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+The Project Gutenberg EBook A Thorny Path, by Georg Ebers, v5
+#95 in our series by Georg Ebers
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+Title: A Thorny Path, Volume 5.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5534]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on July 19, 2002]
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+Edition: 10
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A THRONY PATH, BY EBERS, V5 ***
+
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+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.]
+
+
+
+
+
+A THORNY PATH
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Volume 5.
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Nothing delighted old Dido more than to dress the daughter of her beloved
+mistress in all her best, for she had helped to bring her up; but to-day
+it was a cruel task; tears dimmed her old eyes.  It was not till she had
+put the finishing touches to braiding the girl's abundant brown hair,
+pinned her peplos on the shoulders with brooches, and set the girdle
+straight, that her face cleared, as she looked at the result.  Never had
+she seen her darling look so fair.  Nothing, indeed, remained of the
+child-like timidity and patient submissiveness which had touched Dido
+only two days since, as she plaited Melissa's hair.  The maiden's brow
+was grave and thoughtful, the lips firmly set; but she seemed to Dido to
+have grown, and to have gained something of her mother's mature dignity.
+She looked, the old woman told her, like the image of Pallas Athene;
+adding, to make her smile, that if she wanted an owl, she, Dido, could
+fill the part.  Jesting had never been the old woman's strong point, and
+to-day it was less easy than ever; for, if the worst befell, and she were
+sent in her old age to a strange house--and Argutis, no doubt, to
+another--she would have to turn the handmill for the rest of her days.
+
+But it was a hard task which the motherless--and now fatherless--girl
+had set herself, and she must try to cheer her darling.  While she was
+dressing her, she never ceased praying to all the gods and goddesses she
+could think of to come to the maiden's aid and move the souls of those
+who could help her.  And though she was, as a rule, ready to expect the
+worst, this time she hoped for the best; for Seleukus's wife must have a
+heart of stone if she could close it to such innocence, such beauty, and
+the pathetic glance of those large, imploring eyes.
+
+When at length Melissa quitted the house, deeply veiled, with Argutis to
+escort her, she took his arm; and he, wearing his master's mantle, and
+exempted long since from keeping his hair cropped, was so proud of this
+that he walked with all the dignity of a freeman, and no one could have
+guessed that he was a slave.  Melissa's face was completely hidden, and
+she, like her companion, was safe from recognition.  Argutis,
+nevertheless, led her through the quietest and darkest lanes to the
+Kanopic way.  Both were silent, and looked straight before them.
+Melissa, as she walked on, could not think with her usual calm.  Like a
+suffering man who goes to the physician's house to die or be cured by the
+knife, she felt that she was on her way to something terrible in itself,
+to remedy, if possible, something still more dreadful.  Her father--
+Alexander, so reckless and so good-hearted--Philip, whom she pitied--and
+her sick lover, came in turn before her fancy.  But she could not control
+her mind to dwell on either for long.  Nor could she, as usual, when she
+had any serious purpose in hand, put up a prayer to her mother's manes or
+the immortals; and all the while an inner voice made itself heard,
+confidently promising her that Caesar, for whom she had sacrificed,
+and who might be kinder and more merciful than others fancied, would at
+once grant all she should ask.  But she would not listen; and when she
+nevertheless ventured to consider how she could make her way into
+Caesar's presence, a cold shiver ran down her back, and again Philip's
+last words sounded in her ears, "Death rather than dishonor!"
+
+Other thoughts and feelings filled the slave's soul.  He, who had always
+watched over his master's children with far more anxious care than Heron
+himself, had not said a word to dissuade Melissa from her perilous
+expedition.  Her plan had, indeed, seemed to him the only one which
+promised any success.  He was a man of sixty years, and a shrewd fellow,
+who might easily have found a better master than Heron had been; but he
+gave not a thought to his own prospects--only to Melissa's, whom he loved
+as a child of his own.  She had placed herself under his protection, and
+he felt responsible for her fate.  Thus he regarded it as great good
+fortune that he could be of use in procuring her admission to the house
+of Seleukus, for the door-keeper was a fellow-countryman of his, whom
+Fate had brought hither from the banks of the Moselle.  At every
+festival, which secured a few hours' liberty to all the slaves, they had
+for years been boon companions, and Argutis knew that his friend would do
+for him and his young mistress all that lay in his power.  It would, of
+course, be difficult to get an audience of the mistress of a house where
+Caesar was a guest, but the door-keeper was clever and ingenious, and
+would do anything short of the impossible.
+
+So he walked with his head high and his heart full of pride, and it
+confirmed his courage when one of Zminis's men, whom they passed in the
+brightly illuminated Kanopic street, and who had helped to secure Philip,
+looked at him without recognizing him.
+
+There was a great stir in this, the handsomest road through the city.
+The people were waiting for Caesar; but stricter order was observed than
+on the occasion of his arrival.  The guard prohibited all traffic on the
+southern side of the way, and only allowed the citizens to walk up and
+down the footpath, shaded by trees, between the two roadways paved with
+granite flags, and the arcades in front of the houses on either side.
+The free inhabitants, unaccustomed to such restrictions, revenged
+themselves by cutting witticisms at Caesar's expense, "for clearing the
+streets of Alexandria by his men-at-arms as he did those of Rome by the
+executioner.  He seemed to have forgotten, as he kept the two roads open,
+that he only needed one, now that he had murdered his brother and
+partner."
+
+Melissa and her companion were ordered to join the crowd on the footway;
+but Argutis managed to convince a man on guard that they were two of the
+mimes who were to perform before Caesar--the door-keeper at the house of
+Seleukus would confirm the fact--and the official himself made way for
+them into the vestibule of this splendid dwelling.
+
+But Melissa was as little in the humor to admire all the lavish
+magnificence which surrounded her as Alexander had been a few days since.
+Still veiled, she modestly took a place among the choir who stood on each
+side of the hall ready to welcome Caesar with singing and music.  Argutis
+stopped to speak with his friend.  She dimly felt that the whispering and
+giggling all about her was at her expense; and when an elderly, man, the
+choir-master, asked her what she wanted, and desired her to remove her
+veil, she obeyed at once, saying: "Pray let me stand here, the Lady
+Berenike will send for me."
+
+"Very well," replied the musician; and he silenced the singers, who were
+hazarding various impertinent guesses as to the arrival of so pretty a
+girl just when Caesar was expected.
+
+As Melissa dropped her veil the splendor of the scene, lighted up by
+numberless tapers and lamps, forced itself on her attention.  She now
+perceived that the porphyry columns of the great hall were wreathed with
+flowers, and that garlands swung in graceful curves from the open roof;
+while at the farther end, statues had been placed of Septimus Severus and
+Julia Domna, Caracalla's parents.  On each side of these works of art
+stood bowers of plants, in which gay-plumaged birds were fluttering
+about, excited by the lights.  But all these glories swam before her
+eyes, and the first question which the artist's daughter was wont to
+ask herself, "is it really beautiful or no?" never occurred to her mind.
+She did not even notice the smell of incense, until some fresh powder was
+thrown on, and it became oppressive.
+
+She was fully conscious only of two facts, when at last Argutis returned:
+that she was the object of much curious examination and that every one
+was wondering what detained Caesar so long.
+
+At last, after she had waited many long minutes, the door-keeper
+approached her with a young woman in a rich but simple dress, in whom
+she recognized Johanna, the Christian waiting-maid of whom Alexander
+had spoken.  She did not speak, but beckoned her to come.
+
+Breathing anxiously, and bending her head low, Melissa, following her
+guide, reached a handsome impluvium, where a fountain played in the midst
+of a bed of roses.  Here the moon and starlight mingled with that of
+lamps without number, and the ruddy glare of a blaze; for all round the
+basin, from which the playing waters danced skyward, stood marble genii,
+carrying in their hands or on their heads silver dishes, in which the
+leaping flames consumed cedar chips and aromatic resins.
+
+At the back of this court, where it was as light as day, at the top of
+three steps, stood the statues of Alexander the Great and Caracalla.
+They were of equal size; and the artist, who had wrought the second in
+great haste out of the slightest materials, had been enjoined to make
+Caesar as like as possible in every respect to the hero he most revered.
+Thus they looked like brothers.  The figures were lighted up by the fires
+which burned on two altars of ivory and gold.  Beautiful boys, dressed as
+armed Erotes, fed the flames.
+
+The whole effect was magical and bewildering; but, as she followed her
+guide, Melissa only felt that she was in the midst of a new world, such
+as she might perhaps have seen in a dream; till, as they passed the
+fountain, the cool drops sprinkled her face.
