CHAPTER 40: Journey to the Elysian Fields
Myrrhine stood at the makeshift loom she'd pieced together, listening to the clang of the blacksmith's hammer and swoosh of bellows at the opposite end of the courtyard. Palaemon had been better than his word. He'd moved himself out and given Myrrhine, Melaina, and the babes the best chamber in his home, small though it was, having swept and scrubbed it during the night. He'd left the furnishings and found new bedding. Myrrhine realized that Akmon and Damnameneus had performed much of the work and reluctantly felt indebted. She hoped to get her own home rebuilt soon. The oath the generals took before the battle of Plataea, to not rebuild the burned sanctuary, still worried her.
Kleito spoke words of departure while giving Melaina a supply of kakhry, fruit of the herb libanotis. "It smells like frankincense but brings breast milk, should you be slow to lactate."
Melaina accepted the leather pouch, thanking Kleito for the remedies against birthing travails. "I'd still be in labor but for you."
Kleito left by carriage for her home at Phlya. "It's nearly burned to the ground and ravaged by Persians," she said. "But it's where I belong." She retrieved Euripides, who was pestering Agido by pulling at her braids, and set off.
Myrrhine put her mind to names for the babies. Two of them! Kynegeiros would be proud. A grandson! She tried not to think of Kallias trying to take control of the Mysteries by marrying Melaina. Aeschylus had remained nearby while the two family additions came into the world. Myrrhine thought of his alliance with Kallias and wondered if Aeschylus realized how close that scene had come to the epiphany of the Mysteries.
"Theonoë," said Melaina. She'd been up and around since yesterday with Agido begging to help. Myrrhine had never seen such swift recovery. Melaina and Agido bathed the babies at the back of the chamber, then lay them down to sleep.
"What?" Myrrhine asked, fitting a scorched shuttle with soft thread.
"Theonoë. Fits her perfectly. Her little eyes project wisdom. She'll know the gods' designs, both what is and what will be."
"And the boy?"
"Zakorus, for Grandfather."
Agido giggled. "That's a big name for a small child."
"One day he'll be Hierophant."
Myrrhine wondered if her daughter was right. She'd not tell her of the generals' oath. Could Greece really exist without the Mysteries? The last two years, Eleusis had conducted no official ceremony. Yet, the Hierophant had held that initiation of the dead before the battle of Salamis. And the scene with Melaina giving birth two nights ago, lightning and thunder crashing around them, could be viewed as the epiphany with Zeus himself officiating.
"I knew Kallias would reject me when we returned," said Melaina. "You were right, Mother. Men have no stomach for aberrations in women. He'd support me as long as I served his needs, but won't tolerate me running his home."
"It's all of little consequence."
"Why so? Children need a father."
"If your grandfather returns, perhaps he can solve this problem. It will not be difficult to find a more suitable match for you, one who will love and foster the children."
"Agido," said Melaina, "find some lamp black and papyrus for me. Please?"
Myrrhine checked the weights at the ends of the warp, fingered the threads, slid the shuttle through. "More poetry?" she asked.
"Through all the years since Father's death at Marathon, I've longed for some word from him. Just any memory meant for me alone. I'll write a short scroll for each of these, my babies. I'll not have them raised without a heartening word from me. Bad enough they won't have a father. I love them so."
"They'll have years of memories of you."
"I need to tell you something, Mother. Seriously."
The gravity of Melaina's words alarmed Myrrhine. She turned a weary eye toward her daughter.
"My seizures have become progressively worse. The one at Kallias' home almost marked me permanently. When on Delos and again on the beach at Mykale, I had partial seizures. I didn't fall, but trembled and had visions."
"Surely this shows improvement. Definitely not cause for concern. Perhaps they'll stop altogether."
"Oh Mother! How I love your eternal optimism! Ever you see the bright side of a dark reality. I felt the closeness of death following my last full seizure at Kallias' home. Since then, I've noticed a gathering storm, some great anger approaching. The partial seizures delayed it, but only while giving birth have I been sure I'd not have an attack."
Melaina fell silent as Agido returned.
"The lamp black is of no great quality," Agido said. "The papyrus is from my father's private store." Her voiced cracked. "He'll not need it in the Underworld. I couldn't find a stylus."
