful barbarian girl in the +Temple of Nemesis, how Ledscha had invoked upon him the wrath of the +terrible goddess, and how the most horrible punishment had fallen upon +him directly after the harsh accusation of the Biamite. + +The matron had listened to this confession in breathless suspense. Now +she fixed her eyes on the floor, shook her gray head gently, and said +anxiously: "Is that it? It certainly puts things in a different light. +As the son of your never-to-be-forgotten mother, you are indeed dear to +my heart; but Daphne is not less dear to me, and though in your marriage +I just saw happiness for you both, that is now past. What is poverty, +what is blindness! Eros would reconcile far more difficult problems, but +his arrows are shattered on the armour of Nemesis. Where there is a pair +of lovers, and she raises her scourge against one of them, the other will +also be struck. Until you feel that you are freed from this persecutor, +it would be criminal to bind a loving woman to you and your destiny. It +is not easy to find the right path for you both, for even Nemesis and her +power do not make the slightest change in the fact that you need faithful +care and watching in your blindness. Daylight brings wisdom, and we will +talk further to-morrow." + +She rose as she spoke; but Hermon detained her, while from his lips +escaped the anxious question, "So you will take Daphne away from me, and +leave me alone in my blindness?" + +"You in your blindness?" cried Thyone, and the mere reproachful tone of +the question banished the fear. "I would as quickly deprive my own son +of my support as I would you just at this time, my poor boy; but whether +my conscience will permit me to let Daphne remain near you only grant me, +I repeat it, until sunrise to-morrow for reflection. My old heart will +then find the right way." + +"Yet whatever you may decide concerning us," pleaded the blind man, "tell +Daphne that, on the eve of losing her, I first felt in its full power how +warmly I love her. Even without Nemesis, the joy of making her mine +would have been denied me. Fate will never permit me to possess her; yet +never again to hear her gentle voice, never more to feel her dear +presence, would be blinding me a second time." + +"It need not be imposed upon you long," said the matron soothingly. + +Then she went close to him, laid her hand on his shoulder, and said: "The +power of the goddess who punishes the misdeeds of the reckless is called +irresistible and uncontrollable; but one thing softens even her, and +checks her usually resistless wheel: it is a mother's prayer. I heard +this from my own mother, and experienced it myself, especially in my +oldest son Eumedes, who from the wildest madcap became an ornament of his +class, and to whom the King--you doubtless know it--intrusted the command +of the fleet which is to open the Ethiopian land of elephants to the +Egyptian power. You, Hermon, are an orphan, but for you, too, the souls +of your parents live on. Only I do not know whether you still honour and +pray to them." + +"I did until a few years ago," replied Hermon. + +"But later you neglected this sacred duty," added Thyone. "Yet how was +that possible? In our barren Pelusium I could not help thinking hundreds +of times of the grove which Archias planted in your necropolis for the +dead members of his family, and how often, while we were in Alexandria, +it attracted me to think in its shade of your never-to-be-forgotten +mother. There I felt her soul near me; for there was her home, and in +imagination I saw her walking and resting under the trees. And you--her +beloved child--you remained aloof from this hallowed spot! Even at the +festival of the dead you omitted prayers and sacrifices?" + +The blind artist assented to this question by a silent bend of the head; +but the matron indignantly exclaimed: "And did not you know, unhappy man, +that you were thus casting away the shield which protects mortals from +the avenging gods? And your glorious mother, who would have given her +life for you? Yet you loved her, I suppose?" + +"Thyone!" Hermon cried, deeply wounded, holding out his right hand as if +in defence. "Well, well!" said the matron. "I know that you revere her +memory. But that alone is not sufficient. On memorial festivals, and +especially on the birthdays, a mother's soul needs a prayer and a gift +from the son, a wreath, a fillet, fragrant ointment, a piece of honey, +a cup of wine or milk--all these things even the poor man spares from his +penury--yet a warm prayer, in pure remembrance and love, would suffice to +rob the wrath of Nemesis, which the enraged barbarian girl let loose upon +you, of its power. Only your mother, Hermon, the soul of the noble woman +who bore you, can restore to you what you have lost. Appeal for aid to +her, son of Erigone, and she will yet make everything right." + +Bending quickly over the artist as she spoke, she kissed his brow and +moved steadily away, though he called her name with yearning entreaty. + +A short time after, the steward Gras led Hermon to his cabin, and while +undressing him reported that a messenger from Pelusium had announced that +the commandant Philippus was coming to Tennis the next morning, before +the market place filled, to take his wife with him to Alexandria, where +he was going by the King's command. + +Hermon only half listened, and then ordered the Bithynian to leave him. + +After he had reclined on the couch a short time, he softly called the +names of the steward, Thyone, and Daphne. As he received no answer, and +thus learned that he was alone, he rose, drew himself up to his full +height, gazed heavenward with his bandaged eyes, stretched both hands +toward the ceiling of the low cabin, and obeyed his friend's bidding. + +Thoroughly convinced that he was doing right, and ashamed of having so +long neglected what the duty of a son commanded, he implored his mother's +soul for forgiveness. + +While doing so he again found that the figure which he recalled to his +memory appeared before him with marvellous distinctness. Never had she +been so near him since, when a boy of seven, she clasped him for the last +time to her heart. She tenderly held out her arms to him, and he rushed +into her embrace, shouting exultantly while she hugged and kissed him. +Every pet name which he had once been so glad to hear, and during recent +years had forgotten, again fell from her lips. As had often happened in +days long past, he again saw his mother crown him for a festival. +Pleased with the little new garment which she herself had woven for him +and embroidered with a tiny tree with red apples, beneath which stood a +bright-plumaged duckling, she led him by the hand in the necropolis to +the empty tomb dedicated to his father. + +It was a building the height of a man, constructed of red Cyprian +marble, on which, cast in bronze, shield, sword, and lance, as well as +a beautiful helmet, lay beside a sleeping lion. It was dedicated to the +memory of the brave hipparch whom he had been permitted to call his +father, and who had been burned beside the battlefield on which he had +found a hero's death. + +Hermon now again beheld himself, with his mother, garlanding, anointing, +and twining with fresh fillets the mausoleum erected by his uncle Archias +to his brave brother. The species of every flower, the colour of the +fillets-nay, even the designs embroidered on his little holiday robe-- +again returned to his mind, and, while these pleasant memories hovered +around him, he appealed to his mother in prayer. + +She stood before him, young and beautiful, listening without reproach or +censure as he besought her forgiveness and confided to her his sins, and +how severely he was punished by Nemesis. + +During this confession he felt as though he was kneeling before the +beloved dead, hiding his face in her lap, while she bent over him and +stroked his thick, black hair. True, he did not hear her speak; but when +he looked up again he could see, by the expression of her faithful blue +eyes, that his manly appearance surprised her, and that she rejoiced in +his return to her arms. + +She listened compassionately to his laments, and when he paused pressed +his head to her bosom and gazed into his face with such joyous confidence +that his heart swelled, and he told himself that she could not look at +him thus unless she saw happiness in store for him. + +Lastly, he began also to confide that he loved no woman on earth more +ardently than the very Daphne whom, when only a pretty little child, she +had carried in her arms, yet that he could not seek the wealthy heiress +because manly pride forbade this to the blind beggar. + +Here the anguish of renunciation seized him with great violence, and when +he wished to appeal again to his mother his exhausted imagination refused +its service, and the vision would not appear. + +Then he groped his way back to the bed, and, as he let his head sink upon +the pillows, he fancied that he would soon be again enwrapped in the +sweet slumber of childhood, which had long shunned his couch. + +It was years since he had felt so full of peace and hope, and he told +himself, with grateful joy, that every childlike emotion had not yet died +within him, that the stern conflicts and struggles of the last years had +not yet steeled every gentle emotion. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +The sun of the following day had long passed its meridian when Hermon at +last woke. The steward Gras, who had grown gray in the service of +Archias, was standing beside the couch. + +There was nothing in the round, beardless face of this well-fed yet +active man that could have attracted the artist, yet the quiet tones of +his deep voice recalled to memory the clear, steadfast gaze of his gray +eyes, from which so often, in former days, inviolable fidelity, sound +sense, caution, and prudence had looked forth at him. + +What the blind man heard from Gras surprised him--nay, at first seemed +impossible. To sleep until the afternoon was something unprecedented for +his wakeful temperament; but what was he to say to the tidings that the +commandant of Pelusium had arrived in his state galley early in the +morning and taken his wife, Daphne, and Chrysilla away with him to +Alexandria? + +Yet it sounded credible enough when the Bithynian further informed him +that the ladies had left messages of remembrance for him, and said that +Archias's ship, upon which he was, would be at his disposal for any +length of time he might desire. Gras was commissioned to attend him. +The Lady Thyone especially desired him to heed her counsel. + +While the steward was communicating this startling news as calmly as if +everything was a matter of course, the events of the preceding night came +back to Hermon's memory with perfect distinctness, and again the fear +assailed him that the rescued Demeter was the work of Myrtilus, and not +his own. + +So the first question he addressed to Gras concerned the Tennis +goldsmith, and it was a keen disappointment to Hermon when he learned +that the earliest time he could expect to see him would be the following +day. The skilful artisan had been engaged for weeks upon the gold +ornaments on the new doors of the holy of holies in the Temple of Amon at +Tanis. Urgent business had called him home from the neighbouring city +just before the night of the attack; but yesterday evening he had +returned to Tanis, where his wife said he would have only two days' +work to do. + +This answer, however, by no means appeased Hermon's impatience. +He commanded that a special messenger should be sent to summon the +goldsmith, and the Bithynian received the order with a slight shake +of his round head. + +What new trouble had befallen the usually alert young artist that he +received this unexpected change in his situation as apathetically as a +horse which is led from one stall to another, and, instead of questioning +him, thought only of hastening his interview with the goldsmith? If his +mistress, who had left him full of anxiety from the fear that her +departure would deeply agitate the blind man, should learn how +indifferently he had received it! He, Gras, certainly would not betray +it. Eternal gods--these artists! He knew them. Their work was dearer +to their hearts than their own lives, love, or friendship. + +During breakfast, of which the steward was obliged to remind him, Hermon +pondered over his fate; but how could he attain any degree of clearness +of vision until he secured accurate information concerning the statue of +Demeter? Like a dark cloud, which sweeps over the starry sky and +prevents the astronomer from seeing the planets which he desires to +observe, the fear that Proclus's praise had been bestowed upon the work +of Myrtilus stood between him and every goal of his thought. + +Only the fact that he still remained blind, and not even the faintest +glimmer of light pierced the surrounding darkness, while the sun +continued its course with glowing radiance, and that, blinded and +beggared, he must despise himself if he sought to win Daphne, was +certain. No reflection could alter it. + +Again the peace of mind which he thought he had regained during slumber +was destroyed. Fear of the artisan's statement even rendered it +impossible to pray to his mother with the affectionate devotion he had +felt the day before. + +The goldsmith had directed the rescue of the Demeter, yet he would +scarcely have been able to distinguish it from the statue by Myrtilus; +for though, like his friend, he had often employed his skilful hands in +the arrangement of the gold plates at the commencement of the work, the +Egyptian had been summoned to Tennis before the statues had attained +recognisable form. He had not entered the studios for several months, +unless Bias had granted him admittance without informing his master. +This was quite possible, for the slave's keen eyes certainly had not +failed to notice how little he and Myrtilus valued the opinion of the +honest, skilful, but extremely practical and unimaginative man, who could +not create independently even the smallest detail. + +So it was impossible to determine at present whether Chello had seen the +finished statues or not, yet Hermon desired the former with actual +fervour, that he might have positive certainty. + +While reflecting over these matters, the image of the lean Egyptian +goldsmith, with his narrow, brown, smooth-shaven face and skull, +prominent cheek bones, receding brow, projecting ears and, with all +its keenness, lustreless glance, rose before him as if he could see +his bodily presence. Not a single word unconnected with his trade, the +weather, or an accident, had ever reached the friends' ears from Chello's +thick lips, and this circumstance seemed to warrant Hermon in the +expectation of learning from him the pure, unadulterated truth. + +Rarely had a messenger of love been awaited with such feverish suspense +as the slave whom Gras had despatched to Tanis to induce the goldsmith to +return home. He might come soon after nightfall, and Hermon used the +interval to ask the Bithynian the questions which he had long expected. + +The replies afforded little additional information. He learned only that +Philippus had been summoned to Alexandria by the King, and that the Lady +Thyone and her husband had talked with the leech and assented to his +opinion that it would be better for Hermon to wait here until the burns +on his face were healed before returning to Alexandria. + +For Daphne's sake this decision had undoubtedly been welcome to the +matron, and it pleased him also; for he still felt so ill physically, +and so agitated mentally, that he shrank from meeting his numerous +acquaintances in the capital. + +The goldsmith! the goldsmith! It depended upon his decision whether he +would return to Alexandria at all. + +Soon after Hermon had learned from Gras that the stars had risen, he was +informed that he must wait patiently for his interview with the Egyptian, +as he had been summoned to the capital that very day by a messenger from +Proclus. + +Then the steward had fresh cause to marvel at his charge, for this news +aroused the most vehement excitement. + +In fact, it afforded the prospect of a series--perhaps a long one--of the +most torturing days and nights. And the dreaded hours actually came-- +nay, the anguish of uncertainty had be come almost unendurable, when, on +the seventh day, the Egyptian at last returned from Alexandria. They had +seemed like weeks to Hermon, had made his face thinner, and mingled the +first silver hairs in his black beard. + +The calls of the cheerful notary and the daily visits of the leech, an +elderly man, who had depressed rather than cheered him by informing him +of many cases like his own which all proved incurable, had been his sole +diversion. True, the heads of the Greek residents of Tennis had also +sometimes sought him: the higher government officials, the lessees of the +oil monopoly and the royal bank, as well as Gorgias, who, next to Archias +the Alexandrian, owned the largest weaving establishments, but the tales +of daily incidents with which they entertained Hermon wearied him. He +listened with interest only to the story of Ledscha's disappearance, yet +he perceived, from the very slight impression it made upon him, how +little he had really cared for the Biamite girl. + +His inquiries about Gula called down upon him many well-meant jests. +She was with her parents; while Taus, Ledscha's young sister, was staying +at the brick-kiln, where the former had reduced the unruly slaves to +submission. + +Care had been taken to provide for his personal safety, for the attack +might perhaps yet prove to have been connected with the jealousy of the +Biamite husbands. + +The commandant of Pelusium had therefore placed a small garrison of +heavily armed soldiers and archers in Tennis, for whom tents had been +pitched on the site of the burned white house. + +Words of command and signals for changing the guards often reached Hermon +when he was on the deck of his ship, and visitors praised the wise +caution and prompt action of Alexander the Great's old comrade. + +The notary, a vivacious man of fifty, who had lived a long time in +Alexandria and, asserting that he grew dull and withered in little +Tennis, went to the capital as frequently as possible, had often called +upon the sculptor at first, and been disposed to discuss art and the +other subjects dear to Hermon's heart, but on the third day he again set +off for his beloved Alexandria. When saying farewell, he had been +unusually merry, and asked Hermon to send him away with good wishes and +offer sacrifices for the success of his business, since he hoped to bring +a valuable gift on his return from the journey. + +The blind artist was glad to have other visits for a short time, but he +preferred to be alone and devote his thoughts to his own affairs. + +He now knew that his love was genuine. Daphne seemed the very +incarnation of desirable, artless, heart-refreshing womanliness, but his +memory could not dwell with her long; anxiety concerning Chello's report +only too quickly interrupted it, as soon as he yielded to its charm. + +He did not think at all of the future. What was he to appoint for a time +which the words of a third person might render unendurable? + +When Gras at last ushered in the goldsmith, his heart throbbed so +violently that it was difficult for him to find the words needed for the +questions he desired to ask. + +The Egyptian had really been summoned to Alexandria by Proclus, not on +account of the Demeter, but the clasp said to belong to Myrtilus, found +amid the ruins of the fallen house, and he had been able to identify it +with absolute positiveness as the sculptor's property. + +He had been referred from one office to another, until finally the Tennis +notary and Proclus opened the right doors to him. + +Now the importance of his testimony appeared, since the will of the +wealthy young sculptor could not be opened until his death was proved, +and the clasp which had been found aided in doing so. + +Hermon's question whether he had heard any particulars about this will +was answered by the cold-hearted, dull-brained man in the negative. + +He had done enough, he said, by expressing his opinion. He had gone to +Alexandria unwillingly, and would certainly have stayed in Tennis if he +could have foreseen what a number of tiresome examinations he would be +obliged to undergo. He had been burning with impatience to quit the +place, on account of the important work left behind in Tanis, and he did +not even know whether he would be reimbursed for his travelling expenses. + +During this preliminary conversation Hermon gained the composure he +needed. + +He began by ascertaining whether Chello remembered the interior +arrangement of the burned white house, and it soon appeared that he +recollected it accurately. + +Then the blind man requested him to tell how the rescue of the statue had +been managed, and the account of the extremely prosaic artisan described +so clearly and practically how, on entering the burning building, he +found Myrtilus's studio already inaccessible, but the statue of Demeter +in Hermon's still uninjured, that the trustworthiness of his story could +not be doubted. + +One circumstance only appeared strange, yet it was easily explained. +Instead of standing on the pedestal, the Demeter was beside it, and even +the slow-witted goldsmith inferred from this fact that the robbers had +intended to steal it and placed it on the floor for that purpose, but +were prevented from accomplishing their design by the interference of +Hermon and the people from Tennis. + +After the Egyptian, in reply to the artist's inquiry concerning what +other works of art and implements he had seen in the studio, had answered +that nothing else could be distinguished on account of the smoke, he +congratulated the sculptor on his last work. People were already making +a great stir about the new Demeter. It had been discussed not only in +the workshop of his brother, who, like himself, followed their father's +calling, but also in the offices, at the harbour, in the barbers' rooms +and the cookshops, and he, too, must admit that, for a Greek goddess, +that always lacked genuine, earnest dignity, it really was a pretty bit +of work. + +Lastly, the Egyptian asked to whom he should apply for payment for the +remainder of his labour. + +The strip of gold, from which Hermon had ordered the diadem to be made, +had attracted his attention on the head of his Demeter, and compensation +for the work upon this ornament was still due. + +Hermon, deeply agitated, asked, with glowing cheeks, whether Chello +really positively remembered having prepared for him the gold diadem +which he had seen in Alexandria, and the Egyptian eagerly assured him +that he had done so. Hitherto he had found the sculptors honest men, +and Hermon would not withhold the payment for his well-earned toil. + +The artist strenuously denied such an intention; but when, in his desire +to have the most absolute assurance, he again asked questions about the +diadem, the Egyptian thought that the blind sculptor doubted the justice +of his demand, and wrathfully insisted upon his claim, until Gras managed +to whisper, undetected by Hermon, that he would have the money ready for +him. + +This satisfied the angry man. He honestly believed that he had prepared +the gold for the ornament on the head of the Demeter in Alexandria; yet +the statue chiselled by Myrtilus had also been adorned with a diadem, and +Chello had wrought the strip of gold it required. Only it had escaped +his memory, because he had been paid for the work immediately after its +delivery. + +Glad to obey his mistress's orders to settle at once any debts which the +artist might have in Tennis, the steward followed the goldsmith while +Hermon, seizing the huge goblet which had just been filled with wine and +water for him drained it at one long draught. Then, with sigh of relief, +he restored it to its place, raised his hand and his blinded eyes +heavenward, and offered a brief, fervent thanksgiving to his mother's +soul and the great Demeter, whom, he might now believe it himself, he had +honoured with a masterpiece which had extorted warm admiration even from +a connoisseur unfriendly his art. + +When Gras returned, he said, with a grin of satisfaction, that the +goldsmith was like all the rest of his countrymen. The artists did not +owe him another drachm; the never-to-be-forgotten Myrtilus had paid for +the work ordered by Hermon also. + +Then, for the first time since he had been led on board the ship, a gay +laugh rang fro the blind man's lips, rising in deep, pure, joyous tones +from his relieved breast. + +The faithful gray eyes of honest Gras glittered with tears at the musical +tones, and how ardently he wished for his beloved mistress when the +sculptor, not content with this, exclaimed as gleefully as in happier +days: "Hitherto I have had no real pleasure from my successful work, old +Gras, but it is awaking now! If my Myrtilus were still alive, and these +miserable eyes yet possessed the power of rejoicing in the light and in +beautiful human forms, by the dog! I would have the mixing vessels +filled, wreath after wreath brought, boon companions summoned, and with +flute-playing, songs, and fiery words, offer the Muses, Demeter, and +Dionysus their due meed of homage!" + +Gras declared that this wish might easily be fulfilled. There was no +lack of wine or drinking cups on the vessel, the flute-players whom he +had heard in the Odeum at Tanis did not understand their business amiss, +flowers and wreaths could be obtained, and all who spoke Greek in Tennis +would accept his invitation. + +But the Bithynian soon regretted this proposal, for it fell like a hoar- +frost upon the blind man's happy mood. He curtly declined. He would not +play host where he was himself a guest, and pride forbade him to use the +property of others as though it were his own. + +He could not regain his suddenly awakened pleasure in existence before +Gras warned him it was time to go to rest. Not until he was alone +in the quiet cabin did the sense of joy in his first great success +overpower him afresh. + +He might well feel proud delight in the work which he had created, for +he had accomplished it without being unfaithful to the aims he had set +before him. + +It had been taken from his own studio, and the skilful old artisan had +recognised his preliminary work upon the diadem which he, Hermon, had +afterward adorned with ornaments himself. But, alas! this first must at +the same time be his last great success, and he was condemned to live on +in darkness. + +Although abundant recognition awaited him in Alexandria, his quickly +gained renown would soon be forgotten, and he would remain a beggared +blind man. But it was now allowable for him to think secretly of +possessing Daphne; perhaps she would wait for him and reject other +suitors until he learned in the capital whether he might not hope to +recover his lost sight. He was at least secure against external want; +the generous Archias would hardly withhold from him the prize he had +intended for the successful statue, although the second had been +destroyed. The great merchant would do everything for his fame-crowned +nephew, and