diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5537.txt | 2241 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 5537.zip | bin | 0 -> 48090 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 2257 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5537.txt b/5537.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..704b173 --- /dev/null +++ b/5537.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2241 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook A Thorny Path, by Georg Ebers, v8 +#98 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: A Thorny Path, Volume 8. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5537] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 19, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A THRONY PATH, BY EBERS, V8 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +A THORNY PATH + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 8. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +The slave Argutis was waiting for Melissa in the antechamber. It was +evident that he brought good news, for he beamed with joy as she came +toward him; and before she left the house she knew that her father and +Philip had returned and had regained their freedom. + +The slave had not allowed these joyful tidings to reach his beloved +mistress's ear, that he might have the undivided pleasure of bringing +them himself, and the delight she expressed was fully as great as he had +anticipated. Melissa even hurried back to Johanna to impart to her the +joyful intelligence that she might tell it to her mistress. + +When they were in the street the slave told her that, at break of day, +the ship had cast anchor which brought back father and son. The +prisoners had received their freedom while they were still at sea, and +had been permitted to return home at once. All was well, only--he added, +hesitatingly and with tears in his eyes--things were not as they used to +be, and now the old were stronger than the young. Her father had taken +no harm from the heavy work at the oars, but Philip had returned from the +galleys very ill, and they had carried him forthwith to the bedchamber, +where Dido was now nursing him. It was a good thing that she had not +been there to hear how the master had stormed and cursed over the infamy +they had had to endure; but the meeting with his birds had calmed him +down quickly enough. + +Melissa and her attendant were walking in the direction of the Serapeum, +but now she declared that she must first see the liberated prisoners. +And she insisted upon it, although Argutis assured her of her father's +intention of seeking her at the house of the high-priest, as soon as he +had removed all traces of his captivity and his shameful work at the +galleys in the bath. Philip she would, of course, find at home, he being +too weak to leave the house. The old man had some difficulty in +following his young mistress, and she soon stepped lightly over the +"Welcome" on the threshold of her father's house. Never had the red +mosaic inscription seemed to shine so bright and friendly, and she heard +her name called in delighted tones from the kitchen. + +This joyful greeting from Dido was not to be returned from the door only. +In a moment Melissa was standing by the hearth; but the slave, speechless +with happiness, could only point with fork and spoon, first to the pot in +which a large piece of meat was being boiled down into a strengthening +soup for Philip, then to a spit on which two young chickens were browning +before the fire, and then to the pan where she was frying the little fish +of which the returned wanderer was so fond. + +But the old woman's struggle between the duty that kept her near the fire +and the love that drew her away from it was not of long duration. In a +few minutes Melissa, her hands clasping the slave's withered arm, was +listening to the tender words of welcome that Dido had ready for her. +The slave woman declared that she scarcely dared to let her eyes rest +upon her mistress, much less touch her with the fingers that had just +been cleaning fish; for the girl was dressed as grandly as the daughter +of the high-priest. Melissa laughed at this; but the slave went on to +say that they had not been able to detain her master. His longing to see +his daughter and the desire to speak with Caesar had driven him out of +the house, and Alexander had, of course, accompanied him. Only Philip, +poor, crushed worm, was at home, and the sight of her would put more +strength into him than the strong soup and the old wine which his father +had fetched for him from the store-room, although he generally reserved +it for libations on her mother's grave. + +Melissa soon stood beside her brother's couch, and the sight of him cast +a dark shadow over the brightness of this happy morn. As he recognized +her, a fleeting smile crossed the pale, spiritualized face, which seemed +to her to have grown ten years older in this short time; but it vanished +as quickly as it had come. Then the great eyes gazed blankly again from +the shadows that surrounded them, and a spasm of pain quivered from time +to time round the thin, tightly closed lips. Melissa could hardly +restrain her tears. Was this what he had been brought to-the youth who +only a few days ago had made them all feel conscious of the superiority +of his brilliant mind! + +Her warm heart made her feel more lovingly toward her sick brother than +she had ever done when he was in health, and surely he was conscious of +the tenderness with which she strove to comfort him. + +The unaccustomed, hard, and degrading work at the oars, she assured him, +would have worn out a stronger man than he; but he would soon be able to +visit the Museum again and argue as bravely as ever. With this, she bent +over him to kiss his brow, but he raised himself a little, and said, with +a contemptuous smile: + +"Apathy--ataraxy--complete indifference--is the highest aim after which +the soul of the skeptic strives. That at least "=-and here his eyes +flashed for a moment--"I have attained to in these cursed days. That a +thinking being could become so utterly callous to everything--everything, +be it what it may--even I could never have believed!" He sank into +silence, but his sister urged him to take courage--surely many a glad day +was before him yet. + +At this he raised himself more energetically, and exclaimed: + +"Glad days?--for me, and with you? That you should still be of such good +cheer would please or else astonish me if I were still capable of those +sentiments. If things were different, I should ask you now, what have +you given the imperial bloodhound in return for our freedom?" + +Here Melissa exclaimed indignantly, but he continued unabashed: + +"Alexander says you have found favor with our imperial master. He calls, +and you come. Naturally, it is for him to command. See how much can be +made of the child of a gem-cutter! But what says handsome Diodoros to +all this?--Why turn so pale? These, truly, are questions which I would +fling in your face were things as they used to be. Now I say in all +unconcern, do what you will!" + +The blood had ebbed from Melissa's cheeks during this attack of her +brother's. His injurious and false accusations roused her indignation to +the utmost, but one glance at his weary, suffering face showed her how +great was the pain he endured, and in her compassionate heart pity strove +against righteous anger. The struggle was sharp, but pity prevailed; +and, instead of punishing him by a sharp retort, she forced herself to +explain to him in a few gentle words what had happened, in order to +dispel the unworthy suspicion that must surely hurt him as much as it did +her. She felt convinced that the sufferer would be cheered by her words; +but he made no attempt to show that he appreciated her kindly moderation, +nor to express any satisfaction. On the contrary, when he spoke it was +in the same tone as before. + +"If that be the case," he said, "so much the better; but were it +otherwise, it would have to be endured just the same. I can think of +nothing that could affect me now, and it is well. Only my body troubles +me still. It weighs upon me like lead, and grows heavier with every word +I utter. Therefore, I pray you, leave me to myself!" + +But his sister would not obey. "No, Philip," she cried, eagerly, "this +may not be. Let your strong spirit arise and burst asunder the bonds +that fetter and cripple it." + +At this a groan of pain escaped the philosopher, and, turning again to +the girl, he answered, with a mournful smile: + +"Bid the cushion in that arm-chair do so. It will succeed better than +I!" Then crying out impatiently and as loudly as he could, "Now go--you +know not how you torture me!" he turned away from her and buried his face +in the pillows. + +But Melissa, as if beside herself, laid her hands upon his shoulder, and, +shaking him gently, exclaimed: "And even if it vexes you, I will not be +driven away thus. The misfortunes that have befallen you in these days +will end by destroying you, if you will not pull yourself together. We +must have patience, and it can only come about slowly, but you must make +an effort. The least thing that pains you hurts us too, and you, in +return, may not remain indifferent to what we feel. See, Philip, our +mother and Andrew taught us often not to think only of ourselves, but +of others. We ask so little of you; but if you--" + +At this the philosopher shook himself free of her hand, and cried in a +voice of anguish: + +"Away, I say! Leave me alone! One word more, and I die!" With this he +hid his head in the coverlet, and Melissa could see how his limbs +quivered convulsively as if shaken by an ague. + +To see a being so dear to her thus utterly broken down cut her to the +heart. Oh, that she could help him! If she did not succeed, or if he +never found strength to rouse himself, he, too, would be one of Caesar's +victims. Corrupted and ruined lives marked the path of this terrible +being, and, with a shudder, she asked herself when her turn would come. + +Her hair had become disordered, and as she smoothed it she looked in the +mirror, and could not but observe that in the simple but costly white +robe of the dead Korinna she looked like a maiden of noble birth rather +than the lowly daughter of an artist. She would have liked to tear it +off and replace it by another, but her one modest festival robe had been +left behind at the house of the lady Berenike. To appear in broad +daylight before the neighbors or to walk in the streets clad in this +fashion seemed to her impossible after her brother's unjust suspicion, +and she bade Argutis fetch her a litter. + +When they parted, Dido could see distinctly that Philip had wounded her. +And she could guess how, so she withheld any questions, that she might +not hurt her. Over the fire, however, she stabbed fiercely into the fowl +destined for the philosopher, but cooked it, nevertheless, with all +possible care. + +On the way to the Serapeum, Melissa's anxiety increased. Till now, +eagerness for the fray, fear, hope, and the joyful consciousness of +right-doing, had alternated in her mind. Now, for the first time, she +was seized with a premonition of misfortune. Fate itself had turned +against her. Even should she succeed in escaping, she could not hope to +regain her lost peace of mind. + +Philip's biting words had shown her what most of them must think of her; +and, though the ship should bear her far away, would it be right to bring +Diodoros away from his old father to follow her? She must see her lover, +and if possible tell him all. The rose, too, which the Christian had +given her for him, and which lay in her lap, she wished so much to +carry to him herself. She could not go alone to the chamber of the +convalescent, and the attendance of a slave counted for nothing in the +eyes of other people. It was even doubtful if a bondsman might be +admitted into the inner apartments of the sanctuary. However, she would, +she must see Diodoros and speak to him; and thus planning ways and means +by which to accomplish this, looking forward joyfully to the meeting with +her father, and wondering how Agatha, the Christian, had received +Alexander, she lost the feeling of deep depression which had weighed on +her when she had left the house. + +The litter stopped, and Argutis helped her to descend. He was +breathless, for it had been most difficult to open a way for her through +the dense crowds that were already thronging to the Circus, where the +grand evening performance in honor of the emperor was to begin as soon as +it was dark. Just as she was entering the house, she perceived Andreas +coming toward them along the street of Hermes, and she at once bade the +slave call him. He was soon at her side, and declared himself willing to +accompany her to Diodoros. + +This time, however, she did not find her lover alone in the sick-room. +Two physicians were with him, and she grew pale as she recognized in one +of them the emperor's Roman body-physician. + +But it was too late too escape detection; so she only hastened to her +lover's side, whispered warm words of love in his ear, and, while she +gave him the rose, conjured him ever and always to have