CHAPTER XIV.
Hadrian had slept most comfortably; only a few hours it is true, butthey had sufficed to refresh his spirit. He was now in his sitting-roomand had gone to the window, which took up more than half the extent ofthe long west wall of the room, and opened on the sea. The wide opening,which extended downwards to within a few spans of the floor, wasfinished at either side by a tall pillar of fine reddish-brown porphyry,flecked with white, and crowned with gilt Corinthian capitals.
Against one of these the Emperor was leaning stroking the blood-hound,whose prompt and vigorous watchfulness had pleased him greatly. What didhe care for the terrors the dog might have caused a mere girl?
By the other pillar stood Antinous; he had placed his right foot on thelow window-sill, and with his chin resting on his hand and his elbow onhis knee, his figure was well within the room.
"This, Pontius, is really a first-rate man," said Hadrian, pointing toa tapestry hanging across the narrow end of the room. "This hangingwas copied from a fruit-piece that I painted some time since, and hadexecuted here in mosaic. Yesterday this room was not even intended formy use, thus the hanging must have been put up between our arrival andthis morning. And how many other beautiful things I see around me! Thewhole place looks habitable, and the eye finds an abundance of objectson which it can rest with pleasure."
"Have you examined that magnificent cushion?" asked Antinous; "and thebronze figures, there in the corner, look to me far from bad."
"They are admirable works," said Hadrian. "Still, I would do withoutthem with pleasure rather than miss this window. Which is the bluer, thesky or the sea? And what a delicious spring breeze fans us here, in themiddle of December. Which are the more delightful to contemplate, theinnumerable ships in the harbor, which communicate between this floweryland and other countries, and bless it with wealth, or the buildingswhich attract the eye in whichever direction it turns. It is difficultto know whether most to admire their stately dimensions or the beauty oftheir forms."
"And what is that long, huge dyke, which connects the island with themainland? Only look! There is a huge trireme passing under one of thewide arches, on which it is supported--and there comes another."
"That is the great viaduct, called by the Alexandrians the Heptastadion,because it is said to be seven stadia in length; and in the upperportion it carries a stone water-course--as an elder tree has in it avein of pith-which supplies water to the island of Pharos."
"What a pity it is," said Antinous, "that we cannot overlook from herethe whole of the structure with the men and the vehicles that swarm uponit like busy ants. That little island and the narrow tongue of land thatruns out into the harbor with the tall slender building at the end ofit, half hide it."
"But they serve to vary the picture," replied the Emperor. "Cleopatraoften dwelt in the little castle on the island with its harbor, and inthat tall tower on the northern side of the peninsula, round which, justnow, the blue waves are playing, while the gulls and pigeons fly happilyover it--there Antony retreated after the fight of Actium."
"To forget his disgrace!" exclaimed Antinous.
"He named it his Timonareum, because he hoped there to remain unmolestedby other human beings, like the wise misanthrope of Athens. How would itbe if I called Lochias my Timonareum?"
"No man need try to hide fame and greatness."
"Who told you that it was shame that led Antony to hide himself in thatplace?" asked the imperial sophist; "he proved often enough, at the headof his cavalry, that he was a brave soldier; and though at Actium, whenall was still going well, he let his ship be turned, it was out of nofear of swords and spears, but because Fate compelled him to subjugatehis strong will to the wishes of a woman with whose destiny his waslinked."
"Then do you excuse his conduct?"
"I only seek to account for it, and never, for a moment, could allowmyself to believe that shame ever prompted a single act in Antony. I--doyou suppose I could ever blush? Nay, we cease to feel shame when we havelived to feel such profound contempt for the world."
"But why then should Marc Antony have shut himself up, in yondersea-washed prison?"
"Because, to every true man, who has dissipated whole years of hislife with women, jesters and flatterers, a moment comes of satiety andloathing. In such an hour he feels that of all the men under the lightsof heaven, he, himself, is the only one with whom it is worth his whileto commune. After Actium, this was what Antony felt, and he quitted thesociety of men in order to find himself for once in good company."
