Part 2 (1/2)
On to the Museion--so called for the Nine Muses of creative thought-- where the Ro introduced to the leading scholars and shown the reading rooe inventory of scrolls Ptole had avidly added to it
The head librarian, Apollonius, greeted us ”My istrates,” he said, bowing low I could al ”Let me show you this teh-ceilinged rooht entered through a series of s running around the peri Marble tables and benches were arranged around the open floor, and readers of all nationalities were hunched over opened scrolls I saw the Greek in his tunic, the Arab in his voluyptian, bare-chested with a leather skirt They all looked up with a jerk as alked in
They followed us with their heads as we passed through, turning like sunflowers before drooping back down to their manuscripts We were ushered into what looked like a private rooe rooms for the library Shelves ran all around the walls, with labels at neatly spaced intervals identifying the scrolls It looked like a beehive, with the rolled scrolls each led from the knob of each scroll
”So this is how they are organized,” Pompey said He looked at one label, which read ”Heraclides of Tarentum”
”Medicine, Imperator,” said Apollonius
Next to that was another label, ”Herophilus of Chalcedon”
”The unrivaled master of Alexandrian medicine,” said Apollonius proudly
”Two hundred years ago,” said Olys”
”Everything is here” Apollonius gestured proudly These manuscripts were his children ”The multi-scrolled works are all in these baskets on the floor, with their labels on the basket handles”
Poanization is an inspiration to those of us who have archives and records of our own toscrolls; the resulting noise gaveOlyives Roht, but you were talking too much!”
Now let hiht for a reat uncle Alexander the Tenth ypt to Rome So the Romans claim! But no one is sure whether he really did, or, if he did, whether it was legal or not”
”Why can't they just read it and decide?” That seemed the easiest way to find out
”It see his eyebrows ”How convenient!”
For us, or for them? I wondered
Suddenly the scroll-noises around us ceased, and so ave the Romans a quick look at the enormous Gyhthouse
”Welco in the wide dooraiting for us ”King Ptolemy, Princess Cleopatra, colorious ancestor, Ptoleo”
Once inside, he indicated the enormous store of fuel; it looked like a ht , paper, charcoal--anything that will catch fire We store all our supply here, and then it is hauled up, four hundred feet, in these baskets” He bade us follow hi ropes disappeared upward into what seeo up around the perimeter,” he said
”Can't we ride up in the baskets?” asked Olyhthouse ht next to the fire; and if you did not, still I would not entrust the pride of Egypt and Roe to the top There s all along the ascent, and as ound around and around, I saw the harbor growing s to look like the toy ones children sailed in lotus ponds The higher we got, theout behind the harbor; finally, near the top, I could see past the Hippodrome on the outskirts of the city and almost all the way east to the pleasure-city of Canopus, where that branch of the Nile ended
I had aching legs and was short of breath e finally rounded the last turn of the stairs and eed at the top
The beacon-master waited, fra up like the snakes in Medusa's hair, and the sound of the sucking fire, combined with the wind outside,shi+, and then a slave, clad in wet leather, appeared He was turning the polished bronze roove around the fire's perimeter, so that it could be reflected and seen far out to sea The shi+eld would also catch and throw back the sun's rays at the sahtness It was said that the fire-beacon could be seen as far out as thirty miles, but that from that distance it twinkled like a star and could easily be mistaken for one
The fire was a monster, hardly to be contained Only then did I notice that the beacon- thick leather armor, and had a helmet tucked under his arm--obviously removed in honor of us--that had an iron mesh veil for the face He knew his monster, and would dress to protect hi in would keep hilass lens here,” said Olylass,” said Pompey
”We tried to make one, once,” said the beacon-h to serve our purpose It would be an excellent idea, though If we could e fire And no, the heat would not ht into the flames”
”It seems to ht instead of a fire”
”Good enough in the daytihttihed, but Olyht”
”But they sail in cloudy weather,” Meleagros said ”And get caught in storms Your sun-lens would fail then”
shi+pssailingthe thought of being on the water was unnerving for hthouse today had been difficult I hated the water, because of that stabbing memory of the boat, and my mother But I was forced to live by water, and look at it every day I had yet to learn to swim, and I avoided boats whenever possible Even the little lotus pools in the palace see called a coward, should anyone notice how I avoided the water
”Your city is fair,” said Po slowly to see the entire panorama ”Whitefaircool and cultured ”
”No one could love it as we do,” I said suddenly I knew they were the right words, exactly the right words ”We will guard it for you, and it will always be waiting for you”
He looked down at me and smiled ”I know you will, Princess,” he said ”It is safe in your hands”
Was it then I felt--or discovered--the strange power I have in personal encounters? I do not do do anything extraordinary, I say no special words, but I seem to have the ability to win people to my side, to disarm them I do not kno And it works only in person In letters I have no special ic Let me see someone, talk to him--or her--and I have persuasive powers I cannot explain It ranted uardian And she alone kno I have tried to use her gift to bend the world toextraordinary, I say no special words, but I seem to have the ability to win people to my side, to disarm them I do not kno And it works only in person In letters I have no special ic Let me see someone, talk to him--or her--and I have persuasive powers I cannot explain It ranted uardian And she alone kno I have tried to use her gift to bend the world to ypt from Roman destruction
Mercifully, the Ro ns But they were gone, gone, goneand Egypt had been spared Porapple with politics in Roain
But it seemed our fate was inextricably entwined with that of Ro Royptians The population of Alexandria rioted, and tried to uards could do to protect him and quell the mob All ould need was such an incident to invite Ro those years est brothers made their appearance Both were named Ptolemy; if the women in our family have few nahteen years between Older Cleopatra and Older Ptoleer Ptoleht
As Isis, yptian of Gods, yptian--that is, becoe ere pure Macedonian Greek--we Ptoleyptian custoe, as the Pharaohs had done earlier Thus s, and I was forced in turn to e in form only
Perhaps it was tie difference in this generation was too great for us to continue our forain, it was because of the Ro the questionable will set aside and hi by Rome It had cost hiypt for one year He had had to pay it to the three unofficial, but actual, rulers in Roe, they had acknowledged hiypt the formal title Socius Atque Amicus Populi Romani Socius Atque Amicus Populi Romani} Friend and Ally of the Ron state, one whose boundaries they would respect The price of this respect was very high But not paying it was higher still, as my uncle found out Friend and Ally of the Ron state, one whose boundaries they would respect The price of this respect was very high But not paying it was higher still, as my uncle found out
My father had a brother, also known as Ptolemy (how monotonous), who ruled in Cyprus Once we had controlled vast areas of land, but we had been losing theenerations Some thirty years earlier, yet another Ptoleht in him than we had--had willed the province of Cyrenaica, which included Cyprus as well as the African coastal land, to Rome After his death, Rome took it, but left Cyprus, part of the territory, still in the hands of our cousins So my uncle Ptolemy still ruled there, until the Roh money to dissuade them, and was powerless to stave theh priesthood in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus--a sort of honorable retirereatly saddened by this, but the people of Alexandria turned against Father because of it They were angry about the huge payments to Rome anyway, and what they saw as my father's lack of support for his brother infuriated them They seeh what he could have done is a ions? It was hopeless; but perhaps it was touching that the Alexandrians ascribedmore power to us than we actually had
But Father had to flee! His own people drove hiar He caht he fled, his eyes wild and his ht I leave,” he said ”I hope to return in two ions to back ypt? As if he read overnh to secure the military aid I need”