Arachne — Complete

  CHAPTER XIV.

  The messenger from Philippus appeared in the afternoon. It was the younghipparch who had studied in Athens and accompanied the commandant ofPelusium to Tennis the year before. He came charged with the commissionto convey the artist, in the carriage of the gray-haired comrade ofAlexander, to the neighbouring city of Pithom, where Philippus, by theKing's command, was now residing.

  On the way the hipparch told the sculptor that the Lady Thyone hadrecently done things unprecedented for a woman of her age.

  She had been present at the founding of the city of Arsinoe, as wellas at the laying of the corner stone of the temple which was to beconsecrated to the new god Serapis in the neighbourhood. The day beforeshe had welcomed her returning son before the entry of the fleet intothe canal, and to-day had remained from the beginning to the end of hisreception by the King, without being unduly wearied.

  Her first thought, after the close of the ceremony, had concernedher convalescing young friend. New entertainments, in which the Queencommanded her to participate, awaited her in Pithom, but pleasure at thereturn of her famous son appeared to double her power of endurance.

  Pithom was the sacred name of the temple precincts of the desert city ofThekut--[The biblical Suchot]--near Heroopolis, where the citizens livedand pursued their business.

  The travellers reached the place very speedily. Garlands of flowers andhangings adorned the houses. The sacred precinct Pithom, above whichtowered the magnificently restored temple of the god Turn, was alsostill adorned with many superb ones, as well as lofty masts, banners,and triumphal arches.

  Before they reached it the equipage passed the sumptuous tents which hadbeen erected for the royal pair and their attendants. If Hermon hadnot known how long the monarch intended to remain here, their size andnumber would have surprised him.

  A regular messenger and carrier-dove service had been establishedbetween Alexandria and Pithom for the period of Ptolemy's relaxation;and the sovereign was accompanied not only by several of the chiefcouncillors and secretaries, but artists and some of the Museumscientists with whom he was on specially intimate terms, who were toadorn the festival on the frontier with their presence, and cheer theinvalid King, who needed entertainment. Singers and actors also belongedto the train.

  As they passed the encampment of the troops who accompanied thesovereign, the hipparch could show Hermon a magnificent militaryspectacle.

  Heroopolis was fortified, and belonged to the military colonies whichAlexander the Great had established throughout all Egypt in order to winit over more quickly to Grecian customs. A Hellenic phalanx and Libyanmercenaries formed the garrison there, but at Pithom the King hadgathered the flower of his troops around him, and this circumstanceshowed how little serious consideration the cautious ruler, who usuallycarefully regarded every detail, gave to the war with Cyrene, in whichhe took no personal part. The four thousand Gauls whom he had sentacross the frontier as auxiliary troops promised to become perilous tothe foe, who was also threatened in the rear by one of the most powerfulLibyan tribes.

  Therefore, the artist was assured by his military companion,Philadelphus could let the campaign take its course, and permit himselfthe brief period of rest in this strangely chosen place, which theleeches had advised.

  The house where the aged couple lived with their son, Admiral Eumedes,was on the edge of the precincts of the temple. It belonged to themost distinguished merchant in the place, and consisted of a large opencourtyard in the form of a square, surrounded by the building and itscommunicating wings.

  When the hipparch led Hermon into this place a number of people hadalready assembled there. Soldiers and sailors stood in groups in thecentre, awaiting the orders of the old general and his subordinateofficers. Messengers and slaves, coming and going on various errands,were crossing it, and on the shady side benches and chairs stood undera light awning. Most of these were occupied by visitors who came tocongratulate the mother of the fame-crowned admiral.

  Thyone was reclining on a divan in their midst, submitting with a sighto the social duties which her high position imposed upon her.

  Her face was turned toward the large doorway of the main entrance, whileshe sometimes greeted newly introduced guests, sometimes bade farewellto departing ones, and meanwhile answered and asked questions.

  She had been more wearied by the exertions of the last few days than heranimated manner revealed. Yet as soon as Hermon, leaning on the younghipparch's arm, approached her, she rose and cordially extended bothhands to him. True, the recovering man was still unable to see herfeatures distinctly, but he felt the maternal kindness with which shereceived him, and what his eyes could not distinguish his ears taughthim in her warm greetings. His heart dilated and, after he had kissedher dear old hand more than once with affectionate devotion, she ledhim among her guests and presented him to them as the son of her dearestfriend.

