"My son," said old Thrasyllus, sitting beside his couch, "do you intend
always to cherish your illness and longing, like a serpent that devours
you, bone and flesh? The sibyl of Rhacotis merely guessed your own
thoughts. The holy Amphris could explain nothing more than that many,
who resemble one another, mean only one in the dream. After that,
what could your credulity imagine that a crafty hetaira would make
you guess in her embrace? The name of that one man? The name of the
pirate? The place where he is hiding Ilia?... One pirate?... Who
could have stolen her?"
"I don't know," said Lucius, wearily.
"My poor, sick boy," said the tutor, "no one knows and no one will
ever know. She has disappeared. If she has not been kidnapped by
pirates, she is drowned. Did you not visit the slave-markets in
Rome on purpose to find her? Have you not done the same thing here,
in Alexandria? She is not to be found. Forget her, my son. Try to get
better. If no other woman can cure you, let some other power than love
cure you. Amphris mentioned wisdom. There is wisdom. Seek it here,
in the land of wisdom. This city, my son, is a sinful city, though it
is fair to look upon. This city is as Tamyris herself: it is a wanton
among cities. There is no more wisdom in this city, notwithstanding the
Museum, notwithstanding the Serapeum, notwithstanding the dreams of
Canopus, which die away in orgies. In this city I have met none save
merchants, usurers and venal women. This magnificent city is a venal
city. Even the philosophers here are avaricious and venal. Even the
prophets demand a talent for their divinations. The power of money
holds sway here and no longer wisdom. Let us go farther. There is
wisdom left in Egypt. And in the wisdom which we shall find you will
be cured. Listen, my son: there is the sacred word of the Kabbala,
which Moses himself received from the godhead on Mount Sinai. That
word has never been graven on tables of stone, but Moses whispered it
to his sons and those sons to theirs. It is the key to happiness. He
who utters it has the power to avoid suffering and to know all that
can be known on earth. I have sought for it, in the Museum, in the
Serapeum, here and at Canopus. While you lay sorrowing on your couch,
my son, I have held converse with priests and with philosophers, with
prophets. I am persuaded that I shall not find the word in Alexandria."
"But where will you find it, Thrasyllus?"
The tutor stared before him:
"Perhaps farther on," he said. "Perhaps at Memphis. Let us go to
Memphis. If I do not find the word at Memphis, I shall look for it
farther still. Let us sail up the Nile, to Thebes, to Ethiopia. Let
us go to the pillars of Sesostris. Something tells me that we shall
find it ... and that you will be cured, my son. But let us go."
Lucius approved and the departure was decided. Thereupon Master
Ghizla and Caleb had a long talk on "business," after which Caleb
asked for an interview with Lucius, which was granted and at which
Uncle Catullus and Thrasyllus were present.
"Noble lords," Caleb began, "I should like to speak to you in your
own interest. The question, noble lords, is this: I understand from
the most learned Master Thrasyllus that there is a plan on foot to
leave Alexandria and to travel over Memphis to Ethiopia, as far as
the pillars of Sesostris. That will certainly be a fine journey;
and all great lords take that road. But permit me, your servant, to
give you a piece of advice, in your own interest, noble lords, in your
own interest. My advice is this: hire from me and my brother Ghizla a
comfortable and spacious Nile barge, a thalamegus, not only to ascend
the Nile in, but also to live in, so far as possible, because--spoken
without slander, noble lords, spoken without slander!--the diversoria
which you will find at Hermopolis, at Leontopolis, ay, even at
Memphis and Thebes are ... bad, are all bad, not to be compared with
our far-famed Hermes House, O my honoured benefactors! No, they are
unclean hovels, standing on the edges of marshes, without any modern
conveniences; and, though you have your own cook, you would not even
find any unpolluted wells there, not to speak of wine, and would never
have a good meal again, O my Lord Catullus! Therefore, O my patrons,
hire our Nile thalamegus, in which you can live with a small following,
with a few slaves; leave the other slaves here, with the greater part
of your splendid equipment; and allow me--if you have been satisfied,
O my Lord Lucius, with my conduct at Alexandria and Canopus--to be your
guide, at the head of your own escort, and to remove all difficulties
from your path. I know the whole of Egypt! I have already conducted
numbers of noble lords, ay, to the sources of the Nile, to those
most mysterious sources! We will take tents with us and hire camels,
when necessary, but take my advice ... and never alight at any other
Egyptian diversoria, except our Hermes House, for they are all bad,
bad, bad ... indescribably bad, O my noble lords!"
"Caleb," said Lucius, "I was just about to propose to you what you
are proposing to me, that you should be our guide to the pillars of
Sesostris and hire me a barge to sail up the Nile."
"O my lords!" cried Caleb, overjoyed and obviously relieved. "How glad
I am of that! For now I am convinced that you will be comfortable and
travel pleasantly and that you, O my Lord Catullus, will dine as you
have been wont to do here ... especially as we shall not forget to
take our own wines on board, the purple Mareotis wine, thick as ink,
and the topaz-yellow liqueur of Napata."
"But is the last really necessary, Caleb?" asked Uncle Catullus,
mischievously. "After all, we are going to Ethiopia!"
"And on the way, my lord? Before we reach Ethiopia? And above all let
me also explain that the Ethiopian liqueurs ... must first descend
the Nile, to acquire the perfume and the rich flavour which they do
not possess in Ethiopia itself."
"If only they don't lose that perfume, Caleb, when they ascend the
Nile again!" said Uncle Catullus, jestingly.
"I shall see to that, my lord," said Caleb, who saw through Uncle
Catullus quite as plainly as Uncle Catullus saw through Caleb. "I'll
see to that. You just leave it to me."
"We are leaving everything to you, Caleb. Get the barge ready for
to-morrow," said Lucius.
"Then we shall go up the Nile next day, my lord," said Caleb, happy
and delighted.
And he retired with salaam upon salaam.
And Master Ghizla, in the palm-garden, pretending to be busy with the
little canal, but in reality full of eagerness to know the result of
Caleb's advice, whispered:
"I say!... Brother!..."
"Yes?"
"Well, Caleb, well?" asked Ghizla, anxiously and looking a little pale.
"They're hiring the thalamegus ... they're alighting at no other
diversorium ... they're sleeping in our tents, they'll travel with
our camels and...."
"Well, Caleb, and what else?" asked Ghizla, rubbing his hands.
"They're drinking our wines ... all the way to Napata!"
"Where you'll pretend to lay in a fresh stock of liqueurs?"
"You leave that to me, Brother Ghizla, you just leave it to me!"
"May the gods bless you, Brother Caleb; may Thoth, Hermes and Serapis
bless you! Quick, let us look in the cellars if we have enough
in store!"
There came a sudden shower, as though poured from an urn in the sky
by an invisible water-god; and the two brothers, with their garments
girdled up, rushed bare-legged through the puddles of their palm-garden
to their wine-cellars, which lay warm as stone cupolas in the sun,
or else were kept cool with double walls filled with snow.