"It is that, no doubt, which drives you now and again into solitude."
"No doubt-but you are always allowed to follow me."
"Then you regard me as better than others," exclaimed Antinous joyfully.
"As more beautiful at any rate," replied Hadrian kindly. "Ask me somemore questions."
But Antinous needed a few minutes pause before he could comply with thisdesire. At last he recollected himself and proceeded to inquire why mostof the vessels were moored in the harbor beyond the Heptastadion, knownas Eunostus. The entrance there was less dangerous than that betweenthe Pharos and the point of Lochias which led into the easternlanding-places. And then Hadrian could give him information as to everybuilding in the city about which his companion evinced any curiosity.But when the Emperor had pointed out the Soma, under which rested theremains of Alexander the Great, he became thoughtful, and said, as if tohimself:
"The Great--We may well envy the young Macedonian; not the mere name ofGreat, for many of small worth have had it bestowed on them, but becausehe really earned it!"
There was not a question put by the handsome Bithynian that Hadriancould not answer; Antinous followed all his explanations with growingastonishment, exclaiming at last:
"How perfectly well you know this place--and yet you never were herebefore."
"It is one of the greatest pleasures of travelling," replied Hadrian,"that on our journeys we come to know many things in their actuality ofwhich we have formed an idea from books and narratives. This requires usto compare the reality with the pictures in our own minds, seen withthe inward eye, before we saw the reality. It is to me a far smallerpleasure to be surprised by something new and unexpected than tomake myself more closely acquainted with something I know alreadysufficiently to deem it worthy to be known better. Do you understandwhat I mean?"
"To be sure I do. We hear of a thing, and when we afterwards see itwe ask ourselves whether we have conceived of it rightly. But I alwayspicture people or places which I hear much praised, as much morebeautiful than I ever find the reality."
"The balance of difference, which is to the disadvantage of reality,"answered Hadrian, "stands not so much to its discredit, as to the creditof the eager and beautifying power of your youthful imagination. I--I--"and the Emperor stroked his beard and gazed out into the distance. "Ilearn by experience that the older I grow, the more often I find itpossible so to imagine men, places, and things that I have not seen asthat when I meet them in real life for the first time, I feel justifiedin fancying that I have known them long since, visited them, and beheldthem with my bodily eyes. Here, for instance, I feel as if I saw nothingnew, but only gazed once more at what has long been familiar. But thatis no wonder, for I know my Strabo, and have heard and read a hundredaccounts of this city. Still there are many things which are quitestrange to me, and yet as they come before me make me feel as if I hadseen or known them long ago."
"I have felt something like that," said Antinous. "Can our souls haveever lived in other bodies, and sometimes recall the impressions made inthat former existence?
"Favorinus once told me that some great philosopher, Plato, I think,asserts that before we are born our souls are wafted about in thefirmament that they may contemplate the earth on which they are destinedsubsequently to dwell. Favorinus says too--"
"Favorinus!" cried Hadrian, evasively. "That graceful elocutionist hasplenty of skill in giving new and captivating forms to the thoughts ofthe great philos
ophers; but he has not been able to surprise the secretof his own soul--besides, he talks too much, and he cannot dispense withthe excitement of life."
"Still you have recognized the phenomenon, but you disapprove ofFavorinus' explanation of it?"
"Yes, for I have met men and things as old acquaintances which never sawthe light till long after I was born. Possibly my own interpretation maynot adapt itself to the consciousness of all--but in myself, I know forcertain, there dwells a mysterious something which stirs and works in meindependently of myself, which enters into me, and takes its departureat its will. Call it as you will, my Daimon, or even my Genius--the namematters not. Nor will this 'something' always come at my bidding, whileit often possesses me when I least expect it. In those moments when itstirs within me, I am master of much which is peculiar to the experienceand potentiality of that hour. What is known to that Daimon alwaysappears to me the very same when I actually meet it. Thus Alexandria isnot unknown to me, because my Genius has seen it in his flights. It haslearnt and done much, both in me and for me; a hundred times, face toface with my own finished works I have asked myself: 'Is it possiblethat you--Hadrian--your mother's son-can have achieved this? What thenis the mysterious power that aided you to do it?' Now I also recognizeit, and can see it work in others. The man in whom it dwells soon excelshis fellows, and it is most manifest in artists. Or is it that merecommon men become great artists simply because the Genius selects themas his temple to dwell in? Do you follow me, boy?"
