Chariot after chariot hurried out of the great gate of the king’s palace
and into the city, now sunk in slumber. All was still in the great
banqueting-hall, and dark-hued slaves began with brooms and sponges to
clean the mosaic pavement, which was strewed with rose leaves and with
those that had fallen from the faded garlands of ivy and poplar; while
here and there the spilt wine shone with a dark gleam in the dim light
of the few lamps that had not been extinguished.
A young flute-player, overcome with sleep and wine, still sat in one
corner. The poplar wreath that had crowned his curls had slipped over
his pretty face, but even in sleep he still held his flute clasped fast
in his fingers. The servants let him sleep on, and bustled about without
noticing him; only an overseer pointed to him, and said laughing:
“His companions went home no more sober than that one. He is a pretty
boy, and pretty Chloes lover besides--she will look for him in vain this
morning.”
“And to-morrow too perhaps,” answered another; “for if the fat king sees
her, poor Damon will have seen the last of her.”
But the fat king, as Euergetes was called by the Alexandrians, and,
following their example, by all the rest of Egypt, was not just then
thinking of Chloe, nor of any such person; he was in the bath attached
to his splendidly fitted residence. Divested of all clothing, he was
standing in the tepid fluid which completely filled a huge basin of
white marble. The clear surface of the perfumed water mirrored statues
of nymphs fleeing from the pursuit of satyrs, and reflected the
shimmering light of numbers of lamps suspended from the ceiling. At the
upper end of the bath reclined the bearded and stalwart statue of the
Nile, over whom the sixteen infant figures--representing the number of
ells to which the great Egyptian stream must rise to secure a favorable
inundation--clambered and played to the delight of their noble father
Nile and of themselves. From the vase which supported the arm of the
venerable god flowed an abundant stream of cold water, which five pretty
lads received in slender alabaster vases, and poured over the head and
the enormously prominent muscles of the breast, the back and the arms of
the young king who was taking his bath.
“More, more--again and again,” cried Euergetes, as the boys began to
pause in bringing and pouring the water; and then, when they threw a
fresh stream over him, he snorted and plunged with satisfaction, and
a perfect shower of jets splashed off him as the blast of his breath
sputtered away the water that fell over his face.
At last he shouted out: “Enough!” flung himself with all his force into
the water, that spurted up as if a huge block of stone had been thrown
into it, held his head for a long time under water, and then went up the
marble steps of the bath shaking his head violently and mischievously in
his boyish insolence, so as thoroughly to wet his friends and servants
who were standing round the margin of the basin; he suffered himself to
be wrapped in snowy-white sheets of the thinnest and finest linen, to
be sprinkled with costly essences of delicate odor, and then he withdrew
into a small room hung all round with gaudy hangings.
There he flung himself on a mound of soft cushions, and said with a
deep-drawn breath: “Now I am happy; and I am as sober again as a baby
that has never tasted anything but its mother’s milk. Pindar is right!
there is nothing better than water! and it slakes that raging fire which
wine lights up in our brain and blood. Did I talk much nonsense just
now, Hierax?”
The man thus addressed, the commander-in-chief of the royal troops,
and the king’s particular friend, cast a hesitating glance at the
bystanders; but, Euergetes desiring him to speak without reserve, he
replied:
“Wine never weakens the mind of such as you are to the point of folly,
but you were imprudent. It would be little short of a miracle if
Philometor did not remark--”
“Capital!” interrupted the king sitting up on his cushions. “You,
Hierax, and you, Komanus, remain here--you others may go. But do not
go too far off, so as to be close at hand in case I should need you. In
these days as much happens in a few hours as usually takes place in as
many years.”
Those who were thus dismissed withdrew, only the king’s dresser, a
Macedonian of rank, paused doubtfully at the door, but Euergetes signed
to him to retire immediately, calling after him:
“I am very merry and shall not go to bed. At three hours after sunrise
I expect Aristarchus--and for work too. Put out the manuscripts that I
brought. Is the Eunuch Eulaeus waiting in the anteroom? Yes--so much the
better!
“Now we are alone, my wise friends Hierax and Komanus, and I must
explain to you that on this occasion, out of pure prudence, you seem to
me to have been anything rather than prudent. To be prudent is to have
the command of a wide circle of thought, so that what is close at hand
is no more an obstacle than what is remote. The narrow mind can command
only that which lies close under observation; the fool and visionary
only that which is far off. I will not blame you, for even the wisest
has his hours of folly, but on this occasion you have certainly
overlooked that which is at hand, in gazing at the distance, and I see
you stumble in consequence. If you had not fallen into that error you
would hardly have looked so bewildered when, just now, I exclaimed
‘Capital!’
