by Georg Ebers
CHAPTER XIX.
Night brought little sleep to Cleopatra. Memory followed memory, planwas added to plan. The resolve made the day before was the right one.To-day she would begin its execution. Whatever might happen, she wasprepared for every contingency.
Ere she went to her work she granted a second audience to the Romanenvoy. Timagenes exerted all his powers of eloquence, skill inpersuasion, wit, and ingenuity. He again promised to Cleopatra life andliberty, and to her children the throne; but when he insisted upon thesurrender or death of Mark Antony as the first condition of any furthernegotiations, Cleopatra remained steadfast, and the ambassador set forthon his way home without any pledge.
After he had gone, the Queen and Iras looked over the plans for the tombbrought by Gorgias, but the intense agitation of her soul distractedCleopatra's attention, and she begged him to come again at a later hour.When she was alone, she took out the letters which Caesar and Antony hadwritten to her. How acute, subtle, and tender were those of the former;how ardent, impassioned, yet sincere were those of the mighty and fieryorator, whose eloquence swept the listening multitudes with him, yetwhom her little hand had drawn wherever she desired!
Her heart throbbed faster when she thought of the meeting with Antony,now close at hand; for Charmian had gone with the Nubian to invite himto join her again. They had started several hours ago, and she awaitedtheir return with increasing impatience. She had summoned him for theirlast mutual battle. That he would come she did not doubt. But could shesucceed in rekindling his courage? Two persons so closely allied shouldsink and perish, still firmly united, in the final battle, if victorywas denied.
Archibius was now announced.
It soothed her merely to gaze into the faithful countenance, whichrecalled so many of her happiest memories.
She opened her whole soul to him without reserve, and he drew himselfup to his full height, as if restored to youth; while when she toldhim that she would never sully herself by treachery to her lover andhusband, and had resolved to die worthy of her name, the expression ofhis eyes revealed that she had chosen the right path.
Ere she had made the request that he should undertake the education andguidance of the children, he voluntarily proposed to devote his bestpowers to them. The plan of uniting Didymus's garden with the Lochiasand giving it to the little ones also met with his approval. His sisterhad already told him that Cleopatra had determined to build her tomb. Hehoped, he added, that its doors would not open to her for many years.
She shook her head sorrowfully, exclaiming "Would that I could readevery face as I do yours! My friend Archibius wishes me a long life, ifany one does; but he is as wise as he is faithful, and therefore willconsider that earthly life is by no means a boon in every case. Besides,he says to himself: 'Events are impending over this Queen and woman, myfriend, which will perhaps render it advisable to make use of the greatprivilege which the immortals bestow on human beings when it becomesdesirable for them to leave the stage of life. So let her build hertomb.' Have I read the old familiar book aright?"
"On the whole, yes," he answered gravely. "But it is inscribed upon itspages that a great princess and faithful mother can be permitted to setforth on the last journey, whence there is no return, only when--"
"When," she interrupted, "a shameful end threatens to fall upon the fairbeginning and brilliant middle period, as a swarm of locusts darkensthe air and devours and devastates the fields. I know it, and will actaccordingly."
"And," added Archibius, "this end also (faithful to your nature) youwill shape regally.--On my way here I met my sister near the Choma. Yousent her to your husband. He will grasp the proffered hand. Now that itis necessary to stake everything or surrender, the grandson of Herakleswill again display his former heroic power. Perhaps, stimulated andencouraged by the example of the woman he loves, he will even forcehostile Fate to show him fresh favour."
"Destiny will pursue its course," interrupted Cleopatra firmly. "ButAntony must help me to heap fresh obstacles in the pathway, and when hewishes to use his giant strength, what masses of rock his mighty arm canhurl!"
"And if your lofty spirit smooths the path for him, then, my royalmistress--"
"Even then the close of the tragedy will be death, and every scenea disappointment. Was not the plan of bringing the fleet across theisthmus bold and full of promise? Even the professional engineersgreeted it with applause, and yet it proved impracticable. Destinydug its grave. And the terrible omens before and after Actium, and thestars--the stars! Everything points to speedy destruction, everything!Every hour brings news of the desertion of some prince or general. Asif from a watch-tower, I now overlook what is growing from the seed Isowed. Sterile ears or poisonous vegetation, wherever I turn my eyes.And yet! You, who know my life from its beginning, tell me--must I veilmy head in shame when the question is asked, what powers of intellect,what talents industry, and desire for good Cleopatra displayed?"
"No, my royal mistress, a thousand times no!"
