The Emperor, Part 1, Volume 5.

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THE EMPEROR, Part 1.

By Georg Ebers

Volume 5.

CHAPTER XIX.

Plutarch was one of the richest citizens of Alexandria, and the owner of
the papyrus manufactory where Selene and Arsinoe worked; and he had of
his own free will offered to provide for the "suitable" entertainment of
the wives and daughters of his fellow-citizens, who were, this very day,
to assemble in one of the smaller theatres of the city. Every one that
knew him, knew too that "suitable" with him meant as much as to say
imperial splendor.

The ship-builder's daughter had prepared Arsinoe for grand doings,
but by the time she had reached the entrance only of the theatre her
expectations were exceeded, for as soon as she gave her father's name and
her own, a boy, who looked out from an arbor of flowers gave her a
magnificent bunch of flowers, and another, who sat perched on a dolphin,
handed her, as a ticket of admission, a finely-cut ornament of ivory
mounted in gold, with a pin, by which the invited owner was intended to
fix it like a brooch in her peplum; and at each entrance to the theatre,
the ladies, as they came in, had a similar present made them.

The passage leading to the auditorium was full of perfume, and Arsinoe,
who had already visited this theatre two or three times, hardly
recognized it, it was so gaily decorated with colored scarfs. And who
had ever seen ladies and young girls filling the best places instead of
men, as was the case to-day? Indeed the citizens' daughters were in
general not permitted to see a theatrical performance at all, unless on
very special and exceptional occasions. She looked up with a smile at
the empty topmost rows of the cheapest seats of the semicircular
auditorium, as one looks at an old playfellow one had outgrown by a head,
for it was there--when she had occasionally been permitted to dip into
their scanty common purse--that she had almost fainted many a time, with
pleasure, fear, or sympathy, though the draught so high up and under the
open heaven which was the only roof, was incessantly blowing; and in
summer the discomforts were even greater from the awning which shaded the
amphitheatre on the sunny side. The wide breadths of canvas were managed
by means of stout ropes, and when these were pulled through the rings
they rode in, they made a screech which compelled the bearer to stop his
ears; and often it was necessary to duck his head not to be hit by the
heavy ropes or by the awning itself. But Arsinoe only remembered these
things to-day as a butterfly sporting in the sun may remember the hideous
pupa-case that it has burst and left behind it.

Radiant with happy excitement, she was led to her seat with her young
companion, the black-haired daughter of the shipwright. She perceived
indeed that numerous eyes turned upon her, but that only added to her
pleasure, for she knew that she could well bear looking at, and there
could be no greater pleasure, as she thought, than to give pleasure to a
multitude.

To-day at any rate! For those who were looking at her were the chief
citizens of Alexandria; they stood on the stage, and among them stood
kind tall Pollux, waving his hand to her. She could not keep her feet
quiet, but she did contrive to keep her arms still by crossing them in
front of her, so that they might not betray how excited she was.

This distribution of parts had already begun, for, by waiting for Selene,
she had come in almost half an hour too late. As soon as she saw that
the eyes that had been attracted to herself as she entered the theatre
had turned to other objects she herself looked round her. She was
sitting on a bench at the lowest and narrowest end of one of the wedge-
shaped sections of seats, which grew wider at the upper end, and which
were divided from each other by gangways for those who came and went,
thus forming the semicircular area of the auditorium.

Here she was surrounded only by young girls and women who were to have a
part or place in the performances. The places for these interested
persons were divided from the stage by a space for the orchestra, whence
the stage was easily reached by steps up which the chorus were wont to
mount to it.

Behind Arsinoe, in the larger circular rows, sat the parents and husbands
of the performers, among whom Keraunus, in his saffron robe, had taken a
place, besides a considerable number of sight-loving matrons and older
citizens who had accepted Plutarch's invitation.

Among the young women and girls Arsinoe saw several whose beauty struck
her, but she admired them ungrudgingly, and it never came into her head
to compare herself with them, for she knew very accurately that she was
pretty, and that even here she had nothing to conceal, and this was
enough for her.

