Lamekis

by Charles de Fieux

  The dear animal barely saw me when he started crying out in joy, flapping his wings and showing all the signs of perfect happiness. I waited for a more suitable time to thank him. I heard a dreadful noise and an awful roar. As we escaped out the window I saw a large gathering of people and a body carried by slaves entering the house. Without wanting to know about something that I should not have had anything to do with, I squeezed the eaglet with my knees and we were soon lost in the skies.

  Part 8

  While my kind little friend let himself be swept away by the charms of his new freedom, bearing me along through the immense space of the skies, I pondered deeply over my latest tragedy. It was not possible to argue with my fate since I myself was its maker. Besides, there should be no remorse when the punishment is justified. To see the woman you love in the arms of another man (for, what I saw was pretty much the same thing or at least I thought so) is a horrible sight for a man with uncommon feelings. I believed Clemelis was guilty and I avenged myself in her blood. So, why was I agonizing? Didn’t she bring it on herself?

  That’s what I was thinking. If I still felt love in my heart for a wicked, villainous woman, my honor stifled these tender feelings by showing her as fickle and unfaithful and the nefarious cause of all the evils I had suffered until then. I could have gone even further in consoling myself by accusing her of having been in collusion with the Houcaïs to get rid of me, to free herself forever of a burdensome spouse who would never have put up with her follies.

  From these thoughts I passed on to what would become of me. I was still young and I naturally had a few years before me. How should I use them? The question had barely popped into my head when I thought of the offer made by the Egyptians. How better could I devote the rest of my miserable life than in the service of an immortal Being for the happiness of my country? A superstitious worship had just been abolished with my help. Wasn’t that the voice of the Heavens speaking? Shouldn’t I be listening? People who are infatuated and prejudiced from birth can be seduced at any time; it would not take much for a number of self-interested priests to do what was needed to reestablish the ruined altars. Wasn’t it my bound duty to stop them and finish the work that was so well started? And what glory I would get from it!

  The thought of it moved me, made up my mind and pointed the way. I kneed the eaglet and followed my old route, but away from the kingdom of the Abdalles. I guided my little friend’s flight in such a way as to keep the ground in sight so I could use the landmarks I noted during my first trip. It worked. After a month I saw Egypt and blessed the Heavens. I went to the capital and alit like the first time on top of the great tower. It was night and I spent it in prayer. Overcome by piety I invoked the great Vilkonhis and prayed ardently that he bless my good intentions.

  When it was day and I saw the people moving about, I went down onto the dome. The sight of me caused a general cry of astonishment and joy and in less than an hour all the inhabitants of the capital were gathered around the dome. I spoke to them and asked if they remained faithful to the worship I had preached. I could tell by their silence that something extraordinary had happened during my absence. I urged them to tell me.

  An Egyptian who was still faithful to the new doctrine came up on the dome and verified my assumption. As soon as I learned about it the priests who had been chased from their temple paraded down the streets with new fangled gods, howling a frightful cacophony and prophesying dire calamities. “The Nile,” they shouted, “will be destroyed. It will return to the earth and bring on the worst famine ever seen.” That’s all it took to affect these crude people. Uneducated in the science of the Heavens they had fallen back into their old errors. The harm was serious and I groaned, but I decided to do the best I could to help them.

  Almost all the hearts and minds of the people were held captive by the recidivist threats of the fanatic priests. I spoke for more than six hours to no avail. The ministers of the false gods had found out about my return and my goal and had run straight to the people to keep them from listening to me. The High Priest was especially outstanding at hurling curses that made their hair stand on end. He steadily influenced them and I recognized sadly that the lie was going to prevail over the truth. A holy horror seized me. Something spectacular needed to happen to regain the trust I had lost by my sudden departure. With no miracles at hand, I had to make do with politics. I lowered the eaglet’s head and led him toward the maddened elder, who could not get out of the way. At the sound of my voice the animal swooped down on him and I grabbed him by his once so venerable cap. With one swift blow of they zenghuis, his blasphemies and his life ended.

  The example had an effect. The people fell silent and the other troublemaking, rebellious priests ran away and hid, thereby leaving me free to continue haranguing them. I was emotional and persuasive. After three consecutive days of teaching, I was victorious: the great Vilkonhis was worshipped, the idols overthrown and I became the chief minister of the religion.

  I did not think the religious principles would be lost by allying them with the state. They needed the support of a sovereign authority to give them a foundation safe from the perpetual assaults that would inevitably come against them. For this I went to the newly elected King. The new doctrine convinced him and he looked on it as the most solid base of the monarchy. I communicated to him the dogma of the religion and he found it so holy and praiseworthy that he publicly declared my doctrine as the true one and the one that every reasonable man should profess. In less than one round of the Sun,275 Vilkonhis was worshipped throughout Egypt. Superb temples were built and I worked so devotedly that I forgot all my misfortunes.

  Religion is a powerful way to make you happy! I spent my days in a wonderful tranquility. The sanctuary was my only delight. There I lived sheltered from anything that might disturb my peace. If I went to the Court, it was less to enjoy the charm of being praised than to have nice conversations with the King about the worship that I led. Several years went by in this peaceful state; it seemed that nothing could disrupt it. But what am I saying! Was I made to be happy for long?