"Not altogether," replied Antinous, and his large eyes which hadsparkled brightly so long as he gazed with the Emperor on the city, werenow cast down and fixed wearily on the ground. "Do not be angry with me,my Lord, but I shall never understand such things as these, for there isno man with whom your Genius, as you term it, has less concern than withme. Thoughts of my own have I none, and it is difficult to me to followthe thoughts of others; indeed I should like to know how I am ever todo anything right. When I want to work, to work something out, no Daimonhelps my soul; no--it feels quite helpless, and drifts into dreaminess.And if I ever do complete anything, I am obliged to own to myself that Icertainly might have been able to do it better."
"Self-knowledge," laughed Hadrian, "is the climax of wisdom. A man hasdone something if he has only added a 'thing of beauty' to the joys ofa friend's imagination; what others do by hard work you do by mereexistence. Be quiet, Argus!" For, while he was speaking, the houndhad risen, and had gone snarling to the door. In spite of his master'sorders he broke into a loud bark when he heard a steady knock atthe door. Hadrian looked round in bewilderment, and asked: "Where isMastor?"
Antinous shouted the slave's name into the Emperor's bedroom, which wasnext to the living-room, but in vain. "He generally is always at hand,and as brisk as a lark, but to-day he looked as if in a dream, and whilehe was dressing me he first let my shoe fall out of his hand and then mybrooch."
"I read him yesterday a letter from Rome. His young wife has gone awaywith a ship's captain."
"We may wish him joy of being free again."
"It does not seem to afford him any satisfaction."
"Oh! a handsome lad like my body-slave can find as many substitutes ashe likes."
"But he has not done so. For the present he is still smarting under hisloss."
"How wise! There, some one is knocking again. Just see who ventures--butto be sure any one has a right to knock, for at Lochias I am not theEmperor, but a simple private gentleman. Lie down Argus, are you crazy,old fellow? Why the dog maintains my dignity better than I do, and hedoes not seem altogether to like the architect's part I am playing."
Antinous had already raised his hand to lift the handle, when the doorwas gently opened from outside, and the steward's slave stood on thethreshold. The old negro presented a lamentable spectacle. The Emperor'sdignified and awe-compelling figure, and his favorite's rich garmentsmade him feel embarrassed, and the hound's threatening growl filled himwith such terror that he huddled his lean negro-legs together, and, asfar as its length would allow, tried to cover them for protection withhis threadbare tunic.
Hadrian gazed in astonishment at this image of fear, and then asked:
"Well! what do you want, fellow?"
The slave attempted to advance a step or two, but at a loud commandfrom Hadrian he stood still, and as he looked down at his flat feet, heruefully scratched his short-cropped grey hair, some of which had fallenoff and left a bald patch.
"Well," repeated Hadrian, in a tone which was anything rather thanencouraging, as he relaxed his hold on the hound's collar in a somewhatsuspicious manner. The slave's bent knees began to quake, and holdingout his broad palm to the grey-bearded gentleman, who seemed tohim hardly less alarming than the dog, he began to stammer out infearfully-mutilated Greek the speech which his master had repeatedto him several times, and which set forth that he had come "into thepresence of the architect, Claudius Venator, of Rome, to announce thevisit of his master, a member of the town-council, a Macedonian, and aRoman citizen, Keraunus, the son of Ptolemy, steward of the once royalbut now imperial palace at Lochias."