he, Hermon, was conscious that had his uncle been in his +situation he would have divided his last obol with him. Refusal of his +assistance would have been an insult to his paternal friend and guardian. + +Lastly, he might hope that Archias would take him to the most skilful +leeches in Alexandria and, if they succeeded in restoring his lost power +of vision, then--then Yet it seemed so presumptuous to lull himself in +this hope that he forbade himself the pleasure of indulging it. + +Amid these consoling reflections, Hermon fell asleep, and awoke fresher +and more cheerful than he had been for some time. + +He had to spend two whole weeks more in Tennis, for the burns healed +slowly, and an anxious fear kept him away from Alexandria. + +There the woman he loved would again meet him and, though he could assure +Thyone that Nemesis had turned her wheel away from him, he would have +been permitted to treat Daphne only with cool reserve, while every fibre +of his being urged him to confess his love and clasp her in his arms. + +Gras had already written twice to his master, telling him with what +gratifying patience Hermon was beginning to submit to his great +misfortune, when the notary Melampus returned from Alexandria with news +which produced the most delightful transformation in the blind artist's +outer life. + +More swiftly than his great corpulence usually permitted the jovial man +to move, he ascended to the deck, calling: "Great, greater, the greatest +of news I bring, as the heaviest but by no means the most dilatory of +messengers of good fortune from the city of cities. Prick up your ears, +my friend, and summon all your strength, for there are instances of the +fatal effect of especially lavish gifts from the blind and yet often sure +aim of the goddess of Fortune. The Demeter, in whom you proved so +marvellously that the art of a mortal is sufficient to create immortals, +is beginning to show her gratitude. She is helping to twine wreaths for +you in Alexandria." + +Here the vivacious man suddenly hesitated and, while wiping his plump +cheeks, perspiring brow, and smooth, fat double chin with his kerchief, +added in a tone of sincere regret: "That's the way with me! In one thing +which really moves me, I always forget the other. The fault sticks to me +like my ears and nose. When my mother gave me two errands, I attended to +the first in the best possible way, but overlooked the second entirely, +and was paid for it with my father's staff, yet even the blue wales made +no change in the fault. But for that I should still be in the city of +cities; but it robbed me of my best clients, and so I was transferred to +this dullest of holes. Even here it clings to me. My detestable +exultation just now proves it. Yet I know how dear to you was the dead +man who manifests his love even from the grave. But you will forgive me +the false note into which my weakness led me; it sprang from regard for +you, my young friend. To serve your cause, I forgot everything else. +Like my mother's first errand, it was performed in the best possible way. +You will learn directly. By the lightnings of Father Zeus and the owl of +Athene, the news I bring is certainly great and beautiful; but he who +yearned to make you happy was snatched from you and, though his noble +legacy must inspire pleasure and gratitude, it will nevertheless fill +your poor eyes with sorrowful tears." + +Melampus turned, as he spoke, to the misshapen Egyptian slave who +performed the duties of a clerk, and took several rolls from the +drumshaped case that hung around his neck; but his prediction concerning +Hermon was speedily fulfilled, for the notary handed him the will of his +friend Myrtilus. + +It made him the heir of his entire fortune and, however happy the +unexpected royal gift rendered the blind man, however cheering might be +the prospects it opened to him for the future and the desire of his +heart, sobs nevertheless interrupted the affectionate words which +commenced the document Melampus read aloud to him. + +Doubtless the tears which Hermon dedicated to the most beloved of human +beings made his blinded eyes smart, but he could not restrain them, +and even long after the notary had left him, and the steward had +congratulated him on his good fortune, the deep emotion of his tender +heart again and again called forth a fresh flood of tears consecrated +to the memory of his friend. + +The notary had already informed the grammateus of the disposition which +Myrtilus had made of his property in Hermon's favour a few days before, +but, by the advice of the experienced Proclus, the contents of the will +had been withheld from the sculptor; the unfortunate man ought to be +spared any disappointment, and proof that Myrtilus was really among the +victims of the accident must first be obtained. + +The clasp found in the ruins of the white house appeared to furnish this, +and the notary had put all other business aside and gone to Alexandria to +settle the matter. + +The goldsmith Chello, who had fastened a new pin to the clasp, and could +swear that it had belonged to Myrtilus, had been summoned to the capital +as a witness, and, with the aid of the influential grammateus of the +Dionysian games and priest of Apollo, the zeal of Melampus had +accomplished in a short time the settlement of this difficult affair, +which otherwise might perhaps have consumed several months. + +The violent death of Myrtilus had been admitted as proved by the +magistrate, who had been prepossessed in Hermon's favour by his +masterpiece. Besides, no doubts could be raised concerning the validity +of a will attested by sixteen witnesses. The execution of this last +testament had been intrusted to Archias, as Myrtilus's nearest relative, +and several other distinguished Alexandrians. + +The amount of the fortune bequeathed had surprised even these wealthy +men, for under the prudent management of Archias the property inherited +by the modest young sculptor had trebled in value. + +The poor blind artist had suddenly become a man who might be termed +"rich," even in the great capital. + +Again the steward shook his head; this vast, unexpected inheritance did +not seem to make half so deep an impression upon the eccentric blind man +as the news received a short time ago that his trivial debt to the +goldsmith Chello was already settled. But Hermon must have dearly loved +the friend to whom he owed this great change of fortune, and grief for +him had cast joy in his immense new wealth completely into the shade. + +This conjecture was confirmed on the following morning, for the blind man +had himself led to the Greek necropolis to offer sacrifices to the gods +of the nether world and to think of his friend. + +When, soon after noon, the lessee of the royal bank appeared on the ship +to offer him as many drachmae or talents as he might need for present +use, he asked for a considerable sum to purchase a larger death-offering +for his murdered friend. The next morning he went with the architect of +the province to the scene of the conflagration, and had him mark the spot +of ground on which he desired to erect to his Myrtilus a monument to be +made in Alexandria. + +At sunset, leaning on the steward's arm, he went to the Temple of +Nemesis, where he prayed and commissioned the priest to offer a costly +sacrifice to the goddess in his name. + +On the return home, Hermon suddenly stood still and mentioned to Gras the +sum which he intended to bestow upon the blind in Tennis. He knew now +what it means to live bereft of light, and, he added in a low tone, to be +also poor and unable to earn his daily bread. + +On the ship he asked the Bithynian whether his burned face had become +presentable again, and no longer made a repulsive impression. + +This Gras could truthfully assure him. Then the artist's features +brightened, and the Bithynian heard genuine cheerfulness ring in the +tones of his voice as he exclaimed: "Then, old Gras, we will set out for +Alexandria as soon as the ship is ready to sail. Back to life, to the +society of men of my own stamp, to reap the praise earned by my own +creations, and to the only divine maiden among mortals--to Daphne!" + +"The day after to-morrow!" exclaimed the steward in joyous excitement; +and soon after the carrier dove was flying toward the house of Archias, +bearing the letter which stated the hour when his fame-crowned blind +nephew would enter the great harbour of Alexandria. + +The evening of the next day but one the Proserpina was bearing Hermon +away from the city of weavers toward home. + +As the evening breeze fanned his brow, his thoughts dwelt sadly on his +Myrtilus. Hitherto it had always seemed as if he was bound, and must +commit some atrocious deed to use the seething power condemned to +inaction. But as the galley left the Tanitic branch of the Nile behind, +and the blind man inhaled the cool air upon the calm sea, his heart +swelled, and for the first time he became fully aware that, though the +light of the sun would probably never shine for him again, and therefore +the joy of creating, the rapture of once more testing his fettered +strength, would probably be forever denied him, other stars might perhaps +illumine his path, and he was going, in a position of brilliant +independence, toward his native city, fame, and--eternal gods!--love. + +Daphne had conquered, and he gave only a passing thought to Ledscha and +the hapless weaver Arachne. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Chance, which took no heed of merit or unworthiness +Deceived himself concerning the value of his own work +Gods whom men had invented after their own likeness +Hate the person from whom he receives benefits + + + + + + +ARACHNE + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 6. + + +CHAPTER V. + +At the third hour after sunrise a distinguished assemblage of people +gathered at the landing place east of the Temple of Poseidon in the great +harbour of Alexandria. + +Its members belonged to the upper classes, for many had come in carriages +and litters, and numerous pedestrians were accompanied by slaves bearing +in delicately woven baskets and cornucopias a laurel wreath, a papyrus +crown, or bright-hued flowers. + +The most aristocratic among the gentlemen had gathered on the western +side of the great sanctuary, between the cella and the long row of Doric +columns which supported the roof of the marble temple. + +The Macedonian Council of the city was already represented by several of +its members. Among their number was Archias, Daphne's father, a man of +middle height and comfortable portliness, from whose well-formed, +beardless face looked forth a pair of shrewd eyes, and whose quick +movements revealed the slight irritability of his temperament. + +Several members of the Council and wealthy merchants surrounded him, +while the grammateus Proclus first talked animatedlv with other +government officials and representatives of the priesthood, and then with +Archias. The head of the Museum, who bore the title of "high priest," +had also appeared there with several members of this famous centre of the +intellectual life of the capital. They shared the shade of this part of +the temple with distinguished masters of sculpture and painting, +architecture and poetry, and conversed together with the graceful +animation of Greeks endowed with great intellectual gifts. + +Among them mingled, distinguishable neither by costume nor language, +a number of prominent patrons of art in the great Jewish community. +Their principal, the alabarch, was talking eagerly with the philosopher +Hegesias and the Rhodian leech Chrysippus; Queen Arsinoe's favourite, +whom at Althea's instigation she had sent with Proclus to receive the +returning traveller. + +Sometimes all gazed toward the mouth of the harbour, where the expected +ship must soon pass the recently completed masterpiece of Sostratus, the +towering lighthouse, still shining in its marble purity. + +Soon many Alexandrians also crowded the large platform in front of the +Temple of Poseidon, and the very wide marble staircase leading from it to +the landing place. + +Beneath the bronze statues of the Dioscuri, at the right and left of the +topmost step, had also gathered the magnificent figures of the Phebi and +the younger men from the wrestling school of Timagetes, with garlands on +their curling locks, as well as many younger artists and pupils of the +older masters. + +The statues of the gods and goddesses of the sea and their lofty +pedestals, standing at the sides of the staircase, cast upon the marble +steps, gleaming in the radiance of the morning sun, narrow shadows, which +attracted the male and female chorus singers, who, also wearing beautiful +garlands, had come to greet the expected arrival with solemn chants. + +Several actors were just coming from rehearsal in the theatre of +Dionysus, east of the Temple of Poseidon, of which, like all the stages +in the city, Proclus was chief manager. + +A pretty dancing girl, who hung on the arm of the youngest, extended her +hand with a graceful gesture toward the staircase, and asked: + +"Whom can they be expecting there? Probably some huge new animal for the +Museum which has been caught somewhere for the King, for yonder stiff +wearer of a laurel crown, who throws his head back as though he would +like to eat the Olympians and take the King for a luncheon into the +bargain, is Straton, the denier of the gods, and the little man with the +bullethead is the grammarian Zoilus." + +"Of course," replied her companion. "But there, too, is Apollodorus, the +alabarch of the Jews, and the heavy money-bag Archias--" + +"Why look at them!" cried the younger mime. "It's far better worth while +to stretch your neck for those farther in front. They are genuine +friends of the Muses--the poets Theocritus and Zenodotus." + +"The great Athene, Apollo, and all his nine Pierides, have sent their +envoys," said the older actor pathetically, "for there, too, are the +sculptors Euphranor and Chares, and the godlike builder of the +lighthouse, Sostratus in person." + +"A handsome man," cried the girl flute-player, "but vain, I tell you, +vain--" + +"Self-conscious, you ought to say," corrected her companion. + +"Certainly," added the older actor, patting his smooth cheeks and chin +with a rose he held in his hand. Who can defend himself against the +highest merit, self-knowledge? But the person who is to have this +reception, by the staff of Dionysus! if modesty flies away from him like +the bird from a girl, it ought Just look there! The tall, broad- +shouldered fellow yonder is Chrysippus, the right hand of Arsinoe, as our +grammateus Proclus is her left. So probably some prince is expected." + +"The gentlemen of the Museum and the great artists yonder would not stir +a foot, far less lose so precious a morning hour, for any mere wearer of +a crown or sceptre," protested the other actor; "it must be--" + +"That the King or the Queen command it," interrupted the older player. +"Only Arsinoe is represented here. Or do you see any envoy of Ptolemy? +Perhaps they will yet arrive. If there were ambassadors of the great +Roman Senate--" + +"Or," added the dancer, "envoys from King Antiochus. But--goose that I +am!--then they would not be received here, but in the royal harbour at +the Lochias. See if I don't prove to be right! Divine honours are to be +paid to some newly attracted hero of the intellect. But--just follow my +finger! There--yonder--it comes floating along at the left of the island +of Antirrhodus. That may be his galley! Magnificent! Wonderfully +beautiful! Brilliant! Like a swan! No, no, like a swimming peacock! +And the silver embroidery on the blue sails! It glitters and sparkles +like stars in the azure sky." + +Meanwhile the elder actor, shading his eyes with his hand, had been +gazing at the harbour, where, amid the innumerable vessels, the expected +one, whose sails were just being reefed, was steered by a skilful hand. +Now he interrupted the blond beauty with the exclamation: "It is +Archias's Proserpina! I know it well." Then, in a declamatory tone, he +continued: "I, too, was permitted on the deck of the glittering vessel, +lightly rocked by the crimson waves, to reach my welcome goal; as the +guest of peerless Archias, I mean. The most magnificent festival in his +villa! There was a little performance there in which Mentor and I +allowed ourselves to be persuaded to take part. But just see how the +beautiful ship uses the narrow passage between the two triremes, as if it +had the bloodleech's power of contraction! But to return to the festival +of Archias: the oyster ragout served there, the pheasant pasties--" + +Here he interrupted himself, exclaiming in surprise: "By the club of +Hercules, the Proserpina is to be received with a full chorus! And there +is the owner himself descending the stairs! Whom is she bringing?" + +"Come! come!" cried the dancing girl to her companion, dragging him after +her, "I shall die of curiosity." + +The singing and shouting of many voices greeted the actors as they +approached the platform of the Temple of Poseidon. + +When from this spot the dancer fixed her eyes upon the landing place, she +suddenly dropped her companion's arm, exclaiming: "It is the handsome +blind sculptor, Hermon, the heir of the wealthy Myrtilus. Do you learn +this now for the first time, you jealous Thersites? Hail, hail, divine +Hermon! Hail, noble victim of the ungrateful Olympians! Hail to thee, +Hermon, and thy immortal works! Hail, hail, hail!" + +Meanwhile she waved her handkerchief with frenzied eagerness, as if she +could thus force the blind man to see her, and a group of actors whom +Proclus, the grammateus of the Dionysian arts, had sent here to receive +Hermon worthily, followed her example. + +But her cries were drowned by the singing of the chorus and by thousands +of shouting voices, while Hermon was embraced by Archias on board the +galley, and then, by his guidance, stepped on shore and ascended the +staircase of the Temple of Poseidon. + +Before the ship entered the harbour, the artist had had a large goblet of +unmixed wine given to him, that he might conquer the emotion that had +overpowered him. + +Though his blind eyes did not show him even the faintest outline of a +figure, he felt as if he was flooded with brilliant sunshine. + +While the Proserpina was bearing him past the lighthouse, Gras told him +that they had now reached the great harbour, and at the same time he +heard the shouts, whistles, signals, and varying sounds of the landing +place with its crowded shipping, and of the capital. + +His blood surged in his veins, and before his mind rose the vision of the +corn-flower blue sky, mirrored in the calm surface of the bluest of seas. +The pharos built by Sostratus towered in dazzling whiteness above the +tide, and before him rose the noble temple buildings, palaces, and +porticoes of the city of Alexandria, with which he was familiar, and +before and between them statue after statue of marble and bronze, the +whole flooded with radiant golden light. + +True, darkness sometimes swallowed this wonderful picture, but an effort +of the will was sufficient to show it to him again. + +"The Temple of Poseidon!" cried Gras. "The Proserpina is to land at the +foot of the steps." And now Hermon listened to the sounds from the +shore, whose hum and buzz transported him into the midst of the long- +missed city of commerce, knowledge, and arts. + +Then the captain's shouts of command fell imperiously upon his ears, the +strokes of the oars ceased, their blades sank with a loud splash into the +water, and at the same instant from the temple steps Hermon was greeted +by the solemn notes of the chorus, from whose rhythm his own name rang +forth again and again like so many shouts of victory. + +He thought his heart would fairly burst through his arched chest, and the +passionate violence of its throbbing did not lessen when Gras exclaimed: +"Half Alexandria has assembled to greet you. Ah, if you could only see +it! How the kerchiefs are waving! Laurel after laurel in every hand! +All the distinguished people in the capital have gathered on the sacred +soil of the Temple of Poseidon. There is Archias, too; there are the +artists and the famous gentlemen of the Museum, the members of the +Ephebi, and the priests of the great gods." + +Hermon listened with his hand pressed on his breast, and while doing so +the power of his imagination showed the vast, harmoniously noble +structure of the many-pillared Temple of Poseidon, surrounded by as many +thousands as there were in reality hundreds. From all parts of the +sanctuary, even from the tops of the roofs, he beheld laurel branches and +kerchiefs waving and tossing, and wreaths flung on the ground before him. +If this picture was correct, the whole city was greeting him, headed by +the men whom he honoured as great and meritorious, and in front of them +all Daphne, with drooping head, full of feminine grace and heart-winning +goodness. + +While the chorus continued their song, and the welcoming shouts grew +louder, the brilliant picture faded away, but in return he felt friendly +arms clasp him. First Archias, then Proclus, and after him a succession +of fellow-artists-the greatest of all--drew him into a warm embrace. + +Finally he felt himself led away, placed his feet as his Uncle Archias +whispered directions, and as they gropingly obeyed them ascended the +temple steps and stood in utter darkness upon the platform listening to +the speeches which so many had prepared. + +All the distinguished men in the city expressed their sympathy, their +pity, their admiration, their hopes, or sent assurances of them to him. +The Rhodian Chrysippus, despatched by the Queen, delivered the wreath +which the monarch bestowed, and informed Hermon, with her greetings, that +Arsinoe deemed his Demeter worthy of the laurel. + +The most famous masters of his art, the great scholars from the Museum, +the whole priesthood of Demeter, which included Daphne, the servants of +Apollo, his dear Ephebi, the comrades of his physical exercises--all whom +he honoured, admired, loved-loaded him with praises and good wishes, as +well as the assurance of their pride in numbering him among them. + +No form, no colour from the visible world, penetrated the darkness +surrounding him, not even the image of the woman he loved. Only his ears +enabled him to receive the praises, honours, congratulations lavished +here and, though he sometimes thought he had received enough, he again +listened willingly and intently when a new speaker addressed him in warm +words of eulogy. What share compassion for his unprecedentedly sorrowful +fate had in this extravagantly laudatory and cordial greeting, he did not +ask; he only felt with a throbbing heart that he now stood upon a summit +which he had scarcely ventured to hope ever to attain. His dreams of +outward success which had not been realized, because he deemed it treason +to his art to deviate from the course which he believed right and best +adapted to it, he now, without having yielded to the demands of the old +school, heard praised as his well-earned possessions. + +He felt as if he breathed the lighter, purer air of the realms of the +blessed, and the laurel crown which the Queen's envoy pressed upon his +brow, the wreaths which his fellow-artists presented to him by hands no +less distinguished than those of the great sculptor Protogenes, and +Nicias, the most admired artist after the death of Apelles, seemed, like +the wings on the hat and shoes of Hermes, messenger of the gods, to raise +him out of himself and into the air. + +Darkness surrounded him, yet a bright dazzling light issued from his soul +and illuminated his whole being with the warm golden radiance of the sun. + +Not even the faintest shadow dimmed it until Soteles, his fellow-student +at Rhodes, who sustained him with ardent earnestness in the struggle to +prefer truth to beauty, greeted him. + +He welcomed him and wished that he might recover his lost sight as warmly +as his predecessors. He praised the Demeter, too, but added that this +was not the place to say what he missed in her. Yet that she did lack it +awakened in him an emotion of pain, for this, Hermon's last work, +apparently gave the followers of the ancients a right to number him in +their ranks. + +His cautious expression of regret must refer to the head of his Demeter. +Yet surely it was not his fault that Daphne's features bore the impress +of that gentle, winning kindness which he himself and Soteles, imitating +him, had often condemned as weak and characterless. + +The correctness of his belief was instantly proved to him by the address +of gray-haired, highly praised Euphranor, who spoke of the Demeter's +countenance with warm admiration. And how ardently the poets Theocritus +and Zenodotus extolled his work to the skies! + +Amid so much laudation, one faint word of dissatisfaction vanished like a +drop of blood that falls into a clear stream. + +The welcome concluded with a final chant by the chorus, and continued to +echo in Hermon's ears as he entered his uncle's chariot and drove away +with him, crowned with laurel and intoxicated as if by fiery wine. + +Oh, if he could only have seen his fellow-citizens who so eagerly +expressed their good will, their sympathy, their admiration! But the +black and coloured mist before his eyes revealed no human figure, not +even that of the woman he loved, who, he now learned for the first time +from her father, had appeared among the priestesses of Demeter to greet +him. + +Doubtless he was gladdened by the sound of her voice, the clasp of her +hand, the faint fragrance of violets exhaling from her fair hair, which +he had often remembered with so much pleasure when alone in Tennis; but +the time to devote himself to her fully and completely had not yet come, +for what manifold and powerful impressions, how much that was elevating, +delightful, and entertaining awaited him immediately! + +The Queen's envoy had expressed his mistress's desire to receive the +creator of the Demeter, the Ephebi and his fellow-artists had invited him +to a festival which they desired to give in his honour, and on the way +Archias informed him that many of his wealthy friends in the Macedonian +Council expected that he, the honoured hero of the day, would adorn with +his presence a banquet in their houses. + +What a rich, brilliant life awaited him in spite of his blindness! When +he entered his uncle's magnificent city home, and not only all the +servants and clients of the family, but also a select party of ladies and +gentlemen greeted him with flowers and hundreds of other tokens of +affection and appreciation, he gave himself up without reserve to this +novel excess of fame and admiration. + +Notwithstanding his blindness, he felt, after the burns on his face had +healed, thoroughly well, as strong as a giant--nay, more vigorous and +capable of enjoyment than ever. What prevented him from revelling to the +full in the superabundant gifts which Fate, recently so cruel, now +suddenly cast into his lap with lavish kindness? + +Yet many flattering and pleasant things as he had experienced that day, +he was far from feeling satiety. On entering the hall of the men in his +uncle's dwelling, the names of famous men and proud beauties had been +repeated to