faith in her and +in her love, whatever reports he might hear. + +Diodoros was up and had fully recovered. His face lighted up with joy as +he saw her; but, when she repeated the old, disquieting request, he +anxiously begged to know what she meant by it. She assured him, however, +that she had already delayed too long, and referred him to Andreas and +the lady Euryale, who would relate to him what had befallen her and +spoiled every happy hour she had. Then, thinking herself unobserved by +those present, she breathed a kiss upon his lips. But he would not let +her go, urging with passionate tenderness his rights as her betrothed, +till she tore herself away from him and hurried from the room. + +As she left, she heard a ringing laugh, followed by loud, sprightly +talking. It was not her lover's voice, and endeavoring, while she waited +for Andreas, to catch what was being said on the other side of the door, +she distinctly heard the body-physician (for no other pronounced the +Greek language in that curious, halting manner) exclaim, gayly: "By +Cerberus, young man, you are to be envied! The beauty my sovereign lord +is limping after flies unbidden into your arms!" + +Then came loud laughter as before, but this time interrupted by +Diodoros's indignant question as to what this all meant. At last Melissa +heard Andreas's deep voice promising the young man to tell him everything +later on; and when the convalescent impatiently asked for an immediate +explanation, the Christian exhorted him to be calm, and finally requested +the physician to grant him a few moments' conversation. + +Then there was quiet for a time in the room, only broken by Diodoros's +angry questions and the pacifying exclamations of the freedman. She felt +as if she must return to her lover and tell him herself what she had been +forced to do in these last days, but maidenly shyness restrained her, +till at last Andreas came out. The freedman's honest face expressed the +deepest solicitude, and his voice sounded rough and hasty as he +exclaimed, "You must fly--fly this day!" And my father and brother, and +Diodoros?" she asked, anxiously. But he answered, urgently: + +"Let them get away as they may. There is no hole or corner obscure +enough to keep you hidden. Therefore take advantage of the ship that +waits for you. Follow Argutis at once to the lady Berenike. I can not +accompany you, for it lies with me to occupy for the next few hours the +attention of the body-physician, from whom you have the most to fear. +He has consented to go with me to my garden across the water. There I +promised him a delicious, real Alexandrian feast, and you know how gladly +Polybius will seize the opportunity to share it with him. No doubt, too, +some golden means may be found to bind his tongue; for woe to you if +Caracalla discovers prematurely that you are promised to another, and +woe then to your betrothed! After sundown, when every one here has gone +to the Circus, I will take Diodoros to a place of safety. Farewell, +child, and may our heavenly Father defend you!" + +He laid his right hand upon her head as if in blessing; but Melissa +cried, wringing her hands: "Oh, let me go to him once more! How can I +leave him and go far away without one word of farewell or of +forgiveness?" + +But Andreas interrupted her, saying: "You can not. His life is at stake +as well as your own. I shall make it my business to look after his +safety. The wife of Seleukus will assist you in your flight." + +"And you will persuade him to trust me?" urged Melissa, clinging +convulsively to his arm. + +"I will try," answered the freedman, gloomily. Melissa, dropped his arm, +for loud, manly voices were approaching down the stairs near which they +stood. + +It was Heron and Alexander, returning from their audience with the +emperor. Instantly the Christian went to meet them, and dismissed the +temple servant who accompanied them. + +In the half-darkness of the corridor, Melissa threw herself weeping into +her father's arms. But he stroked her hair lovingly, and kissed her more +tenderly on brow and eyes than he had ever clone before, whispering gayly +to her: "Dry your tears, my darling. You have been a brave maiden, and +now comes your reward. Fear and sorrow will now be changed into +happiness and power, and all the glories of the world. I have not even +told Alexander yet what promises to make our fortunes, for I know my +duty." Then, raising his voice, he said to the freedman, "If I have been +rightly informed, we shall find the son of Polybius in one of the +apartments close at hand." + +"Quite right," answered the freedman, gravely, and then went on to +explain to the gem-cutter that he could not see Diodoros just now, but +must instantly leave the country with his son and daughter on Berenike's +ship. Not a moment was to be lost. Melissa would tell him all on the +way. + +But Heron laughed scornfully: "That would be a pretty business! We have +plenty of time, and, with the greatness that lies before us, everything +must be done openly and in the right way. My first thought, you see, was +to come here, for I had promised the girl to Diodoros, and he must be +informed before I can consent to her betrothal to another." + +"Father!" cried Melissa, scarcely able to command her voice. But Heron +took no notice of her, and continued, composedly: "Diodoros would have +been dear to me as a son-in-law. I shall certainly tell him so. But +when Caesar, the ruler of the world, condescends to ask a plain man for +his daughter, every other consideration must naturally be put aside. +Diodoros is sensible, and is sure to see it in the right light. We all +know how Caesar treats those who are in his way; but I wish the son of +Polybius no ill, so I forbore to betray to Caesar what tie had once bound +you, my child, to the gallant youth." + +Heron had never liked the freedman. The man's firm character had always +gone against the gemcutter's surly, capricious nature; and it was no +little satisfaction to him to let him feel his superiority, and boast +before him of the apparent good luck that had befallen the artist's +family. + +But Andreas had already heard from the physician that Caracalla had +informed his mother's envoys of his intended marriage with an +Alexandrian, the daughter of an artist of Macedonian extraction. This +could only refer to Melissa, and it was this news which had caused him +to urge the maiden to instant flight. + +Pale, incapable of uttering a word, Melissa stood before her father; but +the freedman grasped her hand, looked Heron reproachfully in the face, +and asked, quietly, "And you would really have the heart to join this +dear child's life to that of a bloody tyrant?" + +"Certainly I have," returned Heron with decision, and he drew his +daughter's hand out of that of Andreas, who turned his back upon the +artist with a meaning shrug of the shoulders. But Melissa ran after him, +and, clinging to him, cried as she turned first to him and then to her +father: + +"I am promised to Diodoros, and shall hold fast to him and my love; tell +him that, Andreas! Come what may, I will be his and his alone! Caesar--" + +"Swear not!" broke in Heron, angrily, "for by great Serapis--" + +But Alexander interposed between them, and begged his father to consider +what he was asking of the girl. Caesar's proposals could scarcely have +been very pleasing to him, or why had he concealed till now what +Caracalla was whispering to him in the adjoining room? He might imagine +for himself what fate awaited the helpless child at the side of a husband +at whose name even men trembled. He should remember her mother, and what +she would have said to such a union. There was little, time to escape +from this terrible wooer. + +Then Melissa turned to her brother and begged him earnestly: "Then you +take me to the ship Alexander; take charge of me yourself!" + +"And I?" asked Heron, his eye cast gloomily on the ground. + +"You must come with us!" implored the girl, clasping her hands.--"O +Andreas! say something! Tell him what I have to expect!" + +"He knows that without my telling him," replied the freedman. "I must go +now, for two lives are at stake, Heron. If I can not keep the physician +away from Caesar, your daughter, too, will be in danger. If you desire +to see your daughter forever in fear of death, give her in marriage to +Caracalla. If you have her happiness at heart, then escape with her into +a far country." + +He nodded to the brother and sister, and returned to the sick-room. + +"Fly!--escape!" repeated the old man, and he waived his hand angrily. +"This Andreas--the freedman, the Christian--always in extremes. Why run +one's head against the wall? First consider, then act; that was what she +taught us whose sacred memory you have but now invoked, Alexander." + +With this he walked out of the half-dark corridor into the open court- +yard, in front of his children. Here he looked at his daughter, who was +breathing fast, and evidently prepared to resist to the last. And as he +beheld her in Korinna's white and costly robes, like a noble priestess, +it occurred to him that even before his captivity she had ceased to be +the humble, unquestioning instrument of his capricious temper. Into what +a haughty beauty the quiet embroideress had been transformed! + +By all the gods! Caracalla had no cause to be ashamed of such an +empress. + +And, unaccustomed as he was to keep back anything whatever from his +children, he began to express these sentiments. But he did not get far, +for the hour for the morning meal being just over, the court-yard began +to fill from all sides with officials and servants of the temple. So, +father and son silently followed the maiden through the crowded galleries +and apartments, into the house of the highpriest. + +Here they were received by Philostratus, who hardly gave Melissa time to +greet the lady Euryale before he informed her, but with unwonted hurry +and excitement, that the emperor was awaiting her with impatience. + +The philosopher motioned to her to follow him, but she clung, as if +seeking help, to her brother, and cried: "I will not go again to +Caracalla! You are the kindest and best of them all, Philostratus, and +you will understand me. Evil will come of it if I follow you--I can not +go again to Caesar." + +But it was impossible for the courtier to yield to her, in the face of +his monarch's direct commands; therefore, hard as it was to him, he said, +resolutely: "I well understand what holds you back; still, if you would +not ruin yourself and your family, you must submit. Besides which, you +know not what Caesar is about to offer you-fortunate, unhappy child!" + +"I know--oh, I know it!" sobbed Melissa; "but it is just that . . . +I have served the emperor willingly, but before I consent become the wife +of such a monster--" + +"She is right," broke in Euryale, and drew Melissa toward her. But the +philosopher took the girl's hand and said, kindly:--"You must come with me +now, my child, and pretend that you know nothing of Caesar's intentions +toward you. It is the only way to save you. But while you are with the +emperor, who, in any case, can devote but a short time to you to-day, I +will return here and consult with your people. There is much to be +decided, of the greatest moment, and not to you alone." Melissa turned +with tearful eyes to Euryale, and questioned her with a look; whereupon +the lady drew the girl's hand out of that of the philosopher, and saying +to him, "She shall be with you directly," took her away to her own +apartment. + +Here she begged Melissa to dry her eyes, and arranging the girl's hair +and robe with her own hands, she promised to do all in her power to +facilitate her flight. She must do her part now by going into Caesar's +presence as frankly as she had done yesterday and the day before. She +might be quite easy; her interests were being faithfully watched over. + +Taking a short leave of her father, who was looking very sulky because +nobody seemed to care for his opinion, and of Alexander, who lovingly +promised her his help, she took the philosopher's hand and walked with +him through one crowded apartment after another. They often had +difficulty in pressing through the throng of people who were waiting for +an audience, and in the antechamber, where the Aurelians had had to pay +so bitterly for their insolence yesterday, they were detained by the +blonde and red-Haired giants of the Uermanian body-guard, whose leader, +Sabinus, a Thracian of exceptional height and strength, was acquainted +with the philosopher. + +Caracalla had given orders that no one was to be admitted till the +negotiations with the Parthian ambassadors, which had begun an hour ago, +were brought to a conclusion. Philostratus well knew that the emperor +would interrupt the most important business if Melissa were announced, +but there was much that he would have the maiden lay to heart before he +led her to the monarch; while she wished for nothing so earnestly as that +the door which separated her from her terrible wooer might remain closed +to the end of time. When the chamberlain Adventus looked out from the +imperial apartments, she begged him to give her a little time before +announcing her. + +The old man blinked