+
+Then she suddenly remembered what had brought her hither.  In a minute
+she must appear as a supplicant in the presence of Korinna's mother--
+perhaps even in that of Caesar himself--and the fate of all dear to her
+depended on her demeanor.  The sense of fulfilling a serious duty was
+uppermost in her mind.  She drew herself up, and replaced a stray lock of
+hair; and her heart beat almost to bursting as she saw a number of, men
+standing on the platform at the top of the steps, round a lady who had
+just risen from her ivory seat.  Giving her hand to a Roman senator,
+distinguished by the purple edge to his toga, she descended the steps,
+and advanced to meet Melissa.
+
+This dignified matron, who was awaiting the ruler of the world and yet
+could condescend to come forward to meet a humble artist's daughter, was
+taller by half a head than her illustrious companion; and the few minutes
+during which Berenike was coming toward her were enough to fill Melissa
+with thankfulness, confidence, and admiration.  And even in that short
+time, as she gazed at the magnificent dress of blue brocade shot with
+gold and sparkling with precious stones which draped the lady's majestic
+figure, she thought how keen a pang it must cost the mother, so lately
+bereft of her only child, to maintain a kindly, nay, a genial aspect, in
+the midst of this display, toward Caesar and a troop of noisy guests.
+
+The sincerest pity for this woman, rich and preeminent as she was, filled
+the soul of the girl, who herself was so much to be pitied.  But when the
+lady had come up to her, and asked, in her deep voice, what was the
+danger that threatened her brother, Melissa, with unembarrassed grace,
+and although it was the first time she had ever addressed a lady of such
+high degree, answered simply, with a full sense of the business in hand:
+
+"My name is Melissa; I am the sister of Alexander the painter.  I know it
+is overbold to venture into your presence just now, when you have so much
+else to think of; but I saw no other way of saving my brother's life,
+which is in peril."
+
+At this Berenike seemed surprised.  She turned to her companion, who was
+her sister's husband, and the first Egyptian who had been admitted to the
+Roman Senate, and said, in a tone of gentle reproach:
+
+"Did not I say so, Coeranus?  Nothing but the most urgent need would have
+brought Alexander's sister to speak with me at such an hour."
+
+And the senator, whose black eyes had rested with pleasure on Melissa's
+rare beauty, promptly replied, "And if she had come for the veriest
+trifle she would be no less welcome to me."
+
+"Let me hear no more of such speeches," Berenike exclaimed with some
+annoyance.--"Now, my child, be quick.  What about your brother?"
+
+Melissa briefly and truthfully reported Alexander's heedless crime and
+the results to her father and Philip.  She ended by beseeching the noble
+lady with fervent pathos to intercede for her father and brothers.
+
+Meanwhile the senator's keen face had darkened, and the lady Berenike's
+large eyes, too, were downcast.  She evidently found it hard to come to
+a decision; and for the moment she was relieved of the necessity, for
+runners came hurrying up, and the senator hastily desired Melissa to
+stand aside.
+
+He whispered to his sister-in-law:
+
+"It will never do to spoil Caesar's good-humor under your roof for the
+sake of such people," and Berenike had only time to reply, "I am not
+afraid of him," when the messenger explained to her that Caesar himself
+was prevented from coming, but that his representatives, charged with his
+apologies, were close at hand.
+
+On this Coeranus exclaimed, with a sour smile: "Admit that I am a true
+prophet!  You have to put up with the same treatment that we senators
+have often suffered under."
+
+But the matron scarcely heard him.  She cast her eyes up to heaven with
+sincere thanksgiving as she murmured with a sigh of relief, "For this
+mercy the gods be praised!"
+
+She unclasped her hands from her heaving bosom, and said to the steward
+who had followed the messengers:
+
+"Caesar will not be present.  Inform your lord, but so that no one else
+may hear.  He must come here and receive the imperial representatives
+with me.  Then have my couch quietly removed and the banquet served at
+once.  O Coeranus, you can not imagine the misery I am thus spared!"
+
+"Berenike!"  said the  senator, in a warning voice, and he laid his
+finger on his lips.  Then turning to the young supplicant, he said to her
+in a tone of regret: "So your walk is for nothing, fair maid.  If you are
+as sensible as you are pretty, you will understand that it is too much to
+ask any one to stand between the lion and the prey which has roused his
+ire."
+
+The lady, however, did not heed the caution which her brother-in-law
+intended to convey.  As Melissa's imploring eyes met her own, she said,
+with clear decision:
+
+"Wait here.  We shall see who it is that Caesar sends.  I know better
+than my lord here what it is to see those dear to us in peril.  How old
+are you, child?"
+
+"Eighteen," replied Melissa.
+
+"Eighteen?" repeated Berenike, as if the word were a pain to her, for her
+daughter had been just of that age.  Then she said, louder and with
+encouraging kindness:
+
+"All that lies in my power shall be done for you and yours.--And you,
+Coeranus, must help me."
+
+"If I can," he replied, "with all the zeal of my reverence for you and my
+admiration for beauty.  But here come the envoys.  The elder, I see, is
+our learned Philostratus, whose works are known to you; the younger is
+Theocritus, the favorite of fortune of whom I was telling you.  If the
+charm of that face might but conquer the omnipotent youth--"
+
+"Coeranus!" she exclaimed, with stern reproof; but she failed to hear
+the senator's excuses, for her husband, Seleukus, followed her down the
+steps, and with a hasty sign to her, advanced to meet his guests.
+
+Theocritus was spokesman, and notwithstanding the mourning toga which
+wrapped him in fine folds, his gestures did not belie his origin as an
+actor and dancer.  When Seleukus presented him to his wife, Theocritus
+assured her that when, but an hour since, his sovereign lord, who was
+already dressed and wreathed for the banquet, had learned that the gods
+had bereft of their only child the couple whose hospitality had promised
+him such a delightful evening, he had been equally shocked and grieved.
+Caesar was deeply distressed at the unfortunate circumstance that he
+should have happened in his ignorance to intrude on the seclusion which
+was the prerogative of grief.  He begged to assure her and her husband of
+the high favor of the ruler of the world.  As for himself, Theocritus, he
+would not fail to describe the splendor with which they had decorated
+their princely residence in Caesar's honor.  His imperial master would be
+touched, indeed, to hear that even the bereaved mother, who, like Niobe,
+mourned for her offspring, had broken the stony spell which held her to
+Sipylos, and had decked herself to receive the greatest of all earthly
+guests as radiant as Juno at the golden table of the gods.
+
+The lady succeeded in controlling herself and listening to the end of
+these pompous phrases without interrupting the speaker.  Every word which
+flowed so glibly from his tongue fell on her ear as bitter mockery; and
+he himself was so repugnant to her, that she felt it a release when,
+after exchanging a few words with the master of the house, he begged
+leave to retire, as important business called him away.  And this,
+indeed, was the truth.  For no consideration would he have left this duty
+to another, for it was to communicate to Titianus, who had offended him,
+the intelligence that Caesar had deprived him of the office of prefect,
+and intended to examine into certain complaints of his administration.
+
+The second envoy, however, remained, though he refused Seleukus's
+invitation to fill his place at the banquet.  He exchanged a few words
+with the lady Berenike, and presently found himself taken aside by the
+senator, and, after a short explanation, led up to Melissa, whom Coeranus
+desired to appeal for help to Philostratus, the famous philosopher, who
+enjoyed Caesar's closest confidence.
+
+Coeranus then obeyed a sign from Berenike, who wished to know whether he
+would be answerable for introducing this rarely pretty girl, who had
+placed herself under their protection--and whom she, for her part, meant
+to protect--to a courtier of whom she knew nothing but that he was a
+writer of taste.
+
+The question seemed to amuse Coeranus, but, seeing that his sister-in-law
+was very much in earnest, he dropped his flippant tone and admitted that
+Philostratus, as a young man, had been one of the last with whom he would
+trust a girl.  His far-famed letters sufficiently proved that the witty
+philosopher had been a devoted and successful courtier of women.  But
+that was all a thing of the past.  He still, no doubt, did homage to
+female beauty, but he led a regular life, and had become one of the most
+ardent and earnest upholders of religion and virtue.  He was one of the
+learned circle which gathered round Julia Domna, and it was by her desire
+that he had accompanied Caracalla, to keep his mad passions in check when
+it might be possible.
+
+The conversation between Melissa and the philosopher had meanwhile taken
+an unexpected turn.  At his very first address the reply had died on her
+lips, for in Caesar's representative she had recognized the Roman whom
+she had seen in the Temple of Asklepios, and who had perhaps overheard
+her there.  Philostratus, too, seemed to remember the meeting; for his
+shrewd face--a pleasing mixture of grave and gay--lighted up at once with
+a subtle smile as he said:
+
+"If I am not mistaken, I owe the same pleasure this evening to divine
+Caesar as to great Asklepios this morning?"
+
+At this, Melissa cast a meaning glance at Coeranus and the lady, and,
+although surprise and alarm sealed her lips, her uplifted hands and whole
+gesture sufficiently expressed her entreaty that he would not betray her.
+He understood and obeyed.  It pleased him to share a secret with this
+fair child.  He had, in fact, overheard her, and understood with
+amazement that she was praying fervently for Caesar.