him. Formerly they had taken little notice of him, yet now +even the most renowned received him like an Olympian victor. + +What did all these vain women really care for him? Yet their favour was +part of the triumph whose celebration he must permit to-day. His heart +held but one being for whom it yearned, and with whom thus far he had +been able only to exchange a few tender greetings. + +The time for a long conversation had not yet arrived, but he asked Thyone +to lead him to her and, while she listened anxiously, described with +feverish animation the incidents of the last few days. But he soon +lowered his voice to assure her that he had not ceased to think of her +even for a single hour, and the feeling of happiness which, in spite of +his misfortune, had filled and lent wings to his soul, was not least due +to the knowledge of being near her again. + +And her presence really benefited him almost as much as he had +anticipated during the hours of solitary yearning in Tennis; he felt it +a great favour of Fate to be permitted to strive to possess her, felt +even during the delirium of this reception that he loved her. What a +tremendous longing to clasp her at once in his arms as his betrothed +bride overwhelmed him; but her father's opposition to the union of his +only child with a blind man must first be conquered, and the great +agitation in his soul, as well as the tumult around him, seemed like a +mockery of the quiet happiness which hovered before him when he thought +of his marriage with Daphne. Not until everything was calmer would the +time come to woo her. Until then both must be satisfied with knowing +from each other's lips their mutual love, and he thought he perceived in +the tone of her voice the deep emotion of her heart. + +Perhaps this had prevented Daphne's expressing her congratulations upon +the success of his Demeter as eagerly and fully as he had expected. +Painfully disturbed by her reserve, he had just attempted to induce her +to give a less superficial opinion of his work, when the curtains of the +dining room parted-the music of flutes, singing, and pleasant odours +greeted him and the guests. Archias summoned them to breakfast, and a +band of beautiful boys, with flowers and garlands of ivy, obeyed the +command to crown them. + +Then Thyone approached the newly united pair and, after exchanging a few +words with Daphne, whispered in an agitated voice to the blind sculptor, +over whose breast a brown-locked young slave was just twining a garland +of roses: "Poverty no longer stands between you and the object of your +love; is it Nemesis who even now still seals your lips?" + +Hermon stretched out his hand to draw her nearer to him and murmur softly +that her counsel had aided him to break the power of the terrible +goddess, but he grasped the empty air. At the same time the deep voice +of his love's father, whose opposition threatened to cloud his new +happiness, singing, flute-playing, and the laughter of fair women greeted +him and, only half master of his own will, he assented, by a slight bend +of the head, to the matron's question. A light shiver ran through his +frame with the speed of lightning, and the Epicurean's maxim that fear +and cold are companions darted through his brain. But what should he +fear? He had endured severe trials, it is true, for the sake of +remaining faithful to truth in art and life; but who probably ever +reached the age of manhood without once deviating from it? Besides, he +was surely aware that, had he been obliged to answer Thyone in words, he +would not have been guilty of the falsehood. His reply had consisted of +a slight motion of the head, and it negatived nothing; it was merely +intended to defer for a short time the thing he most desired. + +Yet the rash answer weighed heavily on his mind; but it could no longer +be recalled that day, and was believed, for Thyone whispered, "We shall +succeed in reconciling the terrible being." + +Again the light tremour ran through him, but it lasted only an instant; +for Chrysilla, the representative of the dead mistress of the house, +whose duty it was to assign the guests their places, called to Hermon, +"The beautiful Glycera does you the honour of choosing you for a +neighbour" and, before the sentence was finished, Archias himself +seized his arm and led him to the cushions at the side of the much- +courted beauty. + +The guests began the banquet in a very joyous mood. + +Greek gaiety, and the quick intellect and keen wit of the Alexandrians, +combined with the choicest viands of the luxurious capital, where the +wines and dainties of all the countries of the Mediterranean found +sellers and buyers, and the cook's vocation was developed into a fine +art, to spice this banquet with a hundred charms for the mind and senses. +To-day the principal place in this distinguished circle of famous men, +great and wealthy nobles, beautiful and aristocratic women, was awarded +to the blind sculptor. He was pledged by every one who had admired his +Demeter, who compassionated his sad fate, or who desired to be agreeable +to him or his host. + +Every kind remark about his person, his blindness, and his masterpiece +was repeated to him and, after the wine and the effort to attract +Daphne's attention and shine in the presence of his beautiful neighbour +had heated and winged his thoughts, he found an apt reply to each +noteworthy word. + +When the dessert was finally eaten, and after sunset, in the brilliant +light of the lamps and candles, greater attention was paid to the mixing +vessels, all remained silent to listen to his fervid speech. + +Glycera had asked him, at the beginning of the banquet, to tell her about +the attack in Tennis. Now he yielded to her wish that he should repeat +the captivating tale to the others, and the spirits of the wine helped +him to perform the task with such animation that his hearers listened to +his description in breathless suspense, and many eyes rested on the +handsome face of the great blind artist as if spellbound. + +When he paused, loud applause rewarded him, and as it reached him from +every part of the spacious room, his deep, resonant voice put him in +communication even with the more distant guests, and he might have been +taken for the symposiarch or director of the banquet. + +This conspicuous position of the feted artist did not please every one, +and a rhetorician, famed for his sharp tongue, whispered to his +neighbour, one of Hermon's older fellow-artists, "What his eyes have lost +seems to benefit his tongue." The sculptor answered: "At any rate, the +impetuous young artist might succeed better in proving himself, by its +assistance, a good entertainer, than in creating more mediocre +masterpieces like the Demeter." + +Similar remarks were made on other cushions; but when the philosopher +Hegesias asked the famous sculptor Euphranor what he thought of Hermon's +Demeter, the kindly old man answered, "I should laud this noble work as a +memorable event, even if it did not mark the end, as well as the +beginning, of its highly gifted creator's new career." + +Nothing of this kind was uttered near Hermon. Everything that reached +him expressed delight, admiration, sympathy, and hope. At dessert the +beautiful Glycera divided her apple, whispering as she gave him one half, +"Let the fruit tell you what the eyes can no longer reveal, you poor and +yet so abundantly rich darling of the gods." + +He murmured in reply that his happiness would awake the envy of the +immortals if, in addition, he were permitted to feast upon the sight of +her beauty. + +Had he been able to see himself, Hermon, who, as a genuine Greek, was +accustomed to moderate his feelings in intercourse with others, would +have endeavoured to express the emotions of joy which filled his heart +with more reserve, and to excel his companions at the festival less +recklessly. + +His enthusiastic delight carried many away with him; others, especially +Daphne, were filled with anxious forebodings by his conduct, and others +still with grave displeasure. + +Among the latter was the famous leech Erasistratus, who shared Archias's +cushions, and had been solicited by the latter to try to restore his +blind nephew's sight. But the kindly physician, who gladly aided even +the poorest sufferer, curtly and positively refused. To devote his time +and skill to a blind man who, under the severest of visitations, lulled +himself so contentedly in happiness, he considered unjust to others who +desired recovery more ardently. + +"When the intoxication of this unbridled strength passes away, and is +followed by a different mood," remarked the merchant, "we will talk of +this matter again," and the confident tone of his deep voice gave the +simple sentence such significance that the learned leech held out his +hand, saying: "Only where deep, earnest longing for recovery fills the +sufferer's mind will the gods aid the physician. We will wait for the +change which you predict, Archias!" + +The guests did not disperse until late, and the best satisfied of all was +the grammateus Proclus, who had taken advantage of the rich merchant's +happy mood, and his own warm intercession in behalf of his nephew's work, +to persuade Archias to advance Queen Arsinoe a large sum of money for an +enterprise whose object he still carefully concealed. + +The highly honoured blind artist spent the night under his uncle's roof. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Hermon rose from his couch the next morning alert and ready for new +pleasures. + +He had scarcely left the bath when envoys from the Ephebi and the younger +artists invited him to the festivities which they had arranged in his +honour. He joyously accepted, and also promised messengers from many of +Archias's friends, who wished to have the famous blind sculptor among +their guests, to be present at their banquets. + +He still felt as if he were intoxicated, and found neither disposition +nor time for quiet reflection. His great strength, fettered as it were +by his loss of sight, now also began to stir. Fate itself withheld him +from the labour which he loved, yet in return it offered him a wealth of +varying pleasure, whose stimulating power he had learned the day before. +He still relished the draught from the beaker of homage proffered by his +fellow-citizens; nay, it seemed as if it could not lose its sweetness for +a long time. + +He joined the ladies before noon, and his newly awakened feeling of joy +beamed upon them scarcely less radiantly than yesterday. Though Thyone +might wonder that a man pursued by Nemesis could allow himself to be +borne along so thoughtlessly by the stream of pleasure, Daphne certainly +did not grudge him the festal season which, when it had passed, could +never return to the blind artist. When it was over, he would yearn for +the quiet happiness at her side, which gazed at him like the calm eyes of +the woman he loved. With her he would cast anchor for the remainder of +his life; but first must come the period when he enjoyed the compensation +now awarded to him for such severe sufferings. + +His heart was full of joy as he greeted Daphne and the Lady Thyone, whom +he found with her; but his warm description of the happy emotion which +had overpowered him at the abundant honours lavished upon him was +interrupted by Archias. + +In his usual quick, brisk manner, he asked whether Hermon wished to +occupy the beautiful villa with the magnificent garden on Lake Mareotis, +inherited from Myrtilus, which could scarcely be reached in a vehicle +from the Brucheium in less than an hour, or the house situated in the +centre of the city, and Hermon promptly decided in favour of the latter. + +His uncle, and probably the ladies also, had expected the contrary. +Their silence showed this plainly enough, and Hermon therefore added in a +tone of explanation that later the villa would perhaps suit his condition +better, but now he thought it would be a mistake to retire to the quiet +which half the city was conspiring to disturb. No one contradicted him, +and he left the women's apartment with a slight feeling of vexation, +which, however, was soon jested away by the gay friends who sought him. + +When he removed to the city house the next day, he had not yet found time +for a serious talk with Daphne. His uncle, who had managed the estate of +Myrtilus, and wished to give Hermon an account of his inheritance, was +refused by the blind artist, who assured him that he knew Archias had +greatly increased rather than diminished his property, and thanked him +sincerely and warmly. In the convenient and spacious city house the +young sculptor very soon thought he had good reason to be satisfied with +his choice. + +Most of his friends were busy artists, and what loss of time every visit +to the remote villa would have imposed upon them, what haste he himself +would have been obliged to use to reach home from the bath, where he +often spent many hours, from the wrestling school, from the meetings of +fashionable people in the Paneum gardens, and at sunset by the seashore +on the royal highway in the Brucheium. All these places were very far +from the villa. It would have required whole hours, too, to reach a +famous cookshop in the Canopus, at whose table he liked to assemble +beloved guests or revel with his friends. The theatre, the Odeum, most +of the public buildings, as well as the houses of his best friends, and +especially the beautiful Glycera, were easily reached from his city home, +and, among the temples, that of Demeter, which he often visited to pray, +offer sacrifices, and rejoice in the power of attraction which his statue +of the goddess exerted upon the multitude. It stood at the back of the +cella in a place accessible to the priesthood alone, visible only through +the open doors, upon a pedestal which his fellow-artists pronounced +rather too high. Yet his offer to have it made smaller was not accepted, +because had it been lower the devout supplicants who stood there to pray +could not have raised their eyes to it. + +It was not only at the festivals of the dead that he went to the Greek +cemetery, where he had had a magnificent monument erected for his dead +mother. If his head ached after a nocturnal carouse, or the disagreeable +alarming chill stole over him which he had felt for the first time when +he falsely answered Thyone that he was still under the ban of Nemesis, he +went to the family monuments, supplied them with gifts, had sacrifices +offered to the souls of the beloved dead, and in this way sometimes +regained a portion of his lost peace of mind. + +The banquet in the evening always dispelled whatever still oppressed him +on his return home from these visits, for, though months had elapsed +since his brilliant reception, he was still numbered, especially in +artist circles, with the most honoured men; he, the blind man, no longer +stood in any one's way; conversation gained energy and meaning through +the vivacity of his fervid intellect, which seemed actually deepened by +his blindness when questions concerning art were at issue, and from a +modest fellow-struggler he had become a patron bestowing orders. + +The sculptor Soteles, who had followed his footsteps since the +apprenticeship in Rhodes, was intrusted with the erection of the monument +to Myrtilus in Tennis, and another highly gifted young sculptor, who +pursued his former course, with the execution of the one to his mother. + +From a third he ordered a large new mixing vessel of chased silver for +the society of Ephebi, whose members had lauded him, at the magnificent +festival given in his honour, with genuine youthful fervour. + +In the designs for these works his rich and bold gift of invention and +the power of his imagination proved their full value, and even his older +fellow-artists followed him with sincere admiration when, in spite of his +darkened eyes, he brought before them distinctly, and often even with the +charcoal or wax tablet in his hand, what he had in mind. What +magnificent things might not this man have created had he retained his +sight, what masterpieces might not have been expected! and his former +works, which had been condemned as unlovely, offensive, and exaggerated, +were now loudly admired; nay, the furious Maenads struggling on the +ground and the Street Boy Eating Figs, which were no longer his property, +were sold at high prices. No meeting of artists was complete without +Hermon, and the great self-possession which success and wealth bestowed, +besides his remarkable talent and the energy peculiar to him, soon aided +him to great influence among the members of his profession; nay, he would +speedily have reached the head of their leaders had not the passionate +impetuosity of his warlike nature led the more cautious to seek to +restrain the powerful enthusiast. + +Archias's wealthy friends had no such apprehension. To them the lauded +blind artist was not much more than a costly dish certain to please their +guests; yet this, too, was no trifle in social circles which spent small +fortunes for a rare fish. + +At the banquets of these princes of commerce he often met Daphne, still +more frequently the beautiful Glycera, whose husband, an old ship-owner +of regal wealth, was pleased to see famous men harnessed to his young +wife's chariot of victory. Hermon's heart had little to do with the +flirtation to which Glycera encouraged him at every new meeting, and the +Thracian Althea only served to train his intellect to sharp debates. But +in this manner he so admirably fulfilled her desire to attract attention +that she more than once pointed out to the Queen, her relative, the +remarkably handsome blind man whose acquaintance she had made on a night +of mad revel during the last Dionysia but one. Althea even thought it +necessary to win him, in whom she saw the future son-in-law of the +wealthy Archias, for through the graminateus Proclus the merchant had +been persuaded to advance the King's wife hundreds of talents, and +Arsinoe cherished plans which threatened to consume other large sums. + +Thyrone watched Hermon's conduct with increasing indignation, while +Daphne perceived that these women had no more power to estrange her lover +from her than the bedizened beauties who were never absent from the +artists' festivals. How totally different was his intercourse with her! +His love and respect were hers alone; yet she saw in him a soul-sick man, +and persistently rejected Philotas, who wooed her with the same zeal as +before, and the other suitors who were striving to win the wealthy +heiress. She had confessed her feelings to her father, her best friend, +and persuaded him to have patience a little longer, and wait for the +change which he himself expected in his nephew. + +This had not been difficult, for Archias loved Hermon, in spite of the +many anxieties he had caused him, as if he were his own son and, knowing +his daughter, he was aware that she could be happy with the man who +possessed her heart though he was deprived of sight. + +The fame which Hermon had won by great genius and ability had gratified +him more than he expressed, and he could not contradict Daphne when she +asserted that, in spite of the aimless life of pleasure to which be +devoted himself, he had remained the kind-hearted, noble man he had +always been. + +In fact, he used, unasked and secretly, a considerable portion of his +large revenues to relieve the distress of the poor and suffering. +Archias learned this as the steward of his nephew's property, and when to +do good he made new demands upon him, he gladly fulfilled them; only he +constantly admonished the blind man to think of his own severe sufferings +and his cure. Daphne did the same, and he willingly obeyed her advice; +for, loudly and recklessly as he pursued pleasure in social circles, he +showed himself tenderly devoted to her when he found her alone in her +father's house. Then, as in better days, he opened his heart to her +naturally and modestly and, though he refrained from vows of love, he +showed her that he did not cease to seek with her, and her alone, what +his noisy pleasures denied. Then he also found the old tone of +affection, and of late he came more frequently, and what he confided to +no one else implied to her, at least by hints. + +Satiety and dissatisfaction were beginning to appear, and what he had +attempted to do for the cure of his eyes had hitherto been futile. The +remedies of the oculists to whom he had been directed by Daphne herself +had proved ineffectual. The great physician Erasistratus, from whom he +first sought help, had refrained, at her entreaty and her father's, from +refusing to aid him, but indignantly sent him away when he persisted in +the declaration that it would be impossible for him to remain for months +secluded from all society and subsist for weeks on scanty fare. + +He would submit even to that, he assured Daphne, after she represented to +him what he was losing by such lack of resignation, when the time of rest +had come for which he longed, but from which many things still withheld +him. Yesterday the King had invited him to the palace for the first +time, and to decline such an honour was impossible. + +In fact, he had long wished for this summons, because he had been +informed that no representative of the sovereign had been present at +his reception. Only his wife Arsinoe had honoured him by a wreath and +congratulations. This lack of interest on the part of the King had +wounded him, and the absence of an invitation from the royal connoisseur +had cast a shadow into the midst of many a mirthful hour. He had +doubtless been aware what great and important affairs of state were +claiming the conscientious sovereign just at this time, and how almost +unbearable his restless, unloving spouse was rendering his domestic life; +yet Hermon thought Ptolemy might have spared a short time for an event in +the art life of the city, as his Demeter had been called hundreds of +times. + +Now the long-desired command to appear before the sovereign had finally +reached him, and, in the secure belief that it would bring fresh +recognition and rare honours, he entered the royal palace. + +Proclus, who neglected no opportunity of serving the nephew of the rich +man whose aid he constantly required for the Queen's finances, was his +guide, and described the decoration of the inner apartments of the royal +residence. Their unostentatious simplicity showed the refined taste of +their royal occupant. There was no lack of marble and other rare kinds +of stone, and the numerous bas-reliefs which covered the walls like the +most superb tapestry were worthy of special attention. In the oblong +apartment through which the blind man was guided these marble pictures +represented in magnificent work scenes from the campaigns in which +Ptolemy, the King's father, had participated as Alexander's general. +Others showed Athene, Apollo, the Muses, and Hermes, surrounding or +hastening toward the throne of the same monarch, and others again Greek +poets and philosophers. Magnificent coloured mosaic pictures covered the +floor and many flat spaces above door and windows, but gold and silver +had been sparingly used. + +Masterpieces of painting and sculpture were the ornaments of the room. +In the antechamber, where Hermon waited for the King, Proclus mentioned +one of the finest statues of Alexander by Lysippus, and an exquisite Eros +by Praxiteles. + +The period of waiting, however, became so long to the spoiled artist that +he anticipated the monarch's appearance with painful discomfort, and the +result of the few minutes which Ptolemy II devoted to his reception was +far behind the hopes he had fixed upon them. + +In former days he had often seen the narrow-shouldered man of barely +medium height who, to secure his own safety, had had two brothers killed +and sent another into exile, but now ruled Egypt shrewdly and prudently, +and developed the prosperity of Alexandria with equal energy and +foresight. + +Now, for the first time, Hermon heard him speak. He could not deny that +his voice was unusually pleasant in tone, yet it unmistakably issued from +the lips of a sufferer. + +The brief questions with which he received the blind artist were kindly, +and as natural as though addressing an equal, and every remark made in +connection with Hermon's answers revealed a very quick and keen +intellect. + +He had seen the Demeter, and praised the conception of the goddess +because it corresponded with her nature. The sanctity which, as it were, +pervaded the figure of the divine woman pleased him, because it made the +supplicants in the temple feel that they were in the presence of a being +who was elevated far above them in superhuman majesty. + +"True," he added, "your Demeter is by no means a powerful helper in time +of need. She is a goddess such as Epicurus imagines the immortals. +Without interfering with human destiny, she stands above it in sublime +grandeur and typical dignity. You belong, if I see correctly, to the +Epicureans?" + +"No," replied Hermon. "Like my lord and King, I, too, number myself +among the pupils of the wise Straton." + +"Indeed?" asked Ptolemy in a drawling tone, at the same time casting a +glance of astonishment at the blind man's powerful figure and well- +formed, intellectual face. Then he went on eagerly: "I shall scarcely be +wrong in the inference that you, the creator of the Fig-eater, had +experienced a far-reaching mental change before your unfortunate loss of +sight?" + +"I had to struggle hard," replied Hermon, "but I probably owe the success +of the Demeter to the circumstance that I found a model whose mind and +nature correspond with those of the goddess to a rare degree." + +The monarch shook his fair head, and protested in a tone of positive +superior knowledge: "As to the model, however well selected it may be, +it was not well chosen for this work, far less for you. I have watched +your battle against beauty in behalf of truth, and rejoiced, though I +often saw you and your little band of young disciples shoot beyond the +mark. You brought something new, whose foundation seemed to me sound, +and on which further additions might be erected. When the excrescences +fell off, I thought, this Hermon, his shadow Soteles, and the others who +follow him will perhaps open new paths to the declining art which is +constantly going back to former days. Our time will become the point of +departure of a new art. But for that very reason, let me confess it, I +regret to see you fall back from your bold advance. You now claim for +your work that it cleaves strictly to Nature, because the model is taken +from life itself. It does not become me to doubt this, yet the stamp of +divinity which your Demeter bears is found in no mortal woman. +Understand me correctly! This is certainly no departure from the truth, +for the ideal often deserves this lofty name better than anything the +visible world offers to the eye; but hitherto you have done honour to +another truth. If I comprehend your art aright, its essence is opposed +to the addition of superhuman dignity and beauty, with which you, or the +model you used, strove to ennoble and deify your Demeter. Admirably as +you succeeded in doing so, it forces your work out of the sphere of +reality, whose boundary I never before saw you cross by a single