Georg Ebers - Premium Collection: Historical Novels, Stories & Autobiography. Georg Ebers
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elegant Athenians, and generally made of expensive materials. The
simpler cloak, the himation, was worn by the Doric Greeks, and
principally by the Spartans.]
The boat had left Naukratis, at that time the only Hellenic port in Egypt, about half an hour before.
[This town, which will form the scene of a part of our tale, lies in
the northwest of the Nile Delta, in the Saitic Nomos or district, on
the left bank of the Canopic mouth of the river. According to
Strabo and Eusebius it was founded by Milesians, and Bunsen reckons
749 B. C. It seems that in the earliest times Greek ships were only
allowed to enter this mouth of the Nile in case of necessity. The
entire intercourse of the Egyptians with the hated strangers was, at
that time, restricted to the little island of Pharos lying opposite
to the town of Thonis.]
During their journey, the grey-haired, moody man had not spoken one word, and the other had left him to his meditations. But now, as the boat neared the shore, the restless traveller, rising from his couch, called to his companion: “We are just at our destination, Aristomachus! That pleasant house to the left yonder, in the garden of palms which you can see rising above the waters, is the dwelling of my friend Rhodopis. It was built by her husband Charaxus, and all her friends, not excepting the king himself, vie with one another in adding new beauties to it year by year. A useless effort! Let them adorn that house with all the treasures in the world, the woman who lives within will still remain its best ornament!”
[We are writing of the month of October, when the Nile begins to
sink. The inundations can now be accurately accounted for,
especially since the important and laborious synoptical work of H.
Barth and S. Baker. They are occasioned by the tropical rains, and
the melting of the snows on the high mountain-ranges at the Equator.
In the beginning of June a gradual rising of the Nile waters can be
perceived; between the 15th and 20th June, this changes to a rapid
increase; in the beginning of October the waters reach their highest
elevation, a point, which, even after having begun their retreat,
they once more attempt to attain; then, at first gradually, and
afterwards with ever increasing rapidity, they continue to sink. In
January, February and March, the Nile is still drying up; and in May
is at its lowest point, when the volume of its waters is only one-
twentieth of that in October.]
The old man sat up, threw a passing glance at the building, smoothed the thick grey beard which clothed his cheeks and chin, but left the lips free,—[The Spartans were not in the habit of wearing a beard on the upper lip.]—and asked abruptly: “Why so much enthusiasm, Phanes, for this Rhodopis? How long have the Athenians been wont to extol old women?” At this remark the other smiled, and answered in a self-satisfied tone, “My knowledge of the world, and particularly of women, is, I flatter myself, an extended one, and yet I repeat, that in all Egypt I know of no nobler creature than this grey-haired woman. When you have seen her and her lovely grandchild, and heard your favorite melodies sung by her well-practised choir of slave-girls, I think you will thank me for having brought you hither.”—“Yet,” answered the Spartan gravely, “I should not have accompanied you, if I had not hoped to meet Phryxus, the Delphian, here.”
“You will find him here; and besides, I cannot but hope that the songs will cheer you, and dispel your gloomy thoughts.” Aristomachus shook his head in denial, and answered: “To you, sanguine Athenians, the melodies of your country may be cheering: but not so to me; as in many a sleepless night of dreams, my longings will be doubled, not stilled by the songs of Alkman.”
[Alkman (Attic, Alkmaeon) flourished in Sparta about 650 B. C. His
mother was a Lydian slave in Sardes, and he came into the possession
of Agesides, who gave him his freedom. His beautiful songs soon
procured him the rights of a Lacedaemonian citizen. He was
appointed to the head-directorship in the entire department of music
in Lacedaemon and succeeded in naturalizing the soft Lydian music.
His language was the Doric-Laconian. After a life devoted to song,
the pleasures of the table and of love, he is said to have died of
a fearful disease. From the frequent choruses of virgins
(Parthenien) said to have been originally introduced by him, his
frequent songs in praise of women, and the friendly relations in
which he stood to the Spartan women (more especially to the fair
Megalostrata), he gained the name of the woman’s poet.]
“Do you think then,” replied Phanes, “that I have no longing for my beloved Athens, for the scenes of our youthful games, for the busy life of the market? Truly, the bread of exile is not less distasteful to my palate than to yours, but, in the society afforded by this house, it loses some of its bitterness, and when the dear melodies of Hellas, so perfectly sung, fall on my ear, my native land rises before me as in a vision, I see its pine and olive groves, its cold, emerald green rivers, its blue sea, the shimmer of its towns, its snowy mountain-tops and marble temples, and a half-sweet, half-bitter tear steals down my cheek as the music ceases, and I awake to remember that I am in Egypt, in this monotonous, hot, eccentric country, which, the gods be praised, I am soon about to quit. But, Aristomachus, would you then avoid the few Oases in the desert, because you must afterwards return to its sands and drought? Would you fly from one happy hour, because days of sadness await you later? But stop, here we are! Show a cheerful countenance, my friend, for it becomes us not to enter the temple of the Charites with sad hearts.”—[The goddesses of grace and beauty, better known by their Roman name of “Graces.”]
As Phanes uttered these words, they landed at the garden wall, washed by the Nile. The Athenian bounded lightly from the boat, the Spartan following with a heavier, firmer tread. Aristomachus had a wooden leg, but his step was so firm, even when compared with that of the light-footed Phanes, that it might have been thought to be his own limb.
The garden of Rhodopis was as full of sound, and scent and blossom as a night in fairy-land. It was one labyrinth of acanthus shrubs, yellow mimosa, the snowy gelder-rose, jasmine and lilac, red roses and laburnums, overshadowed by tall palm-trees, acacias and balsam trees. Large bats hovered softly on their delicate wings over the whole, and sounds of mirth and song echoed from the river.
This garden had been laid out by an Egyptian, and the builders of the Pyramids had already been celebrated for ages for their skill in horticulture. They well understood how to mark out neat flower-beds, plant groups of trees and shrubs in regular order, water the whole by aqueducts and fountains, arrange arbors and summerhouses, and even inclose the walks with artistically clipped hedges, and breed goldfish in stone basins.
At the garden gate Phanes stopped, looked around him carefully and listened; then shaking his head, “I do not understand what this can mean,” he said. “I hear no voices, there is not a single light to be seen, the boats are all gone, and yet the flag is still flying at its gay flag-staff, there, by the obelisks on each side of the gate.”
[Obelisks bearing the name of the owner were sometimes to be seen
near the gates of the Egyptian country-houses. Flags too were not
uncommon, but these were almost exclusively to be found at the gates
of the temples, where to this day the iron sockets for the flagstaff