consent with his dim eyes, but the philosopher took +care that Melissa should not be left to herself and the terrors of her +heart. He employed all the eloquence at his command to make her +comprehend what it meant to be an empress and the consort of the ruler of +the world. In flaming colors he painted to her the good she might do in +such a position, and the tears she might wipe away. Then he reminded her +of the healing and soothing influence she had over Caracalla, and that +this influence came doubtless from the gods, since it passed the bounds +of nature and acted so beneficently. No one might reject such a gift +from the immortals merely to gratify an ordinary passion. The youth +whose love she must give up would be able to comfort himself with the +thought that many others had had much worse to bear, and he would find no +difficulty in getting a substitute, though not so beautiful a one. On +the other hand, she was the only one among millions whose heart, obedient +to a heaven-sent impulse, had turned in pity toward Caracalla. If she +fled, she would deprive the emperor of the only being on whose love he +felt he had some claim. If she listened to the wooing of her noble +lover, she would be able to tame this ungovernable being and soothe his +fury, and would gain in return for a sacrifice such as many had made +before her, the blissful consciousness of having rendered an inestimable +service to the whole world. For by her means and her love, the imperial +tyrant would be transformed into a beneficent ruler. The blessing of the +thousands whom she could protect and save would make the hardest task +sweet and endurable. + +Here Philostratus paused, and gazed inquiringly at her; but she only +shook her head gently, and answered: + +"My brain is so confused that I can scarcely hear even, but I feel that +your words are well meant and wise. What you put before me would +certainly be worth considering if there were anything left for me to +consider about. I have promised myself to another, who is more to me +than all the world--more than the gratitude and blessings of endangered +lives of which I know nothing. I am but a poor girl who only asks to be +happy. Neither gods nor men expect more of me than that I should do my +duty toward those whom I love. And, then, who can say for certain that I +should succeed in persuading Caesar to carry out my desires, whatever +they might be?" + +"We were witnesses of the power you exercised over him," replied the +philosopher; but Melissa shook her head, and continued eagerly: "No, no! +he only values in me the hand that eases his pain and want of sleep. The +love which he may feel for me makes him neither gentler nor better. Only +an hour or two before he declared that his heart was inclined to me, he +had Titianus murdered!" + +"One word from you," the philosopher assured her, "and it would never +have happened. As empress, they will obey you as much as him. Truly, +child, it is no small thing to sit, like the gods, far above the rest of +mankind." + +"No, no!" cried Melissa, shuddering. "Those heights! Only to think of +them makes everything spin round me. Only one who is free from such +giddiness dare to occupy such a place. Every one must desire to do what +he can do best. I could be a good housewife to Diodoros, but I should be +a bad empress. I was not born to greatness. And, besides--what is +happiness? I only felt happy when I did what was my duty, in peace and +quiet. Were I empress, fear would never leave me for a moment. Oh. I +know enough of the hideous terror which this awful being creates around +him; and before I would consent to let it torture me to death by day and +by night-morning, noon, and evening--far rather would I die this very +day. Therefore, I have no choice. I must flee from Caesar's sight--away +hence--far, far, away!" + +Tears nearly choked her voice, but she struggled bravely against them. +Philostratus, however, did not fail to observe it, and gazed, first +mournfully into her face and then thoughtfully on the ground. At length +he spoke with a slight sigh: + +"We gather experience in life, and yet, however old we may be, we act +contrary to it. Now I have to pay for it. And yet it still lies in your +hands to make me bless the day on which I spoke on your behalf. Could +you but succeed in rising to real greatness of soul, girl--through you, +I swear it, the subjects of this mighty kingdom would be saved from great +tribulations!" + +"But, my lord," Melissa broke in, "who would ask such lofty things of a +lowly maiden? My mother taught me to be kind and helpful to others in +the house, to my friends, and fellow-citizens; my own heart tells me to +be faithful to my betrothed. But I care not greatly for the Romans, and +what to me are Gauls, Dacians, or whatever else these barbarians may be +called?" + +"And yet," said Philostratus, "you offered a sacrifice for the foreign +tyrant." + +"Because his pain excited my compassion," rejoined Melissa, blushing. + +"And would you have done the same for any masterless black slave, covered +with pitiably deep wounds?" asked the philosopher. + +"No," she answered, quickly; "him I would have helped with my own hand. +When I can do without their aid, I do not appeal to the gods. And then-- +I said before, his trouble seemed doubly great because it contrasted so +sharply with all the splendor and joy that surrounded him." + +"Aye," said the philosopher, earnestly, "and a small thing that affects +the ruler recoils tenfold--a thousand-fold-on his subjects. Look at one +tree through a cut glass with many facets, and it be comes a forest. +Thus the merest trifle, when it affects the emperor, becomes important +for the millions over whom he rules. Caracalla's vexation entails evil +on thousands--his anger is death and ruin. I fear me, girl, your flight +will bring down heavy misfortune on those who surround Caesar, and first +of all upon the Alexandrians, to whom you belong, and against whom he +already bears a grudge. You once said your native city was dear to you." + +"So it is," returned Melissa, who, at his last words had grown first red +and then pale; "but Caesar can not surely be so narrow-minded as to +punish a whole great city for what the poor daughter of a gem-cutter has +done." + +"You are thinking of my Achilles," answered the philosopher. "But I only +transferred what I saw of good in Caracalla to the figure of my hero. +Besides, you know that Caesar is not himself when he is in wrath. Has +not experience taught me that no reasons are strong enough to convince a +loving woman's heart? Once more I entreat you, stay here! Reject not +the splendid gift which the gods offer you, that trouble may not come +upon your city as it did on hapless Troy, all for a woman's sake. + +"What says the proverb? 'Zeus hearkens not to lovers' vows'; but I say +that to renounce love in order to make others happy, is greater and +harder than to hold fast to it when it is menaced." + +These words reminded her of many a lesson of Andreas, and went to her +heart. In her mind's eye she saw Caracalla, after hearing of her flight, +set his lions on Philostratus, and then, foaming with rage, give orders +to drag her father and brothers, Polybius and his son, to the place of +execution, like Titianus. And Philostratus perceived what was going on +in her mind, and with the exhortation, "Remember how many persons' weal +or woe lies in your hands!" he rose and began a conversation with the +Thracian commander of the Germanic guard. + +Melissa remained alone upon the divan. The picture changed before her, +and she saw herself in costly purple raiment, glittering with jewels, and +seated by the emperor's side in a golden chariot. A thousand voices +shouted to her, and beside her stood a horn of plenty, running over with +golden solidi and crimson roses, and it never grew empty, however much +she took from it. Her heart was moved; and when, in the crowd which her +lively imagination had conjured up before her, she caught sight of the +wife of the blacksmith Herophilus, who had been thrown into prison +through an accusation from Zminis, she turned to Caracalla whom she still +imagined seated beside her, and cried, "Pardon!" and Caracalla nodded a +gracious consent, and the next moment Herophilus's wife lay on her +liberated husband's breast, while the broken fetters still clanked upon +his wrists. Their children were there, too, and stretched up their arms +to their parents, offering their happy lips first to them and then to +Melissa. + +How beautiful it all was, and how it cheered her compassionate heart! + +And this, said the newly awakened, meditative spirit within her, need be +no dream; no, it lay in her power to impart this happiness to herself and +many others, day by day, until the end. + +Then she felt that she must arise and cry to her friend, "I will follow +your counsel and remain! "But her imagination had already begun to work +again, and showed her the widow of Titianus, as she entreated Caesar to +spare her noble, innocent husband, while he mercilessly repulsed her. +And it flashed through her mind that her petitions might share the same +fate, when at that moment the emperor's threatening voice sounded from +the adjoining room. + +How hateful its strident tones were to her ear! She dropped her eyes and +caught sight of a dark stain on the snow-white plumage of the doves in +the mosaic pavement at her feet. + +That was a last trace of the blood of the young tribune, which the +attendants had been unable to remove. And this indelible mark of the +crime which she had witnessed brought the image of the wounded Aurelius +before her: just as he now lay, shaken with fever, so had she seen her +lover a few days before. His pale face rose before her inward sight; +would it not be to him a worse blow than that from the stone, when he +should learn that she had broken her faith to him in order to gain power +and greatness, and to protect others, who were strangers to her, from the +fury of the tyrant? + +His heart had been hers from childhood's hour, and it would bleed and +break if she were false to the vows in which he placed his faith. And +even if he succeeded at last in recovering from the wound she must deal +him, his peace and happiness would be destroyed for many a long day. +How could she have doubted for a moment where her real duty lay? + +If she followed Philostratus's advice--if she acceded to Caracalla's +wishes--Diodoros would have every right to condemn and curse her. And +could she then feel so entirely blameless? A voice within her instantly +said no; for there had been moments in which her pity had grown so strong +that she felt more warmly toward the sick Caesar than was justifiable. +She could not deny it, for she could not without a blush have described +to her lover what she felt when that mysterious, inexplicable power had +drawn her to the emperor. + +And now the conviction rapidly grew strong in her that she must not only +preserve her lover from further trouble, but strive to make good to him +her past errors. The idea of renouncing her love in order to intercede +for others, most likely in vain, and lighten their lot by sacrificing +herself for strangers, while rendering her own and her lover's life +miserable, now seemed to her unnatural, criminal, impossible; and with a +sigh of relief she remembered her promise to Andreas. Now she could once +more look freely into the grave and earnest face of him who had ever +guided her in the right way. + +This alone was right--this she would do! + +But after the first quick step toward Philostratus, she stood still, once +more hesitating. The saying about the fulfilling of the time recurred to +her as she thought of the Christian, and she said to herself that the +critical moment which comes in every life was before her now. The weal +or woe of her whole future depended on the answer she should give to +Philostratus. The thought struck terror to her heart, but only for a +moment. Then she drew herself up proudly, and, as she approached her +friend, felt with joy that she had chosen the better part; yea, that it +would cost her but little to lay down her life for it. + +Though apparently absorbed in his conversation with the Thracian, +Philostratus had not ceased to observe the girl, and his knowledge of +human nature showed him quickly to what decision she had come. Firmly +persuaded that he had won her over to Caracalla's side, he had left her +to her own reflections. He was certain that the seed he had sown in her +mind would take root; she could now clearly picture to herself what +pleasures she would enjoy as empress, and from what she could preserve +others. For she was shrewd and capable of reasoning, and above all--and +from this he hoped the most--she was but a woman. But just because she +was a woman he could not be surprised at her disappointing him in his +expectations. For the sake of Caracalla and those who surrounded him he +would have wished it to be otherwise; but he had become too fond of +her, and had too good a heart, not to be distressed at the thought of +seeing her fettered to the unbridled young tyrant. + +Before she could address him, he took his leave of the Thracian. Then, +as he led her back to the divan, he whispered: "Well, I have gained one +more experience. The next time I leave a woman to come to a decision, +I shall anticipate from the first that she will come to an opposite +conclusion to that which, as a philosopher and logical thinker, I should +expect of her. You are determined to keep faith with your betrothed and +stab the heart of this highest of all wooers--after death he will be +ranked among the gods--for such will be the effect of your flight." + +Melissa nodded gayly, and rejoined, "The blunt weapon that I carry would +surely not cost Caesar his life, even if he were no future immortal." + +"Scarcely," answered Philostratus; "but what he may suffer through you +will drive him to turn his own all-too-sharp sword against others. +Caracalla being a man, my calculations regarding him have generally +proved right. You will see how firmly I believe in them in this case, +when I tell you that I have already taken advantage of a letter brought +by the messengers of the empress-mother to take my leave of the emperor. +For, I reasoned, if Melissa listens to the emperor, she will need no +other confederate than the boy Eros; if, however, she takes flight--then +woe betide those who are within range of the tyrant's arm, and ten times +woe to me who brought the fugitive before his notice! Early to-morrow, +before Caracalla leaves his couch, I shall return with the messengers to +Julia; my place in the ship--" + +"O my lord," interrupted Melissa, in consternation, "if you, my kind +protector, forsake me, to whom shall I look for help?" + +"You will not require it if you carry out your intentions," said the +philosopher. "Throughout this day you will doubtless need me; and let me +impress upon you once more to behave before Caracalla in such a manner +that even his suspicious mind may not guess what you intend to do. To- +day you will still find me ready to help you. But, hark! That is +Caesar raging again. It is thus he loves to dismiss ambassadors, when he +wishes they should clearly understand that their conditions are not +agreeable to him. And one word more: When a man has grown gray, it is +doubly soothing to his heart that a lovely maiden should so frankly +regret the parting. I was ever a friend of your amiable sex, and even to +this day Eros is sometimes not unfavorably inclined to me. But you, the +more charming you are, the more deeply do I regret that I may not be more +to you than an old and friendly mentor. But pity at first kept love from +speaking, and then the old truth that every woman's heart may be won save +that which already belongs to another." + +The elderly admirer of the fair sex spoke these words in such a pleasant, +regretful tone that Melissa gave him an affectionate glance from her +large, bright eyes, and answered, archly: "Had Eros shown Philostratus +the way to Melissa instead of Diodoros, Philostratus might now be +occupying the place in this heart which belongs to the son of Polybius, +and which must always be his in spite of Caesar!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI V. + +The door of the tablinum flew open, and through it streamed the Parthian +ambassadors, seven stately personages, wearing the gorgeous costume of +their country, and followed by an interpreter and several scribes. +Melissa noticed how one of them, a young warrior with a fair beard +framing his finely molded, heroic face, and thick, curling locks escaping +from beneath his tiara, grasped the hilt of his sword in his sinewy hand, +and how his neighbor, a cautious, elderly man, was endeavoring to calm +him. + +Scarcely had they left the antechamber than Adventns called Melissa and +Philostratus to the emperor. Caracalla was seated on a raised throne +of gold and ivory, with bright scarlet cushions. As on the preceding +day, he was magnificently dressed, and wore a laurel wreath on his head. +The lion, who lay chained beside the throne, stirred as he caught sight +of the new-comers, which caused Caracalla to exclaim to Melissa: "You +have stayed away from me so long that my 'Sword of Persia' fails to +recognize you. Were it not more to my taste to show you how dear you are +to me, I could be angry with you, coy bird that you are!" + +As Melissa bent respectfully before him, he gazed delighted into her +glowing face, saying, as he turned half to her and half to Philostratus: +"How she blushes! She is ashamed that, though I could get no sleep +during the night, and was tortured by an indescribable restlessness, she +refused to obey my call, although she very well knows that the one remedy +for her sleepless friend lies in her beautiful little hand. Hush, hush! +The high-priest has told me that you did not sleep beneath the same roof +as I. But that only turned my thoughts in the right direction. Child, +child!--See now, Philostratus--the red rose has become a white one. And +how timid she is! Not that it offends me, far from it--it delights me. +--Those flowers, Philostratus! Take them, Melissa; they add less to your +beauty than you to theirs." He seized the splendid roses he had ordered +for her early that morning and fastened the finest in her girdle himself. +She did not forbid him, and stammered a few-low words of thanks. + +How his face glowed! His eyes rested in ecstatic delight upon his chosen +one. In this past night, after he had called for her and waited in vain +with feverish longing for her coming, it had dawned on him with +convincing force that this gentle child had awakened a new, intense +passion in him. He loved her, and he was glad of it--he who till now had +taken but a passing pleasure in beautiful women. Longing for her till it +became torture, he swore to himself to make her his, and share his all +with her, even to the purple. + +It was not his habit to hesitate, and at daybreak he had sent for his +mother's messengers that they might inform her of his resolve. No one +dared to gainsay him, and he expected it least of all from her whom he +designed to raise so high. But she felt utterly estranged from him, and +would gladly have told him to his face what she felt. + +Still, it was absolutely necessary that she should restrain herself and +endure his insufferable endearments, and even force herself to speak. +And yet her tongue seemed tied, and it was only by the utmost effort of +her will that she could bring herself to express her astonishment at his +rapid return to health. + +"It is like magic," she concluded, and he heartily agreed. Attacks of +that kind generally left their effects for four days or more. But the +most astonishing thing was that in spite of being in the best of health, +he was suffering from the gravest illness in the world. "I have fallen +a victim to the fever of love, my Philostratus," he cried, with a tender +glance at Melissa. + +"Nay, Caesar," interrupted the philosopher, "love is not a disease, but +rather not loving." + +"Prove this new assertion," laughed the emperor; and the philosopher +rejoined, with a meaning look at the maiden, "If love is born in the +eyes, then those who do not love are blind." + +"But," answered Caracalla, gayly, "they say that love comes not only from +what delights the eye, but the soul and the mind as well." + +"And have not the mind and the spirit eyes also?" was the reply, to which +the emperor heartily assented. + +Then he turned to Melissa, and asked with gentle reproach why she, who +had proved herself so ready of wit yesterday, should be so reserved +today; but she excused her taciturnity on the score of the violent +emotions that had stormed in upon her since the morning. + +Her voice broke at the end of this explanation, and Caracalla, concluding +that it was the thought of the grandeur that awaited her through his +favor which confused her and brought the delicate color to her cheeks, +seized her hand, and, obedient to an impulse of his better nature, said: + +"I understand you, child. Things are befalling you that would make a +stouter heart tremble. You have only heard hints of what must effect +such a decisive change in your future life. You know how I feel toward +you. I acknowledged to you yesterday what you already knew without +words. We both feel the mysterious power that draws us to one another. +We belong to each other. In the future, neither time nor space nor any +other thing may part us. Where I am there you must be also. You shall +be my equal in every respect. Every honor paid to me shall be offered to +you likewise. I have shown the malcontents what they have to expect. +The fate which awaits the consul Claudius Vindex and his nephew, who by +their want of respect to you offended me, will teach the others to have a +care." + +"O my lord, that aged man!" cried Melissa, clasping her hands, +imploringly. + +"He shall die, and his nephew," was the inexorable answer. "During my +conference with my mother's messengers they had the presumption to raise +objections against you and the ardent desire of my heart in a manner +which came very near to being treason. And they must suffer for it." + +"You would punish them for my sake?" exclaimed Melissa. "But I forgive +them willingly. Grant them pardon! I beg, I entreat you." + +"Impossible! Unless I make an example, it will be long before the +slanderous tongues would hold their peace. Their sentence stands." + +But Melissa would not be appeased. With passionate eagerness she +entreated the emperor to grant a pardon, but he cut her short with the +request not to interfere in matters which he alone had to decide and +answer for. + +"I owe it to you as well as to myself," he continued, "to remove every +obstacle from the path. Were I to spare Vindex, they would never again +believe in my strength of purpose. He shall die, and his nephew with +him! To raise a structure without first securing a solid foundation +would be an act of rashness and folly. Besides, I undertake nothing +without consulting the omens. The horoscope which the priest of this +temple has drawn up for you only confirms me in my purpose. The +examination of the sacrifices this morning was favorable. It now only +remains to be seen what the stars say to my resolve. I had not yet taken +it when I last questioned the fortune-tellers of the sky. This night we +shall learn what future the planets promise to our union. From the signs +on yonder tablet it is scarcely possible that their answer should be +otherwise than favorable. But even should they warn me of misfortune +at your side, I could not let you go now. It is too late for that. I +should merely take advantage of the warning, and continue with redoubled +severity to sweep away every obstacle that threatens our union. And one +thing more--" + +But he did not finish, for Epagathos here reminded him of the deputation +of Alexandrian citizens who had come to speak about the games in the +Circus. They had been waiting several hours, and had still many +arrangements to make. + +"Did they send you to me?" inquired Caracalla, with irritation, and the +freedman answering in the affirmative, he cried: "The princes who wait in +my antechamber do not stir until their turn comes. These tradesmen's +senses are confused by the dazzle of their gold! Tell them they shall +be called when we find time to attend to them." + +"The head of the night-watch too is waiting," said the freedman; and to +the emperor's question whether he had seen him, and if he had anything of +consequence to report, the other replied that the man was much +disquieted, but seemed to be exercising proper severity. He ventured to +remind his master of the saying that the Alexandrians must have 'Panem et +circenses'; they did not trouble themselves much about anything else. +In these days, when there had been neither games, nor pageants, nor +distribution of corn, the Romans and Caesar had been their sole subjects +of conversation. However, there was to be something quite unusually +grand in the Circus to-night. That would distract the attention of the +impudent slanderers. The night-watchman greatly desired to speak to the +emperor himself, to prepare him for the fact that excitement ran higher +in the Circus here than even in Rome. In spite of every precaution, he +would not be able to keep the rabble in the upper rows quiet. + +"Nor need they be," broke in the emperor; "the louder they shout the +better; and I fancy they will see things which will be worth shouting +for. I have no time to see the man. Let him thoroughly realize that he +is answerable for any real breach of order." + +He signed to Epagathos to retire, but Melissa went nearer to Caesar and +begged him gently not to let the worthy citizens wait any longer on her +account. + +At this Caracalla frowned ominously, and cried: "For the second time, let +me ask you not to interfere in matters that do not concern you! If any +one dares to order me--" Here he stopped short, for, as Melissa drew +back from him frightened, he was conscious of having betrayed that even +love was not strong enough to make him control himself. He was angry +with himself, and with a great effort he went on, more quietly: + +"When I give an order, my child, there often lies much behind it of which +I alone know. Those who force themselves upon Caesar, as these citizens +do, must learn to have patience. And you--if you would fill the position +to