Der Kaiser. English

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by Georg Ebers


  CHAPTER XVIII.

  Selene and Helios were baptized, and two days after dame Hannah withher adopted children and Mary, escorted by the presbyter Hilarion anda deacon, embarked in the harbor of Mareotis on board a Nile-boat whichwas to convey them to their new home, the town of Besa in Upper Egypt.The deformed girl had hesitated as to her answer to the widow's questionwhether she would accompany her. Her old mother dwelt in Alexandria, andthen--but it was this "then" which helped her abruptly to cut shortall reflection and to pronounce a decided "yes," for it referred toAntinous.

  For a few minutes it had seemed unendurable to think that she shouldnever see him again, for she could not help often thinking of thebeautiful youth, and her whole heart ought to belong solely to the Onewho had with His blood purchased peace for her on earth and bliss in theworld to come.

  The day after being baptized, Selene had gone to Paulina's town-house,and there, with many tears had taken leave of Arsinoe. All the affectionwhich bound the sisters together found expression at this moment ofparting. Selene had heard from Paulina that Pollux was dead, and sheno longer grudged her rival sister that she grieved for him morepassionately than herself, though at first her peace of mind had morethan once been disturbed by memories of her old playfellow.

  She felt it hard to leave Alexandria, where most of her brothers andsisters were left behind, and yet she rejoiced to think of a distanthome, for she was no longer the same creature that she had been a fewmonths since, and she longed for a remote scene of a new and sanctifiedlife.

  Eumenes and Hannah were in the right. It was not the widow but thelittle blind boy who had won her to Christianity. The child's influencehad proceeded in a strange course. In the first instance the promises ofthe slave Master that Helios should some day meet his father again in ashining realm among beautiful angels had a powerful effect on the blindchild's tender heart and vivid imagination. In Hannah's house his hopeshad received fresh nurture, and Mary and the widow told him much abouttheir kind and loving God and His Son who loved children and had invitedthem to come to Him. When Selene began to recover and he was permittedto talk to her he poured out to her all his delight at what he had heardfrom the women. At first, to be sure, his sister took no pleasure inthese fanciful fables and tried to shake his belief and lead backhis heart to the old gods. But while she tried to guide the child, bydegrees she felt compelled to follow in his path; at first with waveringsteps, but dame Hannah helped her by her example and with many wordsof good counsel. She only taught her doctrine when the girl asked herquestions and begged for information. All that here surrounded Selenebreathed of love and peace, and the child felt this, spoke of it, forcedher to acknowledge it, and, in his own person, was the first object onwhich to exercise a wish hitherto unknown to her, to be herself lovingand lovable. The boy's firm faith, which was not to be shaken by anyreasoning or by any of the myths which she knew, touched her deeply andled to her asking Hannah what was the real bearing of one and another ofhis statements. It had always seemed a comfort to her that the miseriesof our earthly life would come to an end with death; but Helios left herwithout a reply when he said in a sad voice:

  "Do you feel no longing, then, to see our father and mother again?"

  To see her mother again! This thought gave her an interest in the nextworld, and dame Hannah fanned the spark of hope in her soul into flame.

  Selene had seen and suffered much misery, and was accustomed to call thegods cruel. Helios told her that God and the Saviour were good and kind,and loved human beings as their children.

  "Is it not good and kind," asked he, "of our Heavenly Father to lead usto dame Hannah?"

  "Yes, but we have all been torn apart," said Selene. "Never mind," saidthe child confidently, "we shall all meet in Heaven."

  As she got well Selene asked after each of the children and Hannahdescribed all the families into which they had been received. The widowdid not look as if she spoke falsely, and the little ones, when theycame to see her, confirmed her report, and yet Selene could hardlybelieve in the accuracy of the pictures drawn of their lives in thehouses of the Christians.

  The mother of a Christian family--says a great Christian teacher--shouldbe the pride of her children, the wife the pride of her husband, husbandand children the pride of the wife, and God the pride and glory of everymember of the household. Love and faith in fact the bond, contentmentand virtuous living the law of the family; and it was in just such apure and beneficent atmosphere, as Selene herself and Helios felt theblessing of in Hannah's house, that each and all of her brothers andsisters were growing up. Her upright sense gave an honest answer whenshe asked herself what would have become of them all if her father hadremained alive and had been dispossessed of his office? They must allhave perished in misery and degradation.

  And now?--Perhaps in truth the Divine Being had dealt in kindness withthe children.