+
+This stirred his curiosity to the highest pitch.  So he said, in an
+undertone:
+
+"All that I saw and heard in the temple is our secret, sweet maid.  But
+what on earth can have prompted you to pray so urgently for Caesar?  Has
+he done you or yours any great benefit?"
+
+Melissa shook her head, and Philostratus went on with increased
+curiosity:
+
+"Then are you one of those whose heart Eros can fire at the sight of an
+image, or the mere aspect of a man?"
+
+To this she answered hastily:
+
+"What an idea!  No, no.  Certainly not."
+
+"No?" said her new friend, with greater surprise.  "Then perhaps your
+hopeful young soul expects that, being still but a youth, he may, by the
+help of the gods, become, like Titus, a benefactor to the whole world?"
+
+Melissa looked timidly at the matron, who was still talking with her
+brother-in-law, and hastily replied:
+
+"They all call him a murderer!  But I know for certain that he suffers
+fearful torments of mind and body; and one who knows many things told me
+that there was not one among all the millions whom Caesar governs who
+ever prays for him; and I was so sorry--I can not tell you--"
+
+"And  so," interrupted the philosopher, "you thought it praiseworthy and
+pleasing to the gods that you should be the first and only one to offer
+sacrifice for him, in secret, and of your own free will?  That was how it
+came about?  Well, child, you need not be ashamed of it."
+
+But then suddenly his face clouded, and he asked, in a grave and altered
+voice:
+
+"Are you a Christian?"
+
+"No,"  she  replied, firmly.  "We  are  Greeks.  How could I have
+offered a sacrifice of blood to Asklepios if I had believed in the
+crucified god?"
+
+"Then," said Philostratus, and his eyes flashed brightly, "I may promise
+you, in the name of the gods, that your prayer and offering were pleasing
+in their eyes.  I myself, noble girl, owe you a rare pleasure.  But, tell
+me--how did you feel as you left the sanctuary?"
+
+"Light-hearted, my lord, and content," she answered, with a frank, glad
+look in her fine eyes.  "I could have sung as I went down the road,
+though there were people about."
+
+"I should have liked to hear you," he said, kindly, and he still held her
+hand, which he had grasped with the amiable geniality that characterized
+him, when they were joined by the senator and his sister-in-law.
+
+"Has she won your good offices?" asked Coeranus; and Philostratus
+replied, quickly, "Anything that it lies in my power to do for her shall
+certainly be done."
+
+Berenike bade them both to join her in her own rooms, for everything that
+had to do with the banquet was odious to her; and as they went, Melissa
+told her new friend her brother's story.  She ended it in the quiet
+sitting-room of the mistress of the house, an artistic but not splendid
+apartment, adorned only with the choicest works of early Alexandrian art.
+Philostratus listened attentively, but, before she could put her petition
+for help into words, he exclaimed:
+
+"Then what we have to do is, to move Caesar to mercy, and that--Child,
+you know not what you ask!"
+
+They were interrupted by a message from Seleukus, desiring Coeranus to
+join the other guests, and as soon as he had left them Berenike withdrew
+to take off the splendor she hated.  She promised to return immediately
+and join their discussion, and Philostratus sat for a while lost in
+thought.  Then he turned to Melissa and asked her:
+
+"Would you for their sakes be able to make up your mind to face bitter
+humiliation, nay, perhaps imminent danger?"
+
+"Anything!  I would give my life for them!" replied the girl, with
+spirit, and her eyes gleamed with such enthusiastic self-sacrifice that
+his heart, though no longer young, warmed under their glow, and the
+principle to which he had sternly adhered since he had been near the
+imperial person, never to address a word to the sovereign but in reply,
+was blown to the winds.
+
+Holding her hand in his, with a keen look into her eyes, he went on:
+
+"And if you were required to do a thing from which many a man even would
+recoil--you would venture?"
+
+And again the answer was a ready "Yes."  Philostratus released her hand,
+and said:
+
+"Then we will dare the worst.  I will smooth the way for you, and
+to-morrow--do not start--tomorrow you yourself, under my protection,
+shall appeal to Caesar."
+
+The color faded from the girl's cheeks, which had been flushed with fresh
+hopes, and her counselor had just expressed his wish to talk the matter
+over with the lady Berenike, when she came into the room.  She was now
+dressed in mourning, and her pale, beautiful face showed the traces of
+the tears she had just shed.  The dark shadows which, when they surround
+a woman's eyes, betray past storms of grief, as the halo round the moon
+--the eye of night--gives warning of storms to come, were deeper than
+ever; and when her sorrowful gaze fell on Melissa, the girl felt an
+almost irresistible longing to throw herself into her arms and weep on
+her motherly bosom.
+
+Philostratus, too, was deeply touched by the appearance of this mother,
+who possessed so much, but for whom everything dearest to a woman's heart
+had been destroyed by a cruel stroke of Fate.  He was glad to be able to
+tell her that he hoped to soften Caesar.  Still, his plan was a bold one;
+Caracalla had been deeply offended by the scornful tone of the attacks on
+him, and Melissa's brother was perhaps the only one of the scoffers who
+had been taken.  The crime of the Alexandrian wits could not be left
+unpunished.  For such a desperate case only desperate remedies could
+avail; he therefore ventured to propose to conduct Melissa into Caesar's
+presence, that she might appeal to his clemency.
+
+The matron started as though a scorpion had stung her.  In great
+agitation, she threw her arm round the girl as if to shelter her from
+imminent danger, and Melissa, seeking help, laid her head on that kind
+breast.  Berenike was reminded, by the scent that rose up from the girl's
+hair, of the hours when her own child had thus fondly clung to her.
+Her motherly heart had found a new object to love, and exclaiming,
+"Impossible!" she clasped Melissa more closely.
+
+But Philostratus begged to be heard.  Any plea urged by a third person he
+declared would only be the ruin of the rash mediator.
+
+"Caracalla," he went on, looking at Melissa, "is terrible in his
+passions, no one can deny that; but of late severe suffering has made
+him irritably sensitive, and he insists on the strictest virtue in all
+who are about his person.  He pays no heed to female beauty, and this
+sweet child, at any rate, will find many protectors.  He shall know that
+the high-priest's wife, one of the best of women, keeps an anxious eye on
+Melissa's fate; and I myself, his mother's friend, shall be at hand.  His
+passion for revenge, on the other hand, is boundless--no one living can
+control it; and not even the noble Julia can shield those who provoke it
+from a cruel end.  If you do not know it, child, I can tell you that he
+had his brother Geta killed, though he took refuge in the arms of the
+mother who bore them both.  You must understand the worst; and again I
+ask you, are you ready to risk all for those you love?  Have you the
+courage to venture into the lion's den?"
+
+Melissa clung more closely to the motherly woman, and her pale lips
+answered faintly but firmly, "I am ready, and he will grant my prayer."
+
+"Child, child," cried Berenike in horror, "you know not what lies before
+you!  You are dazzled by the happy confidence of inexperienced youth.
+I know what life is.  I can see you, in your heart's blood, as red and
+pure as the blood of a lamb!  I see--Ah, child!  you do not know death
+and its terrible reality."
+
+"I know it!"  Melissa broke in with feverish excitement.  "My dearest--my
+mother--I saw her die with these eyes.  What did I not bury in her grave!
+And yet hope still lived in my heart; and though Caracalla may be a
+reckless murderer, he will do nothing to me, precisely because I am so
+feeble.  And, lady, what am I?  Of what account is my life if I lose my
+father, and my brothers, who are both on the high-road to greatness?"
+
+"But you are betrothed," Berenike eagerly put in.  "And your lover, you
+told me, is dear to you.  What of him?  He no doubt loves you, and, if
+you come to harm, sorrow will mar his young life."
+
+At this Melissa clasped her hands over her face and sobbed aloud.  "Show
+me, then, any other way--any!  I will face the worst.  But there is none;
+and if Diodoros were here he would not stop me; for what my heart prompts
+me to do is right, is my duty.  But he is lying sick and with a clouded
+mind, and I can not ask him.  O noble lady, kindness looks out of your
+eyes; cease to rub salt into my wounds!  The task before me is hard
+enough already.  But I would do it, and try to get speech with that
+terrible man, even if I had no one to protect me."
+
+The lady had listened with varying feelings to this outpouring of the
+young girl's heart.  Every instinct rebelled against the thought of
+sacrificing this pure, sweet creature to the fury of the tyrant whose
+wickedness was as unlimited as his power, and yet she saw no other chance
+of saving the artist, whom she held in affectionate regard.  Her own
+noble heart understood the girl's resolve to purchase the life of those
+she loved, even with her blood; she, in the same place, would have done
+the same thing; and she thought to herself that it would have made her
+happy to see such a spirit in her own child.  Her resistance melted away,
+and almost involuntarily she exclaimed, "Well, do what you feel to be
+right."