"Yet the fruit of every tree I planted degenerated and decayed.Caesarion is withering in the flower of his youth--by whose fault I knowonly too well. You will now take charge of the education of the otherchildren. So it is for you to consider what brought me where I nowstand, and how to guard their life-bark from wandering and shipwreck."
"Let me train them to be human beings," replied Archibius gravely, "andpreserve them from the desire to enter the lists with the gods. Fromthe simple Cleopatra in the garden of Epicurus, who was a delight tothe good and wise, you became the new Isis, to whom the multitude raisedhearts, eyes, and hands, dazzled and blinded. We will transfer thetwins, Helios and Selene, the sun and the moon, from heaven to earth;they must become mortals--Greeks. I will not transplant them to thegarden of Epicurus, but to another, where the air is more bracing. Theinscription on its portals shall not be, 'Here pleasure is the chiefgood,' but 'This is an arena for character.' He who leaves this gardenshall not owe to it the yearning for happiness and comfort, but animmovably steadfast moral discipline. Your children, like yourself,were born in the East, which loves what is monstrous, superhuman,exaggerated. If you entrust them to me, they must learn to governthemselves. At the helm stands moral earnestness, which, however, doesnot exclude the joyous cheerfulness natural to our people; the sailswill be trimmed by moderation, the noblest quality of the Greek nation."
"I understand," Cleopatra interrupted, with drooping head. "Interwovenwith the means of securing the children's welfare, you set before themother's eyes the qualities she has lacked. I know that long ago youabandoned the teachings of Epicurus and the Stoa, and with an earnestaim before your eyes sought your own paths. The tempest of life swept mefar away from the quiet garden where we sought the purest delight. NowI have learned to know the perils which threaten those who see the chiefgood in happiness. It stands too high for mortals, for in the changefulstir of life it remains unattainable, and yet it is too low an aimfor their struggles, for there are worthier objects. Yet one saying ofEpicurus we both believed, and it has always stood us in good stead:'Wisdom can obtain no more precious contribution to the happiness ofmortal life than the possession of friendship.'"
She held out her hand as she spoke, and while, deeply agitated, heraised it to his lips, she went on: "You know I am on the eve of thelast desperate battle--if the gods will--shoulder to shoulder withAntony. Therefore I shall not be permitted to watch your work ofeducation; yet I will aid it. When the children question you about theirmother, you will be obliged to restrain yourself from saying: 'Insteadof striving for the painless peace of mind, the noble pleasure ofEpicurus, which once seemed to her the highest good, she constantlypursued fleeting amusements. The Oriental recklessly squandered her oncenoble gifts of intellect and the wealth of her people, yielded to thehasty impulses of her passionate nature.' But you shall also say tothem: 'Your mother's heart was full of ardent love, she scorned what wasbase, strove for the highest goal, and when she fell, preferred death totreachery and disgrace.'"
"Let me see what they want," Archibius anxiously interrupted, hasteningto the door; but just at that moment the Introducer opened it, crying,"Mark Antony is approaching the Lochias, attended by half Alexandria!"
"The noble Imperator is returning!" fell from the bearded lips of thecommander of the guard, ere the courtier's words had died away; and evenwhile he spoke Iras pressed past him, shrieking as if half frantic: "Heis coming! He is here! I knew he would come! How they are shouting andcheering! Out with you, men! If you are willing, my royal mistress, wewill greet him from the balcony of Berenike. If we only had--"
"The twins--little Alexander!" interrupted Cleopatra, with blanched faceand faltering voice. "Put on their festal garments."
"Quick--the children, Zoe!" cried Iras, completing the order andclapping her hands. Then she turned to the Queen with the entreaty: "Becalm, my royal mistress, be calm, I beseech you. We have ample time.Here is the vulture crown of Isis, and here the other. Antony's slave,Eros, has just come in, panting for breath. The Imperator, he says, willappear as the new Dionysus. It would certainly please his master--thoughhe had not commissioned him to request it--if you greeted him as thenew Isis.--Help me, Hathor. Nephoris, tell the usher to see that thefan-bearers and the other attendants, women and men, are in theirplaces.--Here are the pearl and diamond necklaces for your throat andbosom. Take care of the robe. The transparent bombyx is as delicate asa cobweb, and if you tear it No, you must not refuse. We all know how itpleases him to see his goddess in divine majesty and beauty." Cleopatra,with glowing cheeks and throbbing heart, made no further objectionto donning the superb festal robe, strewn with glimmering pearls andglittering gems. It would have been more in harmony with her feelingsto meet the returning Antony in the plain, dark garb which, since herarrival at home, she had exchanged for a richer one only on festaloccasions; but Antony was coming as the new Dionysus, and Eros knew whatwould please his master.