Hadrian unrelentingly allowed the poor wretch to finish his speech,rubbing his hands with amusement, while the sweat of anguish stood onthe old slave's face, and to prolong the delightful joke, he took goodcare not to help the miserable old man when his unaccustomed tongue cameto some insuperable difficulty. When, at length, the negro had finishedthe pompous announcement, Hadrian said, kindly:
"Tell your master he may come in."
Scarcely had the slave left the room, when the sovereign, turning to hisfavorite, exclaimed:
"This is a delicious joke! What will the Jupiter be like, when the eagleis such a bird as this!"
Keraunus was not long to wait for. While pacing up and down the passageoutside the Emperor's room, his bad humor had risen considerably, for hetook it as a slight on the part of the architect, that he should allowhim--whose birth and dignities he would have learnt from his slave--towait several minutes, each of which seemed to him a quarter of an hour.His expectation too, that the Roman would come to conduct him in personinto his apartment was by no means fulfilled, for the slave's messagewas briefly--"He may come in."
"Did he say may? Did he not say 'please to come in, or have the goodnessto come in?'" asked the steward.
"He may come in--was what he said," replied the slave.
Keraunus grunted out, "Well!" set his gold circlet straight on his headwhich he held very upright, crossed his arms over his broad chest with asigh, and ordered the black man:
"Open the door."
The steward crossed the threshold with much dignity: then, not to commitany breach of courtesy, he bowed low, and was about to begin to utterhis reprimand in cutting terms, when a glance at the Emperor and at thesplendid decoration which the room had undergone since the day previous,not to mention the very unpleasant growling of the big dog, prompted himto strike a milder string. His slave had followed him and had sought asafe corner near the door, between the wall of the room and a couch, buthe himself, conquering his alarm at the dog, went forward some distanceinto the room. The Emperor had seated himself on the window-sill; hepressed his foot lightly on the head of the dog, and gazed at Keraunusas at some remarkable curiosity. His eye thus met that of the stewardand made him clearly understand that he had to do with a greaterpersonage than he had expected. There was something imposing in theperson of the man who sat before him; for this very reason, however,his pride stood on tiptoe, and he asked in a tone of swaggering dignity,though not so sharply and abruptly as he had intended.
"Am I standing before the new visitor to Lochias, the architect ClaudiusVenator of Rome?"
"You are--standing--" replied the Emperor, with a roguish side glance atAntinous.
"You have met with a friendly reception to this palace. Like my fathers,who have enjoyed the stewardship of it for centuries, I know how toexercise the sacred duties of hospitality."
"I am surprised to hear of the high antiquit
y of your family and bowto your pious sentiments," answered Hadrian, in the same tone as thesteward. "What farther may I learn from you?"
"I did not come here to relate history," said Keraunus, whose gall roseas he thought he detected a mocking smile on the stranger's lips. "Idid not come here to tell stories, but to complain that you, as awarmly-welcomed guest, show so little anxiety to protect your host frominjury."
"How is that?" asked Hadrian, rising from his seat and signing toAntinous to hold back the hound, which manifested a peculiar aversionto the steward. It no doubt detected that he had come to show no specialfriendliness to his owner.
"Is that dangerous dog, gnashing its teeth there, your property?" askedKeraunus.
"Yes."
"This morning it threw down my daughter and smashed a costly pitcher,which she is fond of carrying to fetch water in the dawn."
"I heard of that misadventure," said Hadrian, "and I would give much ifI could undo it. The vessel shall be amply made good to you."
"I beg you not to add insult to the injury, we have suffered by yourfault. A father whose daughter has been knocked down and hurt--"
"Then, Argus actually bit her?" cried Antinous, horrified.
"No," Keraunus replied. "But as she fell her head and foot have beeninjured, and she is suffering much pain."
"That is very sad," said Hadrian, "and as I am not ignorant of thehealing art, I will gladly try to help the poor girl."
"I pay a professional leech, who attends me and mine," replied thesteward, in a repellant tone, "and I came hither to request--or, to befrank with you--to require--"
"What?"
"First, that my pardon shall be asked."