  Love, love, and again love, was breathed from all she saw and heard, andyet--was it not love that had caused her greatest sorrows. Whereforehad it been her lot to endure so much through the same sentiment whichbeautified life to others? Had any one ever had more to suffer thanshe? Aye indeed! A vivacious, eager youth had duped her and had promisedhappiness to her sister instead of to her; it had been hard to bear--andyet, the Saviour of whom Hellos had told her, had been far more severelytried. Mankind, for whom He--the Son of God--had come down upon earth,to save from misery and guilt, had rewarded His loving kindness byhanging Him on the cross. In Him she could see a companion in sufferingand she asked the widow to tell her all about Him. Selene had mademany sacrifices to her family--she could never forget her walk to thepapyrus-factory--but He had let them mock Him and had shed His bloodfor His own. And who was she?--and who was He? The Son of God. His imagebecame dear to her; she was never weary of hearing about His life andfate, His words and deeds; and without her observing it the day camewhen her soul was free to receive the teaching of Christ with ferventlonging. With faith she acquired that consciousness of guilt which hadpreviously been unknown to her. She had been busy and industrious outof pride and fear, but never from love; she had selfishly tried to flingfrom her the sacred gift of life without ever thinking what would becomeof those whom it was her duty to care for. She had cursed her lovelysister who needed her protection and care, and even Pollux, herchildhood's playfellow; and a thousand times had she imprecated theruler of human destinies. All this she now keenly felt with all theearnestness natural to her, but she was soothed by the tidings thatthere was One who had redeemed the world, and taken on Himself the sinsof every repentant sinner.

  After Selene had once expressed to the widow her desire to be aChristian, Hannah brought the bishop to see her. He himself undertook toinstruct the girl and he found in her a disciple anxious and craving forknowledge. Just like those dried-up and dull-colored plants which,when they are plunged in water, open out and revive, so did her heart,untimely withered and dry; and she longed to be perfectly recoveredthat she, like Hannah, might tend the sick and exercise that love whichChrist demands of His followers. That which most particularly appealedto her in her new faith was that it did not promise joys to the richwho could make great sacrifices, but to the miserable sinner who with acontrite heart yearned for forgiveness, to the poor and abject, towardswhom she felt as though they belonged to the same family as herself. Andher valiant spirit could not be satisfied with intentions but longedto act upon them. In Besa she could set to work with Hannah, and thisprospect lightened her grief in quitting Alexandria.

  A favoring wind bore the voyagers southward safe to their destination.

  Two days after their departure Antinous once more stole into Paulina'sgarden. He went up to the widow's little house looking in vain for thedeformed girl; the road was open; her absence could but be pleasingto him, and yet it disquieted him. His heart beat wildly, forto-day--perhaps he might find Selene alone. He opened the door withoutknocking, but he dared not cross the threshold, for in the anteroomstood a strange man, placing boards against the
wall. The carpenter, aChristian to whom Paulina had given this little house for his family tolive in, asked Antinous what he wanted.

  "Is dame Hannah at home?" stammered the Bithynian.

  "She no longer lives here."

  "And her adopted daughter, Selene?"

  "She is gone with her into Upper Egypt. Have you any message for her?"

  "No," said the lad, quite confounded.

  "When did they go?"

  "The day before yesterday."

  "And they are not coming back."

  "For the next few years, certainly not. Later may be, if it is theLord's pleasure."

  Antinous left the garden by the public gate, unmolested. He was verypale, and he felt like a wanderer in the desert who finds the springchoked where he had hoped to find a refreshing draught.

  Next day, at the first moment he could dispose of, Antinous againknocked at the carpenter's door to inquire in what town of Upper Egyptthe travellers proposed to settle and the artisan told him frankly, "InBesa."

  Antinous had always been a dreamer, but Hadrian had never seen him solistless, so vaguely brooding as in these days. When he tried to rousehim and spur him to greater energy his favorite would look at himbeseechingly, and though he made every effort to be of use to him andto show him a cheerful countenance it was always with but brief success.Even on the hunting excursions into the Libyan desert which the Emperorfrequently made, Antinous remained apathetic and indifferent to thepleasures of the sport to which he had formerly devoted himself withenjoyment and skill.

  The Emperor had remained in Alexandria longer than in any other place,and was weary of festivities and banquets, of the wordy war with thephilosophers of the Museum, of conversing with the ecstatic mystics, thesoothsayers; astrologers and empirics with whom the place swarmed. Andthe short audiences which he accorded to the heads of the differentreligious communities, and the inspection of the factories and workshopsof this centre of industry, began to annoy him. One day he announced hisintention of visiting the southern provinces of the Nile valley.

  The high-priests of the native Egyptian faith had craved this favorof him, and he was prompted, not only by his love of information andpassion for travelling, but also by considerations of state-craft, togratify this desire of a hierarchy which was extremely influential inthose rich and important provinces. The prospect of seeing with hisown eyes those marvels of Pharaonic times which attracted so manytravellers, was also an incitement, and his good spirits rose as soon ashe observed what a reviving effect his determination to visit southernEgypt had upon Antinous.

