While anxiety and trouble were brooding over the steward's dwelling,
while dismay and disappointment were clouding the souls of its
inhabitants, the hall of the Muses was merry with feasting and laughter.
Julia, the prefect's wife, had supplied the architect at Lochias with a
carefully-prepared meal,--sufficient to fill six hungry maws, and
Pontius' slave--who had received it on its arrival and had unpacked it
dish after dish, and set them out on the humblest possible table had then
hastened to fetch his master to inspect all these marvels of the cook's
art. The architect shook his head as he contemplated the superabundant
blessing, and muttered to himself:
"Titianus must take me for a crocodile, or rather for two crocodiles,"
and he went to the sculptor's little tabernacle, where Papias the master
was also, to invite the two men to share his supper.
Besides them he asked two painters, and the chief mosaic worker of the
city, who all day long had been busied in restoring the old and faded
pictures on the ceilings and pavements, and under the influence of good
wine and cheerful chat they soon emptied the dishes and bowls and
trenchers. A man who for several hours has been using his hands or his
mind, or both together, waxes hungry, and all the artists whom Pontius
had brought together at Lochias had now been working for several days
almost to the verge of exhaustion. Each had done his best, in the first
place, no doubt, to give satisfaction to Pontius, whom all esteemed, and
to himself; but also in the hope of giving proof of his powers to the
Emperor and of showing him how things could be done in Alexandria. When
the dishes had been removed and the replete feasters had washed and dried
their hands, they filled their cups out of a jar of mixed wine, of which
the dimensions answered worthily to the meal they had eaten. One of the
painters then proposed that they should hold a regular drinking-bout, and
elect Papias, who was as well known as a good table orator as he was as
an artist, to be the leader of the feast. However, the master declared
that he could not accept the honor, for that it was due to the worthiest
of their company; to the man namely, who, only a few days since, had
entered this empty palace and like a second Deucalion had raised up
illustrious artists, such as he then saw around him in great numbers, and
skilled workmen by hundreds, not out of plastic stone but out of nothing.
And then--while declaring that he understood the use of the hammer and
chisel better than that of the tongue, and that he had never studied the
art of making speeches--he expressed his wish that Pontius would lead the
revel, in the most approved form.
But he was not allowed to get to the end of this evidence of his skill,
for Euphorion the door-keeper of the palace, Euphorion the father of
Pollux, ran hastily into the hall of the Muses with a letter in his hand
which he gave to the architect.
"To be read without an instant's delay," he added, bowing with theatrical
dignity to the assembled artists. "One of the prefect's lictors brought
this letter, which, if my wishes be granted, brings nothing that is
unwelcome. Hold your noise you little blackguards or I will be the death
of you."
These words, which so far as the tone was concerned, formed a somewhat
inharmonious termination to a speech intended for the ears of great
artists, were addressed to his wife's four-footed Graces who had followed
him against his wish, and were leaping round the table barking for the
slender remains of the consumed food.
Pontius was fond of animals and had made friends with the old woman's
pets, so, as he opened the prefect's letter, he said:
"I invite the three little guests to the remains of our feast. Give them
anything that is fit for them, Euphorion, and whatever seems to you most
suitable to your own stomach you may put into it."
While the architect first rapidly glanced through the letter and then
read it carefully, the singer had collected a variety of good morsels for
his wife's favorites on a plate, and finally carried the last remaining
pasty, with the dish on which it reposed, to the vicinity of his own
hooked nose.
"For men or for dogs?" he asked his son, as he pointed to it with a
rigid finger.
"For the gods!" replied Pollux. "Take it to mother; she will like to
eat ambrosia for once."
"A jolly evening to you!" cried the singer, bowing to the artists who
were emptying their cups, and he quitted the hall with his pasty and his
dogs. Before he had fairly left the hall with his long strides, Papias,
whose speech had been interrupted, once more raised his wine-cup and
began again:
"Our Deucalion, our more than Deucalion--"
"Pardon me," interrupted Pontius. "If I once more stop your discourse
which began so promisingly; this letter contains important news and our
revels must be over for the night. We must postpone our symposium and
your drinking-speech."
"It was not a drinking-speech, for if ever there was a moderate man--"
Papias began. But Pontius stopped him again, saying:
"Titianus writes me word that he proposes coming to Lochias this evening.
He may arrive at any moment; and not alone, but with my fellow-artist,
Claudius Venator from Rome, who is to assist me with his advice."
"I never even heard his name," said Papias, who was wont to trouble
himself as little about the persons as about the works of other artists.
"I wonder at that," said Pontius, closing the double tablets which
announced the Emperor's advent.