inch. +Whether this occurred unconsciously to you in an hour of mental ecstasy, +or whether you felt that you still lacked the means to represent the +divine, and therefore returned to the older methods, I do not venture +to decide. But at the first examination of your work I was conscious +of one thing: It means for you a revolution, a rupture with your former +aspirations; and as--I willingly confess it--you had been marvellously +successful, it would have driven you, had your sight been spared, out of +your own course and into the arms of the ancients, perhaps to your +material profit, but scarcely to the advantage of art, which needs a +renewal of its vital energies." + +"Let me assure you, my lord," Hermon protested, "that had I remained able +to continue to create, the success of the Demeter would never, never have +rendered me faithless to the conviction and method of creation which I +believed right; nay, before losing my sight, my whole soul was absorbed +in a new work which would have permitted me to remain wholly and +completely within the bounds of reality." + +"The Arachne?" asked the King. + +"Yes, my lord," cried Hermon ardently. "With its completion I expected +to render the greatest service, not only to myself, but to the cause of +truth." + +Here Ptolemy interrupted with icy coldness: "Yet you were certainly +wrong; at least, if the Thracian Althea, who is the personification of +falsehood, had continued to be the model." Then he changed his tone, and +with the exclamation: "You are protected from the needs of life, unless +your rich uncle throws his property into the most insatiable of gulfs. +May Straton's philosophy help you better to sustain your courage in the +darkness which surrounds you than it has aided me to bear other trials!" +he left the room. + +Thus ended the artist's conversation with the King, from which Hermon had +expected such great results and, deeply agitated, he ordered the driver +of his horses to take him to Daphne. She was the only person to whom he +could confide what disappointment this interview had caused him. + +Others had previously reproached him, as the King had just done, with +having, in the Demeter, become faithless to his artistic past. How false +and foolish this was! Many a remark from the critics would have been +better suited to Myrtilus's work than to his. Yet his fear in Tennis had +not been true. Only Daphne's sweet face did not suit his more vigorous +method of emphasizing distinctions. + +What a many-hued chameleon was the verdict upon works of plastic art! +Once--on his return to the capital--thousands had united in the same one, +and now how widely they differed again! + +His earlier works, which were now lauded to the skies, had formerly +invited censure and vehement attacks. + +What would he not have given for the possibility of seeing his admired +work once more! + +As his way led past the Temple of Demeter, he stopped near it and was +guided to the sanctuary. + +It was filled with worshippers, and when, in his resolute manner, he told +the curator and the officiating priest that he wished to enter the cella, +and asked for a ladder to feel the goddess, he was most positively +refused. + +What he requested seemed a profanation of the sacred image, and it would +not do to disturb the devout throng. His desire to lower the pedestal +could not be gratified. + +The high priest who came forward upheld his subordinates and, after a +short dispute, Hermon left the sanctuary with his wish unfulfilled. + +Never had he so keenly lamented his lost vision as during the remainder +of the drive, and when Daphne received him he described with passionate +lamentation how terribly blindness embittered his life, and declared +himself ready to submit to the severest suffering to regain his sight. + +She earnestly entreated him to apply to the great physician Erasistratus +again, and Hermon willingly consented. He had promised to attend a +banquet given that day by the wealthy ship-owner Archon. The feast +lasted until early morning, but toward noon Hermon again appeared in his +uncle's house, and met Daphne full of joyous confidence, as if he were +completely transformed. + +While at Archon's table he had determined to place his cure in the hands +of higher powers. This was the will of Fate; for the guest whose cushion +he shared was Silanus, the host's son, and the first thing he learned +from him was the news that he was going the next day, with several +friends, to the oracle of Amon in the Libyan Desert, to ask it what +should be done for his mother, who had been for several years an invalid +whom no physician could help. He had heard from many quarters that the +counsel of the god, who had greeted Alexander the Great as his son, was +infallible. + +Then Hermon had been most urgently pressed by the young man to accompany +him. Every comfort would be provided. One of his father's fine ships +would convey them to Paraetonium, where tents, saddle horses, and guides +for the short land journey would be ready. + +So he had promised to go with Silanus, and his decision was warmly +approved by his uncle, Daphne, and the gray-haired Pelusinian couple. +Perhaps the god would show the blind man the right path to recovery. He +would always be able to call the skill of the Alexandrian leeches to his +aid. + +Soon after Hermon went on board Archon's splendidly equipped vessel and, +instead of a tiresome journey, began a new and riotous period of +festivity. + +Lavish provision had been made for gay companions of both sexes, merry +entertainment by means of dancing, music, and song, well filled dishes +and mixing vessels, and life during the ride through the coast and desert +regions was not less jovial and luxurious than on the ship. + +It seemed to the blind man like one vast banquet in the dark, interrupted +only by sleep. + +The hope of counsel from the gods cheered the depressed mood which had +weighed upon him for several weeks, and rich young Silanus praised the +lucky fate which had enabled him to find a travelling companion whose +intellect and wit charmed him and the others, and often detained them +over the wine until late into the night. + +Here, too, Hermon felt himself the most distinguished person, the +animating and attracting power, until it was said that the voyage was +over, and the company pitched their tents in the famous oasis near the +Temple of Amon. + +The musicians and dancers, with due regard to propriety, had been left +behind in the seaport of Paraetonium. Yet the young travellers were +sufficiently gay while Silanus and Hermon waited for admission to the +place of the oracle. A week after their arrival it was opened to them, +yet the words repeated to them by the priest satisfied neither Hermon nor +Archon's son, for the oracle advised the latter to bring his mother +herself to the oasis by the land road if she earnestly desired recovery, +while to Hermon was shouted the ambiguous saying: + + "Only night and darkness spring from the rank marsh of pleasure; + Morning and day rise brightly from the starving sand." + +Could Silanus's mother, who was unable to move, endure the desert +journey? And what was the meaning of the sand, from which morning and +day--which was probably the fresh enjoyment of the light--were to rise +for Hermon? The sentence of the oracle weighed heavily upon him, as well +as on Archon's son, who loved his mother, and the homeward journey became +to the blind man by no means a cheerful but rather a very troubled dream. + +Thoughtful, very disturbed, dissatisfied with himself, and resolved to +turn his back upon the dreary life of pleasure which for so long a time +had allowed him no rest, and now disgusted him, he kept aloof from his +travelling companions, and rejoiced when, at Alexandria, he was led +ashore in the harbour of Eunostus. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Hermon entered his house with drooping head. + +Here he was informed that the grammateus of the Dionysian artists had +already called twice to speak to him concerning an important matter. +When he came from the bath, Proclus visited him again. His errand was to +invite him to a banquet which was to take place that evening at his +residence in a wing of the royal palace. + +But Hermon was not in the mood to share a joyous revel, and he frankly +said so, although immediately after his return he had accepted the +invitation to the festival which the whole fellowship of artists would +give the following day in honour of the seventieth birthday of the old +sculptor Euphranor. The grammateus alluded to this, and most positively +insisted that he could not release him; for he came not only by his own +wish, but in obedience to the command of Queen Arsinoe, who desired to +tell the creator of the Demeter how highly she esteemed his work and his +art. She would appear herself at dessert, and the banquet must therefore +begin at an unusually early hour. He, Proclus, was to have the high +honour of including the royal lady among his guests solely on Hermon's +account, and his refusal would be an insult to the Queen. + +So the artist found himself obliged to relinquish his opposition. He did +this reluctantly; but the Queen's attention to him and his art flattered +his vanity and, if he was to abandon the intoxicating and barren life of +pleasure, it could scarcely be done more worthily than at a festival +where the King's consort intended to distinguish him in person. + +The banquet was to begin in a few hours, yet he could not let the day +pass without seeing Daphne and telling her the words of the oracle. He +longed, with ardent yearning, for the sound of her voice, and still more +to unburden his sorely troubled soul to her. + +Oh, if only his Myrtilus still walked among the living! How totally +different, in spite of his lost vision, would his life have been! + +Daphne was now the only one whom he could put in his place. + +Since his return from the oracle, the fear that the rescued Demeter might +yet be the work of Myrtilus had again mastered him. However loudly +outward circumstances might oppose this, he now felt, with a certainty +which surprised him, that this work was not his own. The approval, as +well as the doubts, which it aroused in others strengthened his opinion, +although even now he could not succeed in bringing it into harmony with +the facts. How deep had been the intoxication in which he had so long +reeled from one day to the next, since it had succeeded in keeping every +doubt of the authorship of this work far from him! + +Now he must obtain certainty, and Daphne could help him to it; for, as a +priestess of Demeter, she possessed the right to procure him access to +the cella and get permission for him to climb the lofty pedestal and feel +the statue with his fingers, whose sense of touch had become much keener. + +He would frankly inform her of his fear, and her truthful nature would +find the doubt that gnawed his heart as unendurable as he himself. + +It would have been a grave crime to woo her before he was relieved of +this uncertainty, and he would utter the decisive words that very day, +and ask her whether her love was great enough to share the joys and +sorrows of life with him, the blind man, who perhaps must also divest +himself of a false fame. + +Time pressed. + +He called at Archias's house with a wreath on his head and in festal +robes; but Daphne was in the temple, whither old Philippus and Thyone had +gone, and his uncle was attending a late session of the Council. + +He would have liked to follow Daphne to the sanctuary, but the late hour +forbade it, and he therefore only charged Gras to tell his young mistress +that he was going to Proclus's banquet, and would return early the next +morning to discuss a most important subject with her. + +Then he went directly to the neighbouring palace. The Queen might have +appeared already, and it would not do to keep her waiting. + +He was aware that she lived at variance with her husband, but how could +he have suspected that she cherished the more than bold design of hurling +the sovereign from his throne and seizing the Egyptian crown herself. + +Proclus and Althea were among the conspirators who supported Arsinoe, and +the Queen thought it would be an easy matter to win over to her cause and +herself the handsome sculptor, whom she remembered at the last Dionysia. + +The wealthy blind artist, so highly esteemed among the members of his +profession, might become valuable to the conspiracy, for she knew what +enthusiastic devotion the Alexandrian artists felt for the King, and +everything depended upon forming a party in her own favour among them. +This task was to fall to Hermon, and also another, still more important +one; for he, his nephew and future son-in-law, if any one, could persuade +the wealthy Archias to lend the plot his valuable aid. Hitherto the +merchant had been induced, it is true, to advance large sums of money to +the Queen, but the loyal devotion which he showed to her royal husband +had rendered it impossible to give him even a hint of the conspiracy. +Althea, however, declared that the blind man's marriage to Daphne was +only a question of time, and Proclus added that the easily excited nephew +would show himself more pliant than the uncle if Arsinoe exerted upon him +the irresistible charm of her personality. + +When Hermon entered the residence of the grammateus in the palace, the +guests had already assembled. The Queen was not to appear until after +the feast, when the mixing jars were filled. The place by Hermon's side, +which Althea had chosen for herself, would then be given up to Arsinoe. + +The sovereign was as unaccustomed to the society of a blind artist as +Hermon was to that of a queen, and both eagerly anticipated the +approaching meeting. + +Yet it was difficult for Hermon to turn a bright face toward his +companion. The sources of anxiety and grief which had previously +burdened his mind would not vanish, even under the roof of the royal +palace. + +Althea's presence reminded him of Tennis, Ledscha, and Nemesis, who for +so long a time seemed to have suspended her persecution, but since he had +returned from the abode of the oracle was again asserting the old right +to him. During many a sleepless hour of the night he had once more heard +the rolling of her terrible wheel. + +Even before the journey to the oasis of Amon, everything life could offer +him, the idle rake, in his perpetual darkness, had seemed shallow and +scarcely worth stretching out his hand for it. + +True, an interesting conversation still had power to charm him, but often +during its continuance the full consciousness of his misfortune forced +itself upon his mind; for the majority of the subjects discussed by the +artists came to them through the medium of sight, and referred to new +creations of architecture, sculpture, and painting, from whose enjoyment +his blindness debarred him. + +When returning home from a banquet, if his way lay through the city, he +was reminded of the superb buildings, marble terraces and fountains, +statues and porticoes, which had formerly satiated his eyes with delight, +and must now be illumined with a brilliant radiance by the morning +sunbeams, though a hostile fate shut them out from his eyes, starving and +thirsting for beautiful forms. + +But it had seemed to him still harder to bear that his blinded eyes +refused to show him the most beautiful of all beautiful things, the human +form, when he lingered among the Ephebi or the spectators of a festal +procession, or visited the gymnasium, the theatre, the Aphrodisium, or +the Paneum gardens, where the beautiful women met at sunset. + +The Queen was to appear immediately, and when she took her place near him +his blindness would again deprive him of the sight of her delicately cut +features, prevent his returning the glances from her sparkling eves, and +admiring the noble outlines of her thinly veiled figure. + +Would his troubled spirit at least permit him to enjoy and enter without +restraint into the play of her quick wit? + +Perhaps her arrival would relieve him from the discomfort which oppressed +him here. + +A stranger, out of his own sphere, he felt chilled among these closely +united men and women, to whom no tie bound him save the presence of the +same host. + +He was not acquainted with a single individual except the mythograph +Crates, who for several months had been one of the members of the Museum, +and who had attached himself to Hermon at Straton's lectures. + +The artist was surprised to find this man in such a circle, but he +learned from Althea that the young member of the Museum was a relative of +Proclus, and a suitor of the beautiful Nico, one of the Queen's ladies in +waiting, who was among the guests. + +Crates had really been invited in order to win him over to the Queen's +cause; but charming fair-haired Nico had been commissioned by the +conspirators to persuade him to sing Arsinoe's praises among his +professional associates. + +The rest of the men present stood in close connection with Arsinoe, and +were fellow-conspirators against her husband's throne and life. The +ladies whom Proclus had invited were all confidants of Arsinoe, the wives +and daughters of his other guests. All were members of the highest class +of society, and their manners showed the entire freedom from restraint +that existed in the Queen's immediate circle. Althea profited by the +advantage of being Hermon's only acquaintance here. So, when he took his +place on the cushion at her side, she greeted him familiarly and +cordially, as she had treated him for a long time, wherever they met, +and in a low voice told him, sometimes in a kindly tone, sometimes with +biting sarcasm, the names and characters of the other guests. + +The most aristocratic was Amyntas, who stood highest of all in the +Queen's favour because he had good reason to hate the other Arsinoe, the +sister of the King. His son had been this royal dame's first husband, +and she had deserted him to marry Lysimachus, the aged King of Thrace. + +The Rhodian Chrysippus, her leech and trusted counsellor, also possessed +great influence over the Queen. + +"The noble lady," whispered Althea, "needs the faithful devotion of every +well-disposed subject, for perhaps you have already learned how cruelly +the King embitters the life of the mother of his three children. Many a +caprice can be forgiven the suffering Ptolemy, who recently expressed a +wish that he could change places with the common workmen whom he saw +eating their meal with a good appetite, and who is now tortured by the +gout; yet he watches the hapless woman with the jealousy of a tiger, +though he himself is openly faithless to her. What is the Queen to him, +since the widow of Lysimachus returned from Thrace--no, from Cassandrea, +Ephesus, and sacred Samothrace, or whatever other places there are which +would no longer tolerate the murderess?" + +"The King's sister--the object of his love?" cried Hermon incredulously. +"She must be forty years old now." + +"Very true," Althea assented. "But we are in Egypt, where marriages +between brothers and sisters are pleasing to gods and men; and besides, +we make our own moral laws here. Her age! We women are only as old as +we look, and the leeches and tiring women of this beauty of forty +practise arts which give her the appearance of twenty-five, yet perhaps +the King values her intellect more than her person, and the wisdom of a +hundred serpents is certainly united in this woman's head. She will make +our poor Queen suffer unless real friends guard her from the worst. The +three most trustworthy ones are here: Amyntas, the leech Chrysippus, and +the admirable Proclus. Let us hope that you will make this three-leaved +clover the luck-promising four-leaved one. Your uncle, too, has often +with praiseworthy generosity helped Arsinoe in many an embarrassment. +Only make the acquaintance of this beautiful royal lady, and the last +drop of your blood will not seem too precious to shed for her! Besides-- +Proclus told me so in confidence--you have little favour to expect from +the King. How long he kept you waiting for the first word concerning a +work which justly transported the whole city with delight! When he did +finally summon you, he said things which must have wounded you." + +"That is going too far," replied Hermon. + +"Then he kept back his real opinion," Althea protested. "Had I not made +it a rule to maintain absolute silence concerning everything I hear in +conversation from those with whom I am closely associated--" + +Here she was interrupted by Chrysippus, who asked if Althea had told her +neighbour about his Rhodian eye-salve. + +He winked at her and made a significant gesture as he spoke, and then +informed the blind artist how graciously Arsinoe had remembered him when +she heard of the remedy by whose aid many a wonderful cure of blind eyes +had been made in Rhodes. The royal lady had inquired about him and his +sufferings with almost sisterly interest, and Althea eagerly confirmed +the statement. + +Hermon listened to the pair in silence. + +He had not been able to see them, it is true, yet he had perceived their +design as if the loss of sight had sharpened his mental vision. He +imagined that he could see the favourite and Althea nudge each other with +sneering gestures, and believed that their sole purpose was to render +him--he knew not for what object--the obedient tool of the Queen, who had +probably also succeeded in persuading his usually cautious uncle to +render her great services. + +The remembrance of Arsinoe's undignified conduct at the Dionysia, and the +shameful stories of her which he had heard returned to his mind. At the +same time he saw Daphne rise before him in her aristocratic dignity and +kindly goodness, and a smile of satisfaction hovered around his lips as +he said to himself: "The spider Althea again! But, in spite of my +blindness, I will be caught neither in her net nor in the Queen's. They +are the last to bar the way which leads to Daphne and real happiness." + +The Rhodian was just beginning to praise Arsinoe also as a special friend +and connoisseur of the sculptor's art when Crates, Hermon's fellow- +student, asked the blind artist, in behalf of his beautiful companion, +why his Demeter was placed upon a pedestal which, to others as well as +himself, seemed too high for the size of the statue. + +Hermon replied that he had heard several make this criticism, but the +priests of the goddess refused to take it into account. + +Here he hesitated, for, like a blow from an invisible hand, the thought +darted through his mind that perhaps, on the morrow, he would see himself +compelled before the whole world to cast aside the crown of fame which he +owed to the statue on the lofty pedestal. He did not have even the +remotest idea of continuing to deck himself with false renown if his +dread was realized; yet he doubtless imagined how this whole aristocratic +circle, with the Queen, Althea, and Proclus at its head, would turn with +reckless haste from the hapless man who had led them into such a shameful +error. + +Yet what mattered it, even if these miserable people considered +themselves deceived and pointed the finger of scorn at him? Better +people would thereby be robbed of the right to accuse him of +faithlessness to himself. This thought darted through his heated brain +like a flash of lightning, and when, in spite of his silence, the +conversation was continued and Althea told the others that only Hermon's +blindness had prevented the creation of a work which could have been +confidently expected far to surpass the Demeter, since it seemed to have +been exactly suited to his special talent, he answered his beautiful +companion's remark curtly and absently. + +She perceived this with annoyance and perplexity. + +A woman who yearns for the regard of all men, and makes love a toy, +easily lessens the demands she imposes upon individuals. Only, even +though love has wholly disappeared, she still claims consideration, and +Althea did not wish to lose Hermon's regard. + +When Amyntas, the head of the conspirators, attracted the attention of +the company by malicious remarks about the King's sister, the Thracian +laid her hand on the blind artist's arm, whispering: "Has the image of +the Arachne which, at Tennis, charmed you even in the presence of the +angry Zeus, completely vanished from your memory? How indifferent you +look! But I tell you"--her deep blue eyes flashed as she spoke--"that so +long as you were still a genuine creating artist the case was different. +Even while putting the last touches of the file to the Demeter, for which +Archias's devout daughter posed as your model, another whom you could not +banish from your mind filled your imagination. Though so loud a denial +is written on your face, I persist in my conviction, and that no idle +delusion ensnares me I can prove!" + +Hermon raised his sightless eyes to her inquiringly, but she went on with +eager positiveness: "Or, if you did not think of the weaver while carving +the goddess, how did you happen to engrave a spider on the ribbon twined +around the ears of grain in Demeter's hand? Not the smallest detail of a +work produced by the hand of a valued friend escapes my notice, and I +perceived it before the Demeter came to the temple and the lofty +pedestal. Now I would scarcely be able to discover it in the dusky +cella, yet at that time I took pleasure in the sight of the ugly insect, +not only because it is cleverly done, but because it reminded me of +something"--here she lowered her voice still more--"that pleased me, +though probably it would seem less flattering to the daughter of Archias, +who perhaps is better suited to act as guide to the blind. How +bewildered you look! Eternal gods! Many things are forgotten after +long months have passed, but it will be easy for me to sharpen your +memory. 'At the time Hermon had just finished the Demeter,' the spider +called to me, 'he scratched me on the gold.' But at that very time--yes, +my handsome friend, I can reckon accurately--you had met me, Althea, in +Tennis, I had brought the spider-woman before your eyes. Was it really +nothing but foolish vanity that led me to the conviction that you were +thinking of me also when you engraved on the ribbon the despised spider- +for which, however, I always felt a certain regard--with the delicate web +beneath its slender legs?" + +Hitherto Hermon had listened to every word in silence, labouring for +breath. He was transported as if by magic to the hour of his return from +Pelusium; he saw himself enter Myrtilus's studio and watch his friend +scratch something, he did not know what, upon the ribbon which fastened +the bunch of golden grain. It was--nay, it could have been nothing else +--that very spider. The honoured work was not his, but his dead +friend's. How the exchange had occurred he could not now understand, but +to disbelieve that it had taken place would have been madness or self- +deception. + +Now he also understood the doubts of Soteles and the King. Not he-- +Myrtilus, and he alone, was the creator of the much-lauded Demeter! + +This conviction raised a hundred-pound weight from his soul. + +What was applause! What was recognition! What were fame and laurel +wreaths! He desired clearness and truth for himself and all the world +and, as if frantic, he suddenly sprang from his cushions, shouting to the +startled guests: "I myself and this whole great city were deceived! The +Demeter is not mine, not the work of Hermon! The dead Myrtilus created +it!" + +Then pressing his hand to his brow, he called his student friend to his +side, and, as the scholar anxiously laid his arm on his shoulder, +whispered: "Away, away from here! Only let me get out of doors into the +open air!" + +Crates, bewildered and prepared for the worst, obeyed his wish; but +Althea and the other guests left behind felt more and more impressed +by the suddenly awakened conviction that the hapless blind man had now +also become the victim of madness. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARK: + +Aimless life of pleasure + + + + + + +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 + + + + + + +ARACHNE + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 8. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Hermon, filled with longing, went down toward evening to the shore. + +The sun was setting, and the riot of colours in the western horizon +seemed like a mockery of the torturing anxiety which had mastered his +soul. + +He did not notice the boat that was approaching the land; many travellers +who intended to go through Arabia Petrea landed here, and for several +days--he knew why--there had been more stir in these quiet waters. + +Suddenly he was surprised by the ringing shout with which he had formerly +announced his approach to Myrtilus. + +Unconsciously agitated by joy, as if the sunset glow before him had +suddenly been transformed into the dawn of a happy day, he answered by a +loud cry glad with hope. Although his dim eyes did not yet permit him to +distinguish who was standing erect in the boat, waving greetings to him, +he thought he knew whom this exquisite evening was bringing. + +Soon his own name reached him. It was his "wise Bias" who shouted, and +soon, with a throbbing heart, he held out both hands to him. + +The freedman had performed his commission in the best possible manner, +and was now no longer bound to silence by oath. + +Ledscha had left him and Myrtilus to themselves and, as Bias thought he +had heard, had sailed with the Gaul Lutarius for Paraetonium, the +frontier city between the kingdom of Egypt and that of Cyrene. + +Myrtilus felt stronger than he had done for a long time, and had sent him +back to the blind friend who would need him more than he did. + +But worthy Bias also brought messages from Archias and Daphne. They were +well, and his uncle now had scarcely any cause to fear pursuers. + +Before the landing of the boat, the shade had covered Hermon's eyes; but +when, after the freedman's first timid question about his sight, he +raised it again, at the same time reporting and showing what progress he +had already made toward recovery, the excess of joy overpowered the +freedman, and sometimes laughing, sometimes weeping, he kissed the +convalescent's hands and simple robe. It was some time before he calmed +himself again, then laying his forefinger on the side of his nose, he +said: "Therein the immortals differ from human beings. We sculptors can +only create good work with good tools, but the immortals often use the +very poorest of all to accomplish the best things. You owe your sight to +the hate of this old witch and mother of pirates, so may she find peace +in the grave. She is dead. I heard it from a fellow-countryman whom I +met in Herocipolis. Her end came soon after our visit." + +Then Bias related what he knew of Hermon's uncle, of Daphne, and +Myrtilus. + +Two letters were to give him further particulars. + +They came from the woman he loved and from his friend, and as soon as +Bias had lighted the lamp in the tent, at the same time telling his +master in advance many items of news they contained, he set about the +difficult task of reading. + +He had certainly scarcely become a master of this art on board the Hydra, +yet his slow performance did all honour to the patience of his teacher +Myrtilus. + +He began with Daphne's letter, but by the desire of prudent Archias it +communicated few facts. But the protestations of love and expressions of +longing which filled it pierced the freedman's soul so deeply that his +voice more than once failed while reading them. + +Myrtilus's letter, on the contrary, gave a minute description of his mode +of life, and informed his friend what he expected for him and himself in +the future. The contents of both relieved Hermon's sorely troubled +heart, made life with those who were dearest to him possible, and +explained many things which the reports of the slave had not rendered +perfectly clear. + +Archias had gone with Daphne to the island of Lesbos, his mother's native +city. The ships which conveyed travellers to Pergamus, where Myrtilus +was living, touched at this port, and Bias, to whom Hermon had confided +the refuge of the father and daughter, had sought them there, and found +them in a beautiful villa. + +After being released from his oath, Myrtilus had put himself into +communication with his uncle, and just before Bias's departure the +merchant had come to Pergamus with his daughter. As he had the most +cordial reception from the Regent Philetaerus, he seemed inclined to +settle permanently there. + +As for Myrtilus, he had cast anchor with Ledscha in the little Mysian +seaport town of Pitane, near the mouth of the Caicus River, on which, +farther inland, was the rapidly growing city of Pergamus. + +She had found a hospitable welcome in the family of a seafarer who were +relatives, while the Gaul continued his voyage to obtain information +about his tribe in Syria. But he had already returned when Bias reached +Pitane with the two talents intended for him. Myrtilus had availed +himself of Ledscha's permission long before and gone to Pergamus, where +he had lived and worked in secrecy until, after the freedman's return +from Ledscha, who at once left Pitane with the Gaul, he was released from +his oath. + +During the absence of Bias he had modelled a large relief, a triumphal +procession of Dionysus, and as the renown of his name had previously +reached Pergamus, the artists and the most distinguished men in the city +flocked to his studio to admire the work of the famous Alexandrian. + +Soon Philetoerus, who had founded the Pergamenian kingdom seven years +before, and governed it with great wisdom, came to Myrtilus. + +Like his nephew and heir Eumenes, he was a friend to art, and induced the +laurel-crowned Alexandrian to execute the relief, modelled in clay, in +marble for the Temple of Dionysus at Pergamus. + +The heir to the throne of Philetaerus, who was now advancing in years, +was especially friendly to Myrtilus, and did everything in his power to +bind him to Pergamus. + +He succeeded, for in the beautiful house, located in an extremely +healthful site, which Eumenes had assigned for a residence and studio to +the Alexandrian artist, whose work he most ardently admired, and whom he +regarded as the most welcome of guests, Myrtilus felt better physically +than he had for years. Besides, he thought that, for many reasons, his +friend would be less willing to settle in Alexandria, and that the +presence of his uncle and Daphne would attract him to Pergamus. + +Moreover, Hermon surely knew that if he came to him as a blind man he +would find a brother; if he came restored to sight, he would also find a +brother, and likewise a fellow-artist with whom he could live and work. + +Myrtilus had told the heir to the throne of Pergamus of his richly gifted +blind relative, and of the peculiarity of his art, and Eumenes eagerly +endeavoured to induce his beloved guest to persuade his friend to remove +to his capital, where there was no lack of distinguished leeches. + +If Hermon remained blind, he would honour him; if he recovered his sight, +he would give him large commissions. + +How deeply these letters moved the heart of the recovering man! What +prospects they opened for his future life, for love, friendship, and, not +least, for his art! + +If he could see--if he could only see again! This exclamation blended +with everything he thought, felt, and uttered. Even in sleep it haunted +him. To regain the clearness of vision he needed for his work, he would +willingly have submitted to the severest tortures. + +In Alexandria alone lived the great leeches who could complete the work +which the salve of an ignorant old woman had begun. Thither he must go, +though it cost him liberty and life. The most famous surgeon of the +Museum at the capital had refused his aid under other circumstances. +Perhaps he would relent if Philippus, a friend of Erasistratus, smoothed +the way for him, and the old hero was now living very near. The ships, +whose number on the sea at his feet was constantly increasing, were +attracted hither by the presence of the Egyptian King and Queen on the +isthmus which connects Asia and Africa. The priest of Apollo at Clysma, +and other distinguished Greeks whom he met there, had told him the day +before yesterday, and on two former visits to the place, what was going +on in the world, and informed him how great an honour awaited the eastern +frontier in these days. The appearance of their Majesties in person must +not only mean the founding of a city, the reception of a victorious naval +commander, and the consecration of a restored temple, but also have still +deeper causes. + +During the last few years severe physical suffering had brought the +unfortunate second king of the house of Ptolemy to this place to seek +the aid of the ancient Egyptian gods, and, besides the philosophy, busy +himself with the mystic teachings and magic arts of their priesthood. + +Only a short period of life seemed allotted to the invalid ruler, and the +service of the time-honoured god of the dead, to whom he had erected one +of the most magnificent temples in the world at Alexandria, to which +Egyptians and Hellenes repaired with equal devotion, opened hopes for the +life after death which seemed to him worthy of examination. + +For this reason also he desired to secure the favour of the Egyptian +priesthood. + +For this purpose, for the execution of his wise and beneficent +arrangements, as well as for the gratification of his expensive tastes, +large sums of money were required; therefore he devoted himself with +especial zeal to enlarging the resources of his country, already so rich +by nature. + +In all these things he had found an admirable assistant in his sister +Arsinoe. As the daughter of the father and mother to whom he himself +owed existence, he could claim for her unassailable legitimacy the same +recognition from the priesthood, and the same submission from the people +rendered to his own person, whom the religion of the country commanded +them to revere as the representative of the sun god. + +As marriages between brothers and sisters had been customary from ancient +times, and were sanctioned by religion and myth, he had married the +second Arsinoe, his sister, immediately after the banishment of the first +Queen of this name. + +After the union with her, he called himself Philadelphus--brotherly love +--and honoured his sister and wife with the same name. + +True, this led the sarcastic Alexandrians to utter many a biting, more or +less witty jest, but he never had cause to regret his choice; in spite of +her forty years, and more than one bloody deed which before her marriage +to him she had committed as Queen of Thrace and as a widow, the second +Arsinoe was always a pattern of regally aristocratic, dignified bearing +and haughty womanly beauty. + +Though the first Philadelphus could expect no descendants from her, he +had provided for securing them through her, for he had induced her to +adopt the first Arsinoe's three children, who had been taken from their +exiled mother. + +Arsinoe was now accompanying her royal husband Philadelphus to the +eastern frontier. There the latter expected to name the city to be newly +founded "Arsinoe" for her, and-to show his esteem for the priesthood--to +consecrate in person the new Temple of Tum in the city of Pithom, near +Heroopolis. + +Lastly, the monarch had been endeavouring to form new connections with +the coast countries of eastern Africa, and open them to Egyptian +commerce. + +Admiral Eumedes, the oldest son of Philippus and Thyone, had succeeded in +doing this most admirably, for the distinguished commander had not only +founded on the Ethiopian shore of the Red Sea a city which he named for +the King "Ptolemais," but also won over the princes and tribes of that +region to Egypt. + +He was now returning from Ethiopia with a wealth of treasures. + +After the brilliant festivals the invalid King, with his new wife, was to +give himself up to complete rest for a month in the healthful air of the +desert region which surrounded Pithom, far from the tumult of the capital +and the exhausting duties of government. + +The magnificent shows which were to be expected, and the presence of the +royal pair, had attracted thousands of spectators on foot or horseback, +and by water, and the morning after Bias's return the sea near Clysma was +swarming with vessels of all kinds and sizes. + +It was more than probable that Philippus, the father, and Thyone, the +mother of the famous returning Admiral Eumedes, would not fail to be +present at his reception on his native soil, and therefore Hermon wished +to seek out his dear old friends in Heroopolis, where the greeting was to +take place, and obtain their advice. + +The boat on which the freedman had come was at the disposal of his master +and himself. Before Hermon entered it, he took leave, with an agitated +heart and open hand, of his Amalekite friends and, in spite of the mist +which still obscured everything he beheld, he perceived how reluctantly +the simple dwellers in the wilderness saw him depart. + +When the master and servant entered the boat, in spite of the sturdy +sailors who manned it, it proved even more difficult than they had feared +to make any progress; for the whole narrow end of the arm of the sea, +which here extended between Egypt and Arabia Petrea, was covered with war +galleys and transports, boats and skiffs. The two most magnificent state +galleys from Heroopolis were coming here, bearing the ambassadors who, in +the King's name, were to receive the fleet and its commander. Other +large and small, richly equipped, or unpretending ships and boats were +filled with curious spectators. + +What a gay, animated scene! What brilliant, varied, strange, hitherto +unseen objects were gathered here: vessels of every form and size, sails +white, brown, and black, and on the state galleys and boats purple, blue, +and every colour, adorned with more or less costly embroidery! What +rising and falling of swiftly or slowly moving oars! + +"From Alexandria!" cried Bias, pointing to a state galley which the King +was sending to the commander of the southern fleet. + +"And there," remarked Hermon, proud of his regained power of +distinguishing one thing from another, and letting his eyes rest on one +of the returning transports, on whose deck stood six huge African +elephants, whose trumpeting mingled with the roaring of the lions and +tigers on the huge freight vessels, and the exulting shouts of the men +and women in the ships and boats. + +"After the King's heart!" exclaimed Bias. "He probably never received at +one time before so large an accession to his collection of rare animals. +What is the transport with the huge lotus flower on the prow probably +bringing?" + +"Oh, and the monkeys and parrots over yonder!" joyously exclaimed the +Amalekite boy who had been Hermon's guide, and had accompanied him into +the boat. Then he suddenly lowered his voice and, fearing that his +delight might give pain to the less keen-sighted man whom he loved, he +asked, "You can see them, my lord, can't you?" + +"Certainly, my boy, though less plainly than you do," replied Hermon, +stroking the lad's dark hair. + +Meanwhile the admiral's ship had approached the shore. + +Bias pointed to the poop, where the commander Eumedes was standing +directing the course of the fleet. + +As if moulded in bronze, a man thoroughly equal to his office, he seemed, +in spite of the shouts, greetings, and acclamations thundering around +him, to close his eyes and ears to the vessels thronging about his ship +and devote himself body and soul to the fulfilment of his duty. He had +just embraced his father and mother, who had come here to meet him. + +"The King undoubtedly sent by his father the laurel wreath on his +helmet," observed Bias, pointing to the admiral. "So many honours while +he is still so young! When you went to the wrestling school in +Alexandria, Eumedes was scarcely eight years older than you, and I +remember how he preferred you to the others. A sign, and he will notice +us and allow you to go on his ship, or, at any rate, send us a boat in +which we can enter the canal." + +"No, no," replied Hermon. "My call would disturb him now." + +"Then let us make ourselves known to the Lady Thyone or her husband," the +freedman continued. "They will certainly take us on their large state +galley, from which, though your eyes do not yet see as far as a falcon's, +not a ship, not a man, not a movement will escape them." + +But Hermon added one more surprise to the many which he had already +given, for he kindly declined Bias's well-meant counsel, and, resting his +hand on the Amalekite boy's shoulder, said modestly: "I am no longer the +Hermon whom Eumedes preferred to the others. And the Lady Thyone must +not be reminded of anything sad in this festal hour for the mother's +heart. I shall meet her to-morrow, or the day after, and yet I had +intended to let no one who is loyal to me look into my healing eyes +before Daphne." + +Then he felt the freedman's hand secretly press his, and it comforted +him, after the sorrowful thoughts to which he had yielded, amid the +shouts of joy ringing around him. How quietly, with what calm dignity, +Eumedes received the well-merited homage, and how disgracefully the false +fame had bewildered his own senses! + +Yet he had not passed through the purifying fire of misfortune in vain! +The past should not cloud the glad anticipation of brighter days! + +Drawing a long breath, he straightened himself into a more erect posture, +and ordered the men to push the boat from the shore. Then he pressed a +farewell kiss on the Amalekite boy's forehead, the lad sprang ashore, and +the journey northward began. + +At first the sailors feared that the crowd would be too great, and the +boat would be refused admission to the canal; but the helmsman succeeded +in keeping close behind a vessel of medium size, and the Macedonian +guards of the channel put no obstacle in their countryman's way, while +boats occupied by Egyptians and other barbarians were kept back. + +In the Bitter Lakes, whose entire length was to be traversed, the ships +had more room, and after a long voyage through dazzling sunlight, and +along desolate shores, the boat anchored at nightfall at Heroopolis. + +Hermon and Bias obtained shelter on one of the ships which the sovereign +had placed at the disposal of the Greeks who came to participate in the +festivals to be celebrated. + +Before his master went to rest, the freedman--whom he had sent out to +look for a vessel bound to Pelusium and Alexandria the next day or the +following one--returned to the ship. + +He had talked with the Lady Thyone, and told Hermon from her that she +would visit or send for him the next day, after the festival. + +His own mother, the freedman protested, could not have rejoiced more +warmly over the commencement of his recovery, and she would have come +with him at once had not Philippus prevented his aged wife, who was +exhausted by the long journey. + +The next morning the sun poured a wealth of radiant light upon the +desert, the green water of the harbour, and the gray and yellow walls of +the border fortress. + +Three worlds held out their hands to one another on this water way +surrounded by the barren wilderness--Egypt, Hellas, and Semitic Asia. + +To the first belonged the processions of priests, who, with images of the +gods, consecrated vessels, and caskets of relics, took their places at +the edge of the harbour. The tawny and black, half-naked soldiers who, +with high shields, lances, battle-axes and bows, gathered around +strangely shaped standards, joined them, amid the beating of drums and +blare of trumpets, as if for their protection. Behind them surged a vast +multitude of Egyptians and dark-skinned Africans. + +On the other side of the canal the Asiatics were moving to and fro. The +best places for spectators had been assigned to the petty kings and +princes of tribes, Phoenician and Syrian merchants, and well-equipped, +richly armed warriors. Among them thronged owners of herds and seafarers +from the coast. Until the reception began, fresh parties of bearded sons +of the desert, in floating white bernouse, mounted on noble steeds, were +constantly joining the other Asiatics. + +The centre was occupied by the Greeks. The appearance of every +individual showed that they were rulers of the land, and that they +deserved to be. How free and bold was their bearing! how brightly and +joyously sparkled the eyes of these men, whose wreaths of green leaves +and bright-hued flowers adorned locks anointed for the festivals! Strong +and slender, they were conspicuous in their stately grace among the lean +Egyptians, unbridled in their jests and jeers, and the excitable +Asiatics. + +Now the blare of trumpets and the roll of drums shook the air like +echoing lightning and heavy peals of thunder; the Egyptian priests sang a +hymn of praise to the God King and Goddess Queen, and the aristocratic +priestesses of the deity tinkled the brass rings on the sistrum. Then a +chorus of Hellenic singers began a polyphonous hymn, and amid its full, +melodious notes, which rose above the enthusiastic shouts of "Hail!" from +the multitude, King Ptolemy and his sister-wife showed themselves to the +waiting throng. Seated on golden thrones borne on the broad shoulders of +gigantic black Ethiopians, and shaded by lofty canopies, both were raised +above the crowd, whom they saluted by gracious gestures. + +The athletic young bearers of the large round ostrich-feather fans which +protected them from the sunbeams were followed in ranks by the monarch's +"relatives" and "friends," the dignitaries, the dark and fair-haired +bands of the guards of Grecian youths and boys, as well as divisions of +the picked corps of the Hetairoi, Diadochi, and Epigoni, in beautiful +plain Macedonian armour. + +They were followed in the most informal manner by scholars from the +Museum, many Hellenic artists, and wealthy gentlemen of Alexandria of +Greek and Jewish origin, whom the King had invited to the festival. + +In his train they went on board the huge galley on which the reception +was to take place. Scarcely had the last one stepped on the deck when it +began. + +Eumedes came from the admiral's galley to the King's. Ptolemy embraced +him like a friend, and Arsinoe added a wreath of fresh roses to the +laurel crown which the sovereign had sent the day before. + +At the same time thundering plaudits echoed from the walls of the +fortifications and broke, sometimes rising, sometimes falling, against +the ships and masts in the calm water of the harbour. + +The King had little time to lose. Even festal joy must move swiftly. +There were many and varied things to be seen and done; but in the course +of an hour--so ran the order--this portion of the festivities must be +over, and it was fully obeyed. + +The hands and feet of the woolly-headed blacks who, amid loud +acclamations, carried on shore the cages in which lions, panthers, and +leopards shook the bars with savage fury, moved as if they were winged. +The slender, dark-brown Ethiopians who led giraffes, apes, gazelles, and +greyhounds past the royal pair rushed along as if they were under the +lash; and the sixty elephants which Eumedes and his men had caught in the +land of Chatyth moved at a rapid pace past the royal state galley. + +At the sight of them the King joined in the cheers of thousands of voices +on the shore; these giant animals were to him auxiliaries who could put +to flight a whole corps of hostile cavalry, and Arsinoe-Philadelphus, the +Queen, sympathized with his pleasure. + +She raised her voice with her royal husband, and it seemed to the +spectators on the shore as if they had a share in the narrative when she +listened to Eumedes's first brief report. + +Only specimens of the gold and ivory, spices and rare woods, juniper +trees and skins of animals which the ships brought home could be borne +past their Majesties, and the black and brown men who carried them moved +at a breathless rate. + +The sun was still far from the meridian when the royal couple and their +train withdrew from the scene of the reception ceremonial, and drove, in +a magnificent chariot drawn by four horses, to the neighbouring city of +Pithoin, where new entertainments and a long period of rest awaited them. +Hermon had seen, as if through a veil of white mists, the objects that +aroused the enthusiasm of the throng, and so, he said to himself, it had +been during the whole course of his life. Only the surface of the +phenomena on which he fixed his eyes had been visible to him; he had not +learned to penetrate further into their nature, fathom them to their +depths, until he became blind. + +If the gods fulfilled his hope, if he regained his vision entirely, and +even the last mists had vanished, he would hold firmly to the capacity he +had gained, and use it in life as well as in art. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +The messenger from Philippus appeared in the afternoon. It was the young +hipparch who had studied in Athens and accompanied the commandant of +Pelusium to Tennis the year before. He came charged with the commission +to convey the artist, in the carriage of the gray-haired comrade of +Alexander, to the neighbouring city of Pithom, where Philippus, by the +King's command, was now residing. + +On the way the hipparch told the sculptor that the Lady Thyone had +recently done things unprecedented for a woman of her age. + +She had been present at the founding of the city of Arsinoe, as well +as at the laying of the corner stone of the temple which was to be +consecrated to the new god Serapis in the neighbourhood. The day before +she had welcomed her returning son before the entry of the fleet into the +canal, and to-day had remained from the beginning to the end of his +reception by the King, without being unduly wearied. + +Her first thought, after the close of the ceremony, had concerned her +convalescing young friend. New entertainments, in which the Queen +commanded her to participate, awaited her in Pithom, but pleasure at the +return of her famous son appeared to double her power of endurance. + +Pithom was the sacred name of the temple precincts of the desert city of +Thekut--[The biblical Suchot]--near Heroopolis, where the citizens lived +and pursued their business. + +The travellers reached the place very speedily. Garlands of flowers and +hangings adorned the houses. The sacred precinct Pithom, above which +towered the magnificently restored temple of the god Turn, was also still +adorned with many superb ones, as well as lofty masts, banners, and +triumphal arches. + +Before they reached it the equipage passed the sumptuous tents which had +been erected for the royal pair and their attendants. If Hermon had not +known how long the monarch intended to remain here, their size and number +would have surprised him. + +A regular messenger and carrier-dove service had been established between +Alexandria and Pithom for the period of Ptolemy's relaxation; and the +sovereign was accompanied not only by several of the chief councillors +and secretaries, but artists and some of the Museum scientists with whom +he was on specially intimate terms, who were to adorn the festival on the +frontier with their presence, and cheer the invalid King, who needed +entertainment. Singers and actors also belonged to the train. + +As they passed the encampment of the troops who accompanied the +sovereign, the hipparch could show Hermon a magnificent military +spectacle. + +Heroopolis was fortified, and belonged to the military colonies which +Alexander the Great had established throughout all Egypt in order to win +it over more quickly to Grecian customs. A Hellenic phalanx and Libyan +mercenaries formed the garrison there, but at Pithom the King had +gathered the flower of his troops around him, and this circumstance +showed how little serious consideration the cautious ruler, who usually +carefully regarded every detail, gave to the war with Cyrene, in which he +took no personal part. The four thousand Gauls whom he had sent across +the frontier as auxiliary troops promised to become perilous to the foe, +who was also threatened in the rear by one of the most powerful Libyan +tribes. + +Therefore, the artist was assured by his military companion, Philadelphus +could let the campaign take its course, and permit himself the brief +period of rest in this strangely chosen place, which the leeches had +advised. + +The house where the aged couple lived with their son, Admiral Eumedes, +was on the edge of the precincts of the temple. It belonged to the most +distinguished merchant in the place, and consisted of a large open +courtyard in the form of a square, surrounded by the building and its +communicating wings. + +When the hipparch led Hermon into this place a number of people had +already assembled there. Soldiers and sailors stood in groups in the +centre, awaiting the orders of the old general and his subordinate +officers. Messengers and slaves, coming and going on various errands, +were crossing it, and on the shady side benches and chairs stood under a +light awning. Most of these were occupied by visitors who came to +congratulate the mother of the fame-crowned admiral. + +Thyone was reclining on a divan in their midst, submitting with a sigh to +the social duties which her high position imposed upon her. + +Her face was turned toward the large doorway of the main entrance, while +she sometimes greeted newly introduced guests, sometimes bade farewell to +departing ones, and meanwhile answered and asked questions. + +She had been more wearied by the exertions of the last few days than her +animated manner revealed. Yet as soon as Hermon, leaning on the young +hipparch's arm, approached her, she rose and cordially extended both +hands to him. True, the recovering man was still unable to see her +features distinctly, but he felt the maternal kindness with which she +received him, and what his eyes could not distinguish his ears taught him +in her warm greetings. His heart dilated and, after he had kissed her +dear old hand more than once with affectionate devotion, she led him +among her guests and presented him to them as the son of her dearest +friend. + +A strange stir ran through the assembled group, nearly all whose members +belonged to the King's train, and the low whispers and murmurs around him +revealed to Hermon that the false wreaths he wore had by no means been +forgotten in this circle. + +A painful feeling of discomfort overwhelmed the man accustomed to the +silence of the desert, and a voice within cried with earnest insistence, +"Away from here!" + +But he had no time to obey it; an unusually tall, broad-shouldered man, +with a thick gray beard and grave, well-formed features, in whom he +thought he recognised the great physician Erasistratus, approached +Thyone, and asked, "The recluse from the desert with restored sight?" + +"The same," replied the matron, and whispered to the other, who was +really the famous scientist and leech whom Hermon had desired to seek in +Alexandria. "Exhaustion will soon overcome me, and how many important +matters I had to discuss with you and the poor fellow yonder!" + +The physician laid his hand on the matron's temples, and, raising his +voice, said in a tone of grave anxiety: "Exhaustion! It would be better +for you, honoured lady, to keep your bed." + +"Surely and certainly!" the wife of the chief huntsman instantly +assented. "We have already taxed your strength far too long, my noble +friend." + +This welcome confession produced a wonderful effect upon the other +visitors, and very soon the last one had vanished from the space under +the awning and the courtyard. Not a single person had vouchsafed Hermon +a greeting; for the artist, divested of the highest esteem, had been +involved in the ugly suspicion of having driven his uncle from +Alexandria, and the monarch was said to have spoken unfavourably +of him. + +When the last one had left the courtyard, the leech exchanged a quick +glance of understanding, which also included Hermon, with Thyone, and the +majordomo received orders to admit no more visitors, while Erasistratus +exclaimed gaily, "It is one of the physician's principal duties to keep +all harmful things--including living ones--from his patient." + +Then he turned to Hermon and had already begun to question him about his +health, when the majordomo announced another visitor. "A very +distinguished gentleman, apparently," he said hastily; "Herophilus of +Chalcedon, who would not be denied admittance." + +Again the eyes of Erasistratus and the matron met, and the former +hastened toward his professional colleague. + +The two physicians stopped in the middle of the courtyard and talked +eagerly together, while Thyone, with cordial interest, asked Hermon to +tell her what she had already partially learned through the freedman +Bias. + +Finally Erasistratus persuaded the matron, who seemed to have +forgotten her previous exhaustion, to share the consultation, but the +convalescent's heart throbbed faster as he watched the famous leeches. + +If these two men took charge of his case, the most ardent desire of his +soul might be fulfilled, and Thyone was certainly trying to induce them +to undertake his treatment; what else would have drawn her away from him +before she had said even one word about Daphne? + +The sculptor saw, as if through a cloud of dust, the three consulting +together in the centre of the courtyard, away from the soldiers and +messengers. + +Hermon had only seen Erasistratus indistinctly, but before his eyes were +blinded he had met him beside the sick-bed of Myrtilus, and no one who +had once beheld it could forget the manly bearded face, with the grave, +thoughtful eyes, whose gaze deliberately sought their goal. + +The other also belonged to the great men in the realm of intellect. +Hermon knew him well, for he had listened eagerly in the Museum to the +lectures of the famous Herophilus, and his image also had stamped itself +upon his soul. + +Even at that time the long, smooth hair of the famous investigator had +turned gray. From the oval of his closely shaven, well-formed face, with +the long, thin, slightly hooked nose, a pair of sparkling eyes had gazed +with penetrating keenness at the listeners. Hermon had imagined +Aristotle like him, while the bust of Pythagoras, with which he was +familiar, resembled Erasistratus. + +The convalescent could scarcely expect anything more than beneficial +advice from Herophilus; for this tireless investigator rarely rendered +assistance to the sick in the city, because the lion's share of his time +and strength were devoted to difficult researches. The King favoured +these by placing at his disposal the criminals sentenced to death. In +his work of dissection he had found that the human brain was the seat +of the soul, and the nerves originated in it. + +Erasistratus, on the contrary, devoted himself to a large medical +practice, though science owed him no less important discoveries. + +The circle of artists had heard what he taught concerning the blood in +the veins and the air bubbles in the arteries, how he explained the +process of breathing, and what he had found in the investigation of the +beating of the heart. + +But he performed his most wonderful work with the knife in his hand as a +surgeon. He had opened the body of one of Archias's slaves, who had been +nursed by Daphne, and cured him after all other physicians had given him +up. + +When this man's voice reached Hermon, he repeated to himself the words +of refusal with which the great physician had formerly declined to devote +his time and skill to him. Perhaps he was right then--and how +differently he treated him to-day! + +Thyone had informed the famous scientist of everything which she knew +from Hermon, and had learned of the last period of his life through Bias. + +She now listened with eager interest, sometimes completing Hermon's +acknowledgments by an explanatory or propitiating word, as the leeches +subjected him to a rigid examination, but the latter felt that his +statements were not to serve curiosity, but an honest desire to aid him. +So he spoke to them with absolute frankness. + +When the examination was over, Erasistratus exclaimed to his professional +colleague: "This old woman! Precisely as I would have prescribed. She +ordered the strictest diet with the treatment. She rejected every strong +internal remedy, and forbade him wine, much meat, and all kinds of +seasoning. Our patient was directed to live on milk and the same simple +gifts of Nature which I would have ordered for him. The herb juice in +the clever sorceress's salve proved the best remedy. The incantations +could do no harm. On the contrary, they often produce a wonderful effect +on the mind, and from it proceed further." + +Here Erasistratus asked to have a description of the troubles which still +affected Hermon's vision, and the passionate eagerness with which the +leeches gazed into his eyes strengthened the artist's budding hope. +Never had he wished more ardently that Daphne was back at his side. + +He also listened with keen attention when the scientists finally +discussed in low tones what they had perceived, and caught the words, +"White scar on the cornea," "leucoma," and "operation." He also heard +Herophilus declare that an injury of the cornea by the flame of the torch +was the cause of the blindness. In the work which led him to the +discovery of the retina in the eye he had devoted himself sedulously to +the organs of sight. This case seemed as if it had been created for his +friend's keen knife. + +What expectations this assurance aroused in the half-cured man, who felt +as if the goal was already gained, when, shortly after, Erasistratus, the +greatest physician of his time, offered to make the attempt in Alexandria +to remove, by a few little incisions, what still dimmed his impaired +vision! + +Hermon, deeply agitated, thanked the leech, and when Thyone perceived +what was passing in his mind she ventured to ask the question whether it +would not be feasible to perform the beneficent work here, and, if +possible, the next day, and the surgeon was ready to fulfil the wish of +the matron and the sufferer speedily. He would bring the necessary +instruments with him. It only depended upon whether a suitable room +could be found in the crowded city, and Thyone believed that such a one +could not be lacking in the great building at her disposal. + +A short conversation with the steward confirmed this opinion. + +Then Erasistratus appointed the next morning for the operation. During +the ceremony of consecrating the temple it would be quiet in the house +and its vicinity. The preliminary fasting which he imposed upon his +patients Hermon had already undergone. + +"The pure desert air here," he added, "will be of the utmost assistance +in recovery. The operation is slight, and free from danger. A few days +will determine its success. I shall remain here with their Majesties, +only--" and here he hesitated doubtfully--" where shall I find a +competent assistant?" + +Herophilus looked his colleague in the face with a sly smile, saying, +"If you credit the old man of Chalcedon with the needful skill, he is at +your disposal." + +"Herophilus!" cried Thyone, and tears of emotion wet her aged eyes, +which easily overflowed; but when Hermon tried to give expression to his +fervent gratitude in words, Erasistratus interrupted him, exclaiming, as +he grasped his comrade's hand, "It honours the general in his purple +robe, when he uses the spade in the work of intrenchment." + +Many other matters were discussed before the professional friends +withdrew, promising to go to work early the next morning. + +They kept their word, and while the temple of the god Turn resounded with +music and the chanting of hymns by the priests, whose dying notes entered +the windows of the sick-room, while Queen Arsinoe-Philadelphus led the +procession, and the King, who was prevented by the gout from entering and +passing around the sanctuary at her side, ordered a monument to be +erected in commemoration of this festival, the famous leeches toiled +busily. + +When the music and the acclamations of the crowd died away, their task +was accomplished. The great Herophilus had rendered his equally +distinguished colleague the aid of an apprentice. When Hermon's lips +again tried to pour forth his gratitude, Herophilus interrupted him with +the exclamation: "Use the sight you have regained, young master, in +creating superb works of art, and I shall be in your debt, since, with +little trouble, I was permitted to render a service to the whole Grecian +world." + +Hermon spent seven long days and nights full of anxious expectation in a +darkened room. Bias and a careful old female slave of the Lady Thyone +watched him faithfully. Philippus, his wife, and his famous son Eumedes +were allowed to pay him only brief visits; but Erasistratus watched the +success of the operation every morning. True, it had been by no means +dangerous, and certainly would not have required his frequent visits, but +it pleased the investigator, reared in the school of Stoics, to watch how +this warm-blooded young artist voluntarily submitted to live in accord +with reason and Nature--the guiding stars of his own existence. + +But Hermon opened his soul to his learned friend, and what Erasistratus +thus learned strengthened the conviction of this great alleviator of +physical pain that suffering and knowledge of self were the best +physicians for the human soul. The scientist, who saw in the arts the +noblest ornament of mortal life, anticipated with eager interest Hermon's +future creative work. + +On the seventh day the leech removed the bandage from his patient's eyes, +and the cry of rapture with which Hermon clasped him in his arms richly +rewarded him for his trouble and solicitude. + +The restored man beheld in sharp, clear, undimmed outlines everything at +which the physician desired him to look. + +Now Erasistratus could write to his friend Herophilus in Alexandria that +the operation was successful. + +The sculptor was ordered to avoid the dazzling sunlight a fortnight +longer, then he might once more use his eyes without restriction, and +appeal to the Muse to help in creating works of art. + +Thyone was present at this explanation. After she had conquered the +great emotion which for a time sealed her lips, her first question, after +the physician's departure, was: "And Nemesis? She too, I think, has fled +before the new light?" + +Hermon pressed her hand still more warmly, exclaiming with joyous +confidence: "No, Thyone! True, I now have little reason to fear the +avenging goddess who pursues the criminal, but all the more the other +Nemesis, who limits the excess of happiness. Will she not turn her swift +wheel, when I again, with clear eyes, see Daphne, and am permitted to +work in my studio once more with keen eyes and steady hand?" + +Now the barriers which had hitherto restricted Hermon's social +intercourse also fell. Eumedes, the commander of the fleet, often +visited him, and while exchanging tales of their experiences they became +friends. + +When Hermon was alone with Thyone and her gray-haired husband, the +conversation frequently turned upon Daphne and her father. + +Then the recovered artist learned to whom Archias owed his escape from +being sentenced to death and having his property confiscated. Papers, +undeniably genuine, had proved what large sums had been advanced by the +merchant during the period of the first Queen Arsinoe's conspiracy, and +envious foes had done their best to prejudice the King and his sister- +wife against Archias. Then the gray-haired hero fearlessly interceded +for his friend, and the monarch did not remain deaf to his +representations. King Ptolemy was writing the history of the conqueror +of the world, and needed the aged comrade of Alexander, the sole survivor +who had held a prominent position in the great Macedonian's campaigns. +It might be detrimental to his work, on which he set great value, if he +angered the old warrior, who was a living source of history. Yet the +King was still ill-disposed to the merchant, for while he destroyed +Archias's death sentence which had been laid before him for his +signature, he said to Philippus: "The money-bag whose life I give you was +the friend of my foe. Let him beware that my arm does not yet reach him +from afar!" + +Nay, his resentment went so far that he refused to receive Hermon, when +Eumedes begged permission to present the artist whose sight had been so +wonderfully restored. + +"To me he is still the unjustly crowned conspirator," Philadelphus +replied. "Let him create the remarkable work which I formerly expected +from him, and perhaps I shall have a somewhat better opinion of him, deem +him more worthy of our favour." + +Under these circumstances it was advisable for Archias and Daphne to +remain absent from Alexandria, and the experienced couple could only +approve Hermon's decision to go to Pergamus as soon as Erasistratus +dismissed him. A letter from Daphne, which reached Thyone's hands at +this time, increased the convalescent's already ardent yearning to the +highest pitch. The girl entreated her maternal friend to tell her +frankly the condition of her lover's health. If he had recovered, he +would know how to find her speedily; if the blindness was incurable, she +would come herself to help him bear the burden of his darkened existence. +Chrysilla would accompany her, but she could leave her father alone in +Pergamus a few months without anxiety, for he had a second son there in +his nephew Myrtilus, and had found a kind friend in Philetaerus, the +ruler of the country. + +From this time Hermon daily urged Erasistratus to grant him entire +liberty, but the leech steadfastly refused, though he knew whither his +young friend longed to go. + +Not until the beginning of the fourth week after the operation did he +himself lead Hermon into the full sunlight, and when the recovered artist +came out of the house he raised his hands in mute prayer, gushing from +the inmost depths of his heart. + +The King was to return to Alexandria in a few days, and at the same time +Philippus and Thyone were going back to Pelusium. Hermon wished to +accompany them there and sail thence on a ship bound for Pergamus. + +With Eumedes he visited the unfamiliar scenes around him, and his newly +restored gift of sight presented to him here many things that formerly he +would scarcely have noticed, but which now filled him with grateful joy. +Gratitude, intense gratitude, had taken possession of his whole being. +This feeling mastered him completely and seemed to be fostered and +strengthened by every breath, every heart throb, every glance into his +own soul and the future. + +Besides, many beauties, nay, even many marvels, presented themselves to +his restored eyes. The whole wealth of the magic of beauty, intellect, +and pleasure in life, characteristic of the Greek nature, appeared to +have followed King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoe-Philadelphus hither. +Gardens had been created on the arid, sandy soil, whose gray and yellow +surface extended in every direction, the water on the shore of the canal +which united Pithom with the Nile not sufficing to render it possible to +make even a narrow strip of arable land. Fresh water flowed from +beautiful fountains adorned with rich carvings, and the pure fluid filled +large porphyry and marble basins. Statues, single and in groups, stood +forth in harmonious arrangement against green masses of leafage, and +Grecian temples, halls, and even a theatre, rapidly constructed in the +noblest forms from light material, invited the people to devotion, to the +enjoyment of the most exquisite music, and to witness the perfect +performance of many a tragedy and comedy. + +Statues surrounded the hurriedly erected palaestra where the Ephebi every +morning practised their nude, anointed bodies in racing, wrestling, and +throwing the discus. What a delight it was to Hermon to feast his eyes +upon these spectacles! What a stimulus to the artist, so long absorbed +in his own thoughts, who had so recently returned from the wilderness to +the world of active life, when he was permitted, in Erasistratus's tent, +to listen to the great scholars who had accompanied the King to the +desert! Only the regret that Daphne was not present to share his +pleasure clouded Hermon's enjoyment, when Eumedes related to his parents, +himself, and a few chosen friends the adventures encountered, and the +experiences gathered in distant Ethiopia, on land and water, in battle +and the chase, as investigator and commander. + +The utmost degree of variety had entered into the simplicity of the +monotonous desert, the most refined abundance for the intellect and the +need of beauty appeared amid its barrenness. + +The poet Callimachus had just arrived with a new chorus of singers, +tablets by Antiphilus and Nicias had come to beautify the last days of +the residence in the desert--when doves, the birds of Aphrodite, flew +with the speed of lightning into Pithom, but instead of bringing a new +message of love and announcing the approach of fresh pleasure, they bore +terrible tidings which put joy to flight and stifled mirthfulness. + +The unbridled greed of rude barbarians had chosen Alexandria for its +goal, and startled the royal pair and their chosen companions from the +sea of pleasure where they would probably have remained for weeks. + +The four thousand Gauls who had been obtained to fight against Cyrene +were in the act of rushing rapaciously upon the richest city in the +world. The most terrible danger hung like a black cloud over the capital +founded by Alexander, whose growth had been so rapid. True, General +Satvrus asserted that he was strong enough, with the troops at his +disposal, to defeat the formidable hordes; but a second dove, sent by the +epitropus who had remained in Alexandria, alluded to serious disaster +which it would scarcely be possible to avert. + +The doves now flew swiftly to and fro; but before the third arrived, +Eumedes, the commander of the fleet just from Ethiopia, was already on +the way to Alexandria with all the troops assembled on the frontier. + +The King and Queen, with the corps of pages and the corps of youths, +entered the boats waiting for them to return, drawn by teams of four +swift horses, to Memphis, to await within the impregnable fortress of the +White Castle the restoration of security in the capital. + +The Greeks prized the most valiant fearlessness so highly that no shadow +could be suffered to rest upon the King's, and therefore the monarch's +hurried departure was made in a way which permitted no thought of flight, +and merely resembled impatient yearning for new festivals and the earnest +desire to fulfil grave duties in another portion of the kingdom. + +Many of the companions of the royal pair, among them Erasistratus, +accompanied them. Hermon bade him farewell with a troubled heart, and +the leech, too, parted with regret from the artist to whom, a year +before, he had refused his aid. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Hermon went, with Philippus and Thyone, on board the ship which was to +convey them through the new canal to Pelusium, where the old commandant +had to plan all sorts of measures. In the border fortress the artist was +again obliged to exercise patience, for no ship bound to Pergamus or +Lesbos could be found in the harbour. Philippus had as much work as he +could do, but all his arrangements were made when carrier doves announced +that the surprise intended by the Gauls had been completely thwarted, and +his son Eumedes was empowered to punish them. + +The admiral would take his fleet to the Sebennytic mouth of the Nile. + +Another dove came from King Ptolemy, and summoned the old general at once +to the capital. Philippus resolved to set off without delay and, as the +way led past that mouth of the Nile, met his son on the voyage. + +Hermon must accompany him and his wife to Alexandria, whence, without +entering the city, he could sail for Pergamus; ships bound to all the +ports in the Mediterranean were always in one of the harbours of the +capital. A galley ready to weigh anchor was constantly at the disposal +of the commandant of the fortress, and the next noon the noble pair, with +Hermon and his faithful Bias, went on board the Galatea. + +The weather was dull, and gray clouds were sweeping across the sky over +the swift vessel, which hugged the coast, and, unless the wind shifted, +would reach the narrow tongue of land pierced by the Sebennytic mouth of +the Nile before sunrise. + +Though the general and his wife went to rest early, Hermon could not +endure the close air of the cabin. Wrapped in his cloak he went on deck. +The moon, almost full, was sailing in the sky, sometimes covered by dark +clouds, sometimes leaving them behind. Like a swan emerging from the +shadow of the thickets along the shore upon the pure bosom of the lake, +it finally floated into the deep azure of the radiant firmament. +Hermon's heart swelled. + +How he rejoiced that he was again permitted to behold the starry sky, and +satiate his soul with the beauty of creation! What delight it gave him +that the eternal wanderers above were no longer soulless forms, that he +again saw in the pure silver disk above friendly Selene, in the rolling +salt waves the kingdom of Poseidon! To-morrow, when the deep blue water +was calm, he would greet the sea-god Glaucus, and when snowy foam crowned +the crests of the waves, white-armed Thetis. The wind was no longer an +empty sound to him; no, it, too, came from a deity. All Nature had +regained a new, divine life. Doubtless he felt much nearer to his +childhood than before, but he was infinitely less distant from the +eternal divinity. And all the forms, so full of meaning, which appeared +to him from Nature, and from every powerful emotion of his own soul, were +waiting to be represented by his art in the noblest of forms, those of +human beings. There were few with whose nature he had not become +familiar in the darkness and solitude that once surrounded him. + +When he began to create again, he had only to summon them, and he +awaited, with the suspense of the general who is in command of new +troops on the eve of battle, the success of his own work after the +great transformation which had taken place in him. + +What a stress and tumult! + +He had controlled it since the first hour when he regained his full +vision. He would fain have transformed the moon into the sun, the ship +into the studio, and begun to model. + +He knew, too, what he desired to create. + +He would model an Apollo trampling under foot the slain dragon of +darkness. + +He would succeed in this work now. And as he looked up and saw Selene +just emerging again from the black cloud island, the thought entered his +mind that it was a moonlight night like this when all the unspeakably +terrible misfortune occurred--which was now past. + +Yet neither the calm wanderer above nor a resentful woman had exposed him +to the persecution of Nemesis. In the stillness of the desert he had +perceived what had brought all this terrible suffering upon him; but he +would not repeat it to himself now, for he felt within his soul the power +to remain faithful to his best self in the future. + +With clear eyes he gazed keenly and blithely at the new life. Nothing, +least of all, futile self-torturing regret for faults committed, should +cloud the fair morning dawning anew for him, which summoned him to active +work, to gratitude and love. + +Uttering a sigh of relief, he paced the deck--now brilliantly illuminated +by silvery light--with long strides. + +The moon above his head reminded him of Ledscha. He was no longer angry +with her. The means by which she had intended to destroy him had been +transformed into a benefit, and while in the desert he had perceived how +often man finally blesses, as the highest gain, what he at first regarded +as the most cruel affliction. + +How distinctly the image of the Biamite again stood before his agitated +soul! + +Had he not loved her once? + +Or how had it happened that, though his heart was Daphne's, and hers +alone, he had felt wounded and insulted when his Bias, who was leaning +over the railing of the deck yonder, gazing at the glittering waves, had +informed him that Ledscha had been accompanied in her flight from her +unloved husband by the Gaul whose life he, Hermon, had saved? Was this +due to jealousy or merely wounded vanity at being supplanted in a heart +which he firmly believed belonged, though only in bitter hate, solely to +him? + +She certainly had not forgotten him, and while the remembrance of her +blended with the yearning for Daphne which never left him, he sat down +and gazed out into the darkness till his head drooped on his breast. + +Then a dream showed the Biamite to the slumbering man, yet no longer in +the guise of a woman, but as the spider Arachne. She increased before +his eyes to an enormous size and alighted upon the pharos erected by +Sostratus. Uninjured by the flames of the lighthouse, above which she +hovered, she wove a net of endlessly long gray threads over the whole +city of Alexandria, with its temples, palaces, and halls, harbours and +ships, until Daphne suddenly appeared with a light step and quietly cut +one after the other. + +Suddenly a shrill whistle aroused him. It was the signal of the flute- +player to relieve the rowers. + +A faint yellow line was now tingeing the eastern horizon of the gray, +cloudy sky. At his left extended the flat, dull-brown coast line, which +seemed to be lower than the turbid waves of the restless sea. The cold +morning wind was blowing light mists over the absolutely barren shore. +Not a tree, not a bush, not a human dwelling was to be seen in this +dreary wilderness. Wherever the eye turned, there was nothing but sand +and water, which united at the edge of the land. Long lines of surf +poured over the arid desert, and, as if repelled by the desolation of +this strand, returned to the wide sea whence they came. + +The shrill screams of the sea-gulls behind the ship, and the hoarse, +hungry croaking of the ravens on the shore blended with the roaring of +the waves. Hermon shuddered at this scene. Shivering, he wrapped his +cloak closer around him, yet he did not go to the protecting cabin, but +followed the nauarch, who pointed out to him the numerous vessels which, +in a wide curve, surrounded the place where the Sebennytic arm of the +Nile pierced the tongue of land to empty into the sea. + +The experienced seaman did not know what ships were doing there, but it +was hardly anything good; for ravens in a countless multitude were to be +seen on the shore and all moved toward the left. + +Philippus's appearance on deck interrupted the nauarch. He anxiously +showed the birds to the old hero also, and the latter's only reply was, +"Watch the helm and sails!" + +Yonder squadron, Philippus said to the artist, was a part of his son's +fleet; what brought it there was a mystery to him too. + +After the early meal, the galley of Eumedes approached his father's +trireme. Two other galleys, not much inferior in size, were behind, and +probably fifty smaller vessels were moving about the mouth of the Nile +and the whole dreary tongue of land. + +All belonged to the royal war fleet, and the deck of every one was +crowded with armed soldiers. + +On one a forest of lances bristled in the murky air, and upon its +southward side a row of archers, each man holding his bow in his hand, +stood shoulder to shoulder. + +At what mark were their arrows to be aimed? The men on board the Galatea +saw it distinctly, for the shore was swarming with human figures, here +standing crowded closely together, like horses attacked by a pack of +wolves; yonder running, singly or in groups, toward the sea or into the +land. Dark spots on the light sand marked the places where others had +thrown themselves on the ground, or, kneeling, stretched out their arms +as if in defence. + +Who were the people who populated this usually uninhabited, inhospitable +place so densely and in so strange a manner? + +This could not be distinguished from the Galatea with the naked eye, but +Philippus thought that they were the Gauls whose punishment had been +intrusted to his son, and it soon proved that the old general was right; +for just as the Galatea was approaching the shore, a band of twenty or +thirty men plunged into the sea. They were Gauls. The light complexions +and fair and red bristling hair showed this--Philippus knew them, and +Hermon remembered the hordes of men who had rushed past him on the ride +to Tennis. + +But the watchers were allowed only a short time for observation; brief +shouts of command rang from the ships near them, long bows were raised in +the air, and one after another of the light-hued forms in the water threw +up its arms, sprang up, or sank motionless into the waves around them, +which were dyed with a crimson stain. + +The artist shuddered; the gray-haired general covered his head with his +cloak, and the Lady Thyone followed his example, uttering her son's name +in a tone of loud lamentation. + +The nauarch pointed to the black birds in the air and close above the +shore and the water; but the shout, "A boat from the admiral's galley!" +soon attracted the attention of the voyagers on the Galatea in a new +direction. + +Thirty powerful rowers were urging the long, narrow boat toward them. +Sometimes raised high on the crest of a mountain wave, sometimes sinking +into the hollow, it completed its trip, and Eumedes mounted a swinging +rope ladder to the Galatea's deck as nimbly as a boy. + +Here the young commander of the fleet hastened toward his parents. His +mother sobbed aloud at his anything but cheerful greeting; Philippus said +mournfully, "I have heard nothing yet, but I know all." + +"Father," replied the admiral, and raising the helmet from his head, +covered with brown curls, he added mournfully: "First as to these men +here. It will teach you to understand the other terrible things. Your +Uncle Archias's house was destroyed; yonder men were the criminals." + +"In the capital!" Philippus exclaimed furiously, and Hermon cried in no +less vehement excitement: "How did my uncle get the ill will of these +monsters? But as the vengeance is in your hands, they will atone for +this breach of the peace!" + +"Severely, perhaps too severely," replied Eumedes gloomily, and +Philippus asked his son how this evil deed could have happened, and the +purport of the King's command. + +The admiral related what had occurred in the capital since his departure +from Pithom. + +The four thousand Gauls who had been sent by King Antiochus to the +Egyptian army as auxiliary troops against Cyrene refused, before reaching +Paraetonium, on the western frontier of the Egyptian kingdom, to obey +their Greek commanders. As they tried to force them to continue their +march, the barbarians left them bound in the road. They spared their +lives, but rushed with loud shouts of exultation toward Alexandria, which +was close at hand. + +They had learned that the city was almost stripped of troops, and the +most savage instinct urged them toward the wealthy capital. + +Without encountering any resistance, they broke through the necropolis +into Alexandria, crossed the Draco canal, and marched past the unfinished +Temple of Serapis through the Rhakotis. At the Canopic Way they turned +eastward and rushed through this main artery of traffic till, in the +Brucheium, they hastened in a northerly direction toward the sea. + +South of the Theatre of Dionysus they halted. One division turned toward +the market-place, another toward the royal palaces. + +Until they reached the Brucheium the hordes, so eager for booty, had +refrained from plunder and pillage. + +Their whole strength was to be reserved, as the examination proved, for +the attack upon the royal palaces. Several people who were thoroughly +familiar with Alexandria had acted as guides. + +The instigator of the mutiny was said to be a Gallic captain who had +taken part in the surprise of Delphi, but, having ventured to punish +disobedient soldiers, he was killed. A bridge-builder from the ranks, +and his wife, who was not of Gallic blood, had taken his place. + +This woman, a resolute and obstinate but rarely beautiful creature, when +the division that was to attack the royal palaces was marching past the +house which Hermon had occupied as the heir of Myrtilus, pressed forward +herself across the threshold, to order the mutineers who followed her to +destroy and steal whatever came in their way. The bridge-builder went to +the market-place, and in pillaging the wealthy merchants' houses began +with Archias's. Meanwhile it was set on fire and, with the large +warehouses adjoining it, was burned to the foundation walls. + +But the robbers were to obtain no permanent success, either in the +market-place or in Myrtilus's house, which was diagonally opposite to the +palaestra; for General Satyrus, at the first tidings of their approach, +had collected all the troops at his disposal and the crews of several war +galleys, and imprisoned the division in the market-place as though in a +mouse-trap. The bands to which the woman belonged were forced by the +cavalry into the palaestra and the neighbouring Maander, and kept there +until Eumedes brought re-enforcements and compelled the Gauls to +surrender. + +The King sent from Memphis the order to take the vanquished men to the +tongue of land where they now were, and could easily be imprisoned +between the sea and the Sebennytic inland lake. They were guilty of +death to the last man, and starvation was to perform the executioner's +office upon them. + +He, Eumedes, the admiral concluded, was in the King's service, and must +do what his commander in chief ordered. + +"Duty," sighed Philippus; "yet what a punishment!" + +He held out his hand to his son as he spoke, but the Lady Thyone shook +her head mournfully, saying: "There are four thousand over yonder; and +the philosopher and historian on the throne, the admirable art critic +who bestows upon his capital and Egypt all the gifts of peace, who +understands how to guard and develop it better than any one else--yet +what influence the gloomy powers exert upon him!" + +Here she hesitated, and went on in a low whisper: "The blood of two +brothers stains his hand and his conscience. The oldest, to whom the +throne would have belonged, he exiled. And our friend, Demetrius +Phalereus, his father's noble councillor! Because you, Philippus, +interceded for him--though you were in a position of command, because +Ptolemy knows your ability--you were sent to distant Pelusium, and there +we should be still--" + +"Guard your tongue, wife!" interrupted the old general in a tone of grave +rebuke. "The vipers on the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt symbolize +the King's swift power over life and death. To the Egyptians the +Philadelphi, Ptolemy and Arsinoe, are gods, and what cause have we +to reproach them except that they use their omnipotence?" + +"And, mother," Eumedes eagerly added, "do not the royal pair on the +throne merely follow the example of far greater ones among the immortal +gods? When the very Gauls who are devoted to death yonder, greedy for +booty, attacked Delphi, four years ago, it was the august brother and +sister, Apollo and Artemis, who sent them to Hades with their arrows, +while Zeus hurled his thunderbolts at them and ordered heavy boulders to +fall upon them from the shaken mountains. Many of the men over there +fled from destruction at Delphi. Unconverted, they added new crimes to +the old ones, but now retribution will overtake them. The worse the +crime, the more bloody the vengeance. + +"Even the last must die, as my sovereign commands; only I shall determine +the mode of death according to my own judgment, and at the same time, +mother, feel sure of your approval. Instead of lingering starvation, +I shall use swift arrows. Now you know what you were obliged to learn. +It would be wise, mother, for you to leave this abode of misery. Duty +summons me to my ship." He held out his hand to his parents and Hermon +as he spoke, but the latter clasped it firmly, exclaiming in a tone of +passionate emotion, "What is the name of the woman to whom, though she is +not of their race, the lawless barbarians yielded?" + +"Ledscha," replied the admiral. + +Hermon started as if stung by a scorpion, and asked, "Where is she?" + +"On my ship," was the reply, "if she has not yet been taken ashore with +the others." + +"To be killed with the pitiable band there?" cried Thyone angrily, +looking her son reproachfully in the face. + +"No, mother," replied Eumedes. "She will be taken to the others under +the escort of trustworthy men in order, perhaps, to induce her to speak. +It must be ascertained whether there were accomplices in the attack on +the royal palaces, and lastly whence the woman comes." + +"I can tell you that myself," replied Hermon. "Allow me to accompany +you. I must see and speak to her." + +"The Arachne of Tennis?" asked Thyone. Hermon's mute nod of assent +answered the question, but she exclaimed: "The unhappy woman, who called +down the wrath of Nemesis upon you, and who has now herself fallen a prey +to the avenging goddess. What do you want from her?" + +Hermon bent down to his old friend and whispered, "To lighten her +terrible fate, if it is in my power." + +"Go, then," replied the matron, and turned to her son, saying, "Let +Hermon tell you how deeply this woman has influenced his life, and, +when her turn comes, think of your mother." + +"She is a woman," replied Eumedes, "and the King's mandate only commands +me to punish men. Besides, I promised her indulgence if she would make a +confession." + +"And she?" asked Hermon. + +"Neither by threats nor promises," answered the admiral, "can this +sinister, beautiful creature be induced to speak." + +"Certainly not," said the artist, and a smile of satisfaction flitted +over his face. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A short row took Hermon and Eumedes the admiral's galley. Ledscha had +already been carried ashore. There she was to be confronted with the men +who were suspected of having showed the mutineers the way to the city. + +Absorbed in his own thoughts, Hermon waited for the admiral, who at first +was claimed by one official duty after another. The artist's thoughts +lingered with Daphne. To her father the loss of his house, nay, perhaps +of his wealth, would seem almost unendurable, yet even were he beggared, +provision was made for him and his daughter. He, Hermon, could again +create, as in former days, and what happiness it would be if he were +permitted to repay the man to whom he owed so much for the kindness +bestowed upon him! + +He longed to give to the woman he loved again and again, and it would +have seemed to him a favour of fortune if the flames had consumed even +the last drachm of her wealthy father. + +Completely engrossed by these reflections, he forgot the horrors before +him, but when he raised his eyes and saw the archers continuing their +terrible work he shuddered. + +The admiral's galley lay so near the shore that he distinguished the +figures of the Gauls separately. Some, obeying the instinct of self +preservation, fled from the places which could be reached by the arrows +of the archers on the ships, but others pressed toward the shafts. A +frightful, heart-rending spectacle, yet how rich in food for the long- +darkened eyes of the artist! Two brothers of unusual height, who, nude +like all their comrades in death, offered their broad, beautifully arched +chests to the arrows, would not leave his memory. It was a terrible +sight, yet grand and worthy of being wrested from oblivion by art, and it +impressed itself firmly on his mind. + +After noon Eumedes could at last devote himself to his young friend. +Although the wind drove showers of fine rain before it, the admiral +remained on deck with the sculptor. What cared they for the inclement +weather, while one was recalling to mind and telling his friend how the +hate of an offended woman had unchained the gloomy spirits of revenge +upon him, the other, who had defied death on land water, listened to his +story, sometimes in surprise, sometimes with silent horror? + +After the examination to which she had been subjected, Eumedes had +believed Ledscha to be as Hermon described her. He found nothing petty +in this beautiful, passionate creature who avenged the injustice +inflicted upon her as Fate took vengeance, who, with unsparing energy, +anticipated the Nemesis to whom she appealed, compelled men's obedience, +and instead of enriching herself cast away the talents extorted to bring +down fresh ruin upon the man who had transformed her love to hate. + +While the friends consulted together with lowered voices, their +conjecture became conviction that it was the Biamite's inextinguishable +hate which had led her to the Gauls and induced her to share the attack +upon the capital. + +The assault upon the houses of Archias and Myrtilus was a proof of this, +for the latter was still believed to be Hermon's property. She had +probably supposed that the merchant's palace sheltered Daphne, in whom, +even at Tennis, she had seen and hated her successful rival. + +Only the undeniable fact that Ledscha was the bridge-builder's companion +presented an enigma difficult to solve. The freedman Bias had remained +on Philippus's galley, and could not now be appealed to for a +confirmation of his assertions, but Hermon distinctly remembered his +statement that Ledscha had allowed the Gaul, after he had received the +money intended for him, to take her from Pitane to Africa. + +When the short November day was drawing to a close, and the friends had +strengthened themselves with food and drink, the rain ceased and, as the +sun set, its after-glow broke through the rifts and fissures in the black +wall of clouds in the western horizon like blazing flames in the +conflagration of a solid stone building. Yet the glow vanished swiftly +enough. The darkness of night spread over the sea and the arid strip of +land in the south, but the greedy croaking of the ravens and vultures +echoed more and more loudly from the upper air. From time to time the +outbursts of rage and agony of despairing men, and horrible jeering +laughter, drowned the voices of the flocks of birds and the roaring of +the tempestuous sea. Sometimes, too, a sharp word of command, or a +signal heard for a long distance, pierced through the awful sounds. + +Here and there, and at last everywhere on the squadron, which surrounded +the tongue of land in a shallow curve, dim lights began to appear on the +masts and prows of the ships; but darkness brooded over the coast. Only +in the three fortified guardhouses, which had been hastily erected here, +the feeble light of a lantern illumined the gloom. + +Twinkling lights also appeared in the night heavens between the swiftly +flying clouds. One star after another began to adorn the blue islands in +the cloudy firmament, and at last the full moon burst through the heavy +banks of dark clouds, and shone in pure brilliancy above their heads, +like a huge silver vessel in the black catafalque of a giant. + +At the end of the first hour after sunset Eumedes ordered the boat to be +manned. + +Armed as if for battle, he prepared for the row to the scene of misery, +and requested Hermon to buckle a coat of mail under his chlamys and put +on the sword he gave him. True, a division of reliable Macedonian +warriors was to accompany them, and Ledscha was in a well-guarded place, +yet it might perhaps be necessary to defend themselves against an +outburst of despair among the condemned prisoners. On the short trip, +the crests of the tossing waves sometimes shone with a flickering light, +while elsewhere long shadows spread like dark sails over the sea. The +flat coast on which both men soon stepped was brightly illumined by the +moonbeams, and the forms of the doomed men stood forth, like the black +figures on the red background of a vase, upon the yellowish-brown sand +on which they were standing, running, walking, or lying. + +At the western end of the tongue of land a sand hill had been surrounded +by a wall and moat, guarded by heavily armed soldiers and several +archers. The level ground below had been made secure against any attack, +and on the right side was a roof supported by pillars. + +The officials intrusted with the examination of the ringleaders had +remained during the day in this hastily erected open hut. The latter, +bound to posts, awaited their sentence. + +The only woman among them was Ledscha, who crouched, unfettered, on the +ground behind the enclosure, which consisted of short stakes fastened by +a rope. + +Without presenting any serious obstacle, it merely indicated how far the +prisoners might venture to go. Whoever crossed it must expect to be +struck down by an arrow from the wall. This earthwork, it is true, +menaced those held captive here, but they also owed it a debt of +gratitude, for it shut from their eyes the horrible incidents on the +sandy plain between the sea and the inland lake. + +This spot was now made as light as day by the rays of the full moon which +floated in the pure azure sky far above the black cloud mountains, like a +white lotus flower on clear waters, and poured floods of silvery radiance +upon the earth. + +Eumedes commanded the Macedonians who formed his escort to remain at the +fortress on the dune, and, pointing out Ledscha by a wave of the hand, +he whispered to Hermon: "By the girdle of Aphrodite! she is terribly +beautiful! For whom is the Medea probably brewing in imagination the +poisoned draught?" + +Then he gave the sculptor permission to promise her immunity from +punishment if she would consent at least to explain the Gauls' connection +with the royal palaces; but Hermon strenuously refused to undertake this +or a similar commission to Ledscha. + +Eumedes had expected the denial, and merely expressed to his friend his +desire to speak to the Biamite after his interview was over. However +refractory she might be, his mother's intercession should benefit her. +Hermon might assure her that he, the commander, meant to deal leniently. +He pressed the artist's hand as he spoke, and walked rapidly away to +ascertain the condition of affairs in the other guardhouses. + +Never had the brave artist's heart throbbed faster in any danger than on +the eve of this meeting; but it was no longer love that thrilled it so +passionately, far less hate or the desire to let his foe feel that her +revenge was baffled. + +It was easy for the victor to exercise magnanimity, and easiest of all +for the sculptor in the presence of so beautiful an enemy, and Hermon +thought he had never seen the Biamite look fairer. How exquisitely +rounded was the oval, how delicately cut the profile of her face, how +large were the widely separated, sparkling eyes, above which, even in the +pale moonlight, the thick black brows were visible, united under the +forehead as if for a dark deed to be performed in common! + +Time had rather enhanced than lessened the spell of this wonderful young +creature. Now she rose from the ground where she had been crouching and +paced several times up and down the short path at her disposal; but she +started suddenly, for one of the Gauls bound to the posts, in whom Hermon +recognised the bridge-builder, Lutarius, called her name, and when she +turned her face toward him, panted in broken Greek like one overwhelmed +by despair: "Once more--it shall be the last time--I beseech you! Lay +your hand upon my brow, and if that is too much, speak but one kind word +to me before all is over! I only want to hear that you do not hate me +like a foe and despise me like a dog. What can it cost you? You need +only tell me in two words that you are sorry for your harshness." + +"The same fate awaits us both," cried Ledscha curtly and firmly. "Let +each take care of himself. When my turn comes and my eyes grow dim in +death, I will thank them that they will not show you to me again, base +wretch, throughout eternity." + +Lutarius shrieked aloud in savage fury, and tore so frantically at the +strong ropes which bound him that the firm posts shook, but Ledscha +turned away and approached the hut. + +She leaned thoughtfully against one of the pillars that supported the +roof, and the artist's eyes watched her intently; every movement seemed +to him noble and worth remembering. + +With her hand shading her brow, she gazed upward to the full moon. + +Hermon had already delayed speaking to her too long, but he would have +deemed it criminal to startle her from this attitude. So must Arachne +have stood when the goddess, in unjust anger, raised the weaver's shuttle +against the more skilful mortal; for while Ledscha's brow frowned +angrily, a triumphant smile hovered around her mouth. At the same time +she slightly opened her exquisitely formed lips, and