which I intend to raise you--must first take care to leave all paltry +considerations and doubts behind you. However, all that will come of +itself. Softness and mercy melt on the throne like ice before the sun. +You will soon learn to scorn this tribe of beggars who come whining round +us. If I flew in a passion just now, it was partly your fault. I had a +right to expect that you would be more eager to hear me out than to +shorten the time of waiting for these miserable merchants." + +With this his voice grew rough again, but as she raised her eyes to him +and cried beseechingly, "O, my lord!" he continued, more gently: + +"There was not much more to be said. You shall be mine. Should the +stars confirm their first revelations, I shall raise you to-morrow +to my side, here in the city of Alexandria, and make the people +do homage to you as their empress. The priest of Alexandria is ready to +conduct the marriage ceremonial. Philostratus will inform my mother of +my determination." + +Melissa had listened to these arrangements with growing distress; her +breath came fast, and she was incapable of uttering a word; but Caesar +was delighted at the lovely confusion painted on her features, and cried, +in joyful excitement: + +"How I have looked forward to this moment--and I have succeeded in +surprising her! This is what makes imperial power divine; by one wave +of the hand it can raise the lowest to the highest place!" + +With this he drew Melissa toward him, kissed the trembling girl upon the +brow, and continued, in delighted tones: + +"Time does not stand still, and only a few hours separate us from the +accomplishment of our desires. Let us lend them wings. We resolved +yesterday to show one another what we could do as singers and lute- +players. There lies my lyre--give it me, Philostratus. I know what I +shall begin with." + +The philosopher brought and tuned the instrument; but Melissa had some +difficulty in keeping back her tears. Caracalla's kiss burned like a +brand of infamy on her brow. A nameless, torturing restlessness had come +over her, and she wished she could dash the lyre to the ground, when +Caracalla began to play, and called out to Philostratus: + +"As you are leaving us to-morrow, I will sing the song which you honored +with a place in your heroic tale." + +He turned to Melissa, and, as she owned to having read the work of the +philosopher, he went on "You know, then, that I was the model for his +Achilles. The departed spirit of the hero is enjoying in the island of +Leuke, in the Pontus, the rest which he so richly deserves, after a life +full of heroic deeds. Now he finds time to sing to the lyre, and +Philostratus put the following verses--but they are mine--into his +mouth.--I am about to play, Adventus! Open the door!" + +The freedman obeyed, and the emperor peered into the antechamber to see +for himself who was waiting there. + +He required an audience when he sang. The Circus had accustomed him to +louder applause than his beloved and one skilled musician could award +him. At last he swept the strings, and began singing in a well-trained +tenor, whose sharp, hard quality, however, offended the girl's critical +ear, the song to the echo on the shores of Pontus: + + Echo, by the rolling waters + Bathing Pontus' rocky shore, + Wake, and answer to the lyre + Swept by my inspired hand! + + Wake, and raise thy voice in numbers + Sing to Homer, to the bard + Who has given life immortal + To the heroes of his lay. + + He it was from death who snatched me; + He who gave Patroclus life; + Rescued, in perennial glory, + Godlike Ajax from the dead! + + His the lute to whose sweet accents, + Ilion owes undying fame, + And the triumph and the praises + Which surround her deathless name. + +The "Sword of Persia" seemed peculiarly affected by his master's song, +which he accompanied by a long-drawn howl of woe; and, before the +imperial virtuoso had concluded, a discordant cry sounded for a short +time from the street, in imitation of the squeaking of young pigs. It +arose from the crowd who were waiting round the Serapeum to see Caesar +drive to the Circus; and Caracalla must have noticed it, for, when it +waxed louder, he gave a sidelong glance toward the place from which it +came, and an ominous frown gathered upon his brow. + +But it soon vanished, for scarcely had he finished when stormy shouts of +applause rose from the antechamber. They proceeded from the friends of +Caesar, and the deep voices of the Germanic bodyguard, who, joining in +with the cries they had learned in the Circus, lent such impetuous force +to the applause, as even to satisfy this artist in the purple. + +Therefore, when Philostratus spoke words of praise, and Melissa thanked +him with a blush, he answered with a smile: "There is something frank +and untrammeled in their manner of expressing their feelings outside. +Forced applause sounds differently. There must be something in my +singing that carries the hearers away. My Alexandrian hosts, however, +are overready to show me what they think. It did not escape me, and I +shall add it to the rest." + +Then he invited Melissa to make a return for his song by singing Sappho's +Ode to Aphrodite. Pale, and as if obeying some strange compulsion, she +seated herself at the instrument, and the prelude sounded clear and +tuneful from her skillful fingers. + +"Beautiful! Worthy of Mesomedes!" cried Caracalla, but Melissa could +not sing, for at the first note her voice was broken by stormy sobs. + +"The power of the goddess whom she meant to extol!" said Philostratus, +pointing to her; and the tearful, beseeching look with which she met the +emperor's gaze while she begged him in low tones--"Not now! I can not do +it to-day!"--confirmed Caracalla in his opinion that the passion he had +awakened in the maiden was in no way inferior to his own-perhaps even +greater. He relieved his full heart by whispering to Melissa a +passionate, "I love you," and, desiring to show her by a favor how kindly +he felt toward her, added: "I will not let your fellow-citizens wait +outside any longer--Adventus! The deputation from the Circus!" + +The chamberlain withdrew at once, and the emperor throwing himself back +on the throne, continued, with a sigh: + +"I wonder how any of these rich tradesmen would like to undertake what I +have already gone through this day. First, the bath; then, while I +rested, Macrinus's report; after that, the inspection of the sacrifices; +then a review of the troops, with a gracious word to every one. Scarcely +returned, I had to receive the ambassadors from my mother, and then came +the troublesome affair with Vindex. Then the dispatches from Rome +arrived, the letters to be examined, and each one to be decided on and +signed. Finally the settling of accounts with the idiologos, who, as +high-priest of my choosing, has to collect the tribute from all the +temples in Egypt. . . . Next I gave audience to several people--to +your father among the rest. He is strange, but a thorough man, and a +true Macedonian of the old stock. He repelled both greeting and +presents, but he longed to be revenged--heavily and bloodily--on Zminis, +who denounced him and brought him to the galleys. . . . How the old +fellow must have raged and stormed when he was a prisoner! I treated the +droll old gray-beard like my father. The giant pleases me, and what +skillful fingers he has on his powerful hands! He gave me that ring with +the portraits of Castor and Pollux." + +"My brothers were the models," remarked Melissa, glad to find something +to say without dissembling. + +Caracalla examined the stone in the gold ring more closely, and exclaimed +in admiration: "How delicate the little heads are! At the first glance +one recognizes the hand of the happily gifted artist. Your father's is +one of the noblest and most refined of the arts. If I can raise a statue +to a lute-player, I can do so to a gem-cutter." + +Here the deputation for the arrangement of the festival was announced, +but the emperor, calling out once more, "Let them wait," continued: + +"You are a handsome race--the men powerful, the women as lovely as +Aphrodite. That is as it should be! My father before me took the wisest +and fairest woman to wife. You are the fairest--the wisest?--well, that +too, perhaps. Time will show. But Aphrodite never has a high forehead, +and, according to Philostratus, beauty and wisdom are hostile sisters +with you women." + +"Exceptions," interposed the philosopher, as he pointed to Melissa, +"prove the rule." + +"Describe her in that manner to my mother," said Caracalla. "I would not +let you go from me, were you not the only person who knows Melissa. I may +trust in your eloquence to represent her as she deserves. And now," he +continued, hurriedly, "one thing more. As soon as the deputation is +dismissed and I have received a few other persons, the feast is to begin. +You would perhaps be entertained at it. However, it will be better to +introduce you to my 'friends' after the marriage ceremony. After dark, +to make up for it, there is the Circus, to which you will, of course, +accompany me." + +"Oh, my lord!" exclaimed the maiden, frightened and unwilling. But +Caracalla cried, decisively: "No refusal, I must beg! I imagine that I +have proved sufficiently that I know how to shield you from what is not +fitting for a maiden. What I ask of you now is but the first step on the +new path of honor that awaits you as future empress." + +Melissa raised both voice and hands in entreaty, but in vain. Caracalla +cut her short, saying in authoritative tones: + +"I have arranged everything. You will go to the Circus. Not alone with +me-that would give welcome work to scandalous tongues. Your father shall +accompany you--your brothers, too, if you wish it. I shall not join you +till after the performance has begun. Your fellow-citizens will divine +the meaning of this visit. Besides, Theocritus and the rest have orders +to acquaint the people with the distinction that awaits you and the +Alexandrians. But why so pale? Your cheeks will regain their color +in the Circus. I know I am right--you will leave it delighted and +enthralled. You have only to learn for the first time how the +acclamations of tens of thousands take hold upon the heart and intoxicate +the senses. Courage, courage, Macedonian maiden! Everything grand and +unexpected, even unforeseen happiness, is alarming and bewildering. But +we become accustomed even to the impossible. A strong spirit like yours +soon gets over anything of the kind. But the time is running on. One +word more: You must be in the Circus by sunset. In any case, you must be +in your place before I come. Adventus will see that you have a chariot +or a litter, whichever you please. Theocritus will be waiting at the +entrance to lead you to your seats." + +Melissa could restrain herself no longer, and, carried away by the wild +conflict of passions in her breast, she threw control and prudence to the +winds, and cried: + +"I will not!" Then throwing back her head as if to call the heavens to +witness, she raised her great, wide-open eyes and gazed above. + +But not for long. Her bold defiance had roused Caesar's utmost fury, and +he broke out with a growl of rage: + +"You will not, you say? And you think, unreasoning fool, that this +settles the matter?" + +He uttered a wild laugh, pressed his hand firmly on his left eyelid, +which began to twitch convulsively, and went on in a lower but defiantly +contemptuous tone: + +"I know better! You shall! And you will not only go to the Circus, but +you will do it willingly, or at least with smiling lips. You will start +at sunset! At the time appointed I shall find you in your place. If +not!--Must I begin so soon to teach you that I can be serious? Have a +care, girl! You are dear to me; yet--by the head of my father!