Part 55 (2/2)
” 'And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, ”In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well favored; and they fed in a meadow And behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favored and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness”
Caesarion giggled
” ' ”And the lean and the ill-favored kine did eat up the seven fat kine And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten the So I awoke
” ' ”And I saw in my dreaood And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after theood ears And I told this to the icians, but there was none that could declare it to me” ' ”
Caesarion knitted his brow ”ItGrain and cows”
”Wise boy,” I said ”Now listen 'And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, ”The dream of Pharaoh is one God hath showed Pharaoh what he is about to do The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one And the seven thin and ill-favored kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of fa which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he showeth unto Pharaoh Behold, there coypt; and there shall arise after theotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine shall consume the land And the drea is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass
” 4 4 ”Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a ypt Let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years And let them lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of faypt, that the land not perish through the famine” ”Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a ypt Let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years And let them lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of faypt, that the land not perish through the faood in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants And Pharaoh said unto his servants, ”Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, ”Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art Thou shalt be overunto thy word shall all reater than thou” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, ”See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt” ' ”
Caesarion wiggled ”What trust the Pharaoh had in hied hiift a ruler can have is to read those who come to him to serve him,” I said ”Now listen: And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt And Joseph went out frohout all the land of Egypt And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls And he gathered up all the good of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities The food of the fields, which was round about every city, laid he up in the saathered corn as the sand of the sea, very , for it ithout nurain, all heaped up!” ” And the seven years of dearth began to co as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians And all countries caypt to buy corn, because the famine was so sore in all lands' ”
I closed the scroll ”And so you see, Egypt saved all the world from starvation”
”Do you think that's a true story? Did it really happen?”
”Do you mean was there a real Joseph? I don't know But I know that we do have granaries nohere we store up our crops to protect us froh the Nile rises But we can only do it for one year at a tih food this year And so, just like Joseph, when the time comes ill open our storehouses and distribute food”
”To the whole world?”
”Egypt already feeds the whole world,” I said ”We export grain to Rome, to Greece, to Asia--we are a very rich country” I ruffled his hair, which was turning darker now ”When we open the storehouses, do you want to see?”
”Oh yes!” he said ”I want to see those heaps and heaps of grain! Are they like olden mountains”
”Do you trust Epaphroditus and Mardian as the Pharaoh trusted Joseph?” he asked suddenly
I did not have to hesitate ”Indeed I do I am blessed to have such trustworthy ministers”
”How can you tell whether to trust soift And, of course, you should alatch what they do” But as I spoke, I knew that it was not a foolproof gift Intelligent and discerning rulers had been betrayed Perhaps the most successful betrayer is one who is loyal until the last minute No one can detect him; he himself does not realize he is about to swerve
Caesarion put his arht, Mother Please don't dream of cows!” And then he padded happily back to his own chamber, hand-in-hand with his nurse
No, I would not dream of cows But I did dream of my fleet, my wonderful fleet that I would build with stout tireat battle in which I hoisted h seasI awoke hearing the pounding of the sea outside, one of the first storan to take shape, and dockyards throughout the Delta, as well as in Alexandria, worked overti seamanshi+p (for which the Syrians ell paid, and for which they illing to risk ht across the sea that the skeletons of the largest warshi+ps could be laid, and allowed to season The fittings of the shi+ps--oars, sails, steering, lines, and rams--were assembled separately and proceeded apace I had decided to divide the fleet in two, and station half with overnor at Cyprus, forall the particulars of the designs for the shi+ps, I ht here in Alexandria was busythe miniature trirehted with it, and we made many trips down the palace steps to the royal harbor for hih for two adult rowers to power it; the other oars were for show only, and were bolted down
”And a around the half-finished vessel, peering up over the railings and onto its deck
”Yes, but until you are seven you must always have an adult under-captain with you,” I said And this adult would be an expert There must be no more accidents at sea for my family
”What shall I na wonderful,” I said ”But it is for you to decide”
He got that perplexed look again, which made him seem so old ”Oh, that is so difficult!” heof the Roman New Year, the first of the conspirators h he had not actually stabbed Caesar, had played a key part by detaining Antony to prevent hione to the province of Asia to assuovernorshi+p Evidently his conscience was not troubled by proceeding to the province Caesar had so kindly allotted to him But Dolabella, one of the Caesarian party, pursued hiht with him there, and wrenched the province away from hi it before a statue of Caesar, then tossing it into the streets of San: the retribution I rejoiced when I heard it I only wished I could have stood over the bloody head and kicked it round its eyes into the cinders and smashed the skull in
In Ro open eneainst Antony The orator thought to run Ro, impressionable, obedient lad At last he, Cicero, would come into his own, statesman and savior of his country How little he knew Octavian! It was Cicero as the fool and the dupe
But the vain old ainst Antony, and this ended with the Senate declaring war against him They were filled with the most vicious lies and distortions, but, likeThere was no one alive who could smear a character better, with clever words and innuendo, than Cicero He paid for it with his life, but not before he almost cost Antony his
My prediction ca some time in Athens, Brutus made his way over to Macedonia, and Cassius came to Asia They would unite and make their stand in the east There would be a war
Cassius set about unseating Dolabella froovernorshi+p, and Dolabella appealed for help to ain, it was as I had foreseen I had no choice but to yield them, because if they were not sent to Dolabella, Cassius would demand them But before they could reach Dolabella, they were captured by Cassius
My legions were in the hands of the enemy--Caesar's assassin! And then he pursued Dolabella over Syria, surrounding hi he was beaten, Dolabella committed suicide Cassius was victor, and now commanded all of Asia Minor, as well as Syria, and had fourteen legions, eight of which were contributed by the governors of Syria and Bithynia, Allienus's four captured en route froions! And then the hardest blow of all-he persuaded Serapion, overnor in Cyprus, to surrender all the shi+ps of my new fleet stationed there to hi Cassius
The perfidy of it! The assassins were not onlyypt, and announced that he planned to invade and capture us, since we had sent the legions to aid Dolabella It was time, he said, for us to be punished, and to yield our resources to theue was raging; it had followed hard on the heels of the fadoht back, to the uts with ot very little rest during those weeks Everythe night They couldn't be embalmed, for no one wanted to touch the after a particularly bad night, Olyht me a manuscript and said I should read it; the author had written a brilliant description of the disease
”What good is a description?” I asked ”Who cannot describe it? Fever, thirst, eruption of boils, black swellings that burst open, quick death But how can it be stopped? That's the question”
”Please, do read this He has ideas about how it spreads” Olympos thrust it intoto halt the disease” I looked at Epaphroditus ”I suppose there is sorinned ”How did you know?”
”What isn't isn't in there? Well, what cured it?” in there? Well, what cured it?”
”Nothing cured it,” he adnats, of flies, of locusts, of boils--but they were sent to make a point They weren't natural”
”What point is this this plagueour enes, and locusts as well?” plagueour enes, and locusts as well?”
We were alue, the famine, and the loss of half the fleet Work continued on the other half, based in Alexandria Let Cassius coer rode all the way fro of his et money and shi+ps I received the man in my audience hall, seated on my elevated throne, in my most formal attire
Heolda shell of Caesar--the breastplate that I had loved, the leather lappets thatover his shoulder It see the same clothes
He barely bowed But he had to wait for e him before he could speak
”What do you wish?” I asked coldly
”I coinus,” he said ”My commander requests that you send the remainder of your navy to him in Syria Immediately”
As much as I hated and despised the assassins, I knew that craft and dissemblance, delays and prevarication are weapons as powerful as outright defiance The man who cannot control his face and words before an enemy is soon overthrown So I put a false smile on my face and spread my hands helplessly