+
+Melissa flew into her arms again with a grateful sense of release from a
+load, and Berenike did all she could to smooth the thorny way for her.
+She discussed every point with Philostratus as thoroughly as though for a
+child of her own; and, while the tumult came up from the banquet in the
+men's rooms, they settled that Berenike herself should conduct the girl
+to the wife of the high-priest of Serapis, the brother of Seleukus, and
+there await Melissa's return.  Philostratus named the hour and other
+details, and then made further inquiries concerning the young artist
+whose mocking spirit had brought so much trouble on his family.
+
+On this the lady led him into an adjoining room, where the portrait of
+her adored daughter was hanging.  It was surrounded by a thick wreath of
+violets, the dead girl's favorite flower.  The beautiful picture was
+lighted up by two three-branched lamps on high stands; and Philostratus,
+a connoisseur who had described many paintings with great taste and
+vividness, gazed in absorbed silence at the lovely features, which were
+represented with rare mastery and the inspired devotion of loving
+admiration.  At last he turned to the mother, exclaiming:
+
+"Happy artist, to have such a subject!  It is a work worthy of the early,
+best period, and of a master of the time of Apelies.  The daughter who
+has been snatched from you, noble lady, was indeed matchless, and no
+sorrow is too deep to do her justice.  But the divinity who has taken her
+knows also how to give; and this portrait has preserved for you a part of
+what you loved.  This picture, too, may influence Melissa's fate; for
+Caesar has a fine taste in art, and one of the wants of our time which
+has helped to embitter him is the paralyzed state of the imitative arts.
+It will be easier to win his favor for the painter who did this portrait
+than for a man of noble birth.  He needs such painters as this Alexander
+for the Pinakothek in the splendid baths he has built at Rome.  If you
+would but lend me this treasure to-morrow--"
+
+But she interrupted him with a decisive "Never!"  and laid her hand on
+the frame as if to protect it.  Philostratus, however, was not to be put
+off; he went on in a tone of the deepest disappointment: "This portrait
+is yours, and no one can wonder at your refusal.  We must, therefore,
+consider how to attain our end without this important ally."  Berenike's
+gaze had lingered calmly on the sweet face while he spoke, looking more
+and more deeply into the beautiful, expressive features.  All was silent.
+
+At last she slowly turned to Melissa, who stood gazing sadly at the
+ground, and said in a low voice: "She resembled you in many ways.  The
+gods had formed her to shed joy and light around her.  Where she could
+wipe away a tear she always did so.  Her portrait is speechless, and yet
+it tells me to act as she herself would have acted.  If this work can
+indeed move Caracalla to clemency, then--You, Philostratus, really think
+so?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, decisively.  "There can be no better mediator for
+Alexander than this work."  Berenike drew herself up, and said:
+
+"Well, then, to-morrow morning early, I will send it to you at the
+Serapeum.  The portrait of the dead may perish if it may but save the
+life of him who wrought it so lovingly."  She turned away her face as
+she gave the philosopher her hand, and then hastily left the room.
+
+Melissa flew after her and, with overflowing gratitude, besought the
+sobbing lady not to weep.
+
+"I know something that will bring you greater comfort than my brother's
+picture: I mean the living image of your Korinna--a young girl; she is
+here in Alexandria."
+
+"Zeno's daughter Agatha?"  said Berenike; and when Melissa said yes, it
+was she, the lady went on with a deep sigh: "Thanks for your kind
+thought, my child; but she, too, is lost to me."
+
+And as she spoke she sank on a couch, saying, in a low voice, "I would
+rather be alone."
+
+Melissa modestly withdrew into the adjoining room, and Philostratus, who
+had been lost in the contemplation of the picture, took his leave.
+
+He did not make use of the imperial chariot in waiting for him, but
+returned to his lodgings on foot, in such good spirits, and so well
+satisfied with himself, as he had not been before since leaving Rome.
+
+When Berenike had rested in solitude for some little time she recalled
+Melissa, and took as much care of her young guest as though she were her
+lost darling, restored to her after a brief absence.  First she allowed
+the girl to send for Argutis; and when she had assured the faithful slave
+that all promised well, she dismissed him with instructions to await at
+home his young mistress's orders, for that Melissa would for the present
+find shelter under her roof.
+
+When the Gaul had departed, she desired her waiting-woman, Johanna, to
+fetch her brother.  During her absence the lady explained to Melissa
+that they both were Christians.  They were freeborn, the children of a
+freedman of Berenike's house.  Johannes had at an early age shown so much
+intelligence that they had acceded to his wish to be educated as a
+lawyer.  He was now one of the most successful pleaders in the city;
+but he always used his eloquence, which he had perfected not only at
+Alexandria but also at Carthage, by preference in the service of accused
+Christians.  In his leisure hours he would visit the condemned in prison,
+speak comfort to them, and give them presents out of the fine profits he
+derived from his business among the wealthy.  He was the very man to go
+and see her father and brothers; he would revive their spirits, and carry
+them her greeting.
+
+When, presently, the Christian arrived he expressed himself as very ready
+to undertake this commission.  His sister was already busied in packing
+wine and other comforts for the captives-more, no doubt, as Johannes told
+Berenike, than the three men could possibly consume, even if their
+imprisonment should be a long one.  His smile showed how confidently he
+counted on the lady's liberality, and Melissa quickly put her faith in
+the young Christian, who would have reminded her of her brother Philip,
+but that his slight figure was more upright, and his long hair quite
+smooth, without a wave or curl.  His eyes, above all, were unlike
+Philip's; for they looked out on the world with a gaze as mild as
+Philip's were keen and inquiring.
+
+Melissa gave him many messages for her father and brothers, and when the
+lady Berenike begged him to take care that the portrait of her daughter
+was safely carried to the Serapeum, where it was to contribute to mollify
+Caesar in the painter's favor, he praised her determination, and modestly
+added: "For how long may we call our own any of these perishable joys?
+A day, perhaps a year, at most a lustrum.  But eternity is long, and
+those who, for its sake, forget time and set all their hopes on eternity
+--which is indeed time to the soul--soon cease to bewail the loss of any
+transitory treasure, were it the noblest and dearest.  Oh, would that I
+could lead you to place your hopes on eternity, best of women and most
+true-hearted mother!  Eternity, which not the wisest brain can conceive
+of!--I tell you, lady, for you are a philosopher--that is the hardest and
+therefore the grandest idea for human thought to compass.  Fix your eye
+on that, and in its infinite realm, which must be your future home, you
+will meet her again whom you have lost--not her image returned to you,
+but herself."
+
+"Cease," interrupted the matron, with impatient sharpness.  "I know what
+you are aiming at.  But to conceive of eternity is the prerogative of the
+immortals; our intellect is wrecked in the attempt.  Our wings melt like
+those of Ikarus, and we fall into the ocean--the ocean of madness, to
+which I have often been near enough.  You Christians fancy you know all
+about eternity, and if you are right in that--But I will not reopen that
+old discussion.  Give me back my child for a year, a month, a day even,
+as she was before murderous disease laid hands on her, and I will make
+you a free gift of your cuckoo-cloud-land of eternity, and of the
+remainder of my own life on earth into the bargain."
+
+The vehement woman trembled with renewed sorrow, as if shivering with
+ague; but as soon as she had recovered her self-command enough to speak
+calmly, she exclaimed to the lawyer:
+
+"I do not really wish to vex you, Johannes.  I esteem you, and you are
+dear to me.  But if you wish our friendship to continue, give up these
+foolish attempts to teach tortoises to fly.  Do all you can for the poor
+prisoners; and if you--"
+
+"By daybreak to-morrow I will be with them," Johannes said, and he
+hastily took leave.
+
+As soon as they were alone Berenike observed "There he goes, quite
+offended, as if I had done him a wrong.  That is the way with all these
+Christians.  They think it their duty to force on others what they
+themselves think right, and any one who turns a deaf ear to their
+questionable truths they at once set down as narrow-minded, or as hostile
+to what is good.  Agatha, of whom you were just now speaking, and Zeno
+her father, my husband's brother, are Christians.  I had hoped that
+Korinna's death would have brought the child back to us; I have longed
+to see her, and have heard much that is sweet about her: but a common
+sorrow, which so often brings divided hearts together, has only widened
+the gulf between my husband and his brother.  The fault is not on our
+side.  Nay, I was rejoiced when, a few hours after the worst was over,
+a letter from Zeno informed me that he and his daughter would come to
+see us the same evening.  But the letter itself"--and her voice began to
+quiver with indignation--"compelled us to beg him not to come.  It is
+scarcely credible--and I should do better not to pour fresh oil on my
+wrath--but he bade us 'rejoice'; three, four, five times he repeated the
+cruel words.  And he wrote in a pompous strain of the bliss and rapture
+which awaited our lost child--and this to a mother whose heart had been
+utterly broken but a few hours before by a fearful stroke of Fate!  He
+would meet the bereaved, grieving, lonely mourner with a smile on his
+lips!  Rejoice!  This climax of cruelty or aberration has parted us
+forever.  Why, our black gardener, whose god is a tree-stump that bears
+only the faintest likeness to humanity, melted into tears at the news;
+and Zeno, our brother, the uncle of that broken dower, could be glad and
+bid us rejoice!  My husband thinks that hatred and the long-standing feud
+prompted his pen.  For my part, I believe it was only this Christian
+frenzy which made him suggest that I should sink lower than the brutes,
+who defend their young with their lives.  Seleukus has long since
+forgiven him for his conduct in withdrawing his share of the capital
+from the business when he became a Christian, to squander it on the baser
+sort;  but this  'Rejoice' neither he nor I can forgive, though things
+which pierce me to the heart often slide off him like water off grease."