  A strange stir ran through the assembled group, nearly all whose membersbelonged to the King's train, and the low whispers and murmurs aroundhim revealed to Hermon that the false wreaths he wore had by no meansbeen forgotten in this circle.

  A painful feeling of discomfort overwhelmed the man accustomed to thesilence of the desert, and a voice within cried with earnest insistence,"Away from here!"

  But he had no time to obey it; an unusually tall, broad-shouldered man,with a thick gray beard and grave, well-formed features, in whom hethought he recognised the great physician Erasistratus, approachedThyone, and asked, "The recluse from the desert with restored sight?"

  "The same," replied the matron, and whispered to the other, who wasreally the famous scientist and leech whom Hermon had desired to seekin Alexandria. "Exhaustion will soon overcome me, and how many importantmatters I had to discuss with you and the poor fellow yonder!"

  The physician laid his hand on the matron's temples, and, raising hisvoice, said in a tone of grave anxiety: "Exhaustion! It would be betterfor you, honoured lady, to keep your bed."

  "Surely and certainly!" the wife of the chief huntsman instantlyassented. "We have already taxed your strength far too long, my noblefriend."

  This welcome confession produced a wonderful effect upon the othervisitors, and very soon the last one had vanished from the space underthe awning and the courtyard. Not a single person had vouchsafed Hermona greeting; for the artist, divested of the highest esteem, hadbeen involved in the ugly suspicion of having driven his uncle fromAlexandria, and the monarch was said to have spoken unfavourably of him.

  When the last one had left the courtyard, the leech exchanged a quickglance of understanding, which also included Hermon, with Thyone,and the majordomo received orders to admit no more visitors, whileErasistratus exclaimed gaily, "It is one of the physician's principalduties to keep all harmful things--including living ones--from hispatient."

  Then he turned to Hermon and had already begun to question him abouthis health, when the majordomo announced another visitor. "A verydistinguished gentleman, apparently," he said hastily; "Herophilus ofChalcedon, who would not be denied admittance."

  Again the eyes of Erasistratus and the matron met, and the formerhastened toward his professional colleague.

  The two physicians stopped in the middle of the courtyard and talkedeagerly together, while Thyone, with cordial interest, asked Hermon totell her what she had already partially learned through the freedmanBias.

  Finally Erasistratus persuaded the matron, who seemed to haveforgotten her previous exhaustion, to share the consultation, but theconvalescent's heart throbbed faster as he watched the famous leeches.

  If these two men took charge of his case, the most ardent desire of hissoul might be fulfilled, and Thyone was certainly trying to induce themto undertake his treatment; what else would have drawn her away from himbefore she had said even one word about Daphne?

  The sculptor saw, as if through a cloud of dust, the three consultingtogether in the centre of the courtyard, away from the soldiers andmessengers.

  Hermon
had only seen Erasistratus indistinctly, but before his eyes wereblinded he had met him beside the sick-bed of Myrtilus, and no one whohad once beheld it could forget the manly bearded face, with the grave,thoughtful eyes, whose gaze deliberately sought their goal.

  The other also belonged to the great men in the realm of intellect.Hermon knew him well, for he had listened eagerly in the Museum to thelectures of the famous Herophilus, and his image also had stamped itselfupon his soul.

  Even at that time the long, smooth hair of the famous investigator hadturned gray. From the oval of his closely shaven, well-formed face, withthe long, thin, slightly hooked nose, a pair of sparkling eyes hadgazed with penetrating keenness at the listeners. Hermon had imaginedAristotle like him, while the bust of Pythagoras, with which he wasfamiliar, resembled Erasistratus.

  The convalescent could scarcely expect anything more than beneficialadvice from Herophilus; for this tireless investigator rarely renderedassistance to the sick in the city, because the lion's share of his timeand strength were devoted to difficult researches. The King favouredthese by placing at his disposal the criminals sentenced to death. Inhis work of dissection he had found that the human brain was the seat ofthe soul, and the nerves originated in it.

  Erasistratus, on the contrary, devoted himself to a large medicalpractice, though science owed him no less important discoveries.

  The circle of artists had heard what he taught concerning the bloodin the veins and the air bubbles in the arteries, how he explained theprocess of breathing, and what he had found in the investigation of thebeating of the heart.

  But he performed his most wonderful work with the knife in his hand as asurgeon. He had opened the body of one of Archias's slaves, who had beennursed by Daphne, and cured him after all other physicians had given himup.