“Now, attend to me. Philometor and my sister know very well what my
humor is, and what to expect of me. If I had put on the mask of a
satisfied man they would have been surprised, and have scented mischief,
but as it was I showed myself to them exactly what I always am and even
more reckless than usual, and talked of what I wanted so openly that
they may indeed look forward to some deed of violence at my hands but
hardly to a treacherous surprise, and that tomorrow; for he who falls on
his enemy in the rear makes no noise about it.
“If I believed in your casuistry, I might think that to attack the enemy
from behind was not a particularly fine thing to do, for even I would
rather see a man’s face than his rear--particularly in the case of my
brother and sister, who are both handsome to look upon. But what can
a man do? After all, the best thing to do is what wins the victory and
makes the game. Indeed, my mode of warfare has found supporters among
the wise. If you want to catch mice you must waste bacon, and if we are
to tempt men into a snare we must know what their notions and ideas are,
and begin by endeavoring to confuse them.
“A bull is least dangerous when he runs straight ahead in his fury;
while his two-legged opponent is least dangerous when he does not know
what he is about and runs feeling his way first to the right and then to
the left. Thanks to your approval--for I have deserved it, and I hope to
be able to return it, my friend Hierax. I am curious as to your report.
Shake up the cushion here under my head--and now you may begin.”
“All appears admirably arranged,” answered the general. “The flower of
our troops, the Diadoches and Hetairoi, two thousand-five hundred men,
are on their way hither, and by to-morrow will encamp north of Memphis.
Five hundred will find their way into the citadel, with the priests
and other visitors to congratulate you on your birthday, the other two
thousand will remain concealed in the tents. The captain of your brother
Philometor’s Philobasilistes is bought over, and will stand by us;
but his price was high--Komanus was forced to offer him twenty talents
before he would bite.”
“He shall have them,” said the king laughing, “and he shall keep them
too, till it suits me to regard him as suspicious, and to reward him
according to his deserts by confiscating his estates. Well! proceed.”
“In order to quench the rising in Thebes, the day before yesterday
Philometor sent the best of the mercenaries with the standards of
Desilaus and Arsinoe to the South. Certainly it cost not a little to
bribe the ringleaders, and to stir up the discontent to an outbreak.”
“My brother will repay us for this outlay,” interrupted the king, “when
we pour his treasure into our own coffers. Go on.”
“We shall have most difficulty with the priests and the Jews. The former
cling to Philometor, because he is the eldest son of his father, and has
given large bounties to the temples, particularly of Apollinopolis and
Philae; the Jews are attached to him, because he favors them more than
the Greeks, and he, and his wife--your illustrious sister--trouble
themselves with their vain religious squabbles; he disputes with them
about the doctrines contained in their book, and at table too prefers
conversing with them to any one else.”
“I will salt the wine and meat for them that they fatten on here,” cried
Euergetes vehemently, “I forbade to-day their presence at my table, for
they have good eyes and wits as sharp as their noses. And they are most
dangerous when they are in fear, or can reckon on any gains.
“At the same time it cannot be denied that they are honest and
tenacious, and as most of them are possessed of some property they
rarely make common cause with the shrieking mob--particularly here in
Alexandria.
“Envy alone can reproach them for their industry and enterprise, for the
activity of the Hellenes has improved upon the example set by them and
their Phoenician kindred.
“They thrive best in peaceful times, and since the world runs more
quietly here, under my brother and sister, than under me, they attach
themselves to them, lend my brother money, and supply my sister with cut
stones, sapphires and emeralds, selling fine stuffs and other woman’s
gear for a scrap of written papyrus, which will soon be of no more value
than the feather which falls from the wing of that green screaming bird
on the perch yonder.
“It is incomprehensible to me that so keen a people cannot perceive
that there is nothing permanent but change, nothing so certain as that
nothing is certain; and that they therefore should regard their god as
the one only god, their own doctrine as absolutely and eternally true,
and that they contemn what other peoples believe.
“These darkened views make fools of them, but certainly good soldiers
too--perhaps by reason indeed of this very exalted self-consciousness
and their firm reliance on their supreme god.”
“Yes, they certainly are,” assented Hierax. “But they serve your brother
more willingly, and at a lower price, than us.”