The many-voiced hum which incessantly buzzed in her ears, and the perfume
which rose from the attar in the orchestra had something intoxicating in
them. Her gaze round the assembled multitude could not disturb any one,
and her companion had found some friends with whom she was chattering and
laughing. Other ladies and young girls sat staring silently in front of
them, or studying the appearance of the rest of the audience, male and
female; while others again concentrated their whole attention on the
stage. Arsinoe soon followed this example, nor was this solely on
account of Pollux who, by the prefect's orders, had been enlisted among
the artists to whom the arrangement of the display was entrusted, in
spite of the objections of his master Papias. More than once before had
she seen the afternoon sun shine as brightly into the theatre as it did
to-day, and the blue sky overarching it without a cloud, but with what
different feelings did she now direct her gaze to the raised level behind
the orchestra. The background, it is true, was the same as usual, the
pillared front of a palace built entirely of colored marbles, and
ornamented with gold; but on this occasion fresh garlands of fragrant
flowers hung gracefully between the pilasters and across from column to
column. Several artists, the first of the city, with tablets and styla
in their hands were moving about among fifty girls and ladies, and
Plutarch himself, and the gentlemen with him, composed, as it were a
grand chorus which sometimes divided, and sometimes stood all together.

On the right side of the stage were three purple-covered couches. On one
of them sat Titianus, the prefect, who, like the artists, used his
pencil; with him was his wife Julia. On another reclined Verus, at full
length, and as usual, crowned with roses; the third was for Plutarch, but
was unoccupied. The praetor did not hesitate to interrupt any speaker,
as though he were the host of the entertainment, and many of his remarks
were followed by loud applause, or approving laughter.

The face and figure of the wealthy Plutarch, which could never be
forgotten, were not altogether strange to Arsinoe, for, a few days
previously he had shown himself for the first time in many years in his
papyrus factory, with an architect to settle with him how the courts and
rooms could best be cleaned and decorated for the reception of the
Emperor; and on this occasion he had gone into the room where she worked
and had pinched her cheek with a few roguish and flattering words.

There he was, walking across the stage. He was an old man, said to be
about seventy years of age, his legs were half-paralyzed, and they
nevertheless moved with a series of incessant and rapid but unvoluntary
jerks under his heavy bowed body, and he was supported on either hand by
a tall young fellow. His nobly-formed head, must have been in his youth,
of extraordinary beauty. Now his head was covered by a wig of long brown
hair, his eyebrows and lashes were darkly dyed, his cheeks daubed with
red and white paint, which gave his countenance a fixed expression, as if
he had been stricken in the very act of smiling. On his curls he wore a
wreath of rare flowers in long racemes. An abundance of red and white
roses stuck out from the front folds of his ample toga, and were held in
their place by gold brooches, sparkling with precious stones of large
size. The hems of his mantle were all edged with rose-buds, and each was
fastened in with an emerald that shone like some bright insect. The
young men who supported him seemed like a portion of himself; he took no
more heed of them than if they had been crutches, and they needed not
command to tell them where he wished to go, where to stand still, and
where to rest.

At a distance his face was like that of a youth, but seen close it looked
like a painted plaster mask, with regular features and large movable
eyes.

Favorinus, the sophist, had said of him that one might cry over his
handsome locomotive corpse, if one were not obliged to laugh at it, and
it was said that he had himself declared that he would force his
faithless youth to remain with him. The Alexandrians called him the
Adonis with six legs, on account of the lads who supported him, and
without whom no one ever saw him and who always accompanied him when he
went out. The first time he heard this nickname he remarked: "They had
better have called me sixhanded;" and in fact he had a thoroughly good
heart, he was liberal and benevolent, took fatherly care of his work-
people, treated his slaves well, enriched those whom he set free, and
from time to time distributed large sums among the people in money and
in grain.

Arsinoe looked compassionately on the poor old man who could not buy back
his youth with all his money and all his art.