--if you +defy me, my Numidian lion-keepers shall drag you to the place you belong +to!" + +Thus far Melissa had listened to the emperor's raging with panting bosom +and quivering nostrils, as at a performance, which must sooner or later +come to an end; and now she broke in regardless of the consequences: + +"Send for them," she cried, "and order them to throw me to the wild +beasts! It will doubtless be a welcome surprise to the lookers-on. +Which of them can say they have ever seen the daughter of a free Roman +citizen who never yet came before the law, torn to pieces in the sand of +the arena? They delight in anything new! Yes, murder me, as you did +Plautilla, although I never offended either you or your mother! Better +die a hundred deaths than parade my dishonor before the eyes of the +multitude in the open Circus!" + +She ceased, incapable of further resistance, threw herself weeping on the +divan, and buried her face in the cushions. + +Confounded and bewildered by such audacity, the emperor had heard her +out. The soul of a hero dwelt in the frail body of this maiden! +Majestic as all-conquering Venus she had resisted him for the second +tune, and now how touching did she appear in her tears and weakness! He +loved her, and his heart yearned to raise her in his arms, to beg her +forgiveness, and fulfill her every wish. But he was a man and a monarch, +and his desire to show Melissa to the people in the Circus as his chosen +bride had become a fixed resolve during the past sleepless night. And +indeed he was incapable of renouncing any wish or a plan, even if he felt +inclined to do so. Yet he heartily regretted having stormed at the +gentle Greek girl like some wild barbarian, and thus himself thrown +obstacles in the way of attaining his desire. His hot blood had carried +him away again. Surely some demon led him so often into excesses which +he afterward repented of. This time the fiend had been strong in him, +and he must use every gentle persuasion he knew of to bend the deeply +offended maiden to his will. + +He was relieved not to meet her intense gaze as he advanced toward her +and took Philostratus's place, who whispered to her to control herself +and not bring death and ruin upon them all. + +"I Truly I meant well toward you, dearest," he began, in altered tones. +"But we are both like overfull vessels--one drop will make them overflow. +You--confess now that you forgot yourself. And I--On the throne we grow +unaccustomed to opposition. It is fortunate that the flame of my +anger dies out so quickly. But it lies with you to prevent it from ever +breaking out; for I should always endeavor to fulfill a kindly expressed +wish, if it were possible. This time, however, I must insist--" + +Melissa turned toward the emperor, and stretching out beseeching hands, +she cried: + +"Bid me do anything, however hard, and it shall be done, but do not force +me to go with you to the Circus. If my mother were only alive! Wherever +I could go with her was right. But my father, not to speak of my madcap +brother Alexander, do not know what befits a maiden, nor does anybody +expect it of them." + +"And rightly," interposed Caracalla. "Now I understand your opposition, +and thank you for it. But it fortunately lies in my power to remove your +objection. The women have to obey me, too. I shall at once issue the +necessary orders. You shall appear in the Circus surrounded by the +noblest matrons of the city. The wives of these citizens shall accompany +you. Even my mother will be sure to approve of this arrangement. +Farewell, then, till we meet again in the Circus!" + +He spoke the last words with proud satisfaction, and with the grave +demeanor that Cilo had taught him to adopt in the curia. + +He then gave the order to admit the Alexandrian citizens, and the words +of entreaty died upon the lips of the unfortunate imperial bride, for the +folding doors were thrown open and the deputation advanced through them. + +Old Adventus signed to Melissa, and with drooping head she followed him +through the rooms and corridors that led to the apartments of the +highpriest. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +Melissa had wept her fill on the breast of the lady Euryale, who listened +to her woes with motherly sympathy, and yet she felt as if a biting frost +had broken and destroyed the blossoms which only yesterday had so richly +and hopefully decked her young heart. Diodoros's love had been to her +like the fair and sunny summer days that turn the sour, hard fruit into +sweet and juicy grapes. And now the frost had nipped them. The whole +future, and everything round her, now looked gray, colorless, and flat. +Only two thoughts held possession of her mind: on the one hand, that of +her betrothed, from whom this visit to the Circus threatened to separate +her forever; and on the other, that of her imperial lover, to escape +whom she would have flown anywhere, even to the grave. + +Euryale remarked with concern how weary and broken Melissa looked--so +different from her usual bright self, while she listened to her father +and Alexander as they consulted with the lady as to the future. +Philostratus, who had promised his advice, did not appear; and to the +gem-cutter, no proposal could seem so unwelcome as that of leaving his +native city and his sick favorite, Philip. + +He considered it senseless, and a result of the thoroughly wrong-headed +views of sentimental women, to reject the monarch of the world when he +made honorable proposals to an unpretending girl. But the lady Euryale +--of whom his late wife had always spoken with the highest respect--and, +supported by her, his son Alexander, had both represented to him so +forcibly that a union with the emperor would render Melissa most unhappy, +if it did not lead to death, that he had been reduced to silence. Only, +when they spoke of the necessity of flight, he burst out again, declaring +that the time had not yet come for such extreme measures. + +When Melissa now rejoined them, he spoke of the emperor's behavior toward +her as being worthy of a man of honor, and endeavored to touch her heart +by representing what an old man must feel who should be forced to leave +the house where his father and grandfather had lived before him, and even +the town whose earth held all that was dearest to him. + +Here the tears which so easily rose to his eyes began to flow, and, +seeing that Melissa's tender heart was moved by his sorrow, he gained +confidence, and reproached his daughter for having kindled Caracalla's +love, by her radiant eyes--so like her mother's! Honestly believing that +his affection was returned, Caesar was offering her the highest honor in +his power; if she fled from him, he would have every right to complain of +having been basely deceived, and to call her a heartless wanton. + +Alexander now came to his sister's aid, and reminded him how Melissa had +hazarded life and liberty to save him and her brothers. She had been +forced to look so kindly into the tyrant's face if only to sue for their +pardon, and it became him ill to make this a reproach to his daughter. + +Melissa nodded gratefully to her brother, but Heron remained firm in his +assertion that to think of flight would be foolish, or at least +premature. + +At this, Alexander repeated to him that Melissa had whispered in his ear +that she would rather die at once than live in splendor, but in perpetual +fear, by the side of an unloved husband; whereupon Heron began to breathe +hard, as he always did before an outburst of anger. + +But a message, calling him to the emperor's presence, soon calmed him. + +At parting, he kissed Melissa, and murmured "Would you really drive your +old father out of our dear home, away from his work, and his birds--from +his garden, and your mother's grave? Is it then so terrible to live as +empress, in splendor and honor? I am going to Caesar--you can not hinder +me from greeting him kindly from you?" + +Without waiting for an answer, he left the room; but when he was outside +he took care to glance at himself in the mirror, arrange his beard and +hair, and place his gigantic form in a few of the dignified attitudes he +intended to adopt in the presence of the emperor. + +Meanwhile Melissa had thrown off the indifference into which she had +fallen, and her old doubts raised their warning heads with renewed force. + +Alexander swore to be her faithful ally; Euryale once more assured her of +her assistance; and yet, more especially when she was moved with pity for +her father, who was to leave all he loved for her sake, she felt as if +she were being driven hither and thither, in some frail bark, at the +mercy of the waves. + +Suddenly a new idea flashed through her mind. She rose quickly. + +"I will go to Diodoros," she cried, "and tell him all! He shall decide." + +"Just now?" asked Euryale, startled. "You would certainly not find your +betrothed alone, and since all the world knows of Caracalla's intentions, +and gazes curiously after you, your visit would instantly be reported to +Caesar. Nor is it advisable for you to present yourself before your +offended lover, when you have neither Andreas nor any one else to speak +for you and take your part." + +Melissa burst into tears, but the matron drew her to her and continued +tenderly: + +"You must give that up--but, Alexander, do you go to your friend, and be +your sister's mouthpiece!" + +The artist consented with all the ardor of brotherly affection, and +having received from Melissa, whose courage began to rise again, strict +injunctions as to what he was to say to her lover, he departed on his +errand. + +Wholly absorbed by the stormy emotions of her heart, the maiden had +forgotten time and every external consideration; but the lady Euryale was +thoughtful for her, and now led her to her chamber to have her hair +dressed for the Circus. The matron carefully avoided, for the present, +all mention of her young friend's flight, though her mind was constantly +occupied with it--and not in vain. + +The skillful waiting-woman, whom she had bought from the house of the +priest of Alexander, who was a Roman knight, loosened the girl's abundant +brown hair, and, with loud cries of admiration, declared it would be easy +to dress such locks in the most approved style of fashion. She then laid +the curling-irons on the dish of coals which stood on a slender tripod, +and was about to twist it into ringlets; but Melissa, who had never +resorted to such arts, refused to permit it. The slave assured her, +however, as earnestly as if it were a matter of the highest importance, +that it was impossible to arrange the curls of a lady of distinction +without the irons. Euryale, too, begged Melissa to allow it, as nothing +would make her so conspicuous in her overdressed surroundings as +excessive simplicity. That was quite true, but it made the girl realize +so vividly what was before her, that she covered her face with her hands +and sobbed out: + +"To be exposed to the gaze of the whole city--to its envy and its scorn!" + +The matron's warning inquiry, what had become of her favorite's high- +minded calm, and her advice to restrain her weeping, lest she should +appear before the public in the Amphitheater with tear-stained eyes, +helped her to compose herself. + +The tire-woman had not finished her work when Alexander returned, and +Melissa dared not turn her head for fear of disturbing her in her task. +But when Alexander began his report with the exclamation, "Who knows what +foolish gossip has driven him to this?" she sprang up, regardless of the +slave's warning cry. And as her brother went on to relate how Diodoros +had left the Serapeum, in spite of the physician's entreaty to wait at +least until next morning, but that Melissa need not take it greatly to +heart, it was too much for the girl who had already that day gone through +such severe and varied experiences. The ground seemed to heave beneath +her feet; sick and giddy she put out her hand to find some support, that +she might not sink on her knees; in so doing, she caught the tall tripod +which held the dish of coals. It swayed and fell clattering to +the ground, bringing the irons with it. Its burning contents fell partly +on the floor and partly on the festal robe which Melissa had thrown over +a chair before loosening her hair. Alexander caught her just in time to +prevent her falling. + +With her healthy nature, Melissa soon regained consciousness, and during +the first few moments her distress over the spoiled garment threw every +other thought into the background. Shaking her head gravely over the +black-edged holes which the coals had burned in the peplos and the under- +robes, Euryale secretly rejoiced at the accident. She remembered that +when her heart was torn and bleeding, after the death of her only child, +her thoughts were taken off herself by the necessary duty of providing +mourning garments for herself, her husband, and the slaves. This trivial +task had at least helped her to forget for a few hours the bitterness of +her grief. + +Only anxious to lighten in some sort the fate of the sweet young creature +whom she had learned to love, she made much of the difficulty of +procuring a fresh dress for Melissa, though she was perfectly aware that +her sister-in-law possessed many such. Alexander was commissioned to +take one of the emperor's chariots--which always stood ready for the use +of the courtiers between the Serapeum and the springs on the east--and to +hasten to the lady Berenike. The lady begged that he, as an artist, +would assist in choosing the robe; and the less conspicuous and costly it +was the better. + +To this Melissa heartily agreed, and, after Alexander had gone, Euryale +bore off her pale young charge to the eating-room, where she forced her +to take some old wine and a little food, which she would not touch +before. As the attendant filled the wine-cup, the high-priest himself +joined them, greeted Melissa briefly and with measured courtesy, and +begged his wife to follow him for a moment into the tablinum. + +The attendant, a slave who had grown gray in the service of Timotheus, +now begged the young guest, as though he represented his mistress, to +take a little food, and not to sip so timidly from the winecup. But the +lonely repast was soon ended, and Melissa, strengthened and refreshed, +withdrew to the sleeping-apartment. Only light curtains hung at the +doors of the high-priest's hurriedly furnished rooms, and no one noticed +Melissa's entrance into the adjoining chamber. + +She had never played the eavesdropper, but she had neither the presence +of mind to withdraw, nor could she avoid hearing that her