“I will show them,” cried the king, “that their taste is a perverted and
obnoxious one. I require of the priests that they should instruct the
people to be obedient, and to bear their privations patiently; but the
Jews,” and at these words his eyes rolled with an ominous glare, “the
Jews I will exterminate, when the time comes.”
“That will be good for our treasury too,” laughed Komanus.
“And for the temples in the country,” added Euergetes, “for though I
seek to extirpate other foes I would rather win over the priests; and
I must try to win them if Philometor’s kingdom falls into my hands,
for the Egyptians require that their king should be a god; and I cannot
arrive at the dignity of a real god, to whom my swarthy subjects will
pray with thorough satisfaction, and without making my life a burden to
me by continual revolts, unless I am raised to it by the suffrages of
the priests.”
“And nevertheless,” replied Hierax, who was the only one of Euergetes’
dependents, who dared to contradict him on important questions,
“nevertheless this very day a grave demand is to be preferred on your
account to the high-priest of Serapis. You press for the surrender of a
servant of the god, and Philometor will not neglect--”
“Will not neglect,” interrupted Euergetes, “to inform the mighty
Asclepiodorus that he wants the sweet creature for me, and not for
himself. Do you know that Eros has pierced my heart, and that I burn for
the fair Irene, although these eyes have not yet been blessed with the
sight of her?
“I see you believe me, and I am speaking the exact truth, for I vow I
will possess myself of this infantine Hebe as surely as I hope to win my
brother’s throne; but when I plant a tree, it is not merely to ornament
my garden but to get some use of it. You will see how I will win over
both the prettiest of little lady-loves and the high-priest who, to be
sure, is a Greek, but still a man hard to bend. My tools are all ready
outside there.
“Now, leave me, and order Eulaeus to join me here.”
“You are as a divinity,” said Komanus, bowing deeply, “and we but as
frail mortals. Your proceedings often seem dark and incomprehensible to
our weak intellect, but when a course, which to us seems to lead to no
good issue, turns out well, we are forced to admit with astonishment
that you always choose the best way, though often a tortuous one.”
For a short time the king was alone, sitting with his black brows knit,
and gazing meditatively at the floor. But as soon as he heard the soft
foot-fall of Eulaeus, and the louder step of his guide, he once more
assumed the aspect of a careless and reckless man of the world, shouted
a jolly welcome to Eulaeus, reminded him of his, the king’s, boyhood,
and of how often he, Eulaeus, had helped him to persuade his mother to
grant him some wish she had previously refused him.
“But now, old boy,” continued the king, “the times are changed, and
with you now-a-days it is everything for Philometor and nothing for poor
Euergetes, who, being the younger, is just the one who most needs your
assistance.”
Eulaeus bowed with a smile which conveyed that he understood perfectly
how little the king’s last words were spoken in earnest, and he said:
“I purposed always to assist the weaker of you two, and that is what I
believe myself to be doing now.”
“You mean my sister?”
“Our sovereign lady Cleopatra is of the sex which is often unjustly
called the weaker. Though you no doubt were pleased to speak in jest
when you asked that question, I feel bound to answer you distinctly that
it was not Cleopatra that I meant, but King Philometor.”
“Philometor? Then you have no faith in his strength, you regard me as
stronger than he; and yet, at the banquet to-day, you offered me your
services, and told me that the task had devolved upon you of demanding
the surrender of the little serving-maiden of Serapis, in the king’s
name, of Asclepiodorus, the high-priest. Do you call that aiding the
weaker? But perhaps you were drunk when you told me that?
“No? You were more moderate than I? Then some other change of views must
have taken place in you; and yet that would very much surprise me, since
your principles require you to aid the weaker son of my mother--”
“You are laughing at me,” interrupted the courtier with gentle
reproachfulness, and yet in a tone of entreaty. “If I took your side it
was not from caprice, but simply and expressly from a desire to remain
faithful to the one aim and end of my life.”
“And that is?”
“To provide for the welfare of this country in the same sense as did
your illustrious mother, whose counsellor I was.”
“But you forget to mention the other--to place yourself to the best
possible advantage.”
“I did not forget it, but I did not mention it, for I know how closely
measured out are the moments of a king; and besides, it seems to me as
self-evident that we think of our personal advantage as that when we buy
a horse we also buy his shadow.”
“How subtle! But I no more blame you than I should a girl who stands
before her mirror to deck herself for her lover, and who takes the same
opportunity of rejoicing in her own beauty.
“However, to return to your first speech. It is for the sake of Egypt
as you think--if I understand you rightly--that you now offer me the
services you have hitherto devoted to my brother’s interests?”
