Part 80 (1/2)
”Well, here in Antioch they are too lazy to get up out of their scented baths to form form a mob,” I said a mob,” I said
”Good,” said Mardian ”That makes the streets safer”
Alexander and Selene had betrayed great curiosity about their father Until now, they had assumed that he was dead, like Caesarion's father In fact, it seemed the normal state for a father, to have retired to the heavens Now that he ith the, ”Are you truly truly our father? Will you stay?” our father? Will you stay?”
”Yes,” Antony had said the first ti theh I will be gone from time to time But I will always co the rough ground, and closed his eyes ”I will give you a hundred counts to hide,” he said ”And if I cannot find you in another hundred counts, you may name a prize for yourself” He opened one eye and stared at them ”Ready?”
With a squeal, they scaot up to ten, he stopped ”That should busy the ,” I said ”Those poor children--”
”They elcome a few extra minutes to hide,” he assured rew louder, and the olive trees shading us rustled in the soft breeze I had never been so content Just as the vista of Antioch and the plain spread out below me as far as I could see in all directions, so the future lay, fair and pro I loved, I was loved; I was surrounded by ly past, fraught with dangers and defeats, was receding like a distant shore Antony and I saw eye-to-eye in everything; now that he had cast off Octavian, our ai
It is almost impossible to describe happiness, because at the time it feels entirely natural, as if all the rest of your life has been the aberration; only in retrospect does it swi it is When it is present, it see forever, and there is no need to examine it or clutch it Later, when it has evaporated, you stare in dismay at your eers to prove that once it was there, and now is flown
So those days in Antioch with Antony The world lay before hi footstep Anticipation quickened every day, but reality still was far enough off to float on the , just out of reach
We danced in a haze of joy like two butterflies, flying froht up in a divine drunkenness of the spirit I was young, soer even than the children; I was entirely adult, believingeven the iven to ot to thank you, Isis--forgive ot to thank you, Isis--forgivethe children back to Alexandria with him ”Duty calls,” he said pointedly
”I will return by summer,” I promised him ”If I did not have such trustworthy ”
”Oh, so I am to bla cohed ”Most e to be punishment,” I res and generals they serve,” he said ”WeHow do you plan to return? When shall I send a shi+p?”
I had been thinking of that A brilliant idea had co those weeks seemed brilliant ”I won't need a shi+p,” I said ”I plan to acco way from the sea So I have decided to retrace h Judaea I will pay Herod a diplo soul,” he said ”Putting yourself in his hands! He has little cause to protect you, and much cause to see that an 'accident' befalls you”
”He wouldn't dare,” I said I knew Herod and I were antagonists now, since I had asked for--and been granted--large portions of his kingdo about the loss of the lucrative date palroves in Jericho, and his seaports as far south as Gaza
”I repeat, you are are a trusting soul,” said Mardian ”There is no limit to what someone will dare when he sees his country's existence threatened” a trusting soul,” said Mardian ”There is no limit to what someone will dare when he sees his country's existence threatened”
Now those words return to me; someone continually pours them into Octavian's ear about me
”It is in my interest to placate him, then,” I said
”Unless you plan to restore his property to him, I fail to see what you can offer”
”My friendshi+p rather than my enmity”
”It is his place to offer that Naturally, you you would want to offer friendshi+p, since you are the gainer; it is up to the loser to put aside enmity, and you cannot force that” would want to offer friendshi+p, since you are the gainer; it is up to the loser to put aside enmity, and you cannot force that”
”True,” I said ”But no har with him”
”Don't be too sure,” said Mardian
It was hard for me to tell whether he was entirely serious He raised one of his eyebrows and stretched, breaking the tension
”You have not shown me Daphne yet, and how can I return to Alexandria without seeing the famous laurel tree? Olympos will be disappointed”
Yes, Olympos had an academic interest in the sites where supernatural transfor rock that had once been Niobe, had inspected an oak tree said to contain a nymph, and had dissected sunflowers to see if their steular flowers, since they were supposed to originate from a maiden na no difference, he published a paper refuting the story
”As if anyone had believed it anyway,” Mardian said ”Why does he waste his tireed that Mardian and I must inspect one of the most famous ”transformation” trees, the one where Daphne had taken root and sprouted leaves to escape the predations of Apollo
”Apollo seems to have an adverse effect on women,” I said ”Clytie had to turn into a sunflower to put an end to her unrequited love, and Daphne decided she would rather be a tree than yield to his ee places!”
”That's how legends are,” said Mardian ”Everyone wants what he cannot have, and gets punished But tell me--if Apollo was so attractive, why did that nymph run away? I ask you, as a woman, to explain it”
”Perhaps she ran away from him because he as so attractive,” I said so attractive,” I said
”That ued Mardian
It did not, but I knew it happened After all, I had resistedwith Antony
”Sometimes we run away just to thwart fate,” I finally said ”Co in our carriage, leaving the palace island, passing the old agora, and then traveling the wide paved street toward the elaborate fountain built over the original sweet springs of Antioch Crowds of people were gathered idly around it, dresseid in outlandish garb They waved at us and shouted in high-pitched voices A peculiar oily smell drifted toward us
”Faster!” Mardian ordered the driver ”That smell--how can they call it perfuhting,” I said
”Well, it makes a stink!” Mardian looked disdainful ”And did you see the arish as a mummy-carton! On both sexes!”
”Mardian, I do believe you are turning into a prude,” I said ”Who would ever have expected it of an Alexandrian eunuch?”
”Don't tell me you like like these people!” His initial enthusiasm for the Antiochenes had waned these people!” His initial enthusiasm for the Antiochenes had waned
”I have no prejudices against any particular people I take them as individuals, you should know that” I would have to, if Antony and I were to rule over many lands and peoples But I had always felt that way
”This city seems to have adopted all the bad fashi+ons of Alexandria”
”And ood,” I insisted ”It is the third city in the world now, after Alexandria and Rome If it does not quite measure up to them--that is why it is third But there is much to like here” Could the place where I had married ever be less than dear to me?
Soon we passed the fa city walls for her crown, resting on Mount Silpius, the Orontes River swi beneath her feet How placid, how uninvolved Fortune looked, as she blandly oversaw
Some little distance from the city lay the sacred precinct of Daphne, where Seleucus I had been corove of cypresses They surrounded the ancient laurel tree; and of course there was the inevitable Tehted frorove The long fingers of the cypresses, like a hall of coluh a natural temple