In the supercilious man who at once came up to Plutarch she recognized
the art-dealer Gabinius to whom her father had shown the door, on account
of the mosaic picture in their sitting-room, but their conversation was
interrupted, for the distribution of the women's part for the group of
Alexander's entry into Babylon, was now about to take place; about fifty
girls and young women were sent away from the stage and went down into
the orchestra. The Exegetes, the highest official in the town, now came
forward and took a new list out of the hand of Papias the sculptor.
After rapidly casting an eye on this, he handed it to a herald who
followed him, who proclaimed to all the assembly:

"In the name of the most noble Exegetes I request your attention, all you
ladies here assembled, the wives and daughters of Macedonians and of
Roman citizens. We now come to a distribution of the characters in our
representation of the life and history of the great Macedonian, of the
'Marriage of Alexander and Roxana,' and I hereby request those among you
to come upon the stage whom our artists have selected to take part in
this scene in the procession." After this exordium he shouted in a deep
and resonant voice a long list of names, and while this was going on
every other sound was hushed in the wide amphitheatre.

Even on the stage all was still; only Verus whispered a few remarks to
Titianus, and the curiosity-dealer spoke into Plutarch's ear, long
sentences with the stringent emphasis which was peculiar to him; and the
old man answered sometimes with an assenting nod, and sometimes with a
deprecatory motion of his hands.

Arsinoe listened with suspended breath to the herald's proclamation; she
started and colored all over, with her eyes fixed on the bunch of flowers
in her hand, when she heard from the stage loudly uttered and plain to be
heard by all present:

"Arsinoe, the second daughter of Keraunus, the Macedonian and a Roman
citizen."

The ship-builder's daughter had already been called before her, and had
immediately left her seat, but Arsinoe waited modestly till some older
ladies rose. She then joined them and went among the last members of the
little procession which went down to the orchestra and from thence up the
steps for the chorus, on to the stage.

There the ladies and young girls were placed in two ranks, and looked at
with amiable consideration by the artists. Arsinoe was not long in
perceiving that these gentlemen looked at her longer and more often than
at the others; and then, after the masters of the festival had gone aside
in groups to discuss the matter they looked at her constantly and were
talking, she felt sure, about her. Nor did it escape her that she had
become the centre of many glances from the lookers-on who were sitting in
the theatre, and it occurred to her that on several sides people were
pointing at her with their fingers. She did not know which way she
should look and began to feel bashful; still she was pleased at being
remarked by so many people, and as she stood looking at the ground out of
sheer embarrassment to hide the delight she felt, Verus, who had gone up
to the group of artists, called out, putting his hand on the prefect's
arm.

"Charming-charming! a Roxana that might have sprung straight out of the
picture."

Arsinoe heard these words, and guessing that they referred to her she
became more confused than ever, while her awkward smile gradually changed
to an expression of joyful but anxious expectation of a delight which was
almost painful in its magnitude.

Now one of the artists pronounced her name, and as she ventured to raise
her eyes to see if it were not Pollux who had spoken, she observed the
wealthy Plutarch who, with his two living crutches and Gabinius, the lean
curiosity-dealer, was inspecting the ranks of her companions. Presently
he had come quite close to her, and as he was helped towards her with
tottering steps, he dug the dealer in the ribs and said, kissing the back
of his hand, and winking his great eyes: "I know--I know! It is not
easily forgotten. Ivory and red coral!"

Arsinoe started, the blood left her cheeks, and all satisfaction fled
from her heart when the old man came to a stand-still in front of her,
and said kindly:

"Ah! ah! a bud out of the papyrus factory among all these proud roses and
lilies. Ah! ah! out of my work-rooms to join my assembly! Never mind-
never mind, beauty is everywhere welcome. I do not ask how you got here.
I am only glad that you are here."

Arsinoe covered part of her face with her hand, but he tapped her white
arm three times with his middle finger, and then tottered on laughing to
himself. The dealer had caught Plutarch's words, and asked him, when
they had gone a few steps from Arsinoe, with eager indignation:

"Did I hear you rightly? a work-woman in your factory, and here among our
daughters?"

"So it is--two busy hands among so many idle ones," said the old man,
gaily.

"Then she must have forced her way in, and must be turned out."

"Certainly she shall not--Why, she is charming."

"It is revolting! here, in this assembly!"

"Revolting?" interrupted Plutarch. "Oh dear, no! we must not be too
particular. And how are we to obtain mere children from you antiquity-
mongers?" Then he added pleasantly:

"This lovely creature must I should think, delight your fine sense of
beauty; or are you afraid that she may seem better suited to the part of
Roxana than your own charming daughter? Only listen to the men up there!
Let us see what is going on."

