Part 8 (1/2)
The cloth lay wide and heavy across my forehead, like no other cloth I had ever felt
The ceremony was repeated for Ptolemy
”Now turn to Serapis and say, 'We accept the state to which you have called us; we pray to be worthy of your favor' ”
Did the God acknowledge us? O Isis, only you know that Do the Gods listen to every word? Or are they careless sogia of the te us to the screaar as it passed
I was Queen I wore the sacred diadeypt itself were mine--to cherish and to protect
”O ether! And let ranted the wisdo at Meether For the second time in my life I was taken in a boat down the Nile--how different now! The barge was a royal one, with a gilded lotus flower at its bow, and banks of oars--not a little cabin-boat The riverbanks were lined with the curious; everyone had left the fields Only the donkeys re, and there was no edge to 'their voices, only the lilt of delight Ptole them slide by behind the reeds and bulrushes
We passed the pyra possession of theypt was mine, all the monuments and the sands and the Nile itself I could barely speak for emotion
Mee was decorated for our arrival, hung with banners and garlands of lotus Date pal overhead to make a canopy for us; people cli a rustle of welcoli the inner palace and teiven Memphis its early title, ” ”City of the White Wall”
Here the Pharaohs had had their coronations, and here Alexander had coypt His successors have done likewise, paying obeisance to the old forms, the old Gods
Before Alexandria, Meypt Here the Pharaoh dwelt, and here was the place where the mysteries of Osiris were enacted, the holy of holies for the Egyptian Today ere to be initiated into thoselinen goith a panther's skin across his shoulders The cereyptian, and I was proud that I could understand all of it--the only one of ht of the inner teolden crook, the flail, the scepter, robes of linen froarold, Egypt's guardian serpent of pure gold, Egypt's guardian serpent
I grasped the handles of the crook and flail, circling the them almost welded to my hands I vowed never to release or relinquish therip Until then, they were mine--and I was theirs
Aftere had to perform the special rites of a Pharaoh Dressed in ceremonial robes, we had to yoke the sacred Apis bull and lead hih the streets This was to show our people that ere physically strong, and could be warriors; at the sa never to be cruel to anyone beneath our sway, as the bull was beneath his yoke
At your temple, O Isis, we took more vows Do you remember that day? The day I bound myself to you by solemn oaths? We promised the priest that ould not interfere with the calendar, neither adding nor subtracting days, nor changing feast days, but allow the three hundred sixty-five days to complete their round as instituted We also swore that ould protect the land and the water given to our charge
Then the Meht out, and ere crowned Pharaohs of Upper and Lower Egypt They no longer used the heavy, hatlike double crown of the old kingdom, but had adopted the diaderown in a field sacred to Ptah
This wasto that which, if it lay within ypt I have saved owns My fourthat is huypt
The cere power The Regency Council tried to obstruct e, Ptolemy XIII They insisted I marry him forthwith I de People enjoy ceremonies, but they should be doled out like candies, lest the appetite beco, followed by the coronation procession and citywide banquets, was enough
We were all in the throne room of the alabaster palace, the one where I had attended onbefore; the one with the tortoiseshell doors and ge back and forth in front of these er than I, and I needed to remes were spindly, but his chest was covered in rolls of fat wherenose and sharp, close-set eyes, he reminded me of a sacred ibis, except that he was not in the least sacred
”Your Majesty,” he intoned, with his child's voice, which he had trained to be soothing, ”if you believe that, you do not understand people There is no such thing as a surfeit of festivities”
”And the people are anxious to see you married,” added Theodotos, once ly little rowing long curls he could fluff up over it He had also taken to wearing a fillet, like a Gyine why,” I said ”It is not as if anything would change Ptole an alliance with him And we could hardly have an heir yet”
”It was your father's express coyptian coypt, where the soldiers are the best fighters Dark-skinned and lean, he looked like a to the pleated kilt shown in the old paintings; but of course he wore the latest military attire, with bronze breastplate and shi+n protectors He had taken a Greek naratiate themselves with the powers that be His real name was probably ”Beloved of Amun” or some such
”And I shall honor it,” I assured him ”I esteem my father Have I not added the name Cleopatra Philopator, 'She Who Loves Her Father,' to my other titles?” I looked up at my three enemies, for such they were
”Obedience is the best way to honor a parent,” said Pothinus
”And the best way to honor your Queen,” I reminded them ”You are my subjects as well as Ptolemy's advisors”
I myself had no advisors, no older, wiser councillor I could consult I was surrounded on all sides by eneer or less powerful than I The trio in front ofeyes lared at me ” ”We of course will obey and honor you,” said Achillas, with his flat Egyptian accent ”But you lect your duty to your brother and co-ruler”
”I shall not,” I assured hiuaranteed a place at court and in history But what of the others? What were Arsinoe and little Ptolemy to do while we ruled? Just wait in the palace--wait their turn? Circle like vultures? I shi+vered
”I have no wish for a civil war!” I blurted out Best to let the ”But I will rule in my own court, and in er than I! Those who denigrate physical strength and power have never had to tilt their heads back to look an ene a stepstool over to peek out a highthan I! Those who denigrate physical strength and power have never had to tilt their heads back to look an ene a stepstool over to peek out a high
”The Ro us a bad exa on the first part ofthe second ”They are about to embark on another round of civil war, this tinus Pompey If we are very lucky, they will destroy the the wind
”If Pompey sends an appeal to us, ill have to respond,” I said He had been ht require our help Caesar was responsible for collecting the ypt would be the poorer even so, because ould have had to help equip Pompey to conquer Caesar And someone else would just take over Caesar's debt
”Why? Egypt is a long way fronore the appeal,” said Pothinus
Was this this the ht himself a wise, sophisticated advisor? I had all I could do not to snort in derision ”Like a child pretending he does not hear hishim to bed? No, Pothinus, that is the way of a coward And Rome, the city, may be far froht himself a wise, sophisticated advisor? I had all I could do not to snort in derision ”Like a child pretending he does not hear hishim to bed? No, Pothinus, that is the way of a coward And Rome, the city, may be far froht of Rome, and Roman armies, is as near as Jerusalem, only three hundred miles away Remember how quickly Gabinius and his troops arrived? No, we cannot pretend we do not hear when Roe”
”And what otten he was there, as the presence of the other two overshadowed him
”That ill comply--later”
”Exactly the answer you have returned to us about the e!” snapped Pothinus ”It fools no one!”
”It is not randly as possible ”There are true delays and diplomatic delays and obstructionist delays; there are as many types of delays as there are situations Surely you don't mean to imply that your request that I marry my brother forthwith is the same as a command froan Achillas
”This is a quibbling about words” I cut him off ”You have h You er, they bent low and backed out of the chamber
They had forced me to be curt with them I sensed that the time of niceties was already past
I also sensed that Imyself devoted supporters