CHAPTER VIII.
"What! No one to come to meet me?" asked the queen, as she reached thefoot of the last flight of porphyry steps that led into the ante-chamberto the banqueting-hall, and, looking round, with an ominous glance, atthe chamberlains who had accompanied her, she clinched her small fist."I arrive and find no one here!"
The "No one" certainly was a figure of speech, since more than a hundredbody-guards-Macedonians in rich array of arms-and an equal number ofdistinguished court-officials were standing on the marble flags of thevast hall, which was surrounded by colonnades, while the star-spanglednight-sky was all its roof; and the court-attendants were all men ofrank, dignified by the titles of fathers, brothers, relatives, friendsand chief-friends of the king.
These all received the queen with a many-voiced "Hail!" but not one ofthem seemed worthy of Cleopatra's notice. This crowd was less to herthan the air we breathe in order to live--a mere obnoxious vapor, awhirl of dust which the traveller would gladly avoid, but which he mustnevertheless encounter in order to proceed on his way.
The queen had expected that the few guests, invited by her selectionand that of her brother Euergetes to the evening's feast, would havewelcomed her here at the steps; she thought they would have seen her--asshe felt herself--like a goddess borne aloft in her shell, and thatshe might have exulted in the admiring astonishment of the Roman and ofLysias, the Corinthian: and now the most critical instant in the partshe meant to play that evening had proved a failure, and it suggesteditself to her mind that she might be borne back to her roof-tent, and befloated down once more when she was sure of the presence of the company.But there was one thing she dreaded more even than pain and remorse,and that was any appearance of the ridiculous; so she only commanded thebearers to stand still, and while the master of the ceremonies, waivinghis dignity, hurried off to announce to her husband that she wasapproaching, she signed to the nobles highest in rank to approach, thatshe might address a few gracious words to them, with distant amiability.Only a few however, for the doors of thyia wood leading into thebanqueting hall itself, presently opened, and the king with his friendscame forward to meet Cleopatra.
"How were we to expect you so early?" cried Philometor to his wife.
"Is it really still early?" asked the queen, "or have I only taken youby surprise, because you had forgotten to expect me?"
"How unjust you are!" replied the king. "Must you now be told that, comeas early as you will, you always come too late for my desires."
"But for ours," cried Lysias, "neither too early nor too late, butat the very right time--like returning health and happiness, or thevictor's crown."
"Health as taking the place of sickness?" asked Cleopatra, and hereyes sparkled keenly and merrily. "I perfectly understand Lysias," saidPublius, intercepting the Greek. "Once, on the field of Mars, I wasflung from my horse, and had to lie for weeks on my couch, and I knowthat there is no more delightful sensation than that of feeling ourdeparted strength returning as we recover. He means to say that in yourpresence we must feel exceptionally well."
"Nay rather," interrupted Lysias, "our queen seems to come to us likereturning health, since so long as she was not in our midst we feltsuffering and sick for longing. Thy presence, Cleopatra, is the mosteffectual remedy, and restores us to our lost health."
Cleopatra politely lowered her fan, as if in thanks, thus rapidlyturning the stick of it in her hand, so as to make the diamonds thatwere set in it sparkle and flash. Then she turned to the friends, andsaid:
"Your words are most amiable, and your different ways of expressingyour meaning remind me of two gems set in a jewel, one of whichsparkles because it is skilfully cut, and reflects every light from itsmirrorlike facets, while the other shines by its genuine and intrinsicfire. The genuine and the true are one, and the Egyptians have but oneword for both, and your kind speech, my Scipio--but I may surely ventureto call you Publius--your kind speech, my Publius seems to me to betruer than that of your accomplished friend, which is better adapted tovainer ears than mine. Pray, give me your hand."
The shell in which she was sitting was gently lowered, and, supportedby Publius and her husband, the queen alighted and entered thebanqueting-hall, accompanied by her guests.
As soon as the curtains were closed, and when Cleopatra had exchanged afew whispered words with her husband, she turned again to the Roman, whohad just been joined by Eulaeus, and said:
"You have come from Athens, Publius, but you do not seem to havefollowed very closely the courses of logic there, else how could it bethat you, who regard health as the highest good--that you, who declaredthat you never felt so well as in my presence--should have quitted me sopromptly after the procession, and in spite of our appointment? May I beallowed to ask what business--"
"Our noble friend," answered Eulaeus, bowing low, but not allowing thequeen to finish her speech, "would seem to have found some particularcharm in the bearded recluses of Serapis, and to be seeking among themthe key-stone of his studies at Athens."