  One day as I was leaving the King I was stopped by a stranger whose face made me balk. “What’s this I see?” I said holding out my arms. “What luck has brought you here?” It was the loyal freedman who had got me into Clemelis’ rooms and to whom I owed the ravishing pleasure of punishing a wicked wife. He shook my hand and said that he would answer my questions later. He looked timid, insecure and I saw sadness and confusion in his eyes. He came back with me and when we were alone, he respectfully criticized the tranquility I enjoyed at a time (he said) when I should be gnawed at by regret and remorse. I was hardly expecting such reproaches and I showed my surprise.

  He continued, “From what I can tell, you’re wrong. I don’t know if I should help you or if it’d be better to leave you like this forever. Oh, Lamekis,” he clasped his hands together, “how unlucky you are and how little you deserve the calm fate you are enjoying!” He looked up to the Heavens and continued, “How cruel! The innocent suffer and the guilty gloat! Faithful Clemelis…”

  “What am I hearing? What are you saying?” I interjected. “Faithful Clemelis? Ach, stop saying these things that remind me of the horrors I’ve tried to forget and that I’ve suffered so much for. It’s useless to try to manipulate me after I saw her wickedness with my own eyes…”

  “Stop, Lamekis,” the freedman interrupted in his turn. “Don’t make your well-known crimes worse by this masquerade. Your eyes betrayed you. Clemelis is the best behaved, most innocent of all women and I’m ready to prove it to you and answer all the suspicions you might have against her.”

  I tapped my foot impatiently while listening. My fury enflamed and brought back all the grievances I had against the wicked woman. I did not forget one of them: her meetings with the Houcaïs, her letter to him and their secret rendezvous, her absence from the Court after this so carefully hidden appointment, the Houcaïs caught at ungodly hours in her room, the letter that
I had kept, that I showed, my savage punishment by the King to do away with a defiant spouse and finally the man in her room in the middle of the night, seen and killed by me—all this seemed to…did certainly justify me, didn’t it? From my outraged heart I spilled out my loathing and threats. “And she’s still alive?” I railed. “That villainous wife? My hand betrayed me twice? Well then, let her tremble. I am ready to take my revenge. I’ll risk a thousand lives, if I had them, to rip out the heart that was created only to make me the unhappiest of men.”

  While I was spewing this fire, the freedman kept silent and looked at the ground, but when he saw the heat of my anger die down, he begged me to hear him out. “Although your grievances looked likely,” he told me firmly, “they were false. Clemelis has always been faithful to you and no wife is better behaved. You are the only one in the world who dared to suspect her. Did you ever think that all this evidence you allege is really against you and not a piece of it doesn’t make you doubly despicable? Listen to me, Lamekis,” he saw my impatience at what he was saying, “after what I have to say, you are the master and if you want, you can stay bitter.”

  The freedman’s story

  Before starting this justification where the truth is going to get mixed up with jealous suspicions and prejudice, you have to know how I can give it to you. I never had the honor of getting too close to poor Clemelis—she only trusted my brother. If I was given any consideration, it was only because of him; and my loyalty to you made me search this out. I wanted to serve you both, as you will see, but you’re going to agree that there’s a high, sad price to pay for good intentions.

  Remember the day when you trusted me with your complaints against good Clemelis? Do you also remember that I did the best I could to talk you out of those dire impressions that were consuming you and I offered my brother’s room for you to clear up your doubts completely? At the time I was only acting on my gut feelings. I had never been close enough to the worthy woman to speak for her behavior, but her favorable reputation spoke to me when I saw you resolved to verify your doubts. Besides, they seemed based on so little that I thought I would be doing you both a great service by giving you the opportunity to see for yourself and stop all the worries that seemed to me to be only in your head. Therefore, I asked for a secret meeting with Clemelis through one of her servants, assuring her that it was of the utmost importance. I thought it best to meet during the night, hoping to hide her from you and give you a nice surprise. She agreed.

  I told Clemelis about your return and she did not take the news well. That’s why I stayed so long in her room. After recovering from a weak spell, she urged me to take her to you. I tried in vain to make her understand that it was better for me to see you first and warn you so that I could shatter your suspicions. She would not hear of it. Her impatience drove her on, beyond my wise caution. I had to obey. She was so emotional and weak that she had to lean on my arm to leave the room and we were so scared…

  “Heavens,” I gasped wildly, “what are you telling me? Can it be…”

  The freedman did not give me time to finish: Yes, Sir. It was me you struck down at your feet. Our cries woke up the whole house and they went to get help. They put Clemelis to bed and the doctors took care of her. As for me, whom they thought dead because I gave no sign of life, they carried me back home. After a few days I got better and learned that you had escaped with your wonderful bird, but knowing this was no comfort to me since you would be arrested in no time. The Houcaïs was informed as soon as you attacked and to prevent any future attacks, he decided to take your life. They looked long and hard for you and when I felt better, I had to deal with all this cruel information.

