Part 75 (1/2)
I opened old coin, with the heads of Antony and Octavia So he was ry, as Olympos meant it to
As if to cover up his blatant provocation, he then produced another coin ”I thought you ” He held it between his thuive it tosextus's father Poalley under sail on the other
”What does this mean?” I asked It see that he's the son of Neptune; he's blurring his real father, with his sea coh, and so do the mobs in Rome They cheered like crazy when a statue of Neptune was carted around at the races, in company with the other Gods; Antony and Octavian had it removed, and they al himself in a blue cloak in honor of his 'father' ”
”He sounds like a clown,” I said How could anyone pay attention to this?
”Oh yes, everyone is a God these days--or the son of one I wonder who I should clairand enough--he started life as a mortal”
”Well, you have to start so to end this I was happy to have Olylower at the coins
After he was gone, I stared at the profiles Poht Antony's face looked stretched and flat, as if he had been ill and lost weight As for Octavia--her profile was behind his, and all it shoas a straight nose and well-forht not have really looked like her, if the likeness of Antony was any guide
So he was proceeding as if this were the only life he had ever wanted, as if he was born to be all the things he noas: Octavia's husband, Octavian's brother-in-law, an exes of Athens Oly lectures, readings, council s, and the like, all with his seeuished under all that domestic propriety? It would be as sad as the ers, panthers, pythons--turned into broken aes
I put the coin into a box, where it would be safe, and where I wouldn't see it
Chapter 53
The farther south ent, the warh it was only February, it was basking-hot at noon I had kepthirown Pharaoh It had taken eighteento be co for hiain on both sides had been fulfilled
Now, as I stood beside hiood idea for us to have coypt beyond Alexandria He had been as enthralled by it as I had been when I first escaped up the Nile In only a few months he would be ten; it was time for hi past, green-fringed pal by the riverbanks, oxen in the fields, the long stretch between the pyramids and Dendera, the first of the temples the Ptole toward a ainst the endless dun sands and soil
I ree when my father had taken me to other temples, which he had helped build and e the cycle It was supposed totrained to follow in ht and natural His co adulthood did not threaten me I was thankful that I had an heir, with two more children behind hiangplank, rushi+ng past the dignitaries lining the banks He wanted to see himself, an artistic version of hiThe entire outer wall of the temple was filled with representations of divine processions and earthly figures carrying offerings in them ”Where is it? Where is it?”
I pulled hi direction,” I said ”It is on the southwestern corner” We turned that way, passing gigantic Gods and Goddesses on the walls high above us I stopped at the corner and pointed up ”There we are”
Looyptian costus in their outstretched ar directly beneath them as ere, we could not see their heads clearly
”We must step back,” I said, and ent quite a ways across the hard-packed earth to a vantage point
”That doesn't look likehe said
”No, of course not It's just a representation--all Pharaohs are made to look the same”
He studied my profile ”And she doesn't look like you, either”
”No It's a standard queen You see, there's a certain way a queen of Egypt is always supposed to look, and so she's depicted that way on statues and paintings So everyone knows exactly who it is”
”And you don't wear clothes like that, either And I certainly never wear a transparent kilt!” He laughed ”I think the double crown is so big it would snap my head off”
”Yes, crowns can be very heavy At least that kind can be So we only wear them ceremonially When you are crowned at Memphis, you'll have one if you wish But by that ti, heavy neck, because I intend to live a long ti tih shadow We should come back at sunset”
”They've made me as tall as you,” he said proudly
”Well, you almost are You are tall, like your father” And he had kept the resemblance, with the same broad face and keen, deep-set eyes
”My father,” he said quietly ”It makes me sad that I can never see him”
”Yes, it makes me sad too”
”Well, at least you have have seen hih to have memories Did he really look like the bust in my rooh to have memories Did he really look like the bust in my room?”
I nodded ”Yes Roood likeness But, you know, if you learned Latin, you could read his works His writing was famous In that way you could coh what they write”
”But it's just about battles and marches; it isn't about him”
”His battles are are him” him”
”Oh, you knohat I mean! He didn't write essays or speeches, like Cicero That's easier to see someone in”
”I think he did write them, but I don't know if they were published Theyhis papers after he died If so, then perhaps Antony still has the in the houseafterward”
”He probably left theo back to Roain, that Octavian has shut him out and won't allotu allotu him back” him back”
”That's a lie! He can return whenever he wishes But ould he wish to, before he's defeated the Parthians? After that, he can go to Rome as ruler, and shut Octavian Octavian out” out”
Caesarion shrugged ”Mardian said that Octavian called him back to Italy and then refused to meet with hin back by a whole year Mardian says that's probably what he wanted--Octavian, I htly ”It's true that Octavian begged Antony to co shi+ps to Italy to help in the ith sextus, and then changed his eneral Bassus has beaten the Parthians out of Syria and back over the Euphrates again Now the real cain”
”Good I think he ht at last”
”Did Mardian also tell you that Octavian has been beaten tiht him; half his fleet recked in the Strait of Messina Scylla on her rock aled to wash ashore and crawl to safety” But he soht--crawl, rest up, and gather his forces ather his forces
”No, he didn't,” Caesarion ad to be a joke,” I said ”The Romans made up a verse about him: 'He's lost his fleet, and lost the battle, twice So dice?' ”