“As you say; in these difficult times the country needs the will and the
hand of a powerful leader.”
“And such a leader you think I am?”
“Aye, a giant in strength of will, body and intellect--whose desire to
unite the two parts of Egypt in your sole possession cannot fail, if you
strike and grasp boldly, and if--”
“If?” repeated the king, looking at the speaker so keenly that his eyes
fell, and he answered softly:
“If Rome should raise no objection.”
Euergetes shrugged his shoulders, and replied gravely:
“Rome indeed is like Fate, which always must give the final decision
in everything we do. I have certainly not been behindhand in enormous
sacrifices to mollify that inexorable power, and my representative,
through whose hands pass far greater sums than through those of the
paymasters of the troops, writes me word that they are not unfavorably
disposed towards me in the Senate.”
“We have learned that from ours also. You have more friends by the Tiber
than Philometor, my own king, has; but our last despatch is already
several weeks old, and in the last few days things have occurred--”
“Speak!” cried Euergetes, sitting bolt upright on his cushions. “But
if you are laying a trap for me, and if you are speaking now as my
brother’s tool, I will punish you--aye! and if you fled to the uttermost
cave of the Troglodytes I would have you followed up, and you should be
torn in pieces alive, as surely as I believe myself to be the true son
of my father.”
“And I should deserve the punishment,” replied Eulaeus humbly. Then he
went on: “If I see clearly, great events lie before us in the next few
days.”
“Yes--truly,” said Euergetes firmly.
“But just at present Philometor is better represented in Rome than he
has ever been. You made acquaintance with young Publius Scipio at the
king’s table, and showed little zeal in endeavoring to win his good
graces.”
“He is one of the Cornelii,” interrupted the king, “a distinguished
young man, and related to all the noblest blood of Rome; but he is not
an ambassador; he has travelled from Athens to Alexandria, in order to
learn more than he need; and he carries his head higher and speaks more
freely than becomes him before kings, because the young fellows fancy it
looks well to behave like their elders.”
“He is of more importance than you imagine.”
“Then I will invite him to Alexandria, and there will win him over in
three days, as surely as my name is Euergetes.”
“It will then be too late, for he has to-day received, as I know for
certain, plenipotentiary powers from the Senate to act in their name in
case of need, until the envoy who is to be sent here again arrives.”
“And I only now learn this for the first time!” cried the king springing
up from his couch, “my friends must be deaf, and blind and dull indeed,
if still I have any, and my servants and emissaries too! I cannot
bear this haughty ungracious fellow, but I will invite him tomorrow
morning--nay I will invite him to-day, to a festive entertainment, and
send him the four handsomest horses that I have brought with me from
Cyrene. I will--”
“It will all be in vain,” said Eulaeus calmly and dispassionately. “For
he is master, in the fullest and widest meaning of the word, of the
queen’s favor--nay--if I may permit myself to speak out freely--of
Cleopatra’s more than warm liking, and he enjoys this sweetest of gifts
with a thankful heart. Philometor--as he always does--lets matters go as
they may, and Cleopatra and Publius--Publius and Cleopatra triumph even
publicly in their love; gaze into each other’s eyes like any pair of
pastoral Arcadians, exchange cups and kiss the rim on the spot where the
lips of the other have touched it. Promise and grant what you will to
this man, he will stand by your sister; and if you should succeed in
expelling her from the throne he would boldly treat you as Popilius
Laenas did your uncle Antiochus: he would draw a circle round your
person, and say that if you dared to step beyond it Rome would march
against you.”
Euergetes listened in silence, then, flinging away the draperies that
wrapped his body, he paced up and down in stormy agitation, groaning
from time to time, and roaring like a wild bull that feels itself
confined with cords and bands, and that exerts all its strength in vain
to rend them.
Finally he stood still in front of Eulaeus and asked him:
“What more do you know of the Roman?”
“He, who would not allow you to compare yourself to Alcibiades, is
endeavoring to out-do that darling of the Athenian maidens; for he
is not content with having stolen the heart of the king’s wife, he is
putting out his hand to reach the fairest virgin who serves the
highest of the gods. The water-bearer whom Lysias, the Roman’s friend,
recommended for a Hebe is beloved by Publius, and he hopes to enjoy her
favors more easily in your gay palace than he can in the gloomy temple
of Serapis.”
At these words the king struck his forehead with his hand, exclaiming:
“Oh! to be a king--a man who is a match for any ten! and to be obliged
to submit with a patient shrug like a peasant whose grain my horsemen
crush into the ground!
