Part 65 (1/2)
The wine began to affect me, too I felt my reserve and standoffishness start to dissolve Gradually the tavern did not seely wicked I even felt my arms start to trace out the dancer's movements under my cloak Suddenly I wanted to move, spin, dance-- and de down her body, obliged, and theas the fuet some food!” cried Antony suddenly, to his companions En masse they headed for the door, in spite of the owner's attempts to convince them that he served food as well
”No, we have to try them all!” said Antony ”All the places!”
We selected an eating place at random--since no one knew any particular establish roasting It turned out to be the remnants of an ox, and our party ordered it all cut off the spit and served It was surprisingly good
”I think--I think we should form a society!” said Antony suddenly, hisfuriously ”Yes, and we'd have meals, roasted ox every day if we pleased--we'd have excursions, we'd take our pleasures and try to outdo ourselves each day Who wants to join?”
”All of us!” cried the birthday guests
”And ould you call this--this club?” I asked
”Why, the Amimetobioi--the Society of the Incomparable Livers!” he said quickly
He ht, for the naue
”I see,” I said
”I want to beco ht you wanted to complete Caesar's task and conquer Parthia,” I said ”I do not think that goes with extravagant indulgence”
”Oh, Alexander had his bouts of wild drinking, and he conquered the entire world! Who says they are incompatible?”
”Perhaps not for Alexander, but--he did not live very long”
”But gloriously, gloriously!” He raised his cup and drank it all in one s
”Stop shouting,” I said His voice hurt my ear
He pressed another cup into et any drunker than I already was
Stuffed with food and wine, we reeled out into the street again We passed a knot of people, also froled and then broke away, searching in different directions for more amuseroup, but they did not notice me Nicolaus was also there, and even the old supply officer, celebrating his victory They drifted away, and ound our way back into the streets off the waterfront It was quieter there, but somehow more vicious: it was as if the vice did not even try to drape itself in false gaiety, but just went about its gri out of the s, their thin ar us as we trailed down the streets
Through one of the alleys I saw soround It ed on Antony's aro there,” I said I was anxious to leave this quarter
”Lead on,” he said obediently
We wound our way toward it, and as we approached, the press of people suddenly reappeared Hundreds of torches were burning, giving off clouds of sht The entire area around the rising ground of the tes, laarlands Also, the te in doorways, spilling out onto doorsills There were also houses with rooe, no questions asked, before or after worshi+ping
This had once been a sacred shrine My ancestor Ptolemy III had built it and dedicated it to the Gods, and it had been a place of healing where invalids caht and be cured From this it had fallen to a place where evil consorted with superstition and lust Baths nearby drew off the sated worshi+pers, where they could frolic naked in heated water, splashi+ng and squealing
I wished I had not come Before I could turn and leave, however, an old wo her wares ”Love potions!” She thrust a vial of green liquid into Antony's hand
He held it up and looked at it
”It's powerful, sir,” she said, holding out her hand for ave it, and impulsively took a s of the brew
”Don't!” I said ”Itof the sort,” he said, wiping his ave it toit”
Every fiber incompelled me to do it A sip revealed it as sticky-sweet, with an aftertaste of raisins
”Coround and then climbed the steps into the teht faded and I could barely see the place whereof hair--an offering accepted by the Gods and taken up to heaven, where it was turned into a constellation
Slowly soh h the tunic, and my limbs were heavy I wanted to lie down, but at the sa away--the sense of time, of propriety, of order My head spun We stumbled back down the steps He was as affected as I
A doorway beckoned A proprietress waited We went in Payed roos for aheavily toodd and transported I kneas drugged, but I did not care I floated He had had more of it than I, and was even more affected
His e perception?
I held him, and the world spun There seemed to be only thisand narrowed down to just this room I had no past, no future, only this very present
We were on the bare bed, its crisscross of thongsin from some remote place, the sounds of the revelers and customers below But in this chamber, e in thisin
He was kissingme over and over, his breath--almost the only reality I felt--hot on ? I could not hear My ears were stopped All my senses, except that of touch, had fled I felt every sensation on my skin, but did not hear, smell, taste, see My flesh was alive, every particle of it, inside and out
I know he , foreign night, but such were the effects of the drug that it all subsu of our persons, subliular instance, but only grasp, fleetingly, in dreams, the remembrance of the whole
Hoe left that chamber, and hoe returned to Alexandria, will forever be lost to --or perhaps it was the hton the walls, and Char anxiously over me
Chapter 46
”At last!” she said as I opened ht hurt them
”Here” She laid a coent smell of it was like a miracle after the artificial, heavy odors of Canopus
”What did you drink? A sleeping potion?”
The green, heavy liquid--I re, its oversweet taste ”It had that effect,” I said Actually that was the least of its effects I would have blushed about the behavior it had induced in the rented roohed ”Ioffered off the streets” Antony had had more than I ”What of Lord Antony? Where is he?”
”No one has seen him” She laid her hands on uards saw him enter”
I hoped he was not too miserable I raised one corner of the compress and looked at Charmian ”I saw you with--with--”