"Can he do anything?" asked Pollux.
"More than any one of us," replied Pontius. "He is a mighty man."
"That is splendid!" exclaimed Pollux. "I like to see great men. When
one looks me in the eye I always feel as if some of his superabundance
overflowed into me, and irresistibly I draw myself up and think how fine
it would be if one day I might reach as high as that man's chin."
"Beware of morbid ambition," said Papias to his pupil in a warning voice.
"It is not the man who stands on tiptoe, but he who does his duty
diligently, that can attain anything great."
"He honestly does his," said the architect rising, and he laid his hand
on the young sculptor's shoulder. "We all do; to-morrow by sunrise each
must be at his post again. For my colleague's sake it will be well that
you should all be there in good time."
The artists rose, expressing their thanks and regrets. "You will not
escape the continuation of this evening's entertainment," cried one of
the painters, and Papias, as he parted from Pontius, said:
"When we next meet I will show you what I understand by a drinking-
speech. It will do perhaps for your Roman guest. I am curious to hear
what he will say about our Urania. Pollux has done his share of the work
very well, and I have already devoted an hour's work to it, which has
improved it. The more humble our material, the better I shall be pleased
if the work satisfies Caesar; he himself has tried his hand at
sculpture."
"If only Hadrian could hear that!" cried one of the painters. "He likes
to think himself a great artist--one of the foremost of our time. It is
said that he caused the life of the great architect, Apollodorus--who
carried out such noble works for Trajan--to be extinguished--and why?
because formerly that illustrious man had treated the imperial bungler as
a mere dabbler, and would not accept his plan for the temple of Venus at
Rome."
"Mere talk!" answered Pontius to this accusation. "Apollodorus died in
prison, but his incarceration had little enough to do with the Emperor's
productions--excuse me, gentlemen, I must once more look through the
sketches and plans."
The architect went away, but Pollux continued the conversation that had
been begun by saying:
"Only I cannot understand how a man who practises so many arts at once
as Hadrian does, and at the same time looks after the state and its
government, who is a passionate huntsman and who dabbles in every kind
of miscellaneous learning, contrives, when he wants to practise one
particular form of art, to recall all his five senses into the nest from
which he has let them fly, here, there, and everywhere. The inside
of his head must be like that salad-bowl--which we have reduced to
emptiness--in which Papias discovered three sorts of fish, brown and
white meat, oysters and five other substances."
"And who can deny," added Papias, "that if talent is the father, and meat
the mother of all productiveness, practice must be the artist's teacher!
Since Hadrian took to sculpture and painting it has become the universal
fashion here to practise these arts, and among the wealthier youth who
come to my workroom, many have very good abilities; but not one of them
brings anything to any good issue, because so much of their time is taken
up by the gymnasium, the bath, the quail-fights, the suppers, and I know
not what besides, so that they do nothing by way of practice."
"True," said a painter. "Without the restraint and worry of
apprenticeship no one can ever rise to happy and independent
creativeness; and in the schools of rhetoric or in hunting or fighting no
one can study drawing. It is not till a pupil has learned to sit steady
and worry himself over his work for six hours on end that I begin to
believe he will ever do any good work. Have you any of you seen the
Emperor's work?"
"I have," answered a mosaic worker. "Many years ago Hadrian sent a
picture to me that he had painted; I was to make a mosaic from it.
It was a fruit piece. Melons, gourds, apples, and green leaves. The
drawing was but so-so, and the color impossibly vivid, still the
composition was pleasing from its solidity and richness. And after all,
when one sees it, one cannot but feel that such superfluity is better
than meagreness and feebleness. The larger fruits, especially under the
exuberant sappy foliage, were so huge that they might have been grown in
the garden of luxury itself, still the whole had a look of reality. I
mitigated the colors somewhat in my transcript; you may still see a copy
of the picture at my house, it hangs in the studio where my men draw.
Nealkes, the rich hanging-maker, has had a tapestry woven from it which
Pontius proposes to use as a hanging for a wall of the work-room, but I
have made a fine frame on purpose for it."
"Say rather for its designer."
"Or yet rather," added the most loquacious of the painters, "for the
visit he may possibly pay your workshops."
"I only wish the Emperor may come to ours too! I should like to sell him
my picture of Alexander saluted by the priests in the temple of Jupiter
Ammon."
"I hope that when you agree about the price you will remember we are
partners," said his fellow-artist smugly.
"I will follow your example strictly," replied the other.