"In that he is very right," said the queen. "For from them he canlearn to direct his attention to that third division of our existence,concerning which least is taught in Athens--I mean the future--"
"That is in the hands of the gods," replied the Roman. "It will comesoon enough, and I did not discuss it with the anchorite. Eulaeus may beinformed that, on the contrary, everything I learned from that singularman in the Serapeum bore reference to the things of the past."
"But how can it be possible," said Eulaeus, "that any one to whomCleopatra had offered her society should think so long of anything elsethan the beautiful present?"
"You indeed have good reason," retorted Publius quickly, "to enter thelists in behalf of the present, and never willingly to recall the past."
"It was full of anxiety and care," replied Eulaeus with perfectself-possession. "That my sovereign lady must know from her illustriousmother, and from her own experience; and she will also protect me fromthe undeserved hatred with which certain powerful enemies seem mindedto pursue me. Permit me, your majesty, not to make my appearance at thebanquet until later. This noble gentleman kept me waiting for hoursin the Serapeum, and the proposals concerning the new building in thetemple of Isis at Philae must be drawn up and engrossed to-day, in orderthat they may be brought to-morrow before your royal husband in counciland your illustrious brother Euergetes--"
"You have leave, interrupted Cleopatra."
As soon as Eulaeus had disappeared, the queen went closer up to Publius,and said:
"You are annoyed with this man--well, he is not pleasant, but at anyrate he is useful and worthy. May I ask whether you only feel hispersonality repugnant to you, or whether actual circumstances have givenrise to your aversion--nay, if I have judged rightly, to a very bitterlyhostile feeling against him?"
"Both," replied Publius. "In this unmanly man, from the very first, Iexpected to find nothing good, and I now know that, if I erred at all,it was in his favor. To-morrow I will ask you to spare me an hour whenI can communicate to your majesty something concerning him, but which istoo repulsive and sad to be suitable for telling in an evening devotedto enjoyment. You need not be inquisitive, for they are matters thatbelong to the past, and which concern neither you nor me."
The high-steward and the cup-bearer here interrupted this conversationby calling them to table, and the royal pair were soon reclining withtheir guests at the festal board.
Oriental splendor and Greek elegance were combined in the decorationsof the saloon of moderate size, in which Ptolemy Philometor was wont toprefer to hold high-festival with a few chosen friends. Like the greatreception-hall and the men's hall-with its twenty doors and loftyporphyry columns--in which the king's guests assembled, it was lightedfrom above, since it was only at the sides that the walls--which hadno windows--and a row of graceful alabaster columns with Corinthianacanthus-capitals supported a narrow roof; the centre of the hall wasquite uncovered. At this hour, when it was blazing with hundreds oflights, th
e large opening, which by day admitted the bright sunshine,was closed over by a gold net-work, decorated with stars and a crescentmoon of rock-crystal, and the meshes were close enough to excludethe bats and moths which at night always fly to the light. But theillumination of the king's banqueting-hall made it almost as light asday, consisting of numerous lamps with many branches held up by lovelylittle figures of children in bronze and marble. Every joint was plainlyvisible in the mosaic of the pavement, which represented the receptionof Heracles into Olympus, the feast of the gods, and the astonishment ofthe amazed hero at the splendor of the celestial banquet; and hundredsof torches were reflected in the walls of polished yellow marble,brought from Hippo Regius; these were inlaid by skilled artistswith costly stones, such as lapis lazuli and malachite, crystals,blood-stone, jasper, agates and chalcedony, to represent fruit-piecesand magnificent groups of game or of musical instruments; while thepilasters were decorated with masks of the tragic and comic Muses,torches, thyrsi wreathed with ivy and vine, and pan-pipes. These werewrought in silver and gold, and set with costly marbles, and they stoodout from the marble background like metal work on a leather shield, orthe rich ornamentation on a sword-sheath. The figures of a Dionysiacprocession, forming the frieze, looked down upon the feasters--a finerelievo that had been designed and modelled for Ptolemy Soter by thesculptor Bryaxis, and then executed in ivory and gold.
Everything that met the eye in this hall was splendid, costly, and aboveall of a genial aspect, even before Cleopatra had come to the throne;and she--here as in her own apartments--had added the busts of thegreatest Greek philosophers and poets, from Thales of Miletus down toStrato, who raised chance to fill the throne of God, and from Hesiod toCallimachus; she too had placed the tragic mask side by side with thecomic, for at her table--she was wont to say--she desired to see no onewho could not enjoy grave and wise discourse more than eating, drinking,and laughter.