own name was +mentioned. + +It was the lady who spoke, and her husband answered in excited tones: + +"As to your Christianity, and whatever there may be in it that is +offensive to me as high-priest of a heathen god, we will speak of that +later. It is not a question now of a difference of opinion, but of a +serious danger, which you with your easily-moved heart will bring down +upon yourself and me. The gem-cutter's daughter is a lovely creature-- +I will not deny it--and worthy of your sympathy; besides which, you, +as a woman, can not bear to see her most sacred feelings wounded." + +"And would you let your hands he idle in your lap," interposed his wife, +"if you saw a lovable, innocent child on the edge of a precipice, and +felt yourself strong enough to save her from falling? You can not have +asked yourself what would be the fate of a girl like Melissa if she were +Caracalla's wife." + +"Indeed I have," Timotheus assured her gravely, "and nothing would please +me better than that the maiden should succeed in escaping that fate. But +--the time is short, and I must be brief--the emperor is our guest, and +honors me with boundless confidence. Just now he disclosed to me his +determination to make Melissa his wife, and I was forced to approve it. +Thus he looks to me to carry out his wishes; and if the maiden escapes, +and there falls on you, or, through you, on me, the shadow of a suspicion +of having assisted in her flight, he will have every right to regard me +as a traitor and to treat me as such. To others my life is made sacred +by my high office, but the man to whom a human life--no matter whose--is +no more than that of a sacrificial animal is to you or me, that man would +shed the blood of us both without a quiver of the eyelid." + +"Then let him!" cried Euryale, hotly. "My bereaved and worn-out life is +but a small price to pay for that of an innocent, blameless creature, +glowing with youth and all the happiness of requited love, and with a +right to the highest joys that life can offer." + +"And I?" exclaimed Timotheus, angrily. "What am I to you since the death +of our child? For the sake of the first person that came to you as a +poor substitute for our lost daughter, you are ready to go to your death, +and to drag me with you into the gloom of Hades. There speaks the +Christian! Even that gentle philosopher on the throne, Marcus Aurelius, +was disgusted at your fellow-believers' hideous mania for death. The +Christian expects in the next world all that is denied to him in this. +But we think of this life, in which the Deity has placed us. To me life +is the highest blessing, and yours is dearer to me than my own. Therefore +I say, firmly and decidedly: Melissa must not make her escape from this +house. If she is determined to fly this night, let her do so--I shall +not hinder her. If your counsel is of service to her, I am glad; but she +must not enter this house again after the performance in the Circus, +unless she be firmly resolved to become Caesar's wife. If she can not +bring herself to this, the apartments which belong to us must be closed +against her, as against a dangerous foe." + +"And whither can she go?" asked Euryale, sadly and with tearful eyes, for +there was no gainsaying so definite an order from her lord and master. +"The moment she is missed, they will search her father's house; and, if +she takes advantage of Berenike's ship, it will soon be discovered that +it was your brother's wife who helped her to escape from Caracalla." + +"Berenike will know what to do," answered Timotheus, composedly. "She, +if any one, knows how to take care of herself. She has the protection of +her influential brother-in-law, Coeranus; and just now there is nothing +she would not do to strike a blow at her hated enemy." + +"How sorrow and revenge have worked upon that strange woman!" exclaimed +the lady, sadly. "Caracalla has injured her, it is true--" + +"He has, and to-day he has added a further, deeper insult, for he forces +her to appear in the Amphitheater, with the wives of the other citizens +who bear the cost of this performance. I was there, and heard him say to +Seleukus, who was acting as spokesman, that he counted on seeing his +wife, of whom he had heard so much, in her appointed place this evening. + +"This will add fuel to the fire of her hatred. If she only does not allow +her anger to carry her away, and to show it in a manner that she will +afterward regret!--But my time is short. I have to walk before the +sacred images in full ceremonial vestments, and accompanied by the priest +of Alexander. You, unfortunately, take no pleasure in such spectacles. +Once more, then--if the girl is determined to fly, she must not return +here. I repeat, if any one can help her to get away, it is Berenike. +Our sister-in-law must take the consequences. Caesar can not accuse her +of treason, at any rate, and her interference in the matter will clear us +of all suspicion of complicity." + +No word of this conversation had escaped Melissa. She learned nothing +new from it, but it affected her deeply. + +Warm-hearted as she was, she fully realized the debt of gratitude she +owed to the lady Euryale; and she could not blame the high-priest, whom +prudence certainly compelled to close his doors against her. And yet she +was wounded by his words. She had struggled so hard in these last days +to banish all thought of her own happiness, and shield her dear ones from +harm, that such selfishness appeared doubly cruel to her. Did it not +seem as if this priest of the great Deity to whom she had been taught to +pray, cared little what became of his nearest relatives, so long as he +and his wife were unmolested? That was the opposite of what Andreas had +praised as the highest duty, the last time she had walked with him to the +ferry; and since then Johanna had told her the story of Christ's +sufferings, and she understood the fervor with which the freedman had +spoken of the crucified Son of God--the great example of all +unselfishness. + +In the enthusiasm of her warm young heart she felt that what she had +heard of the Christians' teacher was beautiful, and that she too would +not find it hard to die for those she loved. + +With drooping head Euryale re-entered the room, and gazed with kind, +anxious eyes into the girl's face, as if asking her forgiveness. +Following the impulse of her candid heart, Melissa threw her fair young +arms round the aged lady, and, to her great surprise, after kissing her +warmly on brow and mouth and eyes, cried in tones of tender entreaty: + +"Forgive me. I did not want to listen, and yet I could not choose but +hear. No word of your discourse escaped me. I know now that I must not +fly, and that I must bear whatever fate the gods may send me. I used +often to say to myself, 'Of how little importance is my life or my +happiness!' And now that I must give up my lover, come what may I care +not what the future has in store for me. I can never forget Diodoros; +and, when I think that everything is at an end between us, it is as if my +heart were torn in pieces. But I have found out, in these last days, +what heavy troubles one may bear without breaking down. If my flight is +to bring danger, if not death and ruin, upon so many good people, I had +better stay. The man who lusts after me--it is true, when I think of his +embrace my blood runs cold! But perhaps I shall be able to endure even +that. And then--if I crush my heart into silence, and renounce Diodoros +forever, and give myself up to Caesar--as I must--tell me you will not +then close your doors against me, but that I may stay with you till the +horrid hour comes when Caracalla calls me?" + +The matron had listened with deep emotion to Melissa's victory over her +desires and her aversions. This heathen maiden, brought up in the right +way by a good mother, and to whom life had taught many a hard lesson, was +she not already treading in the footsteps of the Saviour? This child was +offering up the great and pure love of her heart to preserve others from +sorrow and danger; and what a different course of action was she herself +to pursue in obedience to her husband's orders--her husband, whose duty +it was to offer a shining example to the whole heathen world! + +She thought of Abraham's sacrifice, and wondered if the Lord might not +perhaps be satisfied with Melissa's willingness to lay her love upon the +altar. In any case, whatever she, Euryale, could do to save her from the +worst fate that could befall a woman, that should be done, and this time +it was she who drew the other toward her and kissed her. + +Her heart was full to overflowing, and yet she did not forget to warn +Melissa to be careful, when she was about to lay her head with its +artificially arranged curls upon the lady's breast. + +"No, no," she said, tenderly warding off the maiden's embrace. Then, +laying her hands on the girl's shoulders, she looked her straight in the +face, and continued: "Here you will ever find a resting-place. When your +hair lies smoothly round your sweet face, as it did yesterday, then lay +it on my breast as often as you will. Aye, and it can and shall be here +in the Serapeum; though not in these rooms, which my lord and master +closes against you. I told you of the time being fulfilled for each one +of us, and when yours came you proved yourself to be the good tree of +which our Lord speaks as bearing good fruit. You look at me inquiringly; +how indeed should you understand the words of a Christian? But I shall +find time enough in the next few days to explain them to you; for--I say +it again--you shall remain near me while the emperor searches the city +and half the world over for you. Keep that firmly in your mind and let +it help to give you courage in the Circus." + +"But my father?" cried Melissa, pointing to the curtain, through which +Heron's loud voice now became audible. + +"Depend on me," whispered the lady, hurriedly; "and rest assured that he +will be warned in time. Do not betray my promise. If we were to take +him into our confidence now, he would spoil all. As soon as he is gone, +and your brother has returned, you two shall hear--" + +They were interrupted by the steward, who, with a peculiar smile upon his +clean-shaven lips, came to announce Heron's visit. + +The communicative gem-cutter had already confided to the servant what +it was that agitated him so greatly, but Melissa was astonished at the +change in her father's manner. + +The shuffling gait of the gigantic, unwieldy man, who had grown gray +stooping over his work, had gained a certain majestic dignity. His +cheeks glowed, and the gray eyes, which had long since acquired a fixed +look from straining over the gemcutting, now beamed with a blissful +radiance. Something wonderful must have happened to him, and, without +waiting to be questioned by the lady, he poured out to her the news that +he would have been overjoyed to have shouted in the market-place for all +to hear. + +The reception accorded to him at Caesar's table, he declared, had been +flattering beyond all words. The godlike monarch had treated him more +considerately, nay, sometimes with more reverence, than his own sons. +The best dishes had been put before him, and Caracalla had asked all +sorts of questions about his future consort, and, on hearing that Melissa +had sent him greetings, he had raised himself and drunk to him as if he +were a friend. + +His table-companions, too, had treated Heron with every distinction. +Immediately on his arrival the monarch had desired them to honor him +as the father of the future empress. They had all agreed with him in +demanding that Zminis the Egyptian should be punished with death, and had +even encouraged him to give the reins to his righteous anger. He, if any +one, was in the habit of being moderate in all things, if only as a good +example to his sons; and he had proved in many a Dionysiac feast that +the god could not easily overpower him. The amount of wine he had drunk +to-day would generally have had no more effect upon him than water, and +yet he had felt now and then as if he were drunken, and the whole festal +hall turned round with him. Even now he would be quite incapable of +walking forward in a given straight line. + +With the exclamation, "Such is life!