"Then you will certainly not be a loser," cried Papias, "for Eustorgius
is fully aware of the worth of his works. And if Hadrian is to order
works from every master whose art he dabbles in, he will require a fleet
on purpose to carry his purchases to Rome."
"It is said," continued Eustorgius, laughing, "that he is a painter among
poets, a sculptor among painters, an astronomer among musicians, and a
sophist among artists--that is to say, that he pursues every art and
science with some success as his secondary occupation."
As he spoke the last words Pontius returned to the table where the
artists were standing round the winejar; he had heard the painter's last
remark and interrupted him by saying:
"But my friend you forget that he is a monarch among monarchs--and not
merely among those of today--in the fullest meaning of the word. Each of
us separately can produce something better and more perfect in his own
line; but how great is the man who by earnestness and skill can even
apprehend everything that the mind has ever been able to conceive of, or
the creative spirit of the artist to embody! I know him, and I know that
he loves a really thorough master, and tries to encourage him with
princely liberality. But his ears are everywhere, and he promptly
becomes the implacable enemy of those who provoke his resentment. So
bridle your restive Alexandrian tongues, and let me tell you that my
colleague from Rome is in the closest intimacy with Hadrian. He is of
the same age, resembles him greatly, and repeats to him everything that
he hears said about him. So cease talking about Caesar and pass no
severer judgments on dilettanti in the purple than on your wealthy
pupils, who paint and chisel for the mere love of it, and for whom you
find it so easy to lisp out 'charming,' or 'wonderfully pretty,' or
'remarkably nice.' Take my warning in good part, you know I mean it
well."
He spoke the last words with a cordial, manly feeling, of which his voice
was peculiarly capable, and which was always certain to secure him the
confidence even of the recalcitrant.
The artists exchanged greetings and hand-shakings and left the hall; a
slave carried away the wine-jar and wiped the table, on which Pontius
proceeded to lay out his sketches and plans. But he was not alone, for
Pollux was soon at his side, and with a comical expression of pathos and
laying his finger on his nose, he said:
"I have come out of my cage to say something more to you."
"Well?"
"The hour is approaching when I may hope to repay the beneficent deeds,
which, at various times, you have done to my interior. My mother will
to-morrow morning, set before you that dish of cabbage. It could not be
done sooner, because the only perfect sausage-maker, the very king of his
trade, prepares these savory cylinders only once a week. A few hours ago
he completed the making of the sausages, and to-morrow morning my mother
will warm up for our breakfasts the noble mess, which she is preparing
for us this evening--for, as I have told you, it is in its warmed-up
state that it is the ideal of its kind. What will follow by way of
sweets we shall owe again to my mother's art; but the cheering and
invigorating element--I mean the wine that I drives dull care away, we
owe to my sister."
"I will come," said Pontius, "if my guest leaves me an hour free, and I
shall enjoy the excellent dish. But what does a gay bird like you know
of dull care?"
"The words fit into the metre," replied Pollux. "I inherit from my
father--who, when he is not gate-keeping, sings and recites--
a troublesome tendency whenever anything incites me to drift into
rhythm."
"But to-day you have been more silent than usual, and yet you seemed to
me to be extraordinarily content. Not your face only, but your whole
length--a good measure--from the sole of your foot to the crown of your
head was like a brimming cask of satisfaction."
"Well, there is much that is lovely in this world!" cried Pollux,
stretching himself comfortably and lifting his arms with his hands
clasped far above his head towards heaven.
"Has anything specially pleasant happened to you?"
"There is no need for that! Here I live in excellent company, the work
progresses, and--well, why should I deny it? There was something
specially to mark to-day; I met an old acquaintance again."
"An old one?"
"I have already known her sixteen years; but when I first saw her she was
in swaddling clothes."
"Then this venerable damsel friend is more than sixteen, perhaps
seventeen! Is Eros the friend of the happy, or does happiness only
follow in his train?" As the architect thoughtfully said these words to
himself, Pollux listened attentively to a noise outside, and said:
"Who can be passing out there at this hour? Do you not hear the bark of
a big dog mingle with the snapping of the three Graces?"
"It is Titianus conducting the architect from Rome," replied Pontius
excitedly.
"I will go to meet him. But one thing more my friend, you too have an
Alexandrian tongue. Beware of laughing at the Emperor's artistic efforts
in the presence of this Roman. I repeat it: the man who is now coming is
superior to us all, and there is nothing more repellant to me than when a
small man assumes a strutting air of importance because he fancies he has
discovered in some great man a weak spot where his own little body
happens to be sound. The artist I am expecting is a grand man, but the
Emperor Hadrian is a grander. Now retire behind your screens, and
tomorrow morning I will be your guest."