These words referred to a loud discussion which had arisen close by the
couches of the prefect and Verus, the praetor. They, and with them most
of the painters and sculptors present, were of opinion that Arsinoe would
be a wonderfully effective Roxana; they maintained that her face and
figure answered perfectly to those of the Bactrian princes as they were
represented by Action, whose picture was, to a certain extent, to serve
as the basis of the living group. Only Papias and two of his fellow-
artists, declared against this choice, and eagerly asserted that among
all the damsels present one, and one alone, was worthy to appear before
the Emperor as Alexander's bride, and that one was Praxilla, the daughter
of Gabinius. All three were in close business relations with the father
of the young girl, who was tall, and slim, and certainly very lovely, and
they wanted to do a pleasure to the rich and knowing purchaser. Their
zeal even assumed a tone of vehemence, when the dealer, following in the
wake of Plutarch, joined the group of disputants, and they were certain
of being heard by him.

"And who is this girl yonder?" asked Papias, pointing to Arsinoe,
as the two came up. "Nothing can be said against her beauty, but she is
dressed less than simply, and wears no kind of ornament worth speaking
of--it is a thousand to one against her parents being in a position to
provide her with such a rich dress, and such costly jewels as Roxana
certainly ought to display when about to be married to Alexander. The
Asiatic princess must appear in silk, gold and precious stones. Now my
friend here will be able so to dress his Praxilla that the splendor of
her attire might have astonished the great Macedonian himself, but who is
the father of that pretty child who is satisfied with the blue ribbon in
her hair, her two roses, and her little white frock?"

"Your reflections are just, Papias," interrupted the dealer, with dry
incisiveness. "The girl you are speaking of is quite out of the
question. I do not say so for my daughter's sake, but because everything
in bad taste is odious to me; it is hardly conceivable how such a young
thing could have had the audacity to force herself in here. A pretty
face, to be sure, opens locks and bars. She is--do not be too much
startled--she is nothing more than a work-girl in the papyrus factory of
our excellent host, Plutarch."

"That is not the truth," Pollux interrupted, indignantly, as he heard
this assertion.

"Moderate your tongue, young man," replied the dealer. "I can call you
to witness, noble Plutarch."

"Let her be whom she may," answered the old man, with annoyance. "She is
very one of my workwomen, but even if she had come straight here from the
gumming-table with such a face and such a figure, she is perfectly in
place here and everywhere. That is my opinion."

"Bravo! my fine friend!" cried Verus, nodding to the old man. "Caesar
will be far better pleased with such a paragon of charmers as that sweet
creature, than with all your old writs of citizenship and heavy purses."

"That is true," the prefect said, confirming this statement. "And I dare
swear she is a free maiden, and not a slave. But you stood up for her
friend Pollux--what do you know about her?"

"That she is the daughter of Keraunus, the palace-steward, and that I
have known her from her childhood," answered the youthful artist
emphatically. "He is a Roman citizen, and of an old Macedonian house as
well."

"Perhaps even of royal descent," added Titianus, laughing.

"I know the man," answered the dealer hastily. "He is an impecunious
insolent old fool."

"I should think," interrupted Verus with lofty composure, but rather as
being bored, than as reproving the irritated speaker, "it seems to me
that this is hardly the place to conduct a discussion as to the nature
and disposition of the fathers of all those ladies and young girls."

"But he is poor," cried the dealer angrily. "A few days since he offered
to sell me his few miserable curiosities, but really I could not--"

"We are sorry for your sake if the transaction was unsuccessful," Verus
again interposed, this time with excessive politeness. "Now, first let
us decide on the persons and afterwards on the costumes. The father of
the girl is a Roman citizen then?"

"A member of the council, and in his way a man of position," replied
Titianus.

"And I," added his wife Julia, "have taken a great fancy to the sweet
little maid, and if the principal part is given to her, and her noble
father is without adequate means, as you assert my friend, I will
undertake to provide for her costume. Caesar will be charmed with
such a Roxana."