--a few hours ago on the rowing- +bench, and fighting with the brander of the galleys for trying to brand +me with the slave-mark, and now one of the greatest among the great!" +he closed his tale, for a glance through the window showed him that time +pressed. + +With strange bashfulness he then gazed at a ring upon his right hand, and +said hesitatingly that his own modesty made the avowal difficult to him; +but the fact was, he was not the same man as when he last left the +ladies. By the grace of the emperor he had been made a praetorian. +Caesar had at first wanted to make him a knight; but he esteemed his +Macedonian descent higher than that class, to which too many freed slaves +belonged for his taste. This he had frankly acknowledged, and the +emperor must have considered his objections valid, for he immediately +spoke a few words to the prefect Macrinus, and then told the others to +greet him as senator with the rank of praetorian. + +Then indeed he felt as if the seat beneath him were transformed into a +wild steed carrying him away, through sea and sky-wherever it pleased. +He had had to hold tightly to the arm of the couch, and only remembered +that some one--who it was he did not know--had whispered to him to thank +Caesar. + +"This," continued the gem-cutter, "restored me so far to myself that I +could express my gratitude to your future husband, my child. I am only +the second Egyptian who has entered the senate. Coeranus was the only +one before me. What favor! And how can I describe what followed? All +the distinguished members of the senate and the past consuls offered me a +brotherly embrace as their new colleague. When Caesar commanded me to +appear at your side in the Circus, wearing the white toga with the broad +purple stripe, and I remarked that the shops of the better clothes- +sellers would be shut by this time on account of the performance, and +that such a toga was not to be obtained, there was a great laugh over the +Alexandrian love of amusement. From all sides they offered me what I +required; but I gave the preference to Theocritus, on account of his +height. What is long enough for him will not be too short for me.--And +now one of the emperor's chariots is waiting for me. If only Alexander +were at home! The house ought to have been illuminated and hung with +garlands for my arrival, and a crowd of slaves waiting to kiss my hands. + +"There will soon be more than our two. I hope Argutis may understand how +to fasten on the shoes with the straps and the crescent! Philip knows +even less of these things than I do myself, besides which the poor boy is +laid low. It is lucky that I remembered him. I had very nearly +forgotten his existence. Ah!--if your mother were still alive! She had +clever-fingers! She--Ah, lady Euryale, Melissa has perhaps told you +about her. Olympias she was called, like the mother of the great +Alexander, and, like her, she bore good children. You yourself were +praising my boys just now. And the girl! . . Only a few days ago, it +was a pretty, shy thing that no one would ever have expected to do +anything great; and now, what have we not to thank that gentle child for? +The little one was always her mother's darling. Eternal gods! I dare +not think of it! If only she who is gone might have had the joy of +hearing me called senator and praetor! O child! if she could have sat +with us to-day in the emperor's seats, and we two could have seen you +there--you, our pride, honored by the whole city, Caesar's future bride." + +Here the strong man with the soft heart broke down, and, clasping his +hands over his face, sobbed aloud, while Melissa clung to him and stroked +his bearded cheeks. + +Under her loving words of consolation he soon regained his composure, +and, still struggling against the rising tears, he cried: + +"Thank Heaven, there can be no more foolish talk of flight! I shall stay +here; I shall never take advantage of the ivory chair that belongs to me +in the curia in Rome. Your husband, my child, and the state, would +scarcely expect it of me. If, however, Caesar presents me as his father, +with estates and treasures, my first thought shall be to raise a monument +to your mother. You shall see! A monument, I tell you, without a rival. +It shall represent the strength of man submissive to womanly charm." + +He bent down to kiss his daughter's brow, and whispered in her ear: + +"Gaze confidently into the future, my girl. A father's eye is not easily +deceived, and so I tell you--that the emperor has been forced to shed +blood do insure the safety of the throne; but, in personal intercourse +with him, I learned to know your future husband as a noble-hearted man. +Indeed, I am not rich enough to thank the gods for such a son-in-law!" + +Melissa gazed after her father, incapable of speaking. It went to her +heart that all these hopes should be changed to sorrow and disappointment +through her. And so she said, with tearful eyes, and shook hey head when +the lady assured her that with her it was a question of a cruelly spoiled +life, whereas her father would only have to renounce some idle vanities +which he would forget as easily as he had seized upon them. + +"You do not know him," answered the maiden, sadly. "If I fly, then he +too must hide himself in a far country. He will never be happy again if +they take him from the little house--his birds--our mother's grave. It +was for her sake alone that he took no thought for the ivory seat in the +curia. If you only knew how he clings to everything that reminds him of +our mother, and she never left our city." + +Here she was interrupted by the entrance of Philostratus. He was not +alone; an imperial slave accompanied him, bringing a graceful basket with +gifts from the emperor to Melissa. + +First came a wreath of roses and lotos-flowers, looking as if they had +been plucked just before sunrise, for among the blossoms and leaves there +flashed and sparkled a glittering dew of diamonds, lightly fastened on +delicate silver wires. Next came a bunch of flowers, round whose stems a +supple golden snake was twined, covered with rubies and diamonds and +destined to coil itself round a woman's arm. The third was a necklace of +extremely costly Persian pearls, which had once belonged--so the merchant +had declared--to great Cleopatra's treasure. + +Melissa loved flowers; and the costly gifts that accompanied them could +not fail to rejoice a woman's heart. And yet she only gave them a +passing glance, reddening painfully as she did so. + +What the bearer had to say to her was of more importance to her than the +gifts he brought, and in fact the troubled manner of the usually composed +philosopher betrayed that he had something more serious to deliver than +the gifts of his love-sick lord. + +The lady Euryale, perceiving that he meant to try once more to persuade +Melissa to yield, hastened to declare that she had found ways and means +to help the maiden to escape; but he shook his head with a sigh, and +said, thoughtfully: + +"Well--well--I shall go on board the ship while the wild beasts are doing +their part in the Circus. May we meet again happily, either here or else +where! My way leads me first to Caesar's mother, to inform her of his +choice of a wife. Not that he needs her consent: whose consent or +disapproval does Caracalla care for? But I am to win Julia's heart for +you. Possibly I may succeed; but you--you scorn it, and fly from her +son. And yet--believe me, child--the heart of that woman is a treasure +that has no equal, and, if she should open her arms to you, there would +be little that you could not endure. When I left you, just now, I put +myself in your place, and approved of your resolve; but it would be wrong +not to remind you once more of what you must expect if you follow your +own will, and if Caesar considers himself scorned, ill-treated, and +deceived by you." + +"In the name of all the gods, what has happened?" broke in Melissa, +pallid with fear. Philostratus pressed his hand to his brow, and his +voice was hoarse with suppressed emotion as he continued: "Nothing new- +only things are taking their old course. You know that Caracalla +threatened old Claudius Vindex and his nephew with death because of their +opposition to his union with you. We all hoped, however, that he would +be moved to exercise mercy. He is in love--he was so gracious at the +feast! I myself was foremost among those who did their utmost to dispose +Caesar to clemency.. But he would not be moved, and, before the sun goes +down upon this day, the old man and the young one--the chiefest among the +nobles of Rome--will be no more. And it is Caracalla's love for you, +child, that sheds this blood. Ask yourself after this how many lives +will be sacrificed when your flight causes hatred and fury to reign +supreme in the soul of the cheated monarch!" + +With quickened breath Euryale had listened to the philosopher, without +regarding the girl; but scarcely had Philostratus uttered his last words +than Melissa ran to her, and, clasping her hands passionately on the +matron's arm, she cried, "Ought I to obey you, Euryale, and the terrors +of my own heart, and flee?" + +Then releasing the lady, she turned again to the philosopher, and burst +out: "Or are you in the right, Philostratus? Must I stay, to prevent the +misery that threatens to overtake others?" + +Beside herself, torn by the storm that raged in her soul, she clasped her +hands upon her brow and continued, wildly: "You are both of you so wise, +and surely wish the best. How can you give me such opposite advice? And +my own heart?--why have the gods struck it dumb? Time was when it spoke +loudly enough if ever I was in doubt. One thing I know for certain: if +by the sacrifice of my life I could undo it all, I would joyfully cast +myself before the lions and panthers, like the Christian maiden whom my +mother saw smiling radiantly as she was led into the arena. Splendor and +power are as hateful to me as the flowers yonder with their false dew. +I was ever taught to close my ear to the voice of selfishness. If I have +any wish for myself, it is that I may keep my faith with him to whom it +was promised. But for love of my father, and if I could be certain of +saving many from death and misery, I would stay, though I should despise +myself and be separated forever from my beloved!" + +"Submit to the inevitable," interposed the philosopher, with eager +entreaty. "The immortal gods will reward you with the blessings of +hundreds whom a word from you will have saved from ruin and destruction." + +"And what say you?" asked the maiden, gazing with anxious expectancy into +the matron's face. "Follow your own heart!" replied the lady, deeply +moved. + +Melissa had hearkened to both counselors with eager ear, and both hung +anxiously on her lips, while, as if taken out of herself, she gazed with +panting bosom into the empty air. They had not long to wait. Suddenly +the maiden approached Philostratus and said with a firmness and decision +that astonished her friend: + +"This will I do--this--I feel it here--this is the right. I remain, +I renounce the love of my heart, and accept what Fate has laid upon me. +It will be hard, and the sacrifice that I offer is great. But I must +first have the certainty that it shall not be in vain." + +"But, child," cried Philostratus, "who can look into the future, and +answer for what is still to come?" + +"Who?" asked Melissa, undaunted. "He alone in whose hand lies my future. +To Caesar himself I leave the decision. Go you to him now and speak +for me. Bring him greeting from me, and tell him that I, whom he honors +with his love, dare to entreat him modestly but earnestly not to punish +the aged Claudius Vindex and his nephew for the fault they were guilty of +on my account. For my sake would he deign to grant them life--and +liberty? Add to this that it is the first proof I have asked of his +magnanimity, and clothe it all in such winning words as Peitho can lay +upon your eloquent lips. If he grants pardon to these unfortunate ones, +it shall be a sign to me that I may be permitted to shield others from +his wrath. If he refuses, and they are put to death, then will he +himself have decided our fate otherwise, and he sees me for the last time +alive in the Circus. Thus shall it be--I have spoken." + +The last words came like a stern order, and Philostratus seemed to have +some hopes of the emperor's clemency, for his love's sake, and the +philosopher's own eloquence. The moment Melissa ceased, he seized her +hand and cried, eagerly: + +"I will try it; and, if he grant your request, you remain?" + +"Yes," answered the maiden, firmly. "Pray Caesar to have mercy, soften +his heart as much as you are able. I expect an answer before going to +the Circus." + +She hurried back into the sleeping-room without regarding Philostratus's +answer. Once there, she threw herself upon her knees and prayed, now to +the manes of her mother, now--it was for the first time--to the crucified +Saviour of the Christians, who had taken upon himself a painful death to +bring happiness to others. First she prayed for strength to keep her +vow, come what might; and then she prayed for Diodoros, that he might not +be made wretched if she found herself compelled to break her troth with +him. Her father and brothers, too, were not forgotten, as she commended +their lives to a higher power. + +When Euryale looked into the room, she found Melissa still upon her +knees, her young frame shaken as with fever. So she withdrew softly, and +in the Temple of Serapis, where her husband served as high-priest, she +prayed to Jesus Christ that he who suffered little children to come unto +him would lead this wandering lamb into the right path. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A THRONY PATH, BY EBERS, V8 *** + +******** This file should be named 5537.txt or 5537.zip ******** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/5537.zip b/5537.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff42972 --- /dev/null +++ b/5537.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6460cec --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #5537 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5537) |