Eight nimble hands, which were often aided by Iras's skilful fingers,toiled busily, and soon the latter could hold up the mirror beforeCleopatra, exclaiming from the very depths of her heart, "Like thefoam-born Aphrodite and the golden Hathor!"
Then Iras, who, in adorning her beloved mistress, had forgotten love,hate, and envy, and amid her eager haste barely found time for a brief,fervent prayer for a happy issue of this meeting, threw the broadfolding-doors as wide as if she were about to reveal to the worshippersin the temple the image of the god in the innermost sanctuary.
A long, echoing shout of surprise and delight greeted the Queen, for thecourtiers, hastily summoned, were already awaiting her without, from thegrey-haired epistolograph to the youngest page. Regally attired womenin her service raised the floating train of her cloak; others, insacerdotal robes, were testing the ease of movement of the rings on thesistrum rods, men and boys were forming into lines according to therank of each individual, and the chief fan-bearer gave the signal fordeparture. After a short walk through several halls and corridors, thetrain reached the first court-yard of the palace, and there ascendedthe few steps leading to the broad platform at the entrance-gate whichoverlooked the whole Bruchium and the Street of the King, down which theexpected hero would approach.
The distant uproar of the multitude had sounded threatening, but now,amid the deafening din, they could distinguish every shout of welcome,every joyous greeting, every expression of delight, surprise, applause,admiration, and homage, known to the Greek and Egyptian tongues.
Only the centre and end of the procession were visible. The head hadreached the Corner of the Muses, where, concealed by the old trees inthe garden, it moved on between the Temple of Isis and the land owned byDidymus. The end still extended to the Choma, whence it had started.
All Alexandria seemed to have joined it.
Men large and small, of high and low degree, old and young, the lame andthe crippled, mingled with the throng, sweeping onward among horses andcarriages, carts and beasts of burden, like a mountain torrent dashingwildly down to the valley. Here a loud shriek rang from an overturnedlitter, whose bearers had fallen. Yonder a child thrown to the groundscreamed shrilly, there a dog trodden under the feet of the crowd howledpiteously. So clear and resonant were the shouts of joy that they rosehigh above the flutes and tambourines, the cymbals and lutes of themusicians, who followed the man approaching in the robes of a god.
The head of the procession now passed beyond the Corner of the Muses andcame within view of the platform.
There could be no doubt to whom this ovation was given, for thereturning hero was in the van, high above all the other figures. Fromthe golden throne borne on the shoulders of twelve black slaves hewaved his long thyrsus in greeting to the exulting multitude. Before thebacchanalian train which accompanied him, and behind the musicians whofollowed, moved two elephants bearing between them, as a light burden,some unrecognizable object covered with a purple cloth. Now the columnhad passed between the pylons through the lofty gateway which separatedthe palace from the Street of the King, and stopped opposite to theplatform.
While officials, Scythians, and body-guards of all shades of complexion,on foot and on horseback, kept back the throng by force where friendlywarning did not avail, Cleopatra saw her lover descend from the throneand give a signal to the Indian slave who guided the elephants.The cloth was flung aside, revealing to the astonished eyes of thespectators a bouquet of flowers such as no Alexandrian had ever beheld.It consisted entirely of blossoming rose-bushes. The red flowers formeda circle in the centre, surrounded by a broad light garland of whiteones. The whole gigantic work rested like an egg in its cup in aholder of palm fronds which, as it were, framed it in graceful curvingoutlines. More than a thousand blossoms were united in this peerlessbouquet, and the singular gigantic gift was characteristic of its giver.
He advanced on foot to the platform, his figure towering above thebrown, light-hued, and black freedmen and slaves who followed as, on themonuments of the Pharaohs, the image of the sovereign dominates those ofthe subjects and foes.
He could look down upon the tallest men, and the width of his shoulderswas as remarkable as his colossal height. A long, gold-broidered purplemantle, floating to his ancles, increased his apparent stature. Powerfularms, with the swelling muscles of an athlete, were extended from hissleeveless robe towards the beloved Queen.