  When this man's voice reached Hermon, he repeated to himself the wordsof refusal with which the great physician had formerly declined todevote his time and skill to him. Perhaps he was right then--and howdifferently he treated him to-day!

  Thyone had informed the famous scientist of everything which she knewfrom Hermon, and had learned of the last period of his life throughBias.

  She now listened with eager interest, sometimes completing Hermon'sacknowledgments by an explanatory or propitiating word, as the leechessubjected him to a rigid examination, but the latter felt that hisstatements were not to serve curiosity, but an honest desire to aid him.So he spoke to them with absolute frankness.

  When the examination was over, Erasistratus exclaimed to hisprofessional colleague: "This old woman! Precisely as I would haveprescribed. She ordered the strictest diet with the treatment. Sherejected every strong internal remedy, and forbade him wine, much meat,and all kinds of seasoning. Our patient was directed to live on milk andthe same simple gifts of Nature which I would have ordered for him. Theherb juice in the clever sorceress's salve proved the best remedy. Theincantations could do no harm. On the contrary, they often produce awonderful effect on the mind, and from it proceed further."

  Here Erasistratus asked to have a description of the troubles whichstill affected Hermon's vision, and the passionate eagerness with whichthe leeches gazed into his eyes strengthened the artist's budding hope.Never had he wished more ardently that Daphne was back at his side.

  He also listened with keen attention when the scientists finallydiscussed in low tones what they had perceived, and caught the words,"White scar on the cornea," "leucoma," and "operation." He also heardHerophilus declare that an injury of the cornea by the flame of thetorch was the cause of the blindness. In the work which led him to thediscovery of the retina in the eye he had devoted himself sedulously tothe organs of sight. This case seemed as if it had been created for hisfriend's keen knife.

  What expectations this assurance aroused in the half-cured man, who feltas if the goal was already gained, when, shortly after, Erasistratus,the greatest physician of his time, offered to make the attempt inAlexandria to remove, by a few little incisions, what still dimmed hisimpaired vision!

  Hermon, deeply agitated, thanked the leech, and when Thyone perceivedwhat was passing in his mind she ventured to ask the question whetherit would not be feasible to perform the beneficent work here, and, ifpossible, the next day, and the surgeon was ready to fulfil the wishof the matron and the sufferer speedily. He would bring the necessaryinstruments with him. It only depended upon whether a suitable roomcould be found in the crowded city, and Thyone believed that such a onecould not be lacking in the great building at her disposal.

  A short conversation with the steward confirmed this opinion.

  Then Erasistratus appointed the next morning for the operation. Duringthe ceremony of consecrating the temple it would be quiet in the houseand its vicinity. The preliminary fasting which he imposed upon hispatients Hermon had already undergone.

  "The pure desert air here," he added, "will be of the utmost assistancein recovery. The operation is slight, and free from danger. A few dayswill determine its success. I shall remain here with their Majesties,only"--and here he hesitated doubtfully--"where shall I find a competentassistant?"

  Herophilus looked his colleague in the face with a sly smile, saying,"If you credit the old man of Chalcedon with the needful skill, he is atyour disposal."

  "Herophilus!" cried Thyone, and tears of emotion wet her aged eyes,which easily overflowed; but when Hermon tried to give expression to hisfervent gratitude in words, Erasistratus interrupted him, exclaiming,as he grasped his comrade's hand, "It honours the general in his purplerobe, when he uses the spade in the work of intrenchment."

  Many other matters were discussed before the professional friendswithdrew, promising to go to work early the next morning.

  They kept their word, and while the temple of the god Turn resoundedwith music and the chanting of hymns by the priests, whose dying notesentered the windows of the sick-room, while Queen Arsinoe-Philadelphusled the procession, and the King, who was prevented by the gout fromentering and passing around the sanctuary at her side, ordered amonument to be erected in commemoration of this festival, the famousleeches toiled busily.

  When the music and the acclamations of the crowd died away, theirtask was accomplished. The great Herophilus had rendered his equallydistinguished colleague the aid of an apprentice. When Hermon's lipsagain tried to pour forth his gratitude, Herophilus interrupted himwith the exclamation: "Use the sight you have regained, young master, increating superb works of art, and I shall be in your debt, since, withlittle trouble, I was permitted to render a service to the whole Grecianworld."