+
+Her black hair had come down as she delivered this vehement speech, and,
+when she ceased, her flushed cheeks and the fiery glow of her eyes gave
+the majestic woman in her dark robes an aspect which terrified Melissa.
+
+She, too, thought this "Rejoice," under such circumstances, unseemly and
+insulting; but she kept her opinion to herself, partly out of modesty and
+partly because she did not wish to encourage the estrangement between
+this unhappy lady and the niece whose mere presence would have been so
+great a comfort to her.
+
+When Johanna returned to lead her to a bedroom, she gave a sigh of
+relief; but the lady expressed a wish to keep Melissa near her, and in a
+low voice desired the waiting-woman to prepare a bed for her in the
+adjoining room, by the side of Korinna's, which was never to be
+disturbed.  Then, still greatly excited, she invited Melissa into her
+daughter's pretty room.
+
+There she showed her everything that Korinna had especially cared for.
+Her bird hung in the same place; her lap-dog was sleeping in a basket,
+on the cushion which Berenike had embroidered for her child.  Melissa had
+to admire the dead girl's lute, and her first piece of weaving, and the
+elegant loom of ebony and ivory in which she had woven it.  And Berenike
+repeated to the girl the verses which Korinna had composed, in imitation
+of Catullus, on the death of a favorite bird.  And although Melissa's
+eyes were almost closing with fatigue, she forced herself to attend to it
+all, for she saw now how much her sympathy pleased her kind friend.
+
+Meanwhile the voices of the men, who had done eating and were now
+drinking, came louder and louder into the women's apartments.  When the
+merriment of her guests rose to a higher pitch than usual, or something
+amusing gave rise to a shout of laughter, Berenike shrank, and either
+muttered some unintelligible threat or besought the forgiveness of her
+daughter's manes.
+
+It seemed to be a relief to her to rush from one mood to the other; but
+neither in her grief, nor when her motherly feeling led her to talk, nor
+yet in her wrath, did she lose her perfect dignity.  All Melissa saw and
+heard moved her to pity or to horror.  And meanwhile she was worn out
+with anxiety for her family, and with increasing fatigue.
+
+At last, however, she was released.  A gay chorus of women's voices and
+flutes came up from the banqueting-hall.  With a haughty mien and dilated
+nostrils Berenike listened to the first few bars.  That such a song
+should be heard in her house of woe was too much; with her own hand she
+closed the shutters over the window next her; then she bade her young
+guest go to bed.
+
+Oh, how glad was the overtired girl to stretch herself on the soft couch!
+As usual, before going to sleep, she told her mother in the spirit all
+the history of the day.  Then she prayed to the manes of the departed to
+lend her aid in the heavy task before her; but in the midst of her prayer
+sleep overcame her, and her young bosom was already rising and falling in
+regular breathing when she was roused by a visit from the lady Berenike.
+
+Melissa suddenly beheld her at the head of the bed, in a flowing white
+night-dress, with her hair unpinned, and holding a silver lamp in her
+hand; and the girl involuntarily put up her arms as if to protect
+herself, for she fancied that the daemon of madness stared out of those
+large black eyes.  But the unhappy woman's expression changed, and she
+looked down kindly on Melissa.  She quietly set the lamp on the table,
+and then, as the cool nightbreeze blew in through the open window, to
+which there was no shutter, she tenderly wrapped the white woolen blanket
+round Melissa, and muttered to herself, "She liked it so."
+
+Then she knelt down by the side of the bed, pressed her lips on the brow
+of the girl, now fully awake, and said:
+
+"And you, too, are fair to look upon.  He will grant your prayer!"
+
+Then she asked Melissa about her lover, her father, her mother, and at
+last she, unexpectedly, asked her in a whisper:
+
+"Your brother Alexander, the painter--My daughter, though in death,
+inspired his soul with love.  Yes, Korinna was dear to him.  Her image
+is living in his soul.  Am I right?  Tell me the truth!"
+
+On this Melissa confessed how deeply the painter had been impressed by
+the dead girl's beauty, and that he had given her his heart and soul with
+a fervor of devotion of which she had never imagined him capable.  And
+the poor mother smiled as she heard it, and murmured, "I was sure of it."
+
+But then she shook her head, sadly, and said "Fool that I am!"
+
+At last she bade Melissa good-night, and went back to her own bedroom.
+There Johanna was awaiting her, and while she was plaiting her mistress's
+hair the matron said, threateningly:
+
+"If the wretch should not spare even her"--She was interrupted by loud
+shouts of mirth from the banqueting-hall, and among the laughing voices
+she fancied that she recognized her husband's.  She started up with a
+vehement movement, and exclaimed, in angry excitement:
+
+"Seleukus might have prevented such an outrage!  Oh, I know that
+sorrowing father's heart!  Fear, vanity, ambition, love of pleasure--"
+
+"But consider," Johanna broke in, "to cross Caesar's wish is to forfeit
+life!"
+
+"Then he should have died!" replied the matron, with stern decision.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Before sunrise the wind changed.  Heavy clouds bore down from the north,
+darkening the clear sky of Alexandria.  By the time the market was
+filling it was raining in torrents, and a cold breeze blew over the town
+from the lake.  Philostratus had only allowed himself a short time for
+sleep, sitting till long after midnight over his history of Apolonius
+of Tyana.  His aim was to prove, by the example of this man, that a
+character not less worthy of imitation than that of the lord of the
+Christians might be formed in the faith of the ancients, and nourished
+by doctrines produced by the many-branched tree of Greek religion and
+philosophy.  Julia Domna, Caracalla's mother, had encouraged the
+philosopher in this task, which was to show her passionate and criminal
+son the dignity of moderation and virtue.  The book was also to bring
+home to Caesar the religion of his forefathers and his country in all its
+beauty and elevating power; for hitherto he had vacillated from one form
+to another, had not even rejected Christianity, with which his nurse had
+tried to inoculate him as a child, and had devoted himself to every
+superstition of his time in a way which had disgusted those about him.
+It had been particularly interesting to the writer, with a view to the
+purpose of this work, to meet with a girl who practiced all the virtues
+the Christians most highly prized, without belonging to that sect, who
+were always boasting of the constraining power of their religion in
+conducing to pure morality.
+
+In his work the day before he had taken occasion to regret the small
+recognition his hero had met with among those nearest to him.  In this,
+as in other respects, he seemed to have shared the fate of Jesus Christ,
+whose name, however, Philostratus purposely avoided mentioning.  Now,
+to-night, he reflected on the sacrifice offered by Melissa for Caesar
+whom she knew not, and he wrote the following words as though proceeding
+from the pen of Apollonius himself: "I know well how good a thing it is
+to regard all the world as my home, and all mankind as my brethren and
+friends; for we are all of the same divine race, and have all one
+Father."
+
+Then, looking up from the papyrus, he murmured to himself: "From such a
+point of view as this Melissa might see in Caracalla a friend and a
+brother.  If only now it were possible to rouse the conscience of that
+imperial criminal!"
+
+He took up the written sheet on which he had begun a dissertation as to
+what conscience is, as exerting a choice between good and evil.  He had
+written: "Understanding governs what we purpose; consciousness governs
+what our understanding resolves upon.  Hence, if our understanding choose
+the good, consciousness is satisfied."
+
+How flat it sounded!  It could have no effect in that form.
+
+Melissa had confessed with far greater warmth what her feelings had been
+after she had sacrificed for the suffering sinner.  Every one, no doubt,
+would feel the same who, when called on to choose between good and evil,
+should prefer the good; so he altered and expanded the last words:
+"Thus consciousness sends a man with song and gladness into the
+sanctuaries and groves, into the roads, and wherever mortals live.  Even
+in sleep the song makes itself heard, and a happy choir from the land of
+dreams lift up their voices about his bed."
+
+That was better!  This pleasing picture might perhaps leave some
+impression on the soul of the young criminal, in whom a preference for
+good could still, though rarely, be fanned to a flame.  Caesar read what
+Philostratus wrote, because he took pleasure in the form of his work; and
+this sentence would not have been written in vain if only it should
+prompt Caracalla in some cases, however few, to choose the good.