“He can spoil everything; mar all my plans and thwart all my
desires--and I can do nothing but clench my fist, and suffocate with
rage. But this fuming and groaning are just as unavailing as my raging
and cursing by the death-bed of my mother, who was dead all the same and
never got up again.
“If this Publius were a Greek, a Syrian, an Egyptian--nay, were he my
own brother--I tell you, Eulaeus, he should not long stand in my way;
but he is plenipotentiary from Rome, and Rome is Fate--Rome is Fate.”
The king flung himself back on to his cushions with a deep sigh, and
as if crushed with despair, hiding his face in the soft pillows; but
Eulaeus crept noiselessly up to the young giant, and whispered in his
ear with solemn deliberateness:
“Rome is Fate, but even Rome can do nothing against Fate. Publius Scipio
must die because he is ruining your mother’s daughter, and stands in the
way of your saving Egypt. The Senate would take a terrible revenge if
he were murdered, but what can they do if wild beasts fall on their
plenipotentiary, and tear him to pieces?”
“Grand! splendid!” cried Euergetes, springing again to his feet, and
opening his large eyes with radiant surprise and delight, as if heaven
itself had opened before them, revealing the sublime host of the gods
feasting at golden tables.
“You are a great man, Eulaeus, and I shall know how to reward you; but
do you know of such wild beasts as we require, and do they know how to
conduct themselves so that no one shall dare to harbor even the shadow
of a suspicion that the wounds torn by their teeth and claws were
inflicted by daggers, pikes or spearheads?”
“Be perfectly easy,” replied Eulaeus. “These beasts of prey have already
had work to do here in Memphis, and are in the service of the king--”
“Aha! of my gentle brother!” laughed Euergetes. “And he boasts of never
having killed any one excepting in battle--and now--”
“But Philometor has a wife,” interposed Eulaeus; and Euergetes went on.
“Aye, woman, woman! what is there that a man may not learn from a
woman?”
Then he added in a lower tone: “When can your wild beasts do their
work?”
“The sun has long since risen; before it sets I will have made my
preparations, and by about midnight, I should think, the deed may be
done. We will promise the Roman a secret meeting, lure him out to the
temple of Serapis, and on his way home through the desert--”
“Aye, then,--” cried the king, making a thrust at his own breast as
though his hand held a dagger, and he added in warning: “But your beasts
must be as powerful as lions, and as cautious-as cautious, as cats. If
you want gold apply to Komanus, or, better still, take this purse. Is
it enough? Still I must ask you; have you any personal ground of hatred
against the Roman?”
“Yes,” answered Eulaeus decisively. “He guesses that I know all about
him and his doings, and he has attacked me with false accusations which
may bring me into peril this very day. If you should hear that the queen
has decided on throwing me into prison, take immediate steps for my
liberation.”
“No one shall touch a hair of your head; depend upon that. I see that it
is to your interest to play my game, and I am heartily glad of it, for
a man works with all his might for no one but himself. And now for the
last thing: When will you fetch my little Hebe?”
“In an hour’s time I am going to Asclepiodorus; but we must not demand
the girl till to-morrow, for today she must remain in the temple as a
decoy-bird for Publius Scipio.”
“I will take patience; still I have yet another charge to give you.
Represent the matter to the high-priest in such a way that he
shall think my brother wishes to gratify one of my fancies by
demanding--absolutely demanding--the water-bearer on my behalf. Provoke
the man as far as is possible without exciting suspicion, and if I know
him rightly, he will stand upon his rights, and refuse you persistently.
Then, after you, will come Komanus from me with greetings and gifts and
promises.
“To-morrow, when we have done what must be done to the Roman, you shall
fetch the girl in my brother’s name either by cunning or by force; and
the day after, if the gods graciously lend me their aid in uniting the
two realms of Egypt under my own hand, I will explain to Asclepiodorus
that I have punished Philometor for his sacrilege against his temple,
and have deposed him from the throne. Serapis shall see which of us is
his friend.
“If all goes well, as I mean that it shall, I will appoint you Epitropon
of the re-united kingdom--that I swear to you by the souls of my
deceased ancestors. I will speak with you to-day at any hour you may
demand it.”
Eulaeus departed with a step as light as if his interview with the king
had restored him to youth.
When Hierax, Komanus, and the other officers returned to the room,
Euergetes gave orders that his four finest horses from Cyrene should be
led before noonday to his friend Publius Cornelius Scipio, in token of
his affection and respect. Then he suffered himself to be dressed, and
went to Aristarchus with whom he sat down to work at his studies.