  Hermon spent seven long days and nights full of anxious expectation ina darkened room. Bias and a careful old female slave of the Lady Thyonewatched him faithfully. Philippus, his wife, and his famous son Eumedeswere allowed to pay him only brief visits; but Erasistratus watched thesuccess of the operation every morning. True, it had been by no meansdangerous, and certainly would not have required his frequent visits,but it pleased the investigator, reared in the school of Stoics, towatch how this warm-blooded young artist voluntarily submitted tolive in accord with reason and Nature--the guiding stars of his ownexistence.

  But Hermon opened his soul to his learned friend, and what Erasistratusthus learned strengthened the conviction of this great alleviatorof physical pain that suffering and knowledge of self were the bestphysicians for the human soul. The scientist, who saw in the artsthe noblest ornament of mortal life, anticipated with eager interestHermon's future creative work.

  On the seventh day the leech removed the bandage from his patient'seyes, and the cry of rapture with which Hermon clasped him in his armsrichly rewarded him for his trouble and solicitude.

  The restored man beheld in sharp, clear, undimmed outlines everything atwhich the physician desired him to look.

  Now Erasistratus could write to his friend Herophilus in Alexandria thatthe operation was successful.

  The sculptor was ordered to avoid the dazzling sunlight a fortnightlonger, then he might once m
ore use his eyes without restriction, andappeal to the Muse to help in creating works of art.

  Thyone was present at this explanation. After she had conquered thegreat emotion which for a time sealed her lips, her first question,after the physician's departure, was: "And Nemesis? She too, I think,has fled before the new light?"

  Hermon pressed her hand still more warmly, exclaiming with joyousconfidence: "No, Thyone! True, I now have little reason to fear theavenging goddess who pursues the criminal, but all the more the otherNemesis, who limits the excess of happiness. Will she not turn her swiftwheel, when I again, with clear eyes, see Daphne, and am permitted towork in my studio once more with keen eyes and steady hand?"

  Now the barriers which had hitherto restricted Hermon's socialintercourse also fell. Eumedes, the commander of the fleet, oftenvisited him, and while exchanging tales of their experiences they becamefriends.

  When Hermon was alone with Thyone and her gray-haired husband, theconversation frequently turned upon Daphne and her father.

  Then the recovered artist learned to whom Archias owed his escape frombeing sentenced to death and having his property confiscated. Papers,undeniably genuine, had proved what large sums had been advanced by themerchant during the period of the first Queen Arsinoe's conspiracy,and envious foes had done their best to prejudice the King and hissister-wife against Archias. Then the gray-haired hero fearlesslyinterceded for his friend, and the monarch did not remain deaf to hisrepresentations. King Ptolemy was writing the history of the conquerorof the world, and needed the aged comrade of Alexander, the solesurvivor who had held a prominent position in the great Macedonian'scampaigns. It might be detrimental to his work, on which he set greatvalue, if he angered the old warrior, who was a living source ofhistory. Yet the King was still ill-disposed to the merchant, for whilehe destroyed Archias's death sentence which had been laid before him forhis signature, he said to Philippus: "The money-bag whose life I giveyou was the friend of my foe. Let him beware that my arm does not yetreach him from afar!"

  Nay, his resentment went so far that he refused to receive Hermon, whenEumedes begged permission to present the artist whose sight had been sowonderfully restored.

  "To me he is still the unjustly crowned conspirator," Philadelphusreplied. "Let him create the remarkable work which I formerly expectedfrom him, and perhaps I shall have a somewhat better opinion of him,deem him more worthy of our favour."

  Under these circumstances it was advisable for Archias and Daphne toremain absent from Alexandria, and the experienced couple could onlyapprove Hermon's decision to go to Pergamus as soon as Erasistratusdismissed him. A letter from Daphne, which reached Thyone's hands atthis time, increased the convalescent's already ardent yearning tothe highest pitch. The girl entreated her maternal friend to tell herfrankly the condition of her lover's health. If he had recovered, hewould know how to find her speedily; if the blindness was incurable,she would come herself to help him bear the burden of his darkenedexistence. Chrysilla would accompany her, but she could leave her fatheralone in Pergamus a few months without anxiety, for he had a secondson there in his nephew Myrtilus, and had found a kind friend inPhiletaerus, the ruler of the country.

  From this time Hermon daily urged Erasistratus to grant him entireliberty, but the leech steadfastly refused, though he knew whither hisyoung friend longed to go.