+
+The philosopher was fully determined to do his utmost for Melissa and
+her brothers.  He had often brought pictures under Caesar's notice, for
+he was the first living authority as a connoisseur of painting, and as
+having written many descriptions of pictures.  He built some hopes, too,
+on Melissa's innocence; and so the worthy man, when he retired to rest,
+looked forward with confidence to the work of mediation, which was by no
+means devoid of danger.
+
+But next morning it presented itself in a less promising light.  The
+clouded sky, the storm, and rain might have a fatal effect on Caesar's
+temper; and when he heard that old Galen, after examining his patient and
+prescribing certain remedies, had yesterday evening taken ship, leaving
+Caracalla in a frenzy of rage which had culminated in slight convulsions,
+he almost repented of his promise.  However, he felt himself pledged; so
+as early as possible he went to Caesar's rooms, prepared for the worst.
+
+His gloomy anticipations were aggravated by the scene which met his eyes.
+
+In the anteroom he found the chief men of the city and some
+representative members of the Alexandrian Senate, who were anxious
+for an audience of their imperial visitor.  They had been commanded to
+attend at an unusually early hour, and had already been kept a long time
+waiting.
+
+When Philostratus--who was always free to enter Caesar's presence--made
+his appearance, Caracalla was seating himself on the throne which had
+been placed for him in the splendidly fitted audience-chamber.  He had
+come from his bath, and was wrapped in the comfortable white woolen robe
+which he wore on leaving it.  His "friends" as they were called,
+senators, and other men of mark, stood round in considerable numbers,
+among them the high-priest of Serapis.  Pandion, Caesar's charioteer, was
+occupied, under the sovereign's instructions, in fastening the lion's
+chain to the ring fixed for the purpose in the floor by the side of the
+throne; and as the beast, whose collar had been drawn too tight, uttered
+a low, complaining growl, Caracalla scolded the favorite.  As soon as he
+caught sight of Philostratus, he signed to him to approach:
+
+"Do you see nothing strange in me?" he whispered.  "Your Phoebus Apollo
+appeared to me in a dream.  He laid his hand on my shoulder toward
+morning;  indeed, I saw only horrible faces."  Then he pointed out of the
+window, exclaiming:
+
+"The god hides his face to-day.  Gloomy days have often brought me good
+fortune; but this is a strange experience of the eternal sunshine of
+Egypt!  Men and sky have given me the same kind welcome; gray, gray, and
+always gray-without and within--and my poor soldiers out on the square!
+Macrinus tells me they are complaining.  But my father's advice was
+sound: "Keep them content, and never mind anything else."  The heads of
+the town are waiting outside; they must give up their palaces to the
+bodyguard; if they murmur, let them try for themselves how they like
+sleeping on the soaking ground under dripping tents.  It may cool their
+hot blood, and perhaps dilute the salt of their wit.--Show them in,
+Theocritus."
+
+He signed to the actor, and when he humbly asked whether Caesar had
+forgotten to exchange his morning wrapper for another dress, Caracalla
+laughed contemptuously, and replied:
+
+"Why, an empty corn-sack over my shoulders would be dress enough for this
+rabble of traders!"  He stretched his small but muscular frame out at
+full length, resting his head on his hand, and his comely face, which had
+lost the suffering look it had worn the day before, suddenly changed in
+expression.  As was his habit when he wished to inspire awe or fear, he
+knit his brows in deep furrows, set his teeth tightly, and assumed a
+suspicious and sinister scowl.
+
+The deputation entered, bowing low, headed by the exegetes, the head of
+the city, and Timotheus, the chief-priest of Serapis.  After these came
+the civic authorities, the members of the senate, and then, as
+representing the large Jewish colony in the city, their alabarch or head-
+man.  It was easy to see in each one as he came in, that the presence of
+the lion, who had raised his head at their approach, was far from
+encouraging; and a faint, scornful smile parted Caracalla's lips as he
+noted the cowering knees of these gorgeously habited courtiers.  The
+high-priest alone, who, as Caesar's host, had gone up to the side of the
+throne, and two or three others, among them the governor of the town, a
+tall, elderly man of Macedonian descent, paid no heed to the brute.  The
+Macedonian bowed to his sovereign with calm dignity, and in the name of
+the municipally hoped he had rested well.  He then informed Caesar what
+shows and performances were prepared in his honor, and finally named the
+considerable sum which had been voted by the town of Alexandria to
+express to him their joy at his visit.  Caracalla waved his hand, and
+said, carelessly:
+
+"The priest of Alexander, as idiologos, will receive the gold with the
+temple tribute.  We can find use for it.  We knew that you were rich.
+But what do you want for your money?  What have you to ask?"
+
+"Nothing, noble Caesar," replied the governor.  "Thy gracious presence--"
+
+Caracalla interrupted him with a long-drawn "Indeed!"  Then, leaning
+forward, he gave him a keen, oblique look.  "No one but the gods has
+nothing to wish for; so it must be that you are afraid to ask.  What can
+that avail, unless to teach me that you look for nothing but evil from
+me; that you are suspicious of me?  And if that is so, you fear me; and
+if you fear, you hate me.  The insults I have received in this house
+sufficiently prove the fact.  And if you hate me," and he sprang up and
+shook his fist, "I must protect myself!"
+
+"Great Caesar," the exegetes began, in humble deprecation, but Caracalla
+went on, wrathfully:
+
+"I know when I have to protect myself, and from whom.  It is not well to
+trifle with me!  An insolent tongue is easily hidden behind the lips; but
+heads are less easy to hide, and I shall be content with them.  Tell that
+to your Alexandrian wits!  Macrinus will inform you of all else.  You may
+go."
+
+During this speech the lion, excited by his master's furious gestures,
+had risen on his feet and showed his terrible teeth to the delegates.
+At this their courage sank.  Some laid their hands on their bent knees,
+as if to shield them; others had gradually sidled to the door before
+Caesar had uttered the last word.  Then, in spite of the efforts of the
+governor and the alabarch to detain them, in the hope of pacifying the
+potentate, as soon as they heard the word "go," they hurried out; and,
+for better or for worse, the few bolder spirits had to follow.
+
+As soon as the door was closed upon them, Caesar's features lost their
+cruel look.  He patted the lion with soothing words of praise, and
+exclaimed, contemptuously:
+
+"These are the descendants of the Macedonians, with whom the greatest of
+heroes conquered the world!  Who was that fat old fellow who shrank into
+himself so miserably, and made for the door while I was yet speaking?"
+
+"Kimon, the chief of the night-watch and guardian of the peace of the
+city," replied the high-priest of Alexander, who as a Roman had kept his
+place by the throne; and Theocritus put in:
+
+"The people must sleep badly under the ward of such a coward.  Let him
+follow the prefect, noble Caesar."
+
+"Send him his dismissal at once," said Caracalla; "but see that his
+successor is a man."
+
+He then turned to the high-priest, and politely requested him to assist
+Theocritus in choosing a new head for the town-guard, and Timotheus and
+the favorite quitted the room together.
+
+Philostratus took ingenious advantage of the incident, by at once
+informing the emperor that it had come to his knowledge that this coward,
+so worthily dismissed from office, had, on the merest suspicion, cast
+into prison a painter who was undoubtedly one of the first of living
+artists, and with him his guiltless relations.
+
+"I will not have it!"  Caesar broke out.  "Nothing but blood will do any
+good here, and petty aggravations will only stir their bile and increase
+their insolence.  Is the painter of whom you speak an Alexandrian?--I
+pine for the open air, but the wind blows the rain against the windows."
+
+"In the field," the philosopher remarked, "you have faced the weather
+heroically enough.  Here, in the city, enjoy what is placed before you.
+Only yesterday I still believed that the art of Apelles was utterly
+degenerate.  But since then I have changed my opinion, for I have seen a
+portrait which would be an ornament to the Pinakothek in your baths.  The
+northern windows are closed, or, in this land of inundations, and in such
+weather as this, we might find ourselves afloat even under cover of a
+roof; so it is too dark here to judge of a painting, but your dressing-
+room is more favorably situated, and the large window there will serve
+our purpose.  May I be allowed the pleasure of showing you there the work
+of the imprisoned artist?"
+
+Caesar nodded, and led the way, accompanied by his lion and followed by
+the philosopher, who desired an attendant to bring in the picture.
+
+In this room it was much lighter than in the audience-chamber, and while
+Caracalla awaited, with Philostratus, the arrival of the painting, his
+Indian body-slave, a gift from the Parthian king, silently and skillfully
+dressed his thin hair.  The sovereign sighed deeply, and pressed his hand
+to his brow as though in pain.  The philosopher ventured to approach him,
+and there was warm sympathy in his tone as he asked:
+
+"What  ails  you,  Bassianus?  Just now you bore all the appearance of a
+healthy, nay, and of a terrible man!"