  When Clemelis was barely able to talk, she sent for me. Her wounds took longer to heal than mine and her weakness did not go away, maybe never will. She was curious and eager to know what had become of you and if I knew why you continued to act so violently against a wife who loved only you. I told her everything that you had told me, particularly the grievances you kept repeating.

  When I finished she said, “What are you telling me? Oh crooked, cheating Zelimon, what did we ever do to you for you to turn on us so cruelly? And Lamekis, my dear husband, who I will always love and whose hardheartedness I will forgive, I hope you will learn of all the wicked tricks that have been played against us! You will come back someday soon to give me the joy that I only feel when I’m in your arms.”

  As the freedman paused to take a breath I stammered quickly, which presaged the sorrow I was on the verge of suffering, “So then, she told you about the horrible tricks used to ruin the two of us?”

  “Alas, lord!” he continued, “You will learn them soon enough.”

  “Go on! Continue!” I urged. “If it’s about Zelimon, I can feel my fate. I knew him too well not to expect the most wicked designs from him.” And the freedman told me what Clemelis told him:

  Clemelis and Zelimon

  A few days after I had to leave my beloved husband, I received an anonymous letter that told me that he was being unfaithful to me and that he had been living with an incredibly beautiful Phoenician woman for a long time. Without any consideration for his benefactor, the King, he preferred this woman to me. This news made only a slight impression on me—I always hated this kind of gossip too much to believe any of it.

  The first letter I received from my husband was full of affection and assurance of his loyalty and dissipated the faint clouds of suspicion that my delicate heart let form. I did not even think of asking his opinion about it, since it would have looked like I was challenging his love—even the shadow of suspicion was too offensive to let my dear husband see it. As long as I was getting letters from him, I forgot all about that other fatal letter, but as soon as his letters stopped coming, my soul was mortally wounded. Before becoming suspicious, however, I took it upon myself to wait. Maybe, I told myself, the delay is only due to his forgetfulness and not to his indifference. The first letter will put an end to all my worries and calm me down. How hard it was! I waited in vain. Meanwhile I believed he had forgotten me and I was dying of sorrow.

  I said that I believed he had forgotten me because I had no doubt that my husband was in a position to write. The King had come back and was receiving letters regularly from him, as well as other members of the Court from time to time. Zelimon, who had his own reasons for letting me know about this, was cruel enough to show me the ones he got from Lamekis at the Queen’s residence and to brag about his close friendship with him. And he often looked at me compassionately, which surprised me. When I caught him looking, he changed and looked stressed and mysterious, which surprised me even more and troubled me.

  This happened so often that I finally decided to know why he looked at me like this. I had him sent for in the morning. When he came and I questioned him on the matter, he looked embarrassed, which again increased my curiosity. After much coaxing, he finally confessed that his intimate friendship with my husband was difficult for him when it came to the unfair treatment of me. He broke off everything he said in such a way that he told me nothing, which was supposed to make me guess that it was all because my husband was reluctant to leave the Phoenician woman whom he loved. Imagine how overwhelmed I was with grief. It crushed me so cruelly that I decide to put an end to the painful situation by going to find my husband and doing all I could to win his heart again. Otherwise I would become the unhappiest woman in the world.

  I spoke to the Queen about my plan to go find my husband without telling her why. I pretended that my worries were due to an uncomfortable feeling I could not shake. She kindly agreed, as long as I got the King’s permission. Afraid of losing time, I wrote to him through a servant of mine to beg him to grant me an audience that very day because otherwise I would have been forced to wait for him to come to the Queen’s rooms, which was not supposed to happen for two days. The Houcaïs was kind enough to let me come to see him. While I was there, he did his best to hold me back or better said he wanted to know why I was
leaving. He found out so much and was so sympathetic with my troubling secrets that I confessed everything. He was kind enough to console me. He promised me his help to win back the heart I believed was lost and granted me permission to leave, along with the promise that he would hide my departure from everyone so that Lamekis, who was corresponding with the Court, would not find out about my intentions. I took cruel pleasure in discovering for myself my husband’s intrigue and scolding him when he least expected it.

  (While the freedman was giving me these details, I suddenly remembered two incidents that could more than a little justify Clemelis in my eyes. The first: the audience with the Houcaïs that now seemed so natural, but that Zelimon had made out to be so guilty. The second: the meeting of the young woman in the town where I passed through on the way to the Court, whose description was like Clemelis. But I did not want to interrupt the freedman; my curiosity was in a hurry. And so he continued.)

  What was I to think (Clemelis cried in sorrow) when I got to the kingdom of the Abdalles and Lamekis was not there. I figured he had been told about my arrival in spite of all the precautions taken and had fled at my approach. In the hope of his return I stayed a little while in the country and investigated so carefully that I finally learned that he had gone to the Court. No sooner did I confirm the information than I left to go back. But imagine the trouble and fear I felt on my return when I saw my closet forced open and the mess caused by some furious rage. What could this mean? The Houcaïs, whom I informed, came to my room and was as surprised as I was. He told me that the mystery bothered him even more than if he found out that there was a plot against him. Then, he gave such perfect orders for my safety and protection that I could stay and sleep in my room.