  Not until the beginning of the fourth week after the operation didhe himself lead Hermon into the full sunlight, and when the recoveredartist came out of the house he raised his hands in mute prayer, gushingfrom the inmost depths of his heart.

  The King was to return to Alexandria in a few days, and at the sametime Philippus and Thyone were going back to Pelusium. Hermon wished toaccompany them there and sail thence on a ship bound for Pergamus.

  With Eumedes he visited the unfamiliar scenes around him, and his newlyrestored gift of sight presented to him here many things that formerlyhe would scarcely have noticed, but which now filled him with gratefuljoy. Gratitude, intense gratitude, had taken possession of his wholebeing. This feeling mastered him completely and seemed to be fosteredand strengthened by every breath, every heart throb, every glance intohis own soul and the future.

  Besides, many beauties, nay, even many marvels, presented themselves tohis restored eyes. The whole wealth of the magic of beauty, intellect,and pleasure in life, characteristic of the Greek nature, appearedto have followed King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoe-Philadelphus hither.Gardens had been created on the arid, sandy soil, whose gray and yellowsurface extended in every direction, the water on the shore of the canalwhich united Pithom with the Nile not sufficing to render it possibleto make even a narrow strip of arable land. Fresh water flowed frombeautiful fountains adorned with rich carvings, and the pure fluidfilled large porphyry and marble basins. Statues, single and in groups,stood forth in harmonious arrangement against green masses of leafage,and Grecian temples, halls, and even a theatre, rapidly constructed inthe noblest forms from light material, invited the people to devotion,to the enjoyment of the most exquisite music, and to witness the perfectperformance of many a tragedy and comedy.

  Statues surrounded the hurriedly erected palaestra where the Ephebievery morning practised their nude, anointed bodies in racing,wrestling, and throwing the discus. What a delight it was to Hermon tofeast his eyes upon these spectacles! What a stimulus to the artist, solong absorbed in his own thoughts, who had so recently returned fromthe wilderness to the world of active life, when he was permitted, inErasistratus's tent, to listen to the great scholars who had accompaniedthe King to the desert! Only the regret that Daphne was not present toshare his pleasure clouded Hermon's enjoyment, when Eumedes relatedto his parents, himself, and a few chosen friends the adventuresencountered, and the experiences gathered in distant Ethiopia, on landand water, in battle and the chase, as investigator and commander.

  The utmost degree of variety had entered into the simplicity of themonotonous desert, the most refined abundance for the intellect and theneed of beauty appeared amid its barrenness.

  The poet Callimachus had just arrived with a new chorus of singers,tablets by Antiphilus and Nicias had come to beautify the last days ofthe residence in the desert--when doves, the birds of Aphrodite, flewwith the speed of lightning into Pithom, but instead of bringing a newmessage of love and announcing the approach of fresh pleasure, they boreterrible tidings which put joy to flight and stifled mirthfulness.

  The unbridled greed of rude barbarians had chosen Alexandria for itsgoal, and startled the royal pair and their chosen companions from thesea of pleasure where they would probably have remained for weeks.

  The four thousand Gauls who had been obtained to fight against Cyrenewere in the act of rushing rapaciously upon the richest city in theworld. The most terrible danger hung like a black cloud over the capitalfounded by Alexander, whose growth had been so rapid. True, GeneralSatvrus asserted that he was strong enough, with the troops at hisdisposal, to defeat the formidable hordes; but a second dove, sentby the epitropus who had remained in Alexandria, alluded to seriousdisaster which it would scarcely be possible to avert.

  The doves now flew swiftly to and fro; but before the third arrived,Eumedes, the commander of the fleet just from Ethiopia, was already onthe way to Alexandria with all the troops assembled on the frontier.

  The King and Queen, with the corps of pages and the corps of youths,entered the boats waiting for them to return, drawn by teams of fourswift horses, to Memphis, to await within the impregnable fortress ofthe White Castle the restoration of security in the capital.

  The Greeks prized the most valiant fearlessness so highly that no shadowcould be suffered to rest upon the King's, and therefore the monarch'shurried departure was made in a way which permitted no thought offlight, and merely resembled impatient yearning for new festivals andthe earnest desire to fulfil grave duties in another portion of thekingdom.

  Many of the companions of the royal pair, among them Erasistratus,accompanied them. Hermon bade him
farewell with a troubled heart, andthe leech, too, parted with regret from the artist to whom, a yearbefore, he had refused his aid.