THE MESSENGER OF EROS
The great theatre at Ephesus was thronged; over fifty thousand people
had gathered together to witness a new play. Amongst them were Nika and
Chios.
'Dost thou like the play?' she asked. 'They tell me the tragedy was
wrought in Phoenicia, and has been played with great success in Sidon,
from thence to Cyprus, and now here. It pleases thee, Chios?'
'Yes, fairly so; and would do so more were it not that through it runs a
vein of suffering, making one wish he could fit disjointed elements so
properly together as to make the poor richer, the weak stronger, and the
mighty less tyrannical.'
'Chios, again thou art a dreamer. Thou shouldst have a planet all thine
own, and, after setting up thy kings governing each particular section
of thine orb, thou then shouldst sit enthroned above them all and play
the mighty demigod.'
'Nay, Nika, stay thy wit; thou makest sport of my poor sympathies.'
'Yes, yes; it is well, perchance, that thou shouldst bridle in my
tongue. But, after all, thou art too kind; there are those of meaner
dust who would build upon thy kindness until thou be but the hidden
foundation for their super-structure of selfishness. Look, for instance,
at that slave-girl of mine, Saronia the Sidonian, naturally haughty,
arrogant--if I were to free her, she would spit at me. No, no, a place
for everything. A serpent crawls the earth; let it crawl. Dost thou
know, Chios, methinks that girl, with her deep unfathomable eyes of
night-gloom, is not quite so innocent as one might imagine. I suspect
her----'
'Of what?'
'Of what? Why, the old story. She has a lover, and meets him
secretly--so speaks the rumour of our other household slaves. What
thinkest thou?'
'Think? Think it is a base slander on a defenceless maid. She is as pure
as the first dawn of day--a mighty spirit is she, as wild as the north
wind and as untamable as the winged lightning, but as chaste as the snow
on the mountains of Tmolus.'
'Thy words are so sweet for this scornful girl that surely the power of
her magical love encircles thy heart and will eat out thy life. What
next? Wilt thou offer Lucius, my father, a ransom and wed her?'
'Nay, Nika, what thou sayest is not so, may not be; nevertheless, am I
not free to love anything the gods have created and blessed?'
'Yes, yes, go thy ways; but, for all that, it is more seemly for an
eagle to mate with an eagle than with a screech-owl. Thou wilt see her
anon; thy pet slave waiteth without for her mistress. Now go to her for
me and bid her come; and, love-sick boy, be sure she does not fascinate
thee that thou be so transfixed to her side that passers-by think they
see two statues by Scopas, dressed by some wanton wit to imitate the
life.'
'Ah, Nika, thou wert always merry; would thou wert as tender-hearted as
humorous. I obey thee.'
And leaving her, he passed out, and saw Saronia--saw her leaning, tired
and thoughtful, against a pillar, and around its base were richly carved
in strong relief the stories of the gods. Stepping towards her, he said:
'Sleepest thou, or art thou thinking of thy far-away Sidon, or perchance
peering into the future to divine thy fortune? What are the omens? Have
fair ones passed thee as thou standest here?'
'Nay, good sire, I was thinking of neither the past nor the future, but
of the present. I know I am but a slave, a thing who has no right to
speak or move or scarcely think without my mistress's bidding.'
'I pity thee, and have tried to befriend thee.'
'Thou art kind, but it will serve me little; they hate me--they all hate
me, and make my life a misery--but it will not ever be thus. Just now a
woman of peculiar mien stood before me--a woman skilled, she told me, in
the mysteries of fate. Looking at me, she said my star was rising full
of splendour, and would lead me by its power into a knowledge deep and
high--deep as death, high as the heavens. Think you, master, there be
any truth in such woman's talk?'
'I cannot say, Saronia. Of those hidden things I am not given to
understand. I lean towards the new faith, whose founder is one Christ.
Of Him I know little, but 'tis said He is both God and man. What
thinkest thou of this?'
'I know not what to think. I do not know the faith, neither does it seem
to rise for a hearing in my soul. No; born within me is the faith of
Ashtoreth, and as it seems akin to much that is worshipped here, I think
I should feel more at home were I to understand the mysteries of Hecate
and worship at her shrine.'
'Thou dost not know what thou askest, Saronia. The way to those
mysteries is dark and to thee impenetrable. Thou art too good to load
thy spirit with such things of gloom, too young to sacrifice thee there.
Around her darkness hovers--night, everlasting night, abides. I have
heard those who know say this. Are there no brighter hopes for thee? If
not, slave art thou indeed--slave in body, slave in soul.'
'True,' said the girl. 'Slaves are we either in body or spirit,
whomsoever we serve--men or women, goddesses or gods; to such must we
submit and lose our will in that of the greater. Serve, then, the one
thou likest best. For myself, I think I like Diana as Hecate. She, I am
told, rules the underworld. I aspire no higher; my pinions were shorn
away, and I now grovel on the earth, and wish to worship in her bosom.'
'Of what mould art thou, Saronia? I understand thee not. I fear thee
somewhat; my soul quails before the power thou already wieldest. What
wouldst thou be with that great dark spirit of thine if thou only moved
out upon the great ocean of the Ephesian faith? Verily thou wouldst be a
bird of ill-omen to those thou didst hate. Didst thou ever love,
Saronia?'
'What is love?' said she. 'I know it not. Is it a new god?'
'Yes, girl, call it a god if thou pleasest. Call it Eros, call it Venus,
call it what thou mayest, thou wilt fall before it one day and
worship--worship madly and perchance too well. Haste thee now to thy
mistress, Nika; I have already kept thee too long.'
That night, when all were asleep, Saronia stood looking again towards
the great Temple of Artemis. Dimly could she see it by the stars. Two
great passions were arranging themselves within her bosom--not two
passions joined in common sympathy, but each one striving for itself,
and both against the great citadel of her heart. One she recognised,
that which drew her on like some great master mind beseeching her to
grasp the key and unlock the great secrets of Nature's goddess. The
other she knew not; it was a strange passion to her. It was wild,
tumultuous, and then calm as a summer's eve--like a storm which bows
down the lofty pines on Mount Coressus, and yet as gentle and melodious
as the softest Ionian music which ever broke the stillness of the
evening air. And as the maid stood there with her long tresses falling
over her graceful form, visions rose before her, visions of the future
stretching down the great highway leading into eternity, and a voice
rang through her soul, crying, 'What is love?'
And she said within herself: 'Can this strange passion be the messenger
of Eros?' A form rose before her mind like unto Chios. The great clouds
rolled up from the west, the lightnings flashed across the sky,
illuminating for a moment the great white marble Temple with its roof of
cedar and its plates of gold. The frightened, shivering girl drew her
garments tightly around her and hid her face.
How long she remained there she knew not, but when she awoke from a
swoon and raised herself from the ground, the scarlet shafts of sunrise
were moving up the eastern sky, and the birds were singing from the
myrtle groves.