"That, the artist, Claudius Venator, is always ready to do when anyone has suffered damage by his fault. What has happened--I repeatit--grieves me sincerely, and I beg you tell the maiden to whom theaccident happened, that her pain is mine. What more do you desire?"
The steward's features had calmed down at these last words, and heanswered with less excitement than before:
"I must request you to chain up your dog, or to shut it up, or in someway to keep it from mischief."
"That is pretty strong!" cried the Emperor.
"It is only a reasonable demand, and I must stand by it," repliedKeraunus decidedly. "Neither I--nor my children's lives are safe, solong as this wild beast is prowling about at pleasure."
Hadrian had, ere now, erected monuments to deceased favorites, both dogsand horses, and his faithful Argus was no less dear to him, than otherfour-footed companions have been to other childless men; hence thequeer fat man's demand seemed to him so audacious and monstrous, that heindignantly exclaimed:
"Folly!--the dog shall be watched, but nothing farther."
"You will chain him up," replied Keraunus, with an angry, glare, "orsomeone will be found who will make him harmless forever."
"That will be an evil attempt for the cowardly murderer!" cried Hadrian."Eh! Argus, what do you think?"
At these words the dog drew himself up, and would have sprung at thesteward's throat if his master and Antinous had not held him back.
Keraunus felt that the dog had threatened him, but at this instant hewould have let himself be torn by him without wincing, so completely washe overmastered by the fury born of his injured pride.
"And am I--I too, to be hunted down by a dog, in this house?" he crieddefiantly, setting his left fist on his hip. "Every thing has itslimits, and so has my patience with a guest who, in spite of his ripeage forgets due consideration. I will inform the prefect Titianus ofyour proceedings here, and when the Emperor arrives he shall know--"
"What?" laughed Hadrian.
"The way you behave to me."
"Till then the dog shall stay where it is, and really under duerestraint. But I can tell you man, that Hadrian is as much a friend ofdogs as I am--and fonder of me than even of dogs."
"We will see," growled Keraunus, "I or the dog!"
"I am afraid it will be the dog then."
"And Rome will see a fresh revolt," cried Keraunus, rolling his eyes."You took Egypt from the Ptolemies."
"And with very good reason--besides that is a stale old story."
"Justice is never stale, like a bad debt."
"At any rate it perishes with persons it concerns; there have been noLagides left here--how many years?"
"So you believe, because it suits your ends to believe it," repliedthe steward. "In the man who stands before you flows the blood of theMacedonian rulers of this country. My eldest son bears the name ofPtolemaeus Helios--that borne by the last of the Lagides, who perishedas you pretend."
"Dear, good, blind Helios!" interrupted the black slave; for he wasaccustomed to avail himself of the hapless child's name as a protection,when Keraunus was in a doubtful humor.
"Then the last descendant of the Ptolemies is blind!" laughed theEmperor. "Rome may ignore his claims. But I will inform the Emperor howdangerous a pretender this roof yet harbors."
"Denounce me, accuse me, calumniate me!" cried the steward,contemptuously. "But I will not let myself be trodden on.Patience--patience! you will live to know me yet."
"And you, the blood-hound," replied Hadrian, "if you do not this instantquit the room with your mouthing crow--"
Keraunus signed to his slave and without greeting his foe in any way,turned his back upon him. He paused for a moment at the door of the roomand cried out to Hadrian:
"Rely upon this, I shall complain to the Council and write to Caesar howyou presume to behave to a Macedonian citizen."
As soon as the steward had quitted the room, Hadrian freed the dog,which flew raging at the door which was closed between him and theobject of his aversion. Hadrian ordered him to be quiet, and thenturning to his companion, he exclaimed:
"A perfect monster of a man! to the last degree ridiculous, and at thesame time repulsive. How his rage seethed in him, and yet could notbreak out fairly and thoroughly. I am always on my guard with suchobstinate fools. Pay attention to my Argus, and remember, we are inEgypt, the land of poison, as Homer long since said. Mastor must keephis eyes open--Here he is at last."