Instead of assisting at the banquet, as other ladies used, seated on achair or at the foot of her husband's couch, she reclined on a couch ofher own, behind which stood busts of Sappho the poetess, and Aspasia thefriend of Pericles.
Though she made no pretensions to be regarded as a philosopher noreven as a poetess, she asserted her right to be considered a finishedconnoisseur in the arts of poetry and music; and if she preferredreclining to sitting how should she have done otherwise, since she wasfully aware how well it became her to extend herself in a picturesqueattitude on her cushions, and to support her head on her arm as itrested on the back of her couch; for that arm, though not strictlyspeaking beautiful, always displayed the finest specimens of Alexandrianworkmanship in gem-cutting and goldsmiths' work.
But, in fact, she selected a reclining posture particularly for the sakeof showing her feet; not a woman in Egypt or Greece had a smaller ormore finely formed foot than she. For this reason her sandals were somade that when she stood or walked they protected only the soles ofher feet, and her slender white toes with the roseate nails and theirpolished white half-moons were left uncovered.
At the banquet she put off her shoes altogether, as the men did; hidingher feet at first however, and not displaying them till she thoughtthe marks left on her tender skin by the straps of the sandals hadcompletely disappeared.
Eulaeus was the greatest admirer of these feet; not, as he averred, onaccount of their beauty, but because the play of the queen's toes showedhim exactly what was passing in her mind, when he was quite unable todetect what was agitating her soul in the expression of her mouth andeyes, well practised in the arts of dissimulation.
Nine couches, arranged three and three in a horseshoe, invited theguests to repose, with their arms of ebony and cushions of dullolive-green brocade, on which a delicate pattern of gold and silverseemed just to have been breathed.
The queen, shrugging her shoulders, and, as it would seem, by no meansagreeably surprised at something, whispered to the chamberlain, who thenindicated to each guest the place he was to occupy. To the right of thecentral group reclined the queen, and her husband took his place tothe left; the couch between the royal pair, destined for their brotherEuergetes, remained unoccupied.
On one of the three couches which formed the right-hand angle with thoseof the royal family, Publius found a place next to Cleopatra; oppositeto him, and next the king, was Lysias the Corinthian. Two places next tohim remained vacant, while on the side by the Roman reclined thebrave and prudent Hierax, the friend of Ptolemy Euergetes and his mostfaithful follower.
While the servants strewed the couches with rose leaves, sprinkledperfumed waters, and placed by the couch of each guest a smalltable-made of silver and of a slab of fine, reddish-brown porphyry,veined with white-the king addressed a pleasant greeting to each guest,apologizing for the smallness of the number.
"Eulaeus," he said, "has been forced to leave us on business, and ourroyal brother is still sitting over his books with Aristarchus, who camewith him from Alexandria; but he promised certainly to come."
"The fewer we are," replied Lysias, bowing low, "the more honorable isthe distinction of belonging to so limited a number of your majesty'smost select associates."
"I certainly think we have chosen the best from among the good," saidthe queen. "But even the small number of friends I had invited must haveseemed too large to my brother Euergetes, for he--who is accustomedto command in other folks' houses as he does in his own--forbid thechamberlain to invite our learned friends--among whom Agatharchides, mybrothers' and my own most worthy tutor, is known to you--as well as ourJewish friends who were present yesterday at our table, and whom I hadset down on my list. I am very well satisfied however, for I likethe number of the Muses; and perhaps he desired to do you, Publius,particular honor, since we are assembled here in the Roman fashion. Itis in your honor, and not in his, that we have no music this evening;you said that you did not particularly like it at a banquet. Euergeteshimself plays the harp admirably. However, it is well that he is late incoming as usual, for the day after tomorrow is his birthday, and he isto spend it here with us and not in Alexandria; the priestly delegatesassembled in the Bruchion are to come from thence to Memphis to wish himjoy, and we must endeavor to get up some brilliant festival. You have nolove for Eulaeus, Publius, but he is extremely skilled in such matters,and I hope he will presently return to give us his advice."
"For the morning we will have a grand procession," cried the king."Euergetes delights in a splendid spectacle, and I should be glad toshow him how much pleasure his visit has given us."
The king's fine features wore a most winning expression as he spokethese words with heart-felt warmth, but his consort said thoughtfully:"Aye! if only we were in Alexandria--but here, among all the Egyptianpeople--"