The well-formed head, thick dark hair, and magnificent beardcorresponded with the powerful figure. Formerly these locks had adornedthe head of the youth with the blue-black hue of the raven's plumage;now the threads of grey scattered abundantly through them wereconcealed by the aid of dye. A thick wreath of vine leaves rested on theImperator's brow, and leafy vine branches, to which clung several darkbunches of grapes, fell over his broad shoulders and down his back,which was covered like a cloak, not by a leopard-skin, but that of aroyal Indian tiger of great size--he had slain it himself in the arena.The head and pa
ws of the animal were gold, the eyes two magnificentsparkling sapphires. The clasp of the chain, by which the skinwas suspended, as well as that of the gold belt which circled theImperator's body above the hips, was covered with rubies and emeralds.The wide armlets above his elbows, the ornaments on his broad breast,nay, even his red morocco boots, glittered and flashed with gems.
Radiant magnificent as his former fortunes seemed the attire of thismighty fallen hero, who but yesterday had shrunk timidly and sadly fromthe eyes of his fellow-men. His features, too, were large, noble, andbeautiful in outline; but, though his pale cheeks were adorned withthe borrowed crimson of youth, half a century of the maddest pursuitof pleasure and the torturing excitement of the last few weeks had lefttraces only too visible; for the skin hung in loose bags beneath thelarge eyes; wrinkles furrowed his brow and radiated in slanting linesfrom the corners of his eyes across his temples.
Yet not one of those whom this bedizened man of fifty was approachingthought of seeing in him an aged, bedecked dandy; it was an instinct ofhis nature to surround himself with pomp and splendour and, moreover,his whole appearance was so instinct with power that scorn and mockeryshrank abashed before it.
How frank, gracious, and kindly was this man's face, how sincere theheart-felt emotion which sparkled in his eyes, still glowing with thefire of youth, at the sight of the woman from whom he had been so longparted! Every feature beamed with the most ardent tenderness for theroyal wife whom he was approaching, and the expression on the lips ofthe giant varied so swiftly from humble, sorrowful anguish of mind togratitude and delight, that even the hearts of his foes were touched.But when, pressing his hand on his broad breast, he advanced towards theQueen, bending so low that it seemed as if he would fain kiss her feet,when in fact the colossal figure did sink kneeling before her, andthe powerful arms were outstretched with fervent devotion like a childbeseeching help, the woman who had loved him throughout her wholelife with all the ardour of her passionate soul was overpowered bythe feeling that everything which stood between them, all their mutualoffences, had vanished. He saw the sunny smile that brightened herbeloved, ever-beautiful face, and then--then his own name reached hisears from the lips to which he owed the greatest bliss love had everoffered. At last, as if intoxicated by the tones of her voice, whichseemed to him more musical than the songs of the Muses; half smiling atthe jest which, even in the most serious earnest, he could not abandon;half moved to the depths of his soul by the power of his newly awakeninghappiness after such sore sorrow, he pointed to the gigantic bouquet,which three slaves had lifted down from the elephant and were bearing tothe Queen. Cleopatra, too, was overwhelmed with emotion.
This floral gift imitated, on an immense scale, the little bouquet whichthe famous young general had taken from her father's hand before thegate of the garden of Epicurus to present to her as his first gift. Thathad also been composed of red roses, surrounded by white ones. Insteadof palm fronds, it had been encircled only by fern leaves. This wasone of the beautiful offerings which Antony's gracious nature so wellunderstood how to choose. The bouquet was a symbol of the unprecedentedgenerosity natural to this large-minded man. No magic goblet hadcompelled him to approach her thus and with such homage. Nothing hadconstrained him, save his overflowing heart, his constant, fadelesslove.
As if restored to youth, transported by some magic spell to the happydays of early girlhood, she forgot her royal dignity and the hundredsof eyes which rested upon him as if spell-bound; and, obedient to anirresistible impulse of the heart, she sank upon the broad, heavingbreast of the kneeling hero. Laughing joyously in the clear, silverytones which are usually heard only in youth, he clasped her in hisstrong arms, raised her slender figure in its floating royal mantlefrom the ground, kissed her lips and eyes, held her aloft in the soaringattitude of the Goddess of Victory, as if to display his happiness tothe eyes of all, and at last placed her carefully on her feet again likesome treasured jewel.
Then, turning to the children, who were waiting at their mother's side,he lifted first little Alexander, then the twins, to kiss them; and,while holding Helios and Selene in his arms, as if the joy of seeingthem again had banished their weight, the shouts which had arisen whenthe Queen sank on his breast again burst forth.
The ancient walls of the Lochias palace had never heard suchacclamations. They passed from lip to lip, from hundreds to hundredsand, though those more distant did not know the cause, they joined inthe shouts. Along the whole vast stretch from the Lochias to the Chomathe cheers rang out like a single, heart-stirring, inseparable cry,echoing across the harbour, the ships lying at anchor, the toweringmasts, to the cliff amid the sea where Barine was nursing her new-madehusband.