Part 98 (1/2)

Onea sister to the executioner, if she has proved to be treacherously ai for one's throne Antony was not capable of such ruthlessness--although he had done it atIt was he who had ordered her taken from the asylum at the te at her to that she lay inside it, i that she would unhesitatingly have done the same toThere was also regret for any life that is so short She had been twenty-five

”Yes, Majesty” He hung his head, as if so

”She was popular here?”

”We--yes, she was popular here” He had given up trying to put another face on it

”Beauty winsface; they preferred a dishonest beauty to a trustworthy plain person You can see it even in taverns; a co mediocre food has many customers Especially if she is personable as well

I trailedthe polished stone Arsinoe was in there Arsinoe was in there ”Hail, and farewell, sister,” I said, so softly only the dead could have heard it ”Hail, and farewell, sister,” I said, so softly only the dead could have heard it

That night, in the fine house we had been given on the slope leading up to the state agora, I was quiet I tried to pass it off to Antony as weariness, and indeed I was very tired I had had little tidom's affairs in order and make provision for e, in late autu The fact that Antony, with his perennial optiainst Octavian was a startling relief, but it had happened so suddenly I felt I had to hurry to hied hisexcuses for Octavian again But it had left lancing up fro uncharacteristically out into space

”I ao to bed early”

”Yes, I am sure you are tired Such a journey, at this time of year! I told you, you need not come ”

”As if I would have stayed away” I reached up and brushed away the hair falling over my forehead Even that seemed a vast effort

My feet were propped up on a footstool, and Antony ca my feet

”Sometimes this ake you up,” he said ”It sends the blood back into your head”

At that very moment, titius appeared in the roo my feet

”Yes?” he said

”I Amyntas of Galatia to contribute at least two thousand cavalry to oureffort,” he said smartly But I saw his eyes fasten theh he did not move his head

”Good,” said Antony ”They are the finest in the east” He let go of my feet and stood up ”I trust the others will commit themselves soon, in terms of numbers” He nodded proudly toward me ”The Queen has arrived”

”I am pleased to see you, Your Majesty,” he said His s

He and Antony drew aside and discussed ar about Arsinoe She had given me no choice Had she been content with her lot in life--as princess, not queen-- she would be living still, not shut up in that tomb But it is rare to be satisfied to stand on the platforhest position I knew Antony would be happy enough with half the world But Octavian would have all or none, and would not leave him in peace It was just as well I was like Octavian rapple, with the whole world as a prize, and Antony could not de all that beauty witness our quarrel We had started out happily enough, pretending to be ordinary sightseers on the sacred way that wound around the ly excited to be seeing it I say ”surprisingly” because there are those who assu has the power to stir an Alexandrian, as we are sophisticated, jaded, and sated with the wonders of our own city

There were, of course, throngs of visitors, since the temple was renowned all over the world The westerners came to see the architecture, to behold the white h as cedars and as dense as a real forest, to ineering that had translated dreareat Artehty and dena Mater, who brought fertility but at the same ti like the Greek Arteinal huntress, but was more tuned to the dark rhythms of women and their moon-cycles

There had been a te asCroesus had burnt down on the night Alexander the Great was born When the power of the Goddess was questioned--how could she have perhty?-- the story was told that Arte the birth of Alexander Be that as it may, when Alexander himself came here, he offered to help rebuild the terounds that it was not fitting for one God to build a temple to another

Now, as we rounded a curve in the road, the te upon it suddenly seeht intensified the white until it exploded like a fiery moon upon our eyes Everyone halted in wonder

”It is all aze on high beauty ant to touch another person, to ground ourselves

As we approached, the terew until it seemed to fill the sky I had read that the slender coluh I knew the teantic Gy--ah, how different!

A fleeting thought as we drew closer, and the at a mistress is the love of beauty; what sacrifices she demands of her adherents Yet we seek beauty in order to possess and serve it with the same fervor we seek food and territory It was the beauty of Helen that had called forth the Trojan War Helen herself said very little-- as little as the statue in the templeapproached Beauty is entire of itself; it does not need to add speech

The temple was elevated on three platforms that served as steps; the first platforest side of the te as the side of the pyra must be almost unmeasurable

”And to think this was built on a swamp,” said Antony ”And that the temple has not sunk into it--not yet”

Yes, I knew that Theodoros, who had solved a similar proble layers of hides and coal in the bog to serve as a foundation But how that could support such weight?

Like s, we found as we ca True, the sea nearby rounds were a motley sort The temple and its environs offered asylu with runaway slaves, political troublemakers and thieves betook the andthey could not be touched They called to us as we passed, shoving theat own ”I know all about her! She is old, very old!”

”For this I should pay you?” said Antony, with a laugh ”TellI don't know”

”Yes, sir, that I can--” He reached into the folds of his mantle and drew out a silver statuette ”Here, the likeness of the Goddess, pure silver, that I swear--touch it, see for yourself--”

Antony brushed hi up like the warriors sown froood, sir, this Artemis is pure silver, fashi+oned by my son, studied in Rhodes, yes--”

”Go away,” said Antony To endary Ae here, and the' philosopher Heracleitus, and later the citizens of Ephesus stretched a rope fro the entire city an asylum Then these vermin were multiplied a hundredfold!”

Nearer the temple they were joined by hordes of castrated priests who served the Goddess, as well as other orders of priests selling pieces of the sacrificial meat, and the famous prostitutes who claimed to help in priestesses ignored theh they did not exist

Here here Arsinoe had taken asylu behind the robes and office of the chief priest But she had been dragged out on Antony's orders I wondered if the sight of Ro the sanctuary had caused the others to tremble--or had they tried to sell them Artemis statuettes, too?

But Antony was not the only one to violate the sanctuary; the great Alexander had, too,three crih the closely packed columns in the front of the temple They looked like the ones in Thebes, where they clustered so thickly there was no sense of being in a hall It was said they had to be so close in order to support the heavy stone beaht of the lintel was so great that the architect had been overcoht of suicide But Artemis (of course!) had raised it for his of heroes, nymphs, and animals

Inside the temple, a profound coolness and hush There was a courtyard open to the sky in the ned in the back recesses of the tes of flowers

She was not gigantic as I would have expected froh she was more than life-size But she was utterly unlike our Grecian idea of movement and fluidity; she was closer to the deep stillness of the Egyptian God statues Her body was not that of any norht like a mummy case, and covered with dozens of breasts, which festooned her chest like swollen bags On her lower body--or rather, the garriffins and lions Her face, iht ahead, and there was no hint of love or softness about her--strange for alike a tower She looked

I felt, suddenly, the power of the east that was so threatening to Rome It was not the present-day armies they were fearful of, but the primitive Gods and peoples behind them--shadowy forces that had yet to be entirely tamed This statue, with its unhu lost in ti

”I don't like her,” I whispered to Antony Seeing her hters violated and sons unmanned, all to satisfy her But she would be insatiable, as the earth is insatiable for our bodies even as it feeds and sustains us--because it knows it will eventually devour us This Artemis was a stern devourer

”Don't let her hear you,” said Antony, in jest

The sightless eyes of the Goddess seemed to be aimed in our direction

We turned and left her on her pedestal, at stiff attention