the little white +teeth which Hermon had once thought so bewitchingly beautiful glittered +between them. + +Like the astronomer who fixes his gaze and tries to imprint upon his +memory some rare star in the firmament which a cloud is threatening to +obscure, he now strove to obtain Ledscha's image. He would and could +model her in this attitude, exactly as she stood there, without her veil, +which had been torn from her during the hand-to-hand conflict when she +was captured, with her thick, half-loosened tresses falling over her left +shoulder; nav, even with the slightly hooked nose, which was opposed to +the old rule of art that permitted only the straight bridge of the nose +to be given to beautiful women. Her nature harmonized with the ideal. +even in the smallest detail; here any deviation from reality must tend to +injure the work. + +She remained motionless for minutes in the same attitude, as if she knew +that she was posing to an artist; but Hermon gazed at her as if spell +bound till the fettered Gaul again called her name. + +Then she left the supporting pillar, approached the barrier, stopped at +the rope which extended from one short stake to another, and gazed at the +man who was following her outside of the rope. + +It was a Greek who stood directly opposite to her. A black beard adorned +his grave, handsome countenance. He, too, had a chlamys, such as she had +formerly seen on another. Only the short sword, which he wore suspended +at his right side in the Hellenic fashion, would not suit that other; but +suddenly a rush of hot blood crimsoned her face. As if to save herself +from falling, she flung out both arms and clutched a stake with her right +and her left hand, thrusting her head and the upper portion of her body +across the rope toward the man whose appearance had created so wild a +tumult in her whole being. + +At last she called Hermon's name in such keen suspense that it fell upon +his ear like a shrill cry. + +"Ledscha," he answered warmly, extending both hands to her in sincere +sympathy; but she did not heed the movement, and her tone of calm self- +satisfaction surprised him as she answered: "So you seek me in +misfortune? Even the blind man knows how to find me here." + +"I would far rather have met you again in the greatest happiness!" he +interrupted gently. "But I am no longer blind. The immortals again +permit me, as in former days, to feast my eyes upon your marvellous +beauty." + +A shrill laugh cut short his words, and the "Not blind!" which fell again +and again from her lips sounded more like laughter than speech. + +There are tears of grief and of joy, and the laugh which is an +accompaniment of pleasure is also heard on the narrow boundary between +suffering and despair. + +It pierced the artist's heart more deeply than the most savage outburst +of fury, and when Ledscha gasped: "Not blind! Cured! Rich and possessed +of sight, perfect sight!" he understood her fully for the first time, and +could account for the smile of satisfaction which had just surprised him +on her lips. + +He gazed at her, absolutely unable to utter a word; but she went on +speaking, while a low, sinister laugh mingled with her tones: "So this +is avenging justice! It allows us women to be trampled under foot, and +holds its hands in its lap! My vengeance! How I have lauded Nemesis! +How exquisitely my retaliation seemed to have succeeded! And now? It +was mere delusion and deception. He who was blind sees. He who was to +perish in misery is permitted, with a sword at his side, to gloat over +our destruction. Listen, if the good news has not already reached you! +I, too, am condemned to death. But what do I care for myself? Even less +than those to whom we pray and offer sacrifices for the betrayed woman. +Now I am learning to know them! Thus Nemesis thanks me for the lavish +gifts I have bestowed upon her? Just before my end she throws you, the +rewarded traitor, into my way! I must submit to have the hated foe, +whose blinding was the sole pleasure in my ruined life, look me in the +face with insolent joy." + +Hermon's quick blood boiled. + +With fierce resentment he grasped her hand, which lay on the rope, +pressed it violently in his strong clasp, and exclaimed, "Stop, mad +woman, that I may not be forced to think of you as a poisonous serpent +and repulsive spider!" + +Ledscha had vainly endeavoured to withdraw her hand while he was +speaking. Now he himself released it; but she looked up at him in +bewilderment, as if seeking aid, and said sadly: "Once--you know that +yourself--I was different--even as long as I supposed my vengeance had +succeeded. But now? The false goddess has baffled every means with +which I sought to punish you. Who averted the sorest ill treatment from +my head? And I was even defrauded of the revenge which it was my right, +nay, my duty, to exercise." + +She finished the sentence with drooping head, as if utterly crushed, and +this time she did not laugh, but Hermon felt his wrath transformed to +sympathy, and he asked warmly and kindly if she would let nothing appease +her, not even if he begged her forgiveness for the wrong he had done her, +and promised to obtain her life, nay, also her liberty. + +Ledscha shook her head gently, and gravely answered: "What is left me +without hate? What are the things which others deem best and highest to +a miserable wretch like me?" + +Here Hermon pointed to the bridge-builder, bound to the post, saying, +"Yonder man led you away from the husband whom you had wedded, and from +him you received compensation for the love you had lost." + +"From him?" she cried furiously, and, raising her voice in a tone of the +most intense loathing: "Ask yonder scoundrel himself! Because I needed a +guide, I permitted him to take me away from my unloved husband and from +the Hydra. Because he would help me to shatter the new and undeserved +good fortune which you--yes, you--do you hear?--enjoyed, I remained with +him among the Gauls. More than one Alexandrian brought me the news that +you were revelling in golden wealth, and the wretch promised to make you +and your uncle beggars if the surprise succeeded. He did this, though he +knew that it was you who took him up from the road and saved his life; +for nothing good and noble dwells in his knavish soul. He yearned for +me, and still more ardently for the Alexandrians' gold. Worse than the +wolf that licked the hand of the man who bandaged its wounds, he would +have shown his teeth to the preserver of his life. I have learned this, +and if he dies here of starvation and thirst he will receive only what he +deserves. He knows, too, what I think of him. The greedy beast of prey +was not permitted even to touch my hand. Just ask him! There he is. +Let him tell you how I listened to his vows of love. Before I would +have permitted yonder wretch to recall to life what you crushed in +this heart--" + +Here Lutarius interrupted her with a flood of savage, scarcely +intelligible curses, but very soon one of the guards, who came out +of the hut, stopped him with a lash. + +When the Gaul, howling under the blows, was silenced, Hermon asked, "So +your mad thirst for vengeance also caused this suicidal attack?" + +"No," she answered simply; "but when they determined upon the assault, +and had killed their leader, Belgius, yonder monster stole to their head. +So it happened--I myself do not know how--that they also obeyed me, and I +took advantage of it and induced them to begin with your house and +Archias's. When they had captured the royal palaces, they intended to +assail the Temple of Demeter also." + +"Then you thought that even the terrible affliction of blindness would +not suffice to punish the man you hated?" asked Hermon. + +"No," she answered firmly; "for you could buy with your gold everything +life offers except sight, while in me--yes, in me--gloom darker than the +blackest night shrouded my soul. Through your fault I was robbed of all, +all that is clear to woman's heart: my father's house, his love, my +sister. Even the pleasure in myself which had been awakened by your +sweet flatteries was transformed by you into loathing." + +"By me?" cried Hermon, amazed by the injustice of this severe reproach; +but Ledscha answered his question with the resolute assertion, "By you +and you alone!" and then impatiently added: "You, who, by your art, could +transform mortal women into goddesses, wished to make me a humiliated +creature, with the rope which was to strangle her about her neck, and at +the same time the most repulsive of creeping insects. 'The hideous, +gray, eight-legged spider!' I exclaimed to myself, when I raised my arms +and saw my shadow on the sunlit ground. 'The spider!' I thought, when I +shook the distaff to draw threads from the flax in leisure hours. 'Your +image!' I said, when I saw spiders hanging in dusty corners, and catching +flies and gnats. All these things made me a horror to myself. And +at the same time to know that the Demeter, on whom you bestowed the +features of the daughter of Archias, was kindling the whole great city +of Alexandria with enthusiasm, and drawing countless worshippers to her +sanctuary! She, an object of adoration to thousands, I--the much-praised +beauty--a horror to myself! This is what fed my desire for vengeance +with fresh food by day and night; this urged me to remain with yonder +wretch; for he had promised, after pillaging the royal palaces, to +shatter your Demeter, the image of the daughter of Archias, which they +lauded and which brought you fame and honour--it was to be done before my +eyes--into fragments." + +"Mad woman!" Hermon again broke forth indignantly, and hastily told her +how she had been misinformed. + +Ledscha's large black eyes dilated as if some hideous spectre was rising +from the ground before her, while she heard that the Demeter was the work +of Myrtilus and not his; that his friend's legacy had long since ceased +to belong to him, and that he was again as poor as when he was in Tennis +during the time of their love. + +"And the blindness?" she asked sadly. + +"It transformed life for me into one long night, illumined by no single +ray of light," was the reply; "but, the immortals be praised, I was cured +of it, and it was old Tabus, on the Owl's Nest at Tennis, whose wisdom +and magic arts you so often lauded, who gave the remedy and advice to +which I owe my recovery." + +Here he hesitated, for Ledscha had seized the rope with one hand and the +stake at her right with the other, in order not to fall upon her knees; +but Hermon perceived how terribly his words agitated her, and spoke to +her soothingly. Ledscha did not seem to hear him, for while still +clinging to the rope she looked sometimes at the sand at her feet, +sometimes up to the full moon, which was now flooding both sky and earth +with light. + +At last she dropped it, and said in a hollow tone: "Now I understand +everything. You met her when Bias gave her the bridal dowry which was +to purchase my release from my husband. How it must have enraged her! +I thought of it all, pondered and pondered how to spare her; but through +whom, except Tabus, could I return to Hanno the property, won in battle +by his blood, which he had thrown away for me? Tabus kept the family +wealth. And she--the marriage bond which two persons formed was sacred +and unassailable--the woman who broke her faith with her husband and +turned from him--was an abomination to her. How she loved her sons and +grandsons! I knew that she would never forgive the wrong I did Hanno. +From resentment to me she cured the man whom I hated." + +"Yet probably also," said Hermon, "because my blighted youth aroused her +pity." + +"Perhaps so," replied Ledscha hesitatingly, gazing thoughtfully into +vacancy. "She was what her demons made her. Hard as steel and gentle +as a tender girl. I have experienced it. Oh, that she should die with +rancour against me in her faithful old heart! She could be so kind!-- +even when I confessed that you had won my love, she still held me dear. +But there are many great and small demons, and most of them were probably +subject to her. Tabus must have learned through them how deeply I +offended her son Satabus, and how greatly his son Hanno's life was +darkened through me. That is why she thwarted my vengeance, and her +spirits aided her. Thus all these things happened. I suspected it when +I heard that she had succumbed to death, which I--yes, I here--had held +back from her with severe toil through many a sleepless night. O these +demons! They will continue to act in the service of the dead. Wherever +I may go, they will pursue me and, at their mistress's bidding, baffle +what I hope and desire. I have learned this only too distinctly!" + +"No, Ledscha, no," Hermon protested. "Every power ceases with death, +even that of the sorceress over spirits. You shall be freed, poor woman! +You will be permitted to go wherever you desire; and I shall model no +spider after your person, but the fairest of women. Thousands will see +and admire her, and--if the Muse aids me--whoever, enraptured by her +beauty, asks, 'Who was the model for this work which inflames the most +obdurate heart?' will be told, 'It was Ledscha, the daughter of Shalit, +the Biamite, whom Hermon of Alexandria found worthy of carving in costly +marble." + +Ledscha uttered a deep sigh of relief, and asked: "Is that true? May I +believe it?" + +"As true," he answered warmly, "as that Selene, who promised to grant you +in her full radiance the greatest happiness, is now shedding her mild, +forgiving light upon us both." + +"The full moon," she murmured softly, gazing upward at the shining disk. + +Then she added in a louder tone: "Old Tabus's demons promised me +happiness--you know. It was the spider which so cruelly shadowed it for +me on every full moon, every day, and every night. Will you now swear to +model a statue from me, the statue of a beautiful human being that will +arouse the delight of all who see it? Delight--do you hear?--not +loathing--I ask again, will you?" + +"I will, and I shall succeed," he said earnestly, holding out his hand +across the rope. She clasped it, looked up to the full moon again, and +whispered: "This time--I will believe it--you will keep your promise +better than when you were in Tennis. And I--I will cease to wish you +evil, and I will tell you why. Bend your ear nearer, that I may confess +it openly." Hermon willingly obeyed the request, but she leaned her head +against his, and he felt her laboured breathing and the warm tears that +coursed silently down her cheeks as she said, in a low whisper: "Because +the moon is full, and will yet bring me what the demons promised, and +because, though strong, I am still a woman. Happiness! How long ago I +ceased to expect it!--but now-yes, it is what I now feel! I am happy, +and yet can not tell why. My love--oh, yes! It was more ardent than the +burning hate. Now you know it, too, Hermon. And I--I shall be free, you +say? And Tabus, how she lauded rest--eternal rest! Oh dearest--this +sorely tortured heart, too--you can not even imagine how weary I am!" + +Here she was silent, but the man into whose face she was gazing with +loving devotion felt a sudden movement at his side as she uttered the +exclamation. + +He did not notice it, for the sweet tone of her voice was penetrating the +inmost depths of his heart. It sounded as though she was speaking from +the happiest of dreams. + +"Ledscha!" he exclaimed warmly, extending his arm toward her--but she had +already stepped back from his side, and he now perceived the terrible +object--she had snatched his sword from its sheath, and as, seized by +sudden terror, he gazed at her, he saw the shining blade glitter in the +moonlight and suddenly vanish. + +In an instant he swung his agile body over the rope and rushed to her. +But she had already sunk to her knees, and while he clasped her in is +arms to support her, he heard her call his own name tenderly, then murmur +it in a lower tone, and the words "Full moon" and "Happiness" escape her +lips. + +Then she was silent, and her beautiful head dropped on her breast like a +flower broken by a tempest. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +"It was best so for her and for us," said Eumedes, after gazing long at +Ledscha's touchingly beautiful, still, dead face. + +Then he ordered her to be buried at once and shouted to the guards: +"Everything must be over on this strip of land early to-morrow morning! +Let all who bear arms begin at once. Selene will light the men brightly +enough for the work." + +The terrible order given in mercy was fulfilled, and hunger and thirst +were robbed of their numerous prey. When the new day dawned the friends +were still on deck, engaged in grave conversation. The cloudless sky now +arched in radiant light above the azure sea. White seagulls came flying +from the right across the ship, and sportive dolphins gambolled around +her keel. + +The flutes of the musicians, marking time for the rowers, echoed gaily up +from the hold, and, obedient to quick words of command, the seamen were +spreading the sails. + +The voyage began with a favourable wind. As Hermon looked back for the +last time, the flat, desolate tongue of land appeared like a line of gray +mist in the southeastern horizon; but over it hovered, like a gloomy +thundercloud, the flocks of vultures and ravens, whose numbers were +constantly increasing. Their greedy screaming could still be heard, +though but faintly, yet the eye could no longer distinguish anything in +the fast-vanishing abode of horror, save the hovering whirl of dark +spots--ravens and vultures, vultures and ravens. + +Whatever human life had moved there yesterday, now rested from bloody +greed for booty, after victory and defeat, mortal terror, fury, and +despair. + +Eumedes pointed out the quiet grave by the sea to his parents, saying: +"The King's command is fulfilled. Not even the one man who is usually +spared to carry the news remains out of the four thousand." + +"I thank you," exclaimed Alexander's gray-haired comrade, shaking his +son's right hand, but Thyone laid her hand on Hermon's arm, saving: +"Where the birds are darkening the air behind us lies buried what +incensed Nemesis against you. You must leave the soil of Egypt. True, +it is said that to live in foreign lands, far from the beloved home, +darkens the existence; yet Pergamus, too, is Grecian soil, and there +I see the two noblest of stars illumine your path with their pure light +-art and love." + +And his old friend's premonition was fulfilled. + + ....................... + +The story of Arachne is ended. It closed on the Nile. Hermon's new life +began in Pergamus. + +As Daphne's husband, under the same roof with the wonderfully invigorated +Myrtilus, his Uncle Archias, and faithful Bias, Hermon found in the new +home what had hovered before the blind man as the fairest goal of +existence in art, love, and friendship. + +He did not long miss the gay varied life of Alexandria, because he found +a rich compensation for it, and because Pergamus, too, was a rapidly +growing city, whose artistic decoration was inferior to no other in +Greece. + +Of the numerous works which Hermon completed in the service of the first +three art-loving rulers of the new Pergamenian kingdom, Philetaerus, +Eumenes, and Attalus, nothing was preserved except the head of a Gaul. +This noble masterpiece proves how faithful Hermon remained to truth, +which he had early chosen for the guiding star of his art. It is the +modest remnant of the group in which Hermon perpetuated in marble the two +Gallic brothers whom he saw before his last meeting with Ledscha, as they +offered their breasts to the fatal shafts. + +One had gazed defiantly at the arrows of the conquerors; the other, +whose head has been preserved, feeling the inevitable approach of death, +anticipates, with sorrowful emotion, the end so close at hand. +Philetaerus had sent this touching work to King Ptolemy to thank him for +the severity with which he had chastised the daring of the barbarians, +who had not spared his kingdom also. The Gaul's head was again found on +Egyptian soil. + + [Copied in Th. Schrieber's The Head of the Gaul in the Museum of + Ghizeh in Cairo. Leipsic, 1896. With appendix. By H. Curschmann.] + +Hermon also took other subjects in Pergamus from the domain of real life, +though, in most of his work he crossed the limits which he had formerly +imposed upon himself. But one barrier, often as he rushed forward to its +outermost verge, he never dared to pass--moderation, the noblest demand, +to which his liberty-loving race subjected themselves willingly in life +as well as in art. The whole infinite, limitless world of the ideal had +opened itself to the blind man. + +He made himself at home in it by remaining faithful to the rule which he +had found in the desert for his creative work, and the genuine happiness +which he enjoyed through Daphne's love and the great fame his sculptures +brought him increased the strong individuality of his power. + +The fruits of his tireless industry, the much-admired god of light, +Phoebus Apollo, slaying the dragons of darkness, as well as his +bewitching Arachne, gazing proudly at the fabric with which she +thinks she has surpassed the skill of the goddess, were overtaken by +destruction. In this statue Bias recognised his countrywoman Ledscha, +and often gazed long at it with devout ecstasy. Even Hermon's works of +colossal size vanished from the earth: the Battle of the Amazons and the +relief containing numerous figures: the Sea Gods, which the Regent +Eumenes ordered for the Temple of Poseidon in Pergamus. + +The works of his grandson and grandson's pupils, however, are preserved +on the great altar of victory in Pergamus. + +The power and energy natural to Hermon, the skill he had acquired in +Rhodes, everything in the changeful life of Alexandria which had induced +him to consecrate his art to reality, and to that alone, and whatever he +had, finally, in quiet seclusion, recognised as right and in harmony with +the Greek nature and his own, blend in those works of his successor, +which a gracious dispensation of Providence permits us still to admire +at the present day, and which we call in its entirety, the art of +Pergamus. + +The city was a second beloved home to him, as well as to his wife and +Myrtilus. The rulers of the country took the old Alexandrian Archias +into their confidence and knew how to honour him by many a distinction. +He understood how to value the happiness of his only daughter, the +beautiful development of his grandchildren, and the high place that +Hermon and Myrtilus, whom he loved as if they were his own sons, attained +among the artists of their time. Yet he struggled vainly against the +longing for his dear old home. Therefore Hermon deemed it one of the +best days of his life when his turn came to make Daphne's father a happy +man. + +King Ptolemy Philadelphus had sent laurel to the artist who had fallen +under suspicion in Egypt, and his messenger invited him and Myrtilus, and +with them also the exiled merchant, to return to his presence. In +gratitude for the pleasure which Hermon's creation afforded him and his +wife, the cause that kept the fugitive Archias from his home should be +forgiven and forgotten. + +The gray-haired son of the capital returned with the Bithynian Gras to +his beloved Alexandria, as if his lost youth was again restored. There +he found unchanged the busy, active life, the Macedonian Council, the +bath, the marketplace, the bewitching conversation, the biting wit, the +exquisite feasts of the eyes--in short, everything for which his heart +had longed even amid the happiness and love of his dear ones in Pergamus. + +For two years he endeavoured to enjoy everything as before; but when the +works of the Pergamenian artists, obtained by Ptolemy, had been exhibited +in the royal palaces, he returned home with a troubled mind. Like the +rest of the world, he thought that the reliefs of Myrtilus, representing +scenes of rural life, were wonderful. + +The Capture of Proserpina, a life-size marble group by his son-in-law +Hermon, seemed to him no less perfect; but it exerted a peculiar in +fluence upon his paternal heart, for, in the Demeter, he recognised +Daphne, in the Proserpina her oldest daughter Erigone, who bore the name +of Hermon's mother and resembled her in womanly charm. How lovely this +budding girl, who was his grand-daughter, seemed to the grandfather! How +graceful, in spite of the womanly dignity peculiar to her, was the +mother, encircling her imperilled child with her protecting arm! + +No work of sculpture had ever produced such an effect upon the old patron +of art. + +Gras heard him, in his bedroom, murmur the names "Daphne" and "Erigone," +and therefore it did not surprise him when, the next morning, he received +the command to prepare everything for the return to Pergamus. It pleased +the Bithynian, for he cared more for Daphne, Hermon, and their children +than all the pleasures of the capital. + +A few weeks later Archias found himself again in Pergamus with his +family, and he never left it, though he reached extreme old age, and was +even permitted to gaze in wondering admiration at the first attempts of +the oldest son of Hermon and Daphne, and to hear them praised by others. + +This grandson of the Alexandrian Archias afterward became the master who +taught the generation of artists who created the Pergamenian works, in +examining which the question forced itself upon the narrator of this +story: How do these sculptures possess the qualities which distinguish +them so strongly from the other statues of later Hellenic antiquity? + +Did the great weaver Imagination err when she blended them, through the +mighty wrestler Hermon, with a tendency of Alexandrian science and art, +which we see appearing again among us children of a period so much later? + +Science, which is now once more pursuing similar paths, ought and will +follow them further, but Hermon's words remain applicable to the present +clay: "We will remain loyal servants of the truth; yet it alone does not +hold the key to the holy of holies of art. To him for whom Apollo, the +pure among the gods, and the Muses, friends of beauty, do not open it at +the same time with truth, its gates will remain closed, no matter how +strongly and persistently he shakes them." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARK: + +Regular messenger and carrier-dove service had been established + + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS FOR THE ENTIRE ARACHNE: + +Aimless life of pleasure +Camels, which were rarely seen in Egypt +Cast my warning to the winds, pity will also fly away with it +Cautious inquiry saves recantation +Forbidden the folly of spoiling the present by remorse +Must--that word is a ploughshare which suits only loose soil +Nature is sufficient for us +Regular messenger and carrier-dove service had been established +Secluded monotony of his life as a scar over memory +Tender and uncouth natural sounds, which no language knows +There is nothing better than death, for it is peace +There are no gods, and whoever bows makes himself a slave +Tone of patronizing instruction assumed by the better informed +Two griefs always belong to one joy +Wait, child! 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