CHAPTER 29: The Vision
Consciousness came slowly to Melaina, a gathering of great clouds of confusion. She heard shouting, the scurrying of feet, saw shapes flitting about, shades. Have I gone to the Underworld? she wondered. Although the phantoms slowly became people, she recognized no one. She felt a great urgency to speak but couldn't. She slept.
Finally, Melaina opened her eyes but felt them oscillate uncontrollably. She hated Kallias seeing her like this so soon after being married. Even when she did manage to control her eyes, she could see from only one, so she kept the other closed.
Trying to collect her thoughts, she looked up at Kallias through her one good eye. "My mother described it," she said, "as similar to the sight of an ox whose throat has been cut: arms cramped, the head drawn back, and legs kicking in all directions."
"Much worse," Kallias said, standing back from her. "Your cheeks trembled, and your whole head swelled red. We had difficulty keeping the strap in your mouth. Your tongue protruded as might a mad person's. I was afraid you'd bite it off. Even after you came to your senses, you denied knowing me."
Hipparete took Melaina by the hand. "It lasted only a short while. Some say only the great have this affliction. The twelve labors caused it in Herakles." She looked at Kallias, "Don't lose your feeling for your young mistress. She'll bring you great glory."
But Kallias turned on Melaina. "Why did I not hear of this before the wedding? Look at you! One eye still squints."
"If you only knew my sleeplessness with this same thought, my lament not knowing if I still had it. I've been to Epidaurus for treatment and cured, so the priest said, only now to have the affliction return."
Kallias threw his arms into the air. "Great Zeus, what have you done to me? Oh, Mother! Forever I'll regret that day on the plane of Marathon when I asked and Kynegeiros gave his only daughter to me. Since then, I've been followed by jealousy of my wealth, laughed at because my wife comes to me already pregnant, and I now reap this new shame. This intolerable affliction."
Melaina said, "Though the seizures are a fright to look upon, Lord Kallias, they are a divine moment. I live a lifetime in an instant amidst a sacred warmth higher than love, fuse with the divine as if set afire. All doubt and troubles disappear."
"These feelings are a warning of the coming madness?"
"Warnings come for bad things. 'Tis a gift and sometimes contains a prophecy."
"I'll not tolerate it. A hopeless sickness is better off in Hades."
Melaina dropped to one knee before him. "I implore you, Lord. Don't abandon my child and me because of these troubles. You chose me, not I you. Horror was my first thought when learning you were to be my husband. But in these short days, I've developed a fondness for you. Live with this new knowledge a while before condemning me. Perhaps I'll be an asset in the end."
"She's spoken well, Kallias," said Hipparete. "Hate this odious disease, but not the afflicted. Take pity, my son, and reap great sympathy for it!"
"Remember you promise to my father," Melaina said.
Unannounced, Kallias' eunuch entered the room, a male slave hot on his tracks. "Trouble, Kallias," said the eunuch.
"What? In the name of Hades!" shouted Kallias, turning on the slave as if to strike him. "Now the whole of Athens is to know my evil fortune." He then turned on the eunuch. "Well you've already let the bastard in, and here with women present." He turned back to the slave. "Speak, you son of swine! If it's that important, say it here, in front of the women."
"Lord Kallias, two triremes are fully manned, oarsmen, hoplites, and archers, but the third is five short a full complement of deck hands. They quibble over the wage."
"They're fully rationed?" Kallias visibly calmed.
"Indeed. Though short an anchor on one and a sail on another."
"Stand at the gate. I'll join you shortly. These boat rowers will bankrupt me yet."
Kallias turned back to Melaina, but his mother stopped him from speaking.
"Let this matter rest, dear Kallias. See to your ships. Let your distemper cool."
"My distemper!" Kallias threw up his hands. "She's not been in my home a day and already has my own mother speaking against me. I will go to the docks. But rest assured, I'll settle this when I return." He strode from the chamber.
Lady Hipparete quickly took Melaina by the hands, saying, "I'll talk sense to him. We can't allow this grievous mistake."
Melaina said, "I hadn't remembered it until now, but the instant before the seizure consumed me, that splitting pain, I had another vision. It'll take a while to learn its meaning. Forgive me, Lady Hipparete. I must retire to a quiet place and think."
The Mysteries, A Novel of Ancient Eleusis Page 73