  His favorite had for the last few weeks expressed not the smallestpleasure at any single thing. The homage paid him no less by theAlexandrian than by the Roman ladies of rank sickened him. At banquetshe sat a silent guest whose neighborhood could not add to anybody'spleasure, and even the most brilliant and exciting exhibitions in theCircus and the best contests and races in the Hippodrome had hardlysufficed to attract his gaze. Formerly he had been an eager andattentive spectator of the plays of Menander and of his imitators,Alexis, Apollodorus and Posidippus; but now when they were performed hestared into vacancy and thought of Selene. The prospect of going tothe place where she was living excited him powerfully and revived hisdrooping courage for life. He could hope once more, and to the man whosees light shining in the future the present is no longer dark.

  Hadrian rejoiced in this change in the lad and hastened the preparationsfor their departure; still, some months passed before he could begin hisjourney.

  In the first place he had to provide for newly colonizing Libya, whichhad been depopulated by a revolt of the Jews. Then he had to come toa determination as to certain new post-roads which were to connect thedifferent parts of the empire more nearly, and finally he had to awaitthe formal assent of the Roman Senate to some new resolutions concerningthe hereditary reversion of conferred free-citizenship. This assentwas, no doubt a matter of course, but the Emperor never issued an edictwithout it, and he was very desirous that his decree should come intooperation as soon as possible.

  In the course of his visits to the Museum the sovereign had informedhimself as to the position of the several members of that institution,and he was occupied in making certain regulations which should relievethem of the more sordid cares of life; the condition of the agedteachers and educators of the young had also attracted his observation,and he had endeavored to improve it.

  When Sabina represented to him what a large outlay these new measureswould entail, he replied:

  "We do not allow the veterans to perish who placed their lives, andlimbs at the service of the state. Why then should those who serve itwith their intellect be burdened with petty cares? Which should we rankthe higher, power and poverty or mental wealth? The harder I--as thesovereign--find it to answer the question the more positively do I feelit to be my duty to mete out the same measure to all veterans alike,whether officials, warriors or instructors."

  The Alexandrians themselves detained him too by a succession of new actsof homage. They raised him to the rank of a divinity, dedicated a templeto him, and instituted a series of new festivals in his honor; partlyno doubt to win his partiality for their city and to express theirpride and satisfaction in his long stay there, but also because thepleasure-loving community was glad to seize this opportunity as afavorable one for gratifying their own inclinations and revelling inmere unusual enjoyment. Thus the Imperial visit swallowed up millions,and Hadrian, who enquired into every detail and contrived to obtaininformation as to the sums expended by the city, blamed the recklessnessof his lavish entertainers. He wrote afterwards to his brother-in-law,Servianus, his fullest recognition of both the wealth and the industryof Alexandrians, saying, with terms of praise, that among them not onewas idle. One made glass, another papyrus, another linen; and each ofthese restless mortals, said he, is busied in some handiwork. Eventhe lame, the blind and the maimed here sought and found employment.Nevertheless he calls the Alexandrians a contumacious andgood-for-nothing community, with sharp and evil tongues that had sparedneither Verus nor Antinous. Jews, Christians, and the votaries ofSerapis, he adds in the same letter, serve but one God instead of thedivinities of Olympus, and when he asserts of the Christians that theyeven worshipped Serapis he means to say that they were persuaded ofthe doctrine of the survival of the soul after death. The dispute as towhich temple should be assigned as the residence of the newly-found Apisgave Hadrian much to do. From time immemorial this sacred bull had beenkept in the temple of Ptah at Memphis, but this venerable city of thePyramids had been outstripped by Alexandria, and the temple of Serapisoutvied that at Memphis in the province of Sokari, tenfold in size andin magnificence. The Egyptians of Alexandria, who dwelt in the quartercalled Rhakotis, close to the Serapeum, desired to have the incarnationof the god in the form of a bull, in their midst; but the Memphiteswould not abandon their old prescriptive rights, and the Emperorhad found it far from easy to guide the contest, which proved a veryexciting one to all parties, to a satisfactory issue. Memphis had itsApis, and the Serapeum was indemnified by certain endowments which hadformerly been granted to the temple at Memphis.

  At last, in June, the Emperor could set out. He wished to traverse theprovince on foot and on horseback, and Sabina was to follow by boat assoon as the inundation should begin.

  The Empress would gladly have returned to Rome or to Tibur, for Verushad been obliged to quit Egypt by the orders of the physician as soon asthe summer heat had set in. He departed with his wife, as the son ofthe Imperial couple, but no word on Hadrian's part had justified him inhoping confidently to be nominated as his successor to the sovereignty.

  The handsome rake's unlimited dissipations were severely checked by hissufferings, but not altogether prevented, and on his return to Rome hecontinued to indulge in all the pleasures of life. Hadrian's hesitationand reluctance often disquieted him, for that imperial Sphinx had,only too frequently, given the most unexpected solutions to hismystifications. But the fatal end with which he ha
d been threatenedcaused him small anxiety; nay, Ben Jochai's prediction rather promptedhim to enjoy to the utmost every hour of health and ease that Fate mightstill allow him.

 

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