+
+"It is better again already," replied the sovereign."  And yet--!"
+
+He groaned again, and then confessed that only yesterday he had in the
+same way been tortured with pain.
+
+"The attack came on in the morning, as you know," he went on, "and when
+it was past I went down into the court of sacrifice; my feet would
+scarcely carry me.  Curiosity--and they were waiting for me; and some
+great sign might be shown!  Besides, some excitement helps me through
+this torment.  But there was nothing--nothing!  Heart, lungs, liver, all
+in their right place.--And then, Galenus--What I like is bad for me, what
+I loathe is wholesome.  And again and again the same foolish question,
+'Do you wish to escape an early death?'  And all with an air as though
+Death were a slave at his command--He can, no doubt, do more than others,
+and has preserved his own life I know not how long.  Well, and it is his
+duty to prolong mine.
+
+"I am Caesar.  I had a right to insist on his remaining here.  I did so;
+for he knows my malady, and describes it as if he felt it himself.  I
+ordered him--nay, I entreated him.  But he adhered to his own way.  He
+went--he is gone!"
+
+"But he may be of use to you, even at a distance," Philostratus said.
+
+"Did he do anything for my father, or for me in Rome, where he saw me
+every day?" retorted Caesar.  "He can mitigate and relieve the suffering,
+but that is all; and of all the others, is there one fit to hand him a
+cup of water?  Perhaps he would be willing to cure me, but he can not;
+for I tell you, Philostratus, the gods will not have it so.  You know
+what sacrifices I have offered, what gifts I have brought.  I have
+prayed, I have abased myself before them, but none will hear.  One or
+another of the gods, indeed, appears to me not infrequently as Apollo did
+last night.  But is it because he favors me?  First, he laid his hand on
+my shoulder, as my father used to do; but his was so heavy, that the
+weight pressed me down till I fell on my knees, crushed.  This is no good
+sign, you think?  I see it in your face.  I do not myself think so.  And
+how loudly I have called on him, of all the gods!  The whole empire, they
+say, men and women alike, besought the immortals unbidden for the welfare
+of Titus.  I, too, am their lord; but"--and he laughed bitterly--"who has
+ever raised a hand in prayer for me of his own impulse?  My own mother
+always named my brother first.  He has paid for it,--But the rest!"
+
+"They fear rather than love you," replied the philosopher.  "He to whom
+Phoebus Apollo appears may always expect some good to follow.  And
+yesterday--a happy omen, too--I overheard by chance a young Greek girl,
+who believed herself unobserved, who of her own prompting fervently
+entreated Asklepios to heal you.  Nay, she collected all the coins in her
+little purse, and had a goat and a cock sacrificed in your behalf."
+
+"And you expect me to believe that!"  said Caracalla, with a scornful
+laugh.
+
+But Philostratus eagerly replied:
+
+"It is the pure truth.  I went to the little temple because it was said
+that Apollonius had left some documents there.  Every word from his pen
+is, as you know, of value to me in writing his history.  The little
+library was screened off from the cella by a curtain, and while I was
+hunting through the manuscripts I heard a woman's voice."
+
+"It spoke for some other Bassianus, Antoninus, Tarautus, or whatever they
+choose to call me," Caesar broke in.
+
+"Nay, my lord, not so.  She prayed for you, the son of Severus.  I spoke
+to her afterwards.  She had seen you yesterday morning, and fancied she
+had noted how great and severe your sufferings were.  This had gone to
+her heart.  So she went thither to pray and sacrifice for you, although
+she knew that you were prosecuting her brother, the very painter of whom
+I spoke.  I would you too could have heard how fervently she addressed
+the god, and then Hygeia!"
+
+"A  Greek, you  say?"  Caracalla  remarked.  "And she really did not know
+you, or dream that you could hear her?"
+
+"No, my lord; assuredly not.  She is a sweet maid, and if you would care
+to see her--"
+
+Caesar had listened to the tale with great attention and evident
+expectancy; but suddenly his face clouded, and, heedless of the slaves
+who, under the guidance of his chamberlain Adventus, had now brought in
+the portrait, he sprang up, went close to Philostratus, and stormed out:
+
+"Woe to you if you lie to me!  You want to get the brother out of prison,
+and then, by chance, you come across the sister who is praying for me!  A
+fable to cheat a child with!"
+
+"I am speaking the truth," replied Philostratus, coolly, though the rapid
+winking of Caesar's eyelids warned him that his blood was boiling with
+wrath.
+
+"It was from the sister, whom I overheard in the temple, that I learned
+of her brother's peril, and I afterward saw that portrait."
+
+Caracalla stared at the floor for a moment in silence; then he looked up,
+and said, in a tone husky with agitation:
+
+"I only long for anything which may bring me nearer to the perverse race
+over whom I rule, be it what it may.  You offer it me.  You are the only
+man who never asked me for anything.  I have believed you to be as
+righteous as all other men are not.  And now if you, if this time--"
+
+He lowered his tones, which had become somewhat threatening, and went on
+very earnestly: "By all you hold most sacred on earth, I ask you, Did the
+girl pray for me, and of her own free impulse, not knowing that any one
+could hear her?"
+
+"I swear it, by the head of my mother!" replied Philostratus, solemnly.
+
+"Your mother?" echoed Caesar, and his brow began to clear.  But suddenly
+the gleam of satisfaction, which for a moment had embellished his
+features, vanished, and with a sharp laugh he added: "And my mother!  Do
+you suppose that I do not know what she requires of you?  It is solely to
+please her that you, a free man, remain with me.  For her sake you are
+bold enough to try now and then to quell the stormy sea of my passions.
+You do it with a grace, so I submit.  And now my hand is raised to strike
+a wretch who mocks at me; he is a painter, of some talent, so, of course,
+you take him under your protection.  Then, in a moment, your inventive
+genius devises a praying sister.  Well, there is in that something which
+might indeed mollify me.  But you would betray Bassianus ten times over
+to save an artist.  And then, how my mother would fly to show her
+gratitude to the man who could quell her furious son!  Your mother!--
+But I only squint when it suits me.  My eye must become dimmer than it
+yet is before I fail to see the connection of ideas which led you to
+swear by your mother.  You were thinking of mine when you spoke.  To
+please her, you would deceive her son.  But as soon as he touches the
+lie it vanishes into thin air, for it has no more substance than a soap
+bubble!"  The last words were at once sad, angry, and scornful; but the
+philosopher, who had listened at first with astonishment and then with
+indignation, could no longer contain himself.
+
+"Enough!" he cried to the angry potentate, in an imperious tone.  Then,
+drawing himself up, he went on with offended dignity:
+
+"I know what the end has been of so many who have aroused your wrath, and
+yet I have courage enough to tell you to your face, that to injustice,
+the outcome of distrust, you add the most senseless insult.  Or do you
+really think that a just man--for so you have called me more than once--
+would outrage the manes of the beloved woman who bore him to please the
+mother of another man, even though she be Caesar's?  What I swear to by
+the head of my mother, friend and foe alike must believe; and he who does
+not, must hold me to be the vilest wretch on earth; my presence can only
+be an offense to him.  So I beg you to allow me to return to Rome."
+
+The words were manly and spoken firmly, and they pleased Caracalla; for
+the joy of believing in the philosopher's statement outweighed every
+other feeling.  And since he regarded Philostratus as the incarnation of
+goodness--though he had lost faith in that--his threat of leaving
+disturbed him greatly.  He laid his hand on his brave adviser's arm, and
+assured him that he was only too happy to believe a thing so incredible.
+
+Any witness of the scene would have supposed this ruthless fatricide,
+this tyrant--whose intercourse with the visions of a crazed and unbridled
+fancy made him capable of any folly, and who loved to assume the aspect
+of a cruel misanthrope--to be a docile disciple, who cared for nothing
+but to recover the favor and forgiveness of his master.  And
+Philostratus, knowing this man, and the human heart, did not make it too
+easy for him to achieve his end.  When he at last gave up his purpose of
+returning to Rome, and had more fully explained to Caesar how and where
+he had met Melissa, and what he had heard about her brother the painter,
+he lifted the wrapper from Korinna's portrait, placed it in a good light,
+and pointed out to Caracalla the particular beauties of the purely Greek
+features.
+
+It was with sincere enthusiasm that he expatiated on the skill with which
+the artist had reproduced in color the noble lines which Caracalla so
+much admired in the sculpture of the great Greek masters; how warm and
+tender the flesh was; how radiant the light of those glorious eyes; how
+living the waving hair, as though it still breathed of the scented oil!
+And when Philostratus explained that though Alexander had no doubt spoken
+some rash and treasonable words, he could not in any case be the author
+of the insulting verses which had been found at the Serapeum with the
+rope, Caracalla echoed his praises of the picture, and desired to see
+both the painter and his sister.