"I already have one," Melaina said. "You're a dear to give such precious stores. Now you must leave me alone with my mother, sweet Agido. We've something to discuss." When she protested, Melaina said, "Shush, be brave little Agido. And always remember, I've never loved any friend more than you."
When she was gone, Melaina added. "Kallias has my dowry."
"Oh dear Demeter! I knew it, though Kallias wouldn't admit to it."
"Though he's rejected me, he still may try to keep it for himself. And I won't be here to see that Theonoë gets it."
"You can't be serious. You're recovering remarkably."
"Grave are the days coming! Worry the dowry, not for me, but for little Theonoë. It's hers henceforth."
"Surely you're wrong. Perhaps you'll have another seizure but be fine afterward."
Melaina told her, "I never foresee a seizure's day or hour but can feel a disposition toward one. Plus," she said, her voice cracking, "I read it in the entrails of a sacrificial victim while on Delos."
Myrrhine felt as though her daughter had stabbed her with a kitchen knife. "Surely, you're wrong about this. Demeter wouldn't permit such a thing with the children meaning so much to the Mysteries."
Melaina didn't respond, but continued to write scrolls to the children, stopping now and then to nurse or change their soiled cloths. Melaina bathed and dressed herself becomingly, and afterward Myrrhine caught her talking to the babies as she took each in her arms, fondly kissed them. "Never shall I see you dance the Bear, Theonoë, or you, little Zakorus, lead the initiates to Eleusis. Farewell, my babes, little orphans. Live glad lives in the light."
Into evening, Myrrhine's vigil continued as she grew increasingly apprehensive of her daughter's state. Late that night, Melaina came to her, took her hands within her own, as she'd not done for so long. "Ensure they build a temple to Artemis here at Eleusis," Melaina said. "Artemis demands it." She fell quiet again. "I wanted so to remain virgin. And never wished to be married. I wanted only freedom, but once married, learned a sort of love for Kallias. Just as the gods wouldn't allow me to stay virgin, so they also took my marriage."
Myrrhine told her, "Freedom is an illusion here on earth, and is only real in the Afterlife. All we see and know is a but metaphor of the eternal."
"Such I've learned. Now I can imagine nothing greater than being mother to my babes. But Zeus will take them from me, too. It's as if first he makes me see what I've renounced, ensures I love it, then takes it from me as punishment."
Myrrhine saw a nervous twitch in her daughter's eye. A slight trembling in the limbs. "Are you certain you'll have another seizure?"
"More so than ever. Do not, Mother, I pray, store bitter sorrows, for you'll only become a bird of ill omen. Promise if I should die you'll summon cheerfulness and a peaceful spirit. Now tell me of the Underworld."
Realizing that her daughter might be right, Myrrhine bid Melaina sit. "Should it happen," she said but faltered, then gathered her courage. "Inside Hades, a spring flows on the right, and beside it grows a white cypress. Descending souls cool there, but you should pass on without drinking as the water contains forgetfulness. Further on, guardians will ask why you're wandering Hades. Tell them you are a daughter of both Earth and Uranus, desiccated with thirst, and wish cool water from th
e Lake of Recollection. Afterward, you'll come to a meadow, be stripped naked and judged wearing only life's deeds. Zeus appointed King Minos of Crete to hold court in this meadow, where the path branches to the Isle of the Blessed and Tartarus. Holding his golden sceptre, he scans your soul. Those who've suffered at the hands of the gods have been cured of evil deeds, and thus, go to Elysium. Those guilty of heinous crimes are past cure and sent to Tartarus. You needn't worry. You're headed for eternal oneness alongside the divine."
"How can you be sure?" said Melaina, grasping the golden broach of Arrogance. "I killed and beheaded a man in Asia."
"That was in war. Besides, you've abandoned bodily pleasures and devoted yourself to knowledge, afitted your soul with courage and selflessness. You're devoted to others and country. Look at all you've suffered for the sake of Hellas. I'd think your concern would be that you've lived so little, been cheated of a full life, not of where you're going."
"Oh, not so! Remember? Grandfather told me, I've been blessed with two fates. Kynthia at Brauron died that I might live a while longer. Before she stepped between the assassin and me, I saw my own death. Favored I've been, not cheated. Yet, it is with dire dread that I leave you, Mother. What happiness can I have even in the Elysian Fields without you?"
