The Sisters — Complete by Georg Ebers (reading diary txt) 📕

the powerful officer, who hated the contemptible wretch, dragged him up, and out of the room.

“You were quite right to lay your complaint before me,” said Euergetes while Eulaeus cries and howls were still audible on the stairs. “And you see that I know how to punish those who dare to offend a guest.”

“He has only met with the portion he has deserved for years,” replied Publius. “But now that we stand face to face, man to man, I must close my account with you too. In your service and by your orders Eulaeus set two assassins to lie in wait for me—”

“Publius Cornelius Scipio!” cried the king, interrupting his enemy in an ominous tone; but the Roman went on, calmly and quietly:

“I am saying nothing that I cannot support by witnesses; and I have truly set forth, in two letters, that king Euergetes during the past night has attempted the life of an ambassador from Rome. One of these despatches is addressed to my father, the other to Popilius Lamas, and both are already on their way to Rome. I have given instructions that they are to be opened if, in the course of three months reckoned from the present date, I have not demanded them back. You see you must needs make it convenient to protect my life, and to carry out whatever I may require of you. If you obey my will in everything I may demand, all that has happened this night shall remain a secret between you and me and a third person, for whose silence I will be answerable; this I promise you, and I never broke my word.”

“Speak,” said the king flinging himself on the couch, and plucking the feathers from the fan Cleopatra had forgotten, while Publius went on speaking.

“First I demand a free pardon for Philotas of Syracuse, ‘relative of the king,’ and president of the body of the Chrematistes, his immediate release, with his wife, from their forced labor, and their return from the mines.”

“They both are dead,” said Euergetes, “my brother can vouch for it.”

“Then I require you to have it declared by special decree that Philotas was condemned unjustly, and that he is reinstated in all the dignities he was deprived of. I farther demand that you permit me and my friend Lysias of Corinth, as well as Apollodorus the sculptor, to quit Egypt without let or hindrance, and with us Klea and Irene, the daughters of Philotas, who serve as water-bearers in the temple of Serapis.—Do you hesitate as to your reply?”

“No,” answered the king, and he tossed up his hand. “For this once I have lost the game.”

“The daughters of Philotas, Klea and Irene,” continued Publius with imperturbable coolness, “are to have the confiscated estates of their parents restored to them.”

“Then your sweetheart’s beauty does not satisfy you!” interposed Euergetes satirically.

“It amply satisfies me. My last demand is that half of this wealth shall be assigned to the temple of Serapis, so that the god may give up his serving-maidens willingly, and without raising any objections. The other half shall be handed over to Dicearchus, my agent in Alexandria, because it is my will that Klea and Irene shall not enter my own house or that of Lysias in Corinth as wives, without the dowry that beseems their rank. Now, within one hour, I must have both the decree and the act of restitution in my hands, for as soon as Juventius Thalna arrives here—and I expect him, as I told you this very day—we propose to leave Memphis, and to take ship at Alexandria.”

“A strange conjuncture!” cried Euergetes. “You deprive me alike of my revenge and my love, and yet I see myself compelled to wish you a pleasant journey. I must offer a sacrifice to Poseidon, to the Cyprian goddess, and to the Dioscurides that they may vouchsafe your ship a favorable voyage, although it will carry the man who in the future, can do us more injury at Rome by his bitter hostility, than any other.”

“I shall always take the part of which ever of you has justice on his side.”

Publius quitted the room with a proud wave of his hand, and Euergetes, as soon as the door had closed behind the Roman, sprang from his couch, shook his clenched fist in angry threat, and cried:

You, you obstinate fellow and your haughty patrician clan may do me mischief enough by the Tiber; and yet perhaps I may win the game in spite of you!

“You cross my path in the name of the Roman Senate. If Philometor waits in the antechambers of consuls and senators we certainly may chance to meet there, but I shall also try my luck with the people and the tribunes.

“It is very strange! This head of mine hits upon more good ideas in an hour than a cool fellow like that has in a year, and yet I am beaten by him—and if I am honest I can not but confess that it was not his luck alone, but his shrewdness that gained the victory. He may be off as soon as he likes with his proud Hera—I can find a dozen Aphrodites in Alexandria in her place!

“I resemble Hellas and he Rome, such as they are at present. We flutter in the sunshine, and seize on all that satisfies our intellect or gratifies our senses: they gaze at the earth, but walk on with a firm step to seek power and profit. And thus they get ahead of us, and yet—I would not change with them.”

ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS: A subdued tone generally provokes an equally subdued answer A mere nothing in one man’s life, to another may be great A debtor, says the proverb, is half a prisoner Air of a professional guide And what is great—and what is small Before you serve me up so bitter a meal (the truth) Behold, the puny Child of Man Blind tenderness which knows no reason By nature she is not and by circumstances is compelled to be Deceit is deceit Desire to seek and find a power outside us Evolution and annihilation Flattery is a key to the heart Hold pleasure to be the highest good If you want to catch mice you must waste bacon Inquisitive eyes are intrusive company Man is the measure of all things Man works with all his might for no one but himself Many a one would rather be feared than remain unheeded Museum of Alexandria and the Library Not yet fairly come to the end of yesterday Nothing permanent but change Nothing so certain as that nothing is certain Old women grow like men, and old men grow like women One hand washes the other Prefer deeds to words Priests that they should instruct the people to be obedient The altar where truth is mocked at They get ahead of us, and yet—I would not change with them Virtues are punished in this world What are we all but puny children? Who can be freer than he who needs nothing Who only puts on his armor when he is threatened