Part 120 (1/2)
”We are hopelessly outnuhter people needlessly?” I could not object; had I not said exactly the sayptians far up the Nile could escape any participation, whereas the legions and fleet were already drawn up It was useless, however, without a leader ished to lead And Antony would never lead again
Ad him back at all was to watch hi, stop exercising its power
The city no all too hat had happened at Actiu to see ould come next Alexandria had never bent the knee to anyone but Caesar, and that was a fight the Alexandrians themselves had provoked But this
Would there be a siege? Would there be fighting in the streets? If people tried to flee, where would they go? They prepared themselves as a city of traders and sophisticates would: they took inventory, kept buying and selling, and tried to figure out ways of escape or bribe or barter Oh, I knew them, and I knehat they were about Not for them the heroics of the city of Xanthus, which burnt itself to the ground rather than be taken, nor the weeping and wailing of the Trojans They gave elegant dinner parties and argued the fine points of philosophical schools of thought in regard to suffering They downed expensive wine at a ferocious rate, doused the-hoarded perfume, and draped themselves in jewelry, as if to use it all up this side of the tos of life
At dusk I began readying myself for Antony's banquet Was I not the most Alexandrian of Alexandrians? Should I not therefore enjoyplace in mansions all over the city? Yes, let oith the pearl border and gold fringe And let there be the brooch given ems from beyond the Black Sea, to pin the shoulder folds Aroundnecklace And yes--where was the gold bracelet the Kandake had presentedheavy on my arm
And as for perfu in their stoppered alabaster bottles: lily, rose, narcissus, hyacinth Tonight I would not choose rose; I wanted to smell different from the rest of the room Narcissus, that would do Its rainy dark scent was perfect for this gathering of the doo tiny circles She dabbed reddened oint it in carefully
”Your skin was always your beauty,” she said ”And it looks no different now from when you were twenty”
”Well, I am almost twice that,” I said But most likely I was never to reach forty
She took a coht I preferred Char th, was very soothing
”Shall I braid it?” she asked ”Small braids to frame the rest?”
”As you like,” I said In the heat of the evening, I wanted it up off my neck
My hair, always my vanity I had tended it carefully all the years, and it had certainly rewardedme the illusion of beauty I had indeed been blessed in the hair the Gods saw fit to give me
”There's so ather it all up in this fillet”
”Then let so as it did not lie damp on my neck
”There” She handed me a polishedback did not show all it had been through It was as if I had willed my body not to absorb the blows ofwritten on the clear eyes, the arched brows, the s of childbirth, field conditions, trial, or pain I looked like a virgin of the world I laughed out loud, seeing it
”My lady?” Charmian frowned ”Don't you like it? I can redo--”
”The hair is fine,” I assured her ”I was justat how heavy blows don't always imprint themselves on our flesh”
”I think it must be either the flesh or the soul,” said Charmian quietly
”Then I am sure it is my soul and spirit that have taken the brunt of it,” I said I wondered what they would look like, in a , time to be mirthful
The chamber was filled with people--where had Antony rounded theht colors and flashi+ng jewelry They were ions, but there were also Alexandrians from the Gymnasion, the Library, the Museion, and Zeus only knehere else They had the flushed and expensive look of aristocrats, except for the token philosophers there And even they ell-to-do, mostly adherents of the school of Epicurus
The delicate scent of the roses, their perfu upon the to pretend, for one brief arden rather than here But the buzz of voices, the heat fro music froracious Queen,” one of the servants said, co an elaborate chaplet ofleaves, berries of nightshade, and poppies I allowed h the plants were associated with the underworld
Antony saw me and i oblet of what proved to be rose-flavored wine ”Drink, drink of Lethe, and re!”
If only that were possible! But this wine could not do it
”Who would have thought there were soco colorful eddies around one speaker or another
”So h-spirited Alexandrians?”
”You will see,” he said
I saw stands holding bowls filled with gold coins, into which people dipped their hands, helping themselves as they passed I also saw some faold vessels and plate on a display table
I saw no dining couches or tables anywhere ”When do we dine?” I asked
He shrugged ”When it seeht I cannot predict”
”But the food--”
”Oh, that's no problem,” he said airily ”The food will always be done to perfection I have the kitchens preparing a dozen oxen, all roasting at different rates, so one of theht whenever we choose to eat”
My mouth fell open The waste! Was hehts ”Let us leave the pastures ereet Octavian” He drank some more Lethe ”Let us strip ourselves bare before Death does it”
He was always theatrical--was this only a perforive a perforive a performance to mask his real intentions?
”Ah--and here is our true host,” he said, greeting someone costued on the ground, and he had a circlet depicting flickering flames around his head
Silently he bowed Behind his eye-mask I could see dark irises
”Are you prepared to welcoe company?” Antony asked ”They are here to be initiated”
Hades turned his head slowly 'The coe as you suppose,” he said, with a voice that suggested holloells, caves: hints of ripples, drips, echoes ”Do not be disappointed if they do not all wish to set their feet upon the sill of night” He gave a sh ”It is, after all, still high suh to have made my journey hile” He bowed supplely and insinuated hi
”Who was that?” that?” I asked He was too realistic I asked He was too realistic
”Isn't he marvelous?” said Antony ”He's a well-known actor here in Greek co”
Antony steeredforth on the ,” said Antony ”All the young philosophers like to declaim on that that topic” topic”
Behind , ”Whether one is or is not, one and the others in relation to themselves and one another, all of them, in every way, are and are not, and appear to be and appear not to be”