Myrrhine saw the muscles twitch in her daughter's cheeks. Melaina took a deep breath. Her hands trembled. "Oh Mother, I feel a tightness between the shoulders and hear ringing in my ears. Eyie! Sparks, fiery circles. Ah! They come!"
"Who, Melaina? What's happening?" Her daughter seemed to be looking through her to something beyond.
"First comes the dark lady, dread Persephone, though beautiful beyond words. Then comes dear Hermes, guide of souls, followed by Father, your husband. Aha! His hand has been restored. In the distance, I see Charon, death's ferryman, with his two-oared skiff lurking at the dock, his hand impatient upon the boatman's pole."
"Are you really leaving me?"
"Don't worry. Father will care for me. Though you live a long life, it will be as tomorrow you shall join us."
"Ah me! What'll I do without you?"
"One last thing. We owe a cock to Asklepios. Don't forget it." Melaina reached for the leather strap but couldn't grasp it, gave a strange cry. She fell backward as the bodyquake took hold, rent her legs stiff, and turned up the whites of her eyes.
Though she'd prepared herself, Myrrhine was shocked at the power, the ugliness of it. "Off!" she screamed, "the child is not yet yours." She searched the fold of Melaina's chiton and found the leather strap, forced it between her daughter's teeth although the struggle was fierce. Already, foam formed at the mouth's corners, and Melaina was slick with sweat. Her arms beat the ground as if they were drumsticks in the hands of some madman.
The shaking stopped, but Myrrhine knew it wasn't over. Melaina's eyes flitted back and forth, her limbs tensed. The seizure struck again. Melaina was beyond her help. Myrrhine turned her daughter loose and stepped back as the entire body was lifted from the ground, thrown about.
As quickly as it began, all was silent, still. Melaina was at rest, but breathless, lifeless. "Oh! Hermes, no!" Myrrhine screamed. "Don't take her. Mark her if you must. Cross an eye, wither a hand, but don't take Melaina from me."
Again the sickness seized Melaina's limp form, as if it were some god in the midst of a terrible rage. It shook her until Myrrhine thought the body would be dismembered.
"Leave her alone!" cried Myrrhine. "Can't you see she's dead?" Myrrhine wept, again took Melaina in her arms, her darling daughter, and prayed her not leave. "Already I yearn to stand in the light with you, but gone are all our times together."
Myrrhine fell on the neck of her dead daughter, wept her miserable heart out. "Would that on the day I heard of Kynegeiros' evil death, I'd straightway given up my own life and gone among the shades. Once I was admired among Eleusinian women. Now I'll pine away, ill-fated for love of you, my only child."
Then Myrrhine made a long, frantic appeal to Asklepios. "Divine healer! I know you possess blood from the Gorgon's right artery that heals the dead. Bring some swiftly for Melaina." Although she realized that Zeus had killed Asklepios because of such an act, still she argued her case. "Zeus is wrong to have allowed Melaina's death. Your healing act will be justified. Please! Asklepios, please!"
Myrrhine held tight to her daughter's limp frame, felt the warmth dissolve. She rose to her feet, stood over the body, and prayed long with one arm outstretched, palm upturned, the other fist clenched over her heart. She beseeched dear Hermes to be gentle with Melaina, to guide her swiftly to the Elysian Fields. She evoked Charon, Hades, told gracious Persephone how much Melaina loved her, begged her grace.
Just before dawn, one baby cried and woke the other. Myrrhine left her daughter covered with a blanket and went to care for the children but had nothing to quell hunger wails. She walked to the chicken coop. She witnessed the cocks' first crowing and carried home a warm-feathered rooster. At the slaughter stone before the sacred grotto, she lopped the head with an ax and let the rooster's black blood flow as its flapping wings created great gusts of dust in the temple. She stood with arms outstretched to the god but could find no words to propitiate him.
She returned.
Myrrhine checked Melaina again. Yes, she was dead. Reluctantly, ever so tenderly, Myrrhine closed her daughter's eyes, released her soul.
The Mysteries, A Novel of Ancient Eleusis Page 86