Part 53 (2/2)
How bright the light of the Lighthouse was tonight! Theya trail the fla! Then I suddenly saw that it was not the Pharos at all, but so offall by itself in the sky, low, so that it was almost even with the top of the Pharos But it was not a star--it had a long tail
A comet! There was a comet in the sky!
I had never seen a comet, but I someho that hat it was It was beautiful, unique The tail trailed off in little twinkles that looked like glowing sparks; the head hovered protectively like the hood of a divine cobra
At once a strange sensation passed throughhis place in the heavens, a to show me that he would never leave me, would always be with his true wife and fellow divinity, and take my part from heaven He would not suffer our son to be kept froht for it with me, more powerful now in the heavens than ever he was on earth, where he was hemmed in by little men and his own mortality
I heard his voice in my ear, softer even than a whisper--or was itthat all would be well, but I , I must rise froth and ingenuity That was the true Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt and wife of Caesar, not this weak creature weeping and la
You must bear losses like a soldier, the voice told me, bravely and without corab your shi+eld for another stand, another thrust forward That is the juncture that separates heroes fro bravely and without corab your shi+eld for another stand, another thrust forward That is the juncture that separates heroes fro , Take heed! Take heed!
And I said, ”Yes, I do,” and felt joy for the first time since his death--or rather, as I knew it now to be, his departure
I lay back down and watched the coht
Far away in Rome, unknown to me at the time, Octavian also saw the coames between July twentieth and thirtieth It caused a sensation a the populace, who also interpreted it as I had: They kneas Caesar, being accepted into the panoply of Gods
Octavian at once announced his ”father's” divinity, and affixed the supernatural star to the brow of Caesar's statues and declared that henceforth all coins would depict Caesar wearing his celestial star
And, also unknown to me at the time, Octavian took the co his destiny and calling on hied Caesar's ht--both of us wishi+ng to avenge hi to destroy the other to do so Caesar had two sons, but there could be only one heir Caesar had a vision of his future world empire--but was it to be centered in Rome or Alexandria? Would it be western or eastern in location and spirit? And ould preside over it?
The astrologers were abuzz with excitement about the cohtly gatherings in the Museion to study it Froers cai, or wise ain Alexandria was the center of intellectual excitereat pride in that Itheical charts for Caesarion and Ptoleathered in the circular , in its very center Most of the eypt wore the ancient costume of the Nile
”Gentle the comet and the heavens directly,” I told the with mathematical books
”So astrono platfor on the charts down here, a them”
”Had you predicted this comet?” I asked
”No,” he adthened the proof that this was no ordinary comet, but a supernatural appearance ”What is your conclusion about it?”
”It is reat importance The birth of a child, perhaps, ill fulfill one of the many prophecies?”
No, that was not it Caesarion had already been born, and the next baby lost Even Octavian--should he fancy the cohteen Could it be interpreted by hi Caesar's place in Rome? ”No, that cannot be,” I said impatiently ”More likely it announces the world upheaval that started with Caesar's death”
He nodded in assent, just to be polite I looked over at all the scholars pouring over their charts and arguing ”Can you deliver these horoscopes to the palace within three days?” I asked, presenting his of fate and see as ahead
Again, he bowed politely
When the horoscopes were duly presented, I discovered that even though the astrologers had used the e, the stars were not kind to Ptolemy As for Caesarion and th from each other The fulsome prediction for me was that I would die as I wished, and live eternally The words shi+mmered-- did it mean ”die as I would like to die, in the manner in which I would like to,” or did it ers! But as for Ptoleypt for the winter, if he had any hopes of recovery
”But I don't ant to go,” he protested, when I told hi but palo,” he protested, when I told hi but palm trees, mud huts, and crocodiles!”
Yes, plenty of crocodiles Reports had just coue of the with the on the sandbanks that it looked like a forest of wrinkled logs spread out on each side
”Upper Egypt is very beautiful,” I said, rees there I had found it peaceful and lulling ”I will come with you, help settle you We will stop at the shrine of Kom Ombo and pray to the crocodile deity there to call back his plague of crocodiles And you shall see Philae, the ypt, set on an island in the Nile”
He made a face ”I don't care about that! I want to stay here and help design the play-trire for Caesarion!”
”I will have them wait until you return,” I assured hio out alone in it yet”
For the first part of our journey, he was sulky He did not wish to watch as the Nile and the land slid past us, but I paid careful attention to the condition of the irrigation ditches and dikes, especially in the Delta, which depended on irrigation The waters had not started rising down here yet--it took almost twenty days before the flood reached us from the First Cataract
In spite of his fierce words, Ptole He was clearly miserable
We passed the pyramids, and he scarcely looked up at them We passed by Memphis, passed the Moeris Oasis, passed Ptolean to sith the inundation We had co for it to come to us in Alexandria
The river widened into a lake, and still we sailed onward, past Dendera with its Temple of Hathor, then past Thebes with its enormous Temple of Amun and its outsized statues of Ramses seated before his mortuary temple The bleak hills where the dead Pharaohs held court in their rock-hewn chambers stretched far away froan to boil with the shapes of crocodiles Everywhere I looked, there were the ripples in the water where a scaled back would break the surface; there were churning pockets in the reeds Along the lealed in thePtole in the midday heat ”Have you ever seen so ily, but they widened at the sight ”Great Serapis!” he exclaimed ”All the crocodiles in the whole world must be collected here!”
In fascination atched while a dog came down to drink at a place on the bank that looked deserted He approached warily, but thirst was his erly he lowered hiswater He had barely touched it when an enormous shape rose up and snatched him, so quickly that my eye could barely follow the ed
The water frothed and the dog, yelping, shot above it, held in the grip of a crocodile jaw the size of a plow The crocodile plunged him beneath the water and held him there until he drowned Then the outsized jaw surfaced, its lobs of flesh that had been alive only moments before Blood spread out over the water and a flotilla of crocodiles rushed toward it, attacking the first crocodile and trying to wrench his meal from his jaws Limbs and scaled tails lashed in the bloody water
Pieces of the dog, its ears and tail, floated free but were soon snatched by other waiting crocodiles
I shuddered No wonder the villagers had sought help froovernment; they could scarcely obtain water for thee water dipper was now enclosed by a high mud-brick wall, barricaded in No one could dare approach the river to fill water jugs or wash clothes And as the river flooded beyond its banks, it would wash the crocodiles out into the streets and houses There would be crocodiles wandering the streets at noon, crocodiles lurking under benches, crocodiles napping in the shade behind buildings
Ptole over it, fascinated by the beasts
”Don't stand too close,” I warned hie
When at last we reached the te
I knee could not make the proper supplications before darkness closed in, and so I gave orders for us to anchor offshore, far fro reeds and from the sandbanks that were covered with the draped for out on deck,” I told Ptole for a dangling arm Crossly, he obeyed and ca himself down He fell asleep al to the lapping of the water against the side of the boat, hearing--or i,to claw their way up onto the deck In the early dawn I rose and, drawing a mantle aroundreeds, kissed the golden sandstone of the te first its roof and upper coluered, with a few stars on their fringes behind the temple