+
+That morning, as he rose from his bed, he had been informed that the
+planets which had been seen during the past night from the observatory of
+the Serapeum, promised him fortune and happiness in the immediate future.
+He was himself a practiced star-reader, and the chief astrologer of the
+temple had pointed out to him how peculiarly favorable the constellation
+was whence he had deduced his prediction.  Then, Phoebus Apollo had
+appeared to him in a dream; the auguries from the morning's sacrifices
+had all been favorable; and, before he dispatched Philostratus to fetch
+Melissa, he added:
+
+"It is strange!  The best fortune has always come to me from a gloomy
+sky.  How brightly the sun shone on my marriage with the odious
+Plautilla!  It has rained, on the contrary, on almost all my victories;
+and it was under a heavy storm that the oracle assured me the soul of
+Alexander the Great had selected this tortured frame in which to live out
+his too early ended years on earth.  Can such coincidence be mere chance?
+Phoebus Apollo, your favorite divinity--and that, too, of the sage of
+Tyana--may perhaps have been angry with me.  He who purified himself from
+blood-guiltiness after killing the Python is the god of expiation.  I
+will address myself to him, like the noble hero of your book.  This
+morning the god visited me again; so I will have such sacrifice slain
+before him as never yet was offered.  Will that satisfy you, O
+philosopher hard to be appeased?"
+
+"More than satisfy me, my Bassianus," replied Philostratus.  "Yet
+remember that, according to Apollonius, the sacrifice is effective only
+through the spirit in which it is offered."
+
+"Always a 'but' and an 'if'!" exclaimed Caracalla, as his friend left the
+room to call Melissa from the high-priest's quarters, where she was
+waiting.
+
+For the first time for some days Caesar found himself alone.  Leading the
+lion by the collar, he went to the window.  The rain had ceased, but
+black clouds still covered the heavens.  Below him lay the opening of the
+street of Hermes into the great square, swarming with human life, and
+covered with the now drenched tents of the soldiery; and his eyes fell on
+that of a centurion, a native of Alexandria, just then receiving a visit
+from his family, to whom the varied fortunes of a warrior's life had
+brought him back once more.
+
+The bearded hero held an infant in his arms--assuredly his own--while a
+girl and boy clung to him, gazing up in his face with wondering black
+eyes; and another child, of about three, paying no heed to the others,
+was crowing as it splashed through a puddle with its little bare feet.
+Two women, one young and one elderly, the man's mother and his wife, no
+doubt, seemed to hang on his lips as he recounted perhaps some deed of
+valor.
+
+The tuba sounded to arms.  He kissed the infant, and carefully laid it on
+its mother's bosom; then he took up the boy and the girl, laughingly
+caught the little one, and pressed his bearded lips to each rosy mouth in
+turn.  Last of all he clasped the young wife to his breast, gently
+stroked her hair, and whispered something in her ear at which she smiled
+up at him through her tears and then blushingly looked down.  His mother
+patted him fondly on the shoulder, and, as they parted, he kissed her too
+on her wrinkled brow.
+
+Caracalla had remarked this centurion once before; his name was
+Martialis, and he was a simple, commonplace, but well-conducted creature,
+who had often distinguished himself by his contempt for death.  The
+imperial visit to Alexandria had meant for him a return home and the
+greatest joy in life.  How many arms had opened to receive the common
+soldier; how many hearts had beat high at his coming!  Not a day, it was
+certain, had passed since his arrival without prayers going up to Heaven
+for his preservation, from his mother, his wife, and his children.  And
+he, the ruler of the world, had thought it impossible that one, even one
+of his millions of subjects, should have prayed for him.  Who awaited him
+with a longing heart?  Where was his home?
+
+He had first seen the light in Gaul.  His father was an African; his
+mother was born in Syria.  The palace at Rome, his residence, he did not
+care to remember.  He traveled about the empire, leaving as wide a space
+as possible between himself and that house of doom, from which he could
+never wipe out the stain of his brother's blood.
+
+And his mother?  She feared--perhaps she hated him--her first-born son,
+since he had killed her younger darling.  What did she care for him, so
+long as she had her philosophers to argue with, who knew how to ply her
+with delicate flattery?
+
+Then Plautilla, his wife?  His father had compelled him to marry her,
+the richest heiress in the world, whose dowry had been larger than the
+collected treasure of a dozen queens; and as he thought of the sharp
+features of that insignificant, sour-faced, and unspeakably pretentious
+creature, he shuddered with aversion.
+
+He had banished her, and then had her murdered.  Others had done the
+deed, and it did not strike him that he was responsible for the crime
+committed in his service; but her loveless heart, without a care for
+him--her bird-sharp face, looking out like a well-made mask from her
+abundant hair--and her red, pinched lips, were very present to him.
+What cutting words those lips could speak; what senseless demands they
+had uttered; and nothing more insolent could be imagined than her way
+of pursing them up if at any time he had suggested a kiss!
+
+His child?  One had been born to him, but it had followed its mother into
+exile and to the grave.  The little thing, which he had scarcely known,
+was so inseparable from its detested mother that he had mourned it no
+more than her.  It was well that the assassins, without any orders from
+him, should have cut short that wretched life.  He could not long for the
+embraces of the monster which should have united Plautilla's vices and
+his own.
+
+Among the men about his person, there was not one for whom other hearts
+beat warmer; no creature that loved him excepting his lion; no spot on
+earth where he was looked for with gladness.  He waited, as for some
+marvel, to see the one human being who had spontaneously entreated the
+gods for him.  The girl must probably be a poor, tearful creature, as
+weak of brain as she was soft-hearted.
+
+There stood the centurion at the head of his maniple, and raised his
+staff.  Enviable man!  How content he looked; how clearly he spoke the
+word of command!  And how healthy the vulgar creature must be--while he,
+Caesar, was suffering that acute headache again!  He gnashed his teeth,
+and felt a strong impulse to spoil the happiness of that shameless
+upstart.  If he were sent packing to Spain, now, or to Pontus, there
+would be an end of his gladness.  The centurion should know what it was
+to be a solitary soul.
+
+Acting on this malignant impulse, he had raised his hand to his mouth to
+shout the cruel order to a tribune, when suddenly the clouds parted, and
+the glorious sun of Africa appeared in a blue island amid the ocean of
+gray, cheering the earth with glowing sheaves of rays.  The beams were
+blinding as they came reflected from the armor and weapons of the men,
+reminding Caesar of the god to whom he had just vowed an unparalleled
+sacrifice.
+
+Philostratus had often praised Phoebus Apollo above all gods, because
+wherever he appeared there was light, irradiating not the earth alone but
+men's souls; and because, as the lord of music and harmony, he aided men
+to arrive at that morally pure and equable frame of mind which was
+accordant and pleasing to his glorious nature.  Apollo had conquered the
+dark heralds of the storm, and Caracalla looked up.  Before this radiant
+witness he was ashamed to carry out his dark purpose, and he said,
+addressing the sun:
+
+"For thy sake, Phoebus Apollo, I spare the man."  Then, pleased with
+himself, he looked down again.  The restraint he had laid upon himself
+struck him as in fact a great and noble effort, accustomed as he was to
+yield to every impulse.  But at the same time he observed that the
+clouds, which had so often brought him good fortune, were dispersing, and
+this gave him fresh uneasiness.  Dazzled by the flood of sunshine which
+poured in at the window, he withdrew discontentedly into the room.  If
+this bright day were to bring disaster?  If the god disdained his
+offering?
+
+But was not Apollo, perhaps, like the rest of the immortals, an idol of
+the fancy, living only in the imagination of men who had devised it?
+Stern thinkers and pious folks, like the skeptics and the Christians,
+laughed the whole tribe of the Olympians to scorn.  Still, the hand of
+Phoebus Apollo had rested heavily on his shoulders in his dream.  His
+power, after all, might be great.  The god must have the promised
+sacrifice, come what might.  Bitter wrath rose up in his soul at this
+thought, as it had often done before, with the immortals, against whom
+he, the all-powerful, was impotent.  If only for an hour they could be
+his subjects, he would make them rue the sufferings by which they spoiled
+his existence.
+
+"He is called Martialis.  I will remember that name," he thought, as he
+cast a last envious look at the centurion.
+
+How long Philostratus was gone!  Solitude weighed on him, and he looked
+about him wildly, as though seeking some support.  An attendant at this
+moment announced the philosopher, and Caracalla, much relieved, went into
+the tablinum to meet him.  There he sat down on a seat in front of the
+writing-table strewn with tablets and papyrus-rolls, rearranged the end
+of the purple toga for which he had exchanged his bathing-robe, rested
+one foot on the lion's neck and his head on his hand.  He would receive
+this wonderful girl in the character of an anxious sovereign meditating
+on the welfare of his people.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Galenus--What I like is bad for me, what I loathe is wholesome
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A THRONY PATH, BY EBERS, V5 ***
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