The dealer's clients were silent, he himself was trembling with
disappointment and vexation, and his fury rose to the utmost when
Plutarch, whom till then he thought he had won over to his daughter's
side, tried to bow his bent old body before dame Julia, and said with a
graceful gesture of regret:

"My old eyes have deceived me again on this occasion. The little girl
is very like one of my workwomen; very like--but I see now that there is
a certain something which the other lacks. I have done her an injustice
and remain her debtor. Permit, me, noble lady to add the ornaments to
the dress you provide for our Roxana. I may be lucky enough to find
something pretty for her. A sweet child! I shall go at once and beg her
forgiveness and tell her what we propose. May I do so noble Julia? Have
I your permission gentlemen?"

In a very few minutes it was known all over the stage, and soon after all
through the amphitheatre, that Arsinoe, the daughter of Keraunus, had
been selected to represent the character of Roxana.

"But who was Keraunus?"

"How was it that the children of the most illustrious and wealthy
citizens had been overlooked in assigning this most prominent part?"

"This was just what might be expected when every thing was left to those
reckless artists!"

"And where was a poor little girl like that to find the talents which it
would cost to procure the costume of an Asiatic princess, Alexander's
bride?"

"Plutarch, and the prefect's wife had undertaken that."

"A mere beggar."

"How well the family jewels would have suited our daughters!"

"Do we want to show Caesar nothing but a few silly pretty faces?--and not
something of our wealth and taste?"

"Supposing Hadrian asks who this Roxana is, and had to be told that a
collection had to be made to get her a proper costume."

"Such things never could happen anywhere but in Alexandria."

"Every one wants to know whether she worked in Plutarch's factory. They
say it is not true--but the painted old villain still loves a pretty
face. He smuggled her in, you may be sure; where there is smoke there is
fire, and it is beyond a doubt that she gets money from the old man."

"What for?"

"Ah! you had better enquire of a priest of Aphrodite. It is nothing to
laugh at, it is scandalous, audacious!"

Thus and on this wise ran the comments with which the announcement of
Arsinoe's preferment to the part of Roxana was received, and hatred and
bitter animosity had grown up in the souls of the dealer and his
daughter. Praxilla was selected as a companion to Alexander's bride, and
she yielded without objecting, but on her way homewards she nodded assent
when her father said:

"Let things go on now as they may, but a few hours before the performance
begins, I will send them word that you are ill."

The selection of Arsinoe had however, on the other hand, given pleasure
as well as pain. Up in the middle places in the amphitheatre sat
Keraunus, his legs far apart, his face glowing, panting and choking with
sheer delight, and too haughty to draw in his feet even when the brother
of the archidikastes tried to squeeze by his bulky person which filled
two seats at once. Arsinoe, whose sharp ears had not failed to catch the
dealer's remonstrances, and the words in which brave Pollux had taken her
part, had, at first, felt dying of shame and terror, but now she felt as
though she could fly on the wings of her delight. She had never been so
happy in her life, and when she got out with her father, in the first
dark street she threw her arms round his neck, kissed both his cheeks,
and then told him how kind the lady Julia, the prefect's wife had been to
her, and that she had undertaken, with the warmest friendliness, to have
her costly dress made for her.

Keraunus had no objection to offer, and, strange to say, he did not
consider it beneath his dignity to allow Arsinoe to be supplied with
jewels by the wealthy manufacturer.

"People have seen," he said, pathetically, "that we need not shrink from
doing as much as other citizens do, but to dress a Roxana as befits a
bride would cost millions, and I am very willing to confess to my friends
that I have not millions. Where the costume comes from is all the same,
be that as it may you will still stand the first of all the maidens in
the city, and I am pleased with you for that, my child. To-morrow will
be the last meeting, and then perhaps Selene too, may have a prominent
part given to her. Happily we are able to dress her as befits. When
will the prefect's wife fetch you?"

"To-morrow about noon."

"Then early to-morrow buy a nice new dress."

"Will there not be enough for a new bracelet too?" asked Arsinoe,
coaxingly. "This one of mine is too narrow and trumpery."

"You shall have one, for you have deserved it," replied Keraunus, with
dignity. "But you must have patience till the day after to-morrow;
to-morrow the goldsmiths will be closed on account of the festival."

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