Part 99 (1/2)
”Then we are forever new to one another,” I whispered ”May it rereatly I prized and desired him
He did not disappoint ot up the idea of an excursion to Pergamon
”I'll present it all there,” said Antony ”I'll explain my plan on the way They will be ”
I was dubious ”I will enjoy the theater, but why must you pander to them in that way? You act like a father who is afraid of his children They can listen well enough in Ephesus” ”No, I must sweeten the pill”
The pill consisted of the Donations of Alexandria, all wrapped up in his Ar both, would be dispatched by the new year They would rejoice in the new province, while approving the depositions of territory--so the theory went
”Very well” I knew better than to argue with him He seeahty o, as if they needed a guide I kept forgetting how unsure of theard At some deep level they were afraid of the Greek world--afraid of being seen as buh they owned the territory
Pergadoranduncle Ptoleypt itself had been willed to Ronored the bequest, as there was a question of his basic right to the throne) Perhaps they were but bowing to the inevitable But it did not amon had been a Roenerals--Antigonas the One-Eyed, Seleucus, and Ptolemy--had scrambled for territory, Asia had fallen to Seleucus But he had proved unable to keep his kingdoaarden of Attalus III, horeatest library outside of Alexandria She had tried, but never quite equaled, us Ptoleh, like that of a caiven up and bequeathed the our arrival
We approached, seeing the flat plain and the elevated city fro site! The acropolis reared itself a thousand feet above the plain, glea white from a distance We reined our horses and looked at it
Our rival in intellectual status, was all I could think Once Alexandria and Perga the true artistic and intellectual daughter of Athens But politics, power, aramon And ould have become of Alexandria, had not Caesar and Antony been ht shape and at the right tiamon could never be
”Fabled city,” said Sosius ”I am always thankful to behold it”
”If you h,” snorted Ahenobarbus
As we came to the city, we rode past the justly fa, therapeutic vaulted tunnel, and hospital for drea road that wound its way up the terraced side of the ymnasions, past the baths, past Hera's holy place, past the lower agora, and then finally past the upper agora--and to the acropolis itself Here were the very guarded inner selves of Pergamon: her library, her theater, her altar of Zeus, her royal palaces
The city fathers aiting--oh, so anxiously--to escort us into the for A feast awaited to refresh us fro froold vessels and heaps of food, except that iron andTall silver pitchers were filled with the finest wine from the nearby island of Lesbos, ready to drown all thirst
There were more than twenty in our party--not only Sosius and Ahenobarbus, Consuls-to-be, but Dellius and Plancus as well as city ahthearted social air Perhaps Antony had been right to wrap his serious political business in this benign cover
Fro himself with several cups of wine in quick succession--nohis effusive best I strained , and I studied the expressions of Sosius and Ahenobarbus as well as I could
There was talk about Sosius's Triuo, co the Parthians out of Jerusaleions, but I could not help thinking that ould have been better served by his re in Roet, and a popular war hero like Sosius was good to have, if only to balance Agrippa But he seemed happiest here, where he had more power, like many Romans ere on the ” ”Asia circuit” He was a man with even features and a steady teruff, volatile Ahenobarbus
Now they were both leaning forward to listen intently to Antony, who (I could see plainly) had let loose his fa his head back; he nudged then
I could overhear only a feords from Antony, like ”new year” and ”self-evident” and ”well-deserved” Ahenobarbus was frowning, and-- ”So we are to see a comedy this afternoon?”
Curses! Dellius, next to me, wanted to have a conversation Noould have to turn away from Antony
”Yes,” I said ”It is Menander's Girl from Samos Girl from Sa, even make-believe versions” The day is too fair to stain it with death and weeping, even make-believe versions”
I could just make out the words ”I can rely” from Antony's place when Dellius replied, ”We think alike, fair Queen” He was s more
”In that we both like comedies?” I said innocently ”Menander was a favorite of Caesar's” That had always surprised me, but it must have offered him escape from his burdens, just as the wine did for Antony
”Co I associate with Caesar,” Dellius said
Now I could see Sosius and Ahenobarbus helping the broadly Perhaps it had all gone s Yes It had obviously gone well
”Most gracious Majesty,” said the Pergamene official on my other side, ”is this your first visit here?”
”Yes,” I said ”Though I have always longed to see the legendary city My physician would be particularly interested in the Asclepion, and in Attalus's garden--which probably no longer exists”
”A small part of it does, madam, and I would be honored to show it to you It is near thethe library”
Ah yes The library This was a delicate matter Had scrolls already been re at library patrons? But if he did not mention it, neither would I That is diplomacy at its most basic
”I have heard of the statue of Athena there,” I said At least that was left I did not need another Athena statue in Alexandria
In midafternoon one party went to visit the Athena sanctuary and the Altar of Zeus, while others of us were taken to Attalus's garden and the library The faarden of poisonous plants was uarded by soldiers--aselse, I suspected Each bed of plants was marked and labeled, and I wondered as unique to this particular spot Olympos would know, of course I wished he were here
”Some of it, alas, has died out,”the pathways, cautioning us not to brush against any of the stalks or leaves ”And here, on this side, are the plants used as antidotes”
”Do they work?” Dellius had reuide said ”Attalus used to adive them the presumed antidote Some of the , was much smaller than ours in Alexandria I wondered hoo hundred thousand scrolls could even be stored here True to his word, theroom and the famous statue I could see for myself that many of the scroll-sockets were empty; they looked forlornly out at the few readers in theas alked around the acropolis; it was so high that it ined that in the winter it , their branches whipping, andat me like a sail
It was nearly tirounds of the Athena te the theater I could hear theht; their noise shattered the quiet and pierced the very wind
”Hail! Hail!” Antony wasa thyrsusit about Even from here I could see that he was exuberant--and drunk Beside hiotten the hi everyone about him, a merry shepherd with his flock ”Let us descend!”
As we rounded the two-story stoa surrounding the temple, with its bronze statues of defeated Gauls in the niches, I gasped to see the theater plunging down to the ht down it went, or so it looked It was the steepest hillside I had ever seen used for seating; it looked ale; it would be a free fall froe--was he joking or not? It looked over a hundred feet to-the bottom I hurried over to him and clutched his ar his wand atinto the theater and filling the seats At the very botto's box, fashi+oned of marble, where ould sit--if we could ever reach it Perhaps it would be best to descend on the path and approach frohed--too loudly
”What, shall the God not descend frohts?” And he boldly stepped down onto the upper Then he stepped down to the next level Then he juestured to us, looking backward At the saa, and spun over and over down the stairs, a blur of white
It happened so quickly it was hard to follow The steep angle and his weight combined to accelerate his fall Dellius was off like a bowshot after hi could match the speed of a free fall Then, suddenly, he shot his arrasped the corner of a seat, where the ainst the stall It took great strength in his ar hi him in the opposite direction I heard a loud crack as he hit the stone seat--had he smashed his head? All I could see was a mound of clothes I hurried down the stairs sideways as if they were a ladder, but Dellius had already reached him Behindfroa and he looked around, dazed He was still grasping the corner of the seat with his large hand, and only then let it go, leaving a bloody print on it He shook his hand up and down as if it were nu down, and then Antony got up He see in